No Reservations (15 page)

Brandon looked at Dix, who shrugged. Great. 'Thanks, man. Make me be the bad guy.'

Dix sighed and dug for his wal et, pul ing out another twenty. 'Listen, sweetheart. We're under strict orders not to get anything here that's waiting for us at home.'

Tiffani sighed and plopped down in the chair across from them, then plucked the twenty from Dix's grasp and gestured for the waitress. 'I won't tel your wives. Believe me, sugar, ninety-nine per cent of the guys who come in here are married, and most of them don't leave without at least a woody.'

'No doubt,' Brandon said, looking around.

Dix snorted again. 'Some of us, sweetheart, are a little beyond the Sears and Roebuck underwear catalogue level of hard-on.' Tiffani gave them both a hard grin. 'No kidding.'

Brandon didn't have a clue what that meant. 'Huh?

Dix curled his fingers and pumped them around an imaginary dick. 'Back in the day it's what most guys first jerked off to. The Sears catalogue underwear section.'

Brandon, three beers settling in his stomach, guffawed.

'Get out of here.'

'It's true,' Tiffani said with a nod. if you do a survey.'

'I can't think of any reason to do that,' Brandon said. 'But seriously. Sears?'

Dix wadded up a cocktail napkin and threw it at him.

'What was it for you? Don't tel me you went straight to Playboy! Victoria's Secret,' Tiffani said. Both men turned to look at her.

'Not me. Mine was a poster of the New Kids on the Block.' She rol ed her eyes and jerked her thumb at Brandon.

Him. Victoria's Secret, am I right? Snuck it out of the mail before your mom got it? Went up to your room, got the trusty bottle of hand lotion, went to town, am I right?'

Brandon swal owed a gulp of beer. She had him pegged. He could stil remember the smel of the perfume sample mixing with cocoa-butter tang of the hand lotion. His prick stirred a little at the memory. 'Um . . . yeah.'

Tiffani held up her hand to Dix for the high-five, which he gave her after a moment, i knew it!' 'It's almost the same thing,' Dix said.

The waitress brought them al another round of beers.

Tiffani didn't leave. 'So, why are you two sitting here not getting hard-ons if you've got such hot stuff waiting for you at home?'

Dix jerked his thumb at Brandon. 'This one's taking a stand.'

Tiffani's eyes lit up and she leant forwards, creating a truly impressive wedge of cleavage. 'Oh, yeah? What's going on? Your woman trying to rein you in? Keep you on a short leash?'

Dix laughed aloud, then shot Brandon a glance and toned it down. Brandon didn't care what Dix thought he knew about him and Leah. 'Nothing like that.'

'Wel , which is it?'

I want to many her, and she's not sure.'

'Ouch,' Tiffani said with what sounded like genuine sympathy. She turned to Dix and nudged him with the incredibly high heel of her shoe. 'What about you, Trouble?'

'Why am / trouble?'

It was Brandon's turn to laugh. 'You've got the same problem, man. Sort of.'

Tiffani raised an eyebrow that looked drawn on. 'What the fuck is wrong with them? Are they mental? What? I mean, a girl like me can't find a nice guy, and here you two sit tel ing me your women won't marry you?' 'Crazy as hel , huh?' Dix said.

Tiffani polished off her beer and stood. 'Crazy as fuck, Trouble. Crazy as F.U.C.K. Wel , unless you gentlemen have changed your minds, I've got to get back to work. Though I gotta tel you, maybe if you came home smel ing like pussy you might get somewhere with your women.'

'Oh, I'd get somewhere. A wooden box and a hole in the ground,' Dix said.

Tiffani gave Brandon a sly glance. 'How about you?'

He almost said yes, wondering if he came home smel ing like body spray and sex if Leah would change her mind or if she'd instead be so angry she wouldn't forgive him.

And while the idea of getting a rub-off from a stranger was just filthy enough to make for a great one-handed fantasy, he was pretty sure it wouldn't be so great in reality.

'He's thinking about it. Be a good friend and convince him,' Tiffani said.

Dix shrugged. 'Far be it from me to stand between a man's lap and a stripper's ass.'

Brandon shook his head. 'The offer's real y tempting, Tiffani, but no, thanks.'

'Fine. But if you want me, the offer stands until midnight.

Then I gotta go one on one, house rules. And don't take Brandi over me, either. You wil go home with something on your pants, and it won't be hand cream.'

Gross.

It's not like that with us, you know,' Brandon said when they left the club and waited outside for a group of leather-clad fetish-con folks to pass and leave room on the sidewalk.

'Like what?' Dix was giving them al an eyeful, particularly the woman in the ful -coverage vinyl cat suit, her face covered by a mask with a zippered mouth.

'Like what just passed us by.'

Dix looked like he meant to say something, thought better of it, then nodded. 'Look, kid. Whatever works for the two of you isn't my business. You know?'

'I know.' Brandon grinned. 'Just like it's not my business that you and Kate like to fuck almost in public' Dix choked a little. 'Damn it.'

Head swimming, Brandon thought the four beers had been fine, but the final shot of Jack had probably been sort of stupid. He was big enough to hold a lot of alcohol, but not on the almost-empty stomach he'd been sporting since this crap with Leah had stolen his appetite. Hel , he and Dix had only had a basket of bread, a fourteen-ounce steak, potatoes, salad and a hel uva-good shrimp appetiser . . .

The belch lurched out of him long and hard, and he had to thump his chest when it was done.

'Don't woriy. Leah didn't tel me. You know about the exhibitionism thing. I overheard the two of them talking. Pretty hot, getting it on in public'

Yes, very hot.' Dix grinned, probably at the memory.

You're slurring your words and weaving. Christ, kid, you're sloshed.' 'Not,' Brandon said. 'Let's go to that bar in New York New York. Something Irishmen. Or something.'

Dix looked around as another crowd of extravagantly clothed conventioneers passed by. 'Shit. It beats the fucking Penny Pincher. Which I am not going back to, by the way, you can have that vermin-ridden bed al to yourself if you're gonna be proud.'

They moved through the crowd, which parted pretty easily for them since they weren't dressed like everyone else.

They got their share of stares, though. At the bar, they found a booth in the back, Dix checking his cel phone while Brandon ordered a round of shots.

'Slainte,' he said, raising his glass.

'May your life never be hard and your dick never soft.'

The liquor burnt Brandon's throat and bel y. A couple, not wearing fetish gear but obviously in town for the convention, slid into the booth beside them. The woman, a tal brunette, wore a black fitted dress. The man with her wore a simple white long-sleeved T-shirt under a black one and a pair of jeans. But what caught Brandon's eye was not the way the couple looked so adoring at each other, or how their fingers linked across the table.

It was the col ar.

Braided leather, plain, it could be nothing else. It fit tight to the man's throat. As Brandon watched, the woman reached to adjust it against the man's skin.

'Fuck,' he muttered, and looked away. 'What?' Dix looked over. 'Oh. Wel .'

Brandon ran a hand through his hair, then rubbed his eyes. 'It's not like that, either.' 'Hey. I already told you ..."

'I know. But it's like . . . shit.' Brandon looked around, noticing other couples in various levels of costume. 'Everyone thinks a guy who likes to let the woman lead is a pussy. I'm not a pussy.'

He said it a little too loud. Turned heads. Dix looked uncomfortable for a moment. 'Nobody said you were.'

Brandon pointed at the couple next to them. Shit, that last drink had been a little too much. 'Leah doesn't like any of that stuff. Those games, she cal s 'em. The pomp and circumstance, is what she says. She'd never put a col ar on me, because I'm not a dog.' Dix looked amused. 'No more shots for you.'

Brandon lifted a finger, tiying veiy hard to make his point and knowing he was probably failing. 'Even if sometimes they cal me Bingo, which is NOT my name-o.'

Dix laughed and Brandon joined him. Dix shook his head. 'Listen, kid, I can't pretend I get it, but if it makes you happy and makes her happy, who the hel cares about anyone else?'

'I guess it doesn't make her happy, or she'd have said yes. Man,' Brandon said, aware he was not too drunk to want to explain but a little too sloshed to make sense. 'Shit. Wel .

Whatever. I told her what I had to say, and if she doesn't want it I guess that's it. Nothing else to do about it.'

Dix stil looked amused, but before he could say anything else, Brandon's phone rang. The ringtone, a clip from Portishead's 'Glory Box', didn't sound too loud compared to the bar's raucous atmosphere, but the photo of Leah told him it was her. He thumbed the touch screen immediately, listening. He didn't haye to say anything. Leah said it al .

'Get over here, Brandon, and fuck me until we both can't stand.'

He ended the cal and sat back against the seat. 'She says she wants me to get over there right now.' Dix raised a brow and set his glass down. 'And?'

The Penny Pincher had looked a hundred times worse after seeing Leah's suite. Not only that, but after a few hours of fake tits in tiny bras and tight, tanned asses jiggling in glittery thongs, Leah looked a thousand, no, a mil ion times better. 'Fuck taking a stand,' Brandon said.

Dix clapped him on the shoulder. 'Wel , kid, there's not a damn thing wrong with being a booty cal . Let's get out of here.'

Kate must've answered the door, because when Leah came out of the bathroom after brushing her teeth and washing her hands -- she didn't want to greet Brandon with nacho breath or stripper oil on her fingers -- he was standing in the doorway. 'Wel , hel o.'

Part of her had known without question he would come at her command. Part had wondered if she'd pushed him too far, final y, and if he'd rebel by not showing up. The uncertain part had been bigger than she wanted to admit, because at the sight of him, Leah let out a low, slow breath of relief.

'Did you have a good time with Dix?'

Brandon smiled. Fuck, she was such a sucker for that grin. He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it to the floor.

Her gaze fol owed it, then looked back to his face. Oh, she was in over her head this time. And she total y didn't care.

Off came his buttoned shirt to fol ow the jacket into a heap on the floor. Brandon tilted his head to look at her.

'Should I be doing this to music?'

Oh how much she loved him, for something as simple as a tossaway line of self-deprecating humour. Leah laughed, more relief sweeping through her. Things were going to be OK. 'No. I've had enough of that tonight.'

'You sure?' He swivel ed his hips, i could put on some Lil Wayne. Rock your world.' 'Come here, Brandon.'

He did at once, stepping up against her, his hands on her ass and rubbing through the denim of her jeans. 'Yes.'

She'd taken off her shoes and had to stand on her tiptoes to find his mouth. He tasted of beer and smoke and whiskey and Leah retreated a little even as his lips fol owed hers. 'What did you and Dix get up to?'

Brandon nuzzled her neck as his hands caressed her rear. 'Decadence. Naked women, booze. Cigars. Oh, and before that, we had . . . steak.'

His tongue slid along her throat and Leah let her head fal back to give him free access. 'My God. No. Not steak.

How can you come here and face me after that?'

'I feel so dirty,' Brandon said against her skin as his hands roved higher and pul ed her closer. His teeth pressed her skin and Leah held her breath, her nipples tight and her cunt throbbing.

Leah wasn't much into punishment, even for play, and truthful y, there'd been few enough times Brandon had failed her in any way major enough to warrant something like that.

She laughed, though, low and throaty, and pushed back from him even though denying him access to her body was just as bad for her.

Naughty,' she told him just to watch his eyes flash, if you're so dirty, maybe you should clean up.'

Her gaze flicked to the open bathroom door. It wasn't a bad idea. The smel of the club stil clung to her clothes and she was pretty sure the seat of her jeans had oil stains on them. Besides, the bathroom in this suite was orgasmic.

'Huh,' Brandon said with a quirk of his mouth. 'Maybe you're right.'

Leah took a couple steps back, watching him, but his long arm snaked out to grab her wrist and draw her back to him. He kissed her, not hard, but thoroughly. His tongue stroked hers, and she stifled a moan, her eyes fluttering closed.

He started walking her towards the bathroom, step by step, breaking the kiss just long enough to reach upwards over his shoulder and pul off his T-shirt. Leah's feet hit cool tile as her hands found Brandon's warm, bare chest and tight nipples.

She tweaked one and it hardened further under her fingers. She had to taste him, her desire sudden. Urgent. She kissed his chest and licked his nipple, then skidded her teeth over his flesh. His hand cradled the back of her head as she looked up at him.

I I want to suck you,' she breathed against his bel y, where the muscles jumped at her touch. 'But first. Shower.'

He looked that way and let out a long, low groan of pleasure that made her laugh and straighten.

'Brandon!'

'Look at it,' he said, awed at the glass brick and waterfal showerhead. 'Steam jets, Leah. And it's so big.'

'Big enough for you, baby, I know,' she teased. 'You won't have to crouch down. But I might expect you on your knees.'

He kissed her again, i think I could live in a shower like that.'

'Take off the rest of your clothes,' Leah told him. Her heart skipped as her voice lowered and he responded by sliding his tongue over his bottom lip. 'Turn on the water first so it gets hot. And let me see you get naked for me.'

He nodded and turned on the faucet, then stepped out of the spray to face her. Leah, stil ful y dressed, leant her ass against the marble countertop. Her jeans, which should've felt way too tight anyway, considering the buffet meals she and Kate had consumed, rubbed insistently between her legs as she crossed them at the ankle. Watching him. Knowing he got off on this as much as she would.