Which was exactly the point.
“I know. But when you find the right guy, the rest is not as important, I guess.”
“I suppose...but still. I’ll call Reece right away. I know he’ll be as upset as I am if we can’t make it, but either way, you have to come here as soon as you can so we can all celebrate. Reece and I are throwing a huge party in the summer, it’s going to be like racing-world heaven here, so get used to the idea.”
Hannah laughed, but for the first time, genuine tears stung her eyes, and she had to wait a second to respond, trying not to be too emotional.
She failed, and both women ended up laughing and crying on the phone, until Hannah hung up, needing to call her mother again and then get ready for dinner out. With her future, temporary in-laws, whom she’d never even met.
Real nerves set in for a moment as she dialed her mom’s number and shared the news—rehashing a lot of what she’d gone over with Abby, and then more happy tears. She and Brody would pay for her mom to come down, of course, and she could stay at a bed-and-breakfast by the beach, also at their expense.
“We’ll let you know as soon as we have the details set, Mom,” she said.
“Are you sure, honey? I could come down earlier on my own, help with any plans and arrangements?”
“We’re keeping things very simple and small, so there won’t be too much to do. We’ll have a ceremony and then take everyone to dinner. We can’t expect you all to rush and do everything when we’re springing this on you.”
Her mom agreed—albeit reluctantly—but when Hannah hung up the phone, she didn’t feel very good about it. To distract herself from her uncomfortable thoughts, she picked through her suitcase, getting to the bottom and realizing she had nothing really appropriate to wear to dinner with Brody’s parents.
He came in as she was picking up the mess of clothes she’d thrown everywhere.
“How’d it go with Abby? Can they make it?”
“Fine. She’s going to try—she has to see if Reece will be back in time. And I have nothing to wear to meet your parents,” she said, clearly panicking. “Nothing. We can’t meet with them tonight. I need to get to a store to find something appropriate. Maybe tomorrow night would be better—”
Brody placed his hands on her shoulders, stilling her diatribe.
“Anything you wear will be perfect. Don’t worry. They’re going to think you’re amazing, like I do,” he said, planting a kiss on her forehead.
“Did they see the news report?”
“Of course. I called them right before they saw it on the lunchtime news, but it was close. They’re surprised but happy. I guess there’s not much I do anymore that surprises them,” he said with a self-effacing chuckle.
Brody loved his parents—she could tell by the look of warmth in his eyes when he talked about them. That made her feel somewhat better.
“But as it turns out, you have a reprieve,” he continued. “I thought you might need some time to get used to the idea, so I rescheduled for tomorrow night.”
Hannah took a deep breath of relief. “That’s good, thank you. I want to make a positive impression...they’re your parents after all. Your sister knew—a lot more than she should, so she told me—about our month together back in Daytona, by the way. You were chatty under anesthesia?”
Brody winced. “Right, the hospital—sorry. But that can work for us. Make it all more believable, which is the point.”
“So your parents probably know, too, that I’m that Hannah,” she said, with the same emphasis Brandi had used. “I don’t want them thinking, you know, that I’m some gold digger or not good enough for you.”
Brody’s expression couldn’t have been more shocked. “Are you kidding me?”
“It’s what Brandi thought at first. Why wouldn’t they think so, too? This is somewhat out of the blue, and it’s not as if they know me.”
“They’ll think the obvious. That you’re a warm, intelligent, funny, wonderful woman, and how could their recalcitrant, misbehaving, womanizing rake of a son have done so well for himself? If anything, they’ll think I’m not good enough for you, and they’d be right.”
She reached out, plucking a piece of hay from his shirt. He’d been down with the horses while she was on the phone.
“You keep saying things like that and it’s going to be harder to divorce you someday.”
Brody chuckled again. “Well, anyway, this means we have the rest of the evening free. I had some ideas about how we might celebrate our engagement,” he said, hands settling on her hips as he leered over her shoulder at the bed.
Hannah smiled, her stress dissolving as she linked her arms around his neck.
“You’re right. I guess I have to get used to this whole being-spontaneous thing. I keep lapsing back into worrying and wondering if it’s the right thing to do,” she admitted.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said, nuzzling her cheek with his.
“Oh, yeah? Prove it,” she challenged, her skin warming wherever he touched her and at all points in between.
“Challenge accepted. But I could use a shower first. Want to join me?”
As if she would even consider saying no.
Hand in hand, they walked to the huge en suite bathroom. It was a new addition, converted from a smaller sitting room, and it was stunning.
En suites weren’t typically part of the construction in older homes, but this one had been perfectly designed to complement the style of the house. The white marble tile with gray veining alone had to have cost a fortune. Hannah stared at the soaking tub with bubble jets—that definitely had possibilities—as Brody went to the huge walk-in shower. She’d looked at a similar tub in a store once and couldn’t imagine ever spending that much money on such a thing, even one as gorgeous as this.
“I can’t believe I’m going to live here for a while. With that tub,” she said more to herself than anyone, and then caught Brody’s lifted eyebrow.
“You don’t see anything else in here that you like?” he asked, making her laugh again.
Great sex, laughter and that tub.
Worry was definitely the enemy of adventure, and she had to stop it. She focused instead on the man who clearly should have all of her attention at the moment. It was what he thought that mattered.
“Well, I love the shower, too. That tiled bench is awesome,” she teased, reaching past him to run her hands appreciatively along the smooth surface.
Brody caught her around the waist and pulled her up close. His mouth on hers quelled their laughter. It only took a few minutes for them to leave their clothes on the floor and make their way under the spray of the hot water, which seemed to rain down from every direction.
Hannah barely noticed, though. All of her attention was firmly focused on Brody now as he took a lovely natural sponge from the shelf—he was saying something about it coming from local waters—and filled it with soap. He handed it to her, grabbed another and did the same.
Oh, so nice. They stood close, washing each other, rubbing the soft sponges over her curves and his angles until they focused on more tender, sensitive topography.
He washed her hair, taking his time, turning her to mush at the lavish attention. Then his sponge moved lower, and Hannah whimpered against his shoulder, losing her grip on her own sponge as she rocked into the rhythm. Seconds later she was sagging against him as easy, rippling pleasure washed over her, much like the water that ran down her skin.
“That’s it, babe,” he encouraged, holding her up with his other arm, which was curved securely around her lower back.
Brody walked her backward until they reached the bench, where she sat, feeling loose and warm, wet all over. But when he took one of her wrists and held it above her head, she perked up, curious.
“What are you doing?”
/>
He took the satin belt from her robe hanging close by, looped it around her wrist and then the other one.
“Too much?” he asked, pausing.
She considered for a moment, but this was what she wanted. Everything new, everything different. And as he had told her earlier, she trusted him. At least with her body.
“No. It’s okay,” she said.
He proceeded to gently tie one wrist, then the other, to the towel rack over her head. Nerves wrestled with excitement.
He stood back, taking his time looking at her. “Brody—”
“Do you know how beautiful you are?”
The words rendered her mute. She didn’t know how to respond. No one had ever said things like that to her.
Had Brody said them to others?
She shook her head, as if physically casting off the thought.
“What? What were you thinking just then?” he asked, coming forward and kneeling down, taking one of her feet in his hands and rubbing.
“Nothing important... Oh, that’s good,” she sighed, loving how his touch traveled through the happy nerve endings, triggering a chain reaction of sparks all the way up her body.
“Tell me,” he insisted.
He lifted her foot, kissing the arch before dragging his tongue along that sensitive skin, making her head spin.
“Tell me, Hannah,” he said again, nipping her toe.
“Oh, I was just wondering if you said those kinds of things to all the girls,” she said, trying to make it sound like teasing.
But he knew better. He knew her.
He stopped, looking into her eyes, dead serious. “I’ve never been with anyone I didn’t like, and I’ve liked a lot of women... But you’re different, Hannah. You always were. You have to know that,” he said, switching to the other foot.
“Different?”
“You aren’t someone I met around the track or a fan or someone I worked with. You’re...normal. Real.”
She huffed out a laugh, mixed with a moan as his fingers moved up her calf.
“Boring, you mean.”
“No, that’s not what I mean,” he added, leaning down to nip the tender flesh behind her knee as a reprimand for her comment, making her jump slightly before he licked the spot. “Not at all.”
“Ordinary, then?”
“Only in the sexiest, ‘I want to peel that gray suit off you’ kind of way.”
He continued up her thigh, nipping again, and then licking. Hannah found she liked that subtle sting soothed by the kiss, so she egged him on.
“Exceedingly dull?” she goaded, holding her breath for the next touch of his teeth to her skin. Instead, he raised his head, looking at her with molten, knowing eyes.
“Oh, you’re very bad,” he said in response, parting her legs and moving up in between. “You play the good girl, but you’re not, are you?”
His words pleased her immensely, and she shook her head. She wanted to be bad.
“I think you need to pay for that,” he said with mock severity.
“Please,” she said encouragingly at the first touch of his tongue to the overly sensitized nub between her thighs.
No more nibbles—he tempted her with his tongue until she writhed on the bench. She wished she could sink her hands into his hair and put him where she needed him, but the inability to do so fed her increasing arousal, sending her to the moon.
Hannah might have screamed his name, she wasn’t sure. The release he drew from her was so powerful she couldn’t do anything as it took over. Waves of climax thrummed through her entire body, the undertow pulling her for as long as it pleased, carrying her where it wanted and pushing her back up to the surface when it was done with her.
As she caught her breath, her body shaking and spent, she looked down to see Brody watching her, the raw emotion and desire in his expression stunning her.
He grabbed a shaving mirror from the shelf, held it up to her.
“This is what I see in you, Hannah. When you let go, when you’re playful and lose control and you do it with me... It’s anything but boring.”
She looked at her reflection in the steam-edged glass and hardly recognized the thoroughly satisfied woman in the mirror.
“Oh,” she said, unable to say anything else as he stood up and gently untied her hands, kissing each palm in turn as he did so.
Brody cradled her against him for a few minutes under the spray. Locking his lips to hers, he pulled her leg up around his hip, slipping inside her so easily and completely, it was perfect.
Hannah held on again as he started moving, loving the connection and the warmth as the shower rained water down over them. She didn’t have another orgasm in her after what he’d just done, but that didn’t matter. It gave her more time to notice and experience his body, his pleasure, separate from hers. That was a wondrous thing, too, and she memorized every detail.
She kissed his neck, whispering hot things in his ear until he was tense, every part of him hard and ready before he let go on a long moan, his face buried in her shoulder.
Seconds later, as he lowered her leg back to the floor and his breathing slowed, he stilled.
“Oh, I completely forgot—”
She put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m protected. And I haven’t been with anyone since you. You know, when we were together, before.”
He was clearly surprised at that revelation, and the tenderness in his eyes at her bald admission moved her.
“I’m sorry to say I was, but not since the hospital. I was checked out thoroughly and I’m fine.”
“Then I guess we don’t have to worry about any...barriers, especially since we’ll be married after all,” she said.
If she kept saying it, maybe it would start to sound real.
“We should still be cautious. Can’t have a new addition, given the circumstances,” he said.
The words were a reality check in her fuzzy postcoital moment, but he was right. Their situation was what she had to keep first and foremost in her mind.
They stepped out, drying each other off, and the results of that nearly sent them back into bed for more. But when the phone rang, Brody shook his head.
“That’s Brandi’s ringtone. I should check it. We’ve been playing phone tag.”
“Go get it. I’ll forage in the kitchen. I’m starving, and there are probably leftovers I could heat up for us,” she said, pushing him toward the door, appreciating the view from behind as she did so.
Hannah hummed and smiled all the way down to the kitchen, mulling over what had happened in the shower. She’d liked it. A lot. More than she would have thought. She wanted to do it again, and she wanted to do more. It was like getting to know herself for the first time in her life, and she liked what she was discovering. It could only get better from here, right?
She rummaged through the fridge and took out the leftover sauce from the day before just as Brody walked into the room.
“We have enough sauce if you have some more pasta, or—”
“I have to go, I’m sorry,” he said, tense and looking worried and irritated all at the same time.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s a family thing. Brandi’s son has been acting out, and she needs me to go find him.”
“You know where he is?”
“I have a good idea. He’s been street racing, and he’s already been picked up once by the cops. They won’t let it go if he’s picked up again. I shouldn’t be long, but I’m not sure. You go ahead and eat.”
“I can go with you.”
“No, these street races can be in some rough areas—backstreets and bad neighborhoods. It’s better if I go alone.”
He turned away, planting a quick kiss on her mouth as he headed for the back d
oor.
Hannah hardly had a chance to say another word, but she knew she wasn’t a fan of getting the brush-off, especially like that. Especially after everything that had happened between them.
As if she didn’t have any part in his life, except when it came to sex. Obviously, Brody didn’t understand that making a marriage real meant more than making it real in bed.
Besides, this sounded like something she wanted to see.
Street racing... It sounded exciting.
She heard him get in the Charger and start the engine. Before Hannah could think twice, she grabbed her keys and headed out the door, waiting until he was down the driveway. When she knew he couldn’t see her, she followed him.
* * *
BRODY PINCHED THE bridge of his nose, hating the stress that had been in Brandi’s voice as her plea rang in his head. Brody, please, find him before he gets killed. He’ll listen to you.
Aiden was supposed to be in his room—grounded, again—when Brandi noticed he was missing.
Brody headed out onto the highway, hitting the gas until he exited a few miles south.
The roads narrowed and closed in, but he knew the area like the back of his hand, having traveled these roads many times in his youth, much like his nephew, when he should have been home studying.
This one led out to an old airstrip in the Everglades, abandoned, just as it had been when he raced there. Brody knew the races still happened—a few times he’d even gone to watch—but he didn’t like Aiden being involved any more than Brandi did. However, he did understand it more than his sister could.
It wasn’t long before he could hear the roaring engines in the distance, and that took him back, too.
How many times had he sneaked off to race down here in the very car he was driving now? Way too many. Back then, it was different.
He could see them now from the crest of the hill that led down to the strip, the light from dozens of cars illuminating the pitch-dark. They’d also set up some construction lights to brighten the strip, and parties were in progress.
He parked the Charger in a secluded spot at the side of the road and put a jacket and baseball hat he had in the backseat on, walking out into the clearing. There were hundreds of kids here, the cars more expensive and tricked out than any he and his friends had had back in the day.
Rock Solid Page 8
