The Live-In Temptation (Steele Brothers of Starlight Cove #2)

by Brighton Walsh

Chloe was nothing more than a forbidden temptation. One that was getting damn hard to ignore.

Luna, Sutton, and Quinn had shown up and dragged me out of the house. Because I was being—and I quote—a whiny, emotionally stunted, and utterly avoidant man about the entire situation.

And though he’d disguised this tale as one of make-believe with mystical beings, I had no doubt in my mind that he was telling our story. The story of him and Emma. And me.

I was gradually fading too. Into a puddle of goo right in front of him, and I needed to get back on solid ground. Immediately.

“Then what do you mean, chaos? What’s dangerous?” This. You. The way you touch me, and I forget how to breathe. You look at me, and it feels like the world disappears. The way this house has started to feel like a home—like the safest thing I’ve ever known. The way I’m starting to want to stay, when all I’ve ever done is run.

I’d been all over the world. But when I said small towns just did things differently, I meant it.

He stood there in boots, all six foot four inches of glowering, broad-shouldered perfection wrapped in a black coat stretched tight across his chest. The gray Starlight Cove Fire Department hoodie I’d definitely been wearing while he’d told me how to make myself come peeked out beneath it. A charcoal beanie was pulled low over his dark hair, and his eyes—God, those eyes—drank me in, sweeping over me from head to toe.

I was so tired of fighting this. So tired of pretending I didn’t want her with every goddamn breath. So fucking tired.

“Fuck it,” I muttered before cupping her face and kissing her like I was going to lose her before I’d even had the chance to have her.

“Are you going to say his name when I make you come?” A spark of challenge lit in her eyes. “I don’t know. Are you going to pretend like this never happened tomorrow?” “No.” I shook my head, darting my gaze over her flushed face and those kiss-swollen lips. “But I can promise you I’m going to dream about it. I can’t fucking stop dreaming about you.”

“Because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since you stumbled out of that fucking shack. Every night when I close my eyes, you’re there. Every morning when I wake up, you’re there. And every goddamn moment in between, you’re on my mind. I can’t stop thinking about you, Chloe. And that’s a fucking problem.”

“It only became a fucking problem when you decided to hold yourself back.” She tightened her legs around me and ground her pussy down against my cock, a whimper slipping past her lips. “So, are you ready to stop holding yourself back, Chief?”

She was sweet and tangy and every-fucking-thing I’d imagined she’d be.

“Of course you do, my dirty girl. You love when I talk to you like this, don’t you?”

“I remember what you need. You want me to tell you exactly what to do, don’t you, dirty girl?”

“Be my dirty girl, and come on my cock in the bathroom while you’re on a date with another man. Show me exactly how much you love it when I fuck you.”

Well. Obviously, I’d been right, because now I was standing in a sea of four-year-olds, remembering what it felt like when Xander pinned me to the wall, shoved my panties to the side, and fucked me while I was still wearing my fishnets and my boots. To say nothing of the fact that I was on a date with another man. And the worst part? I liked it. I didn’t just like it. I fucking loved it.

Because now, I was feeling all…all…this…while Xander stared at me from across the fire station like there weren’t a bunch of munchkins surrounding us, having the time of their lives. And it wasn’t just any Xander giving me his full attention… It was Xander. In. Uniform.

he was positively magnetic, standing over there looking all capable and in charge. He always held himself with a confidence that was unmatched. But here? He moved through the station like he owned it.

God help me, I wanted to climb him like a fire ladder, but I was pretty sure the preschool teacher and other chaperones would look down on that.

“Daddy! LoLee! Look!” Emma called, skipping over to us, a piece of construction paper flying along beside her. She held up the paper between us. She’d colored three stick figures, all holding hands. One was huge with brown hair and a beard, one was smaller with wild yellow hair clear down to her waist, and the smallest one held what looked like a stuffed unicorn. “It’s our fire family!”

I’d chosen to insert myself into this little family knowing damn well I wasn’t going to stay. Knowing damn well I never, ever stayed. And now I was supposed to tell her that? This little girl who’d already lost so much? Absolutely not.

Xander stood in the doorway to the kitchen like a goddamn vision of regret and temptation. He leaned against the frame in a plain white T-shirt, his shoulders and biceps testing the limits of the seams, and gray sweatpants that certainly thought a lot of his junk.

His hair was mussed, and his eyes were locked on me like I was the temptation and he was ready to sin.

“There’s my dirty girl,”

“Now, spread those legs, baby. Let me taste what’s mine.”

“Fuck,” he groaned, the sound vibrating against me, sending pleasure straight to my core. “You taste so fucking good. You better hold on, chaos, because I’m about to make a mess.”

“There you go, baby. Ride my face just like that. Show me how bad you need to come.”

As he sat back on the stool, his lips coated in my pleasure, his beard wet with me, he looked absolutely feral. And I knew. He was only getting started.

“Fuck,” he muttered, his voice thick as he skated his gaze over me, settling once again on my pussy. “My dirty little girl wants to be used, is that right?”

“I’m not going to. You wanted me to use you, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” He leaned forward, wrapping one hand around my throat—not tight, just there, just present. A reminder of the power I’d willingly handed over to him.

“My dirty girl likes that, doesn’t she? You like that I’m using you. That I can’t fucking help myself. That I’ve tried to hold myself back, over and over, and I can’t do it anymore. You fucking love that you’ve made me desperate for it. For you.”

“Goddamn, you feel so fucking good. Like you were made for me. This little pussy was made for me, wasn’t she?”

“Every inch of me inside you, just like you begged for? Your perfect little pussy is going to make me lose my goddamn mind. But that’s exactly what you wanted, isn’t it? Wanted me lost to this cunt.”

He gripped me like he couldn’t get enough. Pounded into me relentlessly like he was trying to etch himself into my very bones.

I focused on the musings of what appeared to be a deranged squirrel and attempted to build something that resembled a bookcase. It wasn’t perfect. And it wasn’t without challenges—including a splinter and a buttload of money tossed in the swear jar—but we were doing it.

Emma beamed at me, glancing down at our bookcase, before running over and throwing her arms around my legs. “We’re builders.” “We sure are,” I said, voice low as I brushed a hand over her hair. “We’re a team.” “You, me, and LoLee!”

I couldn’t stop thinking about Emma and Chloe and the two of them at home without me when all I wanted was to be there. With them. Watching Frozen a-fucking-gain and eating pizza for the twelfth time this month and staring in amusement as my two girls danced around the house to made-up, gibberish lyrics.

The next hour felt like an eternity as I waited for my shift to end, all while knowing Chloe was at home, alone and miserable, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Since it was an exceptionally quiet day, I used my time to do some research and make a list of items to grab on the way home. When my shift was finally over, I tore out of the station so fast, several people shot me double takes, but I didn’t care. They could draw their own conclusions about what I had going on. I needed to focus.

A naked Xander Steele was a sight to behold. But a naked Xander Steele with his attention and focus locked on me? That was enough to steal every ounce of my breath straight from my lungs.

“You didn’t miss it. That time was stolen from you both. But you’re making up for it now. You didn’t run. You showed up. Moved your life for her. Became the dad she needs. That’s not abandoning her. She sees it. I see it.”

“Look at you… Riding me like this. Sitting on my cock like you were made for it. Made to be filled up by me,” he rasped against my skin, his voice laced with something I couldn’t quite name. “Gonna keep filling you until you believe it too.”

“You think I care about a little blood, baby?” He moved his thumb faster against me, dragging his lips up the column of my throat to my ear. “I’d fuck you in a goddamn war zone if it meant being inside you.”

Sunday dinners weren’t new…they were tradition, which meant I was used to this. Used to my brothers bickering and Sutton multitasking and Emma playing games and Laurel roasting people twice her age. All of that was familiar. But Chloe? She was the piece I hadn’t even realized was missing.

And Chloe? Wild, beautiful, radiant Chloe? She was never mine to keep. And she sure as hell wasn’t meant to stay.

“You know what you look like, lying here and spread out on my sheets like a fucking wet dream?” “What?” she asked, her gaze tracking my movements as I slid off my jeans and boxer briefs, eyes zeroing in as I wrapped my hand around my cock and gave one firm tug. “You look like mine.” I started at her feet, kissing my way over her ankles, up her calves and knees, brushing my lips along her inner thighs. “You look like every inch of you belongs here—right here. Just waiting for everything I want to give you.”

“But my dirty girl can take it, can’t she? You can take every fucking inch of my cock because I make sure of it. I make sure this sweet cunt is satisfied, don’t I?”

“That’s right. Every fucking time. And you love it, don’t you? Love how I take you. Like you’re mine.”

“Answer me,” I growled, sinking deep and grinding my pelvis against her, basking in the sharp gasp that fell from her lips. “You think anyone else could make you fall apart like this?”

A life. Here. With me and Emma and this home that had just been a house until Chloe set foot in it.