MoonlightTemptation (11 page)

Her cry filled the room as he began a steady rhythm. Ryan’s
hands held her hips steady as he fucked her with strong strokes. Her pussy
clenched around him, happy to be filled at last.

He felt like heaven, filling her, stretching her. Stoking
the heated ball of lust in her belly.

She wanted to rest her head on the bed and let sensation
sweep her away but Dane suddenly kneeled in front of her.

“Take me too, Evie.” The rough command in Dane’s voice made
her sheath clench around Ryan, eliciting a groan from him. “Now.”

She didn’t answer, just leaned forward to put her lips
around his cock.

Filled at each end, she reveled in the sensuality of the
act, of the sense of possession.

It’s been so long since she’d felt she’d belonged to anyone.
In any way.

Though this didn’t feel as if she was owned.

She retained the power to say no. She trusted these men to
take care of her.

She closed her eyes as Dane’s hands threaded through her
hair, holding her steady for his controlled thrusts. Ryan was more forceful,
each slap of his thighs against her ass eliciting a sharp response from her.

Dane was careful not to thrust too far or fast but Ryan let
himself go, setting a wild pace that kept her on the edge of orgasm.

Her arms trembled but she forced them to hold her upright,
even as she shook in reaction. She wanted to come, reached for it.

She could barely breathe and each breath smelled of sex and
warm males.

“Evie, baby, come on. Let go.” Ryan urged her to give in. “I
know you want to.”

Dane commanded. “I’m gonna come,
kareto
. With me. I
want you to go with us.”

Almost there.

Ryan bent closer, one of his hands sliding around to stroke
her between her legs. It only took one pinch to her clit and she flamed out in
an all-consuming orgasm.

“That’s it, baby. Ah, God,” Ryan groaned. “So fucking good.”

She couldn’t even cry out as she shook because Dane began to
come, spilling his seed into her mouth.

Behind her, Ryan froze, his cock sunk deep as he pulsed
inside her.

And Evie wondered how she’d manage to survive.

Dane slipped from Evie’s mouth, catching her before she fell
on her face when Ryan pulled out behind her.

She felt boneless against him. And warm. Almost overheated,
which wasn’t unexpected.

With a sigh, she curled against his chest and wrapped her
arms around his shoulders when he would have laid her on the bed and got up.
Because she wouldn’t let go, he lay next to her.

On her other side, Ryan flopped onto the bed and sprawled
there. The sound of their labored breathing filled the air.

As did the scent of burning candle wax.

He didn’t remember lighting any candles—

Evie shifted closer, sliding one arm across his chest, her
hand curling around his neck. Holding him in place.

As if afraid he might try to get away.

Which he’d planned to do.

Get the hell out of bed before she could wrap herself around
him and tie him to her even more deeply.

That was why Ryan was here. Ryan was to provide the
emotional attachment.

But here he was, with her pressed against his side and his
arms tight around her.

Christ, he was a
ceffo
.

And even knowing that, he didn’t want to let her go. She
felt too damn good.

Ryan yawned and shifted around to curl his body into Evie’s
back, his arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her lower body against him.

Turning his head, Dane saw Ryan staring at him over the top
of her head. Steady, sure and a little smug.

Dane would’ve flipped him off if he felt like lifting his
hand.

But the gesture wouldn’t have meant anything.

He knew what Ryan wasn’t saying and Dane couldn’t argue.

How right did something have to feel before he admitted it?

Yes, it felt right to have Evie here, in his bed, between
him and Ryan.

Their friendship wasn’t sexual but was based on need. At
least, Dane’s need for Ryan. For his steady calm. Sometimes, it only took a few
minutes of conversation with Ryan to make Dane see things more clearly.

Ryan never seemed to need anyone. Always in control. Never
thrown by anything.

And always willing to drop everything when Dane called.

They’d make one hell of a married couple if either of them
had wanted that relationship.

But as much as Dane loved Ryan, he didn’t want to throw the
guy on a bed and fuck him. Hell, Ryan had basically said the same thing to him
after they’d shared the first of several women in vet school.

But Evie wasn’t just another woman they’d picked up in a
bar.

She was the first woman with whom Dane had initiated a
relationship.

And that fact hadn’t been lost on Ryan. He’d want to talk.
He’d want to know what this meant to Dane.

And Dane couldn’t answer that question. Not yet.

He let his gaze fall to Evie.

Sound asleep. She needed the rest.

He’d taken her blood to make a serum to help the child of
the woman who’d kidnapped her and held her prisoner for weeks. Then he and Ryan
had fucked her unconscious.

Vaffanculo
, he was a selfish prick.

“Dane, chill.” Ryan’s quiet voice held a note of command
Dane didn’t hear very often. “I’m not going to let you fuck this up already.”

His temper already climbing, Dane carefully released Evie
and slid from the bed. She didn’t wake, though her hand clutched at the
blankets in the spot where his body had lain.

He allowed himself a second to stare down at her, her skin
creamy against the white silk sheets. Her hair, mussed and covering much of her
face, shone sable in the low light…of the candles he hadn’t lit.

Turning, his gaze narrowed at the golden flares of the
candles on his dresser. His mother had given him the set to “soften the
austerity” of his bedroom.

He’d never lit the damn things.

Evie. It had to be Evie.

He looked back at Ryan, who’d followed his gaze.

“We need to talk.”

Ryan nodded as he looked back at the woman curled into his
body. “Yeah, I guess we do.”

Chapter Five

“She lost control over her power.”

Dane reached into the fridge for a beer and pulled a Coke
out for Ryan, which he tossed him over the kitchen island.

“And that’s how the candles got lit?”

“Yeah.”

“And that’s not normal for
streghe
?”

“Evie hasn’t been a
strega
very long and she’s not
your normal
strega
.” Dane popped the top off the bottle and let the
amber liquid slide down his throat. “She wasn’t born into the life. She’s still
got a lot to learn and an immense amount of power to control. And I completely
fucked up everything by forcing her into a situation she wasn’t ready for.”

Ryan shook his head at him, his expression screwing into a
frown. “Christ, Dane, you didn’t tie her up and rape her. She was a willing participant.
And she’s not a child.”

“She’s only twenty-two.
Vaffanculo
, this is a—”

“Dane, shut the fuck up for a few minutes and take a deep
breath. You’re getting way ahead of yourself. Evie may only be twenty-two but
she’s got a stronger will than anyone else I know. And you trying to reduce her
to the level of a teenager is only going to piss her off so I’d be careful you
don’t spout this shit in front of her. Christ, I’ve only known her two days and
I can see this. Why the fuck can’t you? You’re being an ass so just knock it
off.”

Ryan’s tone made Dane jolt to a stop with the realization
that, yeah, he was probably overreacting.

And that wasn’t like him.

He didn’t overreact. Most people who knew him complained
that he reacted like a robot most of the time. No emotions, no feelings. Steady
as a rock.

Dangerous. The woman was fucking dangerous to his sanity.

He took a deep breath. Then another.

And shot Ryan a look. “You’re a
scassacazzo
.”

Ryan grinned at him. “Yeah, I might be a pain in the ass,
but you’re neurotic and it’s starting to worry me.”

“I’m not neurotic.” He sighed and ran a hand through his
hair, grabbing the short strands and giving them a yank. “I’m fucking
brilliant.”

“Then why are you acting like a clueless asswipe?”

Dane gave Ryan the finger then forced himself to sit on one
of the barstools at the island and nurse his beer. “
Baciami il culo.
”

Ryan laughed. “That the best you can do? Kiss my ass? No
offense, man, but yours isn’t the ass I want to kiss.”

No, him either. And Evie’s ass made him want to take a bite
out of it. He wanted that ass in his bed every night. Wanted the woman living
in his house, where he knew she’d be safe.

“Shit, Dane, why didn’t you tell me you were in love with
her?”

Love? No, this wasn’t love. It was lust, pure and simple.

And you’re lying to yourself.

She’d gotten under his skin.

If Ryan had seen it in less than two days, did everyone else
know?

Tinia’s teat, if his mother found out…

He sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair,
tugging on the ends of the short strands in frustration. “I never wanted to
fall in love, damn it. I don’t have the time to give a woman the attention she
deserves. I’m no closer to finding a cure than I was a year ago and every year,
more
lucani
fall to it.”

“I know that last year was tough on your dad, Dane.” Ryan’s
voice had lost the flippant edge of earlier. “I know his death was a blessing.
Not to you, but to him. I know you hated how he suffered. But you are
not
Superman.”

“What if my sister comes down with it, Ryan? My mom? Our
king? I’ve got to fix this before it decimates my people.”

“Jesus, Dane, you’re entitled to a life. Even your mother
doesn’t expect you live like a monk in seclusion, working day and night to find
a cure.”

No, but his mother wanted him to take a proper
lucani
mate and she had the perfect one picked out. Ione was beautiful and smart, with
a degree in business that she used to increase the wealth of the
lucani
mutual funds.

Dane had never given Ione any indication of his feelings one
way or the other. He’d been unfailingly polite whenever his mother had invited
her to dinner when he was there.

But…Ione didn’t make him burn the way Evie did.

What the hell would his mother think if he brought Evie home
to meet her?

And why the hell should it even matter?

“Look, I’m going to the lab for a while. I need to check on
the serum and—”

“And you can’t handle this.”

Dane wanted to tell Ryan to take a flying leap but he
couldn’t do it. Ryan was right.

If he let his emotions control him, he wouldn’t be able to
work. That’s how he functioned, how he was able to make life or death
situations and live with them.

How he was able to continue on with his work on the days he
wanted to trash his lab and burn it to the ground because he was so fucking
frustrated.

“Tell Evie I’ll see her in the morning. Tell her—”

“You’re a fucking coward?”

Dane’s jaw set at the hard tone of Ryan’s voice but he bit
back the frustrated words that wanted to escape. It’d do neither of them any
good and if this relationship had a chance in hell of working, they needed to
be on the same page. Or at least working from the same manual.

“Take care of her. I’ll be in touch.”

Then he made for the door. And freedom.

Which wasn’t feeling very free at the moment.

Ryan watched Dane practically run for the door, closing it a
little more loudly than normal.

Anger burned like acid in his stomach. Damn it, he was going
to strangle the man one of these days. Dane didn’t get it. The bastard just
refused to listen to reason.

And he was going to lose the best damn thing that ever
happened to him.

With a sigh, Ryan dumped the rest of his soda down the
drain, staring out into the blackness of the surrounding forest. There wasn’t
much of a moon tonight, so it was pretty damn dark.

Ryan wasn’t used to it. He’d lived in Philadelphia most of
his life, where, even on the darkest nights, the dim glow of the streetlights
managed to seep through the curtains.

Out here, they were miles away from either Reading or
Allentown. You could actually see the stars. There were no streetlights and
none of the houses used landscape lighting.

They liked it dark out here.

Through the surrounding trees, Ryan could barely make out
the frame of the closest house. Dane had built his home on the outskirts of the
den, as far from the heart of the community as he could get without being too
close to the nearest
eteri
neighbors.

Isolated.

Exactly what he wanted.

And yet, Dane wanted Evie.

He’d known Ryan would too.

The bastard knew him too damn well.

And Ryan wasn’t about to let him fuck this relationship up.
Hell, Ryan had only known Evie two days and he’d realized his life was going to
change.

He wanted to go back to the bedroom and curl up with her. Or
better yet, wake her and make love to her again.

Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

Leaving his can by the sink, he headed for the bedroom.

They’d left the door open. Dane had mentioned that Evie
still had nightmares about her kidnapping and he didn’t want to leave her
enclosed in a dark room alone.

Sometimes Ryan thought there was hope for the guy. He didn’t
think Dane would ever do anything to consciously harm Evie.

Then again, the guy was running scared.

And here he was, ready to give his heart and soul to a woman
he’d just met.