“Thank you and I would love to thank the pilot personally.”

A little jolt told her the aircraft was moving. She would have to thank the pilot later.

“I’m sure he’d like that after we’re in flight. I’ll serve the wine with lunch, if that’s to your liking, Your Highness.” At Alea’s nod, she smiled. “I had to scramble, but I think I have enough food for everyone. This is a very long flight. We’ll be in the air for almost fifteen hours. Those men look like they’ll eat a lot, but I’ll ensure you have all you need.” The hostess patted her arm. “I will serve coffee and tea as soon as we’re level. Please don’t hesitate to ask for me if you need anything. Gentlemen, you really must take your seats now.”

As the flight attendant found her own jump seat in the back, a chill iced Alea’s body. Gentlemen? Large men who needed a lot of food? Oliver better have found a small rugby team to send to Sydney because it couldn’t be who she feared. They couldn’t know about this trip. She’d been careful and kept her mouth completely shut. She’d gotten up at an unholy hour and packed fairly light. No. She closed her eyes and drew in a long breath. She was supposed to be alone. Please let these be a few hangers-on who wouldn’t be anything like…

“Do you think she’s going to keep her eyes closed the whole trip, Dane?” Cooper asked from the back of the plane.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! She shook her head, praying that she was just having a dream. No, a nightmare.

“I think eventually she’ll come to the conclusion that this is reality, and she’ll open those gorgeous brown eyes. Then she’ll probably start spewing more bile at us. Or at the very least objecting that we’re crashing her clandestine solo holiday. Either way, she’s going to be pissed off. So just sit back, relax, and wait for it. After the pointless argument is over, we’ll have hours to hash out how everything between us is going to work from now on.” Dane’s voice reeked of self-satisfied authority. And sex. After last night and coming so close to discovering firsthand the whole big deal about consensual sex for pleasure, she really didn’t know how to cope with how hot he sounded.

Alea gritted her teeth. It didn’t matter. In theory, she was the princess, and they were paid employees. She’d be well served to remind them of that and establish firm boundaries.

The seats beside, behind, and in front of her all jostled. She opened her eyes, and sure enough, she was surrounded by miles of gorgeous man flesh. Sure, all three of them were wearing clothes, but she could guess what sort of hard muscle was under those T-shirts. Still, that didn’t mean a thing because they weren’t welcome on her vacation.

“Get off this plane.”

Landon’s clear blue eyes widened innocently. “How—jump? Gosh, Lea. It’s moving. I don’t think now is a good time to do that.”

“Here comes the bile-spewing portion of the day, my brothers,” Dane said with a smirk that really should have crawled under her skin. But his almost obnoxious confidence was somehow sexy. “Watch. She’s going to go through a bunch of steps of the grieving process. She’s already been through denial.”

Two weeks of this—of them—and she’d be no closer to finding peace than she had been last night.

“You have to get off this plane,” Alea said, her voice tight. “Please. I need time alone to think, so you can’t go with me. After last night, you shouldn’t want to be with me. Just tell Tal I skipped out on you. I promise I’ll come back safely if you’ll just give me some space.”

“I think she’s a little bit afraid, Dane,” Cooper suggested.

Dane shrugged. “She’s bargaining now. Only because she doesn’t understand yet and doesn’t trust that we mean business. She will soon enough.”

“Lea, we’re not going to hurt you,” Lan vowed. “We’re here to protect you.”

“Among other things.” Dane smiled smugly. “Just wait, man. This is the pain and fear talking. She’ll calm down soon.” He settled back into his chair like he was enjoying the show and waiting to see the next act.

Oh, she was so done with him. Dane thought he understood her? That he could read her mind and guess how she was going to react? Bullshit.

Despite the plane still rolling along the runway, Alea yanked her seat belt off and stood, then grabbed Dane’s hand in hers. She would throw his ass off the plane herself if she had to. She could do it. She’d read about women who got great bursts of strength when they really needed it during a panic. Surely this qualified.

“How far out are we, Coop?” Dane asked as she pulled fruitlessly on his arm.

He glanced out the window. “Looks like there’s another plane ahead of us. I think that’s the prime minister heading home. She’s got three-to-five minutes to try to haul you out of here.”

If that concerned Coop, he didn’t show it. Instead, he leaned his head against the headrest and closed his eyes like he didn’t have a care in the world.

“Damn you, get off this plane!” She tugged even harder, putting her weight into the effort. Instead of staring at her like he was bored, this time Dane stood. His massive frame towered over her. He wasn’t smiling.

“Sit down, Alea. We’re going to cut through the rest of this crap and get straight to acceptance. We’re going wherever you’re going. If you would like to stay in Bezakistan, we can do that. As it happens, I think a little time away would be good for all of us.”

“No,” she nearly shouted. “I need time away from everything that distracts and confuses me. That definitely includes you three.”

“Does it now?” he asked, his voice going dangerously low.

He didn’t touch her, but she could feel the heat of his body reaching her, wrapping around her. He was so close. Like Cooper had been close the night before. Alea took a long breath, trying to calm herself, but what she got was a nose full of the delicious, masculine scent of soap and something else uniquely Dane.

“Answer me, Alea. Do you really want to be away from us? Because I think you’re lying. I can see your nipples. They’re hard.”

Damn it, she should have worn a sweater. She crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s because I’m mad. They’re not aroused nipples. They’re angry nipples.”

“I’m going to teach you not to lie, Alea. Those are lonely nipples. Those are aching nipples. Do you want to know what I’ve got planned for them?” His voice had gone husky.

A hot denial sprung up inside her, settling between her legs, and she wondered if she was fending him off or just baiting the bear. “You’re my guards. You’re supposed to keep my body safe, not touch me. No, wait. You aren’t my guards. I’m firing you right now. You can’t talk to me like that.”

“We are your guards, according to Tal. He signs our paychecks. And I’m going to talk to you this way a lot from now on. We’re not going to let you dismiss us anymore. There’s something between all of us. Chemistry like this doesn’t happen often, and I’ll be damned if I let you keep shoving that aside just because you’re too scared to see where it leads, Princess.” Dane’s voice sizzled over her skin, an unavoidable reminder of the heat scorching through her.

“He’s right. I’ve never felt anything like this.” Landon was suddenly behind her, his voice a hot whisper on the nape of her neck. “I can’t just walk away from it. I want to be around you. With you. Inside you. I want you to work with us to make this whole thing good.”

Alea stifled a moan bubbling in her throat at the feel of them so close. “There’s no ‘thing.’”

She’d meant for that statement to come out in a firm voice, but it just sounded breathy and sensual. They weren’t touching her, but for the first time, she wanted them to. She’d lost it last night when Coop had grabbed her just before… But what if he hadn’t? What if she’d kept her head? What if they took everything really slowly? Maybe she wasn’t totally broken and her body could actually respond if they told her what they planned to do, prepared her mentally first. Maybe.

“There’s more than a little something between us, baby,” Coop said, sitting up now, his previous laziness shoved aside. “It’s real, and we’ve all been dodging it. I’m done with that.”

“I am, too.” Dane’s words sounded like a vow. “So now I’m going to tell you exactly what I want to do.”

The desire shimmering from those blue eyes made something in her belly jump and tighten. If what he had to say was half as hot as his face suggested, she wouldn’t be able to handle it. “Don’t. Please. I’ll sit back down.”

“Ah, we’re back to bargaining.” Dane’s hair was just the slightest bit shaggy, and she loved the way it curled around his ears as he looked down at her. “I think we have another couple of minutes before takeoff, so I’ll elaborate. First, I want to look at your breasts, Alea. I want you to take your shirt off and show them to me. I want you to cup them with your hands and offer them up.”

She shook her head even as the heat inside her surged. “I can’t do that.”

“He’ll tell you how beautiful they are,” Landon continued. “We all will. We’ll sit and watch them for a minute because none of us will be able to take our eyes off you and your gorgeous, full breasts.”

“They aren’t. They’re small.” Why was she talking about herself? She should be shoving them away and firming up boundaries. But no, she was standing there and arguing over the size of her breasts. And practically feeling Dane’s hands on her, even though he wasn’t touching her.

“No. They’re the perfect size, baby. They’ll fit right in the palm of my hand. I don’t think I’ve ever seen breasts as beautiful as yours. Tell me something, Princess. Did Cooper get his mouth on those nipples last night?”

She shivered, remembering everywhere Cooper had put his mouth. “No.”

“I barely touched her breasts. I just ate that pussy like it was the tastiest treat I’ve ever had.” Cooper edged closer to her. “You tasted so good, baby. I’ve had a hard-on ever since, and no amount of masturbation satisfies my cock. I want you.”

The idea of Cooper touching himself while he thought of her sent another wave of arousal through Alea. She actually wanted to touch him, to see and feel him all over. Their words were turning her into a woman she didn’t know, one who ached to do and feel everything they murmured in her ear. Would they let her explore without asking for anything in return? Likely not. Men seemed geared to take from women. These three had proven they could be polite and kind, but she was sure in the bedroom, Dane, Lan, and Coop would be like other men.

But…what if, like Coop’s mouth on her, that could actually feel good?

“I want to suck your nipples, Alea.” Lan’s voice was softer than she could ever remember. “I’ll be so gentle. I’ll lick, play, and kiss on them until you forget there was a time when they weren’t in my mouth.”

“He’s got a breast obsession,” Dane admitted with a chuckle. “Now, as for me, I really want to touch your ass. God, Alea, do you know what that round ass does to me?”

She tried to back away, but only bumped into Landon. “Now I know you’re joking. My ass is huge.”

Instantly, Dane tensed. Cooper shot a placating stare to his pal. “No. Go easy on her, man.”

Dane’s jaw tightened. “We’re going to establish a few rules, baby, some for your protection, some for our sanity. Rule number one, you don’t ever talk badly about yourself.”

Why did what she thought or said about her ass matter? No clue. In fact, she couldn’t think about anything except the fact that they still loomed so close—and seemed to be moving in. “I am going to talk to Tal. You can’t treat me like this.”

“Poor baby. Who do you think gave us his stamp of approval?” Dane leaned closer until his lips were almost touching hers.

She tried to move, but Landon wasn’t willing to let her retreat from them. The minute she backed up, something thick and hard poked at her bottom. His erection. That didn’t scare her the way it should. Still she tried to move forward. When she did, another erection poked at her belly. Dane. Her knees went weak.

“Sorry, Princess.” Dane didn’t sound sorry at all. “I’m afraid that’s my permanent state around you, and I just don’t have the inclination to masturbate like Coop there.”

“God, you smell so good.” Landon groaned against her neck.

“Are you sniffing my hair?” She brushed it in front of her shoulders, away from Lan’s nose. What rabbit hole had she fallen down?