Savage Seduction: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 3) by Ellis Leigh

sparked with something luminescent. Something bright and ethereal. Something wild. She held her breath, waiting for him to break contact, unable to do so herself. The scent of him, the warmth, was more than she could handle. More than she could refuse.
    But there was no way she would admit that.
    “So,” Mammon said when he finally— finally —released her from his witchcraft touch. He drawled the word, lips and tongue and voice turning each letter into something more, something sensual. “Nice books.”
    Spell broken by books, just as she’d hoped. It took effort to breathe, to smile, but she had a focal point now. The books. “They are, aren’t they? Finn has dragged them across the country and back several times. He refuses to live without them.”
    Mammon approached a shelf and ran his fingers over the spines. A simple touch, but one that seemed almost gentle. Loving. The sign of someone who enjoyed slipping inside the pages. “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”
    Charmeine cocked her head, appraising him. Completely unable to hide her surprise. “Oscar Wilde.”
    Mammon smiled before taking a book off the shelf. “Yes, and quite accurate, I believe.”
    Unable to resist her pull to him, she stepped closer. Wanting to see which book he’d chosen. Wanting to breathe in that warm, oaky scent some more. “And how does Finn do in terms of what he chooses to read?”
    Mammon glanced around the room, his eyes stopping now and again on different bookcases. “Classic literature, historical biographies, war memoirs, and nonfiction business titles…all things I expected. But those—” He closed the book and returned it to the shelf before striding across the room to the far corner, the shelves tucked beside the bar where he’d made their drinks. Charmeine knew where he was headed before he got there, and she felt no need to follow. Instead, she sat on one of the leather couches, sipping her martini and waiting for the question she knew was coming.
    “Did you know Finn was a fan of Judy Bloom?”
    Her laugh was inelegant at best, an almost cackle at worst. “Those are mine, of course.”
    He smiled over his shoulder before grabbing one off the shelf. “ Blubber .”
    “A tale of bullying.”
    “Yes, I know.” He flipped through the pages, frowning. “And yet, no resolution comes. The children aren’t punished for being so cruel to one of the others, the friendships aren’t redeemed, and the main character is still sort of…well, bratty.”
    It took Charmeine a long handful of seconds to find her voice. “You’ve read Blubber ?”
    Mammon shrugged, as if his knowing the story details of Blubber —having obviously read it enough to remember key bits—wasn’t one of the most attractive things a man had ever admitted to.
    “I read a lot. Mostly fiction, though some nonfiction if it strikes my fancy. Young adult novels often deal with tough subjects, like bullying. You can’t understand the human if you don’t understand how their experiences have formed their perceptions.” He set the book back on the shelf carefully, as if it had value beyond the paper it was made of. Something so oddly attractive, she nearly purred.
    “What else do you read?” Mammon asked as he sat beside her. Not too close, though—giving her room to breathe. To keep her from feeling crowded. A fact she hadn’t expected. Though she really hadn’t expected anything about this night, especially how much her body craved his touch.
    “Anything.” Charmeine refused to give in, sitting farther back in the corner to put more space between them. “Newspapers, magazines, literary fiction, romance, encyclopedias.”
    Mammon chuckled. “Encyclopedias? You still have those?”
    “Of course.” She smiled, unable to help herself. “Because of the threats around us, we were stuck inside a lot as children. Finn and I spent a good deal of time in studies like this