Rhett sent a nod at the man full of approval and adoration. Rebel returned the look, seeming to validate an unspoken message between them.
Words Rhett uttered the next moment, in that entrancing blend of New York and London, making her instantly glad she was still sitting down.
"We're in love with you."
Brynna blinked. Then nothing else. She wished one of them would pinch her-or something even better-to confirm she wasn't dreaming.
"Both of us." Rebel let go of her hand to slide his touch up her arm, clenching his jaw as he stopped at her elbow. In his eyes, she saw the desire to go farther. "Nighttime in the jungle means you get a lot of time to talk."
"About a lot of things." Rhett wrapped his free hand around her knee, just above her boot. Her whole leg erupted in shivers from his knowing contact. "Like about how amazing it is that we've finally opened our hearts to each other-only to realize that all this extra space is empty."
"Not empty," Rebel asserted. "Simply missing the element that belongs there." He copied Rhett's grip, curling his long fingers around her other knee. "The missing magic."
"The love of our lives."
Rebel nodded as if his partner had sung the final note of a beautiful song. His eyes closed for a long moment. Rhett openly adored the expression before tilting his head back toward her. Brynna simply stared back. She struggled for words but they never came. They couldn't make it past the glorious, miraculous disbelief flooding her heart.
"Look, we know it sounds crazy, but-"
"No." His declaration finally unlocked her own. "No." The tethers on her tongue finally fell away … as the wings of her heart spread, daring to hope, to believe. She grabbed them both by the nape, letting them see her joyful tears. "I've been trying to talk myself out of crazy, too. For four damn months … "
Rebel raised his hand to the back of her head. "Meaning … ?"
"Meaning I'm in love with you, too." She shook her head. "I kept telling myself I was insane, that four days couldn't have possibly been enough time to change my heart, much less my life … but I couldn't shove any of it out of the way." Their gazes, so pure and blue, the oceans that her soul sailed on, encouraged her to continue. "I couldn't forget how much courage you two pulled from yourselves … the shit you confronted for the sake of finally being together. Your bravery inspired the same thing in me. Only once I realized how I felt, I didn't know what to do with all of it. I figured I'd just been the naughty little fling that turned into the wakeup call for you two."
Rhett chuffed. "You woke us up, all right."
Rebel smirked. "In some damn good ways."
"In some better than good ways." Rhett halted as if craving to say more. His nostrils flared, then again-until a look of pure fuck-it-all crossed his face.
He lunged, taking her mouth again. There wasn't a damn meaning left out this time. He was out to dominate, and Brynna was so ready to let him. She moaned from his raw, relentless conquest, giving in to every blaze he brought to her body, every fire he ignited in her heart.
Nearly the instant he released her, she was jerked the other direction. The dark command of Rebel's face consumed her lust-clouded vision, and her lips parted, preparing for his kiss-
Which didn't come.
"Have you registered for the new school semester yet?"
She blinked, wondering how he could disguise such an ice bucket of a question beneath that hot, sexy stare. "I-what?"
"Answer the question," he growled. "Have you registered-"
"I heard the question." She snapped it despite his delicious pull on her scalp. Perhaps because of it. "And no. Registration isn't for two more weeks. How does that-"
"Good."
"Good?"
He flicked a quick look to Rhett. Seemed to like what he saw there, so nodded and impaled her with his beautiful stare again. "We want you think about finishing your coursework in Washington."
Her eyes popped wider. "In-what?"
"There are at least a dozen outstanding colleges and universities between Kirkland, Seattle, and Tacoma," Rhett added. "They all have extensive graduate and post-graduate psychology programs."
"Meaning there are also some exceptional group homes." Rebel's lips tipped in a soft smile. "If you decide that Enya needs to be moved closer, as well."
"Moved?" Her brain latched onto the word, then let her heart pound all over it. "Wait. What? You-you want me to-"
"Move." Rebel pressed the word into her lips. "Yes. To Seattle."
"With us." Rhett turned the kiss into a three-way thing, caressing half his mouth over Reb's, half over hers. "Jungle down time also means a lot of real estate dreams."
Rebel's smile took on more meaning. "It means a lot of dreams, period."
"We figured if we looked at a bigger place in the suburbs, we could have a yard. A few spare bedrooms. One of them could be your office … "
"And one of them our bonus room."
Brynn couldn't help but giggle. "But of course. Boys have to have their … bonus stuff."
Rebel nodded solemnly. "Soundproofed. Halo and Call of Duty were made for cranking to level ten."
Rhett dipped his head, teething at one of her breasts through her clothes. "I'm more interested in the other toys that cause level tens."
Brynna let a gasp escape, as much from joy as arousal. She let it spread into a smile while Rebel growled his support of Rhett's assertion. He joined his friend in pushing her all the way back on the bed. As he coaxed her farther up on the mattress, Rhett busied himself with pulling down-on her clothes. More gasps tumbled out as he stripped off the romper in a few deft moves. Rebel nudged his nose beneath her bra, teasing at both her nipples while Rhett made short work of her panties.
"You two certainly know how to make a case for your cause." She punctuated that on a shiver, as Rhett climbed back up her body by way of sliding his fingers through her pussy. Within seconds, she dripped even wetter than before, soaking his fingers enough to leave a trail up her abdomen, toward her navel.
"Oh minette." Rebel pushed back the lace cups of her bra, scraping his thumb over her nipples. "We're just getting started."
She arched into his touch. "Does that mean I shouldn't tell you that I'll be packed and ready to go in a few hours?"
"Who says you're going anywhere past this bed for the next few hours?"
As he issued that, Rhett demonstrated the extent of their point. From seemingly nowhere, he pulled out a padded leather cuff and secured it around her right wrist. As he did the same to her left, she instantly felt a tug on the first cuff. They'd brought in some kind of under-the-mattress bondage system before going downstairs to get her. Oh God, she was a lucky girl.
As soon as he was done, Rhett slid over to gently kiss her on the lips. "Be good and we'll let your legs stay free."
Brynn lifted her head, instantly missing his spicy taste. "And if I'm bad?"
Rebel bit the curve of her shoulder. "Oh, please be bad." A light tap of his fingers on her mound, and she was instantly inspired to rename herself after every bad girl she could think of. Maleficent … Mata Hari … Bettie Page …
"He's tempting you to the dark side, peach." Rhett ran a graceful, powerful hand through her hair then Reb's. He lingered, alternately caressing and pulling, letting her share his captivated stare as Rebel responded with groans lust and heat.
She traded one moment's worth of a glance with Rhett, knowing his thoughts tracked with hers. To think of how close they'd come to losing Rebel … to being without the free, wild wind upon which both of them could ride to the fulfillment of their fantasies …
She didn't want to think about what life would be like now. But nor could she bear to contemplate it without Rhett: the mountain who gave her his hardness, his strength, his unfaltering foundation so she could lift herself up, arms and heart open, into the wind …
They were everything she needed.
Everything she ever would want.
"Brynna?" The whisper came from Rebel, as he hovered his face above her own.
"Yes?" She deliberately tugged at her cuffs, making sure the movement brushed her erect nipples right under his own.
"Come to the dark side."
She gasped, sharing breaths with him.