I felt too weak and hollowed out to argue with him, so I just stayed there, exhausted and drained on the bed, my hair fluttering in my face when I shifted to rest my aching head on a pillow.
When Brandt returned, he sat next to me and carefully parted the tangled mess of hair to see my face. “You still in there?” he asked in an amused voice.
I huffed. “No.” I was just a vacant shell of misery.
But then beautiful blue eyes met mine, crinkling in the corners with a soft smile. “Found you.”
He pressed a folded washcloth to my skin. I sucked in a breath from the delicious sting of soothing warmth. Grabbing his wrist that was holding the rag to my face, I held on to him for dear life. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this.”
He sighed. “You apologize to me again, and I really will tickle you until you pee. None of this was your fault.”
With a sniff, I shook my head. “Then why do I feel like such an idiot? I mean, how naive does a girl have to be to think she was going on a real date when the guy was only with her to win a bet? I hate to break it to you, but I’m the only person I’ve ever heard of this happening to.”
The cloth was ripped off my face so Brandt could give me the full intensity of his scowl. “You are not an idiot, naive or otherwise. When a fucking prick bastard deceives you and tries to use you the way this one did, that’s on him. Not you. And you actually caught him before he did anything, so honestly, I’m impressed with just how smart you are.”
I cracked off a sharp laugh. “Smart? Yeah, right. That’s funny. I was so fucking smart I asked Reese for advice about getting my first kiss while I was getting ready for this joke of a date. I actually wanted one, too. I mean, I seriously thought...” Squeezing my eyes closed, I bowed my head. “I just...I feel so stupid.”
“Will you stop saying that? You are not stupid. That dickhead is a bastard. End of discussion.”
But my tears were returning, and I couldn’t seem to quell them. Brandt sighed and rubbed a spot on the center of his forehead. Then he growled out a sound of irritation. I knew it was because he hated it when I cried. It always filled him with a helpless kind of frustration.
Finally, he muttered, “As for your first kiss...here.”
Leaning forward, he pressed his mouth to mine.
Totally unprepared, I sat there, stunned, gawking at him.
“Close your eyes,” he said against my mouth, amusement lacing his tone.
When he spoke, his lips were dry but soft as they rasped against mine. Heat coiled in the base of my stomach, and I instantly slapped my eyelashes together.
He rumbled out a sound of appreciation. “Now kiss me back.”
I had no idea what that meant, so I puckered my mouth as I did when I kissed my niece’s and nephew’s cheeks, then I made the kissy sound before pulling away.
Brandt laughed, his blue eyes sparkling with delighted humor. Realizing the kissy sound was probably totally unnecessary, I began to blush in hot humiliation, but he said, “Again,” and pressed his mouth back to mine.
This time, my eyes closed automatically and my head tilted to accommodate him. His lips brushed across mine, and my nipples tingled inside my bra.
I shifted closer, as scared as I was intrigued by the sensation. Brandt cupped my cheek in one palm, and his tongue gently nudged the seam of my lips. I opened for him more on instinct than rationally telling myself to do so. It was as if my body took over and brain shut down, because the last thought I remembered having was that I didn’t want to be a dead fish to him right before his tongue touched mine, and suddenly I was sliding mine across his and investigating the feel.
My breasts pulsed again, and the sensation between my legs matched them with the same thrumming need. I caught the front of his shirt and fisted it between my fingers as he moved his head, slanting to get more of me.
I whimpered, and he echoed the sound with a throatier groan.
As our tongues knotted together, he rolled me onto my back and slid partially on top of me, threading his fingers up my cheek and into my hair before grasping and encouraging my head to tilt where he wanted it to go.
My entire body throbbed, burning for more. Letting go of his shirt, I planted my hands in his hair, my fingers delighting in the silky softness. He shifted restlessly, sliding a little further on top of me, and broke from my mouth to kiss his way along my jaw. I gasped for air and gaped up at the ceiling above me while his lips traced my ear before his tongue flicked out to tease the lobe.
I let go of his hair to curl my hand under his arm and clutch the muscles in his back. Brandt followed my lead by skimming his own fingers from my hair, down the side of my neck before clutching my ribcage so his thumb grazed the side of my breast.