Cashmere and Camo

by Erin Nicholas

  “What are these?” she asked.

  He climbed up into the truck. “A story for another time,” he told her. He knelt and spread the blankets out first, then the sleeping bag. Then he gave her a smile. “You think you can scoot over here, or do you need help moving even that far?” He looked a little cocky.

  She liked that look on him.

  “Are you finally going to take your pants off?” she asked.

  He undid the button and unzipped his jeans. “I am.”

  “Then I think I can muster up the strength to get over to where I need to be.” She crawled over to the middle of the blankets, aware that he was watching every move.

  She sat back on her heels, facing him squarely. “I’m ready.”

  His eyes darkened. “Damn right you are.”

  Her body throbbed with the memory of the orgasm, and she felt need gathering again as he stretched to his feet.

  His eyes were on hers as he pulled the front of his jeans apart, his cock pressing insistently against the black boxers behind the denim. He shoved the jeans down over his hips and kicked them away. Then he hooked his thumbs in the top of his boxers and pushed them down.

  He was…magnificent. Huge. Hard. Hot. She could feel the heat emanating from him even across the two feet between them.

  She knee-walked toward him, her eyes on her first live cock. And she was already pretty sure that he’d ruined her for all others.

  “Noah.”

  “Brynn,” he said at the same time.

  She looked up at him. And wet her lips.

  His jaw tightened. “Not tonight.”

  Ah, so he did know what she had on her mind. “But you just—”

  “I’m not coming down your pretty throat this time,” he said gruffly, the graphic statement contrasted by the way he cupped her cheek. “I gotta have your pussy tonight, Brynn.”

  Said pussy clenched hard at that. “But—”

  “And while I’d love to tell you that I have enough control for you to do all your exploring on my cock without losing it, I’m not gonna make it. Not this time.”

  She thought about that.

  “You want me thrusting deep, filling you up,” he said, his fingers holding her chin.

  “Are you asking me?” She was completely breathless.

  “No,” he said simply.

  Her eyes dropped to his cock again. “But I can do that some other time?” She looked up. “Soon?”

  He groaned, dropped to his knees, and took her face in both his hands. He kissed her hard. When he pulled back he said, “I will insist on you doing that some other time.”

  Arrows of pleasure shot through her and she nodded. “Okay.”

  “Damn right, okay,” he muttered. He kissed her again, laying her back as he did and moving over her. “It might be a little tough at first,” he told her, kissing down her neck as she relaxed into the blankets. “We’ll go slow.”

  “I’m not worried. I totally trust you.”

  She felt him tense against her and she looked down.

  He met her eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She shook her head. “Then don’t.”

  “It’s not that—”

  “Noah, that pain won’t last. And then you’ll make it all amazing. I won’t even remember it.”

  He pulled in a breath and for just a split second she thought, for some reason, that he might change his mind. But that disappeared as he ran his hand up her leg to her core, slid a finger inside, then another, as he sucked on her nipples and talked dirty about how tight she was and how wet she was and how he couldn’t wait to feel her milking his cock.

  She was writhing against his hand, climbing toward another orgasm when she felt him shift. She looked down to watch him roll a condom on, his hand still working between her legs.

  He slid his fingers from her and moved over her. One big hand grasped her knee, bringing it up and wrapping her leg around his waist. Then he flexed her other leg up, propping it over his shoulder. “Nice and slow. And deep,” he told her.

  The head of his cock pressed against her opening, and she felt the craving to have him thrust hard. “Yes, Noah,” she gasped.

  He had her spread open and he moved steadily, pressing deeper. His eyes were locked on hers, and she knew he was looking for any indication that she wasn’t fine.

  But she was fine. Very, very fine.

  “God, you feel good,” she panted. “So big. So full.”

  He groaned. “Killing me.”

  “More. You can go more. Faster. Harder.”

  “Brynn,” he said tightly.

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t talk. For just a second, okay?”

  She wasn’t sure anyone had ever asked her not to talk before. She found that amusing. Even as Noah sunk a little deeper. She groaned. And decided that if she was going to become more chatty, this might be just the occasion.

  “Noah,” she said. “I want to be filled up. I want every inch.”

  “Brynn…” he said warningly.

  She dug her fingers into his butt. “Please.”

  He blew out a quick breath, then moved a hand under her ass, and tipped her pelvis. “Hang on, B.”

  He thrust, sinking deep, stretching her wide. She felt an intense pressure, then a sharpness, and she gasped. Noah’s fingers dug into her butt. “Brynn,” he said through gritted teeth. “Tell me you’re okay.”

  “I’m—” She took a deep breath and just worked to relax. “I’m good.” He started to pull back and she grabbed him. “No. Wait. I’m fine.”

  He gave her a half smile. “Yeah, well, this is how this works.” He pulled back, then eased in again.

  This time there was no sharpness. Just an incredible fullness. She felt her toes curling, literally. “Oh,” she said softly. “Oh, yes.”

  He moved his hips again, dragging out of her slowly, deliciously, then filling her again, stretching her, stroking a spot she hadn’t even been aware of. Pleasure streaked through her and she needed more.

  Noah’s muscles bunched as he moved, and Brynn flashed back to all the times she’d watched him working on cars and wondered what they would feel like under her hands. She gripped his upper arms, his triceps hard as he held himself up.

  “Keep going,” she gasped.

  “No other option,” Noah told her, his breathing ragged.

  “You can go faster.”

  He chuckled though it sounded almost pained. “I’m barely holding on here, Brynn. You feel so fucking good.”

  “Good.” She arched her back. “I want this to be good for you.”

  “Fuck,” he muttered. “You have no idea.”

  “I want to come again. I want you to come.”

  He dropped his head to hers. “Killing. Me.”

  “Faster, Noah,” she whispered. “Harder. No glass slippers.”

  He dragged in a breath. And then he started moving. Really moving. Hard, deep, fast. He lifted her up against him, and Brynn clung to his shoulders, gasping, trying to move with him. But Noah was truly in control. He hit the perfect spot every time, grinding against her clit, and winding the need deep in her pelvis tighter and tighter.

  “Come for me, Brynn. Let me feel it. I need to feel it.”

  “Noah,” she gasped.

  Then he reached between them, put his thumb against her clit, and circled.

  Her orgasm hit suddenly, everything in her clenching hard and then releasing as pleasure crashed over her.

  Noah shouted her name, and she felt him pulse deep inside her as he came seconds later.

  He immediately rolled to his back, taking her with him, still inside her. Her legs splayed over his hips, her arms flopped limply, and she rested her cheek against his chest.

  She loved how hard he was breathing and the pounding of his heart under her ear.

  Slowly he began stroking her back, and she stretched and considered purring. She totally got Penn in that moment.

  And as if she’d conjured him, a
minute later she heard a meow and the soft thump of a cat landing in the back of the truck. She laughed softly and pried one eye open.

  Penn picked his way toward them. She stretched her hand out toward him and he sniffed her fingers. Then he pivoted slowly, stretching and rubbing against her hand.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” she said softly.

  He made one more turn, then plopped down on the blanket next to them, and lifted a back foot and started cleaning his toes.

  “Wow, jealous much?” Noah asked him dryly.

  Brynn laughed. “He knows that I’ve been wanting this.”

  Noah rolled his head to look at her. “Yeah?”

  “I’ve told him about how hot I think you are when we watch you work.”

  Noah’s hands slid to her butt and he squeezed. “Is that right?”

  “He’s a really good listener.”

  Noah chuckled. “He’s good at keeping secrets too. He hasn’t said a thing to me.”

  Brynn nuzzled her face against his neck. And got another ass squeeze for it. “Well, now it doesn’t have to be a secret. I’m hot for your body, Noah Bradley. And I want to do a lot of very dirty things to it.”

  “That can be arranged, Brynn Carmichael,” he said, bringing her face up for a kiss.

  She felt a wave of contentment wash over her even as her body began heating from his kiss and roaming hands. She started squirming against him, feeling him growing harder inside her again.

  He pulled away from her mouth and looked up at her. “Okay, goddess, I need to go get cleaned up before we start over again.”

  She frowned then, though it probably had something to do with the condom. She really didn’t know how that all went. She kissed him again and then he slid her up and off of his body, rolling her to the blanket. He kissed her yet again before pushing himself up.

  “Don’t go anywhere.”

  “No chance.”

  And she definitely peeked over the edge of the truck bed as he headed for the bathroom. Yeah, she got it. Watching someone walk away could be really nice.

  10

  Noah scrubbed a hand over his face and stared into the mirror over the bathroom sink.

  He’d just made love to Brynn Carmichael.

  He’d been her first. But he’d made it good for her, and he’d had a chance to pour all of his feelings for her into every kiss and touch.

  And now she really had to go back to New York.

  The fact that he was in love with her and was still committed to letting her go was a great way of proving that he was a good guy who could keep his promises, wasn’t it?

  He’d promised Rudy he’d take care of her.

  Not that he wouldn’t fall for her.

  Cursing, he splashed water on his face, then stalked back to the truck, wondering if it was too soon for a very-recently-virgin to try a little cowgirl.

  But when he rounded the back of the truck, he found his girl had already been claimed by another male.

  Brynn had pulled the edge of the top blanket over her, and Penn was curled up in the crook of her arm. She was lazily stroking his head as she talked softly to him. The sight made something in Noah’s chest tighten.

  Penn had been a friendly, cuddly thing when he’d first shown up at the shop. Jared would sit on the hood of this truck, exactly like Brynn did, on his breaks, and Penn would climb into his lap immediately. Noah had considered the cat both his and Jared’s, though Penn seemed to gravitate toward Jared. Of course, Jared sat still better than Noah did.

  The first time Brynn had climbed up on the truck and settled back to read, Noah had struggled to take a deep breath. She hadn’t known that he kept the truck there as his own tribute to his friend. If it wasn’t for Jared, Noah wouldn’t have this shop. And it had taken him almost four years to realize that it was okay to open the shop and make it work, just as they’d planned, even without his friend.

  “Was I even across the garage before he settled into my spot?” Noah asked.

  Brynn lifted her head and smiled at him. “He waited until you shut the bathroom door.”

  One of her legs was splayed to the side, the blanket covering her thigh and the pretty spot between her thighs that Noah needed to get his mouth back on really soon. But her bent knee and lower leg were all bare. He stroked a hand from the arch of her foot to her knee, and she gave a soft sigh.

  “You’re going to have to decide which one of us you want to cuddle with,” Noah said, memorizing the silky feel of her skin.

  “Yeah? Why can’t I have you both?”

  “Well, babe, I’m not into sharing,” Noah told her with a small smile. “And more, if I get up there with you, Penn will get lost.”

  “You’ll make him leave?” She gave him a little pout and scratched under Penn’s chin.

  “No. He’ll just leave on his own.”

  She looked down at the cat. “You don’t think he likes you.”

  “Not anymore.”

  Her gaze came back to his. “He used to?”

  Shit. He hadn’t meant to say that. He didn’t want her to know about Jared. “When he was little,” Noah said with a nod. “But he got pissed off when I went off to college and then the Marines.”

  “Ah.” She rubbed behind Penn’s ears. “Who took care of him then?”

  “Hank.”

  Brynn’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”

  “He’s the first house down,” Noah said, pointing east in the direction of Hank’s house. “And he’s a softie. Penn went over even before we—I—left and so I asked if he’d take him in.”

  “So Penn lived with Hank until you came home? Then he came back?”

  Noah felt his throat tighten. Which was stupid. It was a cat. “He never left. He slept here. He’d show up at Hank’s if he got really hungry, but finally Hank just started coming over here to feed him.”

  Brynn shook her head. “Wow. Hank’s the best.”

  Noah smiled. “Yeah. He is.”

  They were quiet for a moment, and Noah could hear Penn purring. Up against Brynn? He could relate.

  “Come here,” she said quietly, holding her other hand out to him.

  “There’s no way I’m not coming there,” he said, crawling up on the tailgate and showing her just how excited he was to see her.

  Her eyes dropped to his cock and her cheeks flushed. But this wasn’t a blush of embarrassment. That was pure lust. And his cock responded in kind.

  He slid up beside her, on the opposite side from Penn, and cuddled in close, resting his hand on her stomach and his erection against her hip.

  The cat didn’t move. He did look up at Noah with a “really” expression though. Noah actually chuckled. “You might have crawled on top of her first, P,” he said. “But I can promise she likes how I snuggle more.”

  The cat put his head down, on Brynn’s arm, and closed his eyes.

  Really? He wasn’t going to move? Just when Noah thought he and the animal had an understanding about personal space, they were going to have to share the woman Noah was pretty sure he was addicted to forever now?

  Fine. He could wait. Lying up against her wasn’t a bad way to spend a few minutes.

  “You’re not going to make him move?” she asked, after nearly a minute. She had an arm around Noah too, and her hand rested on his lower back.

  “Nah,” he said.

  “You think Hank is soft? Look at you.”

  Noah just looked at Penn. “I don’t blame him for being mad at me,” he said after a second.

  “Because you left?”

  Noah nodded. “For a long time. Without really explaining it.”

  Okay, again, he’d said more than he’d meant to. Because he wasn’t talking about explaining his absence to the cat. At least not just the cat.

  “You should have explained that you were off to college and the Marines?” she asked. “You think that would have helped him forgive you when you got back?”

  Noah felt a shiver of trepidation go through him.
He was dangerously close to telling her some things he had no intention of talking about.

  But he wasn’t sure he could help himself suddenly. He hadn’t just liked hearing that she liked lemon sherbet. He’d liked learning about how she didn’t want to relate to Cinderella and how she feared she did anyway.

  He not only wanted her to know that there was always a carton of Cherry Garcia in his freezer, but that Penn had a good reason to hate him.

  And so did Maggie.

  “I could have told him why I was leaving,” he finally said. “That might have helped.”

  “You served for four years?” Brynn asked, shifting slightly so she could look at him. Penn didn’t move.

  “Yeah.” Noah’s hand itched with the urge to reach out and pet the cat. But suddenly he was afraid that really might make Penn move. The cat had found someone he could cuddle with again. And she was a hell of a cuddler. He didn’t want to take that away from the animal.

  Noah wouldn’t have been surprised if Hank had offered his lap to the cat while Noah had been away, but he also wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that Penn would only cuddle on people when they were on or in his truck.

  “So you didn’t finish college then?” she asked.

  He felt his neck tense. This was really close to the whole story. “I had it in my head that we needed business degrees so that we could open this shop and really kick ass,” he said. “And, honestly, it was a great reason to get out of Bliss and let go a little.”

  “You needed a break?”

  “Yeah. I—” He cleared his throat. Okay, this part she could know, he supposed. “My dad was a Marine. And when he deployed, he left me in charge. That whole you’re-the-man-of-the-house thing. I was supposed to take care of my mom and sisters, the house, whatever came up.”

  “How old were you?”

  “That probably started when I was about ten or eleven,” he said.

  “Wow.”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t mind it. Or at least, I didn’t realize I minded it. Until I got older. And Lori ended up in the hospital with a ruptured appendix when I was about fifteen. And Kate put a car in the ditch when I was sixteen. And my mom cheated on my dad when I was seventeen.”