The First Time Again: The Braddock Brotherhood, Book 3 (18 page)

Once they were on the plane, she closed her eyes. Bits and pieces of the previous evening flashed through her head, but they were out of order and didn’t make any sense.

A taxi ride.

An elevator.

A dimly lit room.

Trey buttoning her dress. Or unbuttoning it. She wasn’t sure.

Trey holding her against him. She thought it was him, anyway. Not Collin.

She recalled Jenny’s long-ago warning about the worst thing that could happen to her.

Wouldn’t it be worse if the first time she had sex was with a man who took her and left her with this vague sense of unease? This sick, disoriented feeling? Worse if he took something he had no right to take and she had virtually no memory of the encounter? She had no idea what those drinks Collin had ordered for her contained. She only knew she might never be able to enjoy anything peach-related again.

She sniffed and rubbed her fingertips against her eyelids beneath her glasses.

“You okay?” Trey bent his head close to hers and spoke softly near her ear.

She nodded without opening her eyes.

“Come here.” He guided her head to his shoulder.

Her thoughts had been chasing themselves around in her head ever since she’d woken up this morning, but one thing had crystallized overnight. Trey was no longer that seventeen-year-old boy who’d passed out on her. She’d allowed that one incident to cloud her judgment about men and to make her doubt her own appeal. She saw both herself and Trey more clearly than she ever had before. Last night he’d proven himself in a way she’d never expected. Her insides hummed whenever she was close to him. Being around Trey made her
happy.
What, she asked herself, could be wrong with that?

She lifted her head and planted a kiss on Trey’s cheek.

He looked at her in surprise.

“You’re my hero,” she said softly.

He flashed her a quick grin while several emotions warred for dominance in his expression. The tips of his ears turned pink.

He bent toward her and crooked a finger beneath her chin. “I’d never let anything bad happen to my girl.” His gaze dropped from her eyes to her lips. He gave her a quick, light kiss on the mouth, so fleeting she wasn’t sure she hadn’t imagined it. But there was a flare of something in his eyes when he looked at her again.

Maybe, just maybe, he
was
interested in her
that way.
Whether he was or not, she planned to take every opportunity for contact with him, every moment she could touch him, no matter how innocently.

She slid her arm beneath his and made herself comfortable against him, in case this was all she’d ever get.

By midafternoon the plane had landed in Asheville, and they were on their way back to his house, where she’d left her car. Tiredness still dogged her. She’d dozed off on the plane, but she hadn’t really slept. She dreaded going home, where she’d be surrounded but mostly ignored by her family.

On the outskirts of Edna Falls, she broke the silence between them. “Could I ask you a favor?”

Trey took his gaze from the curving road for only a second to glance her way. “Sure. Anything.”

“Could I stay at your place for a little while? Maybe take a nap before I head home?”

“Damn, I didn’t even think of that. I can take you home. Come pick you up tomorrow so you can get your car.”

“No, no. It’s okay. We’re almost to your house. I understand if you’d rather I didn’t stay. You probably have stuff to do.”

“Hey, no. You’re welcome to stay. Stay as long as you want. Whatever you need.”

Baylee didn’t have to fake a yawn. “Thanks. I think all I need is a nap.”
Liar. What I need is you.

Once she’d made herself comfortable in Trey’s bed, she couldn’t fall asleep even though she desperately wanted to. Her thoughts kept returning to
what if
in a way they never had before. What if Trey hadn’t rescued her?

She’d always considered her virginity something she controlled, something she’d share with a man of her choosing. Scott hadn’t wanted it, even though she had chosen him. She could only think of one other man she’d choose. The same one she’d sort of chosen at fifteen. Except now she wasn’t even slightly inebriated. She wasn’t fifteen anymore, either. She was an adult woman, dammit, and she had needs. Needs she had put on hold for too long.

She made a decision. She didn’t know exactly how or when. But she was going to rid herself of her troublesome virginity with her eyes wide open, fully conscious, with a man of her choosing. And she was going to do it soon.

Chapter Fourteen

“Baylee?” Trey spoke softly from the doorway. She hadn’t answered when he’d lightly tapped on the door seconds earlier. He couldn’t believe she was still asleep.

The hall light spilled into the room behind him as he stepped closer to the bed.

She was curled on her side, the same way he’d seen her sleeping before, the sheet pulled up under her arm, her hands clasped beneath her chin.

She hadn’t wanted anything on the plane except the small bottles of water the flight attendant brought her. Trey lost track of how many she’d had. She’d bought another bottle before they left the airport and drank it, and there was a half a bottle sitting on the nightstand. Surely she needed to eat something.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and gently shook her arm. “Baylee? Baylee?”

Her eyelids fluttered. She moaned softly. Her eyes blinked open and she gazed up at him and smiled. “Hi,” she breathed.

Every thought Trey had in his head when he’d opened the door disappeared, chased away by the vision of her waking up, all soft and warm in his bed, her eyes sleepy and soft, with a smile just for him.

“Come here,” she whispered. She half sat up and tugged on his shirt. She kissed him.

Stunned, Trey couldn’t think what to do. Although he’d been unable to stop thinking about that brief kiss he’d given her on the plane, he hadn’t expected her to respond like this. Had he?

Her soft lips pressed against his, teasing him, sending him a signal. In seconds his body roared to life. Everything he’d been holding inside for so long welled to the surface, begging for release.

He kissed her back, deepening the kiss instantly. He heard a soft little moan from her direction and a sigh of surrender before she met him full force. She didn’t play games or go to war with his tongue. She took it and held on, sucking it as if she couldn’t get enough.

Sexually, he’d always been the aggressor, but he felt weirdly out of control. His mind couldn’t catch up with his body or its reaction to hers. But like riding a bike after an extended absence, his body operated without him telling it what to do. He found buttons and zippers and clasps, and he knew how to dispense with such things as her clothes and his.

His hands roamed all over her back and her bottom and her breasts.

She explored him everywhere she could touch while their mouths were locked together. Everywhere except his cock. She brushed by it, around it, but her shy hand slid away each time. Waves of excitement washed through him.

Had he ever had sex before? Even though he knew what to do, employed the same moves he’d perfected over the years, everything seemed new and different.

“Baylee…baby,” he whispered. He slid his fingers between her legs to discover the slick, hot wetness of her. Her gasp of pleasure thrilled him. He lowered his head to suckle a nipple and she arched against him, her legs parted, giving his fingers easier access.

“Touch me,” he whispered. He fumbled for her hand and brought it against him. “Please.”

Her breathing quickened as she circled the length of him. It wasn’t a knowing, practiced touch, but more an exploration of uncharted territory. Somehow she knew exactly what would arouse him the most.

“Okay, baby. Okay.” He eased away from her to open the nightstand drawer for a condom, glad that when he unpacked he’d put some there. He sure as hell hadn’t thought he was going to need them.

There was enough light from the half-open door to see what he was doing. His hands shook. He stared at them for a second in amazement. He got the condom on in record time anyway and got back to business.

He ran the flat of his hand down her tummy from beneath her breasts to her pubic hair. He kissed her above the navel. “You’re hot,” he whispered. Her skin felt like a fire burned beneath the surface.

“I want you.”

Trey froze, his hand stilled where it was, splayed against her. He could see the depths of her amber eyes. She’d said the words clearly, directly.

That was new too. Blatant honesty turned out to be another turn-on for him.

He kissed her again. Slow and hot. It was a wonder the bed didn’t burst into flames, he thought wildly. He pressed as much of her as he could as close to him as it could get until he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“You’ll have to get on top, darlin’.”

“Mmm?”

“Come here.”

He rolled to his back, taking her with him. It took her a second before she acted on his direction.

He watched, fascinated, as she braced herself above him and ever so slowly sank down against him, taking him inside her bit by agonizing bit. He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he let it out when he was completely, deeply inside her. She’d sunk her top teeth into her bottom lip while she’d lowered herself onto him. But once it was done, he could feel her relax a bit, although she was sheathed around him so tightly he wondered how long he could last.

She gave him the most beatific smile he’d ever seen, like she’d accomplished something magnificent and she was immensely proud of herself.

“Wow.” Whatever was happening, he got the idea it was more about her. What she needed. Or, as she’d said a minute ago, what she wanted.

“What do you want, darlin’?” he asked, his gaze never leaving hers. He stroked her thighs, her tummy, her breasts.

“You. I just want you.”

“You’ve got me, babe. Now what are you going to do with me?”

That brought a choking giggle out of her. “To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no idea.”

He grinned at her. “I’ve got a couple. Want to hear them?”

She nodded.

He eased his fingers in where she sat atop him. “Ease up there a bit, darlin’.”

She did. He pressed his thumb against her and watched her reaction. Her eyes widened. Her internal muscles flexed around him. “Oh.”

 
“Feel good?”

“Oh yes.”

“Okay. We’re cookin’ now.”

Trey let her chase her orgasm while she rode him, madly, frantically, until she caught it, bucking and rocking against him while he drove into her again and again.

She collapsed against him, a shaking, shuddering mess.

His mind idled while he caught his breath. He liked the weight of her on top of him. She fit there, her torso a perfect complement for his. Her hair tickled his chin and his neck. Her warm breath fanned against his shoulder and upper arm.

He brushed her hair back with his fingertips, enjoying the silky feel of her skin. Again that intoxicating fragrance wafted beneath his nostrils, a tiny, fleeting scent, not enough for him to grab it and hang on and figure out what it was. It made him want more.

Just like her
. That elusive scent was exactly like Baylee, sneaking into his senses, teasing him, eluding him.

Baylee chose that moment to slide away from him, though she stayed close. He glanced down. Her eyes were closed, a peaceful expression on her face.

Trey did not want to move a muscle. He didn’t want to get out of this bed for a good long time. Not while Baylee was in it with him. But he needed to attend to business. Dispose of the condom and the uncomfortable stickiness. Maybe they could jump in the shower together.

“Baylee?” he whispered.

She sighed but didn’t answer. Had she fallen asleep? In those couple of minutes?

They could always shower later. Maybe after round two.

He slid out of bed as quietly as possible and tread softly to the bathroom, trying to avoid the floorboards he knew were the creakiest. After closing the door he turned on the light. He paused in the act of dropping the condom into the wastebasket. What was that? Reddish streaks. Blood?

He stared down at himself to see what looked like more of the same. This had only ever happened to him one time that he could recall. The first time he and Hayley made love. She’d told him in advance she was a virgin. That had pleased him immensely, knowing he was her first. How she’d made it to college without giving it up to some other guy, he never had quite figured out. He’d fallen hard for her, and knowing she hadn’t been with anyone else made her even more special to him.

But Baylee was an entirely different story. She’d been married and divorced. Hell, she had to be, what? Close to thirty. No way was she a virgin. Probably she was getting her period and didn’t realize it. Should he tell her? Ugh. Maybe he could hint that she might want to visit the bathroom instead. Yeah. That was better.

He finished cleaning up and left the bathroom light on. Surely she hadn’t fallen asleep for real. He opened the door to discover her still in bed and wide awake.