Except I loved that little bump as much as I loved Nicholas, both for reasons I could never understand and for the most obvious explanation.

We belonged together.

We needed each other.

But I also needed Reed and Max and every promise they’d offer to help us survive.

Reed kissed a gentle path over my heated slit. He grinned, savoring just the sight of my puffiness and desperate heat. His hesitance with each passing second tortured me like an eternity. I whined, twisting my hips. His breath tormented the petals already too warm, too waiting, too wanting.

Reed poised to sink upon me, but his fingers tightened over my legs.

“This okay?” he didn’t ask me.

Nicholas released my tender neck, nipped between his teeth. “Ask her.”

Reed winked at me.

“Please,” I said. “Don’t tease me now.”

He laughed, “But that’s no fun.”

“We have plenty of fun.”

“Not nearly enough.”

Reed grunted as he dove between my legs. My thighs parted, and I gave my silky softness to him.

And he took it.

I gasped in gratitude. Nicholas threaded his fingers through my hair, whispering sensual words, encouraging me to arch higher, spread my legs wider, and enjoy everything Reed offered me.

And he offered me everything.

Reed understood pleasure. He devoted himself to it. His domination was the opposite of the restraints and chains Max preferred. While his brothers captured their pray, tangled them a thick web of possession and strength, Reed let my own desire trap me under his will. I twisted and begged for him to do all the terrible things his brothers promised under threat.

In some ways, Reed was the most dangerous Bennett of all.

I savored every lick and suckle, every press of his thick tongue against the swollen bud, every delicious and rolling shiver that flicked from his attention against the most sensitive, hottest part of me. The hormones and desperation, fear and relief, delights and shames blended away into the single tremor of absolute pleasure.

I missed this.

I wanted this.

I needed this.

Even if it was nothing I ever should have wanted, nothing that anyone, any woman, any person should have ever enjoyed. I loved each of my step-brothers in my own way, and nothing could break those bonds. Not now.

Reed’s tongue dashed over my slit, rolling and rubbing and deliberately seeking every pleased mew I uttered. Nicholas held me, touched me, kissed me.

But I was still missing one.

Max watched us, the dark intensity of his stare more intimidating when cast from the corner of the room. He meant for the alcohol in his hand to shield him from whatever he felt from our movements.

But nothing numbed a person more than isolation and separation.

And nothing healed more than a touch.

“Max.” My voice hitched as Reed’s tongue slipped within me. “Please.”

Max shook his head. “Just enjoy yourself, baby.”

“I’ll enjoy it more with you.”

I didn’t remember becoming so greedy, but two step-brothers weren’t enough. Reed groaned against my folds, and the hum buried inside me. I curled my fingers against Nicholas’s grasp, bending to capture his lips and take a deep, passionate kiss. The pressure built. I shuddered in their arms as everything pulsed hard, fast, and undeniable.

“Gonna come?” Reed parted from me to lick his finger. He grinned as he captured my clit once more and pressed against my entrance. He pushed his finger inside, groaning just as I did. “Let’s see it, Sarah. I gotta see it.”

I arched, accepting as much of him as he could give. A finger wasn’t enough, not when I knew they could give something better. I clenched over him, riding the shivers cast from the nibbled intensity of his lips against my bud.

Nicholas’s tongue tickled over mine, capturing my cries. He greedily hoarded them for his own.

It was overwhelming. I grasped at Nicholas, moaned for Reed, and desperately wished for Max’s touch.

Reed pumped his finger inside me, no longer faint or teasing. Again and again, his tongue swirled over me, and with each swipe of his expert and devoted lick, I crashed high, bursting with need and dizzying myself with every swept crest.

The orgasm rippled through me in a quiet plea. Nicholas took my hand, Reed the other. I squeezed as my breath lost in amazement. The shock of energy consumed me in a raw, honest burst of pleasure. I wept in a final shudder.

Reed grinned, licking his lips with exaggerated excitement. “Moved to tears? New record.”

Damn hormones. My voice was weak, trembling like my legs and arms and every bit of me twisted in oblivion. “Who’s keeping score?”

“I am.”

“Of course you are.”

I swallowed, glancing at Max, still sullen, ignoring the drink in his hand and the bulge in his jeans. I called for him again.

He shook his head.

Why?

His refusal hurt more than anything he did to me in the past, any beat of the belt or crash of his hand or his forced weight crushing me in muffled fear. It wasn’t his fault for what happened that night. It wasn’t his fault for the attack at our beach house or that I had been taken again.

Why did he act as though he were the cause of my every sorrow?

“Max…” I whispered again.

His voice hardened, rusted with an inflicted loneliness. “No, baby.”

I ached. How could I have such beautiful, perfect pleasure from Reed and Nicholas and still ache for another’s touch?

I groaned, accepting another of Nicholas’s kisses as I threaded my fingers through Reed’s hair. I thanked both of them with breathless murmurs.

Reed panted as he stared at me, at my body, at my wetness. His muscles tensed and flexed, and the hardness testing his jeans seemed painful.

I looked to Nicholas, shivering under the eager gold of his hunted gaze. Everything had changed. Our roles, our needs. I was no longer offered to his brothers to be bred and dominated. Now, it was my choice, our will to let the pleasure guide our desires.

I wanted comfort. Normalcy. That healing moment.

And I’d earn it for all of us.

I shifted from Nicholas’s lap to tug Reed’s shirt from the lean, strapping muscles of his chest. His build wasn’t as dramatic as Max’s or defined as Nicholas’s, but the swimmer’s strength rippled beneath his skin. He promised the same protection, the same power.

Just as much fun.

“Sarah, I don’t fucking deserve this.” Reed whispered as I climbed to him, unbuttoning his pants and releasing his demanding thickness from his jeans. “Seriously. I can’t…”

“It’s okay.” I lingered close, kissing his cheek, his neck, his shoulder. “I want this.”

“I hurt you before.”

No more than anyone else had, and nothing I hadn’t survived, forgiven, and needed to forget.

My breath caught as the sea-green of his eyes cracked to jade. He tensed before me, racked with guilt and suffering from the same suffocating confusion and darkness that had trapped me for so many months.

I found my peace, explored my needs under Nicholas’s hand, and took back that part of me offended, violated, and stolen.

Reed hadn’t found that peace. Neither had Max.

The thought of my step-brothers enduring that agony destroyed me, especially when I could help.

I pumped Reed’s cock in my hand, pressing my forehead against his as he sucked in a harsh breath and exhaled a profanity.

“Sarah…”

“I want this,” I whispered. “Do you?”

Reed gritted his teeth. He looked beyond me. “Nick?”

Again, Nicholas offered the smallest of smiles. “Ask her.”

“Fuck yes, Sarah.”

He moved, but I placed my hands on his shoulders, aching for the same relief but still crippled with insecurity. I pushed him back against the sofa. He understood.

They all understood.

I was either lucky or transparent, and I didn’t mind in the least. Every fear tumbled from me when my clothes came off and our bodies pressed close. Nicholas’s gentle hand brushed my hair from my shoulder. I arched. Reed cupped my breast.