Wicked Pleasure

Chase was waiting in the lobby of the hotel when Cam strode through the entrance. The black evening suit his brother wore did nothing to alleviate the aura of power and danger that surrounded him. The wicked scar that slashed down the left side of his cheek definitely helped the impression, but it was the icy green eyes, the unsmiling lips, the expression that seemed carved from experiences that suggested hell, that did it.

Cam was his brother, his twin. And sometimes Chase wondered if he even knew who or what his brother was. He definitely didn’t know what had created the dark visage that strode to him.

“She’s not going to appreciate a late night visit,” he told his brother as they headed toward the elevator.

“Too bad,” Cam growled. “Roberts waylaid me at the party. The slick bastard. He should be in film rather than congress, his acting ability beats the shit out of his ability to help run this fucking country.”

Chase winced. Cam was cussing. That was never a good thing.

“Blindsiding Jaci like this isn’t going to help,” he advised him as the elevator doors slid closed behind them. “She a little demon when that temper of hers is roused, you know that as well as I do.”

And she was liquid fire when other parts of her were aroused. Chase could still taste the sweet syrup that flowed from her body, even seven years later. And he knew Cam had never forgotten.

“I want eyes on her twenty-four-seven,” Cam ordered. “If Roberts even thinks about contacting her then I want to know about it.”

“Cam, you can’t control her life here.” The elevator doors slid open.

As they stepped out of the cubicle his brother turned to him. The green ice in his gaze flickered with a hidden flame. The intensity of the color was no longer flat with whatever emotions or memories he fought. The color was wild, vivid, shocking Chase with the emotions that seemed to swirl just under the surface.

“I have no intentions of controlling her life,” Cam stated then. “I’m going to become her life, Chase. There’s a difference.”

For a second, Chase stood in shock, staring at his brother’s back as he strode quickly down the hall to the suite Ian had reserved for the interior designer.

Cameron had never claimed anything or anyone as his. Not since they had lost their parents, since their lives had gone to hell beneath the less than gentle care of their maternal aunt at the tender age of thirteen.

Hearing him claim something, someone now, was enough to put him in shock and almost caused him to miss that twisted expression of need on Cam’s face as he turned away.

Hell, Jaci didn’t need to see Cam like this. Chase didn’t need to see Cam like this. Brimming with fire and lust and a need Chase had never imagined filled his brother.

“Cam, dammit,” he muttered, moving quickly behind him. “Do you think this is a wise move right now.”

Cam stopped in front of the hotel room door and glanced at his brother impatiently.

“What’s so unwise about it?” How could it be unwise. He’d waited seven years for her to grow up, to find them, and now Chase wanted to wait?

“She’s not exactly extending an invitation for us together,” his brother snorted. “She actually stated we should find someone else to play our games with.”

“You pissed her off.” He lifted his hand to knock on the door.

“And you’re not going to piss her off?” Chase asked, his voice filled with a hint of disbelief that didn’t make sense to Cam.

He turned back to his brother, glaring at him. “How am I going to piss her off? Look, I let you talk to her first, I let you bring her home, and look where it got us? You never did know how to handle her, and don’t pretend you did. She walks all over you.”

Chase had never been able to tell her no. Cam had never had a problem protecting her rather than giving into her.

“Yeah, but it feels damned good when Jaci walks on you man.” He grinned, amusement transforming his expression and filling his eyes with a joy that often made Cam like more of an outsider than ever.

His brother had kept that sense of fun and prankish delights, they had been carved out of Cam, stripped from him like flesh from the bone.

He ignored the protests and the laughter, turned back to the door and rapped his knuckles against it imperiously.

Staying away from her at the party had been an act of superhuman effort. He still couldn’t believe he’d managed it. That witches black dress slit to the thigh, the banked fire in her auburn hair, the searching expression on her elfin features as she stared around the room as though looking for someone. He wanted to think she was looking for him, because he’d be damned if he had eyes for anyone but her.

A second later the door opened. His eyes met hers and he knew, in that moment the past dissolved between them, seven years eroded and it was the night he had brought her home from that party. Her eyes staring at him in those final moments of knowledge, confusion, passion and lust and a young woman’s fear.

There was no fear in her eyes now, there was excitement. He could see it in her. In the way she leaned against the door, stared at the two of them and shook her head as though uncertain, now that the moment was here, what she was supposed to do.

Cam crossed his arms over his chest, aware of Chase rocking back on his heels beside him, a grin of devilry on his face as Jaci glanced over at him.

“And to what do I owe the honor of this little visit?” Husky and sweet, her voice promised delights that tortured his most vivid fantasies, awake and sleeping.

She was dressed in nothing but that long silky robe. He had to curl his fingers into a fist to keep from stripping it from her body and baring her to his gaze.

“Do you really want to talk about it in the hallway?” He asked.

She looked from him to Chase again. Whatever Chase did, the damned maniac, had her lips twitching with amusement.

He turned in time to catch his brother ducking his head and rubbing his hand around the back of his neck. He didn’t need to make her fucking laugh. All he had to do was his part. Be here, help Cam maintain his emotional distance while they drove her crazy with pleasure.

“Fine.” She breathed out slowly before moving back and opening the door fully. “Come on in. I was just having a glass of wine and thinking about assholes. You’ll fit right in, Cam.”