Coming Undone (16 page)

A gasping moan trickled from her as she arched her back and he slid into her fully.

So good, so fucking good he nearly lost his mind with it. He wanted to rut on her, cover her with his body, his scent, until all she felt, saw, smelled, was him. Her body fit around him so tight and inferno-hot, pleasure clawed at his gut, pulled him into her body, and he never wanted to leave.

Sex with Elise wasn’t just fun, it was the most intensely pleasurable experience he’d ever had. Every time he touched her, he wanted her again, until need made him blind. Not having her for three weeks had nearly driven him insane.

But what got to him so deeply right then was the sense of home he felt when he was with her. The empty or sharp spots inside him were soothed as well as excited just because she existed. No one had that kind of effect on him but her. He’d missed it, missed her. And thank God she’d missed him too.

He thrust into her, hard and fast, her little puffs of breath echo-ing through the narrow area they were in. He found her spine so alluring, each bump and dip of her vertebrae covered in that pale, satiny soft skin. Leaning down, he kissed the line of her back, tasting sweetness and exertion, the salt of her skin.

Her moan vibrated through her bones and flesh, into him, exciting him further. Her belly trembled beneath the fingers he stroked C O M I N G across it as he moved down to her clit. Her cunt gripped him tight when he stroked over it softly.

“I don’t know if I can,” she said.

He licked over her shoulder blade. “You can, gorgeous, and you will. Just let go and come again for me.”

A broken sob escaped her as she came around him. He clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth, trying to hold out, but she felt so damned good he couldn’t stop, and her orgasm brought his own as he pressed in deep and held himself there.

When he came back from the small bathroom adjacent to her office, she’d put herself to rights, having exchanged the toe shoes for a pair of sneakers.

He sat next to her on the top stair. “Those shoes are wicked pretty, but what a pain.”

She laughed. “Toe shoes? All of us have fallen or lost balance when a shoe came undone. Makes you careful.”

He nodded. “Makes sense. It just impedes me in getting you naked enough to fuck when you’re wearing them with tights.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. How have you been?”

He wavered a moment, wondering if he should just fess up that he’d needed some space, but decided he’d only hurt her. Besides, he’d come through it feeling even stronger about her and their connection, so it wasn’t necessary to say anything.

“Crazy busy. We’ve been down one of our full-time artists and then Raven decided it was too cold to stick around until the end of the year and went to Florida. So the shop has been insane. I’ll be able to buy nicer presents though.”

Her lips wore a very brief smirk. “She just left you in the lurch like that?”

“I’ve known Raven for about fifteen years now. She is who she is.

You can’t make her anything else.” He shrugged.

She didn’t look convinced.

“What?”

She shook her head. “Oh, no way. She’s important to you, clearly an ex of some sort on some level. This is a no-win for me.”

“I want you to be honest with me.” He drew his knuckles down her throat and through the hollow at the base. He liked the way her breath hitched and her pulse jumped. “It’s easy to misunderstand her. Many people do and she does have poor interpersonal skills.

She’s abrasive. I’m not going to be offended by anything you say.”

“I’m not you and I don’t have anyone like Raven in my life now.

But I did at one point and I found it exhausting to love him. My brother is a lot,
was
a lot like Raven. And people used to let him get away with it because he was”—she paused, licking her lips—

“special. There was no one like Matthias. He was, when he was in a good way, so much fun to be with. He’d be gone for like four months without a word. He’d miss important events and never apologize.

But out of the blue he’d show up with some seashell he found in Bali and carried back just to show me the pink and to tell me a story about the sunset. The color of the sky was the same pink. He gave it to me so I could have a piece of the joy he felt when he saw that sunset.”

She paused, looking off into the space ahead of her. Something deep stirred in her face, and he put an arm around her shoulders, craving more from her. Wanting her to share.

“He was five years older than me, so I idolized him when I was growing up. He was vibrant and so much fun. If he was in a good way and focused on others, he would do anything for the people he loved. But over time, good Matthias was around less and less. I suppose, deep down inside, Raven pushes my buttons for more than one reason. I don’t like seeing her be careless with you in a way that it impacts your business.”

“And the other reason?”

She licked her lips. “Even the most well-adjusted woman on the planet would be weirded out by the constant inclusion of the ex-girlfriend of the man she’s seeing. It’s petty, I admit it.”

“I’m sorry about your brother. I can’t deny the similarities. She’s got a lot of talent and she just floats around, never trying too hard.

But I’m not her brother. Behavior like hers from Erin or Adrian would be really hard to endure and not be hurt by.” He kissed her forehead. “As for her being my ex. It’s complicated. Do you have time for the story?”

“I want to hear it, but I need to get home for dinner. I promised Rennie, and she’s been shopping with my mother, which is fright-ening, but at least it’s not my credit card. Hey, would you like to come? It’s chili day at my house. I started it in the slow cooker so I can come home and it’ll make me feel all domestic and accomplished.”

He laughed.

“If not, maybe you can come over later for a glass of wine?”

“Can I tell you something?”

“Of course.”

She let him pull her to standing as he took her bag, and they headed downstairs as she turned things off and locked up.

“Yes, I’d like to come to dinner. I haven’t hung out with Rennie in a while, so I imagine there are many new developments I need to be apprised of.”

She grinned. “I like that you see how fabulous my kid is. I’m totally biased, but it makes me happy.”

He stopped, cupping her cheek briefly. “I’ve never met anyone like you. I like that you compliment me with genuine things. Sometimes there can be so much artifice between people. You don’t want to compliment too much or too intimately because you don’t want to tip your hand with the other person and it’s a power struggle or whatever. It’s ridiculous and complicated and tiring. But with you, there isn’t any of that. I like you, Elise. You’re genuine and you’re an amazing mother, and that’s another thing I like about you. I love to watch you with your kid. She’s not an accessory or an afterthought.

You work hard to balance things so that it’s about her. I admire that.”

“That’s a wonderful thing to say. All of it. Thanks.”

“I’m parked in the same lot you are. Let’s go and I’ll be over at your place for dinner shortly. Maybe you can duck over to my place for the wine after Rennie goes to bed. Your parents are still staying with you, right?”

“Yes, they are, and I might just take you up on that.”

13

He’d come to dinner with flowers for all three females. Her mother had flirted and laughed, and Rennie just rolled her eyes and started telling Brody about her life since she saw him last.

Elise’s mother liked him, that was easy to see, and he treated Martine with respect and listened to her stories in the same patient, interested fashion he’d listened to Rennie’s.

“Do you notice your daughter and your mother both seem to have a heart for your Brody?” her father said as they cleared up the dining room.

“He’s a nice guy. They’re both spoiled that way with you already. You set the bar awfully high.”

“Pffft.”
He tried to look tough, but she saw his smile when he ducked his head to put away a bowl.

Her mother came into the room. “Elise, Rennie is going to watch a movie with me and your father. We will have popcorn and soda, no caffeine of course. Why don’t you go on over to Brody’s house for a glass of wine and a quiet conversation?”

“Are you psychic or did he hit you up for babysitting services?”

Her mother laughed. “Darling, you’re young. Why wouldn’t you want a quiet hour or two with him? You’d planned to ask? Because Daddy and I would like you to know we are here. We’ve been begging you to go out and have fun. It’s not a chore to be with Irene. It’s one of our favorite things in the world.”

“Thank you.” She hugged them both. “I won’t be out late.”

“Be out until whenever you want. If you stay over, though, just let us know so we know to get breakfast ready for Irene in the morning.”

She blushed. “I’m not spending the night. Mama, I made a promise to myself I wouldn’t do that around her until I’m sure that man will be part of our lives long-term. I spend the night in the same house she does. I don’t bring a parade of men through her life.

She needs stability.”

“The offer is there when you realize that boy in there will be with you, how you said, long-term. Now, go.”

“Momma! Gran said you’re going to Brody’s for adult conversation and we’re going to watch
Beauty and the Beast
and eat popcorn and drink soda and have ice cream!” Rennie hopped around the living room. “I brought blankets down and pillows so we can all snuggle up on the couch. I haven’t never watched this with them, only you. So they’ll love it.”

She leaned down and hugged Rennie, kissing her several times across her cheeks and nose. “You be good for them, okay? I’ll just be across the street and I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Don’t worry, Pops and I will be sure everything is cleaned up afterward,” Rennie stage-whispered. Martine’s aversion to washing dishes was well known, and amusing to the members of her family.

“Gotcha. I love you, Noodle.”

“I love you too, Momma.”

“Oh man, that chili was totally amazing.” Brody patted his belly as he led her into his house. He took her coat and hung it on a peg in the foyer, and she toed her shoes off.

“Let me get the fire on so your feet don’t get cold.”

“Thank you. But your floors are really warm.”

“Radiant heat. Awesome isn’t it? A few years ago I finally got the energy to get rid of the ugly-ass carpet up here. So of course Adrian decides I need radiant heat, because he’d recently gotten it at his place.”

Warmth from the fireplace crept toward her and she snuggled into the couch.

“So it was his present to me. Little shit. A present is luggage or a pair of gloves, not radiant-heat floors.”

“He loves you and he had it in his means to give it to you, so he did. And I bet you let him know how much it meant.”

He stood and turned, cocking his head. “You’re scary sometimes.”

“Meh. I’m not so much. I’ve seen the way you are with them.

Where’s my wine?”

“Any preferences?” He moved toward the kitchen. “I’ve got a cabernet here and beer in the fridge, if you’d rather go that way. I can also make a mean martini, if you’d prefer that.”

“Looks good
and
can make a martini. I’d love a glass of wine, thank you. I have no idea why you’re wasting your time with an old woman with a kid when with talents like that you could be out with your pick of any tight-bodied twenty-two-year-old.”

“Ha. You’re not old, you’re younger than I am. I’ve had my share of twenty-two-year-olds, but frankly, at my age I feel positively lecherous around anyone younger than twenty-six or -seven.

And have you looked in a mirror?”

He brought her a glass of wine and settled in next to her on the couch.

“You’re anything but a waste of my time.” He kissed her knuckles before taking a sip from his glass. “So . . . Raven. I met Raven fourteen years ago. I was twenty-five and she the aforementioned twenty-two.”

Elise snorted and he flashed a grin.

“I had all this responsibility in my life. I’d had it for a long time, really. Even before my parents died I took care of Erin and Adrian. They were both finally out of high school and working on this band thing. Things were good. I was tattooing and building a following. She was, well, she’s not much different now than she was then.

“Where I had all this stuff anchoring me—family, a job, a community—Raven didn’t. She was a free spirit and I couldn’t get enough. She was everything I couldn’t be. She floated around, doing whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and she wanted me.

Which I found very attractive.”

Elise just listened. Sometimes you needed to get it all out, even if she was sitting there listening to the story of how he fell in love with another woman.

“She and Erin became close as well, but Adrian never really trusted her. To this day there’s distance between them. I fell and I fell hard. She told me not to. She told me that she wasn’t into long-term exclusive relationships. And when it came to it, she cheated.

Well, not really cheated; she fucked someone else and didn’t hide it.

To her, hiding it would have made it cheating.”

Elise knew part of his attraction must have been that he thought he could be the one to change Raven. The more she told him it wasn’t possible, the more attractive she’d have seemed to his twenty-five-year-old self. Also, she
really
hated Raven at that point.

Brody chuckled. “The look on your face makes me feel avenged.

So you can probably guess I didn’t end it. I kept at it for a few years on and off. It broke me, or I let it break me. Whatever. But when Adele was killed, she came and ran my shop for months. She refused to let me pay her anything but straight commission. She handled everything up here. She stepped in during the hardest time of my life and she gave me exactly what I needed. She watered my plants, she took care of my fish, she dealt with my mail and anything else I needed while I was gone or traveling back and forth.

She did it all without me having to ask. Afterward, she sat with me and Erin both, many a night, listening to us pour out our pain. She stayed here for fifteen months all told, from the date of the murder until months after Erin had settled back in here, in Seattle. Everything was chaos, everything felt so hard just to deal with. And Raven made it so that all I had to do was support Erin.”