Page 91 of Sexy as Sin
“Yeah,” Brett said, and tried not to stiffen. “Not so much.”
“That still bugging you?” she asked. “Brett. That’s a long time.”
Steve grabbed his hand, then pulled him in and slapped his shoulder, which wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, not with the cane. “Good to see you, brother. Good luck with the paradox, too. Remember—October. Be there.”
When his mom turned back from the door, shutting the cold out, she said, “Well, that was a lot of excitement. I’m heading to bed. Willow went off to take a shower. I think she was giving us family time. I do like her, hon. She’s got a real sweetness to her.”
“I know,” he said. “Me, too.”
She put her arms around his waist, gently, because of the cane, and said, “Next time, tell your momma when you break your leg, would you? But I’m glad you had her with you for it. That eases my mind. Happy birthday, sweetie.” She brushed his hair back from his face and kissed him on the cheek. “It was a good day, the day I had you.”
His leg was aching again. Quite a bit. The cold, probably. If you had a metal rod implanted in your skeleton, it might well make the bone around it ache. He was still thinking that through when he knocked softly on the bedroom door, waited a second, and opened it.
She was asleep, her curls spread out on the pillow and her hand curled against the sheet. She’d left the bedside light on for him, though. He undressed as quietly as he could manage, then slid into bed beside her, resisting the allure of pain pills. If the problem was cold, it would pass when he warmed up.
“Hmm.” It was sleepy, but the arm and leg that wrapped around him were warm. “Brr, you’re freezing. Hurting, too, hey.”
He shouldn’t be chilling her, but she felt so wonderful and warm against him. And she hadn’t worn anything to bed except his necklace. It was a good look, like—his.
Time to face it. His. He kissed her temple, and then he kissed her cheek, stroked the soft curls back, and said, “Hurting a bit, yeah. How can you tell?”
“How you hold yourself.” She turned her head. “You could kiss my neck. I know it’syourbirthday, but... you could. Feels so good.”
He smiled, feeling so much better already, and did it. She sighed, and then she shuddered, and her hands were running down his back, the backs of his thighs as he shifted his weight over her. He kissed her mouth this time. Soft, sweet, and real. “You know what I realized tonight?”
“No. What?”
“Fantasies are great. But sometimes... you just want the woman you love, right there in your bed, waiting for you. You just want to run your hands down her arms...” He did it, from her shoulders to her fingertips, then, slowly, threaded his fingers through hers. “And see how slowly you can kiss her. How well you can love her.”
“The answer is...” She was losing her breath. “Pretty bloody well. And oh, yeah, I’ll give you that one. Mm. Do that again.” He was working on her neck some again, but he hadn’t let go of her hands. Her fingers tightened around his, and—yeah.
Hearing her sigh, then start making a little more noise, because she couldn’t help it. Exploring her silken skin with his hands, his mouth, holding her warm and safe in a nest of blankets. Working his way slowly down her responsive body, getting her going, then taking her higher, as she murmured and sighed and said his name, tried to keep it quiet, and started losing the battle.
The moment when he threaded his fingers through hers again, held her there, and slowly pushed inside. Exactly the same way he’d thought about doing it that first day, when they’d been standing at a stove together. Her mouth opening under his, his tongue inside her, and all of him filling her up. Taking her little noises into his mouth, and wanting nothing but to stay inside her forever, rocking her slowly, going so deep, just like this. Her long legs coming up to wrap around his waist, then higher, until he was on his palms and she was burying her face in his neck.
Hot and wild and sweet. The fantasy you hadn’t believed in for so long, that you could fall in love again, and it could be real. When you were inside her so deep, all the way to her heart, and she was tightening around you, biting your neck to try to keep quiet, and then gasping the words out against you while you plunged home.
“Brett. I love you. I love you. Please.Brett.”
One hell of a birthday.
They were nearly in Sinful when she got the email. The flight was so short that by the time she’d read it twice and thought through what she wanted to do about it, they were landing. She wished they could have stayed in the air a couple more hours.
She liked change, and she liked challenge. She just wasn’t sure about quite so much of it.
“What?” Brett asked from the next seat. Which was another leather thing, and posher than any chair she’d owned in her life.
“Do you ever not notice, mate?” she asked. “Maybe I want to keep my secrets.”
He smiled. “Considering that you more or less lay my soul bare, I wouldn’t say you have much to complain about. What happened? Azra?”
“No. She’s good. Well—no visa yet, and her mum’s still telling her how she’s breaking her heart, and she’s still thinking it’ll be a campervan in En Zed, but other than that, she’s good.” She looked out the window. “Crikey. Those aremountains. Realmountains. This town is in the mountains, and they’re big.”
This time, he laughed. “That would be why they’re called the Rockies.”
“It’s just that I’ve never seen real mountains before, not like this. That’s alotof snow. And, yeah, I’ve seen snow. Just not so much of it.”
“And that,” he said, “would be why I bought a ski resort.”
