Chapter 16
16
Shirley had been right. The moment Tracey told Jessica that she wasn’t chosen for the manager position, the woman had immediately copped an attitude. First asking for the reasons why. When Tracey explained, she then deflected and made excuses. Finally, she’d resorted to tears, and when the tears didn’t penetrate Tracey’s resolve, she’d gotten angry and walked out.
Tracey couldn’t believe the woman’s audacity. Her walking out without another word only proved that Tracey had made the right decision not promoting her. Jessica leaving had saved Tracey the trouble of ultimately having to fire her, but damn if she didn’t pick the worst day to quit. There were several people checking in on Thursday for the Peach Festival happening that weekend, combined with a wedding that Saturday and many people from the bridal party also checking in early.
Tracey had hoped to have Jessica’s help to get through the check-ins and getting everyone settled, but without her it left a hole. Tracey was busy attending to people and showing them to their rooms while trying to answer questions about where to eat or what store was best for a quick run for some essentials.
She was in the middle of coming back from showing two women who were in town for the festival around the house before heading back to the reception when she spotted Brian’s SUV in the parking lot. It was Thursday night. Their scheduled sleep-together night. She’d gotten so thrown off by Jessica quitting and the rush of guests showing up that she’d forgotten all about her grand plans to let go and dive into being her most sexy self. Further proof that she was failing at being a let-loose-and-enjoy kind of person.
“Score number two for being horrible at this friends-with-benefits thing,” she muttered to herself.
When she returned, Brian was standing by the reception desk. He turned to her, and his lips lifted in a smile so bright, she turned to look and see if someone was standing behind her. Nope, no one there. That smile was seriously for her?
“Hey, you ready to head out?” he asked.
She tried to return his smile, but her lips could only muster up a sporadic twitch. “About that…”
His brows drew together as he frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t go anywhere tonight. Jessica quit on me today when I told her she wasn’t getting the manager job. My other front desk clerk is still new, and I can’t leave her by herself. I’ve got at least two other parties checking in tonight. I need to be here.”
Even though she kept her voice even and strong, her insides wavered. Before, he’d been understanding when she’d fallen asleep on him. That was one good thing, but she couldn’t expect him to be as forgiving this time. She waited for the disappointment to cover his face. Disappointment followed by anger. She could imagine the words he’d say. She’d once again be accused of putting the business before everything else. Would he already have someone else lined up to keep him company if she couldn’t go? He’d said he wanted to get her away for the night: he might demand that she pay him for whatever plans he’d made. If he went that far, she’d just give him the money and tell him to never call her again.
“Jessica quit? She just walked out on you like that?” Instead of sounding upset with Tracey, he sounded pissed about Jessica quitting suddenly. “I told you to get rid of her.”
“Well, she made it easy for me,” Tracey said. “I was counting on her being here so I could get away. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have been able to leave anyway. There’s a lot going on this weekend with the wedding and the festival. She would have needed me here. I know you made plans, if you want me to pay you.”
He shook his head. “Why would I want you to pay me? You didn’t make Jessica walk out.”
“Well, I kind of did when I told her she wasn’t getting the manager job.”
“That didn’t mean she had to walk out. Are you good? Do you need anything?”
Tracey shook her head, still waiting for him to get upset or throw a hissy fit because she was canceling on him. “I think I’ll be—”
The door to the inn opened, and four people walked in. Tracey smiled at them. “Welcome to The Fresh Place Inn. How can I help you?”
“We’re checking in,” one of the men in the group said.
“Then, I can help you with that.” She waved them over. She was turning to tell Brian he could leave when one of the women she’d previously checked in entered from the side.
“I’m trying to find the kitchen,” she said. “You said there were snacks there.”
Before Tracey could answer Brian spoke up. “I can show you. This way.”
The woman gave Tracey a curious look. Tracey nodded and pointed toward Brian. “He can show you exactly where they are.”
She relaxed and nodded. “Great.” She followed Brian.
Tracey worked to check in the group of four. While she did that, Brian handled another visitor’s question about local restaurants and the best place to get breakfast. When she showed them to their rooms and came back, he was standing next to the other clerk and pulling together the flyers and handouts about local attractions and the rules of the inn they gave to every guest.
For the next hour Brian became the extra pair of hands she needed to get her guests checked in and settled for the night. Not only did he jump in and help where he could, but he didn’t complain. With each passing minute, Tracey thanked her lucky stars that Brian was actually doing the friend part in their friends-with-benefits arrangement. She liked this side of Brian. The side that was the friend who helped out and didn’t judge. This Brian was sexier than she’d anticipated, and if she weren’t careful, this Brian could worm his way into her heart.
***
Tracey settled the final guest three hours after Brian arrived. The reception desk officially closed at eleven and the doors were locked to outsiders unless a guest had an active room key that could activate the lock if they needed to get into the kitchen after hours. That’s where she found Brian, sitting at the kitchen table nursing a bottle of water and scrolling through his cell phone.
She leaned against the doorframe and watched him. A smile curled up the corner of her mouth. He’d really helped her out tonight. She would have survived the night: it wasn’t the first time she’d had to make do being short-staffed, but he’d made getting through the night easier. Brian was a good person and friend. She’d never appreciated that before. She’d spent so much time focusing on the way he seemed to always be around when she’d been embarrassed or believing that they were somehow from two different worlds that she hadn’t given herself the chance to acknowledge all the good in him.
He looked up from his phone and caught her eye. “What are you smiling at?” He put the phone faceup. Bernard had never placed his phone faceup when she was around.
“You,” she said tilting her head to the side.
He cocked a brow before leaning his elbow on the table and resting his head on his fist. His biceps bulged against the short sleeve of his buttoned-up shirt. “Oh, I make you smile like that?”
She laughed lightly and shook her head. “Don’t start getting a big head or anything. You’re making me smile like this tonight.”
“Why is that?” His casual stance made him look every bit a male model posing to have the maximum effect on a woman’s equilibrium.
“Because you were nice tonight. Thank you.”
A line formed between his brows. “It wasn’t about being nice. You needed help, I stepped in and helped.”
“Well, you didn’t have to do that. You could have thrown up deuces and left to go mind your business.”
“Don’t you say I’m always minding your business?” He stood and crossed the room to her. His dark eyes never left hers as he neared. Another thing she’d noticed and liked about him: his gaze wasn’t shifty. He didn’t hide his thoughts from her. He stood just close enough to make her want to forget that her feet and shoulders hurt from the long day. Instead she wanted to end the night like they’d planned. But did he?
Tracey shifted until her back leaned against the doorjamb and she could look up into his eyes. “You do be minding my business. I guess that’s why you stuck around then, huh?”
He shook his head. “That’s not the only reason.”
“What’s the other reason?”
Brian placed one hand on the jamb above her and placed the other at the back of her neck. His fingers gently pressed and made small circles as he massaged. The feeling was perfect, and Tracey relaxed as her lids lowered.
Brian leaned in, his lips not quite touching hers, the desire in his eyes burning hot. “Because I hoped to do this before the night was over.”
He waited two agonizing heartbeats before kissing her. Tracey had been waiting for this all night. She never would have realized how sexy support could be before that night. Brian tilted her head to the side and slightly pressed his tongue along the seam of her lips. Her mouth opened, and his tongue glided across hers. Slow, sensual heat pooled between her thighs, her breasts felt heavy and the tips sensitive. He eased forward, pressing his solid chest, abs and crotch against her body. His hand roamed from her neck down her side, to cup her breast before his fingers gently pinched her nipple.
Tracey hissed. Brian lifted his head and met her eyes. A line between his brows. “Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head. “No. That…felt good.”
His face cleared, and he repeated the movement. “Lighter or harder?”
Tracey’s eyes narrowed, and she pushed her chest forward. She bit her lip, and when he squeezed again she gasped. “A little harder.”
His lips parted, and a spark flashed in his eyes as he added more pressure. “Like that?”
Tracey moaned and twisted her hips. “Yes, like that.”
He lowered his mouth and kissed her again. “Are all your rooms full?”
“My room isn’t. I’m staying in one of the upstairs rooms.”
“Can we finish this upstairs? I doubt everyone is asleep.”
The realization was like a cold splash of water. Any one of her guests could have walked in and spotted them. Embarrassment made her want to tell him to go, claim she was too tired and finish this on another day. The slickness between her legs and the low thrum of desire still simmering after his kiss told the truth. She didn’t want him to leave.
“Yes, let’s go upstairs.”
She took his hand and led him up the stairs and to the room in the back corner she’d moved into after her split. She crossed to turn the lamp off, but Brian came up behind her.
“Can we leave it on? I want to see you.”
She swallowed. She hadn’t been naked in front of anyone in a long time. She looked at herself every morning in the mirror when she got out of the shower. She’d never considered herself sexy, but she also didn’t hate the way she looked naked. Her breasts were full, hips curvy and stomach relatively flat. She didn’t want his thoughts on her naked body to change the way she saw herself.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and then gently ran them down her arm. “You’re so damn sexy. I want to see you.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “You think I’m sexy?”
Brian’s lips brushed against her ear. “Tracey, you have no idea how damn sexy I think you are.”
She bit her lip, then nodded. “Okay, lights on.”
“Just relax. Tell me if I do something you don’t like, okay?”
“Okay.”
He kissed the side of her neck, gently sucking and nipping at the sensitive skin until Tracey tilted her head to the side. Opening herself up more to his tender kisses. One arm came around, and his hand slid up her shirt. He cupped her breast.
“Still good?” His breath whispered between kisses.
She nodded quickly. She wanted him to gently tug on her nipples like he’d done downstairs. She waited for him to do that, then remembered her promise to herself. If she wanted something she would say it.
“Pinch my nipples.”
Brian’s deep moan echoed through the room before he obeyed her request. Tracey was lost in sensations. He listened when she asked for him to pinch harder and quickly eased up when she said he’d gone too hard. He squeezed both breasts with his hands when she asked, and Tracey became just as aroused by what he was doing to her as she was by him waiting for her direction.
“Can I take your clothes off now?” Brian asked as he kissed her shoulder.
Tracey couldn’t wait to get her clothes off. “Please.”
He turned her to face him, and they undressed quickly. Brian kept his eyes on her the entire time she pulled off her clothes. Heat burned across her chest, neck and cheeks. His stare was unwavering and hungry. Instead of feeling objectified, she loved the look in his eye. The yearning to touch her. Not someone else. Just Tracey.
He stepped forward and lightly ran his hands over her shoulders, down the sides of her breasts, and rested them on her hips. “I want to kiss every inch of your body.”
Tracey pictured him doing that. She thought about the places she wanted him to kiss and the ones she wasn’t so sure about then decided to focus on where she wanted him to kiss and touch her.
“Start here.” She slid her fingertips down her neck.
Brian pulled her into his arms and placed his lips on her neck. He kissed her confidently. His tongue flicked lightly across her pulse before he gently sucked the sensitive spot.
Tracey’s hands clenched Brian’s waist. His skin surprisingly smooth beneath her fingertips. Her head fell farther back and to the side. Brian let out a low moan.
“You really like that spot, huh?”
The flutter of his lips against her neck sent shivers across her body. “Yes.”
He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. A sexy smile lifted the side of his mouth. “Tell me whatever you want.” He kissed her. “And I’ll do it.”
Tracey’s sex clenched. But more than that, there was a funny feeling in her chest. A tingling warmth that made her stomach quiver and knees weak.
“Let’s move this to the bed.”
She didn’t have to say another thing. He swept her into his arms and placed her gently on the bed. They kissed each other deeply before his lips trailed back to her neck.
“My breasts. Kiss my breasts.”
Brian nodded slowly. “My pleasure.” His lips played across the swell of her breasts, teasing her before the warmth of his mouth finally closed over her nipples.
Tracey grasped the side of Brian’s head and arched her back. When she asked for more he sucked harder until she thought she would explode from the pleasure.
His long fingers brushed across her thighs. Squeezing her legs together to increase the pleasure wasn’t enough, she thought about the way she touched herself and wanted him to do the same. She parted her legs. “Touch me.” She didn’t care if her words sounded like a plea or a demand, she only cared about having his hands on her body.
Brian followed her instructions like a straight-A student who wanted to excel. His fingers slid between her legs and dipped into her wet folds.
“Damn, you feel good against my fingers.” Brian’s voice was decadent and gravelly. “Tell me what you like. This?” His fingers rubbed gentle circles across her swollen clit. “Or this?” He increased the pressure slightly and went back and forth over the hard nub before pushing two fingers inside her body.
Tracey cried out. Her legs spread farther, and her hips lifted. “That. Do that again.”
He repeated the movement. Whatever she said— faster , slower , deeper , softer —he listened. His breathing became more ragged, his erection harder with each direction she gave him. Tracey’s thoughts didn’t stray to other things. Her mind remained tuned in to the delicious sensations happening to her body.
When his body covered hers, both ready, he met her eyes again. His eyes asked the question. The emotion that squeezed her heart made her bite her lip to keep from grinning. “I’m ready.”
The tension around his eyes eased, and then he pushed inside her. Tracey gasped and closed her eyes.
“Oh my God, it’s been too long,” she moaned.
Brian pressed his lips to her forehead. “Damn, Tracey, just…damn. You feel so good.”
Tracey felt like she was filled with sunshine and glitter. She felt good. Not just Brian. She didn’t hold back her grin. She met his eyes and pulled his head down for a kiss.
“Damn right I feel good.”