They had known each other too long perhaps, shared too many lovers in the past. They knew the signs the other showed, and could gauge interest as well as that point where it couldn’t be ignored any longer.
He wasn’t hiding well either, Abram knew. The hunger for her was tearing him apart inside as he tried to give Paige and Tariq the room he felt they needed for Paige to become closer to the man he had picked as his third. Hoping, a part of him terrified, that she would find in Tariq whatever emotion it was that she was searching for in Abram.
Could he handle it?
Could he handle it if she didn’t?
God help him, she was his greatest weakness and he couldn’t seem to find a way to protect himself should the unthinkable happen.
“Is she ready?” he finally asked Tariq when nothing else was said.
Surprise filled Tariq’s eyes. “Ready in what way?”
Surely his cousin couldn’t be surprised by the question, or unaware why Abram had been leaving them both here, naked, in the bed together, each morning.
“For you?” Abram paused, his brow arching sarcastically. “For both of us? Why do you think I’ve busted my ass the past nights to do the work of two men? So you can catch up on your nightly beauty sleep, Prince Mustafa?”
He’d left them there alone for a reason. To allow Paige to acclimate herself to the man she would call lover as well. He sure as hell hadn’t left the two of them alone together for his mental health, because the knowledge of it had nearly corroded the last of his control.
Tariq grunted irritably at the comment.
“What did you want me to do, Abram?” Tariq’s arms crossed over his chest as he tilted his head and stared back at him with cynical mockery. “She stands in the window and watches for you. She waits for you as a new wife awaits her husband. Would you have me attempt to seduce her when she clearly shows no interest?” He gave a bitter, hard laugh. “Do I appear the fool to you? There is no desire that comes from her until she sees you. Only then does she begin to burn.”
Abram’s teeth clenched. This wasn’t what he’d expected despite the ambivalent feelings he had toward Tariq seducing not just her body, but her heart as well.
“I haven’t exactly been standing outside the fortress twiddling my fingers,” Abram growled disparagingly.
“Why don’t I go ahead and find our contact tonight and you can seduce your woman,” Tariq suggested, distinctly annoyed. “Don’t make the mistake I see you walking into, my friend. Because she is not a woman that will forgive you for it.”
She was the type of woman whose memory of her kiss and of her touch would torment him for life.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Tariq,” Abram snarled.
A dark chuckle met his protest as Tariq stared back at him knowingly.
“Yes, you do know,” Tariq informed him. “You know you haven’t yet taken her because you fear when you do, she will become a part of your heart. Should that happen, then what defenses will you have if Azir and Jafar win in this game as Ayid and Aman always won in the others? Especially with Lessa. You are afraid you will not survive losing her.”
“We won’t be here long enough to allow that to happen,” Abram stated savagely. “And I haven’t taken her yet because I’ve wanted her to have the chance to acclimate to both of us. This isn’t a life she’s used to, nor is it one her innocence will have prepared her for.”
It was technically the truth, Abram told himself furiously.
“Do you really believe her feelings are transferrable?” Tariq grunted sarcastically. “She will accept me as a third, Abram, but this is all I will ever be to her. If you attempt to chance that, then you’ll lose her. And I don’t believe that’s really what you want.”
But was her heart, the knowledge, the acceptance of her feelings, something he could face?
Abram almost felt his hands shaking at the thought of it.
“Do you want a third, Abram, or do you want to be the third?”
Abram narrowed his eyes, restrained his anger.
The question had a surge of powerful, forceful adrenaline racing through him. Never in his life had he allowed himself to play the third. He wasn’t beginning now.
“I am no third,” he growled in a flash of dominance.
Tariq chuckled at the exclamation.
“Then you should seduce your love, Abram. Prepare her yourself for the third you have chosen. Otherwise you may find yourself missing the opportunity to create that bond that will secure her heart to yours, rather than leaving it drifting and wild and searching for a home.”