Ten
“Are you sure she’s breathing? Get a mirror,” Harper whispered.
“She’s breathing,” Kayla said. “She’s just exhausted.”
“Should we let her sleep? I kind of think we need to let her sleep,” Julianne commented.
Slowly, Natalie opened her eyes and blinked her friends into focus. “How can a person sleep when there are three people hovering over her and not one of them is whispering?” she grumbled.
“There’s our little ray of sunshine!” Harper said with a big grin as she helped Natalie sit up. “We tried using our inside voices, but it turns out we don’t have those.”
Shockingly, that made Natalie smile. “I can believe that.”
“We have food,” Julianne said. “I stopped at the deli around the corner and got sandwiches and chips and brownies. Kayla has the wine.”
“You can’t eat that stuff,” Natalie said and then yawned. “You’re getting married. Brides aren’t allowed to eat good food. They have to fit into their gowns.”
“I burn off about a pound a day teaching classes,” Julianne said. “Trust me. I’m good. I can eat this stuff and if you’re not careful, I’ll eat your portion too and not even feel bad about it.”
“I’ll arm wrestle you for her share of the brownies,” Kayla said and they all laughed. “Come on. Food’s on the table.”
Frowning, Natalie watched as the three of them walked away and over to the kitchen table. That was it? They weren’t going to hug her? Let her cry? Listen to how upset she was?
Kicking the blanket aside, she stood up and glared at them.
“Um…excuse me,” she snapped and was pleased when they all stopped what they were doing to look at her. “In case no one noticed, I’m kind of in crisis mode here!”
“We know,” Julianne replied. “That’s why we’re here.”
“With food,” Harper added.
“That’s kind of how this works,” Kayla said.
Was it? Honestly, Natalie had no idea. She’d never done…this…before. She’d never had her life fall apart to the point where she essentially ran away from home. But if this was what she was supposed to do then…okay. With a shrug, she walked over to the table and sat down. The girls all fussed around her – setting up food, pouring wine. When they all sat down, they looked at her.
It was a little unnerving.
Was she supposed to talk now?
“Before you start,” Kayla said, “you should know that I called Julianne this morning and told her everything that you said to me. Maybe it wasn’t my place, but I thought she should know.”
“Oh…well…”
“And then I called Harper,” Julianne admitted. “And…you know…told her everything.”
“Okay…”
“I suggested the brownies,” Harper said with a smile.
Natalie burst into tears.
Julianne and Kayla both looked at Harper. “What? What did I do? I was trying to make her smile!”
“And yet…she’s crying right now,” Julianne pointed out. “Good job.” Then she walked around the table and bent down to hug her crying friend. “It’s okay, Nat. Let it out. We’re not trying to make light of your situation; I swear.”
Natalie shook her head and gently pushed Julianne away. “I’m just…I don’t know…” She looked up at the three of them sadly. “I don’t even know what I’m trying to say!”
And she started crying again.
And for a few minutes, they let her.
“Okay, I think you need something to eat,” Kayla finally said. “You’re going to get dehydrated if you keep crying like that and it’s not good for you.” She pushed a plate with a sandwich and chips toward her. “Trust me. Food helps.”
Natalie took several deep breaths and forced herself to focus on the food in front of her. Her stomach growled loudly and she knew she needed to eat. When she looked up, Kayla, Julianne and Harper were all staring at her. Clearly no one was going to eat until she took her first bite so…
And sure enough, as soon as she started to chew, they all picked up their sandwiches and started to eat.
Surprisingly, it tasted good – she didn’t think she’d be able to appreciate anything right now because, for the most part, she felt numb. She just assumed her taste buds would be too.
“Where’s your phone?” Julianne asked after a few silent bites.
“In my purse,” Natalie replied. “But it’s turned off.”
“I figured that,” Julianne replied as she stood. Then she walked over to where Natalie had dropped her bags and pulled out her cell phone. Back at the table, she turned it on.
“What are you doing?” Natalie cried.
Julianne gave her a patient smile. “We need to know if Jayce tried to call or text you or…anything. You don’t have to answer any of those things, but I think we need to know what’s going on.”
Beside her, Julianne’s phone buzzed with an incoming text. She swiped the screen, read the message and smiled. Looking back up at Natalie, she said, “Your husband just showed up at my house. Gavin’s talking to him.”
“He is?” she squeaked. “What is he saying?”
“I don’t know yet. All Gavin said was that Jayce was there so…we have to wait.”
And dammit, she wanted to know if he’d called or texted her but was too embarrassed to ask. After all, when a woman leaves her husband in the middle of the night, wakes up a friend for a place to stay and then makes all of her other friends come and console her, she shouldn’t feel so desperate for any word from the rat bastard.
Should she?
“You have six missed calls and…twelve texts from him,” Julianne said mildly. “I haven’t read any of them. All I can see are the notifications and I’m assuming they’re from him.”
Anxiously, Natalie looked at each of them. “What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to read them?” She paused. “And did he…did he leave any messages?”
Julianne looked down at the phone again and nodded. “Six of them.”
Oh boy.
“If you want, you can go inside to my room and listen to them in private,” Kayla suggested. “But after you eat. I think you’re going to need a little sustenance in your belly for this.”
She nodded in agreement and picked up her sandwich again. Smiling, she realized that Julianne had ordered her favorite – turkey and Swiss with bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. It was her “cheat” sandwich – the kind she only allowed herself when she didn’t have to worry about fitting into a specific dress or outfit. It was so good and exactly what she needed right now.
Looking around the table, she reached for the bottle of wine. It seemed an odd combination but for right now, it worked. She poured herself a glass – a large glass – and took an equally large sip.
“Pace yourself,” Harper said, taking the glass from her hand. “You haven’t eaten nearly enough to justify that yet.”
Natalie was about to pick up her sandwich when she paused. “So everyone knows why I’m here,” she began and looked up at them. “Was I wrong to leave? Am I overreacting?”
“Nat, you’re the only one who can answer that,” Julianne said. “If you were upset to the point that you packed a bag, then I don’t think you were wrong. You’re normally very even-tempered. But you have to ask yourself what you hope to accomplish by doing this. Are you looking to just make Jayce fall in line or are you wanting to go to therapy…?”
“Or…?” Natalie prompted, because she knew there was more.
“Or…are you ready to walk away from your marriage?” Julianne asked quietly.
“You don’t have to have the answer to that right now,” Kayla quickly interjected. “It’s okay if you don’t know.”
“But I should know,” Natalie argued. “I should know what it is I want, otherwise…what am I fighting for?” She looked at all of them. “Right?”
“You should take some time, Nat,” Kayla repeated. “You don’t want to make a rash decision that you’ll end up regretting.”
And she knew Kayla was speaking from experience.
They went back to eating and they encouraged Natalie to talk about how she was feeling and what she was thinking. While it felt good to get it all off of her chest, she was dying to know what Jayce’s response was to finding her gone.
What did his texts say?
What did his voicemails say?
Before she knew it, her sandwich was finished, her chips were gone and her wine glass was empty.
Kayla took Natalie’s plate away and put a brownie in front of her. “Good girl. Now, finish that and then you can have your phone. If you want it.”
Seemed fair, she thought and forced herself not to dive across the table to grab it. She didn’t – clearly her friends were a little more familiar with the rules and mandates of how to help a friend through a breakup – and instead she wolfed down her brownie.
Harper poured her a fresh glass of wine.
Julianne handed her the phone.
And Kayla stood by the bedroom door.
“Take all the time you need and holler if you need us.”
It took Natalie a solid five minutes before she could force herself to click on her voicemail app to listen to Jayce’s first message.
“Natalie! Where are you? What the hell’s going on? Call me!”
Delete.
“Come on, Nat. What is the deal with this? Is this some sort of game? Where the hell are you?”
Delete.
Loud sigh. “Natalie, this is ridiculous and childish. Answer your damn phone! Come on now! I’m not kidding!”
Delete.
“Okay, I get it. You’re upset.” He sighed. “Just…come home and we’ll talk, okay? Please?”
Delete.
“Fuck this. It’s not like you would have gone far. I’m not wasting my whole day like this. You’re probably at Julianne’s and I’m on my way.”
Delete.
She sat on the corner of Kayla’s bed trembling.
Not once did he ask if she was okay.
Every message held a varying degree of anger.
And it was like listening to a stranger.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before reading the texts. Tears rolled down her face as she scrolled and saw that they were basically the same messages she’d just listened to.
There were no hearts or smiley faces like they usually sent to each other.
She could almost hear his angry voice as she read them.
With a sigh, she turned off the phone and placed it on Kayla’s bed.
And simply sat there and wondered what she was supposed to do now.
****
“She’s been in there a really long time.”
“Should we check on her?”
“Maybe she needs a little time to process it all.”
“I didn’t hear her talking so I’m guessing she didn’t call him.”
“Is he still at your place, Jules?” Harper asked. “Any updates from Gavin?”
“I’m trying to be patient and not call but…I can’t imagine Jayce is still there. It’s been…what…an hour? More?”
“A little more,” Kayla said warily. “Maybe just text him and see if he responds with anything.”
“One step ahead of you,” Julianne said as she typed out a message. Then she put her phone down and looked at them. “And now we wait.”
They all sat on Kayla’s sofa, unsure of what to do with themselves. Should they be knocking on the door? Was it okay to let Natalie be? Could they talk about something else other than this situation?
“So here’s a question,” Kayla began. “What do we do now? I mean…is she going to stay here with me? Go home with you, Jules? I mean…how do I bring that up with her?”
“If you don’t want her here, I can take her home with me. If Jayce has been at my house all this time and sees she’s not there, I doubt he’d bother her.”
“Mmm…I don’t know. I just hate thinking of her sleeping on the couch like she was this morning. That had to suck,” Kayla said and stopped when her phone beeped with an incoming text. She walked over to her phone and saw it was from Adam. “I’ll be right back,” she said and stepped into the kitchen. It took her a minute to comprehend what she was reading. “Oh, shit…”
Inside, she could hear Harper and Julianne talking and decided to hang back for a minute and contemplate how she would respond to Adam.
“How long are we going to let Gavin deal with this on his own?” Harper asked.
“I have no idea. I wish he’d just respond – a thumbs up, an angry emoji or an SOS…something.”
“Do you want to go home and see what’s going on? If Jayce sees that you’re there and Natalie’s not with you…”
“I hate to leave her. I mean…I would feel like I’m deserting her to go and check on Jayce.”
“Oh, please…that’s not what you’re doing. It’s not like you’re choosing him over her; you’re just trying to make sure Gavin’s all right.”
“Maybe…” Julianne sighed.
Harper rested her head on the back of the couch. “Is it wrong that I’m thinking about my date tonight?” She turned her head and looked at her sister. “Does this seal my fate as the world’s crappiest friend?”
“Not at all,” Julianne said with a smile. “So where are you two going tonight? You’ve been doing a lot of different things every time you’ve gone out.”
“I don’t know about that. We’ve done dinner, movies, home doing the Netflix and chill thing…nothing overly exciting.”
“And tonight?”
“Tonight we are going to that Irish pub downtown and then to an art gallery that Penny from Enchanted Bridal told me about.”
“When was this?”
“At Zumba the other morning,” Harper replied and then chuckled. “I think you created a monster there. If she goes to any more classes, Fitness Frenzy may have to hire her to teach!”
“I know! She’s got more enthusiasm than I do and that’s saying something. But I love that she’s coming to the classes. She’s a sweetheart.”
“Agreed.”
“So what’s the deal with the gallery?”
“Oh, it’s a friend of hers who has some paintings on display. I’ve always wanted to go to a gallery but never felt like I had a reason to. When I mentioned it to Brady, he said he’d be willing to check it out with me.”
“That’s kind of sweet.”
Harper smiled. “It really is.” Then she sighed happily. “Is it crazy how he’s so opposite of everything I said I wanted…”
“I believe you said everything about him was a deal breaker,” Julianne said with a sarcasm.
“Clearly I was wrong.”
“So what does he do other than work at the gym? Anything?”
“He’s at Fitness Frenzy part-time doing classes and personal training and he’s also into gaming.”
“Gaming? What the hell is that? Like video games?”
Harper nodded. “Uh-huh. He does some consultation stuff, he said. I was never interested in video games and he tried to describe it to me, but…I don’t know…it all kind of went over my head. Either way, he makes decent money at it, I guess. He’s got a fabulous house in North Raleigh and he drives a decent car so…”
“Yeah, but…that doesn’t seem very…settled. Does it?”
Harper shrugged. “He seems like he’s doing okay.”
“Just…just be careful. Don’t jump into anything. I’d hate to see you…”
“See me what?” Harper asked defensively as she sat straight up.
That was Kayla’s cue to go back inside. She stood in front of the two of them and sighed.
“What? What’s the matter?” Harper asked.
“I got an assignment…”
“And?” Julianne asked. “Where? When do you have to leave?”
“Tomorrow,” she replied and then looked toward her closed bedroom door. “What do I do?”
“Where are you going?” Harper asked.
“California. There’s some massive flooding going on up in the Sierra Nevada. Adam said that from the news footage he’s seen, it’s fairly wild right now and he’d like to get some footage if I can get close to it.”
“You have to go, Kayla,” Julianne said firmly. “This is what you do.”
“And what about Natalie? I can’t just leave her.”
They all grew quiet for a moment and then gasped at the sound of the bedroom door opening. Natalie stepped out – she looked pale and her eyes were red from crying – but she also looked…a little more confident than she had an hour ago.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” she started, “but it seems like you all have things that you need to do.”
“No, Nat,” Julianne said as she jumped up. “We’re here for you. Whatever you need, we’re here.”
“I know that and I appreciate it, but…” she sighed. “I have to accept some facts. For starters, I’m pretty sure my marriage is over. Even if Jayce agreed to go to counseling with me, I don’t know that I want to.”
“Dammit,” Harper murmured. “What did he say?”
“His messages were all rather curt and mainly about him. Not once did he ask how I was or even sound remotely saddened that I was gone. It was more of an inconvenience to him.”
Kayla walked over and hugged her. “I’m so sorry.”
Natalie hugged her back. “Thanks.” She pulled back and addressed them all. “I sat there for a while after turning off my phone and I felt…numb. Just…I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t sad. I just…was. But then I got sad again,” she admitted.
“So what are you going to do, Nat?” Julianne asked. “You know you can come stay with me and Gavin. We have plenty of room.”
“Actually, I was hoping Kayla would let me stay here while she’s out of town.”
Kayla looked at her in complete surprise. “Really? You’d be here all by yourself, Nat. I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.”
“I thought about that, but I think it’s exactly what I need right now. I need to learn to be okay with being alone. And I know I’m not really alone – I have all of you and my job…and Zuma and kickboxing,” she added with a small laugh. “And maybe in time, I’ll learn that I can’t control every situation and I can’t make someone be who I want them to be.”
“I hate how what you’re saying makes sense,” Julianne said. “I was really hoping you’d come home with me so I can take care of you. You’ve always been there for me and I hate to think about you here alone.”
“It’s going to be a good thing,” Natalie said and the funny thing was, she really sounded like she believed that. She turned to Kayla. “You need to pack and get ready to leave. Make sure you bring extra of everything with you. If there’s flooding, you’re going to get wet and you don’t want to be miserable so…pack extra. Is Adam going with you?”
Kayla nodded mutely.
“Okay. If you’d like, I’ll take the two of you to the airport so you don’t have to pay for long-term parking.” Then she looked at Harper. “You need to head home and get ready for your date with Brady. And you should totally wear your black skinny jeans with those amazing ankle boots with the chunky heel. They look really good on you. Trust me. And while you’re out, ask him if it’s okay if I come in at other times and use the bags. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”
“There’s a gym downstairs for everyone in the building,” Kayla said. “I’ll leave you the key card and you can go down there at any hour of the day and night and use it and yes, there is a bag for you to kick.”
Natalie smiled. “Perfect!” Then she looked at Julianne. “And you, my sweet friend…you need to go home and love on your fiancé and thank him for throwing himself on the grenade today. Tell him I promise to make it up to him.” She paused for a moment. “Go out for a date night – dinner and a movie…hold hands and just remember how lucky you are.”
“Nat…”
“And if you do go out, you should wear that fabulous sapphire blue sweater you bought last week. It looks fantastic on you. And you have those knee-high boots that I wish were my size…you should totally wear them too. I remember you saying how much Gavin likes them.”
Julianne didn’t comment. She just nodded and gave her friend a sad smile.
She shook her head and took a steadying breath. “I know I just said that I have to learn not to try to control every situation, but if you guys could just humor me today…” Tears welled up in her eyes and the girls all surrounded her and turned it into a big group hug.
Kayla squeezed her friends just a little bit tighter because it was times like these that reminded her of how lucky she was. Her life was crazy and unsettled and unconventional, but this group of women helped keep her grounded and sane. They reminded her that it was okay to be who she was.
And right now, they were all doing the same for Natalie.
****
“I had a really good time tonight,” Brady said as he walked Harper to her door. She tried to hide how ridiculously pleased she was. And on top of everything else, Brady Bennett was a gentleman. They had gone out several times and each time she learned a little more about him that showed her how wrong she’d been about him and how she’d been fairly superficial in her ideas on what qualities were deal breakers.
“Me too,” she said as she fished her keys from her purse. Tonight they had gone to dinner and to an art gallery downtown. It was casual and wonderful and she just felt...good. Happy. It had been a long time since she’d felt like this and on some levels, Harper knew she had never truly felt like this.
When she opened the door, she turned to him. “Do you want to come in for a while?” Like for the night, she wanted to say but refrained.
He didn’t say anything, but he nodded, smiled and followed her inside.
They made small talk as she put her purse down and took off her jacket. Brady took his own coat off and hung it on the rack she kept by the front door. This wasn’t the first time he’d been in her home – he always picked her up for their dates and once they had even stayed in and just watched TV and had takeout. But tonight was different – she knew it and had a feeling he knew it as well. Tonight, she didn’t want to kiss him good night and watch him leave. She wanted him to stay the night.
“I loved those paintings we saw tonight,” she said as they walked into her living room. “I’m not normally a pastel kind of girl, but that sunset one we saw would look good over my couch. Don’t you think so?”
He nodded and sat down on the couch. “Maybe. The size was right but I think you could find one that was a little bolder.”
She shrugged. “Hmm...maybe.” Without asking, she went and grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses, then sat down beside him. They were in sync – he took the bottle from her and opened it and then poured. Her heart raced just a bit when she faced him. “I had a really good time tonight.” Then she wanted to kick herself because she already said that. She was so nervous! But it was the good kind – the anticipation, the knowing that she was finally going to get to see this amazing man naked…yeah, it was undeniably the good kind of nervous. Was he feeling it too?
“It definitely was a good night,” he agreed. “But...it’s not over yet. Is it?”
Yeah! She almost sagged with relief that she didn’t have to keep going with the small talk because they were on the same page! Brady didn’t sound the least bit nervous or unsure, even though he was asking her permission – which was sexy as hell.
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want it to be over yet either. In fact, I was really hoping you’d feel the same way.”
“I’ve been feeling this way since I first saw you, Harper,” he admitted softly. “And I want you to know that nothing’s going to happen here that you don’t want. It’s important to me that you trust me.”
“I do,” she said, her voice nothing more than a breathy whisper.
They never tasted the wine. Brady took the glass from her hand and placed it on the coffee table along with his and as soon as he faced her again, Harper wrapped her arms around his shoulders. His clear blue eyes were so damn sexy and the way they were watching her was a turn on in and of itself. She licked her lips in anticipation for the kiss.
And as incredible as his kisses were, she had no doubt the sex would be even better. Slowly, Harper pulled him toward her and over her as she lay down on the sofa. Her bedroom was only ten feet away, but right now, she didn’t want to go that far. She wanted to ease into it. They had all night.
Brady’s kiss didn’t ease into anything – it was hot and wild and pretty much jumped from zero to sixty. And she loved it. Within seconds, she was wrapped around him – her arms, her legs – and he felt so fucking incredible that she swore she’d be happy to stay like this forever.
Except that was a lie.
If they were naked like this…that would be the way to go.
His lips left hers and worked along her jaw then down to the V-neck of her sweater and she cursed the fact that she’d have to release him for ten seconds so she could whip it off. Squirming underneath him, she felt him chuckle against her skin.
“I know, ba…Harper,” he instantly corrected himself and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“Go ahead, say it. Say it but keep doing what you’re doing,” she urged.
Brady continued to kiss and lick every inch of skin he could reach and when she rocked up against him, he reared up and looked into her eyes. “I know, babe,” he said, his voice thick and deep and gruff and so damn sexy she almost orgasmed from the sound of it.
Great. Now she liked the word babe.
What is happening to me?
Then her sweater was gone and Brady toyed with the waistband of her jeans. Harper frantically kicked off her boots and heard him do the same.
Her jeans were unzipped, his shirt was off…and the last thing she expected to hear herself say was, “Stop!”
But she did.
Brady immediately froze.
She let out a long breath. “Okay, that sounded a lot more dramatic than I wanted it to. Sorry.”
“Harper, if we’re moving too fast…”
She shook her head frantically. “No. No, that’s not it at all. I just wanted to say …well…I’ve been thinking about this…us…you know…naked, for a little while and I’d really prefer it if we took this inside. To the bedroom.” And then she felt her cheeks flame with embarrassment. She’d never been one to really speak up about sex – the where, the when. This seemed like a harmless request though. And she really had been thinking about it. A lot.
He instantly reached up and cupped her cheek. “The idea of stretching out on the bed beside you and being able to see and touch all of you is the only thing that got me through this day,” he admitted.
“So…you…I mean…you’ve thought about…?”
“Ever since that first night when you punched the bag after yelling at your sister. I thought you were so fucking sexy and I knew you were someone I wanted to get to know better.” His hand roamed from her face, down over her shoulder and her arm and then up to cup her breast over her black lace bra. “I knew you’d be perfect,” he murmured. “I knew you’d be soft and curvy and like a fantasy.”
Her heart literally kicked hard in her chest. No one had ever described her like that. Ever. You’d think that after three fiancés, someone would have come close, but they didn’t. Not one of them. She looked up at Brady in wide-eyed wonder. Her own hands wandered over him. His biceps, his chest and every inch of him was sculpted like a work of art. How could she have ever thought that muscles weren’t her thing?
Swallowing hard, she said, “I’ve never been anyone’s fantasy.”
The smile he gave her was sweet and sinful at the same time. “Babe, trust me. You’ve been a lot of men’s fantasy. They were just too shy to let you know.”
“And you’re not?” she teased softly.
“Hell no. As a matter of fact, I think I’m going to enjoy telling you all the things I’ve fantasized about where you’re concerned.”
“Really?” she whispered.
He nodded. “Oh yeah…and in great detail. If you’ll let me.”
That was something completely new to her and she found it oddly…arousing.
Wow…
Brady stood and held out a hand, then gently pulled her to her feet. When her breasts pressed up against his chest, she reached up and pulled him down for another kiss. This time, when his tongue met hers, he mimicked exactly what he wanted to be doing to her and it made her knees go weak and her breath hitch.
Before she knew it, he swung her up in his arms and carried her to her bedroom.
A small gasp of surprise escaped at his sudden action and she realized just how small she was compared to him.
And she also found she liked being literally swept off her feet.
This was a total night for firsts and they hadn’t even started yet!
She had planned for this all afternoon so the stage had been set – clean sheets, dim lighting and every inch of her body was pampered and prepped. There was so much lotion on her legs that she was surprised her jeans didn’t slide off on their own already.
But then…they did.
Well, not on their own, but with a little help. Brady slid them off and left her clad in only her bra and panties. Then he knelt over her to straddle her and looked his fill. One big hand splayed across her belly and then moved back up to her breasts. When he gently kneaded it, she was nearly panting with need.
“Brady…please…”
“I want to know what you like, Harper,” he said lowly. “I want to know everything that makes you feel good. All I want is to make you feel good tonight.”
She was hoping for a lot more than just tonight…
“I want to hear every moan, every sigh…” he said as his hand continued to tease and torment her. “I don’t want you to hold anything back. Because when you tell me all your sexy secrets, I promise to fulfill them to your heart’s content.”
Talking in bed was new and more than a little exciting. She had a feeling that if she encouraged it even a little, Brady was definitely the kind of man who talked dirty in bed. She’d never been bold enough to try it, but now?
She licked her lips as she let her gaze roam all over him and when her eyes met his, the intensity she saw there made her bold.
“I want to see you,” she said, hating the slight tremor in her voice, the uncertainty.
“You are seeing me,” he teased.
“All of you,” she corrected. “Take your pants off, Brady.”
A slow smile crossed his lips as he slid off the bed and out of his jeans. In nothing but dark boxer briefs, he stood and let her look her fill once again. “What now, beautiful girl?”
She could lie there and look at him for hours, she thought. She knew his body was spectacular, but nothing prepared her for the reality of seeing it when stripped down.
“Harper…?” his voice was a husky whisper.
“I want to feel you on top of me again.”
Slowly, he did as she asked. Climbing onto the bed, he stretched out on top of her and Harper’s legs slowly wrapped around his waist, her ankles locking at his lower back. And for a few minutes, it was all she wanted – the feel of him settling over her. Everywhere he was hard, she was soft and she couldn’t help but sigh at the simple pleasure of this moment.
Her hands slowly made their way up into his hair – so thick and silky and just long enough to give her something to hold on to. She pulled him to her so she could kiss him – and it was sweet. Like their very first kiss. If possible, she melted a little more beneath him, could feel herself sinking just a little deeper into the mattress.
He rained gentle kisses along the swell of her breasts, his breath so hot and wonderful. “Tell me more, Harper.”
She wanted it all. She wanted to feel him everywhere. So many thoughts ran through her mind that she had no idea where to begin. He chanted her name in between kisses. His hands worshipped every inch of skin they touched. She was writhing and squirming and she said the first thing she could force from her lips.
“Fuck me, Brady. Please. Now,” she begged.
Just before his lips claimed hers he said, “Such a dirty girl.”
And she was lost.