Chapter 9Braylin
Chapter Nine
brAYLIN
O ur meal had been lovely once I got past my nerves and just began to enjoy his company. As first dates went, it was everything a girl could dream of. After the first awkward interaction with Kristy, the rest of our meal was pleasant. We enjoyed each other’s company, and our conversations flowed just as effortlessly as they had when we talked on the phone the past couple of nights.
Right before we got up to leave, Colton had given me a look that took my breath away and had my thighs squeezing together under the table. Truthfully, ever since I had opened the door and seen him dressed in his black button-down, with that heated look in his eyes, I had been fighting back the need to beg him to kiss me.
“Are you ready to get out of here?”
Colton’s words, paired with the sexy, low tone he’d used, sent a shiver of anticipation down my spine. I didn’t have to think twice about my answer. “Absolutely.” I wasn’t sure where the night was going to lead. He might just drop me off at my door with another peck on my forehead. But I secretly hoped for so, so much more. I didn’t care if anyone would think I was desperate, or if I was breaking some mandated three-date rule. I wanted Colton, and we had been dancing around our attraction for days.
As we stood to leave, Kristy came back over. “Bye, Colton. Have a pleasant night.” I saw her glance at me from the corner of her eye before she said her next words. “Tell Katy I said hello.”
“I don’t talk to Katy anymore,” Colton said gruffly as he took my hand and turned to walk away.
“Really? After what I heard a couple of years ago, I thought you and she?—”
“We don’t talk anymore. Have a good night.”
I was surprised at Colton’s clipped tone, but the way he’d cut off her words had a little shiver of something I couldn’t quite name run through me. When he put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, though, I nestled into his warm embrace.
As we passed a table on our way to the exit someone calling out my name had us pausing. “Miss Braylin! Don’t you look lovely tonight!”
Mrs. Arbuckle was sitting with her son and daughter-in-law. I was so relieved to see her face with a healthy shade of pink on it. She looked much better than the last time I saw her.
“Mrs. Arbuckle. You look wonderful.” I smiled down at her as she waved her hand in the air.
“You can’t keep an old battle axe like me down.”
“Thank you for protecting my mother.” Mr. Arbuckle Jr. stood from his seat and placed a kiss on my cheek. At Colton’s growl from beside me, Mr. Arbuckle Jr. pulled back and held out his hand with a chuckle. “No harm intended. I am just very thankful that Mother had a guardian angel watching out for her that day.”
Colton took his proffered hand with a grunt. “My girl is definitely something special.”
“Well, we don’t want to keep you. Have a wonderful night, you two.”
We said our goodnights and walked out of the restaurant. As soon as we were both buckled up and Colton was backing out of his parking space, I looked over at him with one eyebrow raised.
“Did you seriously growl at that man old enough to be my father?”
Colton’s grin was wolfish, his teeth bared, and the white gleaming in the parking lot lights. “I don’t like seeing another man touching what’s mine.”
I considered his words, wondering if I should put them in the red flag category, but decided that I didn’t mind his jealousy over me. Not one bit. “That’s good,” I murmured as I stared at his handsome profile. “I don’t think I’d like another woman touching what’s mine, either.”
He made a low sound and took my hand in his, linking our fingers together before bringing our joined hands to his lips. His warm breath fanned over my fingertips. He kissed the tip of one, and then another. I watched, my mouth slightly open as I panted as he kissed each finger. By the time he was done, my whole body was trembling.
“Tell me something, sweetheart,” Colton asked in a gravelly voice.
My answer was a breathy whisper. “What?”
“Are you wet for me?”
“Oh god,” I panted, squeezing my thighs together as my free hand clutched my skirt into a tight fist. “ Yes. ”
I was too worked up to pay attention to where we were going, but when Colton lifted his hand to push a button on his visor I looked through the windshield to see he pulled into the driveway of a lovely ranch-style home. I wasn’t able to take in much before he had pulled into the garage and shut off the engine.
Colton pushed the button again, and the garage door closed, trapping us inside the dimly lit garage. Before I could extract myself from the seatbelt holding me in place, Colton was already yanking my door open. I let out a gasp as he grasped my hand firmly and pulled me to my feet and away from his car. The car door shut with a loud thud, making me jump, and then his hands were around me, picking me up from the concrete floor.
He only walked a few steps before I found myself sitting on the warm hood of the car. I could hear the engine ticking under the hood as Colton’s mouth descended onto mine, stealing my breath away. Kissing him was nothing like how I had dreamed of a million times. It was so much better.
He consumed me as his tongue demanded entrance into my mouth, and then took possession of it. There wasn’t a single inch that he didn’t claim. My heart was beating so hard as his tongue swept over mine that I wondered if he could hear it over my whimpers.
As he broke the kiss and began sliding his lips over my cheek and down my jaw. He growled low. “I can’t wait, baby. I need to taste you. I’m dying to have your taste on my tongue before I claim you.”
I let out a strangled cry of consent when he paused at my neck. As soon as he heard me, his teeth grazed over the sensitive skin there, making goosebumps dance over my arms. “Good girl.”
I wasn’t going to survive. I was going to melt into a puddle of need, and want, and bliss before I ever got to feel what it was like to have Colton Hammond inside of me.
“I wish I had known you years ago.” His words were muffled as he made his way into my cleavage. “I would have moved heaven and hell to have you by my side.” He pulled at my dress and made a satisfied grunt when it stretched enough to slide down over my breasts to expose the black lacey bra I had worn. His hot mouth descended over my nipple, pulling it with his teeth before laving it with his tongue. “I’m never letting you go, Braylin.”
A sob left my chest as I gripped his hair in my fists. I tilted my head head to the ceiling and stared with unseeing eyes as I felt him tug the cup of my bra down as he moved to my other breast. Then his wet mouth bathed my nipple in heat that had my core pulsing with need. I never knew that it could feel like this. It was as if there was a direct link to my clit as he nipped and sucked at my nipple.
“Colton! I need?—”
“I know what you need, baby. I feel it too.”
Then he was dropping to his knees. My skirt was already bunched high on my thighs, but that wasn’t high enough. Colton shoved my dress up to my waist before pausing. As I panted, staring down at the top of his head in confusion, Colton knelt there on his garage floor and stared. Before I could ask him what was wrong, or close my legs, he leaned forward and inhaled deeply.
His groan had another wave of want crash through my already overloaded system. I squeezed my eyes closed and began to chant in my head. I felt one of his large fingers slide down the center of my miniscule lace panties.
“You never have to beg, sweetheart,” he said making me realize that my repeated words had escaped my mouth. Then he pulled my panties to the side, exposing me to his hungry gaze, right before his mouth covered me.
I thought I had been feeling bliss as he sucked on my breasts, but that was nothing compared to how it felt to feel his tongue on my clit. I didn’t think there was a single part of my pussy that he didn’t lick, nibble, or suck. As my legs began to shake in a way that I didn’t know they were capable, my mind was screaming. I didn’t know if it was all too much, or not nearly enough. By the time a shockwave ran through me, igniting every nerve ending from my scalp to my toes, the screams that were once in my head were ringing out into the garage.
Before I could catch my breath, I was scooped up into his strong arms. The door leading from the garage into the house was thrown open so hard it bounced off the wall, and I was being carried quickly through the kitchen and down a long hallway.