“It’s no big deal.” But it was a big deal. All of it. All of this.

His lips barely brushed mine in the most innocent kiss I’d shared since middle school. It made me shiver again.

“Now you can tell me what you like about me,” he prompted, while I stood there struck silent.

It was hard to think with his arms engulfing me like they were, his mouth so close to mine. I wanted to run my fingers through the stubble of his beard and bite his bottom lip. But I managed to focus long enough to say, “You are definitely an asshole, but what I like is that you are so responsible, you take care of your brothers, you do what you have to do, and yet you still laugh. You have a sense of humor, and you don’t take yourself too seriously.”

“I guess we’re pretty fucking awesome, aren’t we?” he asked.

I nodded.

Then, without any clear signal from each other, we both went for the kiss, and it was a hot collision of mouth and teeth. It was hot and wet and perfect. Wow. And then wow some more. His stubble was rough on my skin, his hands gripping me tightly, and his mouth fought to dominate mine. It was a sexy, skilled kiss, and I was breathing hard and wanting more when we paused.

“I’ve been wanting to do this all week,” he muttered.

“Oh, yeah?” I hadn’t really known that. I wanted that, but I hadn’t been sure. At all. He had kept making it seem like we were friends and nothing more, and I had believed him. I had never been more glad to be totally wrong in my life. Feeling a little smug, I ran my tongue across his bottom lip. He gave a soft groan.

“Yeah. Every night I’ve been beating my dick like it owes me money.”

Really? I snorted. “Shut up and just kiss me. You’re better at that than talking.” But the truth was, I didn’t care what he said. I was excited, relieved, ready to take what he was offering and give him whatever he wanted, because I had managed to fall hard for him, fast, in a way that I never did.

He laughed.

As Riley pressed me against the house, hungrily kissing me, I clutched at his T-shirt, enjoying the feel of his hard chest. I had always been a girl who liked a muscular guy—not the juiced-up gym hardbodies—but a body like Riley’s, earned from lifting heavy materials and sweating through a day of manual labor. Going lower, I slipped my hands under his shirt, groaning a little into his kiss as my fingers touched that smooth, hot skin of his abs.

“Feel free to keep going lower,” he murmured, pulling his lips from mine.

Amused, I said, “That’s so nice of you.”

“I’m a giver.” But then he pulled his head back. “But maybe we should go in the house before the neighbors get jealous.”

He had a point. He took my hand, and pulled me inside, the door closing softly behind him. I let him push me back against the door, fingers entwined with mine, his mouth doing delicious things to my insides as he kissed me again and again.

Not every guy can kiss, and not every guy knew how to use his tongue, but Riley and I seemed to be a perfect fit, our tongues teasing in a perfect give-and-take.

I let my hand wander down and I found his erection, hard and thick in his jeans. “Hmm, what’s this?” Stroking him, I felt the tug of desire and wondered if we were really going to do this, take it further than just a kiss. I wanted to physically, there was no doubt, but there seemed to be a lack of urgency on his part.

But that was Riley. He did everything with that swagger and that smile, and why should this be any different? Yet I’d seen him burst out in anger, and I’d thought, somehow, that he would attack me with passion. Or maybe that was just my fantasy—that he wanted me so badly he had to have me now.

Instead he was now lazily nuzzling my neck and keeping his hands just above my ass.

Yet I was the one stroking his penis. Suddenly doubting myself, I wondered what he really wanted, how he really felt about me. So he didn’t hate me. And he liked certain things about me. But was that it? I was afraid to ask, so I went with what I knew would almost guarantee a positive response.

I popped the button on his jeans, hoping for a more aggressive reaction. “What’s in here?”

“I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.”

That’s what every guy said. I was sure in his case it was true, given what I could feel beneath my palm, but I wanted something more from him, and I wasn’t sure what it was, exactly. So I kept fishing. “Are you pierced like Tyler?”

I meant it as a sexy tease, but his lips stilled on my neck and he pulled back. “Tyler has his junk pierced?”

“Yes,” I said, surprised. “You don’t know that?”

“Why would I know what my brother does with his dick?” Riley looked repulsed by the very thought. “And by the way, how do you know?”

Uh-oh. He didn’t know I had hooked up with Tyler. How could he not know? “Well . . .”

“I can’t believe the shit you girls talk about. I wonder if Tyler knows Rory is spilling about their sex life. And no, I am not pierced. I have no desire to have a needle shoved through my dick.”

I wasn’t sure what to do. I had to tell him the truth, or it would come out later and bite me on the ass hard, but how exactly did I say that? Then again, it wasn’t a big deal. It shouldn’t be a big deal. It was all pre-Riley and me, so who cared, right?

So I told him, “Rory didn’t tell me.”

Now his expression turned puzzled. “So then how do you . . .” And then he got it. He recoiled away from me. “Oh my fucking God! Are you telling me you’ve had sex with my brother?”

“Yes,” I said because I wasn’t a liar and I wasn’t ashamed. “I thought you knew.”

“Why would I know that?” he asked, his hands going up to push through his hair. “I don’t get detailed sex logs from Tyler. God! I can’t believe you were going to let me do this without knowing.”

“I thought you knew!” I said, starting to get pissed off. There was no deception or cover up. Nathan and Kylie and Rory all knew, so I just assumed Riley did, too. I was still against the door and I moved forward, but he took two steps back, hands coming out in a defensive posture, like I might attack him or something.

“What’s the big deal?” I asked, upset that I had opened my mouth and said anything, upset that instead of having him look at me like I was amazing, like he had been ten minutes earlier, he was eyeing me like I was a circus freak. World’s Sluttiest Girl.

“You fucked my brother! That’s a big deal!” Riley’s legs ate up the room in long strides as he went over to the coffee table and pulled a cigarette out of a pack lying there. I hadn’t seen him smoke all day, so it was a clear indicator he was stressed out. Cramming it in his mouth, he looked at me over the lighter as he flicked it on. “He’s . . . touched you. That’s messed up.”

“So what?” I still didn’t totally understand why he was so upset. “It was before I even met you.”

“He’s my brother!” He sucked hard on the cigarette and blew it out. “This isn’t just some random guy. Every time I look at him I’m going to think about the fact that he nailed you. That he had his dick in you first.”

Way to be rude about it. “Okay, I get that. But what am I supposed to do? It happened. We’re adults. Rory doesn’t have a problem with it and we’re best friends. Tyler doesn’t have a problem with being around me knowing I’m best friends with his girlfriend. None of us make it weird. Why are you making it weird? None of us walk around thinking about it.”

I waved my hand in front of me to break up the cloud of smoke. “And I thought you said you wouldn’t smoke in the house.”

“This requires nicotine.” Anger was simmering below the surface of his expression and he glared at me.

What did he have the right to be pissed about? “What do you want me to say?” I snapped. “I couldn’t predict that we would wind up here. Tyler’s my friend and we hooked up a few times.”