Beauty and the Brain (41 page)

Colin, too, seemed to be absorbed in what he
was doing. When she started exploring his body, he groaned. His
body felt warm and hard under her eager hands, and she delighted in
the contrast between it and her own. She’d sometimes wished she
could examine the differences between the male and female
structure, but she never believed she would have the opportunity to
do so in such a splendid way. The relative hairiness of his legs
and chest as opposed to hers fascinated her. She ran her hands over
his chest until the overwhelming compulsion to taste him came to
her. So she did. He groaned again.

And then there was his sex, pulsing and hot
against her. She’d never imagined ever doing such a thing, and it
shocked her for an instant, but she reached out and touched it. As
soon as she did so and Colin uttered a low, breathy growl, her
inhibitions fled.

“It feels so silky.” She hadn’t expected
that.

Colin only groaned again, from which Brenda
deduced that he didn’t dislike her examination. Therefore, she
continued, feeling the smooth, burning shaft with eager
fingers.

“That feels so good,” came from Colin’s
throat, sounding husky and strained.

“Yes,” Brenda agreed. “It does.”

And then there were his balls. Brenda had
heard men refer to their balls, but she hadn’t understood what
they’d meant until this minute. How very unusual they felt in her
palm. Slightly hairy, loose in their sac. Interesting. Very
interesting.

“God, I can’t wait any longer.”

Surprised, Brenda snatched her hand away,
afraid she’d done something wrong. But no. From the way Colin acted
now, she knew she hadn’t. He pressed her back on the mattress and
kissed her hard and long. The kiss was delicious, but what he did
with his fingers was even better.

When she felt his hand cover the curls
between her thighs, she bucked in shock and anticipation. Her shock
faded when she understood that, as she’d explored his masculinity,
he wanted to explore her womanhood. It was only fair.

Merciful heavens. It also felt sensational.
She cried out softly when his fingers started probing her secret
places. She was very wet down there. She hoped that wasn’t a bad
thing.

“You’re so wet,” he murmured. Since he
sounded pleased about it, Brenda took heart.

She also decided two could play at this
game, so she reached for his rigid sex once more. He threw his head
back, shut his eyes, and looked as if he were in some kind of
exquisite pain for a second.

In an instant, he recovered. “I can’t wait
much longer, Brenda. Are you ready? I’ll try not to hurt you.” He
kissed her again, urgently.

“I’m ready, Colin,” she whispered when he
drew back to look at her, a plea in his eyes. Indeed, she was
beginning to fear that if something didn’t happen pretty soon, she
was going to die. Her body was screaming for release by this time,
in such a state of fevered excitement that it didn’t know what to
do with itself.

Fortunately for Brenda and her body, Colin
knew exactly what to do. He said, “Don’t be shocked, Brenda. I’m
going to do something first.”

She’d had her eyes squeezed shut, savoring
the miracles Colin was performing on her body. When she felt his
warm, wet tongue take over from where his fingers had been probing
seconds earlier, her eyes flew open, and she pushed herself up on
her elbows. Good heavens, he was licking her!

“Colin! Whatever are you doing?”

He glanced up at her, and she distinctly
recognized the glint in his eyes. “This is the result of some
research I did. In France.”

He went back to work. Her shock lasted only
long enough for her to react to what he was doing. With a low moan,
she sank back and enjoyed herself. Thank heavens for France. It
didn’t take long. Colin had driven her to such a pitch of
excitement that a very few strokes of his tongue sent her spiraling
over the edge and into a climax of magnificent proportions. Her
whole body convulsed, and she gasped and cried out in pleasure and
astonishment.

Before she’d fully comprehended the glory of
this new experience, Colin had guided his shaft to where her
femininity still quivered. With one plunge, he’d buried himself in
her. Brenda gasped again, this time with surprise. And a little
pain. She had to admit to it. But it wasn’t bad.

It wasn’t really bad at all.

In fact, now that she thought about it, it
was really quite thrilling. There was something astonishingly
exciting about knowing that she and Colin were joined in the most
intimate way possible.

“Are you all right?” The words sounded
tense. Colin had pressed his face into the pillow next to her head,
and Brenda sensed he was holding himself back with a huge effort.
She lifted her hands to his shoulders and started caressing him
tenderly. She kissed his hair.

“I’m fine, Colin. Fine.” Never better, in
fact.

She could sense rather than feel his sigh of
relief.

“Good. I’m glad of that. I didn’t want to
hurt you.” He lifted his head and looked into her eyes for a moment
before he gave her one of those little half grins of his. She
thought her heart might burst with love, although she knew things
like that didn’t really happen.

For only a moment, time seemed suspended.
Then Colin bent to kiss her again, and he started moving in
her.

“Oh, my!”

He stopped moving instantly. “What?” he
gasped. “Are you hurt?”

No, she wasn’t hurt. It was only that she
hadn’t expected anything to feel quite like this. It was it was—it
was really quite exciting. “No,” she said, absorbed once more in
the novelty and variety of these sensations.

“Keep going. Please.”

So he did. After a few seconds, Brenda got
into the rhythm of it. Oh, my, it felt good. She’d had no idea.
After only a few seconds more, her thoughts scattered like chaff in
the wind and her body took over, reaching for the release it had
only moments earlier achieved.

And then it happened. Like a crescendo in
music, the sensations rose and rose until everything exploded into
a shattering culmination. Brenda bucked and cried out, and ripples
of release danced through her body.

With a roar, Colin, too, achieved
release.

For what seemed like forever, time stood
still. The only sound in the universe was the duet of gasping
respirations as Brenda and Colin tried to catch their breath. The
only beings in the universe were Brenda and Colin, and they were
one.

Gradually, the world started slowly spinning
again.

Birds commenced chirping in the trees
outside the window. The hotel room came into focus, and Brenda’s
spirit returned to her body. When she opened her eyes at last, she
discovered herself staring straight into Colin’s dark, beautiful
eyes. They didn’t look cold any longer. In fact, his entire face,
which often appeared aloof and withdrawn, held a new softness and
wonder. Brenda imagined her own expression echoed his.

He moved first, lifting his hand and
brushing the hair away from her face. It had come loose from its
pins. Brenda supposed it was a mess, although she couldn’t work up
much concern. A whole new world had just exploded into being in her
life, and she didn’t give a hang about her appearance.

Colin’s smile was as intimate as any smile
she’d ever received from a man. “Are you all right, Brenda?”

Because emotion threatened to overwhelm her,
Brenda only nodded. She didn’t want to cry and scare the poor man
to death.

“I’m glad.” He kissed her with exquisite
tenderness. “I—I’ve never—I mean—it was . . .” His words trailed
off.

Brenda understood. With an effort, she
managed to whisper, “Me, neither. Yes, it was.”

Somehow, in the last several minutes, they’d
managed to create a unit perfectly tuned to operate as one. At
least that’s what it felt like to Brenda when they sighed together
and closed their eyes. Again as a unit, they moved. Colin slid to
Brenda’s side, wrapped her in his arms, and drew her up to his
chest. She snuggled there in a kind of blissful relaxation. She
felt rather as if they were floating together on a cloud somewhere
above the tawdry earth.

With a sigh of absolute contentment, she
smiled. So did Colin. She didn’t know how long they lay there,
drifting and dreaming, before they went to sleep.

Colin came back to consciousness slowly. He
couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt this contented, this
relaxed. Languid. Free. Glorious, actually. And it was all because
of Brenda. The perfect woman He couldn’t understand now, after
they’d made love together, why she’d allowed him such intimacy. She
was far too good for him. He’d never in a million years deserve so
superior a person.

She was everything he’d ever dreamed of in a
woman. That is to say, she was everything he ever would have
dreamed of, if he’d been in the habit of dreaming. It seemed a pity
to him now that he hadn’t ever allowed himself the privilege of
daydreams. They’d have enlivened and enriched his life. He’d been a
fool to eschew such fancies as irrelevant and unimportant. At the
moment, he couldn’t think of a more useful task to set his mind to
than, spinning fantasies about Brenda.

Reality sent a sharp stake through his heart
with a sudden, painful thrust, launching him back into real life
with a jolt. Colin frowned, and his heart started, aching
painfully.

Brenda still lay curled at his side, and he
still had an arm around her. He glanced down at her soft blond
curls and felt like crying.

Before they’d made love, he’d told himself
that once the act was done, he’d be free.

Which only went to prove something he’d
known for days now. He was an ass.

Now that he’d made love with her, it was
painfully clear to him that he could never have enough of Brenda.
Bright, beautiful Brenda. The most perfect woman in the world.

Unfortunately, it was also painfully clear
to him that there was no way in hell he could have her. The truth
was so unbearable, Colin closed his eyes against it and tried to
pretend it wasn’t so.

Unpracticed in pretense, he failed
utterly.

When. Brenda slowly returned to the waking
world, at first she didn’t remember why she felt so good. Then all
came back to her, and she smiled. Turning over, she reached out her
hand for Colin. She wanted to feel his naked chest one more time
before they had to wash up and go downstairs to resume their lives
among the cast and crew of
Indian Love Song.

Her hand flopped onto the sheet instead of
onto Colin’s hairy chest, and she opened her eyes, blinking into
the soft afternoon sunbeams floating through her window.

Where the heck was Colin? Groggily, she
pushed herself up, only then realizing that several previously
unused muscles were annoyed at having been put to use at last. Let
‘em protest, she thought happily. They’d get used to it.

She saw Colin sitting beside the window, his
chin in his hands, his elbows on the sill. He seemed to be studying
the bird life out there. Brenda wondered if he were cataloging the
different kinds of birdy chirps. Perhaps he was studying the flight
patterns of scarlet tanagers as opposed to those of blue jays,
before and/or after they’d robbed other birds’ nests

“Colin?” Her voice came out low and
husky.

He turned and smiled at her. This smile
carried a lot of warmth and friendliness, or so it seemed to her.
She smiled back, hoping to convey more than mere friendliness with
her own smile—although there was sure nothing wrong with
friendship. Heck, Brenda valued friendship more than most things in
life.

But she craved something else from
Colin.

The more fool she. She knew she’d never get
it. Colin was far too good for her, and they both knew it. He was a
certified brain. She was a certified beauty. She’d known for a long
time that, while the twain might meet from time to time, there was
no future in it.

She opted not to dwell on the bleakness of
her situation at the moment, for fear her heart would break.

“Awake at last?” His voice was deep and
silky. Brenda loved his voice.

“Yes.” Feeling expansive, she held a hand
out, hoping he’d come to her.

After a second or two, he did—reluctantly,
unless it was her imagination. She doubted that it was. She no
longer believed that he disliked her, but she knew very well he’d
had what he’d wanted. The rest, for her, was all downhill from
here. Her heart gave a sharp twang at the knowledge. She’d learned
to be practical long since, however, and she wasn’t going to spoil
a perfect afternoon by whining at this point. She’d known what she
was getting into when she went to bed with him.

He sat next to her, bent down, and kissed
her. It was sort of a neighborly kiss, nothing like the kisses
they’d shared earlier. She sighed and told herself to get used to
it.

“Are you all right, Brenda? I mean, are
you—well, are you hurt or sore or anything?”

How sweet. Even if he didn’t love her, he at
least cared a little bit. “I’m fine, Colin. Never better.” She
produced a cocky grin.

His eyes twinkled in response, and Brenda
took heart.

All right, so she’d never have him
permanently; she was sure they could at least be friends. She’d
take what she could get.

“Good. I was afraid I’d hurt you.”

She shook her head. “No. I’m fine.” More or
less. At least her physical self was feeling okay. More than okay.
Ginger peachy, actually. Because she felt she needed a hug more
than anything else in the world at the moment, she hugged him. He
hugged her back, hard, and she felt a little better. His hands even
wandered a bit, giving her to understand that he hadn’t yet lost
interest in her entirely. Which was nice.