The Sterling Boys (12 page)

The guys tease the hell out of him, and I join in. I really needed this night. Maverick's always a good sport, so he takes their verbal punches and merciless heckling like a pro for much longer than anyone else could endure it.

"Let's do tequila shots with partners!" Maverick's date announces, staggering lightly as she flops into his lap.

She showed up an hour ago, and she was already drunk. There are plenty of single people here who look happy about the game proposal.

"Raya's my partner or the answer is no," Kade says through a laugh, hugging his fiancée to him.

Most everyone is here. Tag and Ash aren't here because they're busy being happily married parents, but everyone else seems to be in attendance. But it's all so different. My cousin is engaged, Tag is married, Wren is here without Erica... the whole world is tilted on its axis.

"Britt can't play," Dane says while leaning back.

Britt just shrugs, seeming fine with that.

"I'm out, obviously," Wren says, clapping Rye Clanton on the back as he stands.

Rye tilts his head, appraising Tria as though he's interested. "I'm in," he says, making it a little obvious.

Tria shrugs, trying not to smile. "I'm in, too."

"We'll draw names. Couples are exempt from the drawing."

Dale grumbles as a few girls giggle, looking him over like a slab of meat. Oh damn. What if one of them gets Dane's name? Rye takes off his hat and tosses it toward Tria. Another guy does the same, offering his hat as a bucket for the names.

"Rain, you playing?" Kode asks, his interest clearly piqued.

Ah, hell. How'd I end up in such a mess?

There's no way I'm playing this game with Kode, and I'll be damned if some girl other than me touches Dane Sterling.

"I'm playing. I'll draw the names," I say casually, walking over to take a pen from Tria who looks very nervous.

I suppose it would suck if she ended up with one of the Sterlings. I'll put her with Rye. She seems interested in him. I just have to keep up with all my lies, since I'm supposed to be drawing names from hats.

"Girl names in this one. Guy names in this one," I announce, passing small strips of paper for everyone playing to write their names on.

As the hats make it back to me, I mentally make a checklist of the names that have to go together, starting with Dane and me.

DANE

This is a bad idea. Very bad idea.

I'll beat the hell out of anyone who ends up being Rain's partner.

This is crazy. I'm crazy. It's all her fault. She fucks with my head, and she knows it. Since she rejected me, I've been trying to get some separation, but I can't stay the fuck away.

I hate my life.

I'm in physical pain; that's how badly I want to be with her. So, like a fool who is begging for punishment, I've stayed with her. I've even stooped so low as to stripping naked and putting myself in the shower with her. She still didn't cave.

You'd think I'd take a hint, but no. I keep fucking trying.

I spent six years distancing myself from her, reminding myself why on a daily basis. Now I can't seem to tear myself away even for a minute. Pathetic. I'm pathetic all over again, just like I was at eighteen.

Rain keeps drawing names, and I keep fisting my hands, dreading each new announcement. This is like a cruel game meant for stronger men than I. Kode looks just as tense as I am right now, and though neither of us will say it, this has become a competition.

"Tria," Rain says, putting down one of the strips of paper, and then she draws a guy's name.

Her lips tighten as though she doesn't like what she sees, but it's a subtle thing no one else would notice. Whose name is it?

"Rye," she says, blinking twice very rapidly, proving she just lied. Fuck. Whose name was it really?

"Dane," she says through a husky breath, and everything on me gets stiff.

Kode leans forward as she reaches into the other cap, and I chew on my knuckle like a nervous teenager playing spin the fucking bottle.

"Me," she lies, her rapid blinking happening again as she fights not to grin.

Motherfucker. That small piece of resistance I thought I had... Yeah... That's gone. She just volunteered to do shots with me, knowing the intimacy of this little game.

"Kode," she says in the next breath, but he's shaking his head and holding his hand up for her to stop.

I'll kill him if he causes a scene.

"Sorry, Rain. I forgot I have to meet with some clients in the morning. I should go before the shots portion of the evening."

She almost looks relieved, and he walks over to kiss her sweetly on the cheek before heading out through my beach access. Everyone knows that's bullshit, but I'd rather he'd be gone.

She goes through the rest of the names, blinking ever so often, considering she messed up the rhythm apparently, and now she has to remember what names she has or hasn't used. But as everyone gets paired up, the moment of truth comes.

Did she only choose me because she was scared about being paired with someone else? Am I her comfort zone? I don't like being the comfortable one. Fucking teddy bears are comfortable.

"I've got the shots poured," Maverick sings, pushing all the tequila our way.

Salt shakers start sliding down the slick, marble-top table, and for a moment, I'm distracted by the fact I have so many salt shakers. My moment of distraction disappears when Rain comes to sit in my lap, throwing her leg over me so that she's straddling me as intimately as possible with our clothes on.

Holy hell.

"Who takes the first shot?" she asks, her vixen's smile doing terribly wonderful things to my cock as she pushes closes, applying all the painfully perfect pressure.

"Guys," Maverick chirps, not realizing she was directing that question to me only.

Her blue eyes burn into mine, and I start worrying that she might be drunk. Why is she doing this so willingly? We haven't even started this game yet, and I'm already going crazy. Is this another one of her mind fucks?

These are questions girls would ask, not guys. So I'm just going to shut the fuck up and enjoy the ride.

I watch as she moves the shot glass to her cleavage, and I try to breathe when she shifts in my lap, rubbing against me almost intentionally, and letting her dress rise up to show the lacy fabric of her underwear.

Ah, hell.

Holding back a painful groan, I move to lick the salt from her neck, tugging her closer than necessary, and lingering on her neck for a breath too long. I pull back, pick the shot glass up with my mouth, and shoot it effortlessly. I love tequila.

Rain smiles as she shows me the lime in her mouth, and I take it, brushing my lips lightly against hers to retrieve it. Electricity burns through me as though that slight graze of our lips was enough to jumpstart a car.

Rye doesn't show the same finesse, and he deliberately pulls Tria to him to make a sloppy exchange of the lime. Tria laughs, but pulls back shaking her head.

"Worried about Tria?" Rain asks, feigning casual interest, but she can't hide the pissed-off undercurrent of her tone.

I stifle the teasing grin I want to give her. Is she really jealous of Tria?

"Just didn't realize she knew Rye well enough to be so cozy," I murmur, poking at her a little more.

"She doesn't. But Rye is friends with Ethan, our cousin. We both know him... through reputation. Just like most people know you."

That actually ends my moment of fun. I hated the rumors when we were in school because of Rain. She had to hear all that bullshit, and it's a little emasculating to squash rumors that most guys beg for. But now, I wish so badly I had sucked up my pride and shattered every image I had back then.

Same shit still happens these days, just not as much. In the back of my mind, I've always wondered if those stupid ass rumors about all those girls and me is what held Rain back. But if so, what's holding her back now? Those rumors are nowhere nearly as rough.

"You two are getting behind," Raya says while cursing her empty shot glass, earning a chuckle from Kade when she shivers from the aftertaste.

"You going to drink it or hold it?" I ask Rain, sounding as cocky as I possibly can, but only because it always irritates the hell out of her.

She hands me a lime while accepting the challenge, and I slip it into my mouth, relishing the stronger taste of citrus now that my mouth isn't coated in tequila. She pours a little bit of the salt on my neck, though none of it really sticks.

With barely any warning, she leans in and licks my neck, lingering longer than I did when she starts suckling. I'm so glad I'm already sitting down. I would have collapsed by now.

She pulls back suddenly, and I almost demand for her to continue, but she chugs the shot glass. A small trickle of tequila runs down her mouth, and she cringes while muttering something about hating tequila. Before I can question such blasphemy, her lips are on mine.

The problem? I'm fairly positive she sucks at retrieving limes. I laugh when the sloppy exchange becomes pointless because Rain still hasn't gotten it. In an effort to keep her from torturing me more, I pull back to spit the lime out.

"Damn lime," I mumble through a snicker, but as soon as it's gone, her lips are back on mine, shocking the hell out of me.

My grip on her becomes almost desperate when her tongue sweeps in, and I debate going caveman and hauling her ass inside right now—before her sanity or sobriety returns.

Even as I surrender, the nagging voice in my head is trying to remind me she's been drinking all damn day. I'm the good guy; the guy who stops this right now.

Another sweep of her tongue pushes aside the saint to make way for the devil.

Fuck it.

I'll be a stronger man tomorrow. Right now, all I want to do is give in.

RAIN

I've waited too long for this to let it end now, so he'd better not stop kissing me. I'd hate to make his own cousins kick his ass. And I would. I really would.

"Rain," he murmurs against my lips, cursing himself as he tries to put some separation between us, but he fails.

"What the fuck, Dane?" Maverick scolds, causing me to groan in frustration.

I almost want to slap Maverick. This is Dane. Not some loser copping a feel. They know better, and they'd better not scare him away. I will seek revenge.

"Shut it, Mav," I grumble, leaning into Dane once again and forcing my lips against his, pulling him as close as possible.

He groans long and loud, seeming torn about what to do, but he finally kisses me back and loses all restraint. Everything on me tingles in response, and all the unresolved emotions I buried long ago crash to the surface.

"Dane! Fucking stop!" Corbin growls, a chair sliding to warn me he's on his way over.

"Touch him and I'll break your balls, Corbin," I mumble against Dane's lips.

Dane's throaty chuckle vibrates against my chest, and I can't help but grin.

"She's drunk," Dale says, adding to the frigging cock-block fest. I'm so paying them back for this.

"Sober enough," I murmur, making Dane's laughter return.

At least he's still kissing me, and damn does it feel good.

"He's drunk," Maverick chides.

"Sober enough," Dane says with a grin, his words muffled when he refuses to fully break the kiss.

Chills cover me as everyone around us groans. Dane stands, keeping me wrapped around him. A thrill shoots through me, because he starts carrying me away, moving us toward the house.

“Let ‘em go,” Kade says, both him and Raya laughing after us.

This is it. I wanted to talk first, but fuck it. I'm tired of making plans for tomorrow. I'm ready to live today. To hell with the consequences.

He's forced to navigate blindly, because I'm not about to let go. Our tongues are hot and heavy against each other, both of us hungry for all the other will give. I'm pretty sure those pathetic moans are coming from me, but I really don't care.

Something crashes to the ground, but neither of us rip free from the near savage embrace. We leave behind one room after another, something tumbling behind us after every clumsy turn.

Dane's kiss is... damn. It's carnal, raw, desperate, as though he's felt the same way I have these past six years. And I can't get enough.

Before I know what's going on, a door is being kicked shut, I'm on a bed, and Dane's body is pressed against me, pinning me to the mattress. Torrid breaths, garbled moans, and whispered words neither of us understands are the only sounds we hear for several, long, incredible minutes.

"Rain, you'd better be sure about this, because it won't be just one night this time," he says against my lips, and my heart contracts to the point of pain.

I break the kiss to look up into his piercing greens. I'm almost positive that's my heart beating and not some set of Jumanji drums, but I can't be certain.

"What?" I ask in a rasp whisper.

His half-cocked smile makes my already frantic heartbeat become all the more erratic as he brushes some of my hair away from my face. His dark hair is a little messier now that my hands have been tangled in the silky strands, but he looks just as sexy even with it all disheveled.

"I said this will be more than just one night. It won't be like last time. If you want this, you get me. All of me. And tomorrow we won't be friends. We'll be more. If you're sober enough to do this, then you're sober enough to make this decision right now."

Decision? What decision? If I want this? He knows better. I've wanted this since we were kids, and... I wrote a letter... and... there were so many... I'm so frigging confused.

"I get you—all of you? What does that mean? And why can't we be friends?"

He studies me for a moment, measuring me possibly, and then he looks anywhere but in my eyes.

"We'll be friends, but not
just
friends. And none of that friends with benefits bullshit either. If we do this, then it's for real. Right now is that crossroads you hear so much about. If we walk out of this room before anything happens, we can go back to how we were. If we take this further, then... you're mine. It's pretty simple."

Simple? Where Dane and I are concerned, nothing has ever been simple. The Da Vinci Code is simpler than us.

"I'm yours?" I ask slowly, still trying to wrap my mind around this, because I think dreams only come true in Disney movies. Pinocchio becomes a real boy. Cinderella gets to stop scrubbing the floors and rides shotgun in a pumpkin. Sleeping Beauty gets to wake up. Snow White gets to wake up, too. Shrek and Fiona... no, wait; that's not Disney.

His grin essentially makes it impossible to breathe, much less recite useless information, as he leans in and kisses me, stealing what's left of my cognitive functions.

"Yes," he says, a teasing lilt to his voice. "And I'm yours. If you want this."

Yep. Fairly sure I've gotten too drunk, passed out, and now I'm having the best dream ever. Either that or I'm dead and I was allowed into heaven—or hell, depending on how the rest of this plays out. I hope I'm in heaven. I'll kick the devil in the balls if this is his form of torture.

"Rain?" Dane prompts, laughing nervously as he runs his finger down the curve of my jaw. "The suspense is killing me, baby. Is it really that big of a decision? I thought these past few weeks have been leading up to this. Mixed signals have always been an issue for us. For tonight, say exactly what you mean and tell me what you want."

He aims for joking, but it sounds as though he's unsure and possibly a little... insecure? Dane Sterling insecure? That's ridiculous.

But mixed signals?
I've
never given him mixed signals. That was always him.

"So we'll... be together?" I ask, my voice cracking pathetically with too much hopefulness.

"Yes," he says too slowly, mocking me a little.

I look like Wonder Woman in the next two seconds when I launch myself up, tackle him to the bed, and almost suffocate him with my ravenous kiss. He starts to laugh, but it turns into a toe-curling moan as his grip tightens on me.

Being on top has its advantages, considering I can press all my weight on him and feel every inch of his body against me. And his body is definitely something I want to feel more of.

He's mine. I can't believe that he said he's mine.

"Dane!" Corbin yells, prompting both of us to groan in unison.

"Go. The fuck. Away," Dane yells back, his hold on me never loosening.

"Rain, you're both drunk. Don't do this right—
Ow!
Fucking son of a bitch glass," Corbin rants, earning a chuckle from both of us as glass clanks around on the floor. "Did you two destroy the house on fucking purpose?"

Dane's laughter roars free, and I lean up, ready to strangle that best friend of ours. Corbin is still muttering curses, probably regretting being barefoot as he braves the path of collateral damage we left in our wake, and I glare at the unlocked door. His balls are going in a souvenir jar as a warning to the world if he opens that door.

"Corbin," Dane says through a small snicker, "I'd walk away if I were you. I'm pretty sure your balls depend on it right now."

He knows me well.

"Tell Rain to put her death glare away. You two can't fuck while you're drunk. And I'd be a shitty friend if I let you."

Yep. Poor Corbin will be castrated before the night is over.

"Be a shitty friend, or sing soprano for the rest of your life. Your choice," I say ominously, still glaring at the door, waiting on him to be a total cock-block so I can unleash hell.

The hallway grows silent, and Dane and I stay in our very intimate position, both of us quietly watching and waiting. After a few minutes, Corbin curses more, and walks away to where we hear muttered arguments.

A few things are said about threats and castration, which means he made the smart decision, and I turn my attention back to a grinning Dane.

"Moment ruined?" he asks, daring to pretend as though I'd let him out of here now that he's promised himself to me.

"Chickening out already?" I huff, crossing my arms over my chest.

A slight squeal escapes me when I'm tossed onto my back, and Dane's hard, strong body becomes positioned between my legs once more. The glint in his eyes is anything but humorous right now. Determination has a look, and this is it.

"No, Rain. No more mind-fucking games," he says, confusing me before crushing his lips to mine.

After that, all other thoughts are pretty much banished, because it's impossible to think when Dane Sterling's tongue is doing wicked things inside your mouth. It's even harder to think when that same devilish tongue is working its way down your body.

"Damn dress. I think you enjoy driving me out of my fucking mind," he murmurs as the bottom of my dress starts sliding up, slowly leaving me exposed with nothing but the thin shreds of lace covering me.

As the dress hits the floor, Dane stares down at my body and mutters something about me not going anywhere this time, but I can't ask him to clarify because that damn tongue is back on me. Only this time, it's very close to where I've fantasized about it being for... a very long time.

We skipped the foreplay when we were kids because, well, we were kids. The second Dane slips my underwear to the side and presses his tongue right where I want him to, I regret not having foreplay.

Some embarrassing noise escapes my lips in a half-cry/half-whimpering medley, but that only earns a growl from Dane as he works his tongue in a way that is very illegal in many countries. He slowly peels my panties down, his mouth moving only briefly. Then his lips find me again as he pushes my panties down my legs. If I've ever shattered quicker, I can't remember it.

My panties never even made it all the way off me. They're stopped somewhere between my knees and my thighs.

His name tears through my lips, and my body stiffens while also trying to tremble, as a series of overwhelming aftershocks violently travel through me. Dane's smile against my most sensitive area doesn't exactly help things. Even his breath is driving me crazy right now.

"You didn't give me time to enjoy that for very long, and I've waited a while to do it," he teases, and if I wasn't so utterly spent right now, I would probably blush or at least have the decency to be embarrassed.

I'm panting as though
I
just did something strenuous, and no words leave my mouth when I open it. Shit. Did I forget how to speak?

Wet lips on mine decimate the incoherent thoughts in my mind as my body moves on its own. Idly, I realize my panties are now gone, but my bra is still on me. Dane's body is very clothed, and I don't like it.

My hands tangle in his hair again as that talented tongue finds its way inside my mouth once more. His hands travel over me, touching me in places I never thought they would again, and they reacquaint themselves with my somewhat different body. I'm not an eighteen-year-old girl anymore, and judging by his throaty moans, he approves.

Even though my arms now feel like they weigh fifty pounds apiece, I manage to pull Dane's shirt over his head with a less than graceful motion. He chuckles as I limply tug him back to me.

When's the last time I had sex? I can't remember.

"You're cute after you've had an or—"

I cut him off by kissing him hard, because I don't want to be cute right now. I want to be irresistible or sexy or anything but frigging cute.

My bra is either broken or unclipped—unsure which one—and then tossed to the floor, leaving me completely bare beneath him. I've always been a little uncomfortable when I'm naked around a guy, but not with Dane. Everything feels so... right.

I reach for him, fumbling with his very uncooperative belt and zipper. I'm two seconds away from screaming in frustration when Dane takes pity on me, laughing a little before he gets rid of those damn shorts.

When his boxers are the only thing separating us, I might whimper. Just a little. My fantasy is on top of me, his lips and tongue are on my body, and his hands are strumming me in places that make my eyes roll back and my toes curl.

I reach into his boxers—on purpose this time—and take his firm flesh into my hand, tugging at him as I gauge his size with a whole new appreciation. He trembles a little, and then reaches down and places his hand over mine.

"Fucking shit, Rain. We can't... Fuck, we can't do this," he groans, letting out a few more curses.

Someone is going to die tonight.

"Why?" That comes out harsher than I intended, but damn. He's killing me.

His deep laugh doesn't amuse me. It only pisses me off more because I'm drowning in frustration right now.

"I don't have any condoms. It's not like I foresaw this coming. And I doubt any of the guys are going to toss me one, considering it's you I'm in here with."