“You wanted a man who knew you better than you knew yourself. One who could fulfill your deepest, darkest desires. I’m the only man who fits that description, my sweet.”

She paused, recalling how she’d whispered all her secrets to her cat Max. To Xander, playboy of all playboys. “Oh hell.” Thoroughly embarrassed, color stained her face.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Brianna.”

She swallowed. “Why are you still here? You were supposed to disappear at midnight.”

A warm, genuine smile touched his mouth. He squared his shoulders and puffed his chest out. “Because you love me, and because you kissed me, during a full moon, on Halloween. The three elements I needed in place to break the spell Council had placed on me.”

Her mind whirred, recalling how the previous evening her cat had flipped open the book of spells, to a love incantation. “So you knew you had to get me to fall in love with you last night; otherwise it would take decades for all those elements to be in place again.” And what were the chances that another witch would summon a love spell such as she had, one that would bring forth Xander, the only man who knew her better than she knew herself and could satisfy her deepest, darkest desires? On Halloween. During a full moon.

Slim to none.

Her throat tightened, her stomach knotted to the point of pain.

“Yes,” he said with such honesty. “I needed you to fall in love with me.”

She scrambled backwards and tightened the sheets around her chest. How could she have been so stupid to allow herself to have sex…to fall in love…with a man whose reputation preceded him? A man who would undoubtedly return to his wild, wanton ways first chance.

As though he read her thoughts, he said, “I have no desire to return to that lifestyle. I love you, Brianna. And only you. And I want to spend the rest of my life taking care of you the way you’ve taken care of me for the last year.”