Page 61 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
She shouldn’t want this.Remember the plane? Distance.She should put distance between them, not tempt him. But the music lured her to be bad. It lowered her inhibitions as much as a glass of wine.
One touch from him and she might explode. She’d never been into exhibitionism. Antonio was handsome, but she wasn’t game for getting off in front of him, no matter how desperate she was for Shane.
She was in trouble. Big trouble.
Chapter Eighteen
Shane'sentire body burned with a desperate need for the kiss Madeline's gaze begged him to give her. Her dancing so freely, so happy, socked him right in the middle of the chest with a tight cramp.
This joy and freedom was her magic, or maybe it activated her magic. When the song ended, the enchantment broke.
The door opened. Roman asked, "What the hell? I expected a spell or something to force the demon into compliance, not whatever the fuck this may be."
He could see both Flynn and Ky trying to look around Roman.
Shane snorted out a laugh as he took in Antonio’s shorts. "Sorry, mate. I thought they’d cover more."
Antonio did a pelvic thrust to show off the shorts. "This is an imagehewill never forget." He waved toward the door where Roman stood, absolute shock on the lycan’s face. "How am I supposed to maintainel respetoafter this?" Antonio lowered his voice. "They were half scared of me. I had the mystery built up, but now?" He twisted around to stare at the back of the suit and did a butt wiggle. "I do look incredible, though. Toucans and all."
Shane said, "Roman, can you please get him something else to wear? Or he’ll keep doing that."
"Why am I in these tiny pants?" Antonio asked. "Where are my clothes? I liked that shirt."
"Told you he liked that shirt," he whispered to Madeline while he pawed through the bag to get out two of the six soda bottles. "She told me I had to burn the clothes to get rid of the necromancer filth. Sorry, but they were covered in that black muck. I doubt any cleaning miracle on the planet would’ve gotten rid of the black grime or the smell."
"She could’ve done a spell or something to make them clean," he said grumpily. "How come you found herthatto wear and I ended up in this?"
"Toucans, mate. Couldn’t resist." Shane chuckled.
"Payback for Naples, huh?"
"After my clothes got shredded fighting that three-headed serpent summoned by the crazy Zoroastrian, you bought me pink flamingo shorts and a shirt sequined to sayI Love Naples. Not forgetting that."
"I forgot about the Dahak serpent. I think I blocked the evil fire breather from my head. But that shirt? They were reversible sequins. You had two color choices: silver or gold. It wasmitico. You blended in with the tourists like…" He kissed his fingers as if having just eaten a delicious dish of food.
"You’re not right in the head."
"Touché."
They both laughed.
"Are you two done?" Roman asked. "There’s a bathrobe in the bathroom, Antonio. Let’s come back out here and sit down. You can tell me what just happened to you, Shane, and how we fix the reason she’s here in the first place. The curse."
While Antonio found the robe, they followed Roman back into the dining room.
The look that passed between Roman and Nova as they took a seat at the dining table with the others was hot enough to melt glass and at the same time warrior-fierce enough to establish Roman’s mate would do just about anything for him. Complete respect for that.
Shane pulled out a chair for Madeline and then slid into the one next to her. He put his two soda bottles in front of him, twisting off the lid of one to chug it.
When no one said anything immediately, Roman cleared his throat. "I thought you took care of the demon in your head, Shane."
Between chugs of soda Shane said, "I did."
"Obviously not. It’s still there."
He nodded and finished the first soda. The bottle cap on the second hissed as he twisted it off. "Stubborn beast likes being in there. We had to work out an understanding. From time to time it tests its prison."
Antonio emitted a sarcastic snort behind him where he’d taken a seat on a chair set away from the kitchen table.
