by K. A. Linde
He left kisses down her chest and then latched on to her breast.
“Both of these.”
His hands sent butterflies through her stomach as he gripped her hips and settled his cock against her opening. She wanted to move and try to ease him into her, but just the feel of him against her was sending her into a frenzy. She didn’t want him to pull back.
“I’m going to erase every memory you ever had tonight, baby.”
“Not the ones of you,” she managed to get out. “I always keep those safe.”
He smiled brilliantly at her. That was the right thing to say.
Brady plunged down into her roughly in one swift motion without any warning. Liz cried out as he stretched and filled her gloriously. As promised, Liz saw stars. She was sure nothing else had ever felt this incredible before.
He started a slow rhythm that she was already anxious to increase as he thrust deeper and deeper into her. Liz arched her back again, trying to give him as much room as she could, but she had forgotten how big he was. She was going to be wonderfully sore in the morning, and still she wanted more.
“Harder,” Liz gasped out. “Fuck. Brady, fuck me harder.”
Brady grabbed her leg and placed it on his shoulder before driving into her harder and faster. She whimpered as he stretched her walls to capacity. He took her so roughly that it was borderline painful, and she was clawing the couch to try to get more leverage.
“Baby, your whimpering is going to make me come,” he growled.
“Oh God,” she moaned.
He smirked and leaned forward to fuck her even harder. She was almost there. She felt a layer of sweat coat her body and her walls tightening unrelentingly around him.
“Open those legs for me,” he said, pushing her leg off of his shoulder and onto the couch. She obliged him by unbending her other leg and spread-eagling before him.
With just that added bit of room, Brady drove down into her and she felt her walls shake. “Right there, yes, oh God,” she yelled, and then she shattered.
Her legs trembled mercilessly as he plunged into her one more time before crying out and filling her. Brady collapsed forward on top of her and she wrapped her arms and legs around him. They were both breathless and shaking from the exertion, but unbelievably, unequivocally sated.
As their breathing evened out, Brady propped himself up on his elbows and brushed her matted hair out of her face. He kissed her lips once and when he pulled back, she couldn’t keep the megawatt smile off of her face.
“You know, baby,” he whispered, “I’ve been angry at you for so long that I just don’t think I have it in me anymore. It takes too much effort. Loving you takes so much less effort, and it means I get to see that smile.”
Liz’s mouth dropped open in shock. Had he . . . had he just told her that he loved her?
He laughed softly and then kissed her button nose. “Happy Valentine’s Day, baby.”
Chapter 27
OATMEAL
Liz woke up the next morning to feel Brady’s strong arms wrapped around her waist and her face buried in his shoulder. The soft comforter covered their still-naked bodies as light streamed into the bedroom from the upstairs window. In that moment, Liz just let herself feel all the joy and happiness that came with where she was and what she was doing.
Brady Maxwell. She was in bed with Brady Maxwell.
And in the early-morning sunshine, half-delirious from lack of sleep, aching in all the right places from last night, she felt as if she was exactly where she needed to be. She knew that they’d had a rough time getting there, and she was sure that the road ahead wasn’t going to be easy. But at least right here and right now, she could let the rest of the world fall away, pretend that they didn’t have Hayden’s article to face or a public ravenous for a scandal, and just be here with Brady.
She nuzzled into him and left a soft kiss on his neck. “Mmm,” Brady murmured as he came to.
“Morning,” she whispered.
He tightened his grip on her waist, pulling her closer to him. “I had the most amazing dream last night.”
“Oh yeah? Was I in it?” Liz asked, tangling their legs together under the covers.
“You were. I dreamed I brought you to my lake house and had sex with you all morning,” he whispered into her ear.
“Hate to break it to you, but that wasn’t a dream.”
“I know,” he said, nipping at her ear. “I think I have another dream coming on.”
“Am I in that one?”
“It’s me fucking you all afternoon too.”
“Oh,” she whispered. “I feel like I’m having that same dream.”
He chuckled softly and then rolled her on top of him. Liz leaned her breasts against his chest and braced her hands on his shoulders. His hand slid between them, parting her lips and touching her teasingly.
“No begging this time,” she groaned, evading his playful fingers and pressing herself against his erection.
“The begging is my favorite part.” He found her lips and kissed them softly.
Liz smiled and broke their kiss before slowly lowering herself onto him. “The begging or the whimpering? Or was it when you came?”
Brady grabbed her hips and forced her all the way down onto him. Liz gasped at the unexpected movement. “It’s when you come.”
Liz couldn’t argue with that assessment. Every time he made her come, he quickly followed, until both were spent and unable to move. Their bodies were perfectly in tune as if there had never been a pause in their sex life.
Even though she was on top, she let Brady set the pace. His hands guided her body up and down on top of him. Their hips met at a perfect angle. Her breasts bounced with the movement, and all they did was stare back at each other. She had missed this. Missed him. The emotions trapped between her and Brady intensified every touch, taste, feel as they reexperienced everything they had missed in the past year and a half.
Climax crashed over her in waves almost without warning, and Liz dropped over onto his chest again. Brady kept thrusting into her as she rode out her orgasm. She felt him grasp her hips forcefully at the last thrust and his eyes closed as he came.
“This is the best way to wake up,” she murmured softly.
“With you.”
“Mmm, with you.”
Brady kissed her temple and ran his hands up and down her back. “How about you hop in the shower?”
“Join me?” she asked, already almost falling back asleep from his hands on her.
He laughed lightly. “We both know how that will end.”
“So, yes?”
“You shower. I’m going to see if we have anything to eat. Didn’t think that one through.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Brady Maxwell?” she muttered.
“Cut a guy some slack. I wasn’t expecting to spend the weekend at the lake,” he said with a kiss on her cheek as he rolled to the other side of the bed.
“I’m glad you did.”
Brady kicked his feet over the bed and stood in the buff. “Me too.”
Good Lord! The man was the definition of sexy. Muscular arms, broad shoulders, washboard abs. It really wasn’t fair to the rest of the world, but she didn’t mind the view one bit.
He found a pair of black boxer briefs, basketball shorts, and a long-sleeve T-shirt from the closet and reappeared covering everything she had been assessing.
“I’m turning the water on,” Brady said, walking into the bathroom.
“Okay. Okay.” Liz hopped out of bed and followed him.
Brady placed a towel on the counter for her and turned the water on full steam. She grabbed his T-shirt and pulled him in for a kiss before he could leave. “You should stay,” she murmured.
“You’re going to need food.”
“Yes,” she said, touching him through his shorts. “I am.”
“I’d bet you’re a little sore. I wasn’t gentle,” he said. “And I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You wo
n’t . . .”
“Liz, shower.” He opened the glass door to the massive walk-in shower and slapped her ass to get her moving.
“Fine. Don’t say I never asked,” she said, scurrying forward.
“Next time I want you to beg me, I’ll let you know.” He shook his head and shut the shower door.
Liz laughed as he walked out of the bathroom. She stepped into the hot spray, letting the water run down her body. Truth be told, she was sore. Very sore. To say he hadn’t been gentle was probably the understatement of the year. He had been as rough as she had asked him to be and then some, but she wouldn’t take it back. Not for a second.
She showered quickly and then changed into one of Brady’s UNC T-shirts and some baggy sweats she found in the closet. It wasn’t the sexiest outfit, but it wasn’t as if he had cared what she was wearing last night. She took the stairs down into the living room and saw that Brady had started another fire. She turned to walk into the kitchen when she caught a glimpse of the lake through the sliding glass doors.
The lake was pristine and snow fell softly onto its smooth surface. It was a light snow. Nothing that was likely going to stick, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
“It’s snowing,” she said as she walked into the kitchen.
“Yeah, it’s been doing that since I got down here. Hopefully it doesn’t stick or we’re not going anywhere anytime soon,” Brady said.
“That doesn’t sound like such a bad thing.”
He smiled and her heart stopped. “I hope you like oatmeal, because that’s pretty much all we have.”
“Oatmeal is fine.”
They ate in a peaceful silence. Both knew that the conversation to come was an important one, but each wanted to prolong the state of bliss they were in for a little bit longer. Brady reluctantly cleared the dishes, and Liz sat there sipping on the water he had poured her.
“So,” he said, leaning back against the counter.
“So,” she replied.
“We have some things to talk about.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe we should start at the beginning.”
“Living room?” she asked, standing and backing into the room.
“Sure.”
Liz took a seat on the couch again, but this time Brady sat across from her. She hated the space between them already, but she knew why it was necessary.
“I guess I should preface this conversation,” she began, “by letting you know you probably aren’t going to like some parts.”
“I doubt I’ll like much of it,” Brady said, leaning back into the seat and crossing his leg at his ankle.
Well, at least he knew. Maybe he wouldn’t kill anything along the way.
“So, the beginning, right?” He nodded and she tried not to avoid those dark eyes. Liz took a deep breath and began. “I guess the story starts after I left your primary. I wanted you to be happy, and I didn’t want to jeopardize your election. So I left and was miserable the rest of the semester. I never told anyone what happened, and I never let anyone in. Not even my roommate. I guess after you won I realized there was no hope for us, and I just wanted to try to forget. That’s when Hayden and I started talking.”
She cringed at Hayden’s name, and she saw Brady’s jaw clench. She didn’t blame him. Not one bit.
“Fast-forward to October. Well, you know what happened that night.”
“Yes. I do,” Brady said stiffly.
God, she hated this.
“Well, when you closed that door, I decided that nothing else really mattered. It was only the first argument Hayden and I had ever had, so I forgave him and we put it past us.”
“Just like that?” he asked, frustrated. “I fucking broke up with Erin the next day and you just forgave him?”
“I’m not you, Brady. I made my own mistakes,” she said softly. “I thought it would be okay.”
Brady shook his head. “You’re entirely too forgiving. That guy is a jackass.”
“He is. But you have to understand that Hayden had never once acted like that with me before. And you were gone.” He opened his mouth to say something, but Liz beat him too it. “I know. I left. I know. Trust me. Can I just tell the rest?”
He breathed out heavily. “What happened?”
“Everything was fine with my relationship, but nothing was okay with me. I beat myself up for months about cheating on Hayden with you.”
“Over our kiss?”
“You and I both know it was more than that, Brady. We wouldn’t be here right now if it was just a kiss.”
He nodded, acknowledging her statement, and she continued.
“I had a breakdown and told Victoria. She said that I should tell Hayden, because the worst thing that could happen was that he would leave me. At the time, I really thought that was the worst thing that could happen. I just wanted the weight off my chest. I wasn’t going to tell him it was you,” Liz said. Her body ached as she thought about what happened next.
“But you did.”
“Yes. He figured it out and I don’t even know how to explain what happened. He wasn’t himself. He turned scary.”
Brady’s eyes narrowed considerably and looked on edge. “Scary how?”
Liz shook her head. She couldn’t look him in the eye. She couldn’t relive what had happened. She didn’t want to tell him. She just wanted to get on with everything else.
“Liz, scary how?” he demanded.
“It doesn’t matter,” she peeped.
“I don’t like the sound of this,” he said gruffly. Standing and striding over to her, he grasped her chin softly in his hands and tilted her face up to him. “Look at me. What do you mean by that?”
Liz’s bottom lip trembled as she stared up into Brady’s concerned brown eyes. “He just freaked out and demanded details. When I gave them to him, he just . . .”
“Just what?”
“He made me feel even guiltier about what happened, had sex with me, and then left in the morning.”
Brady stood very still at her words. She couldn’t read all the emotions rolling through his body, but she could see underneath it all he was pissed. “Did you want to . . . ?”
Liz swallowed. She wanted to shake her head, but she just stared at him, the fear still reflected in her eyes.
“Fuck!” he cried, dropping his hand and storming across the room. “Fuck!”
“Brady . . .”
“I’ll kill him, Liz.”
“No,” she said, jumping up and rushing toward him. “You can’t do that.”
“Where are my car keys?” he asked, looking around the room.
“Brady,” she pleaded. She pressed her hands into his shoulders as he tried to walk toward the door. “Please.”
“You want me to stay here and just let him get away with raping you?” he demanded.
Liz shook her head. That word. She couldn’t hear that word. No. That wasn’t what it was. It wasn’t. It had been different. Just angry sex. Just hate sex. Just guilt sex. Anything but that. She could still hear Hayden shushing her as he pushed her into the mattress. A tear fell from her eyes even as she tried to hold them at bay.
“Oh, baby,” he said softly. He wiped the tear from under her eye and pulled her into his arms. “I’m not going to leave.”
“You can’t go after him,” Liz said, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“I want to kill him for ever touching you.”
“I know, but I don’t think murdering the reporter who is writing an ongoing story about you would get you reelected.”
He kissed the top of her head and held her close. “Good to know someone is thinking about my reelection chances.”
“Always,” she murmured.
Brady walked her back over to the couch, and after her tears dammed up, she started her story again. At least the hardest part was out of the way. Though she knew he wasn’t going to like what was coming after that.
“I told Hayden a week ago, and the story broke yesterday.
He didn’t tell me that he was going to put it in the paper. Everything seemed normal . . . or as normal as it could be.” Brady tensed next to her, and she knew he wanted to make a remark about Hayden. “I saw the article in the paper and freaked out. I was actually with Savannah when it broke.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, so I guess at least I had someone to break down with,” Liz said with a sad shrug. “Anyway, I tried to call Hayden, but he never returned my call.”
“Pussy,” Brady growled under his breath.
“Yeah. Then I got a call from Heather.”
“What?” he demanded.
“I hadn’t been planning to call you in the first place, because you told me not to and I wanted to respect what you wanted. Then she called me and told me not to contact you.”
“I can’t believe she would go behind my back like that.”
“Really? After how she reacted when she found out about us, and then with her name ending up in Hayden’s article? I’m surprised you didn’t think of it yourself.”
Brady shook his head, trying to process all the new information. “I guess I should have thought that she would tie up everything she thought was a loose end.”
“That’s me,” Liz said bitterly. “A loose end.”
“You know what I mean . . .”
“Yeah. I do. But as you can imagine, after that conversation I decided to get drunk, which is when Clay called me.”
Brady looked at her in disbelief. “And how does Clay have your phone number?”
“I gave it to him at your gala event that summer we were together. He’d never used it before, but remember that same night he thought my name was Liz Carmichael.”
“So he put two and two together,” Brady said, inching away from her. He laced his fingers together and stared down at them as he tried to find words. “I know that Clay has a certain reputation. I’d hope that I don’t have to kill my brother too.”
“Um . . . no. You don’t. He kissed me, but that’s all.”
“You kissed him?”
“Um . . . yeah.”
“And he was satisfied with just a kiss?”
“Well, no, but it’s kind of complicated. I thought that I was never going to see you again, so when I went with Clay, I was in a really low place.”