Page 49 of Once Removed (Blackhawk Security)

What if he regretted this? What if she did?

She’d told him she needed to wait. Told him she had to put her marriage behind her before she’d be ready to jump into another relationship. It had been less than two weeks since Ron was killed.

He must have read her expression, because his hands stilled. His shirt gaping open, he studied her for a moment. Then reached for her hands.

“It’s okay if you’ve changed your mind,” he said quietly. “Just tell me what you want, Lainey.”

Understanding filled his expression. Disappointment was probably hidden in the depths of his eyes, but all she saw was consideration. Kindness. She didn’t see a hint of anger or hurt.

“Kiss me, Brody,” she whispered. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done this.” Way too long. She’d learned quickly that Ron didn’t like her to initiate sex.

In the barn, she’d been overwhelmed by her need for Brody. She hadn’t stopped to think. But when Brody’d insisted they move to the house, he’d given her too much time to come back to her senses.

Brody moved toward her. He cupped her face in his hands and pressed his mouth to hers. Instead of trying to deepen the kiss, he kept it light. Tasted her mouth. Learned the texture of her lips. Spent what felt like hours learning what she liked. What she needed.

As Brody deepened the kiss, she leaned into him. Against her chest, his heart thundered hard and fast. Exactly the opposite of the way his hands and mouth moved against her.

She breathed into his mouth, and his tongue tangled with hers. No urgency. A gentle exploration, his tongue speaking to hers. ‘This is me. This is how I taste. I love the way you taste. I could taste you forever’.

Gradually she relaxed into him. Deepened the kiss, and he responded eagerly. Before she realized it, she was backing him toward the bed. Unbuttoning the rest of his shirt. Fumbling with the zipper of his jeans.

Before they reached the bed, his shirt was on the floor and his jeans pooled around his feet. He stood in front of her in is boxer briefs and tee shirt, his cock a hard length beneath the black material of his boxers.

When she tried to push him onto the bed, he wrapped his arms around her. Held her against him. “You sure about this, Lainey? I know you were having second thoughts.”

“You gave me too much time to think,” she muttered against his neck, nipping at him, then soothing the spot with her tongue.

“I want you to think,” he said, easing back to look at her. “I want you to be sure. I’m not going to push you. The next step is yours.”

Lainey swallowed. Acknowledged the truth -- that her marriage to Ron had been over long before he died. It had been over long before the day she told her lawyer to start divorce proceedings.

So what was she afraid of? That Brody would hurt her? Betray her? Break her heart? She didn’t think he would, but nothing was guaranteed in life. Brody had been her client and friend for a long time. She trusted him. And she wanted him more than she wanted to take her next breath.

So she stepped away from him. Saw the flash of disappointment in his eyes. Smiling at him, trying to tell him everything without speaking, she began unbuttoning her shirt.

His eyes darkened when she shrugged it off her shoulders. Stood in front of him in her sexiest purple bra, the clasp still undone.

It hung from her shoulders as she unfastened her jeans. Pulled them down her legs and kicked them to the side. Then she straightened, wearing only her unfastened bra and matching purple undies. “The next step is yours, Brody. I want you to take off my underwear. And I want to take yours off.”

He swallowed, his throat muscles rippling as he studied her for a long moment. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. “I could look at you for days. Touch you for weeks.”

“Not sure we have days and weeks,” she said. “Six other people live on this ranch.” She stepped toward him. Slid her hands beneath his tee shirt and pulled it over his head.

His chest was wide, tapering down to his narrow waist. His muscles disappeared into his boxers, along with a trail of hair she wanted to explore. Taste.

Instead of being bulked up, he was wiry. Lean and sinewy. She wanted to memorize his body, the way it felt. Tasted. Moved.

She tugged the boxers down his legs, letting his cock spring free. When she bent to taste it, he stopped her. Lifted her head. “Not now, Lainey. I’m on the edge and I don’t want to embarrass myself.”

“Then take me to bed, Brody,” she said.

His eyes burned as he slid off her bra and dropped it on the floor. Then he knelt in front of her, peeling her purple panties down her legs and tossing them aside. Closing his eyes, he pressed his mouth against the junction of her thighs, groaning with pleasure.

“I need to taste you, Lainey. Right now.” Holding onto her hand, he turned and stripped back the covers of the bed. Then he picked her up as if she were as light as a cloud and laid her on the sheet.

Crawling up beside her, he kissed her. His mouth fused with hers, his tongue dancing with hers until she was squirming beside him, her hands moving restlessly over his back. His ass. His chest.

He moved lower, kissing her breasts. Worshipping each of them, until he drew tiny mewling sounds from her throat. She couldn’t put two words together. Could barely remember her name. The only thing that existed was Brody and the almost unbearable need that pounded through her. It felt as though she’d been connected to an electrical outlet and power roared through her.

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