Ruined (The Eternal Balance #1)(3)
I was too picky, according to Aunt Kelly. But that wasn’t it. I knew exactly what I wanted. Screaming need and desperate kisses so hot, they’d melt the sun. Something that had slipped through my fingers… A fire I’d been chasing without success ever since. “But so not the point.”
“I know I have a certain…reputation. But it’s not like I’m proposing marriage.” He winked. “Even though that would make Kelly happy…”
I couldn’t believe we were having this conversation. Out loud. He was right, though. My aunt would shit bricks of happy, since she’d been shoving us together for years, but ick. He was like a brother. “Don’t you think it’d be a little weird? Us? Together?”
“Is this because of my brother?”
Silence. I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. The subject of the other Flynn was off-limits. An unspoken rule, and I intended to keep it that way.
Chase shook his head and stuffed another forkful of pie into his mouth. His eyes all but rolled back as he swallowed. “He made his choice and he has to live with it. I don’t.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. He had to be screwing with me.
“What do you say? Interested in giving it a try? No expectations. No pressure. Maybe just one little kiss…”
It was a thought I’d entertained deep in the never-in-a-million-freaking-years part of my brain more than a few times but had never considered actually acting on. Chase was one of my best friends, and yes, he was hot as hell, but not in an I-want-to-hook-up-with-him kind of way. The attraction was less about how he looked and more about who he looked like. His twin brother, Jax…
“I—”
Standing, he leaned across the table, and his cologne drifted pleasantly through the air. I’d been with him when he bought it for the first time. Some expensive thing imported from Italy in a tiny bottle that cost more than my monthly rent. Eyes darting to the door again, his lips bloomed into a wicked smile. “Kiss me, Samantha.”
I have no idea what possessed me to actually do it, but I kissed him. When our lips met, the sensation caught me off guard. His tongue slipped across my bottom lip, teasing for just a moment before capturing it between his, and my pulse quickened. He seemed eager to show me what I’d be missing if I turned him down, and when he deepened the kiss, my insides ignited.
But not because I was kissing Chase.
I couldn’t stop myself from imagining it was Jax’s insistent lips doing the nipping, his name a desperate plea falling from my lips. Any minute now, he’d take mercy on me, sweep me into his arms, and…
That’s when reality crashed back like a semi through a china shop. Holy shit! I’d just used Chase as a fluffer in my own low-budget porno.
Slowly I opened my eyes, guilty heat rushing over my warm cheeks at the thought of Chase misinterpreting my enthusiasm, but it was a different gaze that gave me pause.
A towering figure stood in the doorway, his large frame blotting out the sun. With a mop of dark, unruly hair and eyes the exact shade of gray that graced the skies right before a violent storm decimated the city, he wore a long leather trench coat and an expression that was both fire and ice at the same time.
His eyes met mine, and the top right-hand corner of his lip hitched. Just a hair. I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t staring. Which I was. How could I not? The newcomer’s presence was one that demanded attention. Painfully beautiful, yet deadly. Like the poison apple from the Garden of Eden. Sinful and seductive, yet eternally damning.
I pulled away and blinked twice, sure his appearance was nothing more than imagination. Maybe even an apparition of guilt. But he was still there. Still staring. He looked rough, like he’d been to hell and back. There was a gleam of something close to madness in his eyes, and for an insane moment, I almost slipped from the booth and went to him. “Jax…”
Identical twins, yet as different as oil and vinegar. Chase kept his face cleanly shaven and his hair trimmed short, while had Jax let his grow out. It was long enough that the tips of his bangs curled slightly, giving them a sexy, wild look. But it was their expressions that defined the difference between them. Chase was always smiling. There was something warm and welcoming about his expression that just drew people to him. Jax’s expression on the other hand, screamed keep the f*ck away.
Kind of like the way he looked right now.
Chase pushed forward again, lips tickling the tip of my chin. “Why are we talking about him?”
I pushed him back to his seat and nodded to the right where the tall, dark figure loomed, cloaked in a leather trench coat and black skullcap. “Because he’s here.”
Chase swiveled and met his carbon copy with a shit-eating grin. With a nod and an all-too-cocky smile, he said, “Big brother. When did you get back to town?”
Jax lunged forward and knocked him out cold.
Chapter Three
Jax
After Chase hit the floor, I made for another go, but Sam jumped between us. She checked on my brother, then reluctantly agreed to deliver me to Rick’s where I couldn’t do any more damage.
“Still dealing with that impulse control issue, huh?” she said, starting the engine with a flick of her wrist and a yawn—the third one since we’d gotten into her car. There were dark circles under her eyes, and I couldn’t help wondering how she’d been spending her nights.