Wicked Lovers 05.5 - Wicked To Love Read Online Free

forever.
    “ What the hell happened?” He braced his hand on the wall above her, looking down into her eyes.
    As she did anytime he got close, she lost herself in his searing, dark gaze. Her stomach tightened with nerves. Was it wrong to want him all over again, at least to be close to him for a while longer? If he didn’t want to have sex with her again… well, she hadn’t expected it in the first place. But a hug would be nice.
    Needing contact, she reached up to touch his bare chest, as she had only minutes ago. But now that the passion was spent for the moment, she had no idea what he thought. If he was done with her. Everything felt awkward. Em lowered her hand.
    She lifted her chin. “We got carried away. I won’t say I’m sorry.”
    “ Hell, I’m not sorry. Just stunned.” He frowned, then took her hand, squeezing it. “Let’s find the bedroom.”
    Did he want to have sex again?
    Tamping down her excitement at the idea, she guided him down the shadowed hall. When she glanced over her shoulder at him, his gaze met hers with a probing expression. He was going to want to talk, and she didn’t know what to say. Didn’t the puddle of clothes they’d left behind and the passion they’d spent say enough for now? Dear god, was he going to bring up Kayla?
    When they reached her bedroom, he pulled back her sage green comforter and settled her between the ivory Egyptian cotton sheets. Normally, all that soft thread count comforted her, but she watched, tense, as he prowled into the adjoining bathroom.
    A moment later, he emerged, condom gone. He lifted the sheet and settled in beside her, watching her intently. She’d known him long enough to guess that he wanted to hear what she was thinking. Em didn’t know what to say.
    “ Obviously, we have a lot to talk about,” he murmured. “Let’s start at the top. You were quitting because of Kayla’s visit?”
    Em swallowed a ball of nerves. Wow, he got right to the point. At work, he was politically savvy and found really gentle ways to phrase delicate matters. Not so now. His directness was disconcerting, but if he was going to be straight with her, she might as well do the same. After all, three years of suppressing her feelings hadn’t gotten her anywhere.
    But one question kept circling in her head: If Brandon was with his former friend’s ex-wife now, why was he in bed with his secretary?
    “ You’ve said for years that you’re in love with her. When she came to the office last Friday, and you left early with her…” God, she couldn’t look at him and give him the words to break her heart. She rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling, covering her breasts with the sheet. “I invented reasons to call you over the weekend. A few times. You never answered. I assumed you were…busy.”
    “ With Kayla? No.” He sighed. “Em, we just had a drink together. She came to apologize for the way things ended all those years ago. She’s apparently in therapy and looking for ways to mend fences so she can forgive herself.”
    “ The way things ended?”
    “ Jack Cole was my friend. We had an affair…while he was still married to her. I never told you that part. I’m not proud of it. We weren’t together long before she left me, too. I thought she was the one that got away or whatever, and I’d been carrying a torch for her.”
    Brandon paused, and Em worked up the courage to look his way. He was staring again, this time with an expression she couldn’t begin to decipher.
    “ But you’re not?” she blurted before she could stop herself.
    He rolled on his side and braced his head on his hand. With his free hand, he gripped her hip and urged her to roll closer and face him. “No. The hour I spent with her surprised me. I felt nothing except sorry for her. She’s really screwed up her life since she left me. She got married again, got divorced again. She drank a little too much. She’s finding her way out now. I told her that I was happy for her