by Shayla Black
His mouth found her other nipple. He pinched the first, still wet and stiff from his attention. With another moan, she cupped the back of his head. God, she could do this all day. The pulls of his mouth were so voracious, they were almost painful. Then he soothed her with tender little licks that made her melt into him even more.
Brandon tugged on the fastening of her skirt at the small of her back, but the complicated series of hooks weren’t budging. He tried to rip it, the way he had her blouse. She could undo it herself, but it would take too long. She had to feel him now.
So Em pulled up the gray pencil skirt to her waist. Brandon didn’t need more of an invitation. He shoved her little panties down her thighs. She wriggled until they hit the floor. But once the underwear was off, she had nothing to do but watch in rapt fascination as Brandon dropped to his knees and stared right at her pussy. He brushed his thumb over her slick folds, right over her clit. His tongue followed the same path.
She gasped. “Brandon!”
“Spread your legs, baby. I have to see you.”
Whimpering, she complied. She had no idea what was running through his head as his hot breath feathered over her flesh. Em held her breath, wanting him so badly that she whimpered.
He fastened his mouth on her clit. Her entire body arched as a curl of arousal deepened into an aching need. She shoved her hands into his thick hair again, but nothing could anchor her against the dizzying pleasure as he sucked her clit deep.
“God, this sweet pussy…” he murmured against her flesh. “I didn’t expect you to be bare. You’re gorgeous. I want to stay here and feast.”
If he did, she’d go mad. But if he left her, she’d go downright insane. “More.”
“Oh, yeah. A lot more.”
He buried his mouth between her legs again, parting her folds with his thumbs. This time he got closer, deeper, taking her completely in. He tongued her nub, and the friction made her body seize up. She pulled at his hair. Brandon didn’t seem to mind. He merely caressed one thigh, then shoved it over his shoulder. The position left her wide open, and her other leg would have given out beneath her if he hadn’t propped her against the wall.
God, with that kind of stimulation, Em couldn’t hold still. She wriggled and whimpered, moaning his name, frantically trying to press closer to him. Again, Brandon took control and grabbed her hips.
“Em, hold still. Let me make you feel good.”
She wanted that, but he was asking for the impossible. His unyielding grasp left her little choice. He forced her to take his tongue lashing. The coil of desire between her thighs tightened, ramping up until she could only pant and need and cry his name.
It had been so long since she’d felt a lover’s touch. She hadn’t wanted anyone but Brandon, and even her vibrator held little appeal these days. It couldn’t make her feel beautiful. The hollow orgasms it delivered didn’t make her feel desired or loved. Brandon did. Under his mouth, she felt like his most coveted treasure, and the way he ate at her like a delicate treat shoved her to the edge of pleasure.
“I’m going to come,” she gasped out.
“Good. So sweet, Em. That’s it. Come for me.”
His next lick sent her flying into an ecstasy so white-hot, she could hardly comprehend it. Em screamed and bucked under his mouth. But Brandon didn’t let up. He stayed with her through the giant rolling wave of sensation, his tongue flicking her pulsing nub, prolonging her pleasure, drawing it out until she was gasping and breathless and dizzy from the searing bliss.
She hadn’t even caught her breath when Brandon straightened and pressed a voracious kiss against her lips. She tasted herself on his tongue. Em had never exchanged this intimacy with a lover, and Brandon seemed determined to share it with her. So she surrendered and welcomed him.
But she wanted more.
Thrusting her hands between them, she grabbed at the button of his slacks. He sucked in a breath as it came undone. The purr of his zipper lowering filled her ears, along with his moan. He shoved a hand into his pocket as she yanked his underwear to his hips, then dragged both garments to his ankles. A moment later, she heard the rip of foil and found him rolling a condom over his cock.
Em blinked as she watched. She’d thought he felt big as she’d rubbed against him. But seeing him? She wasn’t terribly surprised that he was long. At something like six foot three, Brandon was tall, lean, and athletic. But the girth of his cock gave her pause. She’d read the clichés about penises that were supposedly several inches thick. She’d chalked it up to an urban legend or romantic drivel. She’d never seen a man packing that much in his Hanes.
Until now.
“Having second thoughts, Em?” he asked. His tight expression quietly suggested that if she said yes, it would kill him, but he’d accept it.
And honestly, she was—but not for the reason he imagined. Em hadn’t slept with another man in over three years. She’d broken up with her last boyfriend six weeks before Brandon had joined their team. Since then, she’d done her best to satisfy herself with fantasies of her boss, with a little help from her battery-operated boyfriend.
But this flesh-and-blood man was much bigger.
“No.” Her voice trembled. “I want this so bad.”
That was the unvarnished truth. She’d never in her life ached for a man this way. Most she could take or leave. Even as a teenager, she’d never had a crush on a guy that she’d thought would kill her if her feelings went unreciprocated.
Brandon had changed that, too.
He swallowed. “Me, too. I didn’t come here planning to even kiss you, much less get inside you. I…”
“I know, but I wouldn’t change it. My bedroom is at the end of the hall.”
He shook his head before she even finished speaking. “Too far away. I’ve got to fuck you now.”
How did he plan—
Before she completed the thought, he bent and lifted her, shoving her back tight against the wall, holding her in place with the hot weight of his muscled body. She squealed and gripped his shoulders as he aligned himself with her swollen folds. Standing up? Here? Now?
His cock nudged her wet pussy. He quickly found her opening and tucked the head inside her. That touch filled her with electric need, as if she hadn’t just had the monster orgasm of a lifetime minutes ago.
Then suddenly, he loosened his grip on her hips and let gravity do its work. She sank quickly onto the impaling breadth of his cock. Her breath hitched once, twice, again… God, he filled her so full, she thought she might burst. Her gaze flared wide, and Brandon watched her with a dark smile crossing his face.
“You feel me, baby?”
“Yes,” she panted. How could she not? She stretched and burned. And even through the pain, it felt so good.
His smile turned a little warmer, then he kissed a path along her jaw. “You’re so tight. You’re like heaven.”
He moaned and edged his hips away, withdrawing. Friction screamed along her sensitive nerve endings. Everything inside her ratcheted up again, and it was like she’d never come at all.
If she let him, Brandon would do all the work—and control the pace and depth of their lovemaking. But she wanted to get dirty with him, drown in him. She intended to enjoy this while it lasted.
Grabbing his face, she plastered her lips across his, then plunged into his mouth. He didn’t resist a bit, merely opened wide to take her for a long, electric second. Then the jarring of his thrusts overtook everything. She wriggled on him, feeling her insides heat up, her breasts bounce, her pussy clamp down on him.
“You feel so fucking good,” he growled against the curve of her breast. “How were you right in front of me for this long, and I didn’t see you?”
Exactly what Em wanted to know, but she couldn’t speak. Every drag of his cock inside her hit so many sensitive nerves that it made her nearly mindless. With each move, he stimulated her G-spot and bumped her cervix. She tightened, tightened, held her breath…
“Brandon�
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“You’re going to come, baby, aren’t you? I can feel you clenching that pussy on me. So responsive…” He pumped her harder, his fingers digging into her hips, and he moved under her in short, rhythmic strokes. “I’m not far behind you. Let go, and I’ll catch you.”
Em gave him a shaky nod and squirmed as he plowed into her again and again. He brushed her clit with every stroke. Still sensitive from her last orgasm, it didn’t take much more to shove her to the precipice. And then she heard nothing but her heartbeat hammering in her ears, felt nothing but the pleasure crashing through her body like a maelstrom as he thrust deep, groaning long and low, the sound dripping with satisfaction.
His knees began to give way at the same time his arms did. Brandon pulled free of her body as she slid down the wall to her feet. The question of her own legs supporting her was touch and go, but she braced one elbow on the bar beside her and managed to stay upright. In front of her, Brandon put his hand on his hips and tried to catch his breath.
And it hit her. She’d just let her boss—former boss—fuck her in her foyer. Now what? Em hoped like hell he didn’t regret it. That would hurt. She might later, but for different reasons. Right now, she was basking in the closeness they’d just shared and praying that he wouldn’t throw on his clothes and run out as if his ass was on fire, then exit her life forever.
“What the hell happened?” He braced his hand on the wall above her, looking down into her eyes.
As she did anytime he got close, she lost herself in his searing, dark gaze. Her stomach tightened with nerves. Was it wrong to want him all over again, at least to be close to him for a while longer? If he didn’t want to have sex with her again… well, she hadn’t expected it in the first place. But a hug would be nice.
Needing contact, she reached up to touch his bare chest, as she had only minutes ago. But now that the passion was spent for the moment, she had no idea what he thought. If he was done with her. Everything felt awkward. Em lowered her hand.
She lifted her chin. “We got carried away. I won’t say I’m sorry.”
“Hell, I’m not sorry. Just stunned.” He frowned, then took her hand, squeezing it. “Let’s find the bedroom.”
Did he want to have sex again?
Tamping down her excitement at the idea, she guided him down the shadowed hall. When she glanced over her shoulder at him, his gaze met hers with a probing expression. He was going to want to talk, and she didn’t know what to say. Didn’t the puddle of clothes they’d left behind and the passion they’d spent say enough for now? Dear god, was he going to bring up Kayla?
When they reached her bedroom, he pulled back her sage green comforter and settled her between the ivory Egyptian cotton sheets. Normally, all that soft thread count comforted her, but she watched, tense, as he prowled into the adjoining bathroom.
A moment later, he emerged, condom gone. He lifted the sheet and settled in beside her, watching her intently. She’d known him long enough to guess that he wanted to hear what she was thinking. Em didn’t know what to say.
“Obviously, we have a lot to talk about,” he murmured. “Let’s start at the top. You were quitting because of Kayla’s visit?”
Em swallowed a ball of nerves. Wow, he got right to the point. At work, he was politically savvy and found really gentle ways to phrase delicate matters. Not so now. His directness was disconcerting, but if he was going to be straight with her, she might as well do the same. After all, three years of suppressing her feelings hadn’t gotten her anywhere.
But one question kept circling in her head: If Brandon was with his former friend’s ex-wife now, why was he in bed with his secretary?
“You’ve said for years that you’re in love with her. When she came to the office last Friday, and you left early with her…” God, she couldn’t look at him and give him the words to break her heart. She rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling, covering her breasts with the sheet. “I invented reasons to call you over the weekend. A few times. You never answered. I assumed you were…busy.”
“With Kayla? No.” He sighed. “Em, we just had a drink together. She came to apologize for the way things ended all those years ago. She’s apparently in therapy and looking for ways to mend fences so she can forgive herself.”
“The way things ended?”
“Jack Cole was my friend. We had an affair…while he was still married to her. I never told you that part. I’m not proud of it. We weren’t together long before she left me, too. I thought she was the one that got away or whatever, and I’d been carrying a torch for her.”
Brandon paused, and Em worked up the courage to look his way. He was staring again, this time with an expression she couldn’t begin to decipher.
“But you’re not?” she blurted before she could stop herself.
He rolled on his side and braced his head on his hand. With his free hand, he gripped her hip and urged her to roll closer and face him. “No. The hour I spent with her surprised me. I felt nothing except sorry for her. She’s really screwed up her life since she left me. She got married again, got divorced again. She drank a little too much. She’s finding her way out now. I told her that I was happy for her if she was getting her head screwed on straight. But I turned down her invitation to go out sometime.”
As he spoke, it was like the fist that had been clutching her heart painfully released little by little. She realized that she’d been holding her breath and let go. “Oh.”
“So now I’ve spilled. Your turn.”
Em tried to wriggle away, but Brandon wasn’t having any of it. Being emotionally vulnerable to a man who’d never treated her as anything more than an efficient assistant was a little like bungee jumping—a whole lot of terrifying. Some people found it fun. She hadn’t. She didn’t think this was going to be worth many laughs, either. But she wasn’t chickening out.
“I’ve…had feelings for you for a while. It seemed less painful to leave than watch you be happy with someone else.”
“Just feelings? You quit a job you love to avoid me. You had sex with me when you thought I was committed to someone else.”
God, what did he want? “Okay, strong feelings.”
Brandon looked like he wanted to press harder, but he didn’t. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? At least give me a hint?”
Em bit her lip. How could she answer that without baring her soul?
“Don’t try to phrase things in a way you think will be easier for me to hear,” he demanded. “Just say it.”
She sighed and shook her head. “I thought you were in love with someone else. I had to see you every day, work with you. If I told you or hit on you, and you rejected me, it would have been awkward. I didn’t want personal stuff in the way of all the good we’re doing for the first responders. Some of the equipment we’ve recently pushed the city to buy would have saved my dad’s life.” She teared up. “I mean, it’s been seven years since he died. I’ve gotten on with my life; he would have wanted it that way.” She sniffled. “But I’m still damn angry that penny pinching contributed to his death. All I’ve ever wanted to do was keep another family from losing their loved one.”
In fact, she didn’t really want to leave her job now, but she’d been certain that Kayla was back in Brandon’s life… And she’d been unable to pine for him any longer and live with the pain.
But since he wasn’t carrying a torch for Kayla, what now?
#
“I know,” he reassured, caressing her shoulder. “You’ve done a lot of good for the firefighters. Your father would be proud.”
Inside, his thoughts raced. Em had hidden her feelings for him for weeks? Months? Years? All because she’d believed he would have chosen Kayla over her.
Maybe…she’d been right—until a few days ago. Before, he hadn’t been able to let go of Kayla. She’d been like a ghost haunting him. Many times, he’d questioned what he’d done wrong to drive her away. Seeing Kayla again had enabled him to understand that he’d done
nothing wrong. She hadn’t been capable of love or devotion five years ago. They’d been all wrong for one another.
But maybe if Em had spoken up sooner, he would have looked at her in a whole new light and decided to let go of the past. It didn’t really matter now. All that mattered was that Em had opened his eyes today. In fact, he couldn’t stop staring at her.
“Um, I hope you didn’t feel rejected earlier, in your foyer.” He peered at her, watching her reaction. “If you did, I wasn’t doing something right.”
She flushed. God, he adored that pretty, pale skin. “Um, no. That was amazing.”
“Had you imagined us before, together?”
Her gaze slid away and a fresh stain crept up her cheeks, but she nodded. “More than a few times.”
Em had an advantage over him there, but Brandon was guessing that he had more experience. And his mind was much dirtier. Still, he was curious.
“Give me some examples.”
She shrugged. “On a rainy Sunday, I’d imagine that we might curl up together and watch a football game or a movie. Sometimes, when I’d cook alone, I’d imagine you in the kitchen with me, nursing a glass of wine, maybe chopping a vegetable or basting meat. And I’d think of you next to me in bed, holding me as we drifted off to sleep.”
Something wistful crossed her delicate face, and Brandon paused. Em’s fantasies weren’t just sexual. They were domestic.
Why didn’t the idea of being that cozy with Em make him panic? He was close to thirty. Maybe he was having some natural instinct to finally settle down. Or was he okay with the idea because he was comfortable with Em? Because he more than liked her?
As he sorted through the tangle of thoughts and emotions, she began trailing a teasing fingertip from his Adam’s apple down his chest, down his abdomen, down to his cock. Before she’d even reached her destination, he’d gone ridiculously hard again. Desire raged like a flash fire through him, heating him from the inside out. Every cell in his body demanded that he get on top of her, get inside her again, and take her once more.