I collected my gym bag, told Knox where I was going, then ran to the shower. I had my own locker at the gym with all the hygiene essentials, and I always brought a set of clothes—a habit I’d developed since I’d been known to work out then head to Yvonne’s for my shift.
By the time I arrived at Brian’s condo, with a few minutes to spare, I was a nervous wreck—giddy, anxious, and hungry.
“You can wait in your car,” I told Knox.
The badass ex-military guy ignored me as he found a seat in the lobby. “I’ll be right here.”
“And if I don’t come down until tomorrow?” I asked.
“I’ll be right here.”
“A man of few words. Suit yourself.”
Every bodyguard I’d had over the years was the same—cold, hard, and scary. But they were all doing their jobs, although I hadn’t made it easy for them.
The security dude, Ray—forties, kind smile, wrinkles around his eyes—gave me the thumbs-up, and several minutes later, I was knocking on apartment door 1026.
No sooner had the door opened than Brian pulled me to him and kissed me before I could breathe, say hi, or even have a chance to really look at him.
But once his mouth was on mine, nothing mattered. The kiss was deep and hungry, and it stirred a need that no man before had drawn out of me.
He guided me against a wall as he closed and locked the door, barely missing a beat. “I can’t stop thinking about you.” He buried his nose in my neck. “You smell amazing. Tell me to stop if you don’t want this, baby girl.”
I was relishing the feel and smell of him. His sandalwood cologne—amber, citrus, and spice—was intimate yet earthy. Wild yet gentle. Potent yet fragile. Every one of those contrasts matched him perfectly. Under his touch, the shadows of my past seemed to recede, letting me feel whole, cherished, like the woman I knew I could be. Just for tonight, I would let those dark memories sink into the depths where they couldn’t reach me, couldn’t taint this moment. I wanted to lose myself in the now, in him, for however long this fragile peace might last.
“I want this.” My words were barely audible after he had growled in that raspy voice I so loved. “But should we eat first?”
The smell of food drifted through his apartment. As if that was my cue, my stomach growled.
He chuckled. “I guess we should.”
“You heard my stomach?”
He took my hand. “Sit at the bar. I want to pamper you tonight.”
Goose bumps washed over me, like a cool waterfall on a hot summer day. “I like the sound of that.”
I was curious about his idea of pampering. Did it involve the bedroom? Despite how much I wanted him, part of me was scared out of my mind. I’d made out with Dominic. We’d done a few oral things, but never once since my sex-trafficking days had I truly had a man inside me. I’d been too raw and filled with pain early on, and as time passed, I could never give myself fully to another. I always promised myself that when I made love to a man, it would be one I had feelings for, and Brian was that man. I knew he would treat me with the utmost tenderness.
I shivered as I sat at the bar. The white plates were shiny, the silverware new, and the wineglasses wide and already filled with dark red wine.
“No bourbon for you?”
He dished out orange chicken and fried rice. “Not tonight.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink wine.”
He dimmed the lights, flashing his pretty eyes and heart-stopping grin in my direction, as if we were in a room with fifty women but he only had an interest in me.
“It’s not my go-to, but I do like wine every now and then. I know cabernets are your favorite.”
“Oh? What else do you know about me? And not what Duke told you.”
I tracked his movements, confident and cheeky, until he was seated beside me. “Duke has never told me that you like blueberry pie or your favorite color is peach.”
“You cheated. Fran told you that.”
He kissed the back of my hand. “Busted. However, she never told me that you have a beauty mark on the side of one of your breasts.”
