by Lexi Ryan
He grips my hips hard. “Lean back.”
I obey and prop myself up on my hands to watch as he guides himself to my entrance and slowly drives home. My body clenches tight around him. I’m right on the edge, but I need more. I reach between my legs and find my clit, circling it with two fingers.
Marston’s hips jerk and his gaze is glued to where our bodies are joined, where my fingers are working. “Fuck, that’s hot. Do it, baby. Touch yourself for me.”
His fingers dig harder into my hips, and I savor each spot of near pain. He drives faster and harder into me and I rub myself until— “Mars!”
He pulls me up fast, crushing my chest to his, and his mouth crashes down over mine right as my orgasm hits in a bolt of pleasure that races hot and powerful down my spine.
He nips and sucks at my lips as the last waves of pleasure roll over me. “So beautiful. So sexy,” he murmurs against my mouth. “I want you like this every fucking day. Forever.”
Marston
Pissed. That’s the only word for the way I felt when I found out that Julian kicked out Brinley and Cami without any notice. I wanted to find the sonofabitch and give him a lesson or two about what happens to guys who treat women like that, but luckily, Smithy was there and talked me down.
Now it looks like Julian’s asshat behavior is going to work in my favor.
I smile as I read the text again.
Brinley: I don’t think Kace wants to hear us banging, so can I be uncouth and invite myself to your place tonight?
Truth is, since I had her in my bed Sunday night, I’ve thought of little else but having Brinley under my roof. I’ve done so much thinking, in fact, it would be fair to call it fantasizing.
Brinley in those tiny black sleep shorts . . . and then out of them.
Brinley in the middle of the four-poster bed in the master bedroom, her legs parted and nipples swollen as she watches me lower myself and push into her.
Brinley swimming in the heated indoor pool at the back of the house . . . I’m half hard and adjust myself at my desk before replying.
Me: Tonight. Any night. You up for going to dinner first or want to get naked and stay that way until morning?
Brinley: Tough call, but we should probably carb-load before the naked-all-night part? Wouldn’t want you to be short on stamina.
Me: Is that a fucking challenge, woman?
Brinley: Maybe. ;)
According to Kace, Bella’s Café is the best Italian restaurant in town. I remember how much Brinley enjoyed pasta when we were younger, and she’s the one who made the joke about “carb-loading,” so it seemed like the obvious choice.
I open the passenger door for Brinley, helping her out of the car by the downtown restaurant. She takes my hand and smiles up at me. “Is this okay?” I ask.
“Of course. Bella’s is my favorite, and since my trainer had me off pasta for the last two months, I could eat my weight in pasta carbonara.” She gazes inside as we pass the big front window, then comes to a stop and back-pedals on the sidewalk, away from the doors.
“What’s wrong?”
“My parents,” she says, then winces. “I thought they were going to Atlanta tonight, but their plans must’ve changed.”
I know I need to move toward the car, but I can’t make myself do it. “I’m not afraid of them, Brinley.”
She shakes her head, sadness darkening her blue eyes. “It’s not worth it, Marston. I’ve seen him tear you down before. I won’t let him ruin tonight.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” I say again. I don’t think she believes me. “You say the word and I’ll walk in there and tell him we’re married, or tell him nothing at all and just enjoy our dinner. Let him say anything he wants.” I slide a hand into her hair and run my thumb along the edge of her jaw. “The night you agreed to marry me, we knew there’d be consequences. We don’t exist in a bubble.”
She rests her head on my shoulder. “I know, and as much as I’d love to see the look on Dad’s face when we tell him, I’m not up for it tonight.”
Then when? It’s been over a decade since Brinley first told me she was mine, and we’re still hiding from her parents.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Marston
May 28th, before
I’m so nervous I think my stomach is going to flip inside out.
“Marston!” Brinley’s eyes go wide as I lead her into the candlelit room. Rose petals are scattered across the four-poster bed, and the jetted tub on the opposite side of the room looks out over Lake Blackledge.
I’ve spent weeks preparing for our single night here—our stolen time. I planned every detail, from the champagne Smithy snagged from his parents for us to the chocolate-covered strawberries waiting in the small fridge. Everything is perfect, but I’ve never been so nervous.
“Do you like it?” I ask.
“How . . .” She shakes her head. “We get to stay here?”
“Your parents think you’re staying at Stella’s tonight, right?”
“So does Stella,” she says, laughing.
I slide my hands around her waist and pull her close to me. “No, Stella was in on my plans. She knows you’ll be with me.” I lower my mouth to hers and kiss her. And kiss her. And kiss her.
A whole night with Brinley. I’ve wanted this for so long, and I’m practically shaking now that it’s finally happening.
When she breaks the kiss, she looks around the room again. “Marston, this is too much. You didn’t need to spend—”
I cut her off with a hard kiss. “Shh. You’re my girl, and I’ve loved every second we’ve stolen together, but I want your first time to be special. You deserve more than a blanket in the woods.”
“I liked the blanket,” she says, cheeks pinkening, and I know she’s remembering the same thing I am—the first time I touched her, put my mouth on her. I told myself I’d wait, but we were there, and she was so sweet and responsive.
“I did too,” I whisper. I hold her face in my hands. “But that doesn’t change that you deserve better. Someday I’ll be able to give you the fairytale every day, but until then, I’ll settle for giving you a tiny piece of it tonight.” I kiss her again. “Tell me you like it.”
She grins against my mouth. “I love it, and Marston, it all feels like a fairytale with you.”
I wake up to the sound of a scuffle in the hallway and low voices growing louder—a man and a woman. I close my eyes again and pull Brinley closer. Tonight was perfect, and I’m not going to let some loudmouthed jerk ruin it by waking Brinley and scaring her.
“Sir, I said you can’t go in there,” the woman says.
“The fuck I can’t.” There’s banging and a scuffle. Are they outside our door?
“I tracked my daughter’s phone, and this is where she is.”
Shit. “Brinley,” I whisper, stroking her hair back from her face. She’s out. “Brinley, baby. Wake up.”
“My guest reserved this room for the night and deserves privacy. He—”
“My daughter is a minor, and she’s in there with your guest.”
I shake her by the shoulder. “Brinley, you have to wake up.”
“Now unlock the damn door or I’m going to kick it down.”
Brinley’s eyes open as the key scrapes the lock.
I grab the sheet and tug it up over her. “Your dad’s here,” I whisper, but then the door flies open and Abraham Knox storms in.
“You!” He points a shaking finger at me. “Get away from my daughter. Brinley, get dressed.”
I start to move off the bed, but Brinley grabs my wrist. “No,” she says. “Don’t go. He needs to deal with this. With us.”
My chest snaps tight with anxiety and warms with so much fucking love, and I’m so distracted by the chaos happening inside me that I don’t even realize Brinley’s father has come around to the other side of the bed.
He grabs her by the wrist and hauls her onto her feet.
“Get your hands off her.” I lunge
forward and try to wrap her in a sheet.
The woman squeaks and spins away from our nakedness.
“This was what was so important you couldn’t answer your phone?” her father shouts, right into her face. “You’re here fucking delinquent trash?”
Brinley tries to pull away and fails. “Let go.”
Her father spits at me, and it lands on my bare feet. He releases Brinley and finds the pile of her clothes by the jetted tub. He scoops them up and throws them at her. “I hope you enjoyed yourself, because she’s dead now. It’s too late for goodbyes.”
“What?” Brinley stares at her father, the tossed clothing forgotten at her feet. “What did you just say?”
“Brittany’s dead.” He backs away from her and into the hall, sneering. “My youngest daughter’s dead, and you”—he looks her over, disgust curling his lip—“you might as well be. I lost two daughters tonight.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Marston
Present day
“You have the best view in the whole damn town,” Brinley says. She props her chin on the edge of the hot tub and peers out over the balcony railing to the lake and mountains beyond. Her hair’s piled on top of her head, and the water steams around her bare shoulders. “I don’t think anything could make me want to leave this spot.”
I grab the bottle of wine off the deck railing and refill her glass. “Sounds like a challenge.”
She laughs. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
When we first got back to the house, we carried the ghost of her parents with us. I don’t like that she’s keeping me a secret from them, and it hurt to have her panic tonight when she thought they might see us together. In that moment, I saw clearly that she’s not given me her whole self yet. She’s not ready to. But we slowly shrugged off the weight of those worries, and finally it’s just us again. Marston and Brinley.
I kneel behind her in the center of the spa and dip my head to press my lips against her shoulder. I take my time, savoring the slide of her sweat-slicked skin beneath my lips as I move to her neck and suck lightly. Moaning, she tilts her head to give me better access. “We can stay here as long as you want,” I whisper. I slide my hands around her waist and stroke up to cup her breasts. I pinch her nipple, and she gasps, pressing back against me. I’m already hard—have been since she said she wanted to soak, stripped naked, and threw me a smile over her shoulder as she climbed into the hot tub. I love how comfortable she is in her own skin. How comfortable she is with me.
“Thank you for spending tonight with me.” I trail my mouth up her neck and then down along her jaw. “I needed this after this week. I needed you.”
“Same.” She spins in my arms and wraps her legs around my waist under the water. When my cock notches against her sex, she groans and rocks gently. “If I recall, the view from your room is just as good.”
I grin against her mouth. “No hot tub up there.”
She slides her tongue between my lips in a kiss that’s somehow both lazy and hungry. “Maybe you could keep me warm.”
I kiss her again, drawing it out, needing the taste of her like I need water. I nip at her bottom lip when I pull away. “Definitely.” I wrap my arms more tightly around her and stand, making her squeak. I climb out of the hot tub with her wrapped around me, and she buries her face in my neck as I take the stairs to the bedroom.
When I open the door, she casts a glance over my shoulder toward the path we came in. “I feel like the owner might freak if he knew the amount of water we just dripped across his hardwood floors.”
“I promise he doesn’t give a shit,” I say, walking into the bedroom and kicking the door shut behind me.
I set her on the bed and step back, just to get a good look at her. Her skin is flushed from the hot water, her nipples dark pink and puckered. Her lips are kiss-swollen, and little tendrils of hair have escaped her high bun and curl around her face. “Christ, you’re beautiful.”
She leans back on her elbows and grins at me as she looks me over from head to toe. “Not as beautiful as you.” When her gaze locks on my dick, she licks her lips and shivers. “Come here and keep me warm.”
I climb on top of her, and she laughs as she lowers the rest of the way to the bed. “Wait, how would you know about the owner not caring about his floors?”
“Because he has more pressing concerns right now,” I say, shifting my hips forward so she can feel the length of my cock cradled between her legs.
“You . . . bought it?” She holds my face in both hands and looks me in the eye. “You bought a house in Orchid Valley?”
I swallow, worried the truth will scare her away. Of course I bought a house. As long as she’s here, I will be too. As long as there’s a chance for us, I’ll need a place to stay. “It seemed like the right choice.”
She searches my face for a long time, and I wish I knew what she was looking for. I wish I knew what she needed to be all in on us. “I don’t know how not to be scared about what’s next,” she whispers.
“There’s nothing to be scared of. I won’t hurt you. I just want to . . .” I swallow down the word before it can escape. I just want to love you. “Give this a chance.”
She threads her fingers through my damp hair and presses her mouth to mine in a kiss that’s sweet and tender and . . . hopeful? It’d be easy to read too much into a kiss like that. Easy to slip and admit that love has already taken hold. That it never went away.
But I won’t risk scaring her with my words, so I trail my mouth down her body and let my hands and kisses do the talking. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I will die loving you.
Brinley
“Thank you for last night,” Marston says, studying every inch of my face in the morning light.
I smile up at him, resisting the urge to plaster myself against him only because we’re standing on Kace’s front porch and there are likely little eyes watching us from inside. The night might’ve started rough, but after some Bella’s delivery, a couple of bottles of wine, and a soak in the hot tub on the back deck, I didn’t care about my parents anymore. Once he carried me to his bed, I didn’t care about anything but him. “I’m pretty sure I should be thanking you.”
His gaze drops to my mouth, and a bolt of longing zips through my body. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of his kisses. “I can think of one way you can thank me.” He pulls a set of keys from his pocket and places it in my hand. “Let me give you and Cami somewhere to stay.”
I blink at the metal in my palm. “You rented us a house?” I can’t accept this. Of course I can’t—it’s every old habit I’m trying to break. But the idea of getting out of Kace’s guest bedroom is tempting as hell. “Without asking me?”
“They’re keys to my house, Brinley. You know I have more space than I need.”
The part of me that wants Marston no matter what, no questions asked, begs me to say yes. To ask no questions and jump in with both feet. “How long are you even going to be here?”
He draws in a sharp breath. “I’m working on some opportunities in Atlanta the next few months, and I can commute.” He smiles, but it’s tight. “That way I get time with you.”
A few months. Marston is going to be here for a few months . . . and he wants me to live with him. I know if I spent months in his bed, it would change something in me. Julian hurt me, but Marston . . . Marston could shatter me.
“It’s a split floor plan,” he says, as if reading my mind. “I’m not trying to talk you into being my family right now. You and Cami will have the whole guest wing to yourselves.”
I bite the inside of my lip. “That’s too generous. I can’t . . .” I shake my head and open my palm to give the key back. “It’s not a good idea.”
“Move in. I’ll be gone in Atlanta half the time, and I promise not to pester you when I am around.” His lips quirk. “Unless you want to be pestered.”
“I’m not worried about that. I just don’t want to be a charity case.” His eyes go shutte
red, and I realize what I’ve said. “Shit, Marston. I didn’t mean . . .”
“Yeah, you did, and I don’t blame you. No one wants to be a charity case. That’s why I worked so damn hard to get where I am. But this isn’t charity.”
I bite my lip. His offer is beyond tempting. We’d have more space than we’ll have at Kace’s, and his place is more convenient to work. Not to mention easy access to Marston himself. Very. Fucking. Tempting. “Can I think about it?”
“Take all the time you need.”
Marston
I knew giving her keys this soon would spook her, but I take it as a small victory that she didn’t throw them back in my face.
I glance at the big bay window by the front door and the little towheaded girl staring out at us. “That must be Hope,” I say, nodding.
Turning, Brinley grins and waves. “Hi, Hopey!”
Hope waves back, then runs away from the window.
“Are you going to invite me in to see your new place?” I ask, trying to play it cool.
Brinley shakes her head. “Cami will be back soon.”
Something sharp lodges in my chest at that. If she doesn’t want me here when Cami gets home, how the fuck do I expect her to agree to move in with me? I ignore the burn and focus on the positive: here and now. I respect that she’s protective of her daughter and needs time before inviting me into Cami’s life. I can be patient.
I brush a kiss across her mouth, savoring the smell of her and the instinctive parting of her lips. “See you soon.”
“Not soon enough.” She lifts onto her toes, and I think she’s going to kiss me again when she jumps back, eyes wide and focused behind me. “Roman! You’re early.”
