32. Chapter Thirty-One
Bri just told him she fell in love with him. Him and his entire family. The way her eyes stare into his, like she looks directly into his soul, tells him there”s nothing remotely insincere in her words. And instead of responding, Kace stares at her like a complete idiot.
”Kace? Say something,” Bri says.
”Do you think you”ll quit music and stop touring?”
Her head snaps back a little, but she shakes her head. ”No, I”m still going to do it, but I”m going to slow down. It”s time to start slowing down and enjoying my life. Besides, I”m going to burn out if I don”t slow down soon.”
”Where do you plan to live?”
Her stunned look turns to confusion. ”I just bought a place near Galveston I”m building on. Just shy of seven hundred acres that used to be a ranch. Why?”
Taking her hand, he pulls her out of the office and into the hallway again. He knows she”s confused, but he needs to see if Oliver is still around. Puck bunnies stand outside the hallway hoping to catch a lone player, and he knows that”s where he”ll find the man. He takes the players” leftovers home by using his client list as a pickup line.
”Where are we going?” Bri asks, her shorter legs moving quickly as she tries to keep up with his long strides.
Realizing how difficult this must be for her, he squats down in front of her. ”Hop on.”
”What?”
”You have short legs. I love your legs, but I need to hurry.”
Hopping on his back, she lets out a chuckle as he hurries to search for Oliver. ”Where exactly are we running off to?”
Oliver stands with a group of girls, and they all scream when they see him. Or maybe when they see Bri on his back. He doesn”t really care, and his agent turns to look at him with shock.
”Lyons?”
”I need to talk to you,” he says and sets Bri down.
Needing to touch her, he reaches out and takes her hand. He”s gone so long without her, he doesn”t want to let her go for longer than he has to. They take a few steps away, following Oliver, who turns and smiles his cheesy smile at Bri.
”Oliver Weiss. I”m Kace”s agent.”
She shakes his hand, forcing Kace to release hers. ”Bri Waters.”
”I know who you are. You”ve created quite the situation for my man here.”
Pulling her hand back, she steps back and looks shocked. Kace”s hands shake, and he takes a step towards him, towering over him. ”What the fuck did you just say to her?”
”I was just saying... I didn”t mean...”
”Maybe I should go,” Bri says, and he hears how uncomfortable she feels.
Kace whips around. ”No, please.”
She nods, telling him she”s staying put, and he turns back to the man he now despises. ”First, you”re going to apologize to her, or you”ll be picking up those shiny, white fake chompers off the fucking floor.”
”I”m sorry,” Oliver says, his voice shaking slightly, as shifts to look around Kace to Bri. ”Really, I didn”t mean anything by it.”
”Second, take whatever offer Mario extends. No countering. I don”t want to lose that deal.”
”Kace, don”t be stupid. We can get more money-”
”I don”t give a fuck about the money. I have money. If Texas falls through, I”m done. You not only lose the deal, you lose me. I need to be in Texas because the woman I love and plan to spend my life with lives there. And you just put yourself on thin ice, so you either make this deal happen or you lose the household name client you brag about. Don”t think I don”t know you use my name to get women like them into bed,” he says, his thumb pointing over his shoulder to the women.
Nodding, he holds his hands up. ”I”ll make it happen.”
”Good. And stop talking like a fucking frat dude. You”re forty-three, man. Accept it and move on.”
The girls all gasp and hurry away. ”Thanks, Lyons.”
”That”s what you get for being a dick to my girlfriend.”
Turning back to Bri, he presses her against the wall. Her eyes look up at him, and he feels her pulse racing. ”The woman you love? Your girlfriend?”
”I fucking hate that Rudy and Brett told you before I did, but I love you, Bri. I have for what feels like a lifetime, but I wanted to tell you when it felt special. I planned to tell you when I gave you the necklace you”re wearing, and I wish I”d said it sooner. Maybe you wouldn”t have had as much reason to doubt me.”
”You love me?”
”For so long.”
Her lips find his, and he lifts her up, her legs wrapping around his waist while her arms slide around his neck. ”Take me home, Kace Lyons.”
”Bri, we don”t-”
”Yes, we do. We really, really do. Take me home, boyfriend.”
Knowing better than to argue with the woman he loves begging to climb into his bed, he carries her out to his waiting car. They climb into the backseat, and he closes the dividing window to keep them out of view from the driver.
Bri stays in his lap and kisses him, her hands running all along his body. ”I don”t know that I can wait.”
”Until we get to my place?” he asks, kissing her neck. ”It”s a thirty-minute drive.”
Rocking her hips on his fly, he moans along with her. ”Thirty minutes feels like an eternity.”
”I don”t want our first time back together to be in the back of a car,” Kace pants as her lips move to his neck while she continues grinding her sex along him.
She stops and looks into his eyes. ”You”ve thought about this?”
Cupping her face, he wants to get lost in her blue eyes. ”Every day since we were last happy.”
”What do you have planned?”
”It”s cheesy,” he says with a chuckle and kisses the tip of her nose. ”I have your demo songs you gave me for Christmas, and I planned to play them while I had you crying out in pleasure. I need to hear you crying in ecstasy instead of pain. Those memories kill me.”
”From the funeral?”
Swallowing, he rests his forehead on hers. ”And the way you cried out when Bobby and his crew threw me out of the stadium. It echoed, and I don”t think stabbing me in the chest could have hurt worse. Seeing you in pain hurts me, baby.”
”Just like how my heart broke seeing you come so close to your dream. Losing tonight”s game felt like a punch to the gut. I almost cried.”
”You watched the game?”
”We were in the box. You just couldn”t see us because we didn”t want to distract you. I”ve actually watched every game since we ended things. The only one I was going to miss was the one the day of the funeral.”
Bri watched him play? ”You did?”
Her dark hair falls in her face as she nods. ”And I never thanked you for coming to the funeral. Or showing up to help after the tornado. But mostly for being there at the funeral. I couldn”t have made it through without you.”
”That first single you released from your sixth album... there”s a video online where you”re singing it and breaking down on stage. I watch it on repeat. It was my own form of punishment, and I”m sure I”ve watched it a million times. And every time, I wish I was there to wrap my arms around you.”
Her hands cup his face, and she kisses him. ”I don”t need anything fancy, Kace. I just need you. And I”m not going to lie... I really, really miss what you do in bed.”
Kace smirks and kisses her back. ”I can”t take you in the backseat of this car, but I”m willing to make a compromise.”
”Yeah?” she asks, a flush already moving up her face. ”What”s that?”
He unbuttons her jeans and slips his fingers into her panties, and he groans when he feels how ready she is. Ready for him. ”Fuck, you”re wet.”
”I”m so ready, I”m about to explode,” she pants.
His fingers alone won”t do. No, he needs to taste her. Feel her squirm beneath his mouth as her fingers tangle in his hair.
There”s no resistance when he slips her out of her jeans, and he makes the best of the small space as he moves to the floor and sets her on the seat. Pulling her legs onto his shoulders, he can”t get any closer to her need, and he laps at her. The moment his tongue tastes her, he knows he”s lost. This woman owns him, and he”ll never want anyone else.
”Oh, Kace,” Bri purrs, her hands tugging at his hair. ”Yes, just like that. Oh, God, yes. Yes!”
Humming, he takes her clit into his mouth, and her entire body tenses within seconds. She wasn”t kidding when she said she was ready to explode, but he releases her before she can reach the edge.
”Kace,” she groans.
The moan of frustration that follows makes him smile, and he glances outside to see where they are. They have fifteen more minutes to his rental, and he wants to build her up, not giving her the release she begs for, until they get to his place. He”ll carry her inside and give her exactly what she wants. To be inside her as she falls apart.
They lie on Kace’s bed, naked and sated. Kace runs his fingers through Bri”s hair and kisses her temple. ”Baby?”
”Hmm?” Bri murmurs.
As much as he wanted to wait to bring her to climax until they got into his place, he gave into her desires in the car. She cried out five minutes after he started, and he”s certain his driver heard the screams of orgasm through the window. The moment she begged to go down on him, he knew he was a goner. It”s impossible to say no to this woman, especially when she begs for sexual relief. He came just before reaching his place, but neither was finished. And he gave her four more orgasms once inside before they settled down.
”I”m really glad you came to the game tonight.”
Her blue eyes look up at him, and he can”t get over how sexy she looks wearing nothing but the sapphire necklace. ”You have no idea how glad I am.”
His hands reach between her legs to play with her, and he groans at her immediate wetness. ”Oh, I have a feeling I know.”
Giggling, she lifts herself to straddle him, and seeing her like that brings him back to life. Just as she positions herself to slide onto him, he stops her. ”What”s wrong?”
”I have to ask you something.”
”I never got back together with Easton,” she says, reading his mind. ”He wanted to apologize for everything, and I needed to know a few things.”
”But he was photographed going into your apartment building.”
She shakes her head and laughs. ”I agreed to help him with his next album, and we had to look something up. It was cold with the wind, so he came into the lobby.”
”You”re helping him?”
”You”ve heard his songs. They”re not good,” she says and giggles again. ”We”ll see if he can take advice or not. Probably not, but he might surprise us.”
”You”re too good for your own good.”
Wiggling her hips side to side, she pouts. ”Can I take what we both want now? Or do you have more questions?”
”No questions, but a comment.”
Her lips purse before she says, ”Yeah? What”s that?”
”Your Christmas gifts were the most thoughtful gifts anyone has ever given me. The picture with my mom... only you could think to do something like that.”
Leaning forward, she hugs him. ”I wish you hadn”t lost her, Kace. And I wish I could have met her.”
”She would”ve loved you. And she would”ve beaten me senseless for hurting you. My career would have ended because she”d invite Bobby over to make good on his threats. If she hadn”t done it herself.”
”He hated you,” she says and nuzzles his neck. ”But when you showed up at the funeral after standing up to my brother at the command center a week before, he changed his mind. He didn”t give me grief when I told him I was coming out here. Not even a disapproving look. He looked almost… happy.”
Kace can”t hold back any longer, and his lips find hers. Guiding her down, she slides easily onto him and sits up to ride him. Reaching up, he toys with her nipples, twisting and pulling in the way she likes. ”What do we tell people?”
”About what?” she asks, her voice breathy.
”Us. Do we tell people we”re back together?”
Her body stills, and he worries he pushed things too far. How it could be too far after calling him ”boyfriend” and his cock inside her, he”s not sure.
”Are you really getting traded to the Twisters?”
”It”s not final, but it should be happening.”
”This might be a little fast, but move in with me, Kace.”
”What?”
Her chest rises, and his hands drop to her waist. ”I”m building the house right now. It”s outside of Galveston. I”m still at the stage where changes can be made if needed. Or is that too much too soon?”
”You want to live with me?”
Her voice catches a little. ”I don”t want to live without you. I told you, I”d started making plans.”
He stares at her and takes in the sight of her vulnerability while she sits, him inside her, with her blue eyes matching the necklace that falls right above her cleavage. ”Yes.”
”Yes?”
”If we”re going to do this, let”s do this.”
Bri lets out a sigh of relief, and she starts shifting her hips again. ”When we get back to Texas, I”ll show you the plans. We can make changes to whatever you want.”
His need for her, his love, makes him ache, and he lifts his hips to thrust as far into her as he can. As he hits the right spot, her back arches, and her eyes roll to the back of her head as she moans. How the hell did he get so lucky with her? This beautiful, insatiable woman.
”Bri,” he pants as she starts to tense around him. His thumb slides between them to rub her clit, and she looks down at him. ”I”m going to marry you one day.”
Her body shakes while she cries out, but she never breaks eye contact. Her body squeezes him a few more times before she finally collapses onto his chest. ”You think so, huh?”
Flipping her onto her back, Kace lifts her legs onto his shoulders and thrusts long and slow. Her tight heat brings him to the brink, and he can”t get over how much she wants him. How quickly Bri Waters cries out in pleasure with him.
”No, I know so,” he says, thrusting twice more before he comes and cries out her name, feeling her pulse around him.
This woman will be his bride one day.