Chapter 32 Not My Style
NOT MY STYLE
“Not that horrible, was it?” Brennan asked two hours later.
They’d just walked into her house. Alana was going to cook him a nice dinner and maybe they’d watch movies and snuggle on the couch.
Nothing exciting but a night she’d always wanted and never got to have for New Year’s Eve.
Jonathan was all about loud electrifying gatherings. Once in a while was great, but every year it was too much.
Once, early on, she’d mentioned a romantic dinner in and he shrugged it off that they could do it any time they wanted. New Year’s Eve should be special.
Too bad they never did her suggestion another day of the year.
Or maybe it was a good thing they hadn’t because now she got to experience it with someone who would appreciate the gesture.
“No,” she said. She wouldn’t tell him exactly what his mother said in the kitchen. “You worked me up for nothing.”
He pulled her into his arms once they were in the kitchen. “I didn’t mean to do that. But I also didn’t want you to go in thinking she’d be fine and then get hit with dynamite.”
She frowned as she pulled out the filets she’d bought to let them get to room temperature.
“Was she normally hard on women you were dating? I guess I never asked if there were other women you were in relationships with besides Rene.”
“Rene wasn’t a relationship,” he said. “Not a real one. As for other ones, yes. I’ve had a few that lasted a year or longer. Nothing over two years. My mother met those women.”
“Why didn’t they last?”
She pulled out big russet potatoes, washed and cut them into thick wedges, then added olive oil and salt and pepper.
She put one layer of them in the air fryer at high. They’d take twenty minutes. Then she’d add another batch to cook while the filets were going.
“Not one specific reason. Sometimes our futures didn’t line up. I’d want kids, they wouldn’t. They’d want to travel, my job didn’t always allow a lot of time off. I’d say I parted as friends with them if that helps.”
She walked to the wine fridge and pulled out a pinot noir; he took it out of her hands to open while she got the glasses down.
“That helps,” she said. “Unlike me with Jonathan. He wanted to stay in touch, but there was no way that was happening. It was all to save face, as if everyone didn’t know he cheated on me.”
Brennan snorted. “He wanted you two to remain friends?”
“That’s what he said, but it was a line of crap. It had to do with his job more than anything. He was afraid of getting fired.”
“As he should have been,” he said, lifting one eyebrow.
“Don’t be that way,” she said. “It’s not my style to get revenge. I feel as if karma will get him in the end anyway.”
He poured them both a glass and handed it over. “I never used to think that way but didn’t have a reason to. I can’t waste my energy on people not in my life anymore.”
“That is how I choose to think of it.” She moved into his arms. “I’d rather focus on us. I know it’s only been a few weeks.”
“Months that we’ve known each other.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I like to think that we were leading up to this.”
“It’s a nice thought for sure. But for me, I want to center our time together on us.”
“I like that,” he said. “Anything I can do to help you with dinner? You shouldn’t be doing all the work.”
“I’m good.”
She moved out of his arms and put salt and pepper on the filets. The air fryer went off at the halfway mark so she turned the thick fries over and then grabbed the asparagus to cook.
“Then I’ll just do all the work after dinner.”
She laughed. “That had been my secret plan the whole time.”
She went about cooking dinner, searing the filets in a cast iron skillet, then throwing them in the oven to finish. The fries were in a basket ready to go and the asparagus was just about done.
“The least I can do is set the table,” he said.
She pulled plates down, he took them out of her hand and put them on the small table off the kitchen.
Five minutes later, they were sitting down with their plates full, their wine glasses topped off.
“Thanks for this quiet night in,” she said. “I feel like we’ve had so many gatherings this time of year and it’s nice to relax.”
“I agree. It’s been a long week for me. I wouldn’t bring Becca to pre-K yesterday but wanted to give my mother a break knowing she was taking her overnight for us.”
Both she and Brennan had taken today off. She’d done a little work from home before she went to his house. It wasn’t as if she had anything else going on and sitting around thinking about how she wanted this night to end was only working her up.
That and meeting his mother.
“I’m glad we’ve got the night here,” she said.
“Me too. Did you have plans?”
She dipped her head down while she ate, the heat traveling up her neck.
She didn’t know why she was feeling like this. It’s not as if they hadn’t had sex yet.
They even fooled around like teens on the couch. She didn’t know the last time she’d had so much fun with sex.
With any luck tonight would be more of the same.
“I thought we could watch some movies and then count the ball down before the new year. Maybe have some X-rated fun.”
“That part is a given,” he said, winking.
She laughed. “Which part?”
“All of it. How X-rated are we going?”
It was hard to chew. And when she thought she could swallow, it didn’t want to go down either.
She sipped her wine so she didn’t choke. “What did you have in mind?”
“Nothing outlandish,” he said. “Unless you wanted it?”
She looked at his face, saw the big grin. He was eating this up. Even embarrassing her.
“I’m not into pain or bondage.”
“Nope,” he said. “Neither am I. But I wouldn’t mind getting a marvelous view of your ass on the floor in front of the fire.”
Good Lord. Hearing the words describing what she wanted to do tonight was almost too much.
How could he have thought the same as her?
And imagining it and talking about it were two different things.
Somehow they got through their dinner, the two of them cleaning up together.
Their wine glasses were filled again, the bottle empty at this point. They were small glasses, the bottle not that big. It was more the romance of it all.
She should have lit candles too.
Oh well.
They moved to the living room, turned the fireplace on, the lights dimmed.
Once they set down their glasses, she turned and put her arms around his neck. “I’d like to get to the X-rated part of the night before the movies. Unless you wanted X-rated movies.”
He laughed. “Do you watch porn, Alana?”
Her entire body swamped with heat. It was the fireplace.
Yeah, no. It was Brennan and his words, along with his hands grabbing her ass and pulling her tight to his body.
“I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t in the past.”
“Maybe we’ll have to try that another time.” He moved away from her and grabbed a blanket off the couch, spread it on the floor in front of the fireplace, then added every pillow he could find in the room that was moveable.
“This is exactly what I was thinking tonight.”
“Great minds,” he said, pulling her blue sweater up and over her head.
She did the same with his shirt. “Not too cold in here? I know I’m sweating.”
“We’ll keep each other warm. Don’t worry.”
They were both naked in record time. Nothing romantic about that and it wasn’t what she was going for.
This part of the night had to be sexy to her.
Adventurous.
A position she loved but rarely got in the past.
“Nothing about you worries me.”
And that meant she could open up and be honest with what she wanted.
He had a condom out and before he could cover himself, she was on her hands and knees in front of the fire.
“Damn,” he said when he turned. “You can read my mind.”
“I think it’s more that I was thinking of this too. You know, end the year with something fun, but start it with something different. I don’t know that I’m making sense.”
“You are. Never think otherwise.”
He got behind her on the floor, his hands moving up her hamstrings, over the globes of her cheeks. He was going to take his time touching her.
He always did and she didn’t mind since it was another sign of how he put her pleasure first.
There wasn’t much about Brennan that was selfish.
Sometimes she worried that he’d think she was the selfish lover, always wanting and not giving back. It was one thing she put more effort in.
His hands moved around her hips, down between her legs, found her heat and that she was dripping with anticipation.
She’d been visualizing this for days.
“I’m so ready,” she said, her head dropping.
“I think you’re a closet naughty girl,” he said, his hands outside of hers on the floor, his mouth close to her ear. He wasn’t inside her, but their bodies were touching everywhere they could.
“I never thought so before.”
“I like it if you are,” he said.
He delicately bit the side of her neck, telling her in actions the truth to his words.
He moved back, then guided himself into her heat slowly, her body almost sighing with relief.
His hands were on her hips, and he began thrusting in and out at a slow steady pace, the only sounds in the room their breathing and their bodies touching and retreating.
She closed her eyes so she could feel more. Concentrate on the sensations overtaking her.
“I’m close,” he said. “It’s hard not to be like this. Touch yourself.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice.
Her hand went between her legs, found her swollen bud, her finger flicking at it a few times, then swirling around.
Moans added to the chorus of their breathing, slapping skin with his hips against her ass too. It was the best song she’d heard in years.
“I’m almost there,” she screeched. She was backing up against him as he was slamming into her. Her knees were getting sore on the hardwood floors, the blanket not offering much protection, but she didn’t want to stop and put a pillow there either.
There was no time if she decided to because her hand was moving as fast as it could, her body cresting and ready to topple over when the orgasm hit.
She had to put both hands on the floor to stop that from happening with as rigorous as Brennan was giving it to her.
“Jesus,” he shouted, then his body stopped and held her steady, the bite of his fingers into her flesh on her hips finally registering in her brain.
Then his chest hit her back, the weight of him pushing her to the floor and him rolling so they were on their sides.
“My knees and palms are burning,” she said and broke out into a fit of laughter.
“The same with my knees. They just gave out. I think I’m too old for this because all I can feel is pain in my body.”
She laughed even harder. “I thought the same thing.”
He kissed her neck. “But was it worth it?”
She sighed and snuggled into his chest, his arms wrapping her tight. “So worth it,” she whispered.