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The tone of her please made him break eye contact with his brother. He glanced down at her sad green eyes. And in that second, he realized he couldn’t fight his brother. Not with her there. She’d already been through too much.
“Okay,” he said, softening. He took a step back and she followed. He was hyperaware of her and his brother, the adrenaline and emotion pumping hard through his veins. It took every bit of his self-control not to throw a punch.
“See you around, Laura,” Edward called to their backs.
Both he and Laura stiffened. He curled his hand into a fist but Laura wrapped her arms around him. “Let’s go,” she reiterated, and within her tight hug, he knew he couldn’t throw the punch he’d been planning.
He simply nodded, as he put his arm around her and they walked out, side by side. Outside, in the warm night air, Laura’s explanations came fast and furious, as Mark led her to his pickup truck.
“I didn’t know he was your brother until after he introduced himself,” she proclaimed. “And I hadn’t even been talking to him that long. He only bought me one drink and that was before I knew who he was.”
“He bought you a drink?” Jealousy flared in his chest as he flicked the key fob and unlocked the doors, the taillights flaring.
“I didn’t know who he was,” she protested as she stopped by the passenger side door, palms up, almost pleading.
“But you were fine with having a stranger buy you a drink?” Mark boxed her in between his body and his truck. She was so small, so tiny, she had to crane her neck to look at him, her green eyes defiant in the moonlight.
In an instant, her apologetic demeanor disappeared.
“Why are you so mad about it?” She put one hand on her hip.
It was a good question. Why was he so mad about it? He had no official claim on her, and he’d refused to kiss her yesterday.
But part of him already knew why. Because he wanted her and because he’d lost everything else in his life and just couldn’t—wouldn’t lose her. No matter how he tried to convince himself otherwise, the truth was staring him in the face. He glanced at her full, red lips and wanted nothing more than to taste them.
“I don’t want you hanging around Edward.”
She put her back against the door of his pickup. “Why?”
It seemed like she was baiting him on purpose.
“You know why. He’s bad news.” He barely gritted out the words.
“Is that all?” She tapped her foot, and he was aware they were standing in the parking lot, beneath a full Caribbean moon and in full view of the windows of the Rusted Anchor. Was Edward watching them fight? Was he waiting to come pounce?
When he didn’t have an answer at the ready, she barreled on. “You sound jealous.”
“I’m not,” he lied.
“You don’t have any right to be jealous.” She poked him in the chest with one finger. The ocean breeze ruffled her short dark hair, so smooth and silky. He wanted to put his hands in it. “You had your chance. You—”
She was going to tell him that he’d missed his chance to kiss her, and he knew he’d blown that moment. If he could take it back now, he would. Instead, he did something rash. Before he even knew what he was doing, he grabbed her by the arms, pulled her to him and kissed her on her full, red lips.
He deserved a slap, he supposed, but instead, she kissed him back. Hard. All the adrenaline and emotion of the last few minutes bubbled up between them, as she opened her mouth for him, and he tasted her.
Their tongues met, crashing together in a sudden animalistic burst of passion. She pressed her body into his, and he felt the soft brush of her breasts against him as he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. She was running her hands through his hair, driving him wild as her fingers wrapped around the back of his neck. He didn’t know how long the kiss lasted. Ten seconds? Ten years? His body was alive again for the first time in a long time with want and need and desire.
Why had he been fighting this, he wondered. He loved her mouth. The way her tongue danced with his. All he wanted to do was take her into his bed and find out all the other ways he could love her.
He cupped her from behind and she moaned in his mouth as he found her firm butt and pressed her closer to him. His own body stirred in ways she couldn’t miss. He released her and pressed her against the side of his truck. She raised up one leg, wrapping it seductively around the side of his thigh, and he pressed into her.
He could feel her warmth beneath the thin layer of her dress and he slid his hand up the soft silkiness of her outer thigh to discover she wore only a skinny thong beneath her dress. His fingers teased the elastic band, and he was so out of his mind, he didn’t think about where they were, about who could see them, about how they were acting like two impulsive kids.
