Page 80 of Single Malt

“Will it help if I say that’s not the first time it’s happened?” He gave me that charming smile that showed off his dimples. “Paris is the most…exuberant of my sisters, so it’s usually her, but we’ve all had people mistaking us for romantic partners rather than siblings.”

“That does make me feel a bit better,” I said honestly.

Well, honestly, for the most part, anyway. I was more than a ‘bit’ relieved.

“Thank you for apologizing for the mistake,” he said. “Most people don’t bother. I had one girl in high school tell me that I needed to tell Paris to stop hugging her brothers in public because people might get the wrong idea of what we were to each other.”

“Please tell me you told her to go fuck herself.” The indignation I had on his behalf bothered me, but not enough that I curtailed what I wanted to say.

He chuckled, and the sound slid over my skin like a caress. The memory of his touch twisted arousal in my belly, and I had to force my body not to tense. When I’d thought he was a cheating ass, I’d been able to keep my attraction at bay, reminding myself that men couldn’t be trusted, not really. Now that I knew I’d been the one in the wrong, I’d lost my defenses against him.

“Not in those exact words, but I made myself clear. Paris wasn’t so subtle.” He smiled, clearly proud. “My brothers and I weren’t the only ones people had to watch out for when they went after one of us.”

I could hear his love for his sister in his voice, and I completely understood it. This was a man who believed in family, not just his own, but as a concept. Beyond blood and DNA. Beyond legalities. He was someone who’d go to the ends of the earth for someone he saw as his.

I wasn’t his. That wasn’t how we were. And it wasn’t what either of us wanted. But maybe we could havesomething.

I opened my mouth to make a suggestion that would lead us toward being naked in a bed, but then something in his eyes caught my attention. Not in them, I realized. Around them. He looked tired. Worn. He looked how I felt.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “No offense, but you look how I feel.”

Some of the shine went out of his smile. “No offense taken. It’s been a rough few weeks for my family too. My younger brother’s a soldier, and he was caught in an ambush last month.”

I couldn’t stop myself from sucking in a breath. I hadn’t really been thinking of anything specific he was going to say, but this was beyond unexpected.

“He survived, but he was just discharged today.” Brody rubbed the back of his neck. “He’s expected to make a full recovery, but he’ll have scars.” His hand dropped to his chest, where one of his scars was. “That’s the physical side of the situation, but who knows where he is mentally.”

I reached for his hand automatically, wanting to give him some of the comfort he’d given me just a few minutes ago when I’d told him about my father. My dad’s heart attack was still fresh, and he had a long recovery ahead of him, with plenty of lifestyle changes, but what Eoin’s family had gone through with his brother…I couldn’t imagine it. There weren’t any words I could think of to convey the sympathy I felt for him right now. Maybe, if we were in a relationship, I’d have been able to find the right words, but we weren’t like that.

I did know one thing that would help both of us, though, and it was something I could offer without complicating things between us.

“We’ve both had some serious stress lately.” I kept my hold on his hand and stepped closer to him. “And we already know we de-stress well together.”

Heat flared in his eyes. “We do.”

“Hotel room?”

“No, but I have a guest room at my brother’s place, and he won’t mind.” He turned his hand to lace his fingers between mine. “Trust me.”

Heat flowed from where our hands touched, traveling up my arm and through the rest of me. My stomach clenched. How could I still want him this much?

That was a question I didn’t want to answer, let alone knew how to answer. So, I said the only thing I could.

“Let’s go.”

The ride to the Sharon Green Apartments was a quiet one, but it only served to heighten the electricity between us. By the time we made it to the elevator, the air around us was practically buzzing. I breathed a sigh of relief when Brody’s brother didn’t meet us at the door. If we could get to a room without being seen, it’d make things a lot easier. The brother lived in Palo Alto, which meant I might eventually run into him, if I hadn’t already. Better to avoid a possible awkward moment.

“This way.” Brody wasn’t whispering, but his voice was quiet enough for me to figure out that his brother was probably here but sleeping.

That worked for me.

I followed Brody down a dim hallway and then through a door. He turned on a lamp, giving us enough light to see but not enough to be harsh. I had a moment to realize how nice and spacious the room was before Brody caught my face between his hands, and his mouth came crashing down on mine.

For a minute, I yielded to the kiss, let him take control, let him be in charge. The physical sensation of his body pressed against me only added to the surprising bliss of not having to think.

A hand moved to my hair, fisted in it, twisted. I gasped, and he took the opportunity to plunge his tongue into my mouth. My hands moved under the back of his shirt, and I ran my nails along his spine, reveling in the low growl that came from his throat. As I sank my teeth into his bottom lip, the control between us shifted.

He was taller and stronger than me, but I was far from small, and I caught him off-guard as I moved him backward. We made it a few steps, our mouths fused together, and then he turned us, leaned into me, fighting for control again. I grabbed his shirt, tugged at it until he had to pull back to get it off.