Forbidden Best Friend's Brother (Forbidden Small Town Bad Boys Book 5) Read online

  He brought his thumb to his own mouth and sucked the cream he’d wiped from mine. It was quite possible that I found it so erotic, I orgasmed from that alone. I worried he’d back away so I dipped my finger in the whipped cream and wiped it on my lips.

  He let out a heavy breath as his gaze moved from my eyes to my mouth. “You’ve got whipped cream on your mouth.” His voice was thready, or maybe my ears weren’t working right.

  “Oops,” I managed.

  His gaze moved back to my eyes and again, the weight of erotic energy hung between us.

  “Lily is going to kill me,” he said.

  “Why?”

  He answered by capturing my mouth with his, and licking the whipped cream from my lips. I moaned and opened my mouth, inviting him in. I gripped his t-shirt, holding him to me in case he changed his mind.

  We kissed and kissed and I was in heaven, even though I couldn’t breathe.

  He pulled back, resting his forehead against mine. “We should walk.”

  That wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I nodded. He took my hand, a good sign, and led me out. We walked several blocks until we hit a canal.

  “This is Little Venice,” he said, as if he was playing tour guide again.

  The canal with colorful boats was lovely and romantic. I took a few deep breaths to push away my wish for more kisses from Pax and instead refocused on the beautiful area of the city. We walked without talking, and as we did, the fuzziness of the drinking began to dissipate. I wondered if that was what had happened. He’d been drinking too and kissed me because his inhibitions were lowered.

  Finally, we got a car and headed back to his flat. I followed him inside.

  He shut the door and then looked at me. Slowly, the snap, crackle, pop that had charged between us at the bar began to hum again.

  “I’m not drunk,” he said.

  “Me neither.”

  “I still want to kiss you.”

  Inside, an inferno blasted. “I still want you to kiss me.”

  “Lily-”

  “She’s not here,” I said. “And it’s still my birthday.”

  His lips twitched up. “She told me to give you whatever you wanted.”

  I smiled and stepped to him. “Well, then. I want you.”

  It was wrong. Lily had already told me to stay away from her brother. But it was my birthday. She wasn’t here. His kisses suggested he knew what to do to make a woman feel good. How could I say no? Besides, what she didn’t know, couldn’t hurt her or us, right?

  The minute his hands were on me, there was a flurry of activity. Clothes coming undone and dropping to the floor. Our bodies ping-ponging into walls and furniture, until I was horizontal on a couch. I was burning from the inside out, arching, reaching, needing him like I needed my next breath.

  “Fuck…” he groaned as he tore away from me.

  “Don’t stop.” God, I’d die if he changed his mind.

  “Condom.”

  “Right. Good thinking.” Holy crap. I’d have gone without. That would have been a disaster. Lily would have skinned me alive. Not just for getting pregnant by her brother, but for having unprotected sex. One thing we’d never understood was how a woman could be so consumed that she would forget to protect herself. Now, I knew better. Thank goodness, Pax was more responsible.

  As he grappled to open the condom packet, I took the opportunity to study him. Yum. That was what summed him up. Sculpted pecs. Hard abs. And his dick. Long. Thick. It stood straight up, and I felt so feminine from the fact that I’d turned him on like that.

  He rolled the condom on and in the next instant, he was over me. “Tell me you’re ready, Victoria, because I can’t fucking wait.” His fingers slid between my folds and he groaned again. “You’re so wet.”

  “Now, Pax, now.” I couldn’t breathe for want of him.

  He hooked an arm under my thigh, opening me up to him, and then he pushed and oh my God…it was amazing. Every long thick inch of him slid along my sensitive walls. Immediately they contracted, pulling him inside me deeper.

  “Jesus,” he gasped. He levered onto his hands, and began to move. Once and twice slowly, but I gripped his ass and forced him to move faster, faster, because I was already there.

  It was crazed and wild, and yet, we were in glorious sync as we chased the ultimate bliss. He thrust in, ground against me, hitting the perfect spots inside me and out. I cried out as the first wave of pleasure blasted through me.

  “Yes! Fuck yes…” he said as he plunged again, his own release consuming him. We moved, riding out the storm, until he collapsed on me.

  Our breaths finally returned to normal, and I hoped to hell he wouldn’t withdraw and regret this. I wouldn’t be able to bear it.

  He lifted his head. “Are you okay?”

  I smiled. “I’m… That was amazing.”

  He grinned. “Happy birthday.”

  I laughed. Something changed in that moment. Something sweet and more than just a hookup. At least for me.

  We cuddled and then he got up to get us some water. I wrapped a blanket around myself and when he returned, I drank the water and asked him to play his guitar. He played the song that was on the radio, and then a few others he was trying to sell. Then he just improvised.

  “That’s pretty,” I said as he played a soft lovely tune.

  “It’s Victoria’s Song.”

  “What?” My heart did cartwheels in my chest.

  “Since you’re the muse that had me creating it in this moment, it’s named after you.”

  I’d long lusted after Pax. He’d been my friend for even longer. But at that moment, I felt like I’d fallen in love.

  He took me up to Lily’s room, but I didn’t want to go.

  “Lily won’t be here until tomorrow afternoon,” I said, hoping he’d invite me to his room.

  “Are you afraid of the dark?” he teased, pushing a strand of my hair back behind my ear.

  “What if I am?”

  “Then you should come to my room. I’ll protect you.”

  I knew this was a one-time thing. I sort of resented Lily for that, but at the same time, even if she was okay with it, I knew it wasn’t a forever type of situation. He lived in London and I lived in California. But I’d savor this night forever.

  I woke the next morning, and for a moment thought it was a dream. The bed was empty, but I could smell his scent. I got up, found one of his t-shirts and headed out to find him.

  “You’re fucking my best friend.” Lily’s voice stopped me in my tracks.

  “It’s not like that, Lil.”

  “Oh? My best friend is naked in your bed. What’s it like?”

  I peeked around the corner.

  “It was her birthday. We drank a lot. It was a mistake.”

  It’s one thing to know when something isn’t for real, but to hear it spoken out loud. To hear him say our night together was a mistake, split my heart in two. I tiptoed back to Lily’s room, got my clothes and hopped into the shower. I dressed, did my hair and makeup, and packed my bag, certain Lily would end our friendship.

  When I made it to the living area, Lily was standing by the large window, looking outside. Pax was nowhere to be seen.

  She turned; her eyes narrowed. “Tell me you think last night was a mistake.” I swallowed. “It was just two horny drunk people and not my best friend and my brother.”

  I closed my eyes, hating that I was going to deceive her and my own true self. “I hardly remember it. I guess I drank too much. Twenty-first birthday and all.”

  She studied me like she was judging my truthfulness. “We won’t speak of it again.”

  I nodded.

  “Good. Let’s go shopping.”

  1

  Facing the Past

  Victoria

  It really was a small world. How strange that my sister and my best friend would end up not only living in the same small resort town of Eden Lake, California, but also married to brothers? My sister Allie married
Josh last year and they were now expecting their first child. My family was over the moon. So was I. Not just for Allie and Josh, but because it took pressure off me to find a man and get married. I was the oldest, so my mother had been nagging me about lagging behind Allie.

  My best friend Lily was marrying Josh’s older brother, Wyatt. And in a surprise twist, they were expecting too. I teased her a little bit about an unplanned pregnancy. We used to roll our eyes at women who weren’t in control of their libidos enough to be responsible. Her defense was that Wyatt had thought he was infertile. Still…she did confess that the first time with him, she’d been out of her mind with desire.

  “It really does happen,” she confessed.

  Of course, I knew it did. I’d been out of my mind with desire once. Fortunately, he’d had the wherewithal to use protection. I’d learned later that I wasn’t a person who had made him lose his mind with desire. Nope. I was a mistake.

  I shook that out of my head as I pulled up to Allie’s condo. I was going to spend a little time with her until I met up with Lily and went over final wedding plans. The rehearsal dinner was tonight and the wedding tomorrow. I’d been in Eden Lake off and on since Lily and Wyatt got engaged nearly two months ago, taking my job as maid of honor quite seriously. I’d gone home for Christmas, handled some business in my skincare company, and now I was heading back on New Year’s Eve eve.

  I parked in the parking lot of Allie and Josh’s condo building. They were starting to talk about getting a home, which I felt they sort of regretted. The condo seemed to hold a special place for them. Maybe it was because of where they met. But with a child on the way, they’d need more room.

  I knocked on the condo door.

  She opened it with a bright smile. That was Allie. Bright. Sweet. Wholesome. Put together now that she had Josh. On the outside, I looked put together too. A huge social media following, a successful business. But often, on the inside, I felt like a fraud.

  “Hey, big sis’.” Allie wrapped me in a hug, even though it had only been a couple of days since I’d last seen her.

  “How are you and my niece or nephew?” I asked, giving her barely-showing belly a pat.

  “Much better now that I can eat without puking.” I followed her in. “I got your favorite wine,” she said, motioning for me to sit in the living area. Normally, we liked to sit out on the balcony, but it was the middle of winter and it had snowed recently, so it was too cold and icy to be out there. It was always strange to leave the sixty-five- or seventy-degree Los Angeles and in two hours be freezing in Eden Lake.

  “I don’t need wine. I can drink whatever you’re drinking.” I kicked off my flats and sat on the couch, curling my feet under me.

  “You’re more forthcoming when you have a wine or two in you.” She poured me a glass.

  “Forthcoming?” I arched a brow. “Is there something you think I need to spill?”

  “Always.”

  I took the wine. I would have supported her current pregnancy-related sobriety, but the truth was, I could use the mellowing that wine brought. Being a maid of honor was stressful, but the stress was about to pile on as Lily’s brother, Pax, was arriving tonight. I hadn’t seen him for six years. I hadn’t heard from him either. As wonderful as our night had been, the thing I always remembered most was his telling Lily how I’d been a mistake. How would I look him in the eyes? Even six years and a lot of growing up later?

  Allie sat in a large, overstuffed chair with a glass of juice. “I don’t have to ask if everything is ready for tonight and tomorrow. I know you’re going to give Lily and Wyatt such a beautiful wedding.”

  “I hope so. If everything goes right.”

  Allie rolled her eyes. “I bet you called and confirmed everything with every vendor this morning, even though they have a wedding planner, and will do so again this afternoon.”

  I shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt to stay on top of things.”

  She sipped her juice, eyeing me over the rim. It was my clue that she was going to venture down the topic she knew would be hard for me.

  “Are you ready to see Pax now that he’s a big rock star?”

  I’d told Allie about the fiasco with Pax and Lily when I arrived home after my twenty-first birthday. She and I were different in most ways, and often didn’t understand each other, but we were close. When it came to issues of the heart, we’d always been able to talk.

  Even so, I didn’t want what happened six years ago to have any impact today. “That was a long time ago.”

  “Still. You haven’t seen or talked to him. Do you think you’ll tell him what an asshole he was?”

  I laughed. “Maybe.” I supposed if I drank too much. “The truth is, he’s probably forgotten-”

  “Don’t sell yourself short, Victoria. I bet he’s on his way here, worried that you’ll call him out. He’s probably feeling guilty for hurting you. I have no doubt he regrets losing you.”

  I laughed. “Miss Fairy Tale.”

  “Do you think if Lily handled it better, it would have been different for you and Pax?”

  “We probably would have parted as friends, but it was never going to be a thing, so…where I am today is where I’d be regardless.” Except for the embarrassment of being a mistake, but I kept that to myself.

  “I don’t get Lily,” Allie said, setting her empty glass on a Pine Rest Resort coaster on her coffee table. “Why did she get all bent out of shape about you and Pax?”

  “He’s her brother.” I shrugged. I didn’t really know the problem except that it bothered her.

  “She has some nerve. I mean, she’s my friend and is marrying my brother-in-law. That’s not much different. You don’t see me getting mad about it.”

  “It’s a little different,” I said. “You and Lily were friendly, but not really friends. And Wyatt isn’t your brother.”

  “Still, you’d think she’d want you and Pax to be happy.”

  “I think she does, just not with each other.” I waved a hand. “It might be awkward for a moment when I first see him, but like I said, it was long ago. We’ve both matured.”

  “Well, I might give him a piece of my mind. Hormones make me a bit crazed, you know.”

  I laughed. “Tell me you have a sonogram so I can see my favorite niece or nephew.”

  She grinned and hopped up from her chair, rushing from the room and then coming back with a dark film with lighter contrast.

  “Oh dear,” I said, studying. “It’s an alien.”

  “Yes, but a beautiful one.”

  “It sure is.” I was glad to be moving on from the discussion of Pax, mostly because I wanted a minute of respite from worrying about it.

  “Will you stay here in Eden Lake after the wedding?” Allie asked.

  “I’m heading to Vegas the next day. Have you heard of Lisbeth Garner?”

  Allie’s eyes narrowed. “American Adele-like singer?”

  “Right. I’ve arranged for her to wear my skincare and cosmetics. She’s doing a show in Vegas and we’ll be doing a print shoot for ads.”

  “That’s so great, Victoria. You know, I have to be honest, when you said you were going to make your own skincare and makeup, I wasn’t sure how that would go. But look at you. Number one all-natural line in the country.”

  “Not quite, but I’m making my way up there.” It was another thing that had my mind turning to Pax. He’d been the one to suggest it initially. At the time, I’d brushed off the idea, but after his “mistake” comment along with some other things he’d said that gave me the impression that he thought I was riding on my family money and vanity, I decided to take control of my life.

  I also kept up with social media. I acted the socialite part. Partly because it was expected, but also, Pax and Lily had taught me a lesson in London. It was better to be Instagram Victoria than the real me. No one got the real me. Lily got parts, but not all. Allie got more, but still, not all.

  “Well, you know it sells out fast at my studio. Especi
ally the mists.”

  I smiled. Allie had been one of the first wholesale buyers of my products when they came out, selling them to her clients at her yoga studio. “Sometimes I wonder if maybe you’re the older sister, the way our lives have turned out.”

  She frowned. “You say that like you’re putting yourself down.”

  I shrugged. “You have always been the more mature one. You knew what you wanted and went after it. Now you have a successful business that includes a studio and wellness retreat with the king of online fitness. Plus, you’re married to a man who adores you and you’re having a baby.” I grinned so she didn’t think I was down on her success. “I’m so proud of you.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short. You were the one who was always herself, poking at Mom as a hobby.”

  I laughed. “She is fun to poke.”

  “You have millions of people who love you on social media.”

  I nodded. I wouldn’t dismiss their admiration of me, but it wasn’t like what Allie had. She had a man she loved and who loved her, a townful of friends who thought the world of her, and even Lily. I felt a tinge of jealousy at that. I wondered if that was why she’d been adamant that I couldn’t be with Pax. That she’d be jealous of us. But if that were true, then I should have been angry that she was friends with my sister.

  Oh well. It didn’t matter. I finished chatting with Allie and then headed out to the little mountain church where Lily and Wyatt were getting married. The ceremony was small, but because Pax was coming, he and Lily’s father, Sheriff Maddox, had deputies all over the place just in case it got out that Lily and Pax were related and paparazzi showed up. The world knew him as Pax Ryder, which was his first and middle name. But it wouldn’t take much digging for gossip mongers to find out his real name was Paxton Maddox, brother of Lily Maddox, son of former supermodel Madeline LaCoeur.