I'm Holding On (17 page)

Drew

With my body, I
push Bryn over to her back before I claim her mouth, fighting with all the arsenal I have left. My words and touch have an effect on her, so I know I still have a chance. She responds immediately, her fingers gliding across my shoulders and into the back of my hair.

R
eluctantly, I pull away, so I can strip off my clothes. I sit up and yank my shirt over my head and pull off my shorts, leaving on my boxers. I have to be closer to her. She watches, and I see the worry her eyes convey, but she doesn’t stop me.

I’m back in b
ed, jerking the sheet away, and like an adrenaline dump, I roll onto her and overrun her mouth with desperation. Our tongues are tangling, and I feel her control faltering as she hums into my mouth with satisfaction.

I refuse to
leave here until Bryn tells me she doesn’t doubt my feelings. Whatever she needs from me, I’ll do it. Shit. She keeps telling me what she needs … less touching and more time to think. I release her lips.

“Sugar
, do you want me to stop?”

“Now you ask me
?” she asks in a high pitched, frustrated tone. I gently kiss her forehead.

“I’m sorry. I realized I’m bulldozing you yet ag
ain, and I don’t want you angry with me.”

“I love kissing you and feel
ing your skin against mine, but I’m running out of fight, Drew. It’s getting harder to stop physically.”

I smile at
her. This is a promising sign. Well, unless she means with Ian, too. The swirls in her chocolate eyes stare back at me, and I can see her questioning her decision to stop us. I roll off of her to make it easier. She turns onto her side and faces me.

“Brynlee, call the restau
rant back. Let me take you to work. Since we’re busy on Mondays, I have plenty of staff there, so I’ll help you. Gram is in poor health, and you’ll need time off is something happens to her.”

“Was she sick yesterday? The doctor hasn’t called.”

“She was about the same. She said they still haven’t cleared up her infection.”

“I hadn’t thought about
needing days off later.”

“
I feel bad that I overwhelmed you this morning, so call them.”

“OK. I need something to take my mind off of sex, anyway.”

“Tell me you believe in how much I care about you as more than a friend.”

She smiles, but I still
see the weariness.

“You’re making it very obvious that you want more than a friendship with me.”

“Don’t forget it, and anytime you want reassurance, I’ll happily give it to you in at least a dozen different ways.” I reach my arm over her hip and swat her butt before I get up and dress.

“You’r
e such a tease today, Mr. Clark.”

I turn around and eye her bare chest
.

“Brynlee
, please get some clothes on. I have only so much self-control.”

She giggles. “Sorry, but don’t forget that you came
barging into my bed.”

Ian

My first day at work was fairly low key. Dad gave me a few cases to do some research on, but I’m limited with what I can do until I take the bar exam. I was mostly getting familiar with the flow of the office.

It’s
seven-thirty, and I just arrived at a restaurant. Isaac and Dad insisted we celebrate my first day of work over dinner. I’m the first one here, and I get almost to the door when I realize I’m holding my suit jacket.

Certain I’ll end up leaving it inside, I tu
rn to carry it back to the car. When I round the corner at the rear of the building, I see a van from Clark’s Coffee pull in. Brynlee treads to the back of it and opens the two doors. In an instant, my pulse jumps, and that amazing, warm feeling washes over me.

I smile as I start walking
her direction, but then I see Drew come around the van, so I step back to the corner of the building. This is something I never imagined myself doing. I’m spying on a woman. What has happened to me?

I debate on approaching
, maybe getting her aside for a few minutes. As they make several trips into the door of the restaurant, an anxious feeling creeps in and settles in the pit of my stomach. I feel as if something’s crawling on my skin and eating away at my self-control.

Is this what a panic a
ttack feels like? I don’t like it. No, I hate it. I’m about to walk back to the door of the restaurant when they both come out together.

“I brought some powdered sugar in case I need
ed to sprinkle some on the desserts. You know how in the summer the stuff melts,” Brynlee says as she turns around with a large Ziploc bag. The next thing I see is Brynlee throwing it at him.

“What the hell?” Drew asks, shaking his shirt.

Brynlee throws another handful. I have to smile at how cute she looks. Her grin could light up a city.

“Oh, that’s it, sugar. You are in for it now,” Drew says before he reaches to ge
t the bag from her. She turns abruptly to keep him from grabbing it.

Of course, his reach is much farther
than hers so he gets a hold on it, but she pulls it away as he’s trying to keep his footing. She’s giggling, and I try to recall if Brynlee’s ever been this relaxed with me?

She’s hunched over with the bag in
her arms before she launches a handful of it backward over her head. The white powder falls on Drew before he leans his head over to shake it off.

“You really must want trouble, young lady.”

“That’s what you get for being a big tease!” She bursts into laughter about the time he gets the bag from her. What the hell? A big tease. Surely she’s not putting the moves on him and he’s refusing.

This fucking hurts, and for the li
fe of me, I can’t take my eyes off of her. I can’t stop watching this torturous scene.

Brynlee makes a run for it, and Drew chases her arou
nd the van. She makes it to the back again and peeks along the passenger side, but he’s sneaking up on her from behind. She realizes right before he reaches her, so she spins around and lets out a loud squeal.

Drew
dumps the entire bag on her head, and there she stands, every part of her white except for those tanned, sexy legs of hers.

“You didn’t!”

“Oh, baby, you knew you had that coming.”

“Not the whole damn bag.”

I want to vomit as Drew pulls her into his arms and kisses her forehead.

“I’m sorry.
I guess that was a little much, but I think you started this to get me into the shower again,” he says.

What the fuck?
Oh, I can’t take this. He needs to get his damn hands off of her! Brynlee playfully pushes him away.

“Wishful thinking.
Dumping the entire bag on my head probably wasn’t your best move to make that happen.”

“You need a shower don’t you?” he asks before he pulls her back into his arms.

She wraps hers around his neck.

“Yes,” she says with an alluring look, and I see it clearly since I’m headed straight
at them. She sees me first and lets go of Drew.

He must notice
the startled look on her face since he turns around about the time I reach them. I push him right into the back of the open van. I have hold of his t-shirt as he falls. I swear I want to kill him.

Brynlee begins screaming my name, but
I can’t stop myself as I pound his head onto the van floor. I bring back a fist to hit him, and he grabs my other arm. That’s when Brynlee steps in front of me.

Her terrified face stops
my fist right before I hit her, and then I hear Isaac’s voice. He grabs my arms from behind, causing me to release Drew. He flies upward almost knocking Brynlee down before he lunges for me.

S
he turns to face him and throws her arms out.

“Drew, stop.
Please, don’t!”

“W
hat the fuck is wrong with you?” Drew shouts. “Are you trying to hurt her? You almost punched her in the damn face!”

“Both of you stop.
I’m going to lose my business here if the manager sees this.”

“Ian, what the hell are you doin
g? Get in my damn car right now!” Isaac snaps before he releases me.

“Brynlee, I’m sorry.” I feel
the pressure on my chest when I see her anguish.

“Ian, get in the vehicle
.” I glance to my brother. He’s glaring at me and pointing to his car. I go to approach Brynlee, but she backs away.

“Please don’t do what he asked,” I say, pleading with her. I can’t think about them being in the shower
together.

“Ian,
leave. We’ll talk tomorrow,” she says. I’ve fucked up. She’s angry and disappointed. I see it all over her face. I get into Isaac’s car and slam the door before he gets in and takes out his phone.

“Dad, something’s come up. Can we move dinner to a
nother night?” I hear him ask.

I stare out the win
dow, seething with anger. I still want to hurt Drew.

Brynlee

“Drew, are you OK?” I ask frantically. I try to move behind him to see the back of his head, but he pulls me into his arms.

“I’m fine, Bryn. I’m sorry I pushed you. I’d never try to hurt you.”

“
If you touched me, I don’t remember. I’m worried about your head.”

He reaches to the back of his head, and there’s
a small puddle of blood on his fingers when he pulls them back down. I grab his arm and turn him around. Luckily, it’s only one cut and doesn’t appear to be deep enough for stitches.

“Get in the van, and I’ll drive,” I say. Drew gets in and reaches in the glove box for some napkins and holds them to his head. I let out a deep breath and try to still my trembling hands as I drive. “When we get back, I’ll doctor your cut.”

“
That
was crazy jealous,” Drew says.

I glance over and see him smirking.

“I can’t believe you’re finding humor in this.”

“I have to, Bryn, or I’ll hunt him down, and I
can’t do that since it would hurt you, too.” He pulls the napkin down, revealing a lot of blood. “And I can’t help but wonder what Isaac was thinking seeing us like this.”

“Oh my gosh. I forgot about the powdered sugar. I don’t know
how after looking at you.”

The shop is
closed, so we’re alone. After getting the first aid kit from the bathroom, I find Drew in the office. “Sit.” I point to the chair.

“I don’t need you
to take care of me. I’m sure it’ll stop bleeding shortly.”

“Sit,” I say sternly, pointing to the chair
again. He blows out a breath and takes a seat, still holding the napkins to his head. I take them and look at his cut.

“I don’t know, Drew. I think it needs a few stitches, and now, I’ll worry about you having a possible concussion. Please
let me take you to get it checked out.”

“I’m not going to the hospital, and
I don’t feel like I have a concussion.”

“Fine.
” I proceed to mumble to myself about alpha males, cavemen and Neanderthals.

“I can hear you,” he says.

“I can’t say I’m sorry. You two are relentless and becoming exhausting.”

Thankfully, there are steri-
strips in the kit, so I doctor him up. “These strips should work like stitches, but I want to go back to your place.

“These don’t appear to be the
best quality, so you’ll probably need more put on after you shower. Do you mind?” I look around him and see his fists resting on his knees. They’re clenched so tight that his hands and knuckles are a mixture of red and white.

“Drew, did you hear me?”

“What?”

I sigh heavily. These men are making
me nuts. After cleaning up the mess I’ve made, I squat down in front of him and take hold of his hands.

“Drew, what’s going on?”

“He risked your safety and your job, Brynlee.” He looks at me, his eyes full of rage.

“I’m not hurt, and the restaurant may have gotten just as upset over us goofing around.”

“You know that’s not true. They love you, and we were happy. At most, they would’ve told us to leave. Ian could’ve cost you the whole account.”

“
I could’ve lost the account when I cancelled today.”

“Are you defending him?” Drew asks, the fury in his eyes spreading.

“No, Drew. I’m worried you’re going to go after him. It won’t solve anything, and you said you didn’t want to upset me. That most definitely will.” I have to calm him down. “Come on. Let’s go to your place.”