"I'll see if I can track him down," Steele offered. "We must have his home address on file somewhere. Or a phone number at least."
Archer nodded. "Steinwick said he'd find those details for us, but I figured we'd wait and see what the results say."
"Fair enough," Steele said with a yawn. "I was thinking maybe we’d head up to the shooting range tomorrow, if you guys are up for it." He made it sound like a group activity, but I knew he wanted to test my marksmanship again—something I was more than okay with. Like Steele had told me when he first started teaching me to shoot, the more I fired a gun, the more natural it would come. I wanted to get as good as he was... one day.
I nodded with enthusiasm, and Archer's arms tightened around me.
"Sounds good," he rumbled. "Anna wants us back here in two hours for a slow-roasted lamb shoulder."
Steele let out a drooling sound, throwing his head back in silent thanks to our cook, and I snickered a laugh.
"Alright, I'm going to go wake Kody up," I told them. "We can... I dunno. Run through the plan for Saturday again."
Saturday being our wedding day. Fucking hell... it was so soon. Even though it wasn't a real wedding, I was still getting all the nervous jitters and shit. It was also solidifying some things in my mind.
Despite the fact that it was a ruse to take out—hopefully—all of the active hitmen currently hunting my hide, it had made me realize that I was completely in love with all three of the guys.
Archer squeezed me again and kissed my neck before letting me slide out of his lap. Steele caught me by the waist as I passed him, kissed me thoroughly, then letting me go with a lingering look.
Upstairs, instead of waking Kody up like I'd intended, I found myself crawling back under the covers and snuggling into his sleepy embrace.
"Babe," he mumbled, "you're cold."
I let out a small laugh. "Warm me up, then, Kodiak."
He made a sleepy, growling noise. His teeth playfully nipped the bend of my neck I gasped. "Careful what you wish for, babe." He pulled me closer, grinding his hard length against my ass.
"Maybe that's exactly what I want," I taunted, arching into him. It hadn't been what was on my mind when I'd come upstairs, but the second his arms had wrapped around me, all nonsexual thoughts had flown completely out the window.
He hummed a sleepy, contented sound as his hand snaked under my T-shirt to palm one of my bare breasts and toy with my hard nipple.
"I think," he murmured, his lips against my neck, "that you use sex as a stress reliever."
I stilled. "Is that a bad thing?"
"Hell no," he replied with a short laugh, "but it does make me worry what you're stressed about right now."
His fingers rolled my nipple, sending pulses of arousal through my body and making me squirm. "Does that mean you're not going to fuck me, Kodiak Jones?"
His teeth scraped against my neck. "Babe, I'll never refuse you, especially when it's helping to keep you calm." His hand left my breast, skating down my belly, then pushing my sleep shorts down. "But I still want you to talk to me," he continued, as I kicked my shorts off. He cupped my pussy when it was bare. "Tell me what's stressing you out, babe. Maybe I can help in more than one way."
He probably could because he had the physical angle totally covered. His hand left my mound just long enough to push his own shorts down, then he pushed into me slowly from his big-spoon position.
I groaned as he worked his way in. He lifted my top leg and hooked it over his hip to offer a better angle. But when he fully seated himself, he paused there. Waiting.
"Archer is waiting on James's paternity test results," I admitted with a gasp, my pussy throbbing around Kody's hard shaft.
"Ah, I see," he murmured as he started to move within me. His hand moved back up my shirt, and he found my breast once more. "Do you want James to be your dad?" he asked gently, his hips rolling and his thrusts deep.
I moaned, shivering as arousal built and chased across my skin, then focused on his question. "I don't know James," I replied, a little breathlessly. "He's a total stranger to me. But yeah, I guess I want confirmation that I'm not Samuel Danvers’ daughter."
Kody murmured a sound of understanding, then gripped my breast tighter as his pace quickened a bit. His movements drew moans and whimpers out of me as my lazy orgasm built up.
"What else is on your mind, babe?" he asked in a low voice, his lips brushing my earlobe.
My breath was quick, my hips rocking in time with his thrusts, and my climax taunting me on the horizon, but Kody was right. More and more, I was turning to sex to handle my stress, and while I saw nothing wrong with that—given I had three extremely virile lovers on hand—I also needed to recognize the opportunity to purge my mental load.
I groaned. "I'm marrying Archer in six days," I finally told him.
Kody's rhythm faltered a second before he recovered at a slower pace.
"And?"
My back arched and I pushed my ass back against him as my body begged for him to fuck me harder. "And... I want you to know something first."
He did the complete fucking opposite of what I wanted and slowed to a stop. At least he’d stopped when he was buried balls deep and not teasing me with just the tip.
"I'm listening," he all but fucking purred. Damn him to hell, he knew exactly what was on my mind.
I groaned, craning my neck so that I could look him in the eye. "I love you, Kodiak Jones," I told him in a husky whisper.
A wide grin spread over his face, and he crushed his lips to mine in a hard kiss. "Good," he murmured after he'd kissed me breathless, "because I love you too, Madison Kate."
The rush of oxytocin hit my brain in a dizzying wave, and I hummed a happy noise. "Will you please make me come now?" I asked sweetly, peppering more kisses against his lips.
His lips were still curved in a grin. "Say it again," he ordered me.
I huffed a laugh, but obliged. "I love you."
He groaned, then thoroughly delivered. Kody fucked me so hard the bed slammed against the wall and cracked the paint. We came simultaneously with whispered curses and confessions of love. It was magical as fuck.
When Kody went to rinse off in my shower, I just lay there in the middle of my bed like a well-fucked starfish. My thighs were wet and sticky with his cum and my face raw from stubble rash, but I needed to take a moment to store that feeling into my mental lockbox of awesome memories.
"That..." Steele's voice startled me out of my haze, "is way too fucking tempting."
I raised my head slightly and found him leaning his shoulder against my doorframe. From my spread-eagle position, he'd have a prime view of my everything. Feeling evil, I simply parted my legs even further, offering a silent invitation.
His eyes raked all over me, lingering on my swollen core, then he muttered a curse. "I'm saving this as an IOU for later, Hellcat," he told me, "because Arch just got the results from the pathology lab."
I gasped as I sat bolt upright, staring at him in anticipation. "And?"
"And it was a positive match. James is your biological parent."