Whisper My Name Page 10

  “Are you going to leave me standing on your doorstep or invite me in?” he asked.

  “Ah…What are you doing here?” She fought the urge to smooth the strands of hair she knew were sticking up on her head. “Why didn’t you call?”

  “You’ve asked me two questions. Which one do you want me to answer first?”

  “Never mind.” Danielle stepped back to let him into the house.

  “I wanted to see you.” He closed the door. “I didn’t think I needed to call.”

  Danielle heard Lee come up behind her.

  “Hello there. It’s so good to see you again,” Lee purred.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt.” Brody narrowed his glance at Lee then Danielle. “I didn’t know you had company.”

  Lee planted his hands on his hips. “I’m not company, honey. I’m family.”

  Brody frowned. “I see.”

  “I don’t think you do, sugar, but you will.” Lee kissed Danielle on the cheek and opened the door Brody had just walked through.

  “Where are you going?” Danielle asked.

  “I just remembered something I need to do. Don’t wait up.” He fluttered his eyelashes at Brody. “I won’t be back tonight.” He waved his fingers at them. “Enjoy.”

  Danielle glanced out the window, frowning. “I wonder what he had to do all of a sudden. We were going to settle in tonight and watch old black and white movies.” She looked back at Brody. “Oh, I’m sorry. Where are my manners? Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No.”

  “I’m getting ready to—”

  “I called you this afternoon. You’ve been avoiding me. Why?”

  She didn’t answer his question, but said, “I was heading to the family room.”

  She didn’t wait for him to follow but moved toward the small room at the end of the hall. Upon entering, she stood in front of the circular sofa, but didn’t sit.

  Flames from the candles swayed in the soft breeze dancing through the open sliding glass doors. The melodic sounds of her favorite rhythm and blues singer floated from the stereo. Polynesian lettuce rice rolls, a small tray of veggies, cheese and sliced fruit were spread on the coffee table with a setting for two. A bottle of Chardonnay was chilling in the ice bucket. The atmosphere in the room spoke of seduction. She was nervous, which was insane. It was her house.

  His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Are you expecting someone?”

  “No. Lee and I were getting ready to eat.” She paused for a moment. “Since he left, you’re welcome to join me.”

  He pointed toward the food. “Looks like rabbit food to me.”

  She bristled at the words. “This is what I’m eating. You can share it with me or not.” She gave him a nonchalant shrug. “It’s your choice.”

  She retrieved the wine, filled two glasses and handed one to Brody. Her fingertips grazed his skin and heat exploded in her core.

  “Do you have any beer?”

  “No.”

  In the dimness of the light, his eyes were shadowed and the non-expression she was used to seeing on his face was in place.

  He took a sip, watching her every movement.

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I know.”

  “Why?”

  “I had to think.”

  “About the night we made love?”

  “That didn’t happen.”

  ‘Yes, it did. My mouth was all over you. I call that making love.”

  “It’s semantics.”

  “If it makes you feel better, call it what you want.”

  Her heartbeat thudding in her chest, she strived to speak calmly or rather rationally. She never knew she had a temper until she encountered Brody. The man could push her buttons quicker than anyone. You want him. Okay. There was an attraction—a very strong attraction. One that she no longer would fight.

  “It’s inevitable, we’ll end up in bed together. So let’s lay out the ground rules. You don’t want a relationship. I don’t either. When it’s over, we’ll go our separate ways. I’m fine with that,” she said hurriedly.

  He was frowning. “Are you finished?” he asked. Anger scaled the words.

  “Yes.” Puzzled, she wondered what the hell his problem was. She was giving him what he wanted. They would have sex. No strings. It would be a one-time thing. She refused to become one of his women who waited for him to choose her for the night.

  “You and Sally are best friends. Whatever happens is between us and no one else.”

  “No worries. It’s for one night.”

  He lifted his brows. “Really? I don’t remember agreeing to that.”

  “It’s my rule. I’m going into this with my eyes wide open. So do we agree?”

  Not answering the question, he said, “I need more food than this, Danielle.”

  There it was again. Her heart did a flip-flop when he said her name. There was a tilt to his tone with a very slight accent. She wondered about it. From Sally’s tales of his life, she knew he’d spent a few years at a boarding school in France. It sounded sexy, warm and downright controlling. It excited her. Strange. She never liked men who exerted ownership, but with him it caused her insides to shimmer with lust—something she didn’t want to examine.

  She squinted. “I have a little roast beef in the fridge that Lee cooked for dinner a couple of days ago. I was going to throw it away but I wanted to get closer to trash pickup day. I didn’t want it smelling up the house.”

  “Danielle—”

  “I know it’s still good because I had some yesterday.” She hurried toward the door. “It won’t take long to nuke it in the microwave.”

  “Danielle—”

  It’ll just take me a minute.” She threw the words over her shoulder and hurried out of the room.

  ###

  Frowning, Brody watched her almost run from the room. What in the hell happened? She just told him she was willing to have a fling but nothing else and then she disappeared. Irritation cruised through him. He set his glass on the table and walked out on the terrace, breathing in the evening cool air.

  Danielle had him in a corner. He hadn’t expected her to be the one to lay the ground rules, let alone come up with one of her own. She could be tantalizing. It surprised him. But he liked it. Damn. He was beginning to crave her—too much.

  Ashton’s words resonated through his mind about his future. He shook his head. He was a loner and he liked it that way. He had no need for a wife. Damn. Where did that come from? He wasn’t ever getting married. Shit. He’d never been in a monogamous relationship. He didn’t know how, he didn’t want one. At least that was what he told himself. His mind shouted otherwise.

  At that moment he heard the door to the family room open, he stepped through the patio door back into the room.

  She held a small tray in her hands that held two beef sandwiches and a drink. She had also changed her outfit. Dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a form-fitting t-shirt outlining her perky breasts, her hair was combed back into a ponytail; she looked young and fresh. Damn. He was a goner.

  He took the tray from her and set it on the sofa table.

  “I know you like beer but I didn’t have any, so I brought soda.”

  “There was no need for you to go through the trouble. I could’ve tried to make do with what you already prepared.”

  “Sure you could,” she teased. “I eat light most of the time. I know you don’t.”

  “Your food was fine.”

  She continued to tease. “Wow. You settle for the mundane? That’s out of character for you.”

  She was trying to talk over her nervousness. He could tell this by the way she netted the fingers of both her hands around her wine glass to give her courage.

  Reaching out, he took the glass from her fingers. As her hands dropped to her sides he caught one and drew her closer. His fingers fastened firmly on her wrist, expecting resistance. He received none. She allowed him to control he smiled appreciatively. This was
the Danielle he wasn’t accustomed to seeing—willing.

  His determination to resist her was now non-existence. What was it about her that made him want what was happening between them to be special? All his sexual encounters with rich, powerful women, actresses, royalty, and others had been turbulent and irritating, they were always wanting more than he was willing to give—or could give.

  Women had him called heartless, a callous man without a soul—and they were right. There was darkness in him that he never examined and sometimes welcome. It was who he was. Even if he wanted to change—and he didn’t. It was too late for him.

  He stared at Danielle. She had weaved a web around him and didn’t know it. He grabbed the unfinished glass of wine, needing something stronger than soda, and gulped it in one long swallow. He hoped to slow the boil in his blood but it fueled the blaze.

  He wanted her but he couldn’t release control. But there was something about this woman that made him want to surrender it to her—and that fact unsettled him.

  “I want you.”

  “I know.”

  “I have never had a serious relationship. I wouldn’t know how to have one. It’s not for me.”

  “Okay,” she said slowly, confusion lining her features. “I only asked for one night. That’s all I want.”

  He captured her chin in his hands and turned her to completely face him. “Are you sure?”

  She frowned but nodded.

  “I want to fuck you. No strings. Just hard consensual sex,” he said, roughly.

  He felt her tremble but she didn’t say anything. His arm encircled her waist pulling her against him. “Put your arms around me,” he told her.

  She lifted her arms and hooked them behind his neck.

  “Don’t you want to eat?” she asked.

  “I’m getting ready to.”

  “This is crazy. What we are doing?”

  “Everything,” he murmured against her as he slid one hand underneath her hair and the other around the back of her waist. “If you want to stop, tell me now.”

  “No,” she whispered, kissing him, which surprised him, but he hardened at the softness of her lips against his. He pulled her into a fierce grip and took her mouth like a dying man searching for water after a sandstorm.

  He swore, taking control and pulled her mouth against his and squeezing her ass through the cloth of her shorts.

  “This is going to be good, Danielle. No commitment. No drama. You understand?”

  “I’m a grown woman, Brody. I know the rules.”

  Satisfied, he parted her lips with his tongue and tasted her warmth. He moved her even closer, grinding her hips against his, needing that sweet pleasure only she could give him at that moment.

  He no longer was willing to resist the impulse to seduce her. Tonight he would make her his.

  Feeling himself grow hard, it still surprised him the force of his reaction to her still. It bothered him that she had avoided him for a damn week. He was normally detached about his sexual life. He chose his partners for their ability to please him, and he never had a problem giving a woman complete satisfaction without thought—but this moment was different. He wanted Danielle to experience immeasurable pleasure with him.

  He swung her up his arms. He wouldn’t take her like a one nightstand on the sofa. She deserved better. In her bedroom, he sat her on her feet and started the journey once again.

  The taste of her saturated every fiber of his being. Until he went rock hard, aching to be inside. At that very moment, he knew it had to be her. Just her. What would she say if she knew he hadn’t been with a woman in over a month? If she knew of the times, he used his hand to bring release while he imagined it being her mouth on him instead.

  He removed every piece of her clothing, except the thong, and his own. He took a couple of condoms from his jeans back pocket. He threw them on the bed and stared in awe at what was before him. Clothed, Danielle was breathtakingly beautiful, nude she was exquisite. Deep shallow breaths kept him from taking her without preparation. Tonight belonged to her.

  He took her in his arms hot flesh met hot flesh. Inwardly, he sighed from the softness of her breasts against his chest. The revelation of them touching without restraint escalated the rhythm of his heart to pound in his chest. He took deep breaths to gain control of the tumultuous storm in him begging to be unleashed. Short whisks of air escaped through her mouth. Her fingers scratched along his back with a frenzy he couldn’t miss.

  He buried his face in her neck. “We need to slow down.”

  She twisted fistfuls of his long hair in her hands and tugged his head up until he stared into her eyes. “Why?”

  “I need to go slow. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Not tonight,” she whispered. “You promised me hard…and I want it fast.”

  His cock was hard solid and strained against her flesh. His breath came in deep gulps, reaching for control. No rushing. This was too important. He slid both hands along her hips, hooking his fingers into the thong and easing it over her legs and around her ankles. She stepped out of them, kicking them haphazardly to the side.

  He smiled at the gesture.

  He sat her on the edge of the bed and leaned her back. On his knees, he brought his mouth to her core and began to stroke and caress her with his tongue. She moaned deep into her throat. He couldn’t wait any longer. Kissing his way back up her stomach to her breasts, he scooped her further on the bed. Her legs opened and she hooked around his waist.

  “I can’t wait. I promise the next round will be better.” He pressed into her. Her vagina swallowed him. He wanted her to take all of him and he knew she wasn’t ready. He breathed deeply, massaged her mound and inched in slowly. She worked her hips around his penis, pulling him deeper into her womb until he was seated all the way.

  He sucked in a breath at the unbelievable pleasure he was experiencing. The intensity—the emotions—he didn’t want to feel—the weakness—the loss of control—and the love that washed over him for this woman. His brain screamed at him to stop but his heart commanded him to surrender.

  She moved.

  He moved.

  The bed moved…or did it?

  He couldn’t tell if it was his imagination or not.

  Then he was deep inside her. He was lost. He couldn’t stop—not even if his life depended on it. He began to pound into her. She took all of him. Her fingers gripped his arms, an orgasm hitting her hard. He continued the journey, watching to make sure she was with him all the way.

  It was perfect as they gazed into each other’s eyes, sharing a suspended moment in time that would brand them forever.

  Release was near but he was determined that she would find more pleasure tonight than she could ever imagine. He wanted her to know that after tonight she belonged to him. He moved faster inside her, drawing out the pleasure, wrenching another orgasm until her body sagged from the weight of her released.

  He grunted deep in his chest and flowed his semen into the condom. He didn’t think he would stop. Her body was slick against his. He lifted up to take his weight off her and fell to her side completely drained.

  For the very first time, the urge to wrap a woman in his arms after sex, nibbled at his mind, at last overpowering him. Without examination or thought, he reached over, pulled her across his chest and wrapped an arm around her. He laid awake for a long time listening to her soft breathing. The light snoring caused his eyes to close as the moon lit the darkness in the sky.

  Finally he slept.

  He awoke with a start with Danielle still in his arms. Damn. This had never happened before. He always went to a woman’s house or hotel so he could leave when he was done no matter how much she tried to persuade him to stay.

  Danielle was sprawled across him, her hair shielding her face. He pushed it from her face, tucking it behind her ear. She was one beautiful woman. She moved slightly. He stiffened. With her eyes still closed, she snuggled into him, tucking her face in his throat and sigh
ed.

  This was a damn mistake. Huge.

  Sex was a release, something he enjoyed without emotion. No exceptions. Then why the fuck was his heart telling him something else?

  Shit. What the hell was he going to do?

  Chapter Twelve

  Danielle rolled over in the bed, disoriented. Squinting from the sun coming through the window, she reached across the bed, searching, but her hand came back empty. He was gone. She squeezed her eyes to hold back the sudden pain that hit her heart. What was wrong with her? Isn’t that what she wanted? They’d promised each other it would only be one night—now back to the real world. She uttered an inward groan thinking about him. His kisses hadn’t been gentle. They were greedy, demanding, and she wanted more. Sitting up, she glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It read eleven o’clock. Damn. Almost half the day was gone.

  She jumped out of bed, groaning at the soreness between her legs. Muscles she hadn’t used in a long time screamed at her. Flashes of Brody and her making love throughout the night flooded her mind. It was over. Time to move forward. She headed to the bathroom for a long shower.

  ###

  Brody leaned about the counter, his fingers around the cup of coffee in his hand. Lee flitted around the kitchen making breakfast and doing his usual—talking. Although, Brody kept his face neutral and tried not to show his irritation at the chatter, it was becoming difficult. The man talked more than anyone he knew. He never took a breath. Brody tried to nod in all of the appropriate spots and hoped Lee didn’t expect an actual response.

  He heard her before he saw her. When she appeared in the door, his body went hard at the sight of her. She was dressed in a short, off-the-shoulder sundress that infused his memory of the many times they’d made love last night. He wanted her again—soon. She came to a complete stop when she saw him, her face showing shock. Luckily, Lee was busying taking biscuits out the oven and didn’t notice how their eyes locked.