Текст книги "On Dublin Street"
Автор книги: Samantha Young
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Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 19 страниц)
When I became aware of his erection digging into my stomach I was lost. My belly squeezed and I whimpered against his mouth, my panties drenched with arousal. The need grew hungrier as Braden’s hand slid up my waist, brushing my breast and coming to a stop at the wide strap of the tank top. He broke the kiss, pulling back only an inch to gaze into my eyes. His own were dark, his lashes lowered over them, his lips bruised. I felt two of his fingers slide under my strap and lower it, tugging the left side of my top down so my bra was visible. His gaze never left mine as he repeated the process with my bra strap.
Cool air hit my naked breast and my nipple puckered up invitingly. Braden’s eyes dropped to it and I felt his hand glide up to cup me. He caressed it, his thumb brushing over the nipple and I gasped as it tightened and shot a bolt of lust between my legs. He looked back at me. “You like that, babe?” he murmured, his eyes returning to my mouth. “Do you like my hands on you?”
Well… yeah!
“Or…” his head dipped and his lips brushed softly against mine. “Will any man’s do?”
It took a moment for those words to penetrate and when they did I squashed the hurt and drew back in anger, my arms falling from around him to yank my bra and top back up.
“Fuck you,” I snapped and tried to push by him only to have him press deeper into my legs, his hands grabbing hold of my wrists to stop the fists that were about to fly at him.
“What the hell was that out there?” he fumed at me, but was still definitely turned on, his hard-on digging into me, making my own body go to war with my head.
“None of your business, that’s what it was.”
“Are you fucking him?”
“None of your business!”
He made a low, irate sound under his breath and tugged on my arms. “Considering I want to fuck you, it is my business. And considering you definitely want to be fucked by me, I think it’s in your best interest to answer me.”
“You are an arrogant, egotistical asshat, you know that!” I raged, determined this alpha male douchebag was not going to control me. “I wouldn’t have sex with you if you were the last man on earth!”
It wasn’t the most original comeback. I know that. And it was definitely the wrong thing to say.
With my hands still pinned Braden kissed me again, nipping angrily at my mouth, rubbing his hard cock against me in torment. My body keened and my lips fell open letting him in. I tried to put up a pretense of a struggle but my hormones were far more interested in getting laid than having control over the situation.
“Are you sleeping with him, Jocelyn?” he murmured sexily, his lips trailing lush kisses along my jaw.
“No,” I breathed.
“Do you want to sleep with him?”
“No.”
Vaguely I was aware of the grasp around my wrists disappearing and my hands – with a mind of their own – reached for purchase against Braden’s taut stomach.
“Do you want me to fuck you?” he growled in my ear.
I shuddered hungrily. Yes!
Instead of telling the truth, I shook my head, trying to maintain some kind of control.
And then his hand was cupping me between the legs, two fingers rubbing hard against the seam of my jeans. Excitement flooded me in a torrent of shivers. “Oh God…” I moaned, trying to press closer.
His lips brushed mine and I reached for something deeper, something wetter, but Braden pulled back. “Do you want me to fuck you?”
Anger exploded over me and I snapped my eyes open to glare at him. “What the hell do you think?”
I tugged his head down, our lips crashing together as I pulled out of him what I wanted. His arms encircled my waist, pressing our bodies together as our mouths fed hungrily on each other. Impatience raged between us, and Braden’s strong hands slid their way down my back and under my butt, lifting me easily. My body understood what he wanted and my legs automatically wrapped around his waist as he turned around and took two steps to press me against the wall, his erection rubbing against the v of my jeans as his hips thrust into me. Satisfaction and need slammed through me and I gasped against his mouth, silently begging for more.
“Oh fuck, sorry!” Alistair’s startled voice penetrated the fog and I jerked back from Braden, my chest rising and falling rapidly as I tried to catch my breath.
I gazed at Alistair in horror as reality returned.
What. The. Hell.
Oh fuckity, fuckity, fuck fuck fuck! I sucked at self-control! “Shit,” I breathed out.
Alistair’s confused gaze flew between me and Braden before coming back to me. “Break’s over.”
I swallowed past the panicked and sexually aroused lump in my throat. “I’ll be right out.”
As soon as he was gone, I felt the room close in on me. I was still wrapped around Braden. I unwrapped my legs, and Braden lowered me to the ground. As soon as my feet were stable, I pressed a hand to his chest, pushing him back. “I need to get back to work.”
Gentle fingers grasped my chin and forced my gaze up to his. His expression was granite, determined, controlled… and completely at odds with his swollen mouth and mussed up hair. “We need to talk.”
About my complete lack of control and willpower? “I don’t have time right now.”
“Then I’ll come over tomorrow night.”
“Braden-”
His grip on my chin tightened, quieting me. “I’ll come over tomorrow night.”
This was not happening. How could I let this happen? “Braden, I don’t want anything to happen between us.”
He raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. “Tell that to your damp knickers, babe.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “You are such a dick.”
He grinned widely and leaned down to brush a soft kiss across my lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I grabbed a hold of his sweater, stopping him from leaving. “Braden, I mean it!”
Chuckling, he patiently uncurled my fingers from his sweater and stepped back. “I have a proposition. I’ll come over tomorrow to discuss it.”
Argh! Was he deaf? “Braden-”
“Good night, Jocelyn.”
“Braden-”
“Oh.” He turned back to me at the door and his expression hardened. “I’ll be waiting until the end of the shift to put you and Ellie in a taxi. I see you flirting with that wanker again and I’ll knock his teeth out.”
And then poof! He was gone.
I took stock a moment, unable to believe what I’d just allowed to happen. But my lips were throbbing from those desperate kisses, my cheeks burning from the scrape of his two-day beard, my heart racing and my panties (or knickers) definitely wet.
Worse… I was still so freaking turned on I had half a mind to shut the door and finish what he’d started myself.
Tomorrow this had to end. If Braden could so completely take me over like that, there was no way I could go any further with this.
Maybe I should move out.
My chest ached at the thought of leaving Ellie and the apartment on Dublin Street. No! I could do this. I could put the arrogant jackhole in his place.
I nodded, standing up on my feet only to wobble a little.
I rolled my eyes. Why the hell did he have to be the human version of a sexually charged nuclear weapon? Grumbling, I put myself back together as much as I could, and headed out to the bar, ignoring Alistair’s quizzical looks, Braden’s burning gaze and Craig’s attempts at flirting.
I liked Craig’s teeth where they were, thank you very much.
~11~
My keys clattered against the walnut of the sideboard in the hallway, the first loud noise to break the silence between me and Ellie. After a busy night at the bar my head was usually buzzing, and it took me a few hours to unwind before I could head to bed, but tonight it was worse. I could still feel Braden on my mouth, on my breast, between my legs. I could still smell and taste him for God’s sake. And I pretended I felt none of this as he did as promised and saw me and Ellie into a cab after my shift. In fact I didn’t say a word to him.
I didn’t say a word to anyone.
Alistair and Braden were the only two who knew why. Craig watched me in confusion for the rest of the night, probably wondering where my good mood had gone, and I avoided Ellie’s eyes. I avoided them in the bar, I avoided them out on the sidewalk, I avoided them in the cab and I was avoiding them now. Kicking off my shoes, I kept my back to her, and then left her in the hall as I moved through to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
“Are we not going to talk about it then?” Ellie asked quietly, following me in.
I looked at her over my shoulder, pretending ignorance. “Talk about what?”
She threw me a look of exasperation. “About the fact that Braden was seething over your kiss with Craig, that he followed you into the staff room and didn’t come back for twenty minutes and when he did come back he looked like he’d been mauled by a woman who’d been locked in an empty room without a vibrator, or a man for ten years.”
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing at the visual.
Ellie was not amused. “Joss! Seriously, what’s going on?”
The laughter died from my lips. “He kissed me. We stopped. It’s not happening again.”
“Braden won’t back off if he thinks you’re interested.”
“I’m not interested.” I’m so interested.
“I think you are and I-”
“Ellie.” I whirled around, my nerves stretched to the max. “Just stop okay. Please. I don’t want to talk about this.”
She looked like a kid who’d had her favorite toy taken away. “But-”
“Ellie.”
“Fine.” She sighed.
In an effort to take her mind off of it, I leaned back against the counter with a concerned quirk of my right eyebrow. “So what was up with you and Adam tonight?”
“I’m like you. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Yeah right. “Ellie…”
Her pale eyes narrowed unhappily. “Okay, so I want to talk about it. Dammit, how can you be so good at the whole keeping things to yourself thing?” she pouted. “It’s really hard.”
I grinned and shook my head. “Not for me.”
She stuck her tongue out at me and slumped wearily into a kitchen chair. “I’m knackered. Tonight was exhausting.”
“Hence the crabby?”
“I’m not crabby.”
“You’re a little crabby.”
“Well you would be too if you’d had to put up with Adam tonight.”
I slipped into the seat beside her, wondering if I should hit the gym harder this week in preparation for kicking Adam’s ass. “What happened, honey?”
“He’s confusing me.” Ellie grimaced, eyeing me sadly. “He keeps saying that we’re just friends but he acts like we’re not. Braden’s so wrapped up in you he didn’t even notice Adam’s behavior tonight, and Adam used that to his advantage.”
“I did notice him getting all possessive on your ass, pulling you down beside him and all that.”
“Possessive? The harder I tried to be cool towards him, the more he got in my space. And then when Braden was with you, I called him on it. I asked about Nicholas and why he was acting so weird…”
“And what did he say?”
“That Nicholas wasn’t good enough for me and if I’d stop acting like a petulant child he’d stop being overbearing.”
Guy was good. I laughed humorlessly. “Nice way of side-stepping the actual question, huh?”
“Well you’d know all about that,” she grumped.
I snorted. “Meow.”
Ellie groaned. “Oh, God, Joss, I’m sorry. I’m acting like such a bitch.”
“I find it charming. Really.”
She giggled and shook her head, her eyes drooping tiredly. “You’re crazy.” She stood up. “But I love you.” She yawned as I froze in place at her words. “I need my bed. We’ll talk in the morning, try to make sense of Adam’s nonsense, yeah?”
But I love you. “Uh… yeah,” I replied, dazed.
“Night.”
“Night.”
But I love you…
... “Come on,” I begged Dru. “It ’ ll be fun. Kyle will be there.”
Dru eyed me doubtfully. “I totally embarrassed myself at the last kegger, Joss, and that didn ’ t involve having to wear a bikini.”
I rolled my eyes. “We all embarrassed ourselves at the last kegger. That ’ s kind of the point. Come on. Nate will be there and I really want to hang out with him tonight.”
“You mean hook up with him?”
I shrugged.
“Joss, maybe we should sit this one out. We ’ ve been going to a lot of parties lately.”
Grinning, I hooked an arm around her neck and drew her to my side. “We’re kids. We’re supposed to party.” I need to party. I need to forget. “And I don’t want to party without you. I’ll tell you what? I’ll even upchuck on a JV cheerleader for you. That way, no matter what you do, I’ll still have committed the most treasonous act of the evening.”
Dru laughed, hugging me close. “You ’ re crazy… but I love you.”
…The walls closed in on me as my chest squeezed tight. I wheezed trying to draw breath.
I was dying.
The panic attack lasted longer this time, those words refusing to allow me to focus.
Eventually, I struggled through to reality, pushing the memories back and allowing my body to breathe.
When it was over, I wanted to cry more than I had ever wanted to cry in a long time. But crying would only make me weak. Instead I stood up on shaky legs and tread the memories into the kitchen tiles. By the time I changed and slid into bed I pretended it was all forgotten.
***
“You had another panic attack?” the good doctor asked softly.
Why had I mentioned it? Nothing good could come of it. She’d never be able to put a spin on what happened. “Yeah, it doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter, Joss. What triggered this one?”
I stared at my feet. “My friend.”
“Which one?”
My best friend. “Dru.”
“You haven’t mentioned Dru before.”
“No.”
“Why did Dru trigger a panic attack, Joss?”
My eyes slowly lifted to her, raw pain burning through me. “Because she died.” I sucked in a deep breath. “And it’s my fault.”
***
I woke up just before noon and was immediately blasted by memories of the night before. Memories of Braden and the taste of what was possible between us. In an effort to forget, I spent lunch talking around in circles about Adam with Ellie, and fighting off the nerves that kept zinging in my belly every time I thought about Braden’s promise to come see me that night.
I was just getting ready to head in for a bath when Ellie’s phone beeped and she cursed as she scrolled through a message.
“What?” I asked lazily, as I put away our lunch dishes.
“Braden’s been pulled into the office again, he’s missing another family dinner. I’ll have to put up with twenty questions from my mum asking if he’s alright.”
I ignored the disappointed pang in my chest. If Braden was working tonight he wouldn’t be coming over after all. I should be freaking rejoicing. “Your mom really looks out for him, huh?”
“Well Braden’s mum is a selfish, vain, money-grabbing witch who flitted in and out of his life whenever it suited her. He hasn’t seen her in years. So… yes. My mum looks out for him because his own mum doesn’t.”
How could his mother not care about him? He was Braden Carmichael for Christ sake. “That’s unbelievable. I can’t imagine doing that to my own kid.” Not that I’d be having any.
Ellie gave me her sad eyes. “Braden looks a lot like our dad. Braden’s mum, Evelyn, really loved him. He ended things with her abruptly. Settled some money on her. When she told him she was pregnant, he said he’d look after Braden, but he didn’t want anything to do with her. When she looks at Braden, all she sees is the man who broke her heart and so she’s never been very loving. Ever. Braden spent the school years at home in Edinburgh with a distant but controlling father, and his summers flying around Europe watching his mum hook up with rich idiots who didn’t have time for kids.”
My heart ached for little boy Braden.
And I made the mistake of letting it show on my face.
“Oh, Joss…” Ellie breathed. “He’s okay, you know.”
I don’t care. I jerked back from her soft expression. “I don’t care.”
Her lips pinched together but she didn’t say anything. Instead she stood up, and when she walked by me she squeezed my shoulder.
I stared at the sink, wondering how I’d managed to do this to myself. Where had the mask gone that kept everyone at bay? Why did it keep slipping off whenever Ellie or Braden were around?
Feeling out of sorts, I grabbed my phone and headed into the bathroom to soak in the tub and drown it all out with some tunes, but as I was getting undressed, my phone rang.
Braden Calling.
I stared open-mouthed at the screen, trying to decide whether or not to answer it. I let it ring out.
It rang again.
And I just stared at it again.
Two minutes later as I sank into the tub, thinking I’d escaped, Ellie banged on the bathroom door. “Braden says pick up the phone!”
My phone rang and I closed my eyes. “Fine!” I yelled back and reached over for it. “What?” I answered.
His deep chuckle rolled over me seductively. “Hello to you too.”
“What do you want, Braden? I’m in the middle of something.”
“Ellie says you’re in the bath,” his voice was low. “Wish I was there, babe.”
I could almost feel him there. “Braden. What. Do. You. Want?”
He gave a huff of amusement. “Just thought I’d call to let you know I can’t make it tonight.”
Thank you, Jesus!
“I’m having a problem with a few suppliers on this development and it put us back a few weeks. I don’t know when I’ll be free this week, but I guarantee the moment I get some time, I’m coming to see you.”
“Braden, don’t do that.”
“After last night, there’s no denying the promise of what’s between us. I’m not backing off, so rather than coming up with a new defense – which I’m sure I’d find highly entertaining – just give in, babe. You know you’re going to eventually.”
“Have I mentioned how annoying and arrogant you are?”
“I can still smell and taste you, Jocelyn. And I’m still fucking hard.”
My stomach flipped and I squeezed my legs together. “God, Braden…” I breathed without thinking.
“I can’t wait to hear you say that while I’m inside you. See you, babe.”
And after that parting line, he hung up.
I groaned, my head falling back against the tub.
I was so screwed.
~12~
You know on those nature shows when the cute little meerkat is strolling along on its four cute little meerkat legs to get back to her burrow where all her little meerkat politics, drama and family await her, and this big-ass eagle comes swooping overhead…?
The smart little meerkat runs for cover and waits that big-ass eagle out.
Some time passes, and the meerkat finally decides the eagle got bored and went off to scare the crap out of some other cute little meerkat. So, the meerkat crawls out from her hidey-hole to carry merrily on her way.
And just when that little meerkat thought she was home free, that big-ass eagle swoops down and catches her in his big-ass claws.
Well… I know exactly how that little meerkat felt…
***
Braden didn’t call again, or text, or email. I spent the next few days keeping busy, fighting with my manuscript, erasing chapters that an eighth grader could have written, cleaning the apartment from top to bottom, and taking advantage of the distraction that was the Edinburgh Festival with Ellie. We hit the Theatre Big Top in The Meadows to catch the show, The Lady Boys of Bangkok, and damn, were those some pretty boys, went to the Edvard Munch exhibit out in the west of the city at The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and we bought cheap tickets to this young, up and coming comedian who was stuck in a dingy room in the dated building of the Student Union at the university main campus. Being in the union brought back a lot of memories of Rhian, James and I hanging out in there. I tried to let myself enjoy the crowds of the festival, the tourists everywhere, the smell of coffee, and beer, and hot food everywhere. Peddlers on the sidewalk, peddling their wares—jewelry, posters, random mementos, flyers everywhere.
I also paid a traumatizing visit to my therapist and spoke about Dru for the first time.
Yeah. I didn’t want to think about it.
Suffice to say by the time Thursday rolled around I’d managed to convince myself that Braden had only been playing with me. After all, if he’d been serious he would have at least texted me to make sure I hadn’t forgotten him, but nope. Nothing. Nada.
I’d changed my shifts at work from Thursday, Friday, to Friday and Saturday nights so I was free to hang out at home. When Ellie told me she was staying with her mom that night because she felt like hanging out with her family, I stupidly didn’t think anything of it. I was unprepared. I was relaxed, thinking Braden had forgotten about me.
I stuck my stupid head out of my stupid hidey-hole.
That’s when Braden swooped in like a big-ass eagle.
The apartment was silent except for the sitting room, where I was curled up on an armchair, sipping from a glass of wine and watching Zack Snyder’s 300. I realize now what a bad idea that had been. All those rippling muscles and the languid side-effect of the wine… I blamed it all for what happened next.
“You know you should really lock the door when you’re home alone.”
“Shit!” I jumped, spilling wine all over my jeans. I shot out of the chair, glaring at Braden who stood in the doorway, looking un-amused. What did he have to be pissed about? His favorite jeans hadn’t just gotten ruined! “Jesus C, Braden, for the last time would you freaking knock!”
His eyes dropped to my stained jeans before flicking back to my face. “If you promise to lock the door when you’re home alone.”
I grew still, taking in his serious expression. Was he… concerned about me? I frowned, and dropped my gaze as I put my almost empty glass on the coffee table. “Fine,” I murmured, unsure of what to do with that.
“Ellie’s gone for the night.”
My eyes shot to his face and I found him watching me intently. He was wearing a suit, but he looked a little rumpled, like he’d been working for hours and had come to see me without making a pit stop. My stomach flipped as realization dawned. “Did you orchestrate that?”
The left side of his mouth quirked up. “For future reference, Ellie can be bought with a box of champagne truffles.”
I was going to kill the traitor.
Especially because Braden looked so damn good. That and the fact that the costume department for 300 had done a number on my libido caused the hormonal wreck that stood before Braden. I willed myself to take Dr. Pritchard’s advice and stop thinking fifty steps ahead. I told myself all the time that I was living life in the present because planning a future was just so terrifying. But while I lived my life in the present, I constantly worried about what awaited me tomorrow, and I think the good doctor was suggesting I take my own damn advice and live for today.
But with Braden?
It was too dangerous. I already knew I didn’t want a relationship with him.
“I take it you weren’t expecting me?” Braden asked as he settled himself on the couch.
Not wanting to appear intimidated, I slipped back into my seat on the armchair. “No. I managed to convince myself through wishful thinking that we were done with whatever that was that happened before…”
He shrugged out of his jacket. “You mean when I dry humped you against a wall?”
My jaw locked with irritation. If he’d been a character in a book, I would have hated his dirty mouth. As it was, my body loved his dirty mouth. No need to tell him that. “You know, Braden, I’ve watched you over the last few months and you’re such a gentleman to everyone but me. What’s with that?”
“I want you in my bed. Gentlemen are boring in bed.”
Good point. “Gentlemen are gentlemen in bed. They make sure you’re having a good time.”
“I’ll make sure you’re having a good time, and that you’re okay with everything we’re doing. I just won’t be well-mannered about it.”
Stomach flip, belly squeeze. “I thought we already discussed this. You and I are not happening.”
He frowned at me, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together between them. His shirt sleeves were rolled up again. It was like he knew what that did to me. “We haven’t discussed anything.”
I sighed heavily. “Braden, I like you, I do. Yeah, you’re an overbearing ass and you say whatever is on your mind without filtering out the filth, but you seem like a good guy, and you’re a good brother to Ellie.” Our eyes caught, and I almost flinched at the pang of attraction that zinged across my chest. “Ellie has become a really good friend and I love living with her here. I don’t want to mess that up. And I don’t want to be in a relationship. With anyone.”
He looked at me so long in silence, I didn’t know if he was actually going to ever respond. I had just decided it might be best to leave the room and Braden to his thoughts, when he relaxed back against the couch. His eyes darkened. I knew that look. Uh oh. “Good thing I’m not proposing a relationship.”
It was safe to say I was completely confused. “Well, what are you proposing?”
“Just sex.”
What? “What?”
“You and me. Just sex. Whenever we want. No strings attached.”
“Just sex,” I repeated, feeling the words roll around my mouth and brain. Just sex. Sex with Braden whenever I wanted with no strings attached. “What about everything else? Ellie, the apartment, the whole gang hanging out?”
Braden shrugged. “None of that has to change. We’ll be friends who hang out and have sex with each other.”
“And what would we tell people?”
“It’s nobody’s bloody business.”
I tilted my head, exasperated. “I meant Ellie.”
“The truth.” He eyed me carefully. “I don’t lie to my sister.”
“She won’t like it.”
Braden chuckled. “I don’t give a flying fuck if Ellie likes it or not. In fact, I’d prefer it if my wee sister stayed clear of my sexual business.”
“That’ll be kind of hard since the person you want to have sex with lives with her.”
That didn’t bother him in the least. “Your bedrooms are on opposite sides of the flat. And you can always visit my bed in my flat.”
Hmm. Braden’s apartment. I was curious to see it.
No! No, stop it! “I can’t.”
“You can’t, or you won’t?” his eyes narrowed dangerously.
Stomach flip, belly squeeze. I closed my eyes. I could feel his body pressed against mine again, feel his tongue stroking mine, and his hand gentle but firm against my breast. Oh God. My eyes flew open and I found his gaze had softened on me. “Just sex?”
I could tell he was trying to stifle a smile, like he knew he was winning. “Well… almost.”
What? “Almost?”
“I need someone to accompany me to business dinners and whatever inane social events Morag has scheduled me to appear at. It would be nice to go with someone who wasn’t expecting a marriage proposal or a diamond necklace at the end of the night.”
“That’s not just sex. That’s like an arrangement. Like the arrangement you usually have with all those Barbies you date. Which brings me to why me? Braden, you’ve got a lot of money and you’re not exactly hard on the eyes—although I doubt you need me telling you that and giving you something else to be a cocky bastard about—so why not go out and get one of those tall, skinny blondes who will jump at the chance of jumping you?”
Surprise flashed across Braden’s face and he dipped his head down. “One: because they need me to care about them. They want me to talk about my feelings, and they want me to buy them shit. We’re talking about taking that out of the picture, which works for both of us. And two: seriously?”
I frowned, wondering what he was ‘seriously-ing’ me at.
“Well,” he shook his head, grinning now, “You always surprise me.”
“How’s that?”
“I just assumed you knew how sexy you are. Apparently you don’t.”
Wow. I flushed inwardly and rolled my eyes at him, like his words hadn’t penetrated my steel armor. “Whatever.”
My blasé answer didn’t deter him. He was determined to answer my question. “No, you don’t look like my usual woman. And yes, I like long legs. And yours are short.”
I glowered at him now.
Braden grinned. “And yet they still gave me a semi-hard on in the taxi when you were wearing those little shorts. And again when you wore them at Elodie’s and Clark’s.”
My mouth dropped open. “You’re lying.”
He shook his head, enjoying himself. “You’ve got great legs, Jocelyn. An amazing smile when you use it on occasion. And fantastic tits. And yeah, I usually date blondes. But you’re a blonde. I think.” He laughed when my glower turned full on glare. “Doesn’t matter about the color. You never wear it down, and I can’t get the thought of you beneath me, and that hair spread out across my pillow while I move inside you, out of my head.”
Oh. God.
“But I think mostly it’s your eyes. I want something from them no one else gets from them.”
“And what’s that?” I asked, my voice low, almost hoarse. His words had affected me as deeply as any aphrodisiac.
“Soft.” His own voice had deepened with the highly sexual atmosphere. “Soft the way only a woman’s can be after she’s come for me.”
I gulped inwardly. Outwardly, I tilted my head to the side with a wry grin. “You’re good with the words, I’ll give you that.”
“I’m good with my hands. Will you let me give you that?”
I laughed and his grin widened, wicked and beautiful. I sighed, and shook my head again. “It sounds like more than just sex, Braden. You’re asking for companionship. That’s complicating things.”
“Why? It’s just two friends going on a few dates and having sex afterwards.” He sensed my unmoving doubt on that one because he shrugged. “Look, when have I ever gotten serious about a woman? I want you, you want me. It’s hanging over what should have been a perfectly nice friendship, so let’s just deal with it.”
“But adding date nights into it? Doesn’t that extend the time period on this thing?”
I thought I saw a flash of annoyance in his eyes, but it was gone with a flicker of his lashes. “You want to put a time period on it?”
“A month.”
And then he grinned, realizing I was giving in.
Shit. I was giving in.
“Six.”
I snorted. “Two.”
“Three.”
We stared at one another and as if it suddenly occurred to us we were talking about how long we were intending to explore a sexual relationship with each other, the already hot tension between us burned deeper, and thickened the air. It was like someone had lassoed a rope around the two of us and was tugging and tugging, trying to draw us closer. An image of us in my bed, naked and writhing, flashed across my mind and my body instantly responded. Panties sufficiently damp, my nipples joined the party and tightened—visibly. Braden’s eyes dropped to my breasts and started to smolder before they returned to my face.
“Done,” I murmured.
