No Reservations (11 page)

. are mine . . .'

He came with a long groan. Heat spread over her palm as he fil ed it. The smel of his arousal flooded her senses.

Her own breath sobbed out of her as she gave him what he wanted.

What they both wanted.

Pleasure had blocked Brandon's brain and made him stupid but only for a minute or so. He'd heard what Leah said, and what she'd given him. He opened his eyes, his breath stil harsh in his throat, and looked down between them. Her grip had eased off just right, but he was stil holding her tight against him. Leah's eyes had gone heavy lidded, her mouth soft.

Part of him wanted to bask in the afterglow of what had been a pretty hot orgasm, despite the circumstances. The other part, the sneakier one, wanted to take advantage of the situation. He kissed her before she could pul away and get that look on her face again, the one she'd tried hard to give him when she walked into the bedroom. Part of him, the one ruled by his cock, loved that look, because it meant she was about to get al disciplinary on his ass. He was trying hard not to think with his prick at the moment, though.

She opened to him, which told him a lot and eased his mind. He'd been a little afraid he'd pushed her too far. She sighed into his mouth as he used both hands to hold her under the ass. She wrapped her legs around his waist as her arms slid behind his neck. Her tongue stroked his.

Maybe, he thought a little incoherently as she clung to him, this wasn't going to be so hard after al .

He took her the two steps to the bed and laid her down.

Leah always made love the way she did everything else, as though she knew exactly what she were doing every step of the way. Now, though, she looked a little lost. A little fragile in a way that didn't make her seem weak. She could never be weak.

They lived together. He did the laundry, she paid the bil s, he cooked when she didn't want to and ate what she made when she did. Sometimes she liked to tie his hands behind his back with a belt and sometimes she liked to blindfold him, and mostly al the time she liked to leave him long, intricate lists of tasks and chores she wanted him to perform. And he did them, usual y half-hard and thinking about making love to her, because he wanted to. They didn't talk much about what this meant or how it worked. It just did.

'Brandon -'

'Shh.'

She looked surprised, then that softness came over her again and she leant back against the bed to pul her T-shirt over her head. She offered herself to him, and he took her. He loved the sound she made when he hooked his fingers in the waistband of her pants and slid them down her thighs and past her ankles. She wore the tiny, pretty panties he'd bought her for Christmas, the ones she swore she wouldn't wear in his parents' house but had packed anyway.

He kissed al the places he knew made her sigh and wriggle under his mouth. 'Baby, you smel so good.'

'Day spa,' she whispered, arching as his mouth traced a path over her hip and across her bel y.

She cried out softly when he kissed her clit through the lace, then again when he slid her panties down and put a ringer inside her. His cock tried valiantly to stir, but there was no way he could get hard enough to make love to her right now, and there was no way he was going to wait to make her come. He needed to feel and taste her orgasm now, within moments.

'You taste good, too,' he murmured and licked her gently.

Leah arched again, pressing herself against him. She was so wet already his finger slid in and out without resistance. He pressed gently at the knot of nerves just behind her pubic bone and she sank her fingers into his hair.

'Oh, God, Brandon . . .'

Yeah,' he said against her flesh as he licked and sucked, as he pul ed back to nibble at the inside of her thighs until she bucked her hips and demanded with her body he return to her core. 'I'm going to make you come al over me.'

He smiled when she let out a familiar, sobbing gasp and she yanked his hair so hard he almost winced. Almost.

Brandon slid his hand beneath Leah's ass to hold her to his mouth as he kissed her into climax. She rode his tongue and fingers without mercy until at last he felt the tight wal s of her pussy convulse around him. He eased off, then moved back in, stroking and sucking, paying close attention to the tensing and relaxation of her muscles. He could bring her off again in a minute, if he played this just right, and he intended to do it al just right.

She cried out again, lower this time. Her clit pulsed as her pussy gripped his finger. Slick heat coated him and he buried himself in her scent and the feeling of her, as his cock stirred and thought about getting hard again.

He eased off when she let out a smal noise of protest, then slid up her body to kiss her mouth. He gathered her close, aware that he was stil mostly clothed and she was mostly not. After a minute she pushed him off her and he thought she might get up to go to the bathroom, but instead she curled up in the curve of his arm. Silent, she kissed his ribs.

Brandon ran a hand over her hair, waiting for her to speak. He had a lot to say, but he could wait. Leah's breathing slowed. Exhausted, he let his eyes slip shut.

'I should be angry about you coming here,' she murmured final y, 'but I guess . . . you should be mad that I left.'

I'm not mad you left,' he told her without opening his eyes. The bed dipped as she shifted. 'You're not?'

I'm mad you left without tel ing me where you were going. Or why. Though I know why, Leah.' He felt her looking at him, but kept his eyes closed. God, he was tired. Brandon yawned until his jaw cracked.

He felt her fingers running through his hair. That would put him out for sure. He knew he should right it so they could talk, but, after no sleep for a few days and last night with Dix on a bed that crackled whenever either of them moved and was a good six inches too short, Brandon had little resistance.

You look awful, baby,' she said quietly. 'Where did you stay last night, behind a dumpster in a cardboard box?'

Penny Pincher,' he said through another jaw-cracking yawn.

Her fingers stroked through his hair, over and over, and along his scalp, just the way he loved it. The tension of the past few days threatened to ease out of him and he fought it, only because he half-suspected Leah of tiying to put him under so she could avoid a confrontation.

You can stay here,' she said.

The invitation forced his eyes open at last. Brandon sat up. He took her hand and kissed it, then kept it close. 'You never answered my question.'

He knew her wel enough to know she wouldn't misunderstand. When she sighed and refused to meet his eyes, though, Brandon let go of her hand. He got off the bed and started making sure he was put together enough for public viewing. 'Where are you going?'

He looked at her. 'Back to the Penny Pincher.'

But. . .' Her eyes narrowed. Leah got off the bed, too.

'I'm sorry. I'm not ready to give you an answer.'

He nodded as though he'd expected that, and he guessed he did. It stung, but he wasn't surprised. 'I'l have my phone with me if you change your mind.'

She blinked rapidly. 'Brandon!'

'Shhh,' he said. 'Don't. OK? Just. . . don't say it, Leah.'

'You don't even know what I was going to say.'

He loved her smile, even now when he thought maybe they were on the verge of breaking up. Especial y now. 'I do.

You were going to say you love me but you just can't marry me.'

'I -' She stopped herself and then shrugged, looking away. 'It's a big step.'

'I know.' He did know, that was the kicker of it al . He'd never wanted to marry anyone before, and now he did.

Everything had changed, he wasn't quite sure how, just that it had.

She sighed and pul ed on her shirt and pants. You look like hel .' 'I told you. I haven't slept. Haven't eaten . . .'

You poor thing,' Leah said softly, yet with her tone somehow fil ed with pride. 'I know how you get when you don't sleep or eat.' He laughed. 'OK, I had a burger last night.' 'Ha. I knew it.'

'But no fries,' he told her. 'And only a single.

Leah raised an eyebrow. 'Wow . . . you must real y have been upset.'

'I was,' he told her, joking cast off. 'Why would you think anything else?'

She leant in to kiss him, lingering, then slid the bal of her thumb over his lower lip after the kiss. She looked deep into his eyes. 'And here you are.' 'Here I am.'

She was quiet for another half a minute, and that was fine. He could give her that. When she kissed him again, Brandon let her. He even kissed her back.

'I can't say yes,' Leah said.

The look in her eyes made him want to flinch, but he kept very stil . 'Not right now,' she said. 'I just can't. I'm sorry.'

He already knew her list of reasons. He was too young, she made more money, they hadn't been together long enough, he hadn't met her parents. She had met his, which had freaked her out and, as much as he loved his parents, he understood why. He understoodal about Leah. He could see her excuses ticking through her brain, one after another, but, when it came right down to it, Brandon knew there was only one reason, one real reason why she wouldn't say yes.

'I meant what I said earlier, and I'm not ashamed of it.'

I'm not ashamed.' She sighed and reached for his hand to pul him closer.

Brandon kissed her slowly and thoroughly, then got off the bed. He wanted more than anything to get the hel out of that rat-trap motel, but he knew this was one of those now-or-never situations. He pushed the hair out of his eyes and straightened his back.

'I love you. I love being with you, and I love what we do.

I'm not ashamed of any of it, and I want to spend the rest of my life doing it. With you.'

He could see her struggling.

'I like what we are together,' he said.

'I like it too. I love it. I love you. But I need some time to think about this.' He nodded again. 'OK. Wel , I'l be at the Penny Pincher. Cal me.' Her eyes narrowed again. 'You're real y walking out?' 'I'm real y walking out.'

She crossed her arms, one finger tapping against her elbow. She was trying to give him the face, but, though Brandon most always gave Leah what she wanted, this time was different.

'On the way up to this floor,' he said, 'Dix and I rode in the elevator with a man dressed like a zebra. Ful -on latex and vinyl costume. Hooves. Ears. A mane. He had pink and purple stripes, he weighed about three hundred pounds. And he was total y living that moment, Leah. That guy ... he was absolutely overjoyed to be walking around dressed like a zebra.'

Her mouth tipped on one side. 'Please don't tel me you want to dress like a zebra.'

'No. My point is, he was happy to be what he was. He was OK with it. More than that, he was proud of what he was.'

Brandon paused. 'I feel that way when I'm with you.'

He took a few steps towards the door. 'I know you can't say yes right now. But can you tel me that you're not saying no?' She nodded. 'If I told you to stay right now, would you?'

He nodded after a second. 'Yes. If that's what you wanted.'

'But you real y think you should leave.'

Yeah. I think I should.' He could stay. They'd make love again. She'd cuddle up to him al snuggly and contented and put off their conversation again and again.

Then leave,' Leah said with a lift of her chin. 'Go, if you think you have to.'

He nodded one last time, wondering if he were being the biggest douche in the world, or if this meant too much for him to give in right now. He back-stepped towards the door, watching her as he went. She didn't look away. She wasn't crying, at least. He couldn't have handled that.

'That guy,' Brandon said in the doorway. 'He knew who he was. Wel , I know who I am, too.' 'I know who you are, Brandon.'

And you know who you are. So why can't we be those people together?' he asked her and waited for an answer he could see she tried, and failed, to give. 'I'l cal you,' she told him.

He wasn't sure he believed her, but there wasn't much choice for him to do anything but go.

She moved so they lay side by side instead of the traditional sixty-nine with her on top.

'Me first. I know how much you prefer one-at-a-time oral.'

His voice held a smirk but also gentleness. Good sweet Clay Aiken she was a goner.

'I like to be able to enjoy it when you're eating my pussy and I can't with my face hovering over your cock and trying to balance and you know how I feel about you on top. I don't like bal s in my face.'

He laughed then, relaxed and very sexy. 'Then come on up and sit on my face.'

'So romantic' She sat up and turned around, bending to kiss him because he was there and how could she resist that mouth of his?

'A man's mouth on a woman's cunt is very romantic. Her taste, the way she feels, the trust, al of it makes me want you more. No one smel s like you, tastes like you. I'd do almost anything for you and your cunt.'

He said it with the corner of his mouth up in his normal y sardonic smirk, but the words had a softness in them, a tenderness that fel ed her even as they freaked her out. Like what would he do? What a dangerous, slippery slope of girl issues that one little statement held.

Instead of thinking about it further, she did as he asked, scrambling atop him and fitting her cunt over his mouth. He gripped her ass, holding her in place just how he wanted and she found her balance, holding the newel post of the headboard.

She closed her eyes and fel into the way his mouth felt.

His hands were strong and sure, she knew she wouldn't lose her balance. He wouldn't let her. And that was a whole different level of fear and excitement.

Two more years, she could wait and then they could move to the next level. His daughters would be out of high school and things would be easier.

Oh Christ, the thing he did with his bottom lip against her dit, rol ing it up and against the underside, fol owing it then with his tongue. A sound dragged from low in her bel y as her hips rol ed forwards. Her knuckles whitened as her hold on the newel post tightened. Her skin was super sensitive, the air caressing it, his hands burning into her flesh, his mouth warm and wet as he devoured her. Her breath stuttered as she drowned in pleasure.