I was a few houses down from the house when the sounds of partying drifted through the air. A door slammed, and the music quieted. Footsteps pounded, and then a body appeared on the sidewalk, a body I seemed to sense whenever it was around. Darkness covered half of his face, leaving the other half basked in light. He emanated a danger I’d never witnessed in anyone else before—not even Hut.
“Hey,” Brody’s gruff voice greeted, and damn if it didn’t do things to my body. I squeezed my thighs together, trying to act unaffected.
“Hi,” I murmured, flicking my gaze to the house. “You heading out?” I didn’t know why I was so sad from that thought, but I wasn’t going to dwell on it, not when I was this goddamn tired.
“Just heading home,” he said, his gaze flitting over my face. “Hut’s on the rampage again, only this time it involves a lot of other people.”
I huffed out a tired breath, my shoulders sagging. “Damn.” I swiped my hand over my face, not caring I was probably smudging the little makeup still left on my face after the full day. I’d been awake for twenty hours, and all I wanted was a little peace and quiet and my bed.
The silence stretched between us, but I couldn’t look away from his face. The way his jaw seemed to pulse with each tense of his muscles, and his hand that opened and closed into a fist beside him.
“Guess that means no shower or sleep for me tonight then.” I sounded sorry as fuck for myself, but right then, I didn’t care. The woe-is-me act was getting rather tiring, and not for the first time in the last month, I mentally calculated my savings—still not enough for me to move out on my own just yet.
I was on the edge of a cliff, about to dive off, but my rope wasn’t fastened properly, so there was no way I’d take the leap. I needed to loop it a couple more times and tie a few knots. Only then could I soar.
I had to bide my time, make sure that everything was in place before I could walk away from home. It didn’t matter that the four walls hadn’t contained a family. It didn’t matter that the grown-ups that used to live there hadn’t taken care of the people they’d created. It had still been my home, one I was terrified to walk out of because of the repercussions that could come with it.
“You could crash at my place.” His words were at odds with how his body was acting. He blew out a breath and turned to face me fully, allowing the light to stream over his whole face. “I have water and a bed, but most importantly”—he raised a brow—“I have quiet.”
It was tempting, more than he’d ever know, but staying the night was completely different from what had happened the last time I’d been there. I’d be willingly crossing some kind of line that had been drawn when Hut first started his crew, but when I glanced back at the house, the deafening music pounding and leaking out into the dark street, I couldn’t fathom going inside.
“I—” I cut myself off, not sure what I was going to say. The last time we’d gone to his place, we’d kissed. I hadn’t allowed myself to think about it, partly because I had so much going on with work, college, and tutoring, not to mention Hut and all his shit that followed him, but also because if I thought about it too much, I’d scare the shit out of myself. Brody wasn’t the kind of man you could back away from, and I was afraid if I let myself rely on him too much, he’d disappoint me just like everyone else seemed to always do.
“Come on,” he said, tossing his keys in the air and tilting his head to his car that sat behind Hut’s SUV. “You look like you’re about to drop any second.” He raised a brow, his lips quirking on one side to try and hide the grin I was sure wanted to come out. “Frankly, kid, you look like shit.”
“Ahhh.” I stepped closer to him. “You know just the right things to say to a girl.”
He shrugged and pulled the passenger door open for me. “Don’t say I don’t give you compliments.”
A chuckle rattled through my chest as I shook my head and dipped into the car. There was something about Brody that had drawn me in the very first day, and it hadn’t stopped. I was getting closer and closer to him, and yet, I felt like I hardly knew him. So why did my heart skip whenever he was around? Why did my soul call to him on a level I didn’t know was possible? It was like we’d known each other for fifty years, not a few months.
The engine roared to life, and I let the vibrations soothe me all the way to his apartment. Neither of us said anything as we walked into the building and up to his door, and when he pulled it open, and I stepped inside, he smiled. An honest-to-god, boy-next-door smile. It made him look so different. He always had this hard edge to him, the kind of edge you only got from fighting your way through everything just to make it to the next day, but there was a softness to him once he was in his own space, something I wished he’d show more of.
“You know where the shower is. I’m gonna order a pizza.”
I nodded, not trusting my mouth to say anything as I headed right into the bathroom and turned the water on. I let the steam envelop me and stripped out of my clothes and then headed under the warm spray.
The rhythmic beating against my skin had a sigh leaking from my parted lips, and I honestly thought I’d never felt something so good in my entire life. The sound of knocking on the door had me covering my chest with my arm and my legs with my other hand out of instinct.
“I’ve left some clothes outside the door for you. I figured you wouldn’t want to sleep in jeans.”
He wasn’t wrong, but his voice had me showering as quickly as possible. I couldn’t allow myself to feel safe here. I couldn’t let myself relax into a false sense of security. Only bad things happened when you let your guard down. This was one night, and I only agreed because I’d been so goddamn tired. Any other time, I’d have refused and gone into the bustling house, doing my best to ignore every single one of them.
I wrapped a towel around my body and opened the door a crack to retrieve the clothes. I dressed quickly, did my best to finger comb my hair, and flattened my palm to the fogged-up mirror. Pulling in a deep breath, I swiped my hand across it and stared at the reflection.
Brody’s white T-shirt hung off one of my shoulders, the soft material coming to my knees, making me look like I wasn’t wearing anything underneath, but I was, in fact, wearing a pair of his boxer briefs. All be it rolled a few times so they didn’t fall off. But it was the slight flush in my cheeks that had me second-guessing myself.
This was the second time within a week he’d invited me back to his place. Maybe he wanted to get laid? Or killed? Either one was plausible because if Hut found out, he’d direct his anger at Brody before he got started on me.
“Hey, Lola?” Brody’s voice vibrated through the door a second time. “Pizza just got here if you’re hungry.” He cleared his throat. “Try and save some water for me.” I could hear the smile in his voice at his last words.
I flung the door open. “It’s all yours.” I gathered my clothes and stepped out, keeping my head dipped so I couldn’t see his face because I wasn’t sure I was ready to witness what could be there, not yet anyway.
He didn’t say another word as he stepped into the bathroom, so I made my way into the living room, the smell of freshly delivered pizza filling the air. I dumped my clothes on a chair that sat under a small table and flipped the lid open, practically groaning at the site of pepperoni. I lifted one slice, gobbling it down like it was my last meal, and was taking another slice before I even knew what I was doing.
The sound of the water turning off had my back straightening, and I dived at the sofa, needing to look like I’d been sitting here this whole time and not staring at the pizza like it was my savior.
Footsteps padded down the hall. “I wasn’t sure what you liked,” Brody announced as he walked into the room and grabbed the box, bringing it over with him as he sat next to me. “But pepperoni is always a safe bet.”
“It is,” I said, my words breathy. What the hell was I doing? Why couldn’t I talk like a normal person?
“You okay, kid?” Brody asked.
> I turned to face him, doing a really good job of looking like a bobblehead. “Yep.”
His dark-brown eyes seemed to darken the longer he watched me. We sat there, in complete silence, as we ate most of the pizza—me having one more slice while Brody scoffed down four.
My muscles ached, my eyelids heavy as I leaned back against the sofa and blew out a breath. I shouldn’t have felt more at home in this tiny apartment with Brody sitting next to me than in my own bedroom, but I was. Brody copied my movements, his gaze flicking to the lone clock on the small table next to the sofa that read nearly 2 a.m.
“You can take my bed,” he said, his voice deeper than usual.
“Oh no, I’ll take the sofa.” I smiled over at him, but his face was as serious as I’d ever seen it. “I…” I bit down on my bottom lip and blinked several times. “Brody?” I ventured, not sure what was going through his head.
He leaned forward, his thumb resting on my chin and pulling my lips from between my teeth. “Stop doing that,” he growled, and damn if it didn’t hit me in all the right places.
How the hell could his voice even do that? Surely that wasn’t normal? It wasn’t like I didn’t know about men’s...parts. I wasn’t a virgin, but I wasn’t the most experienced girl out there. I’d had fumbles that lasted the best part of thirty minutes, but nothing had made me ache the way I did at that moment with just one simple touch and three words.
“Or what?” I didn’t know what made me say it, but I couldn’t stop the words from slipping past my lips. I wanted to bate him, a small part of me knew that, but I wouldn’t admit it to myself.
“I shouldn’t have brought you here,” he said, his voice low, but his body moved closer, his hand tightening on my chin as his fingers spread along the side of my neck.
“But you wanted to,” I whispered, afraid to talk too loud and pop the bubble we’d now created.
“Fuck it,” he grunted and slammed his lips against mine. It wasn’t sweet or sensual, slow or soft. It was hard and bruising, teeth and tongue mashing together as we explored each other’s mouths.
His hands wandered over my shoulders and down my arms, his thumb skimming the side of my breast and making me gasp. He ate it up, consuming it like it was the air he needed to breathe. My palms latched on to his biceps as his hands stopped at my hips, and then I was being lifted. My body knew what to do in that moment, and I went willingly, opening my legs and straddling his lap.
He pulled back, his chest heaving just as much as mine was as his hooded eyes looked down at my chest. “You look damn good in my T-shirt, Lola.” His gaze pierced mine. “But it’d look even better on the floor.” He waited, staring at me, and it took me a second to realize he was searching for permission. Permission I didn’t need to give him. I knew I’d never deny him a single thing.
I curled my fingers around the bottom of the soft cotton, not moving my eyes from his as I pulled it up, only a millisecond of lost eye contact as I pulled it over my head and flung it out to the side. But he didn’t look down. Instead, he stared right at me, his dark-brown eyes darker than they’d ever been, and a fierceness showcased I’d never seen before.
“You know I didn’t bring you here for this, right?” His voice wobbled, almost as if he was afraid I’d get up off his lap and walk away from him, but he had no idea. No idea that I wouldn’t be able to walk away from him.
“I know,” I whispered, moving closer to him and stopping centimeters away from his lips. “But I want this. That’s all that matters, right? I want this…you want this…”
He didn’t answer me with words. Instead, he pressed his lips against mine, this time slower, soaking in every second that we touched as his hands worked their way up my sides and stopping at the edge of my breasts. His thumbs extended, rolling over my nipples, and I moaned into his mouth, a kind of moan I’d never done before. He brought out a side to me I never even knew existed.
I rocked my hips, feeling his erection between my legs, and wishing there weren’t two layers of clothes between our bare skin. “Fuck, Lola.” He stood, wrapping his arms around my waist, his rough palms branding my smooth skin, promising things.
His steps were more like stumbles, not because he couldn’t carry my weight, but because my lips couldn’t stop touching him. His neck, the pulse point that thrummed faster the more I touched him, his shoulder that was covered in a tattoo and down his chest.
I needed more.
More of him.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind as he laid me on the bed and stared down at me. I didn’t feel like I wanted to cover myself up as he drank his fill, his gaze sliding over every part of my body, so much so that I could almost feel the caress against my skin. I didn’t move a muscle as he knelt down at the edge of his bed and hooked his fingers under the waistband of his boxer briefs.
Lifting my ass off the bed made it easier for him to yank them off, and they disappeared somewhere behind his head. He spread his hands on my thighs, his fingers digging into the soft flesh as he pulled my legs apart, baring me to him.
His huff made goose bumps spread everywhere, but he didn’t move to touch me, just stared. I tried to wiggle my hips, a silent plea to him, and his head snapped up, his dark eyes widening.
“You’re fuckin' beautiful, Lola.”
The burn of my cheeks wouldn’t go unnoticed, not when he spoke like that while I was fully naked, spread out for him, on his bed. His fingers moved, dragging through my slit and hitting the bundle of nerves, but he didn’t concentrate there long. Instead, he slid his deft finger into me, causing me to close my eyes and soak in every touch he graced me with.
“More,” I begged, lifting my hips off the bed, searching for something unknown.
“More what?” he asked, his finger dipping in and out to a slow rhythm only he knew.
“I need more,” I panted, my hands gripping the comforter underneath me and twisting it.
“Where, Lola?” His finger pulled out, and he dragged it up to my clit, flicking over the nerve endings several times and then dipping back inside me. “Tell me what you want.”
I bit down on my bottom lip so hard I was sure I was going to draw blood any second. He was teasing me in the best way possible. “There. I need more…there.”
“Here?” he asked, pressing his thumb against my clit.
“Yesss.”
“You only had to ask,” he said, the cocky words dripping out of his mouth.
I opened my mouth, about to reply, but his lips closing over me had me speechless. He stroked his tongue all the way up, slowly, achingly slow, and sucked on my clit, drawing noises from me I never thought possible. My hand made its way to his head, gripping his hair and keeping him in place. I couldn’t let him stop, not when I was so close…
His other hand wormed its way underneath me, gripping my ass so hard it was sure to leave a bruise. He feasted on me like he hadn’t eaten in weeks and I was the only thing that would save him from starvation.
“That’s it, darlin',” he drawled, dipping a second finger inside me. “Let go. Let everything go.”
His lips latched on to me a second time, and I gripped his hair tighter, my back bowing off the bed as the burn started low in my stomach. I could feel it, right there, but it wasn’t until he flicked his tongue once more that I exploded.
The detonation happened so suddenly that I cried out. I couldn’t do anything to stop it. It wasn’t that I’d never had an orgasm, because I had, by myself and other people, but this was different. More intense. Just…more.
He eeked it out as I let go of his hair, flopping my arm beside me like it was a separate entity to my body. I felt his breath on me as he pulled away, his hands stroking up my sides as he climbed onto the bed, the last of his clothes having disappeared.
I opened my eyes, taking him all in. His chest was a wall of muscles joined to his abs. Each contour rippling as he moved, but it was the muscles pointing down that drew my attention.
I lifted up onto one elbow, d
rinking in the sight of him in the same way he had me. I’d never been a fan of dicks. They seemed ugly and kind of…weird. But Brody’s…
Could you call a dick beautiful? Because that was exactly what his was.
Before I knew what I was doing, my hand was touching it, relishing in the silky smoothness of the head and over the veins that ran through his impressive length. His groan bounced off the walls, and I snapped my head up.
“Darlin', if you keep touching it, I can’t be responsible for what it might do.”
I snorted, which drew a grin from him. “That right?”
“Yep.” He nodded and dipped his head closer, his lips pressing against mine. “It has a mind of its own.”
My legs wrapped around his waist as he settled between my legs, his hand gripping the side of my breast, his fingertips smoothing over my ribs. “Maybe he could show me what he can do.” I tried to shrug, but all it did was bring my chest closer to his.
“Oh, he’s gonna show you, all right.” He pulled back slightly, and I felt him drag the head of his dick against my folds, and then he was at my entrance, slowly pushing in just like he had with his fingers.
His arm beside me tensed, his muscles taut. “Fuck, you’re so goddamn…” He didn’t finish his sentence as he filled me to the hilt, and damn, I’d never felt so full in my entire life. Feeling his skin against mine had something burning inside me, something I was afraid he’d see when he looked down at me, but that small smile he showcased told me he liked it.
“I’m gonna move now,” he warned, and all I could do was nod.
His movements started out slow, his hands running over my chest and hips, not knowing where to stop, but as he started to go faster, his hands gripped my hips, his fingers digging into the flesh. The biting sting added to each of his thrusts, and then he was going harder than I thought I could handle, but there was no way I’d tell him to stop.
Fallen Duet: Brody & Lola: Free Fall & Down Fall (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 1) Page 14
