He wasn’t close enough, deep enough. He had to envelop her, fill her. Easing his arms over her shoulders, between her back and the mattress, he lifted her chest against his and pressed in. Panting, frantic, fucking on fire, he fused their mouths together and surged deep into her once more. She responded again with a jerk and a groan. And still, it wasn’t enough. It never would be.Hard, fast, the slick slide of his flesh over—into—hers was both heaven and hell.Exquisite torture. Every rasp of her clasping cunt sent him careening closer to oblivion. She was everything he’d ever wanted, never believed existed or that he deserved. And he wasn’t leaving this bed until she exploded in orgasm and shouted a hoarse cry in his name.“Deke,” Luc’s voice broke into the wild rhythm of his shuttling in and out of her.“Deke!”“What?” he snarled.“Be gentle.”Gentle? Shit!Deke thundered a heavy stare down at Kimber. His gaze met her dilated hazel eyes and an arc of electricity zinged right up his
“I need to grab a few things at the store. Can I borrow your car keys?” With a frown, he agreed. “Could you be back by six? I need to put in an appearance at a restaurant downtown tonight.”With a nod and a gutful of relief, Kimber escaped the quiet house—too packed with memories for comfort—and drove.It didn’t take her long to pick up some supplies. Picking out the get well/I miss you card for her dad was easy. Securing a new cell phone didn’t take long, either.She called Logan and Hunter to check in, and they said Dad would be released day after tomorrow.She even had the opportunity to talk to him for a few short minutes.Ecstatic about his quickly recovering health, Kimber picked up the rest of the items on her mental list, trying to push away the reality of it all.Kimber returned to Luc’s house a little after five.Looking sinfully sexy with his long hair loose, charcoal slacks, and a long white linen shirt, he pressed a lingering kiss to her cheek. “I won’t be gone long. Can
“At least this makes so many things clear. You took up ménages after Heather’s death, didn’t you? Then if any woman got pregnant, you always had another man to blame.”She’d figured him out fast. Exactly. She was exactly—Wait!His gaze snapped over to Luc. “Maybe you’re the baby’s father. Maybe—”“I’d love to take responsibility for this.” Luc dropped to his knees in front of Kimber, lifted her T-shirt, and placed a gossamer kiss on her still-flat belly. Deke waited for the relief. And waited. But watching Luc’s reverence as he stroked a soft hand over Kimber’s stomach, he could only feel sick at the thought of his cousin creating life inside his woman. The possibility made him want to retch and break something at the same time.Then Luc stood and looked at him with not just sadness, but tragedy in his dark eyes. “But I can’t take responsibility, Deke. The baby can’t be mine.”“You fucked her, too. Both of us did.”“True.” Luc crossed the room and sat beside him, clapped a hand across
Damn, the man could flat out kiss. The finesse…wow. The way he raked his tongue across the roof of her mouth sent a shiver through her. Then he nibbled erotically on her lip. A tilt of his head later, and the kiss changed, deepened, as he swept through. He had full command of her mouth now, and she tingled, felt…taken. It would be easy to melt against him. But it would give him false hope.She pulled away. “I’ll be leaving in the morning.” Luc’s fingers tightened in her hair, and he looked like he wanted to argue.Instead, he gritted his teeth and released her. “Where will you go?”“I need to check in with my brothers. My dad should be coming home from the hospital soon, and they’ll bring him to Logan’s place when he’s released. They’ll need my help. My place isn’t too far from his, and my poor neglected apartment…Bet all my houseplants are dead.”“Will you leave me a number? I want to be with you. I want to be as involved as you’ll let me.”She smiled. “Sure. I have no doubt I’ll ne
“Damn it… What do you think? Is he guilty?”“Could go either way. But my gut…he didn’t set the bomb.”“So we could still have a psycho out there after Dad?”“Or after you. While you were in the swamp, we got a couple of phone calls on Dad’s cell, some guy asking where you were and how to find you. He always used private, untraceable numbers and never talked long. I never knew if he was a reporter or a criminal.”She frowned. Surely, he was overreacting. It had to be the press trying to get ahold of her and bite into the big juicy story of her and Jesse’s busted relationship, which seemed like a lifetime ago now…. She’d assumed about all the unavailable calls and mute voice mails on her cell phone were all members of the press, too.“I haven’t made any enemies.”“That you know of.”True. Kimber sighed. But unlikely. Had to be the pesky press not knowing when to leave a story alone. “Go with me to the hospital later today, just in case?”“Yeah. Let me know what time. Could I…” He hesita
“Why are you trying to make everything better between Kimber and me?” Deke turned his attention back to his cousin. “To make up for manipulating us? To get closer to the baby?”Luc closed his eyes. “I deserved that. I…influenced you both to get what I want. I thought it was in everyone’s best interest, not just mine. Now, I’m trying to talk some sense into you purely for your own good. Like you said a few days ago, I regard you as a brother. You should be happy. You deserve it after all this time and shit.”Deke swallowed. That was probably the nicest thing Luc could have said to him in that moment. He wanted to believe it. He almost did… “Thanks.”At one o’clock, Kimber sat on the patio of her favorite deli. The area was shaded by live oak trees and bordered a quiet side street, which would help with privacy.She plucked at the tank top wilting against her skin, hoping that the heat would ensure that if they were gawked at, it would be purely through windows in the deli’s cool interi
The footsteps entered her bedroom, paused, wandered around, then headed to the closet.As Kimber braced herself against the wall behind her walkin closet’s door, her hand came into contact with something solid, wooden. She smiled. And she was damn glad that she’d been on the apartment complex’s co-ed softball team.Wasn’t this shithead in for a surprise?Deke’s palms had sweated for the entire one hundred miles into Dallas. Nearly twenty-four hours after Kimber had dropped her bombshell, he was ready to talk to her. No, he had to talk to her. So he’d driven west, into the thick, inky night, with his insides jolting like he was hooked up to jumper cables.Luc had spoken a lot of truths. A dozen years ago, Deke had been guilty of many things. Having sex with an emotionally unstable girl. Thinking with the wrong head. Letting the abundance of Heather’s emotions—and her family’s—drown out his logic.What he hadn’t done, as his cousin and Kimber had pointed out, was forced Heather to swall
“Keep talking,” he told the old man. “Cal, isn’t it?”“Yes,” the old man said cautiously.“What do you mean, start over again?”He hesitated. “I’d better not say anymore without my lawyers.”Within three minutes, pandemonium erupted in the apartment. Police units stormed the place. Deke led the suspect out by his nape and prodded him forward with the barrel of his gun.After the police verified Deke’s credentials, they were cool. And he turned all his attention to the EMTs working on Kimber.He detailed the cut on her arm calmly. “Why the hell is she still unconscious?”“You family?”Oh, this shit. “I’m her…” Boyfriend? Fiancé? Father of her child? “She’s mine.”“Your wife?”“Not…yet.”“Sorry. No information given out to nonfamily members,” said one as they carried her out on a stretcher.Deke couldn’t resist touching her face, her shoulder, as they passed. He followed them out to the ambulance. “Let me ride with her.”“I’m sorry, sir. Family only.”Fuck family only! “Where are you ta