Sweeter Than Chocolate: Valentine's Day Anthology

by Gina Kincade

  Alarmed, I helped Kyle of his wet sweater. “Is she okay?”

  “Yes,” he hissed, gripping the sink. “The bitch is okay.”

  I exchanged a glance with my brother. His gaze dropped to the blood staining the porcelain of the sink and the bathroom floor. Then he examined Kyle’s hand. “You’ll need stitches. I’ll go get a kit.”

  Chapter Ten

  Keera

  A loud, manly scream boomed from downstairs. I fixed my dress quickly and dashed to the hall. I followed the second scream, my heart leaping. When I reached a small bathroom, I found the three guys crammed inside, Kyle seated in only his boxers, blood on several parts of his body, Zach hunched over, a needle in his hand.

  My eyes snapped wide. “Oh my God. What happened to you?”

  Kyle shook as Zach stitched the wound along his cousin’s long finger. “Now you shut up? ‘Cause you don’t wanna sound like a pussy in front of a girl, now you don’t scream?” Zach mocked.

  “Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” I urged.

  “The bad news is this knucklehead wandered in the storm, drunk over a bitch. He almost froze his ass out and hurt his hand, smashing a bottle.” Zach stabbed the needle into Kyle’s flesh. My eyes begged him to give it to me. I could do a much better job than he did. “The good news is we don’t have to go to that wedding anymore.”

  Brandon blew out an angry breath, while Kyle remained still, absent, as if he weren’t here.

  A pang set into my chest. How could Zach be so casual about such awful news? “Could you please be a little more considerate of your cousin’s feelings?”

  “You’ve known Kyle for a day. I’ve known him for thirty years. You don’t care about him more than I do, sweetness. But Jessica is a bitch. I never liked her. He’s off the hook.”

  Kyle sprang from his seat and threw a punch at Zach’s face. I retreated a couple of steps back with a gasp as Zach ducked without a flinch. When Kyle threw the second punch, Zach caught Kyle’s fist in his left grip, and his right connected with his cousin’s jaw, toppling Kyle on the floor.

  My hand flew to my mouth, and Brandon pushed me farther away gently.

  “You wanna hit someone? Go hit the son of a bitch who screwed your fiancé, not me. I’m not your punching bag,” Zach said. “Now sit up so I can finish up these fucking stitches.”

  “Let me do it,” I offered quickly.

  “You know how to do this shit?”

  “Yes. I’m a Biology teacher, Zach.” I waved for him to get out. “Please.”

  Zach just crossed over Kyle’s feet and left the bathroom. I shook my head and then glanced at Brandon. “Help him back to his seat, please.”

  He put Kyle’s arm over his shoulder and sat him up. I washed my hands and put the toilet seat down so I could sit across from Kyle.

  I started with the needle. Two seconds later, as if that was all he could bear standing in one room with me, Brandon walked out. “I’m outside. Holler, if you need anything.”

  A dark wave of sadness washed over me like a bad omen. I was a bad omen. I wished for a blizzard to hex a beautiful celebration, and got a storm that snowed me in. A man finally wanted to take me on a date for Valentine’s Day, then I found out his brother, the one I’d been crushing on for months, wanted to date me, too, but now he was off-limits. I envied Kyle and his bride, now their wedding was off.

  Cursed.

  I was truly and utterly cursed.

  I finished off the last stitch and put the needle on the sink. Suddenly, Kyle pulled me back to the toilet seat and threw his head onto my chest. I gasped, but then I felt his tears on my skin.

  Oh my God. My heart broke for him, and tears welled up in my eyes, too. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer. His muffled sobs grew more intense. I couldn’t hold my tears back. This was so sad. A man crying on a stranger’s chest. He must have been in a lot of pain. Maybe if I hadn’t been a stranger, he wouldn’t have let it out.

  “I’m sorry.” I stroked his hair. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I wasn’t lucky after all,” he whispered, his breaths hot and wet on my skin.

  I held him even tighter, but now I couldn’t ignore the feeling of his hard muscles pressed against me. Swallowing, I eased a little, and he lifted his head. A scowl deepened on his face, and he ran his thumbs under my eyes, sniveling. Then his gaze hovered around my lips. “I wanted to do this since the first time I ever saw you.”

  I stared at him with wide eyes, speared by the sudden burning gleam in his. My hands settled on his chest, but instead of pushing, I grew conscious of the thudding beat of his heart beneath my fingers. Mine was racing just as fast.

  A tremor slid down my spine. Damn. What the hell was wrong with me? One look into those damn green eyes, and I was weak with a longing that both shamed and excited me.

  He leaned in, and I made no move to protest. I only managed to say one word. “Zach.”

  “He already punched me,” he added huskily, right before his mouth swooped down and crushed mine.

  Kyle’s kiss hit me like a tidal wave. The taste of his lips gave me a mad rush so intense that for a second I forgot how to breathe. Without hesitation, I slid my palms down his abdomen, feeling the strong muscles. This was wrong. Touching this broken man, feeling his skin, letting him use me like this. But for one brief moment in my life, I wanted to simply feel without thinking about the consequences.

  Just this time, I indulged in the fantasy more than one hot, sexy man wanted me.

  My eyes fluttered closed. I parted my lips for his probing tongue. He let out a throaty growl of pleasure as my tongue clashed with his. His muscled body hardened, and my body responded back with a fiery heat of its own.

  Our lips disconnected for breath. My gaze darted down his body. When the outline of his huge hard-on stared back at me through his boxers, my eyes bugged out.

  My entire body tingled, every single nerve and cell alight. My nipples were twin points of bright agony inside my bra, and the swollen, wet space between my legs throbbed. Ached.

  With every breath he took, his chest grazed my breasts, and I was painfully aware of the hard bulge inside his underwear. What kind of sound would he make if I rubbed against it? He was clearly primed and ready to go, and my body was only too eager to accept him. Jesus.

  He was silent for a long moment. The air between us hummed with sexual tension. He leaned in again. My vision whited out. But he didn’t push. Instead, he brushed the softest whisper of a kiss against the side of my temple, the surprisingly soft hairs of his beard tickling my cheek and making my sex throb harder. “I need to see for myself if I make you wet like you make me hard.”

  A quivering gasp escaped my throat. I wasn’t used to any kind of dirty talking. Before I could say anything, Kyle’s weight was snatched off me, and Brandon’s yell echoed in my ears. “You son of a bitch!”

  I squeaked, darting out of the bathroom, begging them to stop fighting. No one listened, and to make matters worse, Zach joined.

  I screamed at the top of my lungs, bursting into tears. That managed to grab their attention at last. When the twins jerked their heads toward me, I pushed my way through them and examined Kyle’s face. “You monsters, he’s hurting. He didn’t know what he was doing. Look what you’ve done to him.”

  “We’ve had worse fights for fun. He’ll survive, sweetness. He needed it to snap out of it. If he wants some quickie to help him get over his bitch, he gets it away from my girl,” Zach said.

  “She’s not your girl,” Brandon mumbled.

  Zach clenched his fist, ready for another punch. “Huh?”

  Brandon stared at him with challenge in his eyes. “I know I’m too late to speak, but I saw Keera first. I wanted to ask her out even before you saw her.”

  The room shrank in silence except for my hammering heart. This feud was ridiculous. It might be hot that, after all these years, three gorgeous men found me attractive enough to fight over me,
but it was awful. They were a family. They couldn’t tear each other apart like that.

  They weren’t even fighting over me. None of them had known me long enough to feel something for me other than lust. They were fighting over my pussy.

  I felt so low and filthy and bad. And incredibly wet.

  Damn it.

  I tore away from their eyes, rising to my feet. “I’m nobody’s girl. And it looks like it’s going to stay this way for a while. The second the roads are open, I’ll be out of here, and you’ll never hear from me again, unless it has something to do with Samantha.”

  “Now who’s the pussy?” Kyle braced his weight on his elbows and sat up. “Three hunks are bleeding for you, ready to do everything in their might so you can have the perfect Valentine’s date and the perfect first time, and you back down?”

  “I don’t want you to fight because of me. This is insane.”

  Kyle moaned as he tried to get up. “Then choose one of us, and it will be over. We’re all big guys here. We’ll be happy for each other. Eventually.”

  I froze, my mind humming blank. What seemed to be a fair, sensible, simple solution to all the trouble I’d caused was suddenly one of the hardest things I had to do.

  “Is it really that hard, Keera?” Brandon grimaced, leaving the floor.

  “Yes,” I confessed. “Yesterday, if you’d been the one who needed that date to the wedding, I’d have said yes without a thought.” My gaze shifted toward Zach, who was just staring back at me. “But then I met you, felt your overprotectiveness for me when you didn’t even know me, your impulsiveness to ask me out when you thought someone was going to beat you to it, and…that kiss.”

  I licked my lips as if I wanted to remember his taste, but instead I tasted Kyle. I took him in, the bruises starting to color his face. “Then you cried on my chest, and I cried with you. I felt a connection a girl only saw in movies or read about in sweet romance books. And when you dared kiss me…the memory alone is making my skin tingle all over again.”

  My eyes wandered among the three of them. “How am I supposed to choose? A virgin woman who has never been touched or kissed like that before? A girl who never felt something so powerful for any man before she met the three of you?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Kyle

  “A date.” I gave a silent moan, sitting my ass down on the couch. Those assholes beat the hell out of me. I welcomed the pain, though. It was the perfect outlet for my anger. Surprisingly, after I’d cried my eyes out on Keera’s beautiful breasts—they were real unlike Jessica’s—I found myself more angry than sad or hurt. And if that was how I felt, then perhaps I was lucky to have broken off the engagement after all. I didn’t want to wind up divorced and miserable like Brandon.

  “What are you fucking saying now?” Zach snarled at me.

  “We take Keera on a decent date, and then she decides which one of us she wants to be her first,” I explained. “And if she wants him to be her one and only or would like to keep her options open. Open relationships work, by the way. Also polyamory. It’s the new trend. I think it’s hot.”

  “What the fuck?” Brandon exclaimed slowly.

  “I’m gonna hit him again,” Zach spat.

  I ignored them and focused on the sweet girl that made me so fucking hard with one kiss. “What do you say, beautiful?”

  Her lashes fluttered in the cutest way they always did. “I…I think it’s not a bad idea. I’d love to get to know the three of you better.”

  That rendered the other assholes mute.

  “Fantastic. Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, but we can start today,” I said.

  She shrugged with a small smile. “But we’re snowed in.”

  “This place is huge. We got food, music, a hot tub, and booze, even though you don’t drink.” I looked the twins in the eyes. “Did either of you know Keera doesn’t drink?” I bragged about my knowledge. “She’s also ambidextrous.”

  Shut up, idiot. You’re giving them tips.

  Keera grinned. “I think this can work. Actually, I think it’s going to be amazing.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Keera

  I wished for one Valentine’s date. Today I had three.

  I sat in the guest room in my black dress and tangled, flat hair, with no makeup, but I didn’t care. None of my scorching hot dates seemed to care this morning either.

  After a long call with Melissa using Brandon’s satellite phone, which was mainly giggles and gasps, I did the best messy bun I could fashion and headed for the door. A knock stopped me in my tracks.

  I evened my breath and opened the door. It was Zach with a white shirt on. His hair a little wet, as if he’d just showered. His smell of shampoo and cologne confirmed it. His hands behind his back.

  “You look nice.” I smiled.

  He nodded once. “I have something for you. You don’t need it to look nice, but I know you’ll appreciate it.” He brought his hands to his front, and he was holding a dress. A red one.

  My jaws parted with a gasp. “How did you…”

  “It was Adrian’s, my late girlfriend. I think it will fit you well.”

  My jaw dropped lower. “Zach…I can’t…”

  “I want you to have it. I don’t want anyone else to have it.” He printed a soft kiss on my cheek and hung the dress on the doorknob. Then he went back to his room.

  The softness of the fabric and the lace on the bodice were so beautiful and sexy. I convinced myself it was a shame to let a perfect red dress like this one go to waste.

  I changed into it, and as it fell around me, it felt like the perfect hug. It wasn’t quite as revealing as I thought it might have been, and the little skin that could be seen through the lace did make me feel sexy. It came with a fitted bra—thank God. Mine would have shown through the lace.

  Twirling before the mirror, I was instantly happy, ready to dance.

  When I was out of the room, my mouth watered at the aroma of meat and rich spices. I headed straight to the kitchen. Brandon was there, by himself, stirring something. A simple sweater and jeans covered him, and I was dying to see what lay underneath. But first, I wanted to taste those lips. He was the only one I hadn’t kissed yet.

  A pale smile stretched his mouth when he saw me. It was one of the rare times I’d seen him smile.

  His eyes sparkled for a second, but then with the bashful way he’d always looked at me, he swallowed. “You look so beautiful.”

  “Thank you.” I gathered my courage, if I had any, and approached him. Then I let my palm feel his arm. Oh my… That hardness. The heat from his body exceeded the one coming from the stove. “You have a pretty smile.”

  He stopped stirring and took me in with his gaze. “You know I’m the only one who hasn’t kissed you yet.”

  I nodded vigorously. “I’m very aware.”

  He switched off the burners, and his hands found my body, stroking from my shoulders and down my arms to my waist where he pulled me against his chest, lips falling to my neck. He was hard against me. It made me smile. Made me wet. Made me need more than I could put voice to.

  I moaned, and he held my gaze. His eyes dark and deep and reflecting my own desire back at me. Then he took my lips into his. I trembled. Every sensation increased and deepened as I was swept on the power of Brandon Beastly’s kiss.

  I didn’t know if it was the intimacy of the kitchen or the allure of a man cooking or it was the chemistry between him and me, but I wanted more of it. More of him.

  His tongue brushed mine, and it seemed like I could feel it everywhere, something rippling out and down. He pulled back as I gasped for breath, but this kiss wasn’t enough. How I’d gladly let his fire consume me.

  “Is it what you imagined it would be?” I whispered.

  “And more.” He swallowed, his breath hard. “Much more.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Keera

  Dinner was phenomenal. Nothing unexpected. Brandon was amazing with meat as he was amazi
ng with my lips. But it wasn’t only the food that made this a wonderful dinner. It was the way the three of them made me feel.

  We talked forever. Shared stories that brought us closer in a few hours more than many people had had the chance in a lifetime. And they made me feel like a princess. Beautiful and elegant and coveted. I’d never been happier in my life. It was everything I’d ever dreamt.

  Kyle left his seat and turned on the music on his phone. It rang through the whole cabin. Obviously, they had a whole sound system installed in every room. He stretched a hand at me. “Time to dance, beautiful.”

  “I’d love to, but I promised Zach to go dancing with him before. So he has my first dance, but I will dance with each one of you,” I said.

  Kyle bowed gracefully. “As you wish, my lady.”

  I laughed under my breath, my eyes sweeping to Zach. He was already on his feet.

  He rounded the table and took my hand. Then he guided me to the living room, which was more of a ballroom with a stunning fireplace now that the couches were moved.

  His eyes trailed on me, falling down my body and taking in the lacy bodice of my dress and the flow of my skirt.

  And then I saw him smile, for the first time ever. My heart throbbed. He looked identical to Brandon but felt so different. His hand found my waist and he led as we danced. If this could be called dancing. There wasn’t a time when we weren’t touching. Not a time when some part of him wasn’t entwined with some part of me. We kissed. This time he was showing me his hunger, his ferocity. This time he was telling me that was all he could wait.

  Yet, willingly, he delivered me to Kyle. He was the only one in a suit. Dashing, of course. We danced, moving with the music and on this new instinct that seemed to be floating between us. Somehow our mouths always found their way back to each other. And his charming smile and the cuteness of his chin dimple melted my heart. He paid attention to every detail of mine, dancing at my pace, sometimes letting me lead. Then he sealed our dance with a passionate kiss that left me lightheaded.