Burke stormed up to the third floor of Corbin House, heading straight for James’ room. He didn’t even bother knocking. He just shoved his way inside, emotions flooding his body in waves.
This ends tonight.
Burke was done. No more waiting. No more goddamned civility. A hunger for too many things left unsaid ate at him. He could scarcely breathe. Rosalie needed him. James needed him. The future they all wanted was right within reach. He couldn’t fail them now.
He shut the door with a snap, leaning against it. He’d always hated this room. Like his own on the floor below, at one point it belonged to George. James never bothered with making a space his own unless it was an office. This room still screamed George Corbin—the furniture was too ornate, the patterns too loud, the style too French. James looked wholly out place, like a blacksmith’s hammer in a silver cabinet.
From the middle of the room, James spun to face the door, an angry retort dying on his lips as he took in Burke standing there. He’d clearly been pacing. He always paced when he was upset. The man was a mess. His coat was slung over a chair, waistcoat unbuttoned, no cravat. Unless Burke was very much mistaken, it was still lying on the floor of the opera box.
“You shouldn’t be here,” James muttered, turning away. “You should be with her.”
“Tom is with her,” he replied, still not trusting himself to leave the safety of the door. He smoothed his hands against the painted wood.
James spun around when he reached the fireplace. “She needs you, Burke. Please…just go. Leave me.”
“I’m right where I’m meant to be.” The words fell from his lips and soothed him like a balm. He let their truth sink down to his very bones. He was right where he was meant to be. With James.
It always came back to James.
James Corbin was the center of his world. Burke smiled. Nothing could ever be so bleak that they could not find the horizon together. No task too arduous. No problem unsolvable.
James dragged both hands through his hair. “Is she alright? Did she…” He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes. “God…did she tell you what happened?”
Burke pushed off the door and moved to the middle of the room. “I’m sure there are a thousand better ways I could’ve done this, but we are quite literally at the end of our rope.”
James stilled.
“If we don’t correct course now, I’m afraid we may drift too far apart and this mooring between us will fray and snap. Such a severing will be a mortal wound to us both, and we will bleed inwardly until the pain leaves us worse than dead.”
James narrowed his brows, lips parted in confusion. “I don’t understand—”
“I love you,” he declared, taking a step closer. “I’ve always loved you,” he added with a helpless shrug. “From the time we were children, my love of you has been buried deep in my heart. Over the past two decades, that seed of fidelity has bloomed inside me. You’ve completely filled my heart. It beats for you. But that’s not enough. Nothing is ever enough for you. You claimed my lungs too. So now I breathe for you. Every breath I take is yours.”
“Burke—”
“Shut up, and let me finish,” he growled, taking a step closer.
James set his mouth in a firm line.
“To admit that I love you goes against everything we’ve been taught,” he went on. “Men are not meant to say those words to another man. It is an expression of sentimentality denied to us. Wrongfully so, in my opinion,” he added. “Because the most resounding truth of my life is that I love you. I’ve stayed by your side all these years. I help run your estates—not because I care whether the Corbin name shines like silver—but because I fucking love you. I handle the tempers of George, a man I loathe, out of unyielding love for you.”
He closed the distance between them. “I am standing here with you, not out of any lack of love or concern for Rosalie. I love that woman more than my own life. In fact, I know with a surety marrow-deep that she is the love of my life…but your love gives me life, James. Without it, my lungs will falter. Without it, my heart ceases to beat. So, I will not be with her now. I am going to stand here…with you. This is my place, James. By your side. Always.”
James was utterly still. “Burke, I…”
The men stood feet apart, and for the first time, it felt like James was looking at him. James was seeing him. Words failed them both as James reached out with both hands, clinging to Burke’s lapels as he pulled him closer. The men bowed their heads together, foreheads touching. Burke didn’t move. He just stood with him, breathing his air, waiting for him to collect his thoughts and emotions. Burke could wait. He’d been waiting for twenty years. What was a few more minutes?
“That was…a lot for me,” James admitted at last.
“I know.”
“You know I’m no good at this—”
“I know,” Burke murmured, raising a hand to gently cuff James’ neck. His fingers brushed the curls at this nape.
James lifted his head away, meeting Burke’s gaze. “But…you do know I love you too…right?”
Burke sucked in a breath as relief crashed through him. He dropped his forehead to James’ shoulder. “You’ve never said the words. Not once.”
Then James was hugging him. He held him close, his arms like bands of iron around his back. “I have failed Rosalie enough. I cannot possibly fail you too,” he said, his breath warm on his cheek. “Horatio Burke, I love you. For everything you do…everything you are. I’m sorry if I’ve ever made you doubt it.”
Burke turned his face towards James’ neck. His lips brushed the exposed skin there as he let out a slow exhale, his entire body trembling. He pulled away, needing to see James’ eyes. He had to know. “But are you in love with me? Could you ever learn to love me in that way?”
“I…think I already do,” he muttered. He glanced back up, eyes wary. “But I…Burke, I don’t like men. Hell, I hardly even tolerate them.”
Burke chuckled. “I don’t either,” he said with another shrug. “The thought of being intimate with one never crossed my mind until…” He paused, worried to admit too much too quickly. James was like a startled fawn at the edge of the forest. He had to be coaxed slowly. “George has always made jokes about us, and I always just ignored them.”
“George is an arse,” James muttered.
“He is an arse…with a level of intuition that runs almost occult,” Burke corrected. “He saw what was between us all even before we did. He’s been pulling the strings for weeks.”
James scowled. “What do you mean?”
“The letters he gave you, dragging Rosalie out a window, inviting Marianne to the engagement party—”
James’ brows shot sky-high. “He did that?”
“Aye, I cornered him about it the next morning and threatened to burn all his ugly paintings until he confessed. And you already know he told her about our stupid game with the names in the hat.”
“Why would he meddle to bring us all together? What does it gain him?”
Burke shrugged again. “Your happiness, perhaps? And we all know he’s created an odd attachment to Rosalie. He takes being her benefactor surprisingly seriously.”
James grew quiet, shifting away from him. “Is she alright? She must hate me.”
Burke just rolled his eyes. God, how he loved them. But they were fools. “James, she is so completely in love with you, that I think she might shatter beyond repair if you dare deny her again. Run from our girl again, run from your feelings, and I’ll break both your legs like I promised.”
James paced away. “Burke—I can’t—I can’t bear it. She said she’d give me anything.” He spun around. “She wants to give me everything. She said it without saying it…but I think she’ll marry me.”
Even a week ago, hearing those words might have broken Burke’s heart. He wanted her so badly for himself. But this made sense. This way, they all got what they wanted. With Rosalie and James married, the ton would be appeased, and Burke and Tom could continue in their bachelor ways with everyone none the wiser. There might be gossip, but Rosalie and James could behave so much in love as to quiet any rumors.
Burke sighed with relief. “That’s good—”
“It’s the opposite of good! To her, marriage is a cage. Marriage is violence. It is losing oneself to the whims of a husband who will be like a master holding all the keys. You’ve heard her yourself, Burke.”
“Perhaps her opinions have changed—”
“Or perhaps she is so desperate to have all three of us, she is willing to sacrifice herself on the altar of love for the sake of you and Tom. She will give in to my cruel demands. Everything or nothing. She will appease me. Well, I will not be the man who breaks her spirit. I will not be the man who chains her in a marriage she doesn’t want all for the chance to love her. Marriage is off the table,” he said with a swipe of his hand, pacing away again.
Burke took a deep breath. “James…we need you to marry her. Can’t you see it? That’s the only way this all works. You are taking the most risk, so you must reap the most reward. You are the only one who will get to call her ‘wife.’” He laughed, dragging a hand through his hair. “God, I could kill you for it…if it didn’t make me so happy I could weep.”
James spun around, his face murderous. “Did you not listen to a word I just said? She does not want to marry me!” He enunciated each word. “Not like this anyway. Not with such a power imbalance between us. If she wasn’t so goddamn stubborn, I’d settle a dowry on her and make a legal contract blocking me from accessing it. But I can barely get her to accept a dress from me without a fight. Hell, I even told her the diamonds were fake!”
Burke frowned. “You what?”
“The diamonds!” James barked. “The necklace. The one she wore tonight. I told her they were fake.” He gave a bitter laugh. “They’re not fake; they’re worth a fortune. She could sell it and pocket the money, use it as insurance to leave the moment she tires of us. Hell, between the jewels and all the clothes, she could live a comfortable life.”
“Is that why you keep giving her things?” Burke pressed with a raised brow. “You’re trying to pad her with feathers, so she sees a life with you as a nest and not a cage?”
James closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “She is…everything to me. I want to give her everything. She’s lived such an ugly life, Burke. I know we can make it beautiful again. She deserves to be surrounded by such beautiful things.”
“What she deserves is you,” Burke murmured. “That is all she wants, James. You see her agreeing to marry you as her abandoning her principles, tearing herself asunder to be what you need. I don’t see that at all. I see growth. I see a woman willing to meet you halfway and give you what you need, while resolutely refusing to yield her own wants and desires.”
James paused in his pacing, turning to look at him.
“Christ, James. Look at us. Look at what we’re arguing over! You want to marry a woman who wants to marry you. A woman who loathes marriage and all it stands for wants to be your wife. Her only condition will be that you accept not one, but two other lovers into the marriage. It’s madness, but there we have it,” he said with a laugh. “She will not marry you if you cast us out. To marry Rosalie Harrow is to marry Horatio Burke and Tom Renley. Can you accept her terms? Can you gain two husbands with your wife?”
James swallowed, eyes wide. “I—this is—”
“Before you keep blubbing like a fish, there is more you should know.” He knew how he wanted this reveal to go, but James was not always predictable…especially when it came to being territorial about Burke. “While you’ve been chasing your lovesick tail, desperate to avoid us, we none of us have been idle.”
“What does that mean?” James muttered, his body going tense.
Burke took a breath, placing his hands on James’ shoulders. James stiffened. Not a good sign, but Burke had to charge ahead. No retreat. All cards on the table. No surrender. This ended tonight. “James…Tom and I are lovers. As much as I want you, I want Tom too. As much as I can’t wait to have you…I already have Tom.”
James hissed and shrugged away.
“We’ve kissed and we’ve fucked, with Rosalie between us, under us…and he sucks my cock like a goddamn dream—”
James rounded on him. “Why the hell are you telling me this?”
Burke smiled. “Because you need to face all your fears, James. We’re not leaving this room until you do. I told the others this hesitancy you have ends tonight.”
James scoffed and stomped off. “You think I’m afraid of Tom? Or what…afraid to share Rosalie with another man?” He paused by the fireplace, his lip curled into a sneer. “Or perhaps you think I’m afraid to share you with another man? You who I’ve always kept on such a short leash. Is that it? You want me jealous of Tom? You want me to prove I can fuck you as well as he can?”
“Your words, not mine,” Burke needled.
“You’re all fucking mine,” James growled, surging forward. In a rage, he wrapped a hand around the back of Burke’s neck. “You know me better than any person living. You know my greatest weakness is also my greatest strength: I covet things,” he whispered, his breath hot in Burke’s ear.
God, Burke was so hard. If James inched any closer, he would feel it.
“So be careful how you push me, Horatio. If you unleash me, I will claim you so fully, so fiercely…you will never escape me. I will brand myself on every inch of your fucking soul. You say I am your air?” He shifted his hand on Burke’s neck, wrapping it around the front, giving his throat a squeeze.
Burke couldn’t contain the groan that escaped his parted lips.
“Then breathe for me,” James rasped, inching closer until their mouths were almost touching. Burke slowly exhaled, his cock twitching as James sucked in a sharp breath, Burke’s air filling his lungs. “Do you want me to covet you, Horatio?”
“I want you to see how we covet you,” he replied, voice tight.
James gasped, leaning away.
Burke held his gaze. “You are the one who is coveted, James. You are the one who is wanted beyond all reason. You are the only one Rosalie chases. She made Tom and I scale her walls, content to sit back and watch us struggle every step of the way. You are the one she fights for even now.”
James blinked, lips parted in surprise.
“As for Tom, every time he gets leave from his ship, it is to your side he runs as fast as his legs can carry him. Without fail, he returns home to you.” He raised a hand at the first sign of protest. “And don’t say he comes for me too, because four Christmases ago he had a choice between us, do you remember? You were in London, and I was in Devonshire with my brother. Whom did he run to then?”
“Me,” James muttered, crossing his arms.
Burke smirked. “And as for me…we’ve already established that you are my everything. We are yours, James. Claim us like we want to be claimed. Love us and let us love you.”
James raised his hand, letting his finger trace over Burke’s parted lips. “How is this possible? I am the most undeserving of men…”
Burke leaned into his touch. “You are the light in our darkness. You are the safe harbor in the storm-swept seas of our lives. Without you, we wilt and die. Without you…god, help me—” Unable to hold back another second, he cupped James’ face and kissed him. It started slow. A few soft pecks. A seeking press of the lips. An invitation as his mouth parted ever so slightly. A plea as he flicked James’ bottom lip with his tongue.
And then they caught fire.
The flickering flame of their hesitant kisses blazed like an inferno. Strong hands groped shoulders and rasped over rough jaws. Fingers curled into hair in a claiming hold. Burke slanted his mouth over James’, opening himself to him. They drank of each other like two men dying of thirst, moaning their shared need as their teeth clacked and their tongues danced. They broke apart, gasping for breath, chests heaving.
Burke smiled, biting his abused bottom lip, feeling that tender ache of being well-kissed. He ran both hands down James’ chest, smoothing over the fabric of his open shirt as he inched his fingers lower. James went utterly still.
“Let me show you how well I mean to love you.” He flipped his hand over, brushing his knuckles over James’ hard cock. He smirked when he felt it twitch against his hand. “I have never been on my knees for another man…do you understand what I mean?”
James licked his lips. “Not even with Renley?”
Burke shook his head. “Not even him.” He leaned in, his lips brushing the shell of James’ ear as he whispered, “I would live on them for you.”
The sound in James’ throat was almost feral as Burke slid his hand inside the top of his breeches, seeking out his hard length. Burke wrapped his hand around James’ cock and both men cursed. “You didn’t get a release with Rosalie earlier…did you?”
James winced.
“You are aching,” he murmured in his ear. “Put me on my knees and take what you need.”
“Fucking hell,” James panted.
But he made no complaint as Burke slipped his hand out and started undoing his breeches. Burke fisted James’ hair with his free hand, giving it a tug. Their eyes met and Burke leaned in, stroking James from root to tip. “Tell me to get on my knees, and I will take your cock in my mouth. You will watch as I devour you.”
James snapped. One moment, he was standing at Burke’s mercy, his cock in Burke’s hand, groaning like he was in pain. The next he was stripping off his shirt, tossing it aside as he shoved his open breeches halfway down his thighs. His hard cock sprang out, the tip glistening with desire. He put both hands on Burke’s shoulders and pushed him down. “Get on your fucking knees.”
A thrill rushed through Burke as he shrugged out of his evening coat and waistcoat. He couldn’t shed himself of his cravat fast enough. He was about to drop to his knees when James shot out a hand, cupping his chin and tipping it up.
“Before you get too carried away, know this: Mine will be the first and only cock to touch these lips.” He brushed his fingers over Burke’s mouth. “Renley can have anything else he wants, anywhere he wants, but this mouth belongs to my cock.”
Burke sucked in a breath, his heart racing as he eagerly stripped off his own shirt. “Yes,” he groaned, crashing his lips against James, burrowing in with his tongue until James was open-mouthed, clinging to him. Burke broke the kiss, taking a panting breath. “But fair is fair,” he teased. “The only man who will ever put his mouth on you is me. This cock is mine.”
James grinned. “Then get on your knees and claim it.”
Burke dropped to his knees, gripping James roughly by the hips. He’d had his own cock sucked enough times to feel certain he could do an adequate job. He didn’t bother with a few teasing licks. He just opened his mouth and sank onto his best friend, moaning as the first taste of salty come coated his tongue.
“God help me,“ James muttered, digging his fingers into Burke’s hair.
Burke quickly figured out a rhythm, sucking and teasing as he worked James’ hips. He took him as deep as he could, pressing him to the back of his throat.
“Don’t stop—”
His hands slid around James’ hips, cupping his arse as he pulled him closer. When James didn’t move on his own, Burke popped off him and glanced up. “James…”
Panting, cheeks flushed, James looked down.
Burke squeezed his arse cheeks. “I told you to keep your eyes on me. Now, fuck my mouth.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
Burke grinned, tightening his hold on him. “Fuck my mouth like you own it, or I’ll fuck you in the arse.” He laughed as he felt James clench and pull away. Opening his mouth, he sank back down on him. He grunted his approval as James started to move, taking control. They found their rhythm together, Burke secretly thrilling as James pushed his limits, making him swallow until he gagged.
“Oh god, I’m going to come.”
Burke jerked James forward, sinking as deep as he could as he sucked.
“Ahh—Burke—” James came hard with a shudder, releasing in his mouth. As promised, Burke drank him down, savoring the sweet and salty taste.
When he was spent, James sank to his knees, pressing his forehead against Burke’s once more. “You’re mine,” he murmured. “Mine to love. Mine to covet, to own.”
Forever.
Burke nodded, hands still shaking as he smoothed them over James’ bare shoulders. “I’ve always been yours…but now I need your help.”
James lifted his head away. “What? Anything.”
Burke held his gaze. “Tell Rosalie you love her. Propose to her. Make her ours.”
