I loved the way he kissed me, like he’d die if he didn’t get close enough. Like I was the air he needed to breathe. He tasted sweet, like cookies and forbidden promises that we’d whispered to each other in the darkness of our bedrooms once upon a time. I’d never felt so lost in another person as I did in him. The way his lips moved against mine made me ache with want. The way our tongues tangled made the nerves spark to life inside me. I was so ridiculously turned on, so needy and horny, and I needed to move this upstairs, because my kitchen was the last place I wanted to do all the things I had planned with Brandon.
I pulled away and my heart fluttered when I saw how cute he looked with his eyes closed. His breath shallow and his mouth ready for more.
“We need to take this upstairs,” I whispered into his ear.
“I don’t need a bed. A wall or a table will do.” He opened his eyes and grinned that wicked grin at me again.
“I’m sure it will, but we’re doing things different, remember.” I slid out of his grasp and sauntered over to the door. “Are you coming? Or are you gonna stay down here and eat the rest of the cookies?”
He gave a low, raspy chuckle.
“I think you’ll taste even sweeter than those cookies.”
The stare he gave me made me clench my thighs together. I remembered what we’d said in our sex chat online that night. I knew what he’d promised to do. Question was, could he live up to his promises?
I walked up the stairs and couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I heard him bounding up behind me, taking the steps two at a time.
“Someone’s eager.” I laughed.
“You have no fucking idea,” he growled.
He spun me round just as I opened the door to my bedroom, smashing his lips back onto mine and walking us backward into the room.
He kicked the door closed, and as the backs of my knees connected with my bed, I stumbled and dropped my ass onto the mattress.
“Do you remember what you said to me? What you typed, telling me all the things you’d do if you were ever in my room?” I asked, looking up at him through my lashes as he stood towering over me.
“Sweetheart, I’ve replayed that fantasy over and over in my head at least a hundred times since then. And every time, it just gets better and better.”
He brushed his knuckles lightly against my jaw and then tucked the stray hairs behind my ear. I tried to keep my breathing steady, but my heart was racing and all I could focus on was how he was making me feel, standing there looking at me that way. Touching me like I was made of glass, but he was so ready to shatter me. He was going to enjoy it. Brandon wasn’t here to play gentle; he was here to claim what was his.
He turned around and clicked the lock on my door shut.
“I told you I always take precautions,” he said, turning slowly back around to face me, and letting his eyes wander over my body, so seductively that I could almost feel his stare caressing my skin. Dancing over me and making me pant a little harder.
“I should hope so,” I replied, not knowing how else to answer. My brain had checked out and my hormones were in the driving seat. “Come on then. Show me what you’ve got.”
Fuck, where did this Harper come from? I don’t think I’d ever been so sexually confident with a man before.
Brandon stood still, watching me as I lay there. He wasn’t charging forward like I thought he would. No. He was studying me. He obviously had a lot more self-control than I did.
“What are you waiting for?” I asked, leaning back onto the bed and scooching a little further up so I was lying ready for him.
“I’m watching you. I said I would.”
He took a few steps forward until he was standing over me again, and then he ran his fingers lightly up my calf and further up to brush my thighs. “Your skin’s so soft, so flawless. I like the way you shiver when I touch you like this.”
I liked it too.
I wanted to hold my breath just so I could concentrate on that one sensation he was creating without anything else interrupting how awesome it felt to be touched by him. How amazing it was to be warmed by his delicate, feathered touches, as soft as a butterfly’s wings. I closed my eyes so every single focus, every sense was his to own. Nothing else mattered but what he was doing.
“You look so pretty like this, lying here with your eyes closed. Waiting for me. So fucking beautiful.”
I gasped, but I kept my eyes closed. I liked letting go like this. I wanted to give up control. After being guarded for so long, I wanted to feel free.
The mattress dipped as he climbed on, and I felt the scratch of the coarse material of his jeans against my legs as he crawled over me. He held himself up with his strong arms, and I kept my eyes closed as his breath fanned across my face.
“Look at me, Harper. Let me see what you’re thinking,” he whispered, warm and low.
I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at him. The depth of feeling I saw in him in that moment made me sigh and reach up to caress his face. He was so beautiful. So complex and complicated, but I wanted to work him out. I wanted to know what made him tick. I wanted to know everything.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked, begging me with the fire in his eyes to say yes.
How could I ever say no to him?
This broken man was mine.
I was his.
We weren’t perfect, but together we made perfect sense. To me, anyway.
“You are the one thing I am sure about.” His eyes softened as I spoke. “I have absolutely no clue what’s going on with my life. Most days I wake up not knowing how I’ll cope throughout the day. But you… You I get. I want you, Brandon. I want this.”
He leant down to nuzzle into my neck, and I tilted my head for him.
“You never have to feel alone, Harper. You’ve always got me. I’ll always be here. I’m here for you.”
He kissed me gently on my neck, nibbling around my ear and I closed my eyes again. I didn’t realise I was gasping and moaning until I felt him lift his head.
“Those noises you make, they’re such a fucking turn-on,” he said, and then he covered my body with his and his hand grabbed the back of my head, pulling me into a fierce and brutal kiss.
He moaned loudly as he slipped his tongue over mine, his hips grinding into me, showing me exactly how hard he was and how much he wanted this too. Desperate, I clung to him with my hands around his shoulders like he was my lifeline.
I opened my legs and started to wrap them around his waist, but he chuckled and pulled away from our kiss. “Remember what I said about me knowing what you need?”
I nodded.
“Trust me, little warrior. I’ve got you.” He brushed the back of his hand over my cheek and then he smiled. “I’ve always got you.”
He grabbed my leg from around his waist and pulled it off, then sat up. He gave me a brief glance, just to make sure I was okay with everything he was doing, then he lifted the skirt of my dress slowly like he was unwrapping a present. Once my dress was up around my waist, he took a deep breath and hooked his fingers into the sides of my knickers and gently pulled them down my legs. My breathing hitched as I felt how wet I was for him, and how the simple act of him doing this was making me tingle and pant in need.
He dropped my knickers to the floor, never taking his eyes off me, then he pushed my legs open. When he saw me, really saw me for the first time, I swear I heard a growl at the back of his throat.