Page 44 of This Reckless Home

“For us. All of us,” Nox adds from his other side.

I’m shaking now, looking between them all but seeing nothing other than sincerity. “I don’t understand.”

Anatole lets go of my hand to cup my face, his calloused palm warm and steady. “Steele told us. About what you said. About wanting all the desserts.”

My eyes go wide, my cheeks flaming. “Oh lord⁠—”

“About you wanting all of us. Together and separately,” Nox says, his voice low and husky telling me he’s not just talking about us being together in public.

“The question is, Bloom, do you still want us? All three of us? Together? Because fuck, we want you so bad it’s hard to breathe,” Anatole confesses and his words caress the deepest parts of me.

“I…” My mouth runs dry. It’s like being offered a table full of all your favourite foods, but not only do you not know where to start, you don’t trust it won’t be taken away. I swallow. “You should know, I can’t have children. Ever.”

I’m expecting shock from Anatole and Nox, questions, maybe even hesitation. But instead they just smile at me, warm and certain, Anatole stroking my cheek with his thumb.

“We know. Steele told us.”

I look away, my cheeks heating as embarrassment flares hot and bright. A flash of something — exposure, rawness — passes through me at the knowledge that he shared that. Then it dissolves, because they're still standing here, still smiling at me, and it doesn't matter that he told them. It matters that they stayed. “If any of you wanted biological children someday, I’d understand. You could find someone⁠—”

“Flower, stop. We already spoke about this. I don’t give a fuck. I just want you. Scars and all, remember?” Steele interjects, his soulful brown eyes sincere.

My throat goes tight.

“We don’t care, Petal. There are more than enough children here to keep us busy,” Nox adds, and a choked laugh falls from my lips.

Anatole’s other hand comes up, cupping my other cheek until he’s holding me in his palms. “Look at me, Bloom.” I do as he says, and approval makes his eyes shine. “You are enough. More than enough.” A sob catches in my throat. “And why you’ve decided we are worth your time is beyond me. But we will spend every fucking day for the rest of our lives proving to you that we are worthy of you.” Tears trace a hot path down my cheeks as he brings our foreheads together. “Say yes. Please, baby. Say yes.”

“Yes,” I breathe, feeling his smile as he closes the gap between our lips.

“Good girl,” he whispers against my mouth.

Oh.

Oh wow.

I did not know how much those two words would affect me, but my knees turn to jelly as his lips brush mine, sealing our fate with a kiss.

There’s none of the desperation in his kiss like yesterday, but it’s no less consuming. He steals every breath I try to take, replacing it with his own until all I can taste is him.

I’m just getting used to it when he pulls away, turning my face and dropping his hands, only for another set of lips to replace his before I can even open my eyes.

Steele.

If his rumble of a growl didn’t give him away, then the way he dominates me would. He’s all tongue and teeth, nipping my lips and then fucking my mouth with his tongue like that alone can make me come. And by the way my thighs clench together, he’s not far off the mark.

He too pulls back just as I get used to his claim, and then long fingers wrap around the front of my throat, tugging me towards a mouth that should be sharp with the cutting words that usually flow from it.

But Nox’s mouth may just be the softest of them all. He commands me, controls each movement, his thumb stroking the skin of my neck in a way that has a whimper falling from my lips into his. And like the arsehole he is, he just smiles against me, his tongue dancing, teasing before he finally gives it to me.

Like the other two, he pulls away when he decides, and a husky laugh falls from his lips when I chase him with my own.

“Later Petal.” I blink my eyes open, my vision hazy as it focuses on his pretty bronze face. “Now, we eat brunch.”

I look between the three of them — Anatole's flushed alabaster cheeks, Steele's dark eyes heavy with want, Nox's bronze skin warm in the morning light — and I think: mine. All of them are mine.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“SWEETER PLACE” BY SVRCINA