She felt exquisite and tasted better. But she’d had all the excitement she could handle for one evening.

And she’d called Deke’s name out in her passion. Not his. Deke’s.

Swallowing a boulder-sized lump of envy, Luc reminded himself it was all for a good cause and turned to gaze up at his cousin.

Deke stood frozen over Kimber’s prone body, half-hard cock in his fist, satisfaction relaxing his features. He let go of himself on a long sigh, his shoulders falling, his breathing returning to normal, his eyes damn near rolling into the back of his head. Still, he stared at her.

He’d come—hard—holding nothing back, which was unusual in itself. But if Kimber could do that to Deke without his dick actually being somewhere inside her, Luc could only imagine the fireworks that would ensue if Deke allowed himself to make love to her. To admit that Kimber was more than a play toy. To confess that this woman mattered to him. And she did. Luc could see that all over his cousin’s face.

“What the fuck are you staring at?” Deke snapped.

“Nothing.”

Luc looked away, turning his attention back to Kimber’s sleep-soft form. Sweet, beautiful woman.

Kimber was it. The One. The woman he and Deke had been wanting for years. Luc hid a smile of sheer joy. He knew Kimber was everything they needed: soft and yielding in bed, take no shit when she was angry, smart, warm-hearted. She responded to their touch beyond his wildest fantasies. The fact she was a virgin would be cathartic for Deke.

As for the rest of the issues that could trip up their future…she’d understand—

eventually.

But he’d deal with those later. First, he had to convince his cousin that happily-ever-after wasn’t a cross between toxic waste and bullshit. Slowly. Luc knew that if he started his campaign tonight, it would be too obvious. Deke wasn’t stupid. He knew that Luc wanted them to share a wife and children someday. If he focused too much on Kimber now, Deke would run screaming in the other direction. Best to move slowly and give Deke a gentle nudge here and a sharp nip there…then let nature take care of the rest.

“I was checking to see if you’re in any shape to clean her up,” Luc lied. “My legs are as stiff as meringue, and my dick isn’t much better.” Deke grunted, glanced at Luc’s tented slacks, then Kimber’s silvery-wet abdomen.

“If it’s a problem, I’ll take care of her in a few minutes,” Luc added.

Jaw tight, Deke cursed. “I’ll take care of her.” I thought you might. “When you’re finished, tuck her in, will you? I’m going to shower.”

Deke hesitated, then finally nodded.

“Oh, and stay with her until I come back. She might wake up disoriented and be afraid.”

“She’s a grown woman.”

“Who’s had a very big night. I’m only asking for fifteen minutes, okay?” Deke growled, “Make it ten. Unless there’s sex involved, I don’t want to be near her.”

No big surprise there. Luc had his work cut out for him if he wanted to create a big, happy family. “Sure, ten minutes.”

Luc turned and left the room. He didn’t look back, but had no doubt that Deke was already reaching out a hand toward the forbidden fruit of Kimber’s pale skin—

just for the pleasure of touching her. To remind himself he could touch her. To fantasize about touching her again.

Smiling, Luc eased the door to the bathroom shut, knowing deep in his gut that Deke wouldn’t be able to resist doing far more than touching her for long.

CHAPTER 5

Sweat filmed Deke as he rolled out of bed, gray fingers of dawn pushing their way beneath his shutters, mocking him. A night gone without sleep, spent alone, knowing that just down the hall, Luc and Kimber had shared body heat—and probably a lot more—without him.

Something ugly and hot surged inside him, cramping his gut. Deke didn’t want to identify it. Then again, he didn’t need to. Jealousy was damn near impossible to mistake.

Rolling from his bed, he crept down the hall, toward Luc’s room. Stupid. Torture, self-inflicted no less. But he had to see. Had to know…

And now he did. Fuck. He grimaced at the sight of Kimber curled up on her side, her back cuddled to Luc’s front, their legs entwined. The pair of them were tangled in soft white sheets, and Luc’s sleep-slack palm rested just under her breast.

They looked peaceful. Domestic. Content.

Three things he would never be. Not that he deserved it. He’d destroyed Heather, so innocent—

Breaking off the thought with a curse, Deke stalked back down the hall to his room. Exercise. This day was like any other, despite Kimber’s presence here and his crappy mood.

Push-ups first. He dropped down and started his first fifty. Sweat coated him as he counted out each one, then he rolled to his back for a hundred crunches. All the while, he could hear every rustle of sheets down the hall, every murmured good morning, every lazy stretch Kimber and Luc made. Every forbidden intimacy that Deke didn’t dare partake in.

Don’t whine. It’s done and past, he told himself.

True, except… Luc always woke up horny, so Deke knew what would happen next. Why the hell hadn’t he ever bought an iPod or put even a simple radio in his room, so he wouldn’t have to hear it?

Deke grabbed free weights and quickly worked through biceps, triceps, lats and pecs, reminding himself that Luc deserved any happiness he found with a woman.

Luc always saw the good in people, always tried to help, took time to laugh, put his heart on the line to love time and again. And Deke… Well, he knew better.

Suddenly, Kimber laughed. The soft lilting floating down the hall as Deke dropped down for another set of ab crunches. He gritted his teeth. Then Kimber’s sighs reached his ears. First one. Then another, deeper, longer—one that went straight to his cock and felt like a stab in the gut at once.

The twisted surge of jealousy stabbed him again, doing absolutely nothing to improve his mood and everything to multiply his desire to hit something and do damage.

Focus. Squats and hamstrings in alternating reps. The usual drill. But concentrating on the usual felt impossible, when he imagined Luc’s hands caressing their way up the sleek lines of Kimber’s torso to toy with her flushed rosy nipples, while he inhaled the peach-spiced fragrance of her skin and waited with his signature patience, whispering a few well-placed words that would make her beyond wet. Then, with tongue swirling around the hard buds of her breasts, he’d smooth his way back down her abdomen, urge her to spread her sweet thighs for him, then slide his fingers into the slick haven of her pussy to feel her tight walls close around him like paradise.

Deke’s gut clenched. Doing squats while his cock was hard enough to pound nails wasn’t happening. Especially when Kimber’s sighs suddenly became cries.

Fuck this. He stripped off his sweat-drenched clothes and headed for a cold shower. Ten minutes alone in the Italian-tiled box with water just shy of freezing and a healthy lather perfumed with Luc’s fussy scented soap only pissed him off more.

Growling, Deke stepped out, praying they be done in their quest for a morning orgasm by now. He hadn’t even finished toweling off the beaded moisture on his chest and abs when he heard Kimber cry out in a sound lush, sensual, tortured.

Pleading.

Well, hell. There went all the benefits of a cold shower. Deke finished drying off, concentrating on the pattern of the Venetian plaster wall. But he couldn’t block out the sexual sounds of the pleasure Luc was giving Kimber.

The door between the bathroom and Luc’s adjoining bedroom was ajar, and Kimber’s needy moans invaded mercilessly. First breathy, then keening. She was getting close.

“Please, Luc…”

Fuck. And that’s exactly what he wanted to do to her, settle right between her sweet thighs and be the first one to sink deep inside her. That wasn’t going to happen. She didn’t want that; he couldn’t let it happen.

But you can join them. Damn if he wasn’t sorely tempted. He had every right. Full and equal sharing; he and Luc had agreed to it over a decade ago, and they’d never wavered. So why was he begrudging Luc his oneon- one pleasure with Kimber?

He’d never minded this before. And why turn down the chance to join in this morning?

Kimber Edgington was too tempting, too sweet and responsive. Too innocent and vulnerable. Too dangerous for his peace of mind. Too…everything he’d wanted for years. If he marched in Luc’s room, all naked and demanding, he’d get sucked into her allure and start drowning. Last night, the urge to spread her legs, settle between them, and claim her had beat at him relentlessly. If anything, that urge had grown, like some freaking weed in a perfectly manicured garden. He had to get control of it before it took over. Before he touched her again and lost control and did something crazy and irrevocable. Fatal.

Snarling, Deke reached for sweat shorts and a T-shirt, then tossed them on over his unrelenting morning erection. Coffee. He needed it now.

He started down the hall, then faltered as he passed Luc’s room. The sight of them punched him like a battering ram to the gut. Luc with his dark head bent in the crook of her neck, his long hair trailing over her porcelain pale shoulders and breasts. His artistic fingers toyed between her spread thighs. From Deke’s viewpoint, Kimber’s arousal was obvious, considering her slick, swollen, nearly red folds.

“I’m dying to make you scream,” Luc murmured. “Once you ache so badly you’re ready to beg.”

“Luc, now. Please.” She groaned and clutched her fingers in his hair. “Please!”

“Soon, sweetheart. Let it build.”

Her head thrashed from side to side. “Can’t take more.” Kimber’s pleading clawed at Deke’s gut.

“You can. A little more…”

Luc withdrew his fingers from her wet, swollen pussy to caress her thighs, her abdomen—and ignoring her hips when she thrust them his way. Deke couldn’t ignore it. Wouldn’t. He took a step into the room, hand pushing at his sweat shorts, shoving them down to his hips, intent, savage with hunger.

Fuck her. He needed to—had to get inside her and sink deep. Be the first one.

Now.

“Luc…touch me.”

Her throaty cry seared Deke, bringing him out of his daze of desire. She’d asked for his cousin to touch her, not for him to fuck her. Holy shit. What was he thinking?

Nothing he should be thinking. In fact, he shouldn’t be here, wanting to be inside her. Claiming her. Worse, hoarding her and taking her from the man whose name she called. Only bad things would happen if he had sex with Kimber. He’d taken a virgin before and knew that for a fact.

Deke yanked up his shorts, turned, and stalked down the hall, barely holding in an ugly curse. Two weeks with Kimber here… He’d never last without fucking her, without destroying her.

The kitchen tile slapped cool against his bare feet as he entered the room and grabbed the coffee beans from the pantry. He glanced at the bag. Chocolate caramel truffle. Pansy-ass flavored coffee. Whatever happened to just coffee? He slammed the pantry door.

Tossing the bag on the counter next to the coffeemaker, Deke paused.

“Luc!”

Another plea from Kimber. Hell. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a ragged breath.

A moment later, he flipped open the coffeemaker’s lid; it cracked and popped off, making a plastic crunch sound that couldn’t be good. Then the damn thing tumbled to the floor.

Cursing again, Deke grabbed the edge of the counter. Every muscle in his body was tense, all the way from his brows slashing down over narrowed eyes to his toes curled into the Italian slate beneath them.

Get your shit together, he castigated himself and fit the lid back on the coffeemaker, filled it with grounds and water, then flipped the on switch.

At the same time, Luc apparently flipped Kimber’s switch.

“Oh, Luc!” she cried out, followed by a long, tortured groan. So she’d come finally—under Luc’s hands, fueled by Luc’s touch. Why the hell did that make Deke want to hit something? Or someone? He’d be better off not examining it too hard.

Instead, he watched the coffee drip, doing his best to keep his mind perfectly blank and focused on the task at hand—nice little Special Ops trick he could thank the army for.

A few minutes later, Luc emerged from his room in crisp jeans, shirt in hand, and wandered down the hall, his posture relaxed. And no visible raving hard-on.

“Morning.”

“Did she get you off with her hands or mouth?” The question was out of Deke’s mouth before he could stop it. It wasn’t any of his business. Knowing wouldn’t change Kimber’s moans of pleasure still ringing in his ears or the visible satiation softening his cousin’s face.

Luc propped his hip against the kitchen counter, crossed his arms over his chest, and quirked a dark brow. Before Luc could answer, Deke said, “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”

He busied himself grabbing cups in the cupboard above, then retrieving the sugar and cream for Luc. All the while, he felt his cousin’s gaze on him, sizing up the situation, deciding how best to reply. Crafty bastard.