Something hot sprang into his eyes, and Embry felt her skin flush with an entirely different heat.
“We could talk,” he said.
“Talk?” she asked faintly. Nothing at all in his expression suggested talking.
“About the last time we saw each other. Before things went to shit. You changed things between us.”
Touch me. The echo of her words swept through her, snapping desire to life. She had wanted him so much. She still wanted him.
“I did.”
He hesitated, not moving any closer. “If things had gone differently. If we hadn’t been interrupted, would you have changed your mind about that?”
Never. “Would you?”
One corner of his mouth tipped in amusement. She wanted to press her lips just there.
“I spent every day from the time you were sixteen trying to convince myself that you were my sister.”
Embry blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Because of your father. He treated me like a son, and I didn’t think he’d much appreciate the thoughts I was having about his daughter.”
She wondered if those thoughts had run parallel to hers and whether he’d lain awake nights aching for her. “I never thought of you as a brother.”
The other corner of his lips twitched into a full smile. “It’s probably a good thing I didn’t know that back then since that was essentially the lynchpin of my self-discipline.”
Her mind conjured up the memory of Gage braced over her, straining desperately to control himself as she shamelessly kept him pinned with her legs. She had no idea why she’d chosen that night to test him, except that she was so tired of waiting, of wrestling with all the feelings he stirred up in her and not knowing whether he felt the same. She didn’t know what she would have done if he’d rejected her. Run in mortification, most likely. And then he’d have been alone when they came for him.
She closed her eyes and shuddered, just slightly. With an effort, she pushed the thought away, fixing a smile on her lips and aiming for light and a little flirty. “I had a terrible crush on you.”
His face went serious. “I was in love with you.”
Could he hear her heart thumping? she wondered. It beat like jungle drums in her ears as she stared at him. Still, her voice was steady, even a little amused when she spoke. “Were you?”
Gage shook his head. “Well that’s not entirely accurate. I’m still in love with you, Embry.”
She couldn’t breathe for the fist that squeezed her heart. No, no, don’t do this to me now. Not when we have no future. Swallowing did nothing to quench the desert of her throat.
Before she could think of a reply, he continued. “Things might not go as we hope tomorrow. And if something goes wrong, I needed you to know that.”
She should back away. Get another room. Anything to escape how the expression of fierce, protective adoration on his face made her feel.
Instead, she stepped into him, rising to her toes and threading her fingers in his hair before capturing his mouth and taking.
* * *
It was different than the kiss they’d shared in her hotel room in New Orleans. He’d been Cade then. Attractive, attracted, but not hers. And she’d been trying to distract him.
But this, this was Gage. His mouth was hot and hungry on hers, with an edgy demand that hadn’t been present a decade before. He’d been unflaggingly careful then. Cautious and considerate of her inexperience.
Even now, he pulled on depths of patience she simply didn’t have. When he tried to gentle the kiss, to slow things down, she nipped and goaded, eroding his control, wanting him desperate and unthinking. For this one night, she needed to give in to the fire.
He staggered a little as she hitched herself up, wrapping her legs around his waist. Then he righted himself, hands gripping her hips and shifting her until she pressed firmly against the bulge of his erection. Purring approval, she took her lips on a sprinting journey over his face, tasting each corner of that gorgeous mouth, feeling the scrape of stubble.
Fire hummed just beneath her skin, rising, straining toward his touch. No more distance. Impatient, she stripped off her shirt, one of those sleeveless tanks with a built in bra. His eyes went dark. Desperate to feel his flesh against her, Embry went after his t-shirt. Backing her into a wall for leverage, he tugged it off. Then he leaned away and looked his fill.
Embry knew her skin was flushed, both with desire and flame. She all but vibrated with it.