Before she knew it, they were outside and he was making for the far end of the parking lot. There were only a few cars to choose from, but she knew right away which one was his. It was a muscle car of some kind, though the paint was faded and even from a distance she could see it was in rough shape. “You drive that thing?”
“You’re going to hurt her feelings. That is Rosa, and she’s a beauty. Or she will be once I get her fixed up.”
“You named your car?”
“I did. Be careful what you say next. Rosa’s very sensitive.”
That did it. Meg started to giggle. The giggles turned to laughter, and then something cracked inside her and she couldn’t stop. Her breath caught, her hands shook, and somehow the laughter turned to sobs. When she finally calmed down she was clinging to Brian, her cheeks wet with tears and her face pressed into his neck. “Oh God, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—I’m so embarrassed. Could we pretend that didn’t just happen?”
“Sweetheart, if anyone had earned the right to freak out for two minutes, it was you. I’m impressed you held it together as long as you did. I’ve seen grown men break down and blubber after getting mugged.”
“Did you just call me sweetheart?” she asked.
“I might have. Did you mind? If you did, then I’m going to deny it happened.”
She sniffled softly and lifted her head so she could wipe her tears away. “I’ll make you a deal. We’ll pretend that the last few minutes didn’t happen, for both of us.”
“Deal,” he said, his arms tightening around her. “So does this mean I have to put you down now?”
“If we don’t want to still be standing here come morning, I think you have to. Besides, it’s starting to rain again, and I still have your coat.”
“So you do.” Brian was really starting to enjoy having her in his arms. So much so, he hadn’t even noticed when he’d called her sweetheart. He hadn’t been able to think of anything apart from the need to comfort her as she cried, and once she’d stopped he’d been happy to hold her.
He put her down and then helped her into his car, wracking his brain the whole time for ideas on where to take her. By the time he dropped into the driver’s seat, he’d only come up with one idea, and there was a decent chance it was going to get him slapped.
He went for it anyway.
“There’s one place I know where you’ll be safe, and while the décor isn’t exactly five star, it won’t cost you a cent.”
She gave him a sidelong glance, her fingers playing with the stained hem of her dress. “The only place I’ve felt safe tonight … is with you.”
Her words resonated deep inside him. “Then come home with me, Meg. I’ll sleep on the couch, and in the morning I’ll drive you home and stay with you until the locks are changed.”
She didn’t slap him, but she didn’t say anything for what felt like an eon. When she did speak, all she asked was, “Why are you being so nice to me?”
He slid the keys into the ignition, but left the engine off. If they were going to do this, then he needed her to understand a few things. “Because you had a really lousy day, and I want to help. Not because I’m a cop. In fact I’m pretty sure there was an entire hour of ethics class dedicated to discussing why what I’m doing right now is a bad idea. I’m doing it anyway, because you need a friend, and you deserve better than the ones who let you walk home tonight. Besides, what kind of man would leave you with no place to go?”
She tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear and gave him a shy smile. “Plenty of people would do it without a second thought. But you’re not like that, are you?”
“No, I’m not. So does that mean you’re coming home with me?”
“Yes, please, but I’m not taking your bed. I’ll sleep on the couch. I’m pretty sure I’ll fit on it a lot better than you will.”
“We’ll talk about that once we get there.”
“You’re being pushy again.”
“I’m a Wilde. It’s a family trait. Once we know what we want, we don’t take no for an answer.”
“I’ll try to remember that.”
He winked at her and then coaxed Rosa’s engine to life. “It might save time later, when I ask you out for dinner.”
She gave him a wide-eyed look and then laughed, her hands coming up in a gesture of surrender. “I’ll save us some more time. When you get around to asking, the answer is yes.”
“Pretty and smart. Today must be my lucky day.”
“It certainly wasn’t mine. Not until now. Maybe my luck is changing.”
****
Brian made the drive home in record time. It was well after midnight now, and the streets were empty. When it came time to help Meg out of the car, she didn’t try to walk on her own. She simply stood up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and waited for him to pick her up.
“I thought I’d save us the argument,” she informed him as he carried her inside, her voice rich with laughter. It was a vast improvement over her earlier tears. It had nearly killed him to see her cry. It wasn’t until Brian got her into his apartment that he started to reconsider the wisdom of his choice. He wasn’t exactly a neat person. Hell, he wasn’t even close.
Megan looked around and then burst out laughing. She didn’t mean to, but Brian’s place looked more like a men’s locker room than a home. There was a stack of badly folded laundry covering the couch, and where most people would have chairs for guests, there was a weight bench and a bunch of very heavy looking weights to go with it. The rest of the apartment was sparsely furnished. There was a coffee table covered in what looked like car magazines and a few empty takeout containers, a bookshelf with more magazines and a few books, and a television shrouded in enough dust she could have written her name in it. One thing was certain, Brian didn’t have a woman in his life.
Good.
It didn’t make any sense that she was thinking about him that way. She’d only broken up with Todd a few hours ago. She’d just had the worst night of her life, but right now all she could think about was the way Brian’s eyes crinkled up when he smiled, and how gentle he’d been with her since the moment he’d found her in that alley.
“I did warn you it wasn’t a five star location,” he murmured as he set her down, looking slightly abashed.
“It’s fine. I was only laughing because it looks like the very definition of a bachelor pad. If I opened your fridge, would I find anything in it besides beer and left-over pizza?”
“There’s milk, too. I can’t drink my coffee without it, but otherwise, that’s a pretty accurate description. Do you want to go wash up? You’d probably feel better for it. I promise the bathroom’s safe, and while you do that I’ll see if I can find you something to wear. Oh, and there’s aspirin in the medicine cabinet. It would probably help with your ankle, and your cheek.”
Brian took his coat back from her, as well as her still-damp cardigan, and hung them both by the door before removing his gun belt and locking it away in a metal box sitting on the bookshelf. After that, he started clearing away a spot on the couch.
She eased off her shoes and took a tentative step, pleased when her ankle only gave her a slight twinge. “It’s sore, but I think I can manage to hobble to the bathroom on my own. Thank you, Brian. I really … I don’t know what I’d have done without your help tonight.”
He gave her an intent look, then crossed the room and cupped her cheek in his hand. “You’d have managed whether I was there or not, but I’m glad I was. I’m not a big believer in coincidence, Meg. I think I was supposed to be there tonight.”
Her mouth went dry, and her heart was pounding so hard she could barely hear her own words. His fingers were warm, and everywhere he touched her she felt like her skin was aflame. “So you could sweep in and rescue me?”
“No, so I could do this.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and stepped in close. So close that their bodies touched and their breath mingled in the instant before his lips brushed hers. Meg knew she should
pull away, or tell him to stop. She never moved this fast. Then again, she’d never been kissed by someone as handsome or kind as Brian Wilde either.
The hell with going slow.
Brian knew the risk he was taking, but he didn’t care. He’d stopped caring about anything except getting Meg back in his arms from the second he’d put her down. She could have slapped him, or turned away, but instead she gripped the front of his uniform and pulled him closer. That was all the permission he needed. He slid his hand from her cheek to her hair, wrapping the silky strands around his fingers and kissed her again. This time she kissed him back, her soft lips parting just enough to let him taste the sweet heat of her mouth. His cock surged to life in an instant, hard and ready to claim the woman in his arms.
He took everything she offered him and then demanded more, pushing the kiss deeper until they were locked together, mouths mated, tongues tangled. He breathed in the scent of her skin, a teasing hint of flowers and soap that smelled better than the finest perfume. Her lips tasted of her earlier tears, but there was nothing of the sad, lost girl present now. She was as wild and eager as he was, both of them caught up in a firestorm of unexpected need.
They stayed that way, wrapped up in each other, until he finally lifted his head, ending their kiss to suck in a lungful of air. Even then, she stayed close, and it wasn’t until he drew in a second breath that he glanced down to discover she was undoing the buttons on his uniform.
“You’re sure?” he asked, as several parts of his brain screamed at him to shut up and just let this happen.
Meg tipped her head up and nodded, her eyes so bright with passion that they seemed to burn with an inner fire. “I know you didn’t plan this, and I never dreamed it was possible—but I’m sure. You’re the one good thing that happened to me on the worst day of my life, and I’m not letting go of you until I have to.”
“Who said you’ll have to?” he asked, kissing her again before she could say anything more. In Brian’s life, nothing came easy. He’d had to work hard for every good thing he’d ever had, and it had taught him to value the rare moments when everything came together. This was one of those times, and Meg was a gift he wasn’t going to give up easily … if ever. Brian had lost his dad when he was only nine. His father had been a good cop who lost his life in the line of duty. For years it had just been him and his mother, the two of them living on the brink of poverty without ever falling into the pit. Now, she was happily remarried to a good man, but the lessons of his childhood had never left him. When a good thing comes along, hang on tight and fight to keep it, because it might never come again.
The next time they came up for air, Meg gave him a heartbreakingly shy smile and tipped her head to one side. “So, I guess this means neither of us is sleeping on the couch?”
“Not a chance of that happening now,” he said in a voice thick with lust.
Her smile stayed the same, but a flash of mischief danced in her eyes. “Then I’ll worry about that aspirin later.”
Brian Wilde was many things, but he wasn’t a fool. “Later works for me.”
Chapter Three
Meg couldn’t believe what she was doing, but she didn’t have any regrets, either. When Brian kissed her, everything was right in her world. The horrors of the day faded, along with the aches, bruises, and the chill that had seeped into her bones. He made her feel safe. More than that, he made her feel beautiful, even desirable. Tonight, she needed that.
He kissed her again, lifting her easily into his arms to carry her over to the newly cleared couch. He sat down, keeping her in his lap as he leaned back and knocked the last few bits of folded laundry to the floor. She could feel the bunch and glide of his muscles everywhere they were in contact, and she had a powerful urge to see what until now she could only feel. Instinct overcame doubt, and she reached between them to undo the rest of his shirt buttons.
Meg needed to feel his skin under her hands, to stroke and touch him until the world faded away again. The second she got the last button undone he broke their kiss and leaned back, gaining just enough room to be able to strip off his shirt and the light cotton undershirt beneath it. As he pulled it over his head, Meg gasped and reached out to lay a hand on the hard planes of his chest. “How many bowls of Wheaties do you have to eat to look like that?”
She felt his laughter even before she heard it, a deep rumble like distant thunder that flowed through her fingers. Her body reacted instantly, pulse quickening, nipples hardening to diamond nubs beneath her dress. He was the sexiest man she’d ever seen, and he wanted her. She could see it in his eyes, feel it in every caress.
He tossed his shirt aside and looked down at her with a smug grin. “I’m actually an eggs and bacon for breakfast kind of guy. And yes, I really have those in the fridge. They’re hidden behind the pizza boxes.”
“Well that explains it. The guys I date are clearly not eating enough bacon.”
“Dated. Past tense. The only guy you’re dating now, is me.” He kissed her again, and she moaned into his mouth as he cupped her breast in his hand, stroking across one sensitive nipple with the pad of his thumb.
“I don’t remember you asking me out yet,” she whispered the next time he let her have a moment to breathe.
“I told you in the car that I was going to ask you out for dinner, and you told me the answer would be yes. I think that covered it.”
“Oh. Well, in that case, yes, the only guy I’m dating would be you.”
“Glad we got that settled.” He stroked her hair back from her face, exposing her bruised cheek.
Embarrassed, she tried to shake her hair back to cover it, but he growled softly and shook his head. “Let me see what he did to you, Meg. Does it hurt?”
“Not really. It’s going to be tender for a few days, that’s all.”
Brian leaned in and drifted several gentle kisses across her cheek, then leaned in to whisper in her ear. “I’m here to take care of you now. No one’s going to hurt you again.”
Meg knew she should say something. Remind him that she wasn’t his to protect, or point out they’d only just met a few hours ago. She didn’t. Instead, she turned her head and nuzzled her lips to his ear, nibbling lightly at the lobe until she heard his breath catch. She’d never been this brazen with a man before, but with Brian it was different. She knew he wouldn’t laugh at her, or push her away. He wanted her as much as she wanted him, and that changed everything.
He pinched her nipple lightly, and she felt a zing of electricity sizzle through her, straight to where she was already aching and wet with need. He did it again, and she moaned, closing her lips on his earlobe so he’d feel the vibration. His cock twitched against her thigh, and she gave in to the temptation to wriggle a little.
“Damn it! If you keep that up I’m going to lose my mind,” he growled into her ear before dropping his head to lay a line of open-mouthed kisses down the side of her throat. She laughed, releasing him from her mouth.
“I think we’ve already lost our minds. Otherwise we wouldn’t be doing this.”
“Good point. In that case, by all means continue what you were doing.”
She squirmed again, twisting around in his lap until he lapsed into broken laughter. “You’re trying to kill me.”
“Not really, I’m trying to get turned around to face you, but it’s not easy with this dress wrapped around my legs.”
“All you had to do was ask,” Brian told her as he set his hands on her hips and lifted her so that they were face to face and she was straddling his thighs. Goddamn, she was beautiful. Even mussed and tired, she was lovely. As she settled herself across his legs his cock went impossibly hard, straining against the fly of his pants like it had a life of its own. He ran his hands up her thighs, pushing her dress out of the way as he moved ever higher. Her skin was soft, and her legs seemed to go on forever. He’d reached the curve of her hip before he realized she wasn’t wearing any underwear, and that thought nearly had him coming in his pants l
ike a randy teenager.
“No underwear?”
Her eyes went wide, and she blushed scarlet, the color rising from her chest to stain her skin right up to the roots of her hair. “I forgot. Todd said I should loosen up, try to be sexier, so I was, but then he stood me up at the party.”
“Todd’s a fucking idiot,” Brian snarled and then sealed her mouth with a kiss as he cupped her naked ass in his hands. The idea that she’d been naked under her dress all this time … fuck. He had intended to be gentle, but he couldn’t. Not anymore. He arched his hips, pushing his throbbing dick against her barely covered pussy, and she pushed back, grinding their bodies together.
His control snapped, and he before he even knew what he intended, he had her dress in his hands and was tearing it off of her. Seams tore, stitches gave way and then she was warm and nearly naked in his arms. He had her bra off seconds later, tossing the scrap of pink satin away so he could finally see her beauty for himself. He leaned back and stared. “You’re perfect.”
Meg tried to cover herself, but there was too much of her exposed, too many flaws for her hands to hide. He captured her hands in his and held her so that she couldn’t hide anymore. “Stop it, Meg. You don’t need to be embarrassed. You’re beautiful. Don’t you ever hide yourself from me.”
She looked into his eyes and saw nothing in those green and gold depths but raw desire. The last of her doubts melted away under the heat of his gaze. Meg leaned in and kissed him, letting her breasts press against his chest as she intentionally ground her pussy into his cock. There was nothing holding her back anymore. She let him see everything, and let him feel how much she wanted to be with him.
He released her wrists, and she draped her arms around him, letting her fingers stroke up and down the back of his neck as he worked a hand between their bodies. When the first, thick finger stroked over her slick flesh she had to bite back a moan, and when a second one joined she couldn’t stop the flood of cream that flowed from her channel to coat his hand. He stroked and teased, never staying in one place too long, and soon she was riding his hand hard, needing more than light touches.
Uniform Fetish Page 7
