Private Scandal (8 page)

He dipped his head, stubble brushing the smooth skin of her cheek as he whispered, “I would give anything for a condom right now.”

“Then it’s too bad I don’t have one. There’s no telling what I could get out of you.” She squeezed him and he jerked in her hand. With his face so close to hers she could see the warm brown of his eyes, the deep richness that always sent her pulse racing. Being this close reminded her of the times when she’d felt as if she knew secrets about him that no one else thought to guess. Now it was true, but in an entirely different way than she’d hoped.

“Oh, Meg, there is nothing I wouldn’t give you.” He closed his eyes and gently brought his lips to hers. The intimacy of the moment made her heart lurch and her eyes started to prickle. If only he’d given her the one thing she’d always wanted, her entire world would be different and it wouldn’t have cost him a dime.

She moved her mouth to his neck, and then his collar bone, not wanting the familiarity of his kiss. If he could continue to play her while they were in bed together, then he had been playing her all along. Sadness washed over her as she continued to kiss her way down his body.

The thing about the last time you make love with your lover, is that rarely do you realize it is the last time. If she had, she would have done something more exciting than lingerie after dinner.

This time would be the very last chance she ever had to love him. She wanted to make it good, as close to unforgettable as she could manage, and still accomplish her secondary goal. She laved his nipples, admiring the leanness of his body. She savored each plane and ridge of muscle, her hands and mouth traveling the path they knew so well. She found the firm edge where the muscles of his torso met his hip. The smooth skin was soft beneath her lips and she pressed her teeth deeper into his flesh by slow degrees. With her hands, she pulled at his jeans and boxer briefs. Brandon was so enthralled he helped her rid him of his clothing while she made sure her own brand of damage was done. She wrapped her hand around his erection again, stroking him while she pulled the sensitive skin of his hip into her mouth.

He groaned and bucked into her hand, satisfying the primal part of her that wanted, needed to know her power. Content that she’d done what she’d set out to, she moved on.

Wrapping her hand around the base of him, she played with his balls and trailed her tongue along the sensitive underside of his shaft. He hissed at the attention and tangled his hands in her hair.

She ran her tongue along the swollen head of him until a tangy bead glistened at the tip of him. Then she took him in her mouth, her lips stretching around him while she flicked the underside with her tongue. As she eased him deeper into her mouth, she softened her tongue and sucked, using her experience with what he liked just as he had done for her.

Her body began to tingle anew as she began to slide him slowly in and out of her mouth, using her hand to massage the lower half of his shaft. Her mouth and hand worked in practiced harmony as memories of other times they’d been together this way flooded her mind. Scenes from the balcony of his penthouse, her car, his shower, the stairway of the Hansen Auditorium where they’d been attending some ridiculously long fundraiser and she hadn’t been able to stand the way women were swirling around him.

Brandon fisted his hands in her hair, his breathing becoming rough pants as his balls tightened and his legs tensed. Megan hadn’t realized she’d increased her pace as the memories played through her mind like naughty movies. She absorbed his growing fervor, her boldness growing in time with his pleasure. His hips rocked to the same rhythm as her mouth and she released his balls, pressing that hand between her own legs to relieve the pressure building there.

It all felt so incredibly good, so amazingly right, that she knew her own orgasm wouldn’t be far behind his. His fingers clenched in her hair and she knew he was closing in, so she rubbed her fingers against her swollen clit, chasing down her climax as she brought his to him. His hips jerked and shook, so she stroked and sucked harder, her heart hammering in her chest in eager anticipation.

Brandon roared her name as he spurted down her throat. She swallowed quickly, her hands starting to shake as her stomach fluttered and hot bolts of sensation coursed outwards from her core. She released him and rolled to the side, lying beside him as she caught her breath.

In a moment she would have to get up and dress, grab Cash and tell Brandon to take her back to the apartment. If they wanted to evict her over the dog, it wouldn’t matter. She needed to get far away from Brandon because she obviously couldn’t be trusted within kissing distance of him.

Chapter Five

“I need you to take me back to Pasadena.” Megan’s warm hand curled around his biceps. Brandon had been listening to her bustle about the bedroom, refusing to open his eyes. Last night had been a doorway back to the way things were, and he’d bolted it shut. He was never going back through it.

“Brandon, wake up. I have a meeting at ten.”

His stomach tightened and he opened one eye. He did not want to let her go, not yet, not ever. He wasn’t deluded enough to think that things were back to normal, but at least they were moving in the right direction.

Megan sat on the bed, fully dressed and looking better than anyone should in her jeans and T-shirt. He cleared the sleep from his throat and wished she’d woken him up in her usual under-the-covers manner.

“Take your car.” He stretched his arms out, bringing one behind his head and the other around to her.

“The Bentley is yours now, not mine.” She shifted away from him, clutching Cash to her chest, the dog’s Fendi bag of toys already over her shoulder. “You brought me here. I need you to take me back.”

“No way. You’re not going to play this game with me again.” He sat up and reached for her, but she stood, still holding on to the dog as if fifteen pounds of puppy were the answer to all her problems. Cash stared at him as if he should know what to do.

“I didn’t ask to come here and I can’t take Cash on the bus unless he’s in his carrier, and I can’t find one anywhere.”

“You were going to leave and not even say anything to me?” He tossed back the blanket and stood, his heart hammering in his chest. Two minutes ago he’d thought he’d managed to get his world back in order, and now one small woman had turned it completely upside down. Again.

“I have nothing to say to you.” She gave him a haughty smile and kept her gaze on his face, only slipping once to check out his morning erection.

“Try again.”

“I can’t stay here. I have a fundraising meeting that I need to be at.”

He studied her for a moment, but he couldn’t pin down how she felt. He should be able to read her, but she had on such a front he couldn’t get past it to discern scared from angry, hurt from confused. “You need to be here. We’ve got to figure us out because I can’t keep going on like this.”

“There is no us, Brandon. You made sure of that.” A hurt flickered in her eyes that hit him like a kick to the balls. “The Carlton Houses are struggling without my family’s backing, so I have a brainstorming session with the directors to think of some other ways to keep things running. It’s actually important business, not a grown man having a temper tantrum because he wants what he can’t have.”

He gave her an aren’t-you-funny smile. “I’ll write a check. You’re not leaving.”

“I don’t want your guilt money.”

“Don’t let pride get in your way, Megan. Like you said, the Carlton Houses are actually important, unlike a grown woman having a fit because she can’t have things exactly the way she wants them. If the program needs the money, it doesn’t matter where it comes from. It matters to me that we talk this through without needing to trade insults.”

“Go ahead and send your check. If you won’t take me to Pasadena, I’ll call the car service that will let me take Cash, and not have money for rent next week.” She hitched her bag higher on her shoulder and lifted her chin.

“You don’t need rent money. You’re staying here.” Brandon shook his head and rounded the bed to where she stood. Megan took a step back, so instead of reaching for her, he reached out and tried to comfort the confused dog in her arms.

“Like hell.” Fury flashed in her gaze. “I will not be the piece of ass you hide away in Malibu. I don’t care how far you think I’ve fallen now that I don’t have my father’s money, I am still better than that.”

He blinked, unsure where her anger was coming from. He held up his hands to stall out her attack. “You’re the one hiding. That’s what Pasadena is, you know. I’m going to take a shower. If you want me to take you to your meeting, I will. And then after we’ll talk until I understand why it is you think I’m the monster in the story of your life.”

He strode into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He turned on the taps and stared down at the fluffy white towel on the cold tile floor. How in the world could one woman be so hot for him one minute and despise him a few short hours later? He’d been sleeping in the interim, so there was no way he could have done anything to rouse her ire.

There was something going on in that pretty little head of hers, and he was going to find out what it was if it killed them both. He showered quickly, his mind spinning through what to say to her next and discarding options at rapid speed.

Brandon turned off the shower and reached for a towel. He dragged it roughly over his body, wincing as it scratched at his neck. He shifted, then winced again when it scratched at his hip. He glanced down, his eyes widening as he took in the bite mark mere inches from where it could have really hurt. He stepped to the mirror and inspected a world-class hickey on his neck.

Without stopping to think, he stormed to the door and threw it open. “What the hell did you do to me?” he screamed to an empty room.

Since Brandon told her to take the car, Megan didn’t think it was stealing. At least not in the most technical sense, hopefully not in the legal sense either. She shuddered to think of him having her arrested and then posting bail just to ensure she had to stay within his reach. She wouldn’t put it past him, wouldn’t put anything past him anymore.

She stroked Cash’s soft head and leaned back in the padded leather desk chair, quietly relieved that she wouldn’t have to go back to the apartment tonight. When she’d collected her things, she’d come back to the car to find a cluster of teenage boys eyeing it. She doubted she’d spent ten minutes in the apartment, but that seemed to be all it took for them to recognize the opportunity.

With Cash, she’d have to stay at the Carlton House. Evie was not happy about having a dog in the building again. Megan completely understood why the director would think it sent the wrong message, and she’d probably spend all her tips paying one of the women to watch him while she worked, but she didn’t see that she had a choice.

If she left him at the apartment during the night, he’d be scared by all the noises and bark, getting her evicted. How she was going to sleep during the afternoons with all the bustle of the house, she didn’t know. But then she barely managed to sleep at the apartment anyway, so she supposed it wouldn’t be much different.

On the other hand, she’d slept beautifully in Malibu. Her body still hummed with barely requited satisfaction, but she would not give in to her baser desires. She made it so that Brandon would have trouble hopping from her bed to his new girlfriends’, and that was going to have to be enough. Hopefully he’d get the message that she knew about his little fling and leave her the hell alone.

Away from him, she knew just how despicable he was, but for some reason whenever he was around, her love for him blurred the edges of what he’d done. It must have been like this for her mother. Experiencing first-hand the blinding pull of love showed how her mother could continue to stay with a man who routinely cheated on her, but it didn’t make it any easier to understand. It was hard not to buy into Brandon’s lies, but it was possible.

“Megan, we have a problem.” Evie stood in the doorway of her own office, her arms crossed over her chest. “When I asked to push the meeting back until this afternoon it was because of a family, one I’d really like to place here. It’s a single mom and her two daughters. They lost their apartment on the first of the month and have been living in their car.”

Megan nodded, her stomach feeling hollow. “They can have the room. I really just need someone to watch Cash while I’m at work for a few weeks until I can find a new place.” She swallowed hard and pinned on a smile.

“I don’t like the idea of having to be responsible for your dog. We have so much going on here.”

“It’s an easy way for someone to make money. Besides, I work at night. He’ll probably be asleep anyway.”

Evie sank into the worn sofa in the corner of the room. “I want to help you, Megan, I do. But isn’t there someone else who could watch him?”

Brandon flashed in her mind, but she shook her head to dispel the image. Yes, Cash would be safe with Brandon, but she might not get him back. She had dozens of so-called friends she’d be able to call once her phone finished charging, but she doubted any of them would want to help her. She had no one to depend on but herself, which was a hard place to be since she had an animal who depended on her.

“Evie, I want there to be a Carlton House that takes animals.” When the other woman opened her mouth, Megan held up her hand. “Hear me out. This isn’t just about me and Cash. By the time we get this program running, I know I’ll have figured out a better way to take care of him. But how many times do we see women who won’t leave bad situations because of pets? Or families who would rather stay in their car than here because of a dog? There needs to be an option for them.”

Compassion filled her dark gaze. “It’s not that simple. There are insurance issues and the other guests to consider. We don’t want someone who is afraid of dogs or allergic to cats to feel unwelcome.”

“That’s why I think it should only be available at one of the houses, not all of them. The directors communicate every day, so we should be able to make adjustments. The Carlton Houses fill the cracks in the system to keep people from falling through. This is just another way to do that.”