“I was checking to see if you’re in any shape to clean her up,” Luc lied. “My legs are as stiff as meringue, and my dick isn’t much better.” Deke grunted, glanced at Luc’s tented slacks, then Kimber’s silvery-wet abdomen.
“If it’s a problem, I’ll take care of her in a few minutes,” Luc added.
Jaw tight, Deke cursed. “I’ll take care of her.” I thought you might. “When you’re finished, tuck her in, will you? I’m going to shower.”
Deke hesitated, then finally nodded.
“Oh, and stay with her until I come back. She might wake up disoriented and be afraid.”
“She’s a grown woman.”
“Who’s had a very big night. I’m only asking for fifteen minutes, okay?” Deke growled, “Make it ten. Unless there’s sex involved, I don’t want to be near her.”
No big surprise there. Luc had his work cut out for him if he wanted to create a big, happy family. “Sure, ten minutes.”
Luc turned and left the room. He didn’t look back, but had no doubt that Deke was already reaching out a hand toward the forbidden fruit of Kimber’s pale skin—
just for the pleasure of touching her. To remind himself he could touch her. To fantasize about touching her again.
Smiling, Luc eased the door to the bathroom shut, knowing deep in his gut that Deke wouldn’t be able to resist doing far more than touching her for long.
CHAPTER 5
Sweat filmed Deke as he rolled out of bed, gray fingers of dawn pushing their way beneath his shutters, mocking him. A night gone without sleep, spent alone, knowing that just down the hall, Luc and Kimber had shared body heat—and probably a lot more—without him.
Something ugly and hot surged inside him, cramping his gut. Deke didn’t want to identify it. Then again, he didn’t need to. Jealousy was damn near impossible to mistake.
Rolling from his bed, he crept down the hall, toward Luc’s room. Stupid. Torture, self-inflicted no less. But he had to see. Had to know…
And now he did. Fuck. He grimaced at the sight of Kimber curled up on her side, her back cuddled to Luc’s front, their legs entwined. The pair of them were tangled in soft white sheets, and Luc’s sleep-slack palm rested just under her breast.
They looked peaceful. Domestic. Content.
Three things he would never be. Not that he deserved it. He’d destroyed Heather, so innocent—
Breaking off the thought with a curse, Deke stalked back down the hall to his room. Exercise. This day was like any other, despite Kimber’s presence here and his crappy mood.
Push-ups first. He dropped down and started his first fifty. Sweat coated him as he counted out each one, then he rolled to his back for a hundred crunches. All the while, he could hear every rustle of sheets down the hall, every murmured good morning, every lazy stretch Kimber and Luc made. Every forbidden intimacy that Deke didn’t dare partake in.
Don’t whine. It’s done and past, he told himself.
True, except… Luc always woke up horny, so Deke knew what would happen next. Why the hell hadn’t he ever bought an iPod or put even a simple radio in his room, so he wouldn’t have to hear it?
Deke grabbed free weights and quickly worked through biceps, triceps, lats and pecs, reminding himself that Luc deserved any happiness he found with a woman.
Luc always saw the good in people, always tried to help, took time to laugh, put his heart on the line to love time and again. And Deke… Well, he knew better.
Suddenly, Kimber laughed. The soft lilting floating down the hall as Deke dropped down for another set of ab crunches. He gritted his teeth. Then Kimber’s sighs reached his ears. First one. Then another, deeper, longer—one that went straight to his c**k and felt like a stab in the gut at once.
The twisted surge of jealousy stabbed him again, doing absolutely nothing to improve his mood and everything to multiply his desire to hit something and do damage.
Focus. Squats and hamstrings in alternating reps. The usual drill. But concentrating on the usual felt impossible, when he imagined Luc’s hands caressing their way up the sleek lines of Kimber’s torso to toy with her flushed rosy ni**les, while he inhaled the peach-spiced fragrance of her skin and waited with his signature patience, whispering a few well-placed words that would make her beyond wet. Then, with tongue swirling around the hard buds of her br**sts, he’d smooth his way back down her abdomen, urge her to spread her sweet thighs for him, then slide his fingers into the slick haven of her pu**y to feel her tight walls close around him like paradise.
Deke’s gut clenched. Doing squats while his c**k was hard enough to pound nails wasn’t happening. Especially when Kimber’s sighs suddenly became cries.
Fuck this. He stripped off his sweat-drenched clothes and headed for a cold shower. Ten minutes alone in the Italian-tiled box with water just shy of freezing and a healthy lather perfumed with Luc’s fussy scented soap only pissed him off more.
Growling, Deke stepped out, praying they be done in their quest for a morning orgasm by now. He hadn’t even finished toweling off the beaded moisture on his chest and abs when he heard Kimber cry out in a sound lush, sensual, tortured.