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Liam watched me with amused eyes from an armchair across the room, the early morning light highlighting the sharp planes of his face. “You all right, little lamb?” he asked me.
“Nightmare,” I muttered, scooting down the bed so I could exit over the foot without waking up Rian and Cormac. He’d seen everything the night before. No need to be shy about my nudity now, I guessed.
“What were you looking for under the pillow?”
Should I tell him? Would he use it against me?“My gun.”
Liam blinked, the lids of his green eyes moving slowly, like a lazy predator. He cocked his head and watched me as I practiced the breathing exercises my therapist had given me, exercises I’d been using for a decade now when I woke up terrified in the middle of the night.
“Get cleaned up and meet me downstairs,” he said, an edge of command in his voice. He ran his hands through his shock of red hair as he stood. When I didn’t move, he looked over my naked body with amusement. “Go take a shower, Ginevra,” Liam said, his voice gentler than before. “Then come downstairs and get a cup of coffee.”
I wasn’t a submissive. I wasn’t! And I wasn’t ready to accept that these men had the power to command me and my body. But fuck, that shower sounded lovely. After Liam left the room, I hopped off the bed and groaned as pain shot through me. My entire body ached. Mycoreached. I felt like I’d been run over by a tank, then fucked by it. A hot shower sounded fantastic.
My clothes hung on the back of the bathroom door. Someone had unpacked my bag and moved my toiletries to the sink and the shower. The heat of the water pounding down on my sore muscles relaxed the tension from realizing I was alone in that room with three men with no way to defend myself.
Not that I had tried to stop them from doing whatever the fuck they wanted last night. The memory of my utter submission tasted bitter on my tongue as I relived the evening. Shame swept through me, and I let out a choked sob, leaning against the tiles. I couldn’t let them know I was ashamed. I couldn’t give these men an inch because they would reach in and steal a whole mile from me before I even realized what was going on.
Determination swelled in my chest as I washed the stickiness of the previous night’s pleasure and pain off my body. They wanted me as much as I wanted them, more even. I could use that to my advantage. I had to.
When I emerged from the shower, I dressed for work in a simple and elegant navy suit and pulled my hair back into a sharp chignon, heavy and wet against the back of my neck. Although my makeup was mostly subtle, the deep red of my lipstick contrasted with the tan of my skin, drawing the eye to my mouth as I spoke. Clothing was a costume, my armor, and when I slipped my feet into my kitten heels, I looked like the CEO I was, from head to toe.
The greasy smell of frying bacon smacked me in the face as I clattered down the stairs. Liam’s smile when he saw me broke a tension I didn’t realize I’d been holding in my chest. He slid a plate full of eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, and a grilled tomato onto the table, where a cup of black coffee sat steaming. Beside the plate was my gun.
My breath caught in my throat and my gaze shot to his.
Liam grinned. “You’re not a danger to us.”
“And if I were?”
Something wild flickered in his green eyes. He licked his full lips and grinned wickedly. “Breaking you would be that much sweeter, wouldn’t it then?”
The gun was a trap to get me to the table without reflecting on what I’d let them do to me there, what I’d done on it the night before. It worked. I snatched it up, checked the safety and the clip, then slid it into my waistband, where it sat against the small of my back, comforting me.
Breakfast was delicious. Cormac and Rian eventually wandered downstairs in their sweatpants. I let my eyes rove over their bare chests despite my resolution to remain cool and distant that morning, unable to resist the appeal of their chiseled muscles clenching and pulling as they pulled up chairs and dug in.
“Like what you see, princess?” Rian asked, grinning as my eyes flicked over his shoulders and chest.
What little I’d eaten turned to stone in my stomach. Confusion and shame about last night, about my wantonness, about what I’d let them do to me, overwhelmed me. I clenched one hand around my coffee mug and hid the other in my lap to hide my violent trembling.
Cormac’s smile was predatory as he noticed my unease. “Something bothering you, darling?”
Yes, I was fucking bothered. When I remembered his hands on me, squeezing my hips as he pounded into me, my thighs shifted involuntarily. It would almost have been easier if I hadn’t given in, if I hadn’t begged them to let me climax. Then I could have pretended that I hadn’t been a willing participant in my own humiliation.
“Where can I set up to work? Somewhere the light’s good, preferably,” I asked, changing the subject.
“We have an office upstairs. Your stuff’s already in there,” Rian offered.
I pushed my chair back from the table, the legs scraping against the wood floor.
“Stop,” Rian snapped. “Finish your food.”
My jaw dropped.Who the fuck does he think he is?
Cormac’s voice was low and angry. “Do as you’re told, Ginevra. You won’t like the punishment if you don’t.” His brown eyes bored into mine. “It won’t be nearly as sexy as whatever you’re thinking right now.”
How did he fucking know?
I didn’t need to pick fights with them this morning, though. With a sigh, I pulled my chair back to the table and picked up a mouthful of eggs. I ignored their lighthearted banter as I worked my way around my plate. They let me eat in silence.
