Recipe For Seduction (A Madewood Brothers Novel) (Entangled Brazen) (18 page)

Panicked, Veronica turned toward the library door. Jack sauntered in, followed by five more male bodies.

Finn, Neil, Cole, and her brothers, Mark and Cal, loitered in the entryway. Cole, Neil, and Mark each held a twelve-pack of beer. Finn held a bottle of whiskey. Empty-handed, but not for long, Jack crept over to Sterling and enveloped her from behind. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled.

“Guys, this is Madison, our photographer,” Sterling introduced her friend. Veronica was appreciative the ladies had adopted Madison into the fold so quickly.

The crowd dispersed in twos. Jack and Sterling slinked away to the corner. Neil joined Carson on the chair. Cole followed Penn to the makeshift bar.

“Don’t you ladies look lovely,” Jack said as he twirled around his fiancée.

Veronica had covered up, but her cleavage still tumbled over the neck of her robe. When Mark noticed, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

Cole placed the twelve of beer on the table, pulled one out, and twisted off the cap. Before taking a swig, he called, “Hey, V.”

Finn finally acknowledged her. He zeroed in on where she stood. She lifted her hands to her chest trying her best to cover her cleavage, but his eyes roved over her body, a heat-seeking missile touching every inch of her bare skin. She looked down at herself. There was a lot of bare skin.

Of course, with the arrival of the boys, their party got louder. More animated. Even Neil was having a good time. It wasn’t hard to see that Carson was the driving force behind his more laid-back attitude. It was nice to see him relaxed, having fun. His face not scrunched up in a scowl as usual, his hands not fisted tensely at his sides.

Jack was…Jack. Wheeling and dealing, even with family and friends. He flitted around the room with a deck of cards, guilting everyone into indulging him in a card trick he’d learned from one of his students in the Cooking for the Future program.

Cole and Penn were like an angry version of Regis and Kathie Lee.
But their snippy banter wasn’t fooling anyone. They were hot for each other.

And it seemed as though Surrey and Sydney felt the same way about Cal. They giggled and smiled as he showed them something on his phone. Occasionally they would point at one of the adults and laugh.

Mark was being antisocial, using Madison’s laptop.

Finn called over, “Mark, stop checking your email.”

“Can’t help it, buddy, I’ve got a client on the hook.”

“Oh, shit!” Madison said to Veronica under her breath. “I might have forgotten to close the program with the photos on it.

Her stomached churned. “Madison!”

Her friend bit her thumbnail. “I didn’t know the guys were coming up here to the library.”

Neil walked over and hovered over Mark.

“Baby, we’re not working tonight,” Carson said with a cute pout. “You promised.”

Neil wrestled with Mark for control of the laptop. They shouldered each other and laughed, but suddenly their smiles turned to stunned gapes, and both their jaws dropped.

Neil shook his head, quickly turning away. Veronica wondered whose picture was on display. He tried to walk away but Mark grabbed his forearm. As Neil stared wide-eyed at the screen, Mark averted his eyes and handed over the mouse. He must have been clicking through Carson’s pics.

After a few clicks, Neil tensed and straightened. “Shit, Jack, I’m sorry.”

“I said no working, Neil.” Carson placed her fists on her hips, her pout turning to a frown.

“I’m not working. I—” He cleared his throat. “So, did you ladies have fun getting your pictures taken?”

Sterling gasped. “Neil Harrison, are you looking at me naked? Because I already apologized for walking in on you last month—”

“
Naked?
” Jack vaulted from the couch and took position behind the computer. “Holy shit.” He pointed at the screen. “
This
is what you were doing?”

“I’m a photographer.” Madison stood. “I specialize in boudoir and forties pinups. This is my gift to the lovely bride.”

“It was supposed to be a surprise.” Now Sterling pouted. “It was going to be a special gift.”

“Do you—” Mark couldn’t even get out his words he was so tongue-tied. “Do you
all
have this kind of pictures?”

“Everyone but us.” Surrey scowled, pointing at her sister, then back at herself. “Ours are totally PG-13.”

“Well, it was fun anyway, getting all dressed up,” Sydney said, poufing up her hair.

Finn and Cole ignored them and raced to the computer. At the mere mention of nakedness the men had lost all interest in what they’d been doing before.

“Dude, that’s my soon-to-be wife,” Jack growled.

The men’s voices grew louder as they fought to see—and not see—the photos on the screen.

“Um, hello? I’m not comfortable with you jackals drooling all over my hotness,” Penn huffed.

“Penn, I had no idea you had a tat,” Jack said, wide-eyed. Earlier, Veronica had admired Penn’s cherry blossom tattoo that spanned the side of her body from hip bone to under her arm.

Carson had joined the men hovering over the laptop. “These are beautiful.” She leaned in closer. “Oh, Veronica, you’re gorgeous.”

Veronica tensed on the couch. If Carson was looking at her photo, it meant all of them were…

“Christ! Click away! Close it down!” Mark cried out. “I need to wash my eyes out with bleach.”

“What is that sound?” Neil asked, peering closer.

Despite the loud conversation, Veronica heard it too, an incessant beeping from the screen.

“That would be all the men wanting to set up a date with our Veronica,” Penn said with a triumphant smirk. She leaned forward and nudged Mark out of the way. “V, you have seventeen pings. Damn. Look at all these messages! It’s the photo. I knew that photo would do the trick.”

“You put a photo of yourself in lingerie online?” Finn’s eyes nearly narrowed to slits as he stared at her.

Embarrassment rushed up her neck to her cheeks. The library had gotten thirty degrees hotter all of a sudden. “No, I did nothing of the sort.”

“It’s only her face. Calm down, grandpa.” Penn waved Finn out of the way.

“Since when do you online date?” Mark asked, his face wreathed in curiosity—or possibly bewilderment.

“I think our sister does a lot of things we don’t know about.” Cal sauntered up to the group at the computer and read over someone’s shoulder. “Hey V, this guy wants to meet and find out if you’re his Special Someone.” He snickered. “This shit is so cheesy.”

While the rest of the group laughed and made jokes at her profile, Finn merely glared. How did he not know it was a joke? Uploaded by someone else? Did he really think she would sign herself up for an internet dating site while they were…doing whatever it was they were doing? Even if it had been a week since they’d actually done anything.

Not that she owed him any explanations. Eventually, their game would be over and they’d go their separate ways. That was their agreement.

But she was conflicted because the more time they spent together, the more Cal deteriorated—and the more the image of the future she had thought she wanted blurred.

Jack finally settled things by taking the party downstairs after suggesting the women get dressed because the minister was due any minute. A while later, the minister arrived and those in the wedding did a dry run-through of the ceremony. The beauty of the moment was only shadowed by Sterling’s upset that her parents hadn’t shown up. So, Neil stood in for her father and walked her down the aisle.

The absence of Sterling’s parents was just another entry on Veronica’s list of reasons not to have kids. Who needed a bigger family if they could be so hurtful to each other? Just look at how Cal was treating her after all they’d been through over the past eight years.

Besides, the one man who could possibly threaten her theory was deliberately ignoring her. So it was probably a moot point, anyway.

After the minister took his leave, Cal, Sydney, and Surrey decided they were bored with the mushy adults and the froufrou hors d’oeuvres, and left to grab some burgers and shakes at a local diner.

The rest of the group continued to drink, and Veronica began to feel the effects of mixing champagne with wine and shots. Good thing she worked for herself and could reschedule her meetings for the next day. She was going to need some serious recovery time.

In the middle of an animated conversation sitting at the breakfast bar with Madison, where she preached the pros and cons of fucking while being bound to a bed, Veronica had to bite the insides of her cheeks to keep from smirking, but her I-know-something-you-don’t-know giddiness stalled when Finn’s sexy drawl sounded close to her ear. “Silk bindings. Definitely.”

“Ah. A man who knows his way around a knot,” Madison said with a wicked smile.

Veronica almost melted into a puddle on the floor at the rough timbre of his voice when he said, “Oh, and so does this lady,” then leaned closer and murmured softly, “Meet me in the master bedroom. Now.”

He was gone before she even had a chance to turn her head.

Madison smiled and winked, slipping off her stool. She sauntered up to Veronica’s brother and grabbed him by the lapels of his suit jacket. “Hey Mark. Why don’t you tell me about life out west?” Then she turned back to Veronica and mouthed, “Go for it.”

Her friend was going to keep him distracted so she could slip out unnoticed.

With a last glance, Veronica mouthed, “I love you,” then scooted out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

She approached the master bedroom and peeked around the door. The room was dark. She slipped inside, and before the door was closed behind her, strong hands wrapped around her body and Finn’s arousing scent surrounded her.

…

Finn nuzzled Veronica, pressing soft kisses against her neck. She nestled into his body as his kisses trailed higher. He snaked out his tongue and nibbled at her earlobe. Her body shivered in response.

“Finn, this is dangerous.”

“Not nearly as dangerous as those photos of you.” He twirled her around to face him. “Do you know how hard it was to keep my dick in check after seeing those?”

It was 100 percent inappropriate to get a hard-on for your best friend’s sister when that best friend was standing right beside you.

He’d kept firmly reminding himself of that, but the sight of her spread out across the bed, in the skimpiest of lingerie, her skin damp, her lips red and plump just like they looked after she sucked on his dick…almost had him jumping her on the spot.

“You liked the photos?”

He reached for her hand and placed it at the front of his pants. “What do you think?” Swooping down, he devoured her mouth, unable to kiss her hard enough, deep enough. The woman brought out the sex-crazed monster in him, and he was hopeless but to give in to the monster’s demands.

She pulled away, her breath ragged. “We can’t do this here.”

She was right. Any one of their friends could notice they were missing and send a search party. And he wasn’t prepared to defend, or even explain, the arrangement he and Veronica had to anyone. Especially not to Mark.

But he couldn’t help it. The thought of her on the dating market had sent him into a mute rage. He had barely been able to keep his food down. He hadn’t been able to acknowledge her all evening for fear he might explode.

He grabbed both sides of her face and captured her lips, pressing her up against the door, grinding his hard-on into her stomach. “I know we’re supposed to keep our distance in public, but the thought of you dating another man makes my insides go crazy, and I feel an intense need to claim you.”

“
Mmm
. Works for me,” she murmured between kisses.

Not to mention, the sight of her dating profile had increased his doubts exponentially about their relationship, and about why she had been too busy to meet up lately. “That internet dating thing… Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?”

Her eyes grew heavy with desire and she grabbed his shoulders, shaking her head. “I— I didn’t—”

He cut her off with a kiss. Now was not the time for apologies. He loved her. Needed to claim her for his own. Plans for the future be damned.

She melted under him, pliable, her body giving in to his kiss and his demands. She was primed. He knew between the folds of her sex she would be wet and ready for him. “You are mine, Veronica. No one else’s. And right now, all I want to do is fuck you.”

She breathed heavily against his neck. “Then do it.”

Their hands moved quickly, removing their clothes, all of them. Finn took a moment to lock the door, then swiftly pulled his emergency condom from his wallet and put it to good use.

In a matter of seconds he was inside her, thrusting hard and deep as he slammed her against the door to the harmony of her moans.

“I love those sweet sounds you make.” He thrust harder, and with each thrust she tightened around him.

Out in the hall, a door opened and slammed shut. She tensed, but he kept on thrusting. “Look at me,” he commanded.

She locked her gaze with his. Footsteps pounded down the stairs.

“Forget about the other side of the door,” Finn ordered her. “Let me hear that sexy sound. The sound that makes my cock hard as steel. Come for me, Veronica.”

Her head fell back, and with a tiny whimper she tensed around him, her body giving in to the pleasure.

For the second time, a door slammed out in the hallway. She let out a heavy breath and moaned, a low sound in her throat.

He wrapped his arms around her, lifted her off her feet, and walked them over to the bed. When his legs hit the mattress he stumbled and their connection broke.