Decadent (7 page)

Deke snorted. Yeah, this sure was headed for a fairy-tale ending.
Not
. But Luc 56

would have to figure that out for himself. Deke was tired of pointing out the obvious. Still, he admitted privately there was something about Kimber that utterly flipped his switch.

Grimacing at the hard-on straining the fucking slacks Luc had insisted he wear, he lifted his beer for a long swallow. Hell, he was as hard as he could ever remember being and he’d done nothing more than watch Kimber walk through his door with a hesitant smile.

“Hi.”

Her voice was breathy, soft, a little shaky. Good. She had every reason to be nervous. He was. His insides were like a lit powder keg on a short fuse. What would happen to his restraint and self-control after he and Luc laid her out on the bed?

Kaboom
.

Shayla Black Decadent He was all jacked up on adrenaline, just as he was after a mission. He needed to fuck, and he could only deny it for so long. Worse, the need seemed fixated on her.

It wasn’t a matter of
if
she begged to be fucked, but when. And when she begged for a hard cock in her pussy…could he keep to his vow to leave her a virgin?

Despite his tough talk, he wasn’t sure.

Could he fuck her, claim her, and risk the consequences?

Hell no!
No more risks where virgins were concerned. Abso-fucking-lutely not.

Never again. She’d learn what they could teach in two weeks and be gone. He’d resist…somehow.

“Come in,” Luc said, taking the duffle bag that weighed down her slender arm and setting it in the hall. “We’re glad you’re here. I’m thrilled you’ve agreed to stay with us.”

57

And if Luc had his way, Kimber would never leave.

“Thanks for changing your mind.”

She looked self-conscious, tucking her silky reddish hair behind one ear, her hazel eyes darting around the living room and into the kitchen.

Her gaze found his, and their stares connected. At the visual jolt of electricity, she sucked in a breath. He felt her gaze like a sucker punch to the gut and a hard tug on his cock.

Oh, hell.
He was in major shit here.

Luc tucked Kimber’s hand in his and led her to the kitchen.

“My mind never needed changing. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve always been welcome.”

Shayla Black Decadent
Thanks for the public hanging, cuz
.

“Deke.” His name trembled from her lips. The sound went straight to his dick. Not trusting himself to keep quiet every dirty thought screaming inside his head, he just nodded.

“Wine?” Luc asked her, leading her deeper into the house, into the middle of the kitchen.

“Sure. Thank you. Do you have any white?”

“I have a great chardonnay.”

“Perfect.”

Luc slanted a chastising glance his way. What the fuck did his cousin want him to do? Deke didn’t like wine. Luc was the slick one with all the verbal skills, so Deke 58

was letting him do the talking. It was smart, since Deke only spoke caveman.

Besides, he had nothing to say. If he touched Kimber at all right now, Luc would only hear two sounds: him ripping her clothes away from her body and her scream as he covered her clit with his mouth until she came.

“Everything smells delicious,” she murmured and slanted a shy glance in Deke’s direction.

Smiling with all the charm of a damn talk show host, Luc handed her a glass of wine. “I hope you’ll enjoy it. Make yourself comfortable. Or, if you prefer, hit Deke up for a tour of the house.”

Kimber took a sip of the chardonnay, then cut another anxious glance in his direction. Her tongue dragged along her plump lower lip—nearly sending him to his knees. “I’d love a tour.”

Shayla Black Decadent What he’d really love was to see that tongue sliding across the head of his cock.

He swallowed at the image gnawing across his mind and right through most of his self-control.

“Sure,” he said, trying not to grimace at his scratchy voice.

He made his way across the kitchen and, because he couldn’t stand not touching her for another minute, he molded his palm to the small of her back. Warm, firmly curved. Responsive. Deke glanced her way and couldn’t miss the fact her nipples hardened the instant he touched her. And her smell… he inhaled peaches, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Homey, spicy, comforting, and arousing. Another sniff. Holy shit, if he got any harder, his zipper was going to leave permanent indentions on his dick.

With a gentle push, he took his hands off her and urged her out of the kitchen, back into the living room, then down the hall, grabbing her bright blue duffle bag.

59

Hoisting it on his shoulder, he looked back at her. “There are two bedrooms and an office at the end of the hall. Luc’s is the larger, since he lives here full-time. I’m only here when I’m between assignments or, like now, recovering from an injury.”

“What happened?”

Deke couldn’t mistake the concern in her voice or the way it made him want to pin her to a wall and kiss her. Not just fuck her. He still wanted to—bad. But her little show of care lured him in a way he wasn’t familiar with, but was still every bit as effective as a top-of-the-line rod and reel.

If he wasn’t careful, he would fall for her hook, line, and sinker, to quote a cliché.

He’d been there, done that with Heather, and he’d love to burn his souvenir T-shirt, but his memories wouldn’t let him. Instead, he hung it in his mental closet, determined not to fuck up again.

Shayla Black Decadent

“Some asshole with a knife wanted to demonstrate his Zorro impression using my ribs. Twelve stitches and a tetanus shot later, I’m good as new.”

“You and Dad are in a dangerous business.”

“Beats the hell out of sitting behind a desk.”

“Depends on your perspective, but I know you men of action always need some ass to kick.”

Deke couldn’t help the smile tugging across his mouth. “Damn straight.” A few steps later, he shoved a door open to reveal a smallish bedroom with white walls. It held a double bed, a chair, a reading lamp, and a desk with a laptop. It would never win interior design awards, but it worked for him.

“This is your room.” It wasn’t a guess; she knew it.

60

“Yep.”

“It looks like you.”

“Dull?” he baited.

“Hardly.” She laughed. “I could call you a lot of things, but never dull.” The slightly breathy pitch of her voice was still going straight to his cock. He’d never been much for peaches, but right now the smell of her was rushing all his blood south. Damn, Luc always made dinner with company a grand affair. How the hell would he make it through the whole meal without throwing Kimber up on the table and eating her instead?

“It’s functional, clean, uncomplicated. You’d appreciate those qualities.” Shayla Black Decadent Oh, shit. She’d guessed a lot about him when he wasn’t looking. That dangerous feeling of wanting to kiss her returned, along with an urge to hold her close just for the pleasure of feeling her against him.
Bad. Stupid. Wrong. Not happening.
He’d taste her sweet kiss before he fucked her ass, but affection—out of the question.

Kimber would take it the wrong way. Hell, he might, too.

“Exactly,” he murmured and shut the door. Across the hall, he eased open the door to Luc’s office.

With its deep burgundy walls and dark woods, etched glass and brass accents, it resembled an elegant gentleman’s establishment of old—but with a cutting-edge desktop, speaker phone, and a printer/scanner/fax machine. A tobacco-colored desk chair in leather presided over a masculine walnut desk and bookshelves, inlaid with lighter woods on the top and sides with something Luc had called a medallion.

61

“Wow,” Kimber breathed. “This is gorgeous. Luc has wonderful taste.” Why did women always say that? Normally, men with “wonderful taste” were gay, but he knew firsthand that Luc was as straight as he was.

For the first time in ages—no, ever—Deke regretted Luc’s heterosexuality. If not for that and his interest in Kimber, Deke might find a way to have her all to himself, legs spread from one end of the bed to the other while he alone climbed between them and fucked her.

No!
In all the ways that mattered, she was his worst memory come back to life.

Not that she actually was Heather, but…close enough. Like he had for the past twelve years, since that terrible summer, he was going to share the woman and just be happy for the great sex.

“Luc enjoys decorating and cooking and shit.”

Shayla Black Decadent

“He’s wonderful.” Her hazel eyes lit up as they traveled the room.

Deke shoved aside a prickle of irritation. Luc was damn good with cooking and decorating, so of course, she was going to be impressed. But she’d come here for sex, and he vowed that when it came to that, he’d impress the hell out of her.

Pivoting, he exited the office and made his way to the end of the hall. He shoved the door open and tossed her duffle bag in.

“This is Luc’s room.”

Spacious, an eclectic blend of modern and Tuscan, technology and Old World.

Taupes, olives, and gold with a splash of red, along with a cozy king-sized bed, invited women to come in and get…comfortable. It bothered him like hell that Kimber wouldn’t be the exception.

She glanced at her bag on the floor of Luc’s room, then at his bed. “I’ll be staying 62

here?”

Deke swallowed and tried not to picture Kimber naked on Luc’s bed, tried not to picture the two of them alone sleeping, touching, fucking, while a few walls separated him. The thought charged a violent surge of fury all the way to his fists.

He clenched them to keep still.

Kimber sleeping with Luc…it was better this way. Less temptation. Luc slept like the dead most nights. Deke didn’t have that luxury. And if he wasn’t lying right next to the woman who’d most revved his libido in the last decade when the next sleepless midnight rolled around, he couldn’t caress her silken skin, whisper naughty suggestions to her, and sweet-talk his way into her pussy. And he’d want to. Hell, he wanted to now.

Bad, bad sign.

Shayla Black Decadent

“Yeah. Luc has the bigger bed. I sometimes have trouble sleeping. I wouldn’t want to keep you awake.”

Kimber turned slowly and shot him a considering stare. “I know you think I’m making a mistake, and that you’re not thrilled about helping me…” She was both right and wrong. Her being here, learning from him and Luc, it was a double-edged sword. Deke did think she was making a mistake. Kimber just didn’t strike him as the kind of woman who could make
ménage
a way of life. But to indulge his purely selfish need to touch her, he’d give her a thorough education.

Still, he hated like hell that she wanted to learn all about ménage so she could please pretty-boy Jesse McCall—a rock star who likely had a willing hoard of groupies in every city around the globe and would eventually break her heart. Hell, as long as he was being honest, he didn’t even want to share her with Luc.

Whoa
! They were more like brothers than cousins, and since that disastrous 63

summer with Heather, he and Luc had shared damn near everything, damn near every woman. And here he was admitting that he wanted Kimber all to himself.

Confession couldn’t be good for his soul, Deke decided, since he felt like shit.

Kimber reached out, touched his arm, making him want to crawl out of his clothes and put her flat on Luc’s bed.
Fuck dinner.
Some crazed part of him was nearly ready to ditch his resolution never again to take a woman to bed alone.

“But,” she murmured, “I’m not trying to make your life difficult. I promise. I know you don’t really want me here.”

No, he really did want her here, way more than he should. And Kimber was a smart girl; she’d figure that out before too long. “It’s fine.” Shayla Black Decadent He shut the door to Luc’s bedroom—and the disturbing images of his cousin and Kimber entwined alone together—then stomped back down the hall. They passed through the living room again, then down another hall.

“Game room.” He pointed to the spacious room with a minibar and a pool table that, thanks to Luc, managed to have enough class to avoid looking like it belonged in a bachelor pad.

“Den.” Deke pointed to another room that held a big-screen TV, a pair of leather sofas, a couple of gaming consoles—and perfectly masculine window treatments.

Leave it to Luc to think that a man’s domain needed freakin’ drapes.

“We chill here. There’s a library of both books and movies on the shelves along the back wall. So if you’re ever bored…”

“Thanks. Right now, I’m studying for my nursing exams so I imagine a lot of my 64

time will be devoted to that, at least when we’re not…busy.” Color flushed her cheeks again. Her perfectly pale skin didn’t allow her to hide from much. The thought thrilled him. The more aroused she got the rosier her skin would turn. Damn, what a fucking turn-on.

Deke ducked behind one of the sofas to hide his erection and grimaced. How the hell was he going to hold it together through the two-hour affair Luc liked to make out of dinner? At the moment, he’d give anything for fast-food burgers—as long as everyone was willing to eat them naked.

“During most days, it’s quiet in here, so it will be a good place to study. Now you’ve seen pretty much the whole house. There’s a hot tub outside.” She frowned. “Dang it, I didn’t bring a suit.”

“Even if you had, you wouldn’t be wearing it.”

Shayla Black Decadent

“Oh. Well—”sexual awareness dawned, brightening her hazel eyes—“I see.” She sipped her wine, then bit her lip again, and Deke was damn near ready to leap over the couch, pin her to a wall, and get her out of her clothes.

“That makes sense.” She sent him a flustered smile. “You’re going to see everything, anyway.”

Yeah.
He was going to do a lot more than see it. That moment couldn’t come soon enough for him.

“Dinner!” Luc yelled from the kitchen.

Thankful to commence the next two hours of razor-sharp anticipation so they could get on to the big show, Deke walked Kimber back to the center of the house.