Page 52 of Rival Hearts

“You’re not going to throw up on me, are you? Or on the keyboard? It’s actually quite expensive.”

The bottle dangled from her fingers. “If I promise to make it to your bathroom, will you hold my hair back?”

“Holding your hair back is the gold standard, isn’t it?” My hands itched to thread through the loose locks, test out the texture, draw her lips closer.

She nodded.

“Then I’d do it, even if you were sick all over my keyboard.”

Her forehead fell against my shoulder, and I kissed the crown of her head. The air around us was dense with barely suppressed desire.

She sighed. “I always thought youcouldbe sweet.”

I put my arm around her, drawing her tight to my side. “But I never was?” Having her this close was a bad idea. The places my mind kept straying would snap the uneasy truce between Trent and me.

“No, you never were.” She glanced up under her lashes. “I always thought it was kinda unfair you didn’t believe me about me and Trent.”

I scanned her face, searching for whatever she was leaving unsaid. “Why’s that?”

“Trent slept with lots of girls before we were together. Probably while we were together too. I never asked. No one could find out. That’s all I told him. I didn’t want people to think I was a fool.”

How could my brother choose another woman, any woman, over Maggie? The idea caused my stomach to twist in knots. I examined her claim, trying to figure out why the arrangementwould have suited either of them. Why would she have agreed to let him sleep with other women? Why would Trent want to be with anyone but her? I hated the jealous surge zipping through at the thought of them together, at the notion that Trent would betray her.

“Didn’t it seem weird to you?” she asked.

I frowned, not following her drunken logic.

She stretched up toward my ear and whispered, “Oh, Maggie, you’re so fuckingtight. You feel sofuckinggood.”

My dick twitched at her words, the tone of her voice. That voice was designed for seduction. My heart raced, and my fingers tugged at the front of my pants which had grown painfully snug. The memory of being inside her was visceral. I’d relived it far too many times without her voice whispering those words in my ear. To go back to that moment, I didn’t need to close my eyes because it had always lived too close to the surface. Now the two versions would be melded together, that voice, that memory, forever.

“Do you know how many times I’ve gotten off thinking about you saying those words in my ear when you slipped into me the first time?” she asked.

My mouth went dry. She wasn’t going to be the only one getting off to the memory. “Maggie—”

“I thought you’d be able to tell, but you couldn’t, could you?” Her voice was hushed in the room.

Like a key being fit into a lock, her meaning clicked. Up to then, I hadn’t considered where this conversation was going. I searched her face in careful disbelief, trying to make sure I was reading her right. “You and Trent weren’t...”

“We weren’t together, not like that.”

“So, I was…”

She slid off the bench, putting some distance between us. I rotated to follow her, wanted to reach for her. I couldn’t decideif I was grateful or disappointed at her physical absence. Was I processing this right? Ihadn’trealized. How had I missed that truth? Of course, I’d been drunk. My brother was no virgin, and I’d believed they were dating for real. It never occurred to me for even a minute that they weren’t sleeping together. The thought of them together had often made my stomach queasy with jealousy.

Tipping back the rest of her beer, she flopped into the beanbag chair near the windows on the other side of the room.

“Christ, Maggie. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” The call about his brother’s arrest had come right after, and everything had been blown to hell. “I don’t remember exactly how I treated you—”

“After?” She laughed but it had no humor. “Pretty shitty. I mean, I didn’tblameyou. I didn’t know what I was doing, so I thought it probably hadn’t been very good for you.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “That’s pretty fucking far from the truth.” Their night had haunted me, been the source of many sleepless nights, and my inability to let go hadn’t been because being with her wasn’t good. The opposite. I’dneverfelt so much for someone in a moment like that before, and I’d been caught by surprise.

She ignored me and continued, “Then, you were so mad at me about Trent. I didn’t know what he’d been doing any more than anyone else. Not a clue. Sometimes I look back and think,God, Maggie, you were so dumb.”

“None of us were at our finest.” I’d led her to believe our night meant nothing. So callous. I wished I’d been a better man for her and for Trent. There was still time to be better. I just needed to figure out how.

“Got that right.” She eyed me from her seat, contemplating something. “Can I watch you write a song?”

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