Unexpectedly You (17 page)

He laughs against my lips, but his hands don’t stop undressing me either. “What the hell are sex panties?”

“You know,” I say, finally getting his shirt over his shoulders. “The lace panties girls wear before sex. I’m still wearing my business panties.” I kiss my way down his bare chest, gripping the muscles on his arms. Rock solid. Damn.

He pushes another button through its hole on my shirt, kissing the top of my head as I try to travel back to his lips. “I don’t give a shit what kind of underwear you have on, Brooke. They won’t be on you much longer.”

I’ve never had sex without my sex panties. Nate gets all my buttons undone and dives under my shirt, grasping my waist. I want to move. Get me to my damn bed, now. He’s right. Who the hell cares what kind of underwear I’m wearing?

We trip and bump into my toaster on the counter, my chairs in my dining area. He smacks his ass on the doo
rknob of my hall closet door when we trip over Snickers running down the hallway. We knock a picture down when he throws me against the wall. My phone rings
again
and my mouth opens around his. “I need to call the restaurant to confirm our reser—”

His tongue jets out, cutting me off and making
me forget whatever the hell it was I was saying.

“Brooke,” he pants in between kisses and nibbles. Warmth rushes between my legs when he pulls at my earlobe. “Would you
shut. Up?”

We both laugh, and I grapple behind me for my doorknob. I twist it open, and we fall to the floor because the bed is just too damn far away.

“Okay.” He pauses, catching his breath and his fingers start slowly tracing patterns up and down my neck, sending rushes of shivers through me.

I miss all the groping and tearing but this feels so…
good.

He slides my bra strap over
, kissing where it rested on my shoulder.

“What… What are you…?”

“Shhh…” He chuckles softly, his breath spreading another round of goose bumps as it hits the top of my breasts. “Don’t think about how late we’re going to be. Let’s just… take our time.”

There it is again. The realization that I’ve found the guy who makes me
want to toss out the rule book for
him
. Late? Late for what?
Who the hell cares?

I nod against his forehead,
then close my eyes as his fingers travel over my body. I’ve never been undressed so slowly during foreplay. He moves bit by bit, kissing every avenue of skin once it’s exposed. When he slides my skirt off, he takes one look at my business underwear and chuckles.

“If these are your business panties, I
really
want to see your sex panties.”

He rips my g-string off, and I’d explain to him how they’re the best for my skirt because they don’t show any lines, but he told me to shut up. And I’m so glad he did because I don’t want to talk anymore anyway.

He picks me up, swinging my legs around him now that I’m skirt-free and kisses me hard and fast again. We slam on the bed and I work his belt and slacks, speeding up the pace again, not because I want to get to our appointment on time, but because I’m dying for him to get his sexy ass naked now. It doesn’t take me long. I probably set a record for slack stripping.

When he settles his perfectly nude body on top of mine, I giggle because I can’t stop myself. I’m just too incredibly excited and stoked about what’s about to happen, but he stops and shoves his face in my pillow.

“Oh shit.”

“What?”

“I don’t have a condom.” He slams his head more into the pillow. “I didn’t think we’d…not tonight…but…shit, shit, shit.”

“Do you not know me at all?” I lift his face and smile. “Third drawer down. There’s Ultra Thin, Ribbed, Magnum, Lubricated…”

He spins from me and jerks open the drawer leaning half off my bed and giving me a perfect view of his nicely toned backside. I want to dig my nails in those cheeks and give them a permanent residence there.

“You’re insane,” he says, opening my condom drawer. All the boxes are lined up alphabetically. “Did you buy out the store?”

I kiss up his arm and bite him lightly on the shoulder. “Prepared Brooke. See, sometimes it’s a good thing.”

Without grabbing one, he rolls over, covering my body and presses his forehead and nose against mine. “You are unbelievable.” He smiles,
then delivers the gentlest of kisses on my lips. As much as I’ve loved all the hungry and anxious kisses we’ve had so far, this is the one that fills my body with something beyond passion or desire. It’s something I’ve never felt before, but it makes me forget anything and everything but Nate. Not just his body against mine, but
him
.

“Which one is your favorite?”

“What?”

“Which condom should I use?”

A blush creeps through my cheeks, and I don’t know why because I shouldn’t be embarrassed considering the position we’re in. But I kiss him lightly, like he did to me, and whisper, “Ultra thin.” Who knows if it’s my favorite, but I want to feel as much of him as possible.

The moment we’re together, I turn into a mad woman. Sex was always something that I thought followed a certain method in order to work properly. But for once… I completely,
one-hundred percent…
let go
.

I let go on him.
Under him. Around him. I let out a slew of profanities and moan and scream his name to the entire freaking world and I don’t care if anyone hears. I don’t care that we knock my lamp off my nightstand, probably breaking the light bulb. I don’t care that we fall on our asses to the floor, which probably gave us both rug burn. I don’t care that he laughs, I laugh, or when he groans it sends me rocketing into another frenzy of whatever I did to pull that noise from him.

His hands grip and touch, and his body moves so well with mine, I wonder if “letting go” is the right term anymore, because now all I want to do is
cling
. Cling to his smile. Cling to that scar on his eye and that scruff on his chin. Cling to that mess of hair. And cling to his ass. Definitely cling to his ass.

Most of all, I want to cling onto him, and who we are together. It equally scares me and thrills me, because I’m finding everything I wanted, and I didn’t even plan for it to happen.

I’m not sure how long we’re together. After orgasm four I’m pretty sure it’s been over the normal fifteen minutes I schedule for this activity. He rolls off me after his orgasm one, landing next to me on the floor. He kicks his legs up on the edge of the mattress next to mine, and the only thing that pops out of both our mouths is, “Wow.”

My throat is sore. I don’t think I’ve screamed out like that in all my life. I’m so sweaty, and normally after this I go
insta-shower and check it off in my phone. But as I lie here on the floor, next to an equally sweaty Nate, I don’t give a crap about taking a shower, or missing the many alarms on my phone, or marking anything in my calendar.

I use the only strength I have left to roll onto his chest. “That was…
fun.
”

He smiles against the top of my head as his hand flops around my shoulder and gives a light squeeze. I swirl my finger around his chest and close my eyes, feeling nothing but relaxed and satisfied. When have I ever felt like this?

My phone keeps going off in the other room. But we lie there on my floor, occasionally kissing each other. I’m physically spent, but my heart is still on an emotional high.

“We should probably run before Mom has an aneurism.”

I sigh. “I guess. Yeah.”

His arm tightens against my side
, and he puts his lips to my ear. Prickles shoot everywhere.

“Put on your sex panties,” he whispers.

“What?”

“I plan on doing this again after our meeting, so put on your sex panties.”

My cheeks heat up, which is just stupid after the way we were all over each other. “Okay.”

“But don’t show me.” He sits up and searches for clothing, but who the hell knows where they ended up. “And if you feel the need to schedule more mind-blowing sex with the super sex god Nate, feel free to type it in just like that.”

I laugh from behind him and lean against his bare back because I can.

Nate turns his head and kisses the corner of my mouth.

“I thought I wasn’t your type,” I tease. I love that we can still be Nate and Brooke, but more. “I thought your type was too skinny and tall with dark hair and blue eyes and perfect legs.”

He shakes his head. “No.”

I raise an eyebrow. “
Really
? Since when?”

His hand cups my cheek again, teasing gone in his eyes, but a grin still on his gorgeous face. “Since I fell in love with you.”

Biting back my smile, I kiss him lightly on the lips, and point to the edge of the bed where I last saw his slacks. “Better get dressed.”

He looks slightly disappointed, but he doesn’t need to be. I love him, too. I just need to do something first.

When his back is to me, I wrap my sheet around my torso and skip to my Galaxy. My fingers fly across the keys to get to my goal list, and I’m not watching where I’m going so I end up slammed into Nate’s warm chest on my way back to the room.

“Already, huh?” he asks, kissing my forehead and tapping the edge of my phone. Without a second’s hesitation, I turn the screen around and show him the goal I pulled up.

“Will you check it off for me?”

He laughs,
and tucks me under his arm so I can watch. With an adorable bravado, he puts a huge green checkmark next to the one thing I didn’t think was possible without a plan, but somehow he made it happen.

Fall in love!

Epilogue

Nate

Ten months later

It’s amazing how a few small comments can change everything. I love photographing weddings. It’s part falling in love, part Brooke, part the simple comment from the bride who made me realize what a gift it is to be part of someone’s happiest moments.

We’ve had a lot of days together after that first one. Amazing days. Lazy days. Fun days. Being with her is as easy as breathing, and I can’t imagine ever wanting anyone else.

Brooke is flipping through her phone, and I know she’s making sure she has everything set up and ready for the reception.

I’ve finished wedding party shots, and now I’m doing shots with just the bride and groom.
My assistant of five months is finally settling in, and life is almost perfect.
Almost
.

“Tilt your head just slightly down, and Mac, put your finger on her chin…yeah.
Great.” I take a few shots and I know these will be the ones the bride will swoon over later.

“How long were you two engaged?” I ask as the bride stands and Brooke expertly fluffs out her train.

“Almost a year.” She shakes her head. “Too long.”

“Yeah?” I ask. “How did he ask?”

“Over In N Out Burger.” He laughs. “It just came out.”

“I’m about to throw my girlfriend,” I say, but Brooke doesn’t stop adjusting the lace edge to lie just right. And I’m not scared or anything. Just excited.

“Oh yeah?” the bride asks.

“Yeah. I’m going to propose soon. I’m pretty excited about it actually, but I know she’s a planner, so I thought I’d give her some warning.”

Brooke has frozen, staring at the ground.

“She has this crazy idea that you needed to date for at least a year and then move in for a year, and we don’t live together yet, so I’m hoping it all goes okay.”

Brooke slowly turns toward me, and I smile.

“Now she
can put something in her phone.” I tilt my head to the side as I watch her eyes widen. “Only my big question is what will she say?”

Brooke’s lips tremble as a smile starts to fill her face. “Maybe something like, Tell Nate yes when he asks me to marry him?”

I set my camera in the hands of my intern lackey and get down on one knee.

Brooke does the typical hands over the mouth gesture, but it’s real and genuine and I pull the ring from my pocket. “Only you, Brooke. Forever. I love you.”

She comes at me so fast she knocks me to the grass, but still manages to end up with the ring box in her hand.

“So that’s a yes?” I ask
, laughing as I sit up, pulling her with me and holding her close—everything about her comfortable, familiar, and perfect.

“A huge yes.” She throws her arms around my neck
and presses her nose to my cheek.

“You
wanna write it in your phone so you can check it off?” I tease.

Brooke’s lips find mine. “It’s already there.”

Acknowledgements

Riley’s Thank
Yous:

Thank you, Taco Bell, for being open at one in the morning. After Mia sent me that chapter of all the yummy goodness, it became writing fuel.

Thank you
, reader, for getting to this page and buying our book, and for just loving to READ. Reading rocks fuzzy purple socks.

Thank you
, Brooke, for being the LOUDEST main character I’ve ever written. There was never a dull moment with you.

Thank you
, Leigh T. Moore and Theresa Paolo, for helping form this story into what it is. Oh! And for telling me when Brooke said “shit” too much.

Thank you
, Samsung Galaxy, for having such a cool calendar and task list app.

Thank you
, Mommy, for always telling me you are proud of me. I can check that off my task list every day.

Thank you
, Mia, for coming up with this idea and for not rolling your eyes at all my ridiculous ideas. Thank you for creating Nate and letting him be Brooke’s “perfect” match. And thank you for getting me out of my writing funk.

Thank you, children, for making such a mess of my house, so when I have writer’s block, I have something to keep me busy.

And last, thank you to hubs, for being the guy who makes me want to toss the rule book out and be
spontaneous
.

Mia’s Thank Yous:

THANK YOU RILEY for jumping into this bizarre idea I had. Writing with you is a huge blast, and I can’t wait to do it again. I don’t write funny well, so it was a fantastic learning experience.

Yes. Taco Bell. You seem to make it into more of my books than not… I’m still waiting for my coupons for all the free advertising ;-)

Huge thank you to authors Leigh T. Moore and Theresa Paolo for your notes and insights. You ladies are not just talented writers, but generally awesome people.

Another enormous thank you to my husband, who went to law school in Las Vegas because it’s a fun city to write about, and I hope I get a chance to do it again.

And all you readers? YOU ARE AH-MAZING!!! Sometimes I just feel like wearing a t-shirt everyday that says READ MORE READ MORE READ MORE…

But it would make it slightly harder to hide my crazy…

About the authors

Riley
Janes
is a mom, writer, and lover of the Mountain Dew Freezies at Taco Bell. She lives in Utah with her sexy hubby and three adorable kids who love to give her “the look” every time she sits at the computer. You can catch her on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/rileyjanesauthor
. She’d post a picture of herself, but it’s just so darn sexy she’s afraid Angelina Jolie will get jealous.

Mia Josephs
is a mom, writer, and lover of hot chocolate. She lives in Alaska with her awesome husband and two hilarious kids whose sense of time is warped by mommy asking for ‘just five more minutes…’

You can find Mia on
facebook at
www.facebook.com/authormiajosephs

And twitter at
https://twitter.com/MiaJosephs

And
her blog…
www.miajosephs.blogspot.com

Mia is also the author of the New Adult Romances
Falling
and
After
All
.

Watch for All About the Music, All About the Girl and All About the Dream – coming spring 2014.

Mia Josephs is a pen name for author Jolene Perry, who has num
erous Young Adult titles including My Heart for Yours, Knee Deep, Out of Play and The Summer I Found You (March 2014).