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Her heart leapt, but her feet didn’t move.

Dante dropped his chin with a look of eternal suffering. “Offer expires in ten seconds.”

She hurried over.

He was so big, there wasn’t much room left on the oversized chair. Dante waved at the triangle of open space between his thighs and made a spinning motion with his finger, like she was the world’s hardest to train puppy.

Alessa perched on the edge of the chair, hands folded in herlap. “Stopthinkingso loud,” she said, glad she couldn’t see his face. “I can hear you laughing at me in your head.”

“You look like you’re sitting on a bed of nails.”

Alessa crossed her arms. “I haven’t done this in a while.”

“Done what?”

“Snuggled. Cuddled.Whichever word you use.”

“I don’t useeitherof those words.”

“Wolves don’t cuddle?”

“Not when the lady wolf’s all stiff and cranky. That’ll get you bitten.”

He hooked her waist and hauled her back to lean against his chest, shifting her until she was where he wanted her. His other arm came around her. To hold his book.

“Will you relax? I can’t see over your head when you’re so stiff.”

She forced herself to unclench so he could tuck her head beneath his chin, but she was too distracted by the rise and fall of his chest to see anything but squiggles on the page.

“Will you read for a bit?” she asked.

“Iamreading.”

“Out loud. I like your voice, and it’s been a long time since someone read me a bedtime story.”

His arms tightened around her as he flipped back to the first page. “On a faraway island, in a long-lost sea, the moon and the sun refused to share…”

He tensed as she arched her back slightly and found a more comfortable position. He probably wished she’d go away. But his next exhalation was deeper, more relaxed, so she didn’t offer to leave.

A muscular chest wasn’t the softest surface she’d ever lounged on, but she could get used to it. Lulled by the whiskey-warmth ofhis voice, her eyes fluttered shut as the story unfolded behind her eyelids. A star-crossed pair of lovers, a tragic war in the heavens.

His heat seeped through her nightclothes, warming her to the core, and she drifted into the sweetness of half-sleep.

“Did you just melt?” Dante asked in a droll tone.

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

He coughed a laugh. “Not likethat. Just didn’t know a person could go so limp.”

“Yeah, well, it’s been a while.”

“Sorry you’re stuck with me, then. I’m new to this whole… cuddling… thing.”

She patted his arm with a perky, “You’re doing fine.”

“You’re desperate, and I’m here, eh?”

“Exactly.” She paused. “Thank you.”