18. Brooks
EIGHTEEN
Brooks
S he looks so beautiful. And scooping her into my arms for that kiss earlier, as I tried to keep her from hitting the floor, was easy. Too easy. It’s been far too easy to fall for her. To think of her every waking moment.
She’s leaving tomorrow, I remind myself.
“How’d last night go?” Spencer asks, unboxing his gift from his soon-to-be wife as he awaits my answer.
“It was amazing. Thank you for your help.”
“Good, I hope things go well with you tw—” He opens the box, and his words cut off as a very nude, posed Taylor comes into view.
I flick my eyes away as a laugh I can’t help flies out of my mouth.
“Fuck’s sake. I think she might be the death of me,” he says, slamming the lid closed before shifting himself in his slacks.
“It’ll be a good death, then.” My eyes flick back toward him now that I know the box is closed.
He smiles, and it dances through his eyes, happiness coating their surface. “It will be.”
I clap him on the back. “I’m so happy for you, man.”
“You also owe me big time.”
I quirk a brow. “How do I owe you?”
“For bringing you two together, you and Indie,” he adds as my look of confusion deepens.
“Oh, Spence, we’re not… You’ve got the wrong idea about what’s going on between us. She’s leaving tomorrow.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Mm. I don’t think I have the wrong idea. I think you do.”
Long after he’s walked away, starting a conversation with another of his groomsmen, I’m left with his words rattling around in my head.
Right before the ceremony starts, my phone goes off, reality seeming to know I’m too happy as it grabs my ankles and drags me back down beneath the waves of uncertainty.
I open an e-mail from the bank, one telling me just how near my deadline is. I need this day and this bet to go off without a hitch, or I’m royally fucked.
Explaining to Nick why the bar and subsequently my home is boarded up with bank signs all over it is going to be hard as fuck. If even one thing goes wrong and this thing goes off the rails…
No!
I break free from the spiraling that has my heart racing. Nothing’s going to go wrong. Indie and I are in this together.
I give her a longing look as we line up behind the rest of the wedding party to walk down the aisle. The other couples stand between us and the doors, closing off the excited crowd.
She grins up at me, shifting her flowers in her hand, and I get lost in the green depths of her eyes. As if sensing something’s off, she quirks a brow at me. I shake my head, answer her smile with one of my own, and offer her my arm. Just as practiced, she slips her arm through mine as the doors open and the ceremony begins.
Having her near, knowing she’s all-in with me on this, has me calming down some. And as I escort her down the aisle, her hand gripping my forearm, I try to focus all my energy on the night ahead.
Our last night together.
I don’t want to focus on anything but spending every last moment I can with her. Before, this thing between us becomes a thing of the past.
T he ceremony went off without a hitch, and now we’re all finishing this round of photos before we head for the reception hall—technically Taylor’s family’s estate.
Indie and I will head over together, and I’m hoping we get a few moments together before we have to spend the night amongst all the drunken frivolity. Not that I’m not happy for Taylor and Spencer, but knowing that tonight is the last time I’ll see Indie has me feeling her impending loss already like an anvil on my chest.
When I open the door for her to slide into my truck, she eyes me sweetly. There have been none of her usual spitfire remarks or antics today. I don’t know if she’s keeping it together for Taylor or because she, too, is dreading our upcoming end.
I get in and shut the door before cranking the engine. For a moment, we both sit in comfortable silence. It’s been a hectic day.
“My best friend is married,” she says.
I let my head loll to the side of my headrest to look at her. “She is.”
“It was a beautiful wedding.” She looks at me as a smile lights her face.
“It was.”
“Are you just going to agree with me all night?”
I nod. “I am.”
“That’s a dangerous thing to do, you know?”
“Is it? Seems like it could be fun. Unless you say we’re robbing a bank on the way to the reception.”
“If I were to take a detour, I wouldn’t choose that.” Her tone has dropped into a husky gravel that has my heartbeat quickening.
“Oh yeah? If you could choose a detour, what would it be, then?”
She bites her lip, and I zone in on the pressure her teeth are exerting into her flesh, wanting more than anything to feel them on mine.
“Anywhere,” she says, and I narrow my eyes at her.
“Anywhere? That’s not very specific.”
“You didn’t let me finish.”
“Oh. Well, by all means, carry on.”
She slides across the bench seat toward me, tilting her head to tease my lips with hers as she hovers close. “Anywhere with you.”
That’s it. I don’t think I’ll survive her leaving here tomorrow. But for her sake, I know I have to let her go. She’s not meant for a one-stop-light town. She’s meant for more. More than I can offer her. More than I stand for. More than me.
“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go,” I whisper.
“Will you?”
When I can’t take it any longer, I press forward, kissing her with everything I can’t put into words. The world surrounding us falls away for a moment, and we’re back in the meadow, beneath the stars, just her and me. No impending clock ticks as her tongue spreads my lips to tease against mine.
A car horn honks, and I realize I’m holding up the procession of cars behind us heading to the reception.
Indie grins and sits straight in the middle of the truck beside me, her hand resting on my thigh.
Putting the truck into gear, I pull onto the street, all the while heavily aware of Indie’s thumb tracing mind-numbing circles on my inner thigh.
“Don’t worry,” she whispers, brushing her lips over my ear. “We’ll find somewhere more private at some point tonight.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask, looking toward her as I accidentally take the wheel in the direction my eyes have turned.
Indie screams, grabbing and yanking the wheel back toward the road as we bump along reflectors on the side of the street that warn us we’re about to disembark.
“Well, we won’t if you don’t stay on the road.”
“Sorry. I’m a little distracted.”
“Trust me. I get that.” Her husky tone returns as we pull onto the property and follow the tips of glowing sticks in a few attendants’ hands that are parking guests in a field to the right of the massive barn used for the reception.
Once we’re parked and a few moments tick by, the people in the surrounding cars having already walked up to the party, I find Indie’s knee with my right hand sliding upward.
“Brooks,” she warns halfheartedly.
“Yes?”
“We can’t. We’re meant to be inside.”
“I can’t go in there knowing how wet you are, Indie. Plus, it’s my last night with you.”
“Our last night,” she breathes as if using my harebrained excuse to part her thighs and allow me entrance to her heated apex.
She leans back in the seat as I slide her panties to the side. She looks around to ensure we’re not found out the entire time. The attendants have moved on to parking people in the row they’re creating behind us, and the cars around us are empty. I’d never let anyone see her exposed, but I can’t deny that the idea of someone happening upon us sends a thrill down my spine.
“Brooks.” This time, it’s not a warning. It’s a needy plead.
“I’ve got you, red.” Sliding two fingers inside her as she lifts for me, I press in the best I can at the angle we’re at, crooking my fingers upward to rub against the spot that’s sure to make my girl go off.
I try to ignore what even thinking of her as my girl does to my insides as my heart skips a beat.
Her moan rolls through the cab, stroking my ego as my erection presses painfully against the godforsaken tailored suit pants she’s been blatantly admiring all afternoon. My jacket is long gone, and my tie is loose around my neck.
“It’s not enough. I need more,” Indie says, and the knowledge has me wanting to open the door and pull her out with me.
I can smell her, feel her. I’m too greedy to be inside her to race her to the meadow in the dark. Too keyed up to even find the fucking place.
“Straddle me.” I pull my fingers out of her, shoving them in my mouth to taste her as she hikes her dress up to listen.
Fuck, I feel like a teenager all over again. A girl in my truck. Parked somewhere I shouldn’t be.
Indie reaches for my belt and button before I can do so myself and pulls my cock free, sliding her soft hand over it a few times.
I swear she does it on purpose to watch what she does to me because her eyes lock on mine as mine grow heady, moans spilling from my lips as she teases me.
“Indie.” It’s my turn to beg and plead with her not to taunt me more than I can handle.
Fuck, I can’t get enough of her.
We’re more than late, we’ll probably arrive after Taylor and Spencer, and they’ll kick our ass for doing so, but once Indie seats herself on my dick, sliding down it as a moan decorates the surrounding air, I don’t fucking care.
“God,” I groan, gripping her hips as she works up to a rhythm that’ll have us both coming in no time.
She crashes her lips to mine, and my foot accidentally hits the gas, revving the engine. Leaning forward, I turn the engine off as Indie groans from the angle change. She’s determined to come and do so quickly.
“Fuck, red. You feel so goddamned good.” I nip her jaw as I work my lips back around to find hers in a lazy kiss, and I give what I can from beneath her.
“We shouldn’t be out here still,” she says, her eyes tearing from mine, looking up at the barn we’re supposed to be inside.
“You’re right. We shouldn’t. So hurry the fuck up and come for me. Then I’ll take you inside and twirl you around the dance floor all night before I fuck you senseless again.”
She moans. “Brooks.”
Using the steering wheel behind her for leverage, I lift and meet her thrust for thrust as her incoherent moans roll into one another as I feel my own end racing for me.
“There’s my beautiful girl. Come for me,” I grunt, trying like hell to let her go first.
She screams my name, her head falling back as her climax tugs me over the edge with her.
Sputtering her name and a string of curses, I plant my ass back on the seat of the truck as Indie leans her forehead against mine.
“Shit. Taylor’s going to kill me.”
I laugh. “No, she won’t. Just give her the juicy details.”
“What?”
“I know you girls eat that shit up. Just give her the details, and she’ll overlook your tardiness.”
“She’ll still be mad at you. You started it.”
I shrug. “I’ll take it if it gets you off the hook.”
“Such a romantic. However, will I leave you tomorrow?” She kisses my lips playfully, and I know her words were as such, too, but they hit me dead center and cause an ache to form.
“Let’s get inside and clean up,” I tell her.
“Then you’ll twirl me across the dance floor?” she asks, working her way back into her seat.
“Red, I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Still. Dangerous words.”
“I’m a man unafraid of danger when it comes to you, Indie.” I mean my words playfully, but I can tell they hit her harder than I’d meant them, just as hers had.
Once inside, we find a bathroom and get cleaned up and presentable before heading into where thumping bass and the sounds of a crowd filter around us.
“Ready?” she asks.
I grin. “As I’ll ever be.”