Loving War (4 page)

She laughs bitterly, keeping her back to me. My eyes start trailing down to where the towel barely covers her ass. Fortunately I haven’t had much liquor tonight, so I’m not crowding her with my hands or tongue… yet. The night is still young.

“Kode, you’ve treated me just the same. I assumed it was a mutual kiss-and-don’t-tell moment.”

I step in behind her, unable to keep looking without touching, even though I’m not the least bit drunk. My hands slide around her waist, tugging her back against me, and she shivers while trying to escape. Holding her to me tightly, I run my nose up against her hair and cheek, carelessly letting her wet hair soak my shirt. She smells like exotic fruit and chlorine. It shouldn’t be such an intoxicating medley.

“We did a hell of a lot more than kiss.”

She stops fighting, but she’s so stiff that I’m worried she might break in two if I move wrong.

“We fucked, Kode. One night. Don’t tell me you want more, because I won’t believe you.”

Her towel is the only thing stopping me from having her naked. It’s all physical. Logically I know we have zero things in common. It’s not like I want a relationship with her, but apparently my dick wants to be in charge, and Tria is all I can think about right now.

Never had this problem before.

“We did more than fuck, Tria. My mouth has touched you in ways that had you praising me.”

I feel her smile, but I can’t see it because I’ve started working on nipping at her neck, enjoying the way she immediately arches against me. Apparently she’s no more in control of her body than I am.

“I don’t remember that part.”

That pisses me off. I did some of my best work that night.

“You’re serious?”

She nods, angling her neck with a small sigh as she gives me access again. “You should go. This is… so screwed up. And you just pushed me into a pool.”

“Because you were talking to that douche,” I remind her. It’s not my fault she’s making me crazy. She has to shoulder that on her own.

“I assumed you were too distracted by the girl hanging on your arm to notice anyone talking to me.”

This time I grin. “So you were jealous, too? What do we do about this, Tria? One night didn’t get it out of my system, and apparently you’re still just as into me as I am you.”

She pushes away from me, but I pull her back, spinning her to face me, and my lips crash against hers in a rough kiss that reminds her how she likes it. Her hands go from pushing me away, to clawing at me to get closer.

There’s nothing romantic or graceful about it. It’s raw and carnal, just like this thing between us. Her towel falls away, and I drop her to the bed, nudging her legs apart so I can settle in between them.

She suckles my tongue, and my hips thrust forward, my cock straining against the fabric of my pants. But when I start fumbling when my belt buckle, she shoves me hard, breaking away from the kiss.

Before I can protest, a loud banging interrupts us, and Tria’s eyes go wide. She quickly starts slapping me and shushing me when I grunt, and I climb off her with a begrudged motion while she goes to scramble for her towel.

“Tria? It’s Rain. Open up. I swear I’m going to kill him.”

I grin over at Tria who rolls her eyes at me. “I’m coming.”

She grabs my hand, putting her finger over her lips, but I knock her hand away and pull her to me for a hard kiss that has her pushing and pulling at me again. Finally, pushing wins out, and I stumble into the room’s bathroom.

She points a warning finger at me while Rain pounds harder against the door, and then she closes the door to the bathroom, where I decide to stay. No need in pissing my brother off by telling him I’m trying to fuck Tria. I’m barely staying on his good side these days, and he has started viewing Tria like a little sister he has to protect.

The problem is, there’s no protecting her from me until I stop obsessing over her.

***

TRIA

What the unholy hell just happened? Am I seriously that big of a masochist that I let Kode run his greedy hands all over my bare body after humiliating me in front of the entire party? I know damn well my daddy issues aren’t that bad.

I have to get the hell out of here. Thank God for Rain right now.

“Hey,” I say, clutching the towel back around me as I open the door for Rain.

Her platinum blonde hair is in disarray, like she and Dane just had a moment where they snuck away from the party. Leave it to Rain to get the nicest, most perfect person in the world for her. I refuse to envy her because it’ll only make being her sister that much harder.

“Can I come in?” she asks.

My eyes reflexively go to the bathroom door where Kode is playing nice. But if he wants to get Rain’s attention, he’ll be storming out at any moment, trying to use me to make her jealous. And it wouldn’t be the first time I was a pawn. Or the second. Or even the third.

Gah, I sound pathetic right now.

Stepping aside, I let Rain in, preparing for Kode to walk out in his boxers or something.

“Get dressed. We’re going back up there, and you’re going to stay with Dane and me for the rest of the night.”

Great. I’m not the only one that knows I’m pathetic.

“I’m fine, Rain. Really. I was just about to go hit the gym instead, and then shower for bed.”

She pouts adorably, and I turn to grab a pair of shorts and a tank top just to go along with the ruse. As I start pulling the shorts on, bypassing panties, I glance toward the door to the bathroom again. Kode is being completely silent.

“I don’t like this,” Rain groans as I pull on my sports bra. “I can’t believe Kode did that. And I don’t know where the hell he went. He told me he was coming to apologize, but obviously he’s not here and hasn’t been here.”

Swallowing on a choking wad of air, my eyes flick to the rumpled bed, and I curse myself for letting him get me naked and worked up. I was ready to push him away, but I’m sure I would have just given back in.

He’s like a walking magnet, and I’m the polar opposite that can’t stay the hell away. Everything was fine until he saw me at that bar. Am I so weak that I can just dismiss the man he really is because of his sex appeal?

Yes. Yes I am. I have to get out of here. Out of Vegas. Anywhere far away from Kode.

Rain talks about introducing me to more people tomorrow as I work on braiding my hair into twin pigtails. Apparently she’s not going away, so I might actually have to go work out. Fine by me. Maybe I can find my dignity and sanity on the treadmill, while trying to run Kode out of my system. It’ll also give him time to leave instead of us continuing this stupid conversation.

Kode is still in the bathroom when I finish pulling on my sneakers, and Rain follows me out of my room. She keeps promising to talk to Kode, and I glance over my shoulder as we head down the hallway.

“I’m just going to take the stairs,” I say with a wave when she presses the elevator button.

“You’re sure you don’t want to just go back up there? I swear Kode will behave around Dane.”

I doubt Kode would behave in front of the pope. In fact, I’m almost certain he could tempt a saint to attempt murder.

“I’m positive,” I say before heading down the stairs.

After swiping my hotel key card through the slot in front of the workout room, I push through the door and find the first open machine. Should have grabbed my phone, because I hate working out without music.

After running on the treadmill for an hour, the boredom gets to me, and I hop off to grab a towel from the rack. Unfortunately, that run did nothing to clear my head. Kode is still very much cluttering it up.

Sluggishly, I make it back to my room, push through my door, and… stumble to a halt while gasping.

“Good workout?” Kode asks from my bed, casually lounging on it in nothing but his navy boxer-briefs.

He flicks the channel on the TV, acting as though there’s nothing at all wrong with this entire scene.

“What the hell are you doing?” I ask in disbelief.

He gives me a shrug, flipping the channel again. “Trying to find something worth watching.”

His eyes don’t even meet mine, and I continue staring, torn between being speechless and confused. Confusion wins, prompting my lips to move.

“Why are you in my bed?”

“The bathroom wasn’t very comfortable.”

I’m going to kill him.

“Kode,” I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose, “why are you in my bed?”

“Better question,” he says, flipping the channel once again. “Why are you in a regular room instead of a suite?”

That’s not a better question. It’s a stupid question.

“I took a regular room to make sure everyone else coming for this week had a nice suite. The hotel only had a limited number left when I checked for availability, so I booked this room since I’m less high maintenance.”

He snorts as though that’s a ludicrous claim. “
You’re
less high maintenance? You were driving a top-of-the-line Benz when you turned sixteen. Your wardrobe costs more than most people’s homes. And you have enough makeup in that bathroom to take care of Broadway’s needs. Seriously, who brings that much makeup? You have like thirty of everything, and there’s three bags of the stuff in there.”

I frown, realizing he’s been snooping. I suppose he didn’t just sit in the bathroom and stare at the back of the door while I was trying to get Rain out.

“That’s for something I’m doing while I’m here. I arranged a lunch meeting for tomorrow.”

That seems to get his attention because he leans up from the bed and flips off the TV.

“You’re selling makeup?” he asks with an eyebrow raised.

It’s not surprising that no one knows or cares what I’ve been doing with my life. It shouldn’t bother me that Kode has no clue, but it does. I know every business he owns or invests in.

Christ, I sound like a stalker.

“I’m launching my own line. The lady I’m meeting tomorrow has a chain of department stores. They’re small and admittedly low-end, but it’s a start. I don’t expect to be an overnight sensation. But if the meeting goes well, I’ll get a second meeting in the afternoon, and I’ll need to have that makeup with me.”

His grin slides up as his eyes do something funny. He’s amused. The bastard is amused. I should have kept my mouth shut.

“Get out of my room if you’re going to sit there and make fun of me. I’ve put a lot of work into this.”

I turn and head toward the bathroom, but the sound of the bed shifting and feet moving hurriedly have me turning around. I almost bump into him when he tries to match my abrupt stop.

“I wasn’t making fun,” he says with a cheeky grin that betrays him. “I swear. I was just surprised that you’re doing this the hard way. You’re the niece of Paul Colton—fashion master of the universe. Call him. He’d put your line in his stores, and it would take off with ease.”

Rolling my eyes, I head into the bathroom, groaning when he follows behind me and shuts the door. I’m not claustrophobic, but right now, with Kode sharing this small space with me, I’m finding it hard to breathe. I focus—or try to focus—on the conversation at hand, as opposed to the gloriously nearly naked man.

“I don’t want to do it the easy way. I want to earn my spot so that no one can take success away from me if I make it. I still have money from my trust, and every dime is going into this. It means a lot to me.”

His grin only grows as he leans back against the counter of the small bathroom, watching me with guileless amusement. His exposed body is very distracting despite my attempts to ignore it, and that only pisses me off more. He shouldn’t be so frigging sexy when I’m pissed. And he really shouldn’t be hard right now.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I say in a clipped tone. “I realize it seems laughable to you because you own a chunk of Sterling Shore businesses, and you have investments in large New York companies, but this is a really important part of my life. Don’t spoil it by mocking me. Please go away.”

Again, his smile only grows. “You seem to know a lot about me for someone who hates me.”

He crosses his arms over his chest, watching me with that stupid grin. He needs to put on clothes before I do something stupid like kiss the bastard again. And he needs to get out of the bathroom. This space is too intimate, and my mouth is running before my mind can censor the words. I have to stop accidentally revealing too much.

“Know your enemies,” I mumble.

“You’re going to go that route? I’m not stupid, Tria. Be honest.”

Honesty is not an option. I can’t tell him how mildly obsessed I’ve been with him. Not when he’s only ever looked at me like an annoyance.

I need a therapist.

“I’m not as self-absorbed as you are. So yes, I know what others do with their lives. Go. Away.” Insulting him instead of fueling his ego is a much better route than honesty.

He shrugs while pushing off the counter, and heads out of the bathroom. That was easier than I thought it was going to be. Trying not to think about him putting his clothes back on, I strip and climb into the shower.