“You have to earn it.”
He holds my gaze for another few hot seconds. When he reaches for me, my breath hitches only to release when he takes my purse instead and makes a few strides to the entry table to set it down. He motions for me to follow him, and I look around as we pass through the halls.
The entryway was closed off opening up to a living room sparsely decorated with modern furnishings, and then what looks like a butler’s pantry before we pass the kitchen. It’s huge, with all the modern appliances and wide island. But I don’t get to see much of it before he turns the corner, and we land in a small dining room which doesn’t seem to be the main one. I think we are about to stop there, but we continue to another sitting room with balcony doors already open. He leads me outside through the doors before he turns and takes my hand.
The lighting is dim where the sun has already gone down. A center table is lit under the balcony lighting that overlooks a portion of his backyard.
“It’s nice out here,” I comment as I sit in the chair he pulled out for me.
“I like it.” He grins, sitting at the side of the table. He pours us both a glass of deep red wine that I’m sure will taste good.
I keep from rolling my eyes at his response, but I’m sensing it’s just how he is. A quick sniff of the wine tells me it’s fruity as I like it, and I take a small sip as he does the same.
“So, why were you really at the courthouse today?” he asks me.
I glance at him before evading his smoldering gaze. This man takes bedroom eyes to a whole new level.
“Work.”
He chuckles and leans closer. I try not to stare at the deep ridge of his clavicle, making a perfect little dip for… a lot of things. Or his muscular forearms leaning on the table, his hands clasped in front of him like he stopped himself from touching me. I just know if he touches me anywhere but my hand, it will be too electric.
“Are you a judge?”
I laugh out loud. “Do I look old enough to be a judge?”
He laughs too. “I don’t know, they have to be old?” He cocks his head and widens his grin in a boyish way that makes me smile.
“It takes a little while to be qualified, so sometimes. But no, I’m not a judge.”
He looks me over with a thinking look on his face. “Okay, so you aren’t the typesetter, you seem way too intelligent for that.”
“How flattering.” I deadpan and drink more wine because it tastes so good.
“I mean it. Why are you so secretive?” He licks over his bottom lip. It must be a habit of his. A deadly one for me.
“I’m not.” I shrug.
He leans back with a sigh taking his glass with him to down his wine. I finish my last sip, and he refills our glasses. One more, and I’ll be way too relaxed to keep my guard up.
“Why were you there?” I turn the question back on him.
He snickers and comes back closer. I don’t think before I lean in too.
“I was in trouble. Being bad.” His eyes light up, and I know it’s dangerous that I don’t even consider the possibility of him actually being a bad guy.
“How so?”
“Just a parking ticket. Totally unfair, so I went to contest it.”
I hold back a laugh as I sip more wine. “Okay.”
“So, what were you doing there, Cora?” He lowers his voice, and it could easily be one of my vices until his fingertips brush against my knee cap, and his fingers slip to just under the loose hem of my dress.
I bite the inside of my lip as I keep from moving closer to seek out his touch.
“I’m a lawyer. I had work there.”
“You work for a big firm?” Brant continues to circle his fingers just outside of my knee. I knew any touch from him would be disarming, but not this distracting.
“Not really.”
“Criminal?”
I giggle. “Entertainment.”
A look flashes in his eyes that he kind of pushes away before he grins.
“What do you do when you’re not meeting strangers in parking garages?” I ask him.
He chuckles, that deep rumble in his chest goes right to my core.
“Music stuff, nothing special.”
I frown slightly. Considering the condition of his house, it’s hard to believe anything he does isn’t that special or something.
“I don’t believe you. But okay.”
Brant laughs once and moves his hand from my knee, so I suddenly feel empty. The wine warms me back up a little bit, and I finish the second glass with him.
“Maybe let’s not talk about work,” I suggest.
He nods in agreement, his eyes meeting mine again. I shiver, but it has nothing to do with the gush of wind outside. It’s the feeling tingling down my spine with the way he looks at me. His stare grows in intensity before his lips stretch into a smile that makes my knees wobble even sitting down.
“Let’s go inside.”
5
Brant
I couldn’t put into words how glad I was when I suspected Cora didn’t know who I was. I had to make sure, and I wasn’t until we finished our last glass of wine before we headed inside. I’ve used the simple ‘I’m in entertainment’ line a bunch of times, and it was always followed with a fake pretending that they didn’t know who I was.
I’m famous, but not big headed… to an extent. Most places I go, people do know who I am. Cora doesn’t live under a rock, but she must not watch a lot of television because Rick has me on talk-show circuits year-round.
“Thank you.” Cora has a sweet smile after I pull out her chair for her, and she sits.
The dining table is long, way too big for just two people. I just liked the ambiance of the room—dim lights, dressed table. Women like that kind of stuff no matter how much they lie. I sit at the corner nearest her.
“You made this?” Cora arches her brow and surveys the table arrangement.
There are a few different sushi rolls and edamame to go with it spread out between us. As she leans forward to try some, her loose, open dress shifts and reveals more of her supple cleavage. It gets more evident that I may not make it through dinner because my blood flow has been rushing to one place since she walked through the door.
“No. I can only cook up money to buy food.”
She laughs which makes me smile.
“So, if we aren’t talking about work…” Cora starts after a little while.
I smirk to myself and finish off a California roll. “We both know you didn’t come here just to talk.” I lick my lips just as she looks at me, and our gazes catch in one hot moment that I see makes her cheeks flush.
“What makes you say that?” Cora expertly sucks the bean from an edamame, and I’m distracted long enough for the silence to grow heavy until I break it.
“Lots of things… one of them coming to my house on a first date—”
“That isn’t unheard of,” she interrupts, and I’m starting to see how she is a lawyer.
“And dressed like this…” I lean forward and let my eyes fall to her body. Her skin is so smooth, almost porcelain under the dim lights. It dances off her red dress and makes her lipstick look even more intense. Her dark brown eyes are like wide windows that never open, something I could stare into all day. Maybe even write an entire album about them and what they do to me.
“So, my outfit says I want something? Or that I’m just asking for something.”
“Hell, no,” I say it and mean it. “I just mean you look damned sexy. Hard for me to think straight.”
I rest my hand on her knee turning my palm to caress her soft flesh under my fingertips. Our eyes meet, and I watch her slight scowl soften.
“Maybe you’re right. Is it such a bad thing that I came here for a reason?” Cora holds my gaze as she sips her wine. Her cherry red lips curl under the glass, and her tongue slips out over her lip before she sets the glass down.
“No. It’s very liberal of you.” I chuckle and slide my knee to rest on the side of her thigh,
and she crosses her legs to make it touch even more. I shift closer so my knee brushes hers, and I’m officially in her personal space.
“I never considered myself that way, but you could be right.” She giggles. I pour her another glass of wine, and when I look at her again, I see a haze in her eyes from how much she has had to drink.
We have had the same amount to drink, but I have a completely different tolerance level for… reasons I try not to forget.
“I’m used to being right.”
“Oh really?”
“Most times. Most things, yeah. You don’t like traditional dating, I’m guessing.”
She giggles once. “I don’t have enough time. Between work and stuff. Going out to suffer through a sub-par date and not know if it will even go anywhere takes up time.”
“So, you would rather skip to the good parts?” I smirk.
Her smile is slow before it takes up her whole face. “If it even ends up being good,” she scoffs.
“That’s got to be disappointing.”
“It is… but it’s not like it’s all I think about, you know? Like when I came here tonight with my own expectations, it’s much easier than expecting you to call me back or not be late in the first place.”
I nod slowly. “So, you expect me to put out?” I laugh, she smiles and shakes her head.
“No. We can do whatever the hell we want.” She purses her lips, and it’s hard to tear my eyes from them and not kiss them like I want to. I want to skip to the hot, good part right on this table, but she likes the banter, and I like hearing her talk.
“Dessert?” I ask.
“Sure.” She shrugs.
I grin and pick up the plates we were using to take them into the kitchen. I get the chilled fruit and whip cream parfaits out and carry them back. But I take a second to take in the sight of her sitting at the dining table. She is so damned beautiful, I don’t know how this happened—how I got her sitting in my dining room looking like a fine raven.
“You aren’t allergic to anything, are you?” I ask as I set the bowls down and sit.
“No. You’re so fancy,” she comments. I wait until she eats some from the spoon and licks cream from the end of her lips so I can concentrate.
“I’m not always.” I have my own fill of the creamy fruit and cream. “I just wanted to impress you, get you under my spell.”
She laughs with her head back, the sound of her laughter filling the room. “And if you weren’t trying to impress me, you wouldn’t have brought me to your house in the hills. So how would this go?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe a music bar downtown. If you don’t like it, I could use other things to impress you.”
Cora licks her lips after another bite. “Other things?”
I wiggle my brow until she laughs.
“You’re odd, Brant.”
My name rolls off her tongue. We finish the dessert, and she has another glass of wine. Between that, I entertain her with more of my random musings. I think I just like to make her laugh. We agreed not to talk about work, but whatever she does must be stressful since she looked so tense in that garage, but she’s much different now. I still see gears turning in her eyes like she is thinking about something else, but I get her undivided attention.
“You’re good at small talk.” Cora sighs. I inhale her scent so close to me now.
We have shifted closer to each other, my knee between hers and my hand on her leg again. She rests her hand on my thigh which has gotten closer and closer to the most uncomfortable part of my body right now. I find it very hard to tear my eyes from the exposed valley on her chest, so soft and hypnotizing between her rounded breasts that sway with every movement she makes.
“I have to do it a lot.” I swallow back the roughness in my voice brought down by the build-up of tension.
“Hmm. For work?” Her nails turn circles on my thigh, and I chuckle at her ease of attitude, probably from all the wine.
“Yes. For work.” I moisten my lips as I lean closer to her. She does the same until there is nothing but an inch between us.
My body tingles from the places we touch spreading outward everywhere and bringing me back from somewhere I didn’t know I had gone. All I want to do is kiss her, taste her, and never stop. I don’t care that I just met her. I’ve always worn my emotions on my sleeve because I need them at any moment to pour into my music—it’s part of my sound. And they’re way out there right now.
I want this woman. I want her badly.
“How much longer do you want to do this?” she whispers, her breath kissing my lips.
I swallow and tighten my jaw. Her thick lashes draw up, and her deep brown eyes stare into mine.
“Until we’re both crazy.” I chuckle, but it doesn’t become more than a slight growl at how maddening this is wondering why the hell I’m even enjoying it too.
“It takes a lot for me to get there…”
“I’m surprised at that.” I smirk. She feigns a scowl at me.
“Is it about me being Puerto Rican?”
Her accent highlights it, and I grin. “No. That would be a stereotype.”
“Mmm hmm.” She leans forward, and I almost get to brush against her lips before she moves to the side.
I brush right against her cheek, my lips finding the softness of her skin over her hard jawline. Cora makes the slightest sound I almost don’t hear before I run my hand up her thigh over her dress, to grasp her firm, rounded ass.
“I think I’m ready to finish off why you really came here,” I whisper in her ear and feel her shift as she shivers.
“I might just call it a night.” She leans back to look at me holding her poker face for only three seconds before she grins her sexy little smile.
Her expression goes sultry with a satisfaction in her eyes as she looks at my lips and then back to me. It only makes me grip her tighter, damn near pulling her into my lap.
“You have jokes.” I lean in to kiss her jaw again trailing down to her neck. Her skin is hot and throbbing under my lips. She inhales slightly before exhaling, making a deep moaning sound in her chest I barely hear but can feel against her.
“No… no jokes.”
Cora shakes her head once before stopping in front of me. I get one good look in her hooded eyes before I tug her to me and kiss her like I’ve wanted to since I first fucking saw her.
As I thought, her lips are so soft, supple, and eager against mine as I coax her lips apart slowly. She turns her head to me, and I suck her bottom lip and then her top in turn before our lips seal together. My groan is muffled when her hand shifts up and presses right to my aching cock, damn near ready to blow my load right fucking now. My hand grips her ass tighter, the other sliding up her leg and over her knee. Just when I think I won’t be able to stop, I manage to, and the pout she gives me afterward could bring me to my knees if I wasn’t sitting down.
One more look, and we get on the same page. Seconds later, I’m tugging her toward the bedroom.
6
Cora
“Don’t trip.” Brant has his lips on my neck, distracting me by sucking the sensitive skin.
I smile as I catch my heel on the floor as he walks me backward. He grips my waist and holds me up as I stumble, stopping in the hall to press me up against the wall. His body on mine is warm and strong and solid. I love how my soft curves feel against the hardness of his chest. I can’t comment on how perfect our bodies fit together because it would just seem like too much.
But they do.
Brant wraps me into his strong arms and kisses me so hard I feel lightheaded, and it isn’t from the wine. His lips curl around mine so swiftly, and he doesn’t kiss me too fast or too slow. It’s just right—the pressure, the sweep of his tongue. My hands explore his body, up his arms and down his broad, hard back as I hold him closer to me.
The heat of his hands grasps over almost every inch of me. I don’t mind his hands on my ass kneading the flesh up to my hips, but it�
�s the extra around my middle and waist that he latches onto that I want to wiggle out of. I try to fit workouts in—sometimes it works, most times it doesn’t. Given that I’m over thirty, I just don’t bounce back the way I used to, but he doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seems to really like squeezing me until I can’t move from underneath him.
Our kiss breaks, and I inhale like I’ve been underwater unable to breathe. His lips still don’t leave me as he travels to my neck and suckles my exposed skin. I don’t think I’ll wear any low-cut blouses for a while.
“Brant…” My breath hitches. I think I mean to ask him to move along to the bedroom instead of driving me insane, but his fingers slip under my dress to rub against me. My clit is throbbing, and my sex is so moistened and clenching that it almost hurts.
“Hmm?” he hums against my neck before he nibbles my ear and then pulls back.
My lips part as I pant and look up at him. His eyes blaze wild scorching into mine, and he looks so fucking sexy with his swollen lips and desirous expression. It isn’t just how he looks, it’s the way he is looking at me. And I don’t have enough of my judgment working to try and figure it out.
My fingers itch to touch him, and so I do. I grasp his strong shoulders and travel down to his waist ribbed with muscle I feel even through his shirt. Brant cups my cheek, his large palm encompasses it, and his thumb tugs at my bottom lip. I can still feel my pulse in it from the kiss. Our bodies almost align as he has a few inches on me. But when he presses his body closer to mine, I feel every inch of his hard cock on my naval and my breasts pillowing against his chest. My dress is so thin, I feel his heat on my nipples as they harden and rub against the fabric.
“You know what?” I whisper. The alcohol buzzing in my system mixing with the most sexual tension I have ever experienced is making my knees wobble.
“You falling over?” He rubs his nose over my cheek like he is inhaling me and then presses a whisper kiss to my lips.
I arch up to him for more, but it is like he’s playing me like an instrument he is very skilled at because everything is working. Finally, he kisses me fully, and my mouth opens to him immediately. His tongue sweeps over mine flooding me with his taste and drawing mine from me.
Wilde About Brant - The Brothers Wilde Series Book Two Page 4