Her body hurt in places she didn’t want to think about. “Okay, obviously, whoever thought up double penetration didn’t think of the day after,” she grumbled. As she walked, slow and steady, towards the master bathroom, she smelled bacon on the air. She’d take care of the morning necessities and then see what her boys were up to.

Wait…her boys?

She groaned as she scrubbed her teeth. Angry red and purple love bites covered her neck and down over her breasts, and her hair was a nest on top of her head. But she had this secret, almost blissfully happy little smile on her face that, frankly, scared the hell out of her. Come on, she lived in the real world, where great sex didn’t mean forever, and thinking that it would was just crazy. But they’re shifters, Ally. That’s what they do. She couldn’t argue with her mind there. That was the whole point for the interest in joining Paranormal Dating Agency. Gerri had a hundred percent success rate, and of the thousands that applied, she selected very few. To be selected meant you’d find your partner—or partners. Ally knew that walking in, and she couldn’t help but feel that, maybe, the decision to reach out to Gerri had been more about what Ally really wanted, and less about the dare.

Ally spit the toothpaste out of her mouth, handled the rest of her business, took a quick shower, washed her hair, and headed back into the room. She needed to be honest with herself, no matter what happened. She wanted to find her happily ever after, pure and simple. If she was truly ready or not, that was debatable. She glanced around the room, looking or her bags, and came up short.

“They weren’t going to be delivered until today,” she said. How had she forgotten? In the wave of everything going on after leaving the airport, she’d lost her head about her stuff left on the mainland because of storms. Rich had offered to have it shipped at his expense, ensuring she’d get it sooner, but that didn’t leave her with any options to get dressed now. Great. She stood in the middle of the room with a towel barely covering her ample shape, and another wrapped around her damp curls. She was not going down stairs like that. Deni and Rich had already proven they couldn’t be trusted around her naked. They’d jump her bones before she had any time to recover properly. She needed to get dressed, and quickly. But what to wear? She blotted her hair and then tossed the towel to the side, her curls dropping around her shoulders as she thought. Her teddy from last night was not an option, and it looked like her underwear was in tatters. That wasn’t an option. Besides, that outfit seemed to have gotten her in just as much trouble.

“Their clothes it is,” she decided.

She walked into Deni’s closet, and his masculine scent struck her. Despite the soreness between her legs, just the smell of him sent her pulse thudding. Raw, masculine, and strong, he made her feel safe. A black and red flannel shirt hung in the back, drawing her attention. Those were her favorite colors, and it seemed fitting. She pulled the soft material around her shoulders and pressed her face into the crook of her arm. She needed to bottle his scent up and sell it. She’d have a fortune. Next, she left the room on soft feet, and padded into Rich’s room. His earthy, clean scent filled the space, but he hadn’t unpacked much. When he said recent development, he really meant recent. She fumbled through a bag, found a black t-shirt that smelled just like him and took off the flannel. After she put on Rich’s shirt, she put the flannel back on, and looked down. Add a nice little flannel sash or black one, and she’d look like she had those shirt dresses on that were in style.

She’d never felt small in a man’s clothes. Yeah, she’s had a boyfriend or two where she could put on their sweats and fill it out, or a shirt that was about her size to begin with. With Rich and Deni? It was completely different. Her pretty pink toes looked dainty as she looked down, and their clothes gave her a petite sense she wasn’t used to.

“If nothing else, I could get used to this.”

Thinking she’d procrastinated enough, she took the plunge, and headed downstairs. Rich sat at the large dining room table, frowning as he read the newspaper, with a steaming cup of coffee next to his hand. He reached for it, and then paused, taking a deep breath, and then his molten eyes met her.

“I thought I smelled something good this morning,” he said. His lopsided grin took his statement from sexually charged to playful.

“I could agree,” she said, lifting his shirt to her nose.

His nostrils flared again and he got up from his seat, leaving the newspaper behind. “I like the sight of that,” he told her. He crossed the room and pressed a chase kiss on her lips before he pulled back. “Coffee?” he asked.

“Um, sure,” she told him.

He pinched her chin and spun on his heel. She followed him into the kitchen, where Deni was shuffling pans on the stove. “The queen is awake,” Rich told him.

Deni tossed a smile at her over his shoulder. “Come here, little one.”

She trembled the sound of his voice, but his smile was open, inviting. Nothing like the commanding personality from the night before. The change warmed her. It was as if they sensed she needed some time to process. Was that what it was like to have mates? She did as he asked, and he bent sideways to kiss her lips.

“You mixed our scents,” he told her, pride filling his eyes.

“I what?” she asked, confused.

Rich sat on a stool at the breakfast nook, and motioned for her to sit next to him. When she did he put creamer and sugar in front of her. “What he means is, when you pulled our clothes on to wear, you could have just put on his shirt or mine, but instead, you took one from each, mixing all of our scents.”

“Don’t put too much sugar, it’s not good for your health,” Deni said.

Ally paused in the motion of putting a third heaping teaspoon of sugar into her coffee. “I like it light, and sweet. Sue me.”

Deni placed plates heaping with pancakes, bacon, fresh cut fruit, and toast. Carb overload. She was starving, but she wasn’t going to go to town eating a bunch of food in front of them. Nah uh. Growing up, her mother told her she ate like a trucker. Yeah, she did, and normally she didn’t apologize for it, because time in the gym kept her body like she liked it. That didn’t mean she wanted to get like that in front of them.

“What did I tell you, Ally?” Deni asked.

She frowned, forgetting what he said. But she recognized the change. The subtle way his shoulders squared, and his eye bore into hers. Mouth dry, she lifted her coffee, sans the last scoop of sugar, to her lips.

“Alejandra?”

Her name rolled off his tongue in a way that made her toes curl with remembered heat. “Don’t put too much sugar in it,” she answered.

“And why would I say that?” Deni asked.

“Because you’re a killjoy?” she returned sweetly.

Deni leaned across the table and palmed her throat. Her heartrate skyrocketed, and she sucked in a fortifying breath. “Because I want you healthy.”

“Look, I’ve been big all my life, and it’s not going to change because I put extra sugar in my drink. Are you always like this? Demanding and telling someone what to do?”

“When the time comes. I’m Dominant, and it’s the way I am in everything. It is the way I show how I care for those who belong to me. But, your weight, Ally, is only a problem for you. Extra sugar is bad for your system, and leads to other health issues that could shorten your life. I want you around for a very, very long time. Do not misconstrue my care for malicious intent.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “My weight is not a problem for me. I love how I am. I just know others won’t feel the same.”

“That, right there. That’s your problem,” Rich said.

“What are you talking about?”

They ignored her as they fixed three giant plates of food, even more than she could stomach, and placed them on the table in front of her, before Deni took a seat on her other side. She blinked. They couldn’t be serious right now. As she watched them, they went at their food with gusto.

“Hello? Did you not hear me? What the hell are you talking about?” she asked again.

Rich put his fork down, after stuffing an entire pancake into his mouth. “Eat first, mate.”

“No,” she said, pushing her fork away, “I want to know what you are talking about.”

Deni sighed. After scooping up eggs and a bit of pancake, he lifted the fork to her mouth. She pursed her lips, but he traced sticky syrup over her lips, then licked them clean. When she gasped, he put the food into her mouth. Buttery pancakes and seasoned eggs melted on her tongue and she moaned. That was too good to pass up.

“Eat,” he told her again, and she didn’t argue.

She ate her fill of breakfast while they ate beside her before she wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I didn’t forget what we were talking about.”

Deni sighed and turned to her completely, and she turned to face him as well. “Take your shirt off,” he commanded.

“No. That won’t prove anything at all.”

“But it does. You may love your body, but you don’t think we do. So, I want to try an experiment. For the next twenty-four hours, you won’t be allowed to put on a single piece of clothing.”

“This just satisfies your need to see naked skin,” she argued. “How does that make me believe you want me? That my weight isn’t an issue, and it’s more than this mating crap?”

“Because we won’t touch you. We won’t have sex at all, and we know we can’t. But watch us, Ally. They way we’ll want you, the way we respond. We can’t hide, or fake that. Be you, in every way possible, and watch what we do,” Deni told her.

“I mean, you aren’t afraid, are you?” Rich asked.

Ally scoffed. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

“I’m not so sure. Your site is all about good intentions, but it doesn’t seem very open to love,” he told her.

“At least you took the dare,” Deni added.

“I have no idea—oh my god.” She glared at Rich, a thought clicking in her head. Something she didn’t want to believe, and couldn’t fathom. “Mr. Anonymous?”

He had the grace to blush and smile sheepishly. “Well, I couldn’t think of another way to push you our direction.”

She blinked at the two bears, shock filtering through her. They’d wanted her before she even knew what was going on. “You were the anonymous guy challenging me to go the PDA?”

Deni nodded. “Well, a joint effort.”

“One he bitched about,” Rich said, thumbing at Deni.

“I don’t like subterfuge.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” Rich asked.

“That’s how you knew who I was at the airport,” Ally realized. If she hadn’t been so irritated at the jerk in the suit, she’d have wondered how they knew he without even seeing her face.

Deni picked up a piece of bacon and fed it to her. In her shock, she ate it without arguing. Rich followed with a few pieces of pancakes, covered in maple syrup. God, Deni could make a buttermilk pancake that melted in her mouth. She moaned, closing her eyes and savoring the buttery flavor. She was full, but it tasted to good.

“Open up for me,” Deni told her.

She did so without thinking, and he slid a cool piece of honey dew melon across her lips. The juice drizzled down her chin, until a hot tongue captured it, and followed the trail to her mouth.

“Take off your clothes, Ally. Dare us to accept you, just how you are. If we are anything less than your wildest dreams, I will fly you back to the Mainland today, no questions asked. But if I’m right, if we’re right, you will give us a real chance to claim you.”

Another decadent batch of pancakes melted on her tongue, and she figured she’d try it out for the food alone. But when she opened her eyes and saw the faint pleading behind Deni’s stern gaze, she knew she couldn’t say no.