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My eyes lifted, latching on to his. Both he and Xaiden were looking at me.
“Are you okay?”
Xaiden’s hand was no longer in Val’s lap, which I had to admit was hot when it was there. They were facing me, giving me their full attention. I had to be truthful with them.
“I can’t give you what Xaiden can, Val. I’m not like him. I’ll understand if you don’t want to be with me.”
“Whoa, hold on,” Val said. “Just because he got me hard talking about getting possessive, doesn’t mean that’s all I want. Thinking about you gets me hard too.”
“It does?”
“Fuck, yeah. It’s great how different Xaiden and you are. I also don’t think it would work if you were the same way. You’d end up butting heads often. I want you both, so get out of your head and get back in this with us.”
“Corbin,” Xaiden’s rough voice pulled my attention to him. “Did you like what I said or were you turned off by it?”
I licked my lips. “I liked it.”
“You wouldn’t mind me being that way with you?”
I shook my head. “The only time it would bother me is if I’m working. I can’t have either of you worry if I’m late getting off a shift. They run over. Shit happens. I can’t control it. My work is all-consuming though. When I’m there, I’m on for the entire shift. Yes, there is downtime depending on what’s happening, but I can’t have you blowing up my phone looking for me if I don’t respond to a text or call. There has to be a line.”
“I get that,” Xaiden said. “I respect your work immensely. You’re safe there, right?”
“We have security and there are protocols in place in case something happens.”
“That’s all I ask, that you’re safe. Your work is important to you, and I wouldn’t want to jeopardize that. I’m not looking to tell you what to do or have you check in with me all the time. Once a day to let me know you’re doing okay, I’d appreciate that. I wanted to warn you I might be too much. I don’t want to drive you away if we decide to go further. The only way to ensure you both go in with your eyes open is to know I’m scared, first and foremost. I’ve lived with this fear for a long time. I can already feel the need to be around you, this raw desire pumping through me. I’m settled when you’re close.”
Cupping his cheek, I let my thumb graze over his stubble. “I don’t know what the future holds. What I can tell you is hurting you and Val is the last thing I want to do.”
Xaiden’s fingers wrapped around my wrist, holding me in place while he leaned into my hand. He was touch starved. Not completely since I knew his brother, friends, and parents hugged him and joked around with him. It was intimate touch he missed. It was why he wanted me to touch him the other night when we were in my living room.
My eyes connected with Val’s. “Are we okay?”
He nodded.
I took a deep breath, attempting to calm my racing heart. “Do you want us to touch you, Xaiden?”
“Please,” he whispered.
“Lean back against the couch.”
He did and closed his eyes. His head tipped back; his arms dropping to either side of him, literally opening himself to Val and me.
We both looked at Xaiden like we’d been handed a winning lottery ticket.
I started off by tracing my fingers along Xaiden’s jaw, over to his ear, then down his neck. Val moved on the other side, but I was entranced in what I was doing. My fingers fell to the collar of Xaiden’s navy T-shirt and teased under the fabric, eliciting a shiver from him.
Taking his hand in mine, I turned it over, so his palm was facing up. His callouses spoke of the fighting he did, the workouts in his gym. Xaiden wasn’t someone who sat behind a desk, at least not all the time. I followed the trail of veins from his wrist up his arm until the muscles flexed beneath my fingers.
His lips parted; a soft moan left him.
“Can we take off your shirt?” I asked.
He didn’t bother answering with words. He sat up and stripped it from his body, throwing it to the floor, before resuming his position. There was a vibrant peacock on his arm closest to me. Its head at the top where Xaiden’s shoulder was, and its beautiful tail extended down past his elbow.
“This is gorgeous,” I told him as I touched the feathers.
“Sasha loved peacocks. I remember when she saw one when I was with her, the way she lit up and smiled. I started buying her small figurines when I would see them. Anything to make her smile like that. I got the tattoo to remember her.”
