He gazed up at her. “What is it?”
“I don’t want to hurt your leg.”
Even the guttural sound of his laugh made her happy. “I don’t want you to worry about that,” he said. “All I can feel is how badly I want you. Kiss me.”
When her mouth met his, Olivia groaned. It felt as if she’d been waiting for this day since the last time he’d kissed her, in high school. Closing her eyes, she parted her lips and welcomed his tongue in her mouth, enjoying the fact that she was in control and he didn’t seem to mind.
“You kiss even better than you feel,” he told her.
“Good. Because I want to kiss you again.”
He rolled her beneath him as the kiss grew wetter and more heated. Then, anchoring her hands to the mattress above her head, he lowered his head.
Olivia gasped when his mouth closed over her breast. She was so wound up, so desperate to release the building tension, she wanted to rake her nails down his back. But she could only arch into him because he was still restraining her hands.
“Ah, you like that?” he murmured as his tongue made arousing circles.
She liked him. She almost said so—almost blurted out that these sensations would be meaningless to her if he were anyone else. But she knew that would make him uncomfortable. It’s impossible not to love him, his mother had said. That was true—but it was equally true that he’d never commit.
He spent considerable time on her other breast, the sensitive skin on the inside of her arms and her neck before releasing her wrists. Then she was free to touch him wherever she wanted, and she took full advantage of it—until his mouth returned to hers and his fingers found the part of her that wanted him most.
“Brandon...” Her voice caught on his name.
He was so engrossed it took him a second to respond. “What, sweetheart?”
He sounded dazed. She knew she probably sounded the same. Or maybe she sounded desperate. She was certainly feeling desperate, craved nothing more than the completion he promised.
“Do you have birth control?” she asked. “Because I... I have nothing.”
“I bought some condoms this morning.” His mouth was at her breast again but his fingers...they were torturing her even more sweetly.
“This morning?” she repeated.
He lifted his head long enough to grin at her. “I was thinking positive.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Oh, you were.”
“Couldn’t help hoping.”
Catching handfuls of his hair, she laughed as he settled himself between her legs.
“Do it now,” she whispered.
He kissed her tenderly. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”
She liked that they’d left the lights on, that she could see him. He was male beauty and athletic grace. “God, I love—”
He hesitated. “What?” he whispered when she stopped.
She’d been about to say, “Everything about you.” Those exact words almost came out despite her efforts to hold them back, but she managed a more acceptable substitution. “The way you make love.”
He stared down at her. “Thank you. I love the way you make love, too.”
That was nice of him, she thought. He sounded so sincere. Then she locked her legs around his hips, drawing him as deep as possible.
Eleven
BRANDON REACHED FOR Olivia before he even opened his eyes, but she was no longer in his bed. His hands met with cool, crisp sheets instead. Only a hint of her perfume remained.
He rolled toward the scent, breathing it in, remembering. Then he shoved himself up on his elbows to listen.
Silence. She wasn’t showering. She wasn’t moving around in the kitchen.
She was gone from more than just his bed.
“Damn,” he muttered, disappointed. But at least his leg wasn’t painful. The terrible ache that was becoming such a part of his life had disappeared as completely as Olivia had. Of course, given how often they’d made love in the past three or four hours, he had too many biochemicals flowing through his bloodstream to feel anything unpleasant. Still, these days he checked for pain every time he woke up because he never knew when just walking was going to be a battle.
Today was a good day. He was exhausted after being up so much of the night, but it was the kind of exhaustion that comes with complete satisfaction. The only thing better would to be to feel her bare skin under his hands one more time.
He almost drifted back to sleep. But then he began to wonder if she was gone until she ran some errands, until after the wedding, or for good.
Dragging himself out of bed, he tested his leg to see if it would complain when he put pressure on it, breathed a sigh of relief when it didn’t and went to check the other bedroom.
“Already?” he grumbled when he saw it.
She’d taken her suitcase with her.
“Are you really with Kyle’s brother?” Nancy asked.
Olivia had been so busy this morning pulling together the last-minute details of the wedding that she’d managed to avoid spending any time alone with her mother or her sister. To get everything done, she’d had to stay focused. When Nancy and Noelle stopped for lunch, Olivia grabbed a sandwich and moved gratefully on without them to get the right colored candy for the reception.
Fortunately the jars she’d ordered online had arrived. That meant she didn’t have to use the less attractive ones she’d bought yesterday. But now that the chairs, tables and decorations were in place, and the caterers, minister and disc jockey were primed and ready, she only had to make sure everyone was prepared for the photographer at three. So she and her mother were getting a manicure while Noelle was having her hair curled and stacked in an arrangement that could’ve been featured in Bride Magazine.
“No. Brandon and I are just friends,” she said, pretending to be preoccupied with her nails so she wouldn’t have to look up.
“You’re staying with him,” her mother pointed out. “You’re staying with him instead of us.”
The nail tech left to see
