Nan stiffened and turned her head to glare at the open door to Blaire’s room. “You don’t even know her. You just met her. Yet you want to choose her over me,” she spat.
“I do know her. I’ve been sharing a home with her for weeks now. I’ve been unable to keep my eyes off her. I’ve watched her. I’ve talked to her. I know her. She’s . . . God, Nan, she’s what makes me happy. Can’t you accept that? Let this thing with her go!”
Nan didn’t look at me or respond. The fight was done for now, but I knew I hadn’t won. She wasn’t over this.
We stood in silence for a few moments, and I waited for her to say something. Whatever she was deciding needed to be dealt with carefully. Nan held the power to ruin things for me. She could tell Blaire everything, and I’d lose. I couldn’t lose Blaire.
“I want to have friends over here tonight,” she said, swinging her gaze back to me.
Fine. She was going to force one of her parties on me. Typical Nan. She needed to know that I would still give in to her on some level. “OK,” I replied without argument. I would take Blaire up to my room, and we would be away from the crowd and noise.
Nan nodded, then turned and walked away. That was it. For now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
I wasn’t in the mood for this, but I’d told Nan she could have her party. I should have expected she’d overdo it without me giving her any guidelines. I wasn’t drinking tonight. I intended to spend my night with Blaire. The guys may have been informed of the fact that Blaire was off-limits, but the females hadn’t accepted that I wasn’t available. I shook my head at another of Nan’s friends who was offering to give me a blow job right in front of everyone.
Grant’s eyes met mine over the crowd. He was kicked back on the sofa, with a girl I had said no to earlier half-sitting in his lap. He rolled his eyes and took a swig of his beer. I had asked him to come and monitor things tonight. I didn’t want interruptions. He had agreed, as long as he could stay in his usual room if one of the females piqued his interest.
I didn’t care what he did, as long as no one bothered Blaire and me. I nodded my head in the direction of the girl I had just sent away. If he wanted easy, adventurous sex, I was sure that one was a good choice.
He raised his eyebrows in interest and watched her saunter into the living room. I was going to head upstairs and wait for Blaire in her room. She shouldn’t be too much longer now.
“You going up?” Nan asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. Grant’s here if you need him.”
“What about her? Is she gonna stay up there, too?” Nan asked, trying to look like she didn’t care what Blaire did.
“Blaire will be with me. Good night, Nan. Enjoy your party” She spun on her heels and stalked toward the kitchen.
I turned to look back at Grant, and he just shook his head.
He knew Nan was giving me shit about Blaire. I could tell he wasn’t on board with the not-telling-Blaire idea. He thought I should tell her now before it went too far.
Problem with that was that I had already let it go too far.
Blaire’s room smelled like her already. I didn’t turn on the lights. I could see the moonlight on the Gulf better in the darkness. Sitting down on the end of her bed, I inhaled, trying to feed my hunger for her. She would be here any minute. But I was growing impatient. If I could get her to stop working and let me take care of her, I would, but I knew better than to suggest that. Blaire would throw a fit. I’d had to lie to her to get her to take the damn cell phone. She was still planning to pay me for the food in my kitchen. I was just going to find a way to put that back in her savings. Somehow. Stubborn woman wouldn’t take anything from me but my body. I grinned at that thought. I was more than willing to give her my body. She would also gladly accept my tongue. She had a thing for my tongue. The way her eyes danced with anticipation when she saw my piercing was so damn sexy .
I heard footsteps and turned to see Blaire enter the room. Both her hands flew to her mouth to cover a startled scream, which died the moment she realized it was me. I stood up and walked toward her. I couldn’t not touch her a moment longer.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” she replied, and then a frown tugged on her lips. “What are you doing in here?”
Where else would I be? “Waiting for you. I kinda thought that was obvious.”
She ducked her head to hide the pleased smile I still saw on her lips. “I can see that. But you have guests,” she said.
I had already forgotten they were here. My focus had been completely on her. “Not my guests. Trust me, I wanted an empty house,” I assured her, and cupped the side of her face. “Come upstairs with me. Please.”
She tossed her purse onto the bed, then slipped her hand into mine. “Lead the way.”
I managed to let her get to the top step before pulling her into my arms and pressing my lips to hers. All day, I had thought about how good she tasted and how I loved the feel of her tongue sliding against mine.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing me back eagerly. The longing in her kiss matched mine, and I knew I had to stop now if I intended to have a talk with her tonight.
I tore myself away from her. “Talk. We are going to talk first. I want to see you smile and laugh. I want to know what your favorite show was when you were a kid and who made you cry at school and what boy band you hung posters of on your wall. Then I want you naked in my bed again,” I said.
She smiled and walked over to the sofa. Images of her naked on my large sectional flashed in my head, and I had to shake it to stop myself. Not the plan, Rush.
“Thirsty?” I asked, opening the fridge I kept in my room.
“Just some ice water would be nice.”
I started fixing her a glass of ice water and thinking about everything I wanted to know. Not how she looked when she came.
“Rugrats was my favorite show. Ken Norris made me cry at least once a week, but then he’d make Valerie cry, and I’d get mad and hurt him. My favorite and most successful attack was a swift kick to the balls. And, I’m ashamed to admit, the Backstreet Boys covered my walls.” Blaire had answered every question I had mentioned.
I handed her the water and sat beside her on the sofa. “Who’s Valerie?” I asked. She had never mentioned her friends. I assumed she didn’t have many because of her mom.
Blaire tensed up beside me, and my interest further intensified. Had Valerie hurt her? “Valerie was my twin sister. She died in a car accident four years ago. My dad was driving. A year later, he walked out of our lives and never returned. Mom said we had to forgive him, because he couldn’t live with the fact that he’d been driving the car that killed Valerie. I always wanted to believe her. Even when he didn’t come to Mom’s funeral, I wanted to believe he just couldn’t face it. So I forgave him. I didn’t hate him or let bitterness and hate control me. But I came here, and . . . well, you know. I guess Mom was wrong.”
Shit. Holy shit. My stomach felt sick. I leaned back on the sofa and put my arm around her. I wanted to pull her into my lap and console her. Tell her I’d do anything she asked to make this better. To fix this. To change the past, I would move heaven and hell. But I couldn’t do that. So I said all I could say. “I had no idea you had a twin sister.” That was a lie. I had known. But it was so easy to forget that the girl I knew these facts about was the same woman I was completely in love with. The one who suffered from what I had done.