by J. S. Scott
She gaped at him. “We don’t like each other.”
“Oh, I like you. Maybe a little too much,” he grumbled as he sat back in his chair again, guzzled the last of his beer, and placed the empty mug on the table with more force than necessary.
Foreplay?
Kristin grudgingly admitted to herself that she’d liked him, too. But he’d been just a little too rich, just a little too handsome, just a little too funny, and more than just a little dangerous. Her instinct had been to push away the impossible.
Julian Sinclair had created an immediate fight-or-flight instinct deep inside her. Since she’d never been the type who ran away, she’d fought with him. They’d been mostly slinging insults at each other ever since.
When she thought about the kindness he’d shown in the past, from the large tip to the compliments he’d tried to give her that she’d shoved back in his face, she was starting to understand why she’d reacted so violently to him.
“I’ve always liked you, too,” she admitted. “But you annoy me.”
“I get under your skin, sweetheart, just like you get under mine.”
He did. She couldn’t deny it. Julian Sinclair aroused some complicated feelings that she couldn’t explain. “Maybe we can discuss what we do to irritate each other and we can try to get along. What can I do to make you feel less uncomfortable? How can I make me feel more like a friend than a woman you want to screw?”
He shook his head slowly. “All you have to do is breathe. I’ve been fighting the attraction between us since we met. I’m not doing it anymore.” He crossed his muscular arms over his chest and stared at her, as though he was waiting for some kind of answer.
She nearly knocked over her glass as she fumbled with it nervously. She had no idea how to deal with his bluntness. Part of her still insisted he was just playing with her, but reason couldn’t really support that theory anymore. He was rich, a Hollywood star. He had better things to do than go pick on some chubby redhead from a small town in Maine. She’d seen him with his relatives, his cousins, and his little brother. Julian wasn’t a mean bully. He was a guy who cared about the people he let into his inner circle.
“It’s just a chemistry thing,” she finally answered. “It will go away.”
The minute the words came out of her mouth, Kristin knew she was rationalizing. Her inexplicable longing for Julian had started a long time ago, and even though she didn’t really wear out her vibrator every other day, she thought about him when he was gone.
A lot.
“That’s what I thought, but nothing has changed,” Julian replied morosely. Moments later, in a more curious voice, he asked, “Do you really touch yourself and think about me when I’m gone?”
Kristin nearly spit out a mouthful of ginger ale. Swallowing hard, she coughed for a moment, not sure how to answer. “Honestly?”
He nodded.
She’d never felt this free discussing sexual needs. But the way he asked made it less uncomfortable. She was a medical person. Sex was part of life. It just wasn’t something she generally discussed with a guy who made her feel like Julian did.
He made her feel wanted.
He made her feel desired.
Like some kind of sexual goddess.
Kristin was used to discussing sex in clinical terms, not personally with the man who was causing her sexual frustration.
“Maybe occasionally,” she hedged. “Usually I’m so tired that I fall asleep when my head hits the pillow.” It was true, but she’d been lying awake a lot more often since Julian Sinclair had invaded her thoughts.
His brows drew together slowly. “How many occasions?”
Kristin blew out a breath, exasperated. “Okay. A lot. I do it a lot. I didn’t used to, but I guess you make me hormonally crazy.”
“Horny,” Julian concluded. “You need to get hot and sweaty with me, babe.”
She snorted and broke into laughter as she stared over the table at him. “Arrogant much?” she asked as she recovered.
“Never,” he answered confidently. “I never promise something I can’t deliver.”
Oh, she was pretty sure that Julian could give her exactly what she wanted. Problem was, he wouldn’t be a one-night stand she could use to scratch her itch. He was related to all of the Sinclairs in Amesport, and she’d see him again in the future.
“I can’t sleep with you, Julian,” she told him seriously. “Maybe it would be nice to have a fling, but I can’t. Not with you. We’d see each other again, and it would be awkward. You’re related to most of my friends, for God’s sake. Your cousin is my best friend’s husband.”
“I wasn’t suggesting a one-night stand,” he answered calmly.
“Then what—” Kristin closed her mouth in midsentence as the flight attendant came back with their meals.
By the time the food was set up and the hostess had brought them another drink, the conversation had moved in another direction, a safer subject.
Strangely, she actually had the urge to ask Julian what he wanted again.
Kristin just wasn’t quite sure she wanted to know the answer, so her question went unanswered.
CHAPTER 5
“I am not staying with you.” Kristin literally stomped her foot as she glared at Julian the moment the concierge had left the enormous suite, after delivering their suitcases and asking if he could do anything else for them.
The penthouse was enormous, with floor-to-ceiling windows on two walls. It was totally breathtaking and opulent, the gold and greenery seeming almost incongruent, but it worked. However, Kristin wasn’t gawking at the suite anymore. She was alarmed that she had to share space with Julian Sinclair.
“The hotel is booked. And the suite has two bedrooms. It’s not like I’m asking you to share a bed, although I’m perfectly willing if you get lonely.”
She ignored his provocation. “Everybody is staying here. We can’t be in the same room.”
He yanked off the baseball cap he’d put on when they’d landed, leaving his hair adorably spiked. Kristin tried not to notice, but she was failing miserably.
“It’s a suite. Two bedrooms and you have your own bath.” He sprawled on the couch and pointed to the windows. “Nice view. What do you think?”
I think I want to crawl on top of you and ride that gorgeous body until I can’t sit down anymore!
Aloud, she said, “It’s lovely. There’s so many lights.” If the hotel was full, there was no use arguing the sleeping arrangements. Although she would like to be as far away from Julian as possible right now.
She wandered over to the window, her heart hammering from the thought of sharing this space with Julian for two days. It was a penthouse, so the views were amazing.
“It’s so . . . bright.” Vegas was alive with color and neon lights, even at their current height. The city view from up high was like one massive light show.
“Welcome to Vegas,” Julian said in a smartass tone. “You’re adorable when you’re nervous, by the way.”
“I’m not nervous. I just don’t want anyone to get false . . . ideas.”
“You don’t want them to think I’m fucking you into madness because we’re in the same suite,” he concluded.
Pretty much!
Really, it wasn’t appearances that bothered her. She was twenty-eight years old. If she wanted to bonk a handsome superstar while she was in Vegas, it was her business. Actually, it was the close proximity to temptation that honestly did make her apprehensive.
“Sin City,” she mumbled as she leaned against the wall and looked at the sprawling city awash with light.
Julian had hired a car, concerned that a limo or driving something flashy would out him. So far, nobody had recognized his face, but Kristin was pretty sure it was just a matter of time.
Even in a baseball cap and a normal vehicle, he still looked like Julian Sinclair. Hell, he felt like Julian Sinclair. There was something about him that exuded a special aura no matter where he went or how he was
dressed.
“Yeah. It is Sin City,” he said huskily beside her ear as he slipped his arms around her from behind. “Want to sin with me, beautiful?”
Her body tensed, but his seductive scent made her relax back against him. Breathing him in, she closed her eyes and let herself be held against his rock-hard body for a moment, feeling content just to be close to him. “No sinning for me,” she said regretfully.
His mouth caressed the side of her neck, making her body tremble. “Sinning is mandatory in Vegas. We have the wedding tomorrow, but I think we should go out afterward and do some crazy things. Something you don’t usually do.”
His voice was deep and persuasive, making Kristin want to take a day to be free. “What?”
“There isn’t much you can’t do here. Name it, Kristin. I’ll make it happen.”
She sighed and turned around, completely hypnotized by Julian’s low, sexy baritone voice offering to basically make any dream she had come true. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she became mesmerized as she looked into his deep ocean-like eyes, feeling like she was drowning in them as she murmured, “I’d like to take a bath in that enormous tub the size of a bed that I saw when we came in.”
“Done. But that one is too easy.” He looked down at her with a naughty grin she couldn’t resist. “Think big. Think of something you really want.”
“Kiss me?” she asked him huskily, unable to stop herself. It was the most important thing she could think about at the moment.
It was as if he’d just been waiting for her request. Julian swooped down like a hawk seizing prey and covered her mouth with his.
Moaning against his lips, she threaded her hands in his hair, letting her senses become overwhelmed by the coarse feeling of the strands between her fingers. He pinned her against the wall with the force of his desire, and Kristin wallowed in the feeling of his body plastered against her as he plundered her mouth with an urgency they shared.
He grasped handfuls of her hair, moving her head so he had her exactly where he wanted, positioned so his tongue would lash deeper into her mouth.
Whimpering helplessly, Kristin pushed back into him, letting herself get lost in Julian’s kiss, not caring about what would happen in the future, that she’d crossed a line where she could never go back.
Just once, she wanted to know what it felt like to be wanted with the almost-violent need that Julian seemed to be feeling right now.
She felt it, too.
And it was burning them alive.
Both of them were panting as he finally moved his mouth to the sensitive skin at the side of her neck, leaving a burning trail wherever his lips and tongue decided to claim.
“This!” Julian rasped against her neck. “It’s this that’s always been there, Kristin. This is what we’re both afraid to explore.”
“I know,” she whispered desperately, tilting her head to give him better access.
“I’m not fucking afraid of it anymore.” He nipped her neck and then soothed over the spot with his tongue.
Kristin moaned, wanting to just give in to her insatiable urges, needing nothing except Julian to touch her.
Her hands moved down his muscular back and under his sweater, needing to touch his bare skin.
“I want—”
Kristin was cut off by a powerful knock on the door.
“Goddammit!” Julian rumbled, lifting his head with a tortured groan.
She froze as the sound came again. “Who is it?”
“Probably Micah. I told him what time I’d be here and asked him to come up for a drink. He’s scared as hell that Tessa will run screaming from the altar and change her mind. He needs to loosen up.”
Her body trembling with unspent need, Kristin stepped back. Julian was the only brother here for Micah’s wedding. “Go answer it. I think I’ll go take that bath.”
He kept her trapped against the wall and gave her one more rough kiss before he let her go. “This isn’t going away, Scarlet.”
She darted out of the hole he’d left open when he’d moved, anxious to go somewhere and try to pull herself together.
As she entered her bedroom, she could hear the boom of Micah’s voice and the jovial greeting passing between the two brothers. Closing the door, she leaned against it, her heart racing as she took a deep breath, then released it slowly.
It took her a while to go seek out the enormous bathtub.
Even though Kristin had retreated to her room, Julian could still smell her on his clothing, sense her presence in the suite. His cock was still rock hard as he sat down with Micah in the living area, both of them with a beer in hand.
“How’s Tessa holding up?”
Julian had come to adore his brother’s fiancée, and even though Micah was panicking, it wasn’t because he was getting married. He was just afraid that Tessa would decide she didn’t want to marry him at the last minute.
“Better than me, I think,” Micah admitted.
“She isn’t going anywhere, Micah. She loves you.” Julian knew that was true. He’d never seen two people who belonged together more than his brother and his fiancée.
Julian was grateful that Tessa had agreed to marry Micah. Hell, he was glad that his older brother had somebody who loved him so damn much. His brother had changed, his mind finally on something other than business. And he looked pretty damn happy. Well, except for right now. But he’d get over it once the wedding was over.
“Yeah. Don’t you think that’s kind of crazy? She’s a perfectly sane woman,” Micah asked Julian, his tone sounding like he was only partially joking.
Julian knew if Micah weren’t so nervous, he’d be hard pressed not to laugh. Micah Sinclair, one of the greatest businessmen Julian knew, was reduced to a puddle of fear over one petite woman who adored him just as much as he adored her.
“Nope,” he said simply. “You two were made for each other.”
He chugged some of his beer from the bottle, just soaking in the fact that he and Micah were actually in the same place at the same time. They’d seen so little of each other during the years he’d been trying to build his career. Living on opposite coasts had made their visits few and far between. Even when they did meet up, it was usually brief.
For the most part, he had spent more time with Xander because they both lived in California, but since his parents had died . . . not so much. His younger brother had rarely visited, and Julian should have suspected something more was going on than just grief over their parents’ deaths.
I wanted to give Xander his space after what happened, but I ended up giving him way too much. If I’d only known what was really going on . . .
He watched Micah down half of his beer in moments before his brother finally answered, “She could do better.”
Julian did smile then, wondering how in the hell a woman could do better than his brother. “Dude, for some reason, she wants you. Don’t rock the boat.”
Micah’s expression formed into a grin. “She’s crazy.”
“So you’re perfect for each other,” Julian teased. Since Micah was an extreme-sports mogul, and he participated heavily in some of those activities, he needed a woman who could accept him exactly as he was. Tessa did.
“Smartass,” Micah said happily.
“How are your headaches?” Julian scrutinized his brother’s appearance, but he didn’t see dark circles under his eyes anymore, and he looked nervous but healthy. Hopefully, he hadn’t had another migraine.
“Been good. Haven’t had another one since Tessa agreed to marry me.”
Julian still felt guilty that Micah had taken on most of the responsibility for the family. Xander had overdosed several times, but Micah hadn’t wanted to rain on Julian’s parade. His older brother had wanted him to enjoy the success he’d sacrificed so much to achieve. Nevertheless, to Julian, the whole situation with Micah constantly needing to take care of Xander was bullshit. Julian was in the same state as his younger brother, for Christ’s sake. Yeah, he traveled
a lot, but he still should have been there for Micah to help share the responsibility. With their parents gone, Micah and Xander were all Julian had left of his immediate family. They were brothers.
Julian took a deep breath before he spoke again. “I have to do some time on location and then the movie will wrap. I want to be there to help you with Xander after that.”
“You can’t,” Micah insisted. “You’re at the peak of your career, Julian. I can handle it. If he finishes rehab, he can come back to Amesport. He has a home there now.”
“I can come back to Amesport, too. I heard I have a home there now, too.” He shot his brother an amused look.
“The builders are getting there. Since we’ve had a mild fall and early winter, they’re almost done. I always knew you couldn’t live there, Julian. Not with your career in Hollywood. I guess I just wanted you and Xander to know that you always had a home where I was going to live.”
Just the fact that Micah had purchased land outside of Amesport to build a house for himself and each of his brothers caused Julian to swallow hard to get rid of the lump in his throat. His brother wanted what their cousins had now: all of the family in one place again. The influx of Sinclairs to Amesport had started with Julian’s cousin, Grady. Then Grady’s brother, Jared, had built homes for himself and his brothers. Then came Micah. The Sinclair branches were on opposite sides of Amesport, but it was a small town. After years of seeing no family, Julian was drawn to the place where they’d all settled down, in the same coastal town in Maine.
“We’ll talk about it later. Let’s concentrate on getting you married off.” Julian would deal with Xander when the time came. Right now, he wanted Micah to focus on his wedding.
Micah looked around curiously. “Where’s Kristin?”
“Taking a bath,” Julian replied abruptly, trying not to think about all of that soft skin relaxing into a pile of bubbles.
“You okay with her staying in the same suite?”
No. Fuck no. She’ll never be safe with me!
“Yep. We’re good. It’s a big place and it has two bedrooms.” He was lying to his brother, but he wasn’t about to share his problems with Micah right now.
