Tangled Innocence Read Online Free Page A

an eon
in coming.
    Dante, Jace, and Nadie didn’t speak when the three of them
were finally in the bar, and now he found himself at a loss for words. No
matter how many times he’d envisioned this in his head, he still hadn’t quite
found the way to get it all out there.
    He’d fight the world for the two in front of him, and yet he
couldn’t stop fighting himself.
    How could he say what he’d been feeling for years, decades
in Jace’s case, and not sound like an idiot? It wasn’t as though he wouldn’t
deserve any anger directed his way, but getting started was another matter.
    “Dante, why don’t we sit down? You’re looking a little pale
under all those piercings.” Jace laughed, but Dante and Nadie didn’t join in.
The tension in the room was too thick at the moment to even think about doing
something as simple as laughing.
    He cleared his throat, knowing they probably needed a drink
to get through this. Yes, he could get the three of them drinks. That would
help keep his hands busy and might help Nadie calm down so she wouldn’t beat or
kill him right away.
    Not that he’d blame her if she tried.
    “Um, I’m going to get us drinks.” He sounded as scattered as
he felt. He never sounded scattered.
“Take a seat. Oh, and I only have one piercing on my face,” he said absently,
and Jace let out a small laugh, the tension in the room lowering just a little
bit.
    Thank the gods for his bear.
    He risked a glance at Nadie. Hopefully Jace would soon be their bear.
    “I don’t know if I need a drink, Dante,” Nadie said, her
voice soft and just as sexy as it had ever been. “I’ve already had one with the
girls.”
    “You might need another now, my sprite.” Damn it. He’d
called her the pet name he’d always had for her in his mind twice now without
thinking, and both times her eyes had widened. He’d been so careful keeping his
endearments to himself, but he couldn’t anymore apparently.
    Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to for much longer.
    Nadie tilted her head and frowned. “You’re scaring me.
Actually you both are, and I don’t even know Jace or why he’s here. Not scared
in that I’m worried for my safety because, for some reason, I feel like neither
of you would hurt me physically, but scared in another sense. Why won’t you
just tell me?”
    He went back behind the bar, ignoring the thick envelope
with his name written in calligraphy on the front. He had other things to worry
about now rather than the summons that seemed to have come out of nowhere. That
would still be there later, and he’d deal with it then. Right now, he had a
bear and the woman that could be theirs in his bar.
    He got the drinks with a deftness only years of bartending
could bring, set down the beers and her lemon drop, wiped his hands so they
wouldn’t be too cold, and cupped her face. Her eyes widened again, and she
froze.
    “I will tell you everything. I will, my sprite.”
    He watched her throat work as she swallowed, felt the pulse
at her neck flutter and the heat of her skin against his fingers as she
flushed. Gods, he wanted this woman for his own. He kept his eyes on hers but
thought of Jace. Yes, he wanted this woman for them both.
    “Why do you keep calling me your sprite?”
    His thumb traced her cheekbone, the soft skin smooth and
inviting. His dragon practically rumbled at this closeness—the kind he’d been
avoiding for as long as he’d known her because, once he touched her, he
wouldn’t want to let her go.
    There was only so much control a dragon could possess.
    “That’s what you are,” he whispered. “Mine.” She narrowed
her eyes before pulling away. He let her, knowing that, with his strength, he
could have held her forever, but that was another matter altogether.
    “No, no. I’m not. I’m not yours, and I haven’t been anywhere
near that label. Ever.” She ran a hand through her hair then took a gulp of her
lemon drop. Her face scrunched as she swallowed the sour and sweet, but