Her Mane Men (Paranormal Dating Agency Kindle World)(5)

With the exception of his selfish bastard comment, Curtis appeared to choose his words carefully, so when he said, “our third,” it did things to me. Not even just lusty things, although they were surely there, but more than that. He had put me on an equal plane, not just by way of explaining things or proving a point, but naturally, as if it simply was.

“You’ve never been with—” I snapped my mouth closed. No good could come of me knowing who they did and didn’t bed in the past. Unless it came time for the being safe talk, that had no place in this conversation. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” Understatement. Of. The. Year. Which was weird given the fact that I knew they were together and no part of me minded that. In fact I quite enjoyed it.

“We found each other just over two years ago and we’ve always been exclusive in that time,” Parker answered matter-of-factly as Curtis watched my every movement.

“And now you’re what? Bored? And want a third?” I needed to shut up. The hurt that crossed Parker’s eyes before he schooled them was painful for me to witness, and even as I said the words, I knew the answer.

“Does that sound right to you?” Curtis’s hand went under the table and, if I were a betting woman, straight to Parker’s thigh to give him the comfort I stole.

“No, but nothing does.” Not that I didn’t think it could work, because that was the crazy part in all of this. I not only believed it could work, but that it was made to work. It was the mechanics that had me in a fluster. I barely dated one guy, much less two. Or was it dating a couple as in one entity?

“We were never meant to be a couple, we always knew that. From the time we met, we felt as if we were part of a whole, a whole that was still not complete.” I let the intensity of what Curtis’s words implied seep into me. Never meant to be a couple. And yet they were. I could see it, more and more, as the night went on. They complemented each other and fit together in a way that shouted true love.

“But you love each other.” It wasn’t a question; they did beyond measure. Which, in a way, was the crux of my confusion.

“Of course.” Parker chuckled as he answered, finding amusement in my revelation for some reason.

“And you get it on from time to time.” I raised my eyebrows a few times so as to leave no confusion to my meaning. Loving each other was one thing, but lust was an entirely different element in a relationship.

“More often than that.” Dear sweet heaven, the porn reel started again. What was wrong with me? “But, yes, we have a normal coupledom in that way.” Parker’s words should have given me at least the faintest hint of jealousy, but, instead, it got my engines revving. I was so not going there tonight. Thinking. I had a lot of thinking to do, and it needed to be done without their sexy presence getting my body in a tizzy.

“And you want a third.”

“Yes,” they responded simultaneously.

“Me?” This was a question because as much as they seemed to be all about me tonight, the self-conscious part of me worried I wasn’t what they were looking for.

“Yes.” Firm. Strong. Honest. And, again, in unison. They. Wanted. Me.

“But you just met me.” Not that it stopped me from wanting them.

“And you feel it, too,” Parker stated.

I nodded, barely, for he was right. I did feel it, too. I felt so many things, and not one of them made sense from a logical perspective.

“Tell me I’m wrong,” Parker dared, knowing that I couldn’t and that sometimes words were needed, my nod less than a sufficient response.

“I can’t.” The smiles the spread across their faces were everything in that moment. “But I’m scared.” And that was the harsh reality of it. I was intrepid when approaching a normal relationship, or at least as “normal” as any relationship could be. This was not only different, it felt like more, and that was dangerous territory for a heart as easily mushed as history said mine was.

“Of us?”

I shook my head furiously. Not them, never them, at least not in that way. Scared of being hurt emotionally, maybe, but they would never hurt me physically, of that I was sure. It was the reason I didn’t run away from the get go. They felt safe. They were safe.

“Not exactly.” I squeezed their hands. “Of these feelings, like you are important even though we just met. And of the safety I felt with you from the moment I arrived, even though, let’s face it, any woman with half an ounce of sense would’ve run from that scenario unless they were in a sex club, where I’m sure you two would have them lining up.” I babbled my reassurance.

“Is that something you’re into? Sex clubs, I mean.” Curtis’s face was unreadable as Parker looked as if he’d been punched in the groin just from the questions being asked aloud.

“Heck to the no. I just read a lot. You?” I was 99 percent sure I knew the answer, but that 1 percent needed to know.

“We don’t like to share,” Parker growled out. At first, I thought it was me he was angry at, but the gentle squeeze of his hand told me it was whatever his imagination conjured that had him in a roar. At least I wasn’t the only one with a creative mind that needed to pipe down.

“But you want to share me.” At least that’s how I thought it was going to work. Two guys, one girl, meant sharing, right?