Between The Sheets - Complete Collection (9 page)

The doorknob jiggled.  Her brows rose as she stared at it.  Did he really think she would tolerate him coming into her room whenever he felt like it?

“Bee.”

“What?”

“Open the door.”

“No.”

“I need to ask you something.”

“So ask.”

“You know you’re being childish, right?”

Brandi rolled her eyes.  “Was that your question?”

Nick sighed loudly.  “Where are the towels and sheets?”

She scoffed.  “
My
towels and
my
sheets are here in my room.”

Silence.  “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?”

“No, that’s how it is.  Why don’t you call your ladylove, Renee?  I’m sure she’ll bring over anything you need.”

He released a vicious swear word.  The next sound she heard was his retreating footsteps.

Brandi found herself smiling.  So he didn’t know that Renee had told her about them.  Good.  She’d caught
him
off guard this time.

Her smile faded.  The time when they could enjoy a good laugh was over.  He hadn’t called or come to see her all day.  Now it was almost eight o’clock.

Appetite gone, she took her dish back to the kitchen and dumped the rest of her salad down the garbage disposal.  She washed her dishes, dried them and put them away.  Back in her room, she changed into a short nightgown and slid between the sheets, turning off lights and the television.  Just like last night, tears filled her eyes and overflowed.

___

“Thanks for joining me, Geoffrey,” Shelly said as they took the elevators up to their floor.  “Company always makes a simple meal special, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I do.  Thank you for inviting me.”

“Would you care to come in for a nightcap?” she asked as they stopped at their respective rooms.

Try as he might, he couldn’t summon any enthusiasm at the invitation that, from the vibe he was getting from her, signaled more than drinks.  Unfortunately, all he could see was Brandi.

Brandi, standing so straight and contained.

Brandi, staring at him with hurt in her eyes as she accused him of not trying to understand her point of view.

Brandi, standing alone.

He couldn’t leave her like that, so alone, not knowing just how much she needed him.  She was wrong, most definitely wrong.  But she needed him and he would not leave her alone.  Once this hurtle cleared, though, he would make her see what he needed from her.

“You’re going to turn me down, aren’t you?” Shelly asked.

Geoffrey blinked, realizing now that he had been staring at her and not saying a word.  Giving her a slight smile to soften his refusal, he said, “Yes.  My heart is spoken for.”

Shelley gave him a cheeky smile.  “I wasn’t asking about your heart.”

He laughed out loud.  “Well, that’s taken, too.”

She shrugged.  “No big deal.  I still enjoyed your company.  Goodnight, Geoffrey.”

“Goodnight.”  He waited until she was safely inside before entering his own suite.

Going directly to his closet, he took out the suit he planned to wear the next day and placed it in a garment bag, along with shoes, socks and clean underwear.  He took a smaller bag and packed the essentials he used daily.  Fifteen minutes later, he was out of the door, the garment bag across his arm and the strap of the other bag on his shoulder.

___

Brandi huffed out a breath and sat up, staring into the darkness.  No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t sleep.  She peered at the lighted clock and shook her head.  For the last three hours, all she did was toss and turn, unable to sleep. She refused to cry like she had the night before, but she couldn’t get her mind to rest.

She whispered his name: “Geoffrey.”  How could she miss a man she’d only known for a short time?  She
ached
for him in every way.  Rubbing her forehead, she turned on the light and retrieved her Kindle.  Maybe if she read for a while she would be able to go to sleep.

Her cell phone sounded.

She didn’t move, just stared, frowning, at where it sat on her nightstand.

It sounded again.

Pursing her lips, she reached for it and read the caller information.  Geoffrey?  She answered the call.  “Hello?”

“Open the door, sweetness.”

Her mouth dropped open.  “What?”

“Open the door.”

“Oh.  Okay.”

Brandi dropped the phone back on the nightstand and grabbed her robe off the chair as she stood, wrapping it tightly around her.  She left the room and didn’t bother to turn on the lights as she went.  She hurried to the front door and unlocked it, staring wide-eyed as she took in the bags in his hands.

“Hi.”  His voice was husky.

“Hi.”  Her own was just barely above a whisper as she stared at him.  Opening the door wider, she stood aside for him to enter.

When she relocked the door, he said, “Lead the way.”

Deciding the conversation was one she would prefer having in private, she did as he said.  Once inside her room, she locked her door.  She took his garment bag and hung it in her closet while he put his toiletries bag in the bathroom.  Before she could say a word, she found herself swept up into his powerful arms, her mouth captured by his.

A wave of white-hot lust swept through her, sensitizing every nerve ending in her body.  Groaning deep in her throat, she kissed him with everything she had in her.  Lips, tongue and teeth: Stroking, sucking and nipping. She took everything he had to give and gave it back in spades.  She pressed her body tightly to his, her arms wrapped around his neck, her hands in his hair.  A shudder went through her as her body melted for this man.  This – what they had – wasn’t something that happened every day.  She
needed
all that he had to give.

Suddenly, Geoffrey dropped his arms, though he kept his mouth locked to hers, as his hands reached for the tie of her robe, pushing it off her shoulders, his hands touching, stroking and squeezing everywhere.

Breaking off the kiss, Brandi pushed his suit coat off his shoulders and he undid his tie.  Together, they unbuttoned his shirt.  She tugged it out of his pants, her movements desperate, because she
needed
to be skin-to-skin with him just that badly.  Geoffrey shrugged out of his shirt and kicked off his shoes as she undid his belt and pants, pushing them down so he could step out of them.  He then pulled her gown up and over her head.

Mouths and arms locked again, they fell onto her bed.  As one, they slowed.  Time stood still as they reveled in the taste of one another, their sighs and groans lending the music to their loving.

Geoffrey eased her onto her back and hovered over her, settling between her spread legs.  Linking their hands so they lay on the bed beside her head, he kissed his way across her check, licking and nipping down her neck and chest to one pert breast.  Licking the swell down to the underside and up to the taut peak, he suckled first soft then strongly, nipping softly with his teeth and then sucking again.  Brandi gasped, arching her back for him.  Moisture flooded her core as her womb clenched and her clit throbbed.  She tried to free her hands, but he wouldn’t let go.

“I need to touch you,” she gasped brokenly.

“Tonight’s my turn,” he whispered against her breast and then continued the exquisite torture.

He kissed, licked and nipped his way to the neglected breast and ministered to it.  A steady stream of moans broke from her as she tossed her head back and forth.

“Please, Geoffrey, I need you now.”

His response was to head south, still kissing, nipping and licking down her abdomen, stopping for a brief moment at her navel before continuing down.  Her breath caught in her throat as he paused for a breathless moment.  He dipped his head – she felt his nose barely touch her clit – and inhaled deeply.

“Hmm, you smell so tasty,” he said in a low, guttural tone.

Before she could say anything, he licked her pussy.  She bit down hard on her lip.  That’s the only thing that stopped her from screaming, but she couldn’t, and didn’t try, to stop the throaty groan he elicited.  When he started in earnest, thrusting his tongue inside her, teasing the sensitive flesh there and then licking his way up to her clit, circling her clit with his tongue, Brandi couldn’t keep the cries from spilling from her.  Geoffrey teased her mercilessly, bringing her to the brink of her climax and then pulling back.  Each time her body tightened more and more.

“Geoffrey, please, I can’t take it anymore,” she pleaded as she twisted, unable to stay still.  “Please let me come.”

He licked his way back up to her clit.  This time, he covered it with his mouth and sucked.

Her breath caught as she broke apart, the flood of ecstasy overwhelming her ability to do anything but feel.  It went on so long she thought she’d surely pass out from the intensity of it.

Geoffrey pulled back while she was coming down.  A few seconds later, he came back over her, hooking his arms under her knees, opening her wide.  She felt him then, hard and hot at her entrance.  He thrust hard, eliciting another harsh gasp and inducing another fiercely pleasurable, ongoing climax as he started powering into her, at the same time capturing her mouth, swallowing her cries as his arms kept her open to take all he had to give.  He tore his mouth away, a hoarse shout erupting from him as he came, triggering another climax so they came together.

Brandi lay boneless, completely sated in a way she had never been before, enjoying the weight of Geoffrey on top of her.  After a minute, he pushed off and fell to lie beside her, both of them just trying to breathe.

Sometime later, Brandi awakened as Geoffrey got up and went into the bathroom.  When he returned, he washed her with a warm washcloth.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to,” he replied in a quiet voice.

When he finished, he took it back into the bathroom.  Summoning up a bit of energy, she slid between the sheets and held one side open for him.

“I’m up here,” she said as he turned off the bathroom light.

“Which side?”

“I’m on the right.”

Geoffrey crawled up and got between the sheets, pulling her close.  “You know we need to talk, right?”

Brandi sighed. 

“Yes, I know.”

Maybe this is our goodbye…

Between The Sheets Book 4

Brandi awoke with a sense of rightness. That is, until she realized she was in bed alone.  Sitting up, she looked toward her bathroom, but the door stood open, the lights off.

She got up and showered. She came back out ten minutes later to find Geoffrey on her bed, his gaze hot as his eyes roamed over her naked form.  Her body went up in flames, her nipples beading, butterflies taking flight low in her abdomen, her core melting as a rush of moisture flowed, readying her for him:  Only for him.  Not even Nick had generated such an instantaneous reaction in the seven years they were together.

Wearing only a pair of boxers, his body strong and muscular, Brandi’s mouth watered. 
Delicious.
Brandi peered through her lashes as she went to him, an extra sashay in her hips.

Geoffrey clasped her waist as she neared, drawing her between his legs. His arms tightened, pulling her fully against him.  Wrapping her arms around his neck, she lowered her mouth to his.  He tasted of coffee, strong and bitter, but his essential male taste exploded in her mouth like the sweetest chocolate.  She couldn’t get enough, didn’t want to ever lose what this man did to her without a word.  Her hands swept down, over the muscled hardness of his back, even as the impressive erection she’d seen tenting his boxer shorts jerked against her.

Geoffrey’s arms loosened.  One hand clasped her hip while his other dropped from her completely. 

“Sit on me, sweetness.” His voice sounded gruff in her ear.  Without waiting for her answer, he tested her readiness with two fingers, which slid into her like honey.  Geoffrey grasped her waist with both hands and guided her down.

Brandi’s breath caught in her throat as she felt the hard knob press into her, stretching her.  Inch by slow, luxurious inch, he impaled her until she could barely breathe from the exquisite stretching, the way he filled her so much she could almost taste him in her throat.  She threw her head back, unable to stop her muscles tightening around him.

Gripping his shoulders, Brandi began to ride him.  Slowly.  Even though it was taking every bit of discipline she could muster.  But she never wanted this feeling, this exquisite torture, to end.  So, yes, she would do it.  Because it just felt too damn good to be over so fast.

Geoffrey’s rumbling growl rewarded her efforts as she rotated her hips on each downward push onto him and upward pull as she lifted until only the plump head of him remained snug in her.  Tightening her muscles, she squeezed hard and rotated back down, reveling in the feel of him, the taste, the tension in his hard, muscled body, the way his hands reflexively gripped her waist tighter.

Brandi’s body began to tighten along with his, the tension ratcheting higher as she rode him, while he sat there and took everything she had to give.  All too soon, a shudder went through her and into him.  Geoffrey gripped her ass and pumped into her, forcing her to take what he gave her.  His powerful legs and hips pushed his erection deep, touching places in her that had never been touched before.  Her womb clenched at the feel of his erection against it.

Just like that, she screamed out her release as she came apart in his arms.  His hoarse shout joined hers and they came together, clutching tightly to one another.  He fell back onto the bed, holding her to him like he never intended to let her go.

“Brandi, sweet.”

She smiled at the rumble in his chest at his words.  Stretching, feeling him still inside her, she squeezed her muscles.

Geoffrey slapped her buttock.  “Stop that.  We need to get up.”

True.  Unfortunately.

Pushing herself up, Brandi smiled down at him.  “You’re right.”  She eased up until his semi-hard erection slipped from her.  “By the way, good morning.”

He sat up, returning her smile.  “I have to say, I love the way you greet me in the morning.”

“Yes, well, I don’t know about you, but I have to get to work.”  She glanced at the clock and grimaced.  “I have a little over an hour to make my first meeting.”

“Alright, let’s make this quick then.”  He rose from the bed.  “If we shower together, we can be ready around the same time.”

Brandi eyed him.  “But can you keep your hands to yourself?”

He grabbed her close and rubbed his lips against hers.  “Can you?”

She sighed dramatically.  “If I must.  I do want to keep my business growing, which won’t happen if I’m never there.”

Geoffrey turned her around and gave her a little push.  “Let us do it.”

___

Dressed, Geoffrey, feeling that sense of rightness, clasped Brandi’s hand as they left the bedroom.  Nick stood in the kitchen, his jaw tight as he watched them.  Brandi tensed, but Geoffrey gave her hand a little squeeze.

“Aren’t you being somewhat disrespectful to your roommate?” demanded Nick, coming to stand right in front of Brandi.

Though he was filled with that same urgent desire to protect, Geoffrey, nevertheless, waited to see how Brandi would respond.

Though the tight grip she held on his hand gave away her tension, she stared at Nick with a blank expression.  “Excuse me?”

“You heard me, Bee.”

“Oh, yes, I heard you all right.  I just don’t understand where you’re going with that question.”

“I shouldn’t have to be awakened by that screech you make when you come.”  Nick looked at Geoffrey, a smirk on his face.  “Doesn’t that noise grate?”

“You bastard!” Brandi gasped out, her face red.

Gently, Geoffrey pulled her close until she stood in front of him, her back to his front, theirs bodies pressed together, while he ran his hands down her arms to grasp her wrists and hold her there, surrounding her and letting her know she was safe with him.  “Actually, I like that my sweetness loses all control.  She is letting me know that I have done what I am supposed to do: Give her all the pleasure she can handle and more.”

Geoffrey nuzzled her hair and kissed her softly on the cheek.  “Am I right, sweetness?”

Brandi half-turned and looked up at him, letting him see her gratitude.  “Yes, you are.  No one has ever made me feel the way you make me feel, Geoffrey. 
No one
.”

His chest swelled with pride, for there was no mistaking her sincerity.  He grinned and looked over at Nick, who stood there glowering at them.  “I guess that says it all.”  Then dismissing the other man, Geoffrey released one of her hands.  “Come on, sweetness.  We both have to get to work so we can play later.”

“Let me just run back and grab my things.”  Brandi motioned to the coffee pot.  “Will you fix us both a cup of coffee?  I assume you made it while I slept.”

“I did, yes, and I will prepare some to go.”

As soon as she left the room, Nick stepped up to him.  “Don’t think for a moment that this thing you have going on with her is going to last.  She loved
me,
man, and I left her.  That means I’m in the better position here.  I can rekindle that love she used to have for me.”

A wave of red-hot anger welled as Geoffrey stared at the man.  His fists clenched with the desire to punch the man’s face, but he didn’t want to test whether the man was right about Brandi.  Because if she went to Nick after he’d knocked the man out, he knew he wouldn’t handle that well at all.  The possibility was enough to dissuade him.

Geoffrey stepped close, pushing his chest against the man whose surprised expression let him know that Nick hadn’t expected that.

Keeping his voice low, he said, “You may think you know Brandi, but you do
not
know me.  I suggest you tread carefully, because I have no problem sweeping the floor with you.”

Hearing Brandi’s returning footsteps, Geoffrey went around Nick to the cabinet filled with an array of drinking containers and took out two thermal mugs.

“Brandi, I will let you make it just the way you like it, while I do the same.  Do you take sugar and creamer?”

“Yes, but you can do it for me.  Just add about two spoonful’s of sugar and three of the Hazelnut creamer.”

Geoffrey made the additions and passed hers to her, the both of them ignoring the still glowering Nick.  Finished with his own coffee, he pressed the top down and when Brandi had hers just the way she liked it, he put the top on hers, making sure it was snug.  He lifted Brandi’s briefcase while she took her purse.  Together they left the condo without looking back.

“Are you all right?” he asked Brandi.

She smiled up at him, but he could see the wariness she tried to hide.  “I’m fine.  How about you?”

“I am good, okay?  So there is no need for you to worry.”

Brandi shrugged her delicate shoulders.  “It couldn’t have been easy to hear Nick’s reference to our…history.  I’m not sure I could’ve took it, if it had been your ex-lover.”

“The thing you must remember is that all of Nick’s posturing is to try to ruin what is between us.  We all have our histories.  Yours just happens to be making quite a nuisance of himself here and now.”

As they went outside, the concierge went to flag down a taxi.  Geoffrey began laughing.

“I cannot believe it.  So much has happened this morning that I completely forgot that I parked my truck in the garage.”

“Oh, so did I,” she said, grinning.

“So then I can take you to work myself.”

She shook her head.  “Are you sure?  We’re both running behind in our schedules so I don’t want to make you any later than you are already.”

“No need to worry.  Even with traffic, I will make it to work in good time.”

After Brandi let the concierge know she didn’t need a taxi, Geoffrey took her hand again and they returned inside to take the elevator down to the garage.  He hummed as they walked along in companionable silence.

Once in the car and on their way, Geoffrey glanced over at Brandi.  “Dinner tonight?  My place?  I think it is time you see where I live.”

Brandi grinned.  “Sounds good.  What time?”

“Well, how much time do you need to pack an overnight bag?”
The grin froze on her face.  “Excuse me?”

“I wish
for us to spend the night at my place.”

“I don’t know, Geoffrey.”  She sat back and rubbed her
forehead.  “I’m just not sure I should spend a night away from the condo.  It might hurt my case.”

“How could
it?  My residence is a hotel suite paid by the company for which I work.  It can hardly be deemed as an available residence for you.”

“True.  But what if Nick breaks into my room and takes my things?”

“Well, if he were to do that, I would rather you not be there.  Brandi, you cannot allow this situation to consume you.  I believe things will work out the way they are meant to, regardless.”

“Taking reasonable steps to protect myself and my property isn’t consuming me, Geoffrey.  This lega
l battle is very personal to me. It’s one I intend to win.  I thought you understood that.”

He gave an audible, lengthy sigh.  “Spending the night with someone for whom you care is not unusual.  I am sure it should not impact your ownership.  Think about it.  Nick has been gone for a year yet his absence does not diminish his right to the property.”

To his relief, she capitulated without further argument.  “You’re right.  I will pack an overnight bag.”

“Good.  I’ll pick you up around seven.”

They reached her building and Geoffrey pulled over to the curb.

“See you
tonight then.”

He pressed a kiss to the center of her palm.  “We will talk later, yes?”

She smiled.  “Yes.”  Leaning toward him, she brushed his lips with her own before climbing out of his truck.

As he merged back into the heavy traffic, he thought again of Nick’s words and the confidence he had shown.  Tension began to coil his muscles tight.  The fact of the matter was that Nick had been an important person in Brandi’s life for seven years.  Add that to the way things ended, the man had every right to think he could coerce her to open her heart to him again.  Geoffrey had seen something similar happen time and time again.  The woman left behind with a broken heart, the bloke returning with a sad tale of not realizing how much he loved her until he left, and the woman welcoming him back with open arms.

___

Brandi made it to the office with fifteen minutes to spare before her first meeting of the day.  Shoving all thoughts of her personal life to a corner of her mind, she focused on the tasks at hand.  Over the next several hours, Brandi gained another client, finalized accounts of three of her current clients, and worked with her staff to customize marketing strategies for two more clients based on the feedback received from them.  Back in her office, Brandi checked her schedule to see what was next, only to realize she actually had almost an hour before her next meeting.

Relaxing back in her chair, she slipped off her pumps and wriggled her toes before standing to stretch, the delicious soreness reminding her of the ecstatic night of lovemaking she’d enjoyed with Geoffrey.  She wasn’t lying when she said no one had ever given her so much pleasure.  What she had with Nick didn’t even come close.