by K. A. Linde
She didn’t receive a response, and she hadn’t thought she would get one while he was occupied. The wait was endless. She was glad that Trihn was at Neal’s that night, and Stacia was cramming for a test with a friend from her class. All Bryna did was pace relentlessly and check her phone over and over again.
It dinged, and she jumped out of her skin.
Home.
She sighed in relief. She wasn’t sure if he would actually respond. It didn’t matter that it was just one word. She would take it.
The drive across town felt endless. She was so jittery that her stomach was doing flip-flops, and she couldn’t keep her legs from bouncing.
She pulled up to his place and saw his Jeep in the driveway. She jogged up to the front door and knocked twice. He never answered the door, but she figured she would try since they were on such uneven ground. A couple of months ago, she would have walked in and been having margaritas with him without even thinking about it.
When Eric didn’t answer, she pushed open the door. The downstairs was empty. Only the hall light was on.
“Eric?”
“Up here,” he called from upstairs. “Give me a minute.”
She took the stairs two at a time and walked into his room to find him coming out of the shower in a plain white towel. His hair was wet and messy. There was still that dewy shine to his toned body. She couldn’t help but look.
“Oh…”
“Are you just going to stare?” Eric asked when he noticed her watching him in the doorway.
“Should I not?” She arched an eyebrow.
“I guess it depends on what you’re doing here.”
“Margaritas?” she joked.
Eric rolled his eyes, unamused. He grabbed some clothes out of his drawers and threw them into a pile. “I’m going to change. Let’s get this over with when I get back.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
It only took him a second to change in the bathroom. He dragged a towel through his wet hair and then hung it up on a hook on the door. His hair was still tousled, and she reminded herself she had no right to touch him. She was in the wrong, and she needed to make this right.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s have it.”
“I broke it off with Cam,” she said in a rush.
“And?” he asked.
He didn’t even look surprised. Maybe he had been expecting that. Had he known I was going to do it even before I had?
“And…I’m here.”
Eric shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. You can’t jump ship and expect me to welcome you back with open arms.”
“I know.”
“I’m not really sure you do.” He leaned back against his dresser. “You being single doesn’t change or excuse your behavior.”
“You’re right.” She held her hands up in defeat. What she had done was bad, and she didn’t blame him for being pissed at her. “I deserve your anger, but will you let me explain?”
“If you think you have a good enough explanation for the past couple of months, then go ahead.”
Bryna took a deep breath and let everything go. She couldn’t keep holding this in and pushing him away. She couldn’t be scared anymore.
“I thought a fresh start was what I needed after Hugh.” She looked down at her feet. She hated this part. “You know, I thought he was married and that we were just having a good time. I thought we were on the same page. But we weren’t. He wasn’t married. Actually, he wanted to marry me.”
Eric sucked in air through his teeth. Their eyes met, and she nodded. Yep. Sounded as horrible out loud as it had back in Barcelona.
“He wanted to marry me, and I was playing him. I’ll never forget the look on his face. I broke his heart.”
“Jesus.”
“I was Jude,” she gasped out. “I tricked Hugh into loving me, and for what? A million dollar house, some jewelry, and a few trips?”
“That house was worth a million dollars?” Eric sputtered.
She nodded. “Yes. I sold the house and tried to return the money to him. He sent it back to me without a note. In either case, everything with Hugh wasn’t worth it. The money wasn’t worth hurting him.”
Bryna sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to judge Eric’s reactions. She knew him well, but he was guarded. He wasn’t ready to let her back in. She didn’t blame him.
“So, I stopped. I pumped the brakes and said fuck it. I was going to leave the Queen Bee behind. Cam was an opportunity to forget all of that.”
“Because he didn’t know you,” he accused.
“You’re right. He didn’t. He thought I was someone else completely. I wanted him to think I was this other person. I wanted to fool myself into believing it. But you made me realize that I couldn’t. So, I went to dump him tonight, and I guess Pace had filled Cam in on the old Bryna.” She shuddered at the memory of him pushing her back into the couch.
“God, does everyone listen to what Pace has to say? I can’t believe anyone would believe a word that came out of his mouth.”
“I know. Trust me.”
“We’ll see about that,” he said.
“Yeah. So, then, he tried to force himself on me.”
“What?” Eric cried. He pushed himself away from the dresser in a fury.
“Yeah. When I told him no, he accused me of playing games with him.”
“Fucking prick. Just the thought makes me want to go over there and murder him.”
Bryna smiled at his reaction. Eric was pissed at her for everything that had happened, and he still wanted to pummel Cam. That was a good sign.
“I don’t think you could get away with murder.”
“He should feel lucky then.”
Bryna shrugged. She despised what Cam had tried to do, but she had already ended everything related to him in her mind. “I wasn’t trying to play games with him, but he was right. I was. I was with him—”
“I don’t need to hear this.” Eric turned and walked away.
“Not physically. We never did more than kiss.”
He looked back at her in confusion. “Really?”
“Yes.” She sighed. “I was with him, but my heart was here with you.”
“You can’t come over here and say that shit to me,” Eric said gruffly.
“Why? It’s the truth,” she spat. “You asked me why I pushed you away. At first, I thought it was Audrey. As hypocritical as it sounds, I felt like you lied to me by sleeping with her.”
“That does sound hypocritical.”
“I know. But when I came back to school and saw you, my world exploded in the middle of this transformation. I was scared and stubborn and refused to admit it.”
“Admit what?” His eyes begged for more.
“You know,” she whispered.
“No, I don’t. You think I’m going to let you off the hook without finally admitting your feelings for me?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Look, I’m trying here!”
“You’re not trying,” he cried. “I’ll tell you when you’re trying!”
“Don’t yell at me!”
“You put me through the ringer. You rejected me over and over again. You can’t walk in here and finally explain everything that happened this summer and think it’ll all be okay! It doesn’t work that way.”
“I know that! I don’t think it works that way. Fuck!” She jumped up and paced away from him. “I’m trying to talk to you.” She held her hands out in supplication.
“Then, keep talking because I don’t see how this pertains to me at all. You fucked up with two other guys and pushed me away. That’s all I’ve gotten from your little story.”
“You’re going to make this difficult, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I said make it good.”
Bryna took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She needed to get her thoughts under control. This wasn’t going at all how she’d thought it would. Not that she had expected Eric to fall at her feet. He had s
worn he would never be that guy. She didn’t want him to be that guy. She just needed to lay it all out there.
“Let me start over,” she told him. “After Jude, I didn’t want to feel. I thought emotions and love were stupid things made up to torture people. I swore, I would never let myself fall apart again like I did with Jude. He ruined me.”
She fiddled with her fingers but kept eye contact. Eric needed to know she meant it.
“But without even trying, we fell together. You and I. Not easily. We fought. We argued. We yelled at each other. You didn’t put me on a pedestal. You treated me like I was a normal person. Not a queen or a bitch or a slut. And without even knowing it, I fell head over heels for you.”
“You did a good job of showing it,” he said sarcastically.
“I know. This hasn’t been easy for me. I mean, I was fucked up long before Jude. My parents’ divorce kind of shattered my world. I thought my stepmother had come in and ruined everything for me, but I talked to her after she had Zoe, and it turned out that I had been wrong about a lot of things. I think, in my own way, I showed you I cared. That night Audrey showed up at my house? I kissed you because I was jealous.”
Eric raised his eyebrows. “I figured as much.”
“I’ve never been jealous or guilty or regretful. It’s all because of you.”
“Oh, good. I bring out the worst in you.”
“God, that’s not what I meant.” She ground her teeth together to try to keep herself from biting back at him. “I ran. I was scared. Yep, I did it. What I felt for you…feel for you, I didn’t want to feel. I tried to escape it, but I couldn’t.”
“What do you feel? You still haven’t said exactly.”
“I’ve never done this before.”
“Tell me, or walk, Bri.”
Every time he pushed, she’d dig her feet in. She should just tell him, but for some reason, she couldn’t get the words out. They were there on the tip of her tongue, but they were just out of reach.
“Stop being so pushy! I’m here! That’s what you wanted, right?”
“I wanted honesty.” He gave her a demanding look.
“I want to be with you,” she said in a rush.
“Why? Two weeks ago, you claimed you didn’t want to be near me. Why now? What changed?”
“Because even when I’m not with you, I want to be. Seeing you brightens my day. Hearing you call me Hollywood or Bri feels right. I miss margarita Sundays and having lunch with you on Wednesdays. I miss seeing you at parties and being myself around you. I even miss our arguments. I don’t have to dig or be a good girl with you. I can just be myself. No matter what, it always comes back to you. It’s because I don’t want anyone else. I just want you.”
He smiled smugly. “That’s more like it.”
“Cocky asshole.”
“Pretty much, but you just said you liked that.”
“It wasn’t expressly listed,” she said.
“I added it to the list.”
Bryna looked at her feet and debated where to take it from here. There was still so much that needed to be said and that they needed to work out.
“I don’t care if we have to take things slow,” she told him. “We weren’t dating before. I know I have some making up to do.”
“Hmm…” he said, taking a step toward her. “Slow might work as long as I get to use all that make-up time.”
“A solid month of making up,” she offered.
“A month? Please! You walked out last semester.”
“You were sleeping with someone else!” she reminded him.
“So were you.”
“This isn’t helping,” she said. “You’re arguing with me about last semester when I’m over here, telling you that I’m in love with you.”
SHE LOVED HIM.
Bryna’s hand flew to cover her mouth at the same time his dropped wide open. She hadn’t known she was going to say that. She hadn’t even officially realized that was what she was feeling. But now that it was out, she couldn’t take it back. She didn’t want to take it back.
Love was something she had never wanted to feel again. But with Eric, she couldn’t help it. He drove her crazy, and he put her in her place, but he cared for her. He wasn’t purposely malicious, and even when she wouldn’t fight for herself, he was there fighting for them. He had known what she needed long before she did. She had taken a while to get there.
“You love me?” Eric asked in surprise. He walked over to her, and she met his gaze.
“Yeah, I do. I guess I’ve known for a while. I didn’t want it to be true with my past, but I can’t fight it. I love you.”
“You have a weird way of showing it.”
Bryna smacked his arm. “Ass.”
He grabbed her arm and then hauled her against him. In an instant, his lips were on hers.
It was like diving into a swimming pool on a hot summer day. The world silenced all around her.
His lips were soft, sensual, and all-consuming. There was nothing else in that moment, other than the feel of him against her. Her body pressed into his, and his arms wrapped around her waist. She brought hers around his neck. She was clinging to him breathlessly.
It felt like coming home.
She had been denying this for so long. Now, she had no reason to. She shouldn’t have waited. She had been stubborn and idiotic to push him away. She had never felt this complete release with no expectations and no complications.
Just Eric.
His tongue caressed her bottom lip, and she shivered all over.
He smiled against her mouth. “You love me,” he whispered.
“Yes.”
“I love you, too.”
She met his gaze, and all the pieces fell into place. This was where she was meant to be. Not with someone who valued her for her looks or her body. Not with someone who bought her happiness with gifts or someone who only liked her because of who he thought she was.
Just Eric, who loved her for exactly who she was.
Suddenly, the temperature skyrocketed. All the pent-up energy from their time apart hit a crescendo. There were no barriers. Nothing kept them from one another, and they both realized it at the same moment.
Eric pushed them backward, crashing into the bed. His hands went up into her hair and brought their lips together harder, more desperate. Her fingers worked at the hem of his shorts, and she was aching to claw them off of him.
“I need you out of these clothes,” he said.
Fuck!
They were on the same page.
“Yes,” she agreed. “Now.”
He grabbed the bottom of her shirt and yanked it over her head. She hastily removed her shorts while he ripped his own clothes off his body. She ran her hands down his toned chest. He had a rocking body, and she wanted to investigate every inch of it.
He groaned at the feel of her touching his skin and kissed her again. “Get on that bed,” he commanded.
She scrambled backward, not caring in the slightest how sexy she looked. He was staring at her as if he had never wanted anything else more in his life. And in that moment, she felt sexier than she ever had before. It was through his eyes that her body came alive.
Eric followed her onto the bed, and the feverish pitch that their desire hit sent sparks through every nerve in her body. He traced his lips across her shoulders, down the sides of her stomach, over the curves of her hips, and lingered on her thighs. His lips worked their way back up. He kissed her knee once, slowly and tenderly, as if he wanted to remember the way her body felt, treasure the memory, and ingrain it in his mind.
She trembled as he worked his way back up her thigh, stopping when he hit her thong. His breath was hot against her skin, and she imagined all the things he would do with that mouth. It only made her body awaken more to his touch.
As she angled her hips nearer to his mouth, he chuckled lightly against her skin. “Let me savor you,” he said.
Bryna groaned, but she wasn’t really compla
ining.
Eric kissed up her flat stomach and to her breasts barely hidden beneath a thin layer of sheer material. He opened the hook and eye and tossed the bra to the floor.
“That’s better,” he groaned.
Her breasts were on full display, and he seemed to revel in every last inch she was showing.
“You’ve seen them before,” she teased.
“Don’t remind me.”
He pushed his growing erection against her core at the thought. Her head dipped back, and she squeezed her legs around him.
Fuck! I want him.
“That day was like torture,” he said. His hands began massaging her tits. “You stepped out of that dress, soaking wet, and all I could think about was what I wanted to do to keep you soaking wet.”
“Fuck,” she cried.
She greedily rubbed herself against him. His words were doing the trick well enough on their own.
His tongue flicked her nipple, and her whole body spasmed.
“Oh God!”
“I had to go upstairs to try to calm down. I was rock hard,” he said, shoving against her again, “and terrified you would notice. I wasn’t supposed to have that kind of reaction to you. But fuck, your body.”
He brought her nipple into his mouth and sucked on it, long and hard. As he moved to the other one, his hand pinched the bud tight, causing her to jump. His tongue swirled and energetically stroked her into a frenzy.
“Fuck me, Eric. Just fuck me,” she begged. “Oh my God, I need you inside me.”
He looked up at her with that beautiful smile. “I’m just getting started.”
He pinched her nipple, and she trembled.
“So, you like that. Good. I want to know everything you like. Every time I touch your body, I want you to think about me doing this.” He brushed his finger against her erect nipple. “And this.” He dragged it through his teeth. “And this.”
Eric moved his mouth lower and lower until he was kissing the line of her panties. He dragged them off of her body, letting his fingers glide the length of her legs. Then, he grabbed her hips, pulled her flat on the bed, and spread her legs before him. He buried his face between her legs, and there was nothing but the touch of his tongue, the eagerness of his mouth, and the waves of pleasure coursing through her body.