CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

"My cute, adorable roses." My lips brush along the soft white petals. "Mama's going to be back first thing in the morning."

More flower-talking. I know, I know. But they're my children. I love them as if they were cute little newborns without the crying and pooping part.

Perfect.

I do one last sweep of my shop. The flowers are ready for the freelance delivery guy I hired to drive them to Luna and Julien's wedding tomorrow. It's a big order that won't fit in my truck, and though it breaks my heart, the guy's reliable.

Besides, I'll be there to help set them in exactly the right place. I insisted.

I'll set the flowers and leave.

I'm not a guest for obvious reasons, which was kind of depressing but understandable. The thing we have outweighs any PDA we're avoiding like the plague.

We'll kiss in public, one day.

I'm in no hurry.

I think.

"Sleep tight, babies." I wave at each one of them as a final goodbye for the night. "You have a big day waiting for you tomorrow."

Next on my list is to lock up and walk home. Stretch my legs. Breathe.

Which neither of my men would approve.

I've been trying to be a good girl. Each evening, I called them when it's time to head home. Carter has never been late, not once. Killian always arrives early.

They're still on edge even though no one's tried to attack me since the asshole. I've been searching for him. For anyone suspicious. There's been none. Not even the strange man Opal told me about two weeks ago.

It's time to spread my wings and fly. I'm not some caged animal.

My mom might be fulfilled with her role as Dad's flashy doll that smiles and says the right thing at the right time. She loves being his aging and yet functioning pony, and he likes parading her around.

I couldn't and wouldn't be trained.

My relationship will never be like my parents.

Resolve wraps itself around my chest, fueling me to do what's right by me. I'm walking to our apartment alone.

A-fucking-alone.

I switch off the lights in the shop, leaving the back one on. Just in case one of my flowers has nightmares and I won't be here to console them. They need it. I don't care that it's a waste of money.

Next, I count the money in the till, locking it up.

Last but not least, I lock the place up. Normally, I would've double-checked the lock on the back door. Today, I don't have to. It hasn't been opened since yesterday, and I haven't gone out on any deliveries.

Time to head home.

My hand reaches for the front pocket of my white dandelion-patterned dress. My fingers close around my shop keys. I'm ready to go out the front door.

Except I don't make it past the counter. I'm frozen as the air in the shop shifts.

The hair at my nape stands on end.

I'm not alone.

Someone entered through the back door.

I don't see the person behind me. Didn't hear him enter. I didn't smell him over the strong fragrance of my flowers.

Nevertheless, he's here.

A burglar.

Hoping he won't notice my movement, I tuck my key between my ring and middle finger. With enough force, my makeshift weapon will slide right into his eyeball. It might go deep.

As in brain deep.

I'll have to change my keys after the police confiscate my pair as evidence.

Worth it.

I suck in a deep breath. The asshole remains quiet. Thinks he's intimidating me by hovering around like a fucking predator.

He's messed with the wrong woman.

A war cry rises from my lungs. I spin, wielding my weapon in the air, preparing to strike. My adrenaline-pumped brain blocks me from seeing the man's face.

The only thing I notice is that his hair is black instead of blond.

He dyed it. Conniving asshole.

"Pet."

Did he just call me Pet?

How dare he.

The stolen nickname fuels the fire in me. I hurl myself forward, the blood in my veins on fire, my bicep pulsing. I'm about to poke his eyeball right out of its socket. Eliminate the threat once and for all.

"Fucking wild animal." The man grips my raised wrist with one hand, enveloping my back with his free hand. Forcing me to his chest. "Fucking hot animal."

Is it sandalwood I'm smelling?

I blink, clearing my foggy vision. "Muffin?"

"Amara." He pins me to his cock that pulses against my belly. Almost spearing me through our clothes. "Who else would get this hard when his girlfriend is about to take out one of his eyeballs?"

"Killian." I giggle.

"Yeah." He smiles wide. "He would."

There are questions I should be asking Carter instead of melting into him. Like how he got in. Or how he knew I was about to close up now and not later.

None of them seems important at the moment.

All I care about is his thick cock grinding against me. How he's one of the two most handsome men I've ever seen.

I sneak my free hand between us, cradling his stubbled cheek. Smiling.

"You know, if eyes were replaceable, I would've let you rip mine out." His lips lower to mine. Instead of kissing me, he sinks them into my bottom lip. A hungry animal eager to tear his prey's flesh. "You make me go feral, Amara. Make me lose my mind."

Carter kisses me up my throat, nipping at my jaw. His hand cups the underside of my breast, his thumb brushing my pierced nipple beneath my bra.

My hand releases its death grip on the key, and it clatters as it falls to the counter, then slides to the floor. My leg hikes up Carter's leg. But our third is missing. And besides, I have questions.

"What"—my God, I have to talk before I spontaneously combust—"are you doing here?"

"Taking you home." His lips ghost down my neck. Soft. Unlike his hips that push me against the counter. Or his hands that hauls my ass on it. "What does it look like? Making sure you're not walking home alone."

"How did you get in?"

"Stole your keys." His fingers bite into my ass, yanking me to his dick. "Duplicated them while you slept."

"And…stop. Stop." I shove against his chest. "Killian's not here."

I'd love nothing more than to be impaled by his cock. Be pounded in my shop before my parents sell it to someone else. But absolutely not just the two of us alone.

"Kill got caught up in a conference call. He's at the hotel's office." Carter's tongue ghosts over my ear, making me shiver. "He can be here, sort of. He can watch us."

"H-how?" I'm panting, helpless against the relentless grind of Carter's hips.

"Cameras." He pinches my pierced nipple through my dress, his other hand digging into the flesh of my ass. "We had them installed two weeks ago."

"What?" I gape at him, incredulous and flattered that they'd go to these lengths to spy on me. For my safety and who knows what else. Hopefully, they've done dirty things while they watched. I know I told Killian I'm forbidding him from installing these cameras and stalking me. Thing is, I don't care anymore. Because this isn't about them being controlling asses. This feels depraved and kinky. I like it. Very, very much. "You hacked into my security cameras?"

"Such a clever one, pet." His cock rubs against my clit, and I bite my bottom lip. "It would've been a lot easier than installing new ones."

Carter kisses the tip of my nose. There's nothing condescending about him. He adores me. He shows it through his actions, and I melt into him.

"When did you install new ones?"

"We had to distract you with multiple orgasms and fill your holes while we had our men working here."

Again, I should feel violated. Wronged, even. I specifically told them not to do it.

I'm neither of these.

I'm obsessed with these men. I want them crawling beneath my skin. I crave to sneak under theirs. Flow in their veins and get high on their blood.

Why did I even say no in the first place?

Carter growls, ripping himself away from me. "Killian."

"That's when you had it done?" My sex tingles, and I spin on the counter to watch him pacing the shop. "The night my cameras here were down?"

"Correct, A." Carter pulls down the blinds I usually leave up. "We installed them here"—he points out to the large clay vase I haven't moved since I opened the shop—"here, here, and there."

The heat between my thighs spreads out to the rest of me. A vine latches on to my body.

"You've been watching me this whole time?" My voice sounds like I just choked on cotton candy. Thick and somewhat sweet. I'm so happy I could cry. "Both of you?"

"Yup. Have been looking out for you. Checking up on you." His mesmerizing smile—the one that has the hotel staff cringing—curves up his lips. He prowls toward me, shrugging off his jacket. "Remember two nights ago? When I called you saying I missed your pretty pussy. In the middle of a business meeting I had with Killian."

"I do." I gulp, my arousal spreading through me like wildfire. "You asked my permission for you two to jerk off together. I could barely function after that, thinking about the two of you like that."

"I know." I'm drawn to the sexy way Carter rolls up his sleeves. Loosens his tie. "We were watching you. Had the live stream from your shop. That's what we jerked off to. Came so hard I saw stars. Kill made a whole fucking mess."

My hand slides to the soaking apex between my thighs.

"Bad girl." Carter rounds the counter, curls his fingers around my wrist, and presses it to my lower back. He jerks his head to somewhere behind his back. "The last camera we installed, it's there."

I pull on his tie, dragging him to me. Our mouths press to one another. Our eyes twinkle in the faint light of the shop.

He adjusts one of his AirPods in his ear. "You ready?"

"Where's mine?" I reach for the pocket of his pants where he pulled the first bud from.

His hand slams on mine faster than I can say Flamingo Flower. Indignance has my lips curving into a pout.

His eyes narrow, his thumb rubbing along my palm. "We're going to play a game. You, me, and him."

"What game?" My heart aches less at this. In fact, it tingles. "I like games."

"I know you do, A. And you're going to love this one." His lips coast on the O-shaped scar on my shoulder, his hands moving to my hips. "I'll be on the phone with Kill, and he'll order us around. Tell us what kind of show would make his dick so hard he jacks off at the office."

A growl escapes me, and my fingernails scratch at Carter's neck. The thought alone turns me into a wild animal.

"Just you and me, baby." Carter eyes the closest camera to the counter. "And him."

"No holding back," I whisper.

He shakes his head, his fingers biting into my ass and pulling closer.

"Then do it." My legs spread for him and Killian, offering myself. "Call Daddy."