Page 47 of Life

“Don’t bother. I’ve already seen your equipment. Remember?” I pucker my lips and hold back a grin.

He leers. “Then you know I’m packing some big shoes.”

That does it. I can’t stop the full belly laugh. I actually laugh so hard I almost spill my wine. He grabs it and holds it up until I get my guffaws under control.

“Ahhhh. I needed that. Thank you.”

“Glad I could be the comic relief, but I wasn’t kidding about my equipment.” He gestures in the general vicinity of his manhood.

“You realize not only did I see you naked today, I had sex with your brother. I already knew what to expect.”

His grin turns flat at the mention of Tommy. “Don’t remind me.”

For some reason, him saying that pisses me off. It’s as if I’m the only one who can see how screwed up his pursual of me is. “Why not?”

He tightens his jaw. “Because I don’t want to think about you with him, okay?”

“And you know why that is?” My voice rises as my frustration starts to heat up my temper.

He leads me down the beach. Regardless, I’m not going to let this go. It needs to be said. So I do the only thing I can—I storm after him, ranting all the way down the beach. “I’ve had sex with your brother. Many times! So many times I can’t even remember half of them. Do you understand that?”

He stops when he gets closer to the water, and the sand is a slick slope where the waves are crashing softly. Finally, he turns to me, and I’m shocked by what I see. His face is a mask of white-hot anger. Eyes squinting, nostrils flared, even his chin looks like rock-hard stone.

“Don’t you think I know that? It destroys me he had you first. That he knew what you look like, soft and sweet in the morning. He knew how you like to be loved. What the tight heat of your cunt feels like. And I don’t. It fucking kills me you gave it to him, and no matter what I do or say from here on out, I’ll always wonder if you’re comparing me to my brother and finding me lacking!

“And you know what the worst part is, Maria?” My name is acid on his tongue. “I. Still. Want. You. I want to kiss you so hard you forget every kiss he ever gave you. I want to take your body to a place he never could. I want to own your goddamned soul and have you own mine. So you see, I do know what you had with my brother. That willneverchange. I can only manage the here and now and find a way to make you mine in whatever way he couldn’t.”

He takes a few angry steps toward me, sand spraying the area around me. It takes everything I have not to back up when he curls a hand around my chin, forcing me to look into his green eyes.

“And I’m going to do everything in my power to do it.”

“Eli…” I gasp as his lips slant over mine.

Chapter Twelve

The kiss is feral. He plunders my mouth with his tongue in wild, hedonistic abandon. Both of us drop our drinks to the sand below without a care, preferring to hold on to one another.

Mi culo.

Mi cintura.

Mis muslos.

His hands are all over me. He moves them up my back until both hands are threaded through my hair, holding me in place, while he devours my mouth. His ardent tongue searches for mine, and I comply with equal passion. He tastes of minty beer and man. A mind-melting concoction.

The wall between us is gone. Obliterated by his honesty. I can no longer deny this man what he wants. What I want. What we bothneed. Each other.

Eli kisses me so hard, and for so long, my lips are swollen and bruised when he pulls away on a mighty breath. His chest rises with every inhalation. “You can’t stop this,” he murmurs, his lips a succulent snarl of desire.

I shake my head and firm my jaw, ready to take whatever he can give me and more. “No. I can’t.”

“We are fire and ice, baby. Both run scalding hot when stimulated. I want to make you mine. Make you forget him, and everything and everyone that came before. This heat between us, it’s all-consuming.”

I close my eyes and lean my forehead against his, praying I’m making the right decision. “Burn me,” I whisper against his lips. “Set me on fire.” I press my mouth against his and nibble on the plump bottom lip. “I want to forget. Today, just make me forget.”

The second after my words slip past my lips, he’s on me. With a strength I’ve not experienced before, he lifts me up by my ass. I separate my legs on instinct and wrap them around his waist.

With powerful footsteps, he tromps through the sand, up the stone stairs, past the patio, and into the house. The breeze from the overhead fans tingles against my fiery-hot skin, but my focus is on the man carrying me away, taking me to the place of no return.

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