My hand stilled as that one syllable echoed inside my mind. Was she choosing me over the others? Or just choosing me first? After a moment, I decided that question could wait. I lowered my head and was pleasantly surprised when she raised hers.
Or lips met and the warm, firm pressure was like a promise of more good things to come. My arms went around her and we were pressed together, chest to chest, hip to hip, and her legs wrapped around mine.
I stroked her silky hair as the kiss deepened. She opened her mouth and I took the opportunity to explore and deepen our connection.
She moaned, and I could feel the vibration from where her soft breasts were pressed against me. I held her closer, still ravishing her mouth. I wanted more from her. I wanted everything. But I didn’t know if she was ready, and there was still one very important thing I needed to know.
Emma gave a little sigh as I broke the kiss, and I smiled. She was the sweetest thing ever, and now I knew she tasted as sweet as she looked.
“Emma?” In the dark, I couldn’t be sure, but I thought her eyes were closed. I squeezed her arm and said her name again. “Emma?”
“What?” She didn’t sound sleepy, she sounded… I wasn’t sure. Satisfied? Or ready for more?
“Tell me what you want, Emma.”
She ran her hand along my chest and abs, her light touch driving me crazy. “I want to feel something.”
I captured her wandering hand and brought it to my lips, kissing it. “You’re doing a good job of feeling me.”
She shook her head, her soft hair tickling me. “I want to feel something I’ve never felt before. Something I’ve never experienced before.”
Did she mean something she’d never done with Clint? I was hesitant to ask because I didn’t want to bring up the name of that asshole and ruin the moment. “What do you want to experience, sweetheart?”
Emma was quiet and I let her gather her thoughts. When she spoke, her words surprised me. “When you and Austin are up on stage, you seem so alive and young and… sexy.”
I chuckled. “We’re supposed to be sexy. That’s what the act’s about.”
Her head shook again. “What I mean is, you’re doing something. All of you. You’re working toward your dream of being a dance instructor. Tonio’s getting a degree. Knox has his photography, and he feels alive when he’s out in the natural world. And Austin… well, I don’t really know about him.”
“He’s got plans for the future, too,” I said, but they weren’t mine to tell. “You’re doing things, too. You’re following your dream to publish a book.”
“I am now, but for a long time, I didn’t feel like I was really living. When I was with Clint. And before that, living with my grandmother. I didn’t feel alive. I didn’t feel like I was doing things and experiencing things. I was only reading about them in books.”
“And now you’ll be the one dreaming up those experiences.”
“Because you guys pushed me.” She was silent for a moment. “And I know there’s more you can show me… and I really think I want you to.”
My pulse was pounding faster than it had been a moment ago, but my voice was still level. “Do you want me? Or all of us?”
Emma didn’t answer. Instead, she pressed her head against my side, her hair sweeping across my chest. At long last, she spoke in a muffled voice. “I really like you.”
Her response made me happier than she could know, but I suspected there was more to it—perhaps something she couldn’t even admit to herself.
“What about the others? Do you like them, too?”
It was nearly a minute before she nodded, her forehead brushing against me. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s okay to like all of us.”
“It is? I thought you’d be mad.”
“Of course not.”
“It’s just… all of you rescued me. Not just that night I was passed out at the club. You all rescued me from the life I hated, because if I hadn’t ended up here, I probably would’ve ended up back at my grandmother’s, at some job I hated. And I never would’ve learned what it felt like to dance in your arms. Or to cook with Tonio. Or to go hiking early in the morning with Knox.”
“And Austin?”
Her thighs clinched around my leg as she answered. “He kind of taught me that maybe… it’s okay to want things. He’s just so open with his, you know, sexuality. He’s made me think that maybe it’s okay to want more.” She stopped, and I squeezed my arm around her, knowing how hard it was for her to talk about stuff like this. “Are you sure you’re not disappointed with my answer?”
“No,” I said firmly. “Believe it or not, that’s the correct answer. Or, well, there are several correct ones, but that was one of them. Are you still interested in trying something new?”