Tonight was the first step for her. Maybe she wouldn’t be with Lucca and Quade in the way she wanted it. There was every possibility she could never be more than Tripp’s widow to them, even if there’d been times when she’d looked up unexpectedly and thought she saw desire in their eyes. Maybe they weren’t ready to let go of the past and the guilt they felt over Tripp’s death. But tonight she’d share a bed and experience the fantasy of being with two men who enjoyed taking a dominant role to a woman’s submissive one. If not Quade and Lucca, then the men Lyric had lined up.
Thinking about the woman married to her vice cop cousin, and the one she’d been named after, Kieran, made Kiera smile. The Burke men were all macho, saved from being complete cavemen by their absolute loyalty to the women in their families, and a code of honor requiring them to protect and serve. They preferred their wives to stay at home or work in professions viewed as safe, and they liked them law-abiding.
As far as Kiera was concerned, the oh so bossy Kieran got what he deserved when he got married. Lyric Montgomery was a private detective who didn’t see the same line between legal and illegal as he did. She’d blurred the edges in his life to the point he’d even managed to accept the reality of his baby sister being married to Benito but also sharing her life and bed with Benito’s brother, Dante.
Calista had paved the way for others by daring to live her dream. Kiera knew she wasn’t the only one who’d watched the reaction of the various family members and determined she could live with the consequences.
If this plan concocted while sitting in the hot tub with Lyric and Calista led to a future with Quade and Lucca, she knew there would be times when choosing an alternative lifestyle would be uncomfortable. The Burkes were passionate by nature and rarely kept their opinions to themselves when it came to loved ones. But at the end of the day, while they might rant and rave, argue and scowl, they still remained close-knit, loyal and protective of their own.
Kiera glanced down at her left hand. A pale line marked the place where her engagement ring and wedding band had lain against her skin.
Taking them off had been hard, despite knowing it was time. Doing it was symbolic, a milestone reached in the grieving and healing process, but she still felt naked without them. More alone somehow.
Before she could stop herself, she looked at the picture taken on her wedding day. An ache moved through her chest, almost nothing compared to the agony of those first months, that first year without Tripp.
She accepted the lingering pain, was glad for it. She didn’t want to forget. She just wanted to move on, had to. At twenty-six, she’d been a widow almost as long as she was a wife.
Kiera reached over and picked up Calista’s hand, needing the comfort and reassurance of touch. “Whatever happens tonight, I’m ready.”
It was so much more than that. She needed to do this, to submit and melt the part of her that felt frozen now, afraid to love deeply because losing again would destroy her.
The dogs jumped off the couch and rushed to the door. Calista squeezed Kiera’s hand. “Good. Because I think Lyric’s here.”
A flutter went through Kiera’s chest. An answering one followed in her belly.
She rose from the couch, feeling as nervous as a virgin getting ready to go on a first date. A knock on the door drew her forward, away from the past and into the future.
Lyric greeted her with a hug and a question. “This still a go?”
Kiera returned the hug. “It’s a go.”
“Great. Tyce and Jake are already at The Red Zone and waiting for an intro.” Lyric released her with a grin. “Not that they’d really need me to point you out to them for a threesome. As soon as you walk in they’ll be up for the task of delivering pure pleasure if Lucca doesn’t rise to the occasion and take you home with him.”
Calista snickered and joined them at the door, picking up a wriggling black dachshund. “You’re bad, Lyric.”
“I just call it the way I see it. We should head out now. Let Benito know we’re on our way so he can get Lucca there before Kiera gets lost in the sexual fog surrounding Jake and Tyce.”
“I’ll do it,” Calista said. She gave Kiera a quick hug and said, “Go for it. Don’t worry about the dogs. They can stay at my place all weekend. You deserve to be happy and carefree.”
So do Lucca and Quade, Kiera thought, desire rippling through her and starting to pool in her cunt at the prospect of standing between them naked, of having their eyes and hands roam her body and their cocks harden as they looked at her, touched her.