Breaking Brent (26 page)

“Hi.” He probably should have said more but nothing came to mind.

“Hi.” She smiled, almost, but it was full of questioning confusion.

“Uh…I’m not interrupting am I?” He pointed to the stacks of paperwork in front of her.

“No. I was just trying to catch up.”

“Oh, well, I can do this another time if you’re busy.”

“What are you doing here, Brent?”

“I need to talk to you.” While he spoke, he closed the door behind him, shutting them both inside, and rested his frame against it.

“About what? I think we said all we had to say to each other years ago. In this very office if memory serves.”

Memory served all right. This was the scene of the original crime. He hadn’t forgotten that fact—he just didn’t want to remember it. “Carter came by to see me today.” That was the best way—lay everything out on the table.

“Did he?”

“Yeah, he told me the two of you had called it quits.” They both stared at each other and Brent could tell Peyton was working her next sentence over and over in her mind.

“So that’s why you’re here? To see if he was telling the truth? Well, he was. We called the engagement off. We’re friends now it would seem.” She tossed the pencil to the desk, relaxed further into the beaten chair and focused all of her attention on him. “Did you come by to gloat? Did you come by to see who was the next in line? Did you want to throw your hat in the ring? Oh, wait a minute…you’ve already had your turn, repeatedly. While you thought I was still engaged.” Her cynical tone and hard stare told Brent he needed to get to the point and get to it fast before Peyton’s temper took over her rational side—if she even had one at this point.

“I don’t want to be the next in line.”

“Well, thanks for telling me. Now I really have a lot of work to do.” She stood and moved to the door and started to turn the knob and push him out—just as he had done to her.

“I want to be the only one in line.” That was the truth. No holds bar. No stepping around it. He wanted Peyton for his own. Brent saw her take a deep breath, close her eyes and start to speak.

“Sorry. You were saying?”

“I don’t want to date you.” Stunned. She looked stunned. Brent figured the look on his face matched the one on hers. Then she laughed.

“I tell you what, today has been the day for everybody to just let whatever they have rolling across the front of their brains come straight out of their mouths. It must be something in the water, I don’t know.”

“I didn’t mean for it to come out that way. It just came out.” Rubbing his hands over his face did nothing to relieve the heat he felt pouring from it.

“That happen a lot?”

“No. I’m usually much better at this.”

“At what? Insulting me? Lowering my self-esteem? This? This what?” He could see her temper flaring. He could see it in her eyes, in her body. Hell, he understood. He would probably be pissed at him too.

“I’m sorry. Shit. I’m not good at this kind of thing. I never was. You know that.” Again with the blurting. Oh well, it couldn’t get any worse than it already was.

“What do you want? I’ve had a rough enough week already and I don’t need you to make it worse by telling me you don’t want to play house with me or that you only want me when you can’t have me.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Brent moved to take her in his arms, where she needed to be, but she side-stepped him.

“That’s what you said to me. That night. In this office. Right after you fucked me against that damned door.”

“I never just
fucked
you and that’s a terrible way to describe what went on between us.”

“It’s the truth though. Tell me something, all those times you told me you loved me and that you wanted me, were those just the words you chose to use while you were doing whatever it was you were doing? What is it? When your dick goes hard does your brain goes soft and the only words that come to your mind are sweet nothings you don’t mean?”

“I meant everything I ever said to you and then some.”

“Oh, I believe that. Tell me something, did you start messin’ around with me again because I was engaged, or so you thought? Was it all about the conquest? Were you trying to get back at Carter?”

“Carter had nothing to do with what happened between me and you. And I wasn’t messin’ around with you.”

“But that was part of it, right? Part of the appeal? To see if you could still have me.”

“Stop with that, okay. I said that a long time ago and I didn’t mean it to begin with. I don’t even remember saying it.”

“Well, I remember it. I remember everything you said to me that night. You broke my heart. Does that do your ego any good?”

Brent saw the tears form and glisten in her deep eyes. He knew that as soon as she realized the tears were about to fall she would retreat because she didn’t want to be seen as weak, as vulnerable—as a sappy girl. He crossed the room and, despite her protests, took her in his arms.

She didn’t sob. She didn’t really cry. She stood there in his arms and let the tears fall as they may.

“I never used to cry.” Her voice vibrated his chest—as well as other parts. He shut his eyes against the feel of her body against his own. This was neither the place nor the time, but he couldn’t help it. His body controlled itself when he was around her. That was one of the reasons why he chose to stay away for so long—he couldn’t control himself when it came to her.

“There’s nothing wrong with a few tears now and then.” He pulled her closer to him and tucked her head beneath his chin. He loved the way her body fit his—thigh to thigh, chest to chest and heart to heart.

“A few tears? I could deal with a few random tears. I’ve turned into a regular sprinkler system.”

“This last week or so has been rough on you. It’s normal to cry.”

“I’ve cried over you a thousand times.” She pulled her body from his grasp and stared into his eyes. “I’m no better than those girls I used to make fun of.”

“You’re not like any of those girls.”

“Yes, I am. More than you know. I wanted you to miss me.”

“I did.”

“I wanted you to want me back.”

“I did.”

“I wanted to make you jealous. I wanted you to hurt like I did.”

“I was and I did. Look, I don’t remember what I said that night four years ago. I know I hurt you because I didn’t want to get hurt. I watched Willa take Chase to his knees because he loved her so much. I knew, knew, that I loved you a thousand times more than Chase loved Willa, and if she could bring that much grief to him when she left I couldn’t imagine what would happen to me if you ever walked away.”

“So you walked away first.”

“I did and I’m sorry for that.”

“You wasted four years we could have had together because of a what-if.”

“I wasted four years with you. I don’t plan on wastin’ four more.”

“What?”

Brent looked into her dark, wide eyes and saw all her questions swirling in their depths. He had an answer for them all. “I meant what I said when I said I didn’t want to date you. I’ve dated you. I’m through with dating you. I’m through with the getting-to-know-you part. I know you, Peyton. I’m done with the going home at night alone and getting into an empty bed.”

“You haven’t been going to bed alone. You went home with Kelly Cantrell a week ago.” She sniffed a bit and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. It shouldn’t have made him smile but it did.

“You noticed, did you?” He was rewarded with a scowl and a chuckle fell from his throat before he knew it did. “We’ve already discussed this, as I recall. I may have gone home with her last week, but I’m going home with you tonight and tomorrow night and the night after that.”

“You’re awful sure of yourself, cowboy.”

“Yes, ma’am, I am.” He tucked a wayward strand of hair behind one of her delicate ears and let his hands linger.

“You think I’ll just let you waltz back into my life after what you did to me?”

“No, but I know you’ll give me a chance to prove I’ll never let you down or break your heart again.” He rested his palm on her cheek and tipped her face up toward his own.

“Now why would I do that?”

“Because you love me.” He bent down and took her mouth. He was gentle and kind and caring with her lips—something he hadn’t been with her feelings all that time ago. His lips brushed over her once, then twice before he felt her open for him. He could have taken the kiss then and there, but he waited. He wanted her to know something first.

“I love you, Peyton. I always have and I always will.”

“If you hurt me again—”

“Not going to happen, sweetheart. I’m tired of only the memory of you keeping me warm at night.” He kissed her once more for good measure.

“People are going to talk,” she said before he could kiss her again.

“Let them.” He deepened their kiss and tried to push all of her misgivings away. Their bodies melted into one another’s and Brent could see a repeat against the door of her office in the future, but Peyton deserved better than that—she always had. He broke the kiss.

“What?” she asked, her voice and face all dreaming and far away.

“Come on.” He gave her one more quick kiss on the lips before he took her hand and pulled the office door open.

“Where are we going?”

“Home.” She didn’t ask any questions. She just followed. Brent thought he could make a clean getaway without running into anyone on their way out. He was wrong. Just as they were about to exit the hallway and make a clean break, he saw Jason propped against the wall with a look of agony creasing his features.

“What the hell happened to you?” Brent asked. Jason just smiled, or tried to, and readjusted his damaged goods.

“Nothin’,” Jason said with a groan. “Just stuck my hand in the wrong cookie jar it seems.”

Brent heard Peyton giggle behind him. He wished like hell he knew what Jason’s little cryptic message meant, but that would come later. He had better things to do—and they all revolved around Peyton.

“It doesn’t look like it’s your hand giving you the problem,” Peyton said as she stifled another giggle, and Jason let out another groan.

“It’s not. Evenin’, Peyton.”

“Evenin’, Jason.”

“You need me to drive you home or anything?” Brent prayed like hell that his brother understood he was just being nice and didn’t take him up on the offer.

“Nope, just need some ice for my ego and my balls. I’ll see you two later.”

They both watched as Jason hobbled away and then Brent pulled Peyton along and didn’t stop as they maneuvered through the bar. Once outside in the parking lot, he didn’t give her the choice of where she was riding—she was with him. Today. Tomorrow. Always.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Sleep eluded him. Among the rumpled and crumpled sheets of Peyton’s bed, Brent lay nestled and sated, tucked against her back. They’d been that way forever. The sleek, soft line of her back caressed the front of his chest and stomach without Peyton ever knowing it. The curvy bottom that had haunted his days and nights rested comfortably against his groin. Every so often she would moan in her sleepy state and rub her bottom across the flesh of his cock. The reaction was immediate.

Without fail or fuss, his cock rose and returned her touch. Lying as they were, Brent lingered in the scent of her sheets, her shampoo and her skin—each unique and erotic in a subtle, sensual way. In the dim light of morning Brent could make out the line of her back, hips and thighs under the clingy sheets. When she moved, they moved. When she breathed, they rose and fell in turn.

His fingertips moved and played against the exposed skin of her arm and those little goose bumps he loved so much formed on her flesh. Sleep couldn’t keep her body from responding to him. Brent moved his body and pulled her closer to him. She fit. Perfectly. No one in his entire life ever fit him the way Peyton did.

She was great in bed. The proof of that fact was throbbing and moving even without Brent’s permission. She could laugh and giggle at herself and him, causing him to do the same. Their lovemaking was both intense and playful in turn. He even looked forward to the words and sentences that fell from her mouth. They made him smile. Really smile. Not just one of those forced, pretend jobs he invented years ago to appease his mother and stop her worrying. The smiles he gave Peyton and the memories she had created long ago and would continue to create were real and true.

His chest tightened. The same way it always had when his heart beat her name. He loved her. He had loved her then, he loved her now and he would love her for years to come. He had told her plenty of times, now he just needed to show her.

“Peyton,” he whispered into the darkened room.

“What is it?”

His thoughts and his lips froze for the moment and he couldn’t speak. He ended up simply pulling her deeper into his embrace and placing a small kiss on the top of her shoulder.

“Nothing. Just like saying your name is all.” After the first kiss to her shoulder came a second and then a third. She arched her body into his touch, causing her backside to flirt with his groin. She wrapped her arm around his neck, but never fully rolled over.

Pulling him closer, she whispered, “I like it when you say my name.”

The angle of her body made her breasts jut out and her nipples peak when they met the cool air of the room. He gave in to temptation and let his fingertips graze and roll a wine-stained bud into an even harder state. Beautiful nipples. Perfectly shaped, hard and ambrosia to a man’s tongue. And sensitive. The lightest brush or lap of the tongue drew them tighter. Beautiful. Every last inch of her was beautiful.

Through her sleep, she muttered once more, “Just keep talking to me until I fall asleep.”

He smiled into her hair and then reminded her, “You are asleep, darlin’.”

The endearment stopped his hands and his wanting body cold. Darlin’. The word he’d wanted to use a hundred times a day when talking to her or about her dripped from his tongue with ease. It wasn’t the sweetest endearment or the most original, but he loved how he felt when he said it to her. Each time it passed from his lips a slight bubbling occurred deep within his chest.