Skin to Skin

by J. M. Stone

  He nodded, though he didn’t look happy. “I get it. Fuck, Chloe, I just feel like I’m doing a shit job protecting you. Christ, he was here at the house, all over the fucking yard and I had no fucking clue!” He was pacing again, opening and closing his fists.

  I beckoned him to me, moving my legs out of the chair to make room as he dropped to his knees in front of me. I wrapped them around his waist lightly as he leaned his head into my stomach, one of my hands moving to cradle the back of his neck, the other smoothing over the wide expanse of his shoulders. I felt his arms shift and, suddenly, they were sliding around me, holding me tight.

  I held him like that for a while, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Finally, he moved and leaned up for a kiss, then gained his feet, holding a hand out to pull me up, too.

  “It’s still early on a Saturday and, since you won’t run off with me,” he paused, giving me a playful grin, “let’s go do something fun. No point in just sitting here wondering if he’s out there. Noah has our numbers, so if they need us, they’ll get us. Whaddya say?”

  I nodded, grinning back at him, wondering for the millionth time how I got so lucky.

  Chapter 19

  “Brandon…this is not what I meant when I agreed to go have fun with you,” I said nervously, shuffling my feet and trying my hardest not to look over the edge of the platform I was standing on.

  Calland, who I’m still not sure I’m speaking to at the moment, spoke up behind me. “Come on, Chloe. Live a little! It’ll be fine, I promise!”

  I glanced over at him and my heart seized as I saw just how close he was to the edge, peering over almost carelessly.

  “I didn’t realize you were afraid of heights, sunshine.” Brandon’s voice rasped in my ear, his lips brushing the outer shell and making me shiver even through my fear.

  I squeezed my eyes shut. “It’s not that I’m afraid of heights, per se…it’s more like I’m not fond of jumping off a platform high in the air and dangling from a wire as I speed over treetops that would be more than happy to break every bone in my body if I fell.”

  I heard a snigger behind me and peeked through my lashes to see the guide shaking his head as he tried to cover his laughter with his hand. I opened my eyes to glare at him, huffing when he finally gave up all pretense and grinned at me unabashedly.

  “Man, Luke, Jacks, and Allie are gonna be pissed that we did this without them,” Calland hooted, rubbing his hands together gleefully while the guide motioned for him to step into the harness he was holding.

  “Not Emma?” I asked, curious about the answer, though really I was only asking to take my mind off of what was about to happen.

  It was kind of a blur, the whole trip here, because I was too busy trying to come up with a way to change his mind. We hadn’t figured out what we were doing yet when we stopped at the gas station to get gas in Brandon’s truck, and ‘lo and behold, there was Calland, walking out with a huge fountain pop and three hot dogs stacked on top of each other in his hands.

  “Hey!” He’d hollered, walking over to us. “What are you guys up to today?”

  “Trying to figure something fun out. What about you? Other than stuffing your face with hot dogs…”

  Calland sat his pop down on the bumper of Brandon’s truck, grabbed the top dog, and took a huge bite. Thankfully, he chewed and swallowed before he answered. “My buddies were talking about this zip lining thing down in Hocking Hills that they did. I was thinking about heading down that way, meeting up with them. You guys wanna check that out?”

  “Zip lining?” Brandon repeated. “Huh.” He looked at me speculatively.

  I shook my head, already knowing what was coming.

  “Don’t they have that SuperZip thing now? The one that you actually are in a sling thing and fly like you’re Superman or something?” Brandon asked Calland.

  “Hell yeah, they do! I wanted to try that but I also wanted to do their twilight tour or even the night flight thing. You actually go zip lining in the dark.”

  I was still shaking my head, but, apparently, my vote didn’t count. And that’s how I came to be standing on a platform, being strapped into a helmet and a harness. I tried and tried to resist, to tell them that I’d just wait at the truck until they got done, but…it didn’t get me anywhere.

  Okay, so it did…just not where I wanted to be.

  “Alright, man. You’re ready,” the guide said, motioning Calland to step up to the line. He clipped his harness onto the safety line and showed him the hand brake again, giving him last minute instructions.

  Calland grinned at each of us and then was off with a whoop, soaring down the line over the trees.

  I looked over at Brandon who was grinning like a kid in a candy store as he watched Calland. Once Calland had landed safely on the platform at the end of the line, the guide turned to me. “You’re up.”

  “Me?” I croaked. “No, Brandon can go first.”

  The guide shook his head, smiling. “Nope, we’re sending you first. Remember the class we had before we even came up here?”

  I nodded slowly, my stomach clenching as anxiety washed over me.

  “Well, just keep that in mind. You’ve got this, and I promise, you’re going to have a blast.”

  I gulped, watching and listening intently as he gave me the run down and then…it was time. I took a deep breath and stepped off, not wanting to disappoint Brandon by backing out. I knew, even though he pushed me to do this, got me up here, that he wouldn’t force me to do it if I absolutely didn’t want to.

  My stomach dropped as I took off and then--then exhilaration took over as the wind ruffled my hair and I looked around at the scenery stretched out before me, the trees under me…it was amazing!

  When the tour was finally done and we were all safely back on the ground, we headed home. We dropped Calland off at his apartment, where we’d met him before we left, grabbed some dinner at a late night fast food place, and cuddled up on the couch to watch a movie while we ate.

  I yawned halfway through the movie and Brandon pulled my head down on his chest, running his fingers through my hair, smoothing the silky strands down my back. He shifted us so that I was lying on top of him while he stretched out on the couch. He kept playing with my hair and caressing my skin with light, soothing touches.

  I realized that he wasn’t watching the movie at all; instead, his eyes were on me, roving my face like he was memorizing every inch of it. I propped my chin up on his chest and looked back at him.

  “Take a picture…it lasts longer. Or so I’m told.”

  A slow grin grew on his lips. “Turning my words around on me, huh?”

  “Maybe.”

  His smile faded as he reached up and pushed a tendril of hair back that had fallen across my forehead before drawing his finger gently down my cheek. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

  “Hmm,” I said noncommittally.

  “It’s been a crazy fucking ride, hasn’t it?” he asked, still brushing his fingers down my cheek. “Who would’ve thought that the blonde hair brat that followed us around would one day be lying in my arms like this.”

  “It is kinda crazy, isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question. We both knew it was. “Do you regret anything?” I asked him, hesitantly.

  His brows drew together. “No, sunshine. I don’t. Do you?”

  I shook my head. “No. I really don’t. I probably should…”

  “We’ve been through this, Chloe. It’s okay for us to be happy. And we are happy. Right?”

  I nodded this time, giving him a half-smile that he returned as he ran his thumb over my lips before he leaned up and brushed his lips over mine.

  “You ready for bed?” he asked me when he pulled back, winking.

  I rolled off him and stood, tapping my foot pseudo-impatiently. He chuckled and got to his feet, swatting my ass as he walked by me towards the bedroom, turning off lights as he went.

  I ran after him, jumping up on his back and wrapping my arms and l
egs around him. He caught me effortlessly, carrying me into the room before turning and tossing me backwards on the bed. I scrambled up to lean against the headboard, wagging my finger at him when he put a knee on the bed.

  He stopped, giving me a quizzical look.

  “Strip.”

  One dark eyebrow rose, but he didn’t say anything. He moved back and turned to my iPod where it was sitting on the shelf. He grabbed it up and docked it, thumbing through my playlists until he found something he liked and hit play. Immediately the strains of Bump & Grind by R. Kelly filled the air.

  I grinned as he spun around to face me again, thrusting his hips forward suggestively and swaying from side to side with the beat of the music. I expected him to balk, or to turn it into a joke, but holy sex-on-a-stick, the man had moves and he wasn’t playing.

  He moved his hands up and grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt, sliding it up his delicious abs, pulling it up over his head and tossing it at me on the bed. He ran his hands down over his chest and stomach, reaching for the snap of his jeans, the ridge of him clearly visible as it stretched the unforgiving denim.

  The button popped free and he lowered the zipper slowly while he arched and rolled his hips, dipping and thrusting, making all of those lovely muscles of his dance under his golden skin, the swirls and angles of his tattoos creating a mesmerizing tableau in front of me. With his zipper finally opened, he reached in and carefully adjusted himself. Lust hit deep, curling in my belly at the sight of the long, thick, rock hard shaft framed in the vee of denim.

  “No underwear? You bad, bad boy…” I purred, not taking my eyes off of him.

  He hooked his thumbs in his waistband and began to really move as he slid his jeans down sinfully slow, baring inch after inch of his delectable skin. He kicked his jeans off, leaving his whole body bare to my gaze. Heady tendrils of desire prickled over my skin at the hungry, predatory look in his eyes.

  I crooked my finger at him, urging him closer. He came toward me, still moving to the beat of the music. He put a knee up on the bed and arched a brow at me again. I beckoned him once more, but he only moved a tiny bit further onto the bed.

  “Damnit, Brandon!” I cried. “Get your ass over here!”

  He grinned and moved fully onto the bed, stretching out beside me without touching. I reached my hand out to skim it over his chest but stopped when he shifted away.

  “Ah-ah-ah,” he said, teasingly. “Your turn.”

  I blinked at him. He blinked back. I shook my head no, telling him wordlessly that I wasn’t giving him a strip tease. He nodded yes and a smile bloomed on his succulent lips. I smiled back and shook my head no again, which only made him shrug and tuck his hands behind his head, crossing his legs at the ankle.

  I scowled at him. If my blood wasn’t already heated by his strip tease, I may have been able to withstand the sight of his body laid out before me; might have let the impasse go on. But I couldn’t. My fingers itched to explore every inch of his velvet-covered hardness, my lips yearned to kiss all the hot spots I knew he possessed. More than that, my core was flooded with desire, aching with an emptiness that was begging to be filled.

  Still scowling, I slumped off the edge of the bed with a sigh, turning my back to Brandon. Just then, the music changed and Gimme That Nutt by Easy E started blaring. I stopped and look back over my shoulder at Brandon, giving him a wry grin. He was laughing, his shoulders shaking with mirth, and then started singing along with the raunchy words.

  I felt my cheeks flush, more from embarrassment that now he knew I had that song (and many other older, not-fit-for-young-ears-songs) on my iPod than anything, and hurried over to change it. When Ride by SoMo started, I turned back to see him still lying prone on the mattress, grin still locked firmly in place. Figuring the time to play was over, I tossed my clothes off in a hurry and climbed back onto the bed beside him.

  “Hey, no fair!” he cried, starting to sit up. “You didn’t dance for me.”

  I shoved him back down and leaned over him, aiming my lips for his. Just before they met in a searing kiss, I muttered, “Get over it.”

  He did. My questing kiss turned fevered and dark. Our teeth, lips, and tongues clashed, pressing, biting, licking at each other’s mouths, both of us moaning at the sensations. Deepening the kiss even more, I moved, covering his body with mine, drawing a ragged cry from my lips when my skin met his.

  I straddled his hips, my chest pressed to his, my wet heat sliding against the perfect length of him, coating his hardness with the evidence of my desire. His hands came up, one wrapping itself in my hair and giving a sharp tug, baring my throat to his teeth, the other sliding down to clutch at my hip, holding me still as he thrust against me.

  Unable to bear the ache in my loins any longer, I slid forward, arched up, and impaled myself on his jutting length. A hiss sounded from his lips, then he groaned, his hand abandoning my hair to use both to clench on my hips almost bruisingly, as I started riding him wildly, the fast, pounding rhythm leaving us both breathless.

  I sat up, taking him that much deeper inside, and arched my back, my hands finding purchase on his thighs behind me. I rested my weight on my knees and braced myself on my hands, using my hips to pump up and down on his shaft, swiveling my hips as I did.

  “Jesus, that’s good,” Brandon panted, arching his hips up to meet my downward thrusts.

  One of his hands left my hip, sliding over to splay on my lower stomach, his thumb finding my clit unerringly. He pressed hard on the nub and, like he’d pushed a detonator button, I went off, coming hard around him. I could feel my inner muscles contracting, pulsing around the swollen, heavy length pressing against every silken inch of my core, milking him uncontrollably as I bucked and screamed out my explosive release.

  “Yeah baby, that’s it…come on me, sunshine,” he growled, rubbing my clit in shallow circles, faster and faster. The sensations built, layer upon layer, so quickly I couldn’t catch my breath before I went over the edge again. This time, though, his fingers left my sensitive nub and gripped my hip once more. He rode out the spasms of my body, thrusting up into my body with barely controlled, almost violent thrusts. Each heavy slap of his skin against mine, the soft sucking noises of his body slipping in and out of mine, all worked together to create a sweet cacophony of pure, white hot pleasure that blended perfectly with the rough grunts torn from Brandon’s throat as he pounded into me.

  Finally, with one last, forceful thrust upward, he buried himself deep, pulling me roughly down onto him so that I was fully and completely impaled as he groaned out his release. The hardness of him swelled impossibly larger as he spurted deep inside me, each forceful jet of his seed flooding me with warmth. I ground against him, wringing every last drop from him and riding out the last lingering vestiges of my own orgasm, my body shuddering on top of his.

  Body spent, I collapsed on top of him and his arms came up to enfold me. He smoothed his hands down my back soothingly as we fought to catch our breath, and as we laid there, melded together, he whispered softly in my ear, “I’m pretty sure you’re my everything, sunshine.”

  Chapter 20

  The bell chimed above the door at the shop and I hollered out, “Hey! Welcome to Skin Deep, I’ll be right with you!” I laid the box of supplies I was unloading on the table in the supply room and hurried out to help the customer who’d come in.

  Brandon was in the back with a client, working on a back piece. This was the fourth and final session but it was absolutely breath-taking and the client had been raving about how much he loved it, even though it wasn’t finished. It took up his entire back and was very detailed, but very simplistic at the same time.

  Luke had gone home early to take Emma and Everly to the baby’s doctor appointment. She was due to have shots today and, after Allie’s unintelligible phone call to Emma after Liam’s appointment last week, Luke wasn’t letting Emma take her on her own. He said that Allie had been crying so hard about the fact that Liam had screamed when he got h
is shots, and that Jackson had to practically carry both the baby and Allie out of the office because she was crying so hard right along with him. I’m assuming he gathered that much from Jackson on a separate call.

  It’d been three weeks since the “incident” as we referred to it. We’d still not heard anything from Noah, other than the fact that everything did point right to Greg, because there’d been nothing else to report. But that didn’t mean that we weren’t still very careful…or that I felt like I didn’t have to look over my shoulder every five seconds if I was alone for just one minute.

  The nightmare I had last night still lingered in my mind if I stopped to think for just a moment, so I’d been trying to stay busy all day. Brandon had helped, giving me tasks that he and Luke usually did just to keep me occupied. Not to mention the way he’d taken my mind off of it last night…

  I walked around the corner and stopped behind the counter, the smile dropping from my face immediately as my nightmare came to life.

  Standing before me, nonchalantly, like he had not a care in the world, was Greg. He leaned on the counter and smiled at me. It wasn’t the menacing smile that haunted me; this was his All-American Boy smile that reeled me in to begin with.

  “Hey, sweetie! How’ve you been?” he said, brightly.

  My vocal chords were frozen, and so was my body. I could only blink rapidly as I stared at him, terror rippling over every inch of me.

  The smile turned down and, not quite frowning but close, he asked, “Aren’t you glad to see me? I’ve missed you so much, you know.”

  The silence was deafening as I stared at him. It was only broken by the very faint buzzing of Brandon’s machine back in his studio. I was hoping that Greg would hear it and realize that I wasn’t alone. Maybe he would leave…