Angel's Touch [PUP Squad Alpha 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the others all have knowledge that they can’t explain, so it’s likely you do as well.” It wasn’t until Lilly blushed and looked away that he finally realized what she’d confessed. “You had a crush on me?”
    She gave him a half smile, and despite the glowing red face looked him in the eye and admitted, “I used to wish you were fifty years younger.”
    If he were honest, he’d confess to staying in that small town far longer than he’d intended simply because of the human waitress who’d intrigued him like no other. But right now, he was also hyperaware of Devlin sitting in the living room taking the first night-watch shift. It was obvious to anyone with eyes in their head that the man loved Lilly with every breath. Jed even understood why Devlin had walked away from her. It seemed a cruel twist of nature that the woman they would both fall for was from a species so short-lived. But understanding how short-lived their lives together would be didn’t help him drag the emotions back under control.
    “Lil,” he said, choosing his words very carefully, “you know Devlin loves you, right?”
    “I thought he did, but then he gave me some line about me not being able to handle life with a Navy SEAL and walked away.” Her eyes were glassy as a shiver ran through the length of her body. “It hurt so badly to think he didn’t have any faith in me. Even knowing the real reason now doesn’t erase the feeling of not measuring up.”
    “Lil,” Devlin said from the doorway, his voice thick with emotion, “I never meant to hurt you like that.”
    “You could hear us?” she asked in a shocked whisper. And then in a strained voice she added, “Hell, is nothing private?” She looked down and away, seeming ashamed of what she planned to say next. “I suppose you heard me confessing that I would have had a hard time choosing between you if I’d known Jed wasn’t as old as he looked?”
    Devlin smiled, his reaction the exact opposite of what Jed had been expecting. “Yes, I heard that, too, and you know what? I’m glad that you found Jed. He can be a horse’s ass at times, but he’s one of the good guys. He—” Devlin’s words cut off abruptly, and he seemed to be trying to drag his ragged emotions back under tight control. He took a deep breath. “He won’t hurt you the way I did.”
    He turned and left the room quickly.
    Lilly called his name softly, her heart obviously breaking again.
    Jed wasn’t the least bit surprised at what happened next.
     
    * * * *
     
    Lilly felt the familiar pull of the vortex, but this time instead of fear she felt only peace. Somehow she’d found the two men she’d been unconsciously seeking, and it had calmed something inside her. She even knew exactly where this vortex was taking her.
    Devlin looked beyond shocked when she and Jed appeared in the living room in front of him.
    “How?” he asked, shaking his head.
    “I think ‘why’ is probably the more important question,” Jed said, squeezing her encouragingly.
    “Why?” Devlin asked, looking even more confused now.
    Jed laughed softly. “I never would have pegged you for being so damn blind. The woman loves you. She even managed to control her travel tunnel—or vortex jump or bounce spiral or whatever you want to call the human equivalent of a bounce tunnel—to open in front of you.”
    “But she brought you with her.”
    “Of course,” Jed said dismissively. “I was wrapped around the woman at the time.”
    She tried to hide her wince, but ever the observant warrior, Devlin saw it.
    “No,” Devlin said, his gaze somehow seeing more than she wanted to show. “She brought you with her deliberately. If she wanted to, she could have left you behind.”
    “Is that true, sweet thing?” Jed asked. He still had an arm wrapped around her middle, so the question was far more intimate than was probably wise under the circumstances. Her heart raced a million miles an hour as she tried to find the courage to