With the growl I had missed, Braden shucked his jeans down a little, and then wrapped his hand around mine so we both guided him between my legs. At the slightest brush of him against me I grew even wetter. I let go, my hands moving around to grasp his ass as he slid slowly into me. I squeezed his backside, urging him to go faster.
Which he did with pleasure.
“Harder,” I moaned. “Harder, Braden. Harder.”
Asking for it hard never failed to spur Braden on. He kissed me and then slammed home. Pleasure coiled tight in me his cock kissed me so deep, I threw my head back to cry out, my cries getting louder as he pounded delicious strokes into me. What he was doing to my insides, the sight of him straining above me, the sounds of our excited pants and groans and the wet, primal noise of sex, all of it surged me towards satisfaction and fast. I blew apart, screaming his name as I came. I came so hard, my sex pulsing around Braden, that I milked him into his own orgasm, his body tensing as it shot through him, his hips continuing to jerk him in and out, prolonging both our releases.
Best. Sex. Ever.
Braden groaned and collapsed against me. I stroked my hands against his ass soothingly before gliding them up his back to hold him close.
He turned his head against my neck and pressed a familiar kiss there.
“You still mad at me?” he murmured.
I sighed. “I was going home to do what I should have done eight years ago. I was going home to say goodbye to my family.”
Braden grew still and then he pulled back to gaze down into my face, his eyes full of remorse. “God, I’m so sorry, babe. About the ticket.”
I bit my lip. “I can reprint it. And… I was thinking about staying in Virginia permanently after Ellie is back on her feet.”
The remorse fled quickly. “Over my dead body.”
“Yeah, I thought you’d say that.”
He frowned. “I’m still inside you.”
“I can feel that.” I smiled, bemused.
“Well at least let me get out of you before you tell me you’re attempting to leave me.”
I leaned up and kissed his lips. “I don’t know if that’s what I’m doing yet.”
Used to everything not being straightforward with me, Braden exhaled slowly and withdrew from me. He tucked himself back into his jeans and he sat up, holding out his hand. Deciding to trust him, I let him pull me up to my feet, and followed him up the stairs to his room. He nodded at the bed. “Get in.”
Since I was naked and sated and really in no mood to argue, I scrambled across his bed to my side of it and got in. I watched with pleasure as Braden stripped down to nothing and got in beside me. I was immediately settled into his side, my head on his warm chest. “So what are you doing?”
That was some question. And where to begin?
“I had a really good family, Braden,” I told him softly, pain I’d been hiding for too long threaded in every word. Braden heard it and his hold on me tightened. “My mom was an orphan. She grew up in foster care here, and then moved to the States on a work visa. She was working at the college campus library when she met my dad. They fell in love, they got married, and for a while they lived happily ever after. My parents weren’t like my friends’ parents. I was fourteen and they were still sneaking around, making out when they didn’t think I could see them. They were crazy about each other.” I felt my throat close up but tried to hold it together. “They were crazy about me and Beth. My mom was overprotective and a little overbearing because she didn’t want us to ever feel as alone as she had felt growing up.” I smiled. “I thought she was cooler than all the other moms because, well, she had a cool accent, and she was kind of blunt, but in a really funny way that shocked some of the preppy housewives that lived in our town.”
“Sounds like someone I know,” Braden murmured, amusement in his voice.
I grinned at the thought that I might be a little like my mom. “Yeah? Well, she was awesome. And my dad was just as great. He was the dad who checked in with you every day to see what was up. Even as I got older and became this entirely new creature called a teenage girl, he was still always there.” I felt a tear fall now. “We were happy,” I whispered, just managing to get the words out.
I felt Braden kiss my hair, his grip on my arm so tight it almost hurt. “Babe, I’m so sorry.”
“Shit happens right?” I swiped quickly at the tears. “One day I was sitting in class and the police came to tell me that my dad had swerved into a truck to avoid a motorcyclist who’d come off his bike. Gone. Mom. Dad. Beth. I lost my parents and I lost a little girl I hadn’t really had a chance to get to know. Though I knew enough to know that I adored her. I knew she would cry if she couldn’t see her favorite teddy bear—this ratty old brown bear with a blue ribbon around his neck that used to mine and still smelled like me. His name was Ted. Original, I know. I knew that she had a sophisticated taste in music because all you had to do to stop her from crying was play Mmmbop by Hanson.” I laughed sadly at the memory. “I knew that when I was having a bad day, all I had to do was pick her up, hold her close, smell her skin, feeling her tiny warmth against me and know that everything was okay…
I went off the rails when I lost them. My first foster home was full of other kids, so my foster parents barely even noticed I was alive, which was fine by me since it meant I could do whatever I wanted. The only thing that numbed everything was doing stupid shit that made me feel like crap about myself. Lost my virginity too young, drank way too much. Then after Dru died, I just stopped. I was moved to another foster home on the other side of town. They didn’t have much, but there was less kids there and one kid in particular who was pretty cool. She wanted a big sister though…” I sucked in breath, feeling the guilt wash over me all over again. “I didn’t want to be anything to anybody. She needed someone, and I didn’t give it to her. I don’t even know what happened to her after I left.” I shook my head regretfully and sighed. “When I was there, I went to a couple of parties over the years, not a lot. Always ended up with some guy I didn’t know or care to know.” I heaved a sick sigh. “Truth is, I went out on the same night every year. To a party, to a bar. It didn’t matter as long as it helped me forget. I’ve spent eight years burying my family, pretending they never existed, because yeah – like you said – it was easier to pretend I’d never had them, than to deal with how much it hurt to lose them. I realize now how unfair that was to them. To the memory of them.” I clenched my jaw to stem the tears, but they spilled over anyway, dripping onto Braden’s chest. “The one night I went out was the anniversary of their death. But I stopped doing that when I was eighteen. I went out that night and I went to a party and I can’t remember anything that happened after I arrived. I woke up the next day and I was naked in bed with two guys I didn’t know.”
Braden cursed low under his breath. “Jocelyn.”
He was belatedly angry I know. “Believe me, I’ve been there. I was furious at myself, violated, scared. Anything could have happened to me. And sexually…”
“Don’t.”
I stopped at his scary tone. “I got checked out and those guys hadn’t given me anything, thank God. But I never slept with anyone again. Until you.”
Another tight squeeze for that one.
“I might never stop fearing tomorrow, Braden,” I admitted calmly. “The future and what it can take from me, scares me. And sometimes I freak out, and sometimes my freak-outs hurt the people closest to me.”
“I understand that. I can deal with it. You have to trust me.”
“I thought you were the one with the trust issues,” I grumbled.
“I trust you, babe. You don’t see yourself the way I see you.”
I traced a little ‘J’ on his chest. “I do trust you. I just didn’t expect Ellie to lie to me, so I took her word as gold. I’m sorry.”
Braden let go of his breath. “I love you, Jocelyn. These last few weeks have been a nightmare for more reasons than one.”
I thought of th
e long-legged blonde that had put me through hell. “And Isla?”
“I swear I never slept with her.”
“Did anything happen?”
His chest froze beneath me.
“Braden?”
He sighed heavily. “Yesterday she kissed me. I didn’t kiss her back. I pushed her off and told her about you.”
I was silent a moment and then I replied decisively, “You have to fire her.”
Braden snorted. “Are you finally admitting you love me?”
“I can’t promise it’ll be easy, Braden. I’ll probably always be a little irrational about the future. I’ll worry a lot.”
“I told you I can handle it, babe.”
“Why?”
“Because…” he sighed, “You make me laugh, you challenge me, you turn me on like no else can. I feel like I’m missing something really important when you’re gone. So important I don’t feel like myself. I’ve never felt like someone was mine before. But you’re mine, Jocelyn. I’ve known that from the moment we met. And I’m yours. I don’t want to be anybody else’s, babe.”
I leaned up on my elbow so I could look him in the eye before I pressed a soft kiss to his lips and fell against him as his arms came around me to hold me close as he deepened the kiss. When I finally came up for air I was panting a little. I touched my finger to his lips, determined that one day I’d enjoy this contentment without worrying it would be taken from me. “Do you think you might be able to come to Virginia with me? To go through my parents’ things?”
His eyes smiled, and I can’t tell you what it did to me that I could make him that happy. “Of course. We’ll go whenever you want. But we’re coming back.”
I nodded. “I was only moving to Virginia because I thought you were moving into Isla.”
Braden grunted. “Nice.”
“You’re firing her right?”
He narrowed his eyes. “You just want me to fire her?”
“If I told you that Craig kissed me last night would you make me quit?”
“Point taken. I’ll find her a job elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere as in nowhere you work.”
“Christ, your bossy.”
“Uh, do you not remember dry humping me to a desk after Craig kissed me?”
“Again, point taken.”
I buried my head against his chest. “I thought I’d really fucked up.”
He squeezed my nape. “We both really did. But that’s over now. From now on I’m completely in charge. I think we’ll have a lot less drama, and definitely no more breakups, if I’m in control of this thing.”
I patted his stomach. “Whatever you need to tell yourself to get through the day, baby.”
“You still haven’t said it you know.”
I turned my head and smiled up at him. I took a big inner breath. “I love you, Braden Carmichael.”
His grin made my chest swell. “Say it again.”
I giggled. “I love you.”
He sat up quickly and then swung out of the bed, pulling me with him. He pushed me towards the en-suite. “You’re going to say it again while I fuck you in the shower.”
“This whole taking control thing is kind of hot.”
“It’s about to get hotter, babe.” He smacked me lightly on my ass, and I gave a little squeal, his laughter and mine filling the bathroom as we stumbled together into the shower.
~26~
“Now, you’re sure you’re going to be okay?”
Ellie crossed her arms over her chest and blew air out between her lips. “If you ask me that again, don’t bother coming back.”
I shot Braden a look and he shook his head slightly. “Don’t look at me. She didn’t have attitude until you moved in with her.”
That was fair.
Ellie giggled at my faux wounded look and threw up her hands. “Guys, come on. It’s been a month. I’m fine. Adam’s practically living here and you have a plane to catch.”
Braden kissed his sister’s cheek before turning to open the front door with our suitcase in hand. In the end it had been a good thing Braden ripped up my plane ticket, because inviting him to come to Virginia with me meant rearranging his schedule and changing the flight dates. And well to be honest, we wanted to make sure Ellie was back on her feet before we left.
After a month of being mothered by me, Adam, Braden and her actual mother, Ellie was probably glad to be rid of us. She was still trying to get her energy levels back, and was still exhausted, and still very much shaken by the experience. I’d suggested she start seeing Dr. Pritchard and Ellie had her first appointment in a few days. Hopefully the good doctor would help her out. I wondered if the good doctor would help me out. I was feeling a little separation anxiety.
“Joss, the taxi is waiting.” Ellie shooed me towards to the door.
“Fine,” I grumbled. “But if you let anything happen to yourself while we’re gone, I will kill you.”
“Noted.”
“Tell Adam the same goes for him.”
“I will warn him. Now will you go and do this very important thing.” She hugged me tight. “I wish I could come with you.”
I gave her a squeeze and pulled back. “I’ll be fine. I’ve got a bossy businessman watching my back.”
“I heard that,” Braden called from the other side of the door. Damn. I thought he was already in the cab.
“I better go before I end up taking this flight alone.”
“Call me when you land.”
“Will do.”
We said goodbye and I let Braden bundle me into the cab. It had been a long month, worrying about Ellie and we were still worrying, but the lots of make-up sex Braden and I were having definitely took a load off.
Pun intended.
We were still finding our way back after the whole break-up mess but this new ‘us’ was kind of hot. Oh and this new ‘us’ involved no Isla. Braden ‘fired’ her and got her a job at a nightclub he did not own. I think she could have gotten another job by herself, she was annoyingly beautiful, but Braden felt guilty. Technically his manager had come onto him so he had nothing to feel guilty about, but Braden wasn’t comfortable with the idea that his manager had somehow tried to take advantage of him. That didn’t go down well in ‘caveman world’.
I, for one, was still feeling guilty for the emotional mess I had turned into. In an effort to make up for it, I cleared out one of my bedside cabinets and two drawers in my dresser, for Braden’s own use. I still couldn’t get the image of his stupid grin out of my head when I told him that. He’d jumped out of bed—mid make-out I might add—to unpack his overnight bag into the drawers.
He was like an excited little kid on Christmas morning.
Braden had to one-up me though and gave me a key to his apartment the next day. I’d give him a key to ours, but he already had one.
I was pretty quiet on the way to the airport and pretty quiet when we got there. My head was already in Virginia with my family. We were flying into Richmond and staying at the Hilton. The storage facility where the lawyers had put all of my family’s belongings for me until I inherited it was in the city. Rather than taking it all out, I’d continued to pay rent to keep it there. Once I’d sorted through everything and decided what to do with it, Braden and I were heading out to the small town I grew up in, in Surry County. It was just a little over an hour outside Richmond and driving would be an experience for both of us since neither of us had driven in a really long time. And Braden had never driven on the right-hand side of the road before.
I mused over this as Braden guided us through check-in and security.
“I know you’ve got a lot on your mind,” he said as he took a seat outside our gate. “But if you start to freak out you have to tell me, okay?”
“Okay.” I nodded.
“Promise?”
I sat down beside him, pressing a soft kiss to his lips as I did. “Promise.”
We were quiet a moment, the silence between us nice.
&nbs
p; And then…
“You fancy joining the mile high club?” I turned my narrow-eyed gaze on him and he gave me that slow, sexy smile that got me here in the first place. “It could be fun.”
I shook my head at him, smiling despite myself. “Baby… with you it’s always fun.”
“Mmm,” he dipped his head towards mine and whispered across my lips before giving me a searing kiss, “Good answer.”
Richmond, Virginia
Three Days Later…
“Oh, baby, don’t stop,” I begged, my hands curling into the sheets in front of me.
Braden gently squeezed my breast before pinching my nipple between finger and thumb. He did that at the same time he circled his hips as he thrust into me and I panted harder.
I’d woken up that morning on my side to feel his heat at my back, his arm around my waist and his cock already buried deep inside of me.
“Come for me, babe,” he demanded breathlessly, his strokes growing faster. “Come for me.” he slid his hand down my nightie and between my legs, his finger slipping through my sex to circle my clit.
Oh….Goooodddd!
I threw my head back, crying out his name as I came around him.
Braden slammed inside me one last time, burying his shout in my neck as his body shuddered against me as he climaxed.
I fell limpid against him. “Good morning.”
His mouth smiled against my skin. “Morning.”
“If you wake me up like that at least once a week, I will be a very happy girl.”
“Good to know.” He eased out of me gently and I turned around to face him, my hand reaching to cup his cheek so I could pull him down for a deliciously soft kiss.
When Braden pulled back, he was frowning. “No more stalling. Today we do this.”
I swallowed but nodded. We’d arrived in Richmond two and a half days ago and I’d not been able to leave the hotel room, insisting on having sex constantly with my boyfriend. Now this was difficult for Braden because he really, really didn’t mind the constant sex, but was worried that I kept putting what we were here to do off.
On Dublin Street Page 30
