It was later, after my pulse finally calmed down, after I could remember how to breathe again, and after my whole body stopped shaking in the aftershocks of my orgasm, that we finally left the party.

I knew I must have looked completely disheveled, and like…well, like I’d just had the hottest sex of my life, because I had. But by that point, besides the fact that most of the club was preoccupied with each other, I also just didn’t care.

Something had happened to me in that room. And it wasn’t just crazy hot sex with three gorgeous strangers, it’d been something more than that. And I knew that might sound silly, but I knew what casual sex was, and there’d been something in all three of their eyes when we’d all been together that said this was something more.

This was something bigger than us.

I know — three hot strangers, in masks, at a sex club should have, by all reasoning, been the actual definition of “casual sex.” But, there was no denying the way I felt, and there was no way to ignore the way they kept me close. The way their hands held mine, the way their eyes burned into mine when we stopped halfway down the stairs to the front door of the mansion so they could each kiss me tenderly against the wall.

And by the time we walked out in the summer night, I didn’t want this night to end. This was a fairytale — a filthy, forbidden fairytale — and I didn’t want it to stop.

God, what was I, falling for these beautiful strangers? Had I actually gone insane? I’d come to the club that night for one reason, and it had certainly not been to sleep with princes. No, I’d gone there that night to expose all of this. I’d gone there to do my job and shine a light on the dark secret of the royal world.

And now after my night with them, for the first time ever, I felt awful about why I’d come. These three weren’t bad guys, they just happened to come to this place. And, now that I’d seen it, the Club wasn’t a “bad place” either. I hadn’t seen anything illegal, or wrong. No one had been there against their will, or had been forced to do anything. I’d seen pleasure, and women having an amazing time letting themselves go into the ultimate fantasy.

That and I could safely say I’d just had the most insanely hot, amazing sex of my life.

No, after seeing it, I knew one thing: the Triple Crown Club wasn’t breaking news, it was just sensationalist tabloid shit.

And I wanted nothing to do with that.

The men had called their car, and while we waited, we moved into the shadows of the side-garden next to the large sweeping driveway. One of them held me from behind, his arms wrapped tight around me as we all just lingered in the silence, occasionally grinning at each other about what had just transpired inside.

The front door to the mansion opened, and as four people walked out, I suddenly gasped.

It was Julia.

She was wearing a mask, along with the three men she was with, but I’d have known my friend anywhere. And here she was, walking out of the club with three men, and getting into a limo with them!

“Someone you know?” the one holding me murmured.

“Y-no.”

“Still a bad liar,” he chuckled as Julia’s car pulled away. Their limo arrived next, and we quickly stepped into the darkness of the car.

It was there that I finally took a breath and looked up at them.

“I don’t— I mean—”

I frowned, immediately feeling like an idiot for having almost said it out loud. What did I think this was, that we were “serious” now? Please. I knew what this was. These were three hot guys, at a sex club thats principal purpose was for three men to share one woman.

And I’d been the woman.

Suddenly, I felt so stupid for almost telling them that I didn’t want—

“You don’t want this to end.”

My eyes jerked up to them, sitting across from me in the back of the limo.

What were they, freaking mind readers?

The one in the middle grinned. “You don’t want tonight to end.”

“I didn’t say that,” I said primly.

“Yeah but you were thinking it,” the one next to him said.

I looked away.

“Want to hear something crazy?”

I nodded, still not looking at them. But my breath caught as one of them reached across and cupped my face.

“We don’t want this to end either.”

I turned, seeing three sets of gorgeous blue eyes burning into me from behind three masks.

“We don’t know what this is,” he growled. “And we weren’t looking for you tonight, but damn are we glad we found you.”

I smiled, something fluttering in my chest.

“Look, Emma, we can take you home if you want. And if you want, tonight can be just one night that none of us are going to ever forget.”

He leaned forward, his jaw tight.

“Or, we can keep this going, and figure out what this is, because if you think you’re just some random, anonymous girl, or a notch on a bedpost, you are sorely mistaken.”

My heart raced, my pulse pounding in my ears. And slowly, I nodded.

“I vote for keeping this going.”

They grinned widely, their eyes shining.

“Besides, I don’t want to go home yet.”

“Good,” one of them growled before leaning across, cupping my chin, and kissing me slowly.

“Because we don’t want to let you go.”

“Where?”

“Our place.”

I shivered, my body already aching for more from them.

“Is it far?” I whispered.

One of them grinned. “How do you feel about helicopters?”

* * *

My mind was racing as we drove through the countryside, approaching the city again on the way to the helicopter that would take me to wherever it was I was going.

I was nervous, of course. And freaking out a little bit. But also, I was floating. I was head-over-heals for three strange men, and I didn’t even know who they were.

The thought gave me pause, that little warning voice inside finally being heard.

“I need to know who you are,” I said quietly.

They froze, looking up at me.

“I know the club is anonymous and all that, but…” I shook my head. “Before we do this, and before this goes any further and before I get lost any more, I need to know.”

They glanced at each other.

“If not, that’s okay, really,” I reached out and squeezed two of their hands. “But if that’s the case, I don’t know if I can do this.”

“We’re not going to hurt you, Emma,” one said quietly.

“No, I know that.” I smiled. “It’s not that, it’s just…there’s a lot of feelings going on inside of me, and trying to deal with them while you’re still wearing masks and me not knowing your names, it’s just maybe a bit more than I can do.”

The three of them nodded slowly, glancing at each other again.

Finally, they nodded.

“Really, only if you guys want—”

“We want to,” one said, his voice tight. “Look, Emma, we’ve never done this, but with you…”

“With you, there’s something here we weren’t expecting,” another finished for him.

“I know what you mean,” I said shyly, smiling.

They glanced at each other again with a final nod.

“This won’t change anything,” one said. “No matter who we are under these masks, know that what we’re feeling for you is insane, and wild, and out of nowhere, but real.”

I nodded, my heart racing.

Slowly, the first one reached up, and slipped his mask off.

My eyes went wide.

The second followed, but I knew who they were before Landon took his off.

I’d just slept with Malcolm, Joaquin, and Landon King — the triplet princes of Bellhaven.

I’d just slept with three brothers.

I gasped, my eyes darting between them as they slowly let their eyes drift over me. They were so damn similar, what with being identical triplets. But you could still tell them apart. Or maybe I had an easier time with it, since I’d helped run research for a piece on them when their father passed a year before.

Malcolm King had a slightly darker look to him — a shadow behind his eyes that was more pronounced than the others. Joaquin had a playfulness to his smile — a cocky sort of smugness that did all sorts of things to my hormones. And then there was Landon — Landon who I recognized by the mark I’d left on his neck from my lips as the one who’d watched me with his brothers before taking his turn.

Princes.

I’d just slept with three princes.

Of course, the thought had been in the back of my mind when I’d stepped out of the club with them. But knowing it now, and seeing them without their masks brought a whole new flush to my face.

“Stop,” Joaquin said quietly, moving next to me and cupping my jaw.

“This doesn’t change anything. This doesn’t change the fact that we walked into that club tonight looking for we don’t even know what, and instead we found you.”

“And who am I?” I said quietly. “To you, I mean. What can I possibly be to three princes?”

I gasped as the other two moved into me, hands holding me close, lips claiming mine.

“Everything,” Malcolm growled into my ear. “You can be everything.”

We were still kissing, and I was still falling as the car drove up to the waiting helicopter. They introduced me to Ryker, their pilot, who smiled at me curiously enough that I had to ask once we were inside.

“What, like he’s never seen you fly a girl back to your palace?”

Joaquin looked up at me, his face unblinking.

“No, he hasn’t.”

My brow raised. “What?”

“He hasn’t,” he said plainly with a shrug. “Because we’ve never brought a girl back with us. Not ever.”

I was still floating, and losing myself entirely as we lifted up into the air to whatever it was that was coming next.