Bedding the Wrong Brother(11)

“I'll ask again. Why me?”

“Because I trust you.”

“And?”

“Because you'll be nice. During. And afterward. At least, I thought you would. Now I'm not so sure,” she said pointedly.

“Sex with me isn't nice, Melina. Sex done right isn't nice at all.”

She swallowed hard. It had suddenly gotten hot in here. “So show me.”

“What if I say no?”

“Then I'll find someone else.”

“Rhys?”

“Argh! What is your obsession with your brother? Is this some kind of weird kinky twin thing? Do you want me to say his name when we're doing it?”


“No,” he said, obviously struggling for patience. “I want you to tell me who you'll go to if I say no.”

She shrugged.

“What's that mean? You'd just do it with some stranger?”

“Haven't you?”

Fascinated, she watched him turn red. “We're not talking about me. And you're talking about this as if it's one of your damn experiments. You can't just decide you want to be a sex diva and ask me to teach you how, Melina.”

“Actually, we are talking about you. And that's exactly what I'm asking for.”





Chapter Three





Dalton's Magic Rule # 4: Practice with the right tools.



Overnight bag with toiletries. Check.

Sexy underwear. Check.

Contraception. Check.

Hotel room.

Duh.

Melina stared at the three brass numbers affixed to Max's hotel room door. They hadn't changed in the five minutes she'd been standing there looking at them. She had the right room. She had everything she needed. Let the sex education begin.

Right?

Biting her lip, she closed her eyes and tried to talk herself into sticking the key card into the little slot. Inserting part A into part B had never been her problem. It's what happened afterward that she clearly lacked skill in.

Still, she hesitated.

Something about this felt wrong.

Could she really get naked with Max? Touch him? Let him touch her?

The image of him looming over her in bed, surrounding her with warm skin and hard muscles, certainly wasn't unappealing, but it wasn't exactly pulling her tractor either.

Maybe there really was something wrong with her.

“Face it, Melina,” Brian had said to her after she'd found him in bed with one of his veterinary residents. “A man needs more than a stiff board underneath him when he wants to screw. Doesn’t matter how well-cushioned it is. You show more passion for the bugs in your lab than you do me. Take my advice. Get some practice in before you try to nab a guy again.”

She hadn't broken down at the accusation. In fact, she'd handled herself like the lady she was, even letting him take the dog they'd adopted from the pound a year before. Then she'd called Lucy and Grace, and the three of them had thrown darts at Brian's pictures while drinking sangria. Still, the knowledge that what she and Brian had been doing was “screwing” when she'd thought they'd been making love had haunted her for days.

And the worst part was, he'd been right. In previous relationships, she'd tried to be an active lover, only to score low when it came to evaluations. With Brian, she'd been content to let him take the lead, thinking that's what he wanted. Apparently, screwing was more complicated than she'd thought, and like it or not, she was going to get the practice that Brian had so cruelly suggested.

In scientific terms, it simply made sense.

Lady in public. Whore in the bedroom. She could do that, right?

Five minutes later, still standing in the same location, she thought, apparently not.

She leaned her forehead on the door and thumped it twice. The second time, not so gently.

What are you waiting for?

Max was gorgeous. Sexy. He cared about her. Plus, she'd sworn him to secrecy. Other than Lucy and Grace, who'd expect a full report, no one would know about this but the two of them. And if he couldn't bring out her inner slut, who could?

Rhys's name popped into her head.

Just like that, the image of her and Max morphed into her and Rhys. Of course, the picture didn't change all that much given they were twins, but her reaction to it did. It was as if it had been two-dimensional before but suddenly had turned real. She could feel the heat of Rhys's bare skin, see the sweat dotting his forehead, and hear his groans of pleasure as he moved against her. Inside her.