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Hadn’t he promised himself he wouldn’t take this any further than a kiss?
He cupped her hip, imagining her straddling him instead of sitting crossways on his thighs. A dangerous, delectable image. One that would be so easy to re-create in reality now.
Fleur swayed against him, soft breasts molding to his chest, the tight points calling to his mouth. He could do that much, couldn’t he, without crossing the line? A taste there, too.
Palming one high, curved mound, he slipped his thumb inside the splice neck of the dress and dragged away the fabric to expose the red lace and silk of the bra, the rose-colored peak straining the sheer material. He fastened his lips around her there, drawing her in his mouth, sampling her flavor through fragile lace. He caught the vanilla and nutty scent of her perfume, a fragrance he always associated with her, and inhaled deeply while she rocked closer.
Closer.
“Drake.” His name on her lips set him afire.
Her fingers scrabbled along his shoulders, looking for purchase or...pushing him away?
Releasing her, he edged back enough to look into her eyes. Assess what she wanted. Had he misread?
“Too much?” His whole body reverberated with need while he focused on her.
“No. Not enough.” She spoke with quiet certainty even though her gray eyes remained passion-dazed. Lips still damp from his mouth.
Relieved he hadn’t pushed an advantage, he savored the hungry look in her eyes that reflected everything he was feeling. Even so, the moment reminded him how close they were to taking this into a direction from which there was no coming back.
If they let this heat carry them away, would she resent him later?
“It wasn’t enough for me, either,” he admitted, trying to drag in a cooling breath. He scrubbed his hand over his face. “But I know this isn’t why you asked me here tonight. I shouldn’t—”
His gaze snagged on the swell of her breast above red lace. Whatever he’d been trying to say vaporized out of his head again, his pulse strumming an urgent rhythm in his blood.
Fleur’s hand smoothed over his shoulder, and he forced himself to pull the fabric of her dress back into place to cover her up.
She closed her eyes for a moment. Swallowed hard. “Shouldn’t? Or won’t?”
“It’s not about what I want.” He thought of the devastation one wrong move could cause for her. For his brother, who would be in town for Emma’s wedding soon. “I’ve already hurt Colin enough.”
Fleur scrambled back, off his lap. “Colin?You think it was Colin who took the worst of it when you convinced me to call things off between us?”
Ah, damn. He regretted the words he hadn’t thought through. Already he missed the warmth of her in his arms, and hated that he’d taken her right back to resenting him.
“No. I know I hurt you, too. It wasn’t fair of me to make assumptions, to act out of—”
What? Anger? Jealousy?
He recalled the fire in his blood the day he’d come home to find Fleur and Colin in the dining room at the Alexander Ranch, his brother’s arm around her while he kissed Fleur’s forehead. A big diamond on Fleur’s ring finger and plans for a new home in San Antonio spread before them.
“Go ahead, you can say it.” Fleur shrugged a shoulder and tugged at the front of her dress, as if she could tuck herself deeper into the fabric. “You assumed I wanted to cash in on Colin’s trust, and you treated me accordingly. Like a gold-digging opportunist.”
Heat sprang up the back of his neck at an accusation that was all wrong because he’d willingly allowed her to think as much all these years.
“That’s not true.” He pressed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets and rubbed ruthless circles before letting go again. Met her flashing gray gaze. “I reacted badly that day because I envied him, Fleur. Even then, I wanted you, and I was furious with Colin—with myself—that I’d never taken a chance with you. And by then, it was far too late.”
In the stunned silence of his declaration, Fleur’s jaw dropped open before snapping shut again. She blinked fast, uncomprehending. Then, finally, her vision cleared as she seemed to understand all too well.
“You can’t be serious,” she half whispered. “You’ve never liked me—”
“I fought against liking you too much.” He had been honorable. He’d set the right example for his siblings every damned day since his parents had died because his father had warned him in that last argument that he wasn’t being a good role model.
“Why would you do that? Was I so horrible that you couldn’t stand the idea of being attracted to me?”
“Hell no. You were too young for me.” He’d been her defender. Her protector. He’d made sure someone was looking out for her when her family couldn’t be bothered to watch over her, because even when they’d attended her shows, they’d been wrapped up in their own dramas. “By the time I could acknowledge that maybe you weren’t too young anymore, you were with my brother.”
