hotter. There had been times he wondered if she was thinking about Ant while fucking him, but no, her love for him burned bright as the sun.
For weeks J.B. had sat back, passively waiting for that tension between them to snap, to bring that attraction to its natural peak , part of him concerned they’d fulfill it and leave him out in the cold. But time passed and nothing happened, so he’d taken matters into his own hands and left Ant with Logan when her inhibitions were low and her arousal high. Only to come home to a Logan who’d cried herself to sleep and a brother whose face looked as though he’d aged twenty years overnight.
“I can’t stay here anymore,” Ant said , bringing him back to now, and his gaze snapped up from his mug to his brother. Eyes solemn and face tight, Ant didn’t shy away from a direct stare. “Last night…” He paused and shook his head, sorrow and pain and love tearing at his expression. “I was…I kissed Logan last night.”
J.B. sucked in a sharp breath through his nose, fingers tightening around the mug in a reflexive grab. “Did you hurt her?” Anger flashed in Ant’s eyes, but J.B. shook his head. “Her face is streaked with tears, man. I have to ask.” Because brother or not, planned time together or not, if Ant hurt Logan…
Ant raked a hand through his hair, tugging at the strands hard enough to make J.B. grimace, before he blew out a breath. “She said some stuff. She was drunk and I was just tryin’ to get her home because I didn’t want her to regret talkin’ to me and—Fuck, man. I kissed her and I would’ve fucked her in your bed if you hadn’t called.” He said the last words on a rush, his words harsh and his breathing ragged with self-disgust. “I didn’t say anything to her after that, but she must have thought…I don’t know…that I blamed her for me losing control, but I don’t. I don’t.”
J.B. lounged back in his chair. “So you can’t stay here anymore because you kissed Logan ?”
His brother barked out a laugh. “That isn’t enough? You can’t kid me, Jimmy,” he rasped , using J.B.’s childhood nickname from before they both decided it was too nerdy. “I know how much you love Logan, how much she loves you.” His Adam’s apple bobbed, but he soldiered on. “What I did was unforgivable. You’re my brother and I love you and you fuckin’ deserve somethin’ good after all the bad you’ve had with Emily. I’m not gonna fuck that up.”
He had to be careful with this , because Ant on a tear was a wild man. His brother tended not to listen if he was feeling passionate about something, and his love for Logan, a woman he thought he couldn’t have, would make him pretty goddamn wild. J.B. lowered his gaze to stare at the table, carefully mulling over everything and searching for the right angle to take. The one that would get Ant to agree to sharing Logan. Even if it was wrong, against everything society said a successful relationship should be, it was right for them. For him and Ant, and especially for Logan.
“Yeah,” Ant said on a sigh, incorrectly reading J.B. “That’s why I have to go. I love you and I won’t —I’d never do anything to jeopardize what you have with Logan. It’s just better for everyone, you know? She’s scared to death of me, man. Watches me the way you would a rabid dog, as though she expects me to snap at her.”
“Because she loves you,” J.B. said quietly, his words falling into the tension of the kitchen like a boulder hitting a shallow puddle. He looked up at his brother , whose face had paled. “She loves you, man. Rabid dog or not, Logan watches you the way she watches me, and if you gave her the slightest indication, she’d take that bitter you’ve got injected in your veins and turn it sweet.”
Ant’s throat worked . His eyes were wide. “J.B., swear to fuckin’ God I didn’t do more than kiss her. She’s your woman and—”
“And I want her to be our