Jokers Wild: Stripped Bare

by Lena Matthews

  Brody propped himself up on his elbow as he slid all the way in, so he could stare into her whiskey-brown eyes. Looking deep into them, Brody saw what he thought was a reflection of his affection for her burning deep in her eyes.

  “You’re so fucking tight,” he whispered again, pulling out a bit and pushing back in. “I love your pussy. The way it squeezes me so tight. It’s like fucking a fist. It’s so tight.”

  “God, Brody,” Missy moaned raising her knees up, angling her hips so he could slide further in. “Fuck me, please fuck me.”

  Rising up, Brody did just that. Pumping in and out of her body, he moved like a freight train, forward and steady, giving her every inch, every ounce of his cock. Not holding back, he placed his hands on her waist and got up on his knees, so he could fuck her more steadily.

  The movie forgotten, they did their own moves fit for the screen. Brody held onto her hips and thrust into her over and over again while she clamored under him. “Yes, yes, yes.” Not able to hold back, Brody powered forward once more, spilling into her as she tightened around him, crying out her release.

  The power of his orgasm made Brody tremble as he tried to withdraw from Missy’s body. He felt that his legs and arms wouldn’t be able to hold him and that his bones were a mass of quivering Jell-O. Pulling out, Brody rose on his shaky arms and plopped back down next to Missy on the bed.

  Their labored breathing was the only sound in the room that Brody heard, as he struggled not only to gather himself together, but also to deal with the complex emotions coursing through his body. Never having been in love before, he didn’t know if the tightening of his heart and the pounding in his head was orgasm-related or love-related. Whatever it was, he hurt and felt wonderful all at the same time.

  Turning his head, he looked at Missy’s delicate profile in the light and watched with pride as she raised her shaking hand up to push her damp hair off of her face. The depth of their loving never ceased to amaze him, it just seemed to keep getting better and better every time they made love.

  Chapter 15

  Love wasn’t supposed to happen this quick or feel this strong so early in a relationship. Missy was confused and unsure about a lot of things but one. She was head over heels in love with Brody. They had spent so much time together in the last couple of weeks that she had a hard time distinguishing his place from hers. Slowly but surely, more and more of her things had begun to find their way over to his place. It was getting to the point where she had to air out her apartment to get rid of the stale smell.

  Brody’s idea of a solution was for her to just move in with him, but Missy wasn’t quite ready for that step. Although she slept over at his place five nights out of seven, she still needed the security of her own apartment as a back-up plan. It had become a point of contention between them, and Brody was no longer hiding his irritation at about it.

  They moved past several of her barriers. Everyone on campus was aware that they were seeing each other and if Brody ever got any shit about it, Missy was unaware of it. She had been to family dinners, had hung out with Bryce and his flavor of the month as Brody like to call Bryce’s ever rotating crop of girlfriends, and Brody had even gone with her to Kayla and Dylan’s wedding.

  For once being a bridesmaid didn’t make her feel so bad. Not only was she in a stunning full-length ice-blue dress that thankfully Eliza had picked out, she also had one of the hottest men at the wedding as her date. She had originally been shy about asking him to go with her because she knew that most guys didn’t like to attend things like that. But Brody didn’t only jump at the chance, he was actually one of the hand full of men, okay the only man, she had ever met, who owned his own tuxedo.

  And damn did he know how to wear it. His body filled it out in ways that James Bond never did. The suit was custom made to fit his exact measurements. It accented his broad shoulders and long frame. In a word, he looked scrumptious. Even Kayla’s great Aunt Beatrice, who had to be close to a hundred, had stopped and stared. Brody was breathtaking and he was hers.

  The wedding was held at dusk, in a gazebo trimmed with flowers and twinkling lights. It was a crowed, yet imitate affair, with only Eliza and she as the bridesmaids, and Chris and Paul, another friend of Dylan’s, as the groomsmen. Kayla looked lovely in an off the shoulder ivory gown and for once she wasn’t clashing. They had written their own vows, and there wasn’t a female with dry eyes left after Dylan swore to conduct himself in her absence as he did in her presence.

  It was a truly touching event and during the exchanging of the vows, Missy couldn’t help but look over at Brody. His eyes were on her as well, and they stared at each other until the minister pronounced Dylan and Kayla man and wife. Walking down the aisle behind the happy couple, Missy smiled brightly and winked at Brody as she passed him.

  The reception took place at a nearby Italian bistro, owned by one of Dylan’s clients. The restaurant had an outside deck that was off the lake, and it too was decorated in lights and flowers, matching the gazebo where they had exchanged vows. They had hired a live band and everyone danced under lanterns embossed with Dylan and Kayla’s initials.

  The cool sea air brushed over Missy as Brody held her close and they danced together under the star and lantern lights. The romantic voice of Sade played softly in the background as he twirled her around the floor. This was what she had always imagined her wedding would be like. She would be in the arms of the man she loved more than anything in the world; surrounded by her family and friends. The only thing that was off was that she was in the blue bridesmaid dress instead of the ivory wedding gown.

  “If I haven’t said this to you yet today,” Brody whispered in her ear. “Let me rectify that right now by saying you look beautiful.”

  Pulling her head back so that she could look up at him, Missy smiled and said, “Thank you, and I too would like to add that you look mouthwatering. All the ladies are staring at your ass.”

  “They can stare all they want,” he teased. “As long as they stare from a distance. Especially Kayla’s great aunt. She’s giving me the willies.”

  “Aunt Beatrice is deadly,” Missy teased back, looking around his arm at the purple-haired woman in matching purple dress, who was watching Brody like a hawk. “If I were you, I would stay far from her and the kitchen.”

  “Why the kitchen?” he asked, warily looking over at her Beatrice.

  “Because she mentioned doing something with you and jam that the good Lord never intended.”

  Brody blanched at the comment and swished Missy in the opposite direction, heading away from the salivating senior citizen. Throwing her head back, Missy laughed happily as he spun her off the dance floor.

  “Walk with me,” he said, taking her hand and leading her towards the pier.

  “Okay.” Missy smiled as they passed people coming up from the lake and tried to take in every moment as if it was her last. If anyone would have told her months ago that she would be this happy, she would have thought they were lying. No way in a million years did she think it was possible, let alone normal, to be this happy.

  “I have a present for you,” Brody said, leaning back against the pier’s banister.

  Looking up at him smiling, Missy asked excitedly. “What?”

  “A little something I saw that made me think of you right away.”

  “Nachos?” she teased.

  Brody frowned, pulling his hand out of his pocket.

  “Just kidding, sheesh,” she replied as he frowned.

  “You may not get it now.”

  “Ahh, come on. I was just joshing,” she wrapped her hands around his lapels, tugged him forward and brushed his lips with a kiss. “If you give it to me, I’ll be ever so grateful.”

  Raising one brow, he asked, “How grateful?”

  “Very grateful,” Missy whispered, and she kissed him again, this time lingering long enough to swipe her tongue between his lips.

  “Okay,” he said, when she pulled back. Reaching in his pants
pocket, he pulled own a rectangular velvet box and handed it to her.

  Excitement coursed through her as she took the heavy box in her hands, and pulled it opened slowly. Inside, nestled on the black velvet, was a bracelet blending fiery opals and icy diamonds, strung together with gold. It was the most beautiful bracelet Missy had ever seen in her entire life. The opals were brilliant in color, with slashes of blue and red entwined within the milky stones.

  Gasping in shock, Missy gently touched it with her fingertips, before looking at Brody who was grinning broadly. “Wow.”

  Laughing now, he unhooked it from its clasp and pulled it out of the box. Placing it around her wrist, he hooked it together, caressing her softly with his fingers at the same time. The paleness of her skin and the richness of the bracelet looked well together, as if one was made for the other.

  Missy was stunned. Never in her life had she been given something so beautiful. With tears brimming in her eyes, she looked up at him, still speechless.

  “Do you like it?” he asked hopefully.

  Holding her arm out to the side so she could stare at it more, she replied shakily, “Are you crazy? Of course I do. But Brody, I can’t accept this. It must have cost…”

  “You can and you will,” he said stubbornly. Tilting up her chin, he looked down at her and wiped away the tears that had escaped from her eyes. “And who cares what it cost? If I can’t spend money on the woman I love, then who can I spend it on?”

  Missy almost swallowed her tongue. Brody had never mentioned love the entire three months they had been together, and of course, when he did, the jerk did it surrounded by a hundred people. She wanted to jump on him and squeeze him to death, and bean him on the head at the same time. Missy felt overwhelmed and humbled. She knew she loved him, but she wasn’t sure if she was comfortable just blurting it out there like that.

  Brody watched her expectantly and when she didn’t say anything his eyes narrowed a bit and he pulled back.

  “Brody …I…”

  “It’s okay, Missy,” he said, with a smile that didn’t quite reach his gray eyes. “I didn’t say that expecting you to say it back. I said it because that’s the way I feel.”

  “I feel the same,” Missy said shakily. “I care for you so much…”

  “Missy,” Eliza said, coming up from behind them. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

  Smiling at them, Eliza grabbed her arm and said excitedly, “Come on girl, we have some more pictures to take.”

  “Oh okay, I’ll be right there,” Missy said still looking at Brody.

  Smiling, he bent down and kissed her on the forehead. “It’s okay, Princess, there’s time. Why don’t you go smile for the camera, and I’ll meet you by the bar when you’re done.”

  Nervously, Missy fought the tug of Eliza on her arm, wanting to stay and talk with Brody some more. She was torn between her bridesmaid duty to Kayla and the hurt in Brody’s eyes. “Are you sure?” she asked apprehensively.

  “Yeah, go ahead, baby.”

  “We’re only taking a couple of pictures Missy, not going to war.” Winking at Brody, Eliza said, “Why don’t you go ask Aunt B to dance? It might do her old heart some good.”

  “Uhh no,” he said laughing. “I think I’ll go see a man about a horse instead.”

  They all walked back towards the party together, with Brody breaking away as they neared the family gathering for photos.

  “If I wasn’t already in love, I might have to perk up the twins and go after that man,” Eliza teased.

  “Your daughter is too young to be motherless.” Missy kidded back. They both laughed as they positioned themselves around Kayla.

  Although Missy smiled, her heart wasn’t really in it. She was afraid that she might have damaged things between Brody and herself. The bracelet lay as heavy against her wrist as her heart lay in her chest. She just wanted to hurry up with the photos and go soothe things over between them.

  Before the last flash had even faded from her eyes, Missy was walking towards the bar looking for him. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkly lit room, but she soon spotted Brody leaning against the bar. Brody had his back turned towards her as she moved past people to get nearer to him. As she stopped at his side she noticed a woman’s hand lying against his and he was just moving out of the way, when Missy walked in front of him.

  She expected a look of embarrassment to come across his face, but was only met with a look of indifference.

  “Am I interrupting?” she asked coolly. A lot cooler than she felt, that was for sure.

  Brody looked at her a little taken aback, before his eyes filled with fire. “What do you think?” he asked heatedly.

  “Why don’t you tell me?”

  “It looks like you’ve already made up your mind,” Brody shoved away from the bar and towered over her. “No need for me to chime in here, is there?”

  Missy looked from him to the stunning blonde dressed in a little black scrap of nothing lounging in the next chair and didn’t know what to think. On one hand she knew that Brody cared for her, hell he had just told her he loved her not a good ten minutes before. But they did just sort of have an argument, and in the back of her mind Missy thought that he could have been trying to get back at her for not saying ‘I love you’ back. It was a game her ex Tony had played a lot. All the confidence that she had built up in the last few months tumbled like dominoes. Her old doubts and insecurities hurtled back at record sped, and she was left wondering.

  Brody, seeing the doubt on her face, just turned and walked away. Missy held back from following him and just walked away broken heartedly as he pushed past people and stormed out of the door.

  A nudge at her arm made her turn and she looked down into the wrinkled cloudy blue eyes of Kayla’s aunt.

  “You’re not going to let him go, are you?” she croaked, nodding towards the swinging empty doors.

  “If he wants to leave, who am I to stop him?” Missy asked, more to herself than to the older woman.

  “You’re a fool,” she said, emphasizing her comment by banging her cane on the wooden floor. “If he was flirting with that floozy,” the blonde gasped at Beatrice’s comment.

  Beatrice narrowed her gaze, which made her eyes disappear entirely in a sea of skin and shook her cane at the woman. “That’s right I said floozy, then you take him home and give him a lesson in manners, but you don’t let him go home alone. You fight, then you make up.”

  Missy looked down at Beatrice with tears in her eyes and nodded her head in agreement. If Brody had been flirting with the blonde, then she was going to make him pay, but there was no way he was leaving without her. Running past startled patrons, she pushed open the door and flew out into the night.

  Brody had neared his car, and was standing next to it with his hand on the roof, breathing heavily when Missy collided into him.

  “What the hell?” he said, pushing away from the car. Turning he righted them both and pushed her away. “What do you want Missy? Want to make sure that there’s no bimbo in the backseat for me to take home?”

  “Well, what was I supposed to think Brody?”

  “That I was having a drink.”

  “She was touching you,” Missy yelled.

  “But I wasn’t touching her,” he yelled back. “Did you happen to notice me pushing her hand away?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “But nothing,” he thundered. “Do you really think that I would tell you I love you in one moment then go flirt with some bimbo minutes later? What kind of person do you think I am?”

  Missy fought back the shame that was coursing through her. “I’m not going to feel terrible about this, Brody,” she said, poking her finger in his chest. “You get jealous all the time.”

  Taking her finger, Brody pushed it away from his chest like it was merely a fly. “And it’s always because I don’t trust other people around you, not because I don’t trust you,” he replied softly.

  The so
ftness of his voice and the hurt in his eyes caused Missy’s heart to skip a beat. Deep inside Missy knew that despite his calmness, Brody was dead serious and extremely hurt. She didn’t want to cause a scene, and she refused to lower herself to beg him to stay, but she was truly at a loss as to what to do.

  “It’s nice of you to make that distinction now when it’s not you who was acting jealous.”

  “Can you honestly say that you ever felt like I didn’t trust you?”

  “That time with Scott,” she hedged.

  “If it was you I didn’t trust, why was it his balls I had pinned against the wall?”

  “Why are you turning this around?” Missy cried.

  “Because I’m tired of always being the one out there alone on the edge.”

  Feeling confused, Missy stepped back and stared at him. The sounds of cars going by and the party still going on inside, was the only noise in the calm, cool night. Brody’s chest rose and fell sharply and his face was aflame in anger that matched the heat in his stormy gray eyes.

  “You’re not the only one,” she replied quietly.

  “Bullshit!” he spat angrily.

  “It’s not bullshit, Brody.”

  “Yes it is. I’m the only one giving here.” Counting off on his hand, he continued, “You don’t want the lights on, the lights stay off. You refuse to look for another job, although you know it kills me worrying about you at that place. You won’t consider moving in with me. Hell, you can’t even tell me you love me. It’s all me giving, all me changing, all me willing to give a fucking inch.”

  Missy wanted to deny it, any of it, but she knew she couldn’t. Brody had made countless overtures, always giving while she sat back on the sideline waiting for the other shoe to drop. Brody dropped his hand defeatedly and turned back to his car.

  “I’m sorry,” Missy said, wanting with every fiber of her body to beg him not to go.

  “I know, Missy,” Brody replied, without turning around. “You’re always sorry, but this time I can honestly say I don’t care.”