“Anna,” he moaned, thrusting inside her a few more times before he climaxed, too. He collapsed against her back, his breathing harsh and loud. “One of these times, I’ll last longer with you. You’re too damn tantalizing right now, though.”
“I have no complaints,” she said, grinning.
If he lost control with her, then she could be perfectly happy with her effect on him. She’d rather have him be furiously in need of her than cold and controlled in her arms. He withdrew from her, picked her up, and laid her down in the middle of the bed. Climbing in beside her, he pulled her into his arms and breathed in the scent of her hair. “Can I stay the night again?”
Of course she wanted him to stay.
Forever, preferably.
But instead of admitting that, she simply nodded and buried her face in the pillow. “Sure.”
“Good, because I wasn’t going to leave, anyway. I was asking to sound polite,” he said, his voice light and teasing. He played with a strand of her hair, yawning at the same time. “And Anna?”
She traced a path over his chest, her mind drifting off to sleep already. “Hmm?”
“Just so you know”—he lifted her chin and kissed her lips lightly—“I’m still not feeling guilty.”
He yawned again, and within seconds his soft snore filled the room. And for the first time all night, she let herself hope that he would keep feeling not-guilty. She let herself hope that when she woke up in the morning…
He’d still be there.
Chapter Eleven
Brett stretched his arms over his head and looked out the dining room window. The fog was beginning to lift, and the day looked as if it had the promise of being a gorgeous one. It would be a perfect day for sneaking away with Anna—if she could figure out a way to leave her brothers in the shadows. Or he could tug her into the shadows, and have his way with her, and not give a damn about her brothers for once.
A smile sneaked onto his face without him even realizing it.
And even after he realized he was literally lit up like a fucking flare gun, he still didn’t stop smiling. That’s how damn happy he was because of her. And it got him thinking… Maybe, just maybe, he could be good enough for Anna after all.
He was fucked.
She’d turned him into one of those men who didn’t even bother to hide his happiness from the other people in the room. Hopefully everyone was too busy getting ready for the wedding to notice how much of an idiot he’d become.
He checked his watch and eyed the door to the dining room again.
Nine fifteen. She never slept past nine in the morning.
Where the hell was she? Had he kept her up too late last night?
Damn, he hoped so. And he planned on doing it tonight, too.
There it was again. That shit-eating grin.
He ran a hand down his face, wiping it away, and crossed the room, sitting down next to her father. Eventually he would have to tell the man about his feelings for Anna—whatever those feelings were. The older man had been more of a father figure for him than his own flesh and blood, but he wasn’t ready to talk about Anna.
Not yet.
At this point, he wanted nothing more than to keep their newfound happiness to themselves. Brett smiled at Anna’s father as he sat down next to him. “Good morning, Mr. Hamilton.”
“Morning, Brett.” He clapped Brett on the shoulder and grinned. “Happy to see you back home where you belong. How’s life in Atlanta treating you?”
Brett set his coffee down carefully. “Good, sir. I’m enjoying running my father’s company. It’s been nice getting away from, well, here.”
“We’ve missed you. You should come back more often.”
He shrugged and laughed uneasily. If he managed to make whatever he and Anna had going on work…he might be in this house a hell of a lot more. And hopefully that wouldn’t be an unwelcome change. “We’ll see, sir.”
The older man looked at him with sharp eyes that looked remarkably similar to Anna’s. “I saw your aunt and uncle the other day. They told me you hadn’t been answering their calls, and they needed money.”
Brett rolled his hands into fists. If they were complaining of their lack of money, he should be hearing from them soon…even though he had given them a few grand just a couple of weeks ago. “I’ll have to check in on them soon.”
“Why bother?” Anna’s father set his mug down. “I saw them in the airport on their way to Maui. Kind of hard to believe they’re on their way to the poorhouse when they’re wearing designer clothes and holding first-class tickets in their greedy little hands. I say change your number and move out of their reach. Let them fend for themselves for once in their lives.”