Sanctuary (Family Justice Book 3) (57 page)

“Models?” He snorted. “Who the fuck are you talking about? Stephanie maybe, and that’s only because of the beauty queen title. But the rest?”

His shrug was ten kinds of cute, but seriously, was he fucking blind? They were all so sexy and sexy was not something she knew how to do. Not with her clothes on, anyway.

The minute the elevator opened, Heather grabbed Brody’s hand and stomped to the end of the hallway.

“Are we in a hurry?” he joked when she told him to get the damn door open.

She remembered seeing an indie movie once about a geisha and a businessman who had a torrid affair. The film was a dud, except for the love scenes, and without giving it any more thought, Heather found herself playing the geisha to Brody’s hunky businessman.
You take your inspiration however it comes
, she reasoned.

Tossing the room card on a table, he emptied his pockets too and even laid his wallet out where she could see it. Why was she supposed to pick through it? She couldn’t remember. That part of the afternoon’s fun and games was a bit fuzzy. But Tori insisted and the little dynamo’s husband laughed, so there had to be a good reason. Well, she’d address the wallet later. Right now, she wanted him wearing a lot less clothing.

Kicking off her shoes Heather helped her cowboy shed the suit jacket. Carefully peeling it off his back, she draped it over her arm and hung the gray jacket over a chair.

“You seem to have a plan, m’lady,” he teased. “Am I playing my part right?”

Oh. So he wanted to play. Cool. She’d save the geisha routine for another time. Going to the desk, she pulled out the armless chair and sat down. Crossing her legs, she gave him what she sincerely hoped was a salacious look and not a whiskey-infused sneer.

“Strip for me, cowboy,” she demanded. Leaning back in the chair, she let her gaze travel at a snail’s pace, sighing with desire as she took in the hot vision before her. She’d seen him in a suit thousands of times, but this … this was something different. The man was dripping with sexy. Maybe it was the vest—she’d never given a three piece much thought before, but holy mother of god, did he ever make the formal attire look yummy.

Without missing a beat, he stood before her and took his good old time taking off his clothes. He unbuttoned his cuffs then loosened the tie. When he pulled the piece of silk from around his neck, he tossed it at her with a sly smirk. “Maybe you can think of a way to put that to use.”

She squirmed in the seat. Every time he brought this up, she resisted just a little bit less.

The buttons on the vest were next. One. Two. Three. Four. Heather sighed and bit her bottom lip when the sexy vest came off. Cowboys wore vests, right?
They should
, she thought.

Unlike when she carefully put his suit jacket on a chair, the vest got dropped in a pile on the floor. She twisted the tie round and round her hands as she watched. He pulled the tails of his shirt from the gray slacks that molded his sturdy thighs and started to loosen the buttons. When the shirt was undone, he left it hanging open and went to work on the buckle of his belt.

Heather was developing a lusty fascination with his belts. Especially the ones with the big silver buckles that he wore with jeans. She stopped breathing when his hands went for the zipper of his pants. He had great hands. Big and sturdy but never clumsy. Watching the way he held the fabric and deftly lowered the zipper, taking extra care around the prominent bulge pressing the front of the sexy dress slacks, she wondered from his standpoint how it felt to be on display. Whether he was doing this because he was a guy and guys got naked with alarming nonchalance or because he knew how turned on she was.

A
LL OF A
sudden, Brody didn’t feel like playing. He didn’t have a reason why; he just wanted something different. Something meaningful. Being around everyone today reminded him what was possible. Especially Alex and Meghan. Did he have a big case of hero worship going on? Probably. But the bottom line was that when he looked at the happy couple, he didn’t see all the wedding hoopla. He saw two people passionately committed to each other and wondered what that felt like.

His gaze drifted over the woman with the lusty expression who was eating him alive with her eyes
. I want what they have, and I want it with her.

“Where is this going, sweetheart?”

She stopped salivating at his stripper performance and looked him straight in the eye. Her face was luminous and had a vulnerable quality to her expression. Seeing it made him want to gather her close and kiss away her fears.

“I want,” she murmured so quietly he had to strain to listen. “I need you to make love to me.”

Had he heard her right? Lord, he hoped so. “Are you sure?” He had to ask ‘cause that was not how this started out. “I’m feeling a fuck me vibe but that’s so not what I want from you.”

She reached into her hair and pulled out the clip holding it up. As the long brown waves fell across her shoulders, she looked at him clear-eyed. Not a trace of their earlier booze buzz clouded her response.

“It started that way,” she admitted. “But I don’t want that either.”

“What
do
you want?” Such a simple question but with so much riding on the answer.

She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

Brody knew his face registered surprise.

“I want to know what it’s like to feel … sexy.” She hung her head after the startling declaration.

Oh, my god. Did she not know? How was that possible? Just looking at her made him horny as fuck. And being around her? Discovering the real woman she’d been so afraid to set free? Knowing he’d helped do that for her made his heart do all sorts of unfamiliar things.

“And I want to make you smile. And laugh. Like your Justice friends do with their women.”

He had his answer, but what she admitted had to come at a cost. She was the bravest woman he’d ever known.

Taking hold of a cuff, he pulled his arm from the sleeve of the dress shirt then slid it off his other shoulder and down the other arm. “I can help you stop being afraid.”

Her voice sounded broken when she cried, “How?”

No. He couldn’t have it. Hearing the sadness overtake her was not okay and never would be. “Let me in, Heather. I’ll make sure you feel sexy every single day. And darlin’,” he drawled in his best cowboy twang, “you already make me smile. And laugh.”

She offered a shy smile that made his heart pound. “Let me love you.” Her soft gasp filled his senses. “Let me love you, Heather, and I swear, you’ll never have any reason to be afraid ever again.”

She was so motionless he wasn’t sure she was breathing. He understood that kind of stillness. It was something he excelled at but for very different reasons.

“Why?” It was a cry from her heart. “Why would you want me? Brody, I’m damaged. Fucked up.” She grunted and visibly shook. “I don’t know that I’ll ever be…”

She didn’t finish, so he did. “You’ll ever be what? Normal? Is that what you can’t say? Shit, Heather. Who the fuck is normal these days? You think I’m normal?
Pfft.
Earlier today, I told a bunch of people I love like family that I could take them out at a hundred yards. You think that was normal?”

He was on a roll, so what was the point of stopping there? “You think Lacey and Victoria are normal? Jesus! Think again. Drae? He’s as fucked up as they come. And Alex. Holy god. You don’t even know. So if it’s normal you’re after, this ain’t where you’re gonna find it, babe.”

There was fast and then there was what Heather did when he stopped ranting. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen anyone move like she did, but in the blink of an eye, she was plastered to him with her arms wound tight around his neck.

“You’re right,” she groaned. “I’m sorry. That’s an old excuse, and I heard myself saying it and just wanted to scream.”

He took fast advantage of their positions and the fact that her hands were engaged and out of his way. Quickly lowering the zipper on her skirt, he pushed it down, thrilled to discover white lace garters and a sexy little belt they attached to.

“Fuck me,” he growled. Staring greedily at the treasure he uncovered, Brody had to pry his eyes away so he could pin her with a look. “Good god, woman. How can you not think you’re sexy as fuck?”

Ten seconds later, her blouse was on the floor along with his slacks and briefs. She looked toward the bed, but he had other ideas. Taking her hand, he drew her to the desk chair, sat down, and stared up at her.

“I thought,” she mumbled. The way she bit her lip made his cock turn to stone.

Oh, he knew what she thought. “There are other ways to make love than just on a bed.”

Her dazzling smile lit up the room. “I miss your sexy leather lounger.”

He snickered and ran his fingers down her stomach. “Ah, so you’re a Tantra convert, are you?”

“Will you teach me?” she husked in a breathy voice. “I want to learn.”

Life. It was wonderful.

Grinning like an idiot, he fingered the hydraulic lever on the chair. “Lesson one. These chairs are adjustable.”

“Ah,” she quipped. “How convenient.” Looking at him up and down and from side to side, she put her hands on her hips and eyed him up but good. “A little higher, I think,” she said with a hand gesture.

“Oh. So that’s how it is. Hold on then.” He chuckled and quickly adjusted the chair’s height. “How’s this? Proper height for m’lady?”

“I think that’ll do nicely,” she told him before making a circuit through the room, turning the lights either down or off. “Gotta set the stage, create some ambiance.” She laughed softly, glanced around, then approached him—stopping right at his knees.

“Naked looks good on you.” She studied his rigid cock for a moment then fluffed her hair with a sigh. “Bra, garter belt, panties, and stockings. Gah! I feel so overdressed.”

Realizing a bit more practice would be needed before he could claim to have some smooth garter unsnapping moves, there was a second or two of awkward fumbling to get through before he detached the garters from her lace top stockings and unhooked the snaps on the sexy belt. Women’s lingerie, while mostly a technical mystery, was undeniably hot and crazily arousing. If it weren't for the fact that he had better things to do right this moment, he would have been more than content to just sit there and look at her.

“The panties can go,” he grunted when the first waves of her deliciously feminine scent overtook him. “But the stockings stay.”

Heather put her thumbs inside the sides of the delicate silk and softly asked, “Would you like to do this or should I?”

Shifting forward, he ran his hands up the outside of her thighs and pushed her hands away when he reached the waistband of the white panties. “Oh, I think this is very much my job. Don’t you?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He didn’t need to. Her body was communicating directly with his. He saw her stomach quiver when he started to slide the silk down her ass. He smelled the excitement she couldn’t deny when he peeled the small scrap of nothing off her mound.

Tossing the silk aside, he looked at her approvingly. Every time he saw the sweet cluster of soft curls she used to hide from him, a layer of horny was added to how she made him feel.

“Come here, sweet lady,” he demanded. “On my lap, love.”

She looked so adorably unsure when she lowered onto him. Brody immediately buried his face in her neck and started kissing. He put his hands on her waist and held her still while he feasted on skin that was soft and responsive. He knew she liked when he bit her and they’d get to that. Later. But right now, he was going to show her another way to get the shivers.

Removing her bra next, he trailed his fingers briefly over nipples that looked needy. Gathering her mass of hair into a tail with one fist, he used the commanding grip to angle her head as he kissed and licked her neck, shoulder, and chin. Nipping her earlobe, Brody growled into her ear. “Lesson one. Trust. Put your hands behind your back.”

When she instantly complied, he was fiercely pleased. She was also starting to grind on his lap. Heat from her center made the slight pulsing moves sexy as fuck. Satisfied she was steady straddling him, he used his free hand to cup a breast and massage the fleshy globe. Swiping his thumb back and forth across a peaked nipple, he felt her first shiver and smiled.