Winning the Right Brother (14 page)

Was this going to be his life from now on? Lying awake every night thinking about Holly?

Alex sighed. Maybe he’d be better off if he hadn’t seen Holly again, or better yet, had never met her. Now that they’d actually made love it was a thousand times worse. He’d set out to ruin her for all other men and instead she’d ruined him.

Suddenly he threw the covers off and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He needed to get out of this
damn house. Take a walk or something. He threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and went into the hallway, noticing that there was a strip of light under Holly’s door, which didn’t help his peace of mind. He averted his eyes as he went downstairs, where he pulled on a pair of boots and his black leather jacket.

The air outside was cool, and a few thin clouds raced each other across the moon. Alex thrust his hands into his pockets and trudged off on the walk that was somehow going to restore his sanity.

Fat chance.

Holly thought she heard a door slam. She blinked at the book she was holding in her hands, realizing that she’d been staring at the same page for twenty minutes.

Oh, what was the use? She threw the book down on the bed beside her and stared up at the ceiling.

Maybe Gina was right. Did it make sense to burn for someone like this and not have him? Right now it didn’t seem to make any sense at all. She was one breath away from getting out of bed and going across the hall to Alex’s room.

In fact, she was one breath past it. Holly sat up in sudden determination. She was wearing reasonably nice pajamas, plain and tailored but made of silk, with a camisole top.

Trying very hard not to think too much, or to do anything that would lessen the chances that she would be kissing Alex within the next two minutes, Holly slipped out of bed and tiptoed across the room, hesitating just a moment before opening her door. A moment after that she was standing in his doorway.

He wasn’t there.

She remembered the slamming door she’d heard and sighed in frustration. He’d gone for a walk. To cool down, probably. He’d been just as hot as she was, and he’d gotten out of the house so he wouldn’t act on it. Great. He was doing exactly what she’d asked him to. Wonderful.

Kicking herself for having waited this long, Holly went back to her room, crawled into bed and turned out the light. It was for the best, she told herself grimly as moonlight glimmered through the black-lace branches of the tree outside her window. She’d been saved from making a very stupid decision. Tomorrow she and Alex would talk, and decide to do the sensible thing, and in the afternoon Will would be back and everything would return to normal.

It was just too bad for her if normal didn’t seem appealing anymore.

She must have fallen asleep eventually, or at least dozed off, because when she opened her eyes and saw Alex standing at her bedside, dappled in shadows and moonlight, she thought at first she was dreaming. He was dressed for the outdoors in his boots and leather jacket, and he smelled like cold night air and autumn leaves.

“Alex?” she said, blinking up at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I thought you might still be awake. I thought—” Suddenly he stopped talking and dropped to his knees beside her. “I’m sorry I came in here. But I can’t… Knowing you’re so close and that I can’t have you… I don’t think I can do this, Holly. I don’t know what to do. Help me out here. Tell me something to make this stop. Tell me you hate me. Tell me to go.”

Holly was on her side, facing him. She reached out a hand and stroked the hair off his face. His eyes, which had
closed, opened wide at her touch. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I don’t know what I want, either, but I don’t want you to go. Why is it so much easier to tell the truth at night?”

Alex captured the hand that was stroking his hair, placing a butterfly kiss on her palm. It made her shiver. “I don’t know,” he said, looking at her. “But I wish the sun would never come up again.”

For a moment they stayed like that, and the silence was so deep and rich that Holly could hear both of them breathing, and the whisper of the leaves outside her window. And then Alex’s hands were on her bare arms, his palms ghosting over her skin, raising goose bumps everywhere he touched.

Holly felt suddenly shy and scooted away, at least as far as the headboard. Alex only smiled, grasping her wrists and pinning them against her pillow as he climbed on top of her, his knees on either side of her hips. He still had his boots and his jacket on, and fully dressed like this he was somehow so masculine, so possessive, that all she could do was wait, heart pounding, for what he would do next.

The covers were down by her hips, and Holly watched as Alex’s eyes roved lazily over her flat stomach. She was shiveringly aware that her camisole had ridden up above her belly button. Her muscles tightened, as if she’d stepped into icy water.

Then his gaze moved up to her breasts, and Holly felt her body responding as if his look were a touch. A shudder passed through her and her nipples hardened, and she could only watch him watching it happen, and see the smile that crossed his face.

“You’re evil,” she whispered, and he exerted a little
more pressure on her wrists, pinning them firmly before he released her suddenly, straightening up and laying a palm on her belly above the waistband of her pajama bottoms. Holly could have sworn her body hummed and vibrated at the touch of his cool hand against her hot skin. Then his hand was moving, sliding under the hem of her camisole, over her ribs, and then—oh,
yes
—covering her right breast.

Holly couldn’t help herself. She arched her back, needing to feel more, needing something—

Alex seemed to know exactly what she needed. His other hand moved to cover her left breast and his thumbs were working some kind of magic across her nipples, sending bolts of pleasure straight to her core.

Any tiny bit of resistance she might have clung to melted like butter in the sun as Holly let out a wordless cry of pleasure.

His hands were moving again, tugging off her top, and she raised herself up enough to help him before she sank back down on the bed and Alex lowered his head, taking one breast in his mouth while his hand caressed the other. When he grazed his teeth across the hyper-sensitive flesh she gasped, and when he blew cool breath across her wet skin she moaned.

She was so saturated with desire it took her a few seconds to notice he was kissing his way down her stomach, and then lower.

She tensed up and put a hand in his hair to stop him.

He looked up at her, and seemed to know right away that she was a little nervous about what he was about to do.

“Trust me, Holly,” was all he said.

Then he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of her
pajama bottoms, catching her panties too, and in two seconds they were gone, a satin puddle on the floor, and she was completely exposed to him.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” Alex said softly, his blue eyes almost black in the moonlight, and then he slid his hands between her knees and exerted steady, irresistible pressure, and Holly let her legs fall open so Alex could move between them, his leather jacket smooth and cool against her thighs and his hands coming to rest on her bare hips.

For a moment he was still, just looking at her. The sight of him like that, fully dressed and cherishing her, was so much sexier than anything she’d ever experienced that she felt a rush of moisture at her center. She gasped when he pressed his thumbs into her soft flesh and opened her gently. Then he lowered his head and licked her, flicking his tongue across the heart of her.

Her need for him was a riptide in her body, pulling and pushing at the same time. She was shaking uncontrollably now, a storm building, rocking her, and he had to stop but he should never stop, never stop, never, never—

When the storm burst she cried out, bucking against him, and his hands and mouth stayed on her, gentler now, riding out the waves until she began to still, and then he moved to cover her body with his, and the sensation of his jeans and leather jacket against her naked, sensitized skin almost made her come again.

She took deep, deep breaths as he licked the sweat from her throat and between her breasts, and then she had her hands in his hair and was tugging him upward.

She pulled him to her, and then it was mouth on mouth and tongues exploring softly, almost shyly, and she could taste the tang of herself for a moment but then
it was all Alex, the wild heat of Alex, surrounding her and penetrating her and making her feel more glorious things than she’d ever felt in her life.

Alex broke their kiss and looked down at her, and saw her eyes drifting closed. He levered himself up and off the bed, pulling the covers up to tuck Holly in, and then kneeling down by her pillow. He was distracted by the look on her face, an expression of completely satisfied desire. He couldn’t stop himself from lowering his head to taste her lips one more time.

After a long, soft kiss he pulled away, stroking her hair away from her face, loving the way the flush of pleasure lingered in her cheeks.

Her eyes fluttered closed again.

“Go to sleep,” he said gently. “I’ll go back to my room to give you your space.”

“But…nothing happened for you,” she murmured, her cheek pillowed on her hand.

Alex smiled. “Don’t worry about me. You’re tired, and I think you might feel better tomorrow morning if you wake up alone. Less pressure. We do still have to talk, you know.”

She nodded, and Alex dropped one last kiss on her forehead before rising to his feet and backing away. “Good night, Holly. Sleep well.”

She was drifting off as he closed the door behind him.

He took a quick shower to calm his body down and crawled naked into bed, his hair still damp. He felt at peace for the first time all day as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Holly woke up feeling better than she ever had in her life. Her eyes were clear, blinking in the morning light—by the angle it couldn’t be much after dawn—and her mind was clear, too.

Remembering the events of last night, she closed her eyes and made a little sound at the back of her throat.

She opened her eyes suddenly. She wanted to make Alex feel that way, and for the first time in her life, she thought she could. Holly had never felt very sure of herself in bed, never sure about the pleasure she was giving or receiving, but a confidence was rushing through her now, not that she knew what to do but that she’d be able to figure it out. If she wasn’t sure, she could ask Alex to tell her. He was so passionate, so uninhibited, that he made her feel that way, too.

Luckily she was still naked.

This time, standing in his doorway, she was glad to see Alex in bed, sound asleep on his back with one arm flung out to the side. She went over to him softly, taking hold of his covers and pulling them down slowly and carefully, smiling when she saw that he, too, hadn’t bothered with clothes last night.

She climbed onto the bed and lay down beside him, farther down than he was, and took him softly in her hand.

Then his hands were in her hair and he was saying
“Holly?”
as if he could hardly believe what was happening.

She stopped what she was doing to smile up at him. “Hi,” she said.

“What are you
doing?
”

“Reciprocating,” she said.

She heard him moan, felt him tense, and suddenly he sat up, pulling her into his lap and kissing her fiercely.

Then the kiss stopped and Alex slid off the bed. “Wait here,” he ordered her, stabbing a finger in her direction and heading out the door. She heard him go down the stairs, and a minute later he was coming up them again.

“What in the world are you doing?” she asked as he came back into the room carrying a portable CD player.

“Fulfilling a fantasy,” he said with a grin, setting the stereo down on the dresser and hitting the play button. A moment later Marvin Gaye was singing “Let’s Get It On” and Alex was coming toward her, wearing the sexiest smile Holly had ever seen.

“I love this song,” she said.

“It makes me think about you. About making love to you.” He sat down on the bed next to her, stroking his hand down her naked shoulder.

She shivered at his touch. “I never figured you for the romantic type,” she said.

“I’m not, normally. You bring it out in me.” He leaned over to kiss her and she slid her hand down his body to cup him in her hand.

Alex froze against her briefly, sucking in air.

“I want you,” he said roughly. “I want to be inside you. Do you want that?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

His hand tightened on her shoulder for one moment. Then he pulled back to open the drawer of his night-stand for a condom.

He opened the little foil packet but then she took it from him, taking her time sliding the lubricated latex
over his arousal, smiling when she heard him catch his breath.

“Red-haired witch,” he said, pulling her closer so that she was straddling him, and then using his hands to guide her down on top of him.

As she slid down his hard length she felt his hands on her hips tense, gripping her hard. A shiver ran through her at the feel of that hard masculinity inside her, all that raw power beneath her, and at the glorious freedom of being the one on top, able to set the pace.

She leaned forward, putting her hands flat on his chest, and watched his face as she began to move, finding a rhythm that made his eyes close and his head rock back, the strong, corded muscles of his neck tensing and releasing as he clenched his jaw.

She was so distracted by the passion and intensity in his face that she didn’t notice how close she was to her own release. Then she felt the tremors beginning, in her fingers and toes this time, and then traveling like white lightning to her core. She exploded, crying out and tightening all her muscles, including some she hadn’t known she possessed, and Alex was first rigid beneath her and then pulsing inside of her as he called her name and opened his eyes to meet hers for one blinding moment.

Once again it was a while before they could move or speak. Eventually Alex dislodged her gently and then slid down to lie beside her, trailing a hand along the perfect curve that dipped from her torso to her waist and then up to her hip.