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СКАЧАТЬ knew better than to think everything would be perfect from this moment on. Creed wasn’t going to ask her to marry him in the next five minutes, or declare his undying love.

      This was a start, though. They may have put the cart before the horse in their personal relationship by sleeping together before they’d ever even been out on a date, but there was time for all of that.

      Time to get to know each other better—really get to know each other. Time to go out, have fun and get the family used to the idea that they were going to be together.

      It would come as quite a surprise to the Fortunes, she imagined, including her mother. But they all loved her and Creed, and as long as they were happy, she knew they would offer their support wholeheartedly. She hoped so, anyway.

      The important thing was that this was the beginning. The beginning of everything she’d ever wanted, and for the first time, she realized she could have it.

      Delight coursed through her veins and her grin widened. It was all she could do to keep from giggling aloud.

      She couldn’t remember ever being so happy. And she would make Creed happy, too, she swore she would.

      Above her, he shifted slightly, slipping out of her and rolling to his side. Cool air brushed the perspiration dotting her skin, and she immediately missed his weight, his warmth.

      With a groan, he sat up, rubbed his fingers through his hair, then stood and headed for the adjoining bathroom. She heard the water running for a second, then he was back, in all his naked glory. He stalked across the room, and she took the opportunity to admire him every step of the way.

      Expecting him to rejoin her, she shimmied toward the head of the bed, rearranging the pillows and crawling under the covers, leaving plenty of room for him to crawl in beside her. They would probably cuddle a bit first, maybe take a nap, then hopefully make love all over again. She couldn’t wait.

      Instead he bypassed the bed altogether, bending to retrieve his jeans from the floor. Without a word he stepped into them, adding his shirt and boots in short order.

      Her brows met in a frown. “What are you doing?”

      He didn’t bother to meet her gaze as he finished buttoning the pine-green shirt, tucking it into the waistband of his pants.

      “I’m leaving.”

      “Leaving?” Clutching the sheet to her breasts, she scrambled forward, climbing to her knees. “What do you mean you’re leaving? I thought…” She’d thought so many things, but she settled for, “I thought you’d at least stay the night.”

      “Why would I stay? Now that I’ve gotten you out of my system, I can leave you alone. Get on with my life.”

      He finished rolling the sleeves of his shirt to just below the elbows, finally glancing in her direction. “Good night, Maya.”

      Then he turned and walked out of the bedroom.

      She could hear his footsteps in the hall, pounding down the steps and through the rest of the house. A second later the front door slammed, sending a shiver down her spine.

      She sat frozen, unable to believe what had just happened. He’d made love to her, made her believe he cared, that they had a future together, and then walked out. He’d gotten dressed and walked out as if she meant nothing to him.

      She felt stunned, her heart squeezing painfully inside her chest.

      Drawing her knees up, she buried her face in the wrinkled sheet and wept.

      

      Chase stood on Maya’s front porch, leaning against the closed door with his eyes tightly closed.

      He hoped she didn’t chase after him. He didn’t want to see her again, not right now.

      For one thing, there was nothing left to say. It might have sounded harsh, but what he’d told her back in her bedroom was the absolute truth: succumbing to his baser instincts meant he could move past the almost obsessive longing he’d always felt when he was near her.

      Now that he’d been with her, the mystery was solved. Any questions he might have been harboring about what she would look like naked, how her skin would feel beneath his hands and mouth, what sounds she would make when he was inside her, had been answered.

      For another, he wasn’t entirely sure he could look at her right now and not be sorely tempted to make love to her again. He was a man, after all, and the last he’d seen Maya, she hadn’t been wearing anything more than a thin white sheet, which would be easy enough to dispense with.

      Shaking off erotic images that were beginning to reheat his blood, he pushed away from the door and headed for his car.

      What the hell had gotten into him, to touch her at all? How could he have let things get so out of control?

      He’d wanted her for a decade, lusted after her in a way no stepbrother had any business lusting. But he’d never, ever intended to act on those desires, and he thought he’d done a pretty good job of hiding them from Maya and everyone else.

      Starting the engine, he flipped on the headlights and pulled away from the curb, heading home. He needed a good night’s sleep, and maybe a nice, stiff drink to clear his head and make sense of what he’d done not twenty minutes before.

      She was off-limits. Forbidden. She always had been. If they’d ever crossed the lines of impropriety, the scandal would have been huge.

      He took a hand off the wheel, scrubbing it roughly over his face. Dammit, it would be huge, if anyone ever found out what had taken place tonight.

      Which meant it couldn’t happen. No one could find out.

      He would never intentionally do anything to bring shame or undue attention to his family, so he certainly wasn’t going to tell anyone. And he doubted Maya would, either.

      So all he had to do now was keep his hands to himself.

      Using his pass key, he opened the electronic gate of the underground garage at the Dakota Fortune office building and pulled his dark-blue Mercedes S-class into his personal parking spot near the elevators. His brother Case had a reserved space right beside his own, but except during business hours, it mostly stood empty these days.

      The same could be said of Case’s apartment, across the hall from Creed’s. The top floor of Dakota Fortune had been split into two separate living areas, which the brothers had occupied after moving out of the Fortune Estate and taking over as copresidents for the family company.

      Of course, Case was now happily set up in a house just outside Sioux Falls with his wife, Gina. She’d inherited her childhood home when her father died, and after living in an apartment in town for a while, they’d moved onto the larger estate and begun a few renovations. They were also expecting their first child at the end of the year.

      Creed was happy for them, truly he was, but he had to admit he missed running into his brother in the hall between their two front doors. Or only having to cross that small space in order to talk to him.

      His brother’s willing ear and sage advice would certainly come in handy at the moment, though he imagined Case’s response to Creed’s СКАЧАТЬ