“Did you really want me thinking about him while I was having sex with you?” she shot back. Her taunt was like brandishing a red flag at an angry bull. A muscle in his jaw pulsed, and his nostrils flared. She half expected to see smoke drift below his nose. Before he could speak, she continued. “We’re both adults, and we both got what we wanted.”
“So, what, you were just looking for a good time? It could have been Lucas, or even Xander, right? He’s married, but that probably doesn’t matter to someone like you.”
“I don’t sleep with married men. For the record, we were two consenting adults, and it was one night.”
“It wasn’t just one night!” He looked about to explode. “It was all night. We couldn’t get enough of each other, or did you forget that part?”
She couldn’t forget, and every word he said was true. “No,” she responded in a small voice.
They’d made love with the ease and familiarity of people who’d been lovers for years. He knew where to touch and where to kiss, zeroing in on each spot as if he’d received a map to all her erogenous zones ahead of time.
Her skin warmed at the thought. Being so close to the hard body she’d spent the night wrapped around tested her nerves.
“If you haven’t forgotten, do you think I have? When I look at you, all I see is you naked, under me, over me . . . and you’re my brother’s girlfriend! I don’t sleep with another man’s woman, no matter how seductive she thinks she is.”
Celeste closed her eyes against the sensual mental picture his words conjured. The brief moment allowed her to catch her breath and modulate her voice to an even tone. “What happened between us is my problem, not yours. But for the record, I did not set out to seduce you or anyone else. If you recall, you suggested we leave Avery’s and go somewhere else. When I tried to leave, you asked me to stay.”
“So it’s my fault?”
“No one is at fault here. I—”
“Are you serious?” His eyebrows arrowed down in disbelief. “Do you really think you haven’t done anything wrong by deceiving me and my brother?” He laughed without humor. “Derrick sure can pick ’em, but I can’t even blame him this time. You don’t look anything like the kind of woman you really are. You even had me fooled. Poor guy thinks he’s found a good one this time, except he found someone sneaky enough to hide who she really is. The kind of woman who’ll open her legs for any man she picks up at a club and go back to his room for hot sex like a cheap hooker.”
Jaw slackened, her mouth fell open in shocked anger. The sting of his words couldn’t have hurt more if he’d actually hit her. In one sentence he sullied the time she’d spent in his arms, turned it into something tawdry, and insulted her at the same time. She swung at him in defensive anger. The slap landed so hard her palm stung in protest from the force. His head barely moved, as if he’d anticipated the blow and braced himself before it landed.
“You . . .” Celeste stopped. To her chagrin, her voice shook; her body became rigid. She collected herself before proceeding. “You’re no saint. It takes two, doesn’t it? What does that make you for taking me, a woman you’d just met, back to your hotel room?”
The sardonic smile and the way his eyes traveled up and down her body were just as crushing as his next words. “A man who knows an easy lay when he sees one.”
She brought up her other hand even quicker than the first time, determined to land another blow, but he didn’t let her. As he reared back, his hand came up with whiplike speed and captured her wrist. “No way,” he bit out. “You only get one.”
Celeste tugged, but his grip only tightened. “You have no right to talk to me like that. You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know enough. I know you’re an amazing actress and a liar, and I’m sorry I ever laid eyes on you.”
Hurt, Celeste struck back. “Well, you’re right,” she said with a flippant inflection to her voice. “I’m a fantastic actress.”
He knew right away what she was referring to, and his eyes narrowed on her face. She raised one brow in a mocking salute to his ego.
“Is that right?” he asked slowly.