At some point she must have closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, Brandon was grinning down at her.
“Did you just have a multiple orgasm?”
She nodded, her breath rasping out, her body as limp as an overcooked noodle.
“Is that a common occurrence for you?”
She shook her head. He had a way of doing amazing things to her. “First time.”
His smile widened. “You’re not just saying that to boost my ego?”
She laughed weakly. “I don’t think your ego needs any help from me.”
He kissed her, then rolled to sitting position at the edge of the bed. She heard him curse under his breath, then he shook his head and cursed again.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“We have a breach.” A breach? “What kind of breach?”
“The condom. It tore.”
Her heart skidded to an abrupt stop, then picked up double-time. “How?”
He shrugged and turned to look at her. “It’s been known to happen. Is it a bad time for you?”
“Bad time?” Like, would 10:00 a.m. have been a better time for the birth control to fail?
“Is it a fertile time in your cycle?”
Oh. Good question. That wasn’t something she thought much about, since up until now she hadn’t been having sex with anyone. “I…I don’t know.”
“When was your last period?”
She must have looked surprised by the question because he said, “We’ve been about as intimate as two people can be. I think we’re past using euphemisms.”
Good point. “It was…” she figured the days in her head “…maybe a week ago.”
“So we should be okay.” His level of calm was both surprising and a little…disturbing. Most men in his position would be freaking out right about now.
“We should be fine,” she said. “How is it you know so much about female reproduction?”
“I’m a rancher. I raise animals. It’s the whole circle of life thing.”
She hadn’t though of that. “You’re awfully…calm.”
“What would be the point in getting upset? Why waste time worrying about something until you know you actually have something to worry about?”
That was a logical philosophy, and whether he realized it or not, Brandon was a truly unique man.
For a brief moment she tried to imagine what it would be like to have a baby with him. What the baby would look like. If it would have his dark blond hair and dimples. She wondered what kind of father he would be.
She realized what she was doing and shook the thought away. A baby with Brandon? What could she possibly be thinking? An affair was one thing, but to even consider a serious relationship was out of the question. They were way too different. And she was so not ready to even think about starting a family. Not when her business was at such a critical stage.
Maybe this affair wasn’t such a hot idea after all. Not if she was going to let her emotions get the better of her. Maybe it would be best if they put an end to this before things got out of hand.
In theory it was a good idea, but then Brandon started kissing her again, and touching her, and of course she melted. She decided that she would make love to him one more time. Then she would tell him he had to leave, that they couldn’t see each other anymore. But after they made love not one, but two more times, she was so exhausted she didn’t have the energy to kick him out of bed. Besides, Brandon was a cuddler, and it had been a long time since she’d cuddled with a man. She fell asleep in his arms and woke the next morning to find him grinning down at her, his hair mussed from sleep. “We should get moving. I’m supposed to meet my mentor at eleven.”
She smoothed down her hair, hoping she didn’t look too beastly. “What time is it?”
“Ten after nine.”
Ten after nine? She squinted at the clock to make sure he hadn’t read it wrong. She never slept past six. Never. Now, to do it two days in a row. Of course, she didn’t usually spend most of the night having sex, either. But it was over now, and she would have to tell him soon.
“I have to get to the office,” she said.
“How ’bout a shower?”
“You can go first,” she said.
That sly smile was back. “I was thinking the environmentally responsible thing to do would be to conserve water by showering together.”
His smile was contagious. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to put off their talk another hour or so. “I’m all for water conservation.”
“If you’re really lucky,” he said, grabbing another condom off the bedside table on their way to the bathroom, “I might even scrub your back.”
Paige’s car was still at work, so Brandon drove her to her office. They got a little carried away soaping each other up in the shower, and didn’t pull into the lot until after ten. And by then, after several false starts of trying to bring up the subject of them not seeing each other again, she decided maybe a short affair wouldn’t be such a bad thing. A week or two. Or maybe three. A month tops.
“Why don’t you come in with me and we’ll set up an appointment to go over everything you need to know for the award presentation,” she said.
“Sure.” He cut the engine and they both got out. He followed her to the door and waited while she unlocked it. She stepped inside, switching on the lights on her way to her office. It seemed surreal that she had met Brandon only two days ago, in this very room. Since then, it felt as if everything she knew about her life had been altered inexplicably. That she had changed somehow, and would never be the same person again. Or maybe she was making way too much of this. Maybe, after the affair was over, things would go back to being the way they were before, and she would forget what had been so wonderful about him. He would be just another guy she’d dated.
Although somehow she doubted it.
She slid in her chair and booted up her computer. Brandon sat on the corner of her desk beside her.
She typed in her password and opened her calendar. “When will you be in town?”
“I was thinking I might hang around for a few days instead of going home today.”
She couldn’t help wondering if that had anything to do with her. She didn’t want to be responsible for getting him into trouble with his boss. “Are you sure that’s okay? Your boss won’t mind?”
“He’ll be fine with it. Trust me.”
“Well then, how about 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday? I have to be at the tennis club anyway to look at the linens.”
He frowned. “You want to meet at the tennis club?”
“That’s where the gala will be held. Is that a problem.”
He shook his head, but he looked hesitant. “No. No problem.”
His uncertainty puzzled her. Maybe he was just worried about feeling out of place there, since it was an exclusive club that he wasn’t a member of. Even she had to admit that it was a bit intimidating. Although, he didn’t strike her as the type to care what other people thought.
She typed in the appointment. “Do you know how to get there?”
“I’m sure I can find it.”
“Great. I’ll meet you there at five.” She closed her laptop and rose from her chair.
“I had better get going,” he said, so she walked him to the front entrance. At the door he stopped and turned to her. “I had a good time last night.”
“Me, too.” Although “good” was a serious understatement. More like toe-curling, heart-throbbing, crazy wonderful.
“We’ll have to do it again sometime,” he said.
On a whim, and before she could consider the repercussions of her actions she said, “What are you doing Friday night?”
The question seemed to surprise him a little. “Nothing that I know of. Why?”
“I could make you dinner.”
“I know you’re busy right now. Are you sure you’ll have time?”
If she didn’t, she would make time. The only thing she was truly sure of at this point
was that she wanted to see him again, wanted to spend the night with him and wake in his arms. And though Friday seemed like an awfully long time to wait, she couldn’t let good sex—no, fantastic, amazing sex—sidetrack her from what was really important.
“I’m sure,” she said.
He smiled. “Then I’d love to.”
“Seven sound okay?”
“Seven works for me.” He reached up, caressing her cheek with the backs of his fingers, and her knees actually went weak.
She could tell he didn’t want to leave, but he said, “I should go now and let you get to work.”
She rose up on her toes for a brief goodbye kiss. At least, it was supposed to be brief. But his lips felt so nice, and he smelled so good, the kiss just kept going and going, wrecking her common sense. His arms slid around her, drawing her against him, and she could feel that he was aroused. And God knows she was aroused, too.
She rubbed a hand over the bulge in the front of his jeans and he groaned.
She nibbled his lower lip and asked, “When do you have to meet your mentor?”
“Eleven.”
It was only ten-fifteen. That left them plenty of time to have a little fun. “I don’t know about you,” she said, squeezing him through his jeans. “But I’ve never done it on a desk.”
He looked down at her, his eyes shiny with arousal. “You’re making it difficult for me to do the right thing.”
“Yeah,” she said with a smile as she tugged his shirt from the waist of his jeans, “But being bad feels pretty good.”
Eight
Brandon sat on the bed in his hotel room Sunday, thinking about the last few days. It astounded him how, in the course of a weekend, his attitude about women and relationships had been altered.
He’d had more sex in the past two days with Paige, than the last three months of his relationship with Ashleigh. In hindsight, maybe the lack of intimacy should have tipped him off that something was amiss. He had just assumed they were in a phase, both busy with other things, and after the wedding their sexual desires would rekindle. And she had been busy with other things. Things like screwing someone else. And right under his nose. Maybe that was the most disturbing part of their split. Knowing that he’d been that gullible, that blind to what was going on under his own roof—or in some cases, his stable.
But when he looked back now, tried to recall what was so special about her that he’d wanted to marry her in the first place, he was having a tough time coming up with an answer. At the time, it had seemed like the logical next step in their relationship—not the best reason for promising to commit the rest of his life to someone.
He’d loved Ashleigh in his own way, but his feelings for her came nowhere close to what, after only a few days, he was feeling for Paige. It wasn’t love exactly. At least not any kind of love he’d ever felt. And he still had no clue where this relationship was headed, if he was ready for long-term. All he knew for sure was that after Ashleigh’s betrayal, he didn’t think he would ever be able to trust a woman again. Paige was different. She was unlike any woman he’d ever known.
She didn’t care about wealth and social standing. She was more interested in making her own success than sponging off someone else’s. And she appreciated him for the man on the inside. The real Brandon.
But how will she feel when she finds out you’ve been lying to her?
And even worse, if this gala was really so critical to her career, how was she going to react when he exposed Rafe in front of all those important people? Would they blame Brandon for wrecking the celebration, or somehow see it as her failure?
And if it was the latter, what was he supposed to do, just give up? Although at this point he wasn’t sure he would have anything to expose. He’d spent all day online digging through county records and nonprofit regulations. Without physically looking at their books, he had turned that place inside out and he hadn’t found a single thing yet that was the least bit fishy. And without access to the books, proving any deception was going to be tough. But he had an ace in the hole. A favor to call in. One he didn’t want to use until he was at the point of desperation. Which he nearly was. With the gala less than three weeks away now, he was running out of time.
He was startled by a knock at his motel room door. Since no one knew he was staying there but his foreman and housekeeper, he rarely received visitors. Especially at nine-thirty at night.
He got out of bed, where he’d been doing his research, and walked to the door, peering through the curtain to see who it was.
Damn it!
It was Paige standing on the other side. How the hell had she known where to find him?
He looked around the room, taking stock of anything that might tip her off to the fact that he was not who he said he was. He gathered the papers off the bed and shoved them in the desk drawer, and because there was no way that she’d buy him owning a top-of-the-line laptop computer, he slammed it shut, dropped it in its case, and shoved it under the bed.
She knocked again and called his name.
He grabbed his wallet and shoved it in his back pocket. Not that he thought she would snoop, but it had his driver’s license and he wasn’t taking any chances.
He walked to the door and pulled it open, manufacturing a surprised look. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Is this a bad time? I knocked twice.” She peered around him, like she expected to see someone else in there. A woman maybe?
He stepped to the side, so she could see that no one was there. “Sorry. I was on the phone. With my boss.”
She frowned and took a step backward. “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you need to call him back? I can go.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “Come in.”
“Actually, I just came to give you this.” She reached in her purse and pulled out the piece of crap watch that was a part of his disguise.
The fact that it was so cheap was the reason he wasn’t worried when he couldn’t remember where he’d left it. He’d figured it was probably at her apartment or her office.
He took it from her and said, “I wondered where that went.”
“It was on my office floor. You took it off before we…” She trailed off, eyes shifting from him to somewhere over his left shoulder. Almost like she was afraid to look at him. “I just thought you might need it.”
“Why don’t you come in?” he said.
She shook her head. “I should get home.”
There was something up with her. She was acting nervous. Edgy. Completely not like her. He folded his arms across his chest. “What’s up, Paige?”
She blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Well, something is obviously upsetting you. You’re uncomfortable, but I’m not sure why.”
She bit her lip, gazing down at the faded, motel-green carpet. “It’s…stupid.”
“Talk to me.”
“Coming here seemed like a good idea, but then I knocked on the door, and it took you so long, and I started to think that maybe you were…busy.”
“With another woman.”
She nodded. “And I got to thinking, what right do I have to just barge in on you like this? Unannounced. So, we had sex a couple of times. So what? It doesn’t mean we have a relationship. That I can just show up.”
He leaned in the doorway. “First, let me make one thing completely clear. There is no other woman. There hasn’t been since my engagement ended, and there won’t be, not as long as I’m seeing you. That’s a promise. As for our relationship, or lack thereof, whether you like it or not, whether we intended it or not, we are in a relationship. Maybe it’ll last a week, or a month, or fifty years. I don’t know at this point. But what I do know is that what we have goes way beyond just sex.”
Paige bit her lip and a small smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and deep blue. And all he could think about was getting her out of her clothes and into his bed. He’d never intended on her ever coming here, but now he
wanted her to stay.
“And as for barging in on me unannounced, you’re welcome here anytime. Although I am a bit curious to know how you knew where ‘here’ was, since I don’t recall telling you where I was staying.”
Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “It was in the file I got from Hannah’s Hope.”
“So, are you going to come in?”
She licked her lips and nodded. “Just for a minute though.”
Once he got his hands on her, it was going to take a lot longer than a minute.
“Excuse the mess,” he said as she walked inside. He shut the door behind her. “I don’t get many visitors, so I don’t bother cleaning.”
She set her purse down on the table by the window and picked up one of the hardback novels he’d forgotten to hide. He thought she might question his ability to attempt something so far above his reading level, but maybe she was afraid of offending him, because she put the book down without a word.
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I have leftover pizza.”
She shook her head. “I had a salad a couple hours ago.”
“Something to drink? I’ve got beer and bottled water.”
“No, thanks.”
She still wasn’t completely comfortable, and he had a pretty good idea why. “I think maybe we forgot something.”
She turned to him, her brow furrowed. “What?”
He walked over to her, scooped her up into his arms and kissed her. She moaned softly and slid her arms around his neck, sinking into the kiss, her body soft and warm against his.
Yeah, that was better.
He kissed her lips, her neck, sliding his hands under her top.
“Brandon, I can’t stay,” she said, but she wasn’t doing a darned thing to stop him. She didn’t resist him when he pulled her shirt up over her head, or when he unfastened her jeans and pulled them down—in fact, she lifted her feet to help remove them. She didn’t try to stop him when he lifted her and laid her back against the mattress, when he knelt beside her and eased her panties down, caressing her thighs and her stomach. She didn’t tell him no when he pressed her thighs apart, lowered his head and took her in his mouth. And she sure as hell wasn’t complaining when he brought her to an orgasm not once, but twice.
Exposed: Her Undercover Millionaire Page 8
