Room for Just a Little Bit More(7)

“Nope.” I moved my tongue to the other side of his neck while my fingers ran up his thigh, under his shorts. “You said the magic word.”

“What did I say? Wait. I said barn.” His hearty laugh vibrated under my lips.

“You said barn,” I reiterated. “And you know what that does to me.”

“I do, but I didn’t know it could take you from 0 to 100 that fast. I’ll have to remember that for the next fifty years. Screw that, I’m getting it tattooed on me somewhere.”

“Stop talking,” I ordered, pulling away just enough to look him in the eye, “and kiss me.”

The words were barely out of my mouth before Brody’s strong hands encompassed my face, gently pulling my lips to his. The second we connected, all the tiny stresses of the last couple days washed away. He held a secret power that I didn’t know existed until we got together. Contact with Brody actually altered the way I felt physically. If I was sick, he would hold my hand and I’d feel better. If I was angry, he would hug me and make it all disappear. And in moments like this, when I was hot for him, his smallest touch set me on fire.

After four swipes of his tongue, I was straddling him on my couch, grinding my hips into him as hard as I could.

“Whoa.” He laughed. “Slow down there, killer, or we’re both gonna need Neosporin tomorrow.”

“It’d be worth it.” I continued kissing him.

“For you, it’s worth a little chafing, but I’d rather be skin to skin, and I’m thinking the couch in the family room isn’t the ideal location. Wanna move this down the hall?”

He was right.

Mom had a full house of guests, and I didn’t think any of them wanted to see the innkeeper’s daughter dry humping her fiancé on the common area sofa, even if that fiancé was a smokin’ hot hockey superstar. Okay, maybe they would want to see it, then, but I wanted to keep our life together as private as possible. I could just imagine Brody getting a call from Andy in the morning freaking out that some weirdo had videoed us on the couch and our sex tape was all over the Internet. Kim Kardashian could keep that disgusting throne; I had no interest in it.

“Yes, let’s go,” I whispered, sliding off of him.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him along behind me, down the hall.

“Wait. Do you want to go to your room or mine?” He stopped suddenly, tugging my hand back. “We don’t want the girls to hear us.”

“Having sex? No. But it’s about time they know we sleep together at night. We’re engaged to be married and they think of you as their daddy. Mommies and daddies sleep together at night. No more sneaking back to your room in the wee hours of the morning.” I winked. “Now come on before you kill my mood.”

We tiptoed down the hall, past my mom and Fred snoring in their room. I peeked in at Lucy and Piper as we passed. Sound asleep.

“They good?” Brody whispered.

“Sound asleep.” A seductive smile slid across my lips as I closed my bedroom door.




4 - Brody
“Brody. Brody,” Kacie whispered loudly, her voice just strong enough to break into my nightmare of Viper covering me in feathers at my bachelor party. “Your phone is ringing.”

I rolled toward her and grunted without opening my eyes, not yet fully awake.

“Brody!” She smacked my shoulder. “Wake up.”

“Huh, what?” I sat up, trying to focus.

“Your phone is ringing. Again. It’s rang like three times in the last twenty minutes.”

“Oh.” I reached for my phone and squinted at the screen. “It’s my mom.”

“Hello?”

“Do you have any idea how it feels to go to my monthly book club and have the ladies there tell me they read online that my only son is engaged? Let me tell you something, Mister, it feels really shitty!” My mom yelled into the phone.

Crap. She never yelled. She never swore. Double whammy.

“Mom, I’m so sorry. We were gonna come by today and tell you,” I lied, shrugging at Kacie, who was glaring at me now that she realized I hadn’t told my mom. “It just happened a couple days ago, and we’ve been so busy since then.”

“Busy? You’ve been busy?” She drew out each word and emphasized each syllable.

Fuck.

“You’re right.” I sighed, feeling awful that I’d forgotten to call the one person who should have received the first call. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am, Mom.”

Kacie lay down and snuggled into me as I begged my mom for forgiveness.

“So.” She sighed in defeat. “How’d you do it? Propose, I mean.”

She was done yelling at me, but I could actually feel her sadness through the phone. I pictured her sitting at the kitchen table with a crinkled, tear-soaked tissue in her hand. My chest ached. Putting my hand over the phone so she couldn’t hear me, I whispered to Kacie, “Do we have any plans today?”

She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Mom, what are you doing today?”

“Nothing, just some picking up around here, maybe a little weeding if the rain holds off.”

“Remember when I was little, before we traveled for hockey all the time, and every summer we would go to the Chocolate Festival in Long Grove?”