LUST (Dirty Brothers 2)

There’s a flip in my stomach. I think I know what he’s asking, but I need to hear him say it. “Pretend what?”

He’s not touching me, but I can feel him. Feel the space in between us and how very small it is. “Pretend that we had never met. That I had asked you out yesterday and you said yes. For tonight, do you think that we could just have something simple?”

My heart aches in my chest. Wouldn’t it be nice to erase the past for a night? “Why?”

He reaches for me and I don’t stop him. Fingers curl around the back of my neck, and he presses his forehead against mine. The way we’re breathing the same air is almost unbearably intimate. “Because we have to survive,” he says. “I’m never going to stop wanting you, and we can’t keep giving the world some kind of show every time we see each other.”

I understand what he means. Give in this one time, on our terms, so that we can live without either throwing fire or kissing each other. The question is, can I do it? Is there another way? As much as I don’t want to admit it, he’s right. This thing between us is going to come out, and we’d be smart to control it while we can. “One night?”

“Just one.”

I take a deep breath, because once I say yes there’s no turning back. “Okay.”

And then Sam kisses me.

8

The kiss is gentle, barely a brush of lips at first. There’s a tug in my gut, that there’s no way we can let go of everything while we do this, but I push it aside. I’m so tired of us, tired of fighting, and I just want to give in and forget, even if it’s just for the night.

I give into temptation and reach out, pulling him closer. His skin is hot through his shirt, and I let myself explore him. I didn’t have a chance to do that at the party or at the park. And it’s been a while since I’ve let myself truly enjoy someone else’s body. My last serious relationship ended over a year ago, and even with the occasional hookup, it’s not like this. My fingers find the hem of his shirt and then I’m able to feel his skin—the heat and the firm lines of him.

His hand still on the back of my neck, Sam tilts my face back and deepens our kiss. I lift up his shirt and we only break apart so I can get it over his head, and then his mouth is on mine again, no longer gentle. He kisses me until I’m dizzy, and he lifts me off the stool into his arms like I’m weightless. “Dinner?” I ask, voice already rough from kissing.

“We have time,” he says, not stopping. He carries me up the stairs and into what I can assume is his bedroom. Large windows look back over his property, the last colors of the sunset fading over distant trees. Setting me down on my feet, Sam doesn’t waste any time. He peels me out of my shirt, and it’s his turn to explore. His lips move along my collarbone, fingers down my spine and across my waist, and goosebumps follow everywhere he touches me.

“I’m going to like having you in my bed,” he says. “I’m going to taste you the way you wouldn’t let me last time, and now you don’t have to keep quiet.”

“No?”

His mouth brushes along my jaw. “Be as loud as you like, beautiful. Hearing you scream my name is a nice ego boost.”

I’m glad for the dim twilight because I’m blushing. Not because he wants me to scream his name, but because he called me beautiful. “I’ll remember that.”

Sam removes my bra and guides me back onto the bed. His hands keep moving, and I feel like I’m being touched everywhere. I gasp when his mouth covers my nipple. The way he uses his tongue is slow and deliberate, swirling around, drawing it into a tight peak. The brush of his teeth makes me shiver, and he repeats his movements on my other nipple, and back and forth until they’re almost aching. My breath is already short, and as he draws his mouth down between my breasts, I moan. His lips leave a line of fire on my skin, and I realize that he’s taking his time with me. He’s doing what he likes, and that sends a little thrill down my spine.

Sam finishes undressing me, pulling off my shoes, and unbuttoning my jeans and tugging them off. And then his fingers curl into the band of my panties and he pulls them away. I shudder at the sudden brush of air on my pussy because I’m already wet and ready for him. For this. Sam’s mouth tips up into a smirk. “This is better than the dinner I had planned.”