Prologue
RISD.
Pronouncedriz-dee.
ChapterOne
Riley
"Riley, please,"she begged, her legs hooked around my waist and her lips on my neck. "Ineedyou."
If there were more satisfying words to hear from my brother's wife while her bare body was beneath mine, I didn'tknowthem.
"Anything," I whispered, the words muffled as I spoke straight to the glory that was her breasts. "Anything, I'll give ittoyou."
"I justwantyou," she said. Her hands fisted in my hair as I thrust into her, and the primitive, seed-spreading part of my brain kicked into gear. I wanted to fuck her until she was filled with proof of my possession, and then fuck her again for goodmeasure.
This woman ismine.Mine.
That was the only thought in my head, the only word on my lips as I wrapped my arm around her lower back. I needed her closer, as close as possible until there was nothing we didn't share. I was holding on tight, my fingertips pressing into the tender skin at her hip without mercy. I wanted to leave her with a memory of me, a mark that would take days to fade, something to remind her that she belongedtome.
Mine,mine,mine.
This night knew neither masterful technique nor finesse. There'd been no seduction, no foreplay, nothing more than trembling need. Every touch was desperate, packed with the knowledge that our time was limited. But it was always like this—stolen moments, secret rendezvous, nights that no one else knewabout.
And it was indefensiblywrong.
"Lauren," I groaned, that single word rolling up everything I wanted her to know right now. That I adored her, that I craved her, that I'd doanythingfor her. That I'd forgotten how to function without her at the center of my solarsystem.
But there was no time for words. Not tonight, not ever. We had right now, and it wasn't to be squandered. It had been this way for months—covert meet ups where the fire between us turned explosive—and there was no end in sight. I hated it. Fuckinghatedit. I loved it, too. She was mine, even if we were the only two who held thattruth.
Lauren came with a shudder and a scream, and then whispered, "It should've been you. I should've chosen you. I love youmorethan—"
She didn't need to finish that sentence. I didn't let her, instead capturing her lips. Regardless of the lengths that making time together demanded, my brother wasn't far. It never escaped my consciousness that she slipped her wedding rings into her purse before shedding her clothes, or switched off her phone—and her husband's endless stream of text messages—around me. I required no reminder that her affections were divided between me and Matt, or that he was the one she'd fall asleep with tonight and tomorrow and all the nights after that unless somethingchanged.
And what could possibly change? I couldn't force my siblings to choose sides and tear my family apart by stealing my brother's wife out from underneath him. I couldn't force Lauren to leave Matt and lose the friendships she'd formed with my sisters. I couldn't do anything but love her while I had her, and thank the stars that I gotthatmuch.
Unless there was some kind ofaccident.
"I know you love me," I said, angling her body to take medeeper.
Every time she opened herself to me like this, I wondered whether he gave her as much asIdid.
Hedoesn't.
Whether he knew how to make her purr and beg andshake.
Hecan't.
Whether he could possibly love her as much asIdid.
Hecouldn't.
With both hands locked around her hips, I stared at the place where we were joined. She was beautiful, all dusky pink and bare, and the only thing better than burying myself inside her was licking her to another orgasm afterward. Her flesh clamped down around me, drawing me in and demanding more, and my cock was slick with herarousal.
Forme.
"I love you m-m-more than anything," I said, the words stuttering out in a panting rush as the knots holding my orgasm in place unfurled. I hooked her knees over my shoulders and thrust with abandon, concerned only with drowning her in my release. I wanted to give her everything inside me, everylastdrop.
