Recipe For Seduction (A Madewood Brothers Novel) (Entangled Brazen) (19 page)

“I’m sorry.” He grasped her around the neck and tried to thrust back into her, but she resisted.

Had she had enough of their game? Were the consequences too high?

But at the twinkle in her eye, he knew that wasn’t the case.

She put her palm flat on his chest and pushed him down. “Lay back and shut up,” she told him. She crawled over him with a sexy grin. “I’m going to ride you so hard you’ll forget to breathe.”

And just like that, the tables had turned. She sank down on top of him, totally in charge, her body moving in a slow, torturous rhythm. The moonlight seeping in from behind the heavy draperies made her damp skin glisten. She knew exactly what he wanted. What he needed. She moved on top of him like a dancer, elegant and luminous, putting on a show just for him. She quickened her pace, then slowed, the variance just what he liked, just what he needed to release lightning fast.

He followed her over the edge, his climax as explosive as the first time they’d fucked. He had a feeling every time with her would be just as extraordinary.

She sprawled forward and rested her head on his chest. He brought his arms up and clasped them at the small of her back. They lay in silence for a few moments.

“We should probably get back to the festivities.” Her words tickled against his chest. “I’m sure it’s been noticed we’re missing.”

“You’re right.” He rubbed her back, fluttering his fingers against her smooth, perfect skin. “You want to go back first?”

She nodded. “Although I don’t think we’re fooling anyone.”

True. He hoped everyone was keeping their eyes firmly planted on the event at hand—the union of Jack and Sterling. “They’ll respect our privacy. For now, anyway.”

Except maybe Mark. There would be no rationalizing with him if he ever found out about their affair. And Finn knew he’d be destined—and rightly so—for a beat-down of epic proportions. He only prayed Veronica’s friend Madison had done a good job at distracting Mark while they slipped away. He didn’t like the thought of the wedding photographer using Photoshop to cover up the black eye he was destined to receive from the outraged older brother.

Finn sighed inwardly. He didn’t know how much longer this charade could continue, anyway. The games, the sex, were amazing. The best he’d ever experienced. His body had never been so sated, so blissfully connected to another person.

But he didn’t know how much longer his heart could take it. It was agony being with the woman he loved…and knowing they were destined never to be together. Not for real. Not like he wanted to be.

But each time they were together she had claimed another piece of his heart. And tonight, as he’d thrust deep inside her, she had claimed all of it. Which scared the shit out of him, because he knew he would do anything to have this perfect woman in his life, in his bed and by his side, for as long as he lived.

If only she felt the same way.

Chapter Eleven

Veronica stood at the back of Jack and Sterling’s wedding reception, keeping an eye on the festivities. The beautiful ceremony was over, and the joyous celebration had begun.

It had been six days since the rehearsal dinner. Six days since Finn had stolen Veronica’s last bit of resolve. And what transpired over the few moments they’d spent together since then only confirmed she had fallen in love with him.

Completely. Truly. All-encompassingly.

There was no way she’d have the strength to avoid him now.

She’d thought she was in love with him before they began their game of seduction. But those feelings were child’s play compared to the intense emotions now dogging her every minute of every day. She didn’t know what to do with those feelings. Hide them? Push them aside? Confront him with them? Any way she analyzed their situation, one of them was going to lose. And she had no idea where to go from here.

But right now, thankfully, she had a job to do. She desperately needed the distraction.

Twinkle lights were wrapped around the wooden beams across the barn’s ceiling. Round tables were scattered on both sides of the room with delicate chandeliers hanging above each. Bouquets of white roses served as centerpieces. Long white lines were draped over the high-top tables that served as a resting place for guests to enjoy their food and drinks. Stations were set up around the room and the catering staff served the evening’s fare. The dance floor had been placed in the middle of the expansive barn, and at the far end a trellis had been built on a raised platform, which was where Jack and Sterling had recited their vows an hour earlier in front of an intimate group of friends and family.

Veronica had given Sterling and Jack an elegant designer wedding in the most rustic of settings—the barn at the Madewood Farm, which, as project architect, Carson had gutted and remodeled for the grand opening of the complex only a few weeks ago.

The wedding ceremony had been exquisite. Sterling had cried. Cole had kept Jack calm with reassuring squeezes to his shoulder as they watched his stunning bride walk toward him in her lace gown. Penn, the maid of honor, was gorgeous in a strapless black cocktail dress, black lace over black satin. It hugged the curvy frame of her body in all the right places.

This had been one of Veronica’s best events ever. But then, perfection was easy to achieve when money was no object.

So far, Finn had spent most of his time in the kitchen, wearing her favorite bit of clothing—his white chef’s coat. She now knew just how commanding he could be in that pristine garment. Her body ached to feel him inside her again. But his distance during the wedding festivities was a blessing in disguise. She didn’t think she could maintain her cool composure and complete her task of keeping this wedding running smoothly if he were anywhere close by.

Cal suddenly appeared next to her. “Since we have two cars here, can I take yours for tonight?” He flashed her a wide grin. “You can go home with Mark.”

She hadn’t even heard the kid walk up. Obviously, she had been too lost in fantasizing about Finn.

The kid looked cute in his starched white chef’s coat and winning smile, she’d give him that. Along with points for trying.

But no. Not happening. “Sorry, bud. You’re still grounded, remember?”

“Aren’t we over that yet? The party wasn’t that big. The cops weren’t even called.”

She clamped her jaw. “The more words that come out of your mouth, the longer your sentence is going to be. So…keep it up, and you won’t be allowed to go to university even if you wanted to, because you’ll be quarantined to your room for the next ten years.”

He glared at the ground.

She knew she was being hard on him. But he deserved it. Not so much for the party itself as for the bad attitude and the rudeness. He
still
hadn’t apologized, and despite tasking Mark with the duty of cleaning up the mess on the front lawn, it had been waiting for her when she returned home from the tasting with Jack and Sterling. It was obvious Cal believed he was the innocent victim in all this, and that Veronica had majorly overreacted.

Granted, he had been doing well all week. He went to work and came right home. But he was nowhere close to having learned his lesson.

“Come on, V,” he whined, using the pleading, little-boy voice he used to use on her when he was still little and cute. He knew it almost always melted her resolve. “Give a dude a break, Sis. I may or may not have a date with the alleged high school blow job queen.”

She laughed out loud and rolled her eyes. “Oh, you do not.” She knew Cal wasn’t that kind of guy. While she didn’t expect him to be a virgin, he was no womanizer who took advantage just because he could.

“All right, fine, I don’t. But I still need the car.”

“Sorry. You’re still needed in the kitchen, and then Mark will be taking you right home, where you will be fulfilling the rest of your sentence.”

Cal’s veins started to throb in his neck. “This is all Mark’s fault and you know it. You’ve never grounded me before. It’s all because
he’s
here.”

Her heart tightened at the sound of the disdain in Cal’s voice. He was hurting about something, but both she and Mark were at a loss to figure out what. She shot him a sympathetic but immovable look. “Yeah, well, you’ve never had a party and trashed my house before.”

His ears must have been ringing because Mark sidled up to where they stood at the back of the barn. “Your voices are getting a little too loud for public consumption. What’s the problem?”

“Our little brother wants the car tonight.”

Mark laughed, but there was no humor in it. “You’re a piece of work. You actually asked to borrow the car? Do you not remember you’re on lockdown?”

“Thanks to you,” Cal muttered, but his words were loud enough to hear.

“What was that?” Mark stepped forward, his shoulders pulling back defensively.

Cal didn’t back down. He straightened and puffed out his own chest. The kid had height and was two inches taller than Mark. “I said, thanks to you I’m stuck in the house. V never grounded me before you came back.”

“Then you’ve had it too easy. If I’d been around for the last few years things would have been different.”

“Yeah? Well, you
weren’t
around. You fucking left us.”

Veronica shrank away into the shadowed perimeter of the barn. “Guys, people are starting to stare.”

“I don’t even know why you care, anyway,” Cal said fiercely. “You fucked off and never even visited. You left Veronica to take care of us all by herself.”

So the kid picked
now
to recognize her hard work and dedication to raising him? “Guys—”

Mark stepped backward and composed himself, wagging a finger at Cal. “You’ve had an attitude with me ever since I came home.”

She knew Cal had a chip on his shoulder when it came to Mark. She had thought maybe it was just a guy thing. But it suddenly hit her. Cal was angry because Mark had left them. He felt abandoned.

She knew the feeling well. She’d felt a little abandoned herself since the day Mark told her he was moving out west. But she knew it was for the best. For all their futures.

“Would you have rather we’d left you in foster care?” Mark demanded, lowering his voice. “We’ve done everything for you and your sister, trying to give you a better life than we had.
At least Ali appreciates our efforts and is trying to make something of herself. But you, Mr. Ungrateful, are hell-bent on fucking up your life, aren’t you?”

Veronica ground her teeth and breathed out puff of frustration. Cal was a good kid. He was just going through a rough patch and needed more care and attention than Ali did. Veronica felt deep down he was close to a breakthrough. He didn’t need Mark’s guilt trip to set him back.

But before she had the chance to say so, Cal made a choking noise. “You’re both such assholes.” He pointed accusingly at Mark. “You don’t give a shit.” Then he swung around to her. “And
you
— You’re too busy fucking Finn to care about anything else.”

She gasped. As soon as the words left his mouth Cal’s face froze in consternation, realizing what he’d done.

“What are you talking about?” Mark snapped. “There’s no way Veronica is having sex with Finn. Tel him, V.” He turned to her and waited.

She opened her mouth but her words were big lumps caught in her throat, unable to explain. She could lie. Or she could tell the whole truth and take the opportunity to ensure this situation with Finn didn’t go any further than it had—because Mark would see to it. But she had never been a good liar.

“Tell him, Veronica, you are not
fucking
my best friend.”

Cal mouthed the agonized words, “I’m sorry.” He obviously knew he’d crossed the line and was in for an epic lecture. If he thought his grounding was going to be short-lived, he had another think coming. Try ten years. Make it twenty.

Still. Maybe this was for the best. Maybe it was time for Finn’s and her secret to come out into the open. Well, maybe not the whole truth. No one needed to know the details of their arrangement. And people definitely didn’t need to know he liked to smack her ass and tie her up until she’d orgasmed so many times she couldn’t breathe. No, not the whole truth. What they’d done behind closed doors wasn’t anyone’s business but their own. Madison had saved her bacon at the rehearsal dinner, but it was time to fess up.

“I can’t do that, Mark. I
am
having sex with Finn.” Really fantastic, mind-blowing sex. She suppressed her smile.

Just as Finn had pointed out her worry vein, for the first time she noticed Mark’s angry vein. It throbbed and pulsed on his neck.

His expression tightened and a look she hadn’t seen since they were teenagers washed over his face. Fury stared back at her. “He took advantage of you. He seduced you.” It wasn’t a question.

Did he really think she was capable of letting a man coerce her unwillingly into sex? Or that his best friend would be so dishonorable?

“Don’t be ridiculous. Finn took advantage of nothing.” She straightened, rolling back her shoulders with pride. “If you must know, I seduced
him
.”

Mark shook his head vigorously in denial. “This is sick. We’re
family
, for chrissake.”

Cal started to shuffle away. “I’m just going to let you two talk.”

She clamped onto his arm. “You started this, buster. You’re not leaving.”

“Children?” Madison approached their tense family unit. “Do you think you could take this outside? You’re starting to draw attention, and that’s saying a lot since Penn was just dancing on the table.”

Mark’s eyes lowered to the ground. “No need. I can’t stand the sight of my dear siblings right now. I’m sorry for the disturbance.” He turned sharply and stalked away.

“What the hell was that all about?” Madison asked, watching him with raised brows.

Veronica sighed. “An explosion waiting to happen.”

Cal touched her arm. “I’m really sorry, V. It just slipped out. I didn’t mean to tell him about Finn.” He seemed genuinely contrite.

“Oh, shit.” Madison clasped her hand over her mouth. “Big brother knows you’re bumping boots with Chef Hottie?”

“Chef Hottie? Really?” Cal made a disgusted face. “And girls think guys are chauvinists. You nickname us?”

“Run along, little man.” Madison waved a regal hand at Cal. “I think you’ve done enough damage for one day.”

Veronica nodded her agreement. “Yeah. Go back to work before Finn has to come looking for you.”

Cal hesitated, but finally headed out of the barn toward the tent that had been set up specifically for food preparation.

“That was mildly entertaining,” Madison drawled.

“Did Jack and Sterling see? I’m so unprofessional.” She groaned and clutched her head between her hands.

“They didn’t see. They were outside for some pictures. Last I saw they were schmoozing with an older couple.”

“Thank goodness.” At least Veronica’s professional reputation was still somewhat intact. Her reputation as a role model, however, was in severe danger.

“Are you all right?” Madison slid her arm around her shoulders and let her head rest on top of hers.

“I don’t know.” Veronica sucked in a deep breath and laid her fears on the table. “I’m afraid Mark finding out means Finn and I are over. The bro code, and all…”

“I thought it was never supposed to be permanent?”

“I know. But…” It was impossible not to get attached to Finn O’Reilly. She should have known it would happen…from the very first second she’d contemplated this crazy arrangement. How had she ever expected to get over the man she had been in love with for more half of her life so damn quickly?

“Do you want it to be permanent?” Madison asked, her brow creased.

“Yes. No!” They would never work in real life. But she loved him too deeply and too fiercely to end it so soon. “Oh, hell, I don’t know.”

“Listen, Finn was supposed to be your hot, steamy,
temporary
affair. A means to get over your schoolgirl crush and get your womanly sexual mojo back, so you can go out and find the guy you’re really meant to be with.” Madison nudged her with her shoulder. “Right?”

The stark reminder of Veronica’s own words the night of the burlesque show hit her like a ton of bricks.