He turned her to her back and settled between her parted thighs. He reached down and took his cock in his hand, guided it to her slick flesh and circled her clit with the thick head. Bathing himself in her heat and wetness, he closed his eyes and imagined what it would be like to be inside her with nothing between them.
Just the thought was enough to make his cock surge in his hand, moisture gathering along the tip. He reached for the bedside table to grab a condom. No matter how much he resented the thin layer of latex, he didn’t want to do anything that would result in her feeling trapped.
She stayed his hand. “It’s okay—you don’t have to. I’m on the pill.”
He froze, not sure he’d heard her right.
“And I got checked out, right after Josh broke up with me,” she said hastily. “So I know I’m clean.”
“You’ve been on the pill the entire time?”
She nodded solemnly. “I went on it when I was sixteen, when Josh and I started dating.”
That was his Molly, he thought. Never one to leave anything to chance.
“But I thought we should still use condoms, since we weren’t, you know, exclusive, and you might still want to…”
He shook his head, kissed her again. “Sweetheart, that first night with you ruined me for anyone else. I would never want to be with anyone else when I could be with you.” His throat got tight for a second as he worried he’d revealed too much, too soon.
She reached up and cradled his face in her hands. “That’s good, because I think you pretty much ruined me too.”
The knot in his throat unraveled, and he was pretty sure his heart was going to burst out of his chest. “I’m clean too,” he said tightly as he guided himself to her opening, felt, for the first time in his life the tight, wet squeeze of a woman’s body around his cock with nothing in between them.
He sank into her slick heat, felt his eyes roll back at the overwhelming pleasure of it. “Oh God, Molly,” was all he could get out before he started to thrust. In, out, in deep, slow strokes as he marveled at how good she felt, so wet and tight around the bare flesh of his cock.
He covered her mouth with his, taking it like he was taking her body, his tongue moving in firm, deep strokes. He’d never felt like this before, his body singing with pleasure as well as the knowledge that this woman whom he’d longed for was finally his.
“You feel so good inside me,” she breathed against his lips, lifting her knees higher so he could go even deeper. “I love feeling all of you.”
Her words, the tight pulse of her body around him, sent lust roaring through him. He wanted to take it slow, savor every second of this new, intense sensation. But she felt so good, squeezing around him, hips rocking with every thrust, urging him deeper, harder.
His movements became faster, more urgent. His muscles tensed as he tried desperately to keep his climax at bay. He reached between them, found the spot where they were joined and rubbed her clit with his thumb.
She was making those high, breathy sounds in her throat that drove him crazy, her body pulling tight as her own orgasm loomed. She came hard, yelling his name, sending him right over the edge to join her.
His cock jerked as he came in hot spurts, spilling himself inside her as she milked him with the last waves of her orgasm.
When his brain finally descended from its flight to the clouds, he found himself on top of her. Her arms and legs were wrapped tightly around him, clinging to him like she was afraid she was going to be swept away at any moment.
Brady could relate, his own arms wrapping tight around her as he rolled to the side, holding her close as a swell of emotion thundered through him. Tumbling him around, battering him against the rocks like the time when he was ten and fell into a creek swollen with snowmelt.
Helpless against the current, he’d been tossed downstream, knowing that no one was there to help, no one would even care if he made it out alive.
Tonight Molly was his anchor, pulling him back to shore. With her soft hands on his skin and her softer mouth pressing kisses to his lips and cheeks. Bathing him in warmth and light, obliterating all the darkness that had come before.
“That was amazing,” she sighed.
His eyes drifted open, and the sharp tug of satisfaction echoed the expression on her face. “I’ve never done that before.”
Her brows curved in a questioning look.
“Had sex without a condom,” he clarified. “You were my first,” he said, and kissed her lips, parted on a startled breath.
“I like the idea of being your first something.” She kissed him back and relaxed against the pillows, her eyes drifting closed.
His own eyelids were heavy, and he wanted nothing more than to drift off and hold her close while he slept. “I should get home,” he said. “I told Jordan I’d be home by eleven.”
She pouted a little, but didn’t argue.
He cradled her cheek in his hand, lifting her face for his kiss. “One of these nights, you’re going to fall asleep in my arms, and wake up to feel me buried inside you as deep as I can possibly get,” he murmured.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” she whispered back. As he reluctantly pulled away, she trailed her hands down his arms like she didn’t want to let him go.
The feeling left him with a warm sensation that lasted until the next day, when he learned the wolves of his past were fast approaching his door.
Chapter 13
Molly walked into the restaurant the next day feeling like she was walking on air. A phrase she’d always kind of hated because it made no sense. But today there was no other way to describe the lightness in her step, the feeling that nothing could go wrong in her world.
Because of Brady. Funny how a short, seemingly simple conversation could change so much. But it had. Things were different now.
Brady was different. Last night he’d been as passionate and skilled as ever, but there had been something more. More intense. More open, like something he’d been holding inside himself finally broke free.
Just as her own strong feelings for Brady had finally broken free, coursing through her and taking her on a ride that had her both elated and panicky all at the same time.
She called a chipper hello to Ellie and her mom who were busy setting up the dining room for lunch, trying not to look to eager as she headed to the kitchen to find Brady.
While she felt good about their relationship and where it was going, she didn’t want to go public just yet. Especially with her mom and sister who had watched her spend over a decade clinging to a relationship that had bad news written all over it, and then only recently had helped her pick up the pieces when it all blew apart.
She knew they would worry that she was moving too fast, that she was making another bad decision on the rebound. This thing with Brady was so new, so precious, she wanted to hold it inside of heart for a little bit longer before she let the rest of the world weigh in.
She found Brady in the kitchen as expected. Jordan was there too, and they both stood at one of the prep tables, elbows propped on the top, their voices too low to hear what they were talking about.
“Hey guys,” she said cheerily as she went grab an apron and tie it around her waist.
Jordan’s grim face as he nodded in greeting was her first clue all was not right. Brady’s equally dour look was the second.
“Don’t worry. It’s all going to work out,” Brady said and squeezed his nephew’s shoulder. Jordan gave him a look that said he wasn’t so sure and went back into the dining room.
“Everything OK?” Molly said warily as Brady gathered up a pile of onions.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” he said, barely sparing her a look.
“What is it,” she pressed, even as the insecure voice in her head warned her not to push, not to pry, not to piss him off and drive him away.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, jaw tight. He went to work on the onions as though that was the end of it.
She sucked in her cheeks. OK, clearly there was something going on with Jordan that was putting him in a mood. Something he wasn’t ready to discuss yet. Clearly opening up was something Brady was still getting used to, and she needed to be patient.
She worked silently beside him, nerves growing tighter at his continued silence. “I had a really amazing time last night,” she said in an attempt to break the tension.
“Yeah.” His curt response tipped her emotions to the panicky side.
“I was thinking maybe tonight, you could come over and we could make the trout, you know, one last practice run before we shoot tomorrow.”
He shook his head. “Can’t tonight.”
Red flags popped up all over the place. The panic swelled, squeezing her chest as she wondered if she had made an awful mistake, believing she could trust him.
Believing he wouldn’t get tired of her after he got what he wanted. His turnaround time was a lot quicker than Josh's or her father’s had been, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.
Don’t worry, it’s probably nothing to do with you. Just let him have his bad mood,
the weak, delusional voice that had guided her through all of those years with Josh snaked its way into her brain.
Don’t be too clingy, don’t be too needy. Be cool so he doesn’t think you’re a clingy pain in the ass.
She shook it off. She wasn’t going to do this again, with Brady or anyone. She wasn’t going to tiptoe around trying not to make waves just so a guy wouldn’t leave her.
If they were going to leave, they left, no matter how nice and accommodating she tried to be. She’d already learned that the hard way.
“You think it’s a mistake, don’t you?” she snapped, bringing her knife down on a carrot with such force that one half went skittering to the floor.
“What’s a mistake?” he said, finally looking up from his steadily growing pile of onions.
She took a deep breath. “Us. Everything you said last night.”
“Why the fuck would you think that?”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “You barely say two words to me, you shut me down when I ask you why you’re upset, you don’t want to see me tonight—”
His knife cluttered to the table as he uttered a low curse. “You mind putting that down? You’re making me nervous.” He nodded to the chef’s knife in her hand that she’d unconsciously brandished as she spoke.
She set it carefully on the table and folded her arms across her chest.
“Come here,” he said gruffly and yanked her into his arms. “Nothing about us is a mistake,” he said and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
She wrapped her arms around him, relief coursing through her in a wave so strong it made her legs weak. She ignored the little alarm still ringing at the back of her head, warning her that it wasn’t healthy for her emotions to go from one extreme to the next based on his mood.
He sighed and she felt some of the tension ease from his tight muscles. “I’m sorry I’m being such a dick. It’s not about you.”
“Then tell me what it is about, so I can be sure.”
He dropped his arms and pulled away. “My sister reared her head back in Bonner’s Ferry last night, and when she found out Jordan was here she went ballistic. She’s been calling us all morning, telling Jordan he has to go back, threatening to have me arresting for kidnapping if he doesn’t.”
“She can’t have you arrested,” she protested.
“Probably not. But Jordan’s still a minor, and legally under her care. I can’t change that, not without some of legal wrangling.”
“Why didn’t you want to tell me?”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to drag you into my shit. Not with all we’ve got going on and how important it is to you. I didn’t want you to worry about it.”
“You think stomping around all surly and giving me the silent treatment isn’t going to make me worry?”
He gave her a rueful smile. “You may have noticed I’m not very good at talking about things that are weighing on me. Guess I’m going to have to work on that.”
“That makes two of us. I spent most of my life bottling everything up, convincing myself that if I ever let on that I was mad about something I would just chase people away.”
“You’re going to have to work a lot harder to run me off,” he said and gave her a little peck. “Anything you want to get off your chest?”
She started to say no, then, “I wish you’d told me the first time your sister called.”
“It’s not your mess to clean up.”
She rolled her eyes. “It became my mess the second it made you act like a jerk and freeze me out.”
He winced, and she softened her tone. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to share in the messes and the cleanup. No matter who it belongs to.”
He didn’t look entirely convinced, but he didn’t try to change the subject when she asked what his plan was.
“Get a lawyer,” he said, turning back to the vegetables they still needed to prep for lunch service. “Damon has a guy he knows in Boise, a business attorney but one of the partners specializes in family law. Hopefully Connie’s pill problems and pattern of neglect will make it easier for me to get custody until he turns eighteen.”
“Let me know what I can do to help, okay?”
“Okay.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and they went back to work.
###
When Molly arrived at the restaurant the next day, it was already bustling with activity. The film crew from
Simply Delicious
was due to arrive in an hour, and the dining room was already full of locals who had reserved a spot for the shoot. Brady and Adele were hard at work in the kitchen, while Ellie was busy polishing the wooden bar to a high sheen.
“Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,” she said, a little breathless as she rushed into the kitchen. One of her clients had called her in a panic over a bank transfer that hadn’t gone through so she’d spent the morning tracking down the payment and making sure his account was properly credited.
“No problem honey, we’ve got it all under control,” Adele grinned. “Is that what you’re wearing?” she said as she gave Molly a quick once over.
“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Molly replied.
“Nothing, if you’re going for the angel of death look,” Brady said with a sidelong grin.