“Of some waiter who couldn’t even get you off?”
“His name was Dante, not ‘some waiter.’ And he didn’t—”
She broke off into a sharp cry that made his dick rock hard. Still thumbing her clit, he sucked hard on her throat. “What didn’t he do, Jay? Make you come so hard you couldn’t talk?” He crooked his fingers until she was sinking back against him. “Did he let you call him Daddy?”
Jay flinched. “I can’t believe you’re giving me such a hard time about this whenyouhave way more experience in that department than I do.”
He breathed out against her throat, displeased. “Not with anyone who mattered.”
“That’s terrible.”
“Why? It was just sex. The drinks I had in the hotel lobby made me feel more than any of them did. It wasn’t anything like what I have with you.”
“Oh, god, Nicholas.” Her voice broke on the second syllable of his name and he pressed harder with his fingers, until the third syllable died into a hiss. Panting, she whispered, “I can’t listen to this.”
“You brought up my past flings.” Bored with the game now, he untied her wrists, snapping the cord loosely against her arm before handing it back. “Do you want a head count? Or do you want to know that you’re the only one who ever got to call me Daddy?”
Jay folded her arms. “Was that really all you expected from women? Sex and a drink or two before you just tossed them out of your house like tissue paper?”
Hishouse. “I never brought any of them home. I was too fucking obsessed withyou.”
Defiance flared in her face and something in him surged in response. Before the conversation could spiral out of control further, he covered her mouth with his. She tasted like cilantro and sweet herbs, and something that was just . . . her.
“Just you.” A harsh breath sailed past his lips. “I don’t want anyone else. I never did.”
“No matter who else gets hurt.”
“You’re the only woman I ever cared about enough to hurt me. That’s what love is, isn’t it? Handing someone your emotional knife and trusting them not to draw blood with it? But you do, Jay. You take that fucking knife and you plunge it into me again and again—”
He drew her hand to his chest, spreading her fist out flat against his heart.
“You hurt me,” he finished, just barely above a whisper.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Nicholas,” she said desperately.
“No?” He leaned in and felt her fingers claw through his shirt, as if she would gouge at him even as he spoke against her trembling mouth. “Then why are you so good at it?”
Why did you leave on the night I promised you everything?
She stared, as if reluctantly fascinated, as he dragged her fingers down his abdomen, all the way down to the waistband of his sweatpants. When he wrapped their fingers around him, she looked away—as if she weren’t the same woman who had said,I was going to suck your cock.
“God,” he said hoarsely, remembering. “You’resofucking good at it.”
“Sometimes you’re still such a selfish boy.”
“I think it scares you, how much you want this.” He gave her hand a squeeze for emphasis. “It doesn’t exactly fit into your precious rulebook, does it? The strait-laced good girl isn’t supposed want to fuck her brother. Even if they’re not actually related, and there’s no blood shared between them. Even if he makes her come harder than anyone’s ever made her come in her life.”
“Stop it,” said Jay.
“It’s a real fucking shame, watching you deny yourself just to win good-person points in this imaginary little game you’re playing alone. Because I could make you very,veryhappy, Jay. If you let me, I could fuck youso well. But what do I know?” He released her hand. “I’m just a boy.”
“Nick.” Jay retied the sash around her waist—covering herself up to her throat, he couldn’t help but notice. “Please. It’s so hard to talk to you when you’re like this.”
“It’s Nicholas. You only call me Nick when you’re trying to push me away.” He ran his fingers through his hair in agitation after a glance at his watch. “I suggest you get ready. Your car’s coming in an hour and I know you’ll want to do your hair before you leave.”
“I don’t want to fight with you.” She put her hand on his arm—and yes, she hadthatlook in her hazel eyes, the one that tugged at his insides like a fishhook and made him feel like a monster. “But what you said—it isn’t true.”
“You think it is.”
