One MardispA/s

Chapter Seven

When Chloe got up the next afternoon, she walked sleepily toward the kitchen, her tired eyes straying toward the living room.

She’d dreamed about that damned chair last night, and about Brady stroking her sweating skin, biting and sucking her tender flesh while she came. She could cheerfully beat him about the head for giving her that particular fantasy to think of.

But then, that was how the game was played, she reminded herself. She drove him crazy and he reciprocated. It was her own damn fault for starting it.

Sighing, she flung open the refrigerator, bending over to dig behind left over Chinese food cartons in search of something that wasn’t rotting.

That’s what Brady saw when he came in from the laundry room.

She was still wearing that underwear, the tiny red pair, and her ass was in the air while she bent over. Her long legs were smooth and tan, the supple muscles making his mouth water as he thought of touching them.

Chloe had made him crazy last night, burning the picture of them rolling around on his bed in his brain. Hell, he’d even smelled her in the sheets this morning, even though he knew it wasn’t possible.

She chose that moment to stand up, turning as she pried the lid off a cold slaw container. She was wearing a half-shirt, the smiling emblem of Joe Boxer in eye popping yellow against the gray backgro He Her breasts pushed against the fabric, her nipples hard from the chill of the refrigerator. Her stomach was flat, the silky skin unmarred by tatoos or piercings. The unblemished flesh was more erotic than any racey marking could ever be.

When he finally allowed his eyes to stray up to hers, he found her wearing a smugly satisfied grin.

“Good morning, Brady,” she sang out, reaching into the drawer beside her for a fork.

“You’re eating my food,” he returned, his voice more biting than he intended.

She either didn’t notice or didn’t care, because she gave him a quick shrug as she tossed the slaw around in it’s bowl.

“I’ll buy you dinner tonight,” she offered, eyeing him with sexual appreciation.

“Working on the car or the motorcyle?” she asked, then shoveled a forkful of cold slaw in her mouth.

Brady watched her red lips close around the utensil, saw the slow way she pulled it back out of her mouth while she savored her breakfast. Hell, did everything she do have to be so fucking hot?

She had said something, he realized, but he couldn’t remember what she’d asked.

“Um, huh?” he questioned, mentally shaking his head to clear it.

Chloe, her mouth full, pointed to his grease stained t-shirt then quirked a dark eyebrow in question.

“Oh, the Harley, yeah. It seems like every time I turn around something needs to be done to it.”

Without a second thought, he pulled his shirt off, his intention to take the dirty thing and toss it into the washer.

Chloe stopped mid-chew, her body perfectly still in shock. Good Lord, she thought he’d have an amazing body underneath his clothes, but damn! He was built like a man used to hard labor, one that got his exercise from the outdoors instead of inside a gym. His butt and legs were loving gloved in his worn out jeans, his muscled skin disappearing under the frayed waist band. Her fingers began to itch with the need to touch him, to feel his skin heat and his muscles bunch as she stroked him to pleasure.

Brady turned to ask her about dinner; his mind went completely blank when he saw the look of utter lust on her face. She was watching him, studying him, taking in every part of his body. Her eyes danced with unrestrained want, her face flushing with excitement as her breathing accelerated.

He moved toward her, a sensual grin on his lips. Oh, yeah, she was gonna beg.

The blare of the telephone interrupted him, stopping him in his tracks. It took him a moment to realize what it was he heard, then he cursed soundly when he realized it was the phone.

Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the reciever from the wall beside him.

“What,” he bit out, angry at having his seduction delayed.

“Where the hell is she, Brady? Tell me!”

Brady closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead with the palm of his hand.

“I already told you dad, I don’t know where Belle is.”

“You’ve lied to me before, Brady, why should I think you aren’t lieing again? Would you even tell me if you did know where your sister was?”

“Damn it, stop it, all right. If she left she did it without telling me where she was going.”

“She can’t be thinking straight,” his father barked out. “Belle would never just leave…”

“You know what, dad, maybe she finally started thinking for herself; maybe she realized just how miserable she was being your and Marlena’s perfect little girl.”

“Don’t you dare! Don’t use that tone with me…”

“By,” Brady interrupted, them slammed the phone down.

He leaned against the wall for a moment, gathering himself, trying to calm down so he wouldn’t take his suddenly foul temper out on Chloe.

When he finally did turn around, he was prepared for questions or even grilling; she did neither. What Chloe did do surprised him.

She moved to him slowly, her eyes carefully shuddered, and slid a portion of cold slaw into his mouth.

“It looked like you needed to chew something, and since I didn’t have any nails…” she trailed off, watching him.

Chloe had heard the hard edge snap into his tone when he’d realized who was on the other end of the line. His father, she thought; he’d been fighting with his father. And, to her, it sounded like an argument that had happened before.

“I, uh, I’d better get ready for work,” he said, asessing her with curious crystaline eyes.

Slowly, he raised a thumb to her lip, gently swiping away a smear of food. He didn’t drop his hand immediately, but rather let his fingers trail down her jaw before he turned and left the room.

He’d done it again, she thought on a frustrated sigh. He’d left her in a state of sexual frustration with barely a touch.

Chapter Eight

Tonight had been Chloe and Brady’s half-night; Neil had been careful to make sure everyone had two half-work days in order to make up for the extra hours and lost day off that Mardi Gras negated. Their boss had also been nice enough to make sure their schedules matched since Brady was her way to and from La Rouge Femme.

That was how they ended up at the little Italian restaurant, sitting in a corner booth, watching the subdued crowd of diners in the dim lighting.

Brady hadn’t taken her earlier offer of dinner seriously, but apparently she had been serious. When she’d asked him to take her to the nicest, non-jacket and tie restaurant he knew of, he’d thought of Scalini’s. They’d always let him in in his dark t-shirts and jeans since he’d worked here before, and Chloe looked nice enough in her short black skirt and blue shirt.

He watched her from the corner of his eye, saw the way she swirled the red wine in her glass, wondered if she had any idea just how sexy that move was. Probably not, he decided, since she was doing it so absently.

“So, Brady, tell me all about yourself,” she surprised him by asking.

“All…,” he hesitated a moment, took a drink of his beer, then continued. “I was born, I grew up, I moved here and became a bartender.”

Chloe gave him an annoyed snort, softening her displeasure with a smile.

“Cute, Black, real cute. I’m serious; tell me something about yourself.”

She wasn’t sure why, but she’d suddenly developed an overwhelming need to know more about Brady. Not that she hadn’t been curious before, it just hadn’t been something she’d thought to ask about. But after that phone call from his father, after seeing an almost vulnerable part of him, she’d begun to feel that prickly urge to question him.

They stared at each other, gazes locked as Chloe waited for him to begin. Finally, he gave in with a deep sigh.

“Fine, fine, fine, everything you ever wanted or needed to know about Brady Black in two paragraphs or less,” he said. “I was born in a town called Salem, my mother died of cancer a few months after I was born, my father eventually married a woman who he’d had a child with, they named my sister Isabella after my mother. I was shipped off to boarding school, went a year to college, then took off. I ended up here and that’s where you found me.”

Chloe raised her eyebrow and studied him, knowing there was more to his story than he was telling her. Normally she wouldn’t have pushed, but tonight she was feeling reckless.

“Your father doesn’t trust you,” she said, watching his reaction.

Brady took a deep drink of Coors, then looked away from her to stare blankly out at the resaurant.

“No, he doesn’t, and I don’t think he has since I started crawling,” he answered. “Don’t ask me why my dad doesn’t trust me; hell, he doesn’t even really like me. I stopped trying to figure out what his problem was a long time ago.”

Probably too damn much like his old man, Chloe thought, but kept her mouth shut. Brady was one of those stubborn, willful people who didn’t give up control easily, and if his father was the same way, then the house would have been a battleground.

And a war zone for a home was something she understood all too well.

“What about you, Chloe Lane? What’s your story?” Brady questioned, pinning her with his bright blue eyes.

“My, curious tonight, aren’t you?” she asked, taking a sip of wine while she stalled.

“Hey, I’m just returning the favor.”

The waiter stopped at the table, giving her another moment of reprieve while he placed their dinner in front of them.

They ate in silence for a moment, enjoying the heavy sauces and spicy fillings of their dishes.

“So, I’m open for dissection, but you’re not,” Brady stated, studying her. “That’s not very fair, Chloe.”

She gave a soft, quick sigh, then laid her fork across her plate. She knew there was no way out of this, short of ignoring him, or trying to change the subject. Neither tact would work with Brady, and she knew it.

“All right, everything you ever wanted to know about Chloe Lane in two paragraphs or less,” she said, returning his phrase. “I was adopted when I was born, my adoptive parents were killed in a car accident when I was kid, I was shuffled from foster home to foster home and finally ran away when they told me I was going to be sent to a home.

“I was sixteen, so I ‘borrowed’ an impounded car and drove as far as I could on what little money I had. I’ve been going every since.”

Brady watched her tightly controlled expression, his mind quickly conjuring up the image he’d had of her as a child in pigtails. She must have been a damn cute kid; why no one else wanted her was a mystery to him.

“And you ended up down here, at the beginning of Mardi Gras,” he concluded. “Was Louisianna a concious choice, or did you just run out of gas here?”

“I ran out of gas here,” she said with a smile. “Not that I wouldn’t have stayed any way; I mean, come on, it is Mardi Gras.”

“A time to sin and be forgiven for it,” Brady commented, scooping up another canaloni as he watched her.

There was a hell of a lot of sinning he’d like to do with her and to her. She’d stirred him up like no other woman ever had, making him crazy with lust just by flashing those porcelian blue eyes of hers. It was insane, the way his body reacted to her; just her smell made his swell painfully.

He waited, bided his time while she finished her dinner and chatted about non-sense. Then, when she sat back in contentment, he made his move.

Scooting closer to her in the booth, Brady leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“Have you ever had sex in public before?”

Chloe’s eyes popped wide, her head snapping around to stare at him. What exactly was he getting at?

“Yeah, I have,” she admitted, sliding her hand up his thigh; thank God for long tablecloths, she thought with a grin. “I once had sex on the subway, in the middle of the night. How about you?”

“Behind the bleachers in high school during a basketball game. And in a stall in the bathroom of mall, then there was the time…”

“Okay, I get it,” she interrupted with a laugh, “you like doing it in public.”

Brady shrugged, fighting the urge to grab her roaming hand and lay it directly on his hard shaft

“Only when the mood strikes,” he answered, “and I think it might just be striking right now.”

Chloe gave him a curiously amused look, then trailed her fingers up to find him. She watched in satisfaction as his face went pale, then quickly flushed, his jaw tightening spastically.

“Umm, well, that actually does sound like a good idea,” she agreed, snuggling closer to him. “Where do you suggest we do this?”

Brady gathered every inch of self-control he had, layed his palm over her hand, stopping her movements, then pierced her with his gaze.

“Who said I was talking about “we”?” he asked, his voice gritty.

Chloe scrutinized him a moment, then shrugged. She enjoyed giving men pleasure, the feeling of command and control it gave her. She was more than willing to give Brady what he needed and wanted.

Smiling sensually, the tall brunette began to slide under the table; she was stopped by his tight grib on her upper arm.

“Who said I was talking about me, either?”

Chapter Nine

Chloe was so confused that she didn’t protest when he drew her completely back up onto the booth, scooting her securily beside him.

“I…I don’t understand,” she said, puzzled.

“Oh, you will,” he told her, then nuzzled her ear.

She felt her head turn toward him, accepting his trailing kisses and scraping stubble as he rubbed against her neck.

When she felt his hand ease up her thigh, she nearly jumped; but Brady had her snugged against his snug body. There was barely enough room to breath, let alone squirm.

He skimmed his hand further up, felt the silk of her hose give way to the satin of her skin. He almost lost it then; he came dangerously close to simply tossing her down on the seat and taking her, damn the other people around them.

But she sighed in his ear, the sound a kind of amazed purr, and he wanted nothing more than to hear her scream his name.

His hand worked it’s way higher, shoving the soft material of her skirt up and away from his ascent. When he found the tender skin where her leg met her torso, he scraped his fingernail up, feeling her skin quiver as he did. Teasingly, he scraped back down, gently working his way under her slick panties as he did.

She thought she just might pass out from the anticipation he was creating. Her heart was speeding like a scared rabbit, her mouth was cotton dry, her body was oozing with small beads of sweat. She felt his fingers ease under the elastic of her underwear and tried to inch around, wanting desperately for his hand to touch her. Then he was there, his fingers curling in the soft hair, teasing her unmercilessly, rubbing then petting as she began to quietly pant.

Brady couldn’t believe the heat of her. She was like an oven, her warmth close to scalding against his palm. He heard her trying not to gasp, carful not to let anyone know exactly what he was doing to her underneath the tablecloth.

She squirmed closer, her body silently begging for his invasion. He finally gave into her, easily sinking his finger inside her body, reveling in the wetness he found there. She’d been more than ready for him, he ght,ght, and nipped long and hard on her ear.

Chloe rocked her hips down and up, meeting his slow thrusts as he worked her blood to a mercury quick level. She felt her own slickness, felt her breasts begin to swell against the binding of her bra and her nipples harden to painful points. He began working her quicker, his movements a step faster than before.

His plan was dangerously close to backfiring, Brady thought. The look on her face, the feel of her around his , it, it was almost too much. Quickly, he slipped another finger inside of her, moaning quietly when she gasped in passion.

“Oh, God, Brady,” she croaked quietly. “Oh, God, please…please…”

She was begging, exactly what he’d wanted, but somehow he wasn’t satisfied by it.

Carefully, slowly, he stopped his assault on her, holding her as she sat, dazed.

“I…not here,” he told her quietly. “Come on.”

He tosdowndown a wad of money, ignoring the fact that the still dazed Chloe was supposed to be treating. He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him into the sultry night, the dark swallowing them as they made their way to his motorcycle.

She was about to swing herself onto the back when Brady grasped her hand, preventing her from doing it.

“No,” he said, his voice filled withsexual gravel. “Up here.”

He patted the seat in front of him and waited for her to comply.

When she did, he moved himself directly behind her, molding their bodies together. H tarted the bike, gave her a momto fto feel the heavy vibration of the motor between her legs, then gave her a long, lingering kiss on her sensitive neck

Chloe leaned back against him, allowing him to steady her between his arms as he’d intended. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed home, feeling her tremble as she reached for a climax. In those moments he would lean up and whisper in her ear, “No, Chloe, not yet.” Whether she wanted to or not, her body would obey, holding off as Brady sped toward the house.

When they reached the short driveway, Brady gave a silent prayer of thanks that they had made it, and that his closest neighbors were through three and a half football field lengths of heavy woods.

Wrapping one arm securely around her waist, he popped down the kickstand, but didn’t switch off the motor.

Reaching up, he revved the motor to a faster speed with his free hand. Her head fell back against him, her body straining and waiting.

Brady began rocking his hips against hers, keeping their bodies connected with his arm, urging her to catch the rhythm he was setting.

“Move with me, Chloe,” he rasped.

Chloe was mindless, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as her hips began to rock, her legs stratling the hot, purring motor while Brady pushed her to an orgasm.

When she was finally thrusting with him, her crotch moving back and forth on the heated, vibrating metal, he let the hand on her waist work it’s way under her shirt. He found her breasts immediately, stroking them through the lacy material of her bra. After a moment of fondling, he rubbed his callused palms over her rock hard nipples, then pulled them gently.

Chloe gasped when she felt his hands touch the bare skin of her stomach, then make their way to her swollen breasts. She’d never had it like this before; it had never been so intense. She felt her body straining, a fine sweaty sheen covering her heated skin, the vibrating of thee bee between her legs almost unbearably erotic. Then he pulled her nipples, and the world exploded.

Brady felt her body bow, heard her growls and purrs become shouts as she orgasmed. He held her, felt her as she slammed into her climax. But he wasn’t through.

The minute he felt her drift back to earth, he speeded the motor up again, to a higher, faster level.

“Do it again,” he whispered in her ear. “Come for me, Chloe.”

She felt her body rack back up to the painful edge of competion, her body knowing she could do as he demanded. He plucked at her other nipple this time, his heavy breathing and thick erection pressed against her back a turn-on she hadn’t expected.

“Now, Chloe, come for me now.”

She did, with a jagged yell and harsh sobs, breaking against the barrier to climax a second time for Brady.

Brady pulled her off the motor, scooting them both further back while he held her. He leaned up gently and turned the bike off, absorbing the uncontrolled shaking of her body. He was painfully hard, his crotch screaming for some kind of release; but that wasn’t his plan for tonight.

No, tonight was all about showing Chloe what he could give her, what he’d be willing to do to her and for her, and introducing her to some of the things her body was capable of. He’d have her soon enough, he thought, pulling her head back against his chest.

They sat like that for endless minutes, Chloe’s body slowly drifting back to reality. She knew Brady had to be in pain; he was still heavy against her back, his jeans straining to hold his erection back. But he didn’t do anything didn’t say anything; he only held her.

“Brady…I…” she began softly.

“Shh, it’s okay; trust me, it was a pleasure,” he joked, then turned her face to his.

Gently, slowly, he lowered his mouth to hers, laying his lips tenderly against hers. He took her bottom lip between his teeth, softly nipped it, then laved his mark with his tongue. He repeated the process once, twice, three times. Then he let her mouth g
Wi
Without a word, he climbed off his motorcyle and walked to the door, the air of sexual frustration hanging like a thick blanket around him.