“Ted.” She hadn’t known he’d been waiting. But now that she thought about it, about the women it almost felt like he’d been dangling in front of her, those times she wondered how he could be so insensitive, so blind… Maybe what he’d been looking for hadn’t been from those women at all. Maybe he’d been trying to force the same reaction from her that she’d been after from him when this whole business with Brody began.
Ted stared at her a moment longer, searching her eyes before his face cleared. A humorous laugh escaped his lips. “After I talked you into moving up to Chicago, found you an apartment in the same building…started every damn day by coming by to see you first. You really didn’t know?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, meaning it with her whole heart.
He let her hand go and took a step back. “So here’s the thing, Gwennie. You might not have known then…but you do now. This thing with O’Donnel is new. It’s not too late for us.”
That was where he was wrong. It was too late. Over the years, she’d never been able to put her feelings for Ted aside completely. Through every relationship, he’d still been this little wish in her heart, keeping her from getting too involved or too invested.
But with Brody, it was different.
Maybe she’d already been letting Ted go, or maybe it was Brody and how being with him felt so right in a way it never had with Ted. Whatever it was, something had changed inside her.
“Ted, it kills me to know that you’ve been hurting. That you’ve been waiting for something I can’t give you.”
“You can.” He pressed her, a hope-filled smile breaking through. “You love me.”
“I do.” Tears pricked at her eyes. “But I’m not in love with you.”
Not anymore.
He cleared his throat and wiped a hand over his face. “Were you ever?”
Yes. For years and years. It was another first she’d given him. But what would knowing that do for him now? Hurt him. Give him false hope. Hold him back when he should be moving on.
“I’m sorry, Ted.” She wouldn’t do any of those things to him. “No.”
For a moment, he just stood there, staring at her. And then slowly, he walked to the door.
“Ted, wait.”
He laughed again and gave her the crooked smile that only hurt to see now. “Hell, I’ve waited this long. What’s a little more?”
* * *
She’d mostly gotten herself together by the time Brody finished at Belfast, but he knew within the first minute something was wrong.
“Ted again?” he guessed, glaring up at the ceiling as if he was thinking about paying a visit to the man on the other side.
Resting a hand on his chest, Gwen waited until he was looking back at her. “Yes, but not the way you think. We talked. He apologized. And you were right… There were some other things going on with him. Stuff I didn’t know about.”
“It’s still not okay what he did.”
“No, it’s not.” But she certainly understood it better. “He knows that. And now that we’ve talked, I don’t think it’ll happen again.”
Stroking his thumb over her cheek, he searched her eyes. “You okay, Gwen? Is he okay?”
She nodded, once again wowed by the man in front of her. She knew how he felt about Ted, but she could see the concern in his eyes, and it was genuine. He cared about what happened to the guy who pissed him off to no end, because he knew she cared. And there went another little piece of her heart.
“He’ll be fine.” They all would be. But she imagined it would take some time and space to get there. She and Ted were going to need to reframe their relationship. Establish new boundaries. And let go of old expectations.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
“Are you okay if I don’t? It’s just that I feel like it wouldn’t be fair to Ted.” She knew how it felt to have her secrets exposed to people she hadn’t chosen to share them with, and despite everything, she couldn’t do that to Ted. What he’d told her was between them. It was private.
Brody pulled her in to his chest and closed his arms around her so she felt safe and sheltered. Protected beyond the physical. “Yeah, gorgeous. I’m okay with it. There’s a lot of history between you guys that I’m not a part of. I get it.” Resting his chin on the top of her head, he stroked a hand down her back. “But I’m always here if you change your mind.”
Chapter 17
Another night with Gwen in his arms, and Brody wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to go without again. It was too soon to try to talk her into moving in with him. He knew it was. But seeing her toothbrush on his bathroom counter, finding her swimming in his T-shirt and a pair of his socks while she flipped through the paper at the kitchen island, knowing that his sheets smelled like her…it was doing something to him. Something different from what he’d experienced with the women he’d had relationships with in the past.
“Morning, gorgeous,” he greeted, detouring past her on his way to the coffee machine so he could touch her hair and maybe see if he could make her blush once or twice.
“Morning, again,” she replied with a soft laugh, that pretty, pink heat he couldn’t get enough of already pushing into her cheeks.
Mmm, what was she thinking about?
“You snuck out of bed without me.”
His coffee maker was one of those industrial-grade high-end deals, but he’d shown her how it worked the night before and was glad to see she’d been able to work it this morning. A glance at his watch confirmed, yeah, still morning, but barely.
One honey-blond brow arched in his direction. “I thought you might need your rest.”
He would’ve happily survived without it, but the thought was sweet. Besides, he’d gotten to wake with her in his arms earlier that morning. Not that they’d made it out of bed that time. But what a way to wake up.
“I can’t believe you get the actual paper,” she commented absently, flipping through the pages.
When his coffee was ready, he settled in behind her, wrapping one arm around her waist while he read a few headlines over her shoulder. “Guess I’m an old-school kind of guy.”
“That’s not what your coffee maker is saying. It looks like it came off an alien spaceship.” She turned her head, peering back at him over her shoulder. “But now that I think about it, you really do use your phone less than almost anyone else I know. Heck, you don’t even have it with you right now.”
Why would he need it, when the only person he wanted to talk to was right in front of him?
Those whiskey eyes went wide, and one pretty hand covered her mouth. “Wait, is it because of your fingers? Are they so big it makes it hard to use the apps on the phone?”
There was that too. But come on, he wasn’t a gorilla. He could use the damn thing, just not as quickly or as easily as someone with delicate little fingers like she had.
Setting his coffee aside, he held up his hand in front of her and dropped his voice as he whispered in her ear.
“I thought you liked my fingers. In fact I was almost sure of it… But maybe I should check again.”
Then he was sliding his hand between her legs, finding his way beneath the hem of that overlong T-shirt so he could touch the silky bare skin of her inner thigh.
“Brody,” she sighed as he roamed higher, higher, higher…
“Fuck,” he ground out when he discovered she wasn’t wearing any panties. It was nothing but soft, tender, bare flesh. “Open for me, gorgeous.”
Her breath caught, and then she was stepping her legs further apart, giving him what he asked for. Pressing that perfect ass of hers back into him as he teased his fingers over her folds.
So wet already.
He stroked through her slickness, groaning at the feel as he eased one finger inside her heat. “You like that, baby?”
“Yes,” sh
e hissed as he curled the digit forward, stroking over her favorite spot.
Another sweet shudder, and this time when she pushed her ass back, he rocked forward, grinding against her just that much.
He pumped in and out of her and then carefully pressed a second finger in with the first. “Do you like my thick fingers inside you?”
He knew she did, could feel her need and desire spilling over his hand and the clench of her body around him.
“Brody, please.”
Man, he loved the way she said his name. And when he got that breathy, little please tagged on the end, it was nearly enough to push him over the edge.
He wanted to fill her with his body. Tell her to put her hands on the counter and brace as he took her hard and deep. But the condoms were upstairs, so he’d enjoy giving her what he had. Slowly, he wedged another finger inside. Damn, it was so snug, but he knew she liked it, because she was moaning and gasping. Her hips bucked against the heel of his hand as he stroked in and out, again and again. Twisting and spreading, curving and stroking, he played with her until her knees buckled and, shuddering, she cried out his name.
Brody took her in his arms and, kissing her hard, cut through the first floor and took the stairs up two at a time. He needed her in his bed.
Hell, he needed her like he’d never needed anyone before.
When he finally made it to his room, he laid her against the sheets, shucking his clothes and grabbing a rubber while she tossed his T-shirt aside. Then she was inching back, opening her legs for him as he crawled over her. Peering up at him with those gorgeous eyes as he took her body like she’d taken his heart.
There was something primitive and powerful boiling up inside him. Something that hadn’t been there before. Something he didn’t want to fight.
“Never want to let you go,” he growled, rocking inside her, buried as deep as he could get.
It was too soon for promises. His. Hers. But with that warm whiskey gaze still tangled up with his, promises were all he could think about.
* * *
Gwen had known she was going to have to return to the scene of the crime eventually. It was either that or find a new job and a new watering hole and a new place to meet up with her boyfriend. Belfast had turned out to be something of a one-stop shop for all things vital in her life. So yes, she’d been prepared to go back. But apparently, it had been in a deep-denial way, because when she actually found herself standing on the sidewalk that first Tuesday after the new year…no freaking way was she ready to face her coworkers after getting busted making out with the boss the last time she was there. Making out with her boss and then disappearing into his office until after the bar closed.
It was move-to-Canada time.
“Oh no you don’t,” Jill sang in her ear, coming up behind her and all but shoving her through the door.
“Jill,” she squeaked, laughing and burning with shame all at once.
When the other woman released her and walked past, Gwen gawked. “What were you doing out there in your T-shirt…in January?”
Jill shrugged. “You were standing out there for ten minutes, Gwen. Ready to bolt. Figured my best chance was to go around from the alley and sneak up behind you. Get you inside quick, so I didn’t end up having to train a new new girl.”
“Well, thanks for that,” Gwen said, meaning it more than Jill could appreciate.
“Go put your stuff away, and get back here. I can only be cool for so long before I die of lack of details, and Brody says you’re the type to kiss and tell.”
Gwen coughed out a laugh, her eyes going wide. “I am not!”
Tying her apron around her waist, Jill shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Turned out, she totally was the type to kiss and tell. All it took was three and a half hours of Jill shadowing her, making one outlandish guess after another, each more obscene than the last, until the actual events from the previous week seemed so bland by comparison that Gwen cracked and gave up the first detail. And then the next, because Jill’s excitement was over the top, and the truth was, Gwen was dying to talk at least a little bit about the guy who’d turned her world upside down.
After that, it wasn’t so much that she was telling Jill…and Maria and Zari, but that they’d gotten so good at reading the color of her blushes, they were nailing down details she never would have given up. But as if it wasn’t bad enough getting busted making out with her boss, she had to go and get busted by her boss dishing details about it. Though based on the way his arm had circled her waist and he’d pulled her in to whisper a few of his favorite highlights in her ear, she was guessing he hadn’t minded too much.
The only problem was those highlights had made her favorites list too, and now all she could think about was Brody and how hot it had been, watching him prowl toward her as he whipped off his shirt. Or how he’d just picked her up and moved her any which way he wanted when they were in bed. Or what it had been like when he’d skipped a day of shaving and then given her the biggest, longest, deepest kiss of her life…for almost an hour. These were NSFW thoughts. Not even a little bit safe.
And worse yet, she seemed to have developed a sixth sense about when he entered her proximity. It was like a low charge, this subtle pull and aching awareness that had her peeking over her shoulder as she was just then.
Sure enough, Brody was checking in with Rob. Or at least she figured that’s what he was going for. But those sea-green eyes were focused on her, and the bartender must have realized it too, because he laughed and turned away to help a customer. And then Jill was at her ear, amusement in her voice as she nudged. “Pretty sure it’s time for your break.”
Gwen nodded, glancing at the time.
That would be good. Maybe she’d step outside and try to cool off. Except Brody was headed her way.
The butterflies were getting aggressive.
“Break time, gorgeous?” he asked, coming up beside her as she headed down the back hall. His hand was low on her hip, his arm warming the skin across her back.
The employee area was straight ahead, but Brody stopped to turn at his office door on her right.
“Wait,” she said, her feet digging in, suddenly feeling a dozen sets of eyes burning into her back. “Everyone’s going to know what we’re doing if we walk in there.”
Brody hummed, crossing his arms and turning to face her.
“What exactly do you think we’re going to be doing in there?” he asked, coming a step closer so he was looking down into her face and she could feel the heat of his big body and the pull between them that had become almost unbearable to resist.
“You know exactly what I think we’re going to be doing in there.”
The corner of his mouth hitched higher. “Do I?”
She blinked, her mouth dropping open. But before she had a chance to reply, Brody had swooped down and caught her mouth with his. The kiss was brief, possessive, and sweet—and over as quickly as it had begun. She started to turn back to check and see who’d been watching, but Brody’s hand was firm at the base of her spine, urging her forward with him.
“They already know. They’re delighted. And they’re going to see me kiss you like that about a dozen more times tonight alone. So how about we head back into my office? Because if we don’t, I’m thinking they’re going to see a hell of a lot more than that little kiss.”
“Bossy,” she groused under her breath, but there was nothing convincing about it.
Brody grinned, leaning closer to her ear. “Good thing you like it.”
He held the door open and then closed it behind them. The sound of the latch engaging sent a sharp stab of anticipation through her.
Brody stepped toward her, closing the distance between them.
She wanted his kiss. Needed it.
Her hand came up between their mouths.
“Gwen?” he mumbled from
behind the press of her fingers.
“Brody, we need to come up with some rules.”
Taking her hand in his, he kissed it and then pulled her toward the couch. “What kind of rules?”
Dropping into the corner, he tugged her down onto his lap and adjusted her so she was exactly the way he wanted her.
God, that drove her wild. “The kind about work.”
“There are lots of rules about work already. I’m pretty sure we’ve got more than enough.”
“I’m talking about the kind where we don’t mess around at work.”
He scowled, and she laughed, shaking her head. “Don’t look at me like I just told you we’re never going to do it again. All I’m suggesting is that maybe we hold off until after hours. You know, so your employees aren’t afraid to knock on your office door if they need something.”
His hand was already on her knee and coasting toward the hem of her skirt. “They text me.”
“Brody, we could talk. Save the rest for tonight.”
“We could,” he agreed. “Did I tell you I’m going to be up in Wisconsin for a couple of days next week? I could tell you about the meetings I’ve got scheduled.”
Then those thick, long fingers were teasing beneath the edge of her skirt, smoothing over the bare skin of her inner thigh without pushing any higher. Her pulse skipped, and her body started heating from within.
What had he been saying?
“If you don’t want me to do something, gorgeous, all you have to say is stop.”
She knew she should tell him to move his hand, that what he was doing was too tempting for her weakening resolve.
His mouth was at her ear, his lips brushing the shell. “By the way, my friends want to grab dinner on Saturday. Come with me.”
Her eyes were fixed on his big hand halfway beneath her skirt. He was wearing that sexy oversize watch and the leather ties around the solid width of his wrist. So hot.
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