...Paul held Ceci as close as he dared, rubbing what he hoped were soothing circles on her back, muttering words of comfort, while she cried. She held him as tightly as he had that beer bottle the year before—as if she’d be lost if she risked letting go. He was partly to blame for her misery. If only he hadn’t pushed Brian to move forward or let her go. But he’d been desperate for his own closure, desperate to see Ceci happy. How could he have anticipated this?

He wanted to knock the shit out of Brian right now. Hell, they’d come close to blows when Paul learned Brian had proposed to Ceci. Learning Brian already had a wife he’d conveniently forgotten about… If not for Ceci’s intervention—she’d fallen nicely into the role of peacekeeper from the start—he would have decked his brother.

How could anyone forget about a wife? How could Brian not have mentioned her to any of them in the first place? Their parents were going to freak.

“Damn him!” The words exploded from his mouth.

Ceci lifted her head from his shoulder, fingers flexed against his chest. A little closer and her palms would cup his nipples; a little lower and her fingers would be able to toy with the hard flesh. The knowledge shot down to his groin, adding more substance to the cock already hard beyond capacity. An erection swelled down one leg of his jeans. That’s what he got for not wearing underwear. He placed his hands over hers, intending to move them. Instead, he pressed them flat, stealing the sensation he longed for and trying not to show how much it devastated him that he couldn’t have it honestly.

Tears glistened in her sea-green eyes and spiked her long lashes. Mouth parted, lips moist and full. It mystified him again why Brian could not be all over her all the time. How Brian could drift away from her the way he had, when Paul ached for just a glimpse of her, held his breath for the sound of her voice, the kiss of her constant laughter, the light in her eyes.

“Don’t,” she said. “You heard him. He thought Howie had handled all the paperwork for the annulment. It was a wild, crazy weekend ten years ago.”

“But he didn’t tell us.”

“Do you tell him every detail of your sex life?”

Ceci had him there. They weren’t teenagers anymore. Sharing sex tales had ended in high school. But it pissed him off that Ceci was defending Brian. Where was her outrage, her fury? She was crying, for fuck’s sake! Brian had broken her heart, and here she was, sticking up for him. As far as Paul was concerned, that was only more proof Brian didn’t deserve her. But if Ceci loved him, Paul would do everything in his power to make sure she had him, even at the cost to his own heart.

“Don’t you worry, baby. I’ll make sure this gets fixed fast so you can have the wedding you want. I’m not going to let anything spoil this for you.”

She pressed closer, angling her hips a whisper away from his. Too close for Paul’s fragile libido. Her body heat poured over his pelvis. His penis pulsed with a life all its own, demanding he thrust forward and cover that last few millimeters between them.

“Paul…I…”

He braced his hands on her hips and gently set some distance between them before she could feel his hard-on, before he gave in to the urge to grind it against her. All he wanted to do was yank her back and kiss her, haul that cute black-and-white sundress to her waist and wedge her against the nearest wall while he showed her what loving a woman was all about.

She slid her hands over his shoulders, reclaiming the distance he needed. Paul’s resolve started to crumble. It would be so easy to take advantage of her turmoil, so easy to swoop in and have her, to know what it felt like to be wrapped in her arms and buried in her heat. And lose her completely because of it. Because if he made love to her once, Paul knew it would never be enough. One of them would have to go, and since he’d be the one at fault…