She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never done it before. It just felt right.”
All at once, his good mood vanished as he wondered what moves she had done before with other men that she hadn’t opted to try out on him. Like Liam. Was he better in bed than his brother? Worse? About the same? And yeah, he recognized that the burn in his gut was pure jealousy.
Totally unable to help himself, he smiled without humor and rolled her off him casually, as if it were no big deal, but he didn’t really want her close to him right then. “It was great. Perfect. Like you’d practiced it a lot.”
What an ass he was being. But the thought of Grace with another man, some guy’s mitts on her, touching her, put him over the edge. Especially since one of those Neanderthals had been his brother.
She quirked a brow. “Really? You’re not just humoring me?”
The pleased note in her voice didn’t improve his mood. What, it was a compliment to be well-practiced in bed?
“Oh, no,” he said silkily. “You’ve got the moves, sweetheart. The men must line up into the next county to get in on that.”
Not only was he jealous, he was acting as if he’d been a choirboy for the past ten years when there was nothing further from the truth. He’d been the king of one-night stands because that was all he could do. It wasn’t what he’d wanted or what he’d envisioned for himself, but the reason he wasn’t able to move on and find someone to settle down with was sitting in his bed smiling at him as if this was all a big joke.
But as always, he wasn’t going to say what was really on his mind. That was how you got hurt, by exposing your unguarded soft places.
And then she laughed. “Oh, yeah. They line up, all right. As long as we’re having confession time, I have one of my own.”
He needed a drink first. A row of shots would be preferable. But it was—he scowled at the clock—barely 6:00 a.m., and the babies were going to wake up any second, demanding their breakfast. “We don’t have to do this, Grace.”
“No, I want to,” she insisted. “You told me about your leg, which was clearly hard for you. I think this is just as important for you to know. I’m not practiced. At all. It’s kind of funny you’d say that actually, since you’re the last man I slept with.”
Shyly, she peeked at him from under lowered lashes as she let that register.
He sat up so fast, his head cracked against the headboard. “You...what?”
She hadn’t been with anyone since him? Since ten years ago? At all?
Grace nodded. “I guess you could say you ruined me for other men. But that’s not the only reason. I just never found one I thought measured up.”
To him. She’d never found another man she’d thought was good enough. Had he been working himself up for no reason?
Grace had never been with another man. She’d been a virgin when they met. Kyle Wade was Grace’s only lover. The thought choked him up in a wholly unexpected way.
And then his brain latched on to the idea of Grace refusing suitors over the years and shoved it under the lens of what he knew to be the truth. His mood turned dangerously sharp and ugly again. “Well, now. That’s a high compliment. If it’s true.”
Confusion crept across her expression. “Why would I lie?”
“Good question. One I’d like the answer to, as well.” He crossed his arms over his thundering heart. “Maybe you could explain how it’s possible that you’ve never been with another man, yet I practically caught you in the act with one. Liam.”
Just spitting his name out cost Kyle. His throat tightened and threatened to close off entirely, which would be great because then he couldn’t throw up.
“Oh, Kyle.” She actually smiled as she tenderly cupped his face. “You’ve certainly taken your time circling around back to that. Nothing happened with Liam. I didn’t think you’d even noticed.”
“You didn’t...” He couldn’t even finish that sentence and jerked away from her touch. “His hands were all over you. Don’t tell me nothing happened.”
“First of all, we were broken up at the time,” she reminded him. “Secondly, it was a setup, honey. I wanted to get your attention, and honestly, I was pretty devastated it didn’t work. Liam was a good sport about it, though. I’ve always appreciated that he was willing to help.”
Kyle’s vision went black and then red, and he squeezed his eyes shut as he came perilously close to passing out for the first time in his life. Breathe. And again. Ruthlessly, he got himself back under control.