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Hunter responded by reaching around to turn off the lamp beside the bed, but not before Liam saw that Hunter’s smile matched Kat’s.
* * *
She woke in the early morning dark, sandwiched between two hard, warm bodies. As the memories of the evening before sliced away the sleep fog, she realized she’d rolled in her sleep. Her nose was up against Hunter’s chest but she cradled Liam’s hand between her breasts. Perfect.
“Merry Christmas,” she whispered.
Hunter’s sleep-raspy voice answered her. “Merry Christmas to you, too.”
Liam’s fingers flexed around hers and his cock stiffened against her lower back as he started to wake, too.
“Santa left a present for you,” Liam mumbled. He released her hand and cupped her breast, using the soft mound to anchor her against him.
Still tender from the night before, Kat sat up and climbed over Hunter. He tried to catch her but, with a puff of laughter, she evaded his roaming hands. “No way. I need a recovery period. At the very least, recovery calories.”
Not bothering with a lamp because the Christmas lights outside still blazed bright, she grabbed her robe from where it had fallen the night before. As she slid her arms into the sleeves, she turned and smiled at the two men tangled together on her bed. Hunter’s hand rested possessively on Liam’s stomach, a gesture Kat wasn’t sure he’d consciously performed.
“And you two might be high on your man endorphin hangover right now but in about half an hour when you crash, you’ll thank me for having the sense to get the coffee going.”
“We could produce another round of endorphins.” Liam stretched lazily and Hunter’s hand slid down to fondle his cock.
Her pulse kicked up but she resolutely belted her robe. She wasn’t kidding when she said she needed to recover. Her body ached in good places, but it still ached. She deliberately backed away.
“You two produce whatever you want. I’m going downstairs.” Instead of venturing within range of greedy hands, she blew a kiss to both men.
Smiling, she stepped out into the hall. The Christmas tree lights guided her down the stairs. Kat spent a few minutes tidying the living room and listening to the low notes of masculine voices above. When talking gave way to a grunt and the creak of the bed frame, she sat on the sofa with her legs curled under her and closed her eyes to listen to the sounds of her men loving one another. The barista had been right. Christmas was a time to be with those you loved.
She would have ignored her body’s objections and stayed with them, but deep down she knew Liam and Hunter needed time alone. Despite Liam’s confessions and Hunter’s concessions, the three of them stood on shaky ground. Liam was who he was—a man who needed control over his life. He’d promised to back off but his control issues were deeply ingrained, practically bred into him. Hunter, on the other hand, was in control down to his marrow. He didn’t have a power struggle to fight because in his mind, the question of who was on top had only one answer—him.
The pair of them would work it out, but the best thing she could do to facilitate matters was remove herself from the middle...but only some of the time. She pressed her thighs together, relishing the warm flush of arousal stirred up by Liam’s needful groan. The rest of the time, she would enjoy the hell out of claiming her place with them.
Before she could succumb to the urge to return to bed, she rose and went into the kitchen to start coffee and put her famous rum-glazed cinnamon rolls in the oven. The shower started as she finished gathering last night’s neglected dishes. Kat closed the dishwasher without starting the cycle and turned to find Hunte
r watching her from the doorway.
He wore his jeans low on his hips and hadn’t pulled on a shirt. Her mouth went dry and her fingertips tingled with the need to rediscover the texture of the dark hair dusting all those hard muscles. Clearing her throat, she exercised some impulse control and tucked her hands into the pockets of her robe.
“You didn’t have to get out of bed. We do a pretty lazy Christmas morning.”
“I’m an early riser even on weekends and holidays.” He looked around the kitchen but didn’t move from his position. “You like sunflowers, huh?”
She glanced at the brightly printed wallpaper border over the sink. “They’re fine. Cheerful. They came with the house and we decided to leave the kitchen alone while we worked on some of the other rooms first. The upstairs guest bathroom was horrific. Bubble-gum pink. You would have been very uncomfortable.”
“Completely emasculated,” he agreed.
Kat couldn’t think of a single thing that would reduce Hunter to anything less than all-man. “Good thing we stripped the pink. There’s only enough room for one woman in our bed.”
He redirected the full brunt of his focus to meet and hold her gaze. “So that’s the way it is, huh?”
“I’m not really into women. Are you?”
“I’m into you.”
“Not what I meant.”
“It’s what I meant.” He straightened and walked into the kitchen. The shower was still running upstairs. Her ears filled with the sounds of rushing water and her thrumming awareness of Hunter, who stopped in front of her, so close she could smell Liam on his skin. The pheromone cocktail kicked up a distracting buzz in her head. She tried to shake it off but Hunter cupped her cheeks in his hands, tilted her head back, and held her immobile.
She held her breath and waited for him to come to whatever decision he was silently debating. They’d stood in a similar position only twelve hours ago, wrapped in an entirely different sort of tension. Yesterday’s Hunter was angry in his need. Today’s Hunter still displayed an undeniable degree of ferocity, but he held it on a short leash. Remembering the cold floor beneath her knees and his hard hands in her hair, she failed to suppress a shiver. Hunter answered with a slow, knowing smile and stroked the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip.
