Skin to Skin (Skin Deep #3)

I reached over and clasped his hand in mine as I said, “You were there for me, Brandon. You all were when I needed you. It’s my fault for letting it happen for so long, for not being the strong woman my mom raised me to be. There’s no way you would have known because I didn’t let anyone know.”

“Oh, Bullshit, Chloe!” he howled, anger twisting his features. “None of this is your fault and you better get that through your thick head! You didn’t ask him to beat your ass and almost kill you, did you?”

At my indignant denial he continued, “That’s right, you didn’t. But you were scared and didn’t want to make things worse than they were. What if you’d tried to leave before then and had gotten caught? What if you’d never gotten away from him at all? What if he’d killed you?”

His voice was gravelly and raw, his face tortured in the dim moonlight filtering through the windows of the vehicle.

Surprised to find that my voice was clear and steady, I replied, “I’ve had enough what-if’s in my life to last me a long time, Brandon. I’d like to leave that in the past now that I’ve gotten everything out. He didn’t kill me. I’m alive and I’m here…with you. And there’s no where else on earth that I’d rather be. But, just to make sure we’re on the same page here and there’s no more flip-flopping from you…”

He shot me a droll look and I smiled at him.

“Is this a thing? You and me?” I asked, carefully. I know we’d already confessed our feelings to each other, but hell, a lot has happened since then. I guess I just wanted to give him an out. Just in case.

He jerked his head toward me. “Seriously, Chloe?”

I shrugged helplessly. “Well, I just need to make sure, Brandon. You’ve been so hot and cold and-”

He sighed. “Let’s go.”

Without another word, he got out of the truck. He waited on me to follow, but still didn’t speak as we went inside. Once the door was shut and locked behind me, I found myself pushed back against the door, Brandon’s body pressing against me from the front, leaving no space between us.

His lips hovered over mine, so close but not touching. “Baby, I told you that I was falling in love with you. If you think I just throw those words around, then you don’t know me at all. I told you you were mine, and that’s that. It’s you and me from here on out, sunshine. Got it?”

I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath until it rushed out on a gasp. I barely got the word ‘yes’ out before Brandon captured my mouth with his, plundering with his tongue, nipping at my lips with his teeth, and then soothing the slight sting.

I moaned when he lifted his lips from mine, desperate to keep him close to me. He chuckled and wrapped his hands around my waist, lifting me up so that my legs clasped around his waist and my arms wound around his neck. He brought his mouth back to mine, kissing me deeply as he walked us down the hall to the bedroom.

He flipped on the light and laid me on the bed, the look on his face almost daring me to protest the brightness of the room. My chin rose, the small act of defiance instinctual, but he only shook his head once, letting me know that he wasn’t going to let me hide this time.

I didn’t want to hide from him anymore. It was pointless anyway; he knew my secret now, he’d seen my scars. I sat up and stripped my shirt off over my head, my eyes never leaving his face. His gaze immediately dropped to my stomach, as I figured they would. It still flustered me a little, but I busied myself by stripping off my bra, and then making short work of my jeans and panties.

Brandon watched every move, his eyes sliding over every inch of my body, the heat of his gaze moving over my skin like a caress. He knelt on the bed beside me, his hands reaching out to slide over my stomach. His fingers gently traced the lines of my scars, his touch barely a whisper over my skin, and then I gasped as his lips and then tongue followed.

He kissed my scars, seeking out every mark on my skin, pressing his lips to each one and telling me, as he showed me, how beautiful I was to him. Tears sprung to my eyes, not sad ones, no, but tears of relief, of happiness.

His lips found their way back to mine, but instead of plundering, they sipped, sweet, tender kisses that stoked the flames of desire at a slow and steady pace. His hands slid up my sides to cup my breasts, cradling the full, tender globes in his palms as he swiped his thumbs over the pearled tips.

I hissed at the sensation of pleasure/pain when he pinched the turgid tips of my breasts, rolling the nipples between his fingers and plucking them, making me arch and moan. I cried out when his fingers abandoned their play, but moaned once more as his lips closed over my stiff peak, his teeth lightly scraping before he sucked hard and then laved it with the flat of his tongue.

His hand slipped back down my stomach and his fingers found my wet center, deftly parting the slick folds and sliding deep inside. He hooked his fingers and rubbed them over the hidden sweet spot there, relentlessly driving me to the brink of release in seconds. It shimmered before me, that beautiful rush of pleasure, but he stopped just before I went over.

I grunted in frustration and thrust my hips up, trying to force his fingers to move once more, to take me up and over that edge. He denied me, instead slipping his fingers out of my clenching heat, bringing them to his mouth. He tasted me on his own skin, his eyes locked on mine.

A tidal wave of desire crashed over me, curling throughout my body, and I could see the answering heat in his gaze. Suddenly, the control he was so tightly clinging to snapped and he was over me in a flash, his hands pressing my thighs wide as the swollen, rock hard length of him pushed inside, driving deep, not stopping until I was fully impaled.

“God, you feel so good, Chloe…” he froze, the words dying on his lips as his eyes widened.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, confused by the sudden change in him. I shifted beneath him, my hips arching into his as I moved, and a guttural cry was torn from him, ending on a curse.

“Condom,” he said, tersely, beginning to raise his hips to slide out of me.

I could feel the hesitation in him when my inner muscles fluttered against his hardened flesh still buried deep inside me and I said, hesitantly, “I’m on the pill…and I’m good. Clean, I mean…I don’t…”

He sank forward the tiniest bit, gaining back what little ground he’d lost when he pulled back and we both moaned.

“I just- I’ve always used protection. Even with Allie unless it was in the…nevermind. I’m safe, too, but…are you sure?” he asked. He pressed into me again, the movement seeming almost uncontrollable to him, even as he hesitated.

I caught his eyes, held them, as I answered, “Yes. I want to feel you. Brandon, I- oh, God, I love you. God help me, but I do.”

His body moved over mine again and we were one, skin to skin, breath to breath, heart to heart. There was no space left between us, no way to tell where he ended and I began as his lips met mine in a seeking kiss, so soft and gentle as he began to rock into me, his hardened shaft plumbing my depths with leisurely strokes, his chest abrading my puckered nipples.

Still kissing me deeply, he shifted once more, bring his hands up and sliding them underneath my back and up over my shoulders, cupping them in his hands, giving him leverage to pull me into his thrusts, every inch of him rubbing against me, creating delicious friction that sent white hot pleasure streaming throughout my body.