Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
HAZEL
O n the way home, we held hands, and my heart beat in anticipation of the evening spread out before us. Dalton wouldn't be interrupting us, and we had the house to ourselves.
Something had happened tonight. I'd fallen deeper in love with Brady. I wanted to show him how much I appreciated the thoughtfulness of the date. Brady knew me inside and out.
It might have a lot to do with our friendship, but he was in tune with me and my desires. It was a heady feeling.
When he parked in front of his house, the rain picked up. "Want to make a run for it?"
I nodded, and we both got out at the same time, ducking and running through the rain. By the time I got to the porch, I was soaked. I couldn't help but laugh as Brady wiped the water from his face.
Inside, he closed and locked the door and then led the way upstairs to our bedroom.
There was no need to talk. We could read each other now, and both of us needed to be close.
He grabbed towels from the bathroom, drying my hair and body, then doing the same for himself while I removed my wet clothes and set them aside.
Shivering, I climbed under the covers, waiting for Brady to join me. As soon as the bed dipped, his hands were on me, moving me to straddle his body. He draped the blankets over my back. "Do you want to take a hot shower?"
I settled over his hardening dick, my hands splayed on his chest. "We probably should, but I'd rather do something else."
He raised a brow. "And what's that?"
"I want you," I said simply before kissing him.
His hands cupped my breasts, his fingers sliding over the taut nipples. I moaned into his mouth, needing more.
I slid over his dick, heightening the need for each other. I was slick with desire, the fire burning hot inside me. I needed Brady to put it out. I thought about how amazing our date was and the thought that Brady had put into it, and I let my body do the talking.
I was so grateful to be here right now with this man. The one I'd dreamed about taking this step with forever. This couldn't be a fluke or a means to an end. It felt so much bigger than a fake arrangement.
There was no way we could walk away from this and go back to being just friends. Tonight, he was mine, and I wasn't going to let him go.
He kneaded my breasts as I continued the slow build, moving my pussy over his rigid cock, and when the tip slid inside, we both gasped. I'd never felt anything that was so good in my life. But I wanted more.
Brady gripped his cock, and I slid down the length until he filled me completely.
"How does that feel?" Brady asked, his voice gruff.
"Like I'm yours."
His eyes flashed with desire. "Don't forget it."
I wouldn't forget this moment or this evening. It was ingrained in my memory forever, as if it had been tattooed there. I began to move slowly at first, adjusting to the stretch, and then faster when I found my rhythm.
Brady cupped my breasts, flicking the nipples. The sensation was a bolt of lightning to my clit, and I bit my lip against the moan that threatened to erupt.
He pulled me down so that we could kiss, his hand between us, playing with my clit. I couldn't hold back anymore and let the orgasm shoot through me. While I was still trembling from the aftershocks, he gripped my hips, pumping into me from below. Then he flipped us so that I was underneath him.
His hands braced on either side of me, he tunneled into me, his body covered with a sheen of sweat. He'd been holding back before.
I loved that I could make him so unrestrained.
He thrust one more time and then stilled, spilling inside me. His forehead dropped to mine, and then he rolled over, got off the bed, and padded to the bathroom.
I admired his ass as he walked. Everything about him was defined and hard. He took care of his body. When he returned, he had a warm washcloth he used to clean me. Then he gathered me into his chest.
"Thank you for the perfect evening."
"I'm glad you insisted that Dalton not move back in. I prefer having the privacy to do whatever I want to you and not worrying about keeping quiet."
"Tomorrow is the engagement party. Are we ready for it?"
"Let's take a shower, and then we'll pull up more questions to go over." Brady tugged me out of bed and turned on the water.
He took his time soaping my body and then my hair. By the time he was done, I was relaxed and ready to go to sleep. But we had to go over more questions so that we were prepared for Grandma's quiz.
We lay on the bed with my phone between us, the list of questions visible. Brady went through them one by one. Other than the first date question, we could answer most of them.
"What about the future questions. Do you want kids?" I asked him.
"Of course."
"How many?" I studied his reaction.
His forehead creased. "Two or three? I'm flexible. It's whatever you want."
"When would we plan on having children? I have a feeling people are going to ask."
"We'd want to wait a few years to enjoy being together before we started. That gives us time to work on our projects too, my show and your after-school program."
"That's what I was thinking. The next one is what if one of us needs to move for a job or to be near family?"
"We both want to stay on the island, so moving is out of the question,” Brady said while he played with my hair.
"What if I lost my job and needed to move to find another one? What would we do?"
"That's not going to happen."
"But what if it did? Would you be willing to leave your family?" I asked him, a little worried about his answer. If we were together for real, this would be something to think about.
His brow creased again. "I never thought about it."
"Well, now that you're thinking about it, what do you think about the possibility?"
"I don't want to move away. Dalton is having a baby. We've always been close."
"So you'd stay here, even if you were my husband?"
"Well, no. I don't know." He looked at me helplessly. "But I work for my family here."
"But there's only one library in town. If it closes, or I get fired?—"
Brady's jaw tightened. "You won't get fired."
"I still think we should consider the possibility."
He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I thought this was a game. We're only pretending to be together. We don't have to have the answers for every hypothetical scenario."
Technically, he was right, but his insistence that we weren't real hurt. I'd hoped he'd started to see our relationship differently. "You have the income from your show. Technically you could work anywhere."
"Yeah, but my family is counting on me to work in the business, and Dalton needs me."
Maybe Brady was just holding onto his dependence because it satisfied a need inside him to take care of his brother. I think he could transfer that need to me, but not if he wasn't interested in doing so. My brain hurt.
"I think we've done enough for tonight. She's only going to ask the fluff stuff about when we met, first kiss. People are curious about us. That's all."
"Yeah, you're probably right." If we were real, I would have insisted on coming up with a solution to that question because it wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
The library's budget could change at any time, and I was just the children's librarian.
I was expendable if there was a downturn in funding.
I rested my head on Brady's chest, my hand over his heart, which was beating steadily underneath my palm. We'd had a great first date. There was no need to rush on the other details. The engagement wasn't real. I didn't need to put extra pressure on us.
The next morning started off with a panic about an issue with the flower delivery. I showered, ate quickly, and then met with Elena to ensure everything was ready for the party. We still had to hang the lanterns and ensure the cake and the flowers arrived on time.
It was a whirlwind day, and I didn't talk to Brady at all.
I was still feeling off-kilter after our conversation last night.
No matter how many times I told myself that his answer shouldn't matter, that I should give him time to think about it, I couldn't shake that feeling that Brady wasn't all in with me.
It was hard to believe things weren't real given our date last night and the engagement party we were planning today. It took most of the afternoon to get the lanterns hung. Elena ensured the flowers were delivered and set on the tables as centerpieces.
The cake arrived and was placed on a table toward the front of the room. Everything about the evening was perfect: the view of the ocean, the lanterns glowing in the waning sunlight. I just wished this were real. I wondered if it would be wise to think of the night as our real engagement party.
What would it hurt to let it be real for one more night? Give into the fantasy of us?
I went home to get ready, but Brady had left a note that he was with his brothers and would meet me at the party since he didn't know what time I'd be home. He could have asked. I guess I could have reached out to him too. It's just, things felt weird after our conversation last night.
I wasn't sure we were on the same page, but then again, was it required when you were faking the relationship?
I got ready and then drove to the party, feeling more than a little off. I was arriving at my engagement party without my fiancé. Maybe it was Brady's way of reminding me that this was fake.
I pasted a smile on my face as I greeted everyone. Whenever anyone asked where Brady was, I said, "He'll be here soon."
I hoped he would be. We were the guests of honor after all. Right before I was going to text and ask where he was, he and his brothers arrived. I waited for them to greet everyone.
"You're just in time for pictures, and then we'll do a little game," Grandma said when Brady reached us.