My Brother's Best Friend, My Secret F1 Lover

Sienna's POV

I crossed the room in four steps, and he caught me before I made it to the fifth.

His mouth found mine like he'd been waiting all night to do it, which, judging by the way his hands slid into my hair, he had. I backed him into the armchair by the window. His navy jacket had been hanging over the back of it, and it slid off and hit the floor in a heap.

"That was a nice suit," he murmured against my lips.

"You have a lot of suits. I've been counting."

He laughed, low, and kissed the corner of my jaw. Downstairs, a car door slammed. Someone shouted goodbye in French. I pulled back an inch.

"Your brother is downstairs," I whispered.

Kai's eyes stayed on mine. "Then we'd better keep our voices down."

But he didn't kiss me again. He tipped my chin up and pressed his lips to my forehead, soft and quick, which was somehow worse than anything else he'd done.

"You can still walk out," he said. "I mean it. No hard feelings."

I was holding my room key card. I'd been gripping it so tightly the edges had left dents in my palm. I looked at it, then at him.

Then I set it down on the desk beside the lamp, face up, where we could both see it.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Outside, somebody on the beach had found the leftover fireworks. A late rocket went up and burst green and gold, lighting the wet glass and the side of his face.

"Last chance," he said.

"Kai. Stop giving me exits."

He smiled, finally, and walked me backward toward the bed.

---

I'd planned to be cool about it. Like last night. Efficient. Strictly benefits.

That plan lasted until he knelt on the mattress, shoved the bedside lamp out of the way with one hand, and peeled the sage-green dress off my shoulders like he had all the time in the world. His fingers traced the strap marks on my skin. Then his mouth followed.

"Fuck," I whispered. "You're being slow on purpose."

"I'm being careful on purpose. Different thing."

"Be less careful."

"Bossy." He kissed the inside of my wrist, right over my pulse. "I remember that about you."

His shirt came off. My dress joined it somewhere on the floor. His watch knocked against the nightstand when he braced himself over me, and the sound made us both freeze and then laugh into each other's mouths. He unclasped it and set it beside the lamp, silver and heavy.

His crushed boutonniere fell off the bed. I didn't care.

Last night, I'd been Nora. A woman with no last name and no brother and no schedule taped inside her head. Tonight he knew exactly who I was, and he kept looking at me like that was the point.

When his hand slid down my stomach, lower, and his fingers found me, the sound came out of me before I could stop it.

"Kai."

Not a whisper. His name, loud and helpless in the dark.

He went still. Completely still, his forehead resting against mine, his breathing rough.

"Look at me, Sienna." His voice was quiet. "Are you sure?"

He was already easing his weight back, giving me room, and I could feel it, the second-guessing. Noah's voice on the terrace. *She's off-limits.* The scar on his arm. The promise.

I grabbed his hand before he could pull it away and laced my fingers through his.

"I've never been more sure."

Something in his face changed. Softened, then went fierce.

"Okay," he said roughly. "Okay."

And he stopped being careful.

The sheets twisted under us. The last fireworks faded over the water, one by one, until there was nothing left but moonlight across the end of the bed and the sound of him saying my name back to me, like it was something he'd been saving.

---

I didn't know how long we'd been lying there. Long enough for my heartbeat to slow. Long enough for his thumb to draw lazy circles on my hip while my cheek rested on his chest.

"Rule five still applies," he murmured. "If you want to go back to your room..."

"Shh."

"I'm just saying."

"I'm comfortable. Stop talking."

He laughed, the sound rumbling under my ear.

Then I heard footsteps in the hallway.

Heavy. Uneven. The specific rhythm of a man who'd had three glasses of champagne and was pretending he'd had one. I knew that walk. I'd been hearing it outside my door since high school.

"Sienna?" A knock. "Are you in there?"

I shot upright so fast the comforter slid off the bed and pooled on the floor.

"Oh, God. That's Noah."

Kai was already sitting up, scanning the room like it was a crash scene. "Why is he here?"

"I don't know. Shut up." I scrambled across the mattress. Robe. There had to be a robe. I found the white hotel-style one on the closet hook and shoved my arms in, then stepped on one of his black dress shoes and nearly went down.

"Liv's been looking for you," Noah called through the door. The frosted glass panel beside the frame glowed with hallway light, and his blurry shape filled it. "You're not in your room. Then I saw the light on in here."

I tied the robe with shaking hands and forced a yawn into my voice. "I fell asleep. Sorry. I came looking for a book."

"In the guest suite?"

"It's quiet."

I turned around to find something else to say and saw Kai's shirt. Right by the door. Next to his belt and the navy jacket, scattered across the floor like a trail of breadcrumbs.

I pointed at the narrow door in the corner. "Closet. Go."

Kai grabbed his pants and moved. He was halfway there when Noah spoke again, sharper this time.

"Who are you talking to?"

"No one."

"I heard a guy's voice."

"I'm watching a movie."

Silence. Then, "On what? There's no TV in that room."

My stomach dropped through the floor.

"My phone," I said. "Noah, go back to the party."

He didn't leave. His shadow stayed in the glass.

"This is a family rental. I set up the codes." His voice had gone flat in a way I didn't like. "I have the backup for every door in this place."

I dropped to my knees and shoved the shirt, the belt, and the jacket under the bed, then kicked the shoe after them. Behind me, the closet door stood half open, Kai's shape a darker black inside it.

I looked up.

His watch sat on the nightstand, right next to the lamp, gleaming. I could read the engraving on the clasp from across the room.

*K.M.*

"Sienna, open the door. I know someone is in there."

The keypad beeped.

Once.

I lunged across the bed.

Twice.

My fingers touched cold metal.

Three times.

And the lock clicked open.