Stormbound Read Online Free Page B

you were doing. I’m not going to stop you.”
    Like she could. In case she’d forgotten, he outweighed her by a bunch. Of course Briant might decide to play white knight, or could he? Briant was a few feet away, his attention going from Narah to Levi and then back to her. Briant’s nostrils were flared, the lines between his eyes more prominent, his hands close to his crotch.
    Forcing his mind, if not his body, off Narah, Levi glared at Briant. “I envy you.”
    “Why?”
    “You didn’t let yourself get tied down like I did. Your wife didn’t cheat on you.” Before he could decide whether he was done talking, Narah tightened her legs around his knee.
    “What are you doing?” he demanded.
    “Do you have to get into that now?”
    Hell no. Who was he anyway? Surely not the divorcé he’d been this morning. That man had been replaced by someone who didn’t know the meaning of the word civilized . Right and wrong no longer mattered. A sexy woman was in his grasp and under his control. She wanted the same things he did—rough and wild. No boundaries.
    “Damn it, I can’t think of anything except…” Her breathing picked up, causing her chest to rise and fall. Her bra was white and utilitarian without a bit of lace. Did she realize how insanely feminine she looked? More to the point, she couldn’t get away. He had her where he wanted her. Maybe where she wanted and needed to be.
    “None of us are interested in anything except right now,” Briant said. “We need to acknowledge that and—hell, I’m not going to say it.”
    Briant’s tone was changing, becoming quieter and more reflective. Wondering if Narah was aware of the change, Levi studied her. Her eyes were half-closed, her attention seemingly on his chest. He rubbed her upper arms, prompting her to let out a sigh.
    Eager to test his sexual strength, Levi trailed his hand from her throat to her breasts. Her second sigh softened everything in him except for his cock. He couldn’t completely dismiss the inner voice demanding to know how she’d react when he reached for her bra and why he’d backed her against a wall, but the answer would have to wait until it stopped snowing.
    “Answer me something, Narah,” he said. “Have you ever slept with Briant?”

Chapter Four
    The wind kept attacking the lodge. Levi’s solid form stood between Narah and the window, but she didn’t need to see out to know it was snowing in earnest. New attic insulation was due to be helicoptered in within a few days. That would cut down on the draftiness, but until then, the woodstove had its work cut out, keeping things warm.
    As far as she was concerned, the storm could go on forever.
    “No,” she told the man who now dominated her world. “I’ve never slept with Briant.”
    “Why not?”
    Before today she would have insisted that having sex with Briant had never entered her mind, but maybe it had been there, only she hadn’t heard the message.
    “You know something, Levi,” she said, “that’s none of your damn business.”
    He slapped her. It was more of a tap than the real thing, yet she knew she’d gone too far. Fine. Let him deal with his impulse. “If you think you can intimidate me, you’re wrong. I’ve never backed down to any man, ever!”
    “What do you think you have to prove?”
    “I don’t have to prove anything.”
    “Do you ever wish it was different?”
    Were they going to spend the whole damn storm psychoanalyzing each other? Feeling heat on her throat, midriff, and bare arms, she found her answer. No, playing shrink wasn’t what any of them wanted.
    “Let me go.” She waited until Levi did, then smiled. “There’s your answer. If I were passive, I would have stood there and let myself be manhandled.”
    Both men nodded, making her wonder if their thoughts dovetailed. Noting the bulges straining their jeans, she acknowledged something else they had in common.
    “How, then, do you explain the way you stood there and let Briant take