As Tears Go By (33 page)

“I
don’t know. I just sort of decided to go. I wanted to see the area again and it
seemed like the perfect day to do something out of the usual. I needed to
figure some things out.”

“Did
you?”

“I
don’t know.” She wore an apologetic smile. “Hunter really liked it there.”

He
glanced in the den and saw Hunter sprawled out on a beanbag chair. He smiled,
not used to seeing him out of motion. “He must have really exerted himself.”

“Yeah.
He’s been out for almost an hour. I doubt he’ll wake up until morning.”

“Do you
want me to carry him up?”

Her
eyes widened. “He’s heavy.”

“Are
you saying I’m weak?” he teased.

“Not at
all. Have at it. I would’ve slept on the couch and just let him stay there.”

He eyed
the couch, deciding there was no way they’d both fit. Scooping Hunter into his
arms he carried him to his bed. Becca followed and watched from the door, as
Braydon removed his shoes and socks.

After
sliding his little body under the covers and tucking him in, he quietly stood.
Becca had a peculiar expression on her face. “Did I do okay?”

Her
lips pressed tight and she placed a hand on her chest. “You did great.”

Relieved,
he nodded and silently stepped out of the room. She laid her hand on his wrist
and whispered, “Braydon, I want—” The doorbell rang and she shut her eyes.
“That’s the pizza.”

In the
kitchen he set the table as she handled the delivery. As soon as he had their
plates full, he got back to what she was saying. “So, upstairs, you were
saying…”

“Oh, I
was just thinking
,
if we live together in Center
County, what would happen to my house?”

That
wasn’t what she’d started to say upstairs, but he decided to let her go at her
own pace. “Well, you could rent it or sell it and take whatever equity you
have.”

“I
don’t know how much I’d get for it. Everything’s pretty beat up around here.”

He
looked around and counted the bedrooms, running a quick list of amenities in
his head. “Nikki would probably know better, but I bet you could sell it as is,
for two hundred thousand. Deduct your closing costs and whatever you still owe
the bank and the rest is yours. You could probably take some time off work when
we—if you decided to—move.” He laughed at her wide eyed expression. “Are you
shocked by that?”

Her
mouth hung open. “Well, yeah. How much would our mortgage be on the new house?”

“No
mortgage.”

She
coughed and swallowed a bite of pizza. “What?”

“There’s
no mortgage. I’ve owned the land since I was eighteen. The lumber came from the
yard and everything else came from a loan or my savings, but that doesn’t
concern you. I’m asking you to move in with me.”

Her
expression wilted. “Oh, so it would be your house and we’d be your roommates.”

That
was not at all what he meant. “No, Becca. You’d be my wife.”

Her
head lifted and her eyes widened again. “What?”

“You
heard me.”

“Braydon,
are you asking me to marry you?”

“No. I
already botched that once. I’m just warning you it’s coming, so be prepared.”

She
stood, her chair making a slow glide over the linoleum. As she rounded the
table he watched her carefully, unsure what she had planned. She took his pizza
out of his hand and tossed it on the plate, sliding it away. Then she straddled
his lap.

“Remember
when we first met and you kept asking me what I wanted?”

“Yes.”

“I want
you to make love to me.”

His
body reacted to the soft way she gazed at him. They hadn’t been intimate in
over a week and he missed her touch, missed feeling his skin against hers. But
more, he missed the assurance that they were okay. “Here?”

“Everywhere.
I want you. Now.”

Watching
her blue eyes deepen to violet, he ran his fingers over her arms and up the
back of her neck until they sifted through her hair. With one fast tug, he
brought her mouth to his and kissed her passionately, possessively, loving the
taste of her lips on his.

When he
pulled away they were both breathless. Looking into the hall, he asked, “What
about Hunter?”

“He’s
out cold.”

“But
what if he wakes up?”

“You’re
right. We better go upstairs.”

He
kissed her again, his head swimming with need. Standing, he lifted her with him
and shuffled them to the hall. Her hands caressed the heated skin under the
collar of his shirt as she kissed his neck. His body was so hard it was
difficult to walk. He took a detour in the hall, pressing her to the wall and
grinding himself into her hot core.

“Shit,
we’re smearing Hunter’s work.”

Pulling
back from the wall where they’d smudged a bit of his formulas, Braydon pivoted
and pushed her into the open coat closet. They laughed as he accidentally
bumped her head on the shelf.

“Sorry.”

“Shut
up,” she said as she pulled his lips back to hers.

Her
hips twisted against his, the friction an incredibly delicious torture. He
reached under her shirt and cupped her breast. She moaned, pressing her chest
into his palm.

Glancing
up, he noted the beam at the top of the closet. “Hold onto this.”

She
lifted her arms and gripped the bar. Braydon released her legs and yanked down
her pants, past her bare feet, and tossed them aside. Looking back at the empty
hall, still paranoid Hunter could wake up at any second, he quickly pulled the
louver doors shut behind them.

His
hands coasted up her thighs and lifted her knees over his shoulders. Using his
thumbs to spread her folds, he dove forward and licked her sex. Becca cried out
and tightened her legs, her heels digging deliciously into his back. He held
her ass in the cradle of his palms as he feasted on her.

Sliding
her feet back to the ground, he fed his fingers into her sex and pumped
quickly. His mouth closed over her clit as she trembled in pleasure. When she
came, her cries were only slightly muffled by the coats hanging to their left and
right.

“Did
your pill kick in?” It was a touchy subject he didn’t want to get involved in
right now, but if he had to stop and find a condom he’d probably die.

“Last
week. We’re good.”

Best
words he’d ever heard. “Turn around. Put your hands on the wall.”

She
giggled. “Yes, Officer McCullough.”

He rose
in the cramped space and shoved the coats out of his way. Something fell from
the shelf, but he wasted no time seeing what it was. “I’m gonna fuck you,
Becca. We’ll make love later, but right now I need to be inside of you and I
need it hard.”

“God,
yes,” she breathed, shifting her feet to widen her stance.

He
shucked his pants to his knees and grabbed hold of her ass, sliding his fingers
around her hips and jerking her back. Her sex was swollen just the way he liked
it. He gripped his cock and lined it up with her entrance. Placing a kiss on
her shoulder, he thrust forward and filled her to the hilt.

She
gasped and moaned as he withdrew only to pump his cock deep again and again. He
fucked her against the wall until they were both slick with sweat and his knees
had grown weak, but he couldn’t stop. He loved having her like this, raw and
needy, with such intensity there was no stopping them.

Suddenly
her sex fluttered and clamped down on him, rhythmically pulsating with each
thrust. She let out a stream of ludicrous words and gripped the overhead shelf
as she came again, this time drawing his release with hers. His fingers clamped
down on her breasts and squeezed as he held her to his front and filled her.

Spasms
tore through him with each jet of cum and soon he was shivering with exertion.
She wilted against the wall and he gentled his touch, turning her and brushing
the hair from her face in order to see her eyes. When he found those baby
blues, she smiled, her face flush with a soft pink glow.

“I love
you, Becca.”

Her
hand cupped the side of his jaw and she kissed him softly. “I love you too,
Braydon.”

There
was a long creak and then the overhead shelf collapsed on top of them,
pummeling them with an avalanche of jackets, puzzles, and other random objects.
Becca snorted and fell into a fit of laughter.

“The
value just dropped to one ninety-nine,” he teased and she laughed even harder,
hugging him under the pile of crap they were buried in.

* * * *

Later
that night when they finally made it to bed, Becca couldn’t sleep.
 
She tossed and turned, trying her best not to
disturb Braydon, but it was no use. “Braydon, are you awake?”

He
shifted to face her, sheet prints already creasing his cheeks. “Yeah.”

“Why do
you love me?”

He
chuckled. “Why do you love to ask the hard questions when I’m half-asleep?”

She
shrugged and tried for her cutest expression. Hopefully he wasn’t too upset she
woke him. “It’s the only time I really get to think about life.”

His
hand tunneled out from under the blankets and cupped the back of her head,
drawing her close for a quick peck. “That’s why I love you, Becca. You’re
strong, and sweet, and one of the most selfless people I’ve ever met. You’re
special.”

She
processed his words, letting them sink into her soul and fill her with warmth.
“I used to loathe that word, special.”

“But
you don’t anymore?”

Her
mouth twisted to the side. “No. It’s actually a compliment.” She returned his
kiss. “I think you’re special too.”

“Thank
you. When you grow up in a house of nine, it’s difficult to achieve special.
Everyone’s treated the same, or at least that’s the goal, and it’s not always
easy to find your own unique place in the mix.”

“Is
that why you left?”

“I
don’t know.” His eyes fixed on the ceiling for a moment. “I guess I left, at
first, to go to college, but when I came home I couldn’t find my place in
everything. My brother married my girlfriend, Luke was off doing his thing,
Finn was busy learning the business, and Sheilagh had left for school. Even
Kelly was married. I didn’t feel like I fit in the hole I left behind.”

“Like a
puzzle piece.”

Turning
to grin at her, he agreed, “Yeah, sort of like that.”

“Do you
think you’ll be happy if you live there again?”

“It
depends. If you’re with me, yes. I don’t think we’re meant to refill the empty
spaces we leave behind. I think they’re like our fingerprints and we’re meant
to leave trails of them in our wake, not keep touching back to where we’ve
been.”

“I
haven’t left many fingerprints on the world,” she admitted. She’d forever be
competing with the impression left by his family. She didn’t want to compete.
She wanted him to be happy. Unfortunately, she doubted that would be possible
this far from his home.

“Sure
you have. Not every world’s as big and fancy as the rest. But I think you’ve
left a million imprints, and most of them are so gentle and so subtle it takes
a special person to see them. I see them. So does Hunter.”

That
was it. She couldn’t fight it any longer. Twisting, so that she could see his
eyes, she whispered, “I want us to live together. If that means following you,
I’d move to McCullough Mountain with you.”

His
eyes widened with his smile and he sat up, rumpling all the blankets. “Are you
serious?”

She
nodded, her heart fluttering faster than a hummingbird’s wing. She could do
this. There wasn’t much holding her there, while all the McCulloughs seemed to
be pulling him toward Center County. It was an amazing place. She’d even felt
the pull when they visited, but mostly she was being drawn to this irresistible
man. No one had ever tempted her to be so reckless.

“It’s
your home and you belong there. I get why you love it there. I love it too.
It’s so different from your apartment here. Your apartment’s cold and lonely. I
think that’s why you stay here so much.”

“I stay
here because I want to be with you.”

“But
you also want to be with them and you should be. If you left, I’d be devastated
and I think Hunter—in his own way—would miss you too. If you really think this
is for the best and that we can make this work, I’ll put in my notice and go
with you. But I don’t want to sell the house until we’re absolutely sure.”

“You’ll
love it. I know you will. And I’m already sure. I can’t wait to show you what
I’ve done.”

She
smiled, still a little too scared to entirely embrace the decision. It was
surreal. “I’ll have to talk to Kevin.”

“Do you
want me to be there when you do?”

“No. I
think he’ll be more understanding if I speak to him alone.”