Brazen (Brazen #1)(32)

“It’s all right,” she said.

“No, it’s not goddamn all right.”

She lay there, his c**k stretching her tissues painfully. There wasn’t a part of her body that didn’t feel him. It was a lot better when they were still in the foreplay stage.

Finally in Seth’s bed, in his arms, and all she could do was think about how miserable she was. Tears pricked her eyelids and threatened to spill over the rims.

Seth swore softly and lowered his forehead to hers. He tenderly kissed away the tears that trickled down her cheeks. Then he slowly eased his c**k out of her aching pu**y. She flinched when he pulled free and rolled away.

He got up and strode to his dresser. Yanking out a pair of shorts, he pulled them on and looked back at her. “I’ll be right back, don’t move.”

She watched as he disappeared from the bedroom then she closed her eyes as more tears spilled down her cheeks. It wasn’t supposed to have hurt so damn much. In her mind, she’d figured he wouldn’t even realize she was a virgin, and he probably wouldn’t have if she hadn’t made such a scene.

Seth returned a few seconds later, and she wouldn’t look at him as he walked back over to the bed. She gasped in surprise when he put a cool washcloth between her legs and tenderly cleaned her flesh.

He reached out his fingers, slid them underneath her chin and forced her to look at him.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

She swallowed and nodded.

“I’m sorry, Jasmine.”

The anger in his voice gave her pause. She stared up at him, trying to figure out who he was angry with.

“I should have told you,” she said in a low voice.

“Yes, you should have,” he agreed. “But more than that, I never should have damn well touched you.” He paused and looked away briefly before returning his gaze to her. “Damn it, Jasmine, I thought you had slept with Zane.”

Her eyes widened. “He told you that?”

Seth frowned. “Of course not. Zane wouldn’t talk about you like that.”

“Then where would you get that idea?”

“I saw you. In bed with Zane. Both of you were naked and wrapped tight around each other. What was I supposed to think?”

Heat bloomed in Jasmine’s cheeks. She wasn’t supposed to feel guilty. In fact, she needed to be upfront about the fact that she loved both of the brothers. Otherwise how would she have a chance of making the relationship work?

Seth’s jaw was drawn in an angry line. “What the hell were you trying to prove, Jasmine? What’s gotten into you?”

Her mouth dropped open. “Why are you so angry, Seth? What does it look I was trying to do? I was trying to get you to see me as something more than the pathetic little girl you’ve been looking after. I wanted you to see me as a woman. As someone you might care for, damn it.”

“It’s obvious you’re not a little girl anymore,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Do I never have a chance at making you care for me, Seth?”

He looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I love you. I’ve always loved you. I came back because I wanted the chance to make you love me.”

Her announcement hung in the air as shocked silence followed. He didn’t look happy with her declaration. If anything, he looked even more pissed.

She wished she could call back the words. He wasn’t ready to hear them, and she hadn’t been ready to say them. Not yet. She shrugged indifferently, trying to shield herself from the hurt crowding her chest. “We had sex, Seth. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

He stood, seething. He stared at her, a storm cloud gathering in his eyes. “No big deal, Jasmine? If it was no big deal then why did you save yourself all these years? I had no right to touch you. Not after…”

“Not after what?” Jasmine asked quietly.

Guilt and self-loathing shone in his expression. “I swore I’d never touch you after that night in Houston. Swore you’d never feel like you had to offer your body to me for payment or repayment. You offered yourself to me for sex when you were sixteen, something no girl should ever have to do. I refused then, but I still took you up on that offer. Just six years later. What kind of a man does that make me?”

He turned away, and she gasped in shocked anger. He started to walk out. Her words stopped him for a moment.

“If you can’t tell the difference between the girl I was then, and the woman I am now… If you can’t tell the difference between a girl offering herself to you out of desperation and a woman giving herself to you because she loves you, then there’s not much I can say, is there?”

He stiffened, his back to her. His fingers curled into balls at his sides, and then he walked out of the bedroom, leaving her there to stare after him.

Chapter Fifteen

Jaz looked sad, a sight that didn’t sit well with Zane at all. Her beautiful eyes were shadowed and reserved, not at all expressive and vibrant like they usually were.

He watched her eat breakfast and nod occasionally at what Carmen was chattering about. Every once in a while Carmen would stop and hug Jaz to her as if she, too, could see how unhappy Jaz appeared.

This thing between them had gone on long enough. Screw Seth and screw acting like a dickhead. He didn’t want to distance himself from Jaz. He’d spent the last few days analyzing his feelings, analyzing goddamn everything, and enough was enough. The last thing he wanted to do was drive Jaz away or make her unhappy.