Lusting After My Husband’s Alpha Brother (2)

| HAILEY |

My wolf, Sky, stirred within me, a deep purr rising from my chest. Heat rushed through me, spreading across my skin until every inch of me felt flushed and alive.

Then I noticed the way Xavier’s eyes had gone still. His gaze was fixed on my chest, unmoving, almost frozen.

Confusion flickered through me, and I followed his line of sight.

My breath caught as I looked down.

My robe had fallen completely open.

The silk clung to my shoulders but revealed everything from my chest down.

My bare breasts were fully exposed, Xavier’s eyes locked on them. My stomach, my hips and every inch of my naked body was visible beneath his gaze.

A sudden jolt of shock tore through me, stealing my breath. I went completely still, my mind blank for one terrifying heartbeat.

“Oh my God,” I gasped, the words barely escaping.

I shoved against Xavier’s bare chest, my palms pressing flat against the heat of his skin. The touch sent a jolt through me, but panic quickly drowned it out.

Xavier let go of me at once, his hands lifting in a quick gesture of surrender as he stepped back.

I scrambled to cover myself, my fingers trembling as I fumbled with the robe’s belt. The silk slipped through my grip, and when I finally managed to pull it tight, the belt was tied in a clumsy knot.

My cheeks burned, heat crawling down my neck until even breathing felt unbearable. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Xavier.

“I… I slipped,” I stammered, my voice shaking.

I pointed weakly toward the small puddle on the floor, struggling to steady my breathing.

Xavier cleared his throat, running a hand through his dark hair. His gaze stayed fixed on the wall behind me, anywhere but on my face.

“The floor… it’s wet,” he said, his voice lower and rougher than usual.

Silence settled over the kitchen, thick and awkward. The only sound was the wild pounding of my heart in my ears.

I could still feel the lingering warmth of Xavier’s touch on my body, the memory of his body heat clinging to my skin.

“I should go,” I blurted, the words spilling out in a rush. “Dan’s probably wondering where I am.”

It was a lie.

Dan was still fast asleep, lost in the haze of his own satisfied dreams. I just needed an excuse to get out of this suffocating moment.

Xavier gave a single nod, his jaw tightening, but he still wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Alright.”

I didn’t wait another second.

I turned and fled the kitchen, my bare feet skimming against the cool tile floor as I hurried down the hall, Xavier’s gaze burning into my back until I finally turned the corner.

Out of sight, I stopped and leaned against the wall, pressing my forehead to the cool plaster. My breaths came in shaky bursts as I tried to steady myself.

My skin still tingled where his hands had been, the memory of his touch refusing to fade. The look on his face, a mix of shock and confusion, burned in my mind along with the image of his eyes on my bare breast.

Sky whimpered inside me, a sound filled with frustration and longing. She didn’t understand the shame or the confusion twisting through me.

All she felt was the irresistible pull of a powerful Alpha, a pull that had only grown stronger.

I pushed off the wall and hurried down the hall toward my bedroom. The door was still slightly ajar. I slipped inside and closed it behind me with a quiet click.

The room was dark and still, filled with the soft sound of Dan’s steady breathing.

The air still carried the faint, intimate scent of our earlier sex, a smell that now felt heavy and wrong.

I stood frozen for a long moment, my heart hammering and my mind spinning. I couldn’t stop thinking about Xavier, my husband’s younger brother.

Images of his touch, the pull of his pheromones, and the heat of my skin pressed against his kept flooding my thoughts.

Slowly, my imagination began to take over. I pictured Xavier pinning me down on his bed, his hands roaming over my breasts as he fucked me until I was a moaning mess, his pheromones filling the air around us.

I tried to push the thoughts of Xavier from my mind, but they wouldn’t go.

I turned my gaze and saw Dan sprawled across the bed, one arm draped over his head, completely unaware that his wife was lusting after his younger brother.

The sight of him, so peaceful and trusting, sent a fresh wave of guilt crashing through me.

What had just happened wasn’t supposed to happen. It was an accident, a stupid, clumsy accident. Yet the memory of it, the way my body had responded, left me feeling conflicted and ashamed.

When I finally lay down beside Dan, sleep refused to come.

Every time I closed my eyes, I felt Xavier’s touch again, a deep ache pulsing low in my body, a need I didn’t want to acknowledge.

I swung my legs off the bed, rose to my feet, and walked to the full-length mirror in the corner of the room.

I stared at my reflection and saw my cheeks still flushed, my eyes wide and bright. I looked alive, more alive than I had been moments ago while my husband fucked me.

Slowly, I untied my robe and let it fall open. My gaze roamed over my body, the same body Xavier had seen.

An electric, unwelcome thrill coursed through me, making my heart pound in my chest.

I shook my head and pulled the robe closed, tightening the belt as if I could shut the feeling away.

Disgust twisted in my stomach.

This was wrong.

He was Dan’s brother.

He lived under our roof.

Letting this kind of attraction grow was dangerous. It threatened everything I had fought so hard to protect, my safety, my stability, my carefully built life.

My plan was simple. Marry Dan for his money, stay with him for a few years, then leave with a generous settlement and find a true Alpha to be with. It was clean. It was logical. Getting involved with Xavier would ruin it all.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, trying to calm my racing mind. Once it had settled a little, I climbed back into bed, careful not to wake Dan.

Turning onto my side, I faced away from him, putting as much distance between us as the mattress would allow.

I didn’t know why I kept my distance from Dan. Maybe it was my conscience judging me for lusting after his brother.

I closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep, but the memory of Xavier’s arms around me refused to fade. I could still see the shock in his blue eyes and feel his body against mine.

The moment replayed in my mind again and again.

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the thoughts to disappear. I needed to focus on tomorrow. Dan would be leaving for his business trip.

Once he was gone, I would go to the club, find an Alpha male who could fuck me, give my body what it craved, and get the orgasm I needed.

Then I would spray the pheromone cover before coming home and pretend none of it had ever happened, like always.

That was the safe way.

That was the smart way.

Xavier was off-limits.

He was forbidden.

I had to stay away from him.

But as sleep finally crept in, restless and shallow, my last thought wasn’t of some stranger at the club.

It was Xavier’s piercing ocean-blue eyes, watching me in the dim light of the kitchen.

******************

~THE NEXT MORNING~

I woke to the feeling of my body stirring, my core already on fire. My pussy throbbed with a relentless, aching pulse, and I knew instantly what it meant.

My heat had come.

Xavier’s strong pheromones had drawn it out, pushing it to the surface sooner than usual.

Every part of me, my bones, my wolf, and my core, ached for Xavier. Need pulsed beneath my skin, hot and unrelenting, my control slipping and ready to snap at any moment.

Dan, asleep beside me, was completely unaware.

As a Beta, he couldn’t sense my pheromones in the air. He never knew when my heat came unless I told him.

I stepped into the shower, hoping the water would soothe the heat burning through my body, but it did nothing.

It didn’t ease the ache in my core or the relentless throb in my pussy.

As the shower water poured over me, I imagined it was Xavier’s hands, gliding across my body, each drop igniting my nerves.

Slowly, my control slipped.

I need Xavier.