and she ruined the best thing that had ever happened to her, at least she could say she’d tried. There was no other choice. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter 15
Bracken had never been more nervous in his life. He kept glancing at Bex on the drive to the counselor’s office. She was wringing her hands in her lap, and every once in a while, she sucked in a deep breath as if she hadn’t breathed in a while. As if she’d forgotten to pull oxygen into her lungs.
This was a huge gamble. It could backfire on him. She might resent him for badgering her to do this. On top of that, he had no earthy idea what he was asking of her. He didn’t have enough information. He could assume Jenny was a friend from a long time ago. He could assume she was no longer living. That was about it. And even those two things could be wrong.
Hell, maybe Jenny was a pet goldfish. Not likely.
Yeah. He was freaking out inside, but he forced himself to keep it together on the outside, for Bex. She needed someone to be her rock right now, and he was more than happy to be that someone. It was important. It was holding her back in life. It was holding them back as a couple.
They’d spent a great deal of time together, night and day for three weeks now. They’d baked dozens of things. He’d worked a few hours every day, but his friends understood he was in the middle of a small crisis he couldn’t discuss. None of them mentioned a word. As if they grasped how important it was that he spend time with Bex right now.
He’d taken her out to dinner and lunch a bunch of times. They’d gone to the movies and watched movies at home. They’d done all the things people do when they’re dating on a fast track since they had the free time to date every single day.
His resolve to insist she was too young for him was slipping away. Dissolving. Hell, he’d even begun to feel younger—like he was only thirty-nine and not seventy-two, like the guys joked he acted sometimes. She brought it out in him. Every time he pictured not being with her, his heart clenched. There was no way he could let her go. No matter how selfish he was being.
Anyone who saw them would think they’d been together for years. It felt that way sometimes. Except for one giant elephant. They hadn’t had sex.
Not that he didn’t want to. He thought about it every damn day. But then he reminded himself Bex had too much on her plate. She was dealing with something huge. Now wasn’t the time to take that last step.
It wasn’t as though he wasn’t familiar with every inch of her body and her with his. They frequently spent evenings in the hot tub repeating the first night’s performance. It was their haven of sorts. They could slide under the bubbles in the dark and explore each other’s bodies without really seeing one another. Without fully consummating their relationship. It seemed like they stepped out of themselves during those hours and left the real world to escape and take some pleasure.
Bex was gorgeous when she came. Every time. The look on her face was always as if it were her first orgasm. She was truly lovely when she found herself stunned by the experience.
He’d purchased her six different vibrators, but he hadn’t given them to her yet. It didn’t seem appropriate. And besides, he wanted to be the one to introduce her to them. Maybe that too was selfish, but he preferred to wait for the time when she would fully expose her naked body to him, really open up, spread on his bed, legs parted. He wanted to taste her. He wanted to thrust his tongue into her until she screamed.
He wanted to take her over the edge and then enter her with his cock and show her just how good it could be. After he had his fill, he would introduce her to the pleasure of a vibrator.
When he pulled into the parking lot of the counselor’s office, he shook thoughts of sex from his head. He needed to focus on Bex and her mental health right now. Without this, there would be no sex.
She remained in her seat as he rounded the car and opened the passenger door. She hadn’t even taken off her seatbelt. When he