“Oookay. I’ll talk to you guys later. I’m definitely not needed here.” Bailey slipped out, and I heard the door lock click.
“I thought he’d never leave,” Weston murmured against my mouth, and I grinned.
“He’ll be back.”
Weston pressed a kiss to my lips, and I couldn’t stop trembling. “I’m sure. If only to get more of the story of us.”
“The story of us? What’s that?”
He cupped my face between the palms of his hands. “Stick with me, and we’ll find out together.”
Chapter Twenty
Weston
Brenner gazed at me with trepidation. “I discovered some things today that might change your mind. About me, I mean.”
This wasn’t Brenner stepping aside to be altruistic. He was truly concerned, and I needed to put him at ease once and for all.
“Have I given you any indication that I want to walk away for you…from us?”
“N-no, but—”
“No buts. We are in this together. You. Me.” I didn’t know where all this possessiveness sprang from. When Isobel and I had been lovers, I’d known she was with other people, as was I, and it had never bothered me. But the thought of someone else touching Brenner sent my blood to the boiling point. “I’m not looking for anyone else. Are you?”
I held my breath, waiting for Brenner’s response.
“No. I just don’t understand how it happened. And why you?”
“Hmm. Maybe I’m irresistible?” I cast my eyes upward, unable to keep the smirk from my lips. “If memory serves, you always wanted the best.”
Surprising me, Brenner took my mouth in a bruising kiss. “That was my line. And I think I got it.”
“Think? You think you got it?” I sucked his tongue hungrily while pushing his suit jacket off. I ran my hands over his firm biceps. “I know I have. You are whom I want. Whom I need. No one else.”
Bright-blue eyes latched on to mine, and his fingers never fumbled when he undid the buttons of his shirt. I removed my T-shirt, desire escalating at the roughness of Brenner’s chest hair and his scruff rasping against my hot skin.
“I need you too, West. How it happened or why doesn’t matter. I don’t want to let you go.”
I held him close, the thump of his heart echoing in my chest. “Not happening.”
Brenner held me at arm’s length, sorrow chasing away the lust. “It might, once I tell you what I learned today.”
My breathing returning to normal, I tangled my fingers with his, the heft and strength of a man’s hand in mine no longer an oddity. It was right. Real.
“Go ahead, but it takes a lot to shock me.”
Hearing Brenner hesitantly relay his mother’s heartbreaking story made me want to put him in bubble wrap so nothing could ever hurt him again. When he finished, he kept his head bowed, refusing to meet my eyes. “So you can see, it’s not simply me being a foster kid.”
I tugged him near. “There’s nothing simple about you. You’re a fighter, and you have more integrity than anyone I know. Let them try and come after you. They’ll have to get through me first.” My phone buzzed, but I ignored it, my focus on Brenner. Unfortunately, whoever was trying to contact me was persistent, and when I picked it up, shock sent my heart racing. Missed calls and a text from my father.
“What is it?” Brenner inched closer. “Did something happen?”
Numb, I showed him my phone screen.
I’ll be in New York City on Saturday. If you’d like to meet your sister, come to the Waldorf.
“I’m not sure what to think. With my father, it could be a trap.”
