“Why? Because you don’t think I love your sister?” London said and placed a possessive arm around Bianca and pulled her close.
The laughter died from Jaden’s eyes as he stared at London with his arms wrapped around his baby sister. “You’re in love?”
he looked as if he didn’t believe them.
“Yes, we are,” Bianca played along, hoping Jaden wouldn’t see through her deception.
Jaden leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees, locks hanging loose around his shoulder. He nodded, but still didn’t look convinced. “And when did this happen?” he asked, his tone suspicious.
“Just recently,” she answered.
His expression was perplexed, which meant Jaden was thinking.
“This is your mystery man?”
“Yes, London is my fiancé,” she stated.
He continued to study London. “So you love my baby sister?”
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he asked, his tone harsh with disbelief. “Are you planning to marry Bianca?” he demanded.
London returned an unwavering stare, then turned his head and stared down at her. The fire blazing in his brown eyes almost made her gasp. They burned with something she didn’t even want to consider as she waited for him to speak.
“Yes, I plan to spend the rest of my life with Bianca.”
Bianca shivered. It wasn’t what he said but the way he looked at her when he said it.
“I love her,” he told Jaden, giving Bianca a look of such sexually explicit hunger that her eyes widened and darkened before she could stop herself from reacting to it.
Jaden rose to his full six-foot-three height, looked at the two of them, hugging as if they were really in love and started shaking his head again. “This is crazy but, hey, who am I to stand in the way of true love,” he said, still frowning. “All I got to say is that you’d better treat my sister with respect.”
London gazed down at Bianca again and her heart pounded against her chest as she waited for him to respond.
“Don’t worry, man. I plan to love her with all my heart.” The longer she stared up at the molting passion in his eyes, the more her insides quivered.
She moved away from his sensational heat and turned to her brother. “Okay, now you can get out of my house. And next time, knock,” she said, louder than she’d intended to.
Jaden’s demeanor softened. “Look, man, I apologize for hitting you. I guess I should’ve waited for an explanation, but you know how it is. She’s my sister.”
“Yeah, I know,” London replied as the two shook hands, then patted each other on the back.
Jaden reached over and put his sister in a playful head lock.
“Damn, Bianca. I had no idea you had feelings for my boy.”
“Like I would have told you.”
“Yeah, I guess I didn’t make things easy for you,” he said as he released her. “Look, I’m happy for you—really. That is, as long as you’re happy,” he commented, eyeing her speculatively.
Then his mouth quirked up at one corner. “This is crazy!”
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London’s. “Yes, well, we were quite surprised by our feelings for each other.”
“How long has this been going on?” Jaden asked, his gaze questioning. It was obvious that he was still trying to get used to the idea.
“A couple of months.”
“For a while.”
Speaking in unison, Bianca and London looked at each other, their eyes locked in a duel. She swallowed a gulp of air, then turned her attention back to him. Jaden’s brow rose and he looked unconvinced. London must have noticed, because he took a step forward, standing by her side. He pulled her against him and lowered his mouth to hers. The intensity of his warm kiss had her swaying when he finally released her.
London shifted his gaze to Jaden. “Jaden, we’ve known long enough to know that we don’t want to spend another moment apart. I can’t wait for the day I can make Bianca my wife.”
Now he was laying it on thick, Bianca thought. Even the passion burning from his eyes looked real, but she had sense enough to know that it was all an act. Bianca decided it was time to put a stop to it while they were ahead.
“Okay, enough! Can you please get out of here so that we can be alone.”
“Sure. I’m out.” Jaden was shaking his head and laughing as he stepped through the door and down the hall. Bianca suddenly remembered something and rushed behind him.
“I guess you’re going to go and tell Jace and Jabarie.”
He snorted a laugh. “Oh, you better believe it! I’m on my way over to their houses now. I can’t believe Mother didn’t tell me.
“I’ll talk to you later.” He gave his sister a grin, then opened the door, but stopped before going through it and turned around.
“Bianca, I really am happy for you,” he said. Then, without waiting for a response, he walked out the door, closing it behind him.
London came up behind her and brought his hands to her waist. “Well, sweetheart. I guess it’s official now.” The heat of his hands caused her to jump away from his touch.
“Thanks a lot!” she cried.
He looked confused. “For what?”
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“For helping me out in there,” she said, and dragged a frustrated hand through her hair. “If you hadn’t come over here, none of this would have happened.”
London gave a strangled laugh. “Oh, so now it’s my fault.”
She knew it wasn’t, but she had to blame her messed-up situation on someone. “You could at least have told him you were fixing a leaky faucet or something.”
“Your brother isn’t stupid,” he countered. “Jaden is old enough to know if he had walked in a few minutes earlier he would have caught your legs wrapped around my waist.”
His words caused a strong pulsing sensation down low, and she had to push the image from her mind. Hands on her hips, she started pacing the length of the living room. Could this day get any worse? she wondered.
“Hey, you’re the one who told him we were getting married—not me.”
“I was trying to save your butt!” she yelled, fuming.
“I think I can take care of my own butt.” A muscle in his jaw began to tick. He was getting pissed off. Good, now they were even. Moving toward the window, she noticed him rubbing his chin with the back of his hand.
“Are you okay?” she began and moved in for a closer look.
“You’re going to have a nasty bruise in the morning.” She touched his face gingerly and he flinched on contact.
“I’ve dealt with far worse.”
She looked at him as if in a trance before breaking eye contact and putting distance between them again.
“Look, London. We’re just going to have to play along for a couple of weeks and then call it off. We can just tell everyone we had a change of heart.”
London swiveled around and gave a forced laugh. “Oh? And how do you figure that?” he scoffed. “As soon as the engagement hits Sunday’s paper the entire town will know about us.”
She shrugged. “So what? Engagements are broken all the time.”
“Not ours. We’re getting married. I made your brother a promise and I’m not about to go back on my word.”
She went still. “I’m not marrying you.”
He gave her along hard look. “Oh, yes, you are.”
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His tone said it wasn’t up for discussion. That the decision had already been made. She tilted her chin, challenging him.
“I don’t want to get married to you. I’ll admit I was wrong for even suggesting such a thing, but now I’ve come back to my senses.”
“Too late. You should have thought about that before you told not only Jaden but your mother that you were marrying me. Now my family knows and probably half the damn town knows.
>
There’s no way we’re calling the wedding off now.”
She was not ready to give up yet. “But I don’t even like you.”
“You didn’t say that earlier when you were crying out my name,” he reminded her, his heated gaze running over her skin, heating her up in its path.
“That was just sex.” Her tone was defiant.
“It was good sex, sweetheart. The best sex either of us has had in a long time, and you know it.”
Her eyes widened as she absorbed the shock of his words. An unwanted sensation traveled through her. “That was a mistake.”
“A mistake?” London’s laugh was wry. He knew she was lying. He was experienced enough to know when a woman was faking or not. And the way he made her feel, she definitely had not been faking. “So I forced you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
His brow rose. “So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying it shouldn’t have happened.”
“But it did happen,” London replied, his gaze locking with hers.
Bianca sighed. “Yes, I can’t argue that, but what I can promise is that it will never happen again.”
He regarded her silently and she felt like squirming under his intense scrutiny. “So you’re saying that if I were to touch you right now you wouldn’t respond the same way you did less than an hour ago?”
“I’m saying it’s not important because it was a mistake and let’s talk about something else.” With him staring at her, her voice lost some of its boldness.
“No, I want to finish our discussion.”
“What else is there to talk about? This engagement is a pretend engagement.”
“Were you pretending earlier?” London demanded. The stern Angie Daniels
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look on his face said he was annoyed that she was trying to act as if what happened didn’t mean anything when it fact just the thought had her body already yearning for round two.
“I—”
“Are you saying you were pretending when you begged me to make love to you?”
“London, please—”
“When you screamed my name, were you pretending then?”
he asked, studying her.
She had sense enough not to respond to that question.
“Bianca, quit lying to yourself. You enjoyed it just as much as I did.”
“I did not,” she declared clasping her hands together to keep them from shaking.
“Prove it.”
“What?” she gulped.
London let his gaze slowly slide over her. “Prove that it was all mistake. Show me that you feel absolutely nothing for me,”
he said with the thrill of a challenge beaming in his eyes. She backed away from him. Her mama ain’t raised no fool. There was no way she could allow him to touch her again. If she did, there was no telling what would happen. More than likely a repeat performance. “I will not!”
London pinned her gaze with his. “Come here, Bianca.”
“No. I think it’s time for you to leave.” His jaw twitched as he walked over to her without saying a word. Her heart rate increased with each step. When he was standing right in front of her, he reached out and tipped her chin with his hand and she had no choice but to look into his eyes. “I don’t think you really want me to leave, either.” She tried to remain calm, but couldn’t. She bit her lips as she swayed a little. “Come on, Bianca. I want you to show me how much you don’t want me.”
He moved closer, crowding her space. Trapped, Bianca felt the couch behind her legs preventing her from moving. London gently stroked the side of her face with the back of his hand. Her eyelids closed as pleasure began to slowly flow through her body, starting at her toes.
“Kiss me,” he commanded.
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“No,” she answered, opening her eyes slowly and looking up at him. She was no longer as determined to prove a point as she was before he came and stood before her. Tension began to build as the air in the room became thick and heavy, making it hard for her to breathe. Bianca found her traitorous body leaning toward London, her nipples hardening beneath her shirt as her breasts swelled.
“Kiss me,” he said again.
Though his words were still a command, they came out sounding more like a caress. She opened her mouth to demand that he leave and felt his hot breath skim her lips. And instead she released a sigh. Her mouth yearned for his touch. Her entire body pulsed with longing as the heat of his body penetrated her, luring her closer.
She couldn’t help but stare at his mouth and those thick juicy lips surrounded by a perfectly barbered goatee. He was gorgeous, and having a perfect mouth only seemed to add to his perfection.
“Show me,” he whispered against her nose. “I’m waiting,” he replied as he brought his arm around her waist.
“London,” Bianca said and gave one last vain attempt at putting some distance between them. But when his hold tightened, instead of pushing away, she rested her hand against his solid chest and tipped her head so that she had no choice but to see him as she spoke. “This whole thing is crazy.” Her words came out in a rush of breath.
“Yes, sweetheart, it is.” He said and brushed her mouth against his.
He kissed her lips gently, parting them with his tongue with measured strokes. The sweetness inside was intoxicating. What started as a simple kiss suddenly changed so fast she didn’t have time to think about what was happening. Instead, her tongue invaded his mouth and he greeted her. She leaned toward him and gripped his biceps and rose on her toes. After a time her lips felt numb. She suspected that he was trying to go slow, give her time to adjust to him, but her body was desperate for more.
Pulling back, their gazes locked. She saw the need and longing in his brown eyes that sent frantic messages to the rest of her body.
Without taking his eyes off her face, he scooped her high Angie Daniels
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in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. Still holding her, he sat on the bed and pressed his lips to her hair, her forehead, her cheek. He kissed her closed eyes then sat her down gently on the bed.
Finally, he stood and they both undressed. While he stripped off his boxers, Bianca lay naked gazing in appreciation at his thickness. London lay down beside her and gathered her into his arms. She felt him full and hard against her. Her belly warmed and the heat spread downward, creating an ache so deep she had trouble catching her breath. He lowered his head and tongued her nipples until they tightened.
Bianca muffled a cry. She knew she should protest, but when he traced his fingers down her stomach to the apex between her thighs, her delicate folds swelled and tingled. His manhood reared up to nudge her, hard and powerful, making sure she knew what he wanted—to be buried deep inside her. “London,”
she breathed before she could stop herself.
“Yes, baby?” he asked so gently, her heart skipped a beat.
“I like when you touch me like that,” she said, and could not believe she had said out loud what she was thinking. But she couldn’t think straight. Not while his tongue ran deliciously along the small of her back. His hands were everywhere, burning a path down her thighs and nudging them apart.
“Spread your legs,” he murmured, his voice thick and vibrat-ing against her heated skin.
“No, London,” she said but her body had a mind of its own.
She parted her thighs instinctively and her back arched, shamelessly seeking him.
“Yes,” he murmured.
Her breath rushed in and out when he brushed his fingertips between her legs and trailed them gently along her swollen folds, teasing and sending little shock waves through her body. And she opened for him with a sigh. “Oh, London,” she breathed. “Please.”
“My pleasure, Bianca,” he murmured, his voice husky with desire. The sound of his voice caused her to arch into his hand wantonly. London slipped one long finger into her honeyed sweetness. She stifled a long moan, fu
rious with herself that she no longer struggled against him.
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His breathing grew ragged. “Ah, Bianca…” He nipped her flesh with his teeth and then thrust his finger deeper.
She rocked her hips against him as best she could. She knew she should stop him, but she didn’t want to put out the fire raging between her thighs.
“You like my fingers here, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t.” She didn’t even know why she bothered denying it.
“Yes, you do.” He ran his tongue back to her ear and nipped it lightly. He slid his finger out and then up through her sensitive folds. And when he found the small bud that was the center of her pleasure, she flinched. London sighed with satisfaction.
“I knew you’d like this.”
When he stroked his thumb along her pebbled bud, teasing it, she cried out his name and her body shuddered with pleasure.
“London!” Her voice held a whisper. He was driving her crazy and he knew it.
He drew his finger out then dipped his head between her legs.
His mouth was on her, licking deliciously as she dug her fingers into his shoulders, tugging at him as he drank in her taste.
“London…nooo.” Her words drowned on a sigh and she spread her thighs wider. A low moan escaped from deep in her throat as he ran the tip of his tongue along her swollen lips, teasing and flicking lightly over her clit and then retreating. She moaned and arched her hips shamelessly against him as he tasted and teased.
Her body tightened into a torture of sensation as he thrust his tongue with a steady, quickening rhythm, building the pressure unbearably.
“What are you doing to me?”
“Are you going to come for me, Bianca?” he asked. Then he eased his slick thumb into her private entrances. The full shock sent her into a tidal wave of ecstasy. She arched off the bed as his thumb sank up to its full depth.
And when he sucked gently on the center of her pleasure, she exploded around his fingers. “London!” She cried out before she dissolved into wave of pure heat, her body imprisoned by her sweet flames.
“Do you want me, Bianca?”
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