Chapter 18
“Holy…hell,” I panted as Broderick lowered his body onto mine, the weight so delicious my eyes closed as I soaked up every inch of skin contact. Had I ever come that hard? I didn’t know a woman could come that hard. Like I physically shattered around his hand before he put me back together with gentle caresses and gentler kisses. It was his promise-laced words, as much as the physical pleasure that unraveled me entirely. Like a cheap damn rug, and he ran off with the frayed edges and left me in tatters.
Only…he didn’t leave… Instead, when I peeled my heavy lids open, the deepest brown eyes were looking down at me with a kind of admiration I’d only ever dreamed of. Like I’d just rocked his world instead of the other way around. His warm, broad hands took turns brushing the hair from my sweat-slicked face in adoration before cradling it between them, gaze roving over me like he couldn’t get enough. Couldn’t bear to look away. Like I was every ounce as precious–as wanted–to him as he had always been to me.
Dazed and panting, I raised a hand to cradle his face, stilling when he turned to bite into my palm before kissing it. Tears burned in my eyes as I stared up at the man who had owned my mind and body since before I had a right to love him. When he turned his attention to my face, the sentiment was reflected back, his eyes closing as he pressed more languid kisses into my palm.
“Hey baby,” he said as a low chuckle rumbled in his chest, a rare cocky smirk hooking his lips. “I could get used to watching you shatter for me like that.”
“You’re cute when youre smug,” I teased, instantly rewarded with the full wattage smile that few ever saw. Fuck, he was gorgeous. Having evidently granted me enough time to catch my breath, Broderick captured my lips, my hands flying to wrap around his back, and feeling the muscles bunch as he ground against my hips. Goosebumps pricked across my skin when he ran his nose over the length of my cheek, his warm breath a caress of its own. I traced down the long, lean lines of his body until I hit the damn belt between us, fingering along the edge of leather until I slipped between our bodies to unfasten the thing. He rocked us together again, my body coiling as if he hadnt just released all that pressure.
For all his big talk about wringing me dry, when I whimpered, “Please?” his cheek just twitched, and he popped his hips up into plank to make it easier for me to shimmy his pants below that tight curve of his toned ass. When his cock sprang free, my eyes dropped between us because fuck, he was big. Long, thick and veiny. I salivated just looking at him. Breath coming a little faster, I looked up, locking on his gaze as I wrapped that steely, tantalizing length in my fingers. It was the moment my thumb ran over the slick head, spreading that bead of pre-cum, that a shudder ran through his body, eyes sliding shut.
I peacocked internally as a sigh rumbled through him. “Dammit, El. Your touch is incredible.” He reared back, glancing around and patting at the pocket of his half-discarded pants before his eyes slid shut in frustration and he muttered something inaudible that sounded a lot like a curse. I laughed morbidly as realization dawned.
“You don’t have condoms?”
“I certainly had no interest in bringing someone else into this room, and thought it was good insurance to not break the pact.”
“Fuck the pact.”
He winced, but joked, “What happens in Vegas, right?”
“Fuck me, Broderick. Just us.”
His eyes rounded in surprise. “What?”
“I’m protected and all clear, and I trust you.”
For the first time, he seemed hesitant, lips popping open as he said, “El, there’s a lot we can do together and I’m not asking you to give me that.”
“You’re not asking. I am. Fuck me, Broderick. Please. I’ve wanted to feel you since I was seventeen, and like hell am I waiting to find a fucking condom if you say you want me back.”
His full lips fell open as his eyes searched mine, and then he was moving, nipping down my body line before the flat of his tongue licked straight up my soaked center, sending shudders of pleasure up my spine.
“You taste so damn good. I don’t know what I want first.”
“I can relate.” That was all she wrote. If for no other reason than Broderick Allen was fucking me with his mouth, a blunt finger sliding home again.
“Soaked for me,” he muttered, almost reverently, before sucking my clit between his lips, sending my back arching. He slipped another finger into me, licking, sucking, pulling, eviscerating my ability to articulate as pleasure wracked tremors through my limbs. I grasped at his muscled shoulders, the sheets, my own desperate body. “Damnably perfect—I never stood a chance,” he growled as my hands found my breasts, palming them over the fabric of my bra. “Sit up,” he ordered, abruptly standing and stripping the pants and briefs from his legs, where I’d abandoned them. My thighs tightened at the demand in his tone, and I did what he asked, curious to see where this was going. “Bra–off.”
Well. Fuck me sideways. The girls always said it was the quiet ones that blew the roof off. “Mmm, sexy, bossy Broderick does things to me.”
“He’s about to,” he countered as I contorted to unclip my bra. When I slid the final strap aside, freeing my breasts with a little bob, his nostrils flared, gaze darkening as his eyes looked over me. And I finally let my eyes drop down the length of him. All six feet of glorious, warm umber skin stretched over muscles that demanded I memorize their lines with the tip of my tongue. Goosebumps pebbled my flesh, and it had nothing to do with the purr of the heater kicking on in a gust of chill wind.
“Of course, you’re fucking perfect,” I muttered as I traced the outline of those muscled thighs, a gorgeous adonis belt, and a dick so proud it looked almost painful. Some primal part of me preened at that. That I did that to him. I needed it in my mouth like I needed my next breath. Slowly, watching his eyes for any reaction, I sat up and poured myself onto the floor at his feet.
“Oh, fuck me,” he muttered as I tossed my hair behind my shoulders and gripped his erection.
Chuckling darkly, I said, “That is the idea, Professor. Suck you off, let you fuck my throat.”
“Jesus Christ,” he snarled, dropping his head back to look skyward, hands settling against my cheeks like he couldn’t not have his hands on me. I knew the feeling. “That mouth.”
I gave him a wicked smile a beat before I wrapped my lips around his cock and sucked him deep, savoring the salty bead of pre-cum and throaty growl I earned in one blunt motion. Wrapping his fist in my hair, Broderick acted as a guide, but it was my turn to growl when he slowed me down, a hand resting on the side of my face as I pulled him to the back of my throat.
“Easy, Pix. The first time I come, it’ll be in your perfect pussy, not your mouth.”
I nodded as much as possible around a mouthful of cock. And then slid down as fast and hard as I could until he hit the back of my throat, my eyes watering as I gagged. Fighting against the reflex, I pulled him in again, my cheeks hollowing out as I urged my jaw to relax, to fit all of him, as futile as the effort might be. That hand wrapped in my hair tightened as his thighs clenched, and I pressed my tongue into the base of him, nails digging into his perfect ass before sliding back off with a little pop.
“Stand up,” he ordered, but his hands were already scooping beneath my arms, hoisting me to my feet so he could devour me wholly. “Need you. On the bed. Hands and knees.”
Nodding, I stole one last decadent kiss, our lips swollen with lust and sex, skin glistening with sweat. I turned over, crawling up onto the bed, the stiff white sheets crinkling beneath my hands and knees.
“Ass up, baby.” Broderick’s decadent hands wrapped around my waist, halting my movement, and pulling my ass against his hips, where he stood at the end of the bed. But then his entire body went rigid, a sharp intake of breath the only sound in the silence as one warm hand slid up my spine before veering left to my ribs, tracing the line the bra left on my skin.
“What’s this?” he asked, that rich baritone raked over coals. I smiled softly, not needing to glance back to know which tattoo his fingers found on my trap, where it hid beneath the straps of bras and bikinis. Just for me.
“Wildflowers,” he croaked, the gravel in his voice betraying the emotions that penetrated his lust as his fingers firmly traced the outline of the word, the spirals of vine and Alaskan wildflowers that sprang away from the lettering. Every drive out the road, late night beach bonfire, stolen hike, front porch sunrise, and cuddle under the northern lights played through my mind. Because we always played Tom Petty when it was the two of us. It was the sound of home.
“Baby,” he breathed, and I knew better than to glance back as vulnerability washed over me. But I did, finding his full lips parted in awe. In the next heartbeat, he dove forward, his fingers wrapping around my jaw and pulling me over my shoulder to claim my mouth. His hand snaked between us, notching his cock with my entrance. In and out, he teased with just the head, sending shivers up my spine as his breath traced my neck.
“You were always supposed to be mine,” he whispered, and then thrust forward in one smooth motion, sending every scrap of air out of my lungs. Leisurely, as if we had all the time in the world, Broderick slid back, before rocking his hips forward, halting when he met resistance, sending my body trembling.
“So damn full,” I gasped, convinced he’d just stretched me to my max.
“Almost there, baby. You gotta relax.”
“What?” I squeaked. “Christ, Brod.”
“Never thought about the challenge of you being tiny until now,” he muttered, and I laughed, my core clamping down and earning a satisfying pulse of his cock. A victorious smile split my cheeks when he growled, “Don’t fucking do that. I’m not done with you.”
Smirking, I stifled my laughter, trying to relax instead, but God, it wasn’t easy. “Never,” I said, smiling as his hands roamed down the length of me. At least, right until he impaled me on that miraculous weapon of a dick. Air was a foreign concept. Everything trembled. Delicious ache and pleasure danced in my core. There was well equipped, and then there was Broderick motherfucking Allen.
“Broderick!” I cried out, fighting to brace myself as he filled me entirely, every damn wall aware of each glorious inch of him.
“That’s it, baby. That’s my girl—finally taking all of me.” A low groan rumbled from him, and then he was shifting, picking up a slow rhythm, like he was easing me into it. “Your pretty little pussy looks so good stretched around me. I wish you could see what I see.”
“Enjoying the view?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” he growled before clapping my ass, and then soothing the sting with a gentle caress. Then his fingers were digging into my hips, owning my body as he scraped them up my frame.
There were no words. Just a shaking nod. We spent our lives lost to the world, always wishing we could just get lost in each other, and miraculously, it was an even more magnificent sensation than I’d even imagined. He was more magnificent than I’d imagined.
“That’s my girl,” he said again, each syllable dripping with pride and lust and something that felt a lot like love. Nope. Wasn’t going there. Too soon. “My clever, beautiful, sexy girl.” The snap of his hips picked up tempo, and I threw my head back as he filled me to the brink. I arched into him, tilting my ass up in offering, somehow needing more, even as he bottomed out. Impossibly full. Achingly full. In all those fantasies, it was never like this. This desperate. This divine. My body sang as he ran his hands roughly over every inch, slowly sliding home like we’d been carved of the same stone. Urging my body to adjust around him.
“You won’t break me,” I promised, and his dark chuckle rumbled through me. Broderick wound his hand into my hair again, tugging my head back with a delicious sting. When he finally started thrusting, I breathed a desperate, “Yes!”
Just like that, he severed the outside world. All he left was bruising pleasure, the tickle of sweat on my body, and the slap of his skin against mine. The obscene, wet slide of our bodies mixing with my desperate moans and his pants and grunts. And I got lost in him. Lost to Broderick Allen. The man I always wanted but never believed I’d have. The man who held my soul in his beautiful, gentle hands. Gentle hands that were deliciously not gentle as they wreaked havoc on my nervous system, running over every inch of skin, tweaking my nipples, slapping my ass between demanding thrusts that stole my breath. Again and again, he relentlessly jackhammered into me like our lives depended on his performance. One hand in my hair, the other slid up to tweak my nipple, and I cried out as the combination of sensations overwhelmed me.
“You close? Fuuuck, I’m close,” he panted, dropping that hand down to play with my clit, applying just the right amount of pressure. The other shoved me forward, the side of my face collapsing to the mattress as he hammered home. Expertly working my clit as though he’d memorized what my body liked in the first round, now masterfully driving me to madness.
“Yes!” I cried.
“Good. Come with me, baby.”
“Yes!” I moaned again. And then he was swelling against my walls, the sensations impossibly intense. He picked up the pace against that throbbing bundle of nerves as release barreled forward. More. “I need?—”
“I know. I’ve got you, Pix.” His tone was guttural–a primal kind of growl as he obliterated me, pleasure overwhelming my senses, sending tingles through my body to the roof of my mouth. Fingers digging into my hips, he growled, “Mine.”
“Yours,” I sobbed back as that claim shattered me. And together, we hurtled over the edge into the abyss of euphoria below.
At some point, he eased me onto the mattress and wrapped my body in his, those strong, dark arms pinning me against him, his breath hot on my neck. My head was spinning, body limp and numb, soul singing an incandescent serenade only he had ever coaxed from it. Sex had never been like that. That was an…out-of-body kind of bliss.
The oxygen was finally finding its way into my lungs, our skin just beginning to dry when he breathed, “El?”
“Yeah?”
“What if I don’t want this to stay in Vegas?”
Broderick
Elora’s skinpebbled beneath my touch, although I wasn’t sure if it was my fingers on her spine or the question I’d left hanging between us. I ran a thumb over the word wildflowers formed by fireweed, lupin, and the aggressive wooded vines our island was known for. She’d tattooed our song on her body. I’d been in love with this woman since we were teenagers, and she’d inked our favorite song on her skin. I’d known from the beginning if I let myself taste her, there would be no stopping.
I couldn’t even blame the whiskey, or Vegas, or anything else that happened tonight. Sober as a preacher on Sunday morning, I took what wasn’t supposed to be mine. There wasn’t an ounce of guilt left, even as her bewildered eyes found me. Everything about her felt…right. Like we just fit. Like we’d always been.
Her lips were parted slightly, gaze still heavy with echoes of pleasure. I could eat her out for the rest of the night, and it wouldn’t be enough. Nothing temporary would. I needed Elora Rhodes like I needed the air in my lungs, and one taste would never be enough.
El eased onto her back, her hand naturally coming to settle against my cheek. Her evaluation made me want to shrink into myself, but I held her gaze, my fingers trailing along her ribcage, memorizing the lines of her breasts. Slowly soothed the side of her ass where my handprint was still pink. She was so sinfully sexy, it shouldn’t be legal.
“What do you want, Brod? We didn’t really…talk much.” Uncharacteristic vulnerability laced her tone, gutting me. Because there was fear in her voice. And with good reason. I’d given her nothing beyond admitting I wanted her.
“You, Pix.” I answered simply, pausing that featherlight caress and allowing my palm to slide up and settle in the well between her breasts. “It’s always been you.”
“What would that even look like?” She breathed before her jaw tightened, like she was bracing for disappointment. I hated myself for planting that in her. Hated that I’d retreated inside my skull for years, that I hid behind my loyalty to her brothers for so long she was blatantly preparing for me to fuck this up. I deserved the trepidation in her eyes. Even if it shredded me. It might take a lifetime to make it up to her, but I decided right then that I would.
Fighting to swallow, I shrugged a shoulder, opting to answer truthfully. “I don’t know, baby. But I know I’m sick and tired of trying to not want you. Sick and tired of not holding you, of not coming home to see your smile or hear your voice. Your laugh. Of lying to the people that matter the most to me about how much you mean to me.”
Nodding, she rolled her lower lip between her teeth, and I raised a hand to her face, thumb freeing it before I leaned over to brush my lips over hers. We weren’t feral this time. The touch gentle and…almost aching.
“What about my brothers?” she breathed shakily when I freed her mouth, leaning our foreheads together.
“Fuck it, baby. I can’t keep this from them anymore. I just…I can’t. Not now.”
A relieved puff of air hit my lips, and then she tilted her chin, stealing sweet kisses. Leisurely kisses. Not the kiss you share with someone you love who’s getting on a plane in twelve hours.
“You know,” she finally breathed, “I’ve waited my entire adult life to hear you say something like that.” The way the end of her sentence went quiet had my gut nose diving.
“Why do I hear a ‘but’?”
“But…what are we doing? What do you want from me—from us?” She lifted onto her elbows, and I ran my palm down her torso to her hip, turning her into me. Needing her closer. Needing to stay tangled up in her toned legs. “How would this even work? I travel full-time. Hell, I can’t even remember the last time I stayed in my apartment for more than three consecutive nights. Getting home to Alaska happens less every year, especially since my parents retired in Florida. And you…you are Mistyvale.” Her gentle stroke against my stubble did nothing to ease the ache of the truth in those words.
The bridge of my nose stung, so I took a minute to tighten my grip on her hip, to admire the blooming hickey I’d inflicted at some point on her neck, down to the faint pink tinge of stubble burn on her thigh, where she had it draped over my leg. I loved seeing her disheveled like this. Evidence of my touch everywhere.
That didn’t stop the dread pooling in my stomach. I pulled my eyes back to her face, stroking a lazy line up her side. “What are you saying, Pix? This is just a one-night thing?”
“I don’t know.”
My chest went tight, so I cleared my throat. “What do you know?” I prompted gently, trailing my fingers down her bicep.
“That you don’t enjoy rocking the boat. That telling my brothers about this—about us, whatever that means—would seriously rock the boat. And that I don’t want you to risk losing them over whatever this is unless we know it’s gonna stick.” She shrugged like that suggestion wasn’t just a new form of torture.
“You asking me to lie to them, Pix?”
“I’m just… you guys made that dumb rule so that you weren’t alienated if things didn’t go right. We’re both mature adults—certainly too old to make drama. I’m never home to intrude on your space, anyway. So, let’s make sure it’s going right and then worry about telling them about our private lives.”
“A lie of omission is still a lie, El.”
“We’ve both been bullshitting them for years as it is. Why is this different?”
“Because that was out of loyalty,” I dipped to press kisses to her sternum, and each side of her collar bones before leaning back and finishing the thought. “And this feels… like a betrayal.”
“So, don’t then.” She shrugged. But in the next breath, she brought her fingers to trace my ribs as she added, “I just don’t want to be why you three fall out if this isn’t a forever thing.”
“And if it is a forever thing?” I countered, not missing the tiny twitch at the corner of her lips. I rolled my body over hers, and she laid down, smiling when I cradled her face in my palms, pressing kisses to her forehead, the tip of her nose.
Breathily, she said, “Then we cross that bridge when we get to it. Tell them together. I just want to take our time figuring all the answers out as just us first. Does that make sense?”
It did. And didn’t. My stomach did that uncomfortable flip flop that meant I was toeing the line of wrong and right. But when El tilted her chin to press her lips to mine, she silenced that unease. Silenced the world. Because the woman of my dreams wanted me back, and that had to be enough. “For now, just… let me worship you.”
Her concerns seemed to vanish as I slid down her body, hands roaming, dropping kisses along the way until I could bury my face between her legs again.