Ten minutes later, Mason emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, his tanned skin damp and glowing and smelling like the hotel body wash. He directed that unwavering grin at Jude.
“Aw, you got dressed? I was hoping for a quickie before I left.” He waggled his brows. “We went at it so hard last night, I barely had a chance to savor it.” Mason licked his lips, his appreciative gaze sweeping over Jude, and damned if his body didn’t react.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He scowled and froze as Mason strode closer, walked his fingers up his chest, then held him around the neck.
“Sure you do. Last night? You were an animal, and I have the scratches on my back to prove it.” Mason ran his nose down Jude’s cheek, and it took every effort to hold himself still and not shudder from the touch.
He tried to take a step away, but Mason held him fast.
“You surprised me,” Mason murmured against his cheek. “Don’t think I can’t tell you’re hard as a rock. And here I thought you hated me.” Mason fisted Jude’s T-shirt and leaned in, eyes closing in preparation for a kiss.
Feeling his control slipping again, Jude shoved Mason away. “I don’t hate you. I don’t have any thoughts about you at all. You’re nothing to me.”
Mason’s heavy-lidded eyes narrowed. “Yeah? Guess it wasn’t you screaming how you wanted to fuck me harder and faster last night. You couldn’t get enough.”
Icy-cold spread through Jude, and he bit the inside of his cheek. “I wasn’t myself last night. It was the liquor.” He checked the clock on the nightstand. “Now if you could please leave? I need to shower and get ready for the breakfast I’m giving for Ilana and Doug. You don’t have to come if you’re too busy.”
“Well, thank you, Casamigos Reposado, for giving me the best night I’ve ever had.” Mason picked up his suit from the floor and swiftly got dressed. Even with his sun-streaked hair in damp waves and his shirt and suit wrinkled from lying in a ball on the floor, Mason was ridiculously good-looking. And judging by the lazy smile tipping up the corners of his lips, the man knew it. “And of course I’m going to be there. Doug is my brother. And despite Ilana’s brother being an uptight pain in the ass, I love her. She’s a fantastic woman.” A little gold earring gleamed in his ear.
“If you’ll excuse me, then.” Dismissing him, Jude turned around, cutting him off from his field of vision. “I have to shower and dress.”
“See you there, Jude. Maybe we’ll be able to bury the hatchet now. After all, we’re family.”
Jude didn’t answer. When he heard the door click, he expelled awhooshof breath. He needed to get his shit together and head to the banquet hall. He refused to disappoint Ilana. He never had, and he never would.
* * *
“To Ilana and Doug. May they have a long and happy life together.” Jude raised his glass in a toast, then kissed Ilana’s cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said. “And thank you so much for this and everything else.”
“Anything for you.”
Doug gave Jude a hug. They’d met in business school, and though he was the antithesis of Jude—Doug was friendly, charming, and likable—they’d meshed, and after graduation turned their friendship into a partnership and started their own marketing firm. They poured everything they had into it, and now it was one of the hottest, trendiest companies in New York City, priding themselves on spotting styles and fledgling companies before they became popular, and employing innovative, creative people who weren’t afraid to think outside the norm.
“Take care of her, or I’ll beat your ass.”
“Yeah, yeah, tough guy.” Doug, who was big and brawny, snorted. But he had a heart of gold, and though he’d been a bit of a player in school, he and Ilana had fallen for each other the first time they met. Always the overprotective big brother, Jude had told her that twenty-one was too early for her to be so serious with someone, even if it was with his best friend. Once they’d graduated and started their business, Doug and Ilana approached Jude and told him in no uncertain terms that they were planning to get married when they could afford to, and that Jude needed to calm the fuck down.
If only I knew how to do that.
“Love you, man. She means everything to me.”
A lump swelled in Jude’s throat. “I know. It’s just going to be strange for me not to have to worry about her, but that’ll be your problem now.”
“One I gladly accept. You know the only reason we waited so long was to be able to stand on our own and not accept help from my parents.”
“I had no doubt you’d get there.”
Mason stood up and tapped his glass. “Quiet, everyone. I have something to say.”
At the sound of Mason’s voice, Jude drained his glass of champagne; then, realizing that was what had gotten him in trouble in the first place, grimaced and grabbed the water pitcher. He hadn’t dared meet Mason’s eyes since he’d stepped into the room.
“Doug, I love you. You’ve always supported me even when I didn’t follow the path you thought I should.”
“Which you never did.”
Jude snorted to himself. Doug had bemoaned the fact that Mason had graduated college and then had taken off to become a bartender in a high-end resort in Fiji. He came home sporadically, always tanned and filled with stories of clubbing and drunken nightlife exploits. Jude had only seen him a few times in the intervening years. Mason Reiner was too distracting. Too beautiful and tempting. And Jude knew it wasn’t right for him to have a crush on his best friend’s younger brother.
