Your Treat or Mine (7 page)

“Can we talk…inside?” she asked.

Silence greeted her question.

After several heart-pounding
moments, Riley spoke. “You look different.”

Riley’s statement had been a
comment at best. He didn’t seem pleased or angry about her change, but she
needed to be sure. She fingered the strands of her recently styled and cut
auburn locks. “Hopefully not too different.”

Vittorio’s gaze caught hers. “No,
we’d recognise you no matter what you did to your hair or wore.”

She pursed her lips at the
purposeful emphasis Vittorio had placed on the last word of his statement. Her
outfit definitely did not please him. Unconsciously, she lifted her hand and
fingered the high-necked lace blouse she wore. It was a well-crafted piece that
melded fashion and art. But she’d purchased the shirt because it hid the marks
of her claiming.

“Come on, it’s cold out here,”
Riley declared before turning and leading the way to the security room.

Amelia stood on the step,
watching Riley’s retreating back wondering if she could really ask the two men
before her if that night had meant as much to them as it had to her.

Her reluctance must have been
evident because Vittorio stepped forward and held out his broad palm. “Come on,
sweetheart.”

She looked up and caught his
espresso gaze. Vittorio was well aware of what she was going through. He knew
about the thick anticipation that marked her every move. She could see it in
his eyes.

She took the hand Vittorio held
out and allowed him to lead her to the security room.

The moment she stepped into the
small room the memories assailed her. Every emotion, every need she’d
experienced within the confining area overtook her. She closed her eyes and
leaned on the front door at her back.

“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t
it?”

She opened her eyes to find
Riley’s green eyes watching her. The heat and understanding in his gaze seared
her. “Imagine how it feels to work here, remembering everything and knowing you
can’t change things.”

She licked her lips and gazed at
him. “What would you like to change?”

He glanced at Vittorio. An
unspoken conversation passed between the two men before Vittorio turned to her.
“If we could, we change the end.”

She lifted her hands and placed
them over the twin bite marks on her neck. “You wouldn’t have marked me,” she
said softly as tears bleared her vision.

Amelia couldn’t believe her
reaction to his simple statement. It wasn’t like she hadn’t expected Vittorio
and Riley to tell her the night they shared had meant little or nothing to
them. Although she’d been hoping it wouldn’t come to that, she’d been prepared
for the words.

Or so she thought.

It wasn’t until Vittorio admitted
he would have altered the night that Amelia realised how deeply she’d fallen
for both men. Her emotions were too new to call love, but they were strong.
Almost overwhelming.

“Sweetheart, it’s not what you’re
thinking,” Vittorio whispered as he brushed a finger across her cheek, sweeping
up the evidence of her tears.

“Isn’t it?” she choked out as she
looked up at him. She wanted to be wrong, but it was hard to believe that both
men wanted her. Not after the years of bad relationships she had.

“No, it’s not, Amelia” Riley
murmured and took a step forward. He reached for her and she automatically went
into her arms. “We only meant we never should have let you go,” Riley said
before placing a kiss against her lips.

He licked her lips, running his
tongue along her mouth. She parted her lips for his questing tongue and groaned
his name as he caressed the inner recesses of her mouth. Needing to be closer
to him, Amelia lifted her hand and ran her fingers through Riley’s overgrown
locks. She pulled him hard against her, deepening the kiss until every one of
her senses seemed to be drowning in him.

When her chest was burning with
the need to take in air, Riley broke off the kiss to murmur against her mouth,
“This is what we regret, letting this...you...go.” He took a step back. Before
she could protest his departure, Vittorio took his place. She looked up at the
dark giant, bliss and desire filling her.

If what Riley said was right, she’d
been smart to come and find both men. But one question still plagued her. “It’s
been three weeks, why didn’t you, either of you—” She found she couldn’t finish
the sentence.

“Why didn’t we come and get you?”
Vittorio asked, finishing her question.

She nodded her head silently.

“It’s simple really, sweetheart.
Riley and I couldn’t convince the Council to give us your information. We only
knew your first name and that you worked for JAK, Inc.” He smiled. “Do you know
how many Amelias work for the corporation?”

She shook her head.

“Over five hundred in the nation
alone. We weren’t really sure how to go about calling them and then the
question was what do we ask them.” He took a step forward. “I can’t tell you
how happy we are that you came to us. Came home to your mates.”

The tears started again.
“You mean…”

Vittorio took another step
forward and grasped the collar of her blouse. Silently the three of them waited
until he unbuttoned half of her shirt. He pushed aside the two sides to reveal
both of the claiming marks at the bottom of her throat. “I mean this,” Vittorio
murmured as he fingered the puncture marks he made weeks ago, “was not a
mistake.”

“Nor was this,” Riley said as
before lowering his head and tonguing his bites. She groaned low at the wet,
hot feel of his velvet tongue on her sensitised skin. Before the full length of
her groan had left her mouth Vittorio’s lips captured hers. He thrust his
tongue past her lips to tangle with hers. All the while Riley kissed and
tongued his claiming marks, setting her already raging libido on fire.

Her pulse pounded and her skin
itched with the need to be naked with the two men who’d captured her heart. She
broke off the kiss to whisper against Vittorio’s mouth, “I need to be with you,
both of you.”

“God, we missed you,” Vittorio
admitted before recapturing her mouth.

“Welcome back,” Riley said as he
finished undoing the buttons on her blouse, moving his hands between her and
Vittorio. Belatedly, Amelia realised she was being moved forward so Riley could
stand behind her.

“How?” she asked, still unsure of
how they were going to go about making things work between the three of them.

“We’ll start off slow. We’ll go
on a date and then a few more dates, and when you’re ready you can move in with
us.”

“Okay,” she said softly, slightly
flabbergasted by what Riley was saying. She knew enough about shifters to
understand that once they marked their mate, there was no going back. It was an
all or nothing relationship, but for her they were both willing to take things
slow.

It touched her immensely.

 
“Open
your mouth, Amelia. We’re going to have to check to make sure you’re not hiding
anything,” Vittorio purred the words in his ultimately seductive baritone voice
as he leaned forward. Amelia swallowed thickly as she watched his head descend.
With every millimetre he got closer, her heart rate doubled until she swore it
was going to burst from her ribcage. He stopped just short of allowing his full
mouth to touch her parted lips.

Amelia smiled up
at him, searching his gaze for several seconds before opening her mouth. I love
this game, she thought as he pressed his lips to hers. She shuddered as the
wet, hot rasp of his tongue swept along the inner recesses of her mouth.
Feeling the burn from unquenched desire, she broke off the kiss and took a deep
breath. She’d barely taken enough air into her starving lungs when Riley’s
fingers captured her jaw. She looked up into his heated gaze. “My turn,” he
whispered and stole her mouth in a heated kiss. As Amelia sank into the wanton
bliss of his mouth, Vittorio spoke.

His words sent
goose bumps running down every inch of her exposed flesh. “It’s a good thing we
kept that basket. We’re going to need the toys in order to conduct a full
cavity search,” he said with a wicked laugh before lifting her skirt.