There she was, pretty as a picture, half-naked, lying on his bed waiting for him to love her. She didn’t care what he looked like. Appreciated it, yes. That’s not why she loved him. She loved him despite knowing everything about him, the good and the bad. Standing before her naked, fully aroused, his leg bare for her to see, he wasn’t self-conscious in the least. Instead, his usual confidence and cockiness returned.
This was Rain, and she only knew how to love one way. Unconditionally.
Lying on the bed beside her, his hard shaft pressed to her hip, he looked deep into her eyes. “I love you.”
Cupping his face between her hands, she drew him to her. Against his lips, she said, “I know.”
She knew. She believed him, in him. That’s all he needed. He dove in, taking her mouth, his tongue sliding in to taste her. Nothing else tasted so good. He dipped his head, cupped her breast in his hand, and brought her nipple to his lips. He flicked his tongue over the taut bud, she arched her back, and he took her into his mouth. Yeah, this was better. He laved and suckled, loving her every moan and sigh as he moved from one breast to the other. He slid his hand down her slim belly, over her jeans, and cupped her mound in his palm. Her hips rocked into his hand, demanding his attention, but he didn’t want to leave her sweet breasts.
Throbbing, aching, he wanted to bury himself in her heat and lose himself and find the man she loved so completely.
He unzipped her jeans and skimmed his fingers inside over her panties. He smiled against her breast.
“Lace,” he said, though he could only feel it.
“Pink,” she confirmed, her hips rising to his touch.
He caught sight of her pretty breasts, rosy nipples wet from his tongue. His cock jerked with a surge of passion.
He ripped her jeans and that nothing of a swatch of lace off her legs and tossed them away without a second thought. Kneeling between her legs, he slid both hands up over her firm thighs, to her hips. Her belly was warm and resilient against his lips as he planted kisses over her silky skin. The smell of her intoxicated him. He dipped his hand lower, and he swept his thumb down over the soft flesh, dipping between the folds, her desire slicked over his skin. Her breath caught when he brought his thumb back up and found that sweet spot that had her arching her back off the bed, her thighs spreading with no more encouragement then a soft touch of his hand on the inside of one of her thighs, the other following suit, until she was bared to him. So wet, so ready for him. His whole body throbbed, desperate to cover her and sink into her deep and hard.
He reached for the condom on the table. Since he was over her, she took him into her hands and stroked down and up the length of him. She cupped his balls in her palm, clutching her fingers around him and massaged gently. He hissed in a breath and groaned when her hand slid up, her fingers wrapped around him, all the way to the top where her thumb found the bead of liquid and circled and smoothed it over and around the round head, slowly killing him.
Ready to explode, he leaned back on his heels, ripped open the condom package with his teeth, and sheathed himself.
“I’m sorry, baby. I really wanted to make this good for you. I’m afraid, I just can’t wait any longer.”
Rain never took her eyes off him and when he came down on top of her, his body pressed to hers, his erection pressing at her entrance, her eyes went wide and she tensed at the intrusion.
Taking nipping kisses at her lips, he eased his body into hers in aching slow motion.
“Relax. It’s just me.” He held her gaze as she let out her breath; her whole body relaxed and allowed him to slide into her to the hilt in one long, fluid motion. “Am I hurting you?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to with words. She rocked her hips into his and then away. Satisfaction lit her eyes, ripples of passion trembled through her body, and his mind shut off and his body rode that wave of pleasure. He pulled out almost all the way. She made a disappointed grunt, dug her fingers into his back to pull him in again. He thrust back into her hard and deep. He did it again and her head fell back and she arched her back, her breasts grazing his chest. He watched her expressive face, thrust into her again and again, trying to go deeper, his release riding him hard, but he tried to hold back. Nearly over the edge, she pulled her knees up and wide and he sank back into her so deep, she sent him over the edge. Two more deep hard thrusts, her fingers digging into his hips, she pulled him to her, his whole body rigid, he spilled himself inside her. Wave upon wave of contractions from her body fisted around his and wrung him dry.
Eyes closed, breathing heavily suspended above her on his fisted hands, he collapsed on top of her, his face buried in her fragrant hair. Completely spent. Happy. Home.
Her arms and those gorgeous legs wrapped around him, she hugged him with her whole body. It had been a long time since he’d felt this good, this safe. She’d always been the one place he could be and know he could let all the walls crumble, shed all his protective instincts, never fear she’d hurt him with her words or deeds.
Rain, his island of peace. Without her, life wasn’t worth living.
Chapter Twenty
* * *
SOMETHING WOKE RAIN. Sleepy and disoriented, she searched the surrounding darkness. The candles had long ago been extinguished. The room was dark but for the moonlight seeping through the gauzy curtains. Brody’s bed, his hard body down the length of her. Her leg thrown over his, her head pillowed on his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her back and side.
Brody’s whole body twitched and shook her. He must have done it before and woken her up.
Caught in a nightmare, Brody mumbled in his sleep, his arm tightened around her and his legs kicked and thrashed in the bed. Hating to leave him at the mercy of some awful memory, she scooted up and brushed her fingertips over his forehead and raked them through his hair, crooning, “Brody, honey, wake up for me,” over and over again.
He didn’t respond, but grew more agitated, kicking and flailing his arms. She slid over on top of him, her legs straddling his hips. His hands came up to fight off his imaginary attacker, but she expected something like this, so she dodged his arms and lay down on top of him her mouth finding the pulse in his throat. She licked, her lips sucking gently. She nibbled her way up his throat to his ear and whispered, “Brody, love me.”
She’d swap one kind of dream for another.
Easing back down his chest, her bottom came down and she pressed against him. She rocked her hips and within moments, he was hard beneath her. His breathing slowed and his hands found her thighs, slid up to her hips, and encouraged her to move against his swollen flesh.
“That’s it, baby. Come back to me. Love me.”
She nipped at his chin and brushed her breasts over his chest. Warm, hard, so handsome, she couldn’t help but rub against him, feel his heat seep into her, pool in her lower belly, and spread out like a wildfire across her nerves.
The wood box sat open on the bedside table. She reached in and found another condom. Mapping his body with kisses from the bullet-wound scar high up on his shoulder, over his chest, down his rippled belly, she detoured and found the long scar that ran across his stomach and around his side. She traced it with her tongue, her hands roaming over his chest. Her hair fell in a curtain over him and she sank lower and found his thick erection. Not really knowing what she was doing, she circled the head with her tongue. Brody’s whole body went tense and his fingers dove into her hair, his fingers curling in the strands. Encouraged, she slowly took him into her mouth.
“Ah, God, Rain.”
His voice was sleep husky and ragged. He groaned, and she worked her mouth over his flesh, learning the contours and taste of him with this intimate loving. His big hands combed through her hair, down her neck, and over her shoulders, encouraging her to touch and taste as she pleased.
Desperation in his voice, he called to her in the night, “Rain, baby, I’m so damn close. I want to be inside you.”
Swiftly unwrapping the cond
om, she slid it over him and crawled back up his body, kissing, nipping, and a love bite on the meaty part of his chest before his hands cupped her face and he drew her to his open mouth. His tongue dove deep. In a frenzy, he pulled her higher so he could take possession of her breast, his tongue sliding over her tight nipple a second before he took the rigid peak into his mouth and suckled deep. One hand on her other breast, teasing and tugging on her nipple, the other slid over her belly, down until his finger thrust into her, nearly sending her over the edge. On her hands and knees above him, he played her body like an instrument, bringing her to soaring heights with his mouth and fingers.
Both desperate for the other, Brody grabbed her hips and brought her down hard. Seated on top of him, she paused just for a second and his hips came off the bed, his cock buried deep inside her. She rocked forward then back and he fell back to the bed, holding her to him as she moved.
His hand moved to where they were joined. She moved over him and his fingers dipped and found that sweet spot. Her head fell back, her hair brushing her skin as she bounced and moved and Brody sent waves of pleasure through her system until she exploded with an intense orgasm, her body contracting around Brody’s. He lifted her and thrust deep, his cock pumping as he groaned long and deep. He settled back into the bed; she fell on top of him completely limp. Her chin rested in the crook of his neck and shoulder, her lips just below his ear. She kissed him softly and fell into a deep sleep with his arms banded around her and their bodies still joined.
The sun’s first light began to take over the night, but that’s not what woke her. Brody spread her thighs wide and entered her achingly slow. Filling her, he pressed his hips hard to hers and stopped moving. Just paused, their bodies locked together.
She opened her eyes just enough to see him staring down at her with such love. His fingertips brushed over her cheek, traced it up to the corner of her eye, where he slipped a strand of hair away from her face.
“You’re so beautiful when you sleep.” He pulled back. She gasped when he almost left her completely. “Soft.” He entered her again in that long, slow invasion that made her sigh. “Warm.” His body moved away and came back into her again and again in that slow, sweet loving. “Mine.” His mouth was warm and wet on her neck, his hand brushing up and down her thigh.
This was the perfect way to wake up in the morning. The man she loved had finally come home. Not only that, he’d come back for her. Her heart felt so full. She put all her heart into making love to him. Her hands roamed up and down his back, her fingers digging in to firm muscles. Their mouths melded, their loving went from leisurely to something more serious and basic, all need and demand.
What had been building between them over the last few minutes exploded through her system. She held tight to Brody’s hips as he thrust into her hard and deep, his jaw locked, head thrown back, and he spilled himself inside of her. His pulsing body deep within hers set off a second wave of ecstasy. Her body contracted around his in sweet aftershocks. He fell on her with a deep groan, his lips pressed against the pounding pulse in her neck.
“You’re lethal,” he said against her skin. His warm breath sending a shiver through her.
She laughed. Eyes closed, she enjoyed having his weight on her, pressing her into the bed. He felt so good, she drew her hands over his tight butt, up his lower back and down again. Satisfied, lazy, and feeling quite content, she lay beneath him in a haze of spent passion.
“You don’t have to touch it just to convince me it doesn’t bother you,” he grumbled, his voice deep and filled with irritation.
Her hands stilled on his hips and lay against his skin. At first, she wasn’t sure what he was talking about. Then, she realized her right hand lay over his damaged hip and thigh. The skin felt rough, rippled in places where the burns had healed into knots and lines of scar tissue.
“Until this moment, I hadn’t realized what I was touching was anything different than touching you. I cannot believe after everything we shared last night and two minutes ago, you could think so little of me. I wouldn’t care if your entire body had been burned. What it looked like, or felt like.” She turned to look at him, eyes ablaze. “What I care about is the terrible pain you must have been in, the pain you’re still experiencing. I wish I could take it away. I wish you believed what you look like doesn’t matter to me. I love you. If you think the scars change that or diminish it in some way, then you don’t understand my love for you, because it has no boundaries. I don’t want there to be anything that keeps us from being completely open and honest with each other.”
Her eyes held his. She hadn’t moved her hands, and she knew he could see the anger in her eyes, feel it in her body beneath his.
“You mean that.”
“You’re damn right I do.”
His forehead touched hers and he kissed her softly. “I’m being stupid.”
“For a smart man, you say some stupid things,” she agreed, and was happy to see a slight smile cross his face.
“I thought when I came back, the scars, my mental state . . . other things would be another black mark against me.”
“I’m not keeping score. I don’t have a blackboard in my mind where I’m ticking off things for and against you.”
“It’s me. It’s just that getting you back is the most important thing I’ve ever tried to do.”
“Mission accomplished. Scars, past deeds, everything between our past and present doesn’t seem to matter more than the fact that I love you. I don’t want to be sad and angry and lonely anymore.”
Brody rolled to his side and kept her pulled close to him. They lay face-to-face. “You’ll never be lonely again, sweetheart. I’m sorry I left you alone to raise our girls. The sacrifices you made, all the hard work and care you’ve put into raising them. They’re beautiful, smart, happy little girls because of you. Autumn is safe and knows she’s loved because of you. I’m sorry and thank you doesn’t seem to be enough to show you how much I appreciate what you’ve done. From now on, you won’t have to do it alone.”
“Good. Because the scariest thing is knowing if Roxy pushed for her parental rights, I’d lose. We can’t lose, Brody. For Autumn’s sake, we have to end this and make sure Roxy never takes Autumn again.”
“We will, sweetheart.” He kissed her forehead and held her close, the morning blooming brightly through the window above them. “We need to get up and go have breakfast with the girls. We’ll talk to Owen this morning and start planning our strategy.”
“Spoken like a true military man going into battle.”
“If we’re dealing with Roxy, you’re damn right it’ll be a battle. She never makes anything easy, and usually makes matters worse.”
“Enough about her. You take a shower, I’ll make the coffee.”
“Deal.” He smacked her on the bottom, threw off the covers, and stood next to the bed stretching his arms high over his head and leaning side to side to stretch his back. When his arms came down, he automatically rubbed his hand over his thigh.
“I don’t know how you could possibly think something so small could take away from how sexy and beautiful you are.” She lay in bed, her eyes devouring every inch of skin stretched over taut, well-defined muscles. The scars and burns were there, but she didn’t really see them as she took in the whole of him.
He turned back to her. This time, no apprehension in the way he moved or in his eyes. “Remind me never to buy you the pair of glasses you so obviously need.” He planted his hands on either side of her shoulders, leaned down and kissed her with such reverence tears came into her eyes. Her hands came up and smoothed over his shoulders. As he stood, her hands slid down his arms until their hands met. He held hers, gave them a squeeze, then walked to the bathroom, completely unfazed by her intent gaze.
She’d helped him get past his uneasiness over his physical injuries. Now, if she could only help him with his anxiety and those terrible nightmares he had when he was both awake and asleep. She’d find a way to
bring him peace. She’d surround him with love and family. They’d make a home and a life together.
First, they had to find a way to keep Roxy out of their lives.
Chapter Twenty-One
* * *
AUTUMN AND DAWN screeched with excitement when they came down to the kitchen that morning and found Brody sitting at the table, watching Rain make breakfast. Both girls ran to him and threw their arms around his neck. Rain’s heart melted seeing them with their father. They’d waited so long to have him in their lives and Brody didn’t hesitate to pull them close, engage them in conversation, and, of course, provide the promised piggyback ride for Autumn. Not to be outdone, Dawn got hers, too.
Owen came down just as Rain put breakfast on the table. “What’s going on down here?”
Rain stood in the doorway, her shoulder propped against the frame. The girls attacked Brody, wrapping their arms around his hips and legs. They stood in the living room surrounded by shredded wrapping paper and ribbons. Their shriek of delight filled the room and her heart.
“Brody bought the girls new computers.”
Owen came to stand beside her. He kissed her on the forehead. “Good morning, beautiful.”
Brody kept his eye on them, despite the girls begging him to set up the laptops immediately. A ripple of pleasure coursed through her seeing that small show of jealousy.
“Morning. Did you sleep well?” she asked.
“I slept alone.” He pointedly looked at her clothes, the same ones she had on last night. “Did you?”
“She slept with me and will from now on.” Brody planted his fists on his hips and glared at Owen.
The Return of Brody McBride Page 21