CHAPTER TWELVE

BRYAN

“When you said we were going to get our laundry done, I was thinking a grimy old Laundromat,” she commented, her eyes taking in the space around her.

The laundry room at Marcus’ place was pretty much like the rest of the house. Massive. The laundry room alone was like a mini-Laundromat.

With three washers and three dryers, storage, drying racks, and everything you could think of that you would need to wash, dry, and fold laundry.

“This is the size of one,” he joked and looked at her hesitation.

“Yeah,” she agreed looking around as her hands tightened at the edge of her own laundry basket.

They’d showered and dressed, separately, after they had messed around on the couch. Of course, that wasn’t what he had wanted. If it had been up to him, he would have taken her into his bedroom and fucked her into next week, but he hadn’t. He couldn’t. Not yet. He wasn’t sure what he could do when it came to her, so he played it safe, suggesting they get ready to go do laundry and a swim at his brother’s place.

Her eyes dreamy and her demeanor relaxed and sated, she’d agreed easily. Leisurely kissing him. Maybe it had been the high of the moment, but he wasn’t going to question it. He wanted her with him and he wanted to give her an easy day. Especially since their morning had its own rocky start.

Their kissing had started to get hotter and less leisurely. She had tried to tempt him to take it further, but he stopped it. He needed to be clear-headed, and laundry with a side of swimming wouldn’t hurt. He’d stood both of them up and ordered her to get ready, laughing when she had pouted. Now, they were at his brother’s place and she had a strange look on her face.

“Hey, you okay?” He stroked her cheek and watched her eyes meet his, and breathing became a little harder to do when something in his chest pierced him.

“You sure this is okay? I mean, this is your brother’s place. Shouldn’t we have asked him or—”

“Marcus is back from shooting and is at Grace’s house. That’s where they usually are,” he explained, trying to make her feel at ease. “Garrett is wherever Garrett hangs out, and Donnie is working. Donnie is always working. We’re fine. This is like home.”

“Your old home,” she pointed out, and he tilted his head. “Not mine. I’m just not sure—“

“Stop thinking. Now, let’s get this started, so I can see that hot bikini you’re hiding under there,” he told her with a wink, looking at the black strings poking out around her neck from beneath her heather grey tank top that had been teasing him since she had stepped out of the bathroom.

Closing the space, he held on to her waist, loving the way her hips flared out just enough for him to hold on to her. He saw the way his nearness affected her. It drove him to push her further. His lips on hers, he gave her a gentle kiss. “Please,” he asked gently and felt her sigh.

“Only because you said please,” she mumbled, her cheeks a little pink, but it was the soft smile she gifted him with that made his heart contract.

Mine. There was that damn word again, and it didn’t bother him. He was actually starting to like the idea of her being his. Now, if only she would agree once she knew the truth about him.

They sorted through their laundry while he unashamedly stole glances at her colorful underwear. Satin, lace, silk, cotton. Each piece she threw into her pile created an image and engrained itself into his brain.

When they were done, he grabbed them a couple of drinks and they headed out with towels in hand to his brother’s sprawling backyard. Everything was a luscious green and meticulously trimmed. She looked at everything around them with wide eyes.

“Wow,” she whispered as they passed the basketball court and finally reached the cast iron gates to the huge pool. “You’re sure this is okay?” she asked again, looking a little uncomfortable.

He closed the gate behind him. “Definitely. My brother wouldn’t care,” he shared honestly. They walked to the lounging chairs, where she set her bag down.

“You really weren’t kidding that your brother is Marcus Wright, huh?”

“Nope.” He smirked at how she looked at him. He could see she was trying to see the similarity between the two.

“Garrett looks more like him,” she deduced. He wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or herself. He was about to ask if that was a good or bad thing when she pulled her shirt over her head and left him stunned silent.

It felt like time stilled, moving in slow motion, as his eyes drank in the way her hands moved to the waistband of her olive-green shorts. Like magic, she flicked the top button undone and then the next, pulling her shorts down over her hips.

“Pervert,” she grumbled, and his eyes roamed their way back up to her face in a leisurely pace.

Her eyes in the bright sun twinkled back at him with amusement and mischief. He wanted that look and every other one she had given him, and any she hadn’t yet. He wanted and needed it like he knew he needed his lungs to breathe. That’s when reality struck like a lightning bolt shooting him right through the chest, striking him in the center of his soul.

She was it for him.

She was his.

VALERIE

I could see the wheels turning in his head and had no idea where his thoughts were.

“Hey, old man, you having a stroke?” I asked half-jokingly, wondering what was going on with him. He gave his head a slight shake and playfully scowled.

“Who you calling an old man?”

“Where did you go right now?” I couldn’t help but ask, wondering what thoughts had caused that look on his face.

He opened his mouth. “Val—“ But before he said anything, a loud whistle distracted us, turning our attention toward the house. I heard him curse under his breath and had to fight from giggling as I watched Garrett walk toward us.

Bryan was tall, but Garrett was taller and broader. There was an edge to him that I couldn’t put my finger on, but even then, he didn’t frighten me. I was surprisingly comfortable around him.

“I came home and both machines are running, and I sure as shit know it’s not Donnie doing laundry,” Garrett said, turning to look at me. “The asshole even has his boxers dry-cleaned,” he clarified, and I heard Bryan chuckle. “Then, to my delight, I saw colorful and very pretty unmentionables inside of a hamper,” he continued, and my cheeks warmed over. His dark eyes were full of mischief. “So I knew whatever burglar came here had to be fucking cute,” Garrett finished with laughter in his voice, and Bryan stood in front of me.

“Well, thank you, Garett. I have been complimented on my boxer brief collection before,” he sarcastically told his brother. I pressed my lips together, wondering why Bryan’s caveman side was showing.

Garrett smiled cockily, and I lost the fight with my laughter.

“Hey, doll face.” Garrett smirked, and I nodded at him.

“Garrett.” I smiled, knowing he was just trying to push Bryan’s buttons, and by the way Bryan stood to his full height, his shoulders broader, Garrett had succeeded.

“You guys here for a while?”

“Yep,” Bryan answered, and I wondered again if we should be here.

“Cool. I’ll start lunch in an hour,” Garrett told us, and I saw Bryan’s shoulders lower in relief.

“Thanks, bro.” His tone gentled noticeably, and I liked that about him. He knew his brother was just doing his older-brother duties of picking on the youngest.

“I’m gonna head back in. It’s too fucking hot for me. Reminds me of the sandbox. See you later. Val…”

“Yeah?”

“Make sure this dimwit helps put sunblock on you. If not, I’ll be inside, and just saying, babe, my hands are bigger.” My cheeks went full on hot and I nodded on a nervous giggle.

“Fucking dick,” Bryan muttered under his breath when Garrett finally disappeared from sight.

“You sure we’re okay here? I mean, we could—“

“Sit down,” he weirdly ordered, and my nipples stood at attention, warmth pooling at my belly and moving south.

“What?”

“Sunblock,” he shared, but I took in the sight of him. Standing tall, his hands clenching.

“Bryan…” I started to argue, but he took a large step forward, hooking my waist, pulling me close.

“I need to touch you.”

“What?” I whispered, my heartbeat doubling. God, he was going to give me a heart condition.

“I need to touch you, Blondie.”

“But—”

“Sunblock. I’ll keep it PG-13, baby.”

“Oh.”

“Then you put it on me. Yeah?” He licked his lips, and I stepped up on my tiptoes, my lips on his, tingling with the biggest need to kiss him. The idea of rubbing sunblock all over his body made me squirm and clench my legs together.

“Bryan,” I breathed out. He pressed his eyes shut tight at my whisper.

“Love your tits, babe, but I swear I’m about to embarrass myself right here in front of you if you keep pressing your sweet rack against me.”

“Really?” I gasped, feeling more turned on and highly empowered.

“Shit. I knew I should have rubbed one out before we left,” he muttered, and my eyes widened.

“I’d pay to watch that,” I blurted without thinking. His forehead landed on mine, pressing close.

“Let’s go to my room,” he suggested. The thoughts of going into his bedroom with him, any space with a floor, I wasn’t picky, made me wet. Or wetter, as the case might be.

“Bryan…” I whispered breathlessly, and he growled before pulling away and looking up at the sky.

“You make it impossible for me to control myself,” he groaned, looking over my shoulder toward the water.

“I’m not doing anything remotely sexy, handsome,” I pointed out. His eyes met mine. They were intense and honest and pinned me to the ground.

“You breathing gives me a hard-on,” he muttered. It was like a shot to the heart.

“That’s crazy!” I chuckled nervously. There was something big brewing between us, and the possibilities of what it was were too beautiful for me to let myself dream about.

“It’s the truth. Come on, you need sunblock before you burn in this heat.” I looked at him, and something about his words and the way he was looking at me made me feel powerful and beautiful.

I glanced at Bryan from over my shoulder. His big, strong hands were already holding a bottle of sunblock. “Where do you want me?” I asked, licking my lips, feeling his eyes on them like a touch, and I couldn’t help but shiver.

Never in my life had I ever been as turned on as I was around him. Around him, I felt like a goddess.

“Sit that pretty ass down.” His voice was so low it made me clench. Sitting down on the lounger, moving my things to the floor, I felt his body lean in close behind me. I wanted to look back at him, but I was afraid that if I did, I’d end up in his room.

I expected to feel his hands on me immediately. Instead, his breath fanned over my shoulder, and I couldn’t help but turn toward it, swallowing hard, every sensation more heightened than the last. We might have been outside under the sun, but it was his heat I felt and the scent of his skin that enveloped me. His heat and scent under the sun could have been bottled up and sold as an extremely potent aphrodisiac.

Without the spell being broken, his hands were at my elbows, moving their way upward. Kneading and rubbing the sunblock into my skin with just the perfect amount of pressure. I relaxed into his touch, the scent of sunblock and summer mixed together, and I couldn’t help but tip my head forward, chin touching my chest, as he rubbed the lotion into my skin.

His lips were at my ear, his body heat radiating comfortably against my back. “Is this okay?”

“Perfect,” I whispered, and his hands powered through. I couldn’t stop the sounds that escaped. I’d never had anyone touch me like he was and melted right into it. Relaxing into the strength of his hands.

“Your skin’s so soft,” he murmured, and my breathing shuddered.

My hands felt too empty; the need to touch him was unstoppable. When I turned fully, his hands instinctively moved to my waist, while mine held his face. His eyes locked on mine. I studied him for a moment, noting how his skin was turning pink beneath the sun, and took the bottle of sunblock from him. Putting some in my hands, I gently caressed his face, his ears, his corded neck.

“You’re killing me, Blondie.” His hands rubbed the outsides of my thighs. Both of us touching one another, the anticipation growing thick.

“We can’t do this here,” I spoke, breaking the intimate moment, knowing that I didn’t have to clarify what I meant and knowing that whatever was brewing between us was inevitable.

“Let’s go home.” His immediate suggestion almost sounded like a plea, and I laughed, all while thinking I liked us going home.

Home. Together.

“Our laundry.” I shook my head.

“Right.” His eyes fixed on my face. “We should go for a swim, then.”

“Will you behave?” I asked, raising an eyebrow before my eyes got distracted by the biceps I was touching.

My hands rubbed in the bit of lotion I had left, watching it disappear into the constellation of freckles he had. Who knew freckles could be sexy? His were.

“Kiss me, and I promise.”

“Promise what?” I playfully narrowed my eyes, and the boyish smile he gave me felt like a glimpse at a man not many saw.

“Kiss me, and I promise I’ll be good.”

“Good?” I asked, shaking my head, smirking back at him. “I bet you are.” The wink he gave me made me feel sexy and beautiful and important. How does he do that?

“Fine. Kiss me anywhere I want, and I promise to be good.”

“Anywhere, huh?” I asked skeptically, more than enjoying our flirty banter.

“Yeah.”

“You’re bad.”

“You just said you bet that I’m good.”

“Where is this kiss going to be?” I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.

“Here.” He lifted my hand, the tips on my pointer finger in his, moving up, landing just on the corner of his lips. “Kiss me here,” he ordered, his voice slightly smoky.

Swallowing hard, I licked my lips. My heart was beating faster than a hummingbird’s in my chest as I leaned forward, reaching my requested destination. Every centimeter of my skin tingled and felt alive when my lips touched the corner of his lips just as he turned so that our mouths touched. I closed my eyes.

I felt the smile playing on his lips just as he took my lower one between his. Tenderly. Gently. So much that breathing seemed almost impossible. The kiss stayed that way for what felt like forever and a blink of an eye at the same time. He pulled away. Our eyes opened lazily, and we both blinked slowly as his thumb grazed my chin.

“Like a first kiss. Every. Damn. Time,” he uttered. I had to blink away unexpected tears, a flurry of emotions swirling inside of me.

“Can we go swimming now?” I asked, trying to avoid whatever I was feeling, and I knew he saw it. Thankfully, he was gracious enough to let it go.

“Hey, what’s that?” He frowned behind me, and I turned, but there was nothing. When I turned back to look at him, he was grinning, his grey-blue eyes sparkling. Before I knew it, I was in his embrace, my legs wrapped around his waist. I giggled.

“What are you—“ I didn’t get to finish asking as a girly squeal escaped from deep inside me right before we hit the cool water.