Page 5 of All He Wants

I dragged my eyes away from her stocking-clad legs and felt myself twitch against my zipper. God, it was fucking ridiculous how gone for her I was. Worse, nobody else had this effect on me — and trust me, I’d tried my best to get her out of my head.

“Thanks,” I rasped, suddenly grateful for the thick knitted blanket on my lap so she couldn’t see my utter lack of self-control pushing against my jeans. She sipped her drink, the pale pink of the mug looking pretty against the flush on her cheeks as her eyes closed in bliss.

…And I was staring.

Again.

“You know, I forgot, I think I have to go and⁠—”

“Did I do something wrong?” The words were a little quiet, small, and the sheen in her eyes nearly killed me. “I thought we had a good time when you visited Nick and me last — that we were friends, but you haven’t been around much lately and I haven’t heard from you… and now you’re desperate to avoid me. Or am I wrong?” Ember watched me closely, her lashes fluttering slightly when she blinked, and I heaved out a breath, pushing my hand through my hair.

What should I tell her? That she was imagining things? That I wanted to be her friend, but my brain hadn’t got the platonic message?

In the end, I sighed and smiled, hoping it didn’t look as strained as it felt. “Everything’s fine, Em. I’m sorry, I’ve just been busy.”

“Promise?”

Our eyes met and I softened. “Promise.” Needing to break the tension, I glanced down at her book and relaxed back against the pile of cushions that cradled the window. “What’re you reading?”

To my surprise, she blushed, her entire face flaming pink. “Oh, just a, um, holiday romance. ‘Tis the season and all.”

It was an innocuous answer, but her deepening flush told another story. “Oh yeah? Just a holiday romance?”

She nodded and then gasped, eyes flying wide, when I snatched it from her side and flicked through the pages while holding the book out of her reach.

My stomach dropped as my eyes scanned the page and I couldn’t help my grin. I tried to curb it but she saw anyway, groaning. “Is this a dirty book, Ember?”

“It’s a romance,” she protested, reaching for it to no avail.

““Touch him,” Julien demanded and I eagerly obeyed, running my hands over Drew’s muscular chest and down over his stomach until I reached the trail of hair that ran down to his⁠—”

“Enough! Enough!” Ember shrieked, lunging for the book as I chuckled, finally surrendering it after taunting her. Her chest rose and fell quickly, face so close to mine that I could count each of her eyelashes before she pulled away.

“I’m going to need to borrow that one when you’re done with it,” I whispered and smirked when she blushed harder.

“You can’t handle this one,” she muttered. “Start with something more… simple.”

I snorted. “I do know how to read, Em.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant.” When I stayed quiet she sighed like she regretted asking me to join her. “This is a high heat book. You should probably start with something a bit more tame.”

Ember bit her lip, the plush dent from her teeth drawing all my attention and I replied before I could think too much about it. “I can do high heat.”

Maybe it was the husky quality to my voice, or the way the space between us seemed to shrink without us ever moving, but the air suddenly felt thick, our breaths caught between moments as the snow continued to drift lazily past the window.

“There you are.” Nick’s voice was like a bucket of cold water over my head, making me rear back from Ember and push the blanket off my lap so I could stand. My brother didn’t even falter, just smiled at me like he had nothing to worry about — because I was his brother and Ember was his girl. “You guys okay?”

I drummed the words into my head over and over as I clapped Nick on the shoulder. “Yep, just talking about books.”

Nick smirked, leaning down to whisper something into Ember’s ear and a flare of hot jealousy made my jaw clench as it burned in my throat. “Mom was looking for you,” he said, the words a clear dismissal despite the fact that his eyes were firmly on Ember. “We’ve got a book to read together,” he murmured, smirking at Ember, and I bit down on my lip hard, the small pain bringing me back to myself as I nodded.

Off-limits. Off-limits. Off-fucking-limits.

God, I was so screwed.

I’d managed to stay busy – and out of Nick and Ember’s way – for the rest of the day. But after dinner, there was no escape.

Family board games were a Christmas tradition and everyone had to join in. Usually they were fun, if a little competitive, evenings. This year, they were an exercise in restraint that seemed to have been designed specifically to torture me.