24. Harmony
CHAPTER 24
Harmony
B asking in his heat, he stares into my eyes as I try to catch my breath after having, hands down, the best sex of my life. My hands come up to his face to touch him, memorizing this moment, even though I know in my heart I will never, ever forget it. “By the way, you are definitely not leaving now,” he declares before he bends to touch my lips with his. All words are stuck in my throat as he lowers himself onto me, my body accepting his weight, wanting it, even craving it. He buries his face in my neck, and I close my eyes, taking all of it in. The smell of him, the touch of his lips, the strength of his arms surrounds me as he turns us on our sides and slides out of me. “Have to get rid of this condom.” He kisses my neck one more time before he rolls off the bed.
I turn my head, watching him walk to the bathroom. His perfect body disappears from my view, and I breathe in and out, trying to calm myself down. I feel it creep up on me, but the main thing that my head is screaming is, holy shit, you just had sex with Brady . I hear the water go on in the bathroom, and my heart speeds up even faster with nerves. I turn to sit up in the bed, wondering if I should get up. Wondering what to do next. The panic starts full force, my head spinning, my hands starting to get clammy but also shaking at the same time. He walks out not a second later, catching me with one foot about to hit the floor. “I was coming to clean you.” He walks over to the side of the bed, and I have to look at him, not sure I understand him. “Do you want me to do it, or do you want to do it?” He holds up the white washcloth he brought out.
“Um,” I say, “I can go in the bathroom.” I all but avoid his eyes as I try to get away from him, but he stops me by standing in front of me when I’m about to get up off the bed.
“Baby,” he calls me, and it’s the softness of his voice that gets me. It’s the fact he’s come to me with a cloth to take care of me. It’s the fact I just had the worst couple of days of my life but then had one of the best, all wrapped up together. He reaches out and puts his thumb under my chin, lifting it so he can look at me, and so I can look at him. His beauty takes away my breath and makes my vision blurry with tears. “Harmony,” he murmurs, his eyes searching mine, the worry in his voice as he puts his hands on my face. “Baby.”
“I’m okay.” I swallow. “I swear I’m okay.”
“Then why the tears?” he asks. “Did I?” His face goes white. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” I quickly reassure him. “That was—” I start to say but close my eyes, wanting the floor to open up and swallow me in embarrassment. “It was just?—”
“I know,” he assures me softly, and I really don’t think he knows. He’s Brady, the bachelor of all bachelors. The one who everyone is waiting to see who he’s going to pick. And he has his pick of many women who come in and try to catch his eye. My stomach almost lurches at that thought because I know, eventually, he’ll move on, and all I will be is a memory.
Again, that thought makes me shed more tears. “I just…” I move off the bed. “I need—” I start to say, and the sound of a phone ringing interrupts. “That could be Ryleigh.”
He hands me the wet cloth in his hand before he turns and walks out of the room. I hear him jog down the stairs, totally okay with walking around naked for everyone to see. I mean, if I had his body, I would do the same. He’s a work of art. I make my way to the bathroom, picking up my clothes on the way. Closing the door behind me, I put my head against the door for a second before walking over to the sink and turning on the water. I look up at myself, seeing my cheeks still are pink from my post-orgasm glow.
I slip my shorts back on, along with my bra and then my top. “Baby,” he says, knocking on the door, “it’s Ryleigh.”
I open the door, seeing him still there naked. My eyes do a sweep of his body, and I can feel the heat creep up my neck. My phone is in his hand. “I didn’t answer, but I’m thinking you should call her back.” I nod at him, reaching out for my phone but stopping when he steps back. “This”—he holds up his hand with the phone in it—“is the only reason I’m not stripping you naked again and taking you back to my bed.” I bite my lower lip, trying to hide the little smile I want to give. I guess I wasn’t half bad if he wants to take me back there , my head cheers me on. “Now I’m going to step in the shower.” He advances to me. “But next time…” He holds the phone out for me, and my hand comes up again to grab it from him. “I leave you naked in my bed, you stay that way until I say so.” My eyes go from the phone to his. “Are we clear?”
“I don’t know,” I answer him honestly.
“What don’t you know?” he asks, and the hand without the phone comes out to grab my hip.
“You leave me naked in bed; am I supposed to just wait for you to tell me you are done with me?” My voice is tight, and he smirks.
“No, baby.” The smirk turns into a grin. “When I’m done, you are going to know I’m done because you’ll be fucked out of your mind and won’t have the energy to get up and do anything else”—his voice goes lower as my nipples literally pebble—“or else I didn’t do my job.”
“Um…” What does one say to that? “Okay, I might need you to fill me in on some of the parts.” I want to stop my mouth from talking, but my mouth has other plans. “I’ve never been that?—”
“You’ve never been what?” His hand at my hip moves to my ass, and he pulls me into him. My hands go to his chest.
“I’ve never been, um, so tired that I can’t get up,” I admit. I mean, at this point, he’d clearly know if I faked an orgasm, not that I have to. The minute he touches me, my body tingles.
“We’ll get you to the point where you won’t even remember your name,” he declares. “Your body will crave mine. Fuck, I just fucked you, and my cock is getting hard again thinking of you.” I make the mistake of looking down and seeing his cock that was just buried in me, ready to be buried in me again, and my mouth waters. “You keep looking at me like that, I’m not going to care that your lawyer is waiting for you, and I’ll be fucking your mouth before bending you over.” He steps away from me. “Fuck, you want that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I admit.
“It’s too bad,” he says, “your naps after school drop-off are going to be pushed back a couple of hours, and I’ll be starting work late from now on.” He kisses me. “But if you want to join me in the shower, I can wait.”
I think about it for a couple of seconds, knowing I would kill to take a shower with Brady, but also knowing I have to call Ryleigh back, and he has to get to work. “I’ve already uprooted your life.” I take a deep breath. “So, you go shower.” My brain literally groans out in disapproval. “And I’ll go make coffee for you to go.”
“Okay, baby,” he agrees, bending and kissing my lips. I walk out of the room before I change my mind and follow him into the bathroom.
Going downstairs to the kitchen, I start a fresh pot of coffee for him at the same time I call Ryleigh. “Hey,” she answers after one ring, “called the sheriff’s department.” I can hear her rushing around on her end. “They want you in their office to answer questions.” All the happiness I felt not five minutes ago is gone. “Told them you weren’t saying a word without me there, so they pushed it to tomorrow.”
“Oh my God.” I put my hand on my stomach. “How are you going to get here?” I close my eyes, wondering how much it’s going to cost her and then what it’s going to cost me in terms of travel fees.
“I was going to fly out tonight, but,” she says, “my husband’s uncle is a bit of a control freak, and he found out, and now he wants to come with me.”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“Yeah, and also Casey Barnes is apparently meeting us,” she says and the air rushes out of me.
“Casey Barnes.” I repeat his name, wondering if maybe I heard wrong.
“Charlie is his grandson,” she explains. “Between my husband’s family of a million, and then the Barnes family is just as big as my husband’s, it’s hard to keep track of all of them. But we’ll be there tomorrow morning at nine o’clock.” I put my head back. “The sheriff is expecting us at ten.”
“Okay.” I walk over to a stool to sit down.
“Then I would like to sit with you to discuss a couple of things,” she tells me, “and see what you have.”
“I’m free until three, and then I have to get Wyatt,” I inform her, “then I work.”
“We’ll make sure that we get everything done before. I also have to come home to the kids,” she says, and I can feel the smile in her voice. “They are perfectly okay with Daddy leaving to go to work, but Mom, heaven forbid.”
“Sounds like you have your hands full,” I state, listening to the footsteps from upstairs.
“Then some.” She laughs. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t say a word about anything if they show up. Tell them you want your lawyer.”
“Will do,” I confirm. “Thank you, Ryleigh.”
“No,” she snaps, “thank you. This is the most action I’ve gotten in a while, and I have to say it gets the blood going.” I shake my head. “See you tomorrow.” She hangs up at the same time that Brady walks into the kitchen.
His hair is wet from his shower. “Everything okay?”
“They want to question me,” I reply, and I was expecting for me to freak out, but I’m actually really fucking calm.
“Wasting everyone’s fucking time because the Cartwrights have the sheriff’s balls in their pocket,” he hisses.
“Ryleigh is coming down with Charlie’s grandfather,” I inform him, and unlike me, he’s not surprised by this at all.
He just smiles. “Casey has been waiting, chomping at the bit to take on the Cartwrights. But I think he’s been playing it cool for Autumn. Ever since Casey found out that the Cartwrights almost bankrupted us, he’s been looking at any way to get back at them.”
“He doesn’t even know me,” I say, flabbergasted.
“I don’t think that matters. He just knows they are full of shit and wants to fuck with them.” Brady shrugs.
“Brady,” I say his name, “I know what they did to your family.” I swallow down the bile that threatens to come up. “You guys have overcome so much. Is it worth having it all taken away?”
I don’t know what I’m expecting him to say. But I will say that what he says doesn’t only shock me, it leaves me speechless. “If it means you and Wyatt are free from them, then yes.”