Prologue
The realization came too late.
Choosing had not ended wanting.
The fire burned behind us. Someone had turned down the bed, lit the candles, and left three untouched cups beside a bottle of wine.
None of us looked at them.
Cassian stood at my back with one hand around my waist. Julian faced me, close enough that his breath moved across my cheek whenever he exhaled.
For once, neither brother argued.
There was nothing left to argue about.
Julian lifted his hand.
His fingers stopped beneath my chin before touching me. He waited there, allowing me to see what he intended.
“Look at me.”
I did.
The Julian I had first met would have smiled. He would have turned the command into a joke and used my irritation to draw me closer.
Tonight, he only watched my face.
His fingers settled beneath my chin.
Cassian’s hand tightened once at my waist. The movement was small, but I felt the restraint inside it. He could hold me closer. He could turn me away from his brother.
He did neither.
I placed my hand over his.
Julian’s thumb moved across my lower lip.
My body recognized the touch before I could decide what to do with it.
Heat stirred low in my stomach. My breath caught, and Julian noticed. Of course he did.
He knew which parts of me answered him without permission from the rest.
His gaze dropped to my mouth.
Cassian’s chest rose against my back.
The room had been prepared for this. The fire, the wine, the bed waiting behind us. Everything stood exactly where someone else had decided it should.
That did not explain the way my body leaned into Julian’s hand.
His eyes returned to mine.
I could have stepped back. Cassian would have made room. Julian would have let his hand fall.
Instead, my fingers closed around the front of Julian’s coat.
I pulled him closer.
His mouth met mine.
The kiss began slowly. Julian’s hand moved from my chin to the side of my neck while his lips tested a rhythm he already knew I would follow.
I hated that he remembered.
I hated more that I did too.
Cassian’s mouth touched my hair near my temple. His hand slid from my waist to my stomach and drew me back against him, steadying me when Julian deepened the kiss.
A sound caught in my throat.
Julian swallowed it.
His body pressed against the front of mine while Cassian’s surrounded me from behind.
For one suspended moment, I could not move without moving against one of them.
Julian drew back only far enough to breathe.
His forehead rested against mine. His eyes remained open.
Cassian’s lips moved to the side of my neck.
The two touches were nothing alike.
My body answered both.
Julian kissed the corner of my mouth, then my jaw.
Cassian’s fingers spread over my stomach as his other hand found the first fastening at the back of my dress.
I reached behind me and caught his wrist.
He stopped immediately.
Not because I wanted him to.
I guided his hand back to the fastening.
Cassian’s breath changed against my skin.
Julian saw the movement. Something sharpened in his gaze, but he said nothing.
His hand traveled down my side and settled over Cassian’s at my waist.
Two hands. Two different claims neither man would name tonight.
Julian’s mouth returned to mine as Cassian loosened the first fastening.
The dress eased around my ribs.
I had thought making a choice would make this simple.
It had not.
