by Natalie Ann
“I can do that. I can be more open. I can put more of myself out there. Or I can try, at least. And no, I don’t want promises of forever, not right now. I might someday. I guess the question is, could you see yourself ever being in a committed relationship?”
“Yes, I can. I see myself with you. I see myself with Sidney and watching her grow. And the reason I couldn’t make promises before now is I’ve had no clue where your head has really been at.”
She snorted. “I’m not sure I even know where my own head is at. I’ve made a ton of mistakes in my life. I’ve rebelled against my mother and authority just for the sake of doing it. I’ve depended on people and landed flat on my butt because of it. I work hard for the little I’ve got and will always do that. I don’t want to be reliant on anyone. That’s who I am. I just don’t know any other way.”
“I get that. I can even respect that. All I ask is you respect me enough to be honest.”
“I’ve been honest with you. I haven’t lied about anything. Not even Pick when I wanted to, but I didn’t.”
“What is his real name?”
“Wilber,” she said, laughing. “Isn’t it horrible? As bad as Pick is, at least you knew it was a nickname. Wilber makes me think of the pig in Charlotte’s Web.”
“That is pretty bad, but I guess it fits with the way he looks,” he said, standing and pulling her up, then hugging her tight. “Are we good now?”
“For the moment. I’m ready to put my past behind me and start fresh. To start something I never thought I’d have. I’m ready to start it with you.”
“Good.” He kissed her lightly on the lips. “Because I told my family about us this morning before you came over.”
She leaned back abruptly. “You did? Why?”
“I heard what you said before. I’m not ashamed of our relationship and by hiding it, it gives the illusion I am. That’s wrong of me and I wondered if that was part of why you were holding back.”
Rick was right all along. Brody was still fighting for her, even when she wasn’t sure what she was going to say to him this morning. “Had you planned on it all along? Telling them today?”
“No. After I left last night, I had no idea what the next step was going to be. I guess I should thank Rick for talking to you. When you said you’d come over and spend the day with me, I took it as a good sign. That maybe there was hope, so this was my good faith move to prove to you that I was all in right now.”
“It was a good move,” she said, framing his face with her hands and kissing him again. “What did they say?”
“There was some silence all around. I thought I was going to have to explain myself and my actions, but surprisingly my mother jumped in and said she thought it was great. That she liked you from the minute she met you.”
She was glad to hear there was some acceptance. “Well, your mother might be biased.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because Sidney’s babysitter, Melanie, was my mother’s best friend, and she used to work for your parents. When I moved back here, Melanie called your mother and asked if there were any openings. I didn’t like getting the job that way, but I wasn’t going to turn it down.”
“I didn’t know that. I mean, I didn’t know my mother knew you,” he said, frowning.
“She didn’t. She knew Melanie. She met me an hour before Ella did. I don’t know if my interview was a favor for Melanie or not, but I took advantage of it.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Brody said. “Everyone was pretty cool with it in the end.”
“No one questioned anything?” Aimee asked, finding it a little strange.
“Not really. Just the basic questions of how long it’s been going on. How serious it is. Does anyone else know. Things like that. Otherwise, everyone seemed fine. It probably helped that my parents seemed so excited over it for some reason.”
“Do they normally get excited over you dating someone?”
“No. But I haven’t really dated anyone in years. None of us have. I think we’re all so focused on Fierce that our personal lives have taken a backseat to things. There were some comments that my siblings could take a page from my book, but everyone just laughed over it.”
“Whatever works, right?” she said, feeling happier than she thought she could at this moment. When she’d packed her and Sidney’s things this morning, she didn’t have a lot of high expectations on how the day would turn out. Here it was, barely two in the afternoon, and already she couldn’t imagine anything being better.
Get Run Over
“We didn’t have to get a monitor,” Aimee told him when they were climbing the stairs for the night. Sidney had been sleeping for a few hours already.
“I wanted you to feel comfortable with her sleeping here tonight.”
He didn’t want any reason for her to leave. Her walls were crumbling around her and she was letting him in. He wasn’t risking any setbacks. Matter of fact, he wanted to build on it, and what better way than to have her spend the night with him?
“She did seem happy to go to bed. Bringing her on the boat again after her nap probably helped,” Aimee said when she turned the corner into Brody’s room.
“I’m sure running around the yard chasing bubbles didn’t hurt.”
“You didn’t need to buy her a bubble machine, either.”
“She enjoyed it. We can keep it here and give her something to play with. Less for you to bring when you visit.” He was making mental notes of all the toys Sidney had gravitated toward.
“Good point.” She was looking around his room nervously now and he wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She opened the bag she’d left on his bed and pulled out a T-shirt and her toothbrush. “This seems odd to me.”
“You’ve never spent the night with someone before?” he asked, not believing that for a second.
“Of course I have. But it was always a last-minute thing, or it was at my place. I don’t know that I’ve ever packed a bag for the night.”
He wanted to say that sounded cheap in his eyes, but knew it would come off insulting. He didn’t want her to feel cheap, but that it was rather a reflection on the guys she’d been with. No matter how he explained it, he’d look bad for voicing it. She deserved better, and he wanted to be able to give it to her now. He set out using actions rather than words.
“So then it’s going to feel odd if we got ready for bed together, I’m guessing?” he asked.
“You mean at the same time in the bathroom. Next to each other?”
He laughed. “That was the plan. There are two sinks and the toilet is closed off.”
She squared her shoulders and walked past him into the bathroom, showing some confidence once again. It was almost laughable that she was nervous about something this silly. But a wise man kept that thought to himself, too.
Instead he followed her in there and started to get ready for bed. Undressing, then brushing his teeth. When they were both done they walked back into the bedroom, but he stopped her from climbing into bed.
“Come here,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her close, then kissing her deeply. If there was one thing he learned about Aimee, it was she relaxed with his touch, in his arms, almost whenever he was close.
A short soft kiss soon turned into more. Soon it turned deep and then aggressive. A smoldering fire that wanted to build, to climb and shoot up high, reaching toward the sky.
His hands slid under the T-shirt she’d put on, quickly pulling it over her head and tossing it to the floor. Smoldering fires needed to be undressed, so her panties followed suit.
Not to be outdone, she glided her hands into his boxers and pushed them down his legs, freeing the evidence of his need for her.
He picked her up and carried her to his bed, laying her down and covering her. Loving the soft feel of her body under his. How she curved into his touch, wrapping her arms around his neck and sliding her foot up the outside
of his leg, her hips rising and pressing, searching for what he yearned to give her.
“Turn over,” she whispered in his ear.
He thought maybe he was squishing her, so he did, but all she did was switch positions and climb on top, spreading her knees around his hips. Leaning forward, she kissed him hard and looked into his eyes. “You’re going to get a treat tonight,” she said, her eyes glowing, mischief and arousal hitting him hard.
Scooting down his body, sending electric currents along all his nerves, her lips traced a path down his chest, over his ribs, licking his stomach, then finding her target.
There was no steady build up. No gentle taste. Not even a nibble. She swallowed him whole and went to work. He thought he was going to dislodge her with the way his hips lifted at the sudden attack, but he settled back and forced his eyes to stay open.
He wanted to close them in the relaxed lull that had pulled him in. He wanted to just take in the pleasure of what her mouth was doing to him. But he couldn’t when he saw her eyes were flickering up and dancing with laughter while he bit his lip to find control. While he made a fist to hold off. While he never wanted this moment to end.
Then she started to suck, to lick, move up and down, then doing it all at once and finally adding some movement with her hands to the mix. “Aimee,” he growled at her. Men dream of this being done to them. Dream of this feeling, and here he was trying to get it to stop.
She paused for a moment to laugh at him. “I’m sorry. I should have asked if you liked this or not?”
“You know the answer to that,” he said, his teeth clenched. She hadn’t stopped stroking him. Small soft hands squeezing him tight, nice and slick from her mouth moving up and down.
“Then what’s the problem?” she asked sweetly.
“I’m on the edge,” he said, lifting his hips, then laying his hand on hers to stop.
“That’s the point.” She shook his hand off, then brought her mouth back down on him, looked up and warned, “Don’t stop me again.”
So he didn’t. Not that he could, because he was incapable of doing much more than gripping the sheets and stopping the shout from being ripped from his lips as her head started to bob up and down with just the right amount of pressure that he had no choice but to drop his head back, close his eyes, and ride out the waves that were crashing all around him.
It was like being trapped and trying to gasp for air. Trying to fight his way out but his body was too weak. Too tired and too lost to do anything else but lie there, defeated, tremors releasing every now and then.
“You’re sweating right now,” she said softly in his ear, her hands moving over his chest as he took a deep breath.
“I feel like I just ran a marathon in five minutes.”
“That’s funny, because I’m the one who did all the work.”
He turned fast, putting her under him, surprising her. “Then I guess you need to see how it feels to just lie there and get run over.”
“Oh, I know how it feels. You’ve done it to me before. I just wanted to return the favor.”
His eyes softened. He was touched. He could see it in her expression that it wasn’t just sex to her now. It was more…and she was finally sharing.
***
“Aimee,” she heard whispered in her ear. She opened her eyes and looked around the strange room. The shades were closed, but she could see a crack of the sun coming through, the room not so dark anymore.
Turning her head, she looked at the clock and noticed it wasn’t even six in the morning yet. “Good morning,” she said, rising on her elbow and looking at Brody next to her. She’d never seen him with facial hair before. “This is nice,” she said, running her hand over his cheek.
“It’s annoying,” he said. “Always itches. I can’t seem to get used to it for some reason.”
“That’s too bad. I find it sexy. Rumpled, just out of bed, is a pretty fantastic look for you.”
“How fantastic?” he asked.
“Maybe I need to convince you to keep it. Or at the very least show it to me now and again.”
She didn’t give him a chance to say anything else before she covered his mouth with hers. Kissing him was the biggest aphrodisiac going. His lips, his tongue, everything was soft and sweet and she enjoyed drawing as much pleasure from his mouth as she could. Something so simple as a kiss to most people was a sign of affection for her. A much deeper meaning than she’d ever told anyone before. When a person took the time to kiss, it meant more than pulling you into a room and just getting busy.
His hands went to her breasts and she purred in the back of her throat. She’d always been sensitive to touch. It was probably why she enjoyed sex as much as she did, even if she’d closed up shop for the last few years.
“I think I need to make up for lost time,” she said.
“Hmm,” he said, one hand moving between her legs, finding her soaking wet and sliding a finger inside. He seemed to know one finger wasn’t enough, adding another, then arching them just right, moving them around. His thumb added to the mix and her toes were starting to curl. “I don’t have a problem with that.”
“Me neither,” she said, rolling off of him and reaching for a condom. They’d tossed a handful of them on the bedside table last night. Only two were remaining. She should be sore, but instead she was needy for more.
She covered him quickly then climbed on top and started to move.
“I love that you aren’t afraid to show me what you like. What you want,” he said when she grabbed his hands, putting one on her breast and the other between her legs.
“What’s the use of fooling around if you aren’t going to get enjoyment out of it?”
“Good point,” he said, moving his thumb and finger and applying a bit of pain to her nipple.
She was done talking for now. She couldn’t even keep a train of thought if she wanted to, which she didn’t. She just wanted to feel what the man under her had. What he could give her. And what he made her feel. How she lost herself in him and never had with anyone else.
Rising up and down at a faster pace, the hand between her legs started to flick at her sensitive skin. Just enough pain, just enough pleasure, and she was moving faster than ever before. Faster than she thought her body was capable of.
She was exhausting herself right now but she was so close. Her body wanted to get there, but it seemed to be struggling from overuse.
“Keep going,” he said to her. “You have no idea how sexy this sight is.”
“How’s that?” she panted out.
“I’m watching you in the mirror behind you. Turn around. Switch positions.”
She hadn’t thought of that before. It was dark last night and she hadn’t paid attention to the mirror on his dresser on the other side of the room.
So she turned, wanting to see what he saw.
When she swung her leg around to climb onto him facing the other direction, he slid up higher on the pillows, giving himself a better view.
Now that was a vision. Her naked body on top of him. His hands, one covering her breast, the other moving below. It was time to ride him now. To see her body in motion. Would it be sexy or would it be strange?
It was like a flip was switched, from aroused to desire, then to need. Maybe she should be embarrassed over her breasts jiggling up and down. Maybe she shouldn’t think of it as watching porn, but she did. Their own little personal show that no one saw but them. Something that would be frozen in her memory and never shared.
“Touch yourself,” he said, moving his hands to her hips. “Stay still and touch yourself while I do the rest of the work.”
Why not? she thought. He gripped her hips hard, his fingers might even be leaving marks, but she stayed still, just moving her fingers around.
She wanted to shut her eyes and savor the pleasure, but she couldn’t. Not when he had his dark-eyed stare locked on her. Not when he was increasing the speed and rise of his own hips and not when she started to moan, then
screech.
Her hand was moving faster than it ever had before, his hips slamming into her, forcing her to bite her lip to stop the shout that was crawling inside, fighting its way out.
His body was tensing under hers. “Don’t hold back,” she said.
“I’m waiting for you.”
“Don’t wait. I’m there. Feeling you come sends me over.”
His hands tightened more on her hips and he started to move with jerky motions in and out, long and deep, stroking her and letting her feel everything he had to give her, sending her spiraling out of control, then collapsing backwards on him while they both fought to get their breath.
“That was amazing,” she said.
“You’re amazing,” he whispered.
He was probably talking about sex, but secretly she hoped it was more.
Nothing in Common
Brody was in the shower while Aimee was preparing breakfast.
The two of them had fallen back to sleep until she heard Sidney calling out, “Mama. Mama. Want to get up.”
Like every mother on the face of this earth, she jumped up immediately, disoriented, and started to run to her daughter until she realized she was buck-ass naked.
Brody started to laugh at her, but she ignored him and pulled his shirt over her head, thankful it was long enough to cover the fact she had no underwear on. Not that she thought Sidney would notice.
But Brody sure did.
Once Sidney was up and changed, Brody entertained her by letting her watch TV in his room. He’d gotten dressed himself and made the bed so it looked like they were just sitting there watching TV. Sidney was too young to know or understand her mother and Brody had spent the night together, but Aimee was thankful he was considerate enough to pretend it was all innocent.
