No Exchanges, No Returns

by Laurie Kellogg

  “You wouldn’t say that if you’d ever been to their house—or should I call it The Shrine.”

  His parents’ living room was wall-to-wall James. There wasn’t a square foot that didn’t have one of his brother’s pictures, diplomas, achievement awards, or trophies.

  “I can’t even begin to imagine the grief your parents must’ve felt losing your brother. Just because they’ve had trouble letting go of him doesn’t mean they’d feel any less heartache if they lost you.”

  Intellectually, he could accept everything Casey said. Despite that it felt good to hear her words, they failed to erase twenty-one years of feeling second-best and being consumed with guilt over getting everything he should’ve shared with his brother. The knowledge he wouldn’t have half of what he had if not for his brother’s death made it hard to enjoy the advantages his income afforded him.

  He sank into the recliner. “Of course my mom and dad would be heartbroken. I’m all they have left.”

  Dropping onto the arm of his chair, she combed her fingers through his hair. “Listen, I know how lousy the green-eyed monster makes me feel about myself. And my sister’s still alive. I can’t fathom how your jealousy must make you feel.”

  “I was never jealous of James,” he denied, fury burning in his gut. “I idolized him.”

  As he moved to stand, she slid down into his lap, preventing him from rising. “Maybe when he was alive.” She twined her arms around his neck, and every thought of escaping her fled. “But since his death, I’m sure you’ve felt plenty of resentment.”

  “Not toward him.”

  “Get real, David.” She held his chin and forced him to look her in the eye. “As a doctor, you’ve taken enough classes on death and bereavement to know anger is part of the grieving process. If you loved James as much as you claim, you were no doubt pissed at him for dying. And bitter that you couldn’t begin to fill the void he left in your parents’ lives.”

  It was unnerving how she could see straight into his soul. She should’ve been a damn shrink instead of a preschool teacher.

  He jerked his chin out of her grasp. “I really don’t wanna talk about this anymore.”

  “Tough. I do.” She turned his face back toward her, shifting her weight and thereby grinding her hip against his groin. “Sometimes I’m furious with my mother for leaving me to grow up without her. Then I’m ashamed, because I know I was partly responsible for her death.”

  “How? Brianna was the one who—”

  “I know. But she asked me to go fill the pail with water, and I refused. I was sick of doing everything for Brianna, so I told her to go herself. The thing is, if I’d done it, I might have held the bucket tighter. When I saw her drop the pail, I encouraged her to disobey our mom and run into the water after it. At the very least, I should’ve been the one with the broken leg.”

  Obviously Casey was carrying around a little guilt of her own. It was probably the last time she’d ever said NO to anyone.

  “But even though I hold some of the blame, I’m still angry that my mom isn’t here to be a grandmother to our baby. So don’t tell me you’re not mad at James for dying or the fact that our child will never know his uncle.”

  Casey was like a sadistic dentist, relentlessly poking and probing until she found a sore spot to drill. Strangely enough, her intimate analysis roused emotions that confused the hell out of him. What she made him feel shoved everything he’d ever felt about his brother from his thoughts. It was time to move on to something more exciting than her game of Crawl into David’s Head.

  “Now that you’ve gotten that off your chest, can we drop this conversation?” He’d much rather discuss the hard-on she’d raised with her wiggling.

  “No.”

  Damn, she was persistent.

  “You know, David, when you asked me to share the house with you, we joked about me making you a cute little dress so my sister might see you differently. Your refusal to open up is exactly the kind of thing that made her feel like the two of you had nothing in common. She needed you to talk to her—to tell her how you felt.”

  Casey’s badgering was starting to make him appreciate how little poking and prodding Brianna had done. Maybe they’d been too much alike—neither of them had really wanted to address the important issues in their relationship.

  “Why can’t you admit you begrudge all the endless grieving your parents have done for your brother?” When he still didn’t answer, Casey released an exasperated huff. “Would it kill you to acknowledge that it makes you feel guilty and petty and lower than mold?”

  “Fine, damn it! Since you refuse to let it go, I admit it. I hate that James died and left me to fill the expectations my parents once had for him. I’m tired of bustin’ my ass to be the man he would’ve been and never quite measuring up. Are you happy now?”

  Her mouth widened into a beaming smile. “I will be if you answer one more little question.”

  He shifted his hips beneath her and shivered at the pleasure that shot through him. The only question he wanted to hear roll off her lips at this second was will you make love to me again?

  “You say you idolized James,” she continued, seeming oblivious to the mounting need David had for her. “If you saw him as capable of walking on water, are you sure it’s your parents’ expectations you’ve been trying to fill, and not your own?”

  An excellent question. Definitely worth pondering....later.

  He cupped her round bottom with one hand and her breast in the other. “There’re only two things I’m thinking about filling, right now,” he whispered, brushing his thumb over her swollen nipple. “That’s you and your expectations.”

  ~*~

  Casey gasped when David’s mouth covered hers, and his tongue took advantage of her parted lips. Clearly his urgent desire was a way to avoid talking about his feelings.

  “I don’t have any expectations,” she murmured.

  He bent her back over his arm and kissed his way down her neck. “Don’t kid yourself, Tinkerbelle. A woman doesn’t sit in a man’s lap if she doesn’t want something from him. I’m not only gonna fill your expectations, I plan to exceed them.”

  Every nerve in her tingled with anticipation. He slid his hand under her top and tweaked her nipple through her thin tricot bra.

  He was right. She probably had been unconsciously orchestrating this. “No,” she lied. “I just wanted to be closer to you. To comfort—”

  He silenced her with a kiss, and the next thing she knew, he was carrying her up the back staircase.

  “I’ll let you comfort me all night if you like,” he whispered roughly. “But I refuse to allow you to seduce me into taking you like some savage on the kitchen counter again.”

  He crossed the gallery overlooking the family room and strode down the second floor hallway. At the end, he shoved the master suite’s door open with his foot.

  “David, honest”—she squirmed in his arms—“I really wasn’t trying to seduce you.” At least not consciously.

  He chuckled as he deposited her on the king-size bed. “You don’t have to try, Tinkerbelle. All you have to do is exist.”

  Her breath caught in her chest as she trembled, watching him drag his shirt over his head and kick off his loafers. When he finished shucking his trousers and socks, he grabbed the waistband on her white shorts and peeled them and her panties off in one efficient motion.

  She should stop him. Sleeping with David again would only complicate an already insane situation. His stomach rumbled loudly, reminding her of the dinner she’d made for him.

  “Wait.” She sat up. “The chicken will be cremated if I don’t go take it out of the oven.”

  “Forget it. We’ll hold a wake for it later.” He dragged her tank top over her head and, with a deft flick of his fingers, released the front clasp on her bra. Her bared breasts spilled into his palms. Slowly, he crawled over her.

  “Tell me you don’t want this as much as I do,” he whispered, licking each of her
nipples. “I’ll quit right now, and we’ll go eat dinner.”

  She couldn’t think, much less speak, while he teased her, making her ache for him to suck her breasts. Her pregnancy had made her nipples so sensitive, each lap of his tongue threatened to shatter her into a million pieces.

  If she had a scrap of sense, she would pray for the strength to resist this man. To turn away from temptation. Except, she didn’t want to be strong. She didn’t want to resist.

  All she cared about was having David’s mouth and talented hands on her, squeezing and stroking her body....making her come. No other man had ever excited her this much.

  “Oh, yessss!” she shrieked as he pinched both her peaks, sending her into orbit. She clutched at his shoulders, shuddering in ecstasy.

  “Damn.” He drew back slightly and stared down at her, his mouth agape for a second. “You came already from just a little tittie-teasing? Are you the same woman who up until a few days ago had never—”

  “I’m sorry.” She gasped. “It was just a little orga—”

  “Jeez, don’t apologize.” He laughed.

  His muscles rippled beneath her palms as she caressed his bronzed back and slid her hands down the rear of his boxers. She clutched his tight haunches and pulled him closer.

  Caught in a vortex of sensation, she moaned as his mouth skimmed over her body, sucking, nipping, slowly licking her into an even greater frenzy of need.

  He shoved his underwear down and kicked it away. For several moments, he knelt on the mattress and stared down at her naked body, splaying his hands over her swollen belly.

  “You look so incredibly beautiful.” He traced his index finger around one of her nipples, making her shiver, and brushed it back and forth over its stiff tip while studying her face.

  Her back arched in response, thrusting her breasts upward while his other hand slid between her legs and stroked her slick heat. She writhed in ecstasy. A wicked smile curled his mouth while he watched her intense excitement.

  In retaliation, she reached out one finger and spread a glistening drop of semen over the tip of his erection and chuckled when a primitive guttural sound ripped from his chest.

  She rolled to her side and wiggled her eyebrows at him. “I can play, too.”

  To her immense satisfaction, his back bowed as he rose fully to his knees, his thick manhood jutting at her and his eyes rolling back in his head.

  She lay there entranced by the power she held over him, stroking and caressing him while his fingers continued teasing her liquid center.

  “Casey,” he groaned, his stiff flesh straining into her palm. “You’re killing me, sweetheart.”

  She propped herself on one elbow and cupped the weight of him in her hand. “That wasn’t my intent,” she whispered, flicking her tongue over his engorged flesh. She grinned at him, pleased to find his gaze riveted on her mouth pleasing him.

  “I’m sort of new at this,” she murmured, “so you’ll have to tell me if I’m doing it wrong. I want to exceed your expectations, too.”

  “You already have,” he rasped, his features twisting in a tortured expression as she slid her lips down him.

  All at once, he jerked away from her and dropped to his back on the bed. “I’m sorry. I need you right now.” He pulled her up to straddle him. “You’ll be more comfortable on top.”

  It was the first time she’d ever been in control during sex. She bit her lip and confessed, “I’ve never....I’m not sure I’ll be any good at—”

  “Do whatever feels good to you.” He cupped her breasts in his hands and smiled, obviously pleased by her naïveté. “Enjoy yourself.”

  Feeling awkward, she tentatively eased down on his rigid length.

  The long moan of delight that seeped out of her sounded downright obscene. She closed her eyes and reveled in the way he filled her so completely. He was so deep inside her—further than any man had ever been before.

  She lifted her lashes and gasped at the pained look on his face as he gazed up at her, kneading her breasts.

  “Oh, David, I’m sorry. Am I hurting you?”

  His chest shook with amusement. “Oh, yeah, Tinkerbelle. You broke it right in half. It’ll never be the same.”

  She slapped his chest. “Don’t laugh at me.”

  “I’m not. I swear. You just never cease to amaze me. You’re so damned responsive. If you’ll move a little, everything will be perfect.”

  He grabbed her hips and pumped her up and down on himself, until she caught the rhythm. When his hands returned to fondling her breasts, she arched her back, pushing them fully into his palms.

  The muscles in his hard abdomen knotted beneath her hands as she stroked his torso and road him faster and faster. He continued squeezing her nipples harder each time she rose up and dropped back down on him.

  The more frantic her ride became, the more agonized his face looked. His fingers’ insistent plucking and his excited panting told her it was the very best kind of torture.

  “Please, whatever you do, baby, don’t stop,” he pleaded in a hoarse whisper.

  Shifting her weight back slightly, she found just the right angle and a spear of pleasure shot through her. “Oh, yessss!”

  His hands slid down to her waist and urged her on, his hips bucking in counterpoint to her rocking. He thrust upward several times more before groaning his pleasure.

  She collapsed on him, and his arms snaked around her, squeezing her tightly. For several heavenly minutes, they lay locked in a sweaty embrace, panting in unison while he gently stroked her back.

  They both recoiled as the phone rang on the night table. She had no choice but to answer since it could be David’s service calling with an emergency. She reached over and grabbed the receiver, scrambling off him.

  A guilty flush warmed her from head to toe at the sound of her sister’s voice. She scooted under the covers, suddenly self-conscious of her naked state. “Hey, Brie.”

  “How’re you feeling?” Brianna asked.

  Like a thief caught on a surveillance video.

  Physically, her overheated body hummed with satisfaction. She’d never felt more vital and alive. But inside....

  Inside, her heart felt as if it had flash frozen into a chunk of ice and had ceased to beat. She glanced at the sheepish look on David’s face. He rolled out of bed and pulled on his shorts and pants.

  The chill seeped through the rest of her.

  Clearly, he didn’t want his ex-wife—the woman he loved—knowing he’d had sex with Casey. She couldn’t allow herself to imagine their lovemaking had been anything but physical for him. Otherwise, she’d begin to hope he was falling for her the way she’d prayed he would before he met Brianna. Casey couldn’t bear the pain of that disappointment again.

  “Case, are you there?” Brianna asked.

  “Yeah, I’m here.” Her voice warbled.

  “Are you okay? You sound really funny. Like maybe....” Silence hung between them for a second. “Uh, did I call at a bad time?”

  The worst.

  “No,” Casey lied, turning her back to David. “I’m just a little distracted.”

  He strolled around the bed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll go down and take the chicken out of the oven.”

  She grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Did you want to talk to David?”

  “No, silly.” Brianna chuckled. “I called to find out how you’re doing. It’s been forever since I spoke to you.”

  Casey missed her sister like crazy. She’d always told Brie everything. She wanted to be able to confide to her all that she was feeling, but David being Brianna’s ex made that impossible. Casey had never felt so awkward with her twin before.

  “I hope David’s spoiling you rotten,” Brie continued.

  Releasing his arm, Casey smiled up at him and shook her head. “He’s been wonderful. He bought the baby a fully loaded Lexus SUV today.”

  “I’m going downstairs. Tell your sister I said hi.” He turned and promp
tly escaped from the room.

  “That sounds like something he’d do.” Brianna laughed.

  Casey flipped back the blankets, found her underpants, and stepped into them. “The big oaf is clueless about how buying me a luxury vehicle will look to the rest of the world. Everyone at the hospital already thinks you divorced him because we were having some torrid affair, and I got pregnant.”

  “Oh, Casey, I’m sorry.” Brianna sighed. “I never gave any thought to what strangers would think.”

  “Not just strangers,” Casey said, pulling on her shorts. “His mother thinks I’m a home wrecker, too.”

  “What? Why on earth would Judy think something like that?” Brianna asked. “Don’t worry. I’ll call her this week and put her straight.”

  And his mom would tell Brianna exactly why she felt the way she did about Casey.

  “No! Please don’t. Let me work things out on my own.”

  She never should’ve mentioned David’s mother.

  “Are you sure?” Brianna asked. “If nothing else, Judy should know her son better than that. It’s utterly ridiculous for her to think the two of you were sleeping together.”

  Casey studied her tousled hair, flushed cheeks, and puffy lips in the dresser mirror.

  Apparently, not all that ridiculous. Then again, David and she hadn’t actually done any sleeping.

  ~*~

  Brianna hung up the phone, shaking. She’d given a lot of thought to what Marc had said the evening before about the fallout she could expect after her sister and ex-husband learned about her illness. If the two of them became romantically involved, David could easily end up torn between loving both of them.

  What a mess. She’d called to confess everything tonight before anything happened between Casey and David, but the guilty note in her twin’s breathless voice told Brianna she was probably too late.

  The fact she’d overheard David say he was going downstairs indicated they had to have been together upstairs in one of the bedrooms.

  There was only one reason she could think of that would leave her sister gasping in a bedroom with David.

  Brianna swiped at the tears streaming down her cheeks, imagining the two of them tangled in the sheets together at only seven o’clock in the evening.