circle over her back.
Disgusted with herself, she muttered, “I ruined the whole day.”
“No you didn’t,” Merrick said quietly. “We still have the day. You slept an hour. Not long at all. We can do whatever you want. If you want to go home, just say the word.”
She shook her head. “I want to stay here with you and Cade. It’s a beautiful day. I don’t want it ruined because I’m a basket case.”
“Shhh,” he admonished. “Just sit here a while until you get your bearings.”
Slowly she raised her head up and gazed over to where Cade stood just beside the rock she and Merrick were sitting on. He was holding a brownie.
Staring at the offering, she teared up all over again. She had the two most wonderful men in the world, and it shouldn’t matter to her who she’d dreamed about.
That was her past. These men were her present. And her future. They were who mattered. Not some faceless, nameless ghost in her past. Someone who could have been the person who’d raped and tried to kill her.
“Don’t cry,” Cade said in a low voice. “You’re going to kill me, sweetheart.”
She took the brownie and sent him a watery smile. “Thank you. I love the brownies.”
“And I love you,” Cade said simply.
Her eyes widened, and she stared agape at his blunt declaration.
Taking advantage of her lapse in speech, he leaned in and kissed her lips.
How it must look to others, her snuggled firmly into Merrick’s embrace while Cade kissed her.
She didn’t care.
All she cared about was those three little words. Words so sweet that they echoed through her mind.
“Do you mean it?” she whispered, pulling away so they were just a breath apart.
He touched her face and then ran his thumb across her swollen bottom lip. “I don’t make a habit of saying shit I don’t mean.”
She kissed him again. This time she was the aggressor, going in to claim his mouth. She tasted the chocolate on his tongue, absorbed the heat of his lips. Deeper and deeper until she was drowning in…desire.
It hit her with speed that surprised her. After so much fear, so much hesitation. So much worry that she’d never be able to be intimate with him and Merrick.
She’d responded to them both emotionally. But physically? She enjoyed their kisses. Soaked up their touch like a parched desert desperate for rain. But she hadn’t felt the razor-sharp edge of desire, the yearning so deep in her body that it was nearly painful and yet so wonderfully good all at the same time.
Her nipples tightened. Her breasts ached. A pulse began between her legs that had her squirming to alleviate the tension.
When Cade drew away, he was breathing hard, and his eyes were glazed with the same passion she was experiencing. And still, there was a heavy layer of tension between them. The thick, pulsing arc of electricity that vibrated through the air.
Merrick’s hand coaxed up her back eliciting a bone-deep shiver. She was hyper aware. It was as if her body had left its latent stage and shed every ounce of fear and reluctance. She recognized, in Cade and Merrick, men she could trust. And did trust. Her mind knew it, but her body had been slower to respond.
“I’d like to go home now,” she said, her voice laced with the hum of arousal they couldn’t possibly miss.
Cade held out his hand. “Come on then. Let’s go home.”
Chapter Nineteen
ELLE SLID HER HAND INTO Merrick’s as they walked back toward the SUV while Cade carried the picnic basket and walked on her other side.
Cade popped the back of the SUV and tossed the basket in, just as Elle caught a glimpse of a uniformed police officer walking in their direction.
She froze, her heart speeding up until it was pounding like a jackhammer. Her hands grew clammy, and sweat popped out on her forehead until it was slick, and she got an overwhelming feeling of sickness in her belly.
Merrick looked at her, brows furrowed, and he was about to say something when the police officer called out to them.
“Cade! Merrick! Hey, how are you guys?”
Merrick and Cade both swiveled in the direction of the cop and offered welcoming smiles.
“Hey, Greg, how’s it going?” Cade offered as he extended his hand to shake the other man’s.
Panic scuttled up Elle’s spine until she was literally shaking. Her knees threatened to buckle, and she stood, stock-still, praying to be taken away from the situation.
Merrick shoved forward to shake the cop’s hand but