Forbidden Lust
Jayne Kingston
Book 3 in the Lust for Life series.
Seven years ago she propositioned him and he turned her down.
Oscar cannot deny he’s wanted Eva for as long as he can remember, but their thirteen-year age difference and family loyalty have forced him to keep her at arm’s length. By any means necessary.
His best friend’s baby sister wasn’t quite eighteen when she tempted him with the offer of a lifetime. Turning her down then was a no-brainer. Seven years later he finds himself confessing she’s become every inch the woman of his most lusty fantasies. So she issues a challenge—prove it.
Prove it he does. Over and over again in a night so mind-blowingly hot it leads to days and weeks of all-consuming passion. Passion completely worth the wrath he is going to have to face when her family finds out he’s broken all the rules to have her.
A Romantica® contemporary erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave
FORBIDDEN LUST
Jayne Kingston
Chapter One
“And here I thought Mom was going to be the first one to cry.”
Eva sniffed and blinked back a tear without looking up at her brother Jamie.
“I’m not crying,” she muttered and went back to pinning his boutonnière to the lapel of his tuxedo. “I poked myself trying to get this damn thing on straight.”
Jamie tsked at her the way their mom did sometimes. Okay, frequently.
“Evangeline Rodriguez. Lying and cursing in church. That’s a double whammy.”
Yes, but a double whammy was better than admitting wedding day of the last of her marriageable siblings was making her sappy. She didn’t get sappy at weddings. Ever.
She scoffed. “If only those were the worst of my offenses.” She tucked the sharp end of the pin out of harm’s way and slowly let go. The flowers stayed.
“Nice job,” Jamie said, as if he was as surprised as she was.
She gave him a look. “Did you expect anything less?” Before he could give her a wiseass answer she asked, “How’s your new baby look this morning?”
He grinned. “Just as beautiful as she did last night.”
Other grooms wanted one last night of debauchery on the eve of tying themselves to one person for the rest of their lives. Her hopelessly romantic brother wanted a tattoo—a pink daylily that was significant to him and Leni, right over his heart.
He’d come to Eva months ago and asked her to do the piece at the last minute so he could surprise Leni with it on their wedding night. Eva and Jamie had been up until the wee hours of the morning, talking about whatever came to mind over the buzz of her tattoo machine. Lust for Life, the shop Jamie co-owned with his friends Leo and Oz, had been dark and quiet except for the two of them. It was a night she would never forget.
“Thanks.” She smiled back at him. “I hope she likes it.”
“Are you kidding? She’s going to love it.” He kissed her cheek and her stupid eyes welled up with tears again. “It’s perfect.”
Jamie wasn’t just a good tattoo artist, he was well-known in the tattoo community worldwide. His work could be seen on everyone from actors to rock stars to local tattoo connoisseurs from all walks of life. Eva, on the other hand, had only been out from under the hell that was her apprenticeship with Oz a couple of years. Jamie asking her to do such a significant piece meant he respected her work. To have him validate it out loud—and to use the word perfect, no less—meant the world to her.
She dabbed at the damp corner of her eye as casually as she could. Her oldest brother Diego was helping Jamie’s best man Leo tie his tie across the room. If either of them caught wind of the fact she was crying like a damn girl, she would never hear the end of it from either of them.
She cleared her throat. “I had money on you being the first to cry.”
“What do I have to cry about? My girl makes me the happiest man on earth. Our family and friends are all here to celebrate our marriage. Life is good.”
Life was good for Jamie. The second of her six older siblings had always led somewhat of a charmed life, and his bride was a huge part of it. Leni was big-hearted, whip-smart and tough in her own way. They were perfect for each other.
And while Eva was comfortably single and nowhere near ready for anything as balls-out crazy as marriage, she envied him a little that he’d found the one.
But just a little.
There was a knock on the door and they all turned to see who was there.
Joy, Leo’s new love, who also happened to be the wedding photographer, stuck her head in. “Are women allowed in here, or is it strictly men only?”
“Women are welcome, but only if they’re smokin’ hot,” Diego said, then turned to give her a playfully salacious once-over as she came all the way into the room, camera in hand. “You are more than qualified, darling.”
Eva looked at Leo. “You gonna let him talk to your woman like that?”
Leo was grinning like an idiot at Joy. “He’s only speaking the truth, my friend.”
Eva turned back to Jamie and rolled her eyes, making him chuckle.
He buttoned his tux jacket and held his arms out. “How do I look?”
She reached up and pretended to straighten the knot of his black tie, tied in something her fancy-suit- and tie-wearing oldest brother called an Eldridge knot. “You look like you’re about to make someone the happiest woman in the world.”
With her back still to the room, she heard the door open again and Oz said, “Someone told me this is where the party’s at.”
Joy murmured a pleasantly surprised, “Oh wow.”
Diego said, “Holy shit.”
Leo said, “I’m sorry, sir, strangers aren’t allowed.”
Jamie’s face registered the happiest kind of surprise, then he let loose with a wolf-whistle that made Eva’s ears ring. She turned to see what they were all getting so excited about—it was only friggin’ Oz after all—and the bottom dropped right the fuck out of her stomach.
If she hadn’t already heard his voice she wouldn’t have known it was him at first glance. When he’d left the rehearsal dinner the night before, Oscar Gaudin had looked like a cross between a gypsy and a mountain man with his long, coal-black hair and full beard. The man who’d just come into her brother’s makeshift dressing room looked as if he’d just stepped off the page of a men’s fashion magazine. In a goddamn suit, no less.
His hair had been cut short on the sides and back, but left kind of long on top, and styled into a glossy hipster pompadour. There wasn’t a single trace of the beard he’d had for years. His naked face was both foreign and familiar at the same time. Those were definitely Oscar’s wide, black eyes and long, aristocratic nose—gifts from his French father—but his mouth… Fucking hell.
He acknowledged her with a curt nod and she had to force herself out of wondering what talents a mouth like that might possess. And then those wicked-dark eyes of his did something she’d never seen them do before—they scanned her. Slowly and from head to toe, lingering a long moment on the ivory pumps she was wearing before they snapped back up to meet her gaze.
She realized that look, well, it made her feel a lot less like someone’s pesky kid sister and a whole lot like a woman. A woman who was desirable.
The only woman in the room.
Maybe the only woman on the planet.
Jamie touched his finger under her jaw and Eva closed her mouth with a snap. She slid him a dirty look and he chuckled as he moved past her.
“Goddamn, you are an ugly man,” he declared, right before he took Oscar’s face in his hands and kissed him firmly on the mouth.
“Aaand there’s a littl
e something for the bride,” Joy said quietly, getting the shot. She nudged Eva with her elbow. “Maybe we should get one for the photographer as well. Hey, Blondie,” she called to Leo. “Why don’t you pile on the back and we’ll get a shot of the shop partners while I have you all in the same room.”
Leo obliged by sandwiching Oz between himself and Jamie.
“Yeah, that one’s going up on the studio wall,” Joy said with a grin.
Eva had to admit they were a gorgeous trio—Jamie and Oscar with their dark looks, Leo with his long, pale-blond hair and bright blue-green eyes—but she didn’t look at them the same way Joy was looking at them. They were her brothers.
Well, she didn’t look at two of them that way, anyway.
“The single ladies better watch out tonight,” Diego said, moving to stand next to Eva to watch the other guys goof for the camera. Clearly he meant Oscar.
She really didn’t care much for the way his words felt like a kick to the gut.
“Or maybe it’s Oscar who better watch out,” he added when she didn’t say anything. “They’re going to be throwing themselves at him in groups.”
She raised her eyebrows at him. “Worried you have a little competition?”
Her extremely handsome, chronically single, borderline manwhore of a brother gave her a look that said surely she was joking.
And then she became aware Oscar was heading toward them.
Eva rolled her eyes at Diego. “I’m going to go check on the bride.”
“She looks almost as good as you do,” Oscar told her, his voice deep and low as he gave her another Me, Tarzan look. He smiled ever so slightly and a dimple she’d long forgotten existed appeared in his right cheek close to the corner of his mouth.
Eva’s mind went blank. She stared at him for a moment and found it was difficult to look directly at him for too long. Yes, she could grudgingly admit he’d been hot with the beard—even though he could seriously be the biggest asshole ever sometimes—but he was goddamn sexy as all fuck without it.
And now he was messing with her. At her brother’s wedding. Real nice.
She turned and left the room.
It wasn’t until the door closed behind her that Oscar felt as if he could breathe again. And even then his lungs didn’t seem to be working at full capacity.
When Eva Rodriguez dressed, even somewhat conservatively for a wedding, she dressed to kill. The V-neck of the emerald-green dress she was wearing wasn’t especially low, and the hem of the skirt stopped modestly at her knees, but it was the way it draped her lithe little body that had stolen the breath right out of his chest.
The thin, cream-colored sweater—if you could call two long sleeves connected by material that just covered her shoulders a sweater—she was wearing was sexy simply because he knew she was discreetly covering the shoulder-to-wrist Japanese garden scene tattooed on her left arm. And God bless America, he wanted to lie down in front of everyone and let her walk all over his ass in those sexy pinup-girl shoes she was wearing.
Her long strawberry-blonde hair had been pulled back into a low ponytail and styled into a thick, spiraling curl. A dark-pink lily that matched the arrangements throughout the church was pinned behind one pretty ear. Her makeup was subtle, natural in a way that played up her big green eyes and long lashes beautifully, and she’d painted her mouth a soft berry color that made him hungry to taste her.
The entire look was such a far cry from the boyish jeans, t-shirts and Vans she usually wore that he’d been slightly stunned when he’d first walked into the room. Not that her day-to-day style wasn’t hot as hell in its own way, but she was so tough, and she had such a filthy mouth on her, he often forgot she wasn’t really one of the guys.
She was a woman. A gorgeous, sexy, melt-on-your-tongue kind of woman.
And his best friend Diego’s baby sister. Thirteen very long years younger.
He’d been at their house the day Brenda and Diego Sr. brought her home from the hospital, but reminding himself of that didn’t help. In fact, he’d been having a hard time remembering Eva was off limits a lot the past couple of years.
She’d been underfoot every day during her apprenticeship with him—something he’d agreed to only because Jamie had asked—and he’d become painfully aware that she’d grown up fine. During that time he’d frequently caught himself wishing she would change her mind and go do something else, but she had the same phenomenal talent as Jamie, and she’d shown up every single morning ready to learn.
When she’d been ready to go off on her own, it had been a relief to have her move to her own space, where he couldn’t smell her pretty, tea-tree-scented hair or accidentally bump into her soft, warm body at every turn. After she’d first moved out of his room he’d tried to put those things out of his mind, but she’d only moved into the room across the hall from his.
And there were other things. She sang softly to herself when she was in her room by herself, cleaning or drawing a piece for a client. And she laughed, which he realized, with no small twinge of guilt, that she hadn’t done once while he’d been teaching her. The sound was low and throaty and so damn erotic that he often caught himself smiling along—or having to adjust his stirring cock—when it happened.
Then there was the quick series of stretches she would move through to unwind between clients. The first time he’d caught her doing it, her door wide open for anyone walking by to see, he’d nearly swallowed his tongue. He’d tried to avoid looking when he was aware she was doing it, but the temptation of a peek of smooth skin when her shirt rode up was too much. He was only so strong.
And apparently growing weaker by the moment.
He turned back to Diego, who was watching him, expressionless.
“Have you seen Leni yet today?” Oscar asked quickly. Maybe too quickly.
“Yes,” Diego answered after a pause. “Did you bring a date?”
It was clear that Diego was choosing not to make an issue out of what Oscar had just said to Eva, or the way he’d likely been watching her as she’d walked out the door. For that he was grateful, but he had an idea of where the next conversation was going.
“No.” He opened his suit jacket and put his hands in his pants pockets. “There are going to be too many old friends here that I haven’t seen in a long time. I didn’t think it would be fair to anyone I might bring if I spent all my time catching up with them.”
Diego shrugged. “I’m sure there are going to be plenty of opportunities to make new friends by the end of the night.” He threw an arm around Oscar’s shoulders. “My friend, you may have arrived alone, but you will not have to leave alone.”
Oscar had the terrible, sinking feeling that no matter who Diego tried to set him up with later that night, no matter how smart, funny or beautiful she happened to be—because Diego never settled for anyone who didn’t have some degree of all three qualities—she wasn’t going to compare to Eva.
Thankfully, Joy turned at that moment and told them it was time for everyone to take their places. Oscar hung back and let everyone file out of the room ahead of him. He stood outside the door at the end of the cool hallway and took a moment to observe the people who were essentially his surrogate brothers as they moved away from him, talking and laughing and enjoying the moment the way they always did.
Diego had taken Oscar home with him after their first day of kindergarten as if he’d been a stray puppy, and his parents and siblings had happily accepted him into their chaotic clan. The chaos could be overwhelming at times, but from the moment he’d walked through the Rodriguezes’ door he’d felt loved. Accepted. Part of something big and bright and wonderful.
Oscar—who’d only had his grandmother after both of his parents died when he was just two years old—had no idea what his life would have been like without them.
He was still standing mostly in the shadows when Eva came in from outside, alone and looking perturbed as usual. She didn’t seem to notice him watching her as she came in from a side entranc
e. She crossed the front entryway quickly on her toes so there was only the quietest echo of her footsteps in the foyer, her ponytail bouncing and soft skirt swaying, and disappeared into the sanctuary.
One day, he told himself. He only had to make it through the day, and then he could go back to looking at her as Diego’s little sister. His coworker. Just Eva, who frequently got angry for reasons that were often confusing, snapped at the smallest annoyance and cursed like a trucker.
But maybe, just for one day, he could at least allow himself to enjoy the view.
The view that day was finer than usual, after all.
But he could only allow it for one day.
Chapter Two
The church was packed.
Eva knew she should have come inside sooner but it had taken her a minute to get her head on straight after Oscar’s stupid comment. Even though she was supposed to have a spot in one of the front rows, her enormous family had already pretty much filled them. She found a seat at the end of a pew next to her sister Tammy and her four-year-old twin boys, Scott and Louis, who were absolute angels.
The boys were playing a game on their shared Nintendo DS while they waited for the ceremony to start, talking in that funny broken-sentence twin-speak they used with each other and no one else. She kissed them on top of their heads and scolded herself for letting Oscar get to her. Again.
What a stinking load of bullshit, telling her she looked better than the bride. No one looked better than a bride on her wedding day. Did he think she was desperate for a compliment, or that she was going to fall at his feet for gracing her with the first nice thing he’d said to her in years? Dude was out of his mind if that was the case.
“Oh great,” she muttered when he appeared next to her, clearly wanting to sit in the six inches of space left at the end of the row.
But she put an arm around the boys and slid them down the smooth wooden seat with her hip anyway. When they looked up at her and giggled, their sunny faces did the trick. They broke through the darkness of her mood and made her laugh.
Forbidden Lust: 3 (Lust for Life) Page 1