Broken Course (12 page)

Another thing I didn’t remember was how much it sucks when that sexual rush is extinguished prematurely. I sit cross-legged on the other side of the bed and patiently wait for him to speak, feeling like a bumbling idiot. I’m out of practice in the bedroom, but for fuck’s sake, this is just ridiculous.

"Phew. All right," he says, still recovering. "Come here." He reaches out and grabs my arm, pulling me down onto the bed next to him.

"God, I’m so sorry."

"I’ll be fine. You got me good though."

"If I didn’t puke the first time we went out, I would consider this the most embarrassing moment of my dating life," I whine, rolling into his side.

"I once spit on a woman’s foot on a date." He begins teasing his fingertips up and down my arm.

I tilt my head back to see him better. "What?"

"Yeah. I was walking her to her door and a bug flew into my mouth. I paused to spit it out, but she kept walking forward. My spit landed directly on her sandal-clad foot. Bug and all." He smiles and shrugs.

"No way." I begin to laugh.

"True story. Needless to say, we never went out again."

"She wouldn’t go out with you again because you accidently spit on her foot?" I ask incredulously.

"Oh, no. I was just too embarrassed to call her back.
I spit a bug on her
." He starts laughing, and just like that, whatever awkwardness was still lingering completely melts away.

Easy.

"How do your balls feel?" I ask with a genuine concern.

"Not the way they are supposed to be feeling right now. That really started off well in the kitchen."

I let out a disappointed sigh. "It really did."

"You think, if I try to take this back in that direction, you could keep that ninja knee under control?"

I burst out laughing, but Leo rolls me to my back.

"Is that a yes?" He kisses my lips.

"I can try. Maybe you should start wearing a cup?" I tease then run my fingers through his short, black hair.

"I’ll take that into consideration," he responds with a sexy-as-hell grin before leaning in and sealing his mouth over mine.

It doesn’t take more than just a few strokes of his warm tongue to transport me right back into a sexual high. His hands travel over my breasts, but it’s not nearly enough. I sit up carefully—we don’t need any more injuries—and unhook my strapless bra. I toss it off the bed, and before it even hits the floor, Leo sucks my nipple into his mouth.

"Fuck," I breathe, arching off the bed.

I definitely did not
remember
this
feeling. Leo is all over me. It’s unbelievable. He moves his mouth to my other breast but continues his assault on my nipple, rolling it between his fingers.

After kissing down my stomach, he stops just before my panties. His big, brown eyes flash to mine, and I lift my hips off the bed, giving him silent permission to continue. His fingers loop around the lace and drag it down my legs.

"God, you’re beautiful."

I squirm under his gaze, causing him to smirk.

He doesn’t touch me like I expected—or hoped. Instead, he prowls back up and takes my mouth in a hard kiss. We become all hands and mouths. He’s still wearing his boxers, and it’s completely unfair. I begin trying to tear them down.

"Something wrong,
ángel
?" he asks, amused.

"You’re wearing clothes. It’s your turn."

He laughs but pushes them down his legs, kicking them off the foot of the bed.

Unlike Leo, I take plenty of time to catch an eyeful of his naked body. He’s long, lean, and hard everywhere. Emphasis on the long. While I blatantly stare at his package, he takes the moment and slides a hand between my legs.

"I fucking love that look on your face right now.
That
is how you are supposed to look at a man’s cock." He pushes a finger inside me.

"Ahhh," I moan at the surprise.

"Holy fuck, you’re tight." He presses his thumb to my clit, and I swear I could probably come right now.

"Yeah, it’s been a while," I say breathily.

"A decade?" he teases.

"Not quite. Seven years," I answer as I try to roll my hips against his hand, which has suddenly stopped moving.

"Seriously?" he asks in disbelief.

Yes, it’s been seven years since I’ve been with another man. The vibrator in my nightstand is not a suitable substitution, but it’s been good to me for the last few years while I got things straightened out in my head. However, judging by his reaction, he was not expecting that answer.

"Seriously," I confirm.

He stares at me for a few seconds and swallows hard.

"Leo?" I call to catch his attention, which has suddenly drifted—even while his finger remains inside me.

Finally, he shakes his head and gives me a smile that doesn’t look even half as genuine as what I have come to expect from him. "Well, then, you are long overdue," he says as he settles on his side next to me and begins moving his finger inside me. His lips glide over my neck and a strangled sound escapes me. "You like my mouth on your neck, don’t you? You’re always so quick to reward me with one of those moans you know I love so much."

Just out of the goodness of my heart, I reward him with another. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he pushed another finger inside me or his thumb continuously rubbing circles over my clit. Okay, maybe it had a lot to do with that.

"I’d love your mouth just about anywhere, but especially on my neck," I whisper as he rakes his teeth across the already sensitive flesh.

His hand picks up pace, silencing any further conversation. Not even a minute later, an orgasm roars through my body. I cling to Leo’s shoulder as I cry out his name.

He places slow kisses over my face as I try to collect my thoughts.

"Seven years," he says against my lips. Obviously, I’m the only one who moved on from our earlier chat.

"Is that a problem?" I ask, feeling very uncomfortable about why he’s still stuck on this.

"No, it’s great. You’re a virgin." He smiles.

"I am not a
virgin
. I was married for seven years!" I exclaim, immediately regretting it when I realize that this is the first time I’ve ever mentioned Brett to Leo.

But he doesn’t even bat an eye. "Sarah, I’m a thirty-three-year-old man. A woman who hasn’t had sex in seven years is as close to a virgin as I’m ever going to get."

"Oh Jesus, Leo. You have no idea what you’re talking about. I could probably teach you a few things in bed," I huff, and it makes him laugh.

"Maybe. But not tonight." He reaches down and drags the blanket over us.

"What?" I ask, shocked.

Did he just shut me down?

"Don’t give me that look. My plan never was to have sex with you tonight. And especially now that I know you’re a virgin."

"Stop saying I’m a virgin. And you sure as hell could have fooled me!" I snap, catching a sudden attitude.

This sure stings like a rejection.

"Shhhhh." He wraps me in his arms, pulling me to rest on his chest. "I don’t have a condom. I really didn’t think things would go this far tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll hit the drugstore and we can spend the day in bed. But tonight, I want you to get some sleep.

Well, I guess that’s a little better.

"There’s other stuff we could do that doesn’t require a condom." I place a soft kiss to his mouth.

"There is. But right now, I have the sounds of you coming ringing in my ears. That’s more than enough."

"I want to hear the sounds of you coming." I lean forward and lick his lips.

"Go to sleep,
ángel
. Tomorrow."

Nope. Definitely shut down.

"Why do I feel like I’m missing something here?"

"Because you are. It’s called my cock, and tomorrow, I’m going to make you memorize every inch of it so you never have to feel like this again. Sarah, you have no idea how much I want to be inside you right now. Unfortunately, it’s not happening tonight."

"Jesus," I breathe at his words.

He kisses me tenderly then says, "Please just go to sleep. And take my word that this is for the best." He drags his nose up to my ear, sucking in a deep breath as he goes. "I could always make you come again if you think that would help you sleep."

Hmm. Well, that’s an interesting turn of events. It appears he’s not shutting me down completely.

"No, I’m good. I can’t let you be two orgasms up on me. I already owe you one."

He squeezes me tightly and chuckles in my ear, sending goose bumps over my skin. "Fair enough." He rolls to his back, dragging me with him. "Goodnight,
ángel
."

"Night, Leo."

And just like that, Leo James even makes rejection comfortable. He really does have a gift.

THE BUZZ of my phone vibrating on the table has me springing from a sound sleep. I was always a sound sleeper, but over time and out of necessity, I’ve taught myself to wake from that subtle buzzing.

"Hello," I bark into the phone as my heart pounds in my chest.

"Leo," I hear Erica whisper, and suddenly, I’ve never been more awake in my life.

"What’s wrong, babe?" I ask as I stride from the room. I snag a pair of sweats and a T-shirt and quickly glance back to find Sarah curled into a ball so far onto my side of the bed that I have no idea how I didn’t fall off. I quietly pull the door closed behind me but stop just before it clicks.

"There’s someone at the gates," she says in a shaky voice.

"Okay. Hey, it’s all right," I soothe very calmly even though my chest tightens and panic ricochets through me.

"I don’t think it’s paparazzi. It’s a larger male, and he just tried to climb the gate!" she cries into the phone.

"Where’s Slate?" I ask, quickly sliding into the chair in my surveillance room and remotely pulling up the security cameras for her house.

"He’s at the gym, hosting a lock-in for the kids."

I know she is trying to hold it together, but for fuck’s sake, she’s been through enough. No one should be forced to live with this kind of fear. Not even to mention that she’s pregnant. This kind of stress can’t be good for the baby.

"Okay, I have eyes on this asshole," I answer as the wall full of screens lights up, allowing me to see almost every inch of her house—inside and out. Then I press a single key on the computer and it flips on all the spotlights on her driveway. "Jesus Christ," I breathe out.

"Leo!" she screams, frightened and misreading my reaction. It’s a sound that still, to this day, guts me.

"You’re fine. It’s okay, babe," I quickly clarify. "Your gate’s not working. It’s just Johnson trying to get in." I flip on her gate intercom with the click of my mouse. "You are scaring her half to death," I tell Johnson, who is once again trying to scale her towering gate.

"Well, it’s about fucking time. I’ve been trying to buzz in for the last five fucking minutes. I got worried!" he shouts back.

"Yeah. I have no idea what’s wrong. Your code not working?" I ask.

"Nope. I’m not even getting a connection on the speaker," Johnson answers, notably agitated.

"You know the drill," I say, watching him carefully over the monitor.

Johnson is my most trusted man
and
my best friend, but I still watch for any sign that he has been compromised. I don’t give two fucks who he is when it comes to Erica’s safety.

"Alpha-Tango-Juliette-one-nine-eight-one," he confirms.

I press the button to open the gate, but it doesn’t budge.

"Erica." I turn my attention back to the phone. "You’re going to have to go let him in. I can’t open it. I’ll have someone come out in a few hours to fix it."

"It’s three a.m., Leo. You can’t find a repair man this time of night," she answers and I can hear her feet against the wooden steps on her porch as she hurries toward the gate.

"You okay, Mrs. Andrews?" Johnson’s voice echoes through the room both from the phone and the intercom I still haven’t turned off.

"I’m fine, Aiden," she replies.

I lean in close to watch the smile spread across her face. However, Erica flips a middle finger at the camera, forcing me to bark out a laugh.

"Get out now, Leo."

"You sure you’re okay?" I ask more for myself than for her.