Page 83 of Entranced By the Basilisks

A feral sound escapes Ari and he picks me up, placing me on the desk behind me. My legs come up around his hips and I moan when he grinds where I’m needy.

His cruel laugh makes my body wind tighter. “I bet I could grind against your needy little cunt until you gush for me.”

I yank on his hair, and he hisses, truly terrifying and unbearably sexy at the same time. His eyes have changed. They’re slits now and the sight has my insides turning to liquid.

What could his gaze do to me? Would it kill me?

Before I wonder any longer on that point, Ari captures my mouth again, his teeth drag against my lips, and I cry out.

Something thuds and we both freeze.

Jasper stands in the doorway, the sound coming from a statue that he knocked against.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he says, flustered. “I’ll go.”

The shattered expression on his face clutches my heart. “Wait!”

Jasper stills. The mix of emotions churning in my chest would need a full morning session in my study to untangle, surprise, guilt, contemplation of whether guilt is necessary, happiness that he’s here, and the underlying thrum of need. Above all of them is my need for Jasper and the concern that I’ve broken something.

“Will you stay?” I ask.

“Are you sure you want me to?” Jasper asks. “Not Ari, are you sureyouwant me to?”

Ari shuts his mouth. Jasper doubts my feelings for him. The fact stings, but maybe it just goes along with the fact that Jasper doubts people having feelings for him. As far as I’ve seen, Ari and I are all he has. It’s not like his personality at the library is overly fuzzy.

At work, he’s the boss. Even if he wasn’t terrifying and intimidating, it’s not the social norm to buddy up with the boss. If Jasper is anything, it’s professional. He takes care of the library like he’s tried to take care of me, going above and beyond, stretching himself thin even if coming up empty-handed. His work ethic and honesty are some of my favorite traits about him.

So I give him some honesty back. “I want you to stay. I’m sorry I was in my head this morning. I needed some time to myself to think through everything.”

“You don’t regret last night?” he asks.

I unwrap my legs from Ari and let them drop to the surface of the desk. He still stands between my legs and I’m still hot for both of these men, but this conversation is deeper than physical.

“No. It was a lot at once.” My cheeks burn. “But it just makes me more curious about everything else. I have feelings for the both of you, and now I need to make sure that we do more to date than just seduce each other. It would be so easy to fall into a relationship together based on sex, but I want more from you two.”

Jasper lifts his brows at Ari’s and my compromised position.

“Do you now?” But his tone is playful rather than judgmental.

“I mean…” I trail off, biting my lip. “You both also make me horny as hell, so my self-control is obviously going to be tested. But I do want to be together for more than the sex.”

Ari chuckles. “I want something lasting with the both of you. I want us to be a mated unit.”

Emotions flit over Jasper’s face faster than I can identify.

He clears his throat, but his voice is still hoarse when he speaks. “I want that too. I’m just afraid.”

“What are you afraid of?” I ask, my voice small. Ari’s body is still, his attention fully on the man in front of us and his sad smile.

“What aren’t I afraid of? My presence in our relationship complicates everything. The Circle will not take kindly to me being in a mating with a Chosen. Others who have allied with Ari in the past will abandon him. Will the complication be worth it in the end? I can’t be responsible for us losing you or hurting Ari, that’s why I’ve kept my distance from him. How can I possibly make both of you happy and make up for what we will have to suffer?”

I swallow. “That is a lot.”

There’s no humor in Jasper’s laugh. “It’s just the tip of the iceberg. I’m a cranky workaholic with a poisoned legacy and nothing to offer either of you. I do not want to be a burden.”

“You are not a burden,” I say.

Jasper starts, surprised at my vehemence.

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