Again (16 page)

He touched his lips to hers, gently at first as if afraid he would hurt her, and then harder when he felt her respond.
 

Her lips parted when his tongue sought entrance, seeking the warmth inside.
 
She gripped his shoulders and waited for the passion and abandon to come, the spark to ignite her flame still smoldering within her.  Though Galen’s kiss was gentle and loving, she could feel him hold back; unlike Jonathan, whose spirit seems to know no bounds, whose kiss was simply…fire.
 
Hot and burning, consuming everything in its path.

Galen abruptly pulled away, resting his forehead against hers.
 
His voice was ragged, his breathing fast.  “Catherine... I pray you forgive me...”

“Hush.”
 
She smiled.  She took his hands in hers and waited until he looked into her eyes.  “There is nothing to forgive.”  She wrapped her arms around his waist and put her cheek against his chest.

With time the passion would grow between them, she thought.
 
She now knew what it felt like and what she was capable of feeling; how a man could make a woman lose all sense of reason, for one night and quite possibly for a lifetime.  

Chapter 15

Eryn’s thumb moved over the keypad of her cell phone.
 
She scowled at the text messages, all from Troy, asking for the same thing.
 
Weren’t his two messages from that morning about another portrait session enough?
 
Granted she had not yet been able to get back to him to set a time, but his persistence was to the point of annoying.

“Tell me again why we’re doing this?”  Bryce’s form filled the bathroom doorway, his shoulders nearly touching the sides of the frame.
 
Midnight hair, slicked back off his face, dripped water down his still-wet body, droplets rolling teasingly downward from his chest over his rippling stomach and into the towel wrapped snugly around his waist.

Eryn closed her phone and looked up.
 
She blinked and swallowed hard.
 
How can he radiate hot sex when his eyes are like ice?
 
She shoved away the urge to go to him.
 
If the set of his jaw was any indication, he was definitely in no mood – for anything.

Putting down the phone, she focused instead on fastening a pearl necklace around her neck, pondering his question.
 
Why did she ever do anything for Brandi?
 
It was just the way it was since the day they met.
 
On the first day of high school, Eryn happened to be walking past Brandi in the parking lot.
 
Brandi was bent over, trying to get her nose to stop bleeding, muttering profanities.
 
Apparently Brandi had mouthed off to a couple of seniors - who found a quick way to shut her up.
 
There Brandi stood, blood running down her face, spattering the front of her shirt.
 
How could Eryn not offer her the extra sweatshirt she had brought for gym class?
 
She had even walked Brandi to the bathroom and helped clean her up.
 
Thus began the pattern between the two of them.
 

Eryn couldn’t figure out why she felt compelled to take care of Brandi even though she knew her friend took advantage of her.
 
Maybe it was time to start drawing the line, Eryn thought.
 
She was starting to feel an inkling of resentment.
 
Maybe if Brandi starts depending on someone else, she’ll get a life of her own…and get out of mine.

Bryce arched a brow, waiting for her answer.

“Because Brandi needs to hook up with somebody, and I’m thinking Troy might be the one.”
 
She shrugged. “I’m just trying to be a good friend,” she said as she went into the closet.
 

“You’re way too tolerant of her, Eryn.”

“I know, I know,” she muttered, emerging from the closet a holding a red, capped-sleeve cocktail dress with a scooped back and matching heels.

“I'm doing this under duress, you know,” he said, still not moving.

“I know that.
 
But listen, maybe if they like each other we can see less of the both of them.”  Tossing the dress and shoes on the bed, she wrapped her arms around his waist.  “I really appreciate this.”

His hair fell over his steel eyes as he looked down at her, his jaw still firmly set.
  
Letting out a deep breath, he gave in, kissing the top of her head before pushing her away.

≈

The drive home was quiet except for the radio playing low.
 
Eryn thought dinner went relatively well, but the rhythmic tightening of Bryce’s hands around the steering wheel signaled to her that he thought otherwise.
 
She nervously bit her bottom lip as she ran through, for the third time, everything that happened tonight.
 
During dinner Bryce was cordial enough, though not offering much to the conversation, and seeming more than happy to let Eryn do the talking for the both of them.
 

The conversation over dinner had steered itself through neutral territory, touching on the most scenic places to rock climb, college life, latest building projects Troy’s uncle was drumming up, and Brandi’s acting career.
 
Troy was a bit full of himself, but that seemed normal, and Brandi, although seeming a bit agitated at times, for the most part was content to hang on Troy’s every word and touch him whenever she got the chance.

“Doesn’t it bother you?”
 
Bryce’s sudden question snapped in the air.

Eryn cringed.
 
She didn’t like the way that sounded.

“Doesn’t what bother me?”
 
She stared out her window.
 
What was she missing?

He turned his head sharply in her direction. “You really didn’t see it?”
 
His brows were drawn together so tightly it was obvious he thought she was completely blind or an idiot or both.

The confusion she felt must have clearly shown on her face because he let out an exasperated breath and shoved his hand through his hair.
 
The oncoming headlights lit up his face as he focused on the street again.
 
His jaw muscle clenched tight.

“That bastard was hitting on you.”
 

“What?
 
He talked, I responded.
 
Somebody from our side of the table had to keep up with the conversation,” she said defensively.
 
She sat back further into the seat and crossed her arms across her chest. “You certainly weren’t helping.”
 
She immediately wished she could take that back.
 
It was she who had dragged him along tonight, knowing full well he didn’t want to go.
 
But he still did it.
 
For her.

“No, Eryn, it was more than that.”
 
Bryce shook his head, dismissing her interpretation of the evening.
 
The car came to a smooth stop, idling at a red light.

“I think I would have noticed if Troy was making moves on me.”

Bryce shook his head, like it couldn’t have been more obvious.
 
“I wasn’t the only one who saw it.”

Maybe it was Bryce’s imagination.
 
Maybe his dislike of Troy twisted the way he saw things tonight.
 
That had to be it.
 
She thought she had done a great job of putting Brandi and Troy together.
 
They were a good fit.
 
But she didn’t argue with Bryce.
 
They obviously didn’t see it the same way.
 
Eryn sunk lower in her seat and scowled.

Bryce was silent as they pulled into their driveway and waited for the garage door to slide up.
 
Whatever it was that was bothering him, it was because of her.
 
Eryn knew he was going to retreat to whatever place he needed to go to be away from her emotionally.

“I’m sorry.
 
I won’t ask you to do this again.”
 
She wanted to touch him, to bring him back, but she knew it was already too late.

“Good.”
 
Bryce shut off the car and continued to stare out the windshield.
 
He waited until the garage door slid shut before turning to her.
 
Though the anger had dimmed somewhat, his eyes held something that bristled her nerves.
 
He opened his mouth to say something, but apparently thought better of it.
 
Instead he leaned over and kissed her.
 
Hard.
 
It was almost dangerous the way he held her face to his, unyielding fingers threaded in her hair, demanding she meet his passion.
 
His tongue swept inside her mouth, seeking hers.

She winced at the pressure of his lips and his demanding intrusion, but didn’t fight him.
  
She wasn’t about to stop him now after what she put him through this evening.

His breath became ragged as a surge of intensity overcame him.
 
Grabbing her hand he guided it to his growing erection and pressured her fingers to wrap around it.

“Shit.”
 
He abruptly pushed her away and in one swift motion shouldered open the car door and got out, flinging it closed behind him.

In confused silence, Eryn watched Bryce skim around the front of the car, his eyes never leaving hers.

Pausing at the hood, he turned to face her fully.
 
Polished to savage perfection, dressed in head-to-toe black, his gleaming reflection off the car doubled his presence within the confines of the garage.
 
Straight black hair framed a face with smoky eyes that voiced:
 
You are mine.

Eryn shivered under the glare that pierced her through the windshield, pinning her back to the soft leather seat.
 
Tonight pushed all the wrong buttons in him, she thought, and had thrown him into possessive overload.
 
Hot pins of dread pricked their way up the back of her neck.

The length of the hood was hardly an effective buffer against this intense, focused, dominating male, who seemed to be contemplating his next move.
 
She instinctively gripped the door handle when he strode with purpose to her side of the car and wrenched the door open.

He gripped her arm and pulled her out, slamming the door behind her.
 
A solitary moment was all she had to watch the lines around his eyes and mouth harden before the overhead bulb quit, draping them in darkness.
 

A soft
humph
escaped her mouth when Bryce pushed her against the car and delivered another punishing kiss, his tongue tangling with hers and drawing it deeper into his mouth.

He draped her arms around the back of his neck, slid his hands over her shoulders, down her back, and closed his palms on her ass, squeezing, pulling her hard against his bulging shaft, shifting his hips in small erotic thrusts.

Eryn could hardly breathe.
 
It felt like he was sucking the life out of her, stealing the air from her lungs.
 
She was smothered by his need to possess her.
 
Protesting was out of the question.
 
She was no match for this kind of intensity.
 
He overwhelmed each and every one of her senses.
 
Her mind fought against this primal taking, but her body was embarrassingly aroused.

He backed up, pulling her along with him and turned her around, yanking her back against him.
 
The thin silk of her dress did nothing to protect her from his rough caresses, the kneading of her breasts, and the plucking of her nipples to evoke a response.
 
And, against her will, they responded, straining against the fabric of her dress.

She closed her eyes against he pain of his teeth raking and biting her neck and shoulders.
 
An agonizing moan, part frustration, part ecstasy, slipped from her mouth.
 
In a matter of seconds, he had her dress hiked up around her waist.
 
His arm was a vice around her waist as he shoved his hand into her panties, fingered apart the soft folds, and caressed the wetness inside.

She hated being taken this way.
 
She wasn’t some territory for him to piss on or a battlefield to conquer and lay claim on.
 
Damn it, Bryce!
 
You don’t need to prove anything!

She inhaled sharply as he slid his fingers into her, thumbing her clitoris into a swollen, throbbing
thing
that completely took over Eryn’s mind.

“Say it.”
 
He demanded quietly against her ear.

“Wha…?” Her heavy breaths deafened her ears, the smell of sex saturated her nose.
 

“Say you need me,” he demanded.
 
His voice was seductively rough.
 
“Say it’s me that you want and no one else.”