Crazy on You Read online

  Ceci jumped at the sound of Caz's voice. Instinct made her check to make sure her dress wasn't gaping. He hovered in the doorway, making the space look insignificant. He was no larger than his brothers at six feet, but his personality always made him seem bigger. He stared at her with those Tristan brown eyes. The brothers could have been quads, they looked so much alike. The difference was in their personalities, and apparently the bear in this brother had been poked.

  “What do you mean?” She tucked her dress down over her knees.

  Caz stalked toward her. “You know damn well what I mean. Nick and I have watched the three of you play this game for almost a year. It's ridiculous. Brian avoids you. You avoid Brian. Paul makes cow eyes at you. You giggle over Paul and use every excuse to be near or touch him. You and Brian don't want to be together, and neither of you has the balls to speak up. You and Paul want each other so much I can smell it ... and neither of you has the balls to speak up.”

  He was over her now, fists braced on the arms of the chair, nailing her in place with his presence, those eyes.

  “Paul respects—”

  “Bullshit,” he spit out. “He's chicken. And stupid. The signs are clear enough if he'd open his fucking eyes and look. He can't see past the fact Brian had you first. It wouldn't matter to me, sweetheart. If I wanted you, I'd come after you. I thought of it a couple of times just to throw a scare into Paul and get him moving.”

  “You did?” Ceci didn't know how she felt about that news.

  “I did,” he said with a smile. “I would have, too ... if I didn't find you too vanilla for me.”

  Ceci glared up at him. “I am not vanilla.”

  Caz's grin widened. “You are, too.”

  “Am not.”

  He cocked his head to one side. “Really? Prove it.” He jerked his head toward the door. “Go get your man. Someone's got to make a move. Might as well be you. Do it, sweetheart. Go out there and go crazy on him.”

  Heat rushed her from head to toe. Ceci knew a blush went along with it. She stared at Caz, saw the continuing challenge in his eyes, and didn't know what the hell to do.

  “I ... I...” She shook her head. “Not until I talk to Brian.”

  “Need permission?”

  His smirk pissed her off. “No. A clear conscience.”

  “Good enough.” He pushed back and walked away, but only got as far as the door before he looked back. “Don't dawdle. Nick and I are sick and tired of the façade. We're prepared to take matters into our own hands if we have to.”

  “What are you gonna do?” she snapped. “Stick Paul's dick in me?”

  “Intriguing proposition.” Caz grinned. “Maybe you're not as vanilla as I thought.”

  He left without another word.

  Ceci's body flamed with embarrassment. She fumbled for her cell phone and clutched it in her fist. She wasn't budging from this spot until she reached Brian. After that...

  “One confrontation at a time,” she told herself. Although the idea of going crazy on Paul made not thinking about it impossible.

  I'll go out there and ... and...

  Good God! She was vanilla. The best she could come up with was flashing her tits.

  Come on, you can do better than that.

  Ceci punched redial on her phone, hoping against hope Brian would pick up and she could get that out of the way. All the fantasizing in the world wasn't going to come to fruition if she couldn't end it with Brian first. It was the right thing to do. Still, she let her mind wander while she hit the redial button over and over again.

  It was Paul's thumb against her button ... against her clit. Rubbing and toying it to the bursting point. Then his fingers inside her. His lips ... Ceci frowned, trying to remember the last time she'd had oral sex. She shook the thought away and tried to dredge up the hottest scenario she could imagine, one where Paul would have no doubt she meant business.

  What if Caz is wrong? What if Paul doesn't want you?

  Ceci damned her conscience, but it was enough to deflate her confidence. She didn't know how long she sat there, dialing and dialing. It was the busy signal that snapped her back into the moment. Hope renewed, she dialed again. Brian answered.

  “Hey.” He sounded exhausted, beat down. Ceci could sure understand that.

  “Hey,” she replied. What if this news hurt him? She wasn't sure she could bear doing that. But was continuing to live a lie any better?

  “You're not covering so Paul can yell at me, are you?” he asked.

  Ceci gave a small laugh. “No, he's off on a tear, determined to find out all he can ‘about that woman.'” She imitated Paul to perfection. “I called because...” She sighed. Though she hated giving him news like this when he had so much else to deal with right now, it had to be now. It wasn't fair to either of them otherwise.

  “I can't marry you, Brian. I like you. I enjoy the time we've spent together. But last night, I just felt cornered. I didn't want to accept your proposal, but I also didn't know what else to do. Please understand it has nothing to do with anything else. I've been in tears since last night, not overjoyed. The news this morning seemed like the perfect excuse to call this off. I realized after you left that I shouldn't need an excuse. If I don't want to marry you, that's all the reason I need.”

  “That's why I was calling you, Ceci. Last night was awkward. I didn't want you embarrassed by it all. The thought of not having you in our lives hurts.” He sounded relieved, happy even. It buoyed her spirits.

  “Oh, Brian, I'm not going anywhere. You're my friend.”

  There was a beat of silence, then they both started laughing softly.

  “I'm so glad I called you,” she said.

  “Me, too. In fact, I'd tried to call you a second before you got through.”

  “It's one weight off my shoulders.”

  “There are more?”

  Ceci sighed, easily imagining the share-with-me look in his deep brown eyes. It was the look that had brought them together in the first place. She'd love to confide in him, but he had enough on his shoulders at the moment. And her feelings for Paul were something she had to resolve for herself. “Yeah, but I think you've just given me the hope and courage to fix that one, too.”

  “I'm here for you,” he said.

  “And I appreciate that more than I can say.”

  “Enough to keep Paul off my ass while I get things settled?”

  “I think I can manage to keep him occupied,” she said with a smile, and her imagination cranked into high gear.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  * * *

  CHAPTER 3

  “How much longer are you going to be in here throwing a hissy fit?”

  Paul didn't dignify Nick's smart-ass remark with a look. Someone had to see Ceci wasn't hurt. Someone had to make sure Brian was protected. If Nick and Caz were good brothers, they would have helped Paul research instead of doing ... whatever it was they were doing.

  “I'm not throwing a hissy fit,” he snapped back. “I came out to the studio for some peace and quiet so I could search for information on the Internet about that woman.”

  Nick snickered and plopped down on the black leather sofa at a right angle to the one Paul occupied. “I don't know who you think you're fooling. You came out here to this soundproof building to yell and scream and rant and rave at the top of your lungs so Ceci couldn't find out how you really are.”

  The dig hit too close to Paul's heart.

  Caz laughed and sank into the cushions beside Nick. “Oh, I think you hit pay dirt, Nicky.”

  Laptop balanced on his thighs, Paul swung his legs onto his sofa so neither of them would get any ideas about sitting next to him. “Shut up. I'm trying to protect our brother.”

  A half-truth. Paul was mad as hell at Brian and he didn't trust this blast-from-the-past wife either. Judging from Caz's snort, he didn't believe Paul either.

  “She's got a kid.” Paul turned the laptop around so they could both see for themselves. N
either looked.

  “Yeah, it's all over TV.” Nick shrugged. “Cute guy. Nine years old. Name's Ethan.”

  Paul stared at them. He'd been searching the Internet for hours and the news hounds already had the information? “He's probably not Brian's.”

  Nick's face lit up. “If Brian's not the father, then one of us is. The kid's the spitting image of—”

  “I don't want to hear this.” Paul cut his youngest brother off with a slice of his hand. “This is wrong. The woman's lied all these years. Hid the boy from Brian. She can only want one thing.”

  “Privacy?” Caz asked. “I swear to God, Paul, you hear, but you don't listen. Howie was supposed to handle the annulment and didn't.”

  “That doesn't explain why she hid the boy,” he snapped.

  “That's for her and Brian to work out.” Nick scraped his fingers over his morning whiskers. “Maybe she didn't realize the boy was Brian's.”

  “You just said he was the image of a Tristan.” Paul jerked the laptop around and shut it down.

  “That doesn't mean she realized it.”

  “How can she not?” He was getting a headache on top of the one he already had trying to talk to these two. Why did they always have to reason things out?

  “This is between Brian and her. All we can do is be here to support him.” Caz slumped farther into the cushions. His gaze burned into Paul, like this was all Paul's doing.

  “I don't want Brian blindsided by this. He needs to know he has a son before he meets with her.”

  “So, call him,” Nick said.

  God, did they think he was stupid? “I've been calling, but he won't pick up.”

  “Can't say I blame him. He's got enough on his plate without having to hear you lecture, moralize, and bitch.”

  “Do you blame me?” He slammed the laptop closed. “And you seem to forget there's another person's feelings involved here. What about Ceci? What about her feelings? She deserves way better than this.” He stabbed his finger on the computer. “She deserves better than Brian.”

  “I agree.” Caz stretched his arms high. His classic move when he was getting ready to make some smart-ass remark. “I thought about going for that myself.”

  Nick smacked his shoulder. “No shit? Me, too.”

  Paul glowered at them. What the fuck was this all about? This was the first hint he'd ever had that the two considered her more than a sister, a friend. And yet they sat there smirking as if she were a piece of ass to divvy up.

  Caz grinned at Nick. “Imagine it ... Her sprawled facedown over my lap, that smooth, sweet ass begging for a kiss of leather.”

  “Oh, yeah. I could go for that. Maybe we could do a little menage thing. Wouldn't be the first time.”

  Paul tossed the computer to the cushion, swung his feet to the floor and was in their faces a second later, finger jabbing home his point. “If either of you little bastards touch Ceci, I swear to God I'll break every bone in your bodies.”

  Nick clutched his sides and howled. “Do you kiss Mom with that mouth? I've been on the phone with her for the last hour talking about all this. I should call her back right now. What would she think if she heard you calling her treasured youngest angels bastards?”

  “What do you think she and Dad would think of what their freaking ‘angels’ do in their sex lives?” he yelled back.

  “Don't knock it ‘til you've tried it,” Caz quickly countered. “Oops, sorry, I forgot I was talking to Mr. Missionary.”

  “You and Brian both,” Nick added. “Obviously, neither of you ever snuck a peek at Mom and Dad in one of their wild moments.”

  Caz smacked his thigh as he cackled. “Oh, my God, look at his eyes, Nick. We've scarred Paul for life now.”

  His brain had just about shut down. The thought of Caz or Nick touching the woman Paul loved, quickly followed by the image of their parents engaging in any sexual activity was too much to absorb. He didn't know whether he wanted to slug his brothers or put as much distance between him and them as possible.

  Paul flopped back to his sofa, shoved the laptop to the side table, and snatched his cell from beside it. “Get the fuck out of here. I've got to call Brian and warn him.”

  “You get the fuck out of here,” Caz replied. “This is as much our place as it is yours.”

  “Besides,” Nick added, “some of us might want to get some work done.”

  “Yeah,” Caz said. “Two against one. We win. You go.”

  “Two against one.” Nick snickered. “Ceci locked between us. Mmm-mmm.”

  “Grow up.” Paul vaulted to his feet, more than tempted to plow his fist in his little brother's perfect profile.

  Caz palmed his crotch. “I'm feeling pretty grown up at the moment. Think I'll find Ceci and really help her dry those tears. By the time I'm done, she won't even remember Brian's name.”

  “Don't you touch her! Don't you dare touch her!” He clenched his fist around the cell. It was the only thing that kept him from swinging.

  The mocking humor on their faces switched off.

  “Why?” Nick asked. “Because you want her? It's obvious, Paul.”

  “At least it's obvious to the two of us,” Caz told him. “It's obvious to Mom and Dad, too. You, Ceci, and Brian appear to be clueless. Open your eyes, brother. The woman wants you. The woman loves you. And Brian? He hasn't been a part of the equation for ten months.”

  They left him then, staring gape-mouthed at the wall, his body one raging hard-on. Ceci loved him? She wanted him?

  I have to call Brian.

  Paul glanced at the phone clutched in his grip. Logic was gone, but so was duty and obligation and loyalty. Caveman took over in all his primal glory, swelling his cock to unbelievable proportions. He didn't want to adjust it comfortably. He wanted to whip it out and run after his woman with his penis proudly waving before him.

  Mr. Missionary my ass. If Ceci walked through the door right now, he'd show her fucking like she'd never forget. He'd have her down on all fours, pounding into her until they splintered a new fault line in the earth.

  Then she appeared before him. Paul blinked, wondering if his sex-infused mind had conjured her. Her scent curled around him—gardenias and lust—and he realized she was no figment of his imagination.

  Slow steps brought her nearer. Her gold-brown hair drifted down her shoulders, sea green eyes were bright, lips moist and full. Time slowed to a crawl. Everything moved in slow motion, or maybe that was his head playing tricks again, maybe freezing this moment for posterity, maybe making him finally realize all the time he'd wasted and that he should really treasure this second.

  “I want you,” she whispered.

  Paul's legs quivered, threatened to give out on him. He wanted to collapse to his knees before her, wrap his arms around her thighs, wedge his face under her dress and peel her panties down with his teeth.

  “I ... I have to call Brian.” He felt like an idiot. The woman of his dreams was within arm's reach, and all he could do was say he had to call his brother.

  “I just talked to Brian. We're over and very relieved about it. We were meant to be friends, never lovers. You and I, however...” Reaching out, she slithered her hand under his T-shirt. Long nails raked over his stomach. The muscles bunched beneath her touch. “We ... we were meant to be lovers.”

  Her thumb caressed his hard nipple as she stretched on tiptoe and covered his mouth in a kiss he felt all the way to his balls. The cell phone fell to the carpeted floor with a soft thud. Paul snapped his arm around her waist and anchored her to him. He fisted her dress and yanked it up, then stabbed his hand in her panties and squeezed her ass.

  Ceci groaned and rolled her pelvis into his. Paul deepened the kiss, drowning in the sensation of their tongues thrashing. He wanted to eat her inside out ... and he planned to do just that.

  She tweaked his nipple hard, tearing a moan from his throat and his lips from hers. He tossed his head back and ground his cock into her, fingers kneading her butt cheeks wit
h every push. Ceci feathered her tongue down his Adam's apple, nipped at his throat, then sucked at the base.

  Paul tipped her off balance, caught her in his arms, and draped her onto the sofa. Another soft thunk landed her shoes next to the cell. She nudged her lips to his, begging another kiss with barely perceptible whimpers and flashes of her pink tongue. Paul sank into her mouth and wedged his pelvis between her thighs.

  Ceci locked one calf around his hips. Her heat welded them together. She skidded her fingers over his ribs, down his spine, and plunged into his jeans as far as she could—which wasn't far enough for Paul. He wanted skin on skin, body in body.

  He shoved her dress higher, desperate to feel her breasts, but the fire down below made the simplest of tasks impossible. He wanted to slow down and make this the best sex of her life. His cock had other ideas.

  Paul rolled to the floor, kneeling before her open thighs. The smell of her pussy screamed to him. Her crotch was damp from her juices. Glancing up at her, he peeled her panties down. She tried to close her legs and move away. Her eyes widened, then puddled with tears.

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “I am vanilla.”

  If he didn't already love her like crazy, this would have cinched it for him. He kissed her leg, then rubbed his cheek over her soft skin. “My favorite flavor.” He brushed the backs of his fingers over the inside of her thigh, then traced a caress over her muff. “I want to taste you, Ceci. I need to taste you.”

  “But ... I was supposed to seduce you.”

  “You're here, sweetheart. It's all the seduction I need.”

  A sigh relaxed her. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. It nearly shattered what little control Paul had remaining. He tugged down the panties and just about came when Ceci lifted her leg free of the garment and draped her calf over his shoulder. He cupped her bare leg, rubbing up and down while he licked and kissed the bare flesh. When she kicked the panties from her other leg, he cupped her bottom and lifted her hips his way.

  Eyes closed, he drank in the scent of her arousal. His mouth watered. Still, he took his time, savoring the feel of her skin beneath his lips, his cheeks, his tongue. It seemed he'd waited a lifetime for this moment, and Paul was going to treasure every second.