Page 18 of Nothing to No One

When he tried to put his arm around her, she sidestepped, bumping into Struan.

“Can you please stop touching me?” she said, unsteadied by it all.

This was a lot to take in.

“Yeah,” Struan said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to hold her against him. “Hands off.”

Shrugging off Struan’s arm, she backed away from them both. “That goes for you too,” she said. “You’re no better… in fact, you’re worse!”

It was easy to refuse Roman, the letch. Struan was a whole different ballgame. Their magnetism provided the perfect excuse to lean on him, which would be a huge mistake.

“Worse?” he asked. “Why am I worse?”

Roman laughed. “She doesn’t want your hands on her, man. She thought she was getting me last night and didn’t expect to hook up with the help.”

Offended, her mouth opened. If he didn’t have so many protectors around, she might’ve slapped the supposed star. Last night, her instant attraction to Struan had been visceral and real, regardless of his name, or his “position” in the family.

Roman’s swagger fueled a need to take him down a peg. Swerving around him, she went to Struan and grabbed his face to pull him down for a kiss. The moment her mouth touched his, their ecstasy came back full force. Suddenly, there was no trouble, no craziness, nothing except their mouths. His arms realized what was happening before his mouth did. When he held her, she gave him control of her body. A second later, his tongue caught up with what was happening and merged with hers.

Before she lost her senses and asked for directions to his bedroom, she pulled back. Abstaining wasn’t easy. Against him, in body contact, she didn’t want to be mad. Hormones led, and, man, she wanted to follow.

“You’re worse because this feels right. It’s easy to run away from your sleazy brother. You’re harder to resist.”

The corner of his mouth reacted. Whatever the reality, that was a compliment. One she’d rather not give, but truth was truth.

Roman hissed. Good, let him be second best. Honestly? She was pleased he hadn’t gone to the Lighting Darkness event. Imagining a second locked up with him was awful enough, never mind enduring the actual experience.

Magnus leaned in to pull her away from Struan. “Shame you’ll never get to explore that,” he said, lugging her toward the living room.

She reached for Struan and missed. Guy didn’t help, just stood there dumbfounded until rage flared in his expression, signaling his returning acuity.

Magnus pushed her down on the couch. Struan and Roman weren’t far behind.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Mag?” Struan asked, sitting with her.

Cradling her face, he brushed her hair away to check she was okay, or offer more apology, she wasn’t sure which. When he examined her wrist, what had been Magnus’s point of contact, his offense rose again.

“Back off, she’s your brother’s fiancée.”

“Excuse me,” both she and Struan said at the same time.

Roman dropped onto the couch at her other side.

A confident, stern, man in charge, Magnus stood in front of their trio. “Last night’s events are on devices across the world right now, we can’t ignore that. Roman has used all his passes and is hanging onto his career by the skin of his fucking teeth. This could ruin him. If the network thinks he’s going back to his old ways, we’re fucked.”

“And I did nothing wrong,” Roman said.

“Except getting wasted before the event,” Struan said.

“If I didn’t, brother, you wouldn’t have got laid.” A beat. “You’re welcome.”

He better not expect gratitude. He’d had his hand up her skirt, that was gratitude enough.

She laid a hand on each of their thighs. “I am sorry that this happened,” Bambi said, pushing them both away. “I didn’t mean to cause trouble for anyone’s career.”

“She didn’t know who she was sleeping with,” Roman said. “Who knew Struan could be spontaneous? Fuck, we sure he wasn’t high? Really this is all his fault.”

Struan reached behind her to shove his brother. “Shut the fuck up.”

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