Fortune's Forbidden Woman. Heidi Betts

stood on Maya’s front porch, leaning against the closed door with his eyes tightly closed.

      He hoped she didn’t chase after him. He didn’t want to see her again, not right now.

      For one thing, there was nothing left to say. It might have sounded harsh, but what he’d told her back in her bedroom was the absolute truth: succumbing to his baser instincts meant he could move past the almost obsessive longing he’d always felt when he was near her.

      Now that he’d been with her, the mystery was solved. Any questions he might have been harboring about what she would look like naked, how her skin would feel beneath his hands and mouth, what sounds she would make when he was inside her, had been answered.

      For another, he wasn’t entirely sure he could look at her right now and not be sorely tempted to make love to her again. He was a man, after all, and the last he’d seen Maya, she hadn’t been wearing anything more than a thin white sheet, which would be easy enough to dispense with.

      Shaking off erotic images that were beginning to reheat his blood, he pushed away from the door and headed for his car.

      What the hell had gotten into him, to touch her at all? How could he have let things get so out of control?

      He’d wanted her for a decade, lusted after her in a way no stepbrother had any business lusting. But he’d never, ever intended to act on those desires, and he thought he’d done a pretty good job of hiding them from Maya and everyone else.

      Starting the engine, he flipped on the headlights and pulled away from the curb, heading home. He needed a good night’s sleep, and maybe a nice, stiff drink to clear his head and make sense of what he’d done not twenty minutes before.

      She was off-limits. Forbidden. She always had been. If they’d ever crossed the lines of impropriety, the scandal would have been huge.

      He took a hand off the wheel, scrubbing it roughly over his face. Dammit, it would be huge, if anyone ever found out what had taken place tonight.

      Which meant it couldn’t happen. No one could find out.

      He would never intentionally do anything to bring shame or undue attention to his family, so he certainly wasn’t going to tell anyone. And he doubted Maya would, either.

      So all he had to do now was keep his hands to himself.

      Using his pass key, he opened the electronic gate of the underground garage at the Dakota Fortune office building and pulled his dark-blue Mercedes S-class into his personal parking spot near the elevators. His brother Case had a reserved space right beside his own, but except during business hours, it mostly stood empty these days.

      The same could be said of Case’s apartment, across the hall from Creed’s. The top floor of Dakota Fortune had been split into two separate living areas, which the brothers had occupied after moving out of the Fortune Estate and taking over as copresidents for the family company.

      Of course, Case was now happily set up in a house just outside Sioux Falls with his wife, Gina. She’d inherited her childhood home when her father died, and after living in an apartment in town for a while, they’d moved onto the larger estate and begun a few renovations. They were also expecting their first child at the end of the year.

      Creed was happy for them, truly he was, but he had to admit he missed running into his brother in the hall between their two front doors. Or only having to cross that small space in order to talk to him.

      His brother’s willing ear and sage advice would certainly come in handy at the moment, though he imagined Case’s response to Creed’s dilemma would be much the same as he’d already concluded on his own.

      Stay away from Maya. Chalk up tonight’s activities to scratching a long-standing itch, then put it behind him and move on.

      Not a problem. He’d pretty much made that decision even before he’d rolled off the bed at Maya’s house and made his hasty exit.

      And a few shots of scotch could only bolster his determination, he thought, as he let himself into his apartment and headed straight for the liquor cabinet.