“Why?” I gasp.
He pauses, lifting his head enough to catch my gaze. His deft fingers lower the cup of my bra, and it’s skin on skin. I shudder against him. His touch is electric. “Why what?”
“Why are you kissing me?”Why did you stop?
He rests his lips against mine. “Since you first made that little moan drinking a beer, I had to know when else you made them.”
He cups his hand over my breast and rolls his palm to scrape over my nipple. That same moan he mentioned slips out of me.
“That’s it.” His words are a purr. “You’re ready to come.”
My body is rigid, perched on the precipice of an abyss I’m willing to fling myself into. “Yes.”
He places a kiss on the side of my mouth. “I need to know how wet you are.”
He replaces the cup of my bra and trails his fingers down my stomach. I mourn the loss of him plucking my demanding nipple, but then he flicks the button of my jeans open.
Yes.
I arch into him, trying and failing to give him more room. My zipper tracks down. He’s dominating my mouth again, languidly thrusting his tongue in and out, just like I want his cock to be doing.
His hot fingers work between my skin and my waistband. In seconds, he’s tunneling down?—
The front door crashes open.
“When the hell did they start locking the house?” a deep male voice bellows into the taproom.
I gasp and cringe against the counter, my gaze flying to Calder’s face. His jaw is rigid, anger flashing in his dark eyes. He slips his fingers from my pants but doesn’t turn. I try to peer around his broad shoulders to see who the intruder is as I fumble with the clasp on my jeans.
The door shuts behind the man, who stops in his tracks on the welcome mat. His irritated gaze takes us in, and a dark brow cocks. His windblown hair is a shade darker than Calder’s, and he’s wearing almost the same outfit Calder had on when I first saw him. Only, Bowen’s white dress shirt is already unbuttoned. Contempt fills his dark eyes.
“Bowen,” Calder says in a clipped tone.
Oh crap.This isn’t how I wanted to present myself to the others. A hussy with her legs around the eldest brother. Calder doesn’t want to like me, and they all want to hate me.
Bowen draws himself up, nearly as imposing as Calder—more so, since I’ve had my tongue down his brother’s throat. I try to sit up straight. At some point, I dropped my legs from Calder’s waist.
“Jesus, Calder.” Recognition makes his eyes go wide. “Meredith?Calder, what the hell? Anyone buther.” Disgust drips from his tone.
“Hey!” I shoot him my own glare. He doesn’t get to come in here and be an ass. I’m not going to repeat this with each Cross.
“Watch it,” Calder warns his brother.
Bowen levels an appraising expression on Calder. There’s a modicum of warmth, and a whole swarm of emotions I can’t place. He shifts his attention to me, and the air around me turns as frigid as his eyes.
“Did he tell you we’re selling, so you decided to use your sister’s tactics and sleep with him to stay?”
A groan leaves Calder. “Bowen, shut up.”
I can’t believe I put myself in this position. If Bowen hadn’t walked in, I would’ve had Calder’s hand all the way in my pants. I would’ve ridden it and hollered his name—in my workplace. The brewery is my refuge. Itwas. Until Calder showed up.
I slide sideways off the stool and stumble away, kicking the purse I dropped. It skitters across the floor.Crap.“Much as I love to get accused of lying and prostituting myself, and hearing my sister get insulted before she’s in the ground, I’ve got to go.”
Calder briefly closes his eyes, and to Bowen’s very minor credit, there’s a beat of self-recrimination in his expression.
I snatch up my purse and hug it to me. I need to leave and stay out of this mess, but the entire problem is how deep I’m stuck in it, and I have been for years. “I get that this has brought up all sorts of trauma, and the shock of the financials?—”
“What about the books?” The update that the money situation might be dire must’ve made him forget he’s supposed to hate me
