Chapter 10
By midday, Brandonwas exhausted. Carly had Logan and him doing all the manual labor that was left to do. That meant lifting heavy things, installing fans and lights, and even building a bench. All that work had kept him so busy that he hadn’t even had a chance to see Leah.
And after the night and morning they had shared, seeing her was on the top of his priority list.
“Stop daydreaming and help me move this,” Logan said.
Shaking off thoughts of Leah, he grabbed the other end of the cabinet that Carly wanted to move into one of the dance studios.
“So you finally got laid, did ya?” Logan asked as he walked backward.
“Fuck off.” It was said with brotherly love but still, Brandon did not want to talk about what was going on with Leah and him.
“Whoa. Pretty strong reaction.”
“How do you even know anyway?” They set the cabinet down and pushed it against the wall.
“Dude seriously. I live two houses away from you. I saw Leah’s car there both last night when I got home and this morning on my run.”
Damn, he’d forgotten about her car.
“It’s not hard to put two and two together with that info.”
“Can you just...just don’t say anything. She’s primed to bolt and with everything else going on, well, it’s a lot for her to deal with.”
“Like I’d just walk up to her and say ‘so I hear you’re banging my brother.’ What the hell man?”
“That’s absolutely what you would do.” Brandon knew his brother well, and he was not one to hold his tongue.
“I’m wounded.” He put his hand to his chest.
“If you boys are done gossiping, I have more stuff that needs to be done.”
Brandon turned and found Melanie standing, hands on hips, in the doorway to the studio they were in. He wanted to ask how much of their conversation she had heard but in doing so he knew she would then want to know more.
“Tell us what you need?” he said instead.
“Leah needs some help in the office and I need someone to help with hanging pictures in the small studios.”
“I’ll help Leah,” he said before Logan even had a chance to speak up.
He found Leah, sitting on the floor surrounded by files and files, of what he didn’t know.
“Hey.” He stood just inside the door and watched as her head lifted up.
She sighed. “Thank God it’s you and not Melanie. I love that girl, but she is on a rampage today.”
“Yeah, I kinda noticed that.”
She was looking at him with a funny expression on her face, her head tilted to the side. “You look...well, hot.”
He looked down at himself, wondering how she could find his dirty, dusty jeans and now dirty, stained tee, hot. “I’m a mess.”
“I know and it’s really sexy.” As soon as the words were spoken she slapped a hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe I just said that,” he heard her say, although muffled.
He laughed. “What’s wrong with saying that?” He sat down in a chair at one of the desks.
“Because,” she dropped her hand from her face, “it’s not appropriate.”
Leaning down he put his elbows on his knees. “After what we did last night and this morning,” he shook his head, “I am the last person you need to be appropriate with.”
She blushed, obviously remembering their escapades from earlier. “Stop trying to turn me on,” she whispered.
He reached out and touched her cheek. “Fair is fair. You turn me on by just breathing.” Her eyes watched his and when he ran a finger over her soft lips, she shivered. He was just about to pull his hand back when she opened her mouth and sucked his finger inside. He went instantly hard.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish,” he warned.
She released his finger. “You are a fucking horrible influence, do you know that?”
“That was all you.”
“Maybe, but I still blame you,” she pouted.
“Why don’t you tell me what you need to be done in here and then maybe, just maybe the boss in there will let us out early.”
“Us?” she asked standing.
“Yeah, you know, you and me.”
“Do we have plans tonight?” Her voice told him she was just playing around.
He stood, too and moved closer to her without touching. Touching would mean they would never get out of there.
Lowering his voice he said, “I have plans that involve you naked, riding my cock.” He’d been thinking of it ever since they’d started that morning only to realize that they didn’t have condoms.
She licked her lips and her eyes burned with fire. “Bad, bad influence,” she said in a husky voice and stepped back, turning away from him. “But,” she turned her head to look over her shoulder, “a really great plan.”
He groaned and dropped his chin against his chest.
“Come on, let”s get to work,” she prodded him. “Someone has a promise to keep.”
Standing – and adjusting himself – he followed her to the corner of the room. “Mel said you wanted something moved?”
“I want all these desks rearranged.” She pointed at the three desks that occupied the room. “This isn’t the best use of space and I’m going to need some storage in here eventually.”
“Tell me where.”
They got to work, moving the desks together and she was no slouch. She pushed and pulled, making sure everything was right where she wanted it.
Standing back they admired the work they had done together. “I think this is going to be much better.”
“Wow.” Carly walked in the room. “Look at all this space in here.”
“Do you like it?” Leah asked.
“I do.” She moved around the room. “I wasn’t sure, with all the grunting going on, if it was safe to just walk in here.”
“Carly,” Brandon said in a warning tone.
“What?” Her eyes got the ‘I didn’t say anything’ look that she had been using on him since she was twelve.
Then Leah went and surprised the hell out of him. “Another five minutes and you might have.”
He gaped at her.
“Oh, I can leave,” Carly said.
“Nah.” Leah pursed her lips and looked at him. “I think I’ll make him wait.”
“That’s my girl.” Carly high fived her. “I have to say, I missed ya.”
“I’ve missed me a little, too.”
“Since Bran looks like he’s about to lose his mind over there, I’ll leave you two alone. But no sex in the office.” She wagged a finger at them.
Carly gone, Brandon looked at Leah. “You’re like a different person this afternoon.”
All of a sudden the light went out of her eyes. “And you don’t like it?” Her voice was timid, not confident like two minutes ago.
“Hey,” he said and moved toward her. “Hey, look at me.” He lifted her chin forcing her to make eye contact. “I didn’t say that. And if you would have waited like thirty seconds you would have heard me tell you that it was fucking sexy as hell.”
Her mouth formed a small O.
“Don’t lump me in with all the assholes of the world that you have known.” He wanted to include her dad and uncle in that statement but thought better of it.
“I’m just so used to people wanting me to be a certain way. College was the one time I loosened up a little and let my true self show. It took me months to realize that Carly didn’t care if I said something stupid or if I made mistakes.”
“I don’t care either. Hell, Leah, none of us are perfect. And the Leah who is confident and knows what she wants...that’s a fucking huge turn on.”
She smiled. “You seem to bring out my confidence.”
“While I love that, I want you to feel that way all the time. And I want it to be because that’s what you want.”
“It is what I want.”
He nodded. “Good. Now are we done for the day, or do you have more to do?”
She frowned. “I actually have a lot more paperwork to go over.”
“You stay and do it. I’ve got some errands to run and then we can meet up.”
“Should I come to your place again?”
“I’d love that but if you want, I am happy to come to yours.” Remembering that Will was still out there he said, “You know what, maybe it is better if I do come to you. That way Carly and Mel won’t be alone either.”
“I’m gonna let you be the one to tell them that is why we are staying there. It’ll make for a good show.”
She was right. Those two would hate that he thought they needed protection.
“What if, we just don’t tell them?” He leaned in and kissed her nose.
“No way,” she said and ducked under his arm. “And don’t try to persuade me with sex.”
Knowing she was right, he started to leave. “Should I bring dinner?”
“Mel’s night to cook and I think she has something in the slow cooker.”
“Tell her that I’ll bring dessert. See ya later,” he took four steps out of the office before turning and striding back to her. He gripped her around the waist and gave her the kiss that he’d been thinking about all day.
“Now, I’ll see you later,” he said, letting go and walking away. Without looking at her, he knew he left her stunned and dazed with that kiss. And that was perfectly okay with him.