“Feel free to keep going lower,” he murmured, pulling his lips from mine.
Amused, I said, “That’s so nice of you.”
“I’m a giver.” But then he pulled his head back. “But maybe we should go in the house before the neighbors get jealous.”
He had a point. He took my hand, and pulled me inside, the door closing softly behind him. I let him push me back against the door, fingers entwined with mine, his mouth doing delicious things to my insides as he kissed me again and again.
Not every guy can kiss, and not every guy knew how to use his tongue, but Riley and I seemed to be a perfect fit, our tongues teasing in a perfect give-and-take.
I let my hand wander down and I found his erection, hard and thick in his jeans. “Hmm, what’s this?” Stroking him, I felt the tug of desire and wondered if we were really going to do this, take it further than just a kiss. I wanted to physically, there was no doubt, but there seemed to be a lack of urgency on his part.
But that was Riley. He did everything with that swagger and that smile, and why should this be any different? Yet I’d seen him burst out in anger, and I’d thought, somehow, that he would attack me with passion. Or maybe that was just my fantasy—that he wanted me so badly he had to have me now.
Instead he was now lazily nuzzling my neck and keeping his hands just above my ass.
Yet I was the one stroking his penis. Suddenly doubting myself, I wondered what he really wanted, how he really felt about me. So he didn’t hate me. And he liked certain things about me. But was that it? I was afraid to ask, so I went with what I knew would almost guarantee a positive response.
I popped the button on his jeans, hoping for a more aggressive reaction. “What’s in here?”
“I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.”
That’s what every guy said. I was sure in his case it was true, given what I could feel beneath my palm, but I wanted something more from him, and I wasn’t sure what it was, exactly. So I kept fishing. “Are you pierced like Tyler?”
I meant it as a sexy tease, but his lips stilled on my neck and he pulled back. “Tyler has his junk pierced?”
“Yes,” I said, surprised. “You don’t know that?”
“Why would I know what my brother does with his dick?” Riley looked repulsed by the very thought. “And by the way, how do you know?”
Uh-oh. He didn’t know I had hooked up with Tyler. How could he not know? “Well . . .”
“I can’t believe the shit you girls talk about. I wonder if Tyler knows Rory is spilling about their sex life. And no, I am not pierced. I have no desire to have a needle shoved through my dick.”
I wasn’t sure what to do. I had to tell him the truth, or it would come out later and bite me on the ass hard, but how exactly did I say that? Then again, it wasn’t a big deal. It shouldn’t be a big deal. It was all pre-Riley and me, so who cared, right?
So I told him, “Rory didn’t tell me.”
Now his expression turned puzzled. “So then how do you . . .” And then he got it. He recoiled away from me. “Oh my fucking God! Are you telling me you’ve had sex with my brother?”
“Yes,” I said because I wasn’t a liar and I wasn’t ashamed. “I thought you knew.”
“Why would I know that?” he asked, his hands going up to push through his hair. “I don’t get detailed sex logs from Tyler. God! I can’t believe you were going to let me do this without knowing.”
“I thought you knew!” I said, starting to get pissed off. There was no deception or cover up. Nathan and Kylie and Rory all knew, so I just assumed Riley did, too. I was still against the door and I moved forward, but he took two steps back, hands coming out in a defensive posture, like I might attack him or something.
“What’s the big deal?” I asked, upset that I had opened my mouth and said anything, upset that instead of having him look at me like I was amazing, like he had been ten minutes earlier, he was eyeing me like I was a circus freak. World’s Sluttiest Girl.
“You fucked my brother! That’s a big deal!” Riley’s legs ate up the room in long strides as he went over to the coffee table and pulled a cigarette out of a pack lying there. I hadn’t seen him smoke all day, so it was a clear indicator he was stressed out. Cramming it in his mouth, he looked at me over the lighter as he flicked it on. “He’s . . . touched you. That’s messed up.”
“So what?” I still didn’t totally understand why he was so upset. “It was before I even met you.”
“He’s my brother!” He sucked hard on the cigarette and blew it out. “This isn’t just some random guy. Every time I look at him I’m going to think about the fact that he nailed you. That he had his dick in you first.”
Way to be rude about it. “Okay, I get that. But what am I supposed to do? It happened. We’re adults. Rory doesn’t have a problem with it and we’re best friends. Tyler doesn’t have a problem with being around me knowing I’m best friends with his girlfriend. None of us make it weird. Why are you making it weird? None of us walk around thinking about it.”
I waved my hand in front of me to break up the cloud of smoke. “And I thought you said you wouldn’t smoke in the house.”
“This requires nicotine.” Anger was simmering below the surface of his expression and he glared at me.
What did he have the right to be pissed about? “What do you want me to say?” I snapped. “I couldn’t predict that we would wind up here. Tyler’s my friend and we hooked up a few times.”
“You seem to fuck an awful lot of your friends.”
Oh, no, he didn’t. “Excuse me?” I asked, eyes narrowing, my voice cold. He was one wrong word from finding my hand on his cheek. I’d never slapped a guy before, but this might be the perfect opportunity to go all Scarlett O’Hara on him.
“Have you fucked Nathan? I know you’ve fucked Bill. And my brother. What about Grant? Am I the only one you haven’t had sex with? Forget about sloppy seconds, it’s more like sloppy fourths.”
There it went. My hand just flew up without me even thinking about it and connected with his cheek in the most satisfying slap of skin on skin. It knocked his cigarette out of his mouth and his head snapped to the side. I was shocked I actually did it, but at the same time, I was glad. Tears of anger and humiliation floated in my eyes and I blinked hard to make them disappear.
I didn’t cry. I didn’t. And never over a guy. Not happening.
When his head turned back, his eyes were dark and angry.
“Don’t you ever refer to me as sloppy anything.” I bent over and picked up the burning cigarette off the newly revealed hardwood floor and stubbed it out in the overflowing ashtray that I had been meaning to banish outside, my hand shaking from fury.
“Jessica . . . ,” he said, sounding contrite.
“Save it,” I told him. “I’m taking my slutty ass to bed. You can go fuck yourself because I never will.”
With that, I stomped down the hall. He started to follow me.
“Wait, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
I walked faster. “You meant it exactly the way it sounded.” When I sensed his arm reaching out for me, I started running. Once in Jayden and Easton’s room, I slammed the door shut in Riley’s face and locked it.
“I’m sorry.” He tried the knob and then pounded on the door. “Let me in, Jess. I’m sorry. I don’t think you’re a slut.”
“Yes, you do! Now go away.” I wiped the tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand, my stomach tight. Asshat. He had no right to talk to me like that.