by Stacey Keith
If he waited much longer, he wouldn’t be as gentle as he needed to be. He would take—ruthlessly, selfishly take—instead of give. Then her first time would be about pain and not discovery.
She lay back on the bed, her eyes heavy-lidded and full of unspoken need, her light blond hair spread out on the coverlet. Brandon knew he would always remember her like that, reaching out to him, crazy with desire. She was the answer to a prayer he’d never dared to have, a beautiful woman who held nothing back.
If April wanted to see paradise, he would show it to her.
He knelt on the edge of the bed, between her legs. It was all lust and control now. The arousal of a woman was the hottest aphrodisiac to him. He inhaled sharply, wanting to bathe in her scent, to bathe in her.
Forcing himself not to rush, he ran his hands down her smooth thighs, loving the way she moaned when he touched her. Every sigh made him ache that much harder. April was so hungry for this, so ready. Then he stretched out over her, letting his tongue do a different kind of talking, first on her breasts, then her stomach, and then wending its way slowly between her thighs.
Her back arched when he found her.
“What are you doing?” she gasped.
“What I should have done a long time ago,” he said. “You’re gonna like it a lot.”
* * * *
April’s hands dug into the bedspread. It felt as though his tongue had found her light source and kept flicking the switch on, knowingly, effortlessly, again and again.
Oh, God, the hotness.
He spread a raging wildfire that started between her legs and radiated to every point in her body, higher and hotter, in white-hot licks of flame. Helplessly, her legs fell open and he made a sound she recognized as deep male triumph.
No man should have this much power, she thought hazily. No man should know how to do these things. Every circle of his tongue was an electric shock to her nervous system, a live wire dipped in water, only instead of killing her all at once, it killed her by overloading her circuits with raw dizzying pleasure.
When she looked down and saw Brandon’s powerful shoulders and long dark hair, she thought she might explode. April had never dreamed of anything so sexy in her life. She sensed how it turned him on to use his tongue on her, the care and attention he took to get it right. His patience was astonishing. What did it matter where he’d acquired these skills? Her heart blazed with more love and gratitude than she’d ever imagined possible.
Every nerve ending in her body roared with sweet, aching need for this and something more. She wanted him inside her, no matter how afraid she was. But when she struggled up to try to tell him that, she couldn’t find the words and fell deliriously back on the bed.
This was crazy.
He continued his slow, gentle assault, sending jolts throughout her belly. The jolts were getting closer together, like pressure building. And still Brandon dipped his head to taste her, sliding his tongue across her sweet spot and then flicking it, again and again, with surgical precision.
Soft cries filled the room. To her embarrassment, April realized she was the one making them. He eased her thighs farther apart, spreading her with his fingers and making her feel even more naked and exposed. But as long as he maintained his connection with that wicked, talented tongue, Brandon owned her and he knew it.
Now the breath was sawing in and out of her chest. Something terrifying was coming for her, something with teeth. She was past the point of being able to stop the sounds she made or the movements of her body, which was why her thighs trembled and she whimpered uncontrollably.
All at once, her back arched off the bed and she was gripped by intense, blinding pleasure, wave after wave of it exploding inside her. April couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. All she could do was hang suspended, shuddering in this tight, piercing bliss. She had a hazy sense that he wasn’t even moving anymore, just letting her spin out in a comet of fiery glory. When the scream ripped from her throat, she tried to silence it but couldn’t.
It was like dying, this ecstasy. Yet even as she spiraled up, she wanted it to go on forever. Her pulse throbbed wildly.
Slowly the waves of pleasure subsided but she was still far from earth and nothing looked familiar anymore.
“What was that?” she gasped.
“Beautiful,” Brandon whispered, studying her. “Look how wet you are. So sweet, baby.”
April still couldn’t catch her breath. She lay spent while he rummaged in the nightstand. There was the sound of cellophane ripping and then Brandon in his deep, sexy voice saying, “You’re ready, baby. So am I.”
His words made her sex clench in erotic anticipation, but there was fear there, too. It seemed to her that once a man penetrated you, you weren’t strictly you anymore. She’d heard stories about the first time hurting. But then she turned her head to look at him and that flicker of resistance melted. Those wide muscular shoulders, etched abs, powerful thighs. Her gaze dropped lower and she blinked. How on earth could she ever fit that inside her?
It didn’t stop lust from pooling inside her belly, even though she had no idea how to do this.
Brandon stretched out over her, his smooth tanned skin such a startling contrast to her paleness. When he looked down at her, there was dangerous heat in his green eyes.
“I think you’re about to find that love hurts,” he said. “But I promise to be gentle. Try not to fight it, okay?”
She nodded, but it was hard not to tense, especially when she felt him pressing against her, gently but insistently. He made a low noise of arousal and then used one hand to position himself. “Pull your knees up, beautiful,” he said.
April obeyed, but fear was starting to make inroads again until he cupped her, using his thumb to circle her sweet spot. Only then did that drugging pleasure override her terror of the unknown.
“No, no,” he said. “Look at me.”
April forced her eyes open. She found herself hypnotized by what she saw, which was a gorgeous beast of a man gazing down at her while his knowing fingers worked their magic. Her eyes grew heavy again as he brought her up, faster this time, but Brandon growled, “Don’t close your eyes. Look at me.”
And she found that despite the terrifying intimacy of gazing into his eyes, she couldn’t fight him anymore, she couldn’t look away.
“These condoms are lubricated, but you’re plenty wet enough without them,” he said, easing into her a little bit more. “Oh, yes, baby, that’s good.”
His cheeks were already hollowed out with taut arousal. She could see the effort it took for him to stay in control. Why that turned her on, she didn’t know, but she pulled her knees in closer toward her chest and let him fill her entrance with his luscious thickness. It hurt, but not too badly yet, and his thumb was still slickly working.
“Is that okay?” he asked her. When she nodded, he eased in a little deeper. He groaned and said, “Christ, I may be dying, but I love watching you take me.”
And she loved looking into his eyes when he did. He was completely dedicated to her pleasure, completely hers. She felt him stretching her, inch by inch, but never too fast, always thoughtful and patient, using her reaction to navigate. Only now, she wanted him inside her. She wasn’t afraid anymore.
Slowly, Brandon slid himself in and out a few times, just the head, clearly testing her pain threshold. A dark hunger began at the base of her spine and traveled up, a craving she had never felt before, like pain and pleasure intertwined. And she knew it was a woman’s pleasure. This was what it was to be breached, to have a man inside you. Knowing it was Brandon made it so much hotter.
Now she had nothing to fear but the temporary pain of letting him penetrate her fully. “Do it,” she whispered, locking eyes with him. “I’m ready.”
With a groan, he thrust halfway way in and lay throbbing inside her. A sharp burst of fiery pain radiated. Sh
e bit her lip hard to keep from crying out, but the pain faded faster than she’d thought it would, and now she felt more of that darker, hotter hunger take its place.
Oh, God.
Brandon moved inside her shallowly at first and then with increasing depth and urgency. She said his name—it sounded like she did. He might have said hers. And it seemed as though her sole purpose in life was to feel him plunging wildly inside of her. Stroke after stroke of sleek, hip-driven power.
As though from a great distance, she heard him. I love you, April, I love you.
And then she shattered into a million fiery stars and he followed her over, shouting out his own pulsing, jerking release.
He had awakened her.
Chapter 19
April was startled awake by a loud noise.
The blue light of dawn filtered through the window blinds above the bed. She stared groggily at the ceiling until she heard the noise again.
Someone was outside, pounding on the front door.
Brandon scrambled out of the bed, sliding into his jeans, his boots, thrashing into his T-shirt. “Stay here,” he muttered.
April sat up in alarm, clutching the sheet against her breasts. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain everything,” he said. “You’d better get dressed.”
She glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. 5:50 AM. What thoughtless monster knocked on people’s doors this early?
When Brandon opened the bedroom door, she saw Matthew waiting anxiously in the living room, boyish in his cotton tee and baggy pajama bottoms.
“He’s back,” Matthew said in a loud whisper. “He got that search warrant.”
A search warrant? April thought. Who had a search warrant? A cold, terrible fear swept over her. Brandon had a checkered past. Even now, he probably flirted with the boundaries of the law. What if he’d gotten into trouble again?
“Brandon McBride!” someone shouted from outside the house. “Cuervo Police Department. We have a warrant to search the premises.”
She recognized that voice.
It’s Ryan, she realized in sick horror. He would lose his mind when he saw her in Brandon’s bed—and then he would take his anger out on Brandon. No, this couldn’t be happening.
With the sheet tucked around her, April groped around on the floor for her skirt and blouse and then ducked into the bathroom to get dressed. Her hands shook so badly, she could barely button her blouse. The insides of her thighs ached. She was sore in places she’d never been sore before. Meanwhile, she heard Brandon open the front door, followed by the sound of men’s voices and booted feet stomping through the house.
There was nowhere to hide. She couldn’t go out there and face this head-on—but she’d do anything to help Brandon and Matthew. Except that she had no experience with these things. The April she knew hung back, bit her tongue and let other people slug it out.
She left the bathroom and went into the living room. Ryan and a second officer she didn’t recognize had Brandon and Matthew against the wall and were patting them down.
“Let them go!” she cried.
Ryan turned around, pure coldness in his eyes. “Your car’s in front of the house. Maybe you don’t mind everyone knowing your business, but next time you should park it around the corner.”
April darted a glance at Brandon’s dark, impassive face and Matthew’s frightened one. Her legs trembled. “No one has a gun. You have my word on that. Now please let them go.”
Ryan finished his pat-down, and then waved Brandon and Matthew over to the couch. “April, I gotta say, when I got up this morning to run this warrant, I sure wasn’t expecting to see you here. This is where you spend your time? With a bunch of degenerate bikers?”
She drew her shoulders back. Brandon wasn’t a degenerate. There was no need to insult him like that. But personally, it stung. She was used to being the good girl. Falling off her pedestal felt awful. She’d never been in trouble in her entire life. Now within the past twenty-four hours she’d essentially been fired from her job and lost her virginity, the police were here, and Ryan was making her feel like the worst kind of whore.
Brandon draped his arms over the back of the couch, his eyes glittering dangerously. “I thought you were just here to deliver a search warrant, Sheriff. You aren’t going to make this personal, are you?”
“Keep your mouth shut,” Ryan said. “And stay on the couch.”
Two officers went outside and a third one moved past April to search the bedroom. Brandon gave her a faint smile as though to reassure her that everything would be okay. But it wasn’t okay. She and Ryan used to work on the same side of the law, and now he was treating her like a criminal.
“There’s no one in there, sir,” said the officer who’d searched the bedroom.
“Check the cellar,” Ryan told him. “I also saw a woodshed out in the yard. Oh, and look in the garage.”
“Go where you want,” Brandon said, “but do you really think Long Jon would hang out here waiting for you dumbasses to arrest him?”
“Nice friends you got there,” Ryan said to April. “You actually sleep with this guy?”
“Ryan, don’t,” she said.
“No, seriously. What did he have to do to get you to go home with him?”
A chilling silence fell—so silent, in fact, she could hear the low chop of the ceiling fan above her head. April knew that if Ryan hadn’t had a badge and a whole lot of backup, Brandon would have torn him apart.
Ryan looked so hard, so un-Ryan-like. “I never knew you were spiteful,” she said.
He shrugged like none of it mattered. “It’s your life, April. If you want to throw it away, I can’t stop you.”
Despite her determination to remain calm, tears blurred her vision. She felt humiliated. She’d drifted off last night blissful and contented in her lover’s arms. And now she was being shunned as a harlot by the very man who’d wanted to be her first. She wanted to scream at him but couldn’t because it might make things harder on Brandon.
Ryan’s shoulder-mounted radio crackled and he tilted it up to respond. Brandon watched him, arms still spread over the back of the couch, managing to look graceful and at ease despite the clenched jaw. Matthew had his arms crossed and was staring at the floor.
“You’re in luck,” Ryan said to Brandon. “We didn’t find your buddy Long Jon, so I guess we won’t be taking you in today. Not yet, at least.”
“That’s too bad,” Brandon said. “But it sure was nice of you to pay us a visit, Sheriff.”
Ryan headed for the door. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable, McBride. Way I figure, it’s only a matter of time before your friend shows up. He’s wanted for armed robbery, by the way, and believe me, that felony’s gonna stick.”
He paused before leaving, his brown eyes searching April’s. She braced herself for his parting shot, knowing it was coming, knowing she would have to take it.
“You’re not who I thought you were.” Ryan didn’t even sound spiteful when he said it, just kind of baffled and a little sad. “Your family will be so disappointed.”
* * * *
“Hey, baby,” Brandon said, coming into the bedroom. “I thought you were asleep.”
On the bed, April twisted around to look at him. He could tell she’d been crying, which wasn’t surprising after the morning she’d had. And Matthew had missed the bus, so Brandon had not only run the kid to school on his motorcycle, he’d been forced to listen to Matthew bitch about Long Jon the entire way there.
“What kind of friend are you?” Matthew had asked him. “You’re not even trying to find him.”
“I’m the kind of friend that drove all fucking night looking for the sonofabitch,” Brandon had yelled over his shoulder. “Why don’t you shut the hell up?”
“You don’t want to look for him,” Matthew said. �
��You just want to stay home and fuck.”
That had really pissed Brandon off. Matthew knew exactly how hard he’d looked.
Yet once Matthew was safely at school, Brandon didn’t tear up the town looking for Long Jon. Instead, he’d spent the whole ride home worrying about April and that asshole cop.
Brandon lay down on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. Doing anything with April on a bed had an automatic effect on certain parts of his body, but he ignored that. He needed to learn this other relationship stuff—asking questions, listening. Women weren’t like men. Not everything bothering a woman could be fixed with a beer and a ride.
April rested her head on his shoulder and drew little circles on his chest. “Do you really think Long Jon pointed a gun at somebody?” she asked.
“Doubt it. But he might’ve driven the getaway car. He’s kinda crazy like that.”
She sighed. “I wish we knew he was safe.”
There was something else bothering her, too, he could tell. “What’s on your mind, baby?”
“I don’t have a job to go to anymore,” she said. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with my life.”
Brandon tried crossing his legs at the ankle so she wouldn’t see his erection. Talk about bad timing. She smelled really good and he found it almost impossible to be physically close to her without wanting a lot more than cuddling. “Maybe you’re supposed to lay low for a while, hang out, catch your breath.”
April kept drawing circles. “I haven’t told my family yet. I haven’t told my family anything.” She set her chin on his chest and gazed into his eyes, hers so big and blue they made his heart do aerial stunts.
“So what’s the secret to life?” she asked him. “Is it staying in bed all day and having sex?”
“It’s not giving a fuck,” he said truthfully. “Although the sex part is good, too.”
