by Susan Arden
“Yes. Yours.”
“Time out, Romeo,” Cade snorted.
“Then sit down and let’s play cards,” he muttered.
They played several hands and Brandon lost his shirt during each one. His cousins entertained them with stories from their tours of duty and some just plain nonsense they delved into, enough to keep him and Mia laughing. During the lulls in the conversation, he found himself leaning over her chair, brushing his hand along the nape of her neck as she rubbed her cheek against his fingers, and his chest constricted.
“You guys up for a shot?” Rod asked.
Mia declined, and he shook his head in refusal. Another break and his cousins went to the bar for a shot of whiskey. “How about I refill your glass?”
“That sounds great,” she replied.
“One more game, and then we’re out,” he announced to his cousins.
They’d already won almost everything he had on him. He couldn’t concentrate, not with Mia on his right. Each time she shifted in her seat, or laughed, all he could think about was keeping his cool. He’d played horribly and Cade had already nailed his lack of focus on the cards, with a wink and sly glance over to Mia.
Brandon selected another bottle of wine from the pantry. Out in the kitchen Rod was waiting for him. “What’s up?” he asked his cousin.
“You gotta hook me up.” Rod smiled and glanced toward the doorway. “Does Mia have a sister? Cousin? Friend? Anyone who might vaguely resemble her and I would consider it hitting the jackpot.”
“I’ll ask. Don’t know. Why? Is this introduction for you?” Brandon snorted.
“Man, I’ll give you back every cent I won. No joke.” Rod raised his palms and nodded. “Every cent and then some.”
Brandon felt his face tighten, even though he continued to smile. “Mia’s special, all right.” It was all he was willing to say, but it didn’t even touch all that he felt about her.
“Shit, dude. She’s so damn beautiful. What in the hell is she doing with you?”
He flipped his cousin the bird and they both laughed. Rod clapped him on the back before he went back out to the den. Brandon got that his cousin was joking, but there was an element of truth in the friendly jibe. What the fuck was she doing with him? He owned a sex club, and she could have her pick of any man she targeted with those exotic looks of hers. Let’s get wild. It wasn’t the first time she’d alluded to her desire to play the edge. Understandable, with an overprotective father and growing up being sheltered.
He’d already seen his sister cut the cord and dive into the deep end. Is that what girls did? He was lost in thought, opening a bottle of wine, and didn’t hear Mia enter the kitchen. He suddenly felt her hands rubbing against his back and he relaxed into her. The pop of the cork sounded and he set the bottle on the counter along with the opener, turning around and taking hold of her. He pressed his forehead to hers. “How are you feeling?”
“On fire,” she whispered, her fingers tugging on his belt loops.
He raised his head and kissed her cheek. “I have a wedding to go to in a couple of weeks. Come with me.”
She laughed, soft and low, and he waited for her reply. “Your brother,” she finally said.
“The very one.”
“Family will be there?”
“You know it. We don’t have to stay from start to finish. Not into the whole reception thing.”
“Bull. I’ll go, but only if we can stay and dance. I actually love weddings, if you promise to have a handkerchief on hand.”
“As many as you need. Then we’re on.” He lifted her hair, cupping his hands at the back of her head, and brought his face down to hers. “Wear something sexy for me. I’ll take you shopping.”
She leaned into him, opening her mouth and sucking on his tongue, demonstrating just how she’d given him head. The promise of her doing it again shredded his already wavering focus. He ground into her, hoisting her up and onto his hard-on, and they both groaned. “Last game. Let’s make it quick.”
Again he lost his hand, and didn’t care, as his mind wasn’t far behind. With each card dealt, traded, and laid down, the muscles in his body contracted until he was a tight coil ready to spring. His target: one sassy woman who kept bumping into his thigh—not accidentally—and laughing in his face with each chip he’d tossed into the pot. She had him going, all right. Each time he ran his hand up her neck, twirling her hair around his fingers as she bit her pink lip trying to decide which card to play, he felt each and every beat of his heart.
Jesus, Joseph and Mary! No amount of shifting in his chair helped. He drummed his fingers, waiting for his cousin to ante up.
“What the devil?” Rod said. “Brandon, you’re like a cat on a hot tin roof.”
He stared across the table and mumbled, “Watch your own hand.”
“I’m out,” Rod glared at Brandon. “Shit, dude, it’s hard to concentrate.”
“You got most of my money. What more do you want?”
His cousin mouthed. “Ask Mia about a sister!”
He rolled his eyes and flipped his cousin off. Again. He picked up his wine glass, paying attention to Mia as he leaned over to peer at her hand.
“What’s it going to be, girl?” Cade asked.
She slanted a brow and appeared to study his cousin, ignoring his wisecracking remarks. “You’re too cocky.” She threw down her cards.
“Last man standing. Looks like I got this hand,” Cade said.
“We’re turning in,” Brandon announced on the heels of Cade’s words. “It’s been real nice, but it’s getting late.”
Both his cousins laughed as he stood. Rod added, “Oh, yeah. Real late.” His cousins stood as well.
When Mia rose from her chair, he almost groaned, watching the way her shirt hiked up exposing her flat stomach and navel. He had to remind himself that hauling her across his shoulder was not the way to exit the room with his cousins watching. He tried one last time for cool. “You guys hunting tomorrow?”
“Up before dawn. You in?” Cade asked.
Rod let out a loud-as-hell laugh. “No, Cade. He most definitely will not be coming…with us.”
“Obviously.” Cade mumbled. “I’m buzzed.”
“Good luck. We’ll see you around for dinner.” His cousins nodded to them and he released a breath he’d held for far too long. Threading his fingers together with Mia’s, he pulled her to him and asked, “Would you like a night cap?”
“I’m good.” Shyly she looked down, twisting their fingers together.
How does she know just what to do to drive me fucking insane?
He took a step in her direction—slowly and without staring her down. Consciously, he controlled his breathing, drawing in a long relaxed breath and unclenching his jaw.
“Let’s get some water to take up with us.” He took another measured step and then was inches from her. He watched the rapid rise and fall of her chest, the pulsating vein in her neck, and the flutter of her dark lashes, and he reached out to gently touch her arm.
Not surprisingly, Mia jerked. His little filly was biting at the bit, and now he had the real work of getting her to deepen her trust in him. Relax for him. He lifted their laced fingers and kissed her hand. Again he inhaled deeply and tugged her with him toward the kitchen. “See you guys tomorrow,” he called out over his shoulder, never taking his eyes off Mia.
“’Night,” she said softly.
“Have a good one,” Cade called out.
“Oh, they will,” Rod snickered.
Brandon held her attention, even when the color rushed to her cheeks at his idiot cousin’s remark. Inside the kitchen, he pulled her to him and pressed his mouth to her lips. Firm. Chaste. “I’ll take care of you. Before, during. And after.”
Her throat muscles worked and she nodded. “I trust you.”
Shit, it was the best aphrodisiac she could deliver. His hard-on, which had been straining in his jeans for the last hour, throbbed for relief. A bottle of spring
water in the crook of his arm and a glass of ice in hand, he twined their fingers together and led her up the back stairs. No way in hell would he walk through the den and risk Rod saying something that would spook her.
Up in their room, he shut the door and locked it. Turning around, he pulled off his shirt and crossed the bedroom to where she waited for him by the bed.
Swaying, she began to unbutton her shirt and he shook his head. “No. Don’t move unless I give you permission. I’ll undress you and prepare you. Are you still high?” he asked softly, searching her face.
“Positively yes.” She laughed “And you, Sir?”
“Yeah. Never felt this good.” He lit a candle by the bed and one on the mantle.
He picked up a log and heaved it into the fireplace. He struck a match, lit a firelighter and using the poker, he had the fire going with the flames crackling and charring the fresh wood. After he stood, he faced her and paused to admire her exotic beauty. His to own completely, and it was time to claim her. Three strides and he was back by her side. First, he uncovered the bed, pulling away the quilt and bedspread, stripping it down to the sheet underneath.
She watched him with her eyes wide and trusting. “Now what?”
No way to wait. He crooked a finger at her and she stepped closer to him, her breaths coming out in shallow puffs.
“How does the plug feel?” he asked, undoing the tiny buttons down her shirt.
“Huge. When will it come out?”
He laughed. “Soon.” He removed her shirt and tossed it onto the chair. “Arms up.”
“So commanding,” she murmured, raising her arms. She wore a tiny tank and he pulled it off slowly, savoring the moment when her tits were bared to him.
The second he saw her shirtless, he sucked in a short breath. “Fuck, I’ve wanted these nonstop since this morning.” Her dark nipples puckered into hard points and he spread his fingers possessively over each breast. For a moment, he gazed into her eyes, thumbing her nipples and inhaling her mind-bending scent. “The fire will get going soon and warm up this place.”
“It’s great just like this.” She arched back and pressed into his palms. Hooking her fingers around his belt loops, she moaned seductively.
“Let me make it better.” He kissed her mouth. Once, or he’d get carried away.
He knelt in front of her with his cock throbbing in his pants and concentrated on unzipping her jeans. He peeled the denim away from her hips, stopping to remove one of her boots and socks then he worked her other foot free. “You wear work boots?”
She threaded her fingers through his hair and lowered her face, her mouth grazing his and she hovered below his lips. “Growing up on a ranch, I’m not a stranger to work.”
Yet another coincidence with her. She could be his perfect wife. Wife! On his knees in front of her, the thought popped into his head out of nowhere. Fuck. No amount of self-control could stop or change the course of his emotions. He’d proven the adage of head-over-heels —and had done it—fallen in love with Mia. Deeply. Irrevocably.
He feathered his fingers over her cheekbones and pulled her down for another heart stopping kiss. She parted her lips and opened to him. God, he wanted her to open all the way. He wanted her tonight and he’d want her tomorrow, and the day after, into eternity.
They came apart panting, and she had a wild, fiery look in her eyes. “Mia,” he pronounced her name as though it were only his to speak.
He pressed his forehead against her belly, kissing her navel, and folded her jeans down her legs. She held on to his shoulders and lifted her leg. He pulled off her jeans, rubbing his hands over her round ass, massaging her from hip to the sole of her foot, and repeating on the other side of her body. He reached for the gift box by the bedside and opened the lid. He removed the belly chain. “I want you to wear this.”
“It’s beautiful.” She stood before him, and nodded, making her tits jiggle alluringly.
Standing on his knees, his wrapped the chain around her waist, admiring the way it sat erotically on her hips. He flicked the clasp close as she lightly fingered the links. His attention was drawn upward to her breasts tantalizing him. She pressed closer and he pulled her near, wedging his mouth between their fullness. Mia rubbed her tits across his face and the force decimated his self-control. His cock, abs, and nuts convulsed in a sharp hunger to possess her entirely.
“Baby,” he groaned, and one thought flared above all others, he had to get himself centered. “Get in bed,” he said hoarsely.
After stripping free of his jeans, he lifted the bottle of lube. No way to make this a completely painless event, but he could ease it enough to combine pleasure and the stinging to heighten her orgasm…if she trusted him.
“On your hands and knees. Right in the middle.” He squeezed the lube into his palm and stroked it over his cock. He wasn’t gentle with himself, and he was breathing just as rapidly as Mia before too long. His cock spurted a jolt of clear liquid and he stopped manhandling his dick.
From the edge of the bed, Mia’s pussy was visible between her thighs, within an alluring diamond-shaped space. The perfect view of the seam of her lips slightly parted and revealed her rosy, slick skin, and there was nothing he wanted more than to bury himself inside her. Climbing onto the bed, he grazed his hands over her hips and wedged himself between her calves, separating the lips of her pussy. He stroked his finger across her slick flesh, clenching his jaw, and still he couldn’t hold back a groan.
She arched her hips up to him. “Brandon, that feels so good.”
With greater intensity, he ran his finger through her hot, slippery folds, just as he’d imagined doing for the last couple of hours. He inhaled her scent, rubbing her harder, increasing both the friction and her pleasure.
“You’re so exotic. So beautiful.” Slowly, he backed away. “Baby, I want you so much.”
“Where are you going?” she asked in a hoarse voice.
“Mia, I’m going to eat you.” He leaned down, spreading her pussy open to him, and pressed his mouth up against her soft lips, nuzzling her dark curls, and inhaling her enticing arousal. It took everything he had to languidly drag his tongue through her heat, and he repeated the movement a second time as his balls tightened. Her warm, sweet taste had him craving more of her.
She pulled his hair and he latched onto her clit, roughly sucking her pussy against his mouth as she arched, letting out a husky moan. She drenched his tongue as he strummed his thumb over her clit. He spread her open, sliding his mouth up against her lips, and tongue fucking her without mercy. She ground against him, tilting her hips, and asked for more and deeper. Mia cried out his name and he sucked her clit harder, biting the plump bud lightly between his teeth, and scraping his rough chin against her until she screamed.
He came up behind her, adjusting her calves to a wider stance, and moved into the space between her legs. His cock jutted straight out in front of him, ready to fuck her to the point of no return. God, he was over the edge aroused. The flaring crown of his cock was slippery with pre-cum escaping from the tip and there was no way to forestall his need to get inside her.
He swiped his dick along her silky folds and a spasm shot through his body. Holding himself between her lips, he savored the sensation of his crown swallowed by her warm wetness. “A few thrusts inside your pussy and afterward I’ll remove the plug.”
“Yes. Please, Sir.” She arched her hips up to him like a cat in heat. Did she know how seductive it was to see her pink rosette filled with a plug?
He leaned over, kissing a path up her spine, moving his hands to her hips, and then he straightened and surged inside her without warning, showing her that he would deliver pleasure forcefully where she was concerned.
“Brandon,” she moaned, and the skin over his body tightened. “Babe.”
“Say it for me, Mia.”
“Please, fuck me. Hard. So hard.”
He clenched his jaw to keep from slamming into her savagely and claiming her as his. C
ompletely. He pushed forward, savoring her silken heat gripping him tightly. Flexing his hips back, he drove his cock into her over and over again, grinding in a way he knew made her buck and throw her head back. Her skin flushed—he had to get her there. It would relax her. “Come on, baby. Give yourself to me.”
Her pussy squeezed him and she whimpered. The combination spurred him to fuck her even harder and deeper. From this position, he lifted Mia’s hips up, angling her body, and plunged into her, holding them together as he rubbed her pussy back and forth over his length. She shivered and called out his name, her muscles trembling. She was almost there. He pulled his cock out and slammed back into her. “Give it to me. Right now, Mia.”
She nodded and shuddered, her pussy clenching his cock, drawing him deeper into her hot body. Fuck, he was close himself. He withdrew, fighting to keep from falling over the edge, and focused on removing the plug from her ass.
“So incredibly beautiful,” he whispered. Her anus gaped, and he jerked hard, seeing the place he needed to be. He grabbed the bottle of lube, squeezing it and rubbed the liquid between his hands to warm it up. Mia had her head down on the bed and this position of submission hiked his hunger for her. Rubbing his hands down the seam of her ass, he pushed one of his fingers into her. She sucked in a breath as he pumped his hand against her ass cheeks.
“Relax for me,” he whispered, and then pushed two fingers into her entrance. “Take a breath.”
“Please.” She tightened around his fingers, and he slowly continued to push all the way inside her, giving her a moment to adjust. She rocked her hips and he exhaled, withdrawing his fingers then plunging them inside her again. With his free hand, he picked up a large flesh-colored dildo, and inserted it into her swollen pussy. Immediately, she flexed forward and off the dildo.
“No bowing out this soon,” he whispered, dropping the dildo on the bed and drew her back to him. “Stay on your knees, hips up to me.”
“Brandon,” she moaned.
He picked up the dildo and swiped the tip against her. “I’m going to fuck you with this dildo. You want it hard and rough?”