Chapter 31
The yellow metal arm lifted as soon as I swiped my card at the entrance of the parking garage at Mitchell Enterprises. Instead of Garrett’s usual sleek black Porsche Carrera, a black-on-black motorcycle was parked next to the elevator. I wheeled in beside the beastly piece of machinery. It fit him, awakening the senses, radiating raw sexiness—like the man himself, powerful and confident.
God, I’d missed him.
His touch.
His soft, sinful kisses.
His deliciously wicked kisses.
Inside the elevator, the same card changed the small red light to green to signal access to the top floor. My heart slammed against my chest and my pulse pounded in my ears. I’d worked so hard to forget him, to forget his touch and how much I loved him.
I stepped out of the car, and the sound of my heels against the marble echoed down the dim hallway in front of Greta’s desk. The doors were closed to both mine and Garrett’s offices.
I took a brief moment to look around. I’d missed being there, and hot tears pricked my eyes. It’s crazy how life changes in the blink of an eye. A month before, I’d been living a simple life, and now I marched toward a door that could complicate the hell out of it.
Pushing open the door to his darkened office, his scent washed over me, and I stood there breathing it in for a moment. It sent tingles down my spine, all the way to the tips of my toes.
It was sinful, wicked, and heavenly all at the same time.
I took in another deep intoxicating inhalation before making my way to the heavy mahogany door to his penthouse. I’d never been inside, and Greta’s brief description hadn’t even come close to capturing the luxury of it. A glowing lamp sat on table beside a cream sofa, offering enough light to see how beautiful the room really was.
To the right, there was a nicely sized bar with an assortment of bottles and crystal containers, and to the left, a gourmet kitchen with white cabinets and black granite. I shook my head at his impeccable taste.
I crept down the small hallway in the too-quiet room, careful not to make a sound in case he was asleep. With a trembling hand, I turned the knob and opened the door.
He wasn’t there.
The pristinely made bed hadn’t been slept in.
“That’s great…just freaking great,” I mumbled.
Maybe it was a sign.
Maybe it had just been an idiotic idea.
Walking like a robot, I eased down on the bed, lost in emotion. One minute I was rubbing my hand across the softness of the dark gray comforter, the next I lay my head against the pillow and curled up on my side, feeling scared and relaxed all at the same time.
I wasn’t afraid of loving him; I was afraid he wanted me but didn’t love me. He’d made me feel how much he wanted and missed me, and thoughts of how much I loved being in his arms relaxed me.
He’d never said he loved me, but the look in his eyes when he’d walked away had said he felt something deep for me. I saw the regret of his mistake.
I closed my eyes in the cool darkness, remembering the way his lips had scorched my skin, the way he’d worshiped my body, the way he could hypnotize me with his eyes. I relived the memories of our ‘date’, dancing to music on the shore in clothes meant for a formal night though we were in the middle of nowhere underneath an audience of twinkling stars and a blue moon. I bit back the smile tugging my lips. That night had been the best night of my life, so comfortable and relaxed.
“What are you doing Brooke?” His voice sounded husky and demanding.
Startled, I sat straight up. “Looking for you.”
“You’re in my bed.” It wasn’t a question, more like a sultry, hungry growl.
Damn, he was hot, wearing jeans, a black polo, and black leather boots.
“Yes…”
He moved toward me like a predator, almost warrior-like. In the darkness, I couldn’t make out his expression, but I felt the burn from his appraising gaze, the heat permeating the air.
Standing beside the bed, he cupped the sides of my face. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”
I swallowed hard and gave him a nervous smile.
It was the moment of truth.
“I missed you. Plus, I wanted to personally thank you for the flowers. They were beautiful.”
He brushed his thumbs across my skin and my flesh tingled. His touch did me in, and I turned my head slightly to press a kiss to the palm of his left hand.
“You are so gorgeous,” he said with a groan.
I arched upward, clutching the fabric covering his chest, and pulled him down to me while crawling up on my knees. My pulse raced as he devoured me for endless seconds before kissing me hard and fierce. I pulled at his shirt eagerly, deepening the needy, controlling kiss as he plunged his tongue inside my inviting mouth.
We frantically tugged his shirt over his head then he grasped the fabric of my blush pink blouse, and in a masterful move, the buttons scattered across the room. I wildly yanked at the snap at the waist of my black dress pants.
“I want to own your perfect body and fuck you until you want to own me too,” he whispered against my lips.
“I’m yours to own.”
He eased the straps of my bra down my shoulders and unfastened the clasp in the back. In a flash, all of my clothes were scattered about the room, and he laid me down carefully on the mattress.
Before joining me, he reached over, turning off the lamp, and then he climbed over me, rising up on his elbows. He surveyed my body then trailed his tongue down my skin, inching his way to kneeling between my legs.
I slid my hands down his waist to his hips, holding him tight and arching my body upward. He unbuttoned his jeans and lowered the zipper as I helped tug them down his legs. Writhing in anticipation, his hardness sprang free and I wrapped my hand around him, gliding up and down his velvety, veined arousal. I watched his lust-filled eyes darken and sweep over my breasts before cupping them with a greedy touch.
Rubbing my nipples between his fingers, he leaned in, flicking his tongue over one of the beaded nubs until all the thoughts in my brain blurred.
I continued stroking him, and his chest heaved in and out as he let out a deep throaty groan. “Damn, that feels so good.”
My mouth watered, and my eyes locked on his hard shaft. “Make love to me, Garrett.”
Hovering his naked weight over me, he leaned down and kissed me hard. My body eased into the bed with him following while our tongues dueled an erotic duet. It was as if he claimed and owned me in that moment, and I made sure he knew I claimed and owned him back.
He was mine, and I wasn’t letting go.
He trailed his finger through my crevice, and I whimpered for more, in a frenzy.
“You’re always so wet for me.”
Arching my hips upward, I begged, “Please, Garrett, take me.”
He pressed the tip of his hardness against my slit, rubbing it back and forth until I heard my own voice begging him for more in a ragged wail.
He slid his hard length all the way in and I let out a loud pleasured moan. “Oh my God, yes.”
“You’re so tight, like you were made for me.” He eased out easy and slow then plunged into me harder, sinking all the way to the hilt.
He lowered his mouth to mine while he thrust forward in a slow rhythm, elbows framing my head. It was as if he were trying to make it last forever, and my legs wrapped around his hips, meeting him in a hard, accepting thrust.
Our kiss broke, and I ground out, “Harder. Take me, Garrett.”
His eyes locked on mine, and there was something predatory in them as he buried himself deep inside with hard thrusts, executing my plea.
I moaned, begging unmercifully for more. “I’ve missed this. I love how you feel inside me. Oh, God, I’ve missed this.”
It was as if my words poured gasoline on a fire and he drove into me harder, again and again. I couldn’t hold back the explosion of fireworks as I plunged over the edge. Pleasure ripped through every cell in my body, and I cried out his name. My body bucked beneath him in wild acceptance as he gave me everything he had to give.
He shuddered and buried his face into my neck, letting out a hoarse groan. It took several seconds before his movements stilled, and he lay trembling on top of me. I circled my arms around his neck and held tight until my breathing slowed, and I knew I’d never be able to walk out of his life.
If he ever pushed me out, my heart would stay; it belonged to him.
The clock stopped.
The earth’s motion ceased.
No one in the world existed except us.
He playfully bit the lobe of my ear then licked the place on my neck that he knew drove me wild, and I pulled at the hair on the back of his head.
“I never expected you to come, let alone find you spread out on my bed like a fucking gift, a fucking perfect gift I don’t deserve.”
“I couldn’t stay away.”
“I’m so sorry. My words will never take back all the wrong that I did. With everything in me, if I could go back in time, I would take it all back. I fought my feelings for you, thought I was imagining them. I blamed it on needing to fuck you. I thought if I could fuck you once, I’d have my fill and it would be over. I was a fool.”
“I forgive you.”
He shifted to his side and propped up on his elbow. “But the big question is, do you trust me?”
“I want to, but I’m not sure I’m there yet.”
He nodded slowly. “I deserve that answer. I’ll win your trust again. If it takes a million years, I swear I’ll prove to you who I really am. Promise me you’ll stick around and give me the chance to show you I’m not that guy who fucked you over.”
His mouth was the slightest breath away, and I tilted my lips to softly kiss his. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
He pulled me flush against him and let out a sigh in my hair. “Now that I have you back, I’m never letting you go.”
“You’re going to have to. It’s getting late, and I need to go home.”
“Stay with me tonight.”
I stretched and reached for my phone. “It’s nearly midnight, and I have to work tomorrow.”
“You’re still an employee here.”
I rolled my eyes. “No. I’m not coming back to work for you.”
“I wonder what your current employer would say if they knew you bailed without giving proper notice, and last we heard you were on a leave of absence for a family emergency?” He winked and playfully slapped my butt.
I rolled out of bed and gathered my clothes. Holding up the demolished blouse, I frowned. “Looks like I’ll be wearing one of your shirts home tonight.”
“Stay. I’ll take you home in the morning. I want us to sleep together tonight.”
“I can’t, plus you’re on your bike. I saw the beastly thing in the garage.”
“It will be a ride you won’t soon forget—you’ll see.”
I slipped on my lacy black panties and felt his eyes on me as I drew my pants up my thighs. He sauntered over to his closet and tossed me a baby blue polo.
“I don’t want you to go.”
“All of my things are at home. I wasn’t planning on this, but then I had dinner with Greta and Jen—my dad.” I left out the part about La Amory; that was a subject that would wait until the next day.
He raised his brows and nodded his head in approval. “I’m happy for you, Brooke. Jennings will be a great dad.”
“Did you know he and Greta are dating?” I pulled the shirt over my head, tugging my hair out of the collar.
“Yeah. I saw that shit coming for a while. She all but humped his leg every time he came by, and I wondered how long it was going to take him to notice her.”
“Ewww, don’t talk about that. Now that he’s my dad, I don’t want to have a visual.”
“You might not want to think about them, but you know what they did tonight…like a couple of bunnies.”
I playfully pushed at his chest and rolled my eyes. “Stop it.”
There was something in the way he looked into my eyes, so full of longing and desperation to stay with me. I knew the look because I felt the same way.
“Come home with me. Stay the night at my place,” I said.
He pulled his face up and looked at me with a wide smile, already reaching for his pants.