“Fine. I’ve got nothing to say, either. Be an ass**le. As long as you’re a good tutor, I don’t care.”
Kimber stood and waltzed past Deke, toward the exit.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her down damn near into his lap. “Kitten, I’m going to be the best tutor you could possibly imagine. Don’t you doubt that.”
“Glad to hear it.” She yanked free of his grip. “I’ll respect the fact you don’t want me to talk to you when we’re not in bed, as long as you don’t touch me unless you’re teaching me. So until tonight, you leave me the f**k alone.” Deke hesitated, a bitter smile lifting the corners of his mouth. “Kitten, that’s the best idea you’ve had since you walked through that door.”
Dinner passed in silence, despite the fact Luc had grilled damn fine pork chops and brushed them with a delectable maplecranberry glaze. Luc shrugged off the chilled silence. The army had taught Deke to eat anything—mess hall grease, MREs, the side of a raw goat—as long as it kept him alive. Luc’s palette was a bit fussier.
And Kimber… The way she darted venomous glares at Deke through the meal told Luc that she and his cousin had exchanged unpleasant words earlier that day.
And the way Deke watched her told Luc that his cousin’s hunger wasn’t going to be sated by scrumptious pork or the blackberry-peach crisp he’d baked earlier.
Behind his napkin, Luc smiled. Cross words aside, everything was falling into place perfectly. Time to add a little fuel to the fire…
Luc reached across the space separating him from Kimber and caressed his way up her arm, which was bared by a small spaghetti-strapped tank top. Then he brushed the back of his knuckles over her cheek. Hmm, soft. So sweet. And so pissing Deke off, a slanted glance in that direction told him.
“More salad, sweetheart?” Luc asked.
“No.” She relaxed enough to smile at him. “I’m stuffed. With all your wonderful cooking, I won’t fit into my pants soon.”
He leaned in to steal a slow, gentle kiss right on her lips, still tasting faintly of the tangy glaze he’d prepared with the meal. Across the table, Deke tensed. His fork clattered to his plate. Luc ignored him.
“With the two of us around, you really don’t need pants. Isn’t that right, Deke?” Luc curled his hand around Kimber’s naked shoulder and softly stroked her, all the while watching her ni**les peak under the little white shirt and his cousin’s gaze heat dangerously.
“Is everyone done eating?” Deke barked, standing, hovering over the table.
Kimber pushed back and shot Luc an uncertain glance. Worry; he saw that in her gaze. Uh oh, what the hell had Deke said or done to put her on edge?
“That’s up to Kimber. We can sit for a bit longer, if you’d like, sweetheart.” Deke tossed down his napkin. “If you want your tutoring tonight, kitten, it’s now or never. I’ve got better things to do than sit here and chat.” Luc registered Kimber tensing under his hand. Oh, the fireworks are about to begin.
“You’ve made that clear. I don’t want to be a bother to you. Maybe I should just follow Luc down the hall to his room. You can…run along.” Chin held high, Kimber stood and, despite wearing a fatigue-print mini skirt and a tank top sans bra, breezed past him as regally as a queen.
The stunned look on Deke’s face was priceless. His cousin spun around and followed Kimber down the hall. Luc scrambled to follow them. He wanted them riled, but not so furious they’d fight, rather than f**k.
Kimber nearly made it to Luc’s bedroom door before Deke grabbed her, shoved her back to the wall, and covered her body with his. “I promised we’d teach you all about ménage, kitten. That means three. I’m not going anywhere except to bed with you.”
She opened her mouth to protest—no, more likely to issue a scathing retort—but Deke preempted her with a scorching kiss, covering her mouth with his, invading and devouring. Hell, just the sight of them turned Luc on, especially since he could see Kimber’s tense rejection changing and softening with every lash of Deke’s tongue against hers. She moaned when one of his cousin’s hands sailed down her back, curled around her ass, and lifted her hips right up to his.
No doubt, Deke wanted inside her—bad. Perfect.
He tore his mouth away, but his body still covered hers, drilling her into the wall.
And he stared, panting as if he’d run twenty miles. He didn’t look away.
Luc forced his way between them and put an arm around each, filing them through his bedroom door. “Let’s go inside and get comfortable and naked so we can enjoy ourselves, shall we?”
Around him, Deke shot Kimber a tense stare. What the hell was going on?
“Sweetheart, is that okay?” Luc asked.
Her gaze skittered to him before going to back to his cousin. At that point, her skin was flushed, her ni**les like enticing hard candies. Luc did his best to focus on the long-term goal, rather than rushing Kimber out of her clothes now.
She visually clung to Deke, eyeing him with reluctant hunger. With every moment that passed in thick silence, Deke grew more tense. Very interesting…
“Okay,” Kimber finally whispered.
That one word was all it took to send Deke into action. He snaked a hand across Luc’s body and reached for Kimber. One arm he wrapped around her waist and brought her against him. The other he used to push the spaghetti straps off her shoulders and shove the garment down her torso. Leaving her br**sts and rosy, swollen ni**les bare to their gazes. Luc had been hard before, almost uncomfortably so. This pushed him firmly into unbearable territory.