Brynne evoked a different reaction from me and she’d done so since the very first meeting. She never chased me for one thing. If I hadn’t heard her call me beautiful on the headset that night at the gallery I wouldn’t know she ever saw me. She pushed all the right buttons, and for the first time I cared about the woman so much more than the sex with the woman.

Oh I still cared about the sex, but it was very different now. The dominant needs in me had blossomed since finding Brynne, as if she was the catalyst. In fact, I knew she was. I wanted things with her that frightened me because I didn’t want—no, couldn’t bear to lose her over it.

What she’d shared tonight scared the absolute f**king hell out of me. It also made her mysterious behavior in the beginning very clear. I had a few answers at least about why she kept running.

“I’m glad too.” She breathed out a long breath. “I missed you so much, Ethan.” She leaned back into me, the curve of her bum coming right up against my hips. With just the layer of spandex from her track shorts covering that lovely part of her, my c**k woke right up, ready and volunteering for duty.

Sweet Christ! That’s all it took to get me started. She would feel my erection in a moment and then what? I shouldn’t be coming on to her right now. She was still fragile and needed to finish her story. If only I could tell that to my cock. I turned her head to meet mine and engulfed her lips in a very deep kiss that let all the logic fall away. I nibbled and sucked on her lips, trying to pull her into me. She tasted so fine. Brynne melted right into where I wanted to take this, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull back now. I was in very great need of claiming my woman again.

Only a bastard would want to take her to bed and get her naked right now. Ergo, I was such a dirty bastard.

I could live with that.

Brynne always told me she liked when I was blunt. She’d said she felt better about me telling her what I wanted because she knew what was coming. She needed that from me. So I took a deep breath and told her what I wanted.

“I want to take you to bed right now. I want you in my arms and I want…inside you.” I searched her face held in my two hands and looked for her answer.

5

“I want you too.” She nodded and leaned up to kiss me. “Take me to bed, Ethan.” The most beautiful words I’d heard in days and days met my ears. I took those sweet lips she offered and scooped her right up off the floor, her body tight against my chest.

She wrapped her legs around my hips and buried her face at my neck. I groaned out loud and started walking. When I got us to the bedroom, the sight of the bed made up with clean sheets had never been more welcome. Monday! Annabelle had come, thank the blessed gods! If those sheets from this morning had still been there with the evidence of my pitiful wanking session all over them I don’t know what I would have done. I made a mental note to give Annabelle a nice—thank you for being discreet—tip.

I laid Brynne out on her back and just looked down at her for a moment. The need to go slow was important this time. I wanted to cherish her and accept this gift she was giving to me. I needed to savor her.

Her hair swept over her shoulders and her eyes looked sort of green against the turquoise top she still wore. Not going to be wearing it for long.

I started on her trainers. Then the ankle socks. I cupped her feet and massaged them before sliding up her leg and hips to the waistband of her shorts. My fingers slipped underneath and gripped. Down they came. My eyes took in the reveal of her skin as the fabric slipped away—navel, hipbones, stomach, pu**y, and long legs. Legs that would wrap around me when I was deep inside that beautiful, bare pu**y of hers. Sweet Christ.

There was a reason my girl was a model. A nude model. She possessed a body that had the power to render me speechless. I wasn’t done revealing my masterpiece yet though. I reached for her top. It was a one stop shop too. Nothing underneath. I wanted to shout out a triumphant YES. Her br**sts spilled out to the side as soon as I got that shirt off over her head.

“Brynne…beautiful.” I heard the sound of her name come off my lips but couldn’t remember intending to say it. I had to see her naked again, to remember how she looked, to know I had the right to touch her and that she’d accept me. I had to have some small part of her inside me before I could do anything else too, I was that desperate.

Slowly I dragged my mouth from her navel up to one perfect breast, covered the whole nipple and sucked deep. I pulled her up inside my mouth and caressed the underside with my fingers. So soft. She budded up tight and hard underneath my tongue and I had to give consideration to the other one to be fair. Those beauties deserved an absolute equal share of my attentions toward fairness for sure.

She looked so yielding and sensual lying there for me to fill my eyes with her image. Like a portrait. But one that only I would ever see. That’s not true. The nagging irritation was fleeting as I pushed the idea of others seeing her naked, down deep into the dungeon of my mind. Right now I had a feast before me. It was time to partake.

I needed to feel that flesh against my tongue and lips. I needed so much from her I was shaking as I kicked off my shoes and reached for my belt. I stripped out of my clothes fast, very aware that Brynne watched every move I made, her eyes traveling all over me. The sight of her admiring made me so hard my balls hurt and my c**k burned. Only for her.

I lowered onto the bed with my knees leading, totally distracted about where to go first. She was a banquet for me all splayed out, her legs bent slightly but not revealing what I wanted to see. My urges rose up from somewhere and the words came out of my mouth. “Open up and show me. I want to see what’s mine, baby.”

Slowly, her feet slid upward until they were flat on the sheets as she bent her legs at the knees. I held my breath and felt the thud of my heart in my chest. She shifted one leg over and then the other. Just like that. She did what I’d asked of her. Perfect submission in a graceful maneuver that ran a jolt of lust up my c**k just from the show she was giving me. I was nowhere near satisfied. I wanted a good long look before I started in on what I’d been denied for too many days.

“Put your hands up over your head and hold on to the bed.”

Her eyes flickered a bit and focused on my mouth.

“Trust me. I’m gonna make it so good for you, baby. Let me do this my way…”

“Ethan,” she whispered, but she did what I asked, slowly bringing her arms up to cross wrists over her head and gripped the edge of the mattress. God, I loved when she said my name during sex. I loved when she said it, period.