Page 190 of Piece Us Together

They look thrilled.

I hate that I have to ruin it.

“Maison, I don’t want you to go on any missions for a while. Not until your head is clear.” He goes still, his eyes hardening. “I’m not asking you to quit.”Not yet.“I’m asking for a break. Give your arm time to heal. Give yourself some time to work toward your goals.”

“You can’t help others without helping yourself,” Nolan points out. “You have to put your oxygen mask on first, right?”

His only reaction is a twitch of his jaw.

“A month. Just give us a month and we can go from there.”

“I’ll keep you busy with Christmas stuff!” Nolan adds.

Maison groans, but it’s a teasing sort of groan, his eyes rolling dramatically. “No. No Christmas stuff.”

“You know, if you’ll be staying here, we’re going to have to decorate,” I tell Nolan, ignoring our grumpy boy.

Nolan lights up like an LED bulb. “Really? Can we really? Do you have stuff? Can I buy youmorestuff?”

“I warned you,” Maison says. He gives me a look. “There are going to be candy canes now. Over that toilet, right there.”

“I don’t mind. As long as I’ve got the two of you, I’m happy.”

Maison blushes beautifully. Nolan is too busy to be affected, rattling off themust-havesof Christmas decorations. I can’t wait to see his face when I tell him I don’t even have a tree.

Nolan stops mid-sentence, a thought seeming to occur to him. “Are there new rules about kink? Dr. Singh had sounded concerned about it, yesterday.”

“We didn’t go into that too much, no. He made it clear that the focus needs to be on the goals and the self-care, but he also said he trusts my judgment as far as sex comes into play. He stressed the importance of communication, mostly.”

“Did he say anything else?” Maison asks, watching the flame of a candle. “About kink? Or like—about anything I might have…said? About kink?”

I fight a frown, trying to keep my sudden worry stuffed down. “He didn’t, no. Is there something that the two of you talked about that you’d like to tell us?”

“Oh. Uh.” He squirms, but it doesn’t feel like an aroused squirm. Not with the tightness around his eyes and clench of his jaw. “I talked to him about a kink I really like. One that sort of took me by surprise.”

I glance at Nolan, unable to stop a small smile when I find him leaning forward, desperate for more. “What is the kink?”

He blushes hard enough to see even in the dim lighting. For the first time, it hits me that I don’t have to just look at that pretty color on his cheeks. I can touch it now. Kiss it. I lean forward, brushing my lips across the warmed skin.

“Such a pretty boy when you blush for me,” I murmur.

He shivers. His voice is soft and shaky when he admits, “The begging. I really liked begging.”

Fucking hell.

What did I do in an earlier life to earn these two beautifully perfect men?

“I really like making you beg,” I share. Then, glancing at Nolan, “Both of you.”

Nolan licks his lips, eyes heavy, but his gaze is focused on Maison. He can tell there’s more. Now that I look at him again, I realize the same. We wait, giving him a moment to breathe.

“It’s hot. Begging, I mean. It’s really fucking hot. But—uh.” He brings a soapy hand up, running it through his hair. “So, he asked if I’ve ever asked you to hurt me. With the self-harm and stuff—he said it’s not uncommon for people to ask for that, as like…an outlet, I guess. Using kink. I told him no. I don’t think I could survive it, having you hurt me. You’re just—you’re so fucking safe for me. You’re just—you’resafe.” He looks at me, eyes wide. “I don’t want you to hurt me. In my head, it’s like—I tell myself I deserve it, you know? And I hate that, I hatemyself, and I—I can’t let you hurt me because it feels like then maybe you think it too, you know? And I know, Iknowthat’s not how it works. I know you don’t think Nolan deserves to be hurt whenever you hurt him. But Nolanlikesit. I don’t. I don’t want to be hurt by you. It feels like everything fucking hurts besides the two of you, besides what we have, and I can’t—you’re safe. You’re my safe place.”

I nod, placing a hand on the side of his neck in an attempt to comfort him. Steady him. Or maybe it’s myself I’m trying to do that for. It’s a little hard to speak when I say, “I’m glad, sweetheart. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to be for the two of you.”

He closes his eyes, pressing into my touch a little. “It’s why I like to beg, Dr. Singh thinks. It’s like a coping mechanism, I guess?”

I start stroking my thumb along the bottom of his jaw. Nolan moves forward, water gently lapping at us all with the movement. He settles between our legs, his ass using my left thigh to sit on, his hand pressing on Maison’s chest over his heart. His thumb touches the chain of Maison’s dog tags.

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