Love Takes Time (20 page)

“Yes, God, yes.” Alyssa's head fell back as her
arms wrapped around his thick neck to anchor her in place. Their lips sought and found each other's as he lifted her and held her at an angle where his thick shaft rubbed against her throbbing clit.

Their body heat escalated while his thrusts shortened but deepened. He couldn't get enough of her. He never wanted to get enough.

He'd been a fool to have let her go.

A fool to throw away happiness.

A fool even now if she would or could ever forgive him.

“I love you, Alyssa,” he groaned, burying his face into the crook of her neck. “I'm never going to let you go again. You hear me? Never.”

The raw emotion in his voice touched and swelled her heart. It was the first time she'd heard the words from him and everything, from the way he touched her to the way he said her name. The only thing she didn't understand was why. Why had he pushed her away? Why had he been so willing to throw away her heart?

As Sterling continued to rock her body those questions melted away in her mind. All she could do was revel in this glorious moment. When it was over, he could just as easily push her away and break her heart again.

And it was worth the risk.

To be with him in whatever way would always be worth the risk.

Alyssa's sighs and moans went up and down a
musical scale. Raw pleasure enfolded them into its arms while the music from the party played on. Alyssa's hands fell to Sterling's shoulders, her fingers dug into his corded muscles as her body quivered and then exploded.

Sterling's release roared through him with all the force of a hurricane. He trembled as he spilled everything he had into this woman.

His fear.

His heart.

His love.

For long seconds afterward, they remained connected and panting for breath. Neither knew what had just happened or why.

But they didn't regret it.

When the silence stretched too long, it begged for truth.

“I'm not dating him,” she whispered. “I've never slept with him. We're just friends.”

Sterling closed his eyes as relief flooded every fiber of his being. At last, he pulled out, adjusted his clothes. Once done, he looked down into her moonlit face. Where should he begin? “I—”

“Why?” she asked. Her eyes filled with tears. “Just tell me why. I deserve that much, don't I?”

Sterling's eyes glossed, his tears held back by the thinnest thread of willpower. “Guilt,” he admitted. He watched as her expression collapsed in confusion. “I—I've known you since…” He shook his head. “I feel like, even now, that I've crossed a line. A part of
me believes strongly that I've taken advantage of you—that I have broken some forbidden rule. I was good friends with your father for God's sakes. He even left me a letter….” His voice shook.

“What letter?”

He drew a deep breath and explained himself. “The day you returned to L.A., I received a letter from your father's attorney. He asked me to look out for you…because he trusted me to not take advantage of you.” His shoulders dropped low. “He was wrong to do that.”

“What? No.” She moved closer to him and cupped his face in her hands. “If anything, my father would have been thrilled. He loved and respected you. You're a man of character and conviction—the kind of man he'd
want
me to fall in love with.” She paused and blinked away tears. “The kind of man I
did
fall in love with. The man I still love.”

Sterling searched her face, wondering how what she said could be true. “How? After what I…”

“Because you've always been there. Even these past eighteen months, you've never left my heart. I wish you would have come to me about this—this guilt. I would've reassured you that the only thing that matters is how we feel about each other. That's it. It's not other people. It's not our ages. It's just us.”

A slow smile eased across Sterling's face. “I don't deserve you.”

“Of course not.” She smiled. “And I don't deserve you.”

Sterling pulled her against him and then kissed her with a heart fully healed.

Suddenly, Alyssa drew back with a gasp. “Oh my God. I forgot!”

Sterling frowned.

“Quentin,” she stressed. “He was supposed to be coming out here.”

Sterling jerked his head back and looked over his shoulder. All he saw was his mother's plants and rare orchids.

“He should have been here by now,” she whispered. “What if he saw us?”

“I thought you said that you were just friends?”

“We are…but I know Q wants to be more,” she admitted.

Sterling knew that, as well, which meant that the discovery was worse for him than her. How on earth would he be able to explain this? No way would his brother see this for anything other than the betrayal that it was. “Stay here,” he said. He moved back toward the front door of the solarium and then stopped when he saw a bottle of champagne and two glasses on the floor.

Quentin had seen them.

“Q
uentin!” Sterling shouted as he raced out of the solarium. He had no idea what he was going to say to his brother if or once he caught up with him. He had been so blinded by jealousy he hadn't thought his actions through. Now that he'd been caught making love to his brother's date, he feared that he may have just damaged his relationship with his brother beyond repair.

“Sterling, wait!” Alyssa shouted, taking off behind him.

Sterling rounded a bend and trekked past a great oak before he spotted Quentin. “Q, hold up!”

His brother shot him the bird but kept marching back toward their father's birthday party. The band
had the crowd in full sway as Quentin plowed through in his fierce determination to put as much distance between him and Sterling as possible.

Sterling couldn't let sleeping dogs lie. His long athletic legs carried him across the lawn and through the parting crowd in record time. Yet, when he laid a hand upon his brother's shoulder, he was caught off guard by Quentin's own amazing speed when he whipped around and landed a punch that reeled Sterling back a few steps.

A loud gasp went up and then every neck and eye swiveled.

“You stay the hell away from me,” Quentin growled. “As far as I'm concerned we're not friends and we're not brothers.”

Alyssa caught up to the two brothers. Sterling being her immediate concern, she took his side. “You're bleeding.”

Quentin hardened his jaw as his eyes glazed over. “So how long?”

“What the hell is going on over here?” Roger snapped, shouldering his way through the crowd. “Quentin, have you been drinking?”

Q laughed. “Not yet.”

Sterling glanced around the crowd, his discomfort evident on his face. “Q, let's just go into the house so we can talk.”

Quentin didn't even look tempted by the offer. His gaze swung between Sterling and Alyssa, and then he held up his hands and backed away. “I've said
all I'm going to say. You just stay the hell away from me. Both of you.”

Jonas stepped into the ring made by the crowd but his refereeing skills weren't needed, as Quentin turned on his heels and took off.

Once gone, everyone's attention returned to Sterling and Alyssa.

“All right, everyone. Show's over,” Roger announced. “More champagne.”

The crowd tittered but slowly they broke up into smaller clusters.

“Are you okay?” Alyssa asked, hugging his waist.

Sterling didn't hear the question. “He's never going to forgive me.”

“Sure he will. He just needs time to calm down.”

Sterling shook his head. No one held a grudge like Quentin—except maybe their father.

“I need to see you two in my office,” Roger hissed and then marched toward the house as if there wouldn't be a voice of dissension.

He was right.

Arm in arm, Sterling and Alyssa followed Roger as if they were headed toward the gallows. When Alyssa caught a few sympathetic looks from Beatrice, Jamie and Lidi, she tried her best to give them a reassuring smile.

But she wasn't fooling anyone.

For the first time in her life, she was about to experience Roger Hinton's famous “behind-the-office-door” temper tantrums.

“Somebody wanna tell me what the hell is going on around here?” Roger snapped before Alyssa's bottom hit the chair. “Sterling, I thought you were here with Barbara Anne's daughter?”

“Yes, sir, but—”

“And weren't you with Quentin earlier?” he asked Alyssa.

“Yes, sir, but—”

“So what is this, some kind of date swapping going on?” Roger thundered. “And what are you doing with Alfred's daughter down at the solarium?”

“Dad, I can explain—”

“You know what? Don't answer that. You're consenting adults and I'm too old to try and keep up with you young people and your drama.” He drew in a deep breath and eyed both Sterling and Alyssa. He noticed how their hands remained interlocked. “However, Kitty would kill me if I didn't find out if you two were serious.” He cleared his throat. “Are you?”

Despite the throb of his busted bottom lip, Sterling smiled down at the love of his life. “Yes, Dad.” He pulled Alyssa up from her chair and pressed her body against his. “Tell Mom that it's very serious
and
that she may want to get hold of that wedding planner
very
soon.”

“Well then.” Roger lit up. “That's good news. I—I mean other than that unfortunate business with Quentin punching you in the face. Good news indeed.” He headed back toward the party as if he couldn't wait to share this latest news with his wife.
However, when he opened his office door, his staff: Beatrice, Jamie, Lidi, James and Antonio toppled over and spilled into the office.

Alyssa smacked a hand over her mouth, but it failed to contain her laughter.

“What on earth?” He frowned at the group.

Everyone scrambled back onto their feet, but instead of being ashamed for having been caught snooping, they all raced to snatch Alyssa from Sterling's arm for hugs and to share in the couple's excitement. It had taken time, but Alyssa was finally marrying a Hinton.

Back at the Dollhouse…

“S
o you walked in on them?” Xavier concluded.

“Lucky me, huh?” Quentin shared a sloppy smile. He was way past being drunk and honestly didn't care. “I mean there I was catching my
big
brother…” He sniffed and waved the memory off. “Whatever. It doesn't matter. I don't care what they do anymore. They are both dead to me now.”

Xavier stared at Quentin and saw the lie for what it was. After hearing this story, he couldn't help but be intrigued by this woman who'd snared the hearts of two brothers and unwittingly driven a wedge between them.

“You haven't talked to your brother since?”

“Don't see the point. He and Alyssa had tried to explain the situation all over my answering machine…but I've never returned their call.”

Xavier shook his head. “He's your brother.”

“Yeah. The same brother who tried to make me ashamed of my attraction to his now fiancée.”

“They're engaged?”

“Yep.” He stared at the empty bottle on the table. “Wedding is next week,” he sang.

“And you're not going?” his cousin asked incredulously.

“What? And stand there like an idiot when he gives her our last name?”

Xavier laughed and shook his head. “Look, we're best friends and all but I have to tell you this. You're being incredibly selfish right now. We've been best friends for over twenty years and I have seen your brothers stick by you and support you through every decision you've made. And most of them have been pretty bad.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“You're welcome.” He studied his friend again. “Look, we're probably best friends because we're a lot alike. I don't know that much about falling in love or any of that soul mate stuff people rave about, but I do know that when people find it they…they change. First they love it, then they fight it and push it away and then if they're lucky it comes back to them. Sounds like your brother is damn lucky it came
back to him, if you ask me. Believe it or not, it's not always about
you,
man.”

Quentin shifted uncomfortably.

“You want to know what I think?” Xavier asked.

“I'm not so sure.”

“I think if anything ever did happen between you and this Alyssa that it would have ended the same way that all your relationships end. You get bored and then move on to the next woman. You're not like your brothers Jonas and Sterling. Monogamy isn't in your DNA.”

Quentin's expression twisted sourly. “C'mon, man. You're supposed to be on my side, remember?”

“I am on your side. I also happen to remember when you thought Ashlee Dunham was the love of your life back in college. Then there was that time that you fell in love with Sasha something or another. I think she was an airline stewardess. Then there was Rachel—”

“All right. All right. I get it.”

“Face it,” Xavier pressed. “No matter how this went down, you need to let it go and for once in your life, be there for your brother. You owe him at least that much.”