by Susan Arden
He picked up his cellphone and was prepared to call Cory and tell her to friggin’ forget it. He’d been down this road before, and he sure as shit wasn’t going to be blindsided by another woman who found comfort in someone else’s arms. This time he wasn’t going to be told it was over. He would do the telling. If it weren’t for the fact that she was already en route, he’d tell her over the phone, goodbye and good luck.
“You’d better settle the fuck down,” Kenny said, keeping his voice low and calm. “You look like you’re going to explode.”
“Got that right,” he snapped.
Someone slapped his back. He turned to see Rich’s face split by a wide grin. “Here to cheer you guys on. You ready?”
“If you mean throttle someone, then yes.”
Rich’s brows drew together. “Man, what’s got you going?”
“Nothing. Thanks for coming. Same shit, different day.”
Rich looked over to Kenny. “You know something.”
“Woman problems. Don’t pull his chain.” Kenny got up and came to stand in front of Brett. “You got to let it go, this close to the game. If you don’t, you’re going to either drive yourself crazy or do something you’ll regret.”
Rich picked up the paper. “She’s the girl from the bar. Christ, I was pretty blitzed, but that’s her. Isn’t it?”
“Does it matter?” Brett muttered and closed his eyes, focusing on his breath.
“It sure looks like it does to you.”
He opened his eyes, grabbed the paper, and ripped it in half. “My rancid luck to hit the jackpot twice.”
Rich pointed at the photograph. “It’s freaking L.A. and she’s in a bar, not a hotel room. Ask her before you jump to any wild conclusions. Look at her. She’s not dressed in some wild getup. She looks like English royalty, or one of the Kennedy clan.”
His heart was ready to claw its way out of his chest. He glanced down and re-read the byline for the Friday Night Social Scene Across the Nation. Latest acquisition?
He stared at the photograph of Cory taken last night. After they’d shared mind-blowing phone sex that still had him reeling. What—did she orgasm, shower, and then go out drinking? That didn’t sound true to her nature. Not the woman he knew. Shit. His thoughts began to spin. He didn’t want to believe Cory would do something like what they’d done over the phone and then go out with another man.
Brett raked his fingers through his newly buzzed hair. “I don’t know what to think.”
“Then don’t assume. Ask her.” Rich said.
He inhaled. “You’re right. I’d better not jump in front of a moving train.”
“Fuck yeah. I don’t think history is repeating itself. I mean, what are the chances?” Rich asked.
“I’m not going the take that bet,” he muttered. In two hours, he was set to pick her up. He’d wait until he saw her and calmly ask what was up. Now, what to do for two hours? “You want to work out?”
“Not really, but if it will keep you from getting in trouble, fine. Let’s go pump iron.”
~~~
The second he saw her his heartbeat sped up. She smiled at him; the effect was like a knife that sliced open his chest. He could hardly breathe, let alone walk forward to greet her.
“Did you get hurt?” she asked, concern written all over her face.
He lowered his gaze rather than deal with her question. How to tell her, yeah, he was stabbed to the core over what she’d done. “Let me get your bag,” he said, moving to lift her luggage.
She reached down simultaneously and their bodies collided. Sweet Jesus, the feel of her skin and hair brushing over his skin coupled with her familiar scent made him grit his teeth. He closed his eyes, the knife twisting deeper in his gut.
“Brett, tell me, please. What’s wrong? You’re in pain.” Cory shook his arm.
“I’m fine.” He met her staring up at him, her eyes blinking, and a single tear fell down her cheek as she encircled his forearm with her hand. He studied her hand, the one he’d fully intended on wearing his ring. The one he’d chosen, the one she’d wear forever, the one that meant she’d give her love only to him. Fuck, what a joke. “In better shape than I’ve ever been in. So you don’t have to act like you’re so concerned. Okay?”
“What’s gotten into you? I’m not acting. I’ve never played games.” She inhaled, her eyes widening. That act was similar to the Earth getting ready to unleash gale force winds.
A short, harsh laugh escaped from his mouth. “Pretty talk. Did you learn that at school as well?”
She searched his face. “You’re upset about something to do with my school. But what?”
“Let’s not continue this here.” He turned and began walking toward the exit, fully aware that if he’d wanted to piss her off, leaving her standing there would have the same effect as lighting a fuse to a stick of dynamite. Well, what a fine fucking mess this was. Misery in his book loved company when it came in a tight-bodied package with a sassy mouth.
The clatter of her heels in the hall behind him and then her reflection in the exit doors goaded him to walk faster, lengthening his gait into longer strides. He made it to his car and popped the trunk. He tossed her bag inside, slammed the hood, and then turned to face her.
“Don’t you throw my luggage,” she huffed out of breath.
“I’ll do any damned thing I want to,” he returned. She was so close. He tried not to stare, but found it impossible at that range. Her bright blue eyes glimmered with unshed tears, and then she had to go and bite her lip. The one surefire way to bring him to his knees. “Just go get in the car.”
She stared at him and then, without warning, Cory wrapped her hand in the silk tie he’d worn to the press conference before picking her up. “Why are you so mad?” she asked, pulling their faces closer together.
“Two words. Ryder Bennett.”
She stared, unblinking, into his eyes and loosened her grip. “I’ve no idea what you’re thinking or what you think you know, but nothing happened. I mean nothing.”
Brett scrubbed his hand down his face. “The papers are full of your nothing from last night.”
“I swear to you. He owns the corporation that funds one of the research grants for my department. I made a mistake,” she whispered. “I thought he wanted to talk to me about marketing. Ended up he only wanted to get laid.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, spacing the words out evenly.
“We met during a grant meeting. I don’t know how he got my telephone number. Probably from the info packet on the UCLA grant directory. He called. It was late but he said not for him.”
He shot her a look of disbelief. “Fuck, and you just met him? At a hotel?”
“No. It was a public place. If I was a man, this wouldn’t be a big deal. It’s only because I’m a woman.”
“It’s because he had his hands on you. That’s the problem,” he snarled.
“A reporter called him. He almost crashed in back of me.”
“I don’t know anything except he was touching you. I don’t like it.” Shit, he wanted to take hold of Cory and shake her, except her wide innocent eyes had him coming apart.
“We didn’t do anything. I told him there was some misunderstanding. I told him I was seeing someone.”
He snapped his head upward. “And he didn’t do anything else?”
“I swear. How could he? After what’d we done? Together.” She took hold of his tie again and pulled him back to her, only this time he didn’t resist when she tugged. He bracketed his hands on either side of her, placing his palms on the trunk of his car.
“I should spank your ass. To teach you a lesson.” Christ, where had all the oxygen in this stinking garage gone? Drawing a breath became difficult…no, impossible. His hard-line in thinking they were over twisted. The instant he pivoted his hips forward, driving himself against her, any belief that he wasn’t going to fuck her dissolved. “God, do you know how c
razy you get me?”
“Sort of,” she murmured, bringing her mouth a millimeter from his. ”Like this type of crazy.”
“Yeah. I’m about to explode. Any second.” It was almost a week since he’d seen her but it might as well have been five years. He was hard and bothered and a second away from doing something reckless. If his car had a backseat to speak of he’d have hauled her inside and fucked her until they both were senseless. “I’m taking you back to the hotel and giving you what we both want.”
She reached down between them, slowly slid her hand over his hard-on. Her fingers felt un-fucking-believable. A sharp hiss exited his mouth. “Cory, you’re in trouble. Dammit, you’d better be able to deal with me in this condition.”
“You’re mine. So yeah, I’m prepared.”
~~~
By the time he got them to his hotel and up to his room, he couldn’t wait another second. Slamming open the door, hard enough to dent the drywall, he stood in the entryway, and stopped. He stared at her as he closed the door and locked it.
“Come here,” he commanded and then pushed her against the back of the door. “You’re mine. You got that?”
“Yes. I’ve got it,” she said in a silky voice while she gazed up at him.
He ran his hands over the sides of her face, lifting her hair up with his palms and then cupping the back of her head. He tipped her face up to him. His heartbeat thundered in his chest. Never had he wanted to possess someone or something with this much intensity.
“I want you to be my…,” he couldn’t finish. Shit, he wanted to tell her so much more. But so much of what he felt had gotten frozen when he saw her in the newspaper photograph. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. Cory’s familiar fragrance relaxed him enough to take a breath, inhale her sweetness into his lungs. “God damn. I need you wrapped around me.”
She pressed closer, flexing her hips to grind against him. “Squeezing you tight.”
His cock throbbed and his balls ached, needing a raw release and the kind only this woman could give him. He opened his eyes. “You’re my personal hellcat.”
He crushed his mouth down on her lips, wedging open her mouth with his tongue. He kissed her roughly, tasting her honey-flavored mouth and the feel of her pillow-soft lips. The sweetness ripped apart any ability to fight his urge to take her. He bit her bottom lip before he sucked it into his mouth, and thrust his tongue into her mouth. Over and over, the way he wanted to wildly fuck her. Possess her. He had to hear his name on her lips as she came apart. The way he did thrusting, thrusting, thrusting into her.
Brett released his hold on her, dropping his hands to her shoulders, stroking his thumbs over the mounds along the tops of her breasts. Cory’s pupils dilated, making her eyes go dark and seductive. He ran his hands down her arms, capturing her wrists. The feel of her skin and body, so delicate in his hands, was a perfect fit. He lifted her arms above her head and pushed against her, locking her body in place.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, and moved his mouth to her neck as he drove his straining cock between her legs. He sucked on her skin until she moved restlessly, molding herself to him, pumping her hips and rubbing against his straining cock. Fuck. He was going to explode in his pants.
She moaned his name, rocking her hips up and over his hard-on. “Babe,” she whispered.
“I need all of you,” he snarled, peering down into her flushed face. “I swear. After tonight, you’ll never doubt how much I want you. Let me have you the way I’ve wanted.”
“Yes.” Her one word and that’s all he needed.
He picked her up, carried her to the bed, and flung her down. He reached for the front of her shirt and ripped it open, exposing her breasts covered by the sexiest bra he’d ever seen. “You know just how to torture me.”
He pushed the cups of her bra down, releasing her tits, and dipped his head to take one of her nipples in his mouth. He encircled the tip with his lips and sucked on her erect nipple elongated on his tongue. Then he scraped his teeth around the edge and she raked her fingers over his head. She groaned. “No hair to pull. Unfair.”
He laughed, squeezing her waist, and changed sides. He sucked her other tit until she squirmed under him. Without releasing her nipple, he tugged up her skirt, moving her over the mattress. Wedging her legs open, he unzipped his fly, and removed his cock. He grabbed himself as droplets ran from his dick, making the head glisten, and appear almost a deep purple he was so unbelievably hard.
“I’ve got to get inside you. Now.”
“God, please,” Cory moaned, reaching her arms up and around his shoulders. She pressed her mouth to his.
Fuck, the whole world just tilted. No way to stop. He moved his fingers under her panties, grazed against her.
“So wet,” he whispered. His cock jerked and the skin tightened all over his body. He was so close to shooting that he hooked his fingers around her panties and, with a swift tug, ripped them apart. Swiping his head against her slick folds, he shuddered before he thrust into her.
“Fuck!” In one slamming thrust, he drove his cock inside her warm wetness. He began pumping, his cock getting harder and his thrusts going deeper.
“Brett,” she whispered, licking and sucking his jaw.
“Damn, I hope you’re close. I know I am.”
Her glittery eyes lock with his. “So close. Brett, just like this. Do me hard. Then come all over my skin.”
She didn’t need to repeat herself as he pumped ferociously, driving his cock faster and farther. It wasn’t long before the familiar electrical skittering at the base of his spine had his balls hiked up. He removed his cock and began pumping his hand up and down his length.
“Cory,” he groaned, leaning over her with his dick painfully swollen. He convulsed as a hot stream sprayed over her abdomen from the head of his cock. The sight of her skin glazed with his release had him harder than a pipe, ready to thrust into her all over again. Trying to recapture his breath, he doubted he’d been this keyed up before. Ever.
“Brett,” she whispered. “What shall we do now?”
His cock throbbed and he was more turned on than he could ever recall. He reached for his wallet and removed a condom, then tore the wrapper and rolled it down his dick. “Baby, we haven’t even gotten started.”
CHAPTER 24
Inside the hotel room, it felt cold as she huddled against Brett, his leg thrown over hers. No wonder…during the night they’d kicked the covers off. Cory bolted upright and reached for the sheet and blanket. She glanced over at Brett still sleeping. God, he was gorgeous awake or asleep. This version of him pulled at her heart. He slept with his arm underneath the pillow and his smooth chest and abs were the work of crazed master sculptor capturing the essence of male perfection. Whether DNA or luck, the execution was perfect. Studying Brett’s body freely, she sucked in a gulp of air, following the faint line of hair from his navel downward. Even after making love a half a dozen times, his cock hugged his abdomen. He seemed to come in two states: hard and titanium.
The clock said a little after seven and she didn’t remember him saying what time he needed to be at the stadium. Nor what his schedule was on game day.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, his voice coming out a rasp. Deep and sensuous, the way he’d sounded on each of their mornings after and her body responded with a million electrical tingles, jumping from nerve to nerve.
She laid back down in the crook of his arm and pulled the covers up over both of them. Running her palm across the contours of his chest, she was riveted by the hard forms created by his muscles. Swirling a painted fingernail around the brown disk of his nipple, she watched, mesmerized, as his nipple puckered and hardened into a tight peak. “What’s your schedule on game day?”
He quickly moved, pushing her back against the pillows and coming between her legs. “First thing,” he said, straightening his arms until his gorgeous muscles contracted, “is taking care of a l
ittle business.”
“Oh yeah? Do you need an accountant to be called in?” she teased.
“Nah. This is a one-man operation.” He grabbed a condom and tore the pack. “This is the last one.”
“I can always go on the pill,” she said.
He shifted his gaze to her face. “I’d love to fuck you without wearing one of these. Like last night. I want to fill you up until it runs out of you.”
“I’ll make an appointment with the doctor.”
“Let me know when. I can take you,” he said, pushing his cock against her entrance.
God, he knew just what to say and how to say it. She swallowed the emotions bubbling to the surface and bit down on her lip. “I’ll let you know when I get an appointment.”
Brett softly swore, over and over, as he drove himself into her. The effect had her coming undone, ready to splinter apart as her blood heated to boiling. She feared to let go of her self-control and tell him how much he meant to her and how confused she’d become. But with him on top of her, pressing her down, suddenly she felt it all made sense. Her world. His. All sensation became theirs together.
He moved, rolling his hips against her and making her forget everything but the way he wracked her body with pleasure. White-hot and electrical.
“Do you like this?” he asked, taking hold of her by the hips, driving himself into her, and then whispering in her ear, “Tell me.”
“So much,” she moaned. “Can’t you tell?”
Brett stopped moving, tensed; her heartbeat crashed in her chest. Staring down at her, he picked up her legs and placed her calves over his shoulders.
“I want to hear you say it.” Brett arched an eyebrow.
“Babe, you make me crazy. Only you.”
“Jesus. That’s what I feel. Watch how I fuck you.” He lowered his gaze and drove himself into in a power-fucking slam. Then again. His finger brushed over her clit and then she was there. Crying out his name, falling off the cliff, and free diving into a sea of sensation.
