CHAPTER 16: THE FIRST BREAK
Bodies have limits.
When three people cross that limit at the same time… the only thing left to hold onto is reason.
And tonight, reason was the weakest thing in the room.
Evelyn's body was still trembling from the "choice" in the previous chapter, her skin slick with sweat, breathing uneven.
Viktor unconsciously tightened his grip around her waist for another beat, as if his entire body was fighting not to yank her up to his hips right then and there and repeat everything that had just happened on the bed.
Diego stood behind her, hand still on her waist, hot breath blowing against the nape of her neck. His chest brushed her back each time he inhaledand he was inhaling very deeply, like he was trying to cage the hunger that hadn't faded since the climax.
The three of them stood motionless like that for a few seconds.
No one moved.
But the silence was so thick… it felt like the room contained nothing but skin, heat, and heartbeats that couldn't be hidden. The scent of sweat mixed with the lingering lust from the sheets behind them.
Evelyn swallowed lightly. Her throat was dry as a desert, lips still swollen from the rough kisses.
"You two…" Her voice caught, hoarse.
"…are making it hard for me to breathe."
Diego's lips curved. His voice came low and gravelly:
"Are you breathing fast because you want to run… or because you want to stay?"
She drew a deep breath, trying to steady herself. Her chest rose and fell, brushing against Viktor. "I… don't know."
Viktor placed his other hand on the opposite side of her hips, locking her entire midsection in place, pulling her even closerthis time deliberately. His hardness pressed obviously, warm, heavy, still sensitive from beforeright against her lower belly.
"Evelyn," he said, voice like it was scraping over embers, "when you don't know, that means you're already leaning."
"Leaning toward what?" she asked, almost whispering, eyes blurred from exhausted pleasure.
Diego rested his lips at the spot behind her necknot kissing, just letting them touch. The hot contact lasted only a second, but electricity shot down her spine, nearly buckling her knees, reminding her of the red bite marks still fresh on her skin.
"Toward us," he answered, so softly it was almost just breath, his hand lightly tightening on her waist from behind.
Evelyn placed a hand on Viktor's chest to steady herself, but the motion only made Viktor's hand slide up her back, tugging her shirt up slightly. His fingers brushed bare skinthe soft, warm skin at her waist still carrying fingerprints from the bed.
She flinched.
Not because she wanted to flee. Because that touch sent a wave of heat crashing through her whole body, waking the aftershocks that hadn't fully died.
Diego felt the reaction from behind.
"Ever since earlier, the lightest touch from us and you tremble."
Evelyn reached back and pressed a palm against the wall for balance. Diego's hand immediately landed on the wall beside hersa gentle cage, nothing rough about ithis body pressing fully against her back.
Viktor lifted her chin, thumb brushing lightly over her swollen lower lip. "Are you sure you want us to stop?"
Evelyn opened her mouthbut no words came. Instead she inhaled sharply.
Mistake.
That breath pushed her chest harder against Viktor, and the next instant Diego lightly rolled his hips into her from behind.
Two sources of heat pinned her at the same time.
She couldn't breathe from the heat; her nipples hardened, rubbing against the thin fabric.
"Evelyn," Viktor said softly, eyes gone almost black, "no answer… means you're staying."
She didn't deny it,couldn't.
Without a word, Viktor lifted her. Her legs instinctively wrapped around his hips, Diego's hands still on her waist from behind, unwilling to let go. They moved toward the bednot hurried, but every step heavy with desire. Viktor laid her down on the rumpled white sheets, his body covering hers, lips trailing from her neck to her chest, teeth grazing a nipple through the thin cloth until she arched and let out a soft moan.
Diego knelt behind her, hands stroking the inside of her thighs, fingers sliding slowly along the wet curve left from before, pressing lightly on the exact sensitive spot that made her hips jerk hard.
"Shhh, muñeca… let us hear you,"
he whispered, lips brushing down her spine while Viktor pinned her wrists above her head, his body flush against hers, scorching hardness grinding against her lower belly in time with his ragged breaths.
The air filled with the sounds of skin dragging against skin, Evelyn's choked moans as two sets of hands exploredone caressing her breast, one teasing between her thighspushing her to the edge.
They didn't rush to fill her, only prolonged the touches: Viktor claiming her mouth in a deep kiss, Diego's tongue flicking lightly behind her ear, his body pressed tight against her back.
Evelyn shook, nails digging into Viktor's shoulders,hips instinctively pushing into Diego's hand, desperation buildingbut they stopped right at the brink, just so she could feel the shared restraint, the shared hunger.
"Do you want to keep going?" Viktor asked, voice raw, eyes locked on hers.
She didn't answer, only pantedand they understood. They pulled back, leaving her lying there, body burning, trembling on the fragile edge.
---
Diego lowered his handfor the first time, he placed his palm on her thigh. Not deep, not hard, but enough that her back arched on pure instinct, the echoes from the bed still alive.
"Diego," she breathed, voice unsteady, thighs trembling.
"S…" he whispered against her ear, "it's just a hand. You react like that… what if it were my mouth?"
Viktor tilted his head, watching the reaction from inches away, eyes dark and sharp. "Evelyn… this is no longer a threat. This is real."
She clutched the front of his shirt, pulling slightly to stay upright, trembling fingers brushing his skin.
"Viktor… stop…"
He pressed his forehead to hers, voice almost a growl:
"You say stop. But your hand…" He glanced down at the fist she had in his shirt.
"Your hand is holding me here."
Her body felt like it had been thrown into fire, lower belly clenching tight.
Diego whispered from behind, "Muñeca… do you want both of us to not touch you? Say it. Just one sentence."
Evelyn opened her mouth.
"I…"
But Viktor's hand slid to the back of her necknot pulling, just resting there, warm and heavy, making her entire body quake with aftershocks from the bed.
She gasped.
One ragged, off-rhythm breath.
And that was it. Both men understood at the same moment.
Viktor brought his lips so close to hers she could feel his heat, but he didn't kiss her. Just let her know he could.
Diego slid his hand up to her waist, thumb settling exactly on the sensitive spot just beneath her lowest ribpressing very lightly.
She sucked in a sharp breath that sounded almost like a moan, hips twitching.
Viktor stared straight into her eyes.
"That's the first time you've made a sound like that."
Evelyn bit down hard on her lip, but it was too latethey'd both heard it.
Diego murmured, "Muñeca… you're shaking."
She really wasshaking with pleasure.
And for the first time in six years of war, both Viktor and Diego wanted the exact same thing…
…not territory, not money,
but the very next moment, right beneath their hands.