Mike exhaled long and slow. He hadn’t known how badly he’d needed to have his suspicions confirmed until now.
“But at the very least I thought he was the kind of man to honor his commitments the way I’d planned to honor mine.”
Mike wanted to defend his brother. To insist that he was sure Peter meant to be faithful. But the truth was, Peter looked out for Peter first. Carly had never factored into the equation. He hadn’t intended to hurt her, but he hadn’t stopped to think about her before jumping into bed with his new associate, either. “If it makes you feel any better, he took me by surprise, too.”
Her smile seemed forced. “It doesn’t matter. I was so wrong. As long as things seemed right on the surface, I convinced myself I was happy. But I wasn’t.” She shifted positions, rotating her legs until she sat Indian-style beside him. Her robe ended below h
er knees, revealing toned calves and long legs. “I was dead inside and just never knew it. Until you, Peter was safe.”
“And I’m not.” Mike raised his hand to the back of her neck and brushed aside her hair.
“No.” Her lips parted. “You’re not.”
“Why?” He massaged her muscles that had worked themselves into tight knots. Her skin felt smooth and soft beneath his hands.
“There was no...” She spread her hands in front of her. “No...”
“Passion.” He ventured an educated guess. One based on the fact that she hadn’t slept with his brother, had never seemed to want more from Peter than a passing touch. But mostly he based his knowledge on instinct.
Startled, she jerked her head up. “How...”
“Did I know?”
She nodded.
He grinned at the shocked expression on her face as he completed her sentence for the second time. “Because you couldn’t feel an emotional pull toward my brother and respond to me like this.”
He leaned over and brushed his lips over hers. His hand, already at her nape, dug farther into her hair as he shifted positions and slid his tongue across her lips. She sighed aloud.
He meant to coax her into understanding but there was no need. Instead of pulling away as he’d expected, she raised her hands to his face and opened her mouth beneath his.
The kiss was hot, intense and like nothing in his previous experience. Although he had intended to prove a point, he lost track of everything but Carly.
He lifted his head and looked into her soft brown eyes.
“Mike.” His name was a plea he couldn’t resist. He captured her lips again. Together they tumbled backward onto the floor. He trapped her slender body between his legs and shifted until the heat of his arousal was pressed firmly at the juncture of her thighs.
Pausing long enough to open his eyes, he watched her face as he further inflamed her senses. He ground his hips against hers.
Her eyes glazed over. “More.”
He grit his teeth against the combination of pleasure and pain and thrust himself against her welcoming body. She uttered a sigh and rotated her hips, causing him to curse the barrier of clothing that separated them. Then he closed his eyes and pushed deeper.
His mouth never left hers, his tongue mimicking the erotic motion of their bodies. She rocked beneath him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him closer. Their bodies fit together as one.
Still separated by layers of clothing, they were both close to losing control. Mike hadn’t touched an inch of her skin, yet he ached to lose himself inside her. The thought amazed him. After everything she’d been through, she still... His mind cleared in an instant. His body, however, refused to cooperate and throbbed with unsatisfied need.
He gentled his kiss in an effort to bring them down from the peak they’d almost reached. He wanted Carly, but on equal terms. With her needing him as much as he needed her. Giving and receiving comfort wasn’t a solid basis for making love.
He allowed himself one last lingering kiss before pulling himself up and away from her soft, willing body.
Seconds passed before Carly’s passion-fogged mind cleared. Two things became evident at once. She’d succumbed to the heat of desire, to the point of almost making love on her living-room floor. And she wasn’t the one who’d called a halt.
Her entire body throbbed. Need pulsed through her, but she drew a ragged breath and forced herself to relax. She looked at Mike. His head rested on bended knee and he studied her with a pensive expression. His golden eyes betrayed none of his inner thoughts. She didn’t have to be a mind reader to know them.
Carly recognized Mike’s withdrawal for what it was—another rejection in a day fraught with them. She might have been the one to break things off with Peter, but in admitting his affair, he’d all but rejected her, declaring her worthless in his eyes.
She had the sinking notion that no one would ever love her enough to put her first. Her father hadn’t cared enough to put his family before his mistress. Her fiancé had always given his career and lover higher priority. And Mike, the one person with whom she’d felt a solid connection, had rejected her twice. First by keeping silent and again by pushing her away.