Dirty Little Mistake (Dirty #2) (22 page)

FIVE WEEKS LATER…

Epilogue

He
watched the soft curve of her stomach rise and fall with her sleeping breaths.  It was growing a little fuller, a little more precious every day.  He sometimes had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that a life – a life he had created – resided inside.

His
hand slid to touch the tiny bend and she stirred at the attention.  The movement made her shirt ride up, exposing the bottom of one, full breast.  Immediately, he wanted her.

He started to pull away, not wanting to interrupt her sleep, but her own hand came out and pressed his palm back into her stomach.
  She guided it down further, past her bellybutton, and she moaned when one of his fingers just barely touched her clit.  She was already slick with want.

“
Always so ready.” His voice was thick.  Pleased.

“
Only for you,” she said back.

Her
eyes were still closed, and they stayed that way as he deepened his attention.  He watched her face, turned on by its expression.  Her lips were parted slightly.  She licked them and let out a heady gasp.

She tried to reach for him, but he refused to let her.  He wanted to touch her, watch her, love her, and he wanted her to know he needed nothing in return.

Without freeing his hand from its efforts, he rolled her to her side and pulled her back against his chest.  Her hair fell to the side of her neck and he dragged his teeth over the exposed skin.

She gasped.
  Her thighs closed tightly on his hand as he moved it up and down, around and around.  His own arousal grew longer.  Harder.  Stronger.

He tunnelled his finger into her while still holding her firmly on the outside and she cried out as she came to a shuddering halt.

He held her for a long few moments before he flipped her over to face him and bent to give each of her nipples a delicate suck.  He was just going to take a tiny taste, but she held his head in place, demanding more.

Because a
s spent and satisfied as she was, the moment his mouth found her breasts, her body warmed again.  Heat moved through her.  She tightened her grip on his hair, enjoying the near-to-painful tingle as he sucked harder.

“Please,” she begged.

“Okay,” he agreed teasingly. “But only because you asked so nicely.”

He rolled to his back and lifted her on top of him
in a show of strength that intensified her desire that much more.

With a groan, she slid t
he length of his erection into her.

She
thrust forward in just the right way.  She knew exactly where he needed to be.  Where he belonged.  She knew just how to rock so his eyes would roll back and his grip would tighten on her skin. 

But she took her time.

She moved slowly.  She let him slide in and out at a leisurely pace.  His breathing grew more and more labored as she worked her hips.

His mounting excitement, visible in the tautness of his shoulders and the way he moved up to meet her, soon made it hard for her to control herself.  She lost herself in the rhythm that was them, faster and faster, until she couldn’t hold on anymore.

He cried out her name, pulsing inside her in time with her own orgasm. 

She sat back, not quite ready to release him.

“Good morning,” she said softly.

He chuckled. “
Morning.”

“You woke me up,” she teased.

“That’s a probably good thing,” he replied.

“Oh?”

“Mm hmm. Because I’ve got something to ask you.”

“Ask away.”

Keeping one hand on her thigh, he reached the other arm up to the pillow behind his head.  He dragged out a tiny black box and placed it in the center of his chest.

Her eyes widened.

“Take it,” he suggested.

She reached out with trembling hands.  She was shaking so badly she almost couldn’t open it.  But when she did, she gasped.

A stone – just the same color as Ridley’s perfect eyes – set in a white-gold band sparkled inside.

“Pancake,” he said softly. “When my mom and sister died, I thought I was broken. And I tried to make everything around me break too. My aunt gave me a second chance and when the cancer took her from me, I was a shell. It wasn’t until I met you that I realized I could be whole again. So long as I have you, I won’t ever be that man – that partial man – again. Will you please do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

With a smile that outshone even the pretty stone, Brenna slipped on the ring and replied firmly, more sure of her answer than she’d ever been of anything in her life.

“Yes.”

THE END (FOR NOW)

Bonus Material

Bonus 1 – Ridley meets Brenna at the party

Ridley

A loud, metallic clatter just outside my bedroom window made me grit my teeth.  I set my book down on my night stand and came to my feet, fully prepared to fling open the window and blast the shit out of whoever had tossed a beer can at my house.

“My brand new house,” I muttered.

When I got to the window and placed my hands on the latch, I froze.  It wasn’t a beer can at all.  It was a ladder.  That belonged in the garage with my other garage crap. 

As I watched, a figure appeared at the bottom of the ladder and began to move.  Up.

Shit.

I pulled on the latch irritably, but it wouldn’t budge.

The figure climbed another rung.

“Stop!” I yelled and gave the window a smack for emphasis.

The guy didn’t hear me.

One week of home ownership and I was going to wind up in a lawsuit.  For a party I hadn’t wanted to have and one I wasn’t going to participate in.  At least not willingly.

“For God’s sake,” I growled.

I had no choice but to go out and head off the stunt that my mind-blowingly reckless roommate had most likely instigated.  Ian – who also happened to be my cousin and foster brother and the host of this hell-in-a-hand-basket party all wrapped up in one – was going to pay dearly for this.  As soon as I stopped whatever this was.

I grudgingly unlocked my bedroom door and rolled my eyes as a couple engaged in varying states of undress crashed to the floor at my feet.  If I found them in my room after I’d dealt with the ladder situation, there’d be hell to pay.

First thing first, though.

I stormed through the house, down the stairs to the open main floor and out to the lawn.  The crowd out there pissed me off even further and I wondered how I’d let myself be talked into agreeing to this.

“Nothing will go wrong,” I said angrily and loudly enough that a few people jumped out of my way. “How could it? What’s one smashed garden gnome and one guy peeing in the bushes for the sake of a little fun?”

And now this. 

The party guests were huddled together laughing and pointing and as I got closer and realized what they were staring at, my heart dropped.

It wasn’t a dude climbing the ladder.  It was a chick.

My eyes travelled from the pair of pretty, bare feet up the length of a pair of well-sculpted legs to a set of curvy hips.  They were all nice to look at.  They were also about fifteen feet too high of the ground.

I wracked my brain, trying to remember the name attached to the waves of chestnut hair.  She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her.

“Hey!” I called out.

“Yeah?”

“You need to come down
from there!”

She peered down at me curiously. “Who’re you?”

“I’m the guy whose house you’re performing acrobatics on.”

“This is your party?”

“I suppose.”

“So you’re the elusive Ian Harrison?”

I snorted. “Sure.”

“You don’t
sound
sure.”

“This is my house, ergo, my party, ergo I must be Ian Harrison.”

She continued to examine me from her perch. “Hmm. From the boob-shaped invitation you dropped on my doorstep, I kind of expected you to be more of a douche. And to use less words like
ergo
.”

Aha.  She was one of the neighbours.  No wonder she looked a little familiar.

“I’m a man of great mystery,” I replied. “Now can you pretty please come down?”

“Why?”

“Because you’re standing on a ladder which is balanced on a chair which is balanced on the edge of my roof. If you
don’t
come down, you’re going to fall and break open your skull,” I replied patiently. “And possibly ruin the rose bush beneath you.”

“I don’t wanna!” she yelled.

Her words were just shy of slurred and if I’d had any doubt before, I knew now she was drunk.  The crowd around us cheered and she saluted them with her plastic cup.             

This is going from bad to worse.

“Can I make you some kind of deal?” I asked desperately.

“Like what?”

“If you come down, I’ll make you a sandwich.”

“Are you asking me that because I have a big ass?”

“Your ass is perfect.”

“So you’re looking at it?”

“Hard not to when it’s hanging just above my face.”

“Oh. Okay. No thank you though. I don’t want a sandwich. Not hungry.”

“Another drink?” I offered, thinking that she probably wouldn’t even notice if it was plain water.

“All full up.” She paused. “But
you
aren’t.”

“I’m not what?”

“All full up, silly. You do a shot, and I’ll think about coming down.”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m not much of a drinker.”

“Even better.”

On cue, Ian appeared at my side with a tray full of tequila. 

“You heard the lady,” he said.

I eyed the drinks balefully.  I was pretty damned sure I was one of the last sober people at the party and I was loathe to give up my sobriety just to save my clearly insane neighbour.  Except then the ladder teetered enough to make
me
feel a bit crazy so I closed my fingers over one of the glasses and lifted it to my mouth.  With a grimace, I drank it back.

“There,” I told her. “Shot done.”

She giggled and stepped down.  Once.

“One rung per shot,” she called out.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

“Do another, do another, do another!” she chanted.

In seconds, the whole crowd was yelling too.  I counted the rungs quickly.  There were still nine below her.

“Fuck,” I said out loud to no one in particular.

I grabbed a second shot and downed it.

“Two!” shouted the crowd behind me.

She took another step.

I did shots three and four back-to-back and gave her an expectant nod. 

“You owe me two rungs,” I announced.

My head was already buzzing.  I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had anything stronger than a single beer.

“Two coming your way!” she replied.

She jumped them both, making the ladder rock.

I cursed under my breath and snagged shot five.  As I sucked it through my nearly numb teeth, she slipped.  With a shriek that echoed through my yard, she came tumbling down the rest of the ladder, bumping her forehead on each rung.

In a not-so-deft move, I dropped the shot glass and stumbled toward her.  Instinctively, I stuck my arms out just in time to yank her away from the ladder as it – and the lawn chair – tumbled to the ground.

“Oomph,” she breathed as she hit my chest hard.

The crowd erupted in a cheer and I shouted at them to back off.  I tried to set her on the ground but she clung to my neck and after a useless moment of letting go then holding on then letting go again, I gave in and cradled her in my arms. 

She wriggled against me, pressing her ample curves into all the right places.  She smelled good.  Like sweet maple syrup and butter. 

I shifted, trying to decide what was making my head swim more – her, or the tequila – and I couldn’t fix on the right answer.

My gaze followed the curve of her cheek to the freckles across her elegant nose and up to the welt on her forehead.

“You okay?” I asked stupidly.

“How long have we been neighbours?” she replied.

“A week.”

“Have I told you before that you’re pretty?” she wanted to know.

“I think I’d remember if you had.”

“Hmm. Well. You. Are. Pretty.”

“You. Are. Drunk,” I countered. “And a little bit dangerous.”

She pouted. “But not pretty?”

“Did I say that?”

“You didn’t
not
say it.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think that makes sense.”

She laughed. “Are you drunk too?”

“Maybe half-drunk,” I admitted.

“Have another drink then,” she suggested. “There’s no sense in doing things halfway.”

“I don’t really drink,” I reminded her.

She tipped her head to one side and shot me a crooked smile. “Can I make you a deal of some kind?”

“I think I’ve heard that somewhere before,” I teased.

“Nuh-uh. I just thought it up now.”

“Is that right? Well then. What kind of deal did you have in mind?”

“You want a sandwich?”

“Nope.”

“Guess I’ll have to bargain with something else.”

“And you’re all out of ladder rungs too,” I reminded her.

“So I am,” she said thoughtfully. “But you know what I have lots of?”

“What?”

“Kisses. For each shot you do, I’ll give you one.”

I opened my mouth to tell her that I avoided women as readily as I avoided alcohol, but then she tipped her head up and brushed her lips against mine.  Desire, deep and strong, shot through me.  The second she pulled away, I wanted more.

“Guess what?” she breathed.

“What?”

“You owe me
one
. So far.”

Without looking and without letting her go, I bent down and grabbed another two shots of tequila from the tray.   I drank them so fast I couldn’t even taste them.

“Well?” I said expectantly.

Her lips grazed mine, then her tongue darted out, licking the last of the booze from my mouth before she jumped from my arms and darted into the crowd.  I watched her hips switch for just a moment before I moved to go after her.

A hand gripped my elbow, stopping me.  I spun to face my cousin, who was grinning like an idiot.

“You wanna race and see who catches her first?”

“She’s a girl, not a prize,” I growled.

Ian laughed. “Still. Ten bucks says she winds up in my bed tonight.”

“Asshole.”

I shoved down an urge to punch him and took off, hoping the couple in my room hadn’t lost the page in
my book.