Fierce - Brody

by Natalie Ann

  She really had taken a day to think it through. She wasn’t going to let him keep coming around her daughter if all he wanted was for her to be available when it suited him. He could get that with anyone.

  Today was it. The last chance he was getting. If he blew it, if he treated her indifferently after today, then Sidney was off limits. Maybe she’d spend some time with him outside of work, maybe not. It all depended on what happened after today. Either way, if Sidney didn’t warm up to him some more, or show some sign that she might, then it might end with Brody being nothing more than her boss.

  Her boss that she’d slept with and couldn’t get out of her mind.

  She couldn’t live her life in the fun category anymore. She had to stay strong, or Brody might just wear her down.

  When they pulled into the parking lot of the aquarium as it was opening and Aimee saw the sheer size of it, she started to have a moment of panic. Why hadn’t she looked the place up online? “I should have brought her stroller.”

  He looked over at her. “I’m sure she’s going to want to walk, though.”

  “She will, but she is going to get tired pretty fast.”

  “There are two of us to carry her. It’ll be fine. Let’s start at where you think she’d enjoy it the most. Then if she tires out, we can leave. We’ll come back another day.”

  She looked at him, weighed what he said, and nodded. “Tired toddlers aren’t always a lot of fun to be around.”

  “So I’m only supposed to be around her when she’s been fed and had her nap? She’s not a pet,” he said, tugging on her ponytail.

  She wanted to be offended he said that, but found she couldn’t. Because he was right. She was trying her hardest to make sure Sidney was on her best behavior. Why? Because she didn’t want Brody to get discouraged and say it’s not worth it.

  This, after saying she was giving him his final chance today. He didn’t seem to be putting that kind of pressure on today, so why was she? Easy…she was sick of being hurt. Put the walls up first and then it won’t happen. That’s what she’d been telling herself for years.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you when she gets crabby at nap time.”

  “She didn’t get crabby last time. She just fell asleep in the car.”

  Good point. “We have good and bad days.”

  “Just like me and you,” he said. “Are you looking for this to be a bad date?”

  “No. Just preparing you for all possibilities.”

  “Relax, Aimee. Let’s play it by ear.”

  “I want to see fish,” Sidney squealed from the back seat.

  “You heard her,” Brody said. “We need to go see the fish.” Brody turned around to the back seat. “Tell Mommy to stop worrying and have fun.”

  “Shoes, Mama,” Sidney said, holding her bare feet up. “I need my shoes.”

  It was the first time Sidney had ever asked to have shoes on her feet. “She must be excited. She doesn’t normally squeal like that.”

  “Maybe it’s me,” he said, grinning, then looked at Sidney. “Are you excited to be with me today?”

  “Fish,” Sidney said again.

  She and Brody climbed out, Aimee pushing the seat back and getting Sidney’s socks and sneakers on. “It was worth a try,” she told him.

  Sidney started to squirm when Aimee went to carry her across the parking lot, so she set her down. Rather than start to walk, Sidney turned to Brody and lifted her arms up. “You walk faster.”

  “I guess she told you,” Brody said, picking Sidney up and putting her on his hip.

  “I guess she did.”

  Hard Enough

  Brody carried Sidney back to his car, her head on his shoulder, her mouth open, her soft breath feathering his neck. She’d been in his arms only…when she wasn’t running around.

  Not only had he gotten a good start out of the gate, but he passed several people, then picked up speed and sprinted to the end, blowing the competition out of the water. It was his race to win, and he wasn’t going to stumble now.

  “I’ll put her in,” Brody said when Aimee opened the passenger door to his car. “Just show me how to buckle it right.”

  His big frame squeezed in the back of the two-door sports car, and as gently as he could, he set Sidney’s limp body into her seat, then moved her arms under the straps, securing it the way Aimee instructed. “How do kids sleep that soundly?”

  “I’m sure you and I did as a kid, too. It’s like puppies that exhaust themselves running laps and just collapse on the floor where they are.”

  He got behind the steering wheel. “So you do consider her like a pet?”

  “If it were only that easy,” she said, smiling.

  He couldn’t imagine doing it alone. He knew a lot of his staff were single parents. It seemed common nowadays. Still, he never put much thought into it before now.

  “How hard is it really?”

  “Hard enough,” she said. “You look at this little human that you created and you know it’s not all about you anymore. That someone else is relying on you for everything. You can’t mess up now. And if you do, you have to fix it and fix it fast. No more flying by the seat of your pants. No more coming and going when you want. Everything has to be planned, with a backup plan.”

  She said it like it had been all foreign to her before. “Your plan was to move here?”

  “My backup plan,” she said.

  “So what was the original plan?” He pulled out of the parking lot and drove back to her place.

  “Not to be a single parent like my mother was.”

  “Your stepfather?” he asked.

  “My mother met him when she was working in a bar. I was around four. He was a regular, or so my mother said. I was too young to know the difference. I just remember living with other people and other kids. Roommates aren’t a good thing when you're an adult with a kid, but you do what you can to survive.”

  “You talk from experience?”

  “Just as a kid, or a single adult. Never when Sidney was born.” She shrugged. “I did it on my own for as long as I could. But I was getting in over my head. Not just with costs, but finding someone to watch Sidney. It’s not easy to find childcare for the middle of the night.”

  “Which is why you didn’t want us to know you had a child.”

  “Yep. I was losing hours and it was affecting my pay. I needed the hours and the night shift to pay for childcare, but I couldn’t find someone to watch her. I was in last place of an already losing game.”

  “It doesn’t seem to me you’re losing now,” he said, putting his hand on her thigh, rubbing up and down once, then patting it.

  “Thanks to Fierce, I’m at least winning at a losing game. If that makes sense.”

  He got it. He wished he didn’t, but he understood. It still wasn’t an easy life. “I’m sorry for that.”

  She laughed. “Don’t be. It has nothing to do with you. I’ve made my choices in life. Not always good ones, but I own them and take responsibility for them.”

  He kept his eyes on the road. She was younger than him, yet much more mature in many ways. She took responsibility for her choices. He was finally doing it now. Too bad back then when he hadn’t, it was almost too late by the time he realized what he was risking.

  ***

  Brody carried Sidney up the stairs, the gentle sway of her body against his, her head wobbling just a bit, forcing him to lay his massive palm against it. There was something to be said about having someone depend on you that much. Terrifying and comforting blended together.

  He could almost understand what Aimee was talking about earlier when she said it was hard enough. He didn’t get it before, but now he did.

  Aimee seemed pretty much alone in the world. Even if he were a single parent, he’d have his family and the resources to lighten the burden. She had nothing more than an aging stepfather that walked with a limp and struggled to live on his own.

  “Do you want me to put her in her bed?” he
asked.

  “Yeah. I didn’t think she’d be in this deep of a sleep, but she’ll probably be out for a few hours at this rate.”

  “Do you need to change her or something?” he asked before he started to shift her body. They’d had a few potty breaks, but he had no clue what that might entail right now.

  “She has a pull up on. I wouldn’t risk waking her to try.”

  “A pull-up what?” He laid Sidney down, then stepped back as Aimee took care of Sidney’s socks and sneakers and pulled a light sheet over her still body.

  She turned and laughed quietly. “You aren’t around kids much, are you?”

  “I think that’s pretty obvious.”

  “It’s like a diaper of sorts, but made like underwear for kids potty training in case they have an accident.”

  “Okay,” he said, looking around now and trying to figure out where to go, what to do, and how to act.

  She took ahold of his hand and pulled him to the living room. “Have a seat, unless you need to leave.”

  “I’ve got time. No rush.”

  “I had a good time today. Sidney had a blast.” Her face softened, her hand coming out to run along his jaw. “She’s never been this outgoing with someone before. She’s really warming up to you.”

  “I see that. It makes me feel good. I guess the question is if you’re okay with that?”

  “You wouldn’t be sitting here on my couch with me if I wasn’t.” She stood up. “Nor would I be leading you to my room.”

  “What about Sidney?”

  “She won’t wake. I’ll have the door shut. Even if she did—which I know she won’t—she won’t get up without calling my name first. I guess now the question is, do you want to come to my room with me or not?”

  “A very stupid question,” he said, cupping her face in his hands, leaning down, and tenderly brushing his lips across hers. Not deepening, not doing anything else but making sure it was what she wanted.

  When she wound her arms around his neck, he had his answer. Picking her up, he walked her as quietly as he could to her room and shut the door.

  He wished this were their first time together, not the rushed one after work the other night. “I’m going to take it nice and slow. Make it up to you for the first time.”

  She leaned back and smiled. “What was wrong with the first time?”

  “I wish it had been somewhere different than where it was. Other than that, I don’t have too many complaints.”

  “I don’t have any complaints at all. It was sexy and fun and exciting. Sex should be all of those things.”

  “It should be. But sometimes it’s nice to have it mean more.”

  She looked at him long, she looked at him hard, and then he held his breath when her fingers traced his jaw. A gentle touch resulting in a careful tug on his heart.

  “It is nice to have that too. Are you trying to romance me, Brody?”

  “You’ll know if I’m doing that. If you have to ask, the answer is no. I’m just trying to put some thought into this.”

  “I’ve got some thoughts for you. How about we get undressed and get on my bed?”

  “I can get behind those thoughts one hundred percent.”

  He grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head. She did the same to him.

  Their shorts followed the same path, along with their underwear. When they were left standing there naked, their hands reached for each other and they tumbled on the bed.

  “I really want to take this slow,” he said when she reached down, her soft hand wrapping around him tight like a glove, starting to stroke him. “Cut that out.”

  She laughed a deep and throaty sound. One that had been haunting his dreams since he heard it that night they’d been together. “Maybe I want to take it fast.”

  “No. I’m starting to think you do that so you can’t feel anything more than the physical.” When she stopped and stared at him, he had to play the words back in his head. He’d had no idea why he said that. Said something that he was guilty of doing himself for so long.

  “There is nothing wrong with the physical.”

  “Not if that’s all you want out of life. Don’t you want more? Don’t you want to feel what it’s like to have more?”

  “You’re killing the mood here, Brody,” she said, rolling him over and straddling his hips. “We should be doing less talking and more moving. What you’re doing is called pillow talk. We do that after. I can’t believe I need to instruct you on these things.”

  She was right and their time was probably limited so he stopped running his mouth and put it to work. He turned her fast, switching their positions, straddling her waist and gripping her hands, holding them above her head with one of his own.

  Her pupils dilated, her lips parted, and her hips lifted. There was a part of her just full of passion, just waiting for him, just pleading that he take everything she had to offer. And take it more than once.

  His other hand went right to her breasts. They weren’t large, but not small either. Everything on her was the right size, the right proportion. Well, not everything. Her nipples were dark and large. Larger than he’d seen before, begging for his mouth. Asking him to take a taste, give a feel. Anything and everything.

  And when he was asked, he took. Squeezing her, lifting her, tasting her. His lips and his tongue went to work. Making her pucker, making her arch and silently plead for more. Cause and effect. Action and reaction. All the things he looked for in the bedroom.

  She managed to wiggle her hands free. Then again, he let her go because he just had to use both hands on her body now. He had to touch everything he could. He didn’t know when he’d be here again so he had to savor it all in the moment.

  When she tried to grab him, to stroke him, he scooted down and out of her reach. “Not fair,” she complained.

  “Too bad. We’ve got a nice soft bed and I’m taking advantage of it.”

  “This bed is far from soft and barely big enough.”

  “It serves its purpose.” And that purpose was allowing him to slide off the edge and onto his knees on the floor, pulling her toward the edge and spreading her wide. Dreams of this had been haunting his sleep. Memories of her taste, her smell, had woken him often from an already restless night.

  It was here in front of him again and he was going to be greedy. He was going to see if those dreams and memories were accurate or not. If his memory was failing him, or he’d put what they did so high up on the scale it could never be replicated.

  When his tongue slid out and took a nibble, he knew those memories didn’t even compare. Nothing could be as delicious as her. Her essence filling him, making him gorge, making him be more aggressive than he’d planned. Letting him know he wasn’t losing his mind.

  Her fingers twisted in his hair, holding him in place, telling him she didn’t mind in the least.

  “You’re really good at that, Brody.”

  Her voice was just a faint echoing sound to the ringing in his ears. All he heard were tremors he imagined running through her body.

  He slid a finger inside, tight and sweet, and moved it around, curved it just so and put his mouth right back on her. Licking, then sucking, making noises that would give away what secrets they were doing behind a closed door if anyone dared to listen.

  “Brody,” she said, her body tensing, her voice quivering and nails digging. But he kept going at it. He kept on giving and giving, while she took and while she tensed and then exploded.

  There was no time to waste. No time to sit there and hold her or talk. No time to do anything other than reach for his shorts and find a condom, then slide right inside of her.

  He had to feel her muscles convulsing around him. Like that wet glove he thought of earlier, only this time two sizes too small and the only one he wanted, and he was going to find a way to make it his. Find a way to make them fit.

  Her hips were moving up faster and harder, her nails digging into his backside, stinging and leavin
g a mark. Her mark. If he thought she was aggressive before, it was nothing to what she was doing right now.

  All he felt were the electrodes that were pulsing through his body. It was like fire and water meeting and exploding. One had to give, one would conquer the other. The question was who or what. The answer was…them together. They both would win because they both wanted to so desperately.

  She brought her legs up and around his back now, spreading herself wide, opening herself up for whatever power he had hidden. The power ready to be unleashed. The power that was building and ready to take hold of her. To make her his, to make them one. To make him whole again.

  More on the Line

  Aimee rolled over and pulled the sheet up over her naked body. The window-unit air conditioner sputtered along, though never high enough to require a sheet. But this time she felt the chill covering her damp body.

  It wasn’t just the words that Brody said, but his actions that followed. No one had ever put her first like that. No one had ever told her it had to be more than the physical.

  Did she always want it to be more? To feel more? Sure. Did she think she’d ever get it? Nope. She never thought she was worthy enough for someone to treat her like that. To put her first. To even want to.

  “Is it time for pillow talk?” he asked, turning his head and pulling her into his arms.

  “I didn’t know you liked to talk so much,” she said, snuggling against his chest.

  “I didn’t know I did, either.”

  She chose to ignore that comment. She wasn’t ready to reveal any deep-dark secrets right now, nor did she know if she wanted to say much at all. As of this morning she was convinced today might not even work out.

  His last chance, she’d told herself, pretty much trying to find some flaw in their relationship. Little did she know he’d break down the wall she’d thrown up. Not just break it down, but blow it to smithereens, scattering pieces to places unknown.

  “What do you want to talk about?” she asked, then wished she didn’t when he propped himself on his elbow. He looked at her softly, ran his knuckles down her cheek, then kissed her forehead. Tenderness wasn’t an emotion that was expressed to her often in her life.