Colters' Woman by Maya Banks Page A

up. Bending his head, he pressed his lips to her skin.
    She shivered in reaction, a chill racing straight up her arm.
    “Lust? Oh yeah,” he said as he lowered her hand. “But it’s more than that.”
    Her hand fell to the couch, but she wanted to press it back to his mouth. The urgency between her thighs had her shifting to alleviate the discomfort.
    “If you’re asking me if we’re in love with you,” he began, “well, I can’t speak for my brothers, but I don’t think it’s that simple. As you said, we don’t really know you. But we recognize you. Does that make sense?”
    She shook her head.
    “Put it this way. I recognize you as the woman I will fall in love with. Maybe I’ve already started down the path. I won’t know until we’ve had more time to explore each other.” He flashed a wicked grin at her. “And explore, I plan to do.”
    For some reason, his simple honesty comforted her more than declarations of undying love and devotion. She’d gotten those from Mason, and they certainly hadn’t done her any good.
    “What do you want?” he asked softly.
    “I want never to have gotten married,” she blurted, allowing her regret to pour out of her soul. Tears stung her eyelids and she looked away.
    “Ahh, doll.”
    He scooted forward and pulled her against his chest. He tilted her chin up until she looked him in the eye.
    “You don’t have to stay married to the bastard.”
    Sadness swelled in her chest. “I don’t think he’ll let me go. I know…I know too much.”
    He arched his brow.
    “What do you know?”
    She closed her eyes. She needed to release the heavy burden she’d been carrying for the last two weeks.
    “I saw him kill someone,” she whispered. “On our wedding day.”
    Ethan’s grip tightened around her. “Hell.”
    She pushed away from him, gritting her teeth to keep the tears at bay. “You see, that’s why I can’t stay here. He’ll find me. He’ll kill you. It’s nothing to him.”
    Ethan released his breath then looked over her shoulder. “You hear everything?”
    She swiveled around to see Ryan leaning against the wall behind her.
    Ryan nodded, his eyes glittering dangerously. “Did you email Cal?”
    She looked back at Ethan in confusion.
    Ethan nodded. “Yeah.”
    “Who’s Cal?” she asked.
    “He’s a lawyer,” Ryan said.
    Her eyes widened. She looked between the brothers, checking their expressions for something, some clue as to their intentions.
    “He’s a good friend of ours. He practices law in Denver. I emailed him about your situation. Asked him how best to proceed with terminating your marriage.”
    She stood up in agitation, shrugging off Ethan’s hand.
    “You can’t tell him where I am!”
    “No one’s going to tell him where you are, doll.”
    “Don’t you want to be rid of the bastard who hurt you?” Ryan asked.
    She looked up to see him studying her, probing her as if measuring her reaction. Her eyes narrowed. Did he think she wanted to stay married to Mason?
    “After what you heard, how can you doubt that?” she asked, staring back at him just as intently.
    They squared off, neither backing down as they burned holes through each other with their eyes.
    He relaxed his stance then crooked his finger at her. “Come here.”
    It pissed her off that she found herself crossing the room to stand in front of him.
    He pulled her roughly into his arms and melded his lips to hers.
    She moaned low in her throat. God, he felt so good. She threaded her arms around his neck, and in that moment, she didn’t give a damn what he thought about her. She wanted to rip his clothes off.
    He sucked her bottom lip between his teeth and nipped erotically. He wasn’t gentle. His touch was demanding. He slid his hands underneath her shirt, upward until he cupped her breasts in his palms.
    She flinched when his thumbs flicked her nipples. She arched closer to him, wanting more.
    Her breath came in ragged spurts as his mouth left hers. He burned a trail