Read Change of Heart Page 8


  “No, don’t move,” he said quietly, his mouth near my ear. “You’re tired, I’m tired.”

  His fingers played while I lay there stuck, and after a few seconds, one slipped inside me, making my hips jerk. He pulled out slowly then pushed in again, before his hand completely stopped moving.

  “Sleep,” he murmured, using the hand curled up near his head to press my hair away from my face.

  “I can’t sleep with you inside me,” I argued, tightening the muscles around his finger.

  “Sure you can.”

  “No, I really can’t.”

  “Then I guess you won’t sleep,” he said teasingly, gently squeezing his hand cupping my pussy. “Just relax, baby.”

  He called me baby. It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did.

  I closed my eyes and tried to relax but it wasn’t happening. I was getting wetter by the second, and it took everything I had not to move my hips against his hand. I breathed deep, clenching my hands in front of me as Bram’s body grew heavier behind me.

  When I realized he was falling asleep, I made myself ignore the finger still inside me. If I could wait just a few minutes without moving, I could crawl away once he was finally passed out. Finally, when his breathing grew deep and even, I braced myself to move.

  And that’s when his finger began thrusting again. In and out.

  Then another finger. He curled them forward as he jerked his hand up, and my back arched involuntarily, a small sound bursting out of my throat.

  “You fucking sneak,” I breathed as he did it again.

  I felt a light kiss on my ear as Bram pulled his fingers from me, then he was sliding into me from behind in one long push.

  “You really thought I could leave my fingers in you and sleep?” he asked in amusement, thrusting slowly. “While you were dripping down my hand?”

  “Yes,” I hissed, reaching back to grip his hip. “And it was one finger.”

  He chuckled and grabbed my hand at his hip, pushing it forward until he’d trapped it against the sheets in front of us. “Slow,” he murmured.

  I could barely move, and as much as I wanted to fight him on it, I couldn’t deny that I really liked having him control the way our bodies moved together. He’d get me there if I was patient.

  I gritted my teeth as he just barely sped up his thrusts.

  “Better?” he asked.

  “Not even a little bit,” I moaned, making him chuckle.

  “How about now?” He thrust harder but didn’t speed up.

  “No.”

  “Now?” His hips moved faster, and my eyes drifted shut.

  “No,” I said again stubbornly.

  He pulled back and slammed in hard, our bodies inching across the bed.

  “Yes,” I gasped without him even asking.

  “Wanted some sleepy sex,” he groaned into my ear, his hand leaving mine on the bed so he could slide it underneath the flannel shirt and pinch one of my nipples between his fingers. “But I’ll take this.”

  His hand moved south and I cried out as two of his fingers slid around my clit, barely pinching it as he slid them back and forth with his thrusts.

  “Shit,” I moaned as I came, shuddering as my muscles tightened against his hold.

  “Oh fuck. Yeah, I’ll take this,” he groaned, thrusting again before his hips began to jerk against my ass.

  His weight rested against me as we breathed heavily in the aftermath.

  “Stay still,” he said quietly as he slid his hand from between my thighs.

  He pulled his leg from the top of mine and moved backward, pulling out of me slowly. I heard him get off the bed behind me, then pause.

  “That’s so fucking sexy,” he said, leaning forward to run his finger over my pussy from behind. I shuddered against the movement, and he groaned. “Every time you tighten up, my cum drips out. Jesus. I think I’m having a heart attack.”

  I snickered as he kissed my ass cheek and then stepped away from the bed and moved into the bathroom. When he came back out, he was carrying a wet washcloth, and without any warning, he leaned over me and cupped it between my legs.

  “Roll over,” he ordered, cleaning me up as I followed his instructions.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled quietly when he pulled the washcloth away.

  “No problem. You ready for bed?”

  He walked back into the bathroom, and I could hear the sink running for a minute before he came back empty-handed.

  “Actually, I’m wide awake now,” I answered brightly, sitting up cross-legged. “And hungry.”

  “I’m going to be worthless tomorrow,” Bram complained, looking at the alarm clock on his nightstand. “Come on, I’ll feed you.”

  He pulled me up from the bed and dragged me downstairs, lifting me up to sit on the counter when we got to the kitchen.

  “Ooh, ice cream,” I ordered when he opened up the freezer door. “That’s what I want.”

  He handed me the carton and a spoon, then leaned against the counter across from me, watching as I dove in.

  “You want some?” I asked around the spoon as I shoveled a bite into my mouth.

  “No.” He smiled.

  “Fine. But it’s really good.”

  “I know. It’s mine,” he said drily.

  “So what are you and Trev doing tomorrow?”

  “I’m really sorry about tonight,” he said at the same time.

  “Huh?” I asked in confusion.

  “All that shit at dinner,” he clarified, running his hand over his beard.

  “Not your fault,” I said quickly, shaking my head.

  “Yeah, it was.”

  “Just drop it.”

  “He shouldn’t have yelled at you like that,” Bram pressed. “If I would have known—”

  “Abraham, drop it,” I said again, grabbing the lid to the ice cream and shoving it back on.

  “I’m trying to fucking apologize!” he barked, pulling the ice cream out of my hands and throwing it back in the freezer.

  “Fine, you’re forgiven,” I shot out, tossing the spoon into the sink.

  “Sometimes I wonder how the fuck I’ve dealt with you for the last fifteen years,” he growled, glaring at me. It was closer to fourteen, but who was counting?

  I looked him over, my eyes catching at the long, wild hair barely resting at his shoulders, the brown eyes that were almost black, and the arrow-straight nose with the small bump on the bridge. God, he was attractive. Even more so when he was scowling.

  “Because I’m cute,” I finally chirped back, smiling wide as I tilted my head to the side, “and because instinctively you knew that I could suck dick like a Hoover.”

  Bram’s face continued to scowl for as long as he could hold it, then suddenly he burst out laughing. My smile grew impossibly wider.

  “Really?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.

  “Only one way to find out.”

  I shrieked as he came at me, slinging me over his shoulder as he practically ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

  * * *

  “You go. I’m sleeping,” I grumbled as Bram tried again to shake me awake.

  “Oh, hell no. You kept me up all fucking night, and I’m the one who has to help Trev put up new gutters all fucking day,” he growled, shoving his hands into my armpits so he could force me to sit up. “Get dressed. We gotta go.”

  “You loved it,” I said as I threw my legs over the bed. “I rocked your world.”

  “Yeah, you’re the best I’ve ever had. Now get the fuck up. I was supposed to be at Trev’s twenty minutes ago.” He sat next to me on the bed and started pulling his socks and boots on.

  “Really, the best?” I sang, clasping my hands together under my chin as I tiredly batted my eyelashes at him.

  “You’re such a fucking pain in the ass,” he laughed, shaking his head.

  He pulled me out of the room and down the stairs, and I was kind of disappointed that he’d already been up for a while by the time he’d w
oken me up. I wanted to see sleepy, stumbly Bram again. That Bram was my favorite.

  “Ah, there they are,” I said to myself as Bram opened up the door to the garage and I saw my flip-flops discarded carelessly on the cement step right outside.

  We climbed in the truck, and I shimmied into my jeans as he pulled out onto the highway.

  “I left my tank top and my underoos at your house,” I said as we got closer to Dan and Liz’s house to pick up my car.

  “You can just grab ’em the next time you’re over,” he said easily, turning down the long gravel driveway.

  “Ooh, I get another ride?” I said sweetly, turning my head to look at him. “When?” I clapped my hands in front of my chest.

  “When I call you.”

  “You’re so dominant,” I murmured breathlessly. “Are you going to spank me if I call first?”

  “I fucked you all night, and you’re still busting my balls?” he asked incredulously, coming to a stop next to my Toyota.

  “It’s cute that you thought anything would change,” I mocked, reaching out to tap his cheek with my fingers, then pulling away quickly as he snapped his teeth at me.

  “Thanks for the ride!” I sang as I climbed out of the truck.

  “Which one?” he asked as I slammed the door closed behind me.

  I jogged around to the driver’s seat of my car as Bram turned the truck around, and just as I’d started up the car, Dan opened up the front door of the house and took a step outside.

  I pretended I didn’t hear him call my name as I quickly backed up and turned around. I didn’t want to deal with that shit yet. Not yet. Not until I could look him in the eye without feeling like a bug under the microscope.

  And not until I was dressed in my own clothes and not braless and commando under one of Bram’s favorite flannels.

  Bram. I sighed and smiled as I pulled out onto the road, and for a few minutes, I was almost giddy at the tenderness between my legs. Then, without warning, I thought about the night before, and my smile turned to a scowl. I pulled over to the side of the road and pulled out my phone to text him.

  If we’re having sex without a condom, you’re not fucking anyone else.

  I wanted to write a long-winded text about how I didn’t care if he wanted to see other people but I wasn’t going to take the chance of him giving me some STD, but I didn’t want to give the impression that I was protesting too much. Even though the thought of Bram with anyone else made my stomach churn. I stared at my phone for a full five minutes, periodically glancing at the empty road ahead and behind me, then finally saw that he was typing a response. I braced.

  You aren’t either.

  Well.

  My lips curled up as I pulled back onto the road.

  * * *

  “Hey, asshole!” I yelled, answering my phone the next day. I was covered in paint and sweaty as all hell, but I’d finally gotten all the trim painted in my living room, and it looked magnificent.

  Good word. Magnificent.

  “How’s it going, Anita Bonita?” Henry’s voice came through the speaker as I set my phone down on a stool and started stripping off my paint-splattered clothes.

  “It’s going. Just working on the house today. What about you? Anything new?”

  “Nah, not much. Same shit, different day. I’m doing some training in a couple months though—that should be pretty badass.”

  “Oh, yeah?” I asked, rolling the clothes into a ball and stuffing them into a garbage bag. They weren’t even worth keeping.

  “Yeah. I’m thinking about heading up with Shane and Katie when they come up in two weeks. I’ve got the leave—I just need to get it approved.”

  “Sweet!” I yelled, doing a little dance.

  I loved it when everyone came to visit. We were all so spread out that it didn’t happen often. The last time we’d all been together was Katie’s thirtieth birthday party in San Diego almost a year before. This time, the only person missing would be Alex.

  “Can I stay with you? I think Katie and Shane are staying at Aunt Liz and Uncle Mike’s, but I don’t want to stay with the ’rents.”

  “You’re not bringing skanks to my house,” I warned.

  Henry started laughing. “Wouldn’t dream of it as long as you don’t give me shit for not coming home like my parents or Trev would.”

  “I can honestly say that I don’t give two flying fucks where you sleep at night, Henry dear.”

  “Perfect.”

  I smiled at the relief in his voice. Oh, to be young, gorgeous, and single…wait. I was young, gorgeous—sort of—and single. I didn’t feel that way though. I felt like I was forty-five.

  “So Mom said you had surgery?” Henry asked, then paused. “Oh shit. I wasn’t supposed to know, was I?”

  “Christ, no, it’s fine. I had to have a hysterectomy. It’s all healed up, the end.” I walked toward my bedroom.

  “Wait, why? So you can’t have kids, right?” Henry went silent again. “Motherfuck, Ani. That was a shitty thing to say.”

  “You’re fine.” I smiled sadly, sitting completely naked at the end of my bed. “No, I can’t have kids. It is what it is though. No worries.”

  “Well, I’ve completely fucked up this entire conversation,” Henry groaned. “When I stay at your house, you can shave one of my eyebrows off when I’m sleeping. Fair?”

  “I was going to do that anyway,” I said, wiping at my wet eyes. “It’s the only reason I said you could stay.”

  “Me and you, Anita Bonita. We’re going to party like its nineteen ninety-nine.”

  “Do you even remember nineteen ninety-nine?” I snorted, sliding beneath the covers on my bed.

  “Yes.” Pause. “A little.” Pause. “Oh, shut the fuck up.”

  I started laughing while Henry grumbled.

  “Let me know what day you’ll be here and I’ll make sure to get you a key,” I said after I’d stopped laughing.

  “Sounds good.”

  “I’m really glad you’re coming up, dude. I miss you like crazy.”

  “Yeah me too. Should be fun to have the kids all together again.”

  “Except for Alex,” I said, suddenly really missing my best friend.

  “That’s what he gets for joining the Army. Pussy.”

  “Don’t be a dick,” I ordered, smiling.

  “Hey, you’re not going to be bringing home guys from the bar either, right? I really don’t want to hear that shit.”

  My mouth pulled up in a devious grin, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. “What shit?” I asked innocently.

  “Uh, you know.” Henry cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Moans and shit.”

  “Oh!” I nodded my head even though he couldn’t see me. “Like, oh God, stranger from the bar, your dick is so huge. Oh, please, stick it in, stick it in!” I made my voice as breathy as I could and finished off the sentence with a high-pitched moan.

  “You. Are. A. Dick,” Henry commented when I was done, every word enunciated like it was its own sentence.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “That’s how you sound when you have sex?” he asked seriously. “I thought it would be hotter.”

  “Fuck you!” I laughed.

  “I’ll call you in a couple days and let you know when I get in.”

  “Get in,” I snickered, making him chuckle, too.

  “Bye, Bonita Anita.”

  “Bye, asshole.”

  I dropped the phone on the bed and snuggled farther underneath the blankets. It was nice to hear from Henry. He’d been such a cute kid when I met him. Fourteen and skinny as a rail, he’d been the only one in either of the families that was anywhere close to my size. He’d bulked up as he’d gotten older, but he was still pretty small compared to his brothers and cousins. He’d hit on me back then, so sure that he was smooth.

  I’d shot him down faster than the words could come out of his mouth.

  The little cutie-pie. I’d wanted to just reach out and pi
nch his cheeks, but I was pretty sure, if I’d done that, he would have died from mortification on the spot.

  I sighed. I needed to go get him a key for the house—or maybe I’d just see if he could borrow Bram’s, even though I was pretty sure Bram would say no. Take away his key and give it to absentminded Henry? No way in hell.

  I hadn’t seen Bram since he’d dropped me off the morning before, but I wasn’t really concerned about it. I’d been busy napping and then working on my living room long into the night, before crashing and waking up early again to finish it up. Now that the walls were completely done, I needed to refinish the floor in there, and just the thought of it made me groan. I was so freaking tired.

  I closed my eyes and relaxed into the bed. It was Sunday—I could nap if I wanted to.

  * * *

  “You waiting on me, gorgeous?” a soft voice whispered into my ear a few hours later, making me smile. Bram.

  “I’m pretty sure the front door was locked,” I replied drowsily, opening my eyes as Bram’s body slid in behind me. His hand smoothed up my hip and around my belly as his body curled into mine.

  “I have a key,” he whispered in my ear, his fingers running lightly up my ribs and over my breast.

  “I was really too trusting when I handed those out.”

  “Why you sleeping in the middle of the day?” he asked, ignoring my comment as his lips met my bare shoulder.

  “Because I was tired?”

  “Living room looks good. You got a lot done.”

  “Yeah, now I need to refinish the floors and finally put some furniture in there.” My voice grew husky as Bram’s fingers ran slowly down my torso and between my thighs.

  “I’ll do the floors,” he argued gruffly, gripping my thigh to spread my legs wide, one resting over the top of his. “Look at you, wet already.”

  “Look at you, hard already,” I teased back, pressing my ass against the very hard cock behind me.

  “Shit, I was hard as soon as I saw you were naked,” he said with a small laugh, reaching down between my legs to position himself.

  I moaned deep in my throat as he slid slowly inside me from behind. As soon as he was buried to the root, he pushed my leg back down so my thighs were pressed tightly together. Then I breathed deeply through my nose as he began rolling his hips in a smooth, slow rhythm.