Kids could be brutal, especially if they’d been abused themselves. But Evan shrugged as if he hadn’t cared. Even though his father’s words must have felt like being abandoned all over again, no matter what the man had done to him. He’d still been unwanted.
“I’m so glad Susan and Bob opened up their hearts, and their home, to you.”
“I wasn’t a great houseguest.”
“You weren’t a houseguest at all. You were a son to them from the start.”
“I know that now. But it took years. And a lot of acting out. And continued silence. Like you said, sometimes that’s the worst. It must have hurt them that I couldn’t let it all out. They must have felt like they weren’t helping me. When the truth was that I would have died without them. I just didn’t know how to show my gratitude.”
Her chest was achy and tight for the boy he’d been, for the pain he’d felt, the agony, for the adult world he couldn’t understand.
But he had learned in the end. To accept love. To trust. To discover people’s true worth.
Until Whitney had destroyed him all over again.
Nothing and no one on earth could have stopped Paige from throwing her arms around him then. Holding him tight, giving him all her caring, her warmth, her sympathy, her comfort.
She’d done it for patients, when they were crying, when they needed an arm around them and a gentle voice to talk them through. That’s all it was. It was all she intended it to be.
Until Evan’s mouth met hers.
And it became so much more.
Chapter Fourteen
Evan sank into Paige, her taste, her scent. Her kiss was heady, and he lost himself in her, the feel of her smooth, soft skin beneath his hand where he reached up to cup her cheek, the sound of her breath as it hitched, the sexy little moan vibrating in her throat.
He’d been lost, wandering in the dark. Now, he let himself be found in Paige’s light, her sweetness. Hauling her close, until there wasn’t an inch left between them, he tunneled his fingers into her hair as he ravaged her lips. She surrounded him, with her arms, her warmth, her legs, her body. Straddling him, she took as much as he did, consuming him in equal measure.
Almost as if his hands didn’t belong to him, they pulled open her shirt, the little buttons easily giving way beneath the force of his need. Her bra was next, the thin silk straps no barrier at all as he kissed his way down her neck to the hollow at her collarbone and along her shoulder. Her head fell back, giving him greater access, and she tantalized him with a moan of pleasure that thrummed through his body.
He dragged the silk, down, down, down…until the swells of her gorgeous breasts fell free.
He had to touch—Lord, she was beautiful—had to brush the pads of his thumbs over the taut peaks. And he had to taste. He would die if he didn’t. His lips closed around her, sucking, laving her with his tongue, plumping her flesh. With his other hand, he cupped her butt through her jeans, his body rocking up to meet hers.
“Evan.” His name came on a throaty groan of need. “It’s so good. So perfect. Please. Don’t stop.”
God, he didn’t ever want to stop. But her voice made it all real. What they were doing.
And how wrong it was.
He couldn’t keep kissing her, couldn’t touch her breasts again, couldn’t taste her as if she were his.
Because she wasn’t. She never could be. And not just because she was his sister-in-law.
He didn’t deserve her light. Couldn’t forget that he came from darkness. Couldn’t forget that things were an even bigger mess now than ever before. Hauling her deeper into his screwed-up life would only get her hurt in the end. He owed her so much more than dragging her into all that trouble.
“Evan?”
She held him in her arms, and he wanted her so damn badly. His need, his longing, was an ache in every muscle, in every cell, his body crying out for her.
And his heart wanted her just as much.
More.
“This is wrong,” he murmured, his arms still not willing to let her go even as his mind screamed out that he had to end it. He forced himself to shift back, to look her in the eye. “We can’t do this.”
“It’s not wrong,” she said softly, her lips so close he ached to taste them again. “And I’m not sorry for it.”
He couldn’t believe that the full-blown, no-holds-barred story of his childhood hadn’t sent her running. Whitney had never wanted to hear it, preferring to think of the future and ignore the past as if it played no part in who they’d become as adults. And he’d been willing to go along with that, relieved to keep it all inside.
But it turned out that telling Paige had been an unburdening for him. He’d actually felt a fraction of the weight lifting off him as he’d talked.
Paige had offered to care, to listen. That was why she’d hugged him. But he’d taken so much more than that.
Because he was damaged goods.
God, she was so damned tempting. Intoxicating. Irresistible. He’d never wanted anyone more. Never.
But he couldn’t have her. Couldn’t make one more selfish, bad move. Not after Whitney’s lies had sent him into hiding from the people who loved him. Not after the siblings he’d never known about had shown up on his doorstep asking not just for help, but for the simple chance to get to know him. Not after his mother had suddenly reappeared and all but begged for forgiveness.
“Why?”
The word was out before he could stop it. Everyone seemed to want something from him. Whitney had wanted him to live a life that was a lie. Tony and Kelsey wanted a big brother to help with their mother. Theresa wanted him to absolve her so that they could start again. But what did Paige want? He’d been so relieved when she’d appeared on his doorstep that he hadn’t even thought to ask. But now that he was trying to get himself to think clearly again, it was imperative that he know.