She smiled and squeezed his hand then took a deep breath, seeming to search for the right words. “You see…the thing is…I know stuff about you that you haven’t told me.” She shook her head in a wobbly sort of way, rolled her eyes, and tried again. “I think I know stuff about you. Both of you. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s kind of like having memories that aren’t actually mine.” She turned her gaze to Alex and held out her other hand for him to take. “Somehow I know you’ve been hurt before. I even think that it was your brothers’ partner who hurt you. She chose the other three but not you.” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “Shit. I’m probably insane. I mean, I keep thinking I know things, but how can I know things? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Judging by Alex’s complete stillness, Ronan was beginning to wonder just how close Kali’s assessment was. He’d suspected for a long time that Alex’s womanizing and charming ways were a reaction to something that had broken him long ago, but he’d never suspected that it might have been his sister-in-law who’d done the breaking. Yet it would explain the strained relationship he had with his brothers. They always invited Alex to family events. Alex always found an excuse not to attend.
Kali watched Alex for a moment before releasing a deep breath and turning back to Ronan. “No sense in making a fool of myself only partway.” She gave him a lopsided smile. “I keep thinking that you’ve never had a connection—with anyone. You hold yourself away from everyone, even your army buddies.” She lowered her eyes and whispered the rest. “The only true connection you’ve felt was with me.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “But there’s something else there. A need to have Alex included, almost like he is a necessary part of this…of us.”
She dropped her head forward, but not before Ronan saw the tears leak past her closed eyelids.
“Kali,” he said as he tried to gather the woman in his arms. But she resisted, pulling away with a half laugh, half sob.
“That’s…um…probably wishful thinking on my part. Shit! I’m nuts and pathetic.” She started backing away. “Sorry.”
Alex caught her as she tried to leave the room, pulling her into his arms and then moving to trap her between them.
“You’re not nuts,” Alex said in a voice more serious than Ronan had ever heard the fire demon use. “Stephanie mated two of my brothers when I was quite young—well, young in demon terms. I did love her for many years, but she has only ever seen me as a younger brother, never as a potential mate. It didn’t really hurt until she chose my youngest brother as well a few years later.”
“I was right?” Kali asked, sounding rather shocked.
“Yes,” Alex said as he pressed a kiss to her lips, gently deepening the contact when she opened her mouth for him. Ronan could feel his cock swelling just watching his friend kiss his woman. And she was his woman. He had absolutely no doubt about that.
He smoothed his hands around her waist and undid the buttons of her shirt with clumsy fingers. She moaned when he caressed her stiff nipples, pushing the material aside, exposing her to Alex’s touch. Alex groaned when Kali lifted his hands to her breasts, pressing his fingers against her soft flesh without breaking their kiss.
Ronan went to move away, happy to step back as Kali and Alex got to know each other, but Kali made a soft sound of disappointment, and he couldn’t do it. He’d often envied fire demons for their mating habits, and now more than ever he understood why. There was just something magical about sharing a woman he cared deeply for with a man who cared for her also.
Smoothing the shirt off her shoulders, Ronan pressed kisses to the back of her neck as Alex lowered to his knees and worshipped her breasts. She was completely naked without the shirt. They’d had to leave her home so quickly she only had Ronan’s and Alex’s clothes to wear while they were here. Ronan knew he should have picked up some things for her in town, but he’d used the excuse that buying clothes for a female might give away her hiding place. It had been an extreme precaution, and if he’d truly been honest, he would have admitted it was more likely an excuse because he enjoyed seeing her in his shirts. Fortunately, he didn’t make a habit of looking at his motivations too closely.
He groaned as Kali caressed his cock through his jeans, the soft touch both new and achingly familiar. Desperately, he helped her to undo the buttons, and then she wrapped her warm fingers around his hard erection. He groaned and thanked whatever deity had urged him to go commando today. He snaked a hand around her hip, caressing the crease at the top of her leg as Alex moved lower, licking a path down to the pussy Ronan had been dreaming about for months.