12 Days of Christmas With My Brother’s Rival

OF HUSHED WHISPERS AND HEAVY BREATHING

ANAHERA

Bella stumbled into our room, face white like she’d seen a ghost, her blonde hair swinging every which way.

“There’s a naked man in the house, Ana! I swear on my soul. How did he get here?”

It didn’t take long before it dawned on me what she was saying.

I opened my mouth to tell her I was the one who brought him in when she rushed to grab her phone.

“We have to call the police.”

“The police? No—” In less than a second, the phone was out of her hand and in mine. “I’m sure we had a little too much to drink last night.”

Her gaze rounded on me like I was out of my mind. “There is a big man, naked and in the other bedroom. No, it is not Dominik cos I know his body even if I go blind today. Who knows what that man could have done at night? Oh lord, is my dignity intact?”

The urge to whack her upside the head was too tempting to ignore.

“You know what? I’ll go and see for myself. You could stay here and hide until I tell you the coast is clear.”

“Don’t go seeing for yourself, have you gone crazy?! You’re not even as tall as I am, what if he’s dangerous? What if—”

“Bella?” And her lips clamped shut. “I’ll take my chances. Again, do not call the police until I tell you to.”

She looked like she had more to say but she nodded regardless. Better for us both.

The seconds between my room and where Noel laid was filled with contemplations on how best to strangle the man. He was supposed to have left my house at the first crack of dawn.

But still in my house and naked? How ballsy!

“What the hell are you still doing here?” I asked as I bolted the door behind me.

To my relief, he was not naked from the waist below as Bella claimed, just shirtless and boy, what a wonder to behold!

Every line of his hard body carved to utter perfection, I just wanted to run my tongue along every contour and worship his maker. He was breathtaking.

The deepest baritone voice crashed into my daydreams. “Hera, you’re drooling.”

I blinked back to the present, embarrassed at being caught. My fingers mechanically went to the sides of my mouth to confirm if truly I was.

“Shut up. I offered you a place to sleep, not permanent housing. Why have you not left my house?”

“I was waiting for you. I don’t have my car from my adventures last night or did you plan to drive me home this morning? I hope not.”

Anger bubbled up in my stomach fast. “You ungrateful prick! The least you could have done was say thank you. I saved your ass from being robbed by God knows who.”

Amused, he smirked. “I really don’t know what would have happened to me if you did not show up, thank you. However, I need to freshen up and I can’t do that with your banshee screaming down the place.”

“I think I prefer dead-drunk and unconscious Noel. He's easier to deal with than-” I waved my hands vaguely “-whoever this is. Go do what you have to do, but you have less than an hour to get out of my house. I have work soon.”

For a second, he said nothing. Just eyed me up and down, slowly. The deliberateness of it left goosebumps spreading on my skin and made me too aware of my body.

“Do you go to bed with this every night? It’s an image I’d love to have kept in my head when I go to bed.”

On impulse, my fingers flew to clutch my thin nightwear and cover myself before his gaze would land on my n*****s which were hardening under his gaze.

Without warning, I found myself recalling the first session in his house and how it ended. If his teammate had not–

“Ana?”

Every muscle in my body drew taut with fear as I heard the voice of my brother. Of all the days, he chose today to come to my house? This morning?

As quietly as I could, I begged Noel, “I’ll need you to be quiet from now until my brother leaves, and afterwards, go on your way. I’ll be meeting you at your house as usual.”

He c****d a lazy brow, watching me lose my mind. “You did not tell your brother we work together?” Then he rose from the bed, not bothering to throw on a shirt. “I should probably say hi to your brother–”

I lunged forward before he could damn us both, placing my hands on his chest to stop him.

“Are you nuts? Do you have any idea what my brother would do to us? To me?” I hissed, wondering how one man can be so stupid.

The door knob rattled, sending my pulse skipping like hell. “Ana? You’re whispering. Are you in there? I’m sorry about last night.”

Noel’s eyes dropped from my face to my hands on his body. Then very slowly, a devilish smirk spread on his lips.

“I think you’re enjoying this a little too much, Princess, admit it,” he whispered so low I felt it caress me.

My hand shot out to stop his lips before they landed on my skin, now growing hot from the proximity.

“If you breathe too loud, I will kill you first before he gets the chance.”

Instead of looking intimidated, his gaze swept slowly down every inch of my body, drinking me in. He looked hungry for something that was not food. Me.

He leaned down until his lips brushed the side of my neck where my pulse raced. “I wonder how you’d sound if I did this while he is standing right outside that door.” His tongue did a little swipe on that spot and I nearly betrayed my position. “Would you scream my name or would you try to swallow the sound?”

The shaky sigh I tried to swallow slid out of me. Fire licked the spots where his hands were tracing slow circles on my waist, stripping away my inhibitions.

I exhaled another shaky breath, fighting the temptation he offered. “He’s right there, Noel. He’ll kill us if he catches the tiniest whiff of this betrayal.”

“Maybe he should find us. It’d save us a lot of time with the introductions,” he teased as his other hand slid to the small of my back to pull my hips flush against his.

For what seemed like a long time, we stared at each other, feeling the pull of desire between us even as we risked being exposed.

The heat. The feel of him everywhere around me. The feel of his own need pressing against my lower belly and once more, I wanted to sink to my knees and taste him. Even if it was for one last time.

It was a thin line of greed and the mistake of a lifetime, yet here I was dancing carelessly on it.

“Anahera? Open the door, I know you’re in there.” Dominik called out again, his voice sharp with impatience.

That snapped me out of my delusions quick. I slapped a hand against my forehead, knowing that there was no way out of this and then I heard the voice of someone else.

“She has work to prepare for, you big oaf! Move your ego out of the hallway before you wake the entiure neighborhood.”

Bella, my sweet girl. She was not going to take it easy on my brother. I just knew it.

“I am here to see my sister, Anabella. I don’t see how my family’s business should be any of your concern.”

She scoffed. “It normally shouldn’t, but seeing how you stood your family up last night for some whoring action and to be with your boys, I’d say you don’t get a say anymore. Blood alone does not make you family. Loyalty does.”

That stung. I would’ve stopped her, but doing that could put me at odds with her. So I clamped my mouth shut as they both sparred verbally.

“Does her truth make you uncomfortable?” Noel’s whisper reminded me of his proximity once more. “You know what? While they are both busy, ten minutes isn’t such a bad idea with you. Five if you can finish quickly.”

Mustering what little strength I had, I pushed him off me. “I will castrate you before you can think of the next thing,” I hissed, then pointed a shaky finger at him. “Stay put!”

Without giving him a second, I opened the door and secured the lock from outside.

“Dom, I–” the words died on my tongue with the way my brother and my best friend pried apart so quickly it felt like I was imagining things.

Bella had a glazed over look as she re-arranged her hair and Dominik had a small bruise at the top of his lips. The front of his shirt was also rumpled like someone had fisted it.

The one thing that was common was the way both of them refused to look straight at me.

“What is going on here?”