“I sell them online.” I nod, touching the earrings I’m wearing right now, a simple, bright pink stud style.
“Wait.” Brookes narrows his eyes. “Was that what all that stuff was? The stuff in the bins we took from your old place.”
I nod again, smiling.
“Is that what you wanna do?” he asks. “Make earrings?”
I blush. “Yeah, in a perfect world. But unfortunately, it takes a lot of money to make a business successful. For now, I just design samples and post them on Etsy, and then I make them to order, if and when someone buys them. Actually…” I roll my lips together, not sure if I should admit this or not. But then I decide why not? Brookes has seen my vagina up close and personal. I’m pretty sure I can tell him just about anything.
“I’m going to buy a laser acrylic cutter with some of the money from—” I stop myself, pressing my lips together again, because it feels weird mentioning the money I’m being paid to be here, especially after the last few days. Wrong, almost. Clearing my throat, I continue, “I use leather currently. Because it’s easier to work with, and I get the off-cuts super cheap. Plus, they’re nice and light in the ears. But there are so many different design options with acrylics.”
“Are they… expensive? The laser… thingies?” Brookes asks, and I’m not sure, but he seems genuinely interested.
Smiling, I pull my knee up and get comfortable. “The one I really want is. It’s the top of the line.” I roll my eyes. “I mean, of course there are industrial-level machines that probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the one I want is the best of the best for smaller, home businesses. It’s twenty-four hundred bucks, but it does everything I need.” It feels kind of ridiculous telling him this when he literally pocketed two and a half million big ones yesterday, but two-and-a-half grand is a lot of money to us normal folk. “I’m going to buy the acrylic cutter, and a new laptop so that I can finally get this super cool design program where I can transfer my sketches straight to the machine and…voila.”
“That’s… really something, Pops.” Brookes nods, a contemplative look in his eyes.
“Yeah.” I shrug a shoulder. “When Simon found out about my earrings after I found him snooping through my sketch book, he laughed at me and told me it was just a silly little hobby.” I sniff a laugh, looking down at my sketch pad. I don’t add thatit’s probably nothing more than just some silly little hobby that will never amount to anything. But I’ll never give up, even if it’s only ever a hobby because my dream has gotten me through some pretty dark days.
“Hey, come here.”
I snap my head back up to find Brookes still watching me. He pats a hand on his leg, where the athletic shorts he’s wearing have bunched up around his thick thigh, the hint of a smile ghosting his lips, and I notice an unreadable look in his eyes that I feel directly between my legs.
Glancing back toward the doorway the flight attendant has been coming and going from, I place my sketch book onto the small table next to me and unfasten my seatbelt. Moving across the aisle to where Brookes holds an arm out for me, he helps me as I take a seat on his proffered thigh, and I hesitate for less than a second before looping my arms around his neck.
Staring up at me, Brookes’ eyes flit between mine. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
Taken aback by his words, my eyebrows tug together. “I mean.… duh.” I snort a laugh, pretending to flick my hair back, despite it being piled high in a messy knot on top of my head.
Brookes chuckles, but then his laughter subsides and he licks his lips. “Kiss me.”
Lust swirls low in my belly, and I glance warily back toward the doorway.
“She’s not coming in here unless we press the call button.” He answers my unspoken question, his hand moving down my back, following the curve of my ass, and back up again in a slow, teasing motion that is so simple yet sends a rush of want through me.
Cupping his stubbled jaw, I lean in and tentatively graze my lips with his, my kiss sweet and chaste. When I pull back, opening my eyes, I can’t help but laugh out loud when he looks at me, deadpan, cocking his head to the side.
“That’s it?” He scoffs. “That’s all I get?”
I bite back my smirk and lean in again, only this time his hand finds the back of my head, holding me close, and when our lips meet, he doesn’t let up, claiming mine and sliding his tongue into my mouth in a way that makes my thighs press together as a fire erupts low in my belly, reminding me exactly how much I want this man despite every one of my fears.
Brookes’ hand rubs up and down my thigh, his thumb skating dangerously close to the apex with every pass, and, breaking away from his lips, I glance down, watching him edge closer and closer. His lips attach to my jaw, kisses peppering down the curve of my neck, finding the trigger point only he knows is there, and I sigh when he lashes his tongue against the spot, watching as my thighs ease open almost involuntarily.
Placing my hand over his, I’m timid as I urge him higher, where I need him so badly. Thankfully he gets the memo, and when his fingers rub me through my leggings with the perfect amount of pressure, I find his lips again, his tongue, kissing him frantically as my hips jerk when he finds the hot spot.
“Oh,” I moan again into his mouth, overwhelmed with sensation.
“Ride my thigh,” Brookes utters against my lips, his big hands moving abruptly to my hips and guiding me.
My mind is nothing but a haze, but I lift up enough, straddling his thigh, his hands remaining on my hips, moving me in a way that makes me gasp out because holy shit.
“Oh my God,” I pant out, pulling away from his lips to look into his eyes.
A devilish smirk twitches at the corner of his mouth, his eyes blazing as they bore into mine, and with a slow nod, he grits out, “That’s it, baby. Use me.”
Grinding my needy core against his rock-hard thigh, my hips buck shamelessly and a mewl tumbles out of my mouth, my head thrown back when I feel that same tension at the base of my spine threatening to explode, every synapse in my body snapping and fizzing.
“Fuck, you’re pretty when you come,” Brookes gruffs, and then his big hand finds my throat, and firmly yet gently, he wraps around it.
