“She’s the best cook I know.” Kara turned toward the stove. Ryan was sure he could see her smile from the back of her head.
She let them eat like the savage wolves they were, before spinning back around. “Listen, I’m going to leave. Go over to Lindsey’s and get her some clothes. I’ll be gone a while. I explained everything to her as best I could last night, but she’s a strong woman with high moral standards. And guys … she has issues. It’s her place to explain, but she can’t just shake twenty-two years of ingrained beliefs in one day. Take it slow. Go easy on her. Keep your dicks in your pants if you know what’s best for you. Essentially, don’t fuck this up.”
“That potty mouth on her makes me laugh every time. It doesn’t suit her at all.” Alejandro smiled at Ryan.
Didn’t he know it. He’d been around her for months now.
* * * *
Lindsey leaned on the door frame leading into the kitchen and just breathed slowly, in, out, in, out. You can do this. Go talk to them.
Alex and Ryan were cleaning the kitchen. It was nearly spotless, except for the heaping plate of food she hoped was intended for her. Her stomach growled.
Kara was nowhere in sight. She must have left for the apartment already.
Cognitively, if she admitted it to herself, she knew the men were aware of her presence. But she was just as glad they didn’t let on yet. It gave her a minute to regroup.
She was tired. But not sleepy. She’d dreamed of sex, sex, and more sex. She had woken up several times in the night to find the sheet twisted around her legs, sweaty, hot, and wanting. Twice she’d awoken to find her legs spread and her own fingers pumping in and out of her. She’d soaked the sheets with her own come.
Nothing like this had ever happened to her. And she wasn’t prepared for the onslaught.
A long, hot shower that eventually turned tepid did nothing to ease the butterflies in her stomach. It seemed that her female parts actually hurt, a burning need to come at someone else’s hand besides her own. And not just anyone.
Sometimes she dreamed of Alejandro. Sometimes Ryan. A few times, she admitted only in the far recesses of her brain, both.
Although she’d not seen them once during the night, she’d jerked up several times, sensing their presence. Had they come in undetected and watched her sleep? The thought was at the same time terrifying and titillating. What if they’d seen her masturbating in her sleep?
Go into the room.
Lindsey cleared her throat and eased silently into the kitchen. “Is that for me?” She pointed at the plate on the table.
Her notion that they were already aware she stood in the doorway was confirmed when nobody flinched at her entrance.
“Yes. Sit down, baby. You must be starved.” Alejandro turned from the sink and motioned toward the table.
“I am. Again.”
Ryan sat across from her, a mug of coffee between his hands. He smiled, and she looked at him closely, really for the first time since the night he’d entered that same kitchen and their gazes had locked and frozen. Was that only two nights ago?
His smile was genuine this time. No joking. No mocking. No grumbling act of defiance.
Mercifully, both men let her eat in peace. When Alejandro finished at the sink, he sat down next to Ryan and they pretended not to watch her eat.
It should have been unsettling, but she was too hungry to care.
When she finished, she took a long drink of the mug of coffee Alejandro had brought over and cleared her throat. “I guess we have to work some things out, huh?”
“It would seem that way,” Ryan started. He’d mostly let Alejandro speak in the past. All pretense of her dating just Alex had gone out the window now though. He was free to speak his mind without sending her into a spinning free-fall.
“This won’t go away, honey. I think you’re starting to realize that.”
She didn’t move. Just waited for Ryan, this morning’s spokesperson, to continue.
They both looked so tired. And … sorry. For what?
“For causing you such stress.”
Oh, that was freaky. She flinched.
“Your thoughts are getting stronger. It was a long night.” Ryan looked down sheepishly and Lindsey blushed like never before. Heat suffused her face.
“You knew? What I was thinking … dreaming … doing in the night?”
“Most of it, yes,” Alejandro interjected.
“We’re sorry, Lin, honey, but it’s unavoidable. Over time you’ll learn to control some thoughts and feelings, but not this soon.”
“It’ll get worse first,” Alex added.
She held her breath.
They looked so forlorn. Her gut clenched. For the millionth time she squeezed her legs together. The ache in her center wouldn’t subside. It grew stronger.