Until We Fly

Chapter Eleven

Nora

It takes forever to find a car rental place with a convertible, but I manage. Over an hour later, I pull back up to the cottage in a sporty red convertible with the top down.

Brand is reclining on the porch steps, his legs stretched out in front of him as he waits in the shade. His eyes widen a bit as I round the car and walk toward him.

“What did you do?”

I giggle. “Well¸ I didn’t sell the Jag or anything. I rented this for the day. Let’s drive around the lake with the wind in our hair, then have a picnic.”

Brand raises an eyebrow. “Did you cook any part of the lunch?”

I roll my eyes. “No. It’s already in the car, pre-bought. All I need is you now.”

The corners of his mouth twitch, but he doesn’t argue. He just picks up his crutches and heads toward the car. His bulging biceps flex as he takes each step.

I gulp, remembering how they’d flexed as he’d balanced above me last night, how his skin had glistened in the moonlight, how he had groaned into my neck. Warmth gushes into my panties.

Gah.

Brand glances at me. “What?”

My cheeks are burning. And he noticed.

I shake my head. “Nothing. Are you ready?”

“Always.” His lip twitches again. He drops into the car, and puts the crutches in the small back seat. “Ready.”

I fasten my seatbelt and pull my hair into a quick ponytail, before I drive out of the driveway and down the road.

The breeze from the lake is fresh and clean this morning, blowing gently against our faces. The sun gleams on the top of the water and the temperature is absolutely perfect.

I stick to roads that hug the lake, rather than drive on the highway. We leisurely drive, chatting about nothing and everything, as though we don’t have anything more important to do at all, as though his dad wasn’t conniving and hateful, as though he doesn’t have that stupid will hanging over his head and I don’t have a hateful job waiting for me at the end of the summer.

It’s really nice.

Brand glances over at me. “Why did you go to law school?”

The question surprises me. “Why did you go to the Rangers?”

He shakes his head. “That’s not the same thing. Being a Ranger suited me. Being a lawyer doesn’t suit you.”

My mouth drops open as I look at the road again. “Why do you say that?”

Brand shrugs. “Because you’re not cold-hearted or ruthless. It’s a strange occupation choice for you, that’s all.”

I feel my cheeks flush again, and I wish they wouldn’t.

“You don’t know me,” I tell him firmly. “If the situation calls for it, I can do what it takes. My dad has drilled that into my head since I was a toddler. Be a good Greene, Nora. Do what it takes. It’s worked out okay for me. I was valedictorian of my senior class, and then I graduated Stanford Law School with a perfect GPA.”

“That’s nice,” Brand smirks. “We can put that on your gravestone after you work yourself into the ground.”

I scowl. “What does that mean?”

Brand levels a gaze at me and I look away. “It means that there is more to life than striving to be someone you’re not. I get that you want to please your dad. I saw him back in the day, back when I worked at the club. He’s a…commanding person. Intimidating. I can see why you’d want to please him. But your life is your own.”

I swallow hard, because a lump suddenly formed in my throat. “And now you’re an expert?”

Brand shakes his head and looks toward the lake. “Nope. I’m just observant.”

I take a deep breath. I’ve got to change the subject.

“Well, then, observe this.”

I slide my right hand along his inner thigh, and his athletic shorts that he’s been wearing because of his knee brace give me easy access. I slip my fingers under the hem and up along his thigh, my fingers grazing his bare skin.

I hear his breath suck in.

I feel the velvety skin beneath my fingers.

I feel my pulse bounding right out of my veins.

Warmth floods my panties again.

This man is like crack to me.

For real.

I stroke his thigh, enjoying his quick breaths.

He doesn’t stop me. I feel his hardness, and the way he engorges even more, growing harder and harder by the moment. I feel his dick grow against the back of my hand.

I stroke it lightly with my knuckles.

He takes a breath.

I exhale.

“It’s time for lunch,” I announce shakily, withdrawing my hand.

I turn onto a little road that leads to a look-out on the top of a bluff. From here, there’s a perfect view of the lake. And there’s no one else in sight. It’s secluded and perfect.

I put the car in Park, then turn to Brand.

“I want your tongue in my mouth. Right now.”

I’m imperative and bossy.

His mouth curls up.

But he reaches for me, his strong arms pulling me onto his lap.

His tongue plunges into my mouth, his lips firm and soft. He tastes like mint and man. My fingers splay on his chest, relishing the hardness beneath my fingers.

He kisses me breathless.

When he pulls away, I’m shaky.

He cocks an eyebrow.

“Again?”

I nod, because I’m a wanton hussy.

Brand smiles, like the sun, and grabs me again. He grips the base of my neck with one strong hand and pulls my face to his own.

I like his power. I like his strength.

Because I know he’d never use it on me.

I pull away and glance up into his ocean blue eyes. “Why are you doing this? I thought you said that it wasn’t going to happen again?”

Brand’s eyes cloud for a minute, then clear. He shrugs. “You’re an adult. You know what you want. And I’m an adult. I know what I want.”

He stares at me with his blue, blue eyes, his gaze so intense that it takes my breath away.

“I’ll be good for you,” I promise. “This summer, you’re going to wonder what you ever did before me.”

Brand’s eyes cloud again, but he doesn’t say anything. He just pulls me back to his mouth.

“Prove it,” he growls against my lips.

I pop my head up and look around. No one is in sight.

With an impish grin, I pull at Brand’s shorts.

“What are you doing?” he asks calmly, his eyebrow cocked. God, I love it when he does that. So cocky, so sexy. Is there anything sexier than Brand Killien on the face of the planet?

“You get three guesses,” I tell him as I pull his shorts down to his knees and lean over him. I trail my tongue from the base of his dick to the tip. I glance up at him, my eyes locked with his as I trace a circle around the head of his cock. “What’s your first guess?”

He swallows hard, then leans his head against the seat, closing his eyes as my mouth closes around the head of his dick.

“Jesus,” he mutters, as I stroke the length of him as I suck.

For just one split moment, an ugly memory erupts in my head, one of a wrinkled penis and fetid breath. I cringe, and grip Brand’s dick harder than necessary. His eyes open.

“Sorry,” I mumble against the skin of his dick. I soften my grip and lick him again.

This is Brand. This is Brand. This is Brand.

He’s brave and good and true. He would never hurt me.

I suck.

He swallows.

I glide my hand along his length, and cup his balls.

He swallows again.

I marvel at his hardness. I inhale his scent. I lick the velvet tip.

He grips my back.

“I want to be inside you,” he murmurs, soft and husky.

“Not yet,” I tell him.

I want to taste him. I want his goodness inside of me. I want to swallow it. Everything about him is just so fucking good. I want to absorb it in every way that I can.

I bob my head faster, my hand quickening its pace.

Brand groans again, his head falling back against the seat.

“I’m going to come,” he warns me, his voice stilted.

I move faster and then I pull on his balls.

Give it to me.

He comes in my mouth, spurting hotly, his dick pulsing.

I suck it all in, swallowing, swallowing.

I lick him clean.

When I sit up, I smooth my hair back into place, as though I’d simply been out for a walk in the breeze.

“You ready for lunch?” I ask casually.

Brand smiles with his eyes closed.

“Maybe I’ll take a nap first.”

I punch him lightly on the arm. “Not even. You’ve got to regain your strength. I’ve got work for you to do in a while.”

He opens one eye now, staring at me lazily. “Oh?”

I nod. “Yep. Let’s go, Killien.”

We take the picnic basket to the table on the lookout, and sit chewing on our sandwiches in the sun. In front of us, the lake glistens and crashes against the shore.

“I love it here,” I tell him.

He looks at me in surprise. “I thought you said you hated it?”

I shake my head. “No. I just hate being at my parents’ house.”

He takes a bite. “Then why are you? You’re an adult. You can do what you want.”

Tightness pulls at my chest, the way it always does when I think about it.

“It’s not that simple,” I tell him. “I wish it were.”

Brand falls silent and we eat.

When we’re finished, I throw the trash away, then walk back to him, sliding up between his legs.

I stare into his gorgeous face.

“I don’t know what changed your mind,” I announce to him. “I know you were dead-set against being with me. But I don’t care what it was. All I care about is the fact that you’re in front of me right now. And you’re mine for the summer.”

I announce it like I’m staking claim, because I am.

And then I pull him to me, inhaling his scent right before I kiss him as deep as I can. I push my body into his, my hips into his. My tongue tangling with his. My body and his body.

Nora and Brand, forever and ever and ever.

Or at least, until the end of the summer.

Until I have to let him go before I taint him.

Glancing around, I find that there’s still no one in sight.

An evil thought comes to me and I grin.

“You recovered yet?”

Brand raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t have time to answer before I pull his shorts down a bit.

He yanks backward, staring at me in shock. But I don’t give him time to process it. I drop my shorts, then sit immediately on his lap, without pause or foreplay.

I slide down the length of his already hard dick, my softness and warmth enveloping him.

“Jesus,” Brand sighs again. I smile against his neck as I cling to him.

“You’re going to come in me this time,” I tell him softly.

“Yes, m’am,” he answers huskily, lifting my hips with his hands as we rock together. I love the way his hands can span my waist. I love the way he makes me feel small and delicate and feminine. I love the way he fills me up.

I sigh into his mouth as his tongue invades mine.

We’re in the middle of broad daylight and neither one of us cares.

We rock together until Brand finally throws his head back with his release.

And then he holds me close to his chest, while we both regain our bearings.

Slowly, the world comes back into focus and I glance up at him.

“See? You’re not going to know what you did before me.”

He closes his eyes in the sun and suddenly my own words scare me.

Because maybe I won’t either.