marks on his neck, the flush on Declan’s cheeks told it all to Aria. “Let me buy you a drink, little one, to apologize for almost breaking your nose.”
“No, thank you.” So Declan had a new love. Well, that was fine. She certainly hadn’t been a saint in the years since they’d parted.
But she was unsettled by the heat that crackled between them still...the heat that pulsed among all three of them.
“I’m going now.”
“Stubborn as always.” This was Declan, but his voice held exasperation instead of amusement. From the corner of her eyes Aria saw the two men exchange a glance.
“This is the one?” Adam’s voice was quiet, but he didn’t seem to be trying to hide his words.
“She always has been.” Declan spoke in barely more than a whisper, and Aria wondered if she’d heard right.
Rubbing her hands over her face with embarrassment, Aria wondered if there was a graceful way to exit a situation like this.
“Don’t leave yet.” Though Adam was a stranger to her, something in his expression as he smiled down at her pulled at her in a way similar—and yet kinda different—from the way she felt when Declan looked at her. “I’d love to spend time with the woman Declan speaks so highly of.”
That was enough. Aria’s nerves snapped.
“Why on earth would you want to spend time with your lover’s ex?” She wasn’t bitter, not exactly, but she was certainly perplexed. She’d thought—hoped—for a brief moment when Declan had said he’d come for her. Hoped that there was some way to erase the past and find her happy ending.
He had found someone new. It was his right. But since she knew he couldn’t have come back just for her, it seemed like a slap for him to come to her, to tease out these feelings that she’d thought were long buried.
It angered her to have them brought to the surface. Turning to Declan, she drilled her finger into his chest.
“You have a lot of nerve, coming in here to proposition me when your lover is barely out of earshot.” Declan blinked as if she’d managed to catch him off guard, and she felt the same surge of satisfaction that she once had when she’d managed to do the same.
“I wasn’t trying to proposition you.” His voice was mildly amused, and as Declan exchanged yet another glance with Adam, Aria felt her cheeks begin to burn with mortification.
Had she read the entire thing wrong? Was she burning up for him while he felt nothing?
Heart in her throat, she took a step toward the door. Her upper arm was caught in the cool grip of a vampire’s hand, and then she found herself hauled against the unyielding chest of the same.
“Something told me to come here this week. I think you know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t have come if the tug came just from you.”
She’d already known that, but hearing it from his lips stung. She glared.
“I had to see you, because I knew if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to get you out of my mind. But I find that I like where your mind’s gone.” The words were dark, hot.
Aria saw the intent in his eyes. She felt like she could protest, but didn’t have to work very hard to quiet it.
She wanted the kiss. She wanted it bad.
When Declan’s lips met hers for the first time in three years, she felt as though she’d had the wind knocked out of her. He blew cool air between her lips, giving her his breath, before he deepened the soft brush of lips and claimed her mouth with a possessive nip on her lower lip.
Aria moaned as Declan’s tongue traced the seam of her lips, then slid inside to dance with her own. She stiffened, fighting it, before her body took over and she wrapped her arms around his chest as his fist tangled in her hair, tugging gently.
Then, as quickly as it had started, the kiss ended. Declan released her and stepped back, leaving Aria panting and needy.
“I think we all might get along.” Declan’s words were thick. With heavy lids and swollen lips, she looked up at him, then at Adam, who stood nearby, watching them with hunger evident on his face.
“You mean...” He couldn’t. It wasn’t unheard of in the supernatural community to have more than one partner at once. But when they’d been together, they’d been so consumed by one another that it hadn’t been a consideration.
No. No way. This was the worst idea on the face of the planet.
But...she was burning, badly. The idea of having not just Declan, but both men sent power surging through Aria’s veins, crackling into magical energy in her fingertips.
If Adam was there too, then how hard could she fall for Declan again? His new lover’s presence would be a constant reminder to keep her guard up.
She was so hot, the ache between her thighs growing so that the thought was enough to convince her. She would enjoy her time with them, enjoy the mind-blowing sex that she knew Declan was more than capable of.
Then she’d go back to her normal life, the way she always did. It hardly seemed fair, but that was just the way things had to be.
“All right.” She was sure that she was imagining the flash of triumph that she saw in Declan’s eyes.
No matter what he said, she couldn’t believe that he’d come back here just for her. No doubt running into one another was just a coincidence that he’d taken advantage of.
Well, she was going to take advantage right back. Here was a man—men, actually—who weren’t afraid of her. She didn’t have to hide any part of herself, and that was something rare.
Smiling slowly, sensually, Aria licked her lips and looked first at the familiar face of Declan, then at Adam, the face she didn’t yet know by heart.
“Where are you staying?”
Declan felt his fangs prickling through his gums as soon as Aria acquiesced. As it always had, the submission borne from her strength was a heady rush.
But he also got a jolt of energy as she spoke, and he knew that her decision had clicked something new into the future. Hard as he tried to reach for it, he still couldn’t see what it was.
“We’re staying in the motel across the road.” Declan looked at his lover, saw anticipation on Adam’s face. It made shivers dance up and down Declan’s spine.
He was about to be with the only two people who had been able to reach past the feelings that had been frozen so many years ago, when he’d turned. The very thought made his cock hard.
But as they stepped outside the bar, and the noises of the jukebox and the chatter of the inebriated faded into the night air, another blast of energy pushed against him, this one strong enough to shove him back a full step.
“What the fuck?” Declan’s injured leg dragged on the ground as he righted himself, instantly shoving Aria behind him as he pulled the hidden sword from his cane.
“Declan!” Aria’s voice was a growl as she shoved back at him. In his peripheral vision he saw blue light crackling from her fingers, knew he’d startled her enough to activate her magic.
From behind them Adam growled, and though he didn’t shift, Declan saw the other man’s hair stand up on end.
“What is it, Dec?” Adam sniffed the air and looked puzzled. “I’m not getting anything.”
Aria looked between the two men, suspicion painted over her face.
“I don’t know.” After a long moment, Declan straightened and let his muscles relax. Adrenaline still pumped
