Turn Up The Heat. Victoria Dahl

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СКАЧАТЬ a.m.”

      Brick whistled low. “Long day.”

      “I have all day Sunday free,” she said, then bit her lip. “I mean... I wasn’t suggesting—”

      “Good to know.” He wanted to spend some time with her, not just rush through hurried sex that she might not even enjoy. “So you’re free after six-thirty Monday through Saturday and all day Sunday.”

      She searched his gaze, wrapped her arms around herself and looked out at the yard again. “He dumped me because I wouldn’t have sex with him.”

      Glad that she’d brought it back up, that she wanted to tell him about it, Brick watched her. “Was there a reason why you wouldn’t?”

      Nodding, she whispered, “My mother.”

      “She needed you with her.” Made sense to him. It was beyond tragic for her, but he knew there wasn’t much he wouldn’t give up for his mom.

      Then again, no matter what his obligations, he’d find a way to sneak in a quickie here and there.

      Brick shook his head at those wayward thoughts. A world of difference stood between him and Merrily. “You had priorities. I get that.”

      “At times, Mom struggled so badly. There wasn’t anyone to help her but me. I was gone enough with school and work. I couldn’t see...” She trailed off.

      If she’d been experienced, no doubt she’d have found the time for relief, too. When necessary, it didn’t take long.

      Especially for guys.

      But for a young, female virgin? A wham-bam incident wouldn’t do, which, again, meant he had to get a handle on his lust. Her first time should be memorable—for the right reasons instead of the wrong ones.

      “The timing was off,” she explained. “I should never have gotten involved romantically in the first place. I can’t really blame Kyle. He was young and healthy and energetic. And at first, he did wait, for months and months.”

      She sounded far too admiring for Brick’s peace of mind. Was she still hung up on the guy? “I’d say he should have kept waiting, but would that have done any good?”

      She shook her head. “Maybe because I knew a normal life wasn’t in the works for me, I couldn’t see getting that intimate.”

      How intimate had she gotten? No, maybe he didn’t want to know. “You loved him?”

      “Yes.”

      A little hard to buy because if she’d loved him, wouldn’t she have found a way? Or maybe she loved him—but didn’t really want him. Was that possible between a man and woman? He adored his sister-in-law, Cinder, but he didn’t have sexual thoughts about her.

      And any woman that dated Jesse first was automatically off-limits. He didn’t go where best friends or brothers had gone before. Period. It had nothing to do with the woman, and it didn’t matter how attractive she might be.

      “Maybe,” Brick ventured, sharing his thoughts, “you loved him more as a friend than anything else.”

      Merrily frowned, then shook her head. “Actually...I don’t know. Maybe I just loved the idea of being in love, the idea of having a marriage and a family and a place of my own.”

      She deserved all that and more.

      But first she deserved the best sex he could possibly give her.

      Without her noticing, Brick got closer again. “You wanted a partner to help you carry the burden.” His hand slid under her hair to cup around the back of her neck. “That’s what he should have been.”

      His nearness quickened her breath. Nice.

      “Without any...reward at all?”

      “You think your company isn’t reward enough?”

      “Ha!” She lightly slugged him in the middle. “Like that would be enough for any guy.”

      “For any guy in love.... Yeah, I don’t know.” Being in love would only make abstinence more difficult. Hell, Brick wasn’t in love with her, and it ate him up to have to wait.

      “Understand, Brick, I didn’t think of my mother as a burden. I loved her so I wanted to be there with her. But yes, it would have been nice to share that responsibility and worry with someone.”

      A new thought chewed on his peace of mind. “Do you love him still?”

      “No.”

      The denial came too quickly to satisfy. Brick tipped up her chin. “You sure?”

      Without hesitation, she nodded. “Looking back, I’m not certain exactly what I felt for Kyle even then. I know it hurt a lot when he asked for his ring back. He’d said he loved me, that he wanted to be with me, but he couldn’t deal with everything as it was.” Her mouth twisted. “After he broke things off, he told me that if things ever changed, he wanted to know.”

      “Meaning what?” Good God, Brick couldn’t imagine that sentiment. “He wanted you to get in touch if you walked out on your mom?” Like she would ever do such a thing. Hadn’t the guy known her at all?

      Lifting one shoulder, Merrily looked away. “Something like that, I guess.”

      Something like...when her mother had died? Damn it, he couldn’t help it. He tugged her in closer, tucked her face under his chin and wrapped his arms around her to rock her gently from side to side. “I’m sorry.”

      She surprised him by clinging to him. “The funniest part is that not long after he said that, he moved in with another woman.”

      Bastard.

      She hid her face against his shoulder. “A few months later...my mother took a turn for the worse and she passed away.”

      He hugged her tighter still, wishing he could take some of the pain that remained with her.

      “Obviously,” Merrily choked out, “I did not call him.”

      “Course not.” He kissed the top of her head, her ear. “I’m so damn sorry, honey.”

      She drew a slow breath. “I didn’t know what to do with myself after she died. So much of my life was wrapped up into caring for her. My schedule was set up around her needs. I had a few female friends, but no one superclose, so I decided it’d be best to get a fresh perspective on things. I moved here, found a job and got my credits transferred to the new college.”

      Brick tangled a hand in her cool, silky hair. “And you decided to lose your virginity.” He realized now that it had been a deliberate choice on her part.

      He’d been a deliberate choice—and it humbled him.

      “Yes.” She didn’t look at him. “I didn’t expect you to know my entire history, though.”

      “Does it matter?”

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