She stood, soaking wet, with her feet planted shoulder-width apart and fists balled at her hips. She was so stubborn. And so sexy.
“Where are we going?” Her mouth narrowed into a tight line.
Brandon stood mesmerized in the street. Police whistles blared sharp through the beating rain. A cab zoomed past too close to the curb and splashed a wall of black water up to his knees. Wet wool stuck to his legs; his cotton boxers rode up where he wished they weren’t. Every part of him was wet, and so was every part of Jackie.
Her hair, pulled back tight, shone in the rain. Makeup-free, her cheeks flushed crimson and her eyes pooled as deep and dark as the puddles on the street. He let his eyes drift south to her white blouse, which the rain had made transparent. The outline of a white bra was visible, but the wet fabric couldn’t hide her glorious, rosy nipples.
Brandon took the step back up to the sidewalk. He cupped her breasts in his hands and rubbed his thumbs over her nipples to make them even harder. “I suggest you stop arguing with me about our destination and come quietly, or I’m likely to take you right here.” He finished off his warning with a tight pinch of her nipples between his thumbs and index fingers.
Her solid stance melted beneath his hands. Jackie reached inside his jacket, around to the small of his back, and pulled him close. Her hips pressed into his.
“Is that a promise?” She ground into him.
His balls tightened. He slid his hand under her shirt and maneuvered around the underwire’s barrier to hold her breast in his hand. She filled his hand perfectly, naturally. With his other hand, he grabbed her ass. “Don’t tempt me.”
He ran his tongue over her slick, wet skin from the top button on her blouse to her collarbone and up the side of her neck to her ear, where he whispered, “I need a hotel room. Now. Where to?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” She grinned widely, her eyes shining through the pouring rain. “The Hyatt is a few blocks down. Will that suffice?”
Brandon rubbed his swollen cock against Jackie’s hip. The sooner he found them a hotel room, the better. “Does that answer your question?”
She patted his ass lightly, untangled from him, and charged off down the street. Brandon happily followed.
Jackie led him through the hotel’s revolving doors. The cool, dehumidified air tickled his neck. He couldn’t resist a glance at Jackie’s chest and noticed how rigid her nipples were in the suddenly chilly air. It would be luscious to take one into his mouth.
He positioned himself behind her to camouflage his raging hard-on. With his right hand on the small of her back, he nudged her forward to the reception desk. Jackie’s blouse was plastered against her body, making the muscles of her back discernable as she walked. He loved her body, which was as strong as her determination.
“Welcome to the Hyatt. How may I help you?” Although polite and professional, the desk clerk gave both Brandon and Jackie the once-over with her narrow-eyed stare.
“I’d like a room, please. No, wait, a suite. Is the penthouse suite available?” Brandon reached into his pants to draw out a soggy slab of leather, his wallet.
The clerk raised her eyebrows at Brandon before turning them back to her computer screen. After several rounds of clicking, she said, “Yes, the penthouse is available. How many nights would you be needing?”
Brandon turned toward Jackie and stroked her cheek with the backs of his knuckles. “How long will we be needing a room, darling? A week?”
She edged closer to him, the heat of her body literally steaming in the cool lobby. “I think we should be able to conduct our business in a week.”
As the clerk’s glaring gaze ping-ponged back and forth between them, Brandon gave her something to gawk at. He bent down to Jackie and slid his tongue into her mouth to kiss her deeply.
He turned back to the clerk, daring her with his intense eyes to say something, and smiling at the flush he raised on her cheeks. “A week, please.” He slid his credit card across the granite counter.
“Very well, and your luggage?” She craned her neck.
“We’ll have that sent over later tonight,” Brandon quickly replied.
After signing, Brandon pocketed the key cards and pulled Jackie after him in a brisk jog to the elevator. His patience had worn thin.
Once in the elevator, he slid the room’s key card into the special slot for the penthouse suite but didn’t wait for the doors to close to pin Jackie up against the mirrored wall of the elevator.
“You know what I love most about the penthouse suite?” he whispered into her ear.
“It’s big enough for both of our egos and your cock all at the same time?” Jackie rubbed her palm against his erection, setting him on fire.
“Well, there is that, of course. But mostly I love the uninterrupted elevator ride,” he said.
Brandon didn’t bother with buttons. Instead, he ripped open her shirt and slid it off her shoulders and down her arms. With a quick flick, he undid her bra from behind and pulled it off. He leaned back to admire her bare, moist skin, breasts full, heaving with her quick breaths. He wasted no time in taking one of her breasts into his mouth, where he rolled her nipple around with his tongue. The fullness of her other breast weighed heavy in his hand.
He took in a lungful of air and caught her unique scent. It was an earthy, herbal smell mixed with the pungent scent of the damp fibers of her wet clothes.
Soft electronic beeps of passing floors alternated with her low moans. Her body stiffened under his hands. She laced her fingers through his hair and pulled his head back with a jerk.
“We’re here,” she said, with a lick of her lips.
He backed out of the elevator and into the penthouse, never removing his mouth from her breast. He stood up, squatted slightly and, with his hands on her ass, lifted her up in front of him. She wrapped her legs around his waist.
Her body rippled against his as she giggled into his wet mop of hair. He strode over to the dining-room table. The misty city skyline was a mythical backdrop on the windows behind.
He laid her down on the table, stretched her arms over her head, and pinned them there easily with one hand. With the other, he unzipped her pants.
* * * *
The rush of adrenaline from the briefing and now being carried off literally by the man Jackie wanted erased any semblance of weariness from her.
She wanted him and would have him, but first she needed some answers. She wriggled free from his grip and pushed him lightly away. “Why didn’t you tell me everything that night on the boat? I understand you had a deal with the FBI. Didn’t you trust me to keep your secret?”
He took a step back and stared at her. Frozen.
“Brandon?”
“Did I trust you?” He frowned and ran his fingers through his hair. “I wanted to protect you.”
Jackie sat up. “What about trust? You asked me over and over to trust you. Did you trust me?”
He paced to the window and back. He stopped and faced her. “I trusted you. I didn’t trust myself.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “Everyone I’ve loved is gone. My mom, my dad, Brynn. I couldn’t lose you too. I thought if I pushed you away, you’d be safe.”
Jackie hopped off the table and walked to him. She stood in front of him and took each of his hands in her own. She let out a short laugh. “Guess you didn’t anticipate me going ape-shit-commando-lone-wolf crazy.”
“No. The extent of your unpredictability amazes me.”
She winced.
He grazed her lips with his and then kissed her gently. “I love your unpredictability.” He kissed her again. “I love you.”
Her body became light. The world spun around her. Her throat tightened, and she collapsed into his arms. “Take me. Now. I want you.”
He eased her onto the table and laid her back gently. He cupped her breasts and then squeezed. He ran his hands up and down her body. She’d grown accustomed to the electrical shock his touch imparted. With closed eyes, she luxuriated in his strokes. Instead of resisting her body’s compelling tug toward his, she let go.
He rubbed her legs, applying pressure to that point where her legs met her hips. Blood rushed to her genitals. Every feeling down there became magnified. He pulled her pants and thong off and then confidently pushed his hips between her knees to open her.
The wet wool of his pants roughed her sex when he rubbed again her. It set her on fire. The
whiz
of his zipper further ignited her sensitive senses.
Before she could ready herself, he slid on a condom and sank his thick cock into her, spreading her legs wide. He gripped her shoulder to hold her in place, and he thrust deeper inside her than she believed was possible. The fullness of his cock inside her overtook her senses.
As suddenly as he filled her up, he was gone, the head of his cock poised cruelly at her opening. She wiggled to get closer to him, to have him in her again, but his grip on her was too tight.
“Do you want me?”
“Yes. Give it to me,” she pleaded; the time for playing was over. She was at his mercy, and it turned her on.
“Are you sure?” He inched the head of his cock forward enough to spread her lips open.
“Please. I need it,” she begged and then added, unable to hold back anymore, “I need you.”
He slammed into her and took her with slow strokes that were as long as the full length of his cock. He let go of her shoulders and hooked an arm under one of her knees to pull her closer to him. With his free hand, he massaged her clit while slowly, patiently pumping her.
His pace hastened.
Brandon’s cock touched the inside of her vagina exactly where she needed it, and his fingers working her clit magnified her sexual energy. Jackie’s breathing stopped and the world went black with sounds muffled as she came around him; her pussy gripped him convulsively.
Speechless, her head in a fog, she looked at him. His head was thrown back. Sweat trickled down his forehead and neck. His hair matted against his face in a wavy mass.
Inside her, the head of his cock swelled, his thrusting accelerated, and he pushed deep into her, gripping her legs with strength and desperation.
His body shook. He let out a silent scream, his mouth open, head back, every muscle taut.
Both relaxed. A low moan came from her throat.
Brandon opened his lids to reveal those amber eyes, now soft and liquid as warmed cognac. He stretched her leg out and turned his face to kiss her ankle. His stubbly jaw scratched as he nuzzled her leg and foot. He pulled out from her and removed the condom.
His gaze fell upon her, unblinking.
He scooped her up in his arms, the warmth of his body melding with hers. With her legs and arms wrapped closely around him, Jackie laid her cheek on his shoulder. Tears pooled in her eyes.
“I love you,” she murmured.
“Hmm?”
She pulled back enough to look him in the face. The words formed deep in her chest and caught in her throat. She willed them out.
“I love you.”
He ran his fingers through her hair. His smile stretched into a grin that encompassed his entire face. “Yeah, I figured that out.”
“You did?” She playfully slapped his chest.
He pulled her close. “Uh-huh.”
“When?”
“When you saved my life back on the boat. But I don’t think you knew it.” He caressed her back gently. His touch warmed her and gave her a sense of security.
“Then? No.” Jackie rested her head against his chest. “But I think you’re right, and God knows I hate admitting that. And you? When did you know you loved me?”
Brandon grinned impishly. “You really want to know?”
“Yeah, when?”
His lips, warm and slightly roughened, brushed her forehead. “When you ordered that kick-ass martini at El Matador.”
Jackie narrowed suspicious eyes at him. “That’s impossible. We’d known each other, what, thirty minutes?”
“Maybe I didn’t truly know it, but there was something about the way you took charge. So competent, sexy, and self-assured. You knew what you wanted and went after it. You don’t compromise. Your passion for life blew me away. I wanted to ride that wave with you then. Still do. I don’t ever want to get off it either. Ever.”
Jackie’s eyes welled up with tears. She wrapped her arms around him and wept softly against his chest. “Oh, Brandon, me too.”
He stroked her hair. “Who knows what will happen, my love. The only thing I can think of is how many times I’m going to make love to you in the next hour, the next day, and next week. I’m confident that we’re smart enough to figure the rest of it out. For now, let it all go and be with me.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but he kissed her.
When he broke away from her, he declared, “Counselor, that objection is overruled.”
She closed her eyes and let her heart dance with the man she loved.
Epilogue
Jackie loved spring in the mid-Atlantic. The dogwoods painted the hills in light pinks and whites. Massive azalea bushes colored lawns with fuchsia and muted purple. Everything bloomed, filling the refreshing air with nature’s perfume.
For several weeks after the press conference announcing Ashe’s arrest, Jackie’s phone had rung off the hook. Cases poured in. She and Marilyn celebrated with an over-the-top dinner at The Inn at Little Washington. The criminal and civil cases wrapped up eventually, providing a substantial cushion in Jackie’s bank account.
Brandon continued to be as sexy, smart, and understanding as those first few weeks she’d known him. Her biggest frustration was that their burgeoning careers kept them busier than either wanted. They sneaked weekends together, often on Brandon’s boat. Jackie prided herself that she finally learned to swim and could even take the sailboat out with minimal tips from Brandon.
Once spring hit, Jackie traded in her practical Honda for the car of her dreams, a BMW convertible. She’d planned a girls’ weekend retreat in the mountains with her best friends from law school. Mimi came down from New York. Jackie forbade her from cruising the regattas for hotties, although her wingman duty that night with Mimi did land her in Brandon’s arms. Literally.
Charlotte flew in from Denver, where she’d recently switched from life as a prosecutor to a scrapping defense attorney. Why hadn’t Jackie called her last summer? The same reason she didn’t call anyone last summer. Too damned proud.