"We should get back," I whispered, but neither of us moved.
Conal's thumb rubbed a sensitive spot below my ear, and I shuddered, but not from the cold. My core tightened, heat spreading up and outward. My panties grew damp, but I couldn't blame the weather.
"Not yet, sweetheart." The low timbre of Conal’s voice meant I barely heard him above the biting wind. Then he dipped his head and brushed his mouth across mine. A small moan escaped when his tongue pressed between my lips and a large hand gripped my hair, pulling me closer.
God.
He and Ronan were so alike, yet also different. Whereas Ronan dominated the kiss, Conal held something back. His kiss was almost tentative, testing my reaction to ensure I wanted this.
And I did want this.
More than anything.
Conal's damp chest melded to mine, squashing my breasts between us. His hand tightened in my hair, pulling me closer. The kiss deepened, and I ached for him. A slow, pulsing throb between my thighs. A sense of emptiness deep inside, an emptiness that craved the hard, thick cock pulsing against my soft belly.
He groaned as we broke apart. "Fuck, sweetheart. I shouldn't have."
The moment his words registered, an icy chill shot through me. Of course he regretted kissing me. Ronan had, so it madesense Conal would too. Kissing me was a momentary, totally meaningless lapse in judgment.
"Your girlfriend…" Fucking bitch. I hated her.
"It's over."
"Oh." I exhaled in relief, not wanting to be that person who kissed another woman's man.
"But…" Of course there was a 'but'. There always was. Conal probably felt sorry for me. Sorry for the stupid girl who let men trample all over her like she was nothing.
"It's fine," I ground out, pushing him away. Heat burned in my cheeks and between my legs. How embarrassing to be rejected by two men in as many days. It had to be a record. Even for my lame self.
The problem was clearly me.
Anton had been right: men would never truly want me. Not really. I had nothing to offer. I wasn’t pretty enough, intelligent enough, funny, or even that interesting.
"We should get back." Now that Conal wasn't pressing me into the SUV's door, I realized how cold and wet I was. Again. With my luck, I'd end up with pneumonia. A potentially fatal infection would definitely be on-brand for me.
"Sweetheart," Conal murmured, his fingers caressing my jaw before a phone chimed loudly from his jacket pocket. With a curse, he pulled out the offending item while opening the passenger door for me.
"Wait, I'll be back shortly," he said, his jaw ticking.
I wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or relieved that yet another moment with a Kelly brother had ended prematurely.
Conal said nothing more when he climbed into the driver’s seat. I tried not to notice the way the damp denim hugged hismuscular thighs or the scent of pine and musk that filled the SUV. My body hummed with low-key arousal, causing my thighs to clench each time I shifted on the leather seat.
Thankfully, he seemed distracted, which meant he hadn't noticed my fidgeting. The last thing I wanted was for him to think the kiss meant anything to me. It was far better if I pretended to be ambivalent, given he'd caught me kissing his brother a few days ago.
Did that make me a slut?
Probably.
I really wished I could talk to Saoirse about it, as she was my usual go-to source of advice on all things man-related. But I couldn't bend her ear about this. She'd lose her shit if she knew I'd kissed her brothers.
As far as she was concerned, her brothers were strictly off-limits to her friends. Once, ages ago, Ronan had hooked up with Theresa, a girl we met in our freshman year at college. Saoirse had been unimpressed. She froze Theresa out of our circle the minute she found out. Sadly, there wasn't much I could do. In Saoirse's eyes, Theresa had broken the 'sisters of another mister code' -thou shalt not fuck my brothers, ever.
I, too, had also broken the 'sisters of another mister' code twice now. There was no coming back from that.
As we turned toward the estate, a large black car came out of nowhere, so fast I barely had time to react. It veered across the road toward us, slamming at full speed into the front driver's side of our SUV. Metal crunched, tires screeched, and my airbag exploded.
The vehicle pitched and turned, rolling sideways, eventually coming to a halt when it hit a tree. The impact left me hanging, trapped by my seatbelt.
