Brown Siblings - 01 Laid Bare (9 page)

She pulled off him and laid a kiss on the crown before scrambling up. Leaning over him, she retrieved a condom from under a pillow and tore it open quickly before rolling it down over his cock.

It wasn’t more than two breaths before she’d moved back and driven herself down against him, his cock slicing into her cunt, filling her in ways she’d wanted desperately for ten years. She froze, just letting herself revel in how good it felt to be there. How good his cock felt so deep inside. So good it scared her a bit—the thought of not having it again. It wouldn’t do to get attached.

She let her hair fall over her face as she rose and fell, wanting to hide a bit of herself from him.

The intensity of the moment was nearly overwhelming and she didn’t want it to be. She wanted it to be hot and satisfying but not emotionally involved. Erin wasn’t the same inside as she was before. Before she’d given him everything—her heart, her soul, her submission. Now she’d give her submission, but her heart wasn’t going anywhere and she wasn’t sure how much soul she had left to give anyway.

He looked up at her, at the sway of her breasts as she fucked herself onto his cock over and over.

A sheen of sweat seemed to make her skin glow. He’d always found her otherness to be incredibly alluring, exotic. Just the sight of her body made him ache deep inside, not just sexually but emotionally.

Her cunt was like hot heaven, grasping his cock as she undulated over him like a fucking siren.

She was magic, always had been and still was. Maybe more so because time had passed and yet here she was again, riding his cock like ten years hadn’t elapsed since she’d been wrapped around him last.

“Damn but your pussy feels good.” He traced a fingertip up her body to flick the hair from her face. He wanted to see her eyes when she came. “Open your eyes.” Todd let the words come, not holding them back, the freedom of it intoxicating. “I want your eyes on me when I’m fucking you.”

Slowly, her gaze found his, like the unfurling of a flower, and he felt it to his toes when her attention was fully on him. Like he’d commanded.

“Tell me, Erin. Tell me what you want.” His voice was deep, nearly fuck-drunk.

Her breath caught twice before words came from those sweet lips. “I want to come.” He’d always thought her voice was sexy, scratchy, whiskey rough, but now, blurred with sex, Todd was sure he’d never heard anything that made him harder.

“Touch your nipples for me. I’ve got your clit handled.” He traced the line of her lips and she sucked his fingers into the wet of her mouth. His balls drew tight against his body as he struggled for control.

She knew it and a smile edged up one corner of her mouth. He wanted to laugh, but it died in his throat when she began to roll and tug on her nipples and the rings.

His fingers, still wet from her mouth, found her clit. He squeezed gently and then slid his thumb and forefinger back and forth around it. There was so much to look at, he simply cruised from his fingers in her cunt to her nipples and up to her face, where she looked at him intently.

Deep inside her cunt he felt the telltale flutters of her oncoming climax. When it hit, her internal muscles grasping and fluttering around him, his own followed. The pleasure of it rushed up his spine, his back bowing as she ground herself down, pressing hard to keep him deep even as she came.

Her mossy eyes blurred just momentarily, but she kept them open and focused on him. He couldn’t tear his attention away as something big passed between them, linking them in a way he felt all the way to his toes.

Surprise marked her features and she blinked several times. No matter. It was there, the bond between them, and he liked it just that way. Had no plans whatsoever to do anything to dislodge it. In fact, he wanted to strengthen it.

Erin dragged air into her lungs as she dropped to the mattress. Todd pressed a kiss to her lips and got up. She listened to his movements as her heart’s galloping beat slowed down to normal. The water turned on, the toilet flushed and his footfalls came back toward her.

“The bathroom is a hedonist’s dream,” he said, flopping next to her, taking up space. She liked it when his hand found hers, took it in his and squeezed.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had to live in a shithole with not enough hot water and nicotine stains on the walls. Money has brought a lot of luxuries to my life, like the view and a bathtub the size of a Volkswagen.” It couldn’t buy happiness, but it certainly could make life a hell of a lot easier. People who insisted the opposite usually had a lot of it.

He laughed and, without realizing it, she snuggled into him. He smelled so good. “What’s your cologne?”

“Um, something my mom gave me for Christmas. Black, Ralph Lauren, I think. Mmm, feel free to do that anytime you like,” he murmured as she pressed her nose into the place where his neck met his shoulder.

“I like it.” She licked him, tasting salt.

“I’m glad.” He groaned. “Even when I’ve just come you make me want to fuck you again.” She leaned up to see him better. “Is that a bad thing?” His eyes found hers, locking in, and disorientation struck for a brief moment. “Not at all.

C’mere, I want to kiss you.”

She stretched her neck to give him her lips, and he gave a satisfied near growl as their mouths touched.

For the longest time they traded lazy kisses, until she heard the trilling of a cell phone.

“That’s not mine.” She pulled back, amused at his annoyed look.

He rolled away, giving her an excellent view of his ass as he did.

“Keenan.” She wanted to laugh at how annoyed he sounded.

She got up, pulling on a nearby robe and wandering into the kitchen for another margarita.

Todd ground his teeth together. Of course he had to get a call to deal with a client
now.
But he was the new partner and he needed to meet existing clients, even if he had been settling in and getting ready to fuck Erin again.

He sighed as he splashed water over his face and combed his hair back into something resembling a man who hadn’t just fucked for a few hours.

Despite his need to go, he stopped as he came out into the living room and caught sight of her standing in the open door to the balcony. The breeze had blown open her short robe, exposing her breasts and her cunt. Her hair had swept back from her face and her eyes were closed.

He wished he could paint or even that he had a camera nearby, because she looked so soft and beautiful he wanted to capture it forever.

She turned, a smile on her lips. “Is everything all right?”

“No.” He frowned. “I have to go. One of our clients is having problems with his security system and wants us to come in and consult on how to use it. Again, apparently. But he’s some big-shot attorney here in town and he’s used to snapping his fingers and getting results. Frankly, he’s paying for it, so”—he shrugged—“there you go. Anyway, I haven’t met him yet and I’m the new guy. I’m sorry.”

“Your job is important of course. Thanks for coming over.” He moved to her, not liking how nonchalant she sounded. “I’ll be back. What are you doing tomorrow?”

“I can’t. I’m working with Adrian for the next few days. He’s been out of town and we need to lay down some stuff for his new CD.”

He realized as he stood there how much he wanted her. Not just for sex, but Christ, he liked her.

Had liked her before but was too cowardly to really admit it. Todd wanted to know her and wanted her to want that too.

“Okay, when you’re done, why don’t you come to my place? Do you paint at all? I could use a hot assistant to help me paint my living room.”

“All right. I can do that. But you have to feed me and I like Popsicles too. Painting is hot work, you know. I need sustenance.”

“It’s a date then.” He handed her a card. “My home and cell numbers are on the back. Call me when you’re done with Adrian or when you know you’ll be free. I’ll save the work until then.” She put the card in a colored glass bowl and then reached into his pocket to grab his cell.

Quickly, she punched in a series of numbers and handed it back to him. “My numbers are in there.”

“I enjoyed tonight.” He banded her waist with his arm, hauling her to him, liking the way her breath caught and her pupils swallowed the irises of her eyes. He captured her breathless sigh as he swooped in for a kiss and she merely held on to his shoulders, letting him sample her mouth.

Breaking away, he rested his forehead on hers a moment.

“I’ll see you soon, Erin.”

He didn’t stop smiling until he finally fell into sleep many hours later.

8

“You’re distracted.” Adrian put a bottle of water in front of her and sat back down.

“Huh? No, just busy. Between the café and here, I’m running around a lot.” He peered at her, suspicion in his gaze. “Everything okay?”

“I’m fine. I promise.” After she took a swig of water, she picked the guitar back up and ran through the end of the song. “How’s that?”

He hummed a moment, finding his voice, and began to sing as she played along. Adrian’s voice was a thing of beauty. He could growl better than Chris Cornell and hit the high notes too. It didn’t hurt that he was handsome either. It had made him very marketable, even when Erin had stopped touring and Adrian went solo. Their drummer still went out on tour and did studio work, so really, in all the important ways, she hadn’t lost a whole lot when she’d “retired” from the band.

She paused a moment, making a note, and then went back to it and they picked up where they’d left off. She and Adrian had made music together since she’d been fourteen to his eleven. They’d started Mud Bay when she was seventeen. A long time. He knew her better than most anyone on the planet, which she found comforting most of the time.

“Goddamn, you did it again.” Adrian sat back and lit a smoke.

She waved a hand in front of her face and moved back a bit. “You’re going to ruin your voice with that shit.”

“I only do it so you’ll correct my lax morals,” he said dryly. “So tell me what’s going on in your life. Are you really okay? You need something more than this and pulling lattes. You’re meant for more, Erin.”

She looked at her baby brother with a smile. “Aww, thanks. I think. Anyway, yes, I’m okay. I’m actually . . . I think I’m dating someone. Seeing him. Something like that.”

“Really? Who? Why didn’t you tell me?” He leaned in, stubbing out his cigarette like she’d known he would.

She snorted a laugh. “You remember that cop who used to live next door? Todd?”

“I thought he moved back east. Didn’t you dump him? Do I need to send goons over to kick his ass? Now that I’m a star and stuff, I have people for that.” He winked.

“Yes, I broke up with him, and yes, he moved to Boston. He’s back in Seattle for good and we had a date. We’ve been talking on the phone and e-mailing every day of the past week. He’s not that guy anymore, or not the part I dumped him over.” Adrian narrowed his eyes. “You’re not that girl anymore either.” She choked back her emotion. No, she wasn’t. “No. But he makes me smile and he’s a nice diversion.”

“Just a diversion?”

“Good lord, it’s been a week! I don’t want to marry him or anything.”

“You were gonzo for him back then. He rang your bell in a major way. You sulked for months.

Then again, I suppose I have him to thank for pretty much every song on our first CD, huh?” She shrugged. “He listens to country music. He has no idea.” It amused her that he didn’t know how big they’d made it. At least she knew he wasn’t a starfucker. He liked her for Erin, not because Mud Bay had dominated MTV for four years nonstop and Adrian still did.

Adrian snorted. “Like, good country or . . .”

“Or, I think. I’m going to his house day after tomorrow to help him paint. He’s promised me Thai food and good beer as payment. Oh, and Drumsticks. Chocolate
and
vanilla. I’ll check his CDs then. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

“This guy totally has your number with the Drumsticks. Lemme know about whether he needs a beat-down. Don’t let him get too fresh.”

“Ha!”

They went back to work, noodling around on the last two songs until way past midnight.

“Why don’t you stay over?” He walked with her back upstairs from his basement studio.

“I’m past panic attacks, Adrian,” she lied. “My building is totally on lockdown and I’m just a regular citizen these days.”

For a solid year after she’d come back to Seattle she found herself having panic attacks. Anyone looking at her funny, any sudden, loud noises and she was transported back to that day. Back to that day when she’d been lying in a doorway, dying, helplessly watching as her baby was shredded to ribbons in the cross fire as
he
tried to escape, using Adele as a human shield.

“God, Erin, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you think about it.” He’d held her hand often enough since that day—hell, since the letters and calls had started. He and Brody sat on either side of her all through the trial, had helped her pick up the pieces and had supported her when she wanted to come back home to Seattle.

She shook her head. “Stop feeling guilty. I’m fine. You’re fine. I’m going home. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Erin kissed his cheek when they got to her car door.

She looked inside before getting in because that was something she did. The drive back to her building was quiet. The streets were pretty much empty by that hour.

Once the gate slid closed behind her in the parking garage, she sighed, feeling very tired. Her spot was very near the elevators, which was a lovely favor done because the building manager’s daughter had been a huge fan and Adrian had even shown up and introduced himself. After the manager’s wife had heard what had driven Erin back to Seattle, she got a spot even closer, right beneath a light and in full view of the surveillance cameras.

Her place was quiet but for the noise from the fish tank where the jellyfish undulated, ghostly white in the pale light coming from the partially shrouded moon.

Once she’d changed into a cami and some sleep shorts, she pulled a bottle of juice out and headed to her bedroom. Sleep would come fast, as it often did after she spent so much time in the studio.