He gave me a sharp look, and I immediately slammed my mouth shut. But seriously—how did people stay quiet when they were this nervous?
“That isn’t all on you. I could have tried to move things forward a hundred times. I could have brought it up. And I never did.”
My mouth opened before I could think about it. This time I shut it before any words escaped, but I was uncontrollably antsy.
Brett’s gaze drifted to my bouncing leg and back to my face. “It probably isn’t fair to say that you never picked me when I didn’t let you know I was a choice.”
It was hopeless. I had to ask. “Are you still a choice?”
I was suddenly pushed back onto the bed, his palm over my mouth as he hovered over me. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”
“Not when it comes to you,” I said against his palm, and wondered if he could tell I was grinning. Then I put my hands on his hips and pulled them toward mine because he was pinning me down, and that seemed to mean he wanted me.
The stiff baton poking at my thigh confirmed that his body did, at least.
And still he was attempting conversation. He pried one hand off his hip, and then the other, and pulled them over my head. “Don’t you want to know why I didn’t try to make a move?”
I spread my legs and lifted my pelvis so that I could feel the brush of his cock where I wanted it. “If this is the answer, then yes. Definitely.”
“That might be the answer to a follow-up question, if you let me say what I need to say.”
I stopped wriggling and gave him my full attention. “Why didn’t you make a move on me, Brett?” The truth was I wanted to know, even though I was slightly afraid of the answer. Afraid to find out I’d hurt him in some other way.
He let go of one of my arms and brought his hand down to brush reverently across my cheek. “The only thing I thought would be worse than not having you was losing you.”
Emotion swelled through me, and I had to catch my breath. The wall he kept erected between us—that protective barricade of glass—was gone, and for the first time in the ten years since I’d known him, he was completely fragile and soul-bared.
It was frightening being that naked. Being that exposed.
And I was right there with him.
“Then don’t lose me,” I whispered.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” His mouth grazed against mine, and I wet my lips for the kiss I knew was coming, but just as it started, I interrupted.
“This is the answer this time, right?” Once again, I bucked against his cock.
“Yes,” he laughed. A frustrated laugh that ended as soon as his mouth met mine.
The kiss began tenderly. Each shift of his lips against mine spoke something new, in a language bodies knew intuitively. Soon, the kiss grew frantic, and our hands raced to tug off clothes—his shirt, then mine. My shorts and panties came off together. His pants were a struggle since he didn’t want to let go of me while he stripped. He managed to get them down to his shoes before he let out a frustrated growl and stood up to finish the job.
I giggled, then the sound of Avery and Nolan whispering in the hall made me freeze and listen.
“We’re just going to bed now,” Nolan called out, and I almost started giggling again. “Good night.”
I could hear them shuffle away from us down the hall, then a door shut.
“They think we’re having sex,” I whispered.
“We are having sex.” He was naked now. And glorious. And pushing me farther back on the bed so he could settle his whole body over me.
“Not yet, we aren’t,” I said, but then he pushed inside of me, bare and thick and probing. “Ah,” I shivered. “There you are.”
“Here I am.” He pulled out just a bit before thrusting all the way into me.
My eyes closed briefly while I adjusted to his size. When I opened them again, his were there, waiting for me. Did I really deserve this? Deserve him? “Winning you was supposed to take a long time.”
“Are you calling me easy?”
I laughed but then he reached his hand down to my clit, and I shuddered with pleasure. “I’m saying I don’t feel like I earned this.”
“You never had to earn me. You just had to figure out you were mine.”
“I’m yours.” I wrapped my legs around his waist. “You’re mine too.”
“I’m yours.”
My lip quivered. He soothed it with his tongue, followed by a greedy kiss. When he tried to pull away to get a condom, I stopped him.
“Don’t get it. Be like this with me.” Risky, maybe, but he knew I was on birth control, and it hadn’t even been two months since Sebastian Industrial sponsored the last corporation-wide, bi-annual STD testing, and we’d both gotten straight As. (Aka, we were clean.)
He didn’t argue, and the brisk tempo he assumed said he was ready to not be talking at all, so we kissed instead, and made other sounds. Involuntary gasps and moans of pleasure as his cock moved in and out of me and my pussy clenched around him.
Eventually, the words demanded to be said, not because he didn’t already understand, but because they wouldn’t remain inside. “I love you.”
He slowed, as though he wanted to fully process my claim. I helped him out and said it again.
Then it was both of us, a chorus of I love yous chasing after each other while we raced to climax.
“Does this mean you’re my boyfriend now?” I asked when we’d collapsed onto our backs, our breathing still fast. “Except no boy has a cock that big. You’re definitely a man.” I reached to stroke him. He was still semi-hard, and from experience, I knew it wouldn’t take much before he was ready for another round.
Good thing it was the weekend.
“Mm,” he moaned. “It means you’ll be spending a lot more nights at my place.”
“It’s like I should move in.”
He pulled me closer, rolling me to my side. “You really should.”
It was a given now. I’d move in. We’d be official. We’d probably get married. I could picture the ring I’d tell him to get.
...I was getting ahead of myself.
“I’m still going to fight for you,” I said, kissing a trail down his chest. I could feel his heartbeat under my mouth, and I kissed that spot again. “Every day. So you’ll always believe that you’re the only man for me.”
“As long as I get to fight for you, too.”
“I guess I can live with that.” If fighting for me meant more of his monster cock, I was more than ready for him to bring it on.
I totally deserved it.
Epilogue
Eighteen months later
I brightened my smile for whichever Sebastian cousin was standing in front of me now—there were too many to remember who was who—then leaned over to whisper to Brett. “Is it bad form to sneak away from your own engagement party?”
His smile didn’t drop at all when he whispered back. “But think of all you’d miss: Silvia’s catastrophe of a dress.”
Oh, this was a game that could make all the small talk tolerable. “Henry Sebastian flirting with the bartender,” I whispered at the next opportunity.