Candy Crush (17 page)

“What are you thinking?” His voice was soft,
edged with concern.

A self-conscious giggle burst from her lips.
“I want you to kiss me.”

“Oh. Is that all?” He looked so relieved,
she laughed again. But when he shifted his hips and his erection
slid through the wetness between her thighs, the laugh died on her
lips.

“Please,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to beg,” he said, his voice
cracking. He kissed her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks. She
groaned.

“You said you wanted me to kiss you.”

“My lips,” she said impatiently. As eager as
they both had been before he ran to the store for condoms, why had
he suddenly determined to slow things down? She lifted her hips,
trying to make him understand. She didn’t want slow. She wanted him
inside her. Right
now
.

He kissed her lips, feather light, just a
brush of skin on skin. She opened her lips, silently asking for
more. She blinked her eyes open when he lifted his head.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

“Taking my time. I’ve had a lot of fantasies
over the course of the last few days. I hope you’re up to
this.”

Gabriella made a noise of frustration and
bucked her hips, giving his chest a push at the same time. He
pulled away, confusion written on his face. She gave him another
push, and he rolled over onto his back. She snagged the box of
condoms from the bedside table, at the same time straddling his
hips.

As she tore the wrapper off the condom, she
said, “We have all damn night to enact your fantasies.” She
sheathed him with the condom and positioned herself over his
erection. As she impaled herself, his look of bemusement turned to
one of pleasure, and she sighed, feeling smug and oh so…

“Oh!”

She was on her back again, Brandon towering
over her, one hand grasping her hip as the other fisted in the
bedcovers and he gritted his teeth as he pumped into her. She
clutched at his back, lifting her hips to meet him thrust for
thrust.

“That’s okay,” he managed to grind out.
“This is one of my fantasies too.” He did a little hip shimmy and
Gabriella cried out as he rubbed against nerve endings that hadn’t
had any action in far, far too long.

“Plus, we have all night and a box full of
condoms,” he added, and then he lifted his hips, expertly sliding
his penis against just the right spot. Gabriella’s nails dug into
his backside as her body exploded from the inside out.

Thank goodness they had all night and a box
full of condoms.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Brandon woke up on Sunday morning and felt
oddly satisfied when he rolled over and wrapped his arms around
Gabriella’s soft, warm body. When she stirred, he lifted his head
to see that her eyes were open and she was looking at him.

“I’m glad to see that last night was not
just one of my more vivid fantasies,” he said with a teasing
smile.

“Last night was a lot more than just one
fantasy,” she murmured in a sexy, sleepy, sated voice. Brandon’s
other brain – the only one that had been able to truly function
since yesterday afternoon – swelled at the sound.

“I still have a few more,” he said, and then
he dipped his head and licked a nipple. It puckered instantly. He
switched to the other breast and suckled that one. He felt movement
and opened his eyes and saw Gabriella snag a condom off the bedside
table. He grinned as he rolled onto his back and let her do the
honors.

“I think we’d better pick up a couple more
boxes when we’re at the grocery store today.”

“We’re going to the grocery store?”
Gabriella asked.

He smoothed his hand down the length of her,
then back again to her waist and gently turned her away from him.
She sucked in a breath and snuggled her backside against his eager
erection.

“Yes,” Brandon said as he nibbled on her
neck and lifted her knee so that he could situate himself between
her thighs. “We need groceries and you said you wanted to know
where it was located.” As he worked himself into her opening, she
reached behind and grasped his ass, squeezing encouragingly. He
thrust and she let go of his ass to clutch at the headboard
instead.

“Definitely. Need. More. Condoms,” he said
between thrusts, as Gabriella gasped out encouragement and he
pushed them both to the brink. He lifted his hand, smoothed his
finger across her clitoris and she screamed as her body bowed and
she came, squeezing him with her inner muscles until he lost
control himself and chased her over the edge.

***

A long time later, after they were both
showered and dressed, Brandon suggested they go out for lunch and
stop at the grocery store on the way back. So they drove to a small
Coney Island restaurant located out in the Township.

“Does your family own this restaurant?”
Gabriella asked as they pulled into the parking lot.

“Nope. We’re not the only Greek family in
town.”

Gabriella didn’t bother to ask what he meant
by that comment.

After lunch, they drove to the grocery store
and Brandon pointed out various important land marks along the way:
the post office, dry cleaner, cheapest gas station in town, his old
high school, the nearest movie theatre. He also pointed out the
nearest highway and that she could find a mall if she drove south
for about ten miles.

The visit to the grocery store was an
interesting affair. Initially, they simply walked up and down the
aisles, Brandon doing normal, routine shopping and Gabriella
suggesting ideas for meals and praising him for the fact that he
enjoyed eating fresh fruit and vegetables.

But then Brandon tossed a bottle of
chocolate syrup into the cart and when Gabriella asked why, he
began to explain to her, in graphic detail, all the things that
could be accomplished with a bottle of chocolate syrup. Not a
single one of them involved eating at the dining room table. By the
time they left the grocery store – with four boxes of condoms as
well as their groceries – they were both nearly mad with the need
to get back to the house and get naked again.

Unfortunately, when they pulled into the
driveway, there was a police cruiser parked in the street in front
of the house.

“Ah hell,” Brandon said as he killed the
engine and climbed out of the truck. Gabriella hurried after him to
meet Daniel Franks on the front lawn.

“What do you want, Daniel?” Brandon
demanded, his tone harsh.

Daniel tipped his hat towards Gabriella and
said, “Hello to you too, Brandon. I stopped by to speak to
Gabriella, see how she’s holding up. Do you have a minute?” he
asked, looking directly at her.

“State your business and leave, Daniel. We
have more important things to do today.”

Gabriella was shocked by Brandon’s rudeness,
but Daniel seemed to take it in stride.

“We haven’t found any evidence linking you
to the body, obviously,” Daniel said, still looking at Gabriella.
“There is no reason you need to stay in town, if you don’t want
to.”

“Why would I leave town?” Gabriella asked in
confusion.

Daniel shrugged. “Didn’t say you would want
to. Just didn’t know if you still intended to stick around after
what happened on Friday.”

Gabriella looked him square in the face.
“I’m not leaving. I don’t know why someone decided to put a dead
body in my apartment, however I have every intention of opening
that candy store, just as soon as the police let me back into my
own property.” Her voice and her stance were determined.

Daniel shifted uncomfortably. “You sure
you’re okay staying with him?” He nodded toward Brandon, who
scowled in response.

“She’s fine. Better here than any place else
in town,” Brandon snapped.

“A little overprotective, don’t you think,
Brandon?”

“I tend to get that way about my family. I’m
sure you’ve noticed.”

His family? Gabriella wondered what in the
world he was talking about. Surely he was not implying she was
family. And if he was, well, she wasn’t sure how
she
felt
about that.

“Yeah,” Daniel said. His face looked
mutinous. “I remember.”

“How’re the kids, Daniel?” Brandon asked in
a deceptively casual tone.

“Brice and Tanya are fine,” Daniel said
stiffly.

“How about Laney?”

“You’d know better than me,” Daniel snapped
back.

“Yeah, I would. Lucky kid.”

Daniel looked as if he were considering
punching Brandon, and Brandon looked as if he were hoping Daniel
would try. Gabriella stared at them both, completely at a loss as
to what was going on between them.

Daniel finally shifted his attention to
Gabriella. “Call me if you need anything, Gabriella. Don’t let this
jerk tell you not to.” He tipped his hat again and walked back to
his cruiser.

Brandon scowled until he pulled away from
the curb, and then turned and strode back to his truck. Gabriella
chased after him.

“What was that about?” she asked.

Brandon pulled grocery bags out of the bed
of the truck and handed them to her. When he decided she was
carrying enough, he picked up the remaining bags and walked toward
the back door.

“Nothing. Just bad blood between us. Stay
away from him, he’s bad news.”

“That seemed like a lot more than just bad
blood,” Gabriella commented as they walked into the house. She
followed Brandon through the laundry room and into the kitchen,
where they placed the grocery bags on the kitchen table.

“It’s not something I want to talk about,
okay?” He snapped, and then when he saw the hurt expression on
Gabriella’s face, he ran his hand over his face and pulled her in
his arms.

He put his chin on her head and sighed. “I’m
sorry for snapping at you. It’s not your fault Daniel Franks is a
dick.” He closed his eyes, and held onto her for a few moments and
then said, “Let’s get these groceries put away. Maybe we’ll have
enough time to try out the chocolate syrup before we head over to
my parents’ house.”

***

They had time to enjoy a glass of wine on
the front porch – the summer-like weather still lingered – but
Gabriella refused to do anything involving chocolate syrup before
they left for dinner at his parents’ house. She insisted they would
not have enough time to experiment with the syrup
and
shower
and get re-dressed. Brandon was amiable. There was always later, he
commented with a lecherous grin and an exaggerated wink. Gabriella
liked that idea. Too much.

At ten to six, they left the house and
climbed into Brandon’s truck. “Not taking the Harley?” Gabriella
asked. She would forever have fond memories of that Harley, no
matter what happened for the rest of her life.

“My mother hates the bike. She pretends I
don’t own it. Besides, it will probably be forty degrees by the
time we head home, and you’ll freeze your ass off.”

They drove to Brandon’s parents’ house,
which was located on the edge of town, on a lake a few miles north
of where Brandon lived. When Gabriella asked Brandon who would be
there, he was vague. “My brothers, sister, parents, grandma
Sarantos, maybe.”

Gabriella was not satisfied with that
answer, but he did not seem inclined to give her any more, and the
drive was a short one, so she did not have time to press. When they
pulled into the driveway, there were three vehicles in the
driveway, and two more in the garage.

“A lot of cars,” Gabriella commented.

Brandon walked around and opened the
passenger door. “This is nothing. Wait until we go to Aunt Korina’s
for dinner. To her it’s dinner; to the rest of the world it’s a
family reunion.”

He helped her out of the truck and pulled
her close for a lingering kiss before they walked toward the house.
She was grateful for that kiss. It gave her strength for what she
was about to face.

When they walked in the front door, a sea of
faces, all clustered together in the foyer, greeted them, anxious
to catch the first glimpse of the girl Brandon was bringing to
dinner. Gabriella smiled nervously and counted seven adults. Three
men, four women.

There were two small children as well, a
little girl who was a toddler and a boy who was barely walking, so
Gabriella estimated he was around his first Birthday. The oldest
woman standing in the foyer, who was obviously Brandon’s mother
because she had almost identical, although softer, facial features,
stepped forward and embraced them each in turn. Then she smacked
Brandon on the shoulder.

“You told me she refused to sleep with
you.”

Gabriella felt the flush start at the roots
of her hair and quickly slide down her entire body, all the way to
her toes.

Everybody started talking at once, and
Gabriella was passed from person to person, to be hugged, to shake
hands, receiving introductions with which she could barely keep up.
She recognized Brandon’s youngest brother, Patrick, from the bank,
and Nicole, who hugged her warmly when it was her turn and
whispered in her ear, “I told you he was unforgettable, didn’t
I?”

Nicole picked up the little boy and said,
“This is the apple of my eye, Anthony Junior.” The little boy gave
her a big, gummy grin. Gabriella’s heart melted.

“Is the little girl yours, too?” Gabriella
looked around and spotted her, in her grandfather’s arms, talking
animatedly about the doll she held up for his inspection.

“Laney? No, she’s Courtney’s.”

Courtney was Brandon’s sister, the youngest
of the four siblings, and the only girl. She was only twenty-two
years old. Laney looked to be three or four… And her name was
Laney. Gabriella recalled the heated conversation between Brandon
and Daniel:

“
How’re the kids, Daniel?” Brandon asked
in a deceptively casual tone.