“Actually,” Aidan cut his twin off, “I was going to ask you something.”
Thornton frowned.
“Have you never wondered how countless women have thrown themselves at you,” Aidan murmured, “but you were never bothered about taking what’s on offer…regardless of how they truly felt about you?” He saw Thornton shift in his seat, a sign that he was finally getting somewhere with his brother, and Aidan didn’t hesitate to press his advantage.
“I know most of the locals who don’t know about your past think you’ve led a monk-like existence all this time. But we both know the truth. You were as much as a womanizer as most of us were—”
Thornton raised a sardonic brow at his brother. “Were?”
The police chief simply shrugged. “Still are then,” he corrected himself, unconcerned. “Point is, you were like us. Women meant nothing to you. And yet Blake…” He let his voice trail off, and not even a second had passed when his twin reached the same conclusion.
“She was different from the start,” Thornton said reluctantly.
“Exactly.” Aidan leaned back against his seat. Thornton might not have been consciously aware of it at that time, but he had been interested in Blake from the start…the way Blake had fallen for him at first sight.
Thornton rubbed his jaw. “I never realized…”
“That’s fine, man,” Aidan dismissed. “What matters is what you plan to do now.”
“Nothing, I guess. That’s the best thing to do, don’t you think?”
“That is—” Aidan stilled. “Wait. What? You’re going to do nothing?”
His brother stared at him. “What else should I do? If it’s what you said, and things might also be a passing fancy for me for some reason, then time alone will tell, won’t it?”
How the fuck had Thornton come to that conclusion?
But his brother was already getting up from his seat.
“Sorry I had to bother you about this,” Thornton said gruffly. “But I get it now.”
It was only when the door closed behind Thornton that Aidan finally snapped out of his shock. What the fuck? Like seriously – what the fuck? He had intended to get Thornton to give Blake a chance, so how the fuck had he ended up convincing his brother to stay away from her instead?
Chapter Six
All her life, Blake had known how most people tended to pity her for being orphaned early and having just her grandmother to raise her. In truth, however, her life with Amanda had been so filled with love, happiness, and fun that she hadn’t felt anything lacking.
Or rather that was how she had felt…until her first glimpse of the unmistakable bulge behind her boss’ jeans. Maybe if she had been raised a little less conservatively or she was a little more sexually liberated, maybe she could have turned the whole situation to her advantage.
Maybe.
But since she wasn’t, her beloved Thornton was therefore the first man Blake had ever seen fully aroused, and when she had glimpsed the ravenous glitter in her eyes—
Oh sweet baby Jesus, but what she hadn’t dared even let herself dream…
There was no denying it now, not when his erection just kept getting harder and bigger in front of her very eyes.
He wanted her.
Blake’s knees had knocked against each other at the realization, and that was just the start. In seconds, her body had felt completely alien but oh so thrillingly weak, with the way pressure started building fast inside of her…before bursting out into a thick hot flow of moisture. She felt her folds swell and pulsate as her panties became drenched, and if not for Thornton suddenly turning away, God knew what her first taste of desire could’ve pushed her to do.
But with the spell broken, a rare blaze of embarrassment had her gasping and she practically stumbled in her haste to lock her inside the bath. As soon as the door slammed shut and the lock slid into place, Blake slowly sank to the floor in a breathless heap of limbs. She felt hot all over, her heart beating like crazy, and oh God, she didn’t even dare let herself think of the way her pussy continued to twitch in a mix of agony and pleasure.
That night, she had been unable to sleep, tossing and turning, the image of an aroused Thornton refusing to leave her mind.
He wants me. He wants me. He wants me.
The words drummed inside her head over and over, and though she knew what she saw, there was also the tiniest insecure part of her that refused to believe this. That part demanded proof before it could surrender to mindless desire like the rest of her body had already melted into.
I need to make sure, she had thought feverishly. I need to know it wasn’t a fluke.
And so before she could even think twice, she was already putting her plan in motion, tiptoeing out of her room to get her trembling body under the shower. Because she knew Thornton’s schedule by heart and her beloved was a man of routine, it wasn’t long after that she heard movement in the kitchen.