And what if it’s not worth the risk…?
“Thanks for the warning. Really.” Serena wrestled with the contents of her bag again and came up with a pack of tissues. “Here. Take these.”
Piper palmed them, staring down at the package for a moment before staring up at Serena again. “I’m sorry. None of this is your fault, and I apologize for dragging you into it.”
With a deep breath, Serena scrounged in her purse again and pulled out her business card. “Maybe what you need is a chance to move on. Give it some thought.”
Piper’s face was blank, but she took the card all the same.
With a nod, Serena turned on her heel and strolled from the room, determined to leave Piper—and all the thoughts that had come along with her—in her dust.
For the rest of the night, she was going to be with Bryan and savor every word, every touch, and forget this little run-in had even happened. Tomorrow, she’d think long and hard about everything, when the emotions weren’t so close to the surface.
Five minutes later, they were back in his truck, charging toward his place like they were escaping the zombie apocalypse.
Still, even with the radio blaring and the promise of the rest of the night in Bryan’s arms ahead of her, the image of Piper crying alone in a bathroom stall clung to the back of her mind. For some reason, every time she thought about it, all she could picture was herself in Piper’s place, tears streaming down her face.
Sitting in a bathroom stall, completely and utterly alone.
It hurt. Ached at her insides until her lungs felt dry and she was sucking in air, trying to remember what it had felt like to breathe normally. This was all going too far. Maybe Piper had been the world’s way of letting her know just that.
She closed her eyes, letting the summer wind whipping in through the open window calm her. A few moments later, Bryan leaned in and turned down the volume on the radio.
“I’ve never seen my sister like that before,” he admitted with a grin.
“What do you mean?”
“She just gravitated to you. But I can’t say I don’t understand.” He rested his palm on her thigh. “You have a sort of superpower that way.”
He shot her a look that was just as affecting as the ones he’d been giving her on the dance floor, but in a whole different way. It was warm. And sweet. And so wholly disarming, it made her throat clench. She almost said something. Almost told him to pull over so she could walk home. That if she spent another moment alone with him she’d be totally lost.
Almost.
One more night, her heart whispered as she looked into his smiling eyes.
Just one more night, for real this time, and she’d let him go…
…
“Did you want a glass of wine?” Serena asked.
She had been quiet on the ride home. Contemplative. As he looked at her even now, she seemed tentative. The quick smile and air of confidence that usually radiated from her were nowhere to be found.
She’d changed her skirt and top and had donned a pair of boxer shorts and a camisole. Her face was pink and shining, having been scrubbed free of makeup, and her long blond hair hung free down her back. She was just as beautiful as she’d been all fussed up, maybe more so. But there was an unsettling vulnerability about her that he’d never seen before.
“No thanks, I’m good.” He closed the gap between them and touched her cheek. “You okay? You look…sad.”
She held his gaze for a second before shaking her head, and then the smile was back, albeit at half the normal wattage. “I’m good. Long night. Long week, really. Lots going on at work.”
He wasn’t convinced but nodded anyway. “Do you want me to go?” It took some doing to force the words out, and his gut tightened as he waited for an answer. Whatever was going on with her, she clearly didn’t want to talk about it, but the thought of leaving her like this when she was obviously down didn’t sit right with him.
And hell, who was he kidding? Going back to Q’s and climbing into his lonely bed had no appeal anyway. He wanted Serena in his arms again.
“Stay,” she murmured, rolling to her tiptoes to press her lips to his jaw. “Please stay.”
He leaned in and took her mouth gently, his blood warming as her tongue slid over his bottom lip. She nipped him and then pulled back to lead him toward the couch with a siren’s smile. He tugged her to a stop.
“What say we try a bed for once?”
It was purely selfish, the desire to see her hair spread out on a pillow or maybe watch her walk to the bathroom dressed only in a sheet. She pursed her lips but then nodded.
“Yeah. Yeah, sure.”
They walked side by side toward the marble staircase in silence, and it weighed on him. He wanted to make her laugh or gasp or something…anything to make her feel better. On a whim, he ducked toward her and scooped her up in his arms.
“Jesus!” she squealed, clutching his shirt in one hand and looping her arm around his neck. “Don’t drop me.”
She was chuckling now, and the tension between them faded as he carried her up the stairs.
“I’m pretty impressed, Doc,” she purred, squeezing his biceps and wiggling her eyebrows. “You sure are fit.”
He leveled a wink at her. “Welcome to the gun show.”
She threw her head back and groaned. “Ugh, please tell me you don’t use that line. Wait.” She gaped at him in mock horror. “Is that the move?”
He played along. “It’s part one, yeah. You like?”
She ducked her head low and gave his arm a sharp nip. “Actually, I kinda do.”
As he reached the top of the stairs, she pointed him right before turning her attention to his ear, closing her teeth over the soft flesh there.
“My room’s the second on the left,” she whispered, the warm puff of breath sending a hot rush of blood to his cock.
He made it down the hall in record time and pushed the door open with his foot.
“Damn.”
The room wasn’t just big. It was cavernous. The king-size bed was almost dwarfed in the space, and the vaulted ceilings made it seem even larger.
“Too much?” she asked, laughter still coloring her voice.
“It’s…a lot, yeah. But I like it. Especially the cheetah-print bedding.”
“Well, let’s go test it out, then.” She wriggled in his arms until he set her down. The second her feet touched the ground and she met his gaze, though, his brain went dead. He had nothing. No banter, no moves to bust out, no lines to spit. She took his breath away.
“Serena…”
He didn’t know what he was going to say, but whatever it was died on his lips as she yanked her camisole over her head and tossed it aside, baring her breasts to him. His pulse pounded in his ears, but before he could touch her, she bent low and shimmied out of her boxers.
There was just so much to see. His focus ping-ponged between her pouty mouth and the narrow blond strip between her thighs. The need that had quieted to summer rain ramped up to a tsunami again, and he couldn’t wait to feel every inch of those long, lean legs wrapped around him while she screamed his name.
The need to touch her warred with the need to look at her, and he stepped closer. He closed his hand over the soft swell of her hip and tugged her against him. She gasped, tipping her pelvis against him, grinding her soft parts against his hard ones. He swooped down, taking her mouth, sliding his tongue between her lips and mimicking what he wanted to do with the rest of his body. As her tongue swept out to meet his, the electricity between them snapped out of control. It filled his every muscle, every cell, and what had begun as a simple kiss became infinitely more desperate on a dime.
She looped her arms around his neck and responded to him, giving as good as she was getting. His cock pulsed, and he mentally cursed himself for not taking off his shirt before he kissed her so he could feel those perfect, naked breasts pressed against his chest without anything between them.
Serena pulle
d away and peered at him through gleaming eyes. “For real, though. I want to see your move this time.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” he rasped.
“Good.” Her voice was husky and soulful. He crushed her against him again, slanting his mouth over hers. Her scent swamped his senses, making his head spin. He traced the gentle curve of her hips, moved upward over her satin skin until he felt the contour of her ribs and, finally, the swell of her breasts. He cupped them gently at first, massaging each before plucking at her tight nipples. With every touch, her hips ground against him harder.
He could feel the wet heat of her pussy through his dress pants, and the last of the blood that had been pounding in his ears rushed to his groin, filling him to bursting.
The need to press her onto her back and slide deep was grinding at him, but he fought it. They’d gone the quickie route. Tonight, he was going to take his time. It might be the last, and he’d be damned if he was going to give her anything but his best. He trailed a path down her stomach, but before he reached her center, she pulled away.
“Let me taste you first,” she whispered.
She ran her fingers along the waist of his pants before unbuttoning them and drawing the zipper down over the swell of his cock. He was so hard he could’ve used his dick as a hammer, and he probably should’ve stopped her. His self-control was tenuous at best, but the thought of denying her made every male instinct rail in immediate protest.
She drew his pants and boxers down and his cock sprang toward her, like a heat-seeking missile. Without hesitation, she dropped to her knees, and he groaned at the sight. Jesus, she hadn’t even touched him yet, and the pressure in his balls was already building.
Slowly, she used her tongue to trace a path from his navel to his cock. All the while, her fingers massaged the insides of his thighs. She lapped at his swollen head, and he groaned his approval, sinking his hands into her hair. Her reaction was instant, and she took him deeper into her mouth, so deep that he almost lost his ability to breathe. With his every growl, she hummed back in approval.
This was no perfunctory blow job. She was enjoying herself. And that only made it that much harder not to lose himself in the warmth of her mouth and to sink into oblivion. He gripped her platinum locks in his fists tighter, and she moaned around him, working him faster until he nearly exploded into her molten mouth. The only thing that stopped him was the insistent need to touch her. It was as constant and commanding as his own thundering heartbeat.
She sucked on him long and deep, and he growled in blissful agony before finally laying a hand on each of her shoulders and pushing her away. She fought him, corkscrewing her tongue around him, but he closed his eyes and held firm.
“Lie on the bed.” The words came out more demanding than he’d intended, and she blinked up at him for a moment as if unsure whether to argue. To his surprise, she backed up to the bed and lay on her back.
He followed her, his hungry gaze taking in every inch of her as he went, taking mental pictures that he knew would be burned into his brain forever, right next to the rest.
Her face when she ate something sinfully delicious.
Her saucy smile when they joked around.
The way her eyes had looked that first night on the beach in the moonlight.
The warmth that had been centered at his groin spread to his chest, and suddenly, he was desperate to touch her again. Skin to skin. As if sensing it, she held her arms out to him, but he shook his head and made for the foot of the bed, spreading her thighs and settling between them. She protested softly, urging him upward, but he wouldn’t be swayed.
Hot. Fucking. Damn.
As if the rest of the woman weren’t beautiful enough, her sweet pink pussy was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. It took all of his effort not to pull up and bury himself inside her on the spot, if only to feel the wetness that glistened in the moonlight.
…
Serena caught her breath as he pressed another firm kiss to her thigh. His fingers massaged the other in a gentle, rhythmic caress. With every touch, the tension within her built. She was like a volcano, her whole body hot and packed with pressure and begging to erupt. Blood pounded in her ears, and every other sound had long been drowned out by the thrumming of her insistent heartbeat. In all her life, she’d never been more aware of a kiss, a touch, and each drove her to a near frenzy.
“Please. Please touch me.” She spread her fingers wide, scrabbling at the mattress, trying to grip something that would ground her. Help her to focus on anything but the almost-painful ache between her thighs. She needed Bryan. His lips, his fingers, his thick length.
It was light at first.
The stroke of a finger against her swollen clit. But it didn’t matter. It was electric. She felt the touch in every cell of her body. Her whole being was focused on that one lingering sensation, and then it was doubled as he caressed her up and down. When he finally thrust two fingers inside her and pressed his tongue to that throbbing bundle of nerves, the world disappeared.
Stars exploded before her eyes, and she was lost. The climax that had been building broke over her, and she savored the sweet vibrations as they coursed through her body. This was more than sex. It was lightning in a bottle, and she had to have more.
“Inside me,” she gasped, but he didn’t bother to look up as he lapped her center. “Please. I need to feel you.” The voice was not her own. It was needy, desperate, and pleading, and she’d never heard it before. Any other time, it might have concerned her. She might have tried to play it off. But right now? With this man? She didn’t care about anything but having him inside her and making him feel the way she felt right now.
“Anything you want.” A slow, sweet smile slid across his face as the rough pads of his fingers caressed her hips. He made to stand but she held him in place with a hand on his arm.
“I’m…safe and I’m on the pill so if…”
He froze and gazed down at her, the smile sliding from his face. “Oh, God, fuck yes.” His hazel eyes were dark with need but also something else. “You know I would never do anything to hurt you, right? I’m tested regularly—”
She tugged him back to her and shook her head. “Enough said. I trust you.”
And she didn’t even want to think about how happy it made her feel that he trusted her, too. She didn’t have to fight it long, though, because a second later, she couldn’t think at all. He positioned himself between her thighs and took his cock in hand, sending her pulse clamoring out of control.
“I feel like I’m sixteen,” he said on a pained laugh.
That was good, because she felt the same. Wild and crazy with this…infatuation and want. Like it was filling up every empty space in her body and mind with little bubbles of happiness.
The head of his cock nudged her and then slid inside. She gasped, the world splintering apart as she stretched to accommodate him.
Why had she questioned this? Nothing had ever felt so right. Bryan inside her, skin to skin, no barriers between them.
“You’re so fucking tight,” he ground out. “So wet for me.”
God, his voice might have been enough to push her over the edge, so deep and strong.
She rocked her hips into him and lost herself, taking in every sweet quake of her walls around his thickness. There was a command, a confidence to his movement that sent her body into overdrive. When he moved, he lowered his lips to her neck and nibbled the tender skin there. As if he’d hit an invisible button that only he could see, he worked her toward climax again, and every thrust became more demanding, more passionate, until she was nothing but pure and unadulterated need.
He pulled back to stroke her wet clit, and she came undone. Exploded into a million tiny pieces once again. Whether the tingles were from the cool air on her naked skin or from the ripples of pleasure still coursing through her veins, she didn’t know. All she knew was that the orgasm seemed to span forever, pulsing her whole body with aftershocks of ecstasy.
“You are, too. Let me watch,” she breathed.
And so he did. He grasped her hips to the point of pain and joined her in her release, pounding into her hard and deep. It was his lack of control then, his frenzied, desperate thrusts that dragged her over the edge with him, calling his name as he spurted deep inside her.
The room was quiet except for the sound of their harsh breathing as they came back to earth. Like every time with Bryan, it had been pure magic. But this time, there was no question, she’d given something up to him in the process. As he rolled to his side, pulling her with him to sprawl on his chest, an icy cold finger of fear trailed down her spine.
How was she ever going to go back to the life she’d known before him?
Chapter Nine
Serena plopped down next to Bryan and reached for the sugar bowl.
“Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you no gross medical stuff on the breakfast table?”
The answer was the same every morning for the past week, but who was counting? He kept telling himself he ought to stay at Q’s like he planned and get back to his everyday life, but when he woke up in the morning and found Serena lying next to him? Ideas of leaving faded to black. Especially when those mornings so often led to their making time in the shower, and on the countertops, and on just about every other flat surface in the house.
“And how many times do I have to tell you? Doctors have to study or they kill people,” he said with a grin.
She poured a pixie-dusting of sugar onto her grapefruit and grimaced. “Doctoring seems overrated. Constant studying. All that blood. Terrible outfits.”
She dug into her food, and his phone buzzed against the table. He swiped a thumb across the screen. Sort of weird. It was Saturday, seven days since the first night he’d spent here, and he’d barely heard a peep from anybody besides Q breaking his balls and trying to ferret information about Serena from him. At first, he thought this would be the same, and it was a text from Q, but instead of some kind of innuendo, it simply said “incoming!”
Dirty Deal (A Perfectly Matched Novel) (Entangled Brazen) Page 11
