Lost for You (17 page)

I wake up feeling like I’ve swallowed sandpaper. I shouldn’t have gotten so drunk last night. It was not the way to handle things, and definitely not the way to react to my fucked up family dynamic. I never wanted Elle to see me like that; I honestly felt like I was back to being the lost little boy Sylvia had left on the foster home doorstep all those years ago. As soon as I saw her ice blue eyes, I knew that she was definitely my Sylvia, the one woman whom I’d never been able to find.

I shake my head, feeling my anger returning. I don’t want to think about that now. I want to know where my beautiful Elle has disappeared to.

Just as I start to sit up against the headboard, she walks into the room, bearing two glasses of water and some pain killers. God, I love this woman. She looks concerned, though. Her brows are furrowed, and her lips are pursed.

“Darlin’, get your butt over here and tell me what’s wrong.”

“We’ll talk about it later. How are you feeling?” she asks, over-enthusiastically.

“Come here, baby, and tell me what’s up. I know something’s up because you’re bouncing,” I say with a grin.

I watch the swing of her hips as she rounds the bed and places the glasses on the bedside cabinet. Then she crawls over me, placing herself on top of my legs, elbows on my chest, her gorgeous face propped up in her hands just staring at me.

“Uncle Harry was arrested last night,” she says deadpan. I swear you could’ve heard a pin drop with the silence that followed.

“Say that again?” I ask, not quite believing what I just heard.

“I got woken up by my cell phone ringing. It was some reporter wanting a comment about Uncle Harry being arrested for embezzlement.”

Fuck! How did I not know about this?

“Shit, hon. Are you okay?” I ask, wrapping my arms around her shoulders.

“I’m in shock, but I’m okay. He can’t hurt me if he’s in jail, can he?” she replies with a shrug. “I’ve told Lawrence that I want the CFO to step in as acting CEO in my absence because it’s the last thing I want to do right now. I don’t wanna walk into a shit storm.”

I look for any sign of panic from her, and I’m surprised when I see none. “Is that what you want?”

“We need someone at the top now, and I’m not ready for that.”

“Sounds like Lawrence is good to have around,” I add.

Resting her head on my chest, she adds, “He’s a god send, that’s for sure.”

“That’s good,” I say as I run my hands through her sleep mussed hair.

“How are you doing? With seeing Sylvia again?” She lifts her head slightly to look at me. I know I can’t get out of this talk.

“Well, you saw how I dealt with it last night. I can’t believe she was standing in front of me again. I was in the same room as my birth mother. It was surreal and felt rather strange.”

“Do you want to see her again?” she asks, her eyes widening in expectation.

“I think so. But I want today to just be about us. Can we do that?”

She places her hands on either side of my jaw, pushing the full length of her body against mine. “I think we can do that.”

Wrapping my hands around her head, I slowly drag my fingers through her hair, encouraging her to come closer. “Did you know…” I say, gently trailing my tongue along her bottom lip, “that you’re the perfect cure for any self-inflicted hangover?” I ask with a smile as I trace the rest of the way around her mouth.

Her cute grin has turned hungry. Her eyes have dilated, and her breathing has picked up. I love the effect I have on her, and that it hasn’t changed despite the crap she’s been through. “I hope so. How’s the head?” she asks breathlessly, bringing her hand up and running it down the side of my cheek. I turn my head into it, planting a soft kiss in the middle of her palm.

“It’s pounding like a freight train right now, but I’m sure we can think of ways to cure it,” I murmur against her skin, giving a cheeky thrust of my hips at the same time, and earning a small whimper from Elle.

She giggles at the sound she just made, like she is almost embarrassed about it. Her laugh still warms my whole body as much, if not more, than when we first met. God, I sound like a sap, but when you love someone as much as I love this beautiful girl lying on top of me, you’ll do sap in your sleep, or when your hung over, as is the case right now.

I lean forward again, softly teasing her lips as I gently tug on her bottom lip with my teeth. She lifts herself up while wrapping her arms around my neck, inching her tongue into my mouth, stroking it like she wants to taste me, every last inch of me. I run my hands down her side, skimming the curve of her hips and gripping her ass as I pull her tight against me. She groans in my mouth as I grind myself against her, the pressure building between us.

“Again?” she murmurs against my neck as she starts tracing the vein in my neck down to my collarbone.

“God that feels good, baby. I need to be inside you as much as I need that Advil right now,” I say as I lift her up and roll her over, earning a squeal of delight. “Hi,” I whisper against her lips as I move my tongue into her welcoming mouth.

I’ll never get sick of the taste of Elle; she’s like cold ice tea on a hot summer’s day. There is something about touching her, tasting her, being with her, that erases every bad memory. This is what I need right now, what we both need. I can’t believe I missed out on this for a week while I gave her the space she wanted, the space she needed, but I’m definitely going to make up for that lost time.

I slide myself up so that I’m straddling Elle’s hips, being careful to keep my weight off her chest. She may be healed, but her breathing is still something we have to be mindful of.

She sits up with me, allowing me to quickly pull off her tank top, revealing her gorgeous breasts. I shuffle back, leaning down to trail kisses from her neck down to her rapidly rising and falling chest, and soon I am devouring her breasts with my mouth, licking and sucking until her moans start to slowly drive me insane.

I need more.

I shuffle further down, hooking my fingers in her pajama pants and pulling them down slowly, locking eyes with Elle and burning alive from the inside when I see the need for me in her eyes.

“Brax,” she says softly, her voice a melodic invitation.

Now that she’s completely naked in front of me, I don’t waste any time putting my mouth on her, using my tongue to satisfy my craving for Elle. With her hands in my hair, her grip getting tighter the closer she gets to the edge, I grind myself into the bed to give myself some friction to combat my overwhelming need to take her hard and fast. Realizing that I can’t take much more, I thrust my fingers deep inside of her, using my tongue to vibrate against her center until she starts crying out my name as she climaxes.

“Brax,” she breathes out. “Inside me. Now. I need you.”

Never one to leave my girl wanting, I move up as she spreads her legs apart further, cradling my hard length up against her core as I kiss the shit out of her. I know she can taste herself on my lips, and she groans in pleasure as I plunder her mouth, her hands wrapping around my neck, bringing me as close as I can to her. I pull my hips back, pushing inside of her until I’m sheathed to the hilt.

“Ah, baby, you feel like home,” I growl out as I pull back and thrust deep again. Damn, she feels good. Anytime of the day is the right time to be inside of Elle. I can feel my climax building already, and I know I’m not going to last much longer. Sensing that I’m close, Elle reaches down to where our bodies are joined, wrapping her fingers around me and stroking herself with her thumb. I feel her tighten around me, and that’s me done for. Elle pulls her hands around my head and pulls me down for a deep kiss while we both come apart together.

This is bliss.

Early yesterday morning, Devon and I met with our contact from Brightlight. At the end of our last phone call, Victor asked me to take care of something for him. That something was to meet with our contact and arrange to look for evidence that Harry Brimstone had been embezzling from Brightlight.

I don’t want to know how Victor knew about it, and I know that even if I’d asked, he wouldn’t have told me. But this was obviously the ace he had up his sleeve, his trump card. And, wouldn’t you know it, our insider rang me two hours later to say that she had found ten million dollars worth of phony contractor payments being paid to a foreign company with accounts in the Cayman Islands. All it took was one call to the Feds, and four hours later at 5 p.m. LA time, Harry Brimstone was arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of embezzlement. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Brax about it, but Devon and I definitely had a few drinks last night to celebrate. That is one threat against Elle taken care of.

I’m not sure what this will mean for Elle and Brightlight, but I’m glad that it happened because it means that D and I can head back to the East Coast and get back to Elle and Brax. You never know, maybe now that Brimstone has been taken out of the equation the threat to Elle will have disappeared. That would mean that Brax and Elle could start their lives together, with no secrets, and no more lies.

But somehow I think that is wishful thinking on my part.

I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling that Brimstone, despite his threats to take Brightlight one way or another, is not the main suspect in Elle’s shooting. And if so, we’re back to square one.

All is well in my world. Well, as good as can be expected considering Brimstone is in jail, I’ve just come face to face with my birth mother for the first time in twenty-five years, and we still don’t know who shot Elle, who ordered the hit, or what the hell is the deal with the guy in the black Honda.

He is the unknown variable in all of this. All of the dots are starting to connect except him. Who the hell is he? And where the hell has he been for the past six weeks since the shooting?

I no longer have to lie to Elle. She’s taken me back and forgiven me for leaving and lying to her, and we’ve vowed to face whatever is thrown at us together. I will spend the rest of my life making it up to her. Whatever it takes, I will do it.

Once I recover from my hangover, I decide to surprise Elle. I crouch down next to the couch where she has curled up to watch Storage Wars. God knows what she sees in this program, but she’s got Shay hooked on it too.

“Since there are a lot of camera crews outside, I’m gonna pop out to get some food. and then when I get back, I want to surprise you with something.” That gets her attention. Her head snaps up as she looks at me, her eyes dancing with excitement.

“Surprise me? You know I love surprises, Brax. What is it? Please tell me,” she pleads, pulling out her pouting puppy dog look and trying to make me cave.

“Not gonna work, sweetheart, but you do look damn cute,” I say, gently tapping her nose with my finger as I get back up on my feet. “Any requests?”

“You? Naked?” she asks with the sexy ass smirk she’s perfected since knowing me.

“Now that I can arrange later, but until then a deli lunch will have to suffice. Lock the door after me and stay where you are. Call me if you need me and I’ll come straight back, okay?”

“Okay. Stay here. Don’t move. Call if I need you. Check!” she says in a robotic voice, then erupting in a fit of giggles. I open the front door shaking my head, quietly laughing as I close the door behind me, ready to face the throng of reporters outside.

After getting out the door pretty much unhindered, I race down to the campus café where I order a picnic hamper to pick up. I grab a bottle of wine from the liquor store and head back to our building to set up Elle’s surprise.