It was impossible to miss the little wet spot on the robe right where Luc’s finger had been. That little dot of moisture told him how completely wet Kimber had to be. The sight nearly brought him to his knees.

“Should I?” Luc’s hands tightened a bit more on the belt of Kimber’s robe.

Deke knew he was going to hell for this. “Yes.”

With a glittering smile of triumph and an erotic sweep of his hands, Luc brushed the fabric away from her body to hang on either side of his thighs. And Kimber was totally, stunningly naked.

Deke was barely able to do more than gape and feel the impact of her nude beauty all through his tight-strung body before Luc wrapped his hands around her thighs and gently pulled, spreading her legs wide. Kimber drew in another ragged breath as Deke took in the view of her pussy.

Juicy, swollen, ripe. Perfect.

She looked every inch a wanton goddess as Luc skimmed a fingertip up the inside of her leg and paused to rub the soft, musky skin where her thigh and torso joined. If Luc moved half an inch, he’d be touching wet flesh and soft reddish hair with nothing but wanton intentions between them.

Oh God…

Luc’s other hand meandered its way up the flat of her belly, up, up—slowly—

until he cupped one breast and flicked the taut nipple once more. Deke clenched his fists and tried to look away from the unfolding scene. Maybe if he turned away their in-his-face fondling would end. Lord knew, if he watched too much more, he’d join in.

Once he did…

No, he couldn’t think about the fact he’d get Kimber flat on her back, make sure she was seriously wet, and—

“Look at her,” Luc invited, his voice challenging. Deke swallowed. God, how could he do anything but stare

and ache to have her? How could he possibly look at anything except the woman he desired above all else. He wanted to shut his eyes to shut out the thought, but running from the truth wasn’t worth missing an instant of her, so abandoned and sensual. So fucking beautiful and brave. If she only knew the truth, she’d be terrified.

Tell her, the scared part of him prompted. She deserves to know why you can’t be with her this way.

“Are you looking?” Kimber teased, low, sultry.

Why were they taunting him, baiting the wild animal inside him? Tempting fate?

“You know I am.” He cleared his throat, but knew he’d still sound like he had a hundred rocks rattling around in his larynx.

Why can’t you have her? another part of him asked. What happened in the past, with Heather, wouldn’t happen again, right?

Likely not. Not for the world would Deke hurt Kimber intentionally. But what if he was cautious? Luc would be here, be responsible—hell, he’d insist on it…just in case.

Nice rationalization.

“Feel her,” Luc invited.

“Please,” Kimber breathed, spreading her thighs just a little wider. She glistened, wet and rosy and needy. Deke was in such a giving mood. Still, he couldn’t just pounce on her. He had a decision to make first: push her away…or crash into her life permanently. The thought of hurting her, fucking up everything in her world, tore fear through him.

The situation was like sitting on a case of live grenades. He had to do something, and he didn’t have much time to decide. Pushing her away again with hateful words, tearing at her tender feelings and spitting on them—it wasn’t an option.

Watching his words crush her once before had damn near killed him.

Clasping her to him with all the lust rushing inside, fueled by all his electrically charged feelings—Deke wanted nothing more. He felt that combination jacking up his system, like rocket fuel with a 180 proof chaser. Potent. Undeniable. He shouldn’t even think about her and the sizzling urge she incited. If he touched her—at all—his restraint wouldn’t just crumble, it would combust into a million little pieces.

But his chest lifted in harsh, aroused breaths. His palms itched with the urge to take Luc up on his invitation, despite knowing that once he touched her, he’d take her. It would be irrevocable.

“If you don’t touch her, you’ll miss out…”

And to remind him of exactly what he was missing out on, Luc inched the hand on Kimber’s thigh inward, tracing lazy patterns through her pussy before he slowly dipped inside. Deke watched her hungry body swallow his finger, and he couldn’t help but think that finger plunging deep, deeper into her wet heat could be his own.

With a moan, she rested the back of her head on Luc’s shoulder and arched. Deke watched his cousin penetrate her with one finger, slowly fucking her, before adding another and resuming the leisurely rhythm.

On his lap, Kimber writhed and thrust down. Luc answered by sliding the hand at her breast south to her hip, then to delve into her slick curls. He teased the tangle of nerves between those pretty, spread thighs without pause. Without mercy.

Light pressure, a few swirling circles with those long, sensitive fingers, and Kimber gasped, thrashed, flushed, mewled. Desire ratcheted inside Deke, coiling tight. He felt ready to launch, to explode.

God, she’d be fabulous to fuck. The thought of directing all that energy toward his cock, toward satisfaction, was so damn erotic. But it wasn’t just about getting off.

Giving pleasure to the woman he needed as much as his next breath, hell yes. That way, he could express all the foreign feelings coursing through him without a word…

Deke took another step toward them, edging into the kitchen.

Kimber, on the verge of orgasm, whimpered, gyrating her hips toward Luc’s caress. He kept her there like a maestro, expertly taking her to the precipice, then backing away whenever her body revved and fluttered. After a short respite, he’d return to inflame her anew.

Spellbound, he watched as Luc used his hands to bring her close, then deny her, once more…again and again and again. Ten minutes later, her whole body was tense, flushed. Even after a brief rest, the mere slide of a finger inside her depths, a brush of skin over her clit, and Kimber teetered again between heaven and hell.

Damn, this was killing him. Deke adjusted the hypersensitive length of his steel-hard cock in his jeans. Even that little touch made him groan.

Kimber’s eyes flashed open, dilated, hazel dominated by green, pleading. “Deke, touch me…”

Her words were a machete to the gut. He closed his eyes, trying to block the scene out, but her scent, cinnamon and fresh peaches, all sugary and ripe, enticed him. Her hitching breaths and the way she called his name and stared, as Luc brought her to the edge once more...almost too much to take. He clenched his fists and realized he was shaking. Trembling like a fucking teenage boy.

“Deke.” Luc again, with that damn taunting, challenging voice.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. His hot gaze traveled from the rosy patches staining Kimber’s fair-skinned cheeks and splashing across her chest, down her rapidly rising and falling chest. His visual thrill ride continued over her narrow waist, the soft curves of her hips…then to the slick flesh that swelled and pouted for attention. The flesh Luc pointed in his direction so he couldn’t miss an eyeful. The bastard had planned this…but that fact didn’t make Kimber less potent or easier to resist.

“Luc, stop,” Deke growled.

His cousin continued on as if he hadn’t heard. “Taste her.” Shit! Deke’s knees nearly buckled at the suggestion. All that sweet need, just for him, hot on his tongue... The knowledge that he could give her pleasure, that with a few hungry licks, she would surrender all to him, offer the rich cream of her essence to him, made his cock throb, his balls tighten. His heart swell.

How the hell did a man fight that?

He’d nearly lost her twice in the last few weeks, first to Jesse McCall, then to a psycho-bomber. The evidence of the latter still showed in scattered stitches and bruises. If he walked away now, would he ever have another chance or would this separation be forever? Even the possibility was too painful.

“Please, taste me,” she begged softly, easing Luc’s fingers away and trailing her own through her glistening cunt. The she held up one wet finger to him like a tempting treat. Before he could breathe, think, Deke took another step closer, fell to his knees. He grabbed her wrist in his fierce grip and brought that finger to his mouth, sucking it like a man possessed.

He groaned at that complex, musky taste he hadn’t forgotten. Fresh, salty-sweet, delicate—even after the flavor of her musk was long gone, her skin lingered on his tongue. It was so…her. So perfect.

Deke gripped her hips, eager to slide her ass to the end of the chair and dive into her like a dessert buffet.

“No.” Luc’s fingers brushed over her clit again, then covered her mound, denying Deke a full taste of Kimber’s cream.

He gritted his teeth, watching as his cousin pressed down on her rhythmically until she clawed the arms of the kitchen chair and whimpered for the release he again denied her.

“Fuck her.” Another challenge from Luc.

The ultimate one.

Deke’s head snapped up. Luc was serious. Completely. He gazed at his cousin for a heartbeat. Luc wasn’t saying anything that Deke hadn’t been thinking—and wanting more than his limited caveman vocabulary could express right now.

“Please… Oh, please!” Kimber broke into his thoughts, her voice high and tight. “I need you.”

Blowing out a breath, Deke stared as she pleaded. His mind raced. Hell, he wanted to give her what she needed. Everything she needed. God knew he did.

But…

“Now.” Luc clarified, demanded.

Deke grabbed the chair in desperate fists. “Luc—”

“Fuck her,” Luc cut him off. “Or I will.”

Oh, shit. Shock lashed him. Sucking in a harsh breath, Deke shifted his glance back to

Kimber. He couldn’t ignore the writhing, pleading, rosy-flushed woman watching him with hungry, half-focused eyes. “She didn’t say yes to this.”

“Do you think she wouldn’t in this state? She needs to come. I made sure of it.”

“She should be thinking clearly before she agrees to sex. Ramping her up to wrench a yes out of her—”

“Kimber said yes before we came into the kitchen. Before I laid a finger on her.

She wants us to make love to her. The only question is, who will be first?” Luc had backed him in to a corner, for chrissake. Why? For the sake of his precious fucking picket fence fantasy, no doubt.

Damn him! But Deke had no illusions. If he didn’t take Kimber, Luc would.

“What’s it going to be?” His cousin demanded.

“I’m thinking.” But how much was there to ponder? If Kimber had already said yes, and Luc would fuck her if he refused, how could he say no when he wanted to be her first lover and claim her so badly?

“You’ve got thirty seconds.”

“Do not back me in a corner, asshole.”

“Too late.”

“Why the fuck are you doing this? Why not just let things ride? Let me get her off with my mouth. That would ease her.”

Luc scoffed. “Today. But what about tomorrow? Or the day after? She’s a full-grown woman who deserves a rich, happy sex life. We’ve discussed it. She’s on the pill and she’s ready. More than ready. God, she’s dripping all over my fingers. She cares about us. We both adore her.”

Deke felt himself sweating. “What you’re suggesting… It’s permanent.”

“Which is exactly what you want. What I want. Don’t let fear hold us all back.” Deke squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, but it didn’t block out the truth. “You planned this, you son of a bitch, to force my hand.”

“I was beginning to wonder if we’d be old and gray before you found the balls to make love to her.” Luc glanced at his watch. “So now I’m going to find out. Your thirty seconds is up.”

Deke said nothing as Luc’s arguments chased one another in his head. Kimber did deserve a sex life that included…well, sex.

She wanted this. She wasn’t underage or mentally unstable. And he cared about her—more than he wanted to admit. If she got away again, her departure would crush him. But what could he give her besides a scarred past, a paranoid present, and a future most people would see as depraved?

Impatient now, Luc lifted Kimber onto the old round surface of the kitchen table, then shucked his jeans, kicking them across the floor. He stepped between the V of her spread legs, gripped her hips, and took his cock in hand.

“What the fuck?” He pushed at Luc, shoving him away from Kimber. “It’s her first time and you’re going to bang her on a kitchen table?” Luc shrugged. “Okay, I’ll take her to the bed and fuck her there.” Dumbfounded, Deke watched Luc hold out a hand to Kimber. She hesitated, lifting a wide, questioning gaze in his own direction. Would he be her first? that gaze asked him. Did he care about her? Did he need to be inside her now? Be the first man to sink into her and take a part of her no other would ever have?