Surrounded by Pleasure Read Online Free PDF

Three
     
    Toby kept his nose down, studying his drink. He was going
to start eating as soon as Jeffery put his plate down in front of him because
he was starving and the sooner he ate, the sooner he could get out of here. But
as he stared at his salmon and asparagus, salivating, he just couldn’t seem to
pick up his fork and eat. It physically pained him to try and eat, and he
immediately thought about how his father had always waited for his mother to
take the first bite before he’d dive in at any meal. And Josh acted the same
way with Mikaela. Hell, he’d started that shit from the first day he met her.
Unable to help himself, Toby glanced at his sister-in-law as he remembered. But
his eyes immediately darted to Krista.
    God, she was fucking beautiful. A head full of billowy
brown hair and eyes the color of the sky. And her body? He’d never envisioned a
woman so luscious with curves in all the right places. His dick twitched at the
sight of her ample cleavage. And her smell was downright intoxicating and went
straight to his balls. His whole body tightened when she walked into the room
in that killer dress. And when she opened up her mouth to speak, tingles shot
down his spine. But his reaction tonight wasn’t totally physical. Listening to
his brothers fight over her was making something very primal rise up in him.
Too damn bad, though. He was not, was not going to get in the middle of that. She was an incredibly sexy woman with an air
of innocence about her, but Toby was not going to risk his life. Or hers. Even
if he felt something for her—which he didn’t, damn it —he’d be doing her a favor by not giving her more attention
to deflect. His brothers were doing enough already. And it was pissing him off.
    When Jack and Josh had walked out of the wine room,
everyone within a five-mile radius and the ability to hear mental communication
would’ve heard Jack’s mental roaring and cussing at Rob for getting close to
Krista and touching her. It took everything Toby had not to snarl at Jack and
Rob and inform them . . . what? He wasn’t even going to go there. It didn’t
matter what he thought in the heat of the moment. Krista Owens was off-limits
to him.
    So, why couldn’t he pick up his damn fork and eat?
    You know why.
    Fuck. He wasn’t going to entertain the
idea of Krista being his mate. Even if he wanted to fuck her—okay, so he wanted
to fuck her. He wasn’t crazy, but even if he was going to pursue the opportunity
to fuck her, it wasn’t as if he could mate with her. She was in a loving,
committed relationship. So, the whole can’t-eat-before-my-female-does mentality
shouldn’t apply. There was no way she could ever be his in the lifetime bonding
sense.
    The crushing weight of sadness that thought brought on
would just have to be ignored. And apparently, he would have to ignore it for
longer than a month if what the ladies were arguing about the purchase of the
Caldwell
land was true.
    Renewing his effort, Toby stared at his fork and slowly
reached for it. Feeling sweat pop up on his brow, he refused to look up. He was
a fucking adult, an unmated adult,
who could eat whenever he damn well pleased. As he grasped his fork, he felt a
surge of victory, and when he dug in, scooping a piece of salmon and shoving it
into his mouth, he couldn’t help feeling like a giddy kid. He was eating, which
meant those silly thoughts about Krista and mating where just overreaction. He
chewed, smiling, as he glanced up at everybody else, unable to hide the relief
on his face.
    Sonofabitch! She was already eating.
    He fought the very childish need to drop his fork and
storm out without eating. If he weren’t so fucking hungry, he’d totally do
that.
    You okay, man? Toby’s head snapped up at Josh’s
mental question. It wasn’t like Toby could tell him what was on his mind.
Everyone in this room with the ability to shift into a mountain lion would be
able to hear their conversation just as if they were talking