“It will be perfect. You’ll get used to it and the hot water will ease your muscles.”
“We’ll be right back. We’re taking showers and then getting dinner ready. You take your time and one of us will come get you.”
She nodded her head and watched them leave.
Winter looked at Storm.
“She’s putting the walls back up.”
“It’s expected. She’ll open up and let us fully inside. It will take some persuading but I think we can handle it,” Storm said and smiled.
“What was that?” Winter teased.
“What?” Storm asked as they exited the bedroom.
“I think I saw you smile. I didn’t think you knew how.”
Storm gave Winter a stern look and Winter raised his hands up in surrender as he walked backward. “I get it. It took Aspen and that sexy body of hers to make you smile. Pretty fucking powerful.”
“Go soak your head.”
Winter chuckled and headed to take a quick shower.
* * * *
Aspen soaked in the tub until the water cooled. She slowly got out of the bath and grabbed a towel, pleasantly surprised to feel any soreness at all.
She thought about what Storm said and how they never brought a woman here to the house and never had sex here. She found it hard to believe, yet she did believe him.
She went over everything that happened today in her head. The raw emotion, the connection that became stronger as she made love to each man, and the fact that th
e bond that was there before that, felt different. To learn that they had each lusted for her as she had for them was life altering. She feared their rejection and also her inadequacy when it came to sex. They feared placing her in danger but realized she was already in danger and really didn’t care.
She had been numb to emotions, to connecting with anything living. Until them. Until tonight. She really felt like a part of them and now feared what would happen if they changed their minds and decided she wasn’t the woman they wanted and desired. She also feared Andrei. How was she going to destroy him, save the guys’ company, and also give the men the control they wanted? She knew they needed her submission in the bedroom, and actually she was fine with that. It aroused her, made her feel so sexy and feminine and as if she could let go and be free. But they were involved with the Russian mafia. They would demand that respect in public, in their lives, and in this relationship.
Could she do that?
She dried off and moisturized her skin.
She looked at herself in the mirror. The love bites, the blush across her cheeks and face, and the sparkle in her eyes. She was in love with them. Had longed to be part of their team, their family, and connected to them in that deep way they were connected to one another. She almost felt it completely, yet her fears, her inability to let go when one of them wasn’t inside of her, seemed to linger and kill the happiness she should feel right now.
She gripped the counter and closed her eyes. Flashbacks of her abduction filled her mind.
The cage they chained her into because she fought every person who tried to control her and grab her. It was dirty and cold, and sat on concrete in the darkness. She shivered as the pain she felt hit her body.
“Aspen.”
She opened her eyes and gasped, stepping back, nearly losing her balance.
York pulled her into his arms and she hugged him tight.
“It’s okay, baby. You’re okay. You’re safe here with us,” he said, and she clung to him and squeezed him as tight as she could.
Then the awkwardness hit her. She was embarrassed as she pulled away slowly and wouldn’t look at him.
“Let me get dressed for dinner.”
He took her hand and pulled her back against him. He cupped her cheek and looked down into her eyes.