CHAPTER 26
When they finally made it back home it was close to midnight. Brynn had had to stay at the theater until everyone left. Ryder was staying the night at Ricky and KJ’s and Izzy was staying at Fiona’s with Presley. Technically, they were both still grounded but Brynn and Axel had made an exception because they wanted some alone time. But both teens were under strict orders not to leave the premises under penalty of death.
He and Brynn were finally alone. And as much as Axel wanted to make love to Brynn, he saw the dark circles under her eyes and he was worried that she hadn’t been getting enough rest. He knew that she’d been going nonstop with all the last-minute preparations for the play.
As they walked into the bedroom he said, “We can just go to bed, I know that you’ve been working like crazy. You need sleep.”
“Oh, we’re going to bed. But sleep is not what I need.”
He smiled as he bent down to kiss her but she backed up. “Hold that thought.”
Then he watched as she picked up Lucy. He followed her outside where the pug did her business and then Brynn put her in her bed by the fireplace in the family room. She tucked her in and kissed her head. “You sleep out here for a little bit and I’ll come get you when it’s night-night time.”
A warmth spread from his heart through his entire body. She was so nurturing, so sweet, always taking care of everyone and putting them first, before herself. After dealing with his mom tonight, his feelings for Brynn were stronger than ever. He’d never take her for granted. Not for one second.
They walked to the bedroom and when she closed the door she looked up at him and must’ve seen the emotion in his gaze. “What?”
“You’re just…perfect.”
She laughed. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” Axel pulled Brynn to him and caressed her back, running his strong and work-roughened hands up and down her smooth skin. He’d missed her so much. He couldn’t believe that she was in his arms and they were about to make love. Truly, make love. Take their time with each other. Spend all night exploring the world of their bodies as they came together.
It felt different, somehow. Magical. Unbound. He’d never understood the concept of endless possibilities until Brynn had come into his life, but that was what he felt when they were together. His life had never seemed so bright.
No. Not his life. Theirs. Their life held nothing but wonder and amazement, the road before them stretched out toward the horizon. And they could face anything. Together. Whatever hardships came up, it didn’t matter. They’d handle them together. He’d protect her, take care of her, and with her by his side, he felt invincible.
She pressed her body against his and it seemed to him that they melted together, their bodies sinking into each other until it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began.
He could feel the heat of her skin and the pounding of her heart even through both of their clothes. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like when they were actually naked together under the covers, nothing separating them but air and skin.
Even though this wasn’t the first time he’d touched her, in a way it felt like it was. This was the first time that there was nothing held back, no secrets or inhibitions, and that made all the difference.
“We’re alone,” he gasped in between kisses. “Do you remember how I said that I wanted you?”
“Naked.” She sucked in a sharp breath.
“Yes.”
She smiled, and it was sultry and smoky. There was the promise of a thousand nights of passion in that smile. “Well, we should definitely make that happen.”
His dick jumped at her words. He didn’t need any further encouragement. With a low growl, he bent his head and planted passionate kisses down the side of her neck as his fingers nimbly undid every one of the buttons and fasteners that held her clothes on her body.
He didn’t need to look at what he was doing to undress her. He could do that blind. It was a matter of instinct. There were a few things he’d been born to do in this life, and they came to him like second nature. Protecting the people he loved was one of them. Getting Brynn naked was another.
With every article of clothing that he slipped from her smooth, hot skin, his cock grew stiffer and harder, throbbing in time with his pounding heart. Blood rushed through his veins like lava from a volcano, and he knew that this encounter was leading toward a similar eruption.
He let her blouse fall to the floor and then unhooked her bra, sliding the straps down over her shoulders and arms.
Damn. Her skin was so creamy and soft. The moonlight filtering in through the window spilled over her body and gave the illusion that she was lit from within. Looking at her, glowing like she was, made him want nothing more than to touch her, to absorb some of that glow, and take it in.
He let his kisses drift further down her chest. She tasted so good that it was hard to go slow and stay gentle. His impulses were driving him toward throwing her down on the bed and ravaging her.
Yet another, stronger impulse reveled in the way that it felt to go slow and connect with her, to use the way he touched her and kissed her to express how he felt about her deep inside. That was the impulse he nurtured and gave into. That was the true desire of his heart.
He captured one nipple in his mouth and swirled his tongue around it. He heard a deep, desperate moan escape from her throat as her head dropped back. He wrapped his arms around her waist as he stroked that sensitive nub. He had to, her muscles were turning to jelly with every flick of the hard tip with his tongue.
As much of a turn on as her naked body was, he thought that her reaction to what he was doing to her might just be the sexiest thing of all. When he felt her collapse a little in his arms as he suckled her breast, his erection jumped in his pants, more than it had at any single moment of the night.
Fuck. She was so responsive to him and he couldn’t get enough of it.
He moved his head over to her other nipple, and when it was firmly enveloped in his hot mouth, he felt it grow and harden against his tongue.
He loved the way her body responded to his touch. It was like an addiction, trying to provoke those responses, and he had zero desire to ever be free of that particular monkey on his back. No, this was a sweet addiction that he’d be happy to be in the grip of until the end of his days. No rehab required.
As he moved his kisses further down her taut belly, he pushed the rest of her clothes off of her sweet curves until she was wearing nothing. Her skin was covered in the moonlight that gave her that ethereal glow, and Axel was sure that he’d never seen her look more beautiful.
He loved the way she trembled at his every touch. As lovely as she looked when her muscles were still and placid, that beauty was dialed up tenfold when she shook like a falling leaf with every stroke of his fingertips.
He bent down suddenly and scooped her up into his arms. Her eyes widened and she squealed a little in surprise, which caused his gut to clench in anticipation.
Of course, it caused other parts of his body to clench, as well. But that seemed to be par for the course with her—every single thing she did caused his dick to twitch.
He leaned down and kissed her tenderly as he carried her to the bed and laid her down on it as gently as he possibly could. Even though it was a soft mattress, his protective instincts still drove him to give her the softest landing that he could provide.
As that phrase crossed his thoughts, he recognized the rightness of it.
Yeah. Give her the softest landing I can provide.
Thinking about those words in a more abstract sense made him realize that they were a pretty damn good way of expressing what he believed his new purpose in life was.
No matter what the situation, he’d do everything in his power to soften her landing. That was now his goal, every single day, forever.
When he had her fully settled on the bed, he climbed up and planted his knees between her thighs. His legs were so muscular that they spread her legs apart a little more just by their presence there, and he stopped for a moment, struck breathless by the sight of her, glistening and spread out for him.
He kissed his way down her belly even more quickly and frantically than before, the fire of his hunger stoked all the way up to a raging inferno by the sight of how wet she was. Damn, he just couldn’t wait to taste her.
As his mouth trailed closer to her core, he ran his fingertips lightly up and down her inner thighs. She moaned and tangled her fingers in his hair, pushing him forward.
“Oh, God, stop teasing me,” she gasped. “I can’t take it. Please. I need to feel you.”
He looked up and met her eyes, a small, teasing half smile playing on the corner of his lips. “Well, since you said please,” he growled low in his throat, his voice husky with lust, and then he covered every soaking wet inch of her with his mouth.
* * *
Brynn couldn’t believe how much her life had changed in such a short time. In fact, it wouldn’t have totally surprised her if her eyes popped open and she realized that all of this had been a dream. That Axel was the product of her nighttime neurons firing during REM sleep, conjuring up the perfect man to step out of her romance novels and into her backyard.
And into other places, as well.
It was just that it all seemed too good to be true. He seemed too good to be true. If she’d read about him in the pages of one of her favorite books, she would’ve swooned and wished men like him actually existed in real life, all the while mourning the fact that they didn’t.
She shifted her gaze down, watching through lust-hazy eyes as his head moved between her legs. Her hands moved in his hair, then slid down over his muscular shoulders, her fingernails digging into the strong, rippling muscles of his back.
She breathed a sigh of bone-deep contentment. Oh, no. He was real, all right. One-hundred percent real, and one-hundred percent hers. And life just didn’t get much better than that.
Her body shuddered under the movement of his tongue between her legs, the tremors picking up in speed and intensity as his strokes picked up their rhythm. Soon, her muscles were trembling so hard that it felt like she’d lost all control of them.
One of her legs flung itself up, seemingly of its own accord, and wrapped around Axel’s neck. She felt as if her body was acting on instinct, following a pattern that had been written deep in her DNA, one that directed her to one goal: to get as close to him as possible.
If she could’ve climbed up inside of him somehow, she would’ve. It didn’t matter what she had to do, everything in her being was telling her that they needed to become one, and she had to do whatever it took to make that happen.
She raised her hips to press herself tighter into his mouth and felt the increased pressure of his hot tongue on her tender flesh. It sent waves of pleasure rocketing through her body and she felt the tremulous beginnings of a climax building deep within her belly.
Cresting that peak while he still covered her most intimate parts with his mouth was a deep sort of vulnerability and she’d never been able to achieve it with anyone but him. She trusted him so completely. Even when she wasn’t sure she did, deep down she knew that was really just fear talking. Fear of what she’d be risking. But he was worth it.
And, of course, she loved him, but love was somehow not quite as rare a gift as trust. She knew how lucky she was to have both, and how lucky she was to have a man in her life that was worthy of both.
The climax that had been building deep within her core suddenly came to a head, crashing over her with waves that were too powerful to resist. They carried her away on the tide of pleasure.
She heard a voice screaming his name and barely even recognized it as her own; it was so full of abandon and desperation.
Before she’d met him, before he’d come into her life and made it so complete by showing her that she had someone to lean on, she could’ve never imagined losing her inhibitions so completely. She’d always held onto them with an iron fist and it felt so freeing to let them slip away in the heat of ecstasy.
Her entire body shook as the orgasm washed over her, taking complete control of her. She wasn’t in charge of either her physical self or her consciousness right then, and she wouldn’t have had it any other way. Half of the pleasure that she felt in that moment came from the letting go.
And that’s exactly what she did. All thoughts were lost as stars spun behind her eyes as she crested the ultimate peak. She had no worries in that moment. Nothing from “real life” intruded. There was nothing but Axel and the pleasure he was giving her, and the only thing she felt that could even rival the physical sensations he was sending through her was gratitude. Not just for the orgasm, although it was freaking awesome, but for the freedom to surrender herself to it because she knew that she could depend on him. That was so sweet and so rare, and she would never take it for granted. Not ever.
When she finally opened her eyes and saw clearly again, the first thing she saw was his face, smiling up at her. She grinned back. “Wow. I could get used to this.”
He rubbed his thumb in small circles on her hip. “Believe me, baby. That’s my goal. I want to be here, right here, for the rest of our lives.”
Tears sprang to her eyes, surprising her. Emotions that she’d locked down for so long gushed out like a flood now that the gates had been opened. She decided to just let it happen, to appreciate it for what it was: love, in all of its many forms.
Gratitude. Pleasure. Freedom. Trust. Yep, those were all just different sides of the same phenomenon.
Love.
“I have one condition.”
He grinned, even chuckled a little. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Well, I believe in equality. And if I am going to be naked whenever we’re alone, I think it’s only fair that you are, too.”
A broad smile spread on his face as he laughed and warmth spread through her. She loved the sound of his laugh, especially when she was the one that had made him laugh like that. It always had a certain underlying quality to it, like she’d taken him by surprise and it was the most adorable thing he’d ever seen in his life. She just couldn’t get enough of it.
He jumped up from bed and started stripping off his clothes at record speed. His grin never disappeared as he said, “You drive a hard bargain, but I will agree to that condition.”
In a few seconds, he was completely naked. Not only that, he’d fished a condom out of his wallet, unwrapped it, and unrolled it onto his truly impressive erection.
“Wow, I’m not the only one with a hard bargain,” she said. She was joking, but there was actually awe behind her words. “That is…wow.”
He leaned down and kissed her. “It’s because of you. Because I’m damn desperate to be inside you,” he explained, the raw rasp in his voice making her inner walls ache to be invaded by him.
She leaned back, running her fingers down the ridges of his muscular chest as he positioned himself over her. She spread her legs, every bit as eager to feel him in her as he was to enter her.
When he was poised at her opening, he paused for a moment, stroked her hair, and looked into her eyes as gently as she could imagine. “You’re my world,” he breathed, and then thrust into her.
She raised her hips again and again to meet his thrusts, not knowing if the exquisite pleasure building in her belly was due more to the penetration or the way that amazing phrase kept replaying in her head.
You’re my world. You’re my world. You’re my world.
There was nothing else that could’ve made her feel more cherished, special, and loved in that moment. It was spectacular, and she felt the words (and the sentiment they represented) resonating through every cell in her body.
Axel scooped her up against his chest suddenly, his muscles clenching tight as he clutched her to him. She felt his entire body clench as he reached his climax, and she was right behind him.
Feeling him seize with pleasure was all it took for the swirling waves within her to carry her back up and over the crest. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her head in his neck and her body did the rest, riding out her release until the final spasms claimed her.
When their breathing had returned to normal, the sweat just starting to cool on their skin, they lay there in the bed together and he brushed her hair back from her face. The simple gesture, so basic yet so sweet and intimate, was the thing that let her know, finally and for sure, that yes – this was real. It wasn’t a fluke, or a one-night stand. This was the beginning of the rest of their lives.