Damage Control (2 page)

He cupped her breasts in his hands, stroking his thumbs across her hardened nipples. Leaned in to trail a path of open-mouthed kisses down the side of her neck, lower until he could capture one of those nipples between his lips. He sucked it inside, swirling his tongue over the hard point. Andrea sighed, dropping her head back and closing her eyes.
Damn.
He hadn't expected her to be so responsive. Maybe it had been a while for her, too.

The thought thrilled him a little more than it should.

Once he finished with the first nipple, he moved on to the second to afford it the same treatment, and by the time he lifted his head, she was panting and clawing at his shoulders. His cock throbbed, aching to get inside her, but still he held back. If this was a one-time shot, no way in hell was he rushing things. He planned to spend some time getting to know her on the carnal level first.

He moved his hands down her sides, urging her backward until her legs hit the bed. She lay back on the mattress, her skin flushed pink with arousal, and this time he did lick his lips. Oh, man. Did she have any clue how much he wanted her, right this second? He pressed a hand to his cock, rubbing up and down as he stared at her beautiful body.

“Are you coming to bed?” she asked, reaching a hand out to him.

“Yeah.” He didn't undress yet, though. He lay down next to her, sliding his hand over the soft skin of her belly while he drew her in for another kiss. Her lips parted eagerly, her tongue brushing against his.

He dipped his hand between their bodies, trailing his fingertips down her skin until he reached the juncture of her thighs. He nudged her legs and she moved them apart a little, granting him enough room to stroke his fingers along her folds
. Damn.
She was wet. Soaked. For him. The thought drove his need even higher. And those soft, breathy moans she was making?
Jesus
. He'd hear those in his fantasies for years to come. He slipped a finger inside her, then a second one, finding her channel hot and tight. She'd fit him like a glove. He could hardly wait to replace his fingers with his cock. Not yet. Soon. He had other plans for her first.

He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers, trying to catch his breath. This woman was going to be the death of him.

Brian kissed his way down her body, spread her legs apart, and brought his mouth to her sex. Separating her lips with his fingers, he licked and sucked until she was writhing underneath him. The honeyed taste of her would be forever imprinted in his mind.

She gripped his hair, twisting her fingers in the strands and digging her nails into the skin. The pleasure and pain of it fueled his lust. The frenzied movements of her body told him she was close. She let go of his hair and grabbed handfuls of the comforter, twining the material in her fingers, but a second later, her hands were back on his head again, holding him against her.

Her back arched, her lips parted as she moaned long and loud. It wouldn't take much to push her over the edge, and right now, he couldn't think of anything he wanted to see more. Andrea Ray losing control. With him. Because of him. He sucked her clit into his mouth and she screamed when she came. He continued to work her with his lips and tongue, reveling in her tremors as she started to come back down.

Pressing a final kiss to her folds, he dislodged her hands from his hair and pushed himself off the bed. His scalp burned where she'd dug her nails in and tugged at his hair. His whole body shook. Never in his life had he been so close to coming, so desperate to get inside a woman. He could barely think, could barely breathe. If she expected slow, gentle lovemaking, she wasn't going to get it tonight. He managed to undress with trembling fingers and returned to the bed, kneeling between her parted legs. He dropped his hands to the mattress on either side of her and kissed the side of her neck.

“Condoms, Andrea.” His voice sounded harsh, grating, and he considered himself lucky that he'd been able to speak at all.

“What?” She blinked up at him, confusion knitting her brows together.

“Condoms. Do you have any?” He hoped like hell she did, because he was unprepared. Stopping was the last thing on his mind. Every instinct told him to plow ahead and claim what always should have been his.

“Oh. Yeah.” She nodded, her eyes still glazed with lust. “Um, there's a box in the nightstand drawer.”

“Awesome.” He moved to the nightstand and slid the drawer open. Relief flooded him when he saw there was, in fact, a box. It hadn't even been opened.

In his condition, accomplishing that task would be no easy matter. After a harrowing few minutes of struggling to break into the side of the cardboard, then fumbling with a condom packet, he managed to sheath himself and join her on the bed again.

 

 

 

Andrea stared up at Brian, still unable to believe they were actually going to do this. That she'd been the one to ask him to stay. It wasn't like her to be so bold when it came to men and sex. Not that she didn't enjoy sex. She did, on occasion. It had just never been a great driving force in her life.

It wasn't like her to want to sleep with a man she considered her best friend, either.

She pushed the unsettling thought away, too needy to care at the moment. It had been far too long and the wine had loosened her inhibitions enough to prod her to ask for what she wanted. He made her feel so…amazing. So free. When he'd put his mouth on her, she'd thought she would come right then and there. That had been incredible, but now she needed more. Needed his cock inside her. Instead of kicking him out like common sense should have dictated, she reached her arms out to him.

What a beautiful man he was. He wouldn't appreciate the sentiment, but she couldn't help thinking it. Brian spent hours each week in the gym, and it showed in the muscle definition he had. His features weren't feminine by any stretch of the imagination, but they were perfect. The dark hair she'd always loved hung over his forehead. And those eyes. His were so expressive, letting her know he thought she was beautiful. Telling her he wanted her as much as she wanted him. This night might be a mistake, but no matter what happened, it would turn out to be a night she wouldn't forget.

“Brian, please. Fuck me.” The words came out as no more than a whisper, but they had the desired effect. His eyes darkened and his whole body seemed to tense. She took his hand and threaded her fingers through his, pressing a kiss to his knuckles before she released him.

“You sure?” he asked, his hands on her hips, pulling her closer. The head of his cock prodded her entrance and she nodded. She was more than sure. She might change her mind in the morning, but for now, she was going to take what she could get.

At her nod, he slid his cock inside. She cried out from the pleasure, the sensation of being so full. He still knelt above her, but she wanted his full weight on her. She reached her arms up to him, pulling him down. The feel of his skin on hers made her moan. They were both slicked with sweat and the sweet friction it created had her clutching at him, raising her hips to meet each of his frenzied thrusts. Unbelievably, she felt the first stirrings of another orgasm low in her belly.

She ground her hips against him, striving for that goal, digging her fingers into his shoulders. Brian groaned and started to thrust harder. He slammed into her once, twice, and the orgasm washed over her. Light exploded behind her eyes. Her fingers dug deeper into her skin as she anchored herself to him, not wanting to ever let go. Her inner muscles clenched and unclenched around the length of his cock. He felt so damned good inside her.

Moments later, Brian followed her into release, her name a soft whisper on his lips. He pressed a hot, open-mouth kiss to her throat and collapsed on top of her, his breathing as ragged as hers. She stroked her hands down the smooth skin of his back, admiring the toned muscle she felt under her palms. The man was amazing. She would never understand why he suddenly wanted her, but she wasn't going to complain.

She ran her fingers through his sweat-dampened hair and kissed his cheek. The combination of wine and sex was taking its toll. Already she could feel herself fading.

“Will you stay here tonight?” she whispered against his cheek. “Not on the couch. In my bed.”

Brian's laugh rumbled against her chest. “You wouldn't be able to kick me out even if you wanted to. I'll be right back.”

He pulled out of her and climbed off the bed, making his way to the bathroom. When he came back, he lay on his side and pulled her up against him, running his hand across the small of her back. She let out a contented sigh and a few minutes later, fell asleep in his arms.

 

 

 

Andrea woke up wrapped in strong arms, her back pressed against a rock-solid chest. A heavy leg lay draped across hers, all but pinning her to the mattress. She let out a small sigh and leaned into all that smooth skin and toned muscle. The lingering scent of sex and warm male still clung to the room, and the faint soreness thrumming through her body attested to the fact that the sex had been incredible.

Oh, shit.
Brian. What the hell had she been thinking?

Suddenly wide awake, she bolted upright on the mattress. Regret hit with the force of a two-by-four between the eyes. Her brain threatened to pound out of her skull and nausea swept through her system. The sun shining in through the parted curtains only served to make the headache worse, if such a thing was even possible. She very rarely drank, and the morning after was part of the reason. Impaired judgment was another, larger part, and she'd certainly had a judgment issue last night when she'd all but begged Brian to take her to bed.

She'd asked him to
fuck
her. In exactly those words. She pressed a hand to her forehead. Of all the stupid things. It wasn't like her to use crass language. Never mind that it had been the best sex of her life. Never mind that she'd never felt so in tune with another human being, or that they fit together like they'd been lovers for years. She'd slept with her
best friend
. No matter how she tried to swing it, the situation wasn't good.

Brian stirred beside her, his morning erection brushing her thigh. Andrea let out an involuntary whimper. Yes, she'd slept with him, and it had been
good
. If she didn't get out of bed—now—it would most definitely happen again. She could blame last night on the alcohol, though in truth, it was a flimsy excuse. This morning, she'd have nothing to fall back on but her own stupidity. If she stepped away from the situation and spent a little time analyzing it, she might be able to figure out a way to salvage their friendship.

After untangling herself from Brian—no easy task given his strength and the way, in sleep, he didn't seem to want to let her go—she slipped out of bed. Away from Brian, she would be able to think more clearly. Being so close to him played havoc with her control and filled her whole body with guilt-ridden lust. Grabbing her robe, she pushed her arms through the sleeves as she tiptoed out of the bedroom and made her way to the kitchen. Once there, she opened the fridge and reached for her morning fix, a can of diet cola. Coffee wasn't her thing, but most days her brain needed some sort of a jump-start in the form of a good dose of caffeine. Today, she needed it more than usual.

The click and hiss of the top popping echoed through the room and made her head pound even more. Part of it was the hangover she should have expected, but another part of it was the remorse she couldn't seem to shake. What the hell had she been thinking? She had her life-plan mapped out. To the letter. There wasn't a single second of her time that was unaccounted for. Brian would be a huge wrench in her plans. Especially since her body heated every time she thought about what they'd done in her bed. A bed that hadn't seen any action since…

She closed her eyes and ticked off the months on her fingers. When was the last time she'd had sex, anyway? It felt like forever.

She'd had short relationships before, a quick fling here and there, but had decided long ago that she wouldn't settle down until she'd reached the career goals she'd set for herself. No marriage, no family, until she made partner.

And you think Brian wants to settle down with you?
She had to laugh as common sense kicked in. She was getting ahead of herself. For all she knew, he'd just wanted to get laid last night. He was probably lying in her bed right now, trying to find a way to get the hell out of her apartment without causing too much of a stir. Not that it mattered. Sleeping with one's best friend would always have some pretty serious consequences.

“Andrea?”

Brian's voice from the doorway made her snap her eyes open. She blinked, hard, and swallowed against the lump in her throat. Oh, man. Why couldn't he have slept a little longer? She still needed to figure out what she was going to say to him.

She grabbed the bottle of aspirin off the counter, shook out two tablets, and washed them down with a big gulp from the can of soda. Not ready yet to turn around and look at him, she focused her gaze out the window to the street two floors below, even though the sun hurt her eyes. “Good morning.”

“Are you okay? You seem a little stressed.”

What had he expected her to be? Didn't he find the morning after awkward at all?

“When have you known me to be anything else? Isn't that what you're always complaining about? If I remember correctly, you telling me I was working too hard and dragging me out to dinner last night is what got us into this situation in the first place.” She laughed, trying to lighten the mood. The tension between them was so thick she could swear she was choking on it. She couldn't be the only uncomfortable one here.

What the hell was wrong with her? One night in bed and she forgot how to relate to the man? Brushing off her unease, she spun around and pressed her back to the counter.

Her breath caught in her throat. For the first time, she was seeing Brian in a new light. The man was sexy as all hell. Why did he have to look so good this morning? He stood there in nothing but black boxer-briefs, showcasing his gym-honed muscles. His black-coffee-colored hair was mussed, his blue eyes clouded with sleep. Dark stubble lined his jaw and her fingers itched to reach out and trace those amazing, full lips or the line of his jaw.