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“Macey.” He straightened away from the door frame and wrapped his hands around her upper arms. “Can you at least admit it? Forget everything else, forget the threats, forget the murder investigation, forget you’re on a job. Do you or do you not love my brother?”
Macey stared into Tristan’s blue eyes, so like Ray’s but different. She wanted to scream that yes she loved Ray, she loved him and couldn’t deny it, but not if he would never admit it, would never act on it because he was too honorable. Or because maybe he liked her, but not enough to make a mess with the press and upset his dad, who was grieving so deeply and trying to hold everything together.
It wasn’t as bad as Steve because Ray would never betray all of them, but the humiliation of falling for a man who couldn’t reciprocate pried that wound back open. Add that to the humiliation that she wasn’t helping Ray solve the murder case or the death threats. What was she even doing here if she couldn’t find any answers?
“I respect your brother, but I don’t know him well enough to love him,” she lied.
Tristan let out a disbelieving guffaw, and then he bent down and kissed her.
Macey jolted in surprise. Tristan had kissed her on that talk show, but he’d never done it in private. She yanked away from him. “What are you doing?”
“Did you like that?” he demanded. “Do you feel anything when I kiss you?”
“No.”
“What do you feel when my brother kisses you?”
Macey could only stare at him, misery and longing for Ray battering her from within. She hadn’t kissed him since the press conference. It felt like longer than three weeks ago, yet she could remember every detail, every sensation, his scent, his strong body against her, his warm lips lighting her up all the way through.
“Excuse me,” she murmured, then darted around Tristan and out into the hallway. She didn’t know where she was going. Just away from Ray’s twin demanding answers out of her that she couldn’t give. She was almost to the main staircase when she saw a man storming up the stairs. She stopped and stared. It wasn’t just any man.
“Ray,” she said.
He stopped at the top of the stairs. Five feet away, but it felt like a mile. His gaze was stormy, angry.
“Is everything all right?” she asked, referring to why he’d been in his office.
“I saw you kiss T.” His chest was rising and falling quickly, his fist clenched. “I was coming to pummel him.”
Hope filled her chest. She stepped closer. Tristan wanted her with Ray, and this might be her chance. “T kissed me to prove a point.”
“What point is that?” His blue eyes searched her face.
She prayed for help and repeated in her mind, Brave, bold, and beautiful.
“That I feel nothing for him. That you’re the only man I want to kiss, want to be with.”
Ray’s eyes widened. He stepped in closer, so close she could feel his warmth. She wanted to be in his arms, wanted him, but more than that, she loved him.
He studied her and admitted in a soft, husky voice, “I’ve worked so hard to stay away from you. You have no idea how hard.”
“I have a little idea.” She smiled weakly. “It’s been all I could do to not touch you, stare at you, love you …” She swallowed hard. Was she really admitting to this? Brave, bold, and beautiful. She wasn’t, except with him.
“Macey … I can’t stop myself from falling for you, craving you, being consumed by you.”
He wrapped his hands around her shoulders, pulled her against him, and took her mouth with his.
The kiss was demanding, all-consuming, absolutely beautiful. Macey had never been so happy, never felt so loved. Could they truly be together, or was this only a stolen moment? Right now she didn’t care. She clung to Ray and kissed him with all the love she had stored inside her. He had to hold her up as her body was weak with longing for him.
He didn’t seem to mind. He pulled back slightly and grinned at her.
“Macey,” he groaned against her mouth and then he kissed her again. His strength, honor, and devotion to her filled her with conviction. They could make it all work. Together.
Their lips were definitely working together and Macey gave her heart and future to Ray in that moment.
A loud thump and then a roar sounded. The castle seemed to shake.
Macey and Ray yanked apart and raced toward the source of the sound. Black smoke billowed out from under T’s door.
