I rolled my eyes. “Oh yeah. Totally sleepy.” I was in my pajamas, but I’d never felt more awake.
His fingers lightly trailed over the back of my hand and grazed patterns on my bare arm. “That’s a shame. I was thinking of all kinds of things we could do if we stayed up late.”
“Mmm, is that so?” I couldn’t wait to hear this.
“Some celebratory stuff.” He shrugged as if his words didn’t matter, but his fingers kept sliding over my skin, and my n**ples grew hard. “Little bit of this, little bit of that…”
“I’m disappointed,” I told him. “I only get a little bit? I could have sworn you were packing more in there.” And I deliberately flicked my gaze to his crotch.
His grin contained a mixture of delight and arousal. “Oh, I’m definitely packing enough for you, baby.”
There was that ‘baby’ again. “You almost got us in trouble earlier, baby. What’s with the nickname?”
He looked a little wounded at my questioning. “What, you’re not my baby?”
“I don’t know. Am I?”
“I’m actually a little offended that you have to ask.”
“You kidding me?” I rolled onto my back and propped up on both elbows, scowling at him. “You hit on everything female. How am I supposed to know if I’m special to you or if this is just more gameplay—”
Brodie leaned forward, his mouth pressing against mine and interrupting my words. Heck, he interrupted my thoughts, too. His lips were firm on mine, the weight of him pressing over me distracting. When he licked into my mouth, I moaned. That felt so good it was sinful.
“You like my mouth on yours, Kandis?” His breath was warm against my skin, his body heavy over mine. He pressed me against the bed, and I felt my now-hard n**ples brush against his chest when he moved. “You like it when I touch your tongue with mine?”
A whimper was my only response.
“That’s good, baby,” he said against my lips. His gaze above mine was sleepy with arousal, eyes heavy-lidded. “Because if I flirt with them, it’s all for the game. You’re the only one I put my mouth on. The only one I touch. And you’re sure as shit the only one that gets me so f**king hard that I have to go take a shower in the middle of the day just so I can f**king jerk off.”
I gasped at his crude words. God, that was sexy to hear. “Did you jerk off today?”
“Hell yes,” he said, and he ran the tip of his tongue lazily along the line of my jaw. “I woke up and you were all curled up against me with that sexy hair sticking up, and your shirt was all hiked up. And I knew I couldn’t touch you with the cameras on, so I took an early morning shower and took care of myself.” He nipped at my skin. “Though I’m pretty sure I said your name so loud when I came that they caught it on the microphones.”
I shivered at the thought of Brodie in the shower, hands on his c*ck all because I’d been curled up against him.
“So,” he murmured, and I felt his hands slide over my sides, feathering oh-so-close to my aching br**sts. “Does that satisfy you, baby? Or do you still think that I’m f**king around with all the chicks in here?”
I shook my head and arched against him. I trusted him. I might get burned for it later, but damn, Brodie was convincing when he wanted to be. And I so desperately wanted him to be telling me the truth. I needed Brodie Short to be as messed up over me as I was over him.
And right now? I was pretty messed up on him. Especially with his big body on top of mine. I sighed heavily.
His fingers stroked the tousled hair off of my brow in an affectionate touch. “What’s that sigh for, beautiful?”
“Just thinking how long it is until two,” I told him, wiggling under him. “And how very hard.”
He groaned. “You so don’t play fair.”
“Nope,” I agreed, feeling a bit mischievous. I rolled my h*ps under him again. “Guess we’ll just have to stick it out, huh?”
He gave me a speculative look and then leaned in to brush his mouth against mine again. Instead of the deep kiss I’d expected, though, he murmured against my mouth. “There’s one place that they don’t film, you know.”
I stared up at him blankly for a moment, and then it dawned on me. The bathroom for the rest of the rooms in this spooky house were more like gym bathrooms in that they were intended for multiple users, and thus the common area was fair game for filming. But the bathroom in the Power room was a ‘no cameras’ situation as it was a small closet of a room, intended for just one user. It had a footed bath, a sink, and one toilet. “Bathroom?”
“Bathroom,” he agreed, and shot me a wicked grin that melted my resolve.
“I’m warning you, I don’t find the thought of making love on a toilet very sexy.”
“Mmm, are we going to make love, then?” His eyes gleamed. “I was thinking a little mutual gratification was not out of order, but if you’re up for taking it to the next level, I am, too.” And he rotated his h*ps against mine just to show me how very ‘up’ he was.
I trailed my hands along his shoulders. “I’m game if you’ve got condoms.” And I was. We’d played at more for long enough. I was ready for the real deal. No more of this endless teasing.
He flashed another roguish grin at me and smacked my hip. “If we both go into the bathroom at the same time, I’m pretty sure they’ll guess what we’re up to.”
I was pretty sure I didn’t care at the moment. I was all fired up and turned on. My body was pulsing with need, my toes practically curling at the thought of making love to Brodie. Was I twitchy normally? I felt like a live wire at the moment. If he didn’t touch me soon, I was pretty sure I was going to lose my mind. “Don’t care.”
“No?”
“Nope. You?”
“Do I care if all of America knows I’m sleeping with the sexiest, sneakiest woman I’ve ever met? God, no.” He grinned and slapped his pectoral. “I’ll wear that shit like a badge of honor.”
I laughed and smacked his shoulder. “Will you, now?”
“Absolutely,” he said, and his expression was serious when he gazed down at me. “I’ve never wanted anyone more than I want you right now, Kandis.”
I shivered at the intensity in his gaze. I expected him to laugh or wink to show me that he was back to being flirty, fun Brodie, but the serious look never left his face.
God, that was hot. I put my hands to his cheeks and dragged his face to mine, kissing the hell out of him.
He groaned, and his mouth melded to mine. Our kisses were long, wet, and so, so delicious. Finally, he pulled his mouth from mine. “Bathroom?”
“Bathroom,” I agreed.
He got up from the bed and held his hand out for me.
I slipped my hand in his, and we raced across the Power room into the one place that they couldn’t film us.
CHAPTER NINE
“What happened in the bathroom last night? Just a little bit of mind-your-own-f**king-business, that’s all. And quit snooping, you damn peeping toms. Can’t you go watch Marla natter on about her kids or something?” – Brodie Short, Day 52
The walk to the bathroom was probably fifteen feet, but it felt like forever. My hand, tight in Brodie’s, clenched when he swung the door open. I was nervous, which was stupid. I’d fooled around with Brodie night after night. We’d slept in the same bed for weeks.
But we’d never taken things to the next level. Heck, he hadn’t really seen me nak*d and aroused. Naked in the shower (though he’d sworn not to look) and petted me under clothes, but not the full Monty.
This suddenly felt like a big deal.
But then we were in the bathroom, and Brodie swung the door shut behind me. No sooner was it shut than he’d pinned me against the wall, and his mouth was on mine again and he was giving me hot, slick kisses with lots of tongue.
And I remembered why I wanted this so very badly.
Brodie was the perfect package for me. He was funny, sexy—god, so sexy—and smart. He was flirty, which I liked, and competitive. He played as hard as I did. He was protective of me. And he never, ever made me feel inadequate. The opposite, actually. Brodie acted like I was the smartest, prettiest, sexiest girl he’d ever met. And around him, I felt that way.
He was the perfect man for me.
It was just a shame that I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that he’d fooled around with Tesla Spooner on The World Races, and by doing so, had dicked over his partner.
I still didn’t trust him. I realized this even as his mouth slicked over mine. At the moment, though, I didn’t care one bit. It was all about now, all about the moment, and I was determined to enjoy it.
His hands moved to my hips, grasping my body and pulling me flush against him, and I forgot everything but the pleasure of his touch. I felt the press of his c*ck against my flesh, a hard bar of need. It excited me, and I slid my hand between us and rubbed at him.
“Kandis,” he breathed against my mouth. “You sure you want this, baby? No going back if we do this.”
I melted a little at his words. There was that “baby” again. And he was asking me again, making sure that I wanted this just as much as he did. I knew he did; the proof of his desire was hot against my palm. So I squeezed him and then stroked downward. “Afraid I’ll be disappointed?”
His mouth curled into a cocksure Brodie smile. “Nope.”
I grinned. I loved that confidence in him. “I think you should prove it.”
“I think I’m about to.”
“I’m hearing a lot of talk, but I’m not seeing a lot of action,” I teased him.
“So you need to see to believe? I can help you with that.” His fingers dragged at the spaghetti straps of my tank top. “But first we’ll need to get rid of all this.”
I shivered at the graze of his fingers on my skin. There was something so right—and inherently delicious—about Brodie’s touch. I held my breath when he slid the strap down my arm, baring my shoulder, and then he leaned in to kiss my skin. Scrumptious, scrumptious man. I arched against him, letting the tips of my n**ples brush against his shirt. They were so hard that they poked through the thin fabric of my tank top.
“Look at these beauties,” Brodie said, and he cupped one of my br**sts. His thumb rolled my nipple through the fabric. “They look like they’re just begging for attention.”
Shocked pleasure coursed through me, and I whimpered, pressing against his hand. He felt so good. “You going to keep ignoring them?”
His thumb kept rubbing, over and over, each caress of the pad of his thumb sending an aching pulse straight to my p**sy. “I don’t know. Is this driving you crazy?” He rubbed my nipple again, and his face leaned in close to mine, his eyes hazy and glazed with need. “Cause I kind of like driving you insane, Kandis. Feels like giving you just a little of what I’ve been going through for the past few weeks knowing I couldn’t touch you.”