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Heady, dizzy arousal dropped through me. “Oh, fuck.” I locked my hands behind the small of his back, making sure he couldn’t go anywhere but stand right here.
Fingers carefully undid my bun and slid through my hair, soothing my aching scalp. “You’re surprised?”
“No one’s ever called me that before.”
“I’ve never called anyone that.” The words were low. “Always wanted to, but it never felt right. With you it does.”
My stomach flipped. It did feel right. I wouldn’t pretend to understand it. If someone had asked me three days ago if I was someone who liked pet names, the answer would have been no. Between Jace and Gabriel, I’d already learned that wasn’t the case.
“Let’s eat,” Ash said. “So we can help you.”
“But this is comfortable.”
Jace ran his fingers through my hair again. “You can sit on my lap if you want.”
My whole body flushed pink, and I was too tired to think about that. Not tonight, anyway. “That’s okay. I’m already going to have a hard time resisting all of you.”
Slowly, he pulled away and helped me up onto a barstool. The high bar separated the kitchen from what looked like a breakfast nook peeking out into the backyard.
“Where’s Roman?” Ash asked, putting a plate of spaghetti in front of me.
“Still in his studio. I’m sure he’ll come in soon. Don’t want to bother him if he’s in the zone.”
I looked up. “What does he do?”
“He’s a sculptor. He was actually at the conservatory with us. Just in a different program.”
“Oh.”
Jace sat next to me, his hand straying to my knee or my shoulder. He couldn’t keep his hands or eyes off me, and I’d never been so happy for someone to watch me eat. “Are you going to eat too?”
“I’m more concerned about you at the moment.”
“I’m fine.”
“Hmm,” was the only sound he made, accompanied by a stroke of his hand down my ribs.
The front door opened and closed, and suddenly there was a third Alpha in the room, and my whole bodytingledwith the possibilities. Gabriel smiled when he saw me, coming around the bar to hug me from behind.
“It’s not fair,” I groaned. “I hate that you have to be off limits.”
Gabriel chuckled. “We don’thaveto be.”
I hung my head. “No, Ash is right. If I’m going to make it through this week, I can’t. Even if I want to.”
“We need to talk about that,” Asher said, staring at Gabriel. “We’re going to end up with injured dancers. I don’t know why Mark agreed to this. Or the board. This is a really fucking bad idea.”
“Mark’s not a bad guy,” I said.
Asher’s eyes softened when he looked at me. “I didn’t say he was, sweetheart. And because he’snota bad guy, I don’t know why he would agree to something this intense.”
Gabriel’s arm remained around my shoulders. “I can give you all the reasons Ian gave why it would work if you like.”
I shook my head. “We never have performances this fast. And I understand about the contracts. What I don’t understand is why we didn’t make the show later instead of earlier. I mean…” Looking down, I pushed what little was left of the spaghetti around. “I can do it. But if we’d known, I would have stepped up my training.”
Even when we found out about the shorter run and Ihadbeefed up my training the last couple of weeks, it didn’t prepare me for this. The silence in the kitchen was deafening.
Ash leaned on the kitchen island, his whole body rigid, fingers white where he gripped the counter.
