The mention of my mother and my life with my family makes him frown.
Shit. Trust me to go ruin the mood. I look at him from under my lashes. “You nearly came home to me naked but for one of your ties knotted around my neck.”
His eyes gleam. “What stopped you?”
“Couldn’t find the right tie,” I joke.
He sighs. It is clear that he is preoccupied with something else. “Yes, I’ll take you on a date, Liliana Eden.”
“Thank you,” I say to him and I want to kiss him so badly, but it doesn’t seem right. He seems sad somehow. Perhaps his meetings didn’t go well. All my life I have never seen my father look sad. No matter what happens at work, he always has a smile full of sunshine for my mum.
Brand drags his gaze away from mine and towards his door. “What is it?”
“Phone call, boss,” the guard standing outside the door says.
Brand turns back to me. “Have you eaten?”
I nod.
“Go upstairs then,” he says softly.
I jump up with a bright smile. “Okay.” I hurry up the stairs, my heart pounding hard. I asked him out on a date and he said yes! I lean against the wall, a stupid grin on my face. Alright what am I to do now? He said go upstairs but that can mean either my room or his. I know I want to be with him tonight. I look at the two doors and summon up the courage to go into his room.
The worst he can do is kick me out.
As I sit on his bed, the thought occurs to me that kicking me out might be a little harder to do if I am already asleep. So I strip, pulling off my khaki shorts and t-shirt till I am dressed only in my underwear. I take off my bra for double effect and slide underneath the covers. Then I shut my eyes and practice controlling my breathing to a steady rhythm. About half an hour later when I am almost truly asleep I hear him come into the room.
It brings me instantly awake and I quickly control my breathing to pull off my pretense of being asleep. If he is anything like my father as I suspect, faking sleep is not something that I can even dream of getting away with. I hear him stop for a little bit and wonder whether he will think I am taking liberties and ask me to leave, but he only heads towards the bathroom. A few minutes later he returns and the mattress next to me compresses.
He lies next to me, but he doesn’t try to pull me to him and curl up against me. My real acting begins then. I wait a little while, then keeping my eyes shut, I combine a little provocative moaning sound with a little maneuvering and some light flailing of my arms. Suddenly, I am right next to him. This is enough. I’m close enough that I can feel his warmth. Anymore and it will be too obvious.
“You are a little minx, aren’t you?” Brand says in the dark.
My heart almost stops. I consider pretending I don’t know what he is talking about, but what’s the point? “I missed you all day,” I whisper.
“So did I, Liliana. So did I,” he says as he pulls me into his arms. He makes love to me in a way he has never done. There is something desperate about the silent, vicious thrusts. As if this is our last time, or as if he just can’t get enough of me.
Chapter Forty-One
Liliana
I fall asleep with him inside me, and wake up still spooned against Brand. His head is resting in the cradle of my neck. One of his arms is wrapped around my chest, while the other is under my pillow.
His breathing is steady and I know that he is still asleep. When I try to move, Brand pulls me even closer. For the next few minutes I just lay there savoring the unbeatable feeling of being in his arms. I know the moment he comes awake. Without a word he lets go of me, rises to his feet, and gets out of bed. I turn to see him leave, dressed in only a pair of dark briefs and instantly I go after him.
A few seconds later I follow him and find him leaning against the counter, his head lowered and eyes shut. I lean against the door and watch him curiously. My hair is long enough to cover my breasts, so I don’t feel too self-conscious standing before him naked.
The movement alerts him to my presence and he glances at me through the mirror.
“Are you all right?” I ask.
He straightens and nods. “Yeah.” Then he retrieves a can of shaving cream and rubs it over his lower face. Taking a deep breath, I head towards him and stop behind his broad, strong back. I am quite short compared to Brand I realize with some surprise. I barely reach his shoulders. Sliding my arm around his waist, I press my chest to his back and start to trace patterns down his skin as I speak.
“I want to shave you today,” I whisper.
He goes very still. The seconds go by without any reaction from him. Then he catches my wrists and begins to pull my arms away from his waist. I feel the tears of disappointment sting my eyes. It’s always one step forward and two back with him. To my surprise, though, he turns around lifts me up and places me on the counter. I gaze up at him with a mixture of adoration and surprise as he positions himself between my legs and hands me the razor.
“Be careful,” he says to me, and shuts his eyes.
His lashes are long, very long, I realize. The luxuriously thick hairs brush his cheeks. His jaw is strong, and his hair is slicked away from his face. Damn he is handsome. I want to kiss him, but his face is already covered in shaving cream so I lean down and begin to press kisses along his shoulders.
It makes him laugh. He leans slightly away from me. “I thought you wanted to shave me,” he says.
I want him so much I can barely speak. “You should have fucked me before you got out of bed,” I say quietly, “now I think my hands are too shaky to do a good job.”
His shining eyes darken with desire as his head lowers to take my breasts in his mouth. He sucks on the mounds, his hand giving me a caress sweet enough to melt stone. He traces kisses down my skin, and then down my belly towards my sex. Before he can go all the way down I pull him back up. “I don’t want shaving cream all the way there, look what you’ve done already.” We both glance down at the trails of white suds he has left down my body. His smile makes it hard to breathe.
“You need some of it down there, anyway,” he says, “have you forgotten I’m meant to shave you too?”
My face turns red and it makes him laugh out loud. The sound is boisterous and beautiful. I stare at him.
“You’re so fucking adorable when you blush,” he says.
“I wonder what would make you blush.”
“Killers don’t blush, Princess.”
I sober up instantly and the mood between us changes. I look deep into his eyes. “I don’t care what you did in the past. I am only interested in the present and the future.”
“You think we have a future together, Princess?”
“Yes, I think so. I know I can convince my father. My mother says my father has not said no to me since I was two years old.”
He smiles sadly. “Yeah, I bet he hasn’t. Nobody’s said no to you, have they Princess?”
“You have.”
“No, I fucking haven’t. You’ve got me all twisted around your little finger.”
“Well, you’ve got me all twisted around your big dick.”
He laughs. “Okay. You win. Now, why don’t you shave me first then I’ll do you, and we can finish this off in the shower.”
“Sounds good,” I say to him and with my legs pull him back towards me and pick up the razor.
“Be careful,” he warns.
“Don’t be such a little coward. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I know,” he says, “but your hand still hurts, doesn't it?”
I look into his eyes, “It does, but not enough for me to slip.” There might be something in Pierre’s advice. With a secret smile at his concern I begin to shave away at his slight stubble.
“You’re surprisingly good at this,” he comments.
“I’m my father’s daughter-“ I immediately stop at the dangerous topic, and just in time to see his gaze drop from mine. He doesn’t urge me to go on, and neither do I. The fear is al
most as intense as the excitement. It seems that neither of us can quite get enough of our new-found harmony, but at the same time it almost seems as though we’re both just waiting for it to break, for whatever miracle that has caused this camaraderie between us to just shatter into a million pieces.
With my hands on his shoulder to keep him in place, I carry on moving the razor up and down his face slowly. As more skin is exposed I can’t help but notice how baby soft and smooth it is.
I ask him about it and his reply is simple. “I have no idea. I just use whatever Lindy puts in my bathroom.”
His casual careless answer makes me smile. Of course, he doesn’t give a shit what cream he puts on his face. Soon I am completely done. I put the shaving stick down. Before I can reach for a towel to wipe his face, he grabs my thighs.
“Put your arms around my neck,” he says, and I immediately do as instructed. He pulls my ass forward and pushes on my chest so I am leaning against the mirror.
Brand spreads my legs apart.
“It might be a bit uncomfortable for you in a few days,” I mumble shyly. “I usually use something else.”
Brand pumps shaving cream unto his hands and begins to slather it all over my sex, his eyes full of concentration. “I'll take you any way I can get you.”
At his words, I am able to relax as he takes the razor gently in and out of my crevices, his hands as steady as I’d expect from a man like him. When he is finished he wipes me clean.
“There. Freshly shaven and ready to be fucked.”
Picking me up he takes me into the shower stall and there, he kisses me so passionately I just plain give up on the notion of standing on my own two feet. I cling to his neck, my eyes gazing into his as he washes me with soap, his fingers teasing between the lips of my sex.