front of him. She yanked free of his grasp and folded her arms across her chest, glaring. “Will you please leave? You accomplished everything you set out to do.”
Garek stepped back. He shoved his hands in his pockets, making no effort to defend himself. How could he? Everything she’d said was true. But somehow, at the same time it wasn’t true. He’d certainly started out the way she said. But nothing had turned out as he’d expected. He’d wanted to spite his sister—but it had been a long time since he’d even thought of that. He disliked contemporary art—but he enjoyed listening to Ellie’s enthusiasm for it. He’d gone out with her to teach Doreen a lesson—but somehow, when he was with Ellie, he forgot about his sister. He looked at her flushed cheeks and pursed lips. His gaze flickered down to her rounded breasts pushed up by her folded arms, then back up to meet her angry eyes headon. He wanted her with an intensity he’d never experienced before. He wanted her—and he wasn’t willing to give her up.
“Whatever I intended at the start of our relationship doesn’t really matter anymore. Everything has changed. I didn’t expect it to. I didn’t want it to. But there’s something between us, Ellie, something I can’t deny and neither can you. Come on,” he said, his voice low and seductive.“Admitit. You want me as much as I want you.”
“You’re crazy.” Ellie glared at him, hating the arrogant certainty in his tone. “How could I want you? Everything I thought I liked about you was a lie. You don’t like your family, you don’t like art or music. You don’t even like me.”
“You’re wrong, Ellie.” His hard gaze turned dark and sensual. “I do like you.”
Before she could move, he took her in his arms and kissed her. For a second, everything inside her went limp. He was right. She did want him. She did want to find out what was between them…
But she wasn’t completely stupid.
With every ounce of willpower she could summon, she pulled away from him. “No, Garek. I—”
“Hey, El,” a voice interrupted her. “You need some help getting rid of this jerk?”
As one, Garek and Ellie turned toward the bedroom.
Garek’s eyes narrowed when he saw the stranger standing in the doorway. Pierced and tattooed, the young man had the wiry build and mean eyes of a street kid, and he smelled of too much cologne. Who the hell was he and what was he doing in Ellie’s apartment?
Ellie didn’t appear too pleased at the stranger’s appearance either. “Robbie, I told you I can handle this myself.”
“Robbie?” Garek looked sharply at her. “Your cousin, I take it?”
She didn’t answer his question, all her attention focused on Robbie. “Please go back into Martina’s room.”
“In a minute, prima.” The mean eyes met Garek’s. “First I want to find out what this perro’s intentions are.”
“And you wonder why I prefer to keep some distance between myself and family members?” Garek drawled.
Ellie didn’t look amused. “Garek, please be quiet—”
“Don’t worry, El, I’ll shut him up.” Robbie rushed at Garek.
Garek waited until the other man was almost on him, then quickly sidestepped.
Robbie went barreling past, crashing into the coffee table and shattering the lump of mud sculpture into a thousand pieces.
“Robbie! Garek! Stop this at once!”
Robbie didn’t appear to hear Ellie. A snarl on his face, he got up and hurtled back toward Garek. Garek met him with a punch to the gut, causing Robbie to double over. Garek grabbed him by the shoulders and followed with an uppercut to the jaw. Robbie collapsed to the floor.
With a shriek, Ellie rushed to her cousin’s side. “Robbie! Robbie! Are you all right?”
Wincing, Robbie sat up. “I think so,” he said thickly, rubbing his jaw. He glared at Garek. “Think you’re pretty tough, huh? This isn’t over. Not by a long shot. You’re not getting away with what you did to Ellie. You’re going to have to do right by her—”
“Caspar!” Ellie called out hastily, cutting her cousin off. “Come help me with Robbie!”
Garek, leaning against the door to catch his breath, watched as another man came out of Martina’s room and helped Ellie support Robbie into the bedroom. Pieces of the lump-of-mud sculpture made crunching noises as the trio stepped on them, pulverizing them into dust. “Don’t worry, man,” Garek heard Caspar mumble to Robbie. “We’ll figure something out—”
Ellie shut the door and came back into the living room.