Never Enough (13 page)
“I’d like that, though it’s really cold out there.”
“Grab that blanket right there.” She indicated the blanket with the tip of her chin.
He followed her out the back and across a deck. “This is great.”
“Thanks. This place was rickety when we first bought it. Over the years we’ve added things. Painted. Replaced windows. All that stuff. We have friends over a lot so it’s nice to have a good outdoor space.”
She drew him down the steps and toward a paved, circular fire pit surrounded by chairs and benches. One flick of the switch and a fire sprouted merrily. She smiled and sat on a small bench, putting the wine and glasses down. A black cat streaked through the yard, rubbing across her legs on the way.
He leaned back, happy to sit in the quiet and sip a glass of wine. She wasn’t always trying to make noise for the sake of it. He liked that about her.
“My place has this sort of quiet, but even so, it’s in the city. This is real dark out here.”
“Makes the stars very easy to see.”
He paused, tucking the blanket around her and then himself. “
Thank you
seems a pale tribute for what you’ve given me.” He snorted and then breathed deep. Someone somewhere had a wood fire burning.
Thank you
seems a pale tribute for what you’ve given me.” He snorted and then breathed deep. Someone somewhere had a wood fire burning.
“I think Miles had a great time. He was positively giddy about you having Willie Nelson’s phone number.” She laughed and he wanted more.
This place, this moment, it was beautiful and relaxed. He felt safe and comfortable and able to be who he was without having to be on guard.
“At least he’s got good taste in music, even if he plays bass. Erin’s never going to let me hear the end of that. She likes you.” He licked his lips and her eyes moved to his mouth. The echo of that appraisal shot straight to his cock.
“I found your sister impossible not to like back. She’s straightforward and protective of her family. She took a risk in coming here.”
“She’s a force of nature.”
“A good way to describe her. And how are you, Adrian? A lot has happened to you over the last month or so.”
“Birds flying high, you know how I feel. Sun in the sky, you know how I feel. Breeze drifting on by, you know how I feel. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me,”
he sang softly.
he sang softly.
“Fish in the sea, you know how I feel. River running free, you know how I feel,”
she completed. “I must tell you I feel much better about you that you’d quote Nina Simone to me.”
she completed. “I must tell you I feel much better about you that you’d quote Nina Simone to me.”
He burst out laughing. “I was just thinking the same thing. Relieved you didn’t think it came from a commercial.” He reached out to squeeze her hand and the moment shifted back to what they’d had in her front hallway only the day before.
The tail of her hair was so close. He gave in to his desire to touch. And the soft, cool strands against his wrist sent a hum of pleasure through him. In the moonlight and the glow of the flames, her skin looked even better.
Her pupils nearly swallowed the iris of each eye. Her lips parted and he heard her gulp. Part of him registered relief that she was as off balance and drawn to him as he was her.
“My brain wonders why I’m out here with you, when it would be far safer inside, in the light, in the open.” She made no effort to move.
“I’ve had similar arguments and have decided to just accept two things I find utterly true. First, that Miles is my son and I plan to be part of his life.” He paused, making sure she got that that was his top priority. “You’ve been good to me in making that happen and I hope I can continue to count on your help. Because Miles is my family and that means you are too. That’s just how it works with us Browns.
That
is separate from
this
other thing I also know as true.”
That
is separate from
this
other thing I also know as true.”
“Yes? And what’s that then?”
“We have something.” He twirled her hair around his finger, fascinated by the way her lips canted up just a whisper.
“Do we now.” It wasn’t a question at all. It was a tease and he liked it.
“Oh yes. Yes, we do.”
“What do you plan to do about it?” One perfectly shaped brow rose.
“I don’t know. This is . . . has the potential for trouble. I want to do this right.”
She nodded, humming when he drew the pad of his thumb over the hollow just below her ear. “You’re not helping me be clearheaded, Mister Brown.”
“Just being here with you has made me totally fuzzy headed.” And hard everywhere else. “And”—he set his glass down before scooting closer—“perhaps I prefer you less than clearheaded. Because . . .” He hesitated, his lips so very close to hers. “I think I’d love it if we could take this inside and I could divest you of your clothing and perhaps set out to make you unravel a few times.”
“Is that so? That’s a bold statement.”
“It is.” He nodded before leaning in to run his mouth along her jawline. “You should let me prove it, to protect my honor and reputation.”
“I—I . . .” She groaned. “Can’t have your reputation impugned. It’s just I’m quite demanding when it comes to sex. I’ll put you through your paces. Won’t let you slack.”
He smiled against her flesh, loving the frantic beat of her pulse against his mouth.
“Will you grade me? Because”—he burrowed a hand under the blanket and slid it up her belly to her breast—“I have to tell you how much that appeals to me.” Made him feel like a naughty schoolboy in all the best ways.
“It’s like that, is it?” Her fingers dug into his shirt and the muscles of his shoulder.
“It is.”
She pushed back a little, sitting next to him. “I am not prone to this sort of rash behavior. I’m certainly not prone to anything that could harm Miles, and this could. I think we should talk first. Set some ground rules.” She licked her lips and he forgot what she’d said for a moment or two.
Finally, he found his words again. “Yes, yes, okay.”
“We have to keep this”—she waved her hand back and forth between them—“separate from your and my relationship with Miles. I’m not looking for forever, but I’d like to remain low-key, especially in front of him. He’s a smart, very observant kid. He’s going to notice at some point if we do this more than once.”
“We will definitely do this more than once.”
She made a cute, sort of frustrated sound. “He’s going to figure it out eventually.”
“I agree we need to be careful, especially around Miles. I’m not going to jump on you in front of him.”
She licked her lips again.
He groaned. “You gotta stop that. I can’t think when you do that.”
She smiled. “This may be crass, but I’d just like to establish up front that should this end. When. If. Whatever, let’s keep that private and never let it touch Miles.”
“Not crass at all. Responsible. You’re his mother and you put him first, and yes, of course, I agree that should things end that we never let it affect Miles. I’m asking you to let me co-parent our son. I expect us both to put him first.” Not that he had any plans at all to stop getting all up in Gillian Forrester’s panties any time soon. Still, he appreciated the reminder and, he supposed, the parenting lesson.
“I’m a very private person. My sexuality, what I do and what I like, none of it is for public consumption. I like a space between who I am behind closed doors and who I am out there.” She indicated the rest of the house.
He nodded.
Um, yes, please
. If he could have extra helpings of that he’d take it with gravy. The whole thing got him hard and hot. So cool and unruffled and then, something altogether sultry once the shades went down.
Um, yes, please
. If he could have extra helpings of that he’d take it with gravy. The whole thing got him hard and hot. So cool and unruffled and then, something altogether sultry once the shades went down.
“I look forward to learning a few things about what you do and what you like. And I have zero problems with privacy. I take it every moment I can get it. I like to keep my private life off the radar. I want to keep all this private. The out there and the in here both.”
Her smile brightened for a moment and he knew she was pleased. “All right then. I’m down with whatever you can cook up.”
At that a full flush moved through him from head to toe.
And just like that, she stood. “All right then. Clock’s ticking, Adrian Brown. Dazzle me and I might just give you an A.”
He grabbed the blanket while she took care of shutting the fire down and bringing the wine and her glass inside.
She flipped lights off, locked doors and led him down a hall to the north of the kitchen where he grabbed his bag.
He paused at her doorway, surprised.
Red.
“I’ve got to say, I’ve imagined your bedroom many times since yesterday alone, and this never entered my mind.”
“Is that so? And why is that?” She moved around him to close and lock the door.
He turned to catch sight of her pulling her hair loose and the cascade of it around her shoulders and back.
“I expected to find roses and cream. Not shiny red walls and bamboo hardwoods. It’s unexpected. Sexy.” He backed her up to the door, caging her with his body.
Gillian laughed, albeit a little nervously. First that he’d expect roses and cream, ha! And most important, the way he’d hemmed her in, his body just barely touching hers, features intent, sent her pulse racing.
Sex was complicated business.
Which didn’t stop her from having it, of course, because she loved it. She’d given in and accepted that one’s baser urges weren’t all bad and liking sex didn’t make her her mother or her sister.
But this. This thing with Adrian Brown was foolhardy. Yet she knew she wasn’t going to stop it. Their little talk had assuaged some of her fears, but it was as if she was totally intoxicated and under the influence of Adrian Brown.
He set her on fire and the burning was the best part.
“I like red,” she managed to stutter out as he leaned into her, pressing his open mouth against her throat, where it met her ear.
And then he breathed her in, his face in her hair, and paused as if he savored her. It made her weak in the knees.
Made her want more.
As if the world had slowed down, he drew her against his body, arm banded around her waist.
And he swayed to the music she’d turned on when they’d entered the room.
Just a slow, full-body touch. She pressed her face into his chest, eyes closed, and leapt into whatever this experience would bring her.
As if he’d sensed this certainty in her, that mouth of his smiled. “There you are.” His words were drawled, like he did sometimes. When he did it, the sound of them would stroke her senses.
The shuffle must have been on, because it went from Kings of Leon to the Stones. Which also seemed to work because suddenly her sweater was up and over her head.
“Well now, look at you, Mister Brown.”
“Goddamn, I love it when your accent does that.” He drew his hands up her sides, skin to skin, as he stared at her breasts. Thank the fates she’d worn the hot bra instead of one of her plain ugly comfortable ones.
“I can’t believe what you’ve got goin’ on here, Gillian. You are fucking spectacular under those clothes you hide yourself with. And damn it, the Rolling Stones.” He paused a moment to listen to “Soul Survivor.” “Hot. You have awesome taste in music.”
“Just another one of my fabulous personality traits.” She returned the favor, removing his shirt and taking him in.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he murmured, popping the catch on her bra to reveal her breasts.
She slid her palm up his chest, pausing at the nipple ring. If she was spectacular, then he was a universe more. He was all rock-and-roll bad boy once the shirt was off.
“Wait.” She pushed back from him to look better.
If she’d expected him to be shy, she’d have been wrong. He let her look her fill, that sexy smile of his planted on his mouth.
She shivered, thinking about his mouth a moment as the music shifted to Vivaldi.
He stood there in her bedroom, hair tousled, sexy-mouthed rock star. Complete with three gold hoops in one ear and a bar running through his right nipple.
Broad shoulders led over a tightly muscled chest down to a narrower waist. On his belly lived an intricate Celtic tattoo. “Is that a serpent?”
He made a sound, sort of a growl, as she traced over it. Warm, hard skin pebbled under her touch. She wanted to purr at the power of that moment.
“Yes. I’ve got another you might want to see.”
She laughed, charmed.
“Another tattoo? Or another serpent? Never mind, I’ll see both.”
“If you don’t kill me first.”
“Now why would I do that? Today, anyway. Perhaps you’d have received a completely different answer to that question a week ago.”
“Seems my luck is looking up. Your tits are the most incredible things I’ve ever seen. Just so you know and all. I’m going to be spending a great deal of time getting acquainted with them.” He caught his bottom lip between his teeth and worked it.
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