His hot breath caressed my neck when he moved his mouth near my ear.He wasn’t making contact, but his heat teased my senses.
I was intently aware of Brandon watching us, and that the amusement was fading from his eyes, leaving a mask in its place.
“Not even if you’re with the right person?”Danny’s tone was low, and as seductive as his nearness.“Their voice in your ear as they murmur all the things they’d like to do to you?”
It was too tempting to close my eyes and sink into him.A lean back and he’d support my weight.A shift to the left and his lips would brush my ear.
“Like take me carburetor shopping?”I forced myself to joke.
“Like drop to their knees and worship at your feet,” Danny said.“Like bury their face between your legs and lick your pussy until you’re panting and writing in pleasure, and then they keep going.”
This was what I fought so hard to forget about Danny.He was summoning the memories I fought to ignore when I was with Brandon.Even now, with Brandon watching us, his expression unreadable, I couldn’t push my desire aside.I couldn’t ignore how much I loved Danny’s voice in my ear.Loved the way he made my pulse race.Loved tasting him.
How much I loved hi—
I pulled away.“You know what?I was mistaken earlier.”I shut my laptop with athumk.“I do have work today.I’m sorry.I can’t believe I forgot.”I was on my feet, fumbling to get everything shoved in its bag.“I’ve gotta go.Brandon, you owe me a mall trip.Bye.”I stumbled out the door.
My lie was obvious and I didn’t care.I needed to leave now, before I gave into the temptation to be with Danny again.
Fourteen
Brandon
I struggledto process my emotions about what I’d just seen.Danny behind Reese, millimeters from kissing her, and her looking very much like she wanted nothing more.I knew this was coming between the two of them, and had been fighting the reality.
Reese’s lie was obvious, and if my mind was working, maybe I’d stop her from leaving.But if she stayed…
I didn’t know what came next because my mind refused to process.
And then she was gone.
I turned to Danny.“What was that?”
“I got caught up in the moment.That’s all.”Danny’s lie was as obvious as Reese’s, and hurt more.
“What are we doing?”I was asking myself as much as I was him.
He sank into a nearby chair.Only a few feet away, but it felt like so much more.“What kind of an answer do you want?Something emotionless and analytical?Something that makes light of the situation?”
I raked my fingers through my hair.“I want the answer that tells me what the right next step is.Or at least one that lets me throw caution to the wind long enough to not care.”
“There are far worse times to do that than with Reese.”Was that a hint of hopefulness in Danny’s voice?Could I lie to myself any longer that it would be anything but?
Maybe if I voiced my thoughts, I’d have an easier time remembering why they mattered.“She’s your ex-girlfriend.”
“She’s our current friend.”
“She almost destroyed you.”
Danny winced.“She tried to destroy herself and I got caught in the crossfire.”
“That doesn’t change what she did to you.”That was easy for me to remember.How much their splitting up hurt Danny.How lost he was when we met.
He frowned.“You’re the one fucking her.”
“But you want to be.”I knew this was coming, since that first night I was with Reese.Longer.Since the first time, years ago, when Danny let his defenses down around her after she came back into his life.Did I think I could ignore it?Stop it?Now that we were having the conversation, the genie was out of the bottle.
Danny moved to sit next to me, and his thigh pressed into mine.“What I want from her doesn’t make me want you any less.”