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  Chapter 25

  Alec

  “What’s all this?” Brynn asks as I remove her coat from her shoulders and slowly slide it over her arms.

  “This is dinner,” I lean in and whisper near her ear. “I thought you and I could use a night in, maybe I’ll be able to persuade you to forgive me.”

  She looks back at me over her shoulder and smiles that sweet way that makes my chest feel tight. If she only knew just how hard it was for me to hold back with her. How difficult it has been for me to pace myself and not hit the ground running in regard to her and I. I wasn’t very good at waiting.

  “I’m not mad at you,” she assures me, and I take the opportunity to quickly press a kiss to her jaw. “I told you already I know the things you do come from a good place, you just have to understand it’s hard for me to let go of my independence.”

  “You don’t have to let it go.” Stepping in closer behind her I place my hands on her hips. “Just lean on me, that’s all I ask. Because I promise that I’ll never let you fall.” I understood her hesitance, I approached this thing with us all wrong from the beginning, and in doing so I’ve given her doubts. But in my defense, I never thought I’d feel the way I do, or want her as desperately as I have since the first touch we shared.

  “I’ll try,” she whispers as she allows her body to rest against my own.

  “That’s all I ask.”

  I arranged for Katelynn to stay at Aric’s. They planned a night of junk food and weird movies that the two of them seem to share a love for. It was actually scary to a point as to how close in comparison the two of them were. One Aric for the world was plenty, but I believe Katelynn was doomed from the moment she met my brother. He seems to bring out the crazy in her. Only on her the antics were cute. I’ve managed to fall a little more for that sassy preteen as she’s wiggled her way into my heart, just as her older sister has.

  “It smells amazing,” Brynn says as she steps away and begins moving toward the small table that I had set up near the large floor to ceiling windows that line the West side of my penthouse. Lights of the city flickering in the background was the perfect backdrop for our evening. “It almost smells like—” she pauses and lifts the domed lid to see what lie beneath. “Flannigan's,” she practically moans the word. “Again it amazes me that you choose a burger and fries over some fancy cuisine that I can’t even pronounce.”

  “And again I remind you that there are many sides to the man you see.”

  “Don’t I know.” She does a cute little eye roll that has me chuckling in reaction. “Always full of surprises.”

  “That I am,” I join her near the table, only I choose to stand near the seat she now sits in. “I’d rather have a burger than Bouillabaisse any day.”

  “Excuse me, a what?” She arches her brow and I lower myself to her side in a crouched position so that now I am looking up at her.

  “It’s a fish stew originating in the port city of Marseille,” when she still seems confused I offer a little more, “France.”

  “You lost me at fish stew.” Her nose wrinkles up and her lips form a look of disgust. “That just sounds nasty.”

  “Not terrible actually, but nowhere near as good as Flannigan’s.”

  The perplexed look on her face slowly fades as she looks to her left and takes in a deep breath. “Not a huge fan of fish,” she adds, “any fish actually. Especially now, it just turns my stomach.” Now meaning since the pregnancy and I look down toward her stomach in reaction to her words.

  “I’ll remember that.”

  There now was an evident bump on her waistline, one I couldn’t seem to keep myself from reaching out to touch often. The humbling idea of what lay beneath my palm awes me every time. A life I had avoided was now within reach and I want nothing more than to hold on tight with everything I have.

  There had been that need for control, that desire to be the one that held all the card, now it had all changed. Brynn held the key to my happiness and I was still sure she had no idea just how much control she now held. She could crush me, she could destroy the man I was, only somehow I knew she wouldn’t. Brynn was nothing like Mandy, she held more compassion and love within her than any other woman I had ever met.

  I rise from the floor but before moving away. I press a kiss to her forehead and I swear I hear a sigh escape her. Note to self, forehead kisses are apparently kisses she enjoys.

  I move to the opposite side of the table and lift my own lid, allowing another round of charbroiled burger to fill the space between us. Again I see Brynn breathe in the scent which only makes my grin widen. “I’d imagine you’ve been craving one of these since our first date, am I right?”

  “Actually Katelynn and I have been there since, it’s where we first ran into Aric.” She lifts the burger to her lips and takes a bite, as she makes a pleased sound in her throat from the taste. “Since then he’s actually delivered me a burger a few times.” I try not to let the idea of Aric sitting at a booth with them or sitting around their small table at their apartment get to me, but frankly it does.

  “Does the friendship Katelynn and I’ve developed with Aric bother you?”

  I look up from the place I focused at on the table to find Brynn looking at me. Concern etched at the corner of her eyes. “Because that’s all it is, all it’s ever really been. Just a friendship.”

  I don’t answer right away and I try to find the words for what I’m feeling in my mind.

  “He just happens to be almost as persistent as you, and hard to avoid.”

  I could sense she was trying to make me smile, or even ease the tension I’m sure she could see within me. “That night that I stopped by Aric’s, he wouldn’t let me come upstairs.” I look away from her for a moment as I reach out for the glass of water in front of me. “I almost left, until I saw the doorman hand him a purple scarf, and there was something about it that was so familiar.”

  “It was Katelynn’s scarf.” It wasn’t a question she was asking, but more of a realization.

  “Yeah,” I confirm knowing already that I didn’t truly need to. “So instead of leaving I sat outside his building and waited for the two of you to leave. I knew, though I think I hoped that I was wrong.”

  When I look back up I see something in her eyes I didn’t like seeing, guilt.

  “I know it was nothing more than friendship,” I won’t tell her that I had it out with him later that same night. That was something between my brother and I, and that’s where I would leave it. “I’m not good with jealousy.”

  “There is nothing to be jealous of.”

  “There is.” Fuck, I hated this sensation. That knotting feeling in the pit of my stomach. “He was there when it should have been me.”

  “You’re here now,” I know it was her way of attempting to erase the past and it was hard, but I’d give her that.

  “I am,” I reach out and lay my hand over hers that rests on the table. “And I’m not going anywhere.” Even if she wanted me to, I wasn’t letting go, not now, not ever.

  I enter the theater room to find Brynn curled up on her side under one of the blankets that were folded over the back of the couch. After dinner I had a business call I had to make that couldn’t wait and with a kiss to my cheek she excused herself to allow me the time I needed.

  It took much longer than I originally thought and now here I am almost an hour later, watching her sleep. She looks too peaceful for me to interrupt so I remain where I am, leaning against the arched entry. I close my eyes and listen to her soft snore and smile. It still amazes me that I find that sound to be something I enjoy.

  My hands itch to touch her, to hold her close. I want to feel her body against mine, and show her the way I crave her.

  “You can join me, if you want to.”

  I allow my gaze to rise until I find the most gorgeous set of eyes staring back at me. “I didn’t want to interrupt you.”

  “You’re not,” she assures me with a smile. “I’ve been waiting
for you.”

  Why those words hit me so deep I’m unsure, but they did. I waste no further time before moving across the room and joining her. As I attempt to crawl over her, and place my body behind hers she stops me, by gripping my shirt in her hands. I remain extended, hovering above her, waiting for a look or a sign of what she was asking.

  With a gentle tug of her hands she pulls me closer and I place my body carefully over hers, not wanting to give her my entire weight. “I want you right here,” she says nothing more, only arches upward and places her lips to mine.

  That kiss alone sets forth my desire to seek out more.

  When her legs part, and she hooks one over my hip I settle in and give in to the hunger I feel. “Touch me,” she demands, and I smile against her lips. Allowing my hand to roam over her, teasingly touching her making her need more, yet not fully giving it to her. I want her to feel as crazed as I do. I want her to feel like she’s about to lose her mind if I don’t give her what her body demands.

  Kissing along her neck, she arches her chest upward and I feel her breasts push against my chest. Her hips shift back and forth, seeking out some type of relief I presume, though I won’t give it to her fully. Lifting my hips I take away the friction and hide my grin when I hear her groan in protest.

  “Shh,” I tell her as I slowly bring my hips forward and push my hardness against her. “I’ve got you.”

  Working her shirt upward with the hand that was not holding up my upper body, she lends a hand and begins to undress before me. I can see the need in her eyes and it satisfies the part inside me that desperately needs control. At this point I’m aware the power is in my hands.

  I drag out the moment, watching her as she lays before me her chest rising and falling, her eyes dilated and hungry. I let my gaze roam over her, her nipples hard and begging to be tasted. I place a finger against her collarbone and ever so slowly begin to trail over the spanning space between her breast, as her breath hitches. Satisfaction rising within me, while I continue to torture her slowly. Feeling her hardened nipple beneath the pad of my finger, I pinch and tug gently making her moan.

  “Please Alec,” she begs and I cannot control the smirk that covers my lips. Old habits die hard and I find that the dark side of me, the part that has lived inside me for two years, needs to break free. I want her to give me the power to have all of her.

  Again I shush her as I move to the other breast and do the same.

  When her hands lift to the waistband of my pants I pause in order to stop her by placing my own hand over hers. She looks up at me with a confused look and I simply shake my head and pull her hands from my buckle. I can visibly see her throat bob as she swallows hard, yet she says nothing only allows me to move her hands away.

  Her submitting to me was empowering, fuck, it felt like I was on top of the word. It was then I knew that the man I’d been the last couple years wasn’t solely an act. It was just a part of me that took a tragedy to make surface.

  Chapter 26

  Brynn

  I felt like my body was on fire with a desperation like I've never before felt. I want him, I want all of him, yet he denies me. The sweet man from earlier, the one that sworn he’d always take care of me had morphed into that same demanding man I’d known from before. I found in that moment that it didn’t scare me, in fact, it only manages to feed the need I have for him.

  It was never his need for power that terrified me but the cold man that demanded it. There was a difference in him now compared to then. That cold distance he held, it was gone, and in its place was the man I knew I’d fallen for. Alec was strong and confident, he was the sexiest man I’ve ever met, and I wasn’t just talking about his physical appearance. I felt safe with him, protected, in spite of our past.

  I didn’t fear him, I never had. I fear the desire I have for him, my dependance on his touch. At this point it was rising to a dangerous level, and I wasn’t sure what to do with the emotions racing through me. I can feel the vibration in my body as I fight the urge to touch him.

  “Reach above your head,” he instructs and when I hesitate he arches his brow and I find myself quickly doing as he asks. “That’s good, now hold on to the arm of the couch and don’t let go unless I tell you to.”

  I grip the material of the couch as I watch him lower himself over me. My legs shook as he runs his palm over my thigh, parting them wide. A stiff smirk crosses his lips, just before his tongue peeks out to moisten them, and I swear to god my body jerks in response.

  When he chuckles I know I’m right, and I should feel embarrassment as I lay there begging with my body, only I don’t. Embarrassment is long gone at this point.

  “I’m going to give you what you need, Brynn.” The dirty girl inside me jumps in the air with excitement and I remain posed just as he asked. “Hold on,” he looks upward, “if you let go, I stop.”

  I glare, unable to stop myself, and he simply arches a brow again, daring me to argue. Of course I don’t, because damn it, I need him to fix this ache inside me so desperately that I wasn’t above giving into his demands.

  The second I feel his hardness press against me my body jerks and my hips lift upward. “No,” my gaze shifts quickly to his when he pulls back denying me the contact. “Be patient.”

  Fuck patience, I wanted to scream, give me what I need.

  Only instead I take in a deep calming breath finding that at this point there was only one thing that could calm me, him.

  Feeling him press to me once more I squeeze the material fisted in my hands just a little tighter and fight the powerful drive inside me to shift once again. Please, please, I say the word over and over in my mind as Alec slowly and torturously begins to enter me. Inch by astonishing inch I wait to feel him completely inside me.

  “There ya go,” he encourages. I assume because he can feel the desiring shake of my body beneath his. I look up and stare into his eyes wondering how he can possibly be so calm. The look on his face is blank as he watches me react.

  I slowly release my hold on the couch and find he pauses and begins to withdraw.

  “No,” I plead with him as I grab the couch arm once more and that same conquering smirk tugs at his lips. Cocky and oh so appealing, I’d give it to him, he had me over a barrel and he knew it.

  When he sees that my hands are firmly planted were he wants them to be, he again begins to enter me. My eyes roll back as I just feel what he wants me to feel, the physical and the emotional connection we share. It was like nothing I have ever felt before.

  “Move in with me,” I keep my eyes closed as Alec’s naked body moves in closer behind mine. “I want you here, and Katelynn.” When his palm stretches out over my stomach I feel a tightening in my chest. “I want you both here in my home. Our home.”

  A slow calming breath escapes me as I place my hand over his and feel his lips press against my bare shoulder. “I want this life, Brynn,” he confesses, and I hear the truth in his words. “I want to hold you in my arms each night and wake up to the sound of your breathing each morning. I also want to hear Katelynn’s laughter echoing throughout the space we share.” There was a pause as I feel him nuzzle my hair with his face. “I wanna raise our child here together as a family."

  If it were possible for a heart to weep in that moment mine would. I wait for the panic to set in. That feeling of fear from the thought of living here with him, only it doesn’t come. Not even a nervous flutter hits me.

  I turn in his arms and stare back at the man who has in such a short time managed to make me feel so many different things. Some good, some not, but the amazing definitely outweigh the not so perfect. He’s shown me the man he tried to hide, and so much more. He allowed me to see the real him, the one hidden behind all the pain that woman and her deceit had caused.

  I expect to find that strong confident look in his eyes only what I see is nothing close to that. Instead I find a look of uncertainty, almost as if he was fearful of the answer I may give. Again I find that it is impo
ssible for me not to fall in love with him just a little more. There were so many layers to this man, and the idea that he could even be a little unsure was startling. “Yes,” I say, forgetting about all the reservation I felt in our past. I say this with absolute confidence that it’s the right decision for us.

  “Yes?” He repeats, and I smile at his need to hear it all over again.

  “We’ll move in.”

  He grips my face in his hands and presses his lips to mine. I can feel his smile against my lips. “Today,” he says, and I hear that confident way about him return. “I’m ready to pack the two of you up and get you settled. I don’t want to wait, because it already feels like I’ve waited forever.”

  “I don’t think there’s much to move, considering what we have isn’t much.” Our furniture was awful, and as far as decorations, they were minimal. “I’m sure there’s someone out there that could gain some use out of the furniture, or at least some of it. But we do have some personal things and clothes to pack up.”

  Alec rolls his body over mine and I can feel the excitement of the moment poking against my leg. He’s gotten really good at reading my reaction and when he shifts his hips forward I bite my lip to keep the whimper from escaping. “I think the moving can wait for just a little longer,” he lifts his hips and moves just right in order to line his cock up against me. “What do you think?”

  I nod and he grins as he shifts forward just enough to offer a tease. “I think you have this weird ability to read my mind.”

  “No, baby, I can read your body though.” He dips his head and covers my mouth with his own, conquering me mind, body, and soul. This time there was no demands of no touching, no moving, it was slow and gentle. Together we explore each other, and in our time shared I knew there was no way to stop what was happening in my heart.