Brady glanced up at her, amused. “My what?”
“This.” Piper went down on her knees in front of him, nestled between his thighs, and enclosed his erection with her hand.
“Oh, yeah, that’s perfect, baby,” he told her, as she stroked up and down.
She was just getting started. Feeling emboldened, and wanting to do what she had been giving some considerable thought to, Piper bent over and slid her mouth down onto his smooth heat.
“Fuck.”
His agonized approval was exactly what she wanted to hear. There was something intensely satisfying about showing her appreciation for him this way, for resting her palms on his thighs and drawing him deep into her throat. It felt profoundly intimate, her surrounded by him, in her new bedroom that he had been sleeping in, like there was no denying the connection being drawn between them. Like the image of her in the living room, the strokes were getting darker and more obvious, bringing them as a couple into shape, into being.
When his groans grew more pronounced and he dragged his fingers through her hair, urging her to stand up, Piper didn’t. She stayed down, on him, until his grip tugged her hair so tightly her eyes teared, and he exploded in her mouth with a hot pulse.
“Holy shit,” Brady breathed. “I haven’t done that in ten years. Fuck, f**k, f**k, you are hot.” He just sat there for a second, stunned, staring down at Piper, her hair tumbling over his thighs, as she wiped her mouth, a sweet but satisfied smile on her face. The combination of sweet and sexy was going to kill him. Literally kill him.
He hadn’t done anything to deserve this amazing woman, and yet, here she was, with him. It felt like a dream he didn’t want to wake up from, and he wanted to hold on to it with both hands, both feet, and anything else he could use to grip her to him.
“I’m glad you liked it,” she said, too damn cute for her own good.
Brady gave a soft laugh. Then he pulled her to her feet. Her bra was dangling on her br**sts loosely, and he divested her of it completely. Then her panties. Goosebumps rose on her skin as he bent over, breathing deeply the scent of her, brushing his nose across the warm flesh of her stomach, teasing her. He slid his tongue up and down her inner thighs, moving his hands around to her smooth ass to grip it lightly. She had started to make quiet moans of anxious desire, wanting more, and he reveled in the sound, the feel of her. She got wet so easily for him. She came so easily for him. For him. No one else.
He slipped his tongue over her clitoris and felt himself start to harden again as she whimpered, and her tangy moist arousal greeted him as he moved further south, tasting her thoroughly. Her nails dug into his shoulders and her head fell back in abandon. When she came on him, he marveled that he could take so much pleasure in her pleasure.
And when he pulled her down onto the bed and rolled her beneath him, sliding his c**k inside her welcoming body, he also marveled that so much could change in such a short amount of time.
And that it would be so easy to free fall with Piper like this, with no thought to whether or not he had a parachute.
* * *
PIPER SMILED AT BRADY AS THEY RINSED THE BRUSH and paint roller they had abandoned an hour earlier in the kitchen sink. She put the lid back on the paint can, her inner thighs pleasantly sore, her body satisfied.
“Well, we did about ten percent of the room,” he said, with a grin. “It’s a start, anyway.”
“We could buy a new brush and roller and keep going tonight,” she said, not wanting to leave him and go back to the farm.
“Nah. Screw that. It can wait. I’m starving. Want to go to the Bee and get some dinner?”
She would most likely go anywhere with him. “Sure. I’ll text my mom and let her know I’m not coming back for awhile.”
Brady, whose hair was sticking up from her fingers racking through it, finished rinsing the brush and dumped it on a rag on the counter. “Are you ready to go out in public with me? Tongues will be wagging, you know.”
“I can handle it.” Tongues had been wagging about her since the day she’d shown up in Cuttersville. It was not going to bother her if they were talking about how had little Piper Tucker managed to get Brady Stritmeyer to stick around town for awhile. She almost welcomed it.
Brady leaned over and kissed her. “I bet you can handle anything.”
She smiled. “Even you.”
He laughed. “Oh, you handle me just fine. Better than fine. You have me firmly handled.”
She wasn’t sure about that, but she was sure she’d love to keep trying.
Brady hadn’t underestimated the attention they would receive when they walked into the diner, his hand firmly in hers. Every eye in the place swiveled and settled on them, openly curious. For a split second, Piper worried about her father, and his opinion of what she was doing, but then she squashed it. She wasn’t going to ruin the moment, and she was going to trust that her father trusted her, whether he was comfortable with Brady or not.
Fortunately, Brady shared none of her hesitation. He strode right in, giving everyone a charming smile. “Hey, Marge, how are you this evening?”
“Still above ground, so that’s something.” Then Marge noticed their hands. “So that’s the way the wind is blowing, huh? I’ll tell you what, Brady Stritmeyer, you hurt this girl here and you’ll have a whole lot to answer to.” She snapped her chewing gum in her mouth to emphasize her point.
Oh, Lord. Piper felt her cheeks burn. “Marge, I think Brady has been threatened enough already by my father, but thanks for the concern.”
Marge barked out a laugh. “I bet.”
Brady didn’t look as annoyed as Piper felt. “How come no one is worried about me getting hurt?” he asked, the corner of his mouth turning up. “I bleed too, you know.”
The waitress’s answer was a snort of derision.
Tucking her hair behind her ear, Piper took the menu from Marge as she slid into the worn booth. She ordered a coffee and Brady ordered a glass of milk.
“Milk?” she asked him, amused.
“It does a body good.” He smiled at her, the secret smile of someone who knew her intimately, and it warmed up her insides, the memory of what they had shared, what they were going to be. “I need to get my strength up these days.”
“All this home improvement?” she asked, teasing.
“Uh-huh. Among other things.” He winked at her, his knee bumping hers. “But in addition to all of that, I suppose I need to do some job hunting here in town.”