The game soon begins, and we play in comfortable silence. Noah makes the occasional comment, his tongue caught between his teeth as he focuses, which is kinda cute, actually.
Maverick’s manspreading again, watching me without shame. Not flirtatious, just curious.
“You like Kane?” he asks, and my fingers pause on the controller. Noah takes advantage of my brief distraction to overtake me on a bend.
Shit.
“Excuse me?” I ask, feeling distracted and a bit guarded.
“You’re the first woman he’s brought back here.” Maverick examines my reaction. “Do you like him?”
That’s quite an intrusive question, isn’t it? What do I say? I still can’t make sense of my own emotions, let alone explain them to Kane’s friends.
Noah glances at him, half-amused, half-annoyed. “Give the girl a break.”
“What? It’s a legit question.” Maverick holds his hands out. “Our boy likes her.”
“That’s not true. I’m sure he brings women home all the time,” I mutter, trying to overtake Noah again, but I’m thrown off by Maverick’s statement.
They’ve got it all wrong. I’m just a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, nothing more. Not to mention, I have nothing to offer a man like Kane except sex. No, we all know he’ll get bored and move on to someone more his league, and that’s okay. Probably for the best.
So let’s not pretend this is anything more than it is.
Still, a swarm of butterflies takes flight in my chest, and a smile threatens to reveal my feelings. I squash it before it can betray me.
Noah scoffs. “Trust me, he doesn’t.”
No? Doesn’t he? I hate these unwelcome butterflies.
Maverick winks. “Do you have any hot friends?”
Pfft. As if I’d ever introduce him to my friends.
Before I can respond, Noah curses as he leans his huge body to the side, trying to run me off the road. “Stay away from her fucking friends,” he warns.
Maverick narrows his eyes at him. The cogs turn in his head. He opens his mouth to speak, but movement catches his eye.
Kane’s leaning against the doorframe, watching me with an intensity that would make me fidget if it weren’t for Noah’s dirty play. I can be very competitive, and so can he, it seems.
At the last second, I use a sneaky trick of my own to get ahead and leave him in the dust. A flurry of curse words spills from Noah’s lips as I speed ahead.
Maverick laughs and slaps his thigh. “Oh man, she’s got that street blood in her veins. How’s that ego holding up?”
I have to admit, it feels pretty good to win. I can hold my own against my brother and his friends, but the difference is that they know my tricks by now, so it’s harder to beat them.
“Prick.” Noah throws the controller at Maverick, but there’s no anger in his voice.
Kane crosses the threshold and approaches me with a determined look that signals trouble. No one has ever looked at me that way before. Heat floods my cheeks.
He leans over, resting one hand on the back of the couch, then threads his fingers through my hair and crushes his mouth against mine in a scorching kiss right in front of his friends. The moment his soft but commanding lips claim mine, I nearly combust and clutch handfuls of his shirt to pull him closer.
The boys gawk as he tilts my head and deepens the kiss.
Wow. It’s like he was put on this earth for this very purpose. Even so, I might feel weak in the knees from the way he’s claiming me, but there’s something different about this kiss. Something unhurried. Something darker.
Kane’s touch is his way of claiming me—a silentback offto his friends. The trembling, raw passion from before has disappeared, replaced by a primal urge to mark his territory. Every touch, every swipe of his tongue, every nip of his teeth, exudes control.
Not that I’m complaining. I can’t. Not when I’m a puddle of need.
