“Bye.”
For several minutes I lie on the bed, silence surrounding me. I’m not good with the quiet. I’m about to turn on some music, or the TV while the bath fills, but there’s the faintest knock on my door.
Curious, I walk to the peephole and peer through.
Brecken.
I open the door, Brecken filling my entire field of vision. “Hey.”
“Hey. I was thinking that maybe you don’t want to be alone tonight. At dinner, you said you were anxious.”
“Yeah, first-day nerves are riding me pretty hard.”
“So, do you want company?”
Even though I don’t want to push him away, I say, “I was about to run a bath.”
“Use mine.” His eyes flick over my shoulder and start darting around my room. “Grab what you need,” he says, stepping forward and leaving me little choice but to let him breeze past. But I don’t care that he’s deciding for me. That he’s understood my quiet desire for company. This is exactly what I needed. What I was hoping for. It’s a chance to learn more about the sometimes quiet, sometimes passionate Brecken.
Ten minutes later, I’m inside his bedroom, the huge bath filling in his high-spec bathroom.
“How long have you lived together?”
“Being the youngest, I was the last to move in, but it’s been about four years.”
Recalling Sienna’s question, wanting to know if they’d been arguing again, I ask, “Does it work out most of the time?”
A knowing smile. “Mostof the time. We’re all quite particular.”
I smile encouragingly, wanting more details, but Brecken seems more interested in testing the water temperature. “Like?”
He laughs gently. “Like, Luca is the oldest and many will see him as the true heir. Like, Reuben pleases himself. Like, I’m the youngest and can be indulgent. But I’m also the biggest, so that helps get my point across.”
Laughter trickles out of me, my eyes scanning his muscular physique. Since my arrival, I’ve tried to dampen my lust and get my priorities right, but being around him all day has been driving me insane.
“How’s this?” Brecken asks, the bath pretty full.
I dunk my hand in the water, testing it. “Perfect, thanks.”
Brecken stands to his full height, no longer hunched over the tub. It leaves us facing each other, drinking each other in. The only sound I’m able to register is the gentle lapping water, interspersed with my soft breaths. The air is warm, heating my skin under the brushed cotton material of my pajamas.
“Are you going to join me?” I murmur.
“I’m going to watch,” he answers, his voice low.
With my heart in my throat, his hands come up to the top button of my sleep shirt. Slowly and carefully, Brecken unbuttons me one by one by one, his hands brushing against my peaked nipples as he makes his way down my body to the very last one.
When he’s finished, he leaves the two sides of the shirt gaping open, the swells of my breasts clearly visible.
His hand lifts, parting the material more fully and brushing the material over my shoulders. It catches on my biceps but I don’t make a single move to help. Brecken lifts both hands, his fingers pulling at my peaked nipples, bolts of heat heading directly south. Not daring to speak, I just let him play with my body, every nerve ending erupting into a canvas of delicious sparks.
His face is a mask of masculine concentration. Of contained desire.
With every inhale my breasts lift, his hands chasing after me. My head is screaming at him to kiss them, to suck each one into his mouth and make me scream with pleasure.
My breathing turns heavier, more obvious. Finally, his eyes lift to mine, taking in my needy expression, my tortured desire. When a warm hand closes around my left breast, a breath shudders out of me. Quickly, he touches my other breast, testing their weight, gently massaging them.
“You’re beautiful. Did you know that?”