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

Connor’s laughter still ringing in his ears, Brian winced as he pulled into the driveway. What his brother had found so damned funny, Tina was sure to be pissed about.

He’d known going in that the trick would never work. Just the fact that he’d let Connor try to put one over on Tina proved the level of Brian’s desperation. And in a weird sort of way, he was glad it hadn’t. At least he knew that Tina could still tell him apart from his brothers. It had always been like that. Even though everyone else considered the Reilly triplets interchangeable, Tina was different. So different from every other woman on the face of the damn planet, that if Brian couldn’t get her to leave town soon, he was a dead man. He’d never survive the bet with his brothers.

Hell, any other time, Tina’s visit would have been bad enough. She was a distraction no matter how you looked at it. But now, when he was already a man on the edge, Tina was enough to push him over.

He’d never wanted another woman as badly as Tina. And that still held true. They’d been apart for five years, but just knowing she was in town had his body tightening and his blood pumping. Knowing that she was alone, in the house next door, made sleep impossible and every waking moment a torture.

Oh, yeah. He was in bad shape.

Still grumbling about the coming confrontation with Tina, he stepped out of the car into the cool of twilight. The sun was down, the first stars were just starting to wink into life and jasmine scented the air.

The front door to the main house was open, lamplight spilling into the darkening yard, laying out a path of welcome that he was willing to bet Tina hadn’t meant for him. Brian scowled at the house and told himself he didn’t give a damn what she thought about his plan. He’d had to try, and it didn’t really matter if she was mad about it or not. He didn’t owe her anything anymore. They were exes.

So why then, did he feel so blasted guilty?

And so damned hesitant about facing her?

Hell, he was a Marine.

Trained for combat.

Which, he told himself as he started for the door, might just come in handy when talking to Tina Coretti Reilly.

He took the steps in a couple of long strides and stood in the slice of lamplight, staring through the screen door. From the living room, came the muted, plaintive wail of good jazz playing on the stereo. The dogs had to be outside, or they’d have had their nasty little faces pressed to the screen in an attempt to chew right through the mesh and get to him. So, there was one good point. No dogs to deal with.

He knocked. No response.

He knocked again, louder this time.

“Brian?” she called, “Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Come in.”

Well, so far, she sounded reasonable. Good. That was good. He stepped into the house, walked through the living room and tossed his USMC cap at the closest table. He rounded the corner into the kitchen and found her sitting at the table, a glass of white wine in her hand.

She was mad. He could see it. Her eyes danced with it. And damned if she didn’t look great. That extra sparkle in her eyes appealed to him, which let Brian know he was in deep trouble.

“Sit down.”

“No, thanks,” he said, letting his gaze slide over her smooth, tanned legs, her pale green cotton shorts and one of the skimpiest tank tops he’d ever seen. No, he wouldn’t sit down. He wouldn’t be staying that long. Couldn’t afford to be around a woman who could torment him this easily. So, best to just say what he had to say and get out of there. “Look, Tina, I’m sorry about—”

“—sending Connor to get rid of me?” she finished for him, then paused for a sip of wine.

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Well, yeah.”

“That’s it?” She swiveled on her chair, crossed her legs and swung her foot lazily.

Her toes were painted a soft pink and she wore a silver toe ring. Oh, man.

“That’s all you’ve got to say?” One finely arched dark eyebrow lifted.

Brian scraped one hand across his jaw. “What do you want from me? I gave it a shot.” Oh, he had to get out of the room. Fast.

She stood up, set her wine on the table and took a step toward him. Her tank top had those tiny little spaghetti straps and they were the only straps across her smooth shoulders. No bra. His gaze dipped to her pebbled nipples, outlined to perfection beneath the clingy, white fabric. Oh, man.

“Why are you so anxious to get me out of town, Brian?”

“Not anxious,” he said, then corrected silently, desperate. But he couldn’t say that to her. Couldn’t let her know what she could still do to him with a single look.

“Connor didn’t fool me,” she said, hitching one hip a little higher than the other and tapping her bare toes against the cream-colored linoleum.

“Yeah, I know,” Brian said, doing his best to keep his gaze locked with hers. It wasn’t safe, God knew, since her big brown eyes had a way of sucking him in and holding him close. But it was safer than admiring her skin or the way her tank top rode up on her flat belly or the way her shorts molded so nicely to the curve of her behind. Oh, yeah. Safer.

“Why’d you do it, Brian?” she asked, and her amazing eyes locked on to him again.

She was like a damn polygraph. Looking into Tina’s eyes forced a man to tell the truth. At least, that’s how her deep brown eyes had always affected him.

“Because,” he muttered thickly, “I just don’t want you around.”

Her head snapped back as if he’d slapped her, and he cursed himself silently. Then she took a step closer and Brian caught of a whiff of her cologne. She still wore the stuff she’d worn five years ago. A magical blend of flowers and citrus, it smelled like summer and warm nights in her arms and, damn it, he told himself, stop breathing.

A heartbeat later, she’d recovered. “That’s honest, at least. Why?”

He tore his gaze from her eyes, stepped past her and picked up her wine. Chugging a long drink of the cold, white liquid, he swallowed hard and glanced over his shoulder at her. “What’s the point, Tina?”

Tina watched him avoid looking directly at her and a ping of something sad and empty resounded inside her. She’d been so furious all afternoon, waiting to face him, and now that the time was here, all she could think was how different they were together now. The attraction was still there, no doubt about that.

She’d seen his eyes glaze over when he first walked into the room and she’d felt that instant rush of something powerful sweep through her. But then he’d distanced himself without moving a step and she’d felt as though she could reach for him for years and never really touch him.

But she wouldn’t let herself be hurt. Wouldn’t allow him to chase her off. Not until she’d done what she came here to do. And if that meant that she had to fight past his defenses, then she was just the woman to do it.

“Geez, Brian,” she said, just a little hotly, “does there have to be a point? Can’t we just be friends again?”

He laughed shortly and set her wineglass carefully back down. “We were never friends, Tina.”

True. She hated to admit that even to herself, but it was true. From the moment they’d first met, they’d been lovers. There’d been no “friendship” period between them. It was all flash fires and fireworks. It was need and hunger and passion.

If they’d been friends, too, maybe they would have lasted. Maybe Brian wouldn’t have been able to walk away as easily as he had.

“We could be now,” she said.

“Why?”

“Because you meant something to me once,” she said and hoped to heaven he couldn’t see that he still meant something. What, she wasn’t sure, but it was there. “Because what we had was good.”