Attached to You (Carolina Rebels 4)

When the game ends, I put away my nearly empty carton of ice cream. I shower, taking my time as if I have all of it in the world. I slip on a pair of panties and search for a tank top. It’s honestly a bit too cold to wear one, but even in the colder months, I can wake up sweating. Let me wake up with a slight chill and not wanting to get out of bed because it’s even colder outside of my blankets instead. That’s my motto. I don’t want to wake up hot at this point, and it’s basically December.

There’s a banging on my door. Otis runs out of the room, nearly knocking me into my dresser. I grab my robe from my bed where I tossed it, slip into it as I walk to the door where Otis viciously barks at whomever is on the other side.

“Calm down, Otis. Quiet. Sit,” I order. His barks turn into a low growl while I peer through the peephole.

Brayden.

I open the door and step aside for Otis to charge forward. He attacks Brayden by licking his hand.

“Hey, boy,” he says, rubbing his head while he wiggles his body from excitement. Does Otis ever wiggle that much when he sees me? Maybe he loves Brayden more. He should. He’s in a suit again and I almost want to shake my head at how ridiculously hot he looks.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, one hand on the door, the other propped on my hip.

Brayden lifts his head to look at me. His eyes scour my appearance, which reminds me that I’m wearing my robe and panties. I pull it closed to shield myself from his ravenous eyes as he steps into my house and closes the door without answering my question.

“Take the robe off.”

I frown. He thinks he can come over without notice after I ditched his game, not tell me why he’s here, and then order me to undress? No. I’m not interested in that tonight.

He reaches out to rub strands of my wet hair between two of his fingers. “It’ll be worth it.”

Of course it will. When is it not? Brayden doesn’t wait for an answer. He steps forward until he’s so completely invading my space that he eliminates it. He is my space now. My breathing hitches, those damn lungs are always traitors, and my hands move to rest on his stomach. I need something to hold onto, something to steady me. He’s all I have right now.

Brayden’s eyes fall to the long line of skin, three inches wide, now exposed. He grips each side of the robe, his hands just underneath my breasts. My heart hammers in my chest as I wait to see what he’ll do. Slowly, his eyes hit mine. It’s like a punch to the gut that steals my breath for a moment.

“I need to get something out of the way before we go to your bedroom.” I nod; it’s about the only thing I can do. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I don’t like it.” The world stills at his words. Is he fed up with me once and for all? Is he fucking me one last time and then leaving for good? “Whatever you need to do to get your shit together, do it. I really want to have patience, and I’m trying here, but this is driving me crazy. Either you’ll talk to me, or you get your shit together sooner rather than later. Understood?”

“Sure.”

“I don’t want a sure, darlin’. I want a definite yes.” His hands move underneath the robe to grab my waist.

“Yes, Brayden.”

He picks me up, my legs and arms wrap around him, and he kisses me immediately. I wanted to resist this? I’m an idiot. His kiss dominates my thoughts. My senses hone in on Brayden. The heat coming from his body, how hard his hands grip my waist, every move of his mouth and his tongue, and every nip and bite he does. Landing on the bed is like ramming into a door because I was so distracted by his mouth that I didn’t pay attention to anything else.

Brayden quickly removes my panties. He kisses me again, his hands roam all over my body for a moment before I only feel the brief touch of his knuckles as he undoes his tie. I try to help with undressing him, but he slaps my hands away. My heart nearly catapults out of my chest when his tie slides off, tickles my skin, and then, without even looking, he ties my wrists together over my head. I can’t budge them at all. This isn’t the first time he’s done this to someone. I don’t know if that thrills me or terrifies me a little.

He pulls away for a moment to pull something out of his pocket. A blindfold. An actual blindfold! He owns a blindfold! I can’t even acknowledge how he obviously came prepared. My breathing shallows as he covers my eyes. I’ve never been with anyone who actually tied me up and blindfolded me. One guy talked about it, but he never did it.

The heat of Brayden’s body disappears, but I can hear the sounds of fabric sliding against fabric as he undresses. Then, I hear footsteps, but they’re going away, not coming closer.

“Brayden?”

“Still here,” he says from across the room, though I don’t know what he’s doing over there. What is he doing?

“I haven’t ever done this before,” I find myself saying, my nerves getting the best of me. There’s mostly excitement, and there’s a lot of trust because it’s Brayden, but I can’t exactly get rid of all the nerves.

His footsteps come closer and then his hands are on my body. He lifts me further up the bed, which dips as he then climbs on. I think he’s hovering over me. A soft kiss graces the spot between my breasts. “Want me to remove them?”

“No.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

Another kiss. “That’s the point I want you to remember.” As his lips find mine and his hands grab my breasts, I have a feeling he isn’t talking about my trust in him in the bedroom.

I wake in the morning with a smile on my face, stretching as if that could clear away all of the soreness in my body. During my stretch, my feet bump into Otis, who makes a noise like he’s annoyed, and then I bump into Brayden.