Gilded Mess: A Reverse Harem Shifter Goldilocks Retelling (Three Bears Book 1) by Colette Rhodes

Author:Colette Rhodes [Rhodes, Colette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

I wanted to kiss her again.

I’d made bread thousands of times, usually it was a mindless task for me, but today I could barely focus enough to get the ingredients out of the cupboard.

Aurelia — Ria’s — lips had all of my attention. I could paint a 6-foot canvas devoted to her mouth — the poutiness of her lips, the way the corners were always tipped up mischievously... God, she was like a beautiful dream.

I wasn’t as… free with my affections, as Eli was. I went into town reasonably often to sell my paintings, but I liked to think of myself as more selective. Or perhaps I just wasn’t as appealing to the female population. I had been told more than once that I was “intense.”

Ria hadn’t seemed to mind, though. She relished my intensity. And Eli’s playfulness, which was perfect since the three of us had always preferred the idea of taking a mate together. I couldn’t imagine life apart from my brothers.

“Do you need me to show you how it’s done?” Ria teased, and I realized I’d been staring at her hands for longer than was socially acceptable. Every line, curve, and edge of her body was a portrait I hadn’t painted yet.

“I’m always open to learning new techniques,” I replied instead.

Ria’s eyebrows raised. “You’d let me take charge?”

I tilted my head to the side, studying her face to figure out if there was a double meaning to her words. I hadn’t exactly held back when I’d kissed her.

“I’m not a total control freak,” I replied carefully.

“Except in bed,” Eli called from the couch. Ria glanced over at him, a grin overtaking her entire face. God, she was radiant when she smiled like that.

It was a testament to my extraordinary self-control that I hadn’t murdered my little brother yet.

“Could you three save your fucked up foreplay for when I’m not around?” Noah grumbled, glaring at me in particular while Ria busied herself assembling ingredients from various cupboards, rolling her eyes at my grumpy twin. Noah had accepted that Eli was going to get involved with Ria — Eli was Eli, after all — but Noah undoubtedly saw my flirtation with her as something of a betrayal.

Not that I would know. Noah was a closed book when it came to talking about his feelings. As far as he was concerned, emotions were a weakness he didn’t have time for, and Eli and I had always indulged his insecurities because it was convenient for us.

I regretted that call now. Not only because I was curious as hell about what Noah was thinking, but also because it was increasingly obvious that he was struggling with something, and that something was going to be the death of a budding relationship with Ria.

What was I missing here?

We’d always discussed taking a mate together. Our parents weren’t polyamorous, it wasn’t something we’d grown up with, but a nearby family of cougar shifters — the Wyatts — were polyandrous and they’d been good to us when we were trying to get ourselves set up as teenagers on our own.

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