CHAPTER TEN
“ALL RIGHT, SHAY, where is she?”
Shay bit her bottom lip, but her back was straight and she was so tall she nearly looked him in the eye. “I can’t tell you.”
He cursed, a colorful, explicit curse that had Shay lifting her beautiful eyebrows and pursing her lips.
Sebastian was at the end of his tether. He’d meant to give Brandi one day to get settled back at home, to get accustomed to the idea that he intended to pursue their relationship. But he’d gotten called away on a case, one he couldn’t hand to anyone else because he’d been previously involved and knew the history. As much as he’d wanted to see Brandi, he had obligations that he couldn’t ignore—not when it came to a woman being stalked by her ex. The woman couldn’t afford to hire anyone else, and Sebastian already understood the situation. He’d wanted to call Brandi beforehand, but it had been so late. And by the time he’d gotten back, none of his calls got answered.
Now, a week later, he still couldn’t reach her and his anger had grown steadily with each passing hour. He’d had more time away from her than with her, and the thought nettled him. So even though it was the dinner hour, and he might have been intruding, he’d gone to Shay’s house. He wanted answers, and she was the only one who might be able to give them to him.
“You’re playing some game here, Shay, and I don’t like it. I need to talk to Brandi. Tell me where she is.”
“I’m sorry, Sebastian, really. But she made me promise.”
“Why?”
At that point Shay lost her temper. With one finger poked into his chest, she stood on her tiptoes and looked him dead in the eye. She shouted, “That’s what I’d like to know! What the hell did you do to my sister? She hasn’t been the same since she came back. One minute she looks ready to burst into tears, then she’s smiling like she has some damn secret to keep, and then she informs me she needs a vacation! She just came back from Gatlinburg! She won’t tell me a single thing that happened there.”
“Maybe because it’s none of your business.”
“We share everything!”
“Even guilt?”
Shay went still, her eyes wide. “What are you talking about?”
Sebastian regretted the words as soon as they’d left his mouth. There was no point in rehashing the past. It wouldn’t solve anything, and in fact, might make matters worse. He intended to be around from now on, and he’d make certain things changed, that her family understood Brandi better.
He needed to divert Shay, and he sighed. “Do you intend to leave me standing in the doorway, or can I come in and sit down? I’m beat.”
Her frown softened, and then she sighed, too. “Come on. We can go into my study and talk there.”
Sebastian looked around in amazement as he entered Shay’s home. Luxurious, rich, expansive—all the things he’d expected but seeing them now made his gut twist. How could he ask Brandi to come to his modest home when she had this in her family?
“It’s a great house,” he said when he noticed Shay watching him.
“It’s an empty house and terribly lonely at times.” She opened a thick oak door to a large parlor done in rich shades of burgundy and hunter green. “Brandi has no use for it. She thinks I ought to buy something more homey. She calls it a depressing mausoleum.”
Sebastian stared hard at Shay, wondering at her words and how much truth was behind them. “Brandi actually said that?”
Shay nodded, looking around the room with a poignant half smile. “And I’d even agree with her, except that this is where my husband chose to live, and since his death this is all I have left of him. Besides, after a while, the place kind of grows on you.”
Shay was such a young, beautiful, vital woman, it was often difficult to think of her as a widow. He reached out and gave her hand a quick squeeze. “I’m sorry.”
He’d said it before, countless times to countless victims. It always felt less than adequate and left him feeling hollow, as it did now.
Shay ran her fingertips over a mahogany desk, and Sebastian could see the memories in her eyes. “Don’t be. I’m content with my life and the choices I’ve made. But I want Brandi to be happy, too, and something just isn’t right with her.”
He scrubbed his hand over his tired eyes. Shay looked unhappy as hell, her worry plain to see, and he decided right then he wouldn’t tell her how she’d innocently added to Brandi’s burden. It wouldn’t happen again, because he’d be there, making certain it didn’t.
He intended to make Brandi happy, and to keep her that way, so the point was now moot. “I didn’t mean to let this much time pass before seeing her again, but I was called away. I just got back in town this morning. I tried calling her twice while I was gone, and several times since I’ve been home, but I couldn’t get an answer.”
“She was probably avoiding you.”
Well, that was typical of Shay to be so blunt. Sebastian dropped into a chair and leaned his head back. “I ought to strangle you for getting me into this mess.”
“Is that what it is? A mess?”
“What the hell would you call it? You send me off on an innocent trip…only it wasn’t so innocent.”
“Uh, I hesitate to ask, but what exactly are you telling me?”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Not what you think. I was supposed to entertain your sister for five days, but instead, I fell in love with her in one. The rest of the trip was pure torture, and even though I kept telling myself she deserved a second chance at life without a possessive Neanderthal like myself hanging around, I can’t just let her go.”
Shay blinked twice. “You love Brandi?”
His voice softened at her amazement and he said simply, “How could I not?”
Shay’s smile was blinding. “Exactly! She’s perfect, isn’t she?”
“No, she’s beautifully flawed and I want her. Where is she, Shay?”
“It might not be that easy. You see, I get the impression Brandi doesn’t think she’s good enough for you.”
That volatile anger roiled in his stomach, giving him cramps. It was worse than worrying about money, because Brandi made him feel more secure, more valued, than money ever could. He contemplated Shay’s statement, and his eyes narrowed. “Where did she get that harebrained idea?”
“From you evidently, so you can just stop glaring daggers at me. Right now, Brandi thinks you walk on water. To hear her tell it, you’re the perfect man.”
Emotion swelled inside him—pride and need and lust. “She said that?”
“Not the part about you being too good for her. I just figured that out on my own, given the solemn way she sang your praises. Let me see, you’re gentle and confident and understanding and caring and… Oh, yeah. Strong.” Shay punched his shoulder and winked. “But then any woman with a pulse can see that on her own.”
“You’re a terror, Shay. When you snag a man, he’d better have a will of iron so you don’t trample him into the mud.”
“Ha! Been there, done that. I have no intention of getting involved—much less married—ever again.”
“Spoken like a woman on the brink of a great fall.”
Shay made a rude sound. “I’m too sturdy to fall. Brandi’s the one who’s fallen, and I want to know what you’re going to do about it.”
All traces of fatigue left him. He’d spent four days in surveillance, two in wrapping up an attempted assault which he physically prevented. The ex-girlfriend of the assailant had bordered on hysteria, and it had taken him a long time to calm and reassure her. He’d been on and off planes for more hours than he cared to count, and he’d had nothing but broken, disturbed sleep on any given night. An hour ago he’d felt bruised, physically and mentally tired, and ready to collapse. But now his anger made him ready to burst with adrenaline. He needed an outlet, and Brandi with all her stubbornness seemed like a prime target.
How dare she think she wasn’t good enough for him?
He stood to tower over Shay and his tone emerged as a low, mean growl. “I’m going to take care of everything. As soon as you tell me where she is.”
Shay backed up. “I know you’re inclined to be a little autocratic on occasion. And I appreciate the fact that with your job, it’s probably necessary. But you aren’t going to do anything…well…uncivilized, are you?”
He snorted. Shay knew him well enough she shouldn’t have been worried at all. “I’m going to make your irritating little sister see reason, that’s all.” After he made love to her a couple of dozen times. When he’d finished, she’d know for certain just how much she meant to him.
Shay grinned and patted his arm. “I’ll get you the address.” She went around her desk to open the top drawer. “But I’m counting on you to make this work out, Sebastian. I don’t want to have to deal with Brandi’s temper if she comes back here alone.”
“She’s not going anywhere without me.”
“Ohhh. A forceful man. Be still, my heart.” She fanned her face with a small square of white paper.
Sebastian grabbed the slip of paper from her hand. “Ha. You’re too damn bossy to ever put up with a forceful man and you know it. You’d have him begging for mercy within twenty-four hours.”
Shay shrugged. “Damn right. But I can have my fantasies.”
As he started out, he said over his shoulder, “Yeah, we all do.” And Brandi was about to fulfill his, whether she liked it or not.
BRANDI STEPPED OUT onto the front porch of the small rental cabin, and opened her arms to the feeling of being wrapped in a big black sky filled with diamonds. There wasn’t a cloud in sight to block the stars and the moon was a fat orb that glowed softly. She wondered if this was how Sebastian felt when he stood in the isolation of his own home; at peace, lulled by his surroundings. Then she felt keen regret, because she would never know.
This cabin was rustic compared to the elegant one she’d shared with Sebastian. She preferred it here, though, if she had to be alone, because this cabin had a gentle familiarity to it, a hominess that she needed to mend her broken heart.
He hadn’t called. He hadn’t come to see her.
Though she knew it was for the best, for a short time she’d hoped for more. Sebastian had seemed so determined to continue their relationship, that a secret part of her had hoped he would force the issue, that he would take her choices away. But then those first few days had passed and she hadn’t heard from him. After that, she’d accepted what was right for both of them.
Still, she missed him terribly. Everything she did, everywhere she looked, she thought of him. The nights were the worst. There wasn’t a repeat of the nightmare, just the endless loneliness, and the knowledge of what she was missing. It had only been five days—the same length of time as the mundane workweek she usually put in—but time enough for her to fall completely, irrevocably in love.
It wasn’t a mere infatuation with her first lover; no infatuation could be this strong, this all consuming. She had no doubts about the depth of her feelings. She loved him, and that wasn’t going to go away.
It was Sebastian she had to wonder about. Was it possible for a man to be so gentle and considerate and not be emotionally involved? Could he have been using the situation only to gratify them both sexually? He’d always had her best interests at heart, she knew that as well as she knew her own limitations. Sebastian hadn’t used her. But he’d admitted the circumstances were a fantasy for him, for almost any man. And what normal, healthy man would turn down the invitations she’d given? Now that the trip was over, maybe he’d decided to find a woman with fewer inhibitions, someone who could meet his high level of sexuality without faltering.
Moving to sit in an old wooden rocker, she closed her eyes and immediately the fantasies began to intrude. She had never considered fantasizing about a person before, but Sebastian had been so open about it, so natural, that his fantasies were now her own. In her mind, she could clearly see his bare, powerful body drawn taut on the bed, his expression hard and heated as she gently, endlessly rode him. The sounds of pleasure he made, the way his breath rasped, the thrusting of his hips as he struggled against his bonds. A tingle started inside her, and she felt the ache more keenly than ever.
She knew now what she was missing, and the knowing hurt. But she wouldn’t have gone back to her ignorance for anything, her memories of the time with him were too precious to regret.
Disgusted with herself and her obsession with a man she couldn’t have, she started to rise. An unfamiliar sound made her hesitate; tires crunched on the long gravel drive, then braked to the side of the house. With her entire body straining with the effort, she listened to the sound of a car door slamming, the noise carried easily on the still night air.
No one knew she was here, so she certainly didn’t expect any visitors. Unless Shay had come to check on her, which was possible. But the stomping footsteps that rounded the house weren’t made by a woman, and just that quickly, all her old fears returned, choking her, slowing her heartbeat. She was alone, vulnerable….
A familiar figure bounded onto the porch and Sebastian stood there, overwhelmingly big and strong, making the small porch seem even smaller. Relief, yearning, confusion—they all swamped her at once. She sat frozen, unsure what to do, how to react. He didn’t notice her sitting so quietly in the corner. He had his hands on his hips and a fierce frown on his face. To Brandi’s eyes, he looked incredibly gorgeous.
Then one large fist raised to pound on her door. In the next instant, he bellowed her name in demand, the sound echoing dully around them. Brandi had no doubt he was angry.
She spoke quietly from her shadowed corner. “What are you doing here?”
He whirled toward her, his eyes searching in the darkness. When he located her, he stepped close. He wrapped his long fingers firmly around her upper arms and half lifted her from the chair.
“I came for you. Why the hell are you hiding from me?”
“Hiding?” His tone was antagonistic, almost brutal. Brandi didn’t understand his mood at all.
“Yes, damn it. I’ve been trying to reach you. I had to threaten Shay to find out where you were.”
He had frightened her half to death coming out here this way, and now he accused her? In the week since they’d parted, she’d suffered ten kinds of hell, missing him, wanting him. Needing him. And he verbally attacked with his first breath. She tried to pull away from him, but he held firm, so she did her best to stare him in the eyes. She had to tip her head way back to do so. “I’m not hiding, you big jerk. I’m relaxing. And why shouldn’t I have gone away? You said you were going to call, but then you didn’t.”
She hadn’t meant to make that accusation. It served no purpose, except to show the measure of her hurt. Pride made her stiffen. As much as she wanted him, she wouldn’t humiliate herself.
Muttering, she said, “Shay should have kept her mouth shut. She promised me.”
“Yeah, well, she buckled under my threats.”
Brandi snorted. “Shay doesn’t buckle under to anyone.”
“Okay, so she was more reasonable than you.” He shook her gently, and his tone was urgent. “I explained to her I was called out of town on an emergency, and she believed me.”
“You were out of town?”
He made a rough sound of exasperation. “Yes. I had to deal with a case where only I knew the history. I couldn’t hand it over to anyone else.”
Just looking at him made her heart beat faster. She licked her lips, more aware than ever of the differences in their heights, their strengths. “Was it a woman you had to help?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. But it’s over for good now. The jerk harassing her had a prior of petty theft. This time he had robbed a small convenience store. They had him on film. After she contacted me, I got the police involved and we set him up. The damn fool tried shooting at the cops.”
Brandi swayed, and automatically she reached out to touch the solid strength of his chest, verifying that he was still in one piece. “You could have been hurt.”
He shook his head. “I’m fine.”
For the first time, she noticed the exhaustion in his eyes, apparent even in the dim moonlight. Being a hero was tiring work. Yet he’d come after her. Tears clouded her vision and she didn’t know what to think.
All the differences between them had never seemed more magnified. He was close to a Superman figure, but she was certainly no Lois Lane.
“I tried to call once I got settled in a hotel, but you didn’t answer your phone.”
“The phone rang really late a couple of times. I thought it was Shay. She’s driving me nuts, wanting to coddle me, and at the same time trying to pry details out of me. She’s not being at all subtle.”
Sebastian’s grin shone very white in the darkness. “I’m relieved that’s all it was. Shay told me you were avoiding me.”
This time, she really would strangle Shay once she got home. “No, I wasn’t doing that.” Then she shrugged. “I didn’t think there was any reason to avoid you. You hadn’t called. I thought it was over.”
His fingers tightened on her arms, not hurting her, but letting her feel his strength. “No.”
That one word held a wealth of determination. Very carefully, Brandi pulled away from him. Not because she was afraid, but because she needed time to think. She stepped behind the rocker. “Sebastian, I’m sorry if I misunderstood. But it was for the best anyway. We can’t continue where we left off.”
“Bullshit.”
Shocked, Brandi curled her fingers over the wooden slats of the chair. Her anger simmered. “I’m trying to be honest here,” she shouted in frustration.
“Then be honest and admit you want me! I’m too damn tired for more games.”
Knowing she was only reacting to his anger, Brandi tried to find a measure of calm, but she couldn’t. Sebastian was simply being too brutally provoking. “We’re not suited to each other,” she insisted.
“I’ll warn you right now, honey,” he said, his tone hard and low and rasping, “if you give me any nonsense about not being good enough for me, you probably won’t like the consequences.”
“I’ll always have the fears, Sebastian, and eventually, they’ll come between us!”
He cursed again, loudly, and Brandi’s temper rose to match his. “Quit cursing at me! Do you think this decision has been easy for me? I’m trying to do what’s best for both of us. So go home and leave it alone.” Tears stung her eyes. In disgust, Brandi turned away and stomped into the house. Sebastian followed.
With only one light on in the tiny kitchenette, the interior of the cabin was dim. “Don’t walk away from me, Brandi.” He caught her arm and swung her around. Lowering his face close to hers, he said, “I’ve given you as much space as I can. From the very first, you’ve wrapped me around your little finger. But I’ll be damned if I’ll let you end it this easy. I care about you.”
Brandi had given this a lot of thought, and she was prepared to be reasonable, even noble, despite the volatile mood. She squared her shoulders and stated, “Sebastian, you’re a hero.”
With a hoot of rough laughter, he sneered and said, “Is this a new fantasy, Brandi? Hey, I’m game, you know that. But I need to know the details if you want me to play the right role.”
He looked dangerous, and Brandi imagined this was how he looked when he worked. He seemed poised to jump on her, but she knew he wouldn’t. She trusted him. Still, her own anxiety made her tone as harsh as his. “Damn it, Sebastian, will you just listen?”
He looked ready to snarl in anger, but finally he nodded.
Brandi drew a steadying breath, but she couldn’t calm herself. The truth of what she was losing, of what she was chasing away, made her angry. “You’ve been rescuing women for years, starting with your mother, then in your business. You’ve always seen women as small and vulnerable. Being a protector is as much a part of you as your sexuality.”
His low growl reverberated in the quiet cabin. “I don’t think of women as inferior people, Brandi.”
“I know you don’t.” She tried to keep her voice even, desperate to make him understand. Still, her words came too fast and too hard. “The reality of your size and strength in comparison to a woman’s is obvious in everything you do. And more than most men, you’re aware of that reality. It’s ingrained in you, with your job, your background. And you…you probably viewed me, with the circumstances of my rape, as a woman in more need of rescuing than most.”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t initiating a rescue attempt when I let you tie me down. I was answering a sexual need. I was hot, and you were the answer.”
Brandi took a step forward, her eyes narrowed. He was deliberately being crude, trying to embarrass her. In low tones, she said, “Good. Because you don’t have to rescue me. The five-day fling is over. Your obligation is over.”
His snarl was loud and ferocious. “Damn you! Is that all you think it was? An obligation? I’ve got plenty of obligations, lady, but I don’t usually handle them in bed.”
Brandi felt her cheeks heat, but refused to look away from him. “Our situation was unique.”
“Damn right it was. You used me, and now you’re through, is that it?”
Her breath caught painfully. “No!”
“Listen to me, Brandi, and listen good.” He still frowned, but now his expression was intent, filled with cold determination. “My house will never be fancy, nothing like Shay’s, but it’s mine, and it’s not something I can give up. Anything else is negotiable but that. I have enough money put away that you can redecorate as many times as you like. And I’ve already decided to limit the cases that take me out of town. The house is isolated, but you won’t be alone there very often. I’ll even hire a maid, if that’ll make you feel better. It’s not a mansion, but you’ll adjust.”
Tears blinded her, and without thinking she struck him hard in the chest. It felt like hitting a stone wall, and she gasped with the pain of it, cradling her hand to her chest. Sebastian blinked, his anger replaced by surprise, but other than that, he didn’t show any sign that the blow had registered.
Brandi went on tiptoe to try to look him in the eyes. “Damn you, Sebastian, this isn’t about money! It isn’t about a house or maids or decorating. It’s about you.”
She tried to strike him again, and this time he caught her fist and held it against his chest. “Stop that. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
Brandi snarled with her anger. “I don’t care about money!”
“But I do. A little too much.”
“Ha! What about the cases you don’t charge for? You made it sound like it was an isolated case here and there, but Shay told me there were a lot of people who needed you, and you do the work gratis.”
He stiffened, as if he didn’t want that part of his life examined too closely. “Not everyone with a need has that kind of money to spend. I make a more than sufficient income on the bigger cases.”
“That’s exactly my point! You don’t hoard your money. You’re not oblivious to those in need. God, you’re the most generous man I’ve ever known.”
“Brandi…”
“No! You listen to me this time. I love you, you big jerk. You’re an amazing man, considerate and sexy and strong and gentle and…” She faltered, the words choking her. She cleared her throat and stared up at him. “You can have any woman you want, Sebastian. You don’t need me.”
His eyes suddenly blazed with a savage expression. “Like hell I don’t.”
“Sebastian…”
“I need you and I want you.” He jerked her up against his hard, hot body. “Right now.”
She glared and actually stomped her foot. “You are not going to sidetrack me with sex!”
Sebastian caught both of her wrists and used them to control her, holding her just tight enough to let her know she couldn’t escape him. A slow grin suddenly spread over his face. “You are so damn beautiful.”
Brandi gasped. “Aren’t you listening to me? Have you heard a word I’ve said? This would never work out between us. You deserve everything a woman has to offer. But I can’t give it to you, because part of me is forever gone. You deserve so much more than I can— Umpf!”
Sebastian jerked her hard into his body and his mouth muffled her protests. He kissed her, letting her feel his anger, his lust. When he pulled away, Brandi was dazed.
“I warned you not to do that, not to put yourself down. Don’t you ever belittle yourself, do you hear me?” He kissed her again, a quick hard kiss, then whispered, “I love you, Brandi. I accept all your flaws, just as I hope you’ll accept all of mine. Having you makes me feel more secure than any amount of money ever could. And you might as well know right now, I’m never letting you go.”
Before Brandi could form a coherent argument—if indeed she would have—Sebastian picked her up and carried her to the only bedroom. It housed a double bed, and as he lowered her to the mattress, his mouth came down on hers again, stifling any complaint she might have made. Brandi struggled against him, especially when he started pulling off her T-shirt. Nothing had been settled yet!
He misunderstood and said against her lips, “It’s just me, babe. Only me.” His head lowered to her breast and he sucked her nipple gently into the heat of his mouth. Brandi arched up off the mattress with a harsh cry of pleasure.
Lowering his full weight onto her to keep her still, Sebastian trailed his mouth over her breasts, kissing the other nipple, then moving down to her ribs. Brandi writhed beneath his comforting weight, loving the feel of him over her, surrounding her. Her earlier fantasies, combined with his sudden appearance and her raw emotions, left no room for anything other than need. She could no longer focus on fear, regrets or what might be right or wrong for the future.
Sebastian growled and his hand slid between her thighs, seeking, probing. He didn’t hold back now, didn’t temper his desire or his urgency. Brandi moaned.
“I need you, babe. Right now.”
“Yes.” Brandi said the word mindlessly, her hips lifting into his, pressing. He unsnapped her shorts and jerked them open. His long fingers caught at the waistband, and he stripped her shorts down her legs, taking her panties with them. Sitting poised between her widespread legs, he looked at her. The heat in his eyes should have brought on her wariness, but instead, it thrilled her.
He was back, and he wanted her. He’d said he loved her.
“Sebastian?”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I can’t wait.”
Brandi screamed when his mouth pressed against her sensitive flesh. His tongue touched and explored; he suckled and nipped with his sharp teeth, and through it all, he held her legs spread wide with his rough hands. Brandi had almost no time to adjust to the unfamiliar caresses before she felt her climax building. Her body arched high, pressing her closer to his mouth, closer…She felt suspended with intense pleasure for long seconds before the feelings began to diminish.
When she slumped into the mattress, her breathing still harsh and her heart thundering against her ribs, Sebastian leaned back and quickly fumbled with his belt and the closure of his slacks. The zipper came down and he eased the restriction of clothing away from his erection.
Balancing on his arms above her, he positioned himself, then gently probed against her slick folds. He made a low sound of pleasure. “You feel so hot and wet.” He slid in an inch, pacing himself, then squeezed his eyes closed. “Tight.”
Brandi wrapped her legs around him. She loved him. And she needed him now. Sebastian.
He thrust forward, and this new position, with him planted firmly between her thighs, left her helpless to counter his thrusts. The sense of being totally vulnerable to him—feeling him so deeply inside her, stretching her—enhanced her pleasure rather than inhibiting it. They both groaned.
When he gruffly apologized, Brandi knew he had meant to be slow and gentle. But their mating had turned urgent. Unlike the lovemaking that Brandi had controlled, this was wild and primal, and so beautiful she cried.
Within minutes, she came again, but it was better this time, the feelings more intense, deeper, because Sebastian was a part of her. She wrapped herself around him and screamed with her pleasure. Sebastian’s low growl followed, while his shoulders tensed and his hips pumped wildly. Then he slumped onto her, his body limp, sated.
Brandi drew her fingers up and down the long expanse of his back, solid with muscle, warm and damp from his sweat. She loved him, every big gorgeous inch of him, from his hair-rough legs to his whiskered chin. He was the most incredible man, and if she could believe his words, he was hers.
Smiling, she said, “You were wrong.”
He stiffened, then carefully levered himself upward. Brandi felt tears sting her eyes at his look of uncertainty. She raised her head enough to kiss him, letting her lips play lightly over his. “You told me I wouldn’t like the consequences—but I liked them very much.”
Sebastian grinned, then dropped his forehead to hers. “I love you, Brandi. Don’t ever leave me again.”
“I won’t. Not if you really love me.”
“I love you so much it terrifies me.”
Everything seemed perfect, but she had to make certain. “The nightmares might not be gone.”
“Nothing that emotional is ever completely gone. I’ll always have a soft spot for people in need, and feel sickened by financial waste. I’ll always take part in charities, needing to help as much as I can. Things become part of us, molding us, making us the people we are. Good and bad, we just have to adjust and be who we are.”
“I love who you are, your scruples, your dedication, your morality. I think you’re a wonderful person.”
“I love you, too. We’ll deal with anything that comes up. Together.”
He kissed her, long and sweet, then not so sweet. “I forgot to use a condom.”
Brandi chuckled at his chagrin. “Is your house big enough for a baby or two?”
His eyes turned a fierce, bright green. “Yeah, it’s plenty big enough. And there are trees in the yard that would be perfect for a playhouse, or a tire swing. And a creek around the back of the property where we could catch crawdads and minnows and tadpoles.”
The tears overflowed her eyes, but she managed a wobbly smile. “I’d say it sounds like life with you will be perfect.”
He cupped her face. “Will you marry me?”
“I think Shay would probably insist on it.”
He chuckled. “And if Shay wasn’t around to force the issue?”
Widening her eyes in mock alarm, she asked, “You’re not thinking of doing anything nefarious with my sister, are you?”
“No way. I owe Shay big for setting us up together in the first place.” He pushed his hips against her, reminding her that he was still inside her—and aroused once more. “Now, will you answer me?”
She moaned, her eyes closing as his gentle thrusts stole her thoughts.
“Brandi?”
“Yes, I’ll marry you. Just please don’t stop what you’re doing.”
Sebastian grinned past his own desire. He slid one hand between their bodies, finding her heat and making her moan loudly. Now that he’d been partially sated, and the desperate need to get a commitment from her had been appeased, he could take it a little easier, go a little slower. Tease a little more.
Brandi looked beautiful with her incredible dark hair wild around her face, her lips parted, her cheeks flushed. She wanted him and she no longer felt any shyness in admitting her need. He kissed her nipple and felt her internal muscles squeeze him.
“Brandi?” he whispered, his lips against her soft skin. “Did I ever tell you the fantasy I have about owning a sex slave?”
Her eyes opened slumberously and she smiled. “No. But I think I’d like for you to tell me about it right now.”
He showed her instead.
TANTALIZING