Coming Undone (26 page)

Brody laughed. “Erin, take the money. We’re going to ink this pretty girl right now. I’ll see you later.”

He put an arm around her and steered her toward his shop. He bustled her to the back and had her sit before squirting stuff on her wrist and then transferring his drawing to just where he wanted it.

“You’re very bossy. In some men, no, in most men, it would be annoying. Frankly, even in you it can be annoying. But I love to see you with your siblings. They love and respect you so much, you’re all so close. It’s good.”

He looked up, grinning.

“You look like a pirate.” Her voice had gone thick as his nearness and his beauty affected her.

“I do? And me without my parrot or eye patch.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s the loot-and-pillage smile that worries me. Or, okay, I’m lying; not worried as much as curious.”

“I’m totally going to loot and plunder.” His eyes had gone hooded, dark.

“Only if you promise to pillage too.”

He laughed. “You have my solemn promise. Now try to be still.”

He put her arm across his thigh. “Just relax. Think about being ravished and stuff.”

The sound startled her when he turned the needle machine on, but she relaxed quickly, watching as he dipped it in the ink and then went back to her wrist. Pain, but not a massive amount, vibrated through her as he worked.

The light gleamed off the darkness of his hair. Hair she wanted to touch just then, but resisted because it was his place of work and all. After a few minutes she sort of fell into it, the buzzing, the me-tallic edge of pain as he worked and the needle hit her skin, the sounds around them, the scents—it all hummed through her and she realized just why people did this. It felt good, like a ritual.

It didn’t take him very long. He wiped her wrist off and sat back. “What do you think?”

It was perfect. Just the right size. Nothing flashy or gaudy. A little mark of importance for Rennie.

“Oh.” She looked at it, loving it. He’d only used black with a tiny bit of gray so the bee’s stripes weren’t yellow and black, but black with thin gray bands like those bees who happily buzzed away in her garden. “It’s perfect. I love that you didn’t use yellow. I hadn’t even thought of it but . . . I love it. Thank you.”

“I’m glad. We’re on for dinner tonight, yes?”

She nodded. “I’m stopping by the deli on the way home because I don’t want to cook.”

He put some sort of goop on the tattoo, a thin layer of gel, and taped a bandage over it. “First things first. Leave the bandage on for two hours. When you take it off, wash it with a mild soap and dry it. Pat it dry, don’t rub at it. Then put this on it.” He handed her a tube. “That’s made specifically for tattoo aftercare.

This should heal up pretty quickly. Take care of it. Keep it out of direct sunlight for long periods of time. I know how much you like long baths, but if you take one, keep the wrist out of it. Don’t pick at the scab or the skin either. I’m going to give you a paper that’ll detail what you need to do and I’ll be there to make sure you’re fine.”

“Ew. I promise not to pick scabs. Like, ever.” She curled her lip.

“Holy crap, I had no idea it was this involved.”

He shook his head. “It’s all common sense stuff. I’ll be your personal tattoo doctor.”

“I like the sound of that.” She lasered her eyes on him. “Now, you’re going to charge me for this tattoo. The regular price. Oh, okay if you wanted to give me a discount because we get naked, I won’t say no. But no freebies.”

“It’s my shop and I’ll charge if I want, what I want. That was the most fun I’ve had doing a tattoo in a really long time. It was my pleasure to give you your first and I’m thrilled that you like it so much. I eat at your house at least four nights a week. You never charge me for groceries.”

“No, but you leave groceries in my pantry. Don’t think I don’t notice. And don’t think I miss the twenty that shows up on the counter or tucked in my purse. I don’t charge for dinner, but that’s not even applicable here and you know it.”

She put a hand on her hip and met his narrowed eyes with her own. He snorted. “I’m not charging you. Period.”

“Fine,” she said lightly. “I’ll just have someone else do the other tattoo I want.”

He caught up to her in two steps. He grabbed his jacket and told Arvin he was gone for the day.

“You’re not leaving early just for me. This is your business!”

“You would argue that the sky was blue.” His arm about her shoulders steered her outside as people called their good-byes.

“Are you saying I’m stubborn? For no reason other than I’m just refusing to expect free tattoos from you?”

“I’m saying you’re argumentative. And no one else is going to tattoo you. I’m the best and you deserve the best. Now, tell me the tattoo you were thinking of.”

She shoved money in his hand and he groaned.

“Now I feel much better. There will be no one at my house for another hour and a half,” she called out over her shoulder as she walked to her car and got inside.

He grinned as he knocked on her front door. Grinned even harder as he heard her look out the viewer before her locks all started to disengage. Absolutely infuriating, but fascinating. Strong. Gorgeous.

Smart and steadfast. He’d simply buy her groceries now. He was just as stubborn as she was.

“That grin doesn’t bode well for me, I think.” She opened the door, standing there in absolutely nothing. Sometimes she surprised him in all the best ways.

“No need to worry.” He went inside and locked up behind himself, setting the alarm and following her to her bedroom. He sucked in a breath when he caught sight of her, settled on the bed. “All my thoughts of you, especially right now, are pretty fucking positive.”

“Bring it.” One of her eyebrows arched in challenge, but he barely registered it because, hello, naked.

He tossed himself on the bed, careful not to crush her. “Wow, I thought bad things were supposed to happen when you left work early to be with your girlfriend. I may have to leave early every day now.”

Her hands paused a moment as she removed his shirt, but he’d said it deliberately. They’d moved to a new stage in their relationship and he wanted to say it out loud. Aside from a tiny bit of panic, he felt fine. Better than fine in fact.

He feasted on her mouth. She opened to him, her hands roam-ing all over his body, nails scoring his sides where they drove him to shivers of delight, his lower back as she urged him closer.

Not wanting to hurt her with his zipper against any soft parts, he pulled back and set to removing his jeans while her eyes remained locked on him as he moved.

“Hair down. Please.”

She sat up enough to pull her hair free of the pins, and the room filled with the scent of her shampoo when her hair fell around her shoulders.

“You know, I do believe aside from you playing with your clit and making yourself come while I’m inside you, you haven’t masturbated for my entertainment at all.”

She laughed. “Brody, you know I adore you, but when I finger my clit”—she blushed when she said it, but she said it—“it’s for my entertainment. I’m glad it works for you too, though.”

“God how I love it when you blush that way.”

She fell back to the pillows, her hands over her face while she shook with laughter.

Since she was busy, he brought her ankle to his mouth, pressing an openmouthed kiss in the hollow just behind it. Her laughter melted into a soft groan.

“Touch yourself.” He kissed the other ankle and moved to kneel between her legs.

“Okay.”

He knew without her telling him that he was the only person she’d done this for, and it meant something. Made a difference. She got inside him and settled there until he couldn’t remember a time without her. Couldn’t remember a moment in his life when he didn’t think,
I’ve got to tell Elise about this,
when something happened during his day.

Erin had told him, when they were in Las Vegas for her wedding to Todd, that love often came as a total surprise. And she was right.

There wasn’t a moment Brody could think back on and identify as the time when like tipped into love. But he was there and it rocked him down to his foundations, and yet loving Elise was the most comforting and natural thing he’d ever felt.

Elise’s eyes drifted closed as her hands slid down her torso. His body kept her legs open, and from his vantage point, the glistening, dark pink folds of her pussy beckoned to him, to his hands and mouth, to his cock. How beautiful she was there, laid out before him, offering him everything.

He watched as her hips undulated while she grasped her nipples and pulled.
Whoa
. That was fucking hot. He wanted to talk to her, tell her how hot she looked, but he didn’t want to break in yet, wanted to let the moment be hers alone for a little while longer.

His fingers curled into her calves where he’d been holding her, and she moaned. His mouth watered to taste the velvety skin where thigh met body, wanted to slide across the wet of her cunt, up her belly, over her nipples and to her lips.

Magic. Elise Sorenson was magic. Rare. The most beautiful and elegant thing he’d ever possessed, had ever wanted. When he was a kid, his mother had some fragile porcelain figurine his father had given her when they were teenagers. Brody had never touched it, fear-ing he’d break it or harm it, but he’d watched it. Stood and looked at it, so regal and perfect. The lines so perfect no matter how the sun hit it, even on their totally normal suburban mantel.

Elise was all that desire for something fine and beautiful, but come to life, because she was that way inside too. Such a good mother, competent, no-nonsense, but also whimsical and silly. Sexy that, the way she took care of her kid. Made him wonder what it would be like, to be a family with them, to come home to his girls every night. In loving her, he was a better person.

Part of him went cold a moment at how far he’d gone with her without even realizing it. And then he relaxed, warmed, understood it had been happening every single day since she’d touched him, just before they loaded him into the ambulance almost a year ago.

He only worried that she didn’t feel as deeply. If she didn’t, he’d wear her down until she did. He knew without a doubt that he loved her and wanted to be with her, and her child. He’d wait until after all this legal bullshit was squared away; he knew she’d need all her focus on that. Once that was taken care of, he’d be asking her to marry him.

He moaned softly when her fingers finally slid down and into her cunt, his breathing in sync with hers as they both dragged in a deep breath when she pressed two fingers up into her gate and then pulled them back out.

“I’m dying here, watching you,” he said in a low voice. Her eyes opened slowly and focused on him. “This is so sexy. Like the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Her mouth curled up into a smile as she blushed again. But she didn’t stop the hand on her pussy.

Elise had never been so turned on in her life. Doing this for him, showing him something so intimate that she’d never shared it with anyone before, thrilled and titillated her straight to her toes.

Even though her eyes were closed, she felt his attention, knew his gaze caressed her body, her nipples, where she’d buried her hand between her thighs—his eyes would be dark and stormy as he watched.

She opened her eyes again, wanting to see those eyes, and his gaze met hers. A ripple of awareness passed between them, rolled through her with so much power it brought her to a very brief pause.

“Don’t stop,” he murmured.

So she didn’t. Nor did she close her eyes. The way he looked at her then was so beautiful she couldn’t tear her eyes away. Didn’t want to, because it made her feel desired and loved.

Orgasm came, cell-deep, slow to expand through her body like honey. She wanted to curl into him and nap, letting him protect her while she did nothing but dream.

He swooped down and kissed her; barely reined hunger made him taste urgent and hot. His intensity woke her up, washed the lan-guid away, replacing it with need. More. How much could she take?

She wanted to have so much of him she overflowed.

“I just want you so much,” she whispered against the skin of his chest, before biting.

He rolled, bringing her atop him. “Take me. I’m yours to take, Elise.”

She pushed herself to sit, quickly positioning herself and sliding back onto his cock. Still for long moments, she simply let herself feel the thickness of him buried deep. And then she looked down at him, mussed up, a big, sexual man with an edge of darkness, and he reined it in for her.

His tattoos were so ridiculously sexy. She’d say something like he didn’t know just how sexy, but as she began to ride him, rising up and coming down over his cock, she knew he did. “You know what’s one of the most sexy things about you?”

He grinned up at her. “No, but I’m always ready to hear such things. Do tell.”

She laughed. She often laughed during sex with him. She’d never laughed with a man in intimate moments before. But with him, the happiness always found a way out.

“You know how hot you are. You know the tall, dark and handsome thing with the tats and the nipple ring is like sugar water to hummingbirds.” She pressed down hard and circled her hips, grind-ing herself into him.

He sucked in a breath. “I like that move a lot. You’re saying I’m vain but you like it?”

Her nails dug into his sides, and he arched into it, she knew, loving that bit of pain to spice the pleasure.

“I’m saying you understand your sexual allure and you embrace it. You’re a very sexual man. Add the bad-boy thing to that and you’re like catnip for women.”

He laughed. “I think that’s the best compliment I’ve ever received.”

They fell silent, the only sounds the birds out in the backyard and the slap of flesh meeting. Having him inside her felt so good she luxuriated in it, taking her time, teasing him up, higher and higher.

“I’m going to die,” he croaked out, his fists in the blankets. She knew he wanted to take over and leaned down to kiss him.

“Don’t die. I need you here to fuck me.”

He cursed low, and those hands landed on her hips, his fingers digging in to guide her movement, to speed her up and bring her down a little harder. She loved it when he did this, lost his rein and guided her just where and how he wanted. Still she was surprised when another climax blasted through her body.