Page 64 of Taming Her Temptations

Levi grabs her hand. Of the three of us, there couldn’t be a better person to relate to her than him on this.

“I get it,” he nods, and raw emotion clings to his voice. “Madison and I lost our mom, too. And our dad was a piece of shit. Still is. I just happened to choose music as my obsession and I turned out to be a lucky fucking bastard in that regard. Oh, and if it wasn’t for Dean’s family, then I would probably be dead in a ditch somewhere.”

Ruby grasps his hand tight. “It’s why I can’t fully hate Madison. Besides the fact that she’s your sister. Sometimes it feels like losing a parent is slipping backward and sliding all the way down a mountain you just climbed. All that work of growing up and learning life just disappears, because the world looks nothing like you thought it was and you’ve got to start over.”

“Yeah,” Levi nods. “That’s a great way of putting it. And it’s fucking exhausting,” he adds.

Ruby squeezes his hand, a sympathetic smile on her face.

“But it didn’t affect you,” Ruby points out. “You made all your dreams come true.”

He lifts one shoulder, and I know what’s racing through his mind. Because I feel it too.

“Meeting you has also felt like a dream come true,” he says it quietly, as if saying it too loudly will make Ruby vanish before our eyes.

“It’s true, Rubes. We’ve met a lot of women.” Leave it up to Dean to bring up other women, but he’s right. Statistically, we probably meet an unhealthy amount of women who are trying to get with us. But the bigger surprise is how many of those women don’t even see us as human. We’ve had women try to seduce us, extort us, manipulate us, steal from us. And hell, men too. We were jaded as fuck when we pulled up to Greenfield, CT. And we might have remained that way if we hadn’t met our bright, shining Ruby.

“None of them even come close to the way it feels when you’re with us.” Dean continues. “You just fit.”

“It feels right when you’re around,” I add. “Like the thing we’ve been missing is finally here and we can all breathe fuller breaths. Hell, I’m excited about the future in a way I’ve never been before.”

Ruby wipes at her eyes and I realize that they’re happy tears.

“I know what you mean,” her voice is raspy with emotion. “I didn’t even know that this is supposed to be how it feels. So effortless, but also so full.”

I reach out and hold her other hand.

“We’re here for you now, Rubes.” I run my thumb along the back of her hand. “We’re here to pick up your favorite calamari when you want it, we’re here to sing you songs and make you laugh-”

“And give you more orgasms than you knew was possible,” Dean pinches her side and she laughs, her tears still falling.

“And we can climb up that hill together,” Levi’s voice vibrates with emotion. “We don’t have to do it alone anymore.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Ruby

Levi holds me in his arms, and usually, that would give me all kinds of warm, gooey feelings. But right now, I’m murderous. And it’s directed at one smooth-singing frontman named Levi Wilde.

He takes another step so that I am hovering completely over their pool.

Sure. Spring is in full bloom and we’ve had some warm days recently. But I’ve felt this pool, and it feels like it’s just been sourced from an Antarctic glacier.

“Cold plunges have a lot of benefits,” he says, withholding a laugh. “And I’ll warm you up all you need after.” He raises an eyebrow as if his dick is enough to convince me to turn myself into an ice cube. And his dick is certainly enough to get me to do a lot of things, but statistically, he’s a sure thing for me at this point without freezing myself to death.

“Levi Wilde,” I say his name like an angry schoolteacher. “Put me down or I’m on a sex strike.”

“What?” His face grows more serious. “That’s just playing unfair.”

It might be, but it works. He swings me away from the pool and places me on the ground immediately.

“Oh, playing unfair? I wonder where I learned that from?” I cock my head and glare at him accusatorily.

“Dean? Probably Dean? Definitely not m-” He doesn’t finish that thought though as I push his chest and he barrels backward into the pool.

My smug smile transforms into a look of horror as he grabs my arm and pulls me in with him.

Icy cold water shocks my entire system and takes my breath away. I come to the surface gasping for breath and scrambling to get out of the pool. Instead, Levi’s hands wrap around my arm and pull me into him.

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