Is she stalking me? Is she still stalking Braden? If she is, he must know. He has eyes and ears everywhere.
I can’t ask, though. At least not now, when I’m breathing in the soothing lavender steam from this amazing bath. Braden turned the jets onto low, so they give the water just the gentlest of swirls, as if we’re bathing in a lovely natural hot spring.
He moves his hand slowly up and down my arm, just the whisper of a touch, and it soothes me.
I’ll figure everything out.
Later.
…
My eyes pop open. The sun streams through Braden’s bedroom windows. I turn my head. No Braden. Then I sit up and grab my phone from the nightstand.
No way! One p.m.?
Makes sense, I guess. We were up almost until morning waiting for news on Tessa. Then we came back here and bathed together, which was amazingly sensual.
I rise, pad over to Braden’s closet, and grab one of his shirts. I button it around me and breathe in his piney and masculine scent—my favorite perfume in the world. Then I grab my phone and call Carlotta. She lets me talk to Tessa.
“Hey, Skye.” Tessa’s voice is a little hoarse, but she sounds…okay.
“Tess, thank God. How are you?”
“Tired. But okay. Very thankful for you and Braden.”
“Please. If I’d been with you in the first—”
“Stop,” she interrupts. “Don’t go there. Don’t do that to yourself. I’m an adult. At least now I know why I was acting so strangely.”
Fresh anger ignites in me. “I can’t believe Garrett. Braden’s going to take care of this.”
“Good.” Tessa lets out a hoarse scoff. “Tell him to let the pig have it.”
“Don’t worry. I will. When are they springing you?”
“Today,” she says. “Mom’s staying with me for a while. I couldn’t talk her out of it.” She coughs softly.
“I don’t want to keep you. You need to rest. Do you want me to come by?”
“No. I think I’ll take some time to hang with my mom. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Of course not. Whatever you need. I’m here if you need me.”
“I know. Thanks, Skye.”
I end the call and walk out of the room. “Braden?”
“In the office.”
I follow the sound of his voice to his home office. He sits behind his desk, staring at his laptop screen.
“Hey,” I say.
“Good morning. Or should I say good afternoon.” He finally looks up and sucks in a breath. “You look fucking sexy in my shirt.”
I smile. I can’t help it. The soft cotton against my body infused with his scent. I feel sexy in this shirt.
“What are you working on?”
“Nothing that can’t wait. Come here.” He moves his hand downward.
Once I’m behind his desk, I see that he’s freed his cock from his lounge pants. I part my lips.
“Fuck, you’re sexy,” he says. “Climb on, Skye.”
I’m wet already. No surprise there. Braden’s mere presence makes me wet and ready, and right now, with his tousled bedhead and heavy eyelids, I’m ready to pounce.
I climb onto his lap and straddle him, slowly easing down onto his erection.
“God…” I groan.
His moan meets my own as we sit immobile for a few seconds, and I relish the feeling of him deeply embedded inside me.
“Fuck.” He inhales. “I can’t get enough of you. Never enough.”
He takes charge then, and grips my hips, lifting me until his cock head is only teasing my pussy lips. He holds me there for a minute, my nipples abrading the cotton of his shirt. I struggle against his strength, trying to sink back down so I’m complete again, and just when I think I may seriously lose my cool, he finally pushes me back down onto his hardness.
It’s quick. It’s lusty. It’s not romantic at all, but I don’t care.
It’s us.
Simply us.
He grasps me harder and harder, and I feel like a piston on an engine. And I love it. I love it so much. The pressure builds inside me, and before I know it, an orgasm is imminent. “Braden! I’m going to come. God!”
“Do it, baby. Do it. Come.”
With his words, I shatter, only to be forced together at the molecular level as I stare into his mesmerizing blue eyes.
Those eyes look at me with wonder.
With awe.
With lust.
With love.
“I love you,” I say between breaths. “I love you so much.”
He jams me down hard onto his cock, and as my climax continues, I feel every spurt of his.
Every last one.
I lay my head on his hard shoulder, still panting. He did all the work, but still my breath comes in sharp rasps. The climax. Braden. All of it. He literally takes my breath away.
I smile against his shoulder. This is so not us. Every lovemaking session is usually a huge deal. Either he’s thought it out ahead of time, or he comes up with it spur of the moment. Either way, it lasts way longer than the few minutes of this one.