Page 453 of End Game

His arm tightens around my waist. “Very.”

Something in me goes soft at the answer.

I’m past thinking he will suddenly regress into the version of himself who once believed sharing meant losing.

But hearing uncomplicated desire in his voice still feels like proof of how far all of us have come.

I turn enough to kiss him.

Behind us, Dex makes a sound into Micah's mouth.

Ronan laughs quietly.

The room keeps moving around us.

No plan.

Just five people who have spent months learning where the edges are.

Apparently, once you know the edges well enough, you can stop staring at them.

You can just play within the lines.

Chapter thirty-six

No Initiative Order

Griffin

At some point, Dex ends up kneeling on the couch between Micah and Ronan, with Micah's hand wrapped around the back of his neck and Ronan's fingers beneath his chin.

And apparently, my response to that is that it's really fucking hot.

The thought lands with enough force that it takes me a second to examine it, mostly because there was a time—not even that long ago—when this exact picture would have made something defensive come roaring up inside me before I had a chance to figure out why. Not because any of the men are touching me, or because I've somehow discovered a previously unrecognized interest in naked men. That part remains spectacularly uncomplicated.

It's the dynamic that's hot.

The way Dex changes when somebody he trusts takes control of him. The way all that constant movement and smartass commentary seems to funnel inward until he's still without ever looking diminished by it.

Months ago, I think I would've assumed submission had to make someone smaller. Cami handing over control to Ronan was the first thing that started dismantling that idea for me, because I watched her become more present inside her own body every time she trusted him with it. I've seen Micah do the same thing. I've watched Dex disappear under Micah's hands in one way and come back looking more like himself afterward.

Tonight, there isn't a formal scene around it.

Micah says something too quiet for me to hear, and Dex's mouth opens like he has a response ready. Of course he does. Then something in Micah's expression changes, and Dex closes his mouth instead.

Just listens.

Ronan brushes his thumb along Dex's jaw, and Dex turns toward him immediately.

Heat pulls low in my stomach.

I still don't want either of them looking at me that way. I still don't want any part of what Dex is getting from them directed at me.

But watching it happen to him?

Yeah.

That's hot.