Page 15

CHAPTER 15

Luckily, he'd managed to get a last-minute Airbnb a couple of miles away from Keely's office and by the time they'd rolled up and entered the code in the keypad by the door, they were exhausted. Brody offered her first crack at the shower but before either one could manage to get anything out of their bags, they'd fallen asleep on the couch.

Rhea woke up in the middle of the night.

At least that's what she assumed it was. She wasn't about to look at the clock, but she heard the shower going and managed to pull her change of clothes out of her duffel. There was a mirror over the chest of drawers, and she winced at what she saw. She had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was a mess.

Oh, great.

She looked like hell.

Her shoulders shook with laughter as she stood there, staring at the mess that was her face.

She didn't hear the shower shut off, but she heard the door click open and the way it slid across and into the wall.

Brody looked up and smiled at her. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and some of the water was still clinging to his hair.

Rhea lifted a hand up into her hair and tried to calm it as she let her gaze travel all over his body.

She'd been exhausted and dragging before, but one look at Brody's fine physique and her blood was suddenly pumping through her veins.

"There's still hot water left." Brody pushed his fingers through his hair and a few drops of water slipped down his chest, sliding over his pecs and then his abs like a water slide.

She was awake.

Completely awake.

She cleared her throat and looked at the bathroom. "I should get in the shower then."

He smiled as she walked by, and she stopped just shy of the pocket door. "Brody?"

She heard him behind her in the bedroom. "Rhea?"

"Are you going back to sleep?"

She'd meant to ask 'now' but things didn't always go the way she wanted it to. Especially not when she felt like she was standing on a cliff and the water beneath her was choppy and churning.

"Sleep? Eventually. But I'm in no rush, honey. Take your time."

She felt his words all over her body.

Her skin prickled with awareness and inside? She was aching.

"Okay. I'll be back."

Instead of just taking her clothes, she picked up her toiletries bag, too.

She had a feeling it might be a good idea to spend a little time in the shower. It had been a while since she'd let anyone see her bare. She certainly wasn't planning to do it tonight, but she wasn't sure when they'd get an opportunity like this in the near future.

Hanging her toiletry bag from the shower head, she turned on the water, hissing when the heat touched her skin. She turned it down, and went about her business, not wanting to spend too much time in the shower when she had Brody waiting for her in the bedroom.

By the time she stepped out of the shower, the same sized towel that had easily wrapped around Brody's trim waist, was struggling to hold together wrapped around her body. She stood there looking at the clothes she'd packed to change into after work and grimaced at the idea of wearing it to bed.

It was one thing when she was moving around a kitchen or putting Chip to bed, but she didn't want to have it digging into her belly while she was sleeping and leaving red marks across her skin.

A soft knock sounded at the door, and she called to him to, "Come in."

She looked up as Brody slid the door open.

He was wearing a pair of boxer briefs that looked indecently good on him. She knew there was a name on the waistband, but she'd be hard pressed to read it when she was finally getting a look at that insanely sexy 'v' that men were always trying to get.

Brody had it and more.

Rhea wrapped her arms around her middle, nearly pulling her towel apart where it was tucked around her breasts.

"Great..."

"Honey." Brody reached out his arms, holding them open for her. "Come here."

She stepped closer to him and let him wrap her in his arms.

The instant her cheek touched his bare chest, she sagged into his warmth.

He wrapped his arms around her and enveloped her in his embrace.

"You feel so good in my arms."

She sighed, wrapping her arms around him. "You just feel good."

"Yeah?"

Rhea smoothed her hands down his back, enjoying the contours of his body and muscles. "Very good."

She swore she could feel him smiling.

Crazy?

Perhaps.

But she could feel it in her bones.

She could feel other things, too.

Including what the Brody's boxer briefs was doing a bad job of containing.

His hands skirted down to her backside giving her a gentle squeeze through her towel. "What happened? You didn't want to get dressed?"

"I'm in no rush to sleep in pants which are going to give me welts across my belly. No one wants to ache like that when you're sleeping."

She felt the towel at her lower back bunch up in his hands.

"Hey-"

"Is it just the jeans that are hurting you or what you have on under it?"

It felt strange talking about her clothes with him, when she'd never discussed it with Charles before, but life, she realized was changing and she actually wanted to change with it.

"I'm a shorter girl, but I've got some extra curves around my waist. And before you ask, I've tried to lose the w-"

Brody cut her off with a kiss.

When he leaned back, she narrowed her eyes at him. "What was that for?"

"I didn't want to hear you talking about losing weight."

"Well, it's a thing and I've already tried to l-"

Another kiss.

This one with his tongue tracing the seam of her lips.

When he drew back, her eyes were closed, and her nipples were tight and tingling behind the soft towel she still had wrapped around herself.

"Are you healthy?"

She almost had to shake herself from a kind of stupor. "What?"

He grinned at her and rubbed his nose against hers. "When you go to the doctor, are you healthy?"

She shrugged. "Yes. He said I'm healthy. A little tired. A little overweight and-"

He kissed her again, this time speaking against her lips. "I like the way you look." His hands grasped her hips and pulled her against him.

Oh.

Well, he meant it.

"I like the way you feel, too."

"Brody," her hands flattened against his back, skirting down to his lower back, letting her fingertips play with the waistband of his boxer briefs. "It's been a long, long time."

"Same here."

She heard him suck in a breath as she slipped a hand into the back of his briefs. "I just wanted you to know because I'm out of practice."

He slid his fingers through her hair, tugging gently to untangle her hair where it was still a little damp against her skin. "I'm here, honey. If you want to practice anything on me, I will be a willing participant."

"Ah," she slid her other hand down the back of his boxer briefs, her fingertips brushing along his skin, "like this?"

Then she changed and let her fingertips drag down along his skin.

"You never know," she smiled, enjoying the little bit of confidence she felt, "I might like doing this a lot."

He groaned and when she looked up, she saw the tension in the muscles that stretched alongside his neck.

"I think you like it, too."

" Fuck yeah ."

Rhea rose up onto her toes, her fingertips seeking out the long, sleek muscles of his back as her mouth closed over the pulse in his neck.

She sucked on his skin for a moment before trying to sooth it with a soft sweep of her tongue.

Brody lifted his chin, opening his neck to her mouth.

It felt good to her.

No, better than good.

The trust he put in her, the way he opened himself to her.

She didn't just like it.

She loved it.

She just...

She wasn't ready to say anything, her heart warring with itself.

"Stop thinking, honey, you're going to tie yourself in knot."

Too late, she thought as she looked up at him.

"Here," he grumbled, moving his hands over her, "let me help take your mind off of things."

She didn't have time to figure out what he meant.

Brody was a man of action.

And suddenly her towel was gone.

Rhea gasped in a breath.

It had been forever since she'd been naked in front of a man.

The last time had been her husband.

She pushed that thought out of her head in the next moment...

Actually, it was Brody.

Brody did it, because he put his hands on her.

And then his mouth as he moved her to the bed.

She tumbled backward, her hands reaching for him and he went with her.

She was under no misconception that he did it willingly.

Rhea knew that if he hadn't wanted to, he wouldn't be there.

"Fuck, Rhea." His hands moved down her sides and back up again until they cupped her breasts. "You're fucking beautiful."

She winced at his words and tried to push his hands away. "I have stretch marks."

He sat up a little, looking into her eyes.

He didn't look uncomfortable in the least or upset.

He looked... interested.

"Oh yeah?" He got up on his knees, one on the outside of her thigh, the other between her legs. "Let's see."

"Oh my god, Brody, stop!"

He used his thumbs to sweep across her nipples.

As hard as they were, his touch made her shiver, sending those tickling feelings down to her pussy.

With his hands still on her breasts, he inspected each one, his lips kissing every time he spotted something. Over and over, he worshiped everything he found and instead of feeling mortified at the number of kisses he gave her, she found herself squirming.

"And a beauty spot," he looked up at her as he lowered his face down and the tip of his tongue flicked across the curve of her breast.

It wasn't possible, she told herself, her nipples couldn't get any tighter. They were already so tight, she was dying from the touch of the air conditioning in the room.

And then he proved her wrong.

Brody closed his mouth over one of her nipples and she arched off the bed, her pussy coming in contact with his muscular thigh.

"Oh, god."

Her hands, which she'd fisted in the sheets, grasped his shoulders, her fingers digging in at his suckled at her.

"Brody,..."

He pulled free, a soft pop in the air. "Rhea?"

He moved and hovered over her other breast as if he was waiting for permission.

Her hands moved from his shoulders to his head, her fingertips working at his head, scratching at his scalp.

"I wish I had nails," she gasped when she felt his teeth graze the tender and nearly over sensitized skin of her nipple, "please..."

"There's something about your voice, honey. I could drown in it happily. Listen to it all night long."

"Listen to- Ahh!"

He covered her nipple, sucking it into his mouth, his teeth slightly grazing her skin again.

"More..."

His fingers played with her other nipple plucking and pinching the way his mouth was doing to its sister. She felt like she was about to lose her mind with how good it felt.

"Brody, please..."

* * *

The way she begged.

Well, could he even call it begging?

He'd never let her get that far. Instead, she asked, and he'd give.

He wanted to give her everything.

And at that moment, it meant an orgasm so good that it curled her toes and left her breathless.

She bucked up under him and he felt the slick heat her movement left along his thigh.

"You want me, honey?" He'd turned his head, putting his cheek against the valley between her breasts. "You want me inside you?"

She groaned, her hips rising beneath her. "Please? Brody, please-"

"Hold on," he braced his arms on the bed on either side of her. "I need to get something out of my wallet-"

"I haven't been with anyone since my husband." She blurted out the words and her face was pretty as pink as it was. "I had a complete physical to take the job here."

Brody smiled at her, bending his elbows and placed a kiss between her breasts against her chest. "I had my annual a few weeks before you arrived. All good."

She lifted her arms, reaching out to him. "Come back..." She swallowed and he saw the muscles in her neck moving and the cool air kept her nipples tight as she looked at him. Her eyes were full of hunger. "Brody, I need you."

Oh fuck.

He lowered his hands to the waistband of his boxer briefs and pushed it down over his hips and down to his knees, kicking it off at the base of the bed before he reached out and grabbed her hips, dragging her down to the edge of the bed.

The quick movement pushed a gasp from her lungs, and she reached her hands down and covered his where he was gripping her hips.

"I needed you closer, babe. I want... No, I need a little more control."

Something in her eyes drew his. "Control?"

He grinned. "Don't be afraid, honey. I'm talking about controlling myself. I'm afraid that the moment I get inside you I might lose my ever-lovin’ mind. I've been dreaming about this."

She licked her lips and spoke to him in a soft breathless voice.

"I've been dreaming about you, too."

He bit down on the inside of his cheek and grabbed the base of his dick, squeezing hard.

A grunt was the only noise he made until the rush of adrenaline worked its way through his system.

"You make me crazy," he smiled and shook his head.

"You think I'm beautiful," her shoulders lifted toward her ears and fell, "I think you are crazy."

He released his dick and fell over her, bracing himself with his arms. "Make no mistake, Rhea. You are beautiful. Incredibly so. I've never felt like this with anyone before, never wanted to get this close to anyone before."

Her eyes widened at his words. "Brody-"

"It's you, honey. It's only you. It's all about you."

She covered her face with her hands. "How can you want-"

"I want you, because I love you, honey. You." He put his weight on one arm and lifted his free hand to lightly trace his fingers down her chest from her shoulder. "You're so beautiful when you blush."

"I feel... I feel so crazy when you touch me."

He smiled at her. "Good. I feel the same way when you look at me. Hell, when you breathe anywhere near me."

She reached for him. "Let me... Let me help-"

"Help?"

His fingers trailed over her belly and a muscle in his jaw tightened when she tried to pull in her belly.

"Rhea, I know what I'm doing." He smiled at her, shaking his head. "Trust me."

That's when the game changed.

Completely.

Her eyes were locked on him. And the look in them changed. The way she looked at him was everything he'd ever imagined. She looked at him and that look said that she did.

She trusted him.

He pushed up, standing at the edge of the bed, leaning his legs against it, as he dragged his hands down her thighs, opening her to his gaze.

"So damn pretty."

She blushed and her knees started to squeeze together.

"Honey, I've got this."

And he proved it. He reached his hands for her, meeting at the tops of her thighs, his thumbs parting her folds. One hand twisted and he slipped the tips of two fingers inside her while the thumb of his other hand hovered near her clit.

"So damn pretty and pink."

He saw her smile and then blush as she covered her face.

"You don't have to hide anything from me, Rhea. Give me everything."

She pulled her hands away from her face and flattened her palms against the bed. "I don't... I don't know what else to do with my hands."

He smiled at that, and her eyes widened.

"I can't reach you," she pointed out and he shrugged, moving the fingers he had inside of her lift and skirt the inside of her pussy. One slip and he might be spreading her slick heat around that little nub.

"You know what you can reach, honey. Touch yourself. Show me how you want me to touch you."

The color in her cheeks heightened, but as he pumped his fingers into her body, her cheeks and the skin across her chest pinked even more.

Her hands lifted and she stiffened as soon as they came in contact with her breasts.

She'd touched herself before, but she'd never done it in front of anyone. Where someone else could see her.

But the way that he looked at her, the way that he was stroking his fingers inside of her, made her want to do it, if only to make him happy.

And then he slipped a second finger inside of her and she squeezed her hands around her breasts, feeling her palms against her sensitive nipples.

Oh.

Yes.

She looked at him, locking her eyes on his as he thrust his fingers inside of her and then she lowered her gaze over his chest and those abs that she wanted to trace over and over again with her fingertips.

And that's when she saw him.

His hand wrapped around his cock, stroking himself in time to the thrusts of his fingers.

Brody saw her look.

And his smile made the heated look on his face change to something harder. Driven.

"Inside me," she ground out past the knot in her throat. "I need you inside me."

He looked almost relieved when he pulled his fingers free of her body, lifting them to his lips. His tongue swept up his fingers and then he sucked them into his mouth. Brody looked like he was savoring her flavor on his skin.

When he pulled his fingers free, his skin shining and slick, he leaned in and gripped the base of his cock, lining it up to her body, pushing his hips forward as her body stretched around the head of his cock.

Always content to relax and enjoy sex before, Rhea wanted more now. She braced herself up on her elbows and watched as the head of his cock sank inside of her.

Her knees dropped farther to the side, and she felt the stretch through her belly. He was thick and hard, making her whole-body ache with the want of him.

Brody had on hand on her hip, the other feeding his cock into her body.

He clenched his jaw together because every fraction of an inch was the most exquisite pain he'd ever felt and the most amazing ecstasy.

Rhea? She lifted her feet from the surface of the bed and brought her knees up.

When he reached the end, when he was balls deep inside her, she gasped, and he saw stars.

Fucking stars!

She had a tight grip on him, but he had to move and move he did.

There was little more that he could do because he was afraid that he'd lose his control before he showed her how good it could be between them.

"You feel better than I ever dreamed anything could feel," he told her as he slipped his hands under her and lifted her higher.

"Here," she groaned as she reached back and grabbed a pillow that had gone askew.

He smiled at her and as she helped him lift her hips from the bed so he could fit the pillow under her. "I might have to take this pillow home with us.'

Her cheeks flushed again. "Brody, we can't-"

"I'll pay for it. Happy to." He gave her a wink. "Now, where were we?"

Her lips parted on a gasp as he pulled back and thrust inside her.

She welcomed him inside her each time and when he got close enough that they were both gasping for breath, she reached for him just as she lost herself, her body rippling around him, grasping him tight and holding him there.

He went over a moment later, feeling pulse after pulse of his release leaving his body and filling her.

Rhea wrapped her arms around him and drew him against her and her fingers played with his hair.

He should have felt weak, having given her everything he could, but he felt her embracing him and he felt stronger than he'd ever been.

She hadn't said she loved him, but that didn't matter to him.

He knew she was cautious and as a mother of a small child, he had to be.

He was going to show her that she wasn't alone anymore.

She had him.

For the long haul, because he loved her like crazy.