Page 6 of His Own Heaven

She could use some more of that.

A moment later she was standing upright again, Tobias gripping her hips like a vice, preventing her from toppling over when her high heels wobbled on the gravel surface of the car park. She grabbed his arms to steady herself.

Oh, wow….

His biceps were even thicker than she’d thought. Harder too. She gently squeezed them, but it was like fingering steel.

“Are you all right?” he said, keeping his voice low.

The single lamp in the car park shone with a dull yellow light, illuminating him from behind and casting his face in shadow. It made the already fearsome man look downright terrifying, like a huge spectre looming over her. But Lucy found she wasn’t afraid. She was intrigued.

And more than a little turned on.

She licked her lips and nodded as she got her bearings. “It’s nothing I haven’t heard before,” she said, shrugging. Then, because she’d rather not kill the mood by throwing a pity party for one, she added, “Where’s your friend?”

“Right here, beautiful.” A shuffling of gravel drew her attention to the man rounding the back of the black truck parked beside them. “And may I just say, that was fucking awesome! A true pleasure to watch. Entitled little shit didn’t know what hit him.”

Tobias reached into his pocket, then tossed a set of car keys at his friend. “Lucy Barton, meet my brother, Charlie Bennett.”

Charlie bowed slightly, then looked up at her from under dark lashes as that same grin from earlier played across his face. “His older, wiser, better-lookingtwinbrother,” he said, winking. Taking her hand in his, he pressed his lips to the backs of her fingers, right between her index and middle digits. The gesture wasn’t lost on her, and her pussy clenched in response. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lucy Barton.” His voice was a rich purr of masculine confidence.

Wide-eyed but amused by his audacity, Lucy rolled her lips between her teeth as she repressed the laughter clawing its way up her throat. Turning to Tobias, she said, “Is he always like this?”

Casting a long-suffering look at his brother, he sighed. “Sadly, yes.”

When she laughed out loud, he looked down at her, a half smile curving his delectable mouth. He lifted his hand and stroked the blade of one big finger over her scarred cheek. Lucy shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cool sea breeze blowing in from the bay.

He stepped closer and backed her up against the cab of the truck. “I’ve wondered all week what your smile would look like.”

“Have you?” she said, another shiver skittering through her. Lucy couldn’t remember the last time someone said they’d been thinking about her. Most people triednotthinking about her. In fact, she was fairly certain her parents had tried so hard to not think about her, they’d completely forgotten she existed at all. But before she could let that little joy-thief of a memory steal her mojo, she did what she’d dreamed of doing all week long and slid her hands over his chest, felt the ridges of hard muscle under his shirt twitch and flex.Jesus, is he this hard everywhere?Suddenly breathless, she whispered, “Tell me, Tobias, what else have you wondered about?”

“Call me Toby,” he said, the other half of his mouth curling upwards, completing his sensual smile. “And I’d rather show than tell.”

“Show me, then.”

“Come home with us and I will.”

Chapter Three

“Us?” Lucy gasped. “Both of you?” Her fingers curled in his shirtfront as her eyes widened to a comical degree.

Toby chuckled. Charlie too. Even in the dim light of the car park, it was easy to see the intensity of her interest—and her uncertainty—in her lovely whisky-coloured eyes. “Yes, both of us. If that’s what you want.”

Her pretty pink tongue darted out to moisten her lips, drawing Toby’s attention to the way her scars pulled slightly at the top right corner of her mouth, giving her a tiny permanent sneer he hadn’t noticed before. He had a sudden and powerful urge to lean down and kiss that little imperfection, to explore and taste and discover if it was as soft and luscious as the rest of her mouth looked.

“And if I don’t want?” she said, interrupting his wayward thoughts. A slight frown pulled at her brow, and she dropped her hands to his forearms and gripped them tightly, as though readying to shove him away and make a break for it should she not like their answer.

“Then you choose one of us,” Charlie said, leaning against the truck. His hungry gaze slid over Lucy’s slender figure in a predatory way, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t mind because her grip relaxed.

“Or neither of us,” Toby added.

Aiming a pointed stare in his brother’s direction, he restrained an urge to block Charlie’s view.Strange. He’d never been jealous of his twin before, but the thought of Lucy choosing to go home with Charlie instead of him made something inside him snap. Unleashed something primal deep within him. He’d felt something like it once before, a long time ago, but never this strongly. Never this completely. It made him want to wrap her up in his arms and not let go. He wanted to protect her. Cherish her. Keep her all to himself.

Possess her.

But another part of him longed to fulfil her desires, to taste her, tease her, pleasure her, even share her if that was what she wanted. He just wasn’t sure he could sit idly by and watch if she chose his brother over him. His jaw clenched and he felt the muscle in his cheek tick. If that happened, it’d be better for everyone if she went home alone. Otherwise, Charlie might end up with a black eye.

And a broken jaw.

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