Just because she’d dumped his brother didn’t make her ready for another relationship. Especially a short-term affair with a man who, as she’d so rightly said, was unable to commit. Whose career was destined to take him farther away at any time.
She’d had enough pain. He had no desire to add to it.
She raised her gaze from the magazine page. “Too bad,” she murmured. “Weddings canceled because the bride wore blinders while the groom was a cheating son of a bitch aren’t covered.” Her voice broke over her words. As she lowered her arm to her side, the page drifted to the floor.
“Carly...” Mike stood.
“It’ll cost every penny I have in savings and then some to cover the expense of ending this charade.”
“Peter will pay his share,” Mike muttered. He’d see to it. “Better now than after the ceremony.”
She attempted to laugh but choked on a sob instead. She dropped to her knees and bowed her head. Her damp hair fell forward, obscuring her face from view. Without warning, her shoulders began to shake violently.
Something inside him shattered at the sight. Not since his parents’ deaths had he allowed another person to get close. As tight as they were, not even his brother had breached the wall around his heart. Carly tapped into emotions he’d never experienced before, ones he didn’t understand now. She’d reached the part of him that he’d protected for the better part of his life. Watching her, he had the unsettling notion that nothing would ever be the same again.
Mike crossed the room and crouched down beside her. He lifted his hand and then let it drop uselessly to his side. Never having received a warm or loving embrace as a child, he wasn’t sure how to comfort her now. He only knew he had to try.
He wrapped his arms around her. Her body molded to his. She rocked back and forth in his embrace as he held on tight. The fragrant smell of her shampoo drifted around him, tickling his nose, tempting his restraint.
As need surfaced, comfort became a hazy notion. He coaxed her back until they lay side by side against the pillows on the floor. Mike cradled her head, running his fingers through her silken hair. Gradually her trembling subsided, but she didn’t push him away. They lay together in silence. Her rapid breathing slowed. As she unconsciously matched her breaths to his, a feeling of contentment stole over him. It was as if he’d been running away and had finally found what he’d been searching for.
“Want to talk about it?”
“No.” The muffled sound was almost lost. With one hand, he brushed the tangled hair off her face.
“I’m sure it hurts to be betrayed by someone you love.”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t.”
Wasn’t what? he wondered. Betrayed? Because if Peter had done nothing else, he had betrayed both her trust and her innocence. Mike hoped he hadn’t destroyed them as well.
She drew an unsteady breath. A glassy sheen coated her eyes and her dark lashes were fringed with moisture. “I wasn’t betrayed by someone I loved,” she said, lowering her gaze. “I compromised until there was almost nothing left of me. In being so accepting, I gave him the freedom to cheat on me.” She sighed. “In a way, I deserve some of what I got.”
“How the hell can you think that?”
“I didn’t say I deserved all of it, but there’s no escaping the fact that I used him, too.” Looking down, she stared at her hands. “I never loved Peter.”
Mike exhaled long and slow. He hadn’t known how badly he’d needed to have his suspicions confirmed until now.
“But at the very least I thought he was the kind of man to honor his commitments the way I’d planned to honor mine.”
Mike wanted to defend his brother. To insist that he was sure Peter meant to be faithful. But the truth was, Peter looked out for Peter first. Carly had never factored into the equation. He hadn’t intended to hurt her, but he hadn’t stopped to think about her before jumping into bed with his new associate, either. “If it makes you feel any better, he took me by surprise, too.”
Her smile seemed forced. “It doesn’t matter. I was so wrong. As long as things seemed right on the surface, I convinced myself I was happy. But I wasn’t.” She shifted positions, rotating her legs until she sat Indian-style beside him. Her robe ended below her knees, revealing toned calves and long legs. “I was dead inside and just never knew it. Until you, Peter was safe.”
“And I’m not.” Mike raised his hand to the back of her neck and brushed aside her hair.
“No.” Her lips parted. “You’re not.”
“Why?” He massaged her muscles that had worked themselves into tight knots. Her skin felt smooth and soft beneath his hands.
“There was no...” She spread her hands in front of her. “No...”
“Passion.” He ventured an educated guess. One based on the fact that she hadn’t slept with his brother, had never seemed to want more from Peter than a passing touch. But mostly he based his knowledge on instinct.
Startled, she jerked her head up. “How...”
“Did I know?”
She nodded.
He grinned at the shocked expression on her face as he completed her sentence for the second time. “Because you couldn’t feel an emotional pull toward my brother and respond to me like this.”
He leaned over and brushed his lips over hers. His hand, already at her nape, dug farther into her hair as he shifted positions and slid his tongue across her lips. She sighed aloud.
He meant to coax her into understanding but there was no need. Instead of pulling away as he’d expected, she raised her hands to his face and opened her mouth beneath his.
The kiss was hot, intense and like nothing in his previous experience. Although he had intended to prove a point, he lost track of everything but Carly.
He lifted his head and looked into her soft brown eyes.
“Mike.” His name was a plea he couldn’t resist. He captured her lips again. Together they tumbled backward onto the floor. He trapped her slender body between his legs and shifted until the heat of his arousal was pressed firmly at the juncture of her thighs.
Pausing long enough to open his eyes, he watched her face as he further inflamed her senses. He ground his hips against hers.
Her eyes glazed over. “More.”
He grit his teeth against the combination of pleasure and pain and thrust himself against her welcoming body. She uttered a sigh and rotated her hips, causing him to curse the barrier of clothing that separated them. Then he closed his eyes and pushed deeper.