Blushing Pink (25 page)

Mustering up her confidence, she inched closer to Brian. He inched then, too. Sucking in a small breath, she ran her palm lightly over his chest. "Well..." she began, lowering her voice, and praying Brian didn't share the same compulsion to recoil at her touch that Kenneth did.

"Well..." he said back, and moved closer—pressing his chest against her hand.

Ecstatically, she slid her palm up to cup the back of his neck, and things moved fluidly from there. Her other hand fell onto his chest and stroked it as Brian slipped his arms around her and lowered his head to hers.

"So..." she murmured.

"Yeah..." he mumbled, touching his lips to hers.

"Anyway..." she whispered against his mouth.

The last thing she heard before other senses took over was Brian's low groan as he opened his mouth over hers. Then she was captured in a soft, slow kiss. It was almost sweet because it was so gentle, but it was too wet and too sexual to be sweet.

Brian's tongue was teasing hers, gliding and slicking enough to unbelievably turn her on, but not nearly enough to satisfy her.

She moaned and tugged on his neck. She needed him deeper—she needed
more.
Brian must have understood, because suddenly his lips pushed hard on hers, opening their mouths wider, and tangling their tongues in a wild, hungry frenzy.

Reese's neck tilted back as she tried to keep up and struggled to contain the ecstasy of this moment—of the exhilaration zinging through her, of the sweat breaking out, of her panties burning up.

Soon Reese was clawing at Brian's T-shirt. He hugged her tightly to him, then pressed her up against the wall. He was licking into her, sliding in and out, sucking on her tongue, nipping at her lower lip.... It was almost all too much, and certainly nothing like the halfhearted lip locks she'd shared with Kenneth.
Oh, God.
Brian's kiss was raw, hot passion. The kind of passion that shocked her body to the brink of orgasm.

"Jesus," he whispered gruffly, and buried his head in the crook of her neck.

She forgot that she was awkwardly and almost painfully perched on the very tips of her toes; she thought only of the heat and the contact. Of licking and fucking and writhing and climaxing. A shrieking moan burst from her as all the dirty thoughts filled her brain, and Brian growled—almost as if he could read her dirty mind. With barely restrained aggression, Reese cupped his jaw and folded her mouth into his hungrily, desperately.

Several moments passed before her fingers slinked up and furrowed into his hair. She gripped it for balance as he slid his hand up and down her back almost roughly. She vaguely heard knuckles dragging along the wall, and then Brian's fingers were kneading the back of her neck, weakening it until her knees buckled, and she almost slid to the floor.

Keep going.
It had been so long since she'd kissed a man like this. Well, she was hard-pressed to remember anything quite like
this.
She moaned as he tugged gently on her hair, arching her neck, and trailed strong, suctioning kisses down her throat.

When he got to the curve, he sucked hard—the wet heat of his mouth and the light rasp of his teeth on her skin created an electric sensation that seared her nerve endings.

More, please... much, much more...

Brian worked his way back up to her mouth, which was open and ready. "Brian..." Reese murmured after the kiss broke. She hadn't thought about it, but his name had slipped out naturally and breathlessly. Brian pulled back enough to press his forehead to hers, and she could hear the ragged quickness of his breath. Coiling her arms tightly around his neck, she blurted on a whisper, "I like being with you."

He lifted his forehead off hers to look into her eyes. As his breathing slowed, a faint grin appeared on his face. He brushed some of her hair away from her face and said, "I like being with
you."
She smiled into the darkness, and then his mouth was on hers again, doing the same things as before, only harder. Deeper. Wetter.

She slid her tongue inside his mouth and he groaned.

Her back scraped up and down against the wall, as Brian's erection pressed and pushed into the soft, aching place between her legs. She rocked her hips and squeezed her eyes shut as she took his sudden, fierce thrusts. A few pumps of his hips, and she was panting and gripping his shoulders while her head rested against the wall, and she thought about
really
making love to him. It would be like this, only better
... so
much better.

He touched her breasts, she grabbed his butt, and then his cell phone rang.

At first he ignored it, but then he pulled back enough to mutter, "Damn it, it might be an emergency," and retrieve it from his pocket. "Hello," he barked. Then his voice softened. "Danny, what's wrong? Is everything okay?"

Now he disentangled himself from Reese to stand upright, pressing the phone close to his ear. "I can barely hear you... you're where? Hello, Danny?"

Reese felt beyond awkward standing there. And also a little embarrassed by how far one kiss had gone. Echoes of her moaning still ran through her head, and she blushed at the thought. Meanwhile it appeared that Brian had gotten cut off from his sister.

"I'm sorry," he said now, snapping his phone shut. "I've gotta go. It's my sister. She's... She's having some problems."

"Oh, no, is everything all right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, she's just freaking out about something with the insurance."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

She brushed some hair behind her shoulders, and he lifted a few strands and brushed them away himself. "I'm sorry," he said.

"No, no, I understand," Reese said. Meanwhile, her heart was sinking—sure, she was embarrassed, but that didn't mean she wanted to
stop.

But the spell was broken, at least for the moment. They managed to say good-night without tearing each other's clothes off, and Brian kissed her just once more—sweetly, deeply, passionately—before he reminded her to lock up. And then he said good-bye.

Chapter 19

Reese decided to stay in the city the following day, and do some work at the New York Public Library. She'd remembered a term paper that was due at the end of January, and figured she would get it done and out of the way. It was the new her. Okay, not really. It was the temporary awesome-mood-might-as-well-be-productive her. After last night she was floating in a happy delirium, and nothing as mundane as homework could destroy her high.

She had her laptop set up in one of the cubicles, and notebooks, pens, a water bottle, and an "emergency" Power Bar strewn along the desktop so she would feel fortified. She kind of doubted that she'd ever be hungry enough to eat the PowerBar—it was the same one her mother had placed in her bookbag on her very first day at Crewlyn.

Now, staring at her blinking cursor, she was a million miles away. Thinking about Brian. Remembering the night before. Remembering how it felt to kiss him and hold him—remembering how wonderful his skin smelled, and how sexy his voice had sounded when it had turned low and raspy with desire....

Okay, this study approach was not going to get her work done. She had to stop reliving the previous night, as exhilarated as it still made her feel. She had to focus. Focus... On what, again? Oh, right, the term paper.

She opened a yellow spiral notebook to her left, and skimmed over her class notes.

Snore...
Why had she ever enrolled in a class called The Structuralization and Politicization of the Global Economy? Oh, right, it was because she'd missed her registration time after Kimble had insisted that she stay in his office and take dictation while his ideas were "pouring out." By the time she'd gotten to the registrar, this was one of the few open courses left.

Okay, time to work.

Fantasizing about better classes, and Brian's incredibly sexy mouth and gentle touch would have to wait. Even though her mind was pumping with lust and adrenaline, she'd have to buckle down.

Just as she was about to write "The" her mind wandered.

It wasn't easy, but finally, over the next few hours, she eked out a seven-page paper, and made it to level forty-two of
Chip's Challenge.
Definitely a full day. Afterward she caught a bus back to her apartment, picked up her car, and drove home to Goldwood.

She was dizzily happy when she walked in the front door. She'd found a man she liked so much, who liked her back—desired her as much as she desired him—and for the first time in so long, her luck with the opposite sex was turning around.

"Hi, honey!" Joanna called, as Reese set her keys on the clock and made her way down the hall and into the kitchen.

"Hey!" she said to Joanna and Ben, who were sitting around the table, going through photographs. They had three albums opened, and random photos scattered all around. "Where's Ally?" Reese asked.

"In here!" Ally called from the pantry, and then emerged, carrying a bag of Chex Mix, and wearing a big-skirted silver gown.

"Oh, my God! That dress is so cool!" Reese said enthusiastically, and came closer to touch the material. Then she screwed up her face in sudden concern. "But is it okay for you to wear it now?"

"Don't even get me
started,"
Joanna said. "I've asked her a thousand times to take it off before she sweats in it."

"Mom, I'm not a pig."

"It's got nothing to do with that! I just think—"

"Okay, okay, I'll take it off. But let's just finish this first."

"What is all this?" Reese asked.

Ally said, "Oh, we were gonna put together an album of me and Ben—you know, like showing our whole relationship."

"That's a cool idea," Reese said, and suddenly spotted the large Christmas tree in the family room, glowing with multicolored lights. "Hey, you got the tree. I love it."

"Oh, yes, Ben and your father got it this afternoon," Joanna said. "I figured you could take over the decorating, since that's your thing."

"Okay," Reese said, and took a seat at the table.

"Oh, sweetheart!" Joanna exclaimed. "I can't believe I forgot! Kenneth called earlier. Twice. I said I'd have you call him back."

"Yeah, I can't believe you forgot, either," Reese said, grinning.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to call him back?" Joanna asked, sounding close to desperate.

"Yeah... I will."
If I'm feeling masochistic.
"So where are all these pictures from?"

"A bunch of different albums I had," Ally answered. "Hey, hon, look at this." She handed the snapshot over to Ben, who chuckled in response, and passed it to Reese. It was a picture of Ally and Ben at a Halloween party. They had dressed as "Captain and Coke," with Ben in a sea captain costume, and Ally in a red dress with
Coca-Cola
scribbled in white across her chest, and bottle-cap earrings dangling down low.

"By the way, there's fresh pastry on the cooling rack," Joanna said. "Help yourself, sweetheart."

"Oh, no, thanks," Reese said, not even sparing the pastry a glance. For some reason, she had zero desire to stuff her face with sweets. She figured the feeling would pass quickly.

"What's this one from, Ally?" Joanna asked, passing another photo to her.

Ally leaned over to look at it. After a pause, she said, "Oh, yeah, that was that big Valentine's party we went to a few years ago. Remember, hon?" She leaned over and rested her head on Ben's shoulder.

"You look so handsome," she said. He smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head. "Oh, hey, there's Brian in the background."

At the mention of his name, Reese's heartbeat leaped to attention. Should she come clean with her family about Brian? Before there hadn't been much to tell, but now...

She looked at the photo, and her eyes zeroed in on Brian immediately. He was way in the background, and appeared to be frozen in a laughing moment beside a tall, skinny blonde. Reese swallowed an irrational lump of jealousy. Of course it was ridiculous to feel jealous, but she couldn't seem to help herself. She was strangely possessive of him now—he was
hers.

Well, almost.

Maybe.

"Oh, yes, I see," Joanna observed. "Who's that he's with? She looks pretty darn interested in getting her hooks in."

"That was his ex-fiancé," Ally said.
Ex-fiancé!
Brian had been engaged? Reese had no particular reason to be shocked, but she was anyway. And even more irrationally jealous. "What was her name again?" Ally asked.

"Veronica," Ben replied absently, thumbing through another stack of pictures. "But I don't think they're exes anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I think they're back together."

Reese's stomach dropped, and her throat clogged up. Ben couldn't be right—he just
couldn't.

"Oh, really?" Ally said.

"Yeah, I thought I told you that. Brian said they were talking again, but I don't remember all the details."

No, there was no way Brian was back together with his ex-fiancé. It was not possible. If Brian were engaged, he would never have spent last night in her arms. He never would have kissed her so passionately. He never would have come to protect her from the creepy customer.