Dinner was simple and delicious. Exactly what she’d needed.

“Today you both wanted to take over and fix me.”

Todd looked up from his plate. “I did. Ben and I worked through it. He told me we couldn’t fix you. And we can’t. He saw it the way I should have been able to.”

The light of the candles wasn’t necessary to let Erin know Ben blushed.

“It’s not that we don’t want to fix you. We just know we can’t. Because some things are never going to be okay.”

Todd gazed over at Ben with a look of so much love it brought a hitch to Erin’s breath. Then they turned to her and she smiled.

“I forgot.” It was still there, a thread of the guilt.

Todd shook his head. “No, you didn’t. You didn’t know the date today, which is not the same as forgetting what happened. Do you see that? Be sad. Tear at your hair and weep. Whatever you need to to get through it. I won’t try to manage your grief. But I won’t let you beat yourself up for not knowing today was the anniversary date. You remember her every day. You had flowers delivered graveside today. You arranged for that three weeks ago.”

Oh. She had. And she and Alexander had gone to Adele’s grave just a week before with Brody.

“Just because we know we can’t fix you doesn’t mean we’ll allow yourself to beat yourself up over something that isn’t your fault.” Ben said it quietly, but full of resolve.

She dabbed her lips and stood, leaving her robe on the chair.

Both men watched as she stepped into the hot tub and settled.

“I don’t know how it is I deserve you. But thank you.”

* * *

When she awoke the next morning, she turned her head to find the satin bag that held her nipple weights on the pillow next to her. No man in sight.

A thrill wended its way through her. She grabbed the little bag and headed into the bathroom where she managed to clean up and get herself in some semblance of presentability before she hooked the weights to each ring piercing her nipple.

She sighed dreamily. The chain was new, shiny silver against her skin. The beads were onyx, and heavier than her others. She stared at herself in the mirror, and aside from the faint stretch marks on her hips, she delighted in the way she looked. In the way her ni**les had darkened and hardened as the weights slowly heated her sensual awareness.

She went out again, aware of each step she took as the chain between her br**sts moved, tugging on her ni**les.

Todd sat in a chair on the other side of the main room, reading a book, a cup of coffee at his right hand.

His gaze flicked up and then over her body when she entered the room.

“I’m glad you understood my instructions.”

She shivered at the use of that voice. He had this . . . tone he used when he topped her. It tapped into something deep inside Erin. Turned her knees to jelly, left her eager to please.

She nodded.

Ben padded in from outside. She gasped when she caught sight of the rope in his hands.

“I like that response.” Ben circled her, slowly unwinding the rope he’d been carrying. When it hit the floor she nearly jumped. He saw that and smiled.

That smile brought a shiver. She was so in for it.

He trailed the edge of the rope over her shoulder. Rough. She loved the scent of rope, loved the way her skin would look when he removed it. Loved, most especially, the way his face changed as he wrapped and knotted, twisted and knotted.

“Going to wrap you like a present.”

She closed her eyes a moment.

Todd stood, taking one last sip of coffee. “Would you like some coffee?”

Torn, she looked from the coffee back to the rope.

Ben laughed. “You can have both.”

“But I want this.” She nodded at the rope, hoping she didn’t sound as desperate as she felt.

“Oh, baby. You’ll get that. I want it. You want it. We’ll have it.”

“Come.” Todd sat again and patted his lap.

She moved to him, settling in his lap, curling herself into his body.

“Don’t choke.” Ben laughed as she gulped from the cup of coffee. “This rope is meant for you. It’s not going anywhere.”

Todd looked to Ben. “Bind her hands.”

He fed her a piece of fruit, and then another. And then he slowly wound the rope around her wrists and forearms until she was unable to move. The embrace of the rope brought her breath shorter at first, and then, as she gave over, she breathed slow and deep, watching Ben’s face as he worked.

“She needs a sip of coffee,” Ben murmured to Todd as he kept working.

Todd held the mug to her lips as she drank. And then he followed up with more fruit and some toast. She felt cosseted and spoiled. They took care of her, all while putting her on display for their pleasure. There was something so very alluring about that.

“Full?” Todd murmured into her ear. Languid from the rope and from being so very spoiled, she nodded with a happy sigh.

Todd stood then, setting her on her feet. Ben tugged on the rope to get her attention. The shock of it echoed through her system, bringing a gasp to her lips, bringing her from that warm, lazy place to full attention.

“Your ni**les just got even harder.” Ben said it with that supreme maleness he had, and she shivered at the sound. Knowing what it meant when he took on that persona, giving rein to that part of himself.

He started to wrap her upper body, around each breast, careful to leave the chains and nipple weights free.