Brandon placed his hand over his heart. “What’s that supposed to mean? Men can’t cook? I think my feelings are hurt.”
She bit her lip to stifle a laugh. “I’m not saying that. I just thought that we would order in since it’s been a long day.”
He slid an arm around her waist, drew her close and bent close to her ear. “Nope. I’m going to cook for you and then I have a special dessert for you a little later.” He rained kisses along her jaw, the shell of her ear and the expanse of her neck.
“Special dessert?” she murmured, shivering from the heat of his tongue. He could keep doing what he was doing right now and it would suffice for dessert in her book.
“Special,” Brandon confirmed. “But if we don’t stop, the only one eating dinner tonight will be me.” Yet he kept right on kissing her. At length, he straightened. “There is just something about you, Faith, that I can’t resist.”
Lord knew she couldn’t resist him, either, but she kept that to herself, as well. They continued to tour the rest of the four-bedroom, four-bath house and, she noted that aside from the elegant dining room and his well-used office, the one downstairs and two upstairs spare bedrooms were still awaiting furniture. The master suite boasted dark, heavy furniture and had been done in varying shades of blue with gray accents. Faith noted a cozy sitting area holding two loungers and a fireplace through an archway on the other side of the room. He had a sophisticated sound system, wall-mounted television, a large, walk-in closet and luxurious spa-like bathroom. “I see you made sure to have this room furnished.”
He shrugged. “Hey, I needed somewhere to sleep other than the cramped pullout sofa in my office.”
Faith laughed and eyed his tall, muscular frame. “Yeah, I can see how that would be a problem.”
Brandon smiled.
She started from the room and headed down the stairs.
“Here’s my other sleeping spot.”
She surveyed the family room. “It looks like you spend a lot of time in here.” The area held a large sofa, two oversize recliners, end tables, another fireplace and a huge TV mounted on the wall.
“When I’m home, yes. But by the time I get home most nights, the only thing I want is my bed.”
“Are you putting furniture in the other bedrooms?”
“Sooner or later. I want to add a few more things to the living room. I haven’t decided about the bedrooms yet.” Back in the kitchen, Brandon folded his arms and leaned against the counter. “My mother keeps telling me she’d be more than happy to help me decorate, but I’m afraid the rooms will be as pimped out as the ones you see in magazines or on television.” He frowned and shook his head. “I like things simple. Nice, but simple.”
Faith had to admit, the house suited him and there wasn’t a sock out of place. “Do you have someone to come in and clean?”
He pushed off the counter, opened the sliding glass door and inclined his head. “About every four to six weeks, but I’m the only one here so it doesn’t take much to keep it picked up.”
The door led to a private backyard highlighted by a large covered stone patio and nice grassy area that would be perfect for relaxing or dining outdoors all year round. “Wow. I really like this.”
“You can relax out here while I cook, if you want. Would you like a glass of wine?”
“I’d love some. Whatever you have that’s light and sweet.”
“I have a Riesling or sauvignon blanc. Which do you prefer?”
“Either is fine.” She watched him go back inside and close the screen, and then walked over to the edge of the patio and leaned against the railing. She stared out over the yard and thought about how much she liked Brandon, how much she enjoyed being with him...and how she was going to tell him that she couldn’t see him anymore.
Chapter 14
Brandon decided that they would eat on the patio since Faith seemed to enjoy being out there. All the time while cooking, he took peeks at her, watching her calm expression as she relaxed in one of the loungers and sipped her wine. She was only the second woman he’d brought to his home and he had been leery about inviting her. The last woman he’d invited over shortly after moving in had all but ordered furniture and wanted to rearrange his bedroom, claiming that it needed “a woman’s touch.” Brandon had cut short the plans he had for the evening and the only touch she got was when he held her hand to walk her out to her car and out of his life. He had immediately blocked her number and email address. His name was the only one on the deed and that meant he, alone, decided what did or did not go in his house.
He added chopped tomatoes, spinach, minced garlic and a dash of crushed red pepper to the pan containing sautéed shrimp and stirred. Brandon turned the heat down, drained the fettuccine pasta and added it, along with butter and a little lemon juice to the pan. Bending, he opened the oven door to check the French bread. His mother made the best bread and she had done a couple of loaves for him that he’d picked up yesterday on his way home. All he had to do was bake them for thirty minutes. The bread had another few minutes, so he stood in the doorway with his own glass and observed Faith as she slept. Her half-empty wineglass sat on the small table next and she had one hand resting across her stomach and the other one above her head. He imagined her in his bed, lying naked just this way.
She hadn’t offered her opinion at all and respected his answer about when he’d get furniture without question. It was one more reason, on a growing list, why he liked her. And for the first time in three years, he contemplated them having a relationship beyond what they’d originally agreed upon. Brandon planned to ask her at the end of the evening and hopefully by then he would have made it hard for her to say no.
Going back to the oven, he removed the bread and placed it on a wire rack to cool. Then he went out to the patio to wake Faith. He squatted next to her and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Wake up, beautiful. Dinner is ready.”
Faith’s eyes fluttered and opened. She gave him a smile that made his heart clench. “Hey.” She sat up and stretched. “I guess being in the sun wiped me out more than I realized.” She swung her legs over the side.
Brandon stood and pulled her to her feet. The evening temperatures had cooled some. For him it was perfect, but he reasoned it might be too chilly for her. “Do you want to eat out here or inside?”
She rubbed her arms. “I really want to eat out here. Let me get my jacket.” He let her precede him into the house. “Oh, my. It smells good in here.” She scanned the kitchen. “Is that homemade French bread?”
“It is, indeed...courtesy of my mom. All I had to do is bake it.”
“I’m impressed.” Faith grabbed her jacket from the bar stool where she’d left it and slipped it on. “Do you need me to help with anything?” He shook his head. “Well, if you show me where everything is, I can fix my own plate.”
Brandon folded his arms. “What you can do is go sit at the table and I’ll bring everything out.” She gave him a look and he added, “Yeah, I know. I’m bossy.” He kissed her. “Just for tonight, will you let me do this for you, baby? You can go back to telling me about myself tomorrow.”
Faith wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. “Okay. Thank you.” She released him and headed out to the deck. She stopped at the door and turned back. “Don’t make it a habit.” She held up a finger. “One night.”
He laughed and watched her slip through the door, then took out plate settings and the cloth napkins his mother insisted he needed for special occasions and set the table. He returned, dished up the pasta in a serving bowl, sliced and placed the bread in a basket, got butter, parmesan cheese and the rest of the wine. Brandon loaded it all onto a tray and carried it out to the table.
“Wow, you’re going all out.”
“Is that a problem?” he asked, topping off their glasses and taking
a seat across from her.
She hesitated briefly. “I... No. No it isn’t.”
Something in her eyes gave him pause, but he chalked it up to her being as unsure as he was about their growing feelings for each other. He waited until she fixed her plate before filling his own. “Do you want some cheese?” She nodded. He stood and grated some over the pasta.
Faith held up a hand. “That’s good. Thanks.” She buttered a piece of bread and took a bite. “Oh, my goodness,” she said, moaning. “Tell your mother this is fabulous.”
Brandon grinned. “I’ll do that. How’s the pasta?”
“It’s really good.” She peered into the bowl. “Just checking to see if there is any left. Since I’m letting you be bossy tonight, it’s only fair that I get the leftovers. The bread, too.”
He paused with his fork midair. “And what do I get?”
Faith leaned forward and rested her head in her hands. “Oh, I don’t know. What do you want?”
He hardened immediately and it took everything in him to stay seated. The sultry smile and sparkling dark eyes tempted him to show her right then and there what he wanted. Stick to the plan. “If you keep looking at me like that, you’re going to find out real quick.” He would show her that and more. Later.
She didn’t say anything else, but for the rest of the meal, the heat rose between them.
Afterward, he overrode her attempts to clean the kitchen. Instead they took their glasses of wine outside to the patio. Brandon set his on a small table. He removed a blanket from a deck box, sat on a lounger and coaxed Faith down onto his lap. He draped the blanket over her legs. “Comfortable?”
She snuggled closer. “Very. I wish I had something like this at home. I’d be out there every evening.”
“You’re welcome to come hang out anytime,” he said without thought.
She angled her head and studied him as if she couldn’t believe his offer.
“I mean it.” Normally, the idea of any woman having free rein in his private space would send him running in the opposite direction. This time, however, he didn’t feel the same panic taking hold and wondered why.
“We’ll see.”
They sat in companionable silence as the sun went down and the stars came out. It had been a long time since Brandon enjoyed being with a woman so much and he hoped she’d be receptive to his plan.
“Are we going anywhere else?” Faith asked sometime later.
“No, why?”
“Just wondering since you had me bring a change of clothes.” She shifted in his lap and looked up at him. “Then what do I need them for?”
“For you to change into later.” She narrowed her eyes and he smiled inwardly. “Are you ready for the next part of our evening?”
“What are you up to, Brandon?”
“Just trying to make sure I’m better than good.” Brandon swung his legs around, stood with Faith in his arms and carried her inside and upstairs to his master bathroom. He placed her on her feet. “I have something special planned for you after your bath.”
Faith placed her hands on her hips.
“You gave me one night to be bossy and I plan to take full advantage.” He filled the tub and added some of the vanilla bubble bath he’d purchased.
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered. “This is... I mean we’re not really...”
“I know.” He understood what she meant. Technically, they weren’t in a relationship and, normally, he would never go to such lengths for a woman with whom he had a very temporary arrangement. “But there’s something growing between us, Faith, and I don’t want it to stop.”
She gasped softly.
Brandon had planned to wait until later to tell her what he was feeling, but she’d asked. “I know what I said at the beginning, what we agreed to.”
“Brandon, I like you.” Faith ran a hand over her forehead. “But I don’t think it’s going work. I’m going home in two weeks—”
He cut her off with a kiss. “We can talk about it later. Tonight I want to show you how much I really like you. Tonight I want it to be all about us.” He lit the candles he’d placed around the tub’s edge and on the sink, then gave her a set of towels. Kissing her once more, he said, “When you’re done, meet me downstairs.”
Faith took the towels. “Can you bring my clothes?”
He walked to the door. “You won’t need them. Just the towel.”
She stared. “Where are you going to be?”
Brandon turned and smiled. “You’ll know.” He closed the door behind him, grabbed a pair of shorts and went to take a shower in one of the other bathrooms. Tonight he was pulling out all the stops.
* * *
Faith lingered in the tub, surrounded by the soft scent of vanilla, and not knowing what to do. She had tried to tell Brandon that they needed to pull back—okay she hadn’t tried too hard—but with his soft confession and the candlelit bath, she couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to. A woman would kill to have a man do the things Brandon had done for Faith.
She finished washing up, stood and stepped out of the tub. After drying and wrapping the towel around her, she left to find Brandon. She stopped short upon seeing a path of rose petals at the bottom of the stairs. Tentatively, she followed them down the hall and to where they stopped at the entrance to one of the empty bedrooms he had shown her earlier.
Faith pushed the door open slowly and brought both of her hands to her mouth. “Brandon, it’s beautiful,” she said softly, feeling tears stinging her eyes. He’d lit candles around the room, placed a massage table covered by a sheet and surrounded by rose petals in the center and had a tray off to the side with three bottles of oil and a warmer. Brandon stood shirtless in a pair of basketball shorts. Obviously, he had showered, as well.
Brandon held his hand out to her. “Come here, sweetheart.”
She crossed the room to him and cupped his jaw. “I have never met anyone like you. Thank you for this.”
He turned his face and kissed the center of her palm. He stripped the towel away and gestured for her to climb up on the table face down. “Comfortable?”
“Mmm, yes.” A moment later, she heard soft music and recognized Raheem DeVaughn’s “Countdown To Love.” A shiver passed through her when Brandon trailed a path down the center of her spine with his tongue. Next, she felt the warm oil and his hands on her shoulders and back. The combination of light, deep and feather-like touches aroused her as much as they relaxed her. He moved down her back, adding soft kisses. Faith lost all sense of time and place, and gave herself totally to the sensations. He kneaded her buttocks, slipped lower, grazed her core and continued to her inner and outer thighs, legs and feet. Her breathing deepened and her skin tingled with awareness.
Brandon had her turn onto her back and began the magic again. Throughout the entire massage, he hadn’t uttered one word, but she could hear his increased breathing. He caressed and suckled her breasts, traced a path down the front of her body to her center. His fingers dipped into her center, stroking slowly. Faith moaned. He used his hands to take her to the brink of ecstasy, then bring her back to relaxation over and over until she thought she might lose her mind from all the pleasure. By the time he finished, her body pulsed and shuddered.
Brandon pulled her to a sitting position and stepped between her spread legs. “I love touching your beautiful body,” he murmured as his hands continued roaming.
He slanted his mouth over hers in a deep, sensual kiss that left her gasping for air. Faith reached inside his shorts and grasped his engorged shaft and nearly wept with relief when she realized he already had on a condom. “I need you inside me, Brandon. Now.”
He yanked his shorts down and entered her with one long stroke. They both moaned. “I told you before, you don’t ever have to beg me and I’ll never make you wait.�
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Faith wrapped her legs around his waist and gripped the edge of the table as he plunged in and out of her, hitting her sensitive spot with each rhythmic push. Because of his earlier foreplay, she didn’t last a minute. She screamed out his name. Brandon tilted her hips and thrust harder until she convulsed in a blinding climax that shook her entire body. She had never met a man like him and, despite her best efforts, she’d fallen for him. Completely.
* * *
Brandon held himself still while she contracted around him and he grit his teeth to maintain control. Slowly, he pulled out, placed Faith on her feet with her back to him and eased inside again. In this position, he had a full view of her flaring hips and shapely bottom and he felt himself grow harder with the sight. He bent her forward over the table and started a slow, easy rhythm, wanting to build her passions again and hear her scream his name.
“Brandon, baby,” Faith panted, “don’t stop.”
He couldn’t stop if he wanted to, not with her being so tight, so wet. She clamped down on him with her inner muscles and he cursed. “Don’t do that. You’re gonna make me come.”
“Isn’t that the point?”
She did it again and electricity shot through his body. Brandon lost it. He pounded into her harder and faster and she clenched him again and again, demanding that he give her everything. She screamed even louder and that did it for him. The orgasm began somewhere around his feet and shot through him with a force that rocked his soul. And as hard as he tried to hold back that hidden, protected part, he couldn’t. He drew her down to the carpet and they both lay there trying to catch their breath.
“You were right,” Faith said a few minutes later. “This was better than good.”
Brandon chuckled. “Glad you approve.” When he could move, he got up, blew out the candles and led her up to his bedroom, where they showered and fell into his bed. It was almost one and he had intended to take her home, but needed to sleep for an hour first.
He woke up with a start when something solid bumped him. It took a moment to remember that he wasn’t in bed alone. Faith lay pressed into his side with her leg thrown over his. He yawned and glanced over at the clock. Almost five! His eyes widened and his stomach clenched. He had never done a morning after, not even with the woman he’d dated for two years. Mornings after implied way too much intimacy and thoughts of permanency, things he steered clear of.
Giving My All to You Page 14