I look over at Brantley; he’s looking at me. “I’m hoping to get some time with my girl,” he answers, not taking his eyes off me. My face heats with embarrassment.

  “Kinsley, you’ve been working so hard with the hotel addition, you deserve a nice night,” Dad comments, pulling my attention away from Brantley.

  He’s right. The hotel is adding a new indoor pool, and I’ve been stressing over making sure everything goes smoothly with minimal disruption to our customers. “Yeah,” I agree, realizing Dad’s watching me, waiting for a reply.

  “That she does.” Brantley reaches under the table and gives my knee a gentle squeeze.

  We finish eating and catch up with my parents. A few of the guys stop by to chat, Shane being one of them. He asked where Anna was. I hated telling him she was on a date. He seemed taken aback by that piece of information. He needs to get with the program if he wants there to be more between them. She doesn’t have the same fears as I do about falling for a firefighter. Of course, she didn’t grow up with one as her father.

  “You ready?” Brantley asks.

  “Yeah, what are we doing exactly?”

  “We’re going to run by your place and get you some clothes, because I know you’ll try to use that as an excuse. Then I’m taking you to my place and we’re locking ourselves inside.”

  What do I say to that? No? Yeah right. No woman in their right mind would deny Brantley Price. I miss being in his arms. We’ve explored each other’s bodies to the point of making teenagers look like saints. I’ve yet to sleep with him, though. It’s not that neither of us wants to. We’ve been close, but I always stop it. I’m fighting my addiction to him now, and there’s that fear that I’ll break both of our hearts. Adding sex, not that what we’ve been doing can’t be categorized as sex, will just deepen those feelings. I’ve never been into casual sex. It means something to me.

  “Okay,” I agree, not that he’s giving me a choice.

  When we get back to my place, Anna is still out on her date. That must mean that things are going well. I check my cell to make sure I haven’t missed any “can you call me for an emergency” text messages. Nothing. That’s a good sign. With tomorrow being Sunday, I grab some clothes and toiletries and throw them in a bag. “Ready,” I tell Brantley, who’s sitting on my bed.

  He nods and stands. The drive to his place is quiet. He’s not his usual chatty, flirty self. I want to ask him if he’s okay, but I know the answer. I’ve been distant. Our relationship is so new and the feelings are so strong, I’ve been fighting it.

  “You’re off tomorrow, right?” I ask, once we’re in the house and cuddled up on the couch.

  “Yeah, I don’t work again until Monday.”

  “So we get tonight and tomorrow together? I mean, do you have plans tomorrow?” I should have asked that first.

  “You.”

  “Me what?” I ask, confused.

  “My plans are you, Kinsley. Wherever you are, whatever you want to do, that’s where I’m going to be.”

  “You don’t—” He stops me by pressing his lips to mine.

  When he finally pulls away, I’m breathless. “No more talking.” Leaning in, he touches his lips against my neck.

  “I think.” I pause, letting the feel of his tongue tracing the length of my neck wash over me. “I think that’s a great idea,” I agree.

  “Not here. I’ll lock up and meet you in the bedroom.” He gives me a chaste kiss on the lips before standing to make his rounds, making sure the door is locked and the lights are off. I watch him. Today he’s wearing a black T-shirt. It’s tight against his muscles. His tattoos are peeking out from under his sleeve. It’s a sight to behold.

  “Baby, when you look at me like that, it takes all the strength I have not to throw you over my shoulder, carry you to my room, and bury myself inside you.”

  My breath hitches. “I’d like that,” I say, before I can think about what I’m doing.

  He growls and stalks toward me. I stand just as he reaches me, and he does just as he promised. Bending at the knees, he presses his shoulder into my stomach and lifts me into the air. Lifting his shirt, I push one hand under the waistband of his shorts and pinch his ass. It’s a nice ass, trust me. I’m rewarded with another growl, that is really half growl and half moan and a smack on my ass. I feel a rush of heat to my core.

  In his bedroom, he slowly slides my body down his. From the look in his eyes, I know what he wants. I can see the want reflecting back at me. Without a word, I lift my arms in the air. Immediately, he pulls my T-shirt over my head and throws it on over his shoulder. With deft fingers, he releases my bra, his calloused hands running gently up and down my back, before he lowers each strap down my arms one at a time, and tosses my bra over his shoulder.

  “Fucking perfect,” he rumbles, before his head dips and captures a nipple in his mouth. I can’t stop the moan that escapes my lips. He releases it with a pop before lavishing the other with the same attention: a nip of his teeth and then soothing flicks of his tongue. I could get off from this alone. Brantley Price knows how to use his tongue.

  Releasing me, he stands to his full height and raises his arms over his head. I waste no time tugging his shirt up his toned abs and over his toned shoulders, letting it fall to the floor.

  “Shorts,” he says gruffly. His hands are unbuttoning his, and he quickly pushes them and his black boxer briefs to the floor. My eyes rake over every sculpted inch of him. “Kinsley,” he growls.

  Snapping into action, I make quick work of stripping out of the rest of my clothes. When I look up and find his eyes trained on me, the word “condom” falls from my lips.

  Without a word, he bends down and grabs his wallet, pulling out a little foil packet. He holds it up to show it to me, and before he can toss it on the bed, I’m talking again without thinking. “Me,” I say, holding out my palm.

  His eyes flame with desire as he places the condom in my hand. I drop to my knees and immediately wrap my hand around him, gently stroking. When I run my tongue across the tip, he moans and buries his hands in my hair. Pulling back, I rip open the packet and give all my attention to rolling it over his hard length.

  “Stand up,” he rumbles in his deep voice. I climb to my feet as I’m told. “Wrap those sexy legs around my waist.” I barely have time to register his words when he grips my hips and lifts me. “Tell me what you want, Kinsley?” he rasps.

  His lips trace my neck. His cock is hard and ready at my entrance. “You,” I breathe the words.

  “Tell me, baby. Tell me what you want me to do to you?” He backs us up against his bedroom wall. With one hand under me, the other reaches down and grabs his erection, and he traces it along my pussy.

  “That,” I tell him.

  “Not good enough, beautiful. I need you to spell it out for me. I need to know you want this as much as I do.” Again, he runs his erection through my folds. “Fuck, you’re wet.”

  “More,” I plead.

  “Tell me, Kins.”

  “Fuck me!” I say, unable to take the torture a second longer.

  Brantley doesn’t hesitate to thrust his hips and slide home. Stilling inside of me, his face buries in my neck. Home. That’s what it feels like with him inside me. Hell, not just when he’s inside me, when he’s anywhere near me. I’ve fallen hard and fast and broken my own rules.

  I’ve fallen for a firefighter.

  Fuck! I can’t move, not yet. One thrust and I’m ready to blow my fucking load. She’s tight; her pussy is gripping my cock like a vise. She’s wet, so much so that I feel her dripping on my sac. What I wouldn’t give to be bare inside her heat. I keep my face buried in her neck, needing a minute to calm the fuck down.

  “Brant?” she asks hesitantly. She has one hand around my neck and the other is running up and down my back.

  “Incredible,” I murmur, kissing her neck. When I finally lift my head, my gaze finds hers. Those big brown eyes are watching me, waiting. Without warning, I withdraw and then slam into her. Her head falls back against the door, and she squeezes her eyes closed. “Open your eyes, Kinsley,” I demand. They pop open. “Eyes on me, baby. I need you to know who’s inside you.”

  “I-I know it’s you.”

  I thrust again. This time I keep a steady rhythm. “That’s good,” I pant. “You feel what you do to me?” I rock my hips into her. “Only you. So fucking good,” I say, not able to control myself as I continue to thrust in and out of her, over and over again.

  “B-Brant,” she moans and closes her eyes.

  “Open, Kins.” Her eyes pop open again, and the desire I see there just about brings me to my knees.

  “I-I’m close,” she says.

  I can see her fighting it. “Let go, baby. I’m with you. Come for me, Kinsley,” I say, letting loose and plunging into her. Bracing one hand on each ass cheek, I don’t hold back, giving her everything I have. We chase our orgasms.

  “Brant!” she screams, and my name on her lips is all it takes for me to fall over the edge of bliss with her.

  I don’t move until the final quake is out of our systems.

  “That was…,” she pants, unable to complete whatever it was she was going to say.

  “Life altering.” Hands still gripping her thighs, I move us away from the wall and walk us to the bathroom. Gently, I sit her down on the counter and capture her face in my hands. “Never felt this way before, Kinsley. It’s you, baby. All of it.” I kiss her slowly, just like I should have had her the first time, but my cock took over my brain. I’ll make love to her for round two. Pulling away from the kiss, I step back and remove myself from her. I make quick work of the condom, tossing it in the trash. Reaching up on the shelf, I grab a washcloth, and step back between her legs. Circling my arms behind her back, I turn the water on, waiting for it to warm before running the cloth through the water, soaking it. Ringing out the water, I bring the cloth to her pussy and clean her up as best as I can.

  “I’ve never had that happen,” she says, her cheeks pink.

  I’m not sure if she’s embarrassed or if it’s from our epic fuck. “What’s that?” I ask.

  “What you’re doing. That’s never… I mean, no one has ever….”

  I growl. “You’re mine, Kinsley. You’re never going to worry about some dumb fucker not taking care of you. That’s my job now.” I lift her from the counter and carry her to my bed. I set her down, and she climbs under the covers, laying on her side. I climb in beside her on my side. Reaching out, I tuck her hair behind her ear. “I hate the thought of you with someone else.”

  “It’s just you,” she assures me.

  “I’ve been letting you push me aside, Kinsley, but I don’t know how much longer I can do that. I want you, all of you. All the time. I like falling asleep with you in my arms and waking up the same way. I like spending time with you. I want it all, Kinsley. With you.”

  “I want all of that too,” she says softly. “I just… what happens the first time you miss a big event, or a big day, and I realize this isn’t what I want?”

  Her words cut deep. There is nothing in this lifetime that could ever make me stop wanting her. However, I know her fears, just as I know that’s what this is. Not that she’s holding out for something else. “We can deal with that when the time comes.”

  “I’m so afraid to break both our hearts.”

  I cup her face in my hands. I wish I could see her, but the room is dark, and the moon is nonexistent tonight. “Baby, it’s too late for that.” I pause, letting that sink in before I lay it out for her. “I’m in love with you, Kinsley. Whether you leave me tonight or two months from now, the pain will be there. The loss will be permanent in my life. You’re one of a kind, and no one could ever replace you for me.”

  Hot tears hit my hand that’s cupping her face. “I don’t want that. To hurt you. I’d never want that.” It guts me to feel her tears.

  “Stop fighting this. Stop fighting us. Let me love you,” I say, leaning in and pressing my lips to hers. She doesn’t say anything to that, and it didn’t skip my notice that she didn’t tell me she loved me too. That’s okay, because I know she does. If she could just turn her mind off long enough to feel it, to see what we’re building here. It’s not going to happen tonight, but it will.

  I push it all out of my mind and focus on her, on her naked body pressed up against mine. I take the kiss a little deeper. It’s time I show my girl what it means to be loved. I need to show her how it feels to make love.

  I’m on cloud nine as I walk into work this morning. My weekend was amazing. Saturday night, Brantley told me he loved me. We spent the entire night making love, well, after our epic wall sex. I’ll take both when it comes to Brantley. We spent the entire day yesterday lounging around his house. We washed both of our vehicles, grilled some steaks, and just enjoyed the day together. It was a perfect day, one that could easily make me forget about his career. I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and honestly, it doesn’t matter to me anymore. What matters is him. He’s so good to me, and I love him. I didn’t tell him, but I do. With everything that I am, I love him.

  I wanted to tell him, but I need just a little more time, time to make sure I can do this. It’s not fair to him, or me, to drag this on if I can’t fully commit, regardless of his profession. He convinced me to stay over again last night, promising me that he would wake up in time for me to come home and change for work this morning. I readily agreed, because I can’t seem to get enough of him. When we went to bed, he simply kissed me goodnight, wrapped his arms around me and we fell asleep. I assumed after our bedroom activities on Saturday night, there would be more of that. A part of me even thought maybe that’s why he wanted me to stay so badly. I should have known better. That’s not Brantley. He’s one of the good guys. I lie in his arms listening to his even breathing and realize even though there will be stolen moments from his job, all the others are the ones that are important.

  Brantley is not my father. He talks to me about his job; he shares the details, both good and bad. I can feel it deep in my bones that if he missed one moment of a special occasion, he would make up for it tenfold. Everyone deals with stress and pain differently. My dad has always been a quiet man. Brantley is the opposite. He’d never shut me out.

  He loves me, after all.

  Turning my focus to the mound of paperwork on my desk, I try to push thoughts of Brantley out of my mind. It’s an impossible feat. My phone alerts me to a text message, easily pulling my attention from work.

  Anna: Hey, lunch today? We need to catch up.

  Me: Yes! How was the date?

  Anna: It was… nice.

  Me: Nice? So no connection.

  Anna: LOL! You know me so well.

  Me: It’s because he’s not Shane.

  Anna: Sigh. He went cold on me.

  Me: He doesn’t get that from his older brother. With Brant, there is no guessing.

  Anna: Oh, we all know how Brantley feels about you.

  Me: You meeting me here for lunch?

  Anna: Yes, around noon?

  Me: See you then.

  I set my phone back on my desk and dig into the pile of paperwork that sits before me. I let myself get lost in my work, so I’m startled when there’s a knock at my door. Looking up, I see the foreman from the construction crew.

  “Good morning, Miss Spears. We need to shut the water off on the main floor. That means the restrooms will be out of commission for a few hours.”

  “Okay, can I ask why?”

  “We’re installing the pipes and the pump to the pool. There’s a water shutoff on each floor. Whoever built this place was on top of it to think of something like that. It’s pretty genius, so if one floor has a leak, it doesn’t shut the entire place down.”

  “Yes, that has come in handy in just the short time I’ve been here. I’ll alert the staff, so they can direct guests, and have them add Out of Order signs to the doors.”

  He nods. “We’ll be as quick as we can.”

  I wave him off. “No worries. There has been minimal disruption other than some noise that can’t be prevented. Thank you for that and for letting me know.” With that, he disappears from the doorway. I make my way to the front desk, stopping to say hello to a few of the staff on the way. I explain to the reception staff what the issue is, and we agree to send everyone to the second-floor restrooms. Again, whoever designed this place had their thinking caps on. Most hotels only have public restrooms on the ground floor, unless it’s a floor that leads to a pool or bar area. We’re not that big, or elaborate.

  After notifying the staff and making sure everyone is aware of the plan, I head back to my office to dive back into my paperwork. I’m just finishing going through the week’s invoices when there’s a knock on my open door.

  “You look like you’re concentrating,” Anna says.

  I smile, waving her in. “I was. I’ve got a lot accomplished this morning,” I tell her. “How much time do we have?”

  “I’m actually off today.”

  “Really?” I ask. I feel bad. We live together, yet I don’t know her schedule.

  “Yep. So, where we going for lunch?” she asks.

  “I’m open for anything.”

  “How about Mexican?”

  “Perfect. I just need to run to the restroom and then I’m good to go.”

  “Oh, you have to use the one upstairs. The water is off here on the ground floor. They’re working on the indoor pool install and needed to turn off the water for the pump or something.”

  “So as your best friend and roommate, do I get swimming privileges in the winter?” she asks, batting her eyelashes at me.

  I laugh. “You know it. Now, go do your thing so we can eat. I’m starving. Take the elevator to the second floor, turn right, and the restroom is on the left.”