She began to say something, but all she managed was a soft sound, the longing threading through it.
“Hands on the barre. Wait, let me get this off first.” He pulled her camisole up over her head and tossed it aside. Her nipples hardened in the air and then as his fingers rolled and pulled until she had to tighten her hold to keep standing.
“I love the feel of you under my hands. Of the sharpness of your nipples against my palm, of the swell of your breasts and the way they fit so perfectly.”
He let go of said breasts and pushed her skirt, leggings and panties down. She stared at their reflection. Of him, fully dressed, sun-kissed skin, the darkness of his hair and those soft curls she wanted to feel sliding through her fingers. And her, naked and slight, pale hair and skin, blue eyes to his depth of brown/black. Opposites on the outside, but in many ways, she and Brody were similar. More similar than dissimilar as it happened.
Strong. They loved their families and would do anything for them. Stubborn. Scared of being a burden and of taking on any more. And yet, as she watched his reflection remove his clothes, she realized they’d both taken the other on.
He kissed her. Kissed her neck and her back, her shoulders and down her spine. His shirt flew to the side and she took his reflection in. Taut skin stretched over rippling muscles as he kneaded her thighs and calves. She groaned at how good it felt.
“Tip your pretty ass back. I want to eat you from behind.” She did as she was told, and he moved her ankles wider so she was more opened up to his mouth.
In the mirror she watched his tongue stroke up and against her clit. She stood on her tiptoes to get higher, to give him more access, and he moaned against her, the sound carrying from clit to nipples.
She wanted to close her eyes, to luxuriate in the way his mouth felt from this angle, but she couldn’t tear her gaze from him licking her. When he pulled back before she climaxed, a sound of keen disappointment broke from her lips.
“Shhh. I’m not finished, but it’s hard to get all your best parts at this angle.”
She put her heel up on the barre, leaving the other foot down, and he drew in a sharp breath.
“So beautiful and pink.” He turned to face her, sitting flat so he was perfectly aligned with her pussy, and then he went back to work.
Her thighs trembled as the muscles burned. His mouth on her was relentless as she caught her own eyes, heavy-lidded; her face was flushed, her hair tousled, lips glossy from where she’d licked them. Her nipples stood hard and dark. She held on to the barre with one hand and slid her other hand into his hair, her fingers gripping, holding him there as orgasm came, flashing through her and making her lock her knees to keep from falling.
He stood quickly, and she dropped to her knees to take him into her mouth. She loved his cock, loved the taste of it, the feel of his thigh muscles against her hands as she braced herself. He was so tightly controlled when she went down on him; she knew it was to keep from hurting her. But just then she needed his intensity.
When she rolled her eyes upward, she met his gaze. Wow. She did that to a man like him. It was wondrous that he’d be so enthralled with her, but she wasn’t going to question it. Not then. She simply enjoyed it.
“Don’t hold yourself back. I”—she swallowed hard—“know you want to fuck my mouth. You won’t hurt me. Let me give that to you.”
His breathing stuttered. “How can you be so sexy?” he whispered. And he gripped her hair. “Stop me if it’s too much.”
Her answer was a smile before licking her lips and letting him guide her back to his cock.
He nearly came when she told him to fuck her mouth. First because he’d wanted to forever, and second because she knew it. Oh, and last because hearing her say it from those lips that rarely said a bad word was beyond fucking hot.
Her hair in his hand was soft and cool as he thrust into her mouth while holding her in place. Her scent grew as she moaned around him, and he realized she was getting off on it as much as he was. Well, maybe not as much, but it was certainly turning her on.
“I love that mouth of yours almost as much as I love your cunt. I’d like to blow down that throat, but I’d rather come with my cock inside you.”
He had to pull a bit on her hair because she seemed determined to keep going. Which only made him hotter, to see her hungry for him like that.
“I haven’t fucked you against a wall yet.” He looked around. “Over there in the corner.”
Mirrors on both sides of them, he picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him.
She smiled, but as he slid her down his cock, she leaned back so they could both watch down her body and catch sight of his cock plunging into her, glistening with her honey.
Reflected over and over again there in the mirrors, it was better than any porn he’d ever seen, watching himself fuck her time and again, watching the creamy pale column of her throat and the jiggle of her breasts.
She watched as well, and he nearly had a stroke when she licked her fingers and slid them to her pussy and began to work her clit. She might have started out with less experience than he had, but she took her pleasure without shame and he loved that about her. Loved everything about her.
“That’s the way. Is it hard and slippery?”
“Yes.”
“Still wet from my mouth, I bet.” He licked over one nipple and then the other, and her inner muscles contracted around him. “I love it when you come around my cock. Again.” He licked and bit at her nipples and she hummed her satisfaction until her fingers moved faster and faster, her hips rolling to meet his strokes, and with a sharp gasp, she turned into a molten fist around him while she cried out and came.
He wasn’t far behind, and within another two minutes, he laid his head on her chest and caught his breath after his own climax.
And then he carried her first to the small bathroom outside her office and then to her couch, where he put a blanket around them both and snuggled against her.
They’d talk in a bit. But for that moment, he wanted to simply breathe her in.
The sweat had cooled on their skin and she turned to look at him. “You’re so warm. I use two down comforters and sleep in flannel and I’m still cold all the time. Very handy, you are.”
“If you and Rennie came to stay with me . . .”
She put a hand over his mouth to stop him from saying anything else. “Okay, this is how we’re going to proceed: you can’t take over. Do you understand? It pushes my buttons. I can’t deal with a man who tries to control me or take over. This is my kid we’re talking about, and I would do anything for her.”
He moved so quickly she barely registered it, but he came to his knees in front of her, the blanket sliding from her shoulders. “I would do anything for her too. And you. Damn it, let me in, baby. I’m dying out here with you scared and not letting me help. Even if you don’t need the help, please.”
Everything she’d built to keep from loving him was unthreading. She was coming undone and there was nothing to do but let it happen. He’d laid himself bare before her, opened up. He hadn’t judged her. And she wanted to let him in. She wanted to let him in because she couldn’t imagine her life without Brody Brown in it.
Her arms went around him, where they belonged, as she held on to someone she’d never expected. He wasn’t supposed to be there in her life, but there he was and thank the heavens for it.
20
“I think I have an attorney your attorney can work with,” he said quietly as she let him in the front door later the same evening. She’d been shaken very deeply by what they’d shared that day and hadn’t had enough time to process it.
Pausing there in the quiet of her front hallway, he kissed her. Slow, gentle and totally sure of himself. That combination was as powerful to her as when he was all take-charge. That sureness of his sexual lure, of his connection to her, shook her even as it washed over her, making her happy. Even as he got bossy and tried to handle her, she was happy. Because he
was there, touching her.
He smiled and went back in for another kiss. “I know.” She looked up, confused. Knew what? Her head still reeled from the kiss and the way he affected her.
“I know how much this is.” He motioned back and forth between them, indicating he felt some measure of what she did. “But also, I know you’re chafing a bit at my presumption at doing a check on this lawyer. Listen, Shorty. I’m bossy. I can’t help it. It’s who I am and what I do. I’m pushy and I like to take over. But I’m going to work really hard not to do it too much, and you’re going to try and accept me the way I am. Flaws and all. Because I’m good in bed, and I can carry heavy things and reach high shelves.”
“You’re ridiculously full of poop.” She, of course, diminished her tough stance when she continued to keep her arms around his neck and cuddled close. “Good thing you’re handy with your mouth.”
He groaned softly, closing his eyes a moment. “Not fair. She won’t be asleep for hours.”
Elise laughed. “We’re a package deal, Rennie and me. Get used to it. I have.”
“Is that Brody?” Speak of the devil, Rennie came pounding down the stairs, and Elise’s heart stuttered when he held his arms out and her baby jumped into them with a giggle. “You’re here! I like when you’re here. Are you having chili with us then? Aunt Erin sent over pie. I like her. I like pie too.”
Aunt Erin? Elise smiled at the term. Erin had become somewhat like an aunt to Rennie come to think of it. She liked it. She didn’t have any siblings left, but she did think of Erin as a sister quite often, and she was glad Rennie had that kind of connection with her too.
“I’m with you on both things. I love Erin and I love pie; the combination of the two is a very good thing. And I wouldn’t miss chili for anything. Although it might be nicer if I’d been asked. That way I could say ‘thank you’ all pretty-like.” Brody put Rennie down and grinned up at Elise.
He was something else. She smirked at him before her smile won over. “Excuse my terrible manners. I made plenty. Would you like to stay for dinner?”
He bowed and kissed her hand. “Thank you, I’d love to stay for dinner.”
He checked over Rennie’s math homework while she set the table, and she realized just how much Rennie loved him. She was a friendly kid; affectionate, yes, but her eyes twinkled when he was around. She saved all her best stories for him and she talked about him nonstop to her parents. Rennie cared what Brody thought, wanted him to be impressed with her schoolwork and her artwork. Brody was someone special to Rennie, and having special people was important.
At first Brody had held himself back a little, but Rennie had made it impossible for him not to open himself up. He listened to Rennie. Not the way some people listen to kids, which was with one ear open, thinking about whether or not to tape the new episode of their favorite television show. No, he focused on her, interacted with her.
She’d never expected Brody. Elise had never really considered finding a man who would come into their lives the way Brody had. She had always assumed she’d either never be serious with anyone again, or that it would be with a much different man.
Which would have been a shame, because Rennie didn’t need a guy in a Mr. Rogers sweater. She needed a man like Brody who gave himself to people he cared about in a way that was unmistakable and made the other person feel special.
At the same time, he’d made it clear nearly a year before, when they’d started this affair, that he wasn’t looking for anything permanent. They had something more than just a casual thing; there was a depth of feeling between them. She believed that, felt that. But it wasn’t the road to marriage either. He’d made himself clear, and she knew thinking she could change someone was stupid. He was an adult; he knew what he wanted, and she respected it, even if she wanted him to want what she did.
She didn’t have any plans to rip Rennie and Brody apart, though. She didn’t want to. She wanted Brody in her life, and as she’d told him earlier, she and Rennie were a package deal. Elise just needed to be sure that Rennie didn’t expect Brody to become her daddy, no matter how alluring that was to her and Elise as well.
Oh. My. Disorientation settled in as she realized the conclusion she’d just come to.
“You off woolgathering?” He put the business card on top of her cell phone, interrupting her panic attack. “I’ve done a lot of ink on his son. He’s a top family law attorney here in town. I even had Ben check him out. I know, this is me being pushy, but I didn’t want to rec him to you unless I knew he was the best. We can’t risk Rennie on anything but the best.”
Oh god. She loved him. She knew it when he walked into her studio earlier that day. Hell, she knew it when his was the first face she looked for when she got those legal papers. Knew when she’d sought refuge in his arms instead of kicking his ass out of her studio. His comment about Rennie just then capped it. Shit. Shit. Shit.
She had to respond even as her realization had sent her reeling. He was looking at her, worried. “I’ll call him tomorrow. Thank you for the card and for the checking on him.” One thing she knew: if she was going to love him, she had to just love him without fear of the end. It would happen, and she’d deal with the fact that she’d still have to see him every day. But it wasn’t anywhere near over, so why not just be happy with him? She could be all adult and stuff, right? Stay friends with an ex when the time came? Sure she could.
“What are you thinking about?” He began to ladle chili into the bowls.
About how she was such a liar. She feared the end. But she’d love him anyway. You don’t always choose who you love, sometimes it just happens. Brody, despite his general reluctance to be permanent with anyone, was a good choice. He was a good man. Honest. Hardworking. He cared about people and he’d been there for her every single time she’d needed him.
She managed a smile even though she was torn between weeping and laughing. “You. Thank you for being so good to us.”
He smiled and kissed her quickly. “It’s my pleasure. It makes me happy.” He paused. “I care about you both. I want you to be happy and safe.”
“Enough mushy stuff. I’m hungry.” And she felt raw, exposed and vulnerable in a way she never had before.
He cocked his head, looking at her carefully. “You okay?”
Before she could answer him, someone knocked on the front door and she sighed, putting a bowl down in front of Rennie before starting toward her hallway.
Brody put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. “Why don’t I get it?” Brody sort of asked, but his body was already heading toward the front door. Lucky for him she was just fine with him dealing with the Sorensons on her doorstep or anything of that nature.
The soft murmur, replaced by her father’s booming voice, filled the house as they came in. Her mother had her arm linked with Brody’s, and Elise realized once again that she and Rennie weren’t the only women in the family who loved the man.
Her father kissed her cheeks and looked over her shoulder toward the slow cooker. “Smells good. You know how much I love chili.” Her parents came in and made themselves at home, filling bowls and sitting at the table, chatting happily with Rennie.
Her family. Crazy-making but wonderful. And they were there for her. That’s what counted the most.
After Rennie went to bed, Elise filled her parents in on the newest developments. They agreed to hang out for the guys coming over with Todd the following day to install the new security system. Brody looked tired, and she knew her parents weren’t leaving anytime soon.
“You look tired. Why don’t you go home and rest?” she suggested softly, following him into the kitchen.
“Because I want to be here with you.”
She smiled, butterflies fluttering in her belly. “I want you here too, but you have dark circles under your eyes.” She traced the curve of his cheeks and he closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. “And my parents aren’t going anywhere. My father just got another glass of wine, which means he a
nd my mother will break out the chessboard. I’ll end up going to sleep before they leave. They’re night owls.”
His slumped shoulders admitted defeat. “You’ll fill me in on whatever you hear when you talk to Bill? The attorney?” he clarified when she looked confused.
“Yes. Thanks again for that. I . . . Thank you for being here for me. For me and Rennie. We need our friends and you’ve been such a good one to us both.”
He was the one blushing for a change. “There’s nothing else I’d do. I’m here for you because that’s what friends do. Tomorrow night, my house. I’ll order pizza and we’ll watch movies.”
She nodded, swallowing past her urge to give him an out. He invited them, he wanted them there. She needed to stop questioning it.
“Sweet dreams. If you need me, I’m just a call away. Like if they go home soon and you need a cuddle. Or something.” His eyes darkened and he sidled closer.
She laughed. “I will. I’ll think of you when I’m using my special showerhead.”
“I’ll get you for that.” He kissed her quickly. “See you tomorrow. Don’t forget to set your system when I leave.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I know you’re being sarcastic, but I like the sound of that anyway. We’ll need to look into that a bit more when your mom and dad aren’t in the other room. No whips, but definitely chains.”
“You’re a menace.”
“I don’t want to suffer alone in my cold bed.”
“Your bed isn’t cold. You have heated floors. Believe me, I’d much rather snuggle up to you than sleep alone.”
He paused and kissed her. “Me too. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He said good-bye to her parents and she walked him to the front door. “Night, Shorty. Dream of me.”
She would.
21
Brody looked up to catch the sight of her walking through the shop’s front door. He smiled, because how could he not? She caught his eye and motioned that she’d leave, but he shook his head and motioned her over. Puhleeze, as if he’d give up any opportunity to be with her.