Then the pressure of his hips subsided, and one calloused hand slid under her shirt, up her ribcage. His touch left a trail of fire in its wake. When he cupped her breast, she drew a surprised breath. His fingers massaged as he lifted its slight weight. A soft moan of pleasure escaped. She lost all ability to think coherently.
“I know you wear bras, so was this planned, too?” he rasped against her lips as his palm brushed against her peaked nipple.
She made a negative sound and managed one word. “Coffee.”
His husky chuckle sent shivers down her sensitized spine. “God, I love coffee.”
His other hand joined the first under her shirt. He caught her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, and her knees nearly buckled. “Me too,” she breathed.
Marley’s imagination had nothing on the reality of his touch. The limited access he had under her snug tee shirt began to frustrate her. She shrugged out of the borrowed blazer and let it fall to the floor. He pushed her shirt up. Thinking he was going to take it off, she took a deep breath and raised her arms to make it easier.
After a still, breathless moment, she opened her eyes to find him staring, his hands resting at the top of her ribcage, material clenched in his hands. The intense look in his eyes and the low sound of appreciation he uttered made her feel beautiful and sexy…like a desirable woman.
He stripped the shirt off and tossed it. Suddenly self-conscious, she pressed close and sought his mouth again, wrapping her arms around his neck. His tongue intertwined with hers, every so often giving her a taste of the mint ice cream he’d had for dessert.
He pulled her away from the door and stutter-stepped them across the living room. “I didn’t pay attention the other night,” he whispered against her lips. “Remind me which bedroom is yours?”
“Second door on the right.”
She was really going to do this, wasn’t she? Yes.
Not allowing herself to second guess the answer, she tugged his shirt from his pants and unbuttoned it as fast as possible. As she worked the material over his shoulders, her back came up against the wall next to the hall. She arched away from the smooth varnished wood and tried to move sideways into the hallway, but his body pressed her against the interlocking pine boards.
The cool surface warmed against her bare skin as the unfamiliar ache throbbing inside her intensified with the pressure of his hips. She felt the hard ridge of his arousal. Instinctively, she knew relief would come when he was inside her, and she slid one knee up along his thigh to shift their fit and increase the pressure at the apex of her thighs. The movement brought pleasure and frustration. He pressed harder and a tortured groan filled her ears. She didn’t know if it came from her mouth or his.
His dress shirt was gone, but his white undershirt still separated them. She pulled the hem up, then flattened her palms against his chest to shove the material over his pectoral muscles. He reached a hand back to drag the shirt over his head. Marley drank in her first view of his naked chest and recalled her very first assessment of his physique. Calendar quality was an understatement.
She reached forward and let her fingers explore his hot skin, caressing the hard planes of his muscles as if he were a model of her own creation.
Justin gave a soft growl. “I want you so bad I can barely stand it.”
“Second door on the right,” she reminded in a desire-husky voice she never would’ve recognized as her own.
He leaned in to kiss her again with a roughly muttered, “In a minute.”
His lips left hers, trailing across her jaw to the side of her neck. Amazed by the sensitivity of her skin and the sensations engulfing her entire being, she wasn’t prepared for the feel of his mouth on her breast. With the first flick of his tongue, she gasped. Then he drew the nipple inside his mouth and sucked. Her hips jerked as a shot of desire went straight to her core.
“Oh, God, Justin.” Her breath rasped as if she’d just run four miles uphill, and her heart pounded so hard she felt each beat.
“I know.” His breath was as ragged as hers. He shifted his attention to her other side, his sandpaper-rough jaw scraping against her skin. It was too much.
She wanted more.
She urged him up with her hands. He complied without taking his lips off her skin, working his way along her neck. She arched her back to grant him easier access while reaching between them to undo his belt. The buckle presented a bit of a challenge, but she managed it and began to unfasten his pants as he toed off his shoes. Her hands brushed against his pulsing erection and curiosity made her pause to explore the length of him.
“You’d better let me, or this’ll be over way too fast,” he warned in a low tone, pushing her hands aside.
A thundering boom startled the both of them and Marley barely contained her girly shriek of surprise.
Chapter 14
Justin’s gaze flew to the door as Nate Wade stepped forward and slammed the door shut.
“Get the fuck away from my sister!”
Justin glanced at Marley to see her trying to cover herself. With a muttered curse, Justin bent to swipe his shirt off the floor and handed it to her.
“Nate—” she began.
“Settle down, man,” Justin warned. Nate swayed with his next step and Justin suspected he was drunk.
“Don’t tell me what to do, you son-of-a-bitch.”
Reasoning with him looked to be out of the question. Justin shifted his attention back to Marley to see her shrugging his shirt on and buttoning it up with shaking fingers. Tears shimmered in her luminous green eyes and his breath caught in his throat. He really did not like her brother.
“You okay?” he asked in a low tone.
“Fine,” she bit out. “Pissed off, but fine.”
Justin turned and heard her alarmed gasp at the same moment he realized he should’ve remained focused on Nate. If he had, he would’ve been able to keep the drunken idiot from getting the damned pistol from the closet. Too bad she hadn’t moved it.
“I said get away from her.” Nate walked toward them, the gun pointed unsteadily at Justin’s bare chest.
“Nathan, what are you doing?” Marley demanded.
“Protecting you from this asshole.”
Marley went one way, so Justin went the other, to keep the gun from pointing anywhere near her. He stopped within five feet or so of Nate as Marley grabbed her brother’s arm.
“You can’t do this, Nate. Give me the gun.”
Justin’s blood thrummed in his ears. “Marley, get away from him.”
“Shut up,” Nate ordered before looking at Marley. “Geez, Mar, what the hell are you doing with him?”
“It’s none of your business.”
Nate shook her off his arm, his attention and the gun focused on Justin. “There’s more to this than you know,” he lamented to Marley.
“What are you talking about?”
Tension coiled Justin’s muscles tight. “Nate, you’re drunk. Put the damn gun down before someone gets hurt.”
Nate’s laugh sent a shiver of apprehension down Justin’s spine. “What’s the matter, Blake, afraid you might get what’s coming to you and yours?”
“Nathan! That’s enough. Justin’s right, give me the gun.”
When she took hold of his arm a second time, Nate shoved her away. Justin lunged forward and grasped the gun with his left hand, thrusting it upward while swinging with his right hand. His fist connected with Nate’s jaw at the same instant the gun discharged.
Marley screamed.
Dazed, Justin realized he now held the pistol and Nate was on his ass in front of him with a split lip, blood dripping down his chin. A smoky-sulfuric smell stung his nostrils as Justin fought past the painful ringing in his left ear. He maneuvered the weapon in his palm until it pointed at the floor, then leaned forward to fist his other hand in Nate’s shirt and haul him to his feet.
“You stupid bastard,” he growled in Nate’s face. “You could’ve killed someone.”
“No problem.” He shoved Nate so hard the younger man stumbled backward and slammed against the knotty-pine wall. A picture fell. The glass shattered on impact with the floor.
“Justin! Stop it, you’ll hurt him.” Marley went straight to Nate’s side, where he leaned in a stunned stupor against the wall.
Justin glared in disbelief. “He nearly shot me!”
She looked up from checking her brother, and her anger fueled the rage that had boiled inside him since the moment he’d seen the weapon.
“I’m fine, by the way,” he bit out. “That gunshot you heard didn’t actually hit me.”
Justin blew out a trembling breath, angry as hell over the entire situation, and still battling remnants of unfulfilled sexual desire throbbing in his veins. How crazy was that?
“I’m sorry,” Marley said stiffly, sounding anything but. He laughed without humor. “No, that would be me—the sorry son-of-a-bitch who wishes he’d never met this whole whacked out family.”
Hurt flooded her expression before her body stiffened and a cool mask slipped over her features. He wished for the words back.
“I think it’s time you left.”
The sharp edge to her usually husky voice told him exactly where he stood. Justin shook his head and strode toward the two of them. Nate straightened warily. Marley faced him with the confidence he’d come to expect from her. He held the weapon out, butt first, barrel slanted down, his gaze locked on hers in silent challenge. She didn’t break eye contact as she snatched it from his hand.
He turned toward Nate and took another step. Marley started forward but Justin held her back with an outstretched hand and a dark look. Wisely, she didn’t push it. He leaned close to Nate and looked him straight in the eye. “Don’t you ever threaten me again. And if I see you push your sister around again, or even hear of it, you’ll be sorry you were born.”
A flash of raw pain in Nate’s blue eyes surprised Justin. But then his bloody lip and jaw tightened and he gave Justin a mutinous glare. Justin wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of waiting for a response. He spun on his heel and slammed from the house.
It wasn’t until he reached the driveway that he realized he only wore his pants and socks. After a split second hesitation, he figured it’d be easier to buy new shoes, and the shirt, well, that wasn’t worth the effort.
****
Marley waited until she heard the Jeep spray gravel on its way out of the driveway before turning her simmering rage on her brother.
“What the hell, Nate?” She held the gun in front of his face.
He shoved her hand away with an annoyed scowl and strode past her to the bathroom. After returning the weapon to the closet, she started to follow him. About three steps along, though, she stopped and looked up at the ceiling where the gun had been pointing when it discharged.
When she located the spot where the bullet had lodged in a pine log, the moment she’d screamed in fear that Justin had been shot swept back over her, leaving her knees weak. She couldn’t believe her brother’s stupidity. Thank God Justin hadn’t been hurt.
Nate came back from the bathroom, a washcloth pressed to his swollen lip. He walked past her toward his bedroom and her emotions focused where they should. “Get your ass back here.”
Nate kept walking. She stalked after him, catching his arm just before the kitchen. She whipped him around and jabbed him in the chest. “You can’t walk in here after being gone all week, pull a gun and then act like nothing’s happened! I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
Nate looked down and sneered at her shirt—Justin’s shirt. “I can’t believe you’re screwing him.”
She drew in a breath as heat rushed to her face. She hadn’t, but had planned to.
“His name’s not Blackman—it’s Blake.” Nate spat the name as if it left a bitter taste in his mouth. “He owns the company you work for.”
“With his twin brother, Jordan, I know.”
Nate’s shoulders slumped. Unbidden, Marley felt sympathy creep in. He looked awful. Unable to help herself, she asked softly, “Where have you been, Nathan? I’ve been worried.”
Her question sparked a return of his belligerence. “What do you care, traitor?”
He shouldered past her and almost tripped on Justin’s brown shoes on his way to the couch. He kicked at them. His expression hardened even more when she picked up the shoes and set them neatly alongside the couch before sitting down to face him. This confrontation had been brewing for months.
“Do you really think I wanted to fire you?”
“You did it, didn’t you?”
She forced herself to remain calm. “I couldn’t let you slide anymore or it would’ve been my job on the line. You know we need my job so you can finish school.”
He didn’t say a word.
“Can’t you even try to understand my side of it?” she asked.
“That shirt makes me want to puke.” He tossed the washcloth on the end table to his left. Marley took a deep breath and counted to ten, trying to ignore the fact that the shirt smelled like Justin.
“What’s happened to you?” she asked Nate. “Ever since Dad died—”
“Ever since Dad died,” he mimicked viciously. “Yeah, well, fuck Dad.”
“Nathan!”
“Like he was ever there for us anyway. It was always about him. Even when he wasn’t drinking, he never cared how we felt—even up till the day he died.”
His bitterness shocked her. She’d always thought he and Dad were close. Certainly a lot closer than she’d ever been allowed. He looked at her, held her gaze for a moment, then looked away. In that moment she saw the brother she used to know and her heart constricted.
“Talk to me, Nate. What’s going on?” she implored.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
He raised a hand to his lip, touched the split and pulled his fingers away to see if it still bled. His hand shook, and she reached to cover his other one resting on his thigh.
Squeezing gently, she said, “Try me.”
He opened his mouth, but before a single word came out, his face crumbled, and he began to cry. Shock struck her speechless. She hadn’t seen him cry since they were little kids—not even at their father’s funeral three months ago. After a moment, she put an arm around her little brother, bigger than her by an inch and a good fifty pounds, and drew his head down on her shoulder.
“Nate, you’re scaring me,” she whispered.
“I don’t know what to do anymore,” he choked out.
“About what?”
He remained quiet for so long, she thought he would clam up again. Then he drew a deep shuddering breath and pulled away. “I-I talked to Dad before he died.”
“Did you fight or something?”
“I mean just before he died. He called me on the cell—after the accident.”
Marley’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh, God, Nate.”
“He wasn’t making sense. He mumbled about Dale Blake, about how the bastard had stabbed him in the back and—”
“Dale Blake?” she interrupted with a frown.
He nodded grimly. “He kept saying he should’ve killed him. Then he started talking about Mom and eventually I got that Mom had an affair with him. With Blake.”
“What?”
“Then he threw in Karl Hunter’s name, said he should’ve killed that bastard, too.”
Marley sat back, unable to believe the words coming from Nate’s mouth.
“Just before he stopped talking…before he died…”
Nate’s voice broke and Marley gripped his hand in silent comfort.
“He s-said…’I knew it the day you were born.’” He looked at her as if she should know what he was talking about, but nothing made sense.
“Look at me,” Nate exclaimed. “Blond hair? Blue eyes? You can’t tell me you never noticed I don’t loo
k at all like you or Dad.”
Dale Blake had blond hair and blue eyes.
“No.” She shook her head. He looked more like Dale with every second. “No.”
“I went to see him.”
“Dale?” When he nodded, she frowned. “When?”
“Right after the funeral.”
“You’ve met Dale Blake?”
He gave her an odd look. “I just said I went to see him.”
Marley couldn’t believe it. All the times she’d met with the man and he’d said he wanted to meet her brother, too. He’d brought Nate up at every meeting, asked how he was doing, what he was up to. He’d been lying the entire time.
“And?” she finally prompted.
“He’s a bastard.”
Yeah, she could see that now. A lying, sneaky, underhanded snake who’d apparently ruined her family years ago, and for some reason wanted to get involved again.
In that instant, she recalled him saying she looked just like her mother and a shudder of revulsion shook her. No wonder she’d been uncomfortable whenever he touched her. No matter how often she told herself he was a nice guy, her gut instincts hadn’t bought her reasoning.
“When I confronted him about the affair with mom, he tried to deny it, but I could tell he was lying. I mean, just looking at him…” Nate broke off, pounding a fist on his knee. Then he shot to his feet and began to pace. “He got real nervous then, warned me to keep my damn mouth shut—said he’d give me five grand if I went away.”
He paced to the window and stared out.
“You didn’t take it,” Marley said, fearing the opposite.
“Of course I did,” he said over his shoulder as if it were a stupid question. “Why not? He’s got the cash, why shouldn’t he pay?”
“God, Nate. This is all so unbelievable.” Silence reigned as she tried to gather her thoughts. “You’ve got to give it back.”
“I can’t.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. When he turned around, guilt was stamped all over his face.
“What’d you do with it?”
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