Night Is Darkest by Jayne Rylon (books recommended by bts .TXT) 📕

roll onto her side to watch them full on but a wave of dizziness stopped her in her tracks. Though she clamped her mouth shut to prevent it, a whimper escaped. Tyler reached for her but Mason got there first. Leaning over Ty, he rested the backs of his fingers against her forehead then stroked her hair. “I’m fine. Really. I just wanted a better seat for the show.”

Instead of resuming where he’d left off, Mason nibbled at her lips then brushed his own over hers so lightly she couldn’t say if they’d touched or if she’d detected the breeze of his mouth passing nearby until she caught a hint of the cinnamon gum Ty favored. Stealing it from Mason made it taste twice as good.

“Excuse me.” Tyler nudged Mason’s face aside with his cheek as he butted in for a kiss of his own. Full, fluid strokes of his tongue tantalized her but the drugs she’d taken fuzzed her senses, restricting the pleasure that should have suffused her at his touch.

“I’m so sorry, Ty,” she murmured against his parted lips. Somehow he understood her reference to both the accident and her inability to relieve him.

“Shh, little one. We’re safe now. James, Mike and Razor are staked out around the house. All you have to worry about is getting better.”

“You sound like your mom.”

He dismissed her concerns as the guys appeared to ignore the sparks she’d seen flying between them when she woke. Had it been a lingering dream? She might have believed that if the scratch of Mason’s five o’clock shadow hadn’t painted Ty’s olive complexion bright red. They had so much practice cloaking their relationship, it had become second nature. But she refused to allow them to hide from her any longer.

She studied each man in turn. Mason refused to meet her stare. His fingers clenched in the sheets and she thought he might start vibrating beneath the effort of containing all the tension trapped in his strung muscles. But the agony she read in Tyler’s morose eyes, though he attempted to disguise it with a weak smile, tore her heart in two.

Another point for Mama Rose.

“Mason, could you help me to the bathroom?” She cleared her throat to cover her disgust. Playing into their misplaced notion of her helplessness couldn’t be avoided.

In a flash, he’d scooped her up tight to his chest. She watched his still-pounding pulse throb in the pronounced vein on his sexy throat as he jumped to accept any excuse for escape. Okay, so maybe their attention had its benefits every once in a while. When he turned toward the adjoining room, she caught sight of Ty as he crashed back onto the pile of pillows with a groan. The frustrated flop of his arms, not to mention the tent in his pants, cinched her resolve.

Lacey grimaced when her bare toes touched the chilled tile floor as Mason set her in front of the toilet. “Put the water in the sink on high and turn around, please?”

“I don’t want you to slip and fall, doll. Are you still dizzy?” The nearly translucent hue of her skin worried him further. He maintained a firm grip on her upper arms.

“I just moved too quick when I first woke up. I’m alright now, I promise.”

Though he didn’t necessarily believe she’d made a full recovery, he tested out her statement by releasing his support by degrees. When she stood straight and tall without a hint of wobble, Mason nodded then did as she asked.

He let his forehead fall onto the paneled wood door, straining for any hint of distress from her direction as he castigated himself for the rash behavior she’d interrupted.

He’d been so reckless! Foolish!

A whisper of sound ghosted to his ears as she approached from behind but he stayed perfectly still, afraid to meet her gaze. He jerked when her palm pressed to his tight lower abs. The muscles of his back flexed when she laid her cheek between his shoulder blades. Though he knew he should return her straight to Tyler then concoct some excuse to leave, he entwined their fingers then drew her hand over the steady thump of his heart instead.

He was so fucked.

It wasn’t right to stay, to expose her to all the censure an unconventional relationship would generate but he couldn’t compel himself to flee yet. Her tiny fingers curled tighter in his grip.

Without facing her, he spoke. “I’ve never been so scared in my life as when I saw your car fly off the road earlier.”

She tugged his hand until he had no choice but to turn, or crush her knuckles. He pivoted.

With surprising grace and speed, she flung her arms around his neck then wrapped her legs around his waist. He caught her luscious ass in his palms, supporting her, then walked her forward until she perched on the vanity beside the still rushing water that would’ve drowned out their conversation if they hadn’t whispered a hairsbreadth from each other. He rationalized the way he smothered her by telling himself he didn’t want to drop her.

“You were afraid you might lose the two people you love most.”

With a fierce little growl, she captured the lobe of his ear between her teeth when he shifted to separate them. The gesture sent a surge of blood straight to his rock-solid cock. The force of his desire prevented him from realizing she waited for his reaction for a solid ten seconds.

He couldn’t admit his feelings to her or she’d never let him leave, no matter that it was the right thing to do. Instead, he hedged. “Ty is my best friend. Of course I care about him. And you, too.”

“No, Mason. You’re in love with him. Big difference.” She cupped his jaw with trembling fingers, forcing him to look her straight in the eye as she allowed a fraction of an inch between their faces. Relief smoothed the jagged edges of her doubts when she observed his acceptance of her declaration. Apparently,