I rested my palms on his solid, warm chest. I’d never been so overwhelmed by my attraction to a man, and I’d also never felt something so undeniably right. Kane had let me inside his walls. He’d shed his armor of intimidation, exposing himself to me in an intimate way. I didn’t know him extremely well yet, but I knew he was letting me see the real him. The non-defensive, non-pissed off at the world him.
Sometimes I felt like I was still finding the real me, even at the age of twenty-eight. Whoever I was, I wanted Kane to see me. When he touched me and spoke in that low, sexy voice of his, I felt a little closer to knowing myself. I wanted him. I didn’t care how right or wrong anyone else thought we were together.
He kissed me, nipping at my lower lip and brushing the tip of his tongue against mine. Everything else disappeared as I let myself get consumed by him. There was only the hard warmth of him, the sweet smoky smell of him and the minty taste of him. He’d slipped a breath mint in somewhere. Sneaky.
I let my hands wander up the bottom of his t-shirt in front, over the ridges of ab muscles to his taut, defined chest. It was hairy and I liked it.
The low rumble of his groan reached my fingertips and I pulled back, about to suggest we go to my bedroom.
But a series of sharp knocks on my door made me jump slightly instead. I gave Kane a puzzled look. No one ever came to my apartment but Cara, and she knew he was here so there was no way she’d show up unannounced.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, running a hand over my hair to make sure it was still in place.
I rounded the corner to the living room and opened the front door, still slightly breathless from Kane’s kiss.
“Viv, you’re here.” My brother Grayson stepped through the doorway. “I need some money.”
“Again?”
“Yeah. I can’t explain right now.”
His dark, usually neat hair looked unwashed and his shirt was wrinkled. Though it was cold outside, he didn’t have a coat on. But none of that worried me as much as the dark circles beneath his eyes and his frenzied expression.
“What’s going on?” I demanded. “You’re worrying me.”
He looked from side to side. “Look, I can’t. I don’t have time.” He saw my purse hanging from a coat hook near my door and grabbed it.
“Hey, I don’t have another five hundred dollars to give you,” I said as he reached into an open pocket of the bag.
“I’ll take whatever you’ve got.”
“The hell you will,” Kane said in a deep, ominous tone. I turned to see him coming toward us. “Grayson.” He said my brother’s name in a familiar, disgusted tone, his dark gaze fixed on him.
“Kane,” my brother croaked. My purse slid through his hands to the floor, its contents spilling onto the carpet. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“A better question is what the hell are you doing here?” Kane said, looking back and forth between me and Grayson.
Grayson turned to me, eyes wide with fear.
“He’s my brother,” I said. “How do you know him?”
Kane’s expression hardened. “How do I know you, Grayson? Want to tell her?”
Grayson sighed and shook his head. “I just need some money, Viv.”
“You need to stay here and come down,” Kane said, still looking at Grayson.
“Man, fuck you,” Grayson snapped. “This is between me and Viv.”
“Fuck me?” Kane covered the last few steps between himself and Grayson. “Watch yourself, asshole. You’d be swallowing your own fuckin’ teeth right now if you weren’t her brother.”
Grayson turned to me. “What is he doing here? Are you . . . is he your boyfriend? Oh, Jesus. Tell me you’re not seeing him, Viv.”
My mind was spinning with confusion and questions.
“What’s going on here?” I said, my voice raised. “How do you two know each other?”
Kane looked at Grayson, his lips set in a thin line.
“He owns a club and I used to go there.”
“Till you stiffed me for six grand. Haven’t seen you since, have I?”
Grayson narrowed his eyes at Kane. “Not since you almost broke one of my ribs, no.”
“Pay your fuckin’ bills and you won’t have to worry about that anymore. Stop chasing the next high. It’ll never be enough?”
“High?” I cried, glaring at Grayson. “Are you using drugs?”