Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
Fucking touch me.
Her gaze dips to my lips. Then she does. She puts those tiny, delicate hands on my chest and begins an exploration that draws up my balls, lengthens my hard-on, clenches my ass, and has my fingers gouging the wood doorframe.
She caresses the slab of my chest, traces each individual stomach muscle, and follows the trail of hair down, down, down…
And stops.
“Fuck!” I kick my hips, unable to control myself. “I need inside you.”
Like a bomb, the moment shatters.
“Oh, God.” She drops her hands, her eyes round with horror. “What have I done?”
“Frankie.” Panic spikes as I cup her face and bring our foreheads together. “We’ve done nothing wrong. I’m your husband. I love you.”
“Monty.” She shakes her head. “We have to stop. You know why.”
“I can’t, darling.” I kiss her pretty mouth, coaxing her to kiss me back. “I’ll never stop loving you.”
Why won’t she kiss me back?
Something stirs in my periphery. Predatory movement without sound. Not the creak of a floorboard. Not the rustle of a breath. But feral energy singes my skin.
I pull my lips from hers, and we turn our heads toward the stairs.
My gaze locks with the two men I consider my brothers.
Their eyes blaze with primal, untamed fury. Their broad, taut postures promise pain. Their fists flex with pure, unadulterated destruction.
A noise reaches my ears. The low, lethal, guttural growl of something that isn’t human reverberates through the hall, sending Frankie into a frenzy.
Shoving and twisting, she jolts out of my embrace and scrambles into the path of war.
“No!” Arms stretched out at her sides, she tries to make herself bigger, taller, a barrier between them and me.
Protecting me.
From them.
Leo prowls forward, jaw clamped, muscles bunched and ready to kill.
“Stop! Listen to me.” She swings her hands forward, smacking her palms against his heaving chest. “Don’t blame Monty. Blame me. Hate me.”
“Move, woman.” Kody advances, an animal on the hunt.
“Let them by.” Adrenaline pumping, I push back my shoulders, prepared to face their wrath.
Every instinct urges me to go to her, to set her out of the way. But if I take one step forward, they’ll attack, and she’ll be caught in the fray.
So I keep my feet planted, my stance wide, and I wait.
“No!” She stands her ground. “I won’t let you hurt him. I put myself in that situation. Me! I did this!”
“You chose him.” Kody’s black eyes turn blacker, pulsing with pain. “You chose him over us.”
“You’re wrong.” Her voice shatters. “I’ll never choose. I can’t. I want all of you. I love all of you. I’m the problem.” She pounds her chest. “I’m the monster. The toxic red flag.”
Leo flinches, his eyes flickering with confusion and anger before he turns that battle back on me. “I’ll kill you for this.”
“I won’t apologize for loving my wife.” Engulfed in the flames of their territorial fury, I crack my neck. “Do your worst.”
48
Kodiak
—
“No! Stop this!” Frankie jabs a finger at Monty and spins back to Leo and me. “Focus on me, not him.”
I glare into her eyes, recognizing the desperation she holds for him, the fierce need to protect and defend him.
The betrayal I feel is a gaping, unbearable, soul-deep wound, and that look on her face pours salt into it.
“You love him,” I whisper, my voice breaking.
“Yeah.” Her chin trembles. “I love him. And you. And Leo.”
Behind her, Monty’s eyes soften immediately, and a subtle quiver sweeps across his mouth as if he’s struggling to hold back a sappy declaration.
“For how long?” Leo pitches forward, bringing his face nearer to hers. “Have you been fucking around with him since we moved in?”
She flinches, curling in on herself as if he took a sledgehammer to her chest.
I snarl at him, baring my teeth.
Monty’s face turns to stone.
With a deep inhale, she lowers her arms and squares her shoulders.
“I told you I loved him in the gym three months ago. My feelings for him have been shifting, returning, deepening into something new. But I never acted on them. I haven’t so much as kissed him until tonight.” Her chin dips. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t kiss me!” Monty swipes a hand through the air. “Don’t apolog—”
“I never intended to hurt you.” She presses the heel of her hand to her sternum. “I’m so fucking sorry for your pain, and I won’t make excuses for my behavior. But I need to understand…” She aims her watery gaze at me. “You said I wasn’t a possession, a thing to own. You shared me with Leo because you knew we would be happier together than divided. Why is this different?”
“I trust Monty with our safety, with our business deals, but not with this. Not with you.” The pain in my chest intensifies. “Monty doesn’t share. His obsession with you threatens everything we have.”
“He’s right.” Monty inhales sharply. “I won’t share.”