“Libby wants to be a bad girl,” Sarah announced.
Jonas’s eyebrow shot up. A slow smile spread across his face. “Libby, hon, there is no way you can be corrupted by the rest of your sisters. You’re just too sweet.”
Libby glared at him, totally exasperated. “I am not. Come on! You could help out a little, Jonas. I have the ability to be just as wicked as the rest of my family.”
“Hear, hear,” Elle said.
“Well said, sister.” Joley nodded her head in agreement. “Not true, but well said,” she agreed.
-Sarah, Jonas, Libby, Elle, & Joley
“You’re so good at beating your manly chest,” Joley said. “I swear, Jonas, I’m about to swoon.”
“No one would blame you.” Jonas closed his eyes, not in the least intimidated by the women around him.
-Joley & Jonas
A slow smile softened the hard edges of his face. “I do believe that was Libby Drake, her royal highness, putting me in my place.”
He liked it, too.
-Tyson to Libby
He stopped to examine a crab and tucked her hand against his chest. “Hermit crabs are fascinating. The right claw is larger and a different shape than the left. They use it for protection and holding food while the left is used for eating.” A mischievous grin crossed his face and lit his brilliant blue eyes. “The male drags the female around with him using the smaller claw, much like a caveman.” He twisted his fingers in Libby’s silky hair. “All the while he fights off other males with his large claw, holding on to his mate until she’s ready to molt and becomes receptive and fertile.” He tugged experimentally on Libby’s hair.
“Fortunately, I’m not a female crab,” she said.
“You’re crabby,” he pointed out.
-Tyson & Libby
“Where, exactly, does Jonas fit into your family?” Ty asked. “I remember that he was always around all of you, but he isn’t related, is he?” He reached out to brush dirt from her hair. Libby raised a hand to try to tidy the mass of blue-black silk tumbling around her face. Ty caught her wrist, preventing her from fussing. “You look beautiful, even all messed up.”
Libby took a breath. Ten minutes earlier she wanted to push the man into the ocean, now all she could think about was kissing him. “That’s a nice thing to say, Ty. I’m not feeling particularly beautiful, so it means a lot that you’d say it.”
He shrugged. “I was just stating the obvious. You were telling me where Jonas fits into your family,” he reminded. He’d had several bad nights lying awake, remembering the look on Jonas Harrington’s face when he’d seen Libby crushed and bleeding on the hospital floor. Ty still hadn’t been able to erase the image of Jonas carrying Libby down the hospital hallway.
Libby shrugged. “Jonas is family whether he’s related by blood or not. He’ll always be family. I think he’d like to disown us, but he can’t. He’s stuck with us and we drive him crazy.”
He could imagine.
-Tyson & Libby
Movement behind Sarah caught his eye and he stepped closer, expecting Sarah to give way, but she held her ground dead center in the doorway. “Quit skulking like a little coward, Libby,” he said. “I’m tempted to pick your sister up and toss her into the shrubs.”
Sarah snorted derisively, but stepped back when Libby squeezed by her.
Libby’s appearance shocked him. She had always been petite, but now she was gaunt, so thin and pale she looked a wraith. There were dark circles under her eyes and shadows in them—but she was glaring at him. “Are you threatening Sarah?”
“Not yet, but I was considering it.”
“Sarah would flatten you if you touched her,” Libby said.
“Maybe, but you don’t look in any condition to flatten me, so I’ll take my chances with you.” He lifted her into his arms, removing her from the doorway and striding right into the house.
-Tyson, Libby, & Sarah
“Tyson.” Libby interrupted him, fists on hips, her head tipped back to look up at him. “You’ve finally gone completely insane. You force your way into my home, toss me over your shoulder like some ridiculous caveman—”
He held up his hand to stop her. “There’s no need for melodrama. Stick to the facts, Libby. First off, I didn’t force my way in, I stepped across the threshold like any other man. Second, I didn’t toss you over my shoulder. I cradled you against me with enormous care, despite my broken ribs, I might add.”
-Tyson & Libby
"Do you need something? Water? Tea? You always drink tea. You look more like a ghost than you usually do.” He jumped up again and rested his palm against her forehead.
Libby jerked her head away, scowling. “A ghost? I look more like a ghost than I usually do?”
He crouched down in front of her so they were eye to eye. Up close she could see he looked haggard and worn and his concern for her was etched into the lines of his face. “You’re repeating everything I say.” He enunciated each word carefully.
“Because I can’t believe you would say such a thing, even if you’re thinking it.”
He rocked back on his heels. “What did I say wrong this time?”
“Do you think a woman wants to be called a ghost? News flash, buddy, women don’t take that as a compliment. It makes me feel like a zombie walking.”
“That’s silly,” Ty replied, exasperated. “You know you’re beautiful, Libby. You can’t possibly think anything else. You’re incredibly intelligent, you actually understand what I say when I’m talking to you and when you smile, everyone around you wants to smile with you. You are pale right now. I’m thinking of calling a doctor and having you examined. What’s wrong with everyone here that they don’t see you’re ill? You need someone to take care of you.”
Libby knew her mouth had fallen open. She could only stare for a long moment, hoping a fly didn’t buzz by. The man was impossible. He was always either saying something that made her want to hit him—or something that made her want to kiss him. Right now she wasn’t certain which she wanted to do the most.
-Tyson & Libby
“The lock fell from the gate and the house let him in. There was no resistance, Libby, did you notice that?”
“I was too busy noticing how hard his body is. It isn’t fair, Sarah, he should either have brains or brawn, but not both.”
Sarah laughed.
-Sarah & Libby about Tyson
Joley glanced out the window and whistled. “Speak of the devil. Oh my, Lib, the man is looking good today.” Hannah and Joley crowded each other for space at the window.
“Get away from there before he sees you,” Libby said, mortified, yet she could feel laughter bubbling up. Her sisters loved to tease her, but already Tyson thought her family was a bunch of fruitcakes. She didn’t need him to catch them gawking at him. She bared her teeth at her two younger sisters, hoping to look fierce. “Back off, both of you. Go into the kitchen.”
“Look at that chest, Hannah. Oh, my. I feel positively faint,” Joley said, nudging the tall blond.
A faint answering smile appeared on Hannah’s face, the first real one since Jonas had been shot. “I like the way his muscles are rippling.”
“You can’t see rippling muscles,” Libby objected, straining to see.
“You just aren’t looking hard enough,” Joley said. “And he’s wearing tight jeans. Ooh la la.” She fanned herself with her hand. “Libby. You go girl.”
“That’s it. Get into the kitchen.” Libby pointed out the direction for them, trying to look stern. “Both of you.”
Joley and Hannah went, laughing out loud, peeking through the archway to watch as Libby hurried to the front door.
-Joley, Libby, & Hannah
In desperation, he framed her face with both hands and bent his head down to hers, his mouth taking possession. If he couldn’t find the right words to say, he was determined to show her exactly how he felt. Libby held herself stiff at first, although her lips were soft and she opened her mouth to his when he tugged on her lower lip. Heat blossomed and spread, from him to her. Electricity arced, small sizzling licks along his veins, from her to him. Her body softened, melted into his so he could feel her imprinted on his skin. Hell, maybe all the way to his bones. Her mouth was hot and exciting, and so responsive Tyson forgot he was in her house with her sisters close by. One hand tangled in the silk of her hair and the other slid down the curve of her spine. He swore the earth spun on its axis.
-Tyson & Libby
“I said I was sorry, what more do you want?”
“I want you to apologize to Libby for scaring the hell out of her. And I want you to acknowledge to me that you understand I will beat you to a bloody pulp if you ever come near her again.”
-Harry & Tyson
“I have no interest in your money.”
“That doesn’t make me as happy as you think it would. If you were interested in money, I’d have something to offer you.”
He was like a small boy offering her his treasures, one by one, in an attempt to entice her to stay with him. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold him safe forever. “I thought you said I needed you.”
“You do, but you probably aren’t ready to admit that yet.”
-Libby & Ty
"We have a prophecy in our family about a gate and finding our true love.” She laughed softly. “My sisters and I padlocked the gate just to make certain we were safe.”
He touched her face, his gloved finger tracing a path over her cheekbone. “You locked out your true loves? You’re dashing all my illusions. Aren’t women born wanting marriage?”
Libby burst out laughing. “I think men want to believe that, but no, surprisingly enough, many of us like our independence and view marriage as a male institution.”
He threw both hands into the air. “Now you’re really shaking me. How is marriage a male’s institution?”
“All the advantages are on his side. We women earn money and run our own lives now. If we take on a male, we have to still do all the other wifely chores as well as earn the money.” She grinned at him. “How is that appealing?”
“Fine, I’ll learn to cook.”
-Libby & Ty
“I thought about you so often, but you seemed to disapprove of me. I had no idea you looked at me.”
“How could I not look at you? Come on, Libby, you’re beautiful and intelligent and sexy as hell. Any man in his right mind would be looking at you."
-Libby & Tyson
He needed her skin beneath him, all of it, her body open to his, wanting his. No one in his life that he could ever remember had been his alone and he wanted Libby. This one woman.
-Tyson's thoughts
His hand slid up the inside of her thigh, knuckles brushing the sensitive bare mound between her legs. Her skin was softer than he’d ever imagined. She was so moist and ready and he hadn’t even gotten started. “I could eat you alive, Libby.”
She ran her hands over his chest, up to his neck and pressed close to him. “Now you get hungry.”
“Don’t worry.” Tyson lifted her easily into his arms. “I’ve got plans to take care of that.”
-Tyson & Libby
“You’re killing me, Lib. I can’t look at you without getting hard.”
Libby laughed softly, feeling sexy for the first time in her life. It was a feeling she could get used to. “Really?” Deliberately she allowed her gaze to drift over his body, teasing him, provoking him. Flirting. She’d never flirted. She didn’t even know how.
He came across the floor like a tiger, pouncing on her, spinning her around until she was pressed up against the glass. Both of his hands covered her breasts, his erection already thick and hard, pressed against her buttocks. “Really,” he answered, bending his head to her shoulders, giving her teasing little bites that sent shivers down her back.
-Tyson & Libby
Every time he touched her, the world fell away so that she could only feel the ebb and flow of passion, and a rush of love so deep it shook her. She hadn’t known she was falling that hard. It hadn’t come fast as she’d always imagined love would, but had happened slowly over time. All those years of watching him, thinking about him, she had tied herself to him without even knowing.
-Libby's thoughts about Tyson
Drugs, side effects, nerdy alpha, motorcycle, rescuer down, chemicals, explosions, magic, acceptance, family, bad girl, hagatha, photos, risks, & love.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡