Somebody's Lover: The Jackson Brothers, Book 1

edge of the sink as he began to move, thrusting high, withdrawing, pushing her up to the brink again.
    “Look at me,” she whispered.
    Rich brown eyes the color and depth of the earth itself. She reached back, pulled his face to her throat and threaded her fingers through his hair as soft and as thick as fur.
    Over her shoulder, he watched as he pumped inside. So hot. So good. So strong.
    He put a finger to her clitoris and she flew clear through the roof. Biting down on her throat, he came, pulsing inside her even as he thrust one last time, hard and high and deep, then held her tight to his body.
    Their hearts raced together, their breath mingling. Taylor floated back down to earth in his arms. And opened her eyes to stare at their reflection.
    Lou stood behind her, holding her.
    For a brief moment, he looked so much like Lou, she thought she was dreaming.
    But it wasn’t Lou. It was Jace. And Lou had never made her feel the way Jace did. Never. Not even in the beginning.
    Jace tipped his head. “What?”
    She swallowed. Lou had never made her want to throw all thought and caution to the winds.
    “That was good,” she whispered. Lou had never taken her so completely out of herself.
    “Yeah. Fucking perfect,” Jace murmured, turning to kiss the slight red mark his bite had left.
    Lou had never made sex perfect.
    She’d fallen in love with him the day she met his family. His mother, his father, his loud, obnoxious brothers. His big, open, loving family so unlike her own. She’d fallen in love with all of them. She’d wanted them for her very own.
    Lou had been the way to make sure they loved her, too. But he’d never made her feel the way Jace did.
    “What’s going on in that mind of yours?”
    Jace made her hot, bothered, crazy, needy, wonderful, wanted. He made her feel like a woman. Not just somebody’s mother or somebody’s wife. But somebody’s lover. His lover.
    She was too unsure of her newfound realizations to answer.
    “You’re getting freaky, Taylor.” He pushed inside her, as if he thought she needed reminding that he was there.
    She couldn’t forget. She wanted him again. She wanted to taste him, swallow him, keep him inside.
    She’d loved Lou, had thought she’d fall apart when he died, but he’d never made her ache for one more touch. Not the way Jace did. She tried telling herself it was just sex. Because it had been so long. And she’d been so needy. But it was so much more.
    Lord. Jace. She closed her eyes and pulled in a long, deep breath until her chest hurt.
    She’d loved Lou. But she’d loved his family more. Now suddenly, Jace had become more important to her than Lou had ever been. The disloyalty of it ate at her from the inside out.
    More than the family stood between them. Lou himself did. The way he’d died. The way Jace felt about that. She didn’t know if she had the courage to talk to him about it. If she ever would.
    She didn’t know if she had the courage to admit she’d never loved Lou the way she should have.

    * * * * *

    She scared the shit out of him.
    He pulled out of her, aching to stay, then tossed the condom in the toilet, flushed, and did up his pants.
    She shimmied her skirt down, not meeting his eyes. “You looked like Lou for a minute.”
    Christ. Shit. Lou. His dead brother. The brother he let down. The brother he let die.
    What the hell did he expect? He’d been doing her for a week. Lou was years ahead of him. She wouldn’t forget Lou, not after a week. Or a month. Maybe not even a lifetime.
    “I’m not my brother’s replacement.” He wanted to ram his hands through his hair. He wanted to lay her down on the floor and fuck her until she didn’t remember who the hell Lou was.
    “I know you’re not Lou.”
    What did that mean?
    She pulled her skirt down and smoothed her hair. “I have to think. I need to think.”
    Don’t think. Please don’t think. Don’t remember. Choose me. He wanted to howl like a wounded animal. He would pay for what he did to Lou for the rest of his life. He deserved to pay. But he couldn’t stand here and watch her slip away from him.
    “I gotta go. I’m meeting Dad and the guys out in Bentonville.”
    He’d seen his mother driving away and had known Taylor would be alone. He’d taken to carrying the goddamn condoms in his pocket, but she’d been the one to yank the rug out from under him, dragging him into the bathroom. For a minute, he’d freaked out, but then he’d been lost in her. Until she