Always." He tugged the cup of her bra down and pulled her nipple into his mouth, the word echoing in his head. With Merina, "always" only meant "until," and he didn't want to think about how soon the end would come.
* * *
Merina toweled off, Reese next to her doing the same. They shared an almost shy smile, which was insane considering what had happened under the spray. He'd stripped them both naked, then hustled her into the smallish stand-up shower in the corner of the room. After doing a thorough job of soaping and rinsing her into a heated frenzy, he'd shut off the water.
"We can't do this," she said, but she barely meant it.
"Oh, we're doing this." He was damned attractive with his damp hair sticking up from running a towel haphazardly over the strands. His chest was bare and glistening with droplets of water. Between a pair of strong thighs, his cock hung heavily, tempting her in a million different ways.
Sex with Reese was so many things. Fun. Fantastic. Mind-erasing. But the idea of being in bed with him while his family was in the house—his brother, his father…
Merina was supposed to be pretending to be wifely, not actually doing the wifely things with him. Or sordid, wicked things with him.
"You're doing that on purpose," he growled, and she realized her eyes were glued to his impressive manhood and that it'd grown even more impressive now that her teeth were resting on her bottom lip.
"I'm not." She tracked her eyes up his body and met his navy gaze.
He took a step closer, steam rolling around them, and speared his fingers into her wet hair. "Are too." He kissed her gently, pushing his tongue past her lips to tangle with hers. He backed them from the bathroom to the bedroom, the moonlight arcing across the floor lighting their way.
His moves were familiar. He had a pattern of seduction and she played into it like a well-rehearsed dance. And right now he was doing one of her favorite things: raking his whiskered chin over her sensitive skin as he left a trail of damp kisses on her neck.
"Have fun trying to keep quiet," he mumbled against her mouth. He tasted of scotch and spice and she could swear she was getting drunk off his tongue.
He dropped her to the bed and laid over her, pressing his erection into her thigh.
"Who says I'll try and keep it down?" She cupped one of his rock-hard ass cheeks.
"Your Midwest manners, remember?" He dragged his tongue over one breast and Merina's back arched. When he sucked her nipple into his mouth, heat weaved down her spine. Taking his time, he dragged his tongue to her other breast. "You'll have to go downstairs and face them in the morning."
He continued torturing her, suckling her deeply as warmth flooded between her legs. She hissed, pushing him away when she couldn't stand another second.
"Really quiet sex," she conceded.
"The quiet part is up to you," he said, lifting an eyebrow. Eyes on her, he moved from her breasts to her ribs, down to— Oh no…
"No, no." She clasped his head when he ran his tongue over her belly button.
"Yes." He nipped and licked where her thigh met her…Oh, God. He was going to kill her.
"Reese, please," she pled. "I…you're right. I don't want to embarrass myself."
An evil glint in his eyes, he lifted and dropped one eyebrow before slicking her center with his tongue.
Her pushing hands turned into kneading, threading his soft hair between her fingers. She steered his mouth where she wanted as he laved her again and again. He continued sending ripples of delight through her until she clutched and came on a quiet whimper.
He climbed her body, placing kisses here and there until he was lying on the pillow next to her. Content, she rolled over and rested her chin on his chest.
"Nice work. I don't think you woke anyone up," he said with a lazy, pleased smile.
She smiled back at him, the light from the moon slanting across his bare chest.
"Well, I don't think Tag's sleeping, so maybe he and that waitress are the ones waking Dad tonight."
"Ugh. I can't think about it."
He laughed, bouncing her where she rested.
It wasn't right to take advantage of Reese in his slightly boozed state… But she was a woman and as a woman knew the best way to extract information from a man was at a time exactly like this one.
She ran a finger through the scant hair on his chest, making circles and watching his eyes drift closed. Oh, no, you don't.
"So what did you and Dad decide, again?" Merina opted to ask the question as a leading one, hoping Reese might think she knew more than she did.
"That's between us men," he said, his eyes still closed.
"Reese!"
"I made him promise not to tell your mother or you and then we drank scotch."
She huffed.
"Why do you care what we talked about?" He opened one eye. "Afraid he asked me about you?"
"Did he?" There was a mortifying thought. She didn't think her father would ask Reese to divorce her to give her a chance at finding a husband who loved her, but what if he had? What if Mark saw right through them?
How can he? Even you can't see where the fake stops and the real begins.
"We talked about business. None of which is yours." He touched the tip of her nose with his finger.
"Do you think the board will make you CEO?" she asked, wondering if they'd done a good job at convincing them.
"Worried you'll lose the Van Heusen?" It was a fair question since that's what she stood to gain.
"You deserve CEO."
"I'll get it." He twirled a piece of her hair around his finger. "Don't worry."
"One more question." Because he hadn't answered any of them to her satisfaction yet.
He blinked his eyes slowly, clearly tired. "The interrogation continues."
She took a breath and asked the question she'd wondered about since the night of the retirement party. It came out as a demand. "Tell me about you and Gwyneth."
His fingers stilled in her hair.
"I assumed she was more than a one-night thing when she cornered you. And you dislike Hayes. I'm guessing because he dated her after you did?"