by JC Harroway
“I...was a bit of a loner, I guess. I didn’t have a lot of friends,” she says, her voice low, and I get the sense that she’s telling me something very important about herself.
Her eyes meet mine and the sadness I see guts me. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay. I had my stories.”
“What kind of books did you read?” She turns her head away and glances out over the lake as we pass it. I wait a long moment and then ask, “Are you not going to tell me?”
“No.”
I laugh. “Why not?”
“Because you’ll make fun of me.”
I touch her chin, draw her eyes back to me. “I would never make fun of you, Brianna.” She looks off into the distance again, like she’s remembering something, something hurtful. “Tell me,” I say.
“I read romance. Okay?” she blurts out.
I lean in to her and press my lips to hers. The girl who doesn’t believe in happily-ever-after reads romance. I knew it. Deep inside I knew she was the kind of girl who wanted the white picket fence, and goddammit she deserves it. Still, I can’t help but wonder about her fears. Is it her job that has her too frightened to commit, or is it something else altogether?
“There is nothing wrong with a good romance story,” I tell her. “My mom reads them all the time.” That seems to relax her.
“What did you do for fun when you were working here?” she asks.
“When I wasn’t working, I was kiteboarding.”
Her eyes go wide. “That seems like so much fun. I’ve never tried it. I was too scared. You’re way more adventurous than me.” She taps her head. “I recall Tate saying something about that. Didn’t you guys go skydiving?”
“Yeah, we did, once.” She smiles up at me. “I can make the arrangements for us to go kiteboarding if you’d like. We should always face our fears, Brianna.”
“I’m not sure about that.”
“I am.” The heavy scent of pine and moss falls over us as the horses take us below a canopy of leaves that blocks out the night sky.
Her hand goes to my thigh, and as it rests there, I wonder if she even realizes she’s doing it. Nevertheless I really like the easy intimacy growing between us.
“I’d probably kill myself if I ever tried,” she says. “Best for me to stay on land.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She sags against me, and a quiet, comfortable silence falls over us as we sit back and enjoy the view. Half an hour later the horses drop us off where we began and we all climb off.
“It’s still early. You guys want to hit the club?” Tate asks as he pulls Summer into his arms.
“Brianna?” I ask. “What do you think?”
“Sounds like fun.”
“We’re in,” Cara and Amber say.
Jared and Carter also nod in agreement.
“I’ll get Granddad settled into his room and meet you all there,” Tate says. He drops a kiss onto Summer’s lips and walks away.
We all make our way to the club, and the place is alive when we enter. The scent of alcohol and perfume clogs the air, and Summer snags us a big table. We all order drinks, and Brianna begins swaying in her chair. I’m about to ask her if she wants to dance, but Jared jumps at the chance.
Her gaze goes to me, and I give a casual nod, showcasing indifference. At first it seems to take her by surprise, but then she accepts Jared’s outstretched hand. I stare after them until they’re lost in the crowd, and when I turn back I find Summer grinning at me. She shifts closer and puts her hand on mine.
“You like her,” she says after the others all go off to find dance partners.
“Of course I like her. I wouldn’t be helping her out if I didn’t.”
“Oh, is that what you’re doing? Helping her out?”
“Yeah.”
“And sleeping with her. That’s helping her out, too?”
I shake my head and Summer goes quiet when the server comes and distributes our drinks. I pay for them all and glance up to see Tate arrive. Thankful for the distraction, I ask, “How is James?”
“Good. I didn’t get him to his room, though.”
Summer, who used to be his doctor, frowns. “What happened?”
“We entered the lobby, and Deloris, an old friend of the family, stopped us. Apparently the two are going to the rooftop for a drink.”
I laugh at that. “Leave it to James. In his nineties and still getting action.”
Tate holds his hands up, palms out. “I don’t want to even think about this.”
“Luca,” someone screams, and I turn to see Jess rushing toward me. She’s wearing a tight black dress that barely covers her ass. “You didn’t call,” she says. “I’ve been waiting.”
“I...uh...lost your number,” I say and don’t miss the way Tate and Summer are watching me, their eyes narrowed.
“Well, you’re here now and that’s all that matters.” Before I can protest, she pulls me out of my chair and drags me to the dance floor. She wiggles her ass at me and shakes her breasts, and I move to the music and glance around for Brianna. When I find her, her eyes are locked on mine, a surprised look on her face when she sees Jess. The music changes, slows, and I’m about to walk off the dance floor when Jess drags me to her, sliding her arms around my body and touching my ass.
Jared pulls Brianna to him and moves her hair from her neck to whisper something in her ear. A vicious growl catches in my throat, and Jess must mistake it for something else. She rubs up against me, and I feel her hard nipples through her dress.
I put my hands on her shoulders and pull her off me. She pouts and places her palms on my chest. One hand slides lower and closes over my cock, giving me her best massage. My gaze flies to Brianna. Our eyes meet, hold for a second, then she’s back to laughing at something Jared says to her. Sparks of jealousy fire my nerves, and I bend, put my mouth to Jess’s ear and excuse myself.
I stalk through the dance floor and then slide my arm around Brianna’s waist, tug her to me. “I need to talk to you,” I say, acting like a goddamn caveman.
Incredulous, her eyes go wide. “Can’t it wait? I’m dancing.”
“I need to talk to you now,” I say.
Our eyes lock, hold and then something in her softens. “Okay.” She apologizes to Jared, and I lift to my full height as I face off against the other man. “Come on.” She begins to lead me back to the table, when I give a little tug to change directions.
“It’s not what you think,” I growl.
“What are you talking about?”
“With Jess and me. It’s not what you think.”
“What is it I think?” she asks.
“She grabbed my dick, making it clear what she wants from me. You saw it.”
“Hey, you can do whatever you want with her,” she says with a tip of her chin. “Leave with her if you want, for all I care. Granddad isn’t here to see it, and we’re not really engaged, remember?”
“I asked for a one-week commitment from you. It’s obvious to me you’ve been hurt before and don’t trust guys. I’m not an asshole who’s going to go off with someone else and deepen that distrust.” Trust? Who the hell am I to talk about trust? She doesn’t even know who I really am. “Besides, I told you I’d be ending tonight by keeping you up and totally satisfying you, and I meant it.”
I cup her elbow and lead her down the long hallway to the staff lounge. Once inside I set the lock, grip her by the waist and spin her until she’s pressed against the door. Her eyes are wide, her shock evident in the way her chest is rising and falling erratically, but I don’t miss the lust as I step back and take in her curve-fitting dress, consider what she might be wearing underneath it.
She slides her hand along the door and grips the doorknob. “Don’t,” I warn in a soft but commanding voice.
“What...what are you doing?” she asks.
“Following through with my promise to you.”
She’s about to push off the door, likely to flee, but I press my hand to the center of her chest and pin her there. Her eyes grow impossibly wider, and her breathing quickens even more. She might be a lawyer with a poker face in the courtroom, but I can read her like an open book. This girl does things on her terms, but goddammit she loves it when I take charge.
My eyes leave her face, travel the length of her quivering body. “I want you naked.”
“Luca, we’re in the staff room. Anyone can walk in on us.”
“The door is locked.”
She shakes her head, and her chestnut hair sweeps over her shoulders. “I’m sure the manager has a key.”
“Then we’d better get on with this before someone goes on break and asks for it, don’t you think?” My hand slides down her quaking, needy body, and I reach her outer thigh. I rub the hem of her short dress between my thumb and finger. A little groan catches in her throat, and I dip my head, my mouth inches from hers.
“I...I don’t have sex in public places,” she says, but the lack of protest in her voice makes me chuckle.
“Define sex,” I say, and slide my hand between her warm, inviting thighs.
“Luca...” she moans as her hips push off the door, her body seeking more of my touch, despite her objections.
“Do you consider this sex?” I rub her clit through her silky panties, a slow, easy caress that fires my blood. I take a breath to keep myself in check. Brianna’s glazed eyes briefly close, and her tongue snakes out to wet her bottom lip. As she loses herself in my touch, it’s all I can do not to bend her over the back of the sofa and slide into her heat. “Well, do you, Brianna? Do you consider this sex?” I ask, pulling her back from whatever erotic journey her mind just took her on.
She takes a fast breath and her lids flicker open. “Well... I guess... I don’t know.”
I dip a finger into her panties and rub her sopping-wet clit. A moan crawls out of her throat and she clasps her hand over her mouth to quiet herself.
“I don’t consider it sex,” I say. “I consider it foreplay.”
I push my finger in deep and her eyes roll back in her head. “It’s sex,” she whimpers as I fuck her with my finger and take her higher and higher. She grows wetter, and I have to say, I love the sexy look that comes over her when she’s aroused.
“You’re saying any kind of touching is sex, then?” I ask.
“Yes,” she whispers.
“Doesn’t matter how you get off? Once you come, you’re sated?”
I change the tempo, stroke her faster and deeper. “I... This...” She stops talking to take a deep, gulping breath. “This...this won’t be enough. Not with you. I’m not sure what you’re doing to me, but I need more from you.”
“Not quite the same as Mr. Right?”
“No,” she whimpers and bucks against my hand.
My chest swells with pride as I revel in the lust on her face. She’s already so far gone, I’m not even sure she knows what she’s saying.
I finger her for a minute longer, but I’m dying to see her body, so I pull my hand away.
“No, don’t,” she cries out and reaches for me.
“Naked. Now.”
I take hold of her shoulder and spin her until her breasts are against the door and I have access to her zipper. She takes a breath and holds it as the hiss of her zipper fills the silence. Her dress falls open and when some working brain cell flashes red in the back of my brain, I briefly pinch my eyes shut.
What the fuck am I doing?
First I act like a jealous lunatic on the dance floor, and now I’m about to bury my face between her legs in the staff room to prove she is the only girl I want to be with—that I can’t stand the thought of her with another man. Honestly, I need to get myself together. By rights I should have left her on that dance floor with Jared, let her see he could be the guy for her, because I’m certainly not. I exhale, and I’m about to put a stop to this, to send her back out to find a guy worth dating, when her dress hits her ankles. I go completely still, and as my mind registers what she’s wearing, my heart stalls.
“Accidenti.”
She slowly turns my way. My gaze leaves her face to take in her body, but not before I notice the way she’s playfully nibbling her bottom lip.
“What does that mean?” she asks.
It means damn.
I take a fast breath, barely able to fill my lungs. “You wore this for me?” I ask. I touch the lacy strap on her sexy white camisole and as my chest constricts I note the tiny buttons lining the length of the outfit. It must have taken her forever to fasten. I don’t have that kind of patience, and this lace is going to bear the brunt of that.
She shifts from one foot to the other. “Do you like it?”
The air around me grows thin, and it feels as if time has suddenly stopped as I slowly lift my gaze to hers. “Did you wear it for me, Brianna?” I ask again, my voice a bit deeper than it was moments ago.
She stiffens, and her lashes flash rapidly over wide eyes. “Yeah. Why? Don’t you like it?” she asks, her words coming out fast, a hint of worry behind them as she plays with the top button on her camisole. That little nervous gesture, combined with her vulnerability, softens something inside me. I reach out, take her hands in my palms and carefully place them at her side.
I shake my head. “Don’t ever cover up with me,” I say, my pulse beating double time against my throat as I struggle to wrap my brain around the fact that she purposely wore sexy lingerie tonight.
“But—”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t wear lingerie for me. You seemed pretty adamant about it.”
She works to give a casual shrug like she’s trying to pass this off as nothing. But it’s not nothing. Not to me, anyway. Her dark lashes fall and she flicks a shaky glance around the staff room. The nervous laugh that rises in her throat massages my aching cock.
“Must be the mountain air.” She taps her head. “Messing with my ability to make rational decisions.”
I run my hand down her arm, and a shiver racks her body. “Am I an irrational decision, then?”
“Yes... No... I...I don’t know...” Her words fall off as I shape her sexy curves and press my fingers into her hips for leverage as I push my cock against her, letting her know, in no uncertain terms, what she does to me.
“You don’t take me as the type to make irrational decisions,” I say, putting my mouth close to her ear, mainly so I can breathe her in.
“I have. A time or two,” she answers, and beneath the lust there is real regret in her voice.
“Haven’t we all,” I say, to let her know she’s not alone. Truthfully, what I’m doing here with her right now isn’t rational or smart, yet here I am, unable to keep my hands off her. One hard nipple pops through the lace, and I brush my thumb over it.
I inch back and take a long, leisurely inspection of her lingerie, even though I’m dying to rip it from her body. “Did you know white lace is my favorite?”
“No.” She looks down, her gaze sliding over the lace. “I just thought it was so pretty.”
When her gaze lifts, meets mine, I catch the heat backlighting her baby blues. “You bought this recently, then?”
“When I went shopping with Summer.”
I stand there for a moment longer, my pulse pounding in my ears. Brianna bought this for me. “You know you’re the sexiest woman on the planet, right?”
She curls into herself, an insecure gesture that reminds me of the young schoolgirl from Oxford—before she came to me with liquid courage that one night.
“You don’t have to say that,” she murmurs.
“I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.” I touch the buttons lining the camisole, de
sperate to show her just how beautiful she really is. “I hope you didn’t pay a lot for this.”
Her shoulders tighten. “You don’t like it, do you? Oh God, I shouldn’t have—” Her words turn into a gasp when I grip the lingerie and tear it wide open. The buttons pop, scatter to the floor and then roll away.
“Yes, you should have,” I say and then bend to take her nipple into my mouth. I suck her in, revel in the honeyed flavor of her skin. “You definitely should have,” I say around a mouthful of pink sweetness. Her body relaxes and her hands go around my head as I indulge in her pebbled hardness. “And I’ll replace this.”
“You don’t have to,” she whimpers. “I bought it for you.”
As her words touch something inside me and squeeze around my heart, it urges me on, and in this moment I want nothing more than to give her everything her body needs. I devour her, unable to get enough as I swirl my tongue over her firm bud until she’s practically crying with need. Eager to taste all of her, mark every inch of her body, I sink to my knees and grip the lace on her panties. One quick tug, I tear them away from her hips and she gasps, not from surprise but from excitement, judging by the way she’s trembling beneath my touch.
“I’ll buy you a new pair,” I murmur.
“And I’ll wear them if you promise to do that again.”
A tortured noise catches in my throat as I grin up at her, taking pleasure in her boldness, the way she’s playing along.
“Guaranteed,” I say, and she sighs with contentment. Goddammit, I love the way her face is flushed with lust, the way her eyes are unfocused as she awaits my kisses. I grip her thighs and widen them, so ready for her to come all over my face. Once I have her fully open, mine to do with as I please, I press my lips to her clit and suck her in. I bite down gently, and her entire body quivers. My eyes slide shut and I moan, savoring the flavor of her on my tongue. Gesù, how will I ever be able to taste another after her?
Impossible.
“Yes...please,” she murmurs and moves her hips to grind against me.
Intense hunger curls through me and I eat at her like a man starved. I insert a finger, and then another, wanting to fill her up until she’s screaming my name, which probably isn’t wise, considering our location. We don’t need anyone to come running and breaking down the door. As I consider that, think about another man’s eyes or hands on her body, rage builds inside me. How the hell could I have thought it was a good idea to groom her for someone else, to prove she really does want the happily-ever-after? Oh, because I care about her, want what’s best for her, despite what it’s going to do to me.