After a perfect afternoon wandering through local art exhibits, browsing bookstores, and feeding gluttonous ducks in the nearby pond, we stopped by Eli’s place so that that he could change out of the pants that had suffered an unfortunate drive-by-mudding right as we left the park. His apartment was on the top floor of a pretty swanky building. I knew Eli had money, but not that kind of dough.

It was a little intimidating, walking into his expansive loft with a killer view of the downtown skyline. Glass everywhere, but with neutral-toned furniture. And just enough throw pillows to make the living area appear cozy instead of staged. The kitchen was to die for and I didn’t even like to cook. Nevertheless, I could so picture myself standing in front of the enormous stainless steel stove, frying up bacon and scrambling eggs.

Eli dropped his keys on the entry table and started unbuttoning his shirt as he walked through the living room. I gulped and averted my eyes before I started to drool.

“Make yourself at home,” he said, brushing past me on his way to a dark hallway.

I didn’t mean to reach out my hand, press it to the warm flesh of his chest. We were supposed to be taking it slow, dammit. But my body had other ideas. Like it was magnetized to Eli’s and I had absolutely no say in things whatsoever.

Eli froze and looked deep into my eyes as I put myself in front of him, hand still splayed over his bare chest. His face was wary, but hopeful.

“I’m sorry, I did not tell my arm to do that.” I smiled, licked my lips. “But boy am I glad it did it.”

I leaned forward, up on my tip-toes, and brushed his lips with my own. I felt his arms wrap around me, gingerly at first, then tighter. He kissed me back and I felt like I was back at our first kiss, so deep did it pull me under. We came up for air moments, or possibly hours, later. Dazed, hungry for more.

“I have to know, do you want this? Now, or do you want to wait? Because I’ll wait until you’re ready.” He inhaled sharply, burying his face in my hair.

I leaned back to look him in the eyes. “I’ve never wanted anything more.”

Permission given, Eli wasted no time crushing his lips against mine. His hands roamed over my back, my ass. I pulled his shirt all the way open and pushed it back over his shoulders. It dropped to the floor as he kissed-slash-pulled me toward the hallway and ultimately, his bedroom.

I lost my shoes about half-way there, my dress outside of the bedroom door and I stumbled over Eli’s discarded pants as he backed me over to the bed. Before laying me back, he paused, giving me one last out, one last chance to say no.

Fisting his hair in my hand, I pulled his face to mine, nipped his bottom lip and whispered, “Yes, a thousand times yes.”

We fell back into the plush down comforter, his body pressed between my legs, hard and willing. I arched my hips and looked him in the eye. The connection between us pulsed like a living thing. Need, desire, hunger—all these things and more bound us together in the moment.

He ran his hand down my arm, tenderly. Crossed over to my side, into that curve just above my hip. Traced a path down the outside of my leg, looped around my knee and back up, ever so slowly, making his way up my inner thigh. He kissed me again, right as his hand stilled at the apex of my leg and the one place I so wanted him to touch.

I pulled his face to mine, held it there as our breath co-mingled, devouring each other. My body trembled, my hips moved, shifting, seeking the length of him. I could feel it, just there, pressed against my inner thigh. So close, yet so far away. I wrapped my legs around his backside, pulled him closer. Or tried to… Eli resisted.

“Patience, grasshopper.” He smiled and lowered his face to my breasts, lavishing them with tender kisses, flicks of his tongue and the occasional nibble, with just enough pressure to make me quake.

“Please,” I begged, pulling at him with my lower leg again.

A finger flicked over my clit and I bit my lip. Eli chuckled and went back to my breasts. His free hand snaked down the outside of my leg again, then journeyed back up. Up and so fucking close. He bit my nipple, not too hard, but enough to distract me. I yelped at the sensation and closed my eyes. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take of his teasing.

“Oh, please.” I repeated, barely above a whisper.

“What do you want?” He said in my ear, then trailed kisses down my neck and over my collar bone.

“You,” I damn-near whined. “I want you.”

I felt him then, slipping the thick head of himself over my center, slick and beyond ready. My stomach did a little flip-flop at the thought of what he was doing. And what we were about to do.

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” He said, pressing just the tip of himself inside me.

My body tightened and stilled. I kissed him slowly, running my hands over his back, his shoulders, and the tight curve of his ass. As much as I wanted him fully inside of me, I wanted to savor the sensation as long as possible too. He filled and stretched me one excruciatingly wonderful inch at a time.

“God, so tight.” Eli said, sinking the last few inches into me, until I’d taken him as much as I could. “You have me, now what are you going to do with me.”

I looked to his face, fully intending to say something smart-assed of flirty, but when I looked into his eyes, all the things I could have said went right out the nearest window. Eli was an open book, face so full of emotion that even a blind woman could have seen it. Before I even knew what I was saying, the words slipped out of my mouth.

“I’m going to love you, Eli.” I tightened myself around the length of him, pulling him into me as I raised my hips. Our eyes never broke contact as we rocked together. Delicious friction, slow and mind-obliterating, until I reached the point of no return.

I gasped, my body clamping down on his. My toes stiffened, my back arched and I’m pretty sure I forgot to breathe. A low, guttural sound came from Eli as he stiffened and thrust into me once more, before collapsing beside me.

We lay like that, spent and rubbery for a long time, perfectly content to just be there, in that moment, for as long as we could. Eli kissed my shoulder and pulled me into his arms. The sound of our breathing, the plushness of the bed, the smell of love in the air. It was perfect. No, it was more than perfect. It was the start of us.

* * *

“Let’s stop here?” Eli slowed in front of Sin & City.

I scrunched up my face and looked to the marquee. At least Asher wasn’t playing in the club, but he could very well be inside anyway. I hadn’t spoken to him since the night before, so I really had no idea where he was.

“I don’t know,” I said, looking up and down the street.

Eli took me by the hands and smiled. “I’m not ready for this day to end. Come, be with me for a little while longer?”

His face was an open display of how much he meant what he’d said. I could hardly deny him, I didn’t want the night to end either, but in the back of my mind was Asher. I couldn’t compare the two of them any more than I could compare peaches to bananas. Nor did I want to.

We found a table near the bar and settled in. What started out as sipping drinks and light conversation, grew into something deeper by the time we’d gotten several drinks in. I was pretty sure I was drunk, because all I wanted to do was profess my love for him and climb over the table into his lap.

“Whew,” Eli said. “Time to tap the keg.”

I grinned and knocked back the rest of my drink. “You go do that. I’ll get us another round.”

He stood, bent over the table and kissed me like we were the only people in the room. The earth tilted on its axis for that brief moment, and then he was gone. I sighed, stood and made my way to the bar while Eli went to drain the snake.

Waiting for our drinks, with my elbows on the bar because the bartender was slower than my grandma, I felt two strong arms wrap around me. Thick, muscular ones, so not Eli’s.

I yipped and spun around into Asher’s arms. Surprised, and more than a little drunk, everything else fell out of my mind as he pulled me in for a possessive kiss.

“I’ve been hoping I’d see you here tonight.” Asher groaned against my lips. “You’re like a drug. I can’t go too long without my fix.”

I hugged him tighter, inhaling the earthy scent of him. “You could have called me, silly.”

There was that grin again. The one that made my insides quiver.

“It’s against the rock star code.” He joked, running the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. “We’re not supposed to chase girls around like lovesick puppies.”

My stomach flopped. Lovesick? Asher had used the L-word. Sort of. Did that mean something? Nothing? Fuck, I really wanted it to mean something.

I pressed my lips to his, mind whirling. I did, however, resist the urge to jump into his arms and wrap my legs around his waist. But just barely.

“I’ve got to say Tiger, I don’t mind one bit being lovesick over you.” He said.

“Ahem.” Came a voice beside me. I turned and froze, my heart snapping into a million brittle pieces.

Eli. Me. Asher. My world crashed down the minute my two men started sizing each other up and looking to me for some wild explanation that would prove I wasn’t dating both of them like a scheming slut. Was it too late to make up a split personality backstory?

The bartender waited until that moment to deliver the two drinks I’d ordered. I looked to Eli and Asher, then back to the escapism in a glass. Decision made, I downed both drinks and walked back to the table without looking behind me. As I sat, the warmth of the liquor spread throughout my body and I struggled not to cry, or panic or flail about in despair.

Things got a little blurry after that, thankfully.

I remember Asher coming to the table, turning a chair around backwards in front of me, and then straddling it.

“Isn’t there something you’d like to say?” Asher’s voice sounded funny. Like it was far away and deeper than normal.

I blinked and Eli sat across from me at the table. He drummed his fingertips on the metal surface and his face seemed broken, the frown upon it not quite lining up.

“I’m not even sure there is anything you can say.” Eli looked away.

I closed my eyes and pretended it wasn’t happening. I wasn’t losing both of them at once. I’d only just found them. The thought of never seeing Eli and Asher again took my breath away and made me nauseous. Like porcelain-clutching sick. I pressed my hands to my chest to make sure that my heart stayed put, because it felt like it was about to be ripped right on out of there.