Oh damn!
“I’m sorry, Jamie,” I say quickly and mentally scold myself. “I don’t know why I said that about Ethan. He was your brother. I shouldn’t have…It’s just sometimes…”
“Sometimes he made you feel bad about yourself,” he says, his voice a low rumbling growl that reverberates through me.
It’s not a question, but I keep my head lowered and say, “Yeah, but none of that matters now.”
He touches my chin, lifts it until our eyes meet. “It does matter, Fallon,” he says between gritted teeth. He gives a slow shake of his head, his dark eyes latched on mine. “It matters a hell of a lot.”
“No, it’s in the past.”
A moan that sounds like it was born of sexual frustration crawls out of his throat. “When I said you were perfect, I wasn’t lying.”
I shake my head. “You don’t have to say things like that.”
“You think I’m fucking lying?” he asks, his voice taking on a hard edge. Before I know what’s happening, he pulls me to him, and my stomach connects with his erection. His very big, erection.
“Oh.” My heart picks up pace, my body reacting to the strong, aroused man before me.
“Do you still think I’m lying, Fallon?” he asks, his voice infused with heat and need.
Jamie is aroused, because of me?
OMG, Jamie is aroused because of me!
“Um, no.”
“You’re beautiful, Fallon.” He touches my face, runs a calloused hand over my cheek. “If you weren’t my brother’s wife, I’d…I’d take you to my bed and show you just how sexy you are, in a bikini or out of it.”
I pause, take a long moment to digest his words, as his dark brown eyes, full of lust and hunger roam my face. Something in his expression softens as his hand falls to mine. His warm knuckles brush mine and my entire body quakes with the need to feel a man’s touch. But not just any man’s touch. No, it’s only Jamie’s hands I want on me. It might have only ever been his.
“Out of it,” I say quietly, not knowing what to do, say, or even think. He’s my brother-in-law and the both of us are so goddamned damaged we’re not thinking with any sort of clarity. But maybe what we’re doing here is right, maybe…just once, we can find some sort of comfort in each other’s arms.
Shaky hands go to my shoulders, and the air between us sizzles as he grips me tight. “What…what are you saying?”
“I’m not your brother’s wife. Not anymore,” I say as he looks at my mouth with hunger. A delicious shudder skitters through me at the heated look in his eyes. “I want you, Jamie. I want you to show me how sexy I am. Out of my bikini.”
His throat makes a sound as he swallows, and after a low, tortured growl that floods my sex with heat, he says, “Fallon, I want you but you have to know I can’t give you—”
I put my hands to his lips. “I don’t want more, and I can’t give more, either. Just this. Just tonight. Us.”
His hand curls in the front of my sundress and he backs me up, pressing me to the wall like he did that first night he thought I was an intruder. His warm breath is on my face as his breathing becomes deeper, faster. “Tonight. Just tonight, Fallon. You and me. No one else.”
“No one else,” I say and I understand what he’s asking. Our past, our hurts…they don’t exist for the next few hours. No, tonight it’s just two people, two best friends, in need of the other person’s touch, for reasons neither of us are going to question.
His mouth lowers, and his lips land on mine. Soft at first, an easy, careful exploration, but when I slide my arms around his back and pull him against me, wiggling and massaging his erection with my stomach, the kiss changes, becomes hungrier, deeper, a damaged man starved for so much more than physical touch.
I open for him, give myself over, wanting him to take charge, give me the freedom, the escape I need, the escape, I’m sure, I can only find with Jamie. As though reading my thoughts, he picks me up, holds me tight against his hard, protective body and for the first time in a long time, I feel wanted, feel like I no longer have to hide my curves.
“I’ve got you, Fallon,” he says. “Tonight, you’re mine. All mine. I’m going to take care of you,” he says softly and I almost want to cry at the tenderness in his eyes. No man in the world has ever made me feel so protected, cherished.
“We’re going to take care of each other,” I whisper back as he takes me into the house, locks the door behind us and carries me upstairs. He brings me into the room he slept in last night, and I can’t help but think it’s a conscious decision. No memories of us come tomorrow in the bed I’m currently sleeping in. This is a one-night thing, and we both know it.
He closes the door quietly with his foot, then adjusts me in his arms. With the lights off, he carries me to his bed and positions me on the edge. I sink into the bedding, blink against the darkness, and work to make out his gorgeous frame as he stands back, far from my touch.
“Jamie,” I say and reach for him, needing him in a way that is almost frightening.
I blink as the lamp on the night stand flicks on, and when my eyes adjust to the brightness, and I catch the intense way Jamie is staring at me, I suck in a fast breath, my pulse pounding at the base of my neck.