The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate-Chapter 73: Pretending

Scarlett’s POV

​He had realized I was completely naked. I was lying on my side, my back, and my backside facing him.

My skin flushed hot, and a deep red crept up my neck, but I still didn’t open my eyes. I heard him scramble off the bed. For a second, my heart sank. I thought he was leaving. I felt a wave of disappointment wash over me, colder than the air in the room.

​But then, I heard a different sound: the metallic clink of a belt and the rustle of jeans hitting the floor.

​He wasn’t leaving. He was undressing.

​Excitement rushed through me, making my toes curl under the sheets. A moment later, the bed dipped again. This time, it wasn’t just heat—it was skin. His warm, naked chest pressed firmly against my back. His legs tangled with mine, and I felt the hard, pulsing length of him pressing right against me.

​He pulled the blanket back over both of us, tucking it tightly around our bodies.

​"Wake up, Scarlett," he groaned, his hand sliding over my waist, his palm hot against my stomach.

​I refused. This was too exciting and too dangerous to stop now. I wanted to feel every second of this.

​He let out a low growl of frustration and buried his face in my hair. He began placing slow, wet kisses all along my neck and the curve of my shoulder, his stubble grazing my skin.

​"I know you’re awake," he whispered, his breath ghosting over my ear. "I can feel your heart racing against my chest."

​I refused to open my eyes. I was terrified that if I did, the spell would break and he would realize he was in the wrong room. But I couldn’t hide the way my body was reacting. He shifted behind me, his large, warm hand sliding up my ribcage until he cupped my breast.

​I squeezed my eyes shut, biting back a moan that was clawing at my throat. His thumb brushed over my nipple, pinching the sensitive peak until it was hard.

​Fuck, I said inwardly. My toes curled into the mattress.

​He leaned over my shoulder, his lips finding my breast. He took my nipple into his mouth, sucking deeply. A soft moan escaped my lips before I could stop it. He hummed against my skin, a low vibration that told me he definitely heard it. I wondered if he even knew what he was doing in his drunken state, but right now, I didn’t care. The pleasure was too good and too necessary.

​I could feel his weight, thick and pulsing, pressing hard against the curve of my backside. Every time he moved to get a better angle on my breast, the friction made my head spin. He pulled his mouth away, panting slightly, and his hand moved down.

​Under the heavy blanket, his fingers parted my legs. His touch was hot and demanding as he began rubbing my entrance. I bit my lip so hard to stop myself from moaning. I was a mess of heat and desire, my body slick and ready for him.

​He let out a dark, drunken scoff against my ear. "You are so wet for a person who is asleep, Scarlett," he whispered.

​Then, he slowly inserted a finger.

​I moaned loudly this time, unable to control the sound or the way my hips bucked back against him. He groaned, the sound vibrating through his chest and into my back. He began to move his finger deep inside me, finding a rhythm that made my vision blur. At the same time, he leaned down again, taking my nipple back into his mouth and sucking hard.

​The dual sensation was driving me crazy. I was caught between the man who was supposed to be my fake fiancé and the fire he was lighting inside me. I didn’t open my eyes, but I reached back, my fingers tangling in his hair, pulling him closer as the bed shook with his ragged breath.

​Ethan didn’t slow down. If anything, the alcohol made him more feral, his movements losing their polite edge. He increased the pace, his finger hooking deep inside me, hitting a spot that made my entire body jerk. At the same time, his teeth grazed my nipple, tugging sharply enough to make me gasp.

​"You like that, don’t you?" he growled against my skin, his voice a dark, gravelly ruin. "So tight. So perfect. I’ve wanted to hear you make those sounds since the moment I saw you."

​I cried out in pure pleasure as he pushed his finger back in, moving in a fast, rhythmic blur that had me sobbing into the pillow. I couldn’t keep my eyes closed anymore, but the room was spinning in the dark.

​"Look at how you’re shaking for me," he whispered, his words sweet but his touch raw. "I would have protected you from everything, Scarlett. I would have made sure no one ever made you cry again."

​The love in his voice felt like a knife, but the heat of his body was a drug. He pulled his hand away for a second, and I felt a void—a cold ache that lasted only a heartbeat. Then, I felt his hand wrap around his own length.

​He guided himself down, his breath hot against the back of my neck as he pressed the broad, pulsing tip of his member right against my entrance. He didn’t sink in, but he rubbed against me, the friction so intense it felt like a lightning strike.

​"Fuck..." I choked out, my voice breaking. I arched my back, my body grinding back against him, begging for the weight I knew was coming.

​"You’re so beautiful like this," he hummed, his chest vibrating against my spine. "My brave, beautiful girl. Let me feel how much you want me."

​Ethan kept rubbing against me. I was melting. I was shaking. I couldn’t take the distance anymore. I wanted him to fill the ache that Liam had started and Ethan had made ten times worse.

​"Alpha Ethan... go in," I whispered. My voice was a broken mess. "Please. Just go in."

​In that moment, I didn’t care about the laws of the pack. I didn’t care about fated mates. I was choosing him. I wanted him to be my first. I wanted the man who protected me and held me to be the one to take everything, rather than the mate who had let me suffer for two years.

​Ethan let out a long, shaky breath against my neck. His hand gripped my hip so hard his knuckles must have been white.

​"You have no idea how much I want to," he said. His voice sounded frustrated. "But I can’t, Scarlett... I can’t do that to you. Not while I’m like this."

​The rejection stung more than any physical pain. I felt him pull away from my entrance. The loss of his heat made me want to cry out. He didn’t leave the bed, though. He leaned in one last time and placed a soft, lingering kiss on the side of my neck, right over my pulse point.

​"I wish it was really you," he murmured. His voice was getting smaller, fading into the sleep that the alcohol was forcing on him. "I wish you were the one."

​He wrapped his heavy, muscular arms around my waist and pulled me flush against his chest. He tucked his face into the crook of my neck and let out a long sigh. Within seconds, his breathing became deep and even.

​He was asleep.

​I lay there in the dark, wide awake, my body still burning, my heart racing for reasons that had nothing to do with desire anymore.

I was in the arms of a man who wanted me...

But not me.

My throat tightened.

Slowly, I closed my eyes, and a single tear slipped free, disappearing into the pillow.