Maureen Child - Desiring the Reilly Brothers - The Tempting Mrs Reilly / Whatever Reilly Wants... / The Last Reilly Standing

He’d been thinking about her all the way home from the restaurant. Liam’s words had rattled around inside his brain until Brian was forced to wonder if maybe his big brother was right. But if Liam was right, then that meant that Brian had wasted five years of his and Tina’s lives. So, his brother wasn’t right, Brian told himself. Liam didn’t realize that Brian had only divorced Tina to protect her. To save her years of misery.

Sure he regretted letting her go.

Never more than right now.

The old-fashioned wooden clock on the wall ticked loudly, sounding like a much steadier heartbeat than Brian’s at the moment. Moonlight filled the shadowy room, streaming in the front windows like a silvery fog. Lamplight from the bathroom behind her, backlit Tina, defining her outline with a glow that was almost otherworldly.

But she was all too real.

And Brian was a doomed man.

Every inch of him went on red alert. He felt like he was strapped into a jet, parked on a carrier, readying himself for the roar of engines and the heartstopping jolt of takeoff. Adrenaline pumped and his blood raced.

A second later, Tina started talking, and he fought the hunger to pay attention.

“…I locked myself out of Nana’s house after my shower—”

He held up one hand for quiet. “You went outside dressed like that?” he managed to croak, and wondered if the fact that he found that idea incredibly sexy was a sign that he was truly twisted.

She smiled, slowly, wickedly. “I’m perfectly decent,” she said. “Not like I went for a walk down Main Street. Besides, it’s a big towel.”

Not big enough , Brian thought frantically. She looked…beautiful. And edible. And irresistible. And so many other things, he could hardly name them all. Her dark, curly hair brushed her shoulders, and her darker eyes glittered with expectation and a hunger he remembered only too well. His fingers itched to explore the length of her tanned, smooth legs and when she smiled, her lips looked full and luscious.

Then his gaze locked on the towel, knotted between her breasts. His breath hitched. Was the knot slipping?

Please.

Slip.

“Anyway,” Tina said and strolled—there was no other word for it— strolled to the double bed on one side of the room and sat down on the edge. He swallowed hard as that towel edged apart slightly and rode high—too high—on her thighs. “I know you have a spare key for Nana’s place and I didn’t think you’d mind if I waited for you up here.”

He watched her and wondered if she’d sat just there on purpose. Moonlight played over her, gilding her in a soft silver glow that made her even more beautiful than usual.

“No. Don’t mind,” he ground out and swallowed hard. His brain was clouding over. Not good. His body was pumped and eager. Also not a good thing.

Tina scooted around until she was stretched out on the bed, long legs crossed at the ankle, her back against the headboard. The moonlight loved her. As he watched, she lifted both arms and stretched lazily, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. As if she wasn’t nearly buck naked in his bed.

As if she wasn’t driving him crazy with a wild desire that had a stranglehold on him.

“It’s a nice apartment,” she said, letting her gaze slide around the small room.

Now she’s making small talk? he thought furiously. He was a man on a knife’s edge and she wanted to talk about home furnishings? Bullshit. She was playing this out, deliberately torturing him. She knew what she was doing and knew what it was doing to him. No way was she actually admiring his place. He knew exactly what she was seeing. The studio apartment was small, efficient and anything but homey. But it had always suited him fine.

Until now.

Now, he didn’t think the place would be big enough if it were a castle.

He’d still be able to smell her perfume.

Okay, key to his survival here, was to get Tina the hell out of his place as fast as possible. Preferably, without touching her or smelling her hair or…hell. Anything.

“C’mon,” he said, grabbing up his keys and shifting his gaze away from her. There’d be no help for him at all if he kept looking at her. “I’ll take you downstairs and let you in.”

“What’s your hurry?”

He looked.

She turned slowly onto her side.

Brian stifled a groan, but it almost killed him.

Head propped up in one hand, Tina kept her gaze locked on him as with her free hand, she inched the hem of the towel up a little higher on her thigh.

His heart pounded in his chest. He forgot how to breathe. His eyes glazed over.

And then the towel parted. One half of the pale blue terry cloth fell away, displaying a tantalizing slice of Tina’s naked, curvy body to perfection.

Brian groaned. “You’re killing me.”

“ So not what I had in mind,” Tina said softly, making no move at all to cover herself.

He scraped one hand across his face, frantically trying to get a grip. And losing. “Your towel fell.”

“I know.”

“I know you know.” Damn it. Why was she doing this? Was this a game? Payback maybe, for him getting the divorce? But if that’s all it was, why wait five years to claim it?

And if it was more, what did that mean?

And if he asked himself any more questions, that didn’t have answers, he really would slip over the edge into insanity.

“This is nuts,” he blurted.

“Maybe.”

His gaze locked with hers, studiously avoiding noticing her bare, beautiful skin. “You’ll be sorry.”

Tina smiled and shook her head. “Not if you’re as good as I remember.”

Like a punch to his gut, her words hit him hard and left him shaky. He was only human, right? Mere mortal? And faced with Tina Coretti, Brian was willing to guess there wasn’t a man alive who could have walked out that door.

Still, he had one last hope. “I, uh…don’t have any condoms here.” Actually, he’d gotten rid of his stash purposely, since he figured with the bet on, keeping a supply handy would only submarine his chances of winning.

She smiled again. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Uh, yeah,” he said tightly. “It does.”

“Brian,” she said, her voice dropping to a husky note that damn near killed him, “as long as you don’t have some socially icky disease, you don’t have to worry.”

Don’t have to worry. So she was on the pill. Okay, there went the last wall standing between him and glory.

It didn’t matter anymore why she was here or what she wanted. Maybe it never had. Maybe since the day she arrived in Baywater, they’d been heading right here. To this place. Maybe it was something they both needed.

She trailed her fingertips up, over her hip, pushing the other half of the towel aside.

His mouth went dry.

His heart hammered in his chest.

“So?” she asked, her voice a whisper in the moonlight as she repeated her earlier question. “ Are you as good as I remember?”

Even a Marine knew when to surrender.

Brian grinned and pulled off his shirt. “Babe. I’m way better.”

She held one hand out to him. “Prove it.”

He tore off his clothes, and in seconds, he was there, beside her on the bed. He peeled the towel off her body, then cupped one of her breasts.

“Brian…” she whispered, arching into him, pushing herself into his touch, “I want you so badly.”

“I want you too, baby,” he murmured, dipping his head to taste her nipple. A lick, a nip of his teeth and his words muffled against her flesh. “I’ve always wanted you.”

She put her hands at the sides of his face and tipped his head up until she could look into his eyes. Brian read the hunger in those dark chocolate eyes of hers and something more. Something he didn’t want to think about. Or acknowledge.