Capturing Hearts - Faleena Hopkins Page 0,35
His eyebrows pop upward and he waits, listening for more. “And after that, I won’t close up anymore. I’ll hire a male bartender to work the tail end of the shifts, and between him and Manny bartending, too, that’ll cover that. The girls and I can share the early half.” Watching the dark cloud lift from my husband’s eyes, I add with a smile, “I’m sure when Jacob is actually in my arms–you hear that Jacob?–I will want to spend more time at home anyway. I can just go in during the early shift to get my fix, and Laura can help me manage. Is that better?”
Brendan grins, all of the tension leaving his body. “Yes. I can live with that.”
“I can do books from home, too, I guess, now that I think about it.”
He nods, taking a step forward. “Okay. That’s the plan.”
“After tonight.”
He freezes and his smile disappears. “Why after tonight?”
Stammering, I massage my belly unconsciously, looking anywhere but at Brendan, “Well, because Taryn and Laura are gone for the holidays! You know Taryn left almost a week ago, and Laura flew out yesterday to be with Dan’s folks in New Hampshire. She won’t be back until the twenty-sixth. Manny can’t do it by himself. We’re going to be slammed tonight! And Barb’s son is going to be there. She’d be crushed if I wasn’t there to meet him.” When I look at him, I’m surprised to see he’s smiling at me with love.
“Screw Barb’s son.”
“With or without a condom?” He melts into laughter and I hold out my hand. “Come here, please.”
He walks over and engulfs my hand with his much larger one. “I’m coming to work with you tonight.”
Sighing, I cry out, “All night? Why don’t you just pick me up afterward?”
He shakes his head back and forth once. “No. I will be there tonight. And I will be driving you there and driving you home. No arguments.”
“My husband is so dangerous.”
He chuckles. “I am very dangerous.”
“You want to show me how much?”
His eyebrows go up again. His smile is still there, but the expression in his eyes shifts as he says, thickly, “Yes, but I have to be gentle under the circumstances. So I will gently show you how dangerous I am.”
I grin as he pushes the ottoman out of his way. Frank Sinatra is singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas in the background and the room feels warm again. Brendan kneels between my legs, pushing them open with his hips as he raises the hem of my skirt. With ridiculous speed, I feel myself ache with need, longing to put the argument behind us. “No panties?” he murmurs. “You dirty girl. Close your eyes, Jacob.”
“Don’t say that! You’re killing my mood.”
“Is that so?” His head cocks to the side, forcing a lock of wavy, dark brown hair to fall forward. He takes my hand and lays it on the worn cotton of his favorite jeans, directly onto his growing bulge. “You don’t want this?”
I clench with desire, my eyelashes falling to look. “No, I don’t want that.”
Brendan’s eyebrows rise ever so slightly. “No?” He rubs my hand against the heat.
I lick my lips and shake my head. “Uh-uh.”
He reaches over and, as if I weigh nothing, yanks me to the edge of the cushion. My nakedness is pressed against the crotch of his jeans as his free hand gropes my temporarily enormous breasts.
“Take this off,” he commands, gesturing to my sweater with an annoyed look.
I slip it off, shaking out my long hair, tossing the sweater into a blue heap on the floor. He leans forward and comes so close to kissing me it’s excruciating. His lips brush lightly across mine. He pulls away as I lean in. I hear the surprising sound of my bra unsnapping under the skill of his fingers. He was successfully distracting me. My breasts tumble free, and he slides the flimsy fabric away from me, tossing it, his eyes on my naked mounds. Lifting each of them up into the warmth of his hands, he leans down to lick one nipple after the other. I watch his tongue move across the dusky pink crests with agonizing slowness. He returns to my right breast knowing it’s more sensitive than the other, more responsive and eager. He stays there a deliciously long while causing arousal to pool out from between my thighs. I forget all about my body-insecurities under his touch. The attentive sucking and gnawing on my flesh