Neighbors with Benefits (Anderson Brothers, #2)(34)

“I’d like to hear you do that for real.”

“It’s not going to happen.”

“So you’ve said. But your fiancé would know what sounds you make.” He paused for a moment, then added, “Gray.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“You’re wearing the silver-gray bra and panties.”

Too stunned to speak, she simply stared at his face and fought the urge to look down and see if perhaps the straps were showing or something.

“As your fiancé, I would know this. And I’m right, am I not?”

“How did you guess that?” She’d changed clothes while he was packing and she packed all her things after that, while he did some stuff on his computer in another room.

Her heart cranked up a notch as a knowing grin crossed his face, punctuated by dimples.

“No guessing to it. The gray bra is sheerest.” He paused for a moment. “Look down, Mia.”

She did. Her nipples were obvious points jutting beneath the soft layer of cashmere. His casual, sexy banter had turned her on. Hell, everything about him turned her on, which was why this entire trip was a horrible idea. She’d fallen hard for this guy, and she was going to pay the price. The whole freaking weekend was going to be a big no, when all she wanted to do was scream yes, just like her body was doing at that moment. But this was one-sided, and she knew it.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Stop it.”

“Okay. But we both know you don’t really want me to.” He leaned forward again. “You like it. And you’d like what I’d do to you if you’d let me touch you.”

“I can’t. I told you why.”

He relaxed against the soft black leather seat and simply stared at her. He had a pleasant expression—albeit determined. It was clear he wasn’t giving up, and honestly, he was right. She loved his flirting. Her fear was that he was so good at it she’d relent and end up with a broken heart…again. To him, this was nothing but a game—another deal to close. To her, it was so much more than that.

Two could play at this, though. “Black boxer briefs.”

He barked out a laugh and Clancy opened his eyes. “Someone’s been snooping.”

Of course she had. Black boxer briefs were all he wore, evidently. No variation in color or style. Some even new in the package. They were perfectly folded and stored right under his dress sock drawer that had individual compartments for each set of socks that were rolled up clockwise with the lightest being on the left, and graduating to the darkest pairs on the right.

In all seriousness, they did need to know each other better to pull this off. Her friends might not believe it even if their act was flawless. “Tell me about your brothers. I would know that if we were engaged.”

“Well, there are three of us. I’m the oldest. Will is next. He’s a Marine and as of last night, he’s engaged to Claire, a temp worker from my business. Well, she’s not a temp worker anymore, she’s the head editor of our auction brochures and she oversees all transactions involving Egyptian antiquities.”

“Wow. He got engaged last night?”

“He did.” Clancy closed his eyes again and laid his chin back on Michael’s thigh. “While I was closing the Kawashima deal, he was tooling around on the family yacht, promising his life to someone.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“That wasn’t my intention. I’m happy for him.”

He didn’t sound happy. “Maybe you’re jealous.”

“Absolutely not. My obligations preclude marriage. I’ve known it since I was young.”

Since he was young? His answer was too rehearsed. What kind of person would choose a business over a family? One with screwed up priorities, that’s what kind. And someone else had screwed those priorities up, if he’d been young. “It must be hard to be king.”

He stared at her for a moment, and she hoped she might have hit a nerve that would ruffle his perfect calm, but he shook it off and continued in the same level tone. “My other brother is several years younger. Chance is the company lawyer and a damn fine one. Like me, I doubt he’ll ever marry.”

“He’s a workaholic too?”

“No. He is just…indifferent. He has lots of friends and dates on occasion, but has never had a long-term relationship—at least not to my knowledge. It’s like he doesn’t even want to bother.”

“Like you.”

“No. I don’t have time. He doesn’t have the inclination.”

Which meant Michael had the inclination. He was opting to not get close to people under the guise of it being contrary to business success. It was all part of his businessman act, and she wanted to shake it out of him. Surely he wanted more than to build his empire and die alone. “What do you want, Michael? I mean really want.”

The second she asked it, she knew she’d stepped into quicksand.

“You know exactly what I want.”

She should shut this down and stop him before he drove her even crazier, but that impulsive, inquisitive side of her took the wheel and she waited, breath held and body humming, for his answer.

“What I want, Mia”—he gently moved Clancy off his lap, rose, and crouching like some big predatory cat, smoothly slid into the seat next to her, studying her reaction closely—“is to watch you peel that dress off so that I can kiss every inch of your body, including, but certainly not limited to, that freckle near your spine.”