Brandon’s laugh is rough sandpaper, and it sends a thrill through me. But his muscles remain coiled, tense, as I draw even closer.
I drop the playfulness from my expression, tearing away brick by brick until he can see the raw, vulnerable truth in my next words.
“It was real, Brandon,” I whisper. “Itisreal. At least for me?—”
That’s all it takes.
Brandon’s mouth crashes down on mine—hard.He grips the backs of my thighs, hauling me up and against his body. My senses are pulled in every direction as his free hand tangles in my hair. I wrap my arms and legs around his torso as he begins to navigate the patio in the dark. Pool lights beside us emanate faintly from its depths, bathing the area in a dim glow.
“Watch out for the pool,” I pant against his rain-drenched lips, and he chuckles between kisses.
“Will you stop being so bossy?” he says.
“Wouldn’t have to be if you could keep up,” I retort.
He nips at my bottom lip, and I laugh.
My mouth has just claimed his again when the world’s gravity suddenly lurches to the side. Before I have even a moment to process, a wave of icy pool water crashes into us. I’m separated from Brandon’s embrace in the chlorine-scented water, and I fight my way to the surface, choking out coughs.
Brandon’s head pops up a few feet from me, and he drags me toward the shallow end where my high heels finally grasp purchase.
“Are you freaking serious?” I sputter, shoving a splash of water toward him.
“I didn’t do that on purpose!” He belly laughs, deep and rich. “I swear, I just fell.”
“I’m soaking!”
“Yeah, like we weren’t drenched before,” he deadpans, and I chuck another handful of water where he stands, his white shirt practically painted onto his pectoral muscles. The hem of his jacket billows in the water. The whole scenario is so hilarious, I burst out laughing until tears stream down my face.
I attempt to wipe away my amusement, and I’m startled when my fingers come away streaked black with makeup.
“Oh crap.” I cough another laugh. “I probably look like a raccoon.”
“You are”—he moves toward me in the water with a predatory grin—“the sexiest raccoon I’ve ever seen.”
“You do realize how weird that sounds right? Like you have some woodland creature fetish?”
His laugh fans across my lips as his fingers tangle again in my hair. His lips are swollen, hair mussed, but it’s the look he graces me with that floods my stomach with heat.
There’s such want, suchreverencein that gaze. As if it’s a prayer, and I’m the only goddess able to answer. It strips me bare, that gaze. I’m unable to hide, and what’s more, I don’t think Iwantto anymore.
Because Brandonseesme. All of me. My scars, my fears, my desires.
The look in his eyes isn’t a flash fire in a hot pan. The emotion burning there is a hearth, hot coals full of longevity and lazy Sundays.
“Get down here and kiss me already,” I whisper.
His lips tease kisses from my earlobe to my jaw, bolts of electricity sparking with every press as I melt further into his arms. I’m coming undone for this man at a pace that should terrify me.
Only, it doesn’t.
I find myself cravingmorespeed,moreintensity,moreeverything. A whimper escapes me like a plea, one that Brandon seems to recognize.
His mouth finds mine, hot and urgent, and we spiral into a familiar frenzy.
We eventually make our way into the pool house, and by the time the sun peeks over the watery horizon, Brandon is asleep on my chest with my heart in his hands.
forty-one
