Page 80 of Back in Black

Audrey bit her lips, cleared her throat. Knowing what was about to happen, and how new it still was for her, it wasn’t easy to think right now. “A meeting with Millie, work, and then just errands.” She tried to sound blasé and failed miserably. “Why?”

He towed her into the room and shut the door behind her. With excruciating slowness, he tugged the quilt away from her one-handed grip and held it open wide. His gaze on her belly, he whispered, “I liked sleeping with you last night.”

Her heart swelled. “Me, too.”

Expression warming, he continued to look at her with the quilt at her back as if it were a barrier from escape. “Want to stay again tonight?”

She couldn’t breathe. “Yes.” Inhaling, she said again, with more conviction, “Yes, I’d like that.”

Brett smiled, and it was unlike any other smile she’d seen from him. Dropping the quilt to the floor, he took a step back and peeled off his sweatshirt. “This could become a habit, you know.”

Mesmerized by his casual striptease, Audrey croaked out, “What?”

“Showering together. Sleeping together.” He shucked off his jogging pants, socks, and shoes and straightened in front of her. With a load of heart-melting meaning, he whispered, “Being together.”

For long moments, Audrey just concentrated on breathing, on refraining from throwing herself at him. But she was clear on one thing: “I’d like that, too. If . . . if it became a habit, I mean.”

Seeing how she looked at his body, Brett hauled her up close for a devastating kiss. But when she let her hands wander down his torso, he caught her wrists and laughed out an apology. “Sorry. I definitely need a shower beforethatgets out of hand.”

He turned on the water and retrieved towels; Audrey stood there watching him, thinking that she loved his heated scent, the feel of his sweat-slick skin over solid muscles. When he had everything arranged, he stepped under the spray and waited for her to join him.

Showering with a man was a unique experience, one of many that she’d had with Brett. In such a short time, he’d given her so much and made her feel more like a self-assured woman and less like a protester on a mission.

Having fun, they took turns washing each other—and it became a special brand of foreplay that tortured her already heightened senses.

“I don’t have a rubber in here.” Brett kissed her throat, her shoulder. “If I don’t stop now, I might not be able to. And neither of us wants that.”

She wasn’t so sure what she wanted anymore, but Brett had too much planned for his future to take unnecessary risks. Never would she want to be a burden to him.

She stepped away with a smile. “I’ll race you to the bedroom.”

Brett laughed, and even that, the husky timbre of his humor, excited her. After rinsing, they hurriedly dried and, still damp in places, rushed down the hall like children.

Very conscious of Brett trailing her, Audrey was only a few feet away from his bedroom when he scooped her up from behind and stepped into the room with her held in his arms. She squealed and laughed—and learned that lovemaking could be amusing as well as sizzling.

She hadn’t been this lighthearted for a very long time.

Spice leaped from the bed when they came down together onto the mattress, making it bounce.

Rising on his elbows, Brett smiled down at her. “I really like you, Audrey Porter.” He stole a soft, quick kiss from her mouth. “Everything about you.”

She smiled, too, but she knew it was a lie. As good-natured and accepting as Brett seemed, hecouldn’tlike her disapproval of his chosen profession. It was like a giant roadblock in the way of any real, lasting relationship between them, and it almost made her feel ill.

And if Millie had her way and they exposed the ugliness of the sport even more, what would Brett do? Could she let her personal feelings for him get in the way of what she believed was right?

“Hey.” Brett tilted his head to study her. “I didn’t expect my declaration to make you so gloomy.”

“No.” Shaking her head and wrapping her arms around him, Audrey denied it. “Your declaration makes me want to cry with happiness, because Ireallylike you, too.” She pulled him down to her, desperate to take what she could before it all fell apart.

“Yeah? Show me.” And with that, he kissed her with the intent of making them both nuts.

There were no more words, and though Audrey knew she shouldn’t linger, she couldn’t find the strength to hurry things along, either. Luckily, Brett was in a rush of his own, taking her as if his control had left him, as if he wanted her every bit as much as she wanted him.

He was braced on one arm over her, thrusting inside her, pushing her hard while plying her breasts with fascination, when Audrey gave in to an all-consuming climax. Through a haze of pleasure she watched Brett’s face, saw his nostrils flare, his jaw lock, and then he, too, came.

When they’d both quieted their laboring breaths, he fell to his side next to her. Audrey stared at the ceiling and relived each incredible moment. How Brett seemed to know exactly what to do, and when, amazed her. He was so in tune to her and her needs that he made her feel very special.

With him, she felt things she hadn’t known existed—but not just during sex.

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