Page 7 of Under an Endless Moon

“Dance with me?”

“One of my favorite things to do,” he said, and he tucked me even closer.

His aura surrounded me.

Patchouli and warm apple pie. No man should smell that good.

I wanted to sink into it.

Disappear.

“Think I might keep you…just like this.” His words were a warm vibration that slithered across my flesh.

What I wouldn’t give to fully fall into it. Have him wrap me completely in those massive arms. Hold me the way I’d always dreamed of him doing.

But I knew better than getting my hopes up for that. The only thing it’d ever done was set me up to get my heart crushed. It was time I grew beyond it.

I’d been trying. Trying to escape the cage where I’d been trapped.

The problem was, every time I attempted it, I freaked out. My exterior might come across as bold, but it was the inside that shuddered at moving on.

But Otto didn’t need to know that.

“I’m not that great, am I?” I went for light as I peeked up at his rugged face.

A deep chuckle rolled through his chest. “I think you know exactly how great you are, Raven Tayte.”

“How great?” I pressed through the razzing.

“Oh, the greatest.”

“Is that so?”

“Mmhmm…”

I was sinking, melding into his form as we moved to the rhythm.

“We’re out of here.”

When the voice hit us from the side, Otto jerked back like he’d been caught committing a mortal sin.

My brother was there, wrapped around my bestie from behind.

I did my best to clear the need from my being and pinned on an affront of disbelief. “What? You can’t leave already. We’re just getting started.”

I reached out, took Charleigh’s hand and swung it between us. “I promised that you were going to have a blast tonight, and hello, I am a blast. Look no further, a good time is standing right in front of you.”

“Think she’s going to have a good time with me. Nolan is with the sitter tonight, so it’s just us,” River rumbled.

I tried not to gag at what he was implying. It was hard when your best friend was dating your brother.

I scrunched my nose at him. “Thief. You stole her right out from under me.”

Charleigh giggled as she leaned back against him. “Let it be said that I belong to both of you. Equally.”

“Nah, Little Runner, you’re mine,” River grumbled at her cheek.

She turned red, her love for him shining in her expression.

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