My gaze remained on the road, but I could see her blush out of the corner of my eye.“It’s a term of affection, nothing more.”Why had I called her that?Granted, making love with her was better than anything I’d ever experienced, but great sex was a far cry from a lifetime of commitment.
The stupid crystal around my neck seemed no help.Despite not wanting an affai—not in the slightest, I told myself—I had to admit to disappointment that the stone hadn’t reacted to Samantha.
Silently cursing the vexing stone burned into my skin, I knew it best to keep any talk of a bride and permanence to myself, at least until I knew just what my connection with Samantha truly meant.Better to only mention Tanselm and the Storm Lords.No need to overwhelm her with talk of a binding future, especially if there wasn’t one.
For her part, Samantha seemed to accept my explanation and remained quiet the rest of the drive.Thirty minutes later, I escorted her into my home, more than curious to see how she would react to my brothers.
In Tanselm, a place where the Royal Four existed and were accepted, people continually stopped and stared when we grouped together.
My mother liked to think it was the sheer beauty of her four handsome sons clustered in one place that caused such awe, but Arim speculated that our energies bonded, charging the space around us with a powerful presence impossible to ignore.
Since entering this realm a year ago, I had brought only three other women home to meet my brothers.Two of the women had been so intimidated they’d immediately broken off with me.The third had boldly hinted at an open sexual relationship with all four of us.Together.
First, gross.No way I wanted to see my brothers naked, and not with my date.And even if we’d thought about separately enjoying her?Um, no.My brothers and I didn’t share women.
We weren’t about to allow a female to come between us.
But now, with Samantha… I didn’t like the possessiveness I felt.I didn’t want to think of my reaction should she prove as fickle and shallow as the women I’d previously brought home.More than that, I didn’t want to know the shameful disappointment I’d feel should she prove a false hope.
Chapter14
Samantha
The minute I walked through the door of Darius’s fabulously expensive house and faced his family, I froze in what I hoped would be the last shock of the day.
Darius had said little on the drive home.After being stunned by my mention of an affai, whatever that was, he’d made a short phone call.Apparently, he hadn’t intended to bring me home until he saw my injury in the hotel room, because he made a vague explanation to whomever he talked to on the cell phone before grunting and hanging up.
When I’d questioned him about his home, he hadn’t said much, just a few grunts before falling silent again.Not that I expected small talk, but even a comment about the weather might have eased the tension in his rickety truck.Tired, I’d accepted the quiet.
I want to think I’d have reacted differently had I not still been recovering from that nightmare.Or from my astonishing lack of control when it came to Darius.
We’d made love.Twice.And I wanted to see him naked again.
Even though he had red eyes and could read my mind, which still sounded unreal whenever I thought about it.But no.I hadn’t imagined that.
I could sometimes dream the future, so who was I to say what could or couldn’t be possible?
But now I wished I’d pressed him about his family more.
Darius Storm was one of four identical quadruplets.
Identical.Quadruplets.
Good Lord, that a man as good-looking as Darius existed boggled the mind.But to see four of him, all standing together, well, it was all I could do to keep it together.
I stood inside the foyer staring at them, unsure of what to say.The Storm brothers possessed a magnetism I found irresistible.But as I adjusted to their presence, my gaze eyes drifted automatically to the annoyed man next to me.
Darius eyed me like a cat about to pounce, and I was aware I stood on a precipice of some kind, that my response to his unique family would answer some test I’d unwittingly been assigned.
“Please tell me this is the last surprise of the day,” I muttered, not able to think of anything witty at the moment.“I’ve got a massive headache, and the cause of said headache drove me here.I can’t handle three more of him, not on four hours of sleep and no caffeine.”
Hearing myself blithering like an idiot, I scowled at Darius.It was all his fault I sounded like a moron.
Three of the four men smiled, Darius’s grin slower to appear.
“Well said,” one of them replied and held out his hand in greeting.I shook it, noting I didn’t feel that same heat I did when touching Darius.
All four brothers stood the same height and possessed the same brawny handsomeness that made my mouth water.As I studied them, Darius gruffly made introductions.
