Holy crap. She hoped he hadn't searched her lingerie drawer. She kept something in there no one could ever know about. Certainly not him. Not the man she hated herself for fantasizing about. Even when she'd been married to his brother.
A blush seared her entire body and he happened to be observing her with that expression in his eyes—the one he'd had the first time they'd met, at her and Jared's engagement party. What was that look? It crackled with tension and electricity…a communication. A connection. Almost as if he wanted to pounce on her, but he always glanced away or walked off.
He wasn't doing that now. He practically pinned her to the spot. Hunger. That's what she saw in his eyes.
"Well…" She was the first to break eye contact. She didn't mean to notice the fly of his jeans, but she did in passing. Was that a protrusion? Did he have a hard-on?
Breathless excitement raced through her. She focused on the wide boards of the hardwood floor and tried to steady her breathing, her heart rate.
What the hell was wrong with her? An intruder was in her bedroom and all she could think about was what was in his jeans?
No guesswork there. She'd accidentally caught sight of his hard cock one time. It was large, thick and mouthwatering. No matter that one of her friends had been trying to swallow it at the time. She'd observed it and his entire naked, muscle-sculpted body in action. He made sex an art form. His hips thrusting powerfully, his cock gliding smoothly. She had fantasized about that memory too many times to count. Had put herself in her friend's place. Former friend.
Now, Emily was wet and tingly…and wearing no panties.
"If you'd like to wait downstairs…" She barely got the words out and they sounded breathy.
"You got it." He slowly turned and headed out the door, his black motorcycle boots clunking on the oak floor. His ass was damned sexy in those worn jeans. His too-long, tawny-blond hair, broad shoulders, and tattooed biceps stretching that black T-shirt—although the opposite of what she normally found attractive in a man—were delectable on Nick.
Once he left, she wanted to collapse. The tension that had filled the room in his presence overwhelmed her. And she couldn't believe how turned on she was, just from standing across the room from him.
Chapter Two
Nick paced across the oriental carpet in Emily's living room. He couldn't get the vivid image of her nude body out of his head. Damned if she wasn't luscious in every sense of the word. He'd love to lick and nibble every inch of her pale smooth skin. Her breasts were perfection, not too small, not too large. Perky with hard, suckable nipples.
A moan escaped, but he cleared his throat to cover it, glancing toward the stairs. She was still dressing, no doubt.
The memory of that sweet little patch of short, light brown hair and the slit peeping through tormented him. He wanted to spread her legs, then her sweet feminine lips. Damn, how he craved a taste of her. His jeans constricted his granite-hard cock, and he adjusted his fly.
Despite knowing he shouldn't, he'd lusted for her from the first moment he'd seen her. Considering she was his brother's soon-to-be-bride at the time, that probably made him a bastard. But what could he do about it, except not look at her and try to stay far away?
Three years ago, the first time her eyes had met his, a shock had zapped through him. Those first few minutes after their introduction were rife with chemistry, at least for him. He thought she'd sensed it, too. She'd had an expression, almost like a startled hunger, a recognition, a flare of unexpected and stunned attraction.
When he'd kissed her cheek in greeting and smelled her sweet lavender-vanilla scent, his erection had sprung to life. He didn't know what the hell was going on with his reaction to her, nor could he control it. He'd tried to avoid her.
When a bridesmaid who'd had a couple of glasses of champagne had come on to Nick, he'd gone for it. Cassie had taken him upstairs to an empty hotel suite—at least he'd thought it was empty. But he recalled with vivid clarity every moment of that night and how aroused he'd been.
Closing his eyes, he let the memories flood through him.
Maybe he was an ass for fantasizing about Emily while he ripped Cassie's clothes off, but he couldn't help himself.
While Cassie was giving him a blow-job, Nick noticed movement from the corner of his eye in the darkened bedroom area of the suite. Someone in a long white gown moved behind an open closet door. It had to be Emily. Was she watching? Powerful arousal burned through him.
He was going to explode in a matter of seconds. He urged Cassie up and headed her toward the couch. He wanted to be inside her now. Hell, why not be honest? He wanted to be inside Emily right now, but that was impossible. So Cassie would have to do…while Emily observed.