Prick Tease (Tangled Desires Book 1) (3 page)

“So what did he do?” Tom wraps his arms around me. “Come on, Little Bit, talk to me. I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”

I exhale. “Fine. But I don’t want anyone else to know. I found him with a woman.”

“Wait.” He spins me around, his brow drawn down over his stormy gaze. “Isn’t he always going on about purity, or some such bullshit?”

“It’s not bullshit.”
Or at least I never used to believe it was.
I push him away.

“It is if the bastard is cheating on my little sister,” Tom roars, and I cringe. I can only assume that Razer hears him. And for some reason the idea of him knowing my life is going down the toilet pisses me off.

“Anyway, I broke off the engagement, but you can only imagine what will happen if the media find out. And the CFN just donated a massive sum to House to Haven as part of the contract for televising the wedding. They’re going to be pissed.”

“You sure you don’t want me to go smash his skull in?” Tom clenches and unclenches his hands, the muscles up his arms tensing enough for a couple veins to stand out. “Give the dickhead paps a real story.”

“No.” I slap a hand to his chest. “Honestly, I think it’s for the best. In hindsight I think I knew we weren’t doing it for the right reasons.”

“Ha. No kidding. You couldn’t tell it was a bad idea to marry a guy whose first name is practically the same as our last. Besides, Henley sounds so bloody girly.”

I smile despite myself. “Maybe. It doesn’t matter now. I just need a couple days to lie low, get my head wrapped around it, and work out what I’m supposed to do next. Is it okay if I stay here?”

“You know you’re always welcome. There’s no need to ask.” He slings his arm around my shoulder and grins. “But I have bad news for you.”

“Right. Because today can’t get any worse.” I roll my eyes.

“Razer’s staying here, too.”

“Here?” I squeak as he leads me out to the living room. Razer isn’t there so I figure he must have gone outside to make his phone call.

“Here. Do you still sleep in that T-shirt you stole from him?” Tom chuckles. “Of all the people you could have had a crush on. Quite frankly, it’s weird. You’re weird. He’s family.”

“It was years ago.” I shrug, though my insides are quivering. Why the hell hadn’t I thrown that T-shirt out, instead of continuing to wear it to bed? “And Razer’s an asshole. If we’re practically family why haven’t I talked to him since my sixteenth birthday?”

I will not admit that after seeing Razer, and the deep down tingling he unleashed in my core, I’ve gone straight back to wanting to jump his bones. I won’t.

I probably shouldn’t, but given the opportunity? Oh hell, yes. But not because of any misplaced sentiment. It’s just that after today I’m going to be crowned the poor little prude whose fiancé would rather get it on with bimbo Barbie than her. If I’m going to have to suffer because Henley can’t keep his two-inch dick in his pants, then what does it matter if I don’t save myself for marriage? The reasons I had don’t mean anything now. And the reasons for wanting to be done with my V-card are mounting with each minute I spend in Razer’s company. Besides, maybe if I wasn’t a virgin I could make Henley believe I hadn’t been all along. The look on his face would be priceless.

Razer

Claire Hadley has the most incredible violet eyes, framed by the thickest, longest lashes I’ve ever seen on a girl. Hell, I’ve checked. Compared woman after woman over the years. But none of them had the kind of eyes that haunted me. That stayed with me in the darkest of hours.

Pacing the length of the yard, my cell in my hand, I wonder how long it will take for their little chat to be over. I’ve already heard enough to know some asshole hurt our girl. I’m ready to climb on my bike, find him, and beat the living snot out of him for what he’s done. Only I don’t know who he is. So instead I keep up the pacing, wearing a path in the lawn.

Their conversation drifts out to me. Her high-pitched squeak when Tom tells her I’m staying with him. Something about a stolen T-shirt. And then very clearly my name and in quick succession
asshole
.

Not that I blame her. I have been an asshole. A bonafide prick. And I can’t pretend I didn’t expect her to hate me, since I put a shitload of effort into producing that particular result.  But I couldn’t have done it any other way.  There was no point that the feelings I’d had for her would be welcomed. Thank God I’d been able to shake them off and put her back in the box I kept for her as the little sister I’ve never had.

That’s all this prickly surge of anger is. Brotherly protectiveness. It has nothing to do with the way my body hummed when I’d wrapped her arms around me earlier, and she’d pressed those generous curves against me, giving a tangibleness to my fantasies. “You’re a sick asshole,” I mutter under my breath. 

Not that it had ever been like that with us. She’d been the baby, six years younger than me and Mace. Practically family, and I’m not a fucking pervert. But there’d been a time when I’d wanted none of that to matter, that I’d fancied sticking around Reverence to find out what kind of woman my best friend’s little sister would turn into.

“Hello?” A blonde woman hugs her tan trench coat tighter around her middle as she clips down the drive in stilettos.

I let my gaze roam over her, take in the legs that go for miles. Probably a mirage, since the trench coat only skims mid-thigh. “Hey yourself.”

“Do I know you?” Her brow wrinkles, while she peers at me before tossing her head as if hoping to shake an old memory loose. “You look familiar.”

“If you’re from around here, we probably went to school together.” I offer my hand. “Name’s Razer.”

Scarlett lips form a perfect
O.
“The other brother. I’m Lucy.”

“Looking for Tom?” I head for the front door, happy for the interruption to whatever conversation Tom and Claire are having about me. “Tommy boy, your girlfriend’s here.”

Tom shoots up from his spot on the couch beside Claire. “Lucy. Shit, I forgot.”

“I can see that.” She raises one delicate eyebrow and glances at Claire, sticking her nose up in the air. “You could have called.”

I don’t appreciate the way she’s gazing down her nose at Claire. She’s had a bad enough day without Tom’s girlfriend coming in to stir up trouble. She sure as hell doesn’t deserve it. Didn’t deserve whatever happened to drive her out here, either. “He wasn’t expecting us. Maybe you can take a rain check.”

He takes Lucy’s elbow, leading her back toward the door. “They just rocked up. I’ll be free in a couple days. Can I call you?”

When the door bangs shut behind them, I sink into the recliner opposite Claire, though the idea of taking the spot beside her holds far more appeal. “So how’s life treating you, Little Bit?”

“How’s life treating me?” Her mouth pinches at the corners. The way it used to when one of us boys had pissed her off by telling her she couldn’t come down to the lake with us when we’d been teenagers. “How’s life been treating me?”

“Yeah. Tell me what I’ve missed out on.”

She leans forward, her eyes flashing with heat. “Seven years without so much as an email or a letter, Razer. You don’t get to ask me anything.”

“Fair enough. I deserve that.”

“What are you doing here?” She crosses her arms over her chest, but that only serves to push her breast together in a way that demands my attention.

“My grandfather finally kicked the bucket. I had to come back and sort out his shit.” I shrug, leaning forward too, my hands clamped in front of me. Trying to keep my gaze on her face.

Everyone knew me and the old man hadn’t been close. He’d been working on preserving his liver for as long as I could remember, and when he wasn’t doing that, he’d been standing over me with his belt in his hand and a snarl on his face. But then my parents hadn’t been any better, dumping me on his doorstep when I was three without so much as a forwarding address. Thank God for the Hadleys.

Which was why as much as I wanted to obliterate the distance between me and Claire, I wouldn’t move a muscle in her direction. I swore an oath that I wouldn’t let down her parents, her brothers. The family that is much more mine than my own. They deserve so much more than my loyalty for what they did for the poor kid I was before they opened their home to me. Thinking of Claire the way I have is a betrayal I can’t forgive myself for. If they knew, if I even fucking touched her, they would never forgive me. I couldn’t live with myself if I failed them like that. 

“I’m sorry.” She relaxes a little. “It’s been a really tough day. I think we should go to bed.”

My cock jerks to attention, as my brain bounces from
we should go to bed
, to bed with Claire, to her naked and straddling my lap while I play out some of the fantasies I’ve only ever enacted alone. “Sorry?”

“I’m ready to get some sleep.” She yawns, stretching.

“You don’t happen to know where I’m supposed to lay my head, do you?”

“Yes, actually.” She slides off the couch. “We’re sleeping next to each other.”

I doubt she means it as an invitation, but the way her mouth lilts makes me want to take it as one. Makes me want to push her up against a wall, or a door, or the floor, and show her just how much I’ve missed her over the years. But she isn’t mine to take. I grab my duffel and follow her down the hallway to where it splits off into four equal sized bedrooms.

“So I’m in this one. You’re here, and Tom’s at the far end.”

She opens the door to her room, and I find myself reaching for her arm. “Little Bit, I just want to say…”

“Don’t call me Little Bit.” She jerks out of my hold. “Seven years without a word. You can’t show up and expect me to pretend we’re still family. Besides, it should be obvious I outgrew that particular pet name a long time ago.” 

“You certainly did.” Every damn inch of her grew into a vixen. It wasn’t like I hadn’t known. I’d seen photos on Tom’s Facebook page, and had taken a moment to appreciate them. More than a moment. Several moments with my hand wrapped around my dick. Maybe I was a sick fuck after all. But that’s as far as I’d ever go with her.

She cocks her head to the side. “Are you all right? What are you thinking about?”

“What?” I duck my gaze to my crotch. Heaven help me, if my erection’s visible. If she cottons on to how she turns me on and tells Tom, he’ll kick my ass to the curb. That’ll be a great way to find myself without anywhere to sleep.

She steps closer. I can practically feel the heat radiating off her. Reaching out, I lazily drag a knuckle down her arm. Tonight has shaken me, more than I expected to throw my control like this, but she’s so inviting. Staring up at me through those thick lashes, with her lips parted ever so slightly. When I dip my head a little, her breath hitches. Then she spins away from me. “Good night, Razer.”

The door slams in my face before I even have a chance to react.

Chapter Three

Claire

What had been with that odd look on his face? I pad across the room and dump the contents of my bag on the bed. Maybe I imagined the way he leaned over me, his face bent to mine a little more than it should have been. Perhaps he hadn’t noticed how easy it would have been to bridge the gap. I certainly had.

Stripping off my dress, I toss it over a chair before slipping into the shirt I wear to bed. His shirt. The one I stole from him the last time I saw him. It’s threadbare, with rips where the neckband has come away from the collar, but for some reason I haven’t been able to part with it. I couldn’t toss it away, like he had me. Like all those years we spent together meant nothing because of one stupid kiss.

Shoving everything back in the bag, I toss it aside and slide between the sheets. I can barely keep my eyes open, and I should be trying to work out how to fix the mess Henley’s gotten me into. Instead, I’m drawn into gray eyes and lopsided grins. And the strong desire to pick up where we left off when I was sixteen. With my mouth locked on his.

He’d practically vibrated under my touch tonight. His gaze had been wild for a half second before I pulled away. I’ve always been Little Bit to him, haven’t I? But the way he touched me makes me believe maybe he’s seeing me differently for the first time. Not a child any longer but a grown ass woman he can sink his teeth into. A delicious shiver rolls down my spine. I’m halfway to a decision before I even realize I’m about to make it.

I’m sick of being shoved into boxes. Being the person people expect me to be. And for what? I was about to marry a guy I have no feelings for. I can’t even bring myself to care that he was screwing around. Somewhere along the way I got lost. I forgot how to want things for myself. Well, screw that. Screw Henley. There is something I want. Razer. God knows why, but I do. I’m going to make him forget he ever saw me as a kid. I’m going to seduce him. I can do that.

Can’t I?

***

The door opens wide enough for Razer to slip inside.

“What are you doing in my room?” I pull the blankets up around me, conscious I’m wearing his shirt, that he might recognize it.

My pulse pounds as he pads across the floor, giving me that sexy grin. He’s shirtless, his six-pack and golden tan making me breathless. The six ridges of taut muscles ripple, dragging my gaze to the cut lines at his hips as he climbs onto the bed.

“You’re fucking gorgeous, Claire. I can’t stop thinking about what I want to do to you. Do you know how hard it was for me not to kiss you last night?”

“No.” A throb starts between my legs, and I rub my thighs together as he straddles me, pressing me down into the mattress. “Why didn’t you?”

“I’m going to now.” He slips a finger into the blanket between my breasts, tugging it down while his gaze burns into mine before dropping ever so slowly to where the blanket falls away. “But you’ll have to be quiet.” 

His lips brush against mine softly and my breath hitches while he brands my skin with a sweet electrical charge. He doesn’t linger long on my lips before he’s skimming my breast through the soft cotton, heating my skin with his hot mouth. Rough fingers tug at the hem, drawing it up so he can savour my belly and the skin just above the edge of my panties while he pinches one of my nipples between his fingers. “There’s something so sexy about your love of cotton. I want to be your panties so I can be between your legs all damn day.”