Page 37 of A Tangled Web

Dani’s knees wanted to buckle. Maybe it was peyote. Or she was having another sex dream. All the elements to prove it were there. Naked? Check. Coyote man-cum-sexy stranger? Check. A hot, commanding lover willing to fulfill her every dark and naughty daydream? Liam was all that and more.

But this felt real. Maybe she should pinch something.

“I think she’s speechless, my friend.”

“She says yes or this isn’t happening.” Liam moved closer to Dani, cupping her bare shoulders with his hands. He tried to smile, but she could see the tension in his body, something tightly reined in fighting to be set free. “Come on, Shortbread. You said you wouldn’t run tonight. So say yes. Give me one night with no regrets.”

“You’re serious?”

“Were you serious about wanting two men?”

“Be honest,” Stax advised her, and she felt a wave of heat roll through her body.

“Yes.” She lifted her chin, forcing the part of her squealing in prudish shock to shut the heck up. “I want you. I want all of it.”

His lips curved in relief and he pulled her close. “There’s my girl.”

“She’s not shivering for the right reasons, Liam. Why don’t we take her inside?”

At those words, Liam lifted her easily in his arms, clinging towel and all.

Dani glanced over his shoulder to see Stax following behind with a secretive smile.

Magic. That had to be what this was. The continuous arousal, the fact that she wasn’t shaking Liam and warning him about the coyote man they were about to invite into the house. It only made sense if she were under some sort of spell. What if Liam was too? Did he even want to do this?

Believe that, if nothing else, sweet Dani. He wants you to the point of madness. He always has. No spell or hypnosis required.

He was talking in her head. That was normal.

Liam didn’t stop until they were in his bedroom. She buried her face in his neck, inhaling his familiar scent and letting it sink into her bones. She’d always loved the way he smelled. Spices from the kitchen. Soap, mint and man. Home.

He set her down carefully in the center of the bed, standing back with an expression of masculine satisfaction that gave her a start. There it was again. The feeling that she didn’t know this Liam. Not as well as she was about to. The thought of what he and his accomplice might do to her had Dani almost vibrating with impatience.

But Liam didn’t move any closer. Long moments ticked by as she stared up at him in confusion. What was he waiting for?

The bed dipped and she jumped as Stax traced the edge of her towel with his fingers. “You needed to see this, Dani. His restraint in action. See how he trembles with it? This is how it’s been for him for years. Always watching over you but holding himself back, bottling up all that hunger and desire. Saving it all for you. It is truly impressive. I certainly wouldn’t have the willpower to keep all that need reined in for so long.”

His words wove a seductive cocoon around them, making her feel safe. Relaxed. Aroused. “Years?”

“Tell her, Liam. The truth now.”

Liam glared at the hand Stax had on her thigh, but still held himself in check. “Tell her what? That I wanted her in my bed the first night we met? That I live for the moments I’m with her? That I wake up hard every morning and use her shower just so I can jerk off to the smell of her damn shampoo?”

Dani watched his eyes close as if he were in pain. “Should I tell her that letting her go that morning because she was scared, and that night in the kitchen because she’d had too much to drink, were the hardest things I can remember doing in my life?”

“Liam?” Her heart was racing. She hadn’t known.

His smile was self-deprecating. “It was worth it, all of it, to be here with you now.”

She took a breath and let her towel drop to the bed, making his nostrils flare. “You’re perfect.”

“Yes, she is. And very brave,” Stax praised seductively.

Dani shuddered but didn’t move away when the handsome man lowered his head, brushing his lips and tongue along the top of her thigh.

Liam growled. “My permission, Stax. Remember?”

“Your confession made her smell too good. I couldn’t resist a taste.”

---