I'd been clutching his shirt this whole time like I needed it to keep me standing, and I released my grip now long enough to shakily unbutton it until it hung loose. He shrugged his shoulders to help as I guided it to the floor, exploring me with his hands all the while. It was like there was a current flowing between us, and if either lifted their hands from the other the current would short out and the moment would be lost forever. I couldn't let that happen.
My hand dipped lower, cupping him through the soft material of his pants. My core clenched at the memory of how he stretched me wide, and I squeezed his heavy bulge with pleasure while one hand unzipped and began to tug down.
Brendon groaned and pushed me back onto the bed, crawling up and losing his pants in the process. He pushed me further and further up the bed until I reached the pillows and he was nestled between my thighs, completely naked and completely eclipsing me.
His weight and heat felt right. He felt right. Everything about this felt so right.
Brendon traced a fiery path of kisses down my neck, over my breasts, and over the flat plane of my stomach. I inhaled sharply as he continued downward, taking his first lick of the bundle of nerves between my thighs and making my body shake.
Within a minute of pleasuring me with his mouth, he proved that his bedroom skills included more than just the ability to screw a woman within an inch of her life. He licked and sucked my clit like he could hear exactly what I wanted and anticipate exactly what I needed. I wrapped my legs around the back of his neck and held onto the sheets for dear life as his probing tongue took me to heights I'd never experienced. My body shook and my eyes rolled to the back of my head. I wouldn't be surprised if I opened my eyes and saw that I was glowing. I felt goddamn radiant.
"So sweet..."
It was the first time he'd spoken since we entered the room, and the vibrations hummed through my pussy and made my toes curl. I moaned loudly, and it sounded almost like it had come from somebody else. I was floating on a cloud above the bed and the only thing that could bring me back to earth was the god between my thighs.
I came crashing back, tumbling into fire that burned and sparked with embers of pure pleasure. My orgasm hit me hard. I swirled and danced in a pit of passion.
I felt barely conscious as Brendon's hot lips seared a trail back up to my lips, kissing me hard and deep so I could taste my essence on his tongue. His hard cock poised at my entrance, he paused.
I sensed his trepidation. I remembered all too well how we hadn't used a condom when we had sex before, but that experience had been almost like a fantasy. Now that we were back to real life, it was a discussion we needed to properly have.
“I haven’t been with anyone else since…”
He shook his head. “Me neither.”
I tilted my hips up, nudging the tip inside. Brendon’s eyes filled with fire and he hissed through his teeth, pleasure washing over his features. His hips sank down and soon we were joined.
I felt whole, and not just physically. It was unnerving to have such a strong emotional reaction to somebody I barely knew like this, but it was intoxicating all the same. He drove into me and made my body tingly and warm. My body responded to him like he was its master, and I was so drowned in the pure bliss of it all that I couldn’t find it in me to be disconcerted by this fact. I just rode the waves of pleasure, letting Brendon take me on a journey that I wouldn’t soon forget.
A journey that I hoped I would always remember.
Chapter 12
Aurora
I shuffled the papers on my desk, moving the two stacks aside so I could focus on the drawing in front of my keyboard. It was the layout of one of the larger LA locations, with all the aisles and shelves marked perfectly and precisely—just as I’d asked for. I made notes on the piece of paper to the right of it, a scribbled mess that only I could decipher. Brendon made a joke once that he never expected someone who made such beautiful chalkboard signs to write in such chicken scratch, but it was the only way I knew to get my ideas on the page fast enough.
I’d been working on the design team at Lock Knocks headquarters for two weeks now, and it had been two of the best weeks of my life. Then again, it probably would have been the best two weeks of my life even if I’d been working in a greasy spoon diner. The job certainly helped, but the real reason for my satisfaction was my sexy, charming boss.
Someone knocked on the door and I jolted, a flush rising to my cheeks. It wasn’t like anyone could tell what I was thinking, but I was always so paranoid that somebody at the office was going to find out about our illicit little affair just from me thinking about it. Then the respect that I’d worked my ass off to earn would slip away just like that. People in the office were already suspicious about my abilities considering I had no formal education. Brendon had essentially scooped me out of obscurity and popped me into my own office without blinking. I felt the pressure to prove myself and I didn’t want to screw up my chances of making friends by the others thinking I was only here because I’d slept with the boss.
Luckily, the fact remained that others could not hear my thoughts.
The door whispered open a crack and a head of shaggy brown curls popped through. I smiled at Georgina.
“Hey, come in,” I welcomed, putting aside my pen. Georgina was the closest to my age and had so far been the friendliest person in the office. The curvy office manager’s unruly hair had become a focus of my fascination from the moment I met her. Her curls put my waves to shame.
Georgina stepped inside holding a paper bag, smiling. “There are butter horns in the break room,” she said. “Or at least there were.” She thrust the bag toward me. “I didn’t want you to miss out even though the accounting guys were on them like hyenas to a zebra carcass.”
The gesture touched me.
“Thank you so much, Georgina,” I said, smiling and taking the bag from her. I opened the crinkled package and took a whiff of the delicious baked good inside.
Only I didn’t find the smell so delicious.
There was something sickly about the sweetness, and the thought of how rich the pastry would be made me gag without meaning to. I looked up at Georgina in horror, worried that she’d think I was rejecting her thoughtful gift. That worry was soon eclipsed by another—that I was going to vomit all over my desk.
I charged toward the door, sending my chair skittering back and knocking over one of the piles of paperwork on my way. I spared no thought for the mess I was leaving in my wake and instead focused all my energies on making it to the bathroom before I spewed. The heady illness threatened to swallow me whole, and a cold sweat broke out on my forehead.
People stared as I ran past, but I didn’t notice. My sights were ahead, looking for the bathroom door that I knew would be my salvation. I made it, but barely. I was barely inside of a stall before I started retching, filling the bowl with the lunch I’d consumed quite happily only an hour before. What the hell was wrong with me?
God. I hated throwing up. It wasn't a pleasant experience for anybody and I knew that, but I especially hated the feeling of helplessness that accompanied not being able to keep my lunch down. By the time I was finished, Georgina had entered the bathroom and was standing on the other side of the stall door.
"Hey, you okay?" she asked, voice heavy with concern. "Do you want me to call somebody? Are you sick?"
I didn't want to answer all those questions because I wasn't sure what to say. I wasn't sick. At least, I didn't think I was. Had the pressure gotten to me or something? If I didn't know any better, I'd wonder if I was pregnant.
I paled, my face becoming as cold as the porcelain toilet in front of me.
When was the last time I got my period? It was late, wasn't it? How had I not noticed that two weeks had gone by without a period? I suppose I was busy with my new job, but it was an alarming realization to suddenly have while I was puking my guts up in a stall at work.
"I'm fine," I croaked. A lie, but a necessary one. I didn't need to pu
ll Georgina into my dismay. I just wanted to be left alone.
"Are you sure?" she asked. "Do you think it was something you ate?"
Not unless I ate a baby.
"I don't know." I flushed the toilet and rose onto shaky feet, wiping my mouth with some toilet paper and tossing that into the bowl as the water was sucked down. "Maybe. I think I better go home, just to be sure."
"Of course."
Her kind face was the first thing I saw when I emerged from the stall. I flashed her a weak smile.
"Do you mind letting Brendon and the others know for me?"
She shook her head. "Not at all." Raising her arm, she showed me the purse dangling on it. It was mine.
"I brought your stuff," she said. "I thought you might need something or might need to go in a hurry."
"You're an angel," I said, filled with gratitude for my first work friend.
The realization that I might be pregnant was a lonely one. While I couldn't (or maybe I should say wouldn't) share this information with Georgina, it was nice to know she was there for me anyway.
I grabbed my purse and headed out of the office, a few curious stares singeing into my back as I walked to the elevator. Since they all saw me run to the bathroom, I presumed they all figured I was sick. They probably didn't question it, but I was anxious to get out of there nonetheless.
I took a cab home since I didn't trust myself on the stuffy, uncomfortable subway. If it broke down or I needed to vomit again, that would ruin my day. Well, more than it had already been ruined. I was desperate to call Amy, but had to wait until I was back in the safety of my apartment. The drive felt impossibly long.
I collapsed onto the sofa of my new apartment the second I walked through the door and pulled out my phone to call my friend. I had no idea what time zone she was in or if she'd even pick up, but I desperately needed her.
"Tatiana speaking, how can I help you, lover?" she answered huskily.
I rolled my eyes. "You'd think you would have my phone number in your contacts by now."
She laughed. "I do."
Man, I missed her. It was like that day we ran into each other in Bridgefield reignited our friendship and we'd picked up right where we left off, except now she was gone and I missed her just like I did when she first went off to college.
"Do you have time to talk? I've got a bit of a situation," I said.
I heard shuffling and then a door closing. "Talk away, darling. I've got the whole villa to myself and I'm inside in the air conditioning now. You have my full attention."
I sighed. I wished I was somewhere beautiful and warm and far away from here and the revelation I was about to make for the first time in full. I hadn't allowed myself to think about it on the way home, so telling Amy would be the first time I’d really unpacked this information.
"Amy, I think I'm pregnant. I just vomited my guts up from the smell of a butter horn at work and I'm two weeks late for my period."
She shrieked. "Holy shit! Actually? Brendon's, right?"
"Has to be," I said. "My birth control must have failed. We've been having sex without condoms since that first night..."
"No condoms?" She gasped. "Girl, when did you get so raunchy? I always use condoms with clients, especially first timers. Not that I suppose you knew he was a client at the time."
I gritted my teeth. I didn't like to think of him as a client at all.
"It happened so fast and I was feeling crazy and young and free," I muttered bitterly. "As it turns out, the craziness was something I was correct to feel. And now I'm pregnant with my boss's baby. I've out-crazied myself."
I hung my head over the back of the arm of the sofa and stared at the opposite wall, letting the blood rush to my head. "I can't believe this is happening. I don't know what to do!"
"It's not necessarily happening," she said in a soothing voice. "It could just be a coincidence. You won't know for sure until you take a test. Have you done that yet?"
"No."
"Well there you go. You might not be pregnant at all, babe. Maybe you ate something weird and your period is just late. It happens. The chances of your birth control having failed are way less than the chance of it being some freak coincidence.”
“You’re probably right,” I acknowledged with a grumble. “Still, I can’t help but worry.”
“I completely understand that,” she replied. “I’d be freaking out too if I were in your position. Right now, though, try to relax a little. When you have a spare minute and you’re feeling a little more grounded, go to the drug store and get yourself a pregnancy test. You can take it while you’re on the phone with me if you want.”
I sighed. “No, that’s fine. I can do it on my own. I wish you were here with me though.”
“Me too, though I will say I don’t mind living the white sandy beach life in the meantime.” She chuckled. “Too bad you’re not still at the Fox. Calypso has tests on hand for freak outs like these. Even though the girls are always safe, you’d be surprised how often these scares happen.”
For some reason, that made me feel a little better. Being pregnant wouldn’t be the end of my world since, at the end of the day, I did want to be a mother eventually, but it would certainly add some complication to my life. I’d only just begun this little affair with Brendon and I highly doubted he’d be interested in being a dad all of a sudden. Especially since we barely knew each other.
I let out a long exhale and gathered myself up off the couch. “I should have gone to the pharmacy on the way home,” I muttered as I grabbed my purse.
“You needed some time to unpack,” Amy assured. “It happens. Want me to stay on the phone while you head down there?”
“No, I’ll be fine. I’ll call you afterward and let you know what the verdict is.”
“Okay my love, I’ll be waiting for your call.” She blew a kiss into the phone. “And remember, whatever the result of that test, things are going to work out.”
I forced out some half-hearted acknowledgement and hung up the phone, already halfway to the door.
The trip down to the pharmacy didn’t take very long but it felt like forever. The way home was even longer. It was like time was stretching thinner and thinner, and by the time I’d peed on the stick it was passing so slowly that the two minutes I had to wait until the lines that dictated my fate showed up were the two longest minutes of my life.
Luckily for me, the test didn’t need two minutes for the positive pregnancy sign to show up. The test left no doubt—I, Aurora Frayser, was up the duff.
Chapter 13
Brendon
I tried to hide my smile as I strode toward Aurora’s office, but it was hard not to show my elation. I reminded myself that nobody else knew there was anything between us beyond professional courtesy and I tampered the expression down to a small quirk of my lips.
She was sitting at her desk with a pencil in hand, keyboard shoved up against her monitor as she worked on her drawing. She looked up questioningly as I entered, with the same nervous smile she’d been exhibiting for the past few days. There’d been something off about her lately, but I couldn’t tell what. I was hoping that my news would brighten her out of her funk, whatever it was.
I closed the door and began closing the blinds.
“What are you doing?” Aurora asked.
I glanced over my shoulder at her as the last set of blinds closed, effectively blocking out the rest of the office. “Closing the blinds.”
She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “Why are you closing the blinds?”
I grinned and stalked toward her, pulling her up out of the chair and planting my mouth on hers. “So I can do this,” I murmured against her lips, pulling a sigh deep from her throat. Even if there was something clearly bothering Aurora, she always melted the moment I pulled her into my arms. It was one of my favorite things about her.
I wrapped my arms around her tight and pulled her closer as I deepened the kiss, unable to resist this piece of mid-morn
ing solace. We’d been trying to stay away from each other while we were at work, but sometimes that was about as easy as stopping time.
“What’s all this about?” she asked breathlessly when we pulled a part a moment later. “You seem to be in a very good mood.” She raised an eyebrow. “A dangerous mood.”
I pecked the end of her nose and slackened my arms a little, though not enough to let her go. “I’ve got exciting news,” I replied. “We’re leaving early next week to tour some of the bigger Lock Knocks stores, starting with the west coast.”
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “What? Really?”
“Yes, really.”
She grinned. “That is exciting! I can’t wait! How long are we going for? I can’t wait to see the stores in person. I’m super visual so it’ll help if I have a picture of them in my head.”
I could already see the gears whirring in her head. She’d thrown herself into this redesign project with gusto, and I loved her enthusiasm. Hell, was there anything this woman didn’t do with gusto? Since the day I met her she’d been full steam ahead, though from what she told me about her life back in Bridgefield, that hadn’t always been the case. I wondered if it was something to do with her family that was bothering her.
I reached out and lay a gentle hand on her cheek. Her skin was warm and soft, and I brushed my thumb over the faint blush of her cheekbone.
“I’ve noticed you’ve seemed a little off lately,” I said softly. “Is there something you want to talk about?”
Her expression flitted briefly into horror before she reined herself back in.
“I’m fine,” she said, though I didn’t find it very convincing.
I was about to press further when my cell rang. I pulled it out, intending to silence it and continue our conversation, when I noticed it was my brother’s wife calling. Her and I weren’t what I would consider friends, though we liked each other well enough. If she was calling, it was probably important.
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