He didn’t know what he thought about that. On the one hand, the relief that washed through him when she sank into his embrace was one of the best things he’d ever felt. On the other hand, the fact she was leaving in a few days left him unsettled. He’d thought Shelby’s leaving had broken him. But Brittany’s leaving threatened to decimate him. Maybe he would never recover.
“Hey, Bennett.”
Joey dropped his hammer and reeled around with his fists raised.
“Whoa.” Bryan stepped back, hands raised in surrender. “Didn’t mean to ambush you, man.”
“No, I’m sorry. I guess I’m on edge right now.”
“No doubt. I’m sorry. I didn’t know there was history with you and Walt. We’re always so happy to have volunteers, but I think we need to implement some better procedures before we let folks join us.”
“I’m sure he would have passed a background check. He’s an asshole but that’s not illegal. This thing between us goes back a long way.” Joey had unintentionally fueled that fire the other night when he’d pulled Walt away from Brittany. Dammit. This was partially Joey’s fault. “I hate that he brought it here, though.”
“Yeah.”
They turned their attention to the frame of the room. Joey couldn’t focus, instead staring out into the empty yard. He opened his mouth to speak but Bryan beat him to it. “So, Brittany…”
“Yeah.”
“She’s great. She really dove into the plans with me. We wouldn’t have been able to make as much progress today without her. I wish we had someone like her on the team.”
Bryan’s comment sparked an idea. She had mentioned she was unhappy in her job, that she wanted to be doing something worthwhile. He couldn’t think of anything more worthwhile than working with Jayden’s Hope. But after today, he doubted she wanted to hang around Oak Grove one minute longer than she had to.
She stood beside the work table, only this time she wasn’t standing in fear. She talked to another volunteer, her shoulders relaxed, her hands animated, her head high, and a huge smile on her face. The sun shone on the elegant long brown hair she’d pulled out of her ponytail. Her T-shirt clung to her curves, and he closed his eyes, picturing how she had looked lying beneath him in his bed last night. If he had one wish, it was that he could climb into his bed with her and not climb out until she had to go home. Maybe not even then. But every time he imagined a future with her, Shelby’s cold smile surfaced. Why set himself up for that kind of disappointment again? That kind of pain?
Short-term fun. That was the agreement. Brittany wasn’t trying to pin him down, and he should be happy with that.
As if she felt his eyes on her, she turned her head, her eyes locking on his. The smile on her face grew. His feet and his heart overruled his head as he strode through the house and across the yard. She came to him easily, her arms trailing up his chest and around his neck as he lowered his mouth to hers. Her tongue tangled with his as he gave and took, everything and everyone around them fading away as he claimed her. She moaned into his mouth and his body tightened. Running his hand down her back, he cupped her ass and pulled her body into his.
He whispered, “Do you see what you do to me?”
“Right back atcha.”
He couldn’t bear another moment without having her like he had last night and again this morning. “You wanna get out of here?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Joey grabbed her hand, not releasing it as he collected his tools. After some quick goodbyes, he hustled her to his truck. He opened the door and lifted her into the seat, stepping up to her after he did. She wrapped her legs deliciously around his waist, and he placed another explosive kiss on her lips. She wriggled, her body surging against his. If she didn’t stop, they’d be giving the other volunteers an X-rated show right here in the yard.
He finally pulled back and rested his forehead on hers, their ragged breaths mingling. After another moment, he grabbed the seatbelt and stretched it across her body. His hand brushed the side of her breast, accidentally on purpose. It didn’t matter.
She gasped.
After one last kiss, he slammed the door, giving him a moment to get himself under control. Something had changed between them when he’d dragged Walt off her. This thing, this fling, had become more. His head had finally caught up with what his heart had been screaming since the moment he’d seen her on the dance floor.
After a couple of deep breaths, he opened his door and climbed in the cab, the floral aroma he would forever associate with Brittany filling his senses. He grew even harder. Dang, even the smell of her turns me on.
They rode in silence, the sparks of arousal flying between them the entire time. She shot him a look across the cab, her eyes filled with desire. He squeezed the wheel and gritted his teeth. He moved his hand toward the console before pulling it back. He couldn’t touch her right now. Every cell in his body thrummed and his nerves prickled with the slightest air blowing across them. This was trouble. His head and heart were finally on the same page, and he wanted, no, needed, to be with her. To connect with her on a deep, primal level. He eyed a couple of dirt roads darting off the highway. It wouldn’t take long. He was so close now, he could be inside her in thirty seconds. Maybe even less.
She deserved better. They deserved better than a quick screw in his truck.
As he reached the outskirts of town, ready to take the turn to his house, the sound of sirens echoed behind him. Glancing in the rearview mirror, a brown and white sheriff’s car, lights flashing, edged up behind him.
Damn. What’d he do now?
He pulled to the side of the road, mumbling under his breath as he slid the gearshift to park. Finally, a figure climbed out of the car. Joey groaned as Sawyer approached his truck.
Joey rolled down the window. “What seems to be the problem, Deputy?”
Sawyer lowered his chin and glared at Joey over the upper rim of his mirrored sunglasses. “Do you have any idea how fast you were driving?”
Joey had no clue, so consumed with his need to get Brittany home and beneath him. He didn’t answer, because anything he said would come back to haunt him the next time he saw Sawyer. But instead of writing a ticket, Sawyer leaned to the side, looking around Joey. “And you are…?”
Joey’s head snapped around. She smirked as she answered. “Brittany. I’m Karen’s friend from New York.”
Sawyer cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows at Joey. He heard a thousand silent words with that expression. Who was she? What is she to you?
“Are you all right, ma’am?” Sawyer’s deep voice carried right past Joey. What was Sawyer doing?
“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You’re with him, ma’am. That’s enough cause for concern right there.”
Sawyer’s expression betrayed nothing as he glared at the two of them. Damn training. Sawyer could stare down a lion and never flinch. Joey glanced at Brittany, her mouth twitching as she tried not to smile.
“I assure you, Officer. I’m fine.”
“Deputy sheriff, ma’am.” Sawyer tipped his hat.
Joey bit back a growl. This entire situation had become absurd.
“Deputy sheriff, huh? That sounds like an important job.” And Brittany was playing along with it.
Was she flirting with Sawyer? Maybe she wasn’t as different from Shelby as he thought. Damn, just when he’d realized his feelings for her ran deeper and more intensely than he’d imagined, her behavior revealed completely the opposite.
Sawyer relaxed and leaned his arm across the edge of Joey’s window.
“A very important job, ma’am. I have to protect the town from the likes of him.” He crooked his thumb toward Joey. “Are you sure you’re okay? If you’re not, I’ll be happy to take you home.”
Joey gritted his teeth. “You’ll be doing no such thing. Brittany is fine right where she is.”
“Oh, is she—?”
“Oh, am I—?” Brittany’s
eyebrows shot up as they spoke at the same time.
“Yes, she is. Now was there anything else, Deputy Sheriff?”
“License and registration, please?”
“Really, Sawyer. You know who I am and you know this is my truck. You were with me when I bought it.”
“You wouldn’t want me to be accused of playing favorites, would you?”
Joey muttered words not fit for mixed company and fished his license and registration out of his wallet. He stretched his hand out, pulling it back just as Sawyer reached for the cards. He shot Sawyer a look and then handed over the papers.
Sawyer walked away.
“He’s really a nice guy, when he’s not being an ass.”
Brittany laughed. “I’m sure he is. I suspect he’s having a bit of fun with you.”
Probably a better explanation than Brittany being flirtatious. Leave it to Sawyer to toy with Joey just as he realized how important Brittany was to him. “That sounds like Sawyer.”
Sawyer returned to the side of the truck and handed Joey’s license and registration through the window. “Everything checks out. I’ll let you off with a warning this time, but slow down. I’d hate to have to write you up.”
Joey mumbled his thanks as Sawyer extended his arm in front of Joey’s face.
“Ma’am. I want you to take my card. If you ever find yourself in trouble with this joker, you call me.”
Joey jerked the card out of Sawyer’s hand, throwing it into the console. “She won’t need it.”
Sawyer chuckled, and with a final tip of his hat, he stepped away. Joey waited until Sawyer had pulled out before he finished his drive home at a slower pace. As he turned onto his street, he glanced at Brittany, her eyes sparkling and her mouth tight. When he finally pulled into his driveway, she let out a huge laugh, doubling over in her seat.
Joey couldn’t help but join her, the two of them filling the truck’s cab with amusement. The entire situation was absurd… and absolutely Sawyer. Brittany sat up, tears running down her cheeks. Wiping a finger under her eyes, she opened her mouth and then closed it again, a few spurts breaking through her pursed lips.
“Are you quite finished?” he asked.
“I… don’t… know,” she said through ragged breaths. “That was so funny. He probably saw me through the window and thought he’d have a little fun with you.”
Joey shook his head. Some best friend.
Chapter Sixteen
THEY HAD BARELY walked in the house before Joey grabbed her and slammed his mouth against hers. Much like when they’d walked into the house the night before, he backed into the door, dragging her to him and plunging his tongue into her mouth while his hands roamed her body. He palmed her breast, teasing her nipple into a hard peak through her shirt.
She lowered her head to his chest. With her eyes closed, she focused solely on what he was doing to her body and the jolts his touch sent through her. A moan escaped her lips. “Oh, God, that feels so good.”
He tangled his tongue with hers as he made love to her mouth. With his hands caressing her breasts, he broke the kiss and licked his way to her ear. He nipped at her earlobe before soothing the spot.
Damn, what he could do with that tongue. She sank against him, the sensory assault turning her legs into mush.
Joey wrapped his arms around her. “I love it when I overwhelm you. Tell me what you want.”
“You. I want you. I need you.”
“You’ve got me.”
Those words were music to her ears. But dangerous words, too. She could lose herself in him if she allowed herself to. But she wouldn’t let her misgivings stop her from taking what she wanted now. She could worry about the rest later. Because as Joey shifted her back against the door and kissed his way down her belly, she could no longer form coherent thoughts. She could do nothing but feel.
Joey put her thoughts into words as he worked her shirt out of her jeans. “I want to taste every inch of your body. I want you so crazy with desire that you can’t stand it. I want you begging me to take you.”
“Please… Joey.”
He chuckled against the skin he had bared. “Not yet. Not even close.”
Joey stood and placed another ravishing kiss on her lips before he ripped her shirt up and over her head, throwing it on the floor beside them. He followed it with his own before she could help. As long as they both got naked as quickly as possible, she didn’t care. Her body craved his, the slide of his rough skin against hers. The hair on his chest tickled her fingers. She pressed a kiss to his sternum. “I love your skin. I love how the hair feels when I run my fingers through it.”
She cleared her mind of everything, every thought, and gave herself over to him. Her bra soon joined the growing pile of clothes on the floor. He pulled her to him, rubbing his chest against her. “And I love how your breasts feel against me. So soft.”
He teased and pinched her nipples, each touch sending sensations straight to her core. She wriggled against the door, and her hands touched him everywhere. She couldn’t get grounded. Pressing her core against his erection, she said, “I need more. I need you.”
“Oh, I plan on giving you more. Much more.”
Trailing kisses down her belly again, he released the button and drew down the zipper of her jeans. The cool air blew across the skin he uncovered, and it prickled. His fingers stilled. What was taking him so long? She could get undressed faster than this.
Finally, he hooked his fingers in the waistband and pulled her jeans and panties to her ankles. About damn time. She braced her hands on his shoulders as she stepped free, leaving herself exposed to him.
His eyes caressed her skin, down her breasts, over her belly, and fixed on her core. “So beautiful.”
Her back was pressed to the door, but she didn’t feel trapped. Her entire life, she’d shied away from men who towered over her, dominated her. Even today, when Walt had advanced on her, she’d flashed back to her childhood. With Joey, it was different. Because he was different. And she was different when she was with him. He made her be a better version of herself. Confident, but feminine. And appreciated. Very much appreciated.
With his hands on her thighs, he peppered kisses up her legs. He stopped at her knee tipping it forward to press a kiss behind it, her muscles twitching when his tongue caressed the sensitive skin. Her knees buckled and he wrapped his arms around her, supporting her. She’d never had a man take such care with her body. Sure, she’d had lovers, but none as attentive to her needs. The power-hungry, ladder-climbing men in New York were as selfish in the bedroom as they were in the boardroom—taking care of their own needs. But not Joey. Making love with Joey was like a symphony, and she had a feeling this was only the first movement.
Joey moved up her thighs, nudging her legs apart. Before she could object, he blew a hot breath over her core. The intimacy and gentleness of his lovemaking washed over her. She was lost. Lost to him. Lost to what he was doing to her. Never before in her life had she given herself so fully to any man. She’d never expected to.
After she’d escaped Whitefish, her life had been spent alone, her hook-ups detached. She never wanted to find herself obligated to a man… like her mother. But Brittany knew something about herself that her mother had never realized: she had power. The power to choose her own future with Joey. Though, the way he respected her in and out of the bedroom told her that she’d never need that power with him.
His hands on her hips, he held her open to him as he licked her intimately. Oh God. This was too much. She wasn’t going to last long. She wriggled and he pressed her more firmly against the door. Her hands fumbled on his shoulders as he turned her body to mush. Her knees buckled and he held her more firmly. He didn’t stop. He stroked her with his tongue, circling around her opening time and again but not where she wanted him most. Where she needed him. She thrust her core against his tongue, willing him to put her out of exquisite misery.
He plunged his tongue into her and inserted his finger
. After that buildup, she almost burst but gritted her teeth to hold back an orgasm. His moans of pleasure rumbled through her and her heart melted. Never before had she inspired that kind of reaction in a man. He continued the assault with his tongue and his fingers, driving her body toward the inevitable conclusion. Her body clamored for release as her hands clung to him. Her inner muscles clenched and Joey withdrew his tongue, driving his fingers into her while he sucked her clit into his mouth.
“Joey. Oh, God,” she screamed, the surge of orgasm overtaking her. Wave after wave of pleasure coursed through her body as he continued to stroke her, his fingers tickling along her most sensitive skin until her inner muscles relaxed. Her body spent, she pushed against his shoulders. “Enough. I can’t take anymore.”
He chuckled. “Not nearly enough.”
He lifted her up, pulling her legs around his waist. She pressed her core into him, the roughness of his jeans rubbing her, his thick erection against her where she wanted him most. He flexed his hips and drove it harder against her.
“I need you, Joey.”
“Where do you need me?”
“Inside me. I need you inside me. Now.”
He carried her across the room, his lips pressed to hers as he did. The intimacy of the musky taste of her own arousal on his tongue drove her need even higher. His legs bumped into the couch and he laid her down, her naked body exposed to him as he stood over her. In no time, he removed his jeans and boxer briefs, his erection popping out, thick and long and beckoning.
He started to lower himself, but she pressed her hand on his chest. Shifting her butt and sliding her feet onto the floor, she grabbed his hip with one hand and his cock with the other. She curled her fingers around him, barely meeting around his thickness.
She squeezed.
He groaned, his eyes closed, his breathing deep as she palmed him. The power she had over him as he stood exposed before her was intoxicating.
She blew a hot breath across his cock, and a drop of moisture appeared. When she licked the tip, his hands moved to her shoulders, holding her in place as she wrapped her lips around him. His cock was thick and wide in her mouth. Musk, salt, and sweat filled her taste buds as she ran her tongue back and forth along the underside. She pulled back, her lips around his girth, until she reached the tip.
One Last Dance Page 14
