by A. C. Arthur
Selfish?
No. When Brynne had shared these concerns with Sybil, the first thing her therapist had said was, “Don’t borrow anyone else’s problems.”
So she hadn’t. But that hadn’t helped. Those problems may have found her anyway.
When the treadmill beeped, signaling it was finished with the programmed session, she grabbed her towel and stepped off. For the next half hour she worked with the free weights, until her arms felt like Jello and sweat poured from every possible spot on her body.
After her workout, she’d walked quickly through the house intending to go upstairs and take a shower. The auction was in an hour and a half and she needed to get dressed and get down to the winery where it was being held.
“You’re not dressed,” Lauren said as she came up behind Brynne on the stairs.
Brynne looked at her friend and noted her worn jeans and black t-shirt. Her long hair was pulled up into a messy bun with a pen stuck in the side. She was holding a stack of folders in one hand and a coffee mug in the other. Lauren loved her coffee.
“Neither are you,” Brynne told her as they walked side-by-side.
“I’m about to get dressed now. You’re all sweaty. Where are you coming from? The gym?”
“No. Wade’s bed,” Brynne said dryly. Where in the world did she think she was coming from?
“What? Oh, right. Very funny,” Lauren quipped.
They were at the top of the stairs now and Lauren’s room was in the opposite direction of Brynne’s.
“So you have your list of the auction items right? And the original price list? You have that too. What else?”
“Nothing,” Brynne said. “We went over everything one last time at breakfast this morning. And yes, I made a follow-up call about the Ming vase. The airport was trying to track the package when I called at noon. If it’s not here in a half hour we have an Armani suit as a back-up item. It won’t be on the program but I’ll make an announcement when we open the auction.”
Lauren was nodding as Brynne was speaking, as if she were checking these items off for the billionth time in her mind. “Okay. Good. Now what about the donations? Did we hear back from the representatives?”
Brynne nodded. “Yes. Both directors from the Grace House will be here and Wade spoke to Calvin Ventros personally about accepting part of the proceeds from the silent auction for The Lily Center.”
“Are—”
Lauren started to ask another question but Brynne put her hand over her mouth and smiled. “Everything is in place. Tonight is going to go off without a hitch. This auction is going to raise money and awareness for two great non-profit organizations so that they can continue to help people seeking to improve their lives and recover from eating disorders and abuse. Everyone that’s coming is ready to kick off the 60 year celebration by eating lavish food, tasting fabulous wine and forking over tons of money. You’ve got this,” Brynne told her. “You really do.”
Lauren nodded and then moved Brynne’s hand from her mouth. “I’m supposed to be offering you support during your transition time and here you are spending your days helping me with planning and securing auction items and now giving me pep talks. You’re a great friend.”
Brynne smiled. “You were there to do all the supporting I needed, when I needed it. Let me be here for you tonight.”
Lauren smiled and took a step forward as if she were going to hug Brynne.
Brynne shook her head. “You don’t want to do that right now,” she said looking down at her sweat drenched shirt. “After we’re all glamorous and smelling divine.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Lauren nodded. “Hurry up. I want us to be there well before the doors open for the guests.”
“I got’cha. I only need a half hour and I’ll head straight to the winery,” Brynne said.
“Meet ya there,” Lauren told her as they parted ways.
Brynne walked into her room and was about to head straight to the bathroom when she noticed her dress—that had been hanging over the closet door earlier today when Mrs. Ramsey brought it in from being steamed—was gone.
Brynne knew the dress was here because when she’d come up around four o’clock, after taking care of all the last minute planning items, the dress was the first thing she’d seen upon entering the room. She’d admired it again, loving the fact that Lauren had been able to get Marcella Nioria to design them both original dresses.
Now, it was gone. Brynne went to the closet and pulled the door open, pushing through the clothes that hung on the rod. The dress wasn’t there. She walked into the bathroom. It wasn’t there either. When she turned around to leave the bathroom her cell phone vibrated. It was on her arm affixed to the Velcro holder she always wore during her workout. Brynne snatched it from the holder and pressed the button to light the screen. It was an email notification. She had a new email from #donovans#1.
Brynne froze.
She’d been ignoring these emails for months now, what if they were from Roslyn as well? What if Roslyn had somehow gotten into the house and stole her dress? A nervous giggle escaped and Brynne shook her head. That was ridiculous. Why would she do something like that?
Brynne walked out of the bathroom and was about to check the closet again when she saw him.
Wade stood in the doorway, leaning with his arms folded across his chest against the doorjamb.
“I figured since you’ve been sleeping in my bed at night, you might as well get dressed for the party in my room too.”
“What?” she asked, confused about her dress, him being here and the fact that this man always looked good, even wearing dirty jeans and an equally soiled t-shirt.
He grinned. “Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.”
He’d already left by the time Brynne started to follow him to his room. She closed the door behind her and was just about to tell him that she needed to go and find her dress, when she entered his bedroom and saw her dress hanging on a silver rack beside his tuxedo.
“I ran us a bath,” he said as he pulled his shirt up and over his head, dropping it into a wicker basket on his way into the bathroom.
Did he say ‘us’?
Since the night she’d come to Wade’s room she’d been sleeping in his bed, making love to him, talking to him, sharing with him. In the mornings, since the auction was coming up, they both had meetings or other things to do. So there were quick walks, or rushed breakfasts, but never any shared bathroom time. Brynne took a deep breath and released it slowly. That time was apparently over.
She didn’t have time to argue or debate. She needed to bathe and to get dressed. So she walked into the bathroom and began to undress. Wade was already seated in the large soaking tub with the jets on. He didn’t turn to watch her, a fact that pleased her. Yes, he’d seen her naked, more than once at this point. But that didn’t mean she wanted to model her nudity in front of him in the even brighter light of the bathroom.
Brynne moved quickly stepping into the tub across from Wade so that they faced each other. Her legs rubbed against his as she settled in the blessed hot water. Her muscles basically screamed hallelujah as she settled back, propping her arms on the lip of the tub. Her eyes closed and an involuntary moan escaped her lips.
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s precisely the type of day I’ve had. Meeting after meeting. A shipment mix-up to a major restaurant chain, Italian building permits and taxes. Then a few hours in the field checking the vines. And I bought your dress and personal items into my room because it’s silly that you keep running back there to get dressed when you’re obviously sleeping here every night.”
She opened her eyes slowly and lifted her head until she could look at him. He was staring at her, waiting for her response.
“I would have liked it if you’d discussed that with me first,” she said. “I thought something had happened.”
He frowned. “Something like what? A dress thief in the villa?”
Brynne forced herself to smile. She had no inte
ntion of telling Wade that she was thinking more along the lines of a deranged woman out for revenge.
“I was just worried and like you said, today has been a pretty rough day. Of all the things to have to worry about, my dress going missing wasn’t one of them.”
“So you’re irritated about your dress and not about the fact that I basically moved you into my room without asking your permission?”
She reached for one of the royal blue cloths that were folded and stacked neatly on the side ledge of the tub. Dunking it into the water she lifted it to her shoulders and squeezed the hot water onto her skin. “I’m not irritated and I haven’t forgotten the moving my stuff without asking issue either. It’s just that I need to get dressed and down to the winery before Lauren busts a blood vessel from all her worrying and anxiousness.”
“Right. We both need to be there,” he said. “So let me help speed things a long.”
He moved, water shifted and before Brynne could speak Wade had slipped the cloth out of her hand and was squeezing body wash onto it. She looked at the bottle. It was hers, brown sugar and karite butter exfoliating cleanser. The sweet and woodsy scent filled the air as he lathered the cloth.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He leaned in closer, touching the soapy cloth to her neck and sliding it along her shoulders. “I’m taking care of you.”
“I don’t need—” she started to say.
Wade was already lifting her arm, rubbing the cloth under it and down to her fingers.
“You don’t need me to take care of you,” he said. “I know. But I want to. I need to.”
Brynne breathed out slowly. The water felt good, the body wash smelled good. Hell, this bath idea versus the quick shower she’d been thinking of taking, was just good. He continued with her arms and then dragged the cloth over her chest, down to her breasts. He didn’t speak, but looked her in the eye as he moved. Her nipples were hard as he touched her, a quick throbbing in her center starting immediately. His gaze darkened because he knew.
Well, two could play that game. Brynne reached for another cloth and lathered it with her body wash because she didn’t see anything else close. They were going to smell the same tonight. Something about that thought had her warming inside. She touched the soapy cloth to his chest first, moving it over his taut pectorals and then going down. Her hand was under the water by then, grasping his length and wrapping the cloth around it. He groaned and licked his lips.
In the next seconds Wade was moving again, this time sitting back in the tub and pulling her with him onto his lap. With his soapy hands he cupped her face and kissed her. Hungry and needy, that’s what she felt from the kiss. He did need this and surprisingly, she thought as she drifted into the sweet recesses of the kiss, she did too.
The cloth had already slipped from her hands, but Brynne moved beneath the water again until her fingers brushed the hardened length of his arousal. She gripped him immediately, sliding up and down loving the feel of the heated silk in her palm.
“Brynne,” he whispered her name. “I’ve thought about you all day.”
He nipped her chin and then went back to her lips, sucking the bottom one into his mouth. She sighed and continued to stroke him, her other hand braced on his shoulder.
“I wanted to touch you,” he continued. “Just hold you because I knew you would make it better. Yessss, sweetheart, so much better.”
His hands moved down to grip her breasts then, cupping and squeezing them as his tongue moved over her neck. Brynne arched into him, her hand still working him. Her tongue grazed over his ear and he sucked in a breath. When her hand went down her fingers touched his sac before coming up once more to take his shaft. Her center pulsated as her breath came in quick pants.
He was speaking Italian again, quickly, roughly. Brynne had no idea what he was saying, but she liked it. She liked it so much she lifted her hips and guided his length to her center. Slowly, so slow her eyes closed and her teeth clenched as she lowered herself onto him.
“Bagnato. Caldo. Delizioso,” he whispered as he thrust his hips upward to meet her.
“Yes,” Brynne replied. She brought both hands up to his shoulders now, pumping gradually over him.
“More,” he told her and pumped faster. He wrapped his arms tightly around her then. “More, sweetheart. Ho bisogno di più.”
She wanted more as well and Brynne wasn’t ashamed to show it. She rotated her hips, matching his movements, moaning when he moaned. Water sloshed over the lip of the tub and dripped onto the floor. The scent of the body wash floated through the air. His groans grew louder and so did hers. When his hands slipped beneath the water to cup her buttocks, squeezing her cheeks and guiding her strokes over his length Brynne let out a curse.
Why was this so good? Why did he know exactly what she needed, when she needed it? Why were her thighs shaking and her climax about to take over, when she didn’t want this to end?
“Wade,” she said through clenched teeth as her nails sank into the skin of his shoulder. “Yes, Wade!”
Those final words came as she trembled over him.
“Yes, sweetheart. I’m right there with you. Every…second…damn…yes!”
He tensed and groaned. They both held on, breathing hard and waiting for the ripples of pleasure tearing through their bodies to stop.
Minutes later, while they were still embraced, Brynne thought the water was still warm and the light in here so very bright.
“Have I told you that you’re perfect today?” he asked before nipping her earlobe.
“I think so, in Italian,” she replied with a lazy grin.
“Tu sei perfetto,” he whispered. “That’s you are perfect in Italian.”
She leaned back and looked down at him then. “Okay, so maybe you haven’t told me that today.”
But she loved hearing it, whenever he told her because a part of her knew that he meant it. He believed it. Even if she didn’t.
“Oh crap!” she yelled effectively shattering the after sex glow. “We’re going to be perfectly late if we hang out in this tub any longer.”
With a groan and a loud kiss to her lips, Wade agreed. “You’re right. Let’s get going before Lauren really does have a meltdown.”
“Oh no,” Brynne told him as she lifted up off him and found one of the cloths floating in the tub. “We have original dresses that are way too beautiful to have any type of meltdown in.”
“Right,” Wade said, finding the other cloth and lathering it again. “That’s the last thing I need is two lovely women in beautiful dresses angry with me for making them late.”
“Yes, baby,” Brynne replied with a chuckle. “That is the last thing you need.”
Chapter 9
Her dress was gorgeous.
Wade hadn’t been able to accurately imagine how good she was going to look tonight. When he’d seen the dress hanging in her room he’d simply thought, black dress, elegant affair, success. He wanted the auction to be a success and he was glad that he would have Brynne by his side to help make that happen. That’s all Wade had anticipated.
Instead, he’d gotten so much more.
The black dress hugged her every curve, cupping her ample breasts like a glove while showing just enough cleavage to drive him crazy for the next four hours. It wrapped snuggly around her generous waist and outlined the enticing curve of her bottom. She left her hair curly and it framed her face softly. Her make-up was light, with just a hint of color to her eyes and her cheeks and she smelled heavenly. Wade groaned as he finally finished with his tie—after three tries to get it right. He pulled on his vest and buttoned it, rethinking his brilliant idea to move her into his room. Watching her dress was a distraction.
“I’m almost finished Mr. Banks,” she said as she sat on the side of the bed and buckled the outrageously high-heeled shoes she wore.
“Yeah,” he replied, shaking his head. “Me too.”
Wade took a couple hurried steps to the closest whe
re he removed his suit jacket from the hanger. He stole a quick glance in the mirror to make sure his hair was laying obediently in the direction he’d combed it and ran a hand along the light beard Brynne had told him to leave instead of shaving.
Seconds later they were leaving the room and ten minutes after that they walked through the double wooden doors of the winery.
Lauren was already there, moving from one staff member to the next, spouting off assignments all while looking regal in a navy blue dress. His sister’s dress wasn’t as fitting as Brynne’s but rather flared from her waist to just below her knees, ending in a sheer material with something sparkly around its hem. She came over the minute she spotted them.
“I really need you two not to try and squeeze in a quickie when I’m down here putting out an array of small fires,” she said when she was standing in front of them.
Wade opened his mouth, then closed it again. His shock at Lauren’s words rendering him speechless. Luckily, Brynne was there to save them.
“We’re here now and it was much better than a quickie,” she quipped and laced her arm through Lauren’s. “Now, what’s going on?”
Brynne had turned them around and Lauren looked over her shoulder to give him a smile and a wiggle of her brows as she walked away. Wade couldn’t help but chuckle as they walked away.
How lucky was he? His sister was healthy and happy to have her best friend close by and Brynne, his girlfriend, was…she was an unexpected pleasure.
“Looking good here. You and Lauren are taking good care of this business.”
Her voice had come from behind, but when Wade turned, he already knew what he would see. Mrs. Ramsey was standing there with her approving smile as she looked around the room. He loved how steady and keen those dark brown eyes of hers were. How many times had he stared into them when he was being disciplined or encouraged? Ophelia Ramsey had been everything his mother had been unable to be to Wade. And he appreciated her every day of his life.