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His heart thundered beneath my palm. I moved my hand to his cheek, and he closed his eyes, leaning into my touch.
When Xander opened his eyes again, I could see the hurt in them. It made the swirls in his green irises look like spiderweb cracks in a pane of glass.
“Maybe you don’t understand what he’s asking of me,” Xander said. “I’ll spell it out for you, yeah? He wants me to seduce her, Cheeks. Lie to her, take her in my arms, convince her that I love her in the way I only love you. How am I supposed to go through with that? How can you let me?”
I stared at him, suddenly puzzled.
He had a point.
It was a little bizarre, now that I thought about it. I didn’t feel at all jealous or angry or uncomfortable with Denny’s plan. Most women, I was pretty sure, would have been furious at the idea of their partner flying to Las Vegas to take part in a honey trap. I could already imagine how she would respond: with a delighted grin, a bat of her lashes, and a suggestion that they go get a room.
In so many ways, Melony was every woman’s nightmare. Tall and thin with tasteful curves, beautiful and perfectly eager to steal my man, just like she’d stolen our sons.
She was everything I wasn’t.
So, why didn’t I care?
“I guess I’m just not threatened by her,” I admitted. “Not in that way, anyway. Why should I be? You’re my mate, not hers. You only need to charm her, not fuck her. And even then, I don’t think you’ll enjoy it.”
“You don’t think?” Xander yelped, jaw dropping and eyes going wide.
“Shh,” I hushed, reaching out for our son. “Let me take Rylan. You’re going to wake him, and you’ve only just rocked him to sleep.”
Carefully, I transferred Rylan into my arms and carried him over to his crib. Just as carefully, I laid him down.
The sleepy smile on our son’s lips did more to my heart than any kind of jealousy ever could.
“There.” With Rylan settled, I turned my attention back to Xander. “Now. Talk me through this. What’s bothering you so much?”
“What isn’t? I hate Melony Houghton. Despise her. The thought of being anywhere near her disgusts me. Convincing her that I’m there by choice, that I want her and not you…” He shook his head. “I’ll never be able to go through with it. She’ll smell the lie on me from across the room.”
“You were with other women before me,” I reminded him. Xander and I had known each other for a long time before we got together, but it wasn’t as if either of us had maintained our virginity during those years apart. He’d had other women, just like I had slept with other men. “You don’t even have to kiss her.”
“The women before you—I can’t even remember their names now. There can’t be any after you,” he countered. “You shine so brightly, it blinds me, Cheeks. Your light blocks out every other. When I close my eyes, all I see is you. Feeling like that… how the hell am I supposed to convince another woman I feel that for her?”
I believed him, even after everything we’d been through. Xander could be in a room full of naked Playboy Bunnies all begging for his dick, and the first thing out of his mouth would be, which way’s the door?
“If you don’t think you can do it, we’ll let Denny know,” I relented. It was unfortunate, but I couldn’t blame him for being disgusted by Melony. Surely there was some other angle we could work. “Isn’t Denny supposed to be our ace tracker? He knows where she is now. He’ll just have to narrow it down from there for himself.”
“I wish he would,” Xander grumbled. “But I don’t think he’d be asking for my help if it was as simple as that.”
“Then, what do you want to do?” I asked.
“It’s just…” He clenched his jaw, then relaxed with a sigh. His boots fell heavy on the floor as he moved to me. His fingers slid up my forearms to my biceps, then tightened like he thought I might pull away. “I need you to ask me to do it.”
“Ask you? How would that change anything?”
He frowned down at me, like I’d just asked him if fire was hot.
“Isn’t it obvious? If you asked me for the stars, Cheeks, I’d build a jetpack. I’d pluck ’em all out and shove them all into a sack, string ’em together to drape around your neck. The moon, too. I’d bring that for you set like a diamond in a ring. I’d turn the night sky black for you, just to satisfy your slightest whim. And when you got tired of it all, wearing the moon on your finger, being bathed in starlight, I’d go put them all back. I’d rearrange whole constellations to spell out your name.”
The way he looked at me then… God, I had no doubt that he would bring me the stars. Another man wouldn’t. Couldn’t. But Xander Miller would find a way.
“I’m not asking for the stars, Xander,” I reminded him. “If you took down the moon, I think it would fuck up the tides.” I imagined eerily motionless oceans and a forever dark sky. “The wolves, too, probably.”
“And it’d be worth it. Because you asked it of me.” He slid his hands back down my arms until our fingers twined together. “I think if you asked… I could do anything for you. Even this.”
“You’re serious?”
