by Addison Cole
She opened her mouth, and he placed the fluff of whipped sugar on her tongue. Brianna closed her lips around his fingers, sending a flare of heat to his loins and a groan he had to work hard to stifle to his lungs. The seductive look in her eyes drew his mouth to hers. Sugar covered their tongues and melted in their mouths. The combination of his growing feelings toward Brianna and the hope for a future together made the kiss even sweeter than their first. They kissed long after the cotton candy had melted. The music faded. The lights on the carousel went out, and the cotton candy vendor discreetly pushed his cart away. Brianna smelled so fresh, and she tasted of sugary wine. Beyond that, she tasted of Brianna. The captivating taste he’d experienced earlier that morning, when she’d fallen into his arms and he thought he’d dreamed up his perfect match.
“I have to take you home,” Hugh said between kisses.
“Home? No.”
Hugh pried his lips from hers. “No?”
She shook her head vehemently. “No. I want to be with you, Hugh. More than anything, I want to be with you tonight.”
“Yes…my home.” He put his hands on her gorgeous cheeks and took her in another hungry kiss.
They hurried to the car, kissing along the way, and jogging hand in hand. Once in the car, Brianna lifted serious eyes to Hugh. “Don’t we have to clean up dinner or let someone know we’re leaving?”
“Boy, do I like you.” Hugh kissed her again. “They know.” He drove toward his house with a million thoughts of Brianna—and what he wanted to do with her—storming through his head.
At the house, Brianna was quiet. Hugh knew she was nervous by the way she bit her lower lip and the way her eyes darted from him to the floor and back again. Seeing her so nervous made him even more so. He didn’t turn on the overhead lights; instead he went to the living room and used the remote to turn on the fireplace and the stereo, which played soft rock through the wall-mounted speakers.
Brianna set her purse on the table by the door and looked so seductive as she crossed the floor in the body-hugging dress that Hugh couldn’t wait to strip off so he could love every inch of her.
He took her in his arms. “I’ve been trying to figure out what it was about your eyes that make them so beautiful,” he whispered.
Flush covered her cheeks. Feeling her body against his brought rise to his desires and a throbbing in his heart that was new and different from anything he’d experienced before.
“There’s so much more to you than what anyone sees. Behind those beautiful eyes is a well of emotions.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “And thoughts.” He kissed her cheek. “And fears.” He kissed her lips again, feeling her body tremble against him.
She licked her lower lip, and his hand slid to the curve of her hip.
“Not fears,” she whispered, but worry hung in her voice.
“It’s just you and me, Bree.” For the first time in his life, he wasn’t trying to rush a woman into bed, and it struck him that everything about the way his mind reacted to Brianna was different than it had been with anyone else.
She put her hands flat on his stomach, spreading warmth beneath her palms. “Nerves. It’s been a long time, and I want to be with you more than anything. I just don’t want to disappoint you.”
“You’re here with me. Nothing could make me happier. We don’t have to do anything, Bree. I’ll wait until you’re ready. There’s no rush.”
“No. No,” she whispered. “I don’t want to wait.”
She took his hand and led him toward the hallway.
“Wait.” He grabbed her purse. “You promised Layla you’d keep your phone on.”
She took his hand again and led him down the hallway to the bedroom. Every step kicked up Hugh’s anticipation, and when she closed the bedroom door behind them and began to unbutton his shirt, he could barely breathe. He set her purse on the dresser and stilled her hands beneath his.
Music filtered in through the speakers, and moonlight streamed through the sheer curtains. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, moving his body to the rhythm of the music. Her hips moved in tune to the sensual beat, and their tongues stroked a lustful dance of their own. She gazed into his eyes and fiddled with his buttons again. Hugh took her in another desperate kiss before taking off his shirt. Brianna’s fingers found the sprinkling of fur on his chest, and her tentative touch magnified his desires. She pressed her lips to his chest, flicking a warm, wet path with her tongue. If he let her continue, he’d never last. Tonight he wanted to love her like she’d never been loved. He took her hands in his and kissed her palms.
“Let me,” he whispered. He gathered her hair in one hand, exposing the flawless skin on her neck. He dragged his tongue along the base of her neck before settling his mouth over the gentle curve at the base of her neck and sucking, stroking her with his tongue. She breathed harder. Her hands pressed against his chest and he drew back again and gently turned her around. He nibbled his way down the back of her neck and slowly unzipped her dress to just below her shoulder blades. Her body stiffened, and when he caught a glimpse of the black lacy bra, his body did, too. He slid her dress off her shoulders and kissed a line down her spine to the zipper, then ran his tongue up the center again. His hands trembled as he ran them along her bare shoulders—so small and feminine they made him ache. Hugh licked the arc of her shoulder, then widened his mouth and loved the gentle curve of her arm.
Brianna arched back, moaning in pleasure as he caressed her body. It took all of his restraint to go slow. He wanted her to experience desire like she never had before. He wanted her loins to ache like his did.
“Hugh,” she pleaded.
He moved her chin to the side and kissed her hard. When she tried to turn toward him, he held her in place. He drew back again, and she whimpered.
“Let me love you like you deserve to be loved,” he whispered. He lowered her zipper and slid his hands down her sides, gripping her hips. Her body trembled, and he held her tighter, and said, “You’re safe. I’ll never do anything you don’t want me to.”
“I know.” Her voice was a thready whisper. “I trust you.”
As he lowered his lips to hers, she said, “Love me, Hugh,” and his heart tumbled in his chest.
Chapter Nineteen
BRIANNA LAY ON her back with her arm over her eyes. She never imagined that making love could feel so good, and she wondered if that’s what it was like for everyone. Had she just been too young to know any better before? Is that why Kat always pushed her to get close to someone? Her whole body was on fire, humming with a gratified afterglow. If she’d known sex could be this amazing, she’d never have waited so long. Now that she’d experienced making love with Hugh, there was no turning back—and there was definitely no carrying out a twelve-year plan. What on earth was I thinking?
Hugh came out of the bathroom naked and ridiculously handsome, with a playful smile on his lips and a contented look in his eyes. He climbed onto the bed beside her and laid his hand across her belly.
“You okay?”
“You’ve asked me that a hundred times. I’m more than okay.” She touched his cheek. She loved how he worried about her, but she didn’t want him to think of her as fragile. “Hugh, I’d let you know if I wasn’t all right. Okay?”
He nodded.
“You’re so thoughtful, but you don’t need to ask to touch me. I love when you touch me, and you should just know I’m okay unless I say otherwise, or I look like I’m having trouble.”
“Okay, fair enough. I just don’t want you to feel pressured. I really like you, Bree, and I feel like I want to protect you from everything. I don’t think I’ve felt this way about anyone. Ever.” He drew circles on her belly with his finger. “It kind of scares the heck out of me, so I’m probably being even more careful.”
Relief swept through her. “Oh, thank goodness.”
“Thank goodness it scares me?” He wrinkled his brow.
“Kind of, yeah, because I feel the same way. I
feel so comfortable with you, and I never knew…that…could be so amazing.”
He laughed. “It’s not. I think it’s only amazing when you have feelings for the person; otherwise it’s just kind of a lot of energy for a few minutes of pleasure. The reason everything feels so good between us is because of the emotions we have for each other.”
“Are you a secret sex-ed teacher?” She ran her finger down the line of his jaw.
He kissed her forehead. “Hardly. I just know that there’s a lot of emptiness that goes along with meaningless sex.” He looked away, and this time, she drew his eyes back to her.
“My turn to ask. Are you okay?”
He nodded, but his eyes were solemn. “There’s just all this stuff going through my head. When I look at you, I want to be sure you’re happy. When we were close, my thoughts weren’t about me or even about being intimate with you. I was thinking about what I wanted to do for you. How I hoped you felt. And afterward, I couldn’t help but think about Layla.” He lay back down beside Brianna and held her hand. “I want you to be sure of me before she knows about us, even if that takes a long time. I already feel so much toward you that the thought of not being with you is painful. I can’t imagine what it would be like to get close to Layla and then be out of her life for whatever reason. For me or for her. It would be confusing for her, hurtful for me.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “You do that a lot, you know.”
“What?”
“Take Layla’s feelings into consideration. That means a lot to me.”
His dimples appeared when he faced her. “I told you. She owns half your heart. I’ll always consider her.”
Brianna felt another tug on her heart.
Chapter Twenty
HUGH CLIMBED FROM bed at five o’clock the next morning and took a shower. He hoped to get a run in before Brianna woke up. He’d slacked off in the last few days, and it was imperative that he was in top shape for the race. She looked so cute curled up beside him that he hated to move from beside her, but if he had any hope of being at the track by eight, he had to get a move on. He couldn’t remember another Sunday when he wasn’t itching to get to the track. Today he wished he had another twelve hours—heck, he wished he had another month—before he had to leave again.
He came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and found Brianna leaning on her elbow looking at her phone. Her hair cascaded over her left shoulder, and when her eyes darted to him, she set her phone on the nightstand.
“Now, that’s a welcome sight in the morning,” she said, then licked her lips.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and kissed her. “So are you.”
“Were you planning on leaving me here? I guess you can’t exactly take off after sex when you’re in your own bed. I’m sorry. I’ll just shower really quickly and go.” She started to climb out of the bed, and he pinned her to the bed with a hot stare.
“Take off after sex? After everything I said to you last night?”
She shrugged, and a mischievous smile played across her lips. He tickled her ribs, and she screamed with delight.
“Okay, okay. I was kidding.” She hung on to his hands.
He kissed her again, feeling a tightening in his groin. “Yeah? Well, I’m more sensitive than I look. You’d better be careful, or you’ll hurt my feelings.” Hugh ran his hand through his wet hair.
“Maybe you could ugly yourself up a little. Then I’d want to leave,” she teased.
He pulled the blanket back, exposing her body in all its glory. “Maybe you could put some clothes on and I wouldn’t want to stay.”
“Maybe I’ll just stay naked forever then.” She ran her eyes down his chest.
The heck with my run.
AN HOUR LATER, they climbed into the Roadster and headed toward Brianna’s apartment. She couldn’t take her eyes off of Hugh while he drove. She could hardly believe the last few days had really happened. Every few minutes, he glanced over and smiled.
“That was an amazing night and an even more wonderful morning.” Brianna touched his shoulder. She hated the idea of not being with him for an hour, much less a day or several days. They hadn’t made any plans beyond taking her home, and for an organized, scheduled woman like Brianna, it was unsettling.
Hugh pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “Maybe now you can hold on to those happier thoughts of your dad from the afternoon before he left, and when you think of the next morning, instead of seeing the end of your life with him, you can see the beginning of ours together.”
Ours. Together. How did that happen so fast? She had no idea, but the butterflies in her stomach told her not to overthink it. She fidgeted with the edge of her dress.
“I will.” She thought about earlier that morning, when she’d seen Hugh coming out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel. All of the hot and heavy feelings she’d experienced the evening before had come rushing back. She was glad she’d had time to text Kat while he was in the shower. She’d asked what the morning after was supposed to be like, and Kat had answered, As hot as the night before. Or hotter. That was all the rationalization Brianna needed to allow her desires to take over. She’d woken up wanting him all over again, but she’d worried that she was only feeling that because it had been so long since she’d had sex. One kiss from Hugh and his tented towel had told her that he’d had the same urges. Making love with him in the morning had been as earth-shattering as it had been the night before.
“What’s your plan today?” Hugh asked as they pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex.
“I work from three to eight at the tavern, so I was going to hang out and play a game with Layla, but I think I’ll take her to the park. She’d like that.”
Hugh parked the car and opened the door for Brianna. “Is your mom watching her while you work?”
“Not tonight. Her neighbor Mrs. Cranston is taking her. I’ve known her forever. She’s like seventy years old and Layla loves her. She watches her sometimes when my mom can’t.”
“Do you get a dinner break?”
“Twenty minutes around seven. You don’t have to walk me up to my apartment. I’m just going to change my clothes and then pick up Layla.”
“I want to. What kind of boyfr—”
Boyfriend? She pretended not to notice his use of the word, even though her skin tingled with excitement. Boyfriend. She loved the sound of it.
He pulled her closer. “Boyfriend.” He looked at her and smiled. “Do people still say that when they’re my age, or is that a high school word?”
“You’re asking the wrong girl.” Yes! Use it!
“Is it too possessive? Too limiting for a girl like you?”
She saw the tease in the lifting of his brows and decided to tease him right back. “Well, it is a bit limiting.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He focused on the building with a serious look in his eyes.
She’d expected him to laugh. Disappointment filled her heart. Did he think she’d meant it? Hugh put his arm around her and pulled her close, his eyes trained on the bearded guy who watched them from his balcony. She hated the way he stared at her. She had become so used to it that she usually just stared at the ground or put a protective arm around Layla and hurried past. She was glad when Hugh had insisted on walking her inside.
Upstairs, Brianna fumbled for her keys, chewing on the idea that he’d nixed the use of the word boyfriend. It’s just a word. So why does it hurt so much? She dropped the keys, and Hugh bent down and picked them up, then found the proper key and unlocked the door.
He pushed the door open. “After my girlfriend.” He waved a path for her to enter.
She couldn’t keep the silly smile from her lips, then kissed him as she walked past. “I like that,” she admitted.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her again. “So do I.”
The apartment smelled like fresh roses. Brianna added fresh water to the vase. “I hope these last forever.”
“I would say nothing lasts forever, but I’m not sure I believe that anymore.”
She glanced at his profile as he went to the glass doors in the living room. He was nothing like the man she’d thought he would be. He flipped the lock on the slider, and it dropped without clicking.
“Doesn’t this lock?”
“No. It never has. But we’re on the third floor, so I’m not too worried.” She set the vase down on the counter.
“Do you have a screwdriver?”
“Sure.” She dug through a kitchen drawer and handed it to him. “It’s really fine. I don’t think anyone’s going to go Spider-Man on us and scale the wall.”
He was already taking the lock apart.
“I’m going to change real quick.” While she changed her clothes, she called out to him, “What are you doing today?”
“I’m going to the track. I’ve gotta meet my pit crew and spend a few hours practicing and going over things for next weekend.”
“Are you excited about it?”
“I love to drive, but I’m not excited about not being with you,” he said.
Brianna pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater. She put on makeup, spritzed perfume, and found Hugh looking over the photographs on the living room shelves. “You really didn’t have to wait for me.”
“I wanted to walk you back down. Besides, I’ll take whatever time I can get.” He held up a black-and-white photo of Layla in a red wooden frame. “You’re really good at photography. Maybe we can get your camera fixed.” He set the frame down on the bookshelf.
She shook her head. “It was old and not a very good one.” She slid her feet into a pair of flat boots. “One day I’ll get another one, and when Layla’s a little older, I’ll take pictures again. Right now there’s no time anyway, so I’m not missing much.”
He drew his brows together and spoke softly. “You’re so patient, Brianna.”
“Moms have to be.”