“And Lucas wants to help you. And I need you both to help me.” Aidan rubbed their cheeks together. “I need you to support me. I know you and Lucas are smarter, but the ranch is important.”

“We’re not smarter, just different.” But the whole idea of helping him filled a void inside her.

“Well, I need you both. You and Lucas have so much experience that I don’t have. I’m done with this whole feeling like shit thing. I’m necessary in this marriage. I love this family. Maybe I didn’t bring as much money into it, but damn it, I’m valuable.”

He thought he wasn’t? Her heart softened. “Oh, babe, of course you are.”

His lips touched hers, a fire sparking across her flesh. He only needed to kiss her to make her go up in flames. His arms wound around her. He pulled her close. Everything in Lexi responded to him. This was what she needed.

“I haven’t been valuable lately.” He said the words against her lips. “But I will be, Lexi. I can be what you need again. I will be. Eat that damn sandwich because you’re serving two Masters tonight.”

Her whole body clenched in anticipation.

She ate her food because she would need her strength.

* * *

Aidan led Lexi to the playroom. The doors were open, but he stopped them just outside. His heart softened as he saw Lucas sitting in the middle of the room, his gorgeous, lean body in a sitting position. Cobbler Pose. His feet were together, his hands behind his back.

When they had first gotten together, Lucas had wanted to join him in his daily yoga. Aidan needed it to feel flexible. His muscles tended to seize up after all the surgeries he’d required to fix the damage he’d taken in Iraq. So he and Lucas had gotten up with the dawn and moved through a series of yoga poses, starting with Sun Salutation and ending with Relaxation Pose.

He missed that. He would reinstate those mornings with his guy. Lexi and Lucas liked to sit together in the mornings and have their coffee. Aidan couldn’t stand the shit, but he could have his yoga time. And in the evenings he would shower with Lexi. She needed a shower before she could sleep. It could be their special time together.

They had to fight for it. Every day. Every hour.

They made the choice to be together.

All three of them. They needed time—each of them together, but they definitely needed time for the three of them to come together. “We need to join Lucas. Are you strong enough, baby?”

“I am. I need to be with you.” Tears filled her eyes. “I’ve missed you both so much.”

And he’d missed her. He and Lucas had been together, but not with the tenderness they had needed. They’d lived a half-life without her.

“Then come back to us. Come and complete us. We’ve been lost without you.” Aidan reached out, holding a hand to her. “We need you, baby. We don’t get what we need without you, but you have to decide to come with us. I won’t order you to do it.”

She was the true center of their world. He and Aidan could fuck however they wanted, but they needed her. Lucas had been miserable without his girl to top. Aidan couldn’t give him that.

Lexi sniffled a little. “You’re not mad at me?”

Oh, he was plenty mad, but he also realized that both his subs could be pissed at him, too. He wasn’t innocent, not by any means. He’d wanted to save face with the people he loved and now he realized that “face” didn’t matter. Truth mattered. Love mattered.

He could be weak around his wife and Lucas. They would make him strong.

“How long did your mom take the kids?”

Her lips curled up. “The whole night. We’ll get them back after the wedding.”

His cock twitched in his pants. “Perfect.”

“Of course, we’re taking Josh and Olivia the night before we leave.”

Usually the thought of being responsible for those two hooligans would make him want to run out and hide in the barn, but now all he could think about was the fact that they had all night. All night alone. There was time enough tomorrow to want to tear his own hair out. “Then I think we should play, baby.”

She took his hand and let him lead her up. “How rough are you going to get? I have a lot to make up for.”

Her breathy tone did amazing things to his cock. She had a little masochist buried inside her. It totally called to that tiny bit of sadist in him—and the one who lived in Lucas. She was their perfect mate.

“You do. I think you might have a rough night, baby.”

She shuddered softly, just enough to let him know how much she wanted it. “All right.”

“But I was serious about you slowing down. You have to rest. You have to spend more time with us. I know you love your writing and I won’t come in the way of that, but the travel has to slow down. We need you at home. When you do need to go, we’ll go with you. This family stays together, do you understand?”

She placed her hands in his. “Yes, Aidan. We stay together. And you know I can handle whatever discipline you and Lucas mete out.”

His cock was pressing at the fly of his jeans. They had all night. Trev had texted him and offered him use of the playroom. No one expected anything from them until the next day at the wedding.

It had been forever since he’d taken hours to play with his subs. Lucas always wanted things to go so fast. Lexi needed a long time to find her subspace. She luxuriated in the discipline, and she would need so much of it.

He led Lexi through the dungeon doors, closing them behind him.

Lucas sat in the middle of the room, his legs now in a perfect Padmasana or Lotus pose. His legs were locked together, ankle over ankle, his hips open, palms resting on his thighs. He’d taken off his shirt and switched to a pair of sweat pants, but Aidan meant to get him out of everything soon.

He’d given Lucas this. He’d taught him the same way Leo had taught Aidan. He’d given Lucas this place to go to find peace.

“He’s so gorgeous,” Lexi whispered, her eyes on his perfectly straight back.

“Yes, he is. And he’s ours.” Aidan didn’t whisper because he’d never met a human being who needed to belong more than Lucas O’Malley. “I won’t make him question that again.”

Lucas’s head twisted slightly, his green eyes opening and a soft smile playing on his face. “Yes, you will. Forever is a long time, Master. I suspect we’ll all fuck up again. But it will be all right as long as we find our way back to this place.”

Aidan knew he wasn’t talking about the physical space they were in but rather Lucas was talking about finding their way home. They could move. They could have more children. They could love the rest of their family, but they could never forget that their world had begun with these three people.

“I’ll always choose this place.” No matter how lost he became, Lucas and Lexi would always be his home.

Lucas smiled again, and then turned his attention to Lexi, his gaze becoming deeply predatory. “Why is our sub wearing clothing in the playroom? I don’t think she really wants to make up for her bad behavior, Master.”

Yep, Lucas was hungry. He was going to have to share some power tonight. “Why don’t you help her fix that problem while I select a few toys to play with?”

He heard Lexi gasp a little as Lucas rolled his body up. Fuck, he was a gorgeous man and when he decided to top their sub, Aidan liked to watch. He stepped back, leaving Lexi to her second Master for the moment.

The McNamara playroom was a model of efficiency. Beth liked to build things, and she’d designed a whole wall to organize the toys. Like the rest of the room, it was discreet, and a person had to know what buttons to push to get to the good stuff. Bo had given him and Lucas a tour the first day, so Aidan knew the light switch to the side would do the trick. He flipped it up and the door slid open.

“That is so stinking cool. Oh, my god. I have to see that.” Lexi was watching the doors slide away, revealing a wall of nasty fun.

“No,” Lucas said in his darkest Dom voice. “No research. You should have taken the tour with the rest of us, but you were on your phone. Maybe, if you’re a very good girl, we’ll let you take notes before we leave, but for now you need to get out of those clothes and find your position.”

Lucas wasn’t playing around. And Aidan could see plainly that his bossy switch was getting to their girl. Her nipples stood out against the cotton of her shirt and there was a pretty pink flush to her skin.

Lucas sank his hand into her hair, dragging it out of the bun she’d fashioned. Black silk tumbled across her shoulders. “Did you eat what I made for you, Lexi?”

She answered quickly, a sure sign she was ready to play. “Yes, Lucas. I ate every bite.”

“Good.” He fisted her hair, gently drawing her face up to his. “You’re going to need it.”

His mouth came down on hers, and Aidan watched as his partner damn near inhaled their girl. So much longing and it was finally getting fulfilled. No matter what came next, he had to make sure they got what they needed.

He regretfully turned away and looked for a few of the items they would need. Bo and Trev kept several unopened selections for guests to use. He pulled out the lubricant and an extra-large plug. Yeah, he was going to have some fun. He winked at Lucas as he walked to the bathroom, opening the plug and sterilizing it.

It was a nice-sized monster. Lexi was used to anal, but it had been a while. And it would be so fucking much fun to watch her eyes go wide as he sank the plug deep.

And then he’d sink his cock in.

He walked back out and Lucas had done his job. Lexi was naked and waiting in her slave pose. Her back was straight, her head submissively down, palms up on her thighs. Her knees were wide, leaving her perfectly shaved pussy on full display.