“Again, no. But …”

“But …” Would she deal with it? Yeah, probably she would. There were no doubts in her mind that Daniel was committed to her, and yet, this conversation had a dangerous feel to it. Like the ground was shifting beneath her feet. The topic they were covering was all highly unstable. “It’s a risk, Dan.”

“Babe, you over-think everything. Our life is one God-awful risk these days.”

“True,” she sighed. “Is there a point to this bewildering conversation about who you have no interest in sleeping with? I’m a straightforward kind of girl. Just spit it out.”

“Straightforward? Yeah right,” he said, again with the laugh. “The point, my girl, is this. If you wouldn’t mind me doing it, what makes you think I would mind in the reverse-case scenario?

“Because if you wanted Finn it would possibly mean you’re after something I can’t give you, namely a real-live working penis. Maybe that’s small-minded, I don’t know. This is complicated. I wasn’t expecting …”

She cleared her throat, tried to form a straight line in her head. Maybe that was the problem

– straight lines didn’t always apply. “I

won’t risk losing you for a frolic. You’re too important to me. Not to mention Finn deserves better. I won’t treat him like a cheap thrill when we’re talking of building a future somehow somewhere. Sex complicates things.”

Dan nodded. “Alright, though I never said short-term. See how it goes. Be open-minded. Two men devoted to pleasing your very sweet self? Have you ever thought about that?”

Her filthy mind filled with images.

“Holy shit. We’re gonna need more Eves in this garden.” She moaned and hid her face against his side, taking comfort in the warm and familiar scent of him. Admitting to any sex fantasies did not feel smart. Nothing about this was safe. She might be in love for the first time in a long time and he was talking about adding someone else. Historically, one-on-one proved enough of a challenge to her. How could she possibly keep two men happy? The idea was ludicrous.

“Daniel … You’re so cool about this and, and I’m so not. At all. What happens if we find another woman? We turn it into a circus act and take it on the road? Sounds like you’re using the end of the world as a flimsy excuse to have an orgy every other night of the week.”

He grunted in disapproval. “I disagree, and you’re getting jealous. There’s no need. This is about you and me and possibly him.

That’s all.”

“The three of us?”

“The three of us.”

“Wow.” Right. Sure. It sounded so simple. No chance for broken hearts at all. “No, Daniel. No.”

“Okay.”

Ali raised her head, mouth tense. “That easy?”

“Yep. It’s your choice. I just wanted to make sure you knew you had one.”

“Right. Wel , my choice is no. Meanwhile, this is doing my head in.”

“Enough of that talk then.” Daniel nodded, satisfied. “Instead, let’s discuss why you tried to cover my eyes earlier. Because baby, if it had been a kinky sex game I would have been on board, but I’m thinking it was something else.”

“It was nothing,” she said. “You need to rest. Sleepy time.”

Daniel rubbed his jaw against the top of her head, ruffling her hair. “Nah, I’m fine and so, very much, are you. Time for round two, cowgirl. And this time, we’re going to take it nice and slow with our eyes wide open.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The criminals were back at it.

Smoke lingered in the air at first light, making Finn’s pulse spike and his brain snap to attention. Adrenalin had it over caffeine any day of the week, even after a shit night’s sleep. He jumped to his feet, circumnavigated the Datsun to find the lovebirds tangled up and sleeping. “We have a situation on our hands.”

“Finn?” Al asked in a husky voice. She blinked big gray eyes at him from where she lay wrapped up in Daniel. Her hair was all tussled, and there was a general well-fucked appeal to her.

He was nowhere near as immune to it as he would have liked. Which pissed him off.

And she wore his t-shirt, having gasped words along the lines of “God”, “yes”, and “Daniel” before slipping into it.

“What’s wrong, Finn?”

His. Shirt.

“We’ve, aah …” He took a nice deep breath, focused on the essentials. Things besides what was going on beneath his shirt and inside his head. “We’ve got trouble.”

“Again.”

“Again,” Finn agreed.

She shook the big guy's arm. “Smoke. Wake up, Daniel. They’re lighting more fires.”

“Ah, man.” Daniel rolled onto his back and stretched. He real y was big. Civilian or no, taking him on hand-to-hand for her was not the best idea. Tempting as it was. Better to woo her away. “We were out of beer anyway. It’s time to move along, kids.”

Finn turned his back on the love nest to get his shit together. It also gave him a chance to get his temper back under control. Not that those two were messing around, not taking the threat seriously. The man donned his pants while Al made a dash to the spindly clothesline.

“Finn, your stuff’s dry too,” she announced.

He turned in time to catch the flash of ass as she stepped into black cotton panties. Oh yeah, the swift revelation of the long line of her back as she tugged his shirt off over her head. Breathing didn’t matter and blinking was right out. Anger slipped from his immediate reach in the face of this.