BRIAN (The Callahans Book 1) (78 page)

              “Who are you trying to forget?”

              “No one.”

              “What are you trying to deny with this little display?”

              “I’m not denying anything.”

              His hands grazed around to her back, where he found her bra clasp and unfastened it.

              “Then why do I get the feeling this is out of character for you?”

              She couldn’t help but smirk, realizing he was just as curious about her as she was about him.

              “Do you need it to be?” she challenged. “Do you need me to be innocent like this is my first stab at a one-night stand?”

              He frowned, considering the question, then said, “No.”

              Grabbing the hem of her sweater, Rose lifted it up and over her head, her bra straps loosening then sliding down her shoulders. As she let the garment fall to the floor, he cupped her breasts, holding her firmly in both hands, grazing his thumbs over her nipples, and sending tingles of heat rushing through her body.

              Then he leaned in, his lips to her ear as he began massaging her breasts, and said, “Do you come easily?”

             
No
. She couldn’t say her thoughts out loud. For a man who seemed preoccupied with making sure it would be okay that he used her with little regard for her own pleasure, she was sure that indicating she needed a lot of extra help and attention to arch over the brink would be a turnoff for him.

              “Don’t worry about me,” she said, as he eased back to look at her.

              “All right,” he said. “I won’t.”

              He wrapped his hand around her wavy, brown hair, and angled her chin up as he took his time looking at her nude breasts, the length of her stomach, the swell of her increased breathing, but he didn’t touch her except to pop the top button of her jeans and ease her fly down.

              When his fingers found the lace edge of her panties, she reached for the bulge beneath his slacks. Feeling his hardness and thickness, pressing against the material, made her hot and wet, and she realized she was smiling.

              Releasing her hair, he stepped back and began unbuttoning his dress shirt, keeping his eyes on her. She was fast to his slacks, unbuttoning them and pulling them down, revealing black boxer-briefs that hugged him perfectly. She eyed his bare chest, the definition of his pecs and abs, the thin trail of hair leading below his waistband.

              It was hitting her now, the idea of having a complete stranger thrusting inside her, a man she knew nothing about, and the anticipation was making her ache.

              Quickly, she wrestled her wedge-heels off without bothering to untie the laces, then worked her jeans down, stepping out of them and kicking them aside.

              As soon as she was free of them, she bent for his shoes to help him, but he stopped her, grabbing her by the upper arms and urging her up.

              While he tended to his own shoes, kicking them off and pulling his slacks away, she wondered why he wouldn’t let her do it. It was as though he didn’t want her lowering herself, getting on her knees for him, which seemed to be the opposite of his attitude regarding whether he got her off or not.

              Taking one of the drinks in his hand, he sat on the couch and drank slowly, then set the glass on the coffee table.

              He was certainly a gorgeous man, and Rose knew she'd hit the jackpot, physically speaking.

              “Come here,” he said, looking up at her as he rested his head back against the leather couch.

              She rounded the coffee table then straddled him, gradually lowering to his lap and feeling the heat of his bulge pressing against her. He felt so good that she wished the cotton of his briefs and the lace of her panties weren't between them. His erection was thick and long, and as she rested her elbows on his shoulders, her hands draping the back of the couch, she couldn’t help but slightly rock her hips to work off the ache that had been building.

              He groaned and his cool breath rushed over her hot skin, causing her nipples to harden, but he didn’t touch her at all.

              “Pull me out,” he whispered.

              She sat back, hooked her fingers under his waistband, and pulled the cotton back, watching his cock spring free. The length of him arched up his abdomen, and the sight made her ache all over again. Once she worked his boxer-briefs down his thighs, she wrapped her hand around him. He was so hot and hard, his shaft smooth as silk. She was dying to feel him inside her.

              “Do you have protection?” she asked quietly.

              “Yeah.” He motioned for her to hop off, but she quickly pinned his shoulders back to the couch, which made him smile.

              “I’ll get it.”

              “In my wallet,” he said. “In my pants.”

              She padded around the coffee table and found his wallet, then the condom. As she tore the wrapper off, he said, “Lose your panties.”

              With her free hand she did, stepping out of the black lace and returning to him.

              He took the condom from her, and the sight of him handling his erection and rolling the rubber down was unbelievably sexy. When she kneeled on the couch, straddling him, he flexed for her and cupped her breasts.

              “You are big,” she said, lowering down until she could feel his hard head against the slippery curve between her legs.

              He squeezed her nipples to get her attention and she gasped as her eyes snapped up to his.

              “Look at me,” he ordered, though in a gentle voice.

              She kept her gaze locked with his as she lowered, his erection pushing inside her, her body expanding to his girth, a rush of hot tingles dancing inside her and across her skin. He felt so good filling her, and she panted, sweating and gasping, until she rested flush against his lap, the length of him settling deep inside.

              “Oh God,” he groaned. “You’re so tight.”

              “Touch me,” she whispered, her arms draped around his shoulders.

              But he wouldn’t.

              “You don’t want to hold me?” she asked. She was rocking, hips thrusting slightly to work the sweetest friction inside.

              He laughed, low and breathy.

              “Fuck me how you like,” he said. “Then it’s my turn.”

              She eased back, looking at his face, as he throbbed inside her.

              She plowed her fingers through his hair, holding his head, then began thrusting, edging back then making him fill her again and again, as he groaned.

              “What will you do when it’s your turn?” she asked breathlessly, as the heat built inside her.

              “You’ll see.”

              “Touch my clit.”

              He smiled. “You’re one of those?”

              “So what?”

              Finally, he took hold of her ass, squeezing gently and controlling her rhythm so that it was smooth and slow. She moaned, melting into his command and letting her thighs relax. He was strong and held her up easily, working her back and forth as his dick slid in and out, stirring up the most incredible friction.

              “You’ve never come just from a guy’s dick?” he asked.

              “Does it matter?” she said on a long breath.

              “Do you want to?”

              She smiled. “Oh you think you’re going to open up my world?”

              “I think I can find the angle.” He shifted, lowering into the couch and pitching his hips up, as he held her flush to his lap, his erection angled deep inside. The position set his pubic bone hard against her clit, causing an electric burst in her sensitive spot, and Rose immediately moaned, nearly collapsing onto his chest.

              “Oh, right there,” she said, as he helped her to grind into him.

              He let out another breathy laugh, saying, “I know.”

              She felt the hard curve of his pubic bone pressing into her clit. His thick erection, the pressure of its head shifting deep inside her, was causing a slow build, burning hot, to surge within.

              “Oh my God, you’re bringing me there,” she cried out.

              “Are you going to come for me, Rose?”

              “Yes.”

              “How many times?”

              She shook her head, meaning to say that she didn’t know, but she couldn’t get the words out.

              “Oh, right there,” she managed to say when he grabbed her waist, holding her down and thrusting, as he rocked her into a grinding massage that hit her clit with the perfect amount of pressure. “I’m coming.”

              “Tell me when and I’ll come, too.”

              “It’s building,” she moaned as a fresh wave of tingles rushed through her, the precursor to the swell of climaxing. Then her body clenched around him, fluttering into an orgasm. Reflexes took hold and she arched her back, crying out and riding wave after wave.

              “Damn, I can feel you,” he said, then his breath hitched in his throat and a long, sexy groan escaped him.

              She realized he was wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. She could feel his heart pound in his chest and his erection throb deep inside her, as they rode the final swell of their orgasm.

              She could smell the sweat on his hairline and found herself pressing her lips against it. Whoever he was, this had been nothing like her previous encounters, and she felt strangely bonded to him. She didn’t want to let him go. Lifting back, she looked at him.

              “Oh no,” he said.

              “What?”

              “I know that look.”

              “What look?”

              He was smiling, but at the same time his eyes were pushing her away.

              “The look where you think this was special.”

              “I don’t think that.”

              “And you think you won’t be able to do this with anyone else, so you think you need me.”

              It had occurred to her she might not be able to get quite the same effect with anyone else, only because she hadn’t before meeting him, but she wasn’t going to admit that.

              “Don’t flatter yourself,” she said, easing back, but he didn’t let her go.

              “It’s just angles,” he said, but she rolled her eyes. “And it’s my shape, but I’ll show you a thing or two before you go off on your way.”

              “Oh, will you?” she said sarcastically. “Lucky me.”

              “No,” he said, turning serious. “I’m the lucky one.”

              “You are,” she said skeptically. “And why’s that?”

              “Because I’m going to take you into the bedroom and have my way with you all night.”

              She had to admit she liked the sound of that, but he’d touched upon a very real danger. She did have a look on her face that screamed she wouldn’t want this to be only one night. And she did think she might not have an encounter like this with another man. It gave him way too much power. She was too busy to need anyone. She couldn’t afford to waste her thoughts and energy on a guy who was supposed to be nothing more than her way of not tossing and turning all night.

              The fact of the matter was that she’d gotten what she came here for, and she didn’t need anything else from him.

              Realizing that, she stood and began collecting her clothes, as he stared at her in subdued confusion.

              “Sorry,” she said. “I’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

              He didn’t object or stop her, but when she pulled her sweater over her head as the last article of clothing before heading to the door, he caught her wrist.

              “One last thing,” he said softly.

              “What?”

              He pulled her in, holding the nape of her neck and the small of her back, and brushed his lips against hers, then pressed them into a firm kiss. She’d fantasized about his lips during the long twenty minutes she’d sat watching him from across the bar, but none of her daydreams compared to the reality. He felt smooth and warm and sure of himself, and the way his skin smelled, the way his scruff felt against her chin and cheek, had her second-guessing her plan to leave.

              Their kiss slowed, and she got the feeling he was drinking her in. Then he eased off and said, “Good-bye.”

              She smirked, wondering if she would regret this, but simply said “bye” and slipped out the door.

              The construction site was an ugly tangle of cranes and bulldozers, cylinder pipes and scattered materials, all along a ten-mile trench where construction workers barked at each other over the growl of their idling machines.

              Rose spied the corporate executive trailer through her binoculars. She could see shadowy figures through the drawn blinds and not much else, so she scanned the trench, surveying the progress that the Starlight Energy Project had made. It never failed to boggle her mind how quickly projects like this could get underway. In less than two weeks, Starlight had dug the trench where the pipeline would be assembled then buried over. According to their timeline, the pipe would be laid and gas would be flowing in less than three weeks if she didn’t shut them down.

              The sun was creeping up the horizon as she lowered her binoculars and turned to face her team, a twelve-person environmental group called One World, which she had founded the year after graduating college.

              “We should’ve gotten here sooner,” said Carter, who was staring at her with round eyes and folded arms from where he stood in front of the team.

              “Before they dug the trench?” she asked.

              “Before the sun rose this morning,” he clarified. “We can’t get into position now. Construction workers are swarming the area.”

              Carter indicated for the binoculars, and she handed them over, watching him as he spied the enemy. A tall black man whose muscular stature and booming voice could intimidate the most callous corporate executive, Carter had gone to the same college as Rose. They’d constantly fought, debating their ethics on how to achieve clean energy. He’d been a constant source of aggravation during those four years, but when they graduated and Rose was garnishing members for One World, approaching Carter had been a no-brainer. He was damned good at getting things done and undeniably fearless.

              “Where were you last night?” he asked, passing her the binoculars. “I called five times. We could’ve really used you at the strategy briefing.”

              “And I would’ve been there if I knew you’d organized it,” she countered, deflecting the actual question. “We’d already gone over the measures we would be taking.”

              “Yeah, but we didn’t have contingencies.”

              “So you called a last-minute meeting?”

              “You’re avoiding the question,” he pointed out with a cocky smile.

              “I was relaxing,” she said, “clearing my head to get focused. I shut my cell off.”

              “Why is it that the bigger the job, the harder it is to get in touch with you the night before?”

              “What are you talking about?”

              “I pick up on these things,” he said. “Hey, it’s none of my business—”

              “I’d say.” She held his gaze for a beat, then asked, “Did you come up with a plan B?”

              “It’s not foolproof, but it could work.”

              “Will it work without us getting arrested?”

              Carter held his breath instead of coming out with it, which was enough of an answer. She knew him far too well, and as effective as his proposed strategies seemed to be on paper, she’d had to veto them on more than one occasion for this very reason. Activism was a slippery slope when it came to not breaking the law, and though One World had a stellar attorney, the bottom line was that the group could do more good in the field than by twiddling their thumbs behind bars and waiting for bail to post.

              “What’s your idea, Carter?” she pressed.

              Setting the stage, he said, “We have to slow them down.”

              “Which we’ll do,” she agreed. Their plan had been to show up before the construction employees arrived and chain themselves to the stack of cylinder pipes, but the strategy relied on the employees getting to the site at seven. One World had gotten there at 5:45 a.m. to find Starlight already in position. It had almost been as though the executives of Starlight had seen this coming.

              Carter drew in a deep breath and went on. “Layla and I found a container of dynamite at the site—”

              “No way—”

              “It’s leftover from carving out the trench—”

              “Carter, we can’t steal their explosives to use against them—”

              “Why? It’s poetic.”

              “It’s beyond illegal, not to mention the whole point of this operation is to keep people safe—”

              “To keep residents safe against gas leaks, which you know are inevitable,” he corrected.

              “Forget it.”

              “The piping cylinders are more than twenty yards away from their vehicles.”

              “At the moment, but they’re going to move them closer to the trench.”

              “Which is why we have to act fast and act now. Layla’s on board.”

              Rose glared at him then rolled her eyes. If Carter Simmons was radical in his logic, and he often was, Layla Moser was twice as daring. For a woman barely five-foot-two, Layla seemed ten times her size and never shied away from confrontations, which made for a passionate albeit volatile romance with Carter. Rose hadn’t brought Layla into One World, but had agreed when Carter vouched for her last year. She’d done great work in Michigan to help prosecute a fracking company with a class-action lawsuit thanks to her legal background, but when it came to working in the field, she was undoubtedly a loose cannon.

              “You have a better idea?” he challenged.

              “Yeah,” she said with a sly smile. “I’m going to talk to them and negotiate.”

              “We aren’t in a position to negotiate, because we literally aren’t in position.”

              “Hold that thought,” she said, suddenly distracted by Hector, the newest addition to One World, when he held up her purse.

              Pacing away from Carter, she walked over to Hector, who was standing in front of their Gatorade table.

              “Your phone’s vibrating,” he explained, looking somewhat sheepish to be handling her purse.

              She fished for her cell, but as soon as she gripped it, she immediately noticed it felt odd in her hand. It wasn’t until she glanced down at it that she realized it wasn’t hers, and recognized her own cell number flashing across the screen.

              Confused, she answered the call.

              “Hello?”

              His voice came deep and smooth and clear as a bell. “Do you know who this is?”

              “I have a pretty good idea,” she said, recognizing the male timbre in her ear. “When exactly did you switch our phones?”

              “When I thought I might not see you again.”

              “That was the plan, wasn’t it?” It had been, but Rose couldn’t deny she was smiling, rolling her shoulders into a secretive hunch and pacing away from Hector and the team.

              “It was,” he agreed. “But I have a better plan.”

              “And what’s that?”

              “I’m going to be in town a few days, maybe a week. It could be fun to get together. That is, if you have time.”

              She smiled to herself, staring out at the trench, the bulldozers, the construction workers who were assembling in front of the stack of pipe materials. Shutting down the Starlight Energy Project would be no easy task, and each day could very well cause her stress to go through the roof. An entire community was depending on her and One World to keep Bellevue safe, and straight out of the gate her team had lost the upper hand. Having a mystery man, whose name she’d yet to learn, waiting in the wings for her might not be the worst idea.

              “I’ll think about it,” she said finally.

              “Think about it?” he asked in a teasing tone. “You mean fantasize?”

              “If you want to call it that.”

              “At the very least you’ll need your phone back, so why don’t we meet tonight?”

              “I don’t know,” she said, taking a brief moment to eye his phone then return it to her ear. “I kind of like this phone.”

              “Yeah, so do I.”

              She was about to tell him she knew where he was staying and imply she’d swing by at some point, but the sight of Carter and Layla sneaking off towards the construction site and heading in the direction of the stack of pipes caused a jolt of panic to course through her veins.

              “I’ll be in touch,” she said quickly, then hung up the phone and tucked it into her back pocket. She jogged after the daredevils. “Are you crazy? Get back here!”

              As they reached the trench, Rose trailing after them by ten yards, Layla swung her backpack off her shoulder and dropped to her knees, while Carter pulled explosives out of the sack in a rushed tangle.

              Beyond the trench, a number of suited executives stepped out of the corporate trailer, and one of the construction workers who appeared to be the head honcho stalked over to the executives, his construction team following him.

              “Oh crap,” Rose said to herself, seeing that the pipes were now unguarded. “Don’t!”

              Her voice carried, drawing the executives’ attention, but her gaze was locked on the stick of dynamite in Carter’s hand, towards which Layla was angling a lit lighter.

              When in the hell did they even get those sticks? Had Rose been so engrossed in her three-minute call that she hadn’t noticed Carter rush over and get them? Or had he already gotten the explosives when he’d proposed the insane idea?

              “Carter, don’t do it!”

              But he already was. He pitched the stick into the air, its firecracker wick flaring, and the rest seemed to happen in slow motion—Layla meeting her gaze, Carter scanning the trench, the dynamite stick arching through the air, the executives registering what was going on, the construction workers running for cover, the dynamite touching down, bouncing and rolling towards the stack of pipes.

             
BOOM!

              Rose dropped to her knees, covering the back of her head with both hands, but luckily the explosion only caused the pipes to tumble down, rolling haphazardly across the site and into the trench. They were too heavy to launch into the air. When she lifted her eyes to survey the damage, it was clear no one was hurt.

              “Carter! What have you done?” she demanded, as she ran over and grabbed him by the arm.

              Layla was on her feet looking satisfied.

              “You’re no good to me if you’re in jail,” she yelled, shifting her gaze from Carter to Layla and back again.”

              “We just bought you a day, at least,” said Layla.

              “You just bought me a lawsuit I can’t afford.”

              As soon as Rose heard sirens blaring in the distance, she knew her life would never be the same.