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He deserved to suffer, at least a little, for what he’d put her through, she decided.
She rose on stockinged tiptoes to brush a kiss across his mouth. She allowed the very tip of her tongue to trace his lower lip, and, oh, he tasted good. With satisfaction, she felt a tremor of response ripple through him. Placing his hands on her hips, he pulled her closer, letting her know that she’d aroused him.
“Blake.” Her lips moved lightly against his. “We really shouldn’t do this.”
He buried one hand in the soft curls at the back of her head, tilting her face into position for a long, deep kiss. She clung to him, wondering which of them was really being seduced.
Very slowly, he broke the kiss, his lips clinging to hers for just a moment before he spoke. “You’re probably right.”
But then he kissed her again. And she could almost feel the balance of power shifting in his favor.
His left hand still buried in her hair, Blake slid his right to the small of her back, and then lower, to cup her bottom and pull her more snugly against him. She ached fiercely at every point where their bodies met. If she was going to stop this, she thought, now was the time.
But it wasn’t going to be easy.
She braced her hands against his shoulders and pushed, putting a full two inches between them. “We have to stop,” she said, though what she really wanted to do was to drag him to the bed and throw all caution to the wind.
She wanted him, as she had never wanted anyone before. But there was still just enough sense of self-preservation inside her to remind her how badly he could hurt her. He had already hurt her by deceiving her about Stephanie after promising not to keep anything from her. No matter what his excuse might be, she felt betrayed by that omission.
Blake tried to pull her back into his arms. “Tara...”
“No, Blake. We can’t.”
“I’ll admit our timing isn’t the greatest, but...”
“No,” she said firmly. “I can’t do this to Stephanie. She’s been too nice to me.”
He was visibly confused. “Stephanie?”
Gaining confidence, Tara moved another inch backward, so that she wouldn’t be rattled by his nearness. “After all she’s done for me, I refuse to hurt her by getting involved with you behind her back. It’s obvious that she loves you.”
Blake winced. “Uh, Tara...”
She smoothed damp palms down her sides, knowing that the movement pressed the dress more tightly against her. “Do you deny that she loves you?” she challenged him, holding his gaze with her own.
She had him there. “No,” he admitted, “but...”
She nodded. “I thought so. You should be ashamed, Blake, making passes at me while staying under the roof of a woman you’ve been stringing along.”
“Tara, you don’t understand. It isn’t like that.”
Getting fully into her role, she tossed her head. “I suppose you’re going to tell me that you don’t love her.”
“No. I mean, of course I do, but...”
She was rather enjoying watching Blake squirm. It was the first time since she’d known him that she’d seen him truly rattled. Which was only fair, considering how many times he’d reduced her to near incoherence.
“So you do love her.” She sighed soulfully, hoping she wasn’t overplaying.
“Yes. Damn it, Tara, she’s my sister.”
She gasped and placed a hand over her heart, strategically placed to make the most of her newly discovered cleavage. “Your sister?”
“Yeah.” He had the grace to look penitent. “I suppose I should have told you sooner.”
“I would say so,” she answered indignantly. “How could you let me go on believing that Stephanie’s heart was going to be broken? You cad. You deceiver. You...you...”
“You already knew, didn’t you?”
