“But I’m not done with my ice cream.”
“Take it with you,” he replied. After they said their good-byes, Brodix headed to his car.
“Slow down, for crying out loud,” she muttered as she finished off the last of the cone.
Brodix heard her giggle, and it turned him on even more. When he reached the BMW, he pushed her up against the passenger door and caged her in. He thrust his hips into hers, letting her feel the evidence of his arousal. His mouth covered hers in a quick, firm kiss. He inhaled, breathing in her mysterious scent, and ground his pelvis into her soft womanly curves.
“Do you feel what you do to me, sweetheart? I need to be buried deep inside of your tight body right now.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed against him. “That could get us arrested,” she murmured against his lips.
“Let’s take this party back to your place, then.” He stepped back and opened her door for her. Once she was safely inside, he slammed the door shut and jogged around to the driver’s side.
After they were on the road, Brodix let himself breathe a little easier. Christ, what was wrong with him? He’d all but dragged her out of his mom’s house. It hit him then like a load of lumber. Love. That’s what it was. It was so damn obvious now that he recognized the signs. He’d never been in love before Sarah, though. Oh sure, he’d lusted after women. There’d even been a few he’d cared about. But Brodix had never gone so far as to fall in love. What was he supposed to do now? It was too soon; even he knew that. She’d run screaming if he dropped that particular bomb on her now. He needed time to think. To figure out a plan. Brodix always had a plan.
Sarah knew now what the term “weak in the knees”
meant. She was glad Brodix had taken the initiative by putting her in the car. She definitely would have fallen if she’d attempted to climb in without his help. Her legs felt as if they were made of rubber. She didn’t have a clue what to say to his erotic words. She opted to talk about something less…volatile instead.
“So is everything in order for the grand opening?” It was inane, but her circuits were fried from his electrifying kiss.
“Yep,” he said as he maneuvered the car through traffic. “So, take my mind off my raging hard-on and tell me more about your ex. You were married for a year and a half. Why are you divorced?” he asked in a deep rumble.
Shoot, she was beginning to think he wasn’t going to inquire about Jack. She supposed it was too much to hope for, though. After all, Brodix wasn’t the type of man to let matters like that go unexplained. She prepared herself to tell him everything. He’d been completely open with her about his family, his past, and Sarah could do no less with him.
“Want me to start at the beginning?” she hedged. “It’s sort of a messy story.”
“I want to know everything about you, sweetheart.” He paused, then added, “But if it makes you feel any better, we’ve all made mistakes. I was never married, but I’ve made mistakes in love.” He smiled at her a second before turning his attention back to the road. “I’m all ears.”
“One thing for sure, Jack was definitely a mistake. He made me feel special at first. I sort of fell for his act.”
“We’ve all been there,” he said as he reached over and took her hand.
“Jack was all charm. The charm wore off after we got married. That’s when I found out he had commitment issues.”
His gaze darted to hers. “Damn, he cheated on you?”
She shrugged and looked out the windshield. “Yeah. As it turns out, Jack was committed only to himself. It was all about his wants, his needs. He paid no attention to the people he hurt, namely me.”
“So far, he sounds like a real prick,” Brodix gritted out.
“Things sort of came to a crashing end when I came home and found him having sex with one of his coworkers on our living room couch.” She cringed, thinking about how naïve she’d been. “Get this, I’d gotten off work early that day, and I had plans to surprise him. I bought some sexy lingerie and walked smack dab into him getting busy.”
Brodix cursed, his hand tightening around hers. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“I should’ve known Jack wasn’t the type of man to be content with just one woman, though. I guess I didn’t want to face reality.”
“What did you do?”
“I called my friend Lucy, and she let me crash on her couch until I got an apartment of my own.”
“You should’ve kicked his ass out, if you ask me,” Brodix said, clearly angry on her behalf.
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t want to live there. I would’ve been forced to always think about him and that woman. I wanted a fresh start.”
He nodded. “Makes sense.”
When they arrived at her apartment, the conversation was put on hold until they were both seated on the couch.
Brodix maneuvered them until she was snuggled up against his side. “If he cheated on someone as sweet you, he must be a few bricks shy of a load.” He shrugged. “Just saying.”
She laughed. “Either way, good riddance.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured into her hair. “I just hate that he hurt you like that.”
Sarah knew Brodix would never treat a woman the way Jack had treated her. He was too honorable to do something so despicable. Too decent. Her heart filled to bursting as she realized she was falling in love with Brodix. As crazy as it seemed, considering they’d only just met, it felt as if she’d been waiting her entire life for him. Love at first sight—wasn’t that what they called it?
He tapped her nose to gain her attention. Sarah looked up. “Yeah?”
“Finish telling me what happened.” When she didn’t say anything, Brodix frowned. “I know there’s more to it. I want to know everything, so don’t even consider holding back on me, because I will know if you are.”
“Isn’t that enough? He cheated on me, end of story. I divorced him and moved on with my life.” She was desperate for the conversation to come to an end. She didn’t want to get into the rest of it. It was too depressing.
“Spill it, woman,” he softly demanded.
“Fine. I learned the hard way that Jack wasn’t a very nice drunk.”
Brodix stiffened. “How so?”
“On a couple of occasions when he’d had a few too many at the bar after work, he got…physical with me.”
“What the hell?”
“Don’t get all crazy. It’s in the past. Over and done with.”
“That son of a bitch. I’ll kill him.”
Sarah sat up and looked at Brodix. “No, you won’t. It’s in the past, and I don’t want him smack dab in the middle of our relationship. Leave it alone. Please, Brodix,” she pleaded. She drifted her hands down his nape to his shoulders, then his pecs and ripped abs. He was so hard and muscular all over it nearly melted her every time she touched him. Feeling wild and impetuous, Sarah slid her palm over the bulge in his faded jeans, cupping his rigid length. She was way too happy to note he was as turned on as she. “I’m done talking about Jack.”
“To hell with him,” Brodix growled as he slid his free hand up her thigh and beneath her dress. He caressed his way higher until he cupped her mound. Sarah’s clit swelled and throbbed at the feel of him there. His mouth moved to her neck, and he began to nibble and lick.
“Oh God, that feels so good.”
Brodix moved to her ear and whispered, “I’ve only just begun.” He pulled away and patted his thigh. “Up we go,” he murmured. In a flash, Brodix picked her up around the waist and plopped her down on top of his lap so that she straddled him. When he went back to kissing her, his talented mouth pressed against hers, Sarah forgot about her troubling thoughts of love. She would worry about Brodix breaking her heart later.
She opened her mouth and danced her tongue over his lips. At his rumble of approval, Brodix opened up and took her in. Their tongues mated, and Sarah clutched on to Brodix’s biceps, excited and scared. Her body was on fire. She wanted him. Inside of her. Around her. Drinking her in, filling her up. He was a craving in her blood, one she could no more deny than she could her own name.
Sarah trailed her fingers over his muscular arms, and she drew in a breath when they came around her waist and pulled her in tight. A moan escaped. He was so strong, so virile. She felt safe and secure with him.
“I want this pussy. It’s mine. Will always be mine. Say you want me. Deep. Here and now.”
“Yes,” she said. “Desperately.”
He grinned and slipped his hands beneath her dress, pushed her panties aside, then commanded, “Unzip me.”
Sarah quickly obeyed. Her fingers fumbled over the button in his jeans. As she opened his fly and glimpsed his black boxer briefs, her desire increased by a million. She licked her lips and gently drew him out. The head of his cock tempted her to taste, but in their awkward position, there was no way she’d be able to get him into her mouth. She started to move off his lap, but Brodix stopped her.
He stroked the length of her hair and murmured, “Later for that. Right now, I’m too hungry to feel that tight pussy.”
She needed him there just as much. “Yes.”
“Guide me in,” he instructed. “Show me how much you want my cock. Take us both there, sweetheart.”
His erotic words had her heart pounding harder and her body quaking with need. “My pussy is dripping for you,” she admitted in a breathless voice; then she took his heavy cock in her hand and slid him inside. Her body closed around him, tight and hot. She shuddered, flung her head back and rode him.
“That’s my girl. Fuck it sweetly, Sarah,” Brodix urged as he clutched her hair in his fist and lowered his head, feasting on her breasts through her dress.
The heat of his mouth seeped through the thin material, sucking the breath out of her and driving her into another world. When his fingers found their way over her swollen clit, expertly flicking it just the way she liked, Sarah’s body seized. Her muscles clenched as she rode him faster, harder, their bodies slapping together, melting into each other until there was no separating them.
Soon she was there, spiraling out of control. Sarah’s hot pussy bathed Brodix’s cock with her come. He sank his mouth over hers and captured her shouts. Once the desire began to ebb, Brodix clutched her hips and pushed into her once, twice; then he arched his neck and moaned her name as he emptied his seed deep.
Sarah’s breath came in short pants, her body sweaty, the dress clinging. Her legs shook from exertion as she collapsed against Brodix’s heaving chest. No way could she ever move again. Brodix’s arms came around her shoulders, holding her tight against him, as if unable to release her.
She wiggled, gaining his attention. As his eyes came to hers, she saw raw hunger in their passionate depths. If he hadn’t just spent himself inside her, she would have thought he was ready to go again.
“I think I’m going to be a bit sticky,” she teased, trying to inject some casualness into the intensity that surrounded them. It didn’t work.
“I could fuck you twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and it still wouldn’t be enough. Not nearly.”
She had no words for such a bold statement. Good thing he didn’t seem to expect any. He merely slipped out of her and replaced her panties. When his heavy length was once again confined, he slid both his palms up her thighs, then cupped her mound possessively. “You—”
A loud knock on her front door interrupted whatever Brodix was about to say. Sarah frowned as she looked at the clock on her cable box. “Who in the world is at my door at nine o’clock at night on a Sunday?”
“Good question,” Brodix bit out as he lifted her off his lap and placed her on the couch beside him. He stood and crossed the room, then pulled the door wide.
Sarah couldn’t see around Brodix’s big body to see who it was, but when she heard a male voice, she had a pretty good idea. Uh-oh, this could be bad. Real bad. Before she could intervene, the room erupted into chaos as Brodix yanked Jack inside her apartment, his hand clutching the front of Jack’s white T-shirt as he pinned him to the wall. For crying out loud, talk about stranger than fiction!
“Brodix, stop!” Sarah yelled when she heard Jack spit out a few not so nice words. “This is ridiculous!”
He turned his head in her direction, his hand still firmly holding Jack in place, raw fury in his eyes. She needed to do something fast. “Let him go, Brodix,” she explained in a calm voice as she placed her hand over Brodix’s forearm and squeezed. “He’s not worth the trouble.”
Brodix narrowed his eyes, then turned back to Jack, who was now flailing his arms about like a windmill. Brodix outweighed Jack by at least fifty pounds of solid muscle. Finally, Brodix dropped his hands, and Jack fell to the floor, cursing a blue streak.
Then Brodix turned on her. “You just finished telling me that he cheated on you
and
knocked you around. Want to tell me why I shouldn’t beat the shit out of him right now?”
Sarah recognized Brodix’s anger for what it was. He was suffering from a heaping helping of protectiveness. She knew it rankled Brodix that he couldn’t give Jack a taste of his own medicine. Her heart did a little cartwheel. Did Brodix want her for more than sex, then? She shook her head, too tired to see about making any sense of things at the moment.
“Mostly because I don’t like the sight of blood,” Sarah answered as she reached down and helped Jack to his feet.