His grip on her wrist tightened, and she pressed her lips together to prevent a cringe of discomfort. “Yes,” she confirmed.
Then she realized what she’d done. She’d unwittingly issued him a challenge. His gaze lowered to her mouth, and her heart redoubled its efforts. A prickly sensation skittered across her chest and tightened her nipples. She gave her wrist a sudden jerk, but his warm clasp didn’t budge.
“You may be a liar and a cheat, but you’re not that good of an actress,” he said with conviction. “There’s no way you could’ve faked it every time. In fact”—a thoughtful look entered his eyes, and alarm pumped through her veins—“you didn’t fake it even once.”
Lust flickered in his eyes, and for tense moments they stared at each other, lost in the memories of heated whispers and tangled sheets. Then, as suddenly as he’d grabbed her, he dropped her arm like a hot coal.
“Derrick doesn’t deserve to be lied to and made a fool of.” He stepped around her toward the door.
Celeste grabbed his forearm to stall his exit. “Wait, please.”
“Celeste, I can’t do this.”
She slipped between him and the door. She couldn’t be the reason for a confrontation between the two brothers, and she couldn’t bear the humiliation of Derrick finding out she’d slept with his brother the first night they met. “Please don’t say anything to Derrick. I’ll stay out of your way. I promise. You won’t even know I’m here.”
He looked down at her hand, and she followed his gaze to where her fingers wrapped around his arm. She withdrew them with haste. When her eyes found his again, desire shimmied down her spine at the hunger she saw in his.
“That’s not what I meant,” he said, his voice thick and low. “I can’t be near you. You’re too much of a temptation. Maybe you can stay away from me, but I don’t know if I can keep my hands off of you.” He slammed his palms against the door above her shoulders.
Celeste jumped, her eyes widening in shock. Shaken, she pressed back against the hard door to distance herself from him. They were too close, and the instinctive movement did little to protect her from the heat of sexual frustration emanating from his pores.
His chest rose and fell with each deep breath, and a storm brewed in his dark brown eyes. “What are you doing to me?”
The tortured question needed no answer. Even if she’d been obliged to respond, he seized her mouth before she could, and his tongue thrust between her lips. The muscular, dark cords of his arms encircled her waist and held her against his body, crushing her soft curves into each hard contour of his.
Celeste took the brutal assault without hesitation, savored it, moaning as she reveled in the power and passion of the kiss. She thrilled to the rough scrape of denim between her thighs when he pushed her legs apart with his knee and lifted her off the floor by sinking his fingers into her fleshy bottom.
Her arms locked behind his neck as their frantic kisses continued unabated, even while he walked with her to the bed. When her back touched the mattress, he lifted his head and focused on the tiny buttons of her blouse, which gave his fingers pause. Before she guessed his intention, he yanked the edges apart, sending a rush of unadulterated excitement crashing through her, while white buttons scattered across the bed and onto the floor.
Celeste whimpered and lifted her torso toward him. He dragged his palm down the valley between her breasts before lowering his head to devour them—licking, sucking, nibbling, creating an ache in her loins so acute it became a physical pain. Each caress of his mouth sent shivers down the length of her body to the tips of her toes.