Ridley shivered. On second thought, it was better that it’d ended if just a taste was enough to have her second-guessing all the reasons she’d promised herself never to let Garrett touch her again.
Nothing had changed. Nothing but her. She wasn’t the starry-eyed teenager she’d been back then. She was a strong woman in her own right. Yeah, she apparently got off in a big way on submitting, but that didn’t mean she was a doormat. This had been a misstep—a big one—but it wasn’t the end of the world.
“We’re here.”
She paid the cabbie and headed up to her loft. The thought of going forward with seducing Will after tonight left something heavy and cold in her chest—and the fear that she wouldn’t react to him like she had to his twin. God, what if she was confusing her theoretical kinky tendencies with her desire for Garrett?
“I do not want Garrett,” she said to herself as she unlocked the door. “It was a mistake. The only reason I came so hard was because I thought he was Will.”
She dropped her purse and keys on the counter and crossed her arms over her chest, her words seeming to echo back and mock her in the empty loft. It didn’t matter. She’d get past this, just like she’d gotten past every other hurdle life saw fit to throw at her. That determination had been something that had paved the way for her being well on her way to being one of New York’s up-and-coming designers. Hell, she was a world away from most people her age—she owned her own business and had minimum debt despite graduating from one of the best fashion schools in the US.
This setback would be no different, no matter how much her body yearned for more. Her body wasn’t in charge. Her brain was.
Ridley laughed softly and stripped on her way to the shower. She could pep talk the hell out of herself, but she had a horrible track record when it came to this particular man. He was the only one who affected her on that level, who turned her from a smart woman into someone who was willing to beg for one more touch. It didn’t matter how wrong it was or how stupid it made her feel afterwards—Garrett was the kryptonite to her Superman.
But knowing that was half the battle.
He was leaving. He always left. So all she had to do was lie low and keep her head down until he was gone. Easy enough to do. Between her shop and the fast-approaching Fashion Week, she had more than enough to keep her occupied. And once he was gone, she could get back to making Will notice her as something other than his kid sister’s best friend.
Satisfied that she had a legitimate plan in place, she turned on the shower and stepped beneath the spray. It was shockingly cold, but she welcomed the assault to her senses, letting it purge away the memory of his hands on her. When it finally heated up, she scrubbed her skin until it was pink and tender, and then went to work on her hair, telling herself that she couldn’t still hear the blatant appreciation in his tone when he’d touched her. Or feel his fingers pushing into her, his wordless growl of appreciation rolling over her skin.
“Gah!” She ducked under the spray, swiping her hands over her face. Okay, so maybe she wasn’t purging the memory as easily as she’d thought.
It didn’t matter. He’d blow out of town in the next day or two, like he always did, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake, and she’d be free of him once again.
…
Garrett paced from one end of the kitchen to the other. It was his thirteenth time around and he was no more in control of himself now than he had been on the first lap. He hadn’t slept last night after he got home, and spending the day with his uncle and dad hadn’t distracted him nearly as much as he’d have liked—mostly because Rodger and his father couldn’t stop talking about her. She was always the second daughter in his family’s eyes, and they were so fucking proud of her for securing a spot in Fashion Week that they could just burst with it.
Hell, Garrett was proud of her, too. He made another lap. His phone lay on the kitchen island, a clear invitation to pick it up and call Ridley.
Damn it, no.
He was supposed to be staying away from her. It was a hell of a lot harder to do when he was already trying to orchestrate reasons for them to run into each other. He wanted to have his ropes on her again, to hear the desperation in her voice as she begged to come, to have her thinking of only him when she was naked and in his arms.
Which was the fucking problem. She didn’t want him. She wanted Will.
The door opened and the man in question came through. His eyebrows inched up as he took in Garrett. “What’s going on?”
Someone less aware might think it was some mystical twin bond clueing his brother into the mental gymnastics he was currently involved in, but the reality was that Will saw everything. Not to mention the fact he was in Will’s apartment right now, instead of his own, was enough to clue even an idiot to the fact something was wrong. His brother was a lot of things, but an idiot wasn’t even close to being on the list. No, he was the dependable one, the one who stayed, who stepped up and took care of everyone around him with a capability beyond his years. The one who didn’t bolt the second things got too tough to bear.