Chapter 22 #2
I breathed out a laugh, more tears flowing, and shook my head. “No, this is good. This is perfect. This is you.”
“So, I’m not an ass anymore?”
“No, you’re still an ass. But don’t worry—I love every frustrating, rule-following, demanding, assy part of you.”
His lips twitched, and then a smile spread slowly across his mouth until he was beaming down at me, and sweet fancy Moses riding a bicycle, the sight nearly knocked me on my ass. Probably would’ve, too, if Brady hadn’t tugged my face to his and kissed me.
He held me close, tasting my lips and tongue, and every time our mouths separated for the briefest of moments, he whispered, “Love you,” and I melted into him a little more.
A few days later, before my parents headed back to Maryland, we had them over for dinner at Brady’s house.
It was…an experience. Mom spent the entire time sending me not so subtle winks and thumbs up whenever Brady so much as glanced in my direction.
She nearly fainted at the table when he pulled my chair out for me, placed a hand on my back, or refilled my wineglass.
Dad and Brady hit it off better than I thought they would, except when Dad got distracted with an email and slipped into work mode while I’d been talking to him. The scowl Brady had sent his way had been potent enough to peel paint. Dad had been oblivious, but I sure as hell hadn’t been.
He was always trying to protect me, always looking out for me, even in something as simple as that.
I’d been worried after he’d told me everything at the impromptu protest. Concerned he’d go back on his word or decide that he couldn’t handle all of me when it came down to it. But he’d proven every word he said to be true. And I didn’t hold back.
He didn’t blink when I smoke cleansed him after a particularly rough day dealing with multiple domestic dispute calls.
He didn’t bat an eye when I promised Mabel and her cronies I would be happy to teach them how to pole dance, if only they found me a studio that had a stripper pole to use.
And he’d agreed immediately when I said my parents wanted to have dinner and had only greeted my mother’s eccentricities with acceptance.
It was then, after she’d talked about his aura for fifteen minutes straight, that it really sank in. If he could accept my mother at her absolute brightest, not a lumen of her dimmed, then he’d do the same for me.
I glanced up from where I stood at the bathroom vanity, brushing my teeth, to see Brady in the mirror. He leaned one shoulder against the doorjamb, his arms crossed over his bare chest and his eyes on me.
I raised my brows, bending over to spit out the toothpaste before giving my mouth a quick rinse. Standing back up, I turned around to face him. “Am I in trouble, Sheriff?”
“Yes, you are.” He pushed off the jamb and took the two steps to me, gripping my hips and setting me on the counter.
He slid his hands along the outsides of my thighs, running them up and down along my bare skin.
“I just realized I never got my massage or my other yoga class. And since your mom was talking about you going home next week, I figured we better get on that.”
“Oh, you just realized, did you?” I bit my lip in an attempt to stop my smile from spreading, but it was no use. Seeing it only made him scowl harder, which, in turn, only made me burst out laughing, though that obviously didn’t help the situation.
“I don’t know what the hell is so funny,” he grumbled, hands frozen on my hips.
“I’m sorry,” I said through giggles. “I shouldn’t laugh. But you really thought you were being smooth, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“No?” I tipped my head to the side as I stared up at him. “So that wasn’t you digging for information in a roundabout way rather than just asking me outright if I’m planning on staying?”
His only answer was a tick of his jaw. “So what if it was?”
I rolled my lips in, trying in vain to hide my smile, but it eventually burst free. “I don’t plan anything.”
“I’m aware,” he said with frustration, but his words were laced with nothing but love.
“You know what that means?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck and sliding my fingers into his hair.
“What?”
“It means I’m not planning on leaving anytime soon.”
He stared down at me, brow furrowed. “I’d prefer ever.”
“Don’t get greedy. Or bossy. You know I don’t like that.”
He leaned down, not stopping until our noses brushed. “What I know is you soak my cock when I get bossy with you, so forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
I gasped. “Rude. And untrue.”
Now it was time for him to smile, and it swept over his mouth slow as molasses, the sight of it warming my insides.
Then he slid me off the counter and gripped my ass as he walked us into the bedroom.
He tossed me on my side of the bed—yes, I had a side, though I spent my nights wrapped around him like a koala—and braced his hands on either side of my head.
“If you needed me to fuck the lies out of you, lawbreaker, you could’ve just asked. Now, strip.”
I could’ve pushed back, continued on with my little facade—that we both knew wasn’t true—or I could strip and have some fun.
So, I did what any woman in my shoes would’ve done when faced with a shirtless Brady, ready to kill her with orgasms. I yanked off my shirt, tossed it aside, and then hooked my leg around his hip, dragging him into me.
“Oh no, Sheriff. What an awful punishment. Next thing I know, you’ll be pulling out the cuffs and spanking me.”
Brady’s answering grin was the last thing I saw before he kissed me. And then he kept kissing me…everywhere, all night long.