Chapter Eighteen
Clean up on aisle six.
Lily
Well, shit.
“Hey, you okay?” Rob, the center’s senior trainer, stood in the doorway.
“I’m fine.”
“You guys got pretty loud. You sure?”
“Yes, Brody would never hurt me.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Hey, can I ask you something and you give me an honest answer?”
“Yikes. That sounds like a dangerous proposition.”
I shook my head, hair brushing my shoulders. “I promise it’s not. Am I...do I refuse to let people around here help me?” I knew I refused to depend on anyone, but did I push people away to the point that I didn’t ask for, or accept help at all? “Like, say, if I had a dog I couldn’t handle?”
He considered. “Hmm. You like to do things on your own. Most of the time you can, but on occasion, you get in over your head because you overestimate what you can do alone.”
“Yesterday, I asked you to help me reposition the A-frame.”
He nodded. “Yeah, but you tried to drag it across the ring by yourself first.” He shifted to sit on the desk. “Do you remember Linus?”
I couldn’t look at him, felt the sting of shame. It was the scariest incident of my career. The dog, a Leonberger, had aggression issues. During a private lesson, the giant dog broke away from his owner, attacking me with no warning. He pinned me to the floor in a matter of seconds, stood over me, holding me down.
“Linus was dangerous because of his size alone. He was also highly aggressive, agitated, and his owner had zero control over him. Yet, instead of asking for backup during the lesson, you decided to take it on by yourself. If I hadn’t been keeping an eye on the situation, there’s a distinct possibility you wouldn’t have a throat right now.”
“You wouldn’t have asked for another trainer’s help, either.”
He huffed out a sigh. “Yes, Lily. I would have. I never would have stepped into the room with a dog that size if I didn’t have a couple of extra pairs of hands. You, however, acted like you had something to prove. It was reckless.”
I brought my head up. “I thought I could handle it.”
“And you got yourself in way over your head. ‘I thought I could handle it’? That’s your pride talking. Not your brain. And definitely not your training.” Walking toward the doorway, he put a hand on my shoulder, but stared ahead. “Pride goeth, Lily. We all need help now and then. It doesn’t make us weak. It makes us human.”
I let that sink in. One after another my brain coughed up incidents where I’d shaken off help or didn’t ask when I should have.
I owed Brody an apology.
After running home for a shower, I fed the dogs. Pairing my favorite black skirt with a plum-colored top, I swiped on a deep purple eyeliner, mascara, and a little lip gloss. I missed him. I missed us and the way we were together. While I was driving to his place, my phone vibrated.
I let it go to voice mail.
The fluttering in my stomach was too much to deal with.
I opened my window, letting the warm air and the lights of urban sprawl soothe me. This time of year, the sun didn’t set until nine or so. The ginger-colored sunset was a beautiful backdrop for all the new construction. New. There was such newness to this part of Dallas. It made me want to follow suit.
Lily Costello is Under Construction. Caution: Hard Hat Area. The thought made me smile as I let my hand dance through the wind out of the driver’s window and sang along with Alabama Shakes to “Sound I was sure. Pulse kicking up, my breath escaped in a rush.
Brody reached for my waist, stopping short as he balled his hands into fists.
“If you want me to stop, tell me now, Liliana. Because I give zero fucks about anyone or anything outside this room at the moment. I only want to bury myself in you.”
The only time I’d enjoyed being called Liliana was when it rolled off Brody’s lips. Lips I wanted against my own. Along my neck. Lower. “Don’t stop.”
“Be sure.”
I rested a hand against his chest, slid it to his sternum. “I want you, Brody. Only you.” I let my hand drift lower, over his abs and belly button until I felt the rim of his shorts. “If you’re not going to fight it anymore, I’m not either.” Leaning up, I feathered a kiss along his jaw, down to his Adam’s apple.
“Shit,” he whispered. Pushing his hand into the hair at my nape, he angled my head. Brody’s mouth brushed mine, once, twice. A whisper of feathers against my skin.
I let out a breathy sigh when he captured my bottom lip and scraped his teeth over the sensitive flesh.
Our mouths were an endless slide of velvet tangling together, and the kiss got more desperate, more primal. Deeper. My hands gripped his hair. Fisting his shirt. Marking his biceps and dragging along his ribs. When I dipped the tip of my tongue into the indent at the base of his throat, that purely male sound of his vibrated against my lips.
Brody’s palms circled my waist before dipping down over my cheeks. Gripping. Kneading. Pushing them together before pulling them apart in a feeling that I can only describe as naughty as hell. “Fuck, Lily. This ass...”
Grinning against his mouth, I slid my hands under his shirt. His abs tensed as I ran my fingers through the delineations.
Brody’s hips jerked, his erection rubbing against my stomach.
Heat ran through my veins as my body ran slick. The need in my core was both pleasure and pain.
I ached for this man. Above me. Beneath me. Inside me. His scent, his salty-sweet skin against my tongue. The slope and curve of his muscles.
Tracing the vein in his biceps with my tongue, I let out a husky chuckle as he pulled my A-line skirt up with his fingertips only to grip my butt tight in his hands, lifting me off my feet.
I wrapped my legs around him. Locked my ankles over his butt. That crazy hot football ass I couldn’t wait to see. A squeeze of my thighs and I was rubbing my center against him like a cat in heat.
Brody hissed, and I dropped my head back only to have him drag his mouth up my neck. “Jesus. I want you inside me.”
His smile was naughty as hell. “When you see it, you might change your mind.”
“Mmm, you poor man.” I ran a finger over his scruff. “See, women like me—with all our soft spots—we were custom designed for...bigger things.”
“I can’t tell you how often I’ve thought about how your thighs will cradle my hips. The way your ass will shake when I take you from behind.” When he lowered me to the floor, he made sure my body stayed pressed against his. “The color changes in your eyes as I look up at you from right...here.” He ran a finger over my damp panties and my hips surged forward.
Christ, this man.
“As often as I’ve thought about straddling you. About the sounds you’d make when you came for me. Will you stretch me far enough that I’ll feel it when you come, Brody?”
Eyelids rolled shut, he tipped his face to the ceiling. “Jesus, fuck. I wanna do this slow. I wanna explore, savor you, but—”
“Next time.” I sat on the bed, tugging his shorts down. “This time is about need.” Letting my eyes drift down, I checked out what Brody brought to the table.
“Christ on a cracker. That is an immense...”
“Dong?” He chuckled.
The man was thick, long and rock hard. The shaft was granite covered in silk, his veins high under the skin. The ruddy head, with its pronounced crown, had a bead of moisture pearled at the tip, and trimmed thatch of black hair surrounded the base. God, I couldn’t help rubbing my legs together. Feeling the slide of my wet skin as I thought about him pushing into me.
I wondered what he tasted like. His cock was at the right level. I could swipe the liquid from the tip or cradle my tongue underneath, tickle the vein on the underside to see if he squirmed. Would Brody be salty or sweet? Both?
He must have seen my thoughts churning.
“Uh-uh.” Stepping back, he tugged his T-shirt off and stepped out of the shorts. “Next time. Down and dirty, remember?” Wrapped a hand around his shaft, he ran his palm root to tip.
God, I’d never seen anything so sexy in my life as this man stroking himself while he watched me with fire in his eyes.
“You want to be fucked , Lily?” Grabbing a foil packet from the nightstand drawer, he threw it on the bed.
I whipped my shirt off. “Yes.”
Brody moved forward until he was right in front of me. Hands on my ribs, he guided me up the bed. “Please, let that be a front clasp.”
“It’s your lucky day, Shaw.”
In a matter of seconds, he was pushing my skirt up around my waist. My sandals—well, I wasn’t exactly sure when they came off. “Give me a second, I’ll take the skirt off.”
“No, leave it. It’s like opening a present.” His grin was all kinds of mischievous, but his calloused fingers were at my hips, tugging my underwear past my knees. His warm brown gaze fixed on my center, making me squirm.
He brushed a single finger over my slit. “Goddamn you’re pretty, Liliana. You ready for me, darlin’?”
“See for yourself.”
“I intend to.” When a thick finger dipped inside me, a gasp escaped my throat. I arched off the bed, chased his hand as he pushed in and out of me.
“Fuck, Lily. So damn wet.”
“I guess I’m ready,” I gritted. I ripped open the condom, holding it up to him. Instead of taking it, Brody slid forward until his knees were under mine and his shaft bobbed over my center. “Put it on me.”
Sitting up, I pinched the tip and rolled it up his length.
“Shit.” Brody’s hips arched forward. “I like your hands on me,” he hissed through his teeth. Sliding his fingers into my hair, he took my mouth in a deep, penetrating kiss that left me with heavy lids and flushed skin. The ache in my lower belly turning painful. Guiding him to my entrance, I rubbed the crown through my soaked folds, over my engorged bud before positioning the tip where I wanted it most.
Popping the clasp on my bra, Brody palmed my breast, rolled my nipple with his thumb and forefinger as he put pressure on my opening.
This man would be the death of me. “Brody...”
“Yeah, I’m with you.” Strong arms reached under my knees and cradled my legs in the bend of his arm.
With entirely too much caution, Brody sank the tip into me.
I’m fairly sure my eyes rolled back in my head. The sting of the stretch, the bliss of the pressure—a throaty moan tumbled from my throat. “More. All of it.”
“Lily, shit. So tight.” Irises turned the color of coffee, Brody’s neck and shoulders corded with power.
I ran my hand over him, all that strength he held in check. “Brody, I want you to fill me up. Let me watch your body disappear inside mine.”
“Not yet.” Letting one of my legs go, the wicked man put a thumb against my swollen nub. He circled around it, inching into me, rocking his hips in short, quick strokes. “Jesus.”
“You gonna come for me, Liliana? Already?” His lips quirked up on one side as he pushed in deeper, a little more sting and pleasure with each thrust.
“Yessss, just—”
Brody rolled my clit between his thumb and index finger.
I didn’t tip over the edge. I detonated.
The muscle contractions were so sharp and deep they took my breath away. “Oh, God. Brody.” A low moan broke free as my body rippled around Brody’s thickness, drawing him in. Waves of pleasure, sharp and deep, crashed into me. My body shook. I couldn’t control my own movements. All I could do was let the orgasm take me along for the ride.
Brody mumbled obscenities, his abs clenching in time with each pulse of my orgasm.
God, the man was gorgeous.
Only when I’d started to come down—my body lax and pliable—did he finally push inside me to the root. When his hips met mine, a new rush of arousal coated me. I never came more than once, but this man...
I’d wager we’d have to change the sheets by the time we were done.