He remembered his first experience with losing control at a girl’s touch. The world had seemed to shift on its axis, and from that moment on Marcus had known that sex was something he didn’t want to do without. But now, with Eden, he realized it was something he couldn’t live without.
There was only one partner he wanted, one person who could provide the kind of pleasure he sought. Eden had become his drug of choice, her body so addictive that he found himself barely existing between fixes. Marcus shook his head. How was it possible that he felt this way and they still hadn’t had sex yet?
“Hey! Are you planning to speak anytime soon?”
Marcus glanced up, pulled from his thoughts by Dec’s voice. He blinked. “What?”
“What’s wrong with you?” Dec asked.
“Nothing,” Marcus replied. “I’ve just…got some things on my mind.”
“Here’s a question,” Ian said. “Should a guy ever be completely honest with a woman? Or is it always better just to tell her what she wants to hear?”
“Always be honest,” Marcus said at the very same time Dec said, “Tell her what she wants to hear.” They glanced at each other.
“If you’re not honest, it’ll come back and bite you in the ass.”
“Have you been watching Dr. Phil again?” Ian asked.
“So you’d tell her that her hair looks like crap and her butt does look huge in those pants and that you’d rather drink varnish than have dinner with her parents?” Dec asked. “Hell, Marcus, you’d get kicked to the curb with the rest of the garbage. No wonder you can’t keep a woman.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Marcus murmured. Hell, he didn’t know what he was talking about. All he knew was that he’d been honest with Eden and it had led to a relationship more intense than any he’d ever experienced. By stripping away all pretense, they’d had a chance to know each other in a very intimate way.
“I think there are very specific things you should never tell a woman,” Ian ventured. “Guy secrets. You know, those universal truths that all guys know but we need to keep to ourselves to preserve the future of the male species.”
“Like what?” Dec asked, clearly curious.
“Like when we look at other women, we really are looking at other women,” Ian said. “And thinking about what they’d look like naked.”
“And that no matter how many times a woman wants to have sex with you, it’s never gonna be enough,” Dec added. “And that no guy likes to cuddle after sex.”
Ian nodded. “And that we really do read
“Be honest. Have you ever been with a woman when you’ve been completely satisfied with the quality and frequency of the sex?” Ian asked.
“I rest my case,” Ian said after weighing Marcus’s silence.
Marcus took a long sip of his beer, then shrugged. “Maybe none of us has found the right woman.” He glanced over at his brothers as they stared at him. “Yet.”
Ian groaned, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. “Jaysus, Marky, this is what comes from being stuck on that boat all alone. You’re not making any sense. What’s wrong with you? You’re sounding like a bleedin’ romantic.”
“So that’s not what you want out of life?” Marcus asked.
“First off, you can’t talk to women, so how can you be honest with them? They have no capacity for logical reasoning. They’re driven by emotions. Let me tell you, getting into a real conversation with a woman is like stepping on a land mine. One stupid move, one offhand comment or misplaced adjective and-boom-you’re dead.”
“And you can’t depend upon women,” Declan continued. “They may have your back now, but the minute you don’t agree with them they’ll cut your legs out from under you. You want someone who’ll have your back? That’s what brothers are for.”
Marcus took another sip of his beer. In truth, he’d been thinking the same thing about Eden just a few hours ago. But that had been at the end of a brutally honest conversation, the kind of conversation that had exposed some pretty raw emotions. It may not have been a pretty argument or a fair fight, but at least it had been honest.
“Women are not the enemy,” Marcus said.
Ian stared at Marcus for a long moment. “Did you break the pact?”
“No!” he lied. “I’ve just figured out a few things for myself.”
But hadn’t the pact contained a fatal flaw? He and his brothers had assumed that the only way to figure out women was to stay away from them, to make a vow of celibacy and stick with it. But Marcus had learned more about women in the week he’d spent seducing Eden Ross than he’d learned in his previous twenty-seven years. She was a complicated, perplexing pain in the ass, but he knew her better than he’d ever known any other woman in his life.
“So are you planning to share with us?” Declan asked.
Marcus shook his head. “Not at the moment.”
A long silence descended on the group as Ian and Dec stood at the grill and stared into the fire. Marcus fought the urge to tell them everything, to explain it all in the hopes that they would be able to offer some explanation. To confess that he’d been the first to break their pact and succumb to the pleasures of the flesh.
But what had gone on between him and Eden defied description. Hell, he’d been trying to put words to it for days with no luck. “Any luck on finding that girl you were looking for, Dec?” he asked, anxious to shift the topic.
“Eden Ross?” Dec sat down on the picnic table next to Marcus. “Nothing yet.”
“Louise Wilson over at the diner mentioned that there were a couple of guys wandering around Bonnett Harbor asking if anyone had seen her,” Ian said. “They’re promising a big payday for information. Ten thousand for a tip that leads to a photo of Eden Ross. I’m thinking I ought to be out looking for her.”
“She must be close by then,” Dec said.
“Why do you say that?” Marcus asked.
“Those tabloid photographers usually know more than the local cops. They can afford to pay for information. And when it comes to celebrities, folks are anxious to talk, especially for cold, hard cash. I’ll just wait until they smoke her out and then I’ll grab her up and take her home to daddy.”
“What if she doesn’t want to go?” Marcus asked. “She’s an adult. She makes her own decisions.”
“Whose side are you on?” Dec asked. “It’s my job to find her. I don’t get paid unless I find her. Ross is your boss, too. Watch out for his interests and he’ll watch out for you.”
Marcus was starting to understand how the rest of the men in Eden’s life had felt. It was difficult to resist a woman who made him feel the way she did. All she had to do was touch him or look at him in a certain way, and he felt his desire begin to burn.
Dec poured a bit of his beer onto the charcoal as the flames licked at the burgers. “Hell, if I were Ross, I’d think about putting that girl in a convent, locking the door and throwing away the key. I wouldn’t mind getting a look at that tape, though. See what all the fuss is about.”
Marcus fought back a surge of anger, struggling to maintain an indifferent facade. He’d never been the jealous sort, but the notion of his brother staring at images of a naked and aroused Eden cavorting with another man didn’t sit well with him. Marcus jumped to his feet and set his empty beer bottle on the picnic table. “I gotta go,” he said.
“You haven’t had anything to eat,” Ian said.
Marcus shrugged. “The wind is supposed to pick up later tonight, and I’ve got to set another anchor.” Marcus started toward his truck parked in the driveway next to Ian’s house.
“So how’s the job going for you?” Dec called. “What did Ross think about the work?”
“He thought it was great,” Marcus yelled, giving them both a wave. By the time he slipped the key into the ignition, his thoughts were firmly fixed on Eden. He’d been away from her for three hours, too long in his book. He
