Brazen (Brazen #1)(38)

He looked strangely vulnerable, as if he was worried his confession would somehow lessen him in her eyes. She leaned forward, her heart in her throat. She laid her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him as tight as she could.

“I love you,” she whispered fiercely. “I’ve always loved you.”

He stroked her back and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, too, Jaz. I’m so glad you’re home.”

“Make love to me again. I’ve waited so long for you.”

His hands tightened on her. “We didn’t use protection, Jaz. I’m not worried about disease and shit, but I don’t want to get you pregnant. Not yet.”

She smiled and rose up to look at him. “I’m taking birth control.”

His eyes reflected relief. “Don’t get me wrong, Jaz. The idea of your belly swelling with my baby…that’s some seriously heady stuff, but you’re too young, and we’ve got too much to work out without adding to it.”

Her stomach turned over, and she wanted to burst with the joy she felt.

“You don’t think you’re too old for me anymore?” she asked mischievously.

“Old? Hell, I’m only six years older than you. That doesn’t make me ancient, I hope.”

She leaned down to kiss him. “It makes you perfect.”

Chapter Eighteen

Seth let himself in the dark house and closed the door behind him. He was careful not to wake anyone as he climbed the stairs toward his room.

He stopped by Zane’s room, intending to talk to his brother, but he found it empty, the bed not yet slept in. He frowned as he turned to stare in the direction of Jasmine’s closed door.

He shook his head at his paranoia. He’d been wrong before about Zane’s involvement with Jasmine. Yet, he found himself walking down the hall, pausing outside her room.

Quietly and carefully, he turned the knob, not wanting to wake her up if she was asleep. He cracked the door and saw soft light from a bedside lamp. He pushed an inch more and froze when he saw Zane’s naked body between Jasmine’s legs. He was arching into her, and Seth could hear her soft moans of pleasure.

He should turn away, but he was riveted by the scene. He felt like a seedy voyeur. Actually, he felt a lot of things. Anger, betrayal, and arousal.

To his never-ending shame, what he really wanted to do was join them. Slide his c**k into her luscious mouth while Zane took her from behind.

He closed his eyes against the erotic image of Jasmine between them. A place he’d sworn she’d never be. Not her. Never her. She wasn’t a cheap plaything for his and Zane’s amusement.

His fingers tight around the knob, he backed away from the alluring sight before him. He shut the door, careful not to make a sound. As he started back down the hall, he cursed the fact that, for all practical purposes, he’d become a peeping Tom in his own home.

As soon as he entered his bedroom, he let the anger that had crept over him take firmer hold. How could she have crawled from his bed to his brother’s? She’d been a virgin, and yet she was acting little better than a whore.

He cringed even as the word crossed his mind. Jasmine was no whore. He had no right to judge her. But the fact remained that she’d gone straight from his bed to Zane’s. What game was she playing?

Or maybe he’d hurt her so much that she’d found solace in a more willing partner. He’d acted badly, ignored her then taken her rough and hard, no way for him to ever treat her. In that light he certainly couldn’t blame her for seeking tenderness elsewhere.

His head ached, but his thoughts returned repeatedly to what he knew was taking place just down the hall. How could he sleep when Zane was making Jasmine his a room away?

With an irritated growl, he yanked his door open and headed back downstairs. He should have done what he’d originally planned and just gotten a hotel in town. Then he would have never come home to see Zane between Jasmine’s legs and in her arms. A place that, if he would admit it, he very much wanted to be.

* * *

Before she’d drifted off to sleep the night before, Jasmine had been afraid that when she woke the next morning, Zane would be gone. But his arms were wound tightly around her, and her nose was pressed to his hard chest.

She lay there for several minutes soaking it in. It was almost too much to comprehend. What she’d wanted for so long, had ached for the last six years, was finally hers.

For the first time since her arrival, she felt as though she’d truly come home.

He stirred against her, and his hands trailed through her hair. She snuggled further into him, not wanting the moment to end.

“Good morning,” he murmured.

She pulled her head back and kissed him. “I love you.” She couldn’t help but say it again. She wanted to say it over and over and hear him say it in return. It was what she’d wanted to hear forever, it seemed.

“I love you, too, Jaz. Believe that, okay?”

She smiled. He seemed to know she needed reassurance.

He touched her cheek and stroked his fingers over her jaw repeatedly. “How do you plan to lay this out to Seth?”

She sucked in her breath. “I don’t know,” she said in a low voice. “He was so angry with me after what happened the other night.”

Zane looked curiously at her. “What exactly did you do?”