“Oh, Brandon.” I used both hands to brace myself against the headboard. “I’m gonna come so hard.”
“Yeah, you are,” he said, working himself deeper and deeper, harder and harder.
I tried to hold it, but I couldn’t. My walls contracted tightly around him and my whole body started to quiver with the force of my orgasm. I was no longer in control of my body, he was.
“That’s it, baby. Milk my cock,” he moaned, but he wasn’t done with me yet. He swivelled his hips and kept on grinding into me, making me shake and whimper. Everything was so sensitive, so heightened. The way he gripped my hips, the feel of him slamming into me and the sound of his moans all sent me spiralling into a euphoria I never wanted to leave. Then, without warning, I climaxed again. Wave after wave of the most amazing aftershocks rippled through me and I cried into his pillow. I’d never felt anything like it. Brandon owned me, body, mind and soul.
“So fucking perfect.” He grunted and then I felt him thicken inside me and groan as he came hard. His hands held me tightly in place as he rode out his orgasm, and I turned my head on the pillow to watch as a look of pure love and satisfaction washed over him. He gazed down to where we were joined like it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“I fucking love you, Harper,” he said before he covered me with his whole frame and pulled me down to lie next to him on the bed.
We were both panting and covered in sweat, but we didn’t care. We were only bothered about being close to each other, lying in each other’s arms.
“That was amazing,” I whispered.
“It always is with you.”
We stayed entwined for a little while longer, but eventually, he had to take care of the condom, and like the true gent he was, he brought a warm cloth back to clean me up. I had plans for a shower together, but the cloth would have to do for now.
As I lay in his arms, basking in that indescribable afterglow, the memory of what his nan had said sprang clear into my mind.
“Do you have a photo of me?” I couldn’t see his reaction because I was nestled into his chest and he wouldn’t let me go, but I felt his muscles clench and heard him take a breath.
“Did you look in my drawers when I was in the bathroom?”
“No. I’m not a snoop. It’s just, your nan said you have a picture of a girl and she thought it was me.”
He sighed and rolled me off his chest. I didn’t like that. Was he pushing me away?
I watched him push up onto his elbow and then reach forward to open the drawer in question. When he pulled a familiar frame out, I gasped.
“Where did you get this?” I said, taking the frame out of his hands and then mentally face-palming myself.
The night he broke into our house, that’s when he got it, dummy.
“I took it. It’s my favourite picture of you. I love the way your eyes sparkle at the camera. You’re so happy. When I saw that, on the night I… well, you know. I had to take it. It was a reminder for me.”
“A reminder of what?” I asked gently. I knew this meant a lot to him. I could tell by the softness of his voice, and the way he looked at me like I was made of china.
“It reminds me of what you’ve lost. You’ve lost a lot because of me… But that sparkle in your eyes? I wanted to give that back to you. I wanted to see that happiness on your face again. That photo reminded me what I needed to do. I’m not giving it back,” he stated firmly.
“How did we not notice it was missing?” I asked, more to myself than to him. It only highlighted the fact that both my parents and I had been walking around in a daze for so long. We didn’t even notice when things went missing right under our noses. “Brodie took that photo. It was our last family holiday. We went skiing in Switzerland.”
Brandon grew stiff next to me, and I knew this wasn’t the right time to bring up anything about my brother.
“I love that photo,” he added, before he took it out of my hands and placed it on the bedside table.
“You can keep it.”
“I wasn’t planning on giving it back.”
“You don’t need it as a reminder though. You have me. All you need to do is look at me and you’ll find that sparkle again. You did that for me. You gave it back to me.”
He grabbed me into a hug and buried his face into my neck. I loved when he did that.
“My forever. That’s what you are,” he said in a muffled voice against my skin.
“Promise?” I asked, running my nails across his scalp the way I knew he liked.
“Do you honestly think I’d ever let you go? You’re it for me, Harper Yates. Bloody hate your surname though. We may need to do something about changing that soon. Mathers suits you better.”
“All in good time, big man,” I said, smiling and curling into him like a pet monkey. “We have all the time in the world.”
He pulled away and his face faltered slightly.
“Do we though? Have all the time, I mean? If there’s one thing we both know it’s that life is precious. It changes in an instant. I don’t want to wait around, Harper. I’m an impatient bastard. If I know what I want, I just take it. And I want you.”
“You’ve got me.” I kissed him and felt the heat between us start to rise again. Looked like Brandon’s bedroom slash sex den was going to be my new favourite place to hang out.
After another round of energetic, toe-curling sex that’d probably really pissed off the neighbours, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we couldn’t stay in bed forever, and put our clothes back on. Brandon held my hand and led me out onto the landing, and I felt torn, knowing I had to leave. I had stuff to do in the morning. But I didn’t want to go.
We started to walk down the stairs and then froze when we heard a croaky voice humming from the kitchen.
“I thought you said she’d gone out?” I whisper-yelled at him.
“I thought she had.”
We crept down the stairs, trying not to alert her to our presence, and partly because I was too embarrassed to face her, but that old woman could give a ninja a run for their money. I could see where Brandon got his stalker skills from.
“Leaving already?” she shouted out of the doorway as my foot hit the last step. “Mind you, sounds like you got what you came here for.”
I hit my forehead on Brandon’s back and let out a deep sigh. Great way to impress the family, Harper.
“Nan. Why aren’t you at the bingo?” Brandon asked sharply, turning around to take me in his arms.
I didn’t want to have to face his nan, but I had no choice. I needed to man-up.
“Bingo was cancelled this week. Something to do with the water pipes or some crap like that.” The clatter of cutlery and banging of cups told us she wasn’t happy.
“But I heard you go out.”
“I took the bins out.” She appeared at the doorway to the kitchen, clutching her bread knife a little too aggressively, and I flinched. “Don’t worry, dear. I had my headphones in as soon as I heard you two going at it upstairs.” My cheeks flamed with embarrassment. “I managed to get through three episodes of Sons of Anarchy too. So, it wasn’t a total waste of an evening.” She grinned to herself, patted Brandon on the shoulder like she was proud of him and hobbled down the corridor to her living room.