Making the Grade (2 page)

His sister’s unconventional relationship aside, he liked and respected her beaus. Since Dylan Warren had also spoken highly of Faith, he’d assumed the woman was worth knowing. But for her to out-and-out admit she wanted him for his money?

“Yep. You and your designer suits and business hookups. I mean, look at us here tonight. No waiting.”

The waiting list to get into Ricard’s was a mile long. He knew the owner and had gotten them in no problem. He hadn’t realized she’d been aware. Totally deflated about the way the evening was panning out, he studied Faith, wishing he could stem his attraction.

His sister had reluctantly set them up—at blackmailed request—but she hadn’t opposed the idea either, and she was like a bulldog when steering him clear of users. Had she thought he only wanted Faith for sex? He sipped his drink while Faith smiled and flirted with him.

The woman had a face that mesmerized. Dark green eyes, brown hair streaked with gold that waved down her back and licked at her full breasts, a slender waist and long,
long
legs. She fit his type to a T. He’d thought her intelligent and reasonable, a female who could see past a guy’s bank account and look for other things in a relationship.

Apparently, he’d been wrong, because she continued to wax on about all the things his generous salary could buy, to include her approval. Worse, she seemed to think he should find the subject as amusing as she did.

Swallowing his disappointment along with more wine, he spent the remainder of the evening trying to enjoy himself. So he wouldn’t find himself more than a one-night stand. At least Faith promised to fulfill his fantasies. He’d had some doozies starring her and him and his king-size bed.

After dinner, he drove her back to her place, waiting for the next step. She invited him inside for some coffee. Check.

“Have a seat. Would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea? A beer?”

“I’m good, thanks.” He sat on the couch and waited for her to return from the kitchen. Her apartment in the Abberwicks had a nice view of the common courtyard. Though by no means a mansion, her place felt comfortable. Nothing ostentatious, but small bits of color amid the cream-colored walls, enough to show him hints of Faith without revealing all of her.

She liked foreign places, from her myriad pictures. Water scenes especially. Her furnishings, though not high-end or new, had an eclectic charm as well as comfort. Faith liked things that felt good. Quality over appearance. Too bad he couldn’t say the same for her.

He was an idiot for still wanting so badly to believe in the woman he’d wanted her to be.

“Sorry, maid’s night off.” She smiled as she returned with a glass of water. She sat next to him on the couch, keeping some space between them.

Another hint played out with subtlety. She could have sat across from him, but she’d chosen to sit next to him. She’d left an appropriate amount of space, leaving it to him to make the first move, he assumed.

From her body language, he could see she wasn’t opposed to something more, like a kiss, maybe. She kept looking at his arms and chest, her cheeks flushed.

He asked about the picture closest to them, a charming rendition of Montmartre in Paris.

“Yeah, someday I’m going to France. I know it sounds clichéd, but I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“It’s a beautiful city. I had a client living there once who invited me to visit.”

Her eyes widened, and again he wished she weren’t so damn attractive.

“Wow. You’re so lucky.”

“So why don’t you go?”

She shrugged. “Finances, time. But I’m happy to say I’m finally at a point in my life where I’m taking charge of where I go and what I do. I’m going to try to visit this fall.”

“Nice. Hey, maybe you can sidetrack to Germany and hit Oktoberfest.” He hadn’t been back in years. “I can’t remember the last time I was in Munich, but it’s a blast.”

“Oh right.” She smiled. “You have a thing for beer.”

The eye contact between them sizzled. Check number two.

He made his move. Scooting closer, he put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. Electricity seemed to arc between them. “And a thing for beautiful brunettes, too.”

As they stared at each other, Brian changed his mind. It would be best to end things now. He didn’t want to hate himself in the morning for reverting to the playboy he’d once been. No more meaningless sex. He wanted a relationship.

God, he could just hear his buddy Rex telling him to take out his tampon and grow a pair. But he couldn’t help it. Brian wanted more from a woman than her body. Even if she did have amazing breasts, a tiny waist he could span with his hands, legs that could wrap around his waist while he found her warm heat…

He couldn’t look away from Faith’s mouth.

He didn’t know who’d moved first, but they kissed, and he lost his grip on everything.

Chapter Two

Faith didn’t know what had happened, but the heat between her and Brian had become overwhelming. His mouth felt like pure temptation, his body a rock-hard wall she wanted to climb until she conquered it.

He moaned as he deepened the kiss. His hand on her shoulder drifted to her neck and angled her head so he could trail kisses down her cheek to her ear.

“I want you. Fuck, so much,” he breathed and nipped her earlobe.

She jolted at the erotic need coiling inside her, lashing out with each kiss and nibble to her skin.

Brian’s hands found her waist, then her breasts and stayed there.

Faith had every intention of slowing things down, just as soon as she could catch her breath—until he cupped her breasts and gently pinched her nipples.

Her celibate streak was ending.
Tonight
.

“
Brian
. God.” She yanked him back to kiss her and kneaded his thick shoulders, wanting to get closer. She couldn’t think, on fire to have him inside her.

Somehow she lost her shirt and bra and was rubbing up against his naked chest. Crawling closer to get where she needed to be, she straddled his lap, aware of his mouth on her breast and his hands on her ass, toying with the thong now wet against her.

He pulled it, grazing her clit, and she crested the edge of climax.
Slow down, Faith. Your hormones are leading you in the wrong.

Screw that,
she told her subconscious.
I need this.

“In me. Now,” she panted before diving in to kiss him again. She grazed his chest with her nails, and he bucked as he fiddled with his pants. Reaching down to help him, she gripped a very thick, very long cock.

Heaven, if she could just hold off her looming orgasm long enough to come around him.

Feeling him fumble beneath her, she took the matter out of his hands and ripped open the condom he’d been holding, then squirmed out of his hold to kneel before him. A glance showed his eyes heavy lidded, his chest rising and falling, his cock flushed and wet at the tip.

She couldn’t help herself and leaned down to lick him.

“
Faith. Fuck.
I’m gonna come so hard. Put it on me.”

She slid the condom on him, and before she could do anything else, he dragged her up over him. He didn’t even bother to take off her thong. Instead, he pulled the string to the side and slid his thick shaft all the way inside her.

She came on a cry, bombarded by sensation. Brian pulled her down for another kiss while he ground up into her. Some frantic pumps, then he swore as he shuddered, coming inside her.

Faith clamped down on him, her orgasm long and powerful. Jesus, she’d never come so hard before. And from so little foreplay.

He shifted inside her, and she moaned, loving the feel of him. The scent, touch and taste of the man went straight to her head.

She leaned down to kiss him, thanking him with more than words.

He kissed her back, and for a few moments she felt nothing but bliss.

She knew the moment he pulled back. He tensed, then eased her up off him.

“Let me go take care of this,” he said gruffly, nodding down at his condom.

She watched him go, dazed and unable to do more than put her shirt back on, sans the bra, and lower her skirt. When he returned from the bathroom, he looked presentable enough. But the flush and replete look in his eyes gave him away.

“That was amazing,” he said, looking her over.

She smiled. “It was.” She couldn’t help blushing. From zero to sixty after one kiss. So much for going slow with this new relationship. “Brian, I—”

“Guess I’ll head out now. I have work early in the morning, unfortunately.” He bent down to kiss her. To take the sting out of his rejection? “I had a wonderful time. We’ll have to do this again, Faith. Happy Valentine’s Day.” He smiled, but the gesture lacked warmth.

Then he was out the door and gone.

Confused and not sure what the hell had just happened, Faith went over the night’s events in excruciating detail. He couldn’t have had any problem with the evening or the sex. Not after she’d come seconds before he had. Yet she had the feeling she’d just been tenderly, politely blown off after having had the best sex of her life.

He didn’t call the next day, or the next. She canceled her weekly therapy appointment, indulged in some superfattening ice cream and worked her ass off at the office. When Brian still hadn’t called by Friday, she knew she’d been right.

After leaving work for another blah weekend—dateless, angry and hopeless about relationships—Faith pondered what to do. Instead of giving in to the good cry she could feel building inside her, she yanked on her workout clothes and jumped on her tread climber. Half an hour later, she continued to exercise while
Snapped
played on the television, cursing Brian Goode with every step.

After a miserable week spent analyzing what the hell was so wrong with him that he couldn’t stop thinking about a money-grubbing brunette who’d made him come in two seconds, Brian banged on his sister’s door without regard for time. He didn’t care that it was a Saturday morning, or that it was barely past six. This couldn’t wait.

Her lover Harper answered the door, wearing a scowl and a pair of boxers. “Brian?”

“I want to talk to Freddy. Move it, Conan.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? It’s six a.m.”

Brian stormed past him. “Is she up?” He knew she wasn’t, but he was pissed and needed to share.

Dylan Warren, Freddy’s second significant other, appeared in the living room with a concerned expression. “Brian? Is everything all right?”

“No, everything is not fucking all right.
Freddy
,” he yelled. “Get your sorry ass out here. Right. Now.”

His sister appeared, looking like a discontented fairy. Same blond hair as Brian, but pixie short, standing up in clumps, and she wore a scowl to go with her bloodshot eyes.

“What the hell, Brian?”

He grabbed her by the overlarge sleeve of the men’s shirt she wore and dragged her past her startled lovers. “Why the hell did you set me up with Faith?”

“Um, you made me?”

“I asked you for her number.”

“Blackmailed me into it, actually.”

“Because I wanted a date with a nice woman. Not another money-grubbing witch.” Angered all over again at himself for falling back on bad habits—ignoring how amazing sex with Faith had been—he took out his frustration on his sister. “I thought you had my back. Aren’t you the one who said you’d help me screen the gold diggers? You practically threw me at her.”

She blinked at him, the sudden clarity leaching through her fog and widening her light-blue eyes. “Oh, er. Faith.”

Dylan joined her side and frowned. “What’s going on?”

Harper groaned, the giant dropping into the couch behind them. “I knew this was going to bite you in the ass, Smurfette.”

“Shut up, Harper.” Freddy squirmed under Dylan’s and Brian’s stares.

Brian frowned. “I know that look. What did you do?” She had the same guilty expression she’d worn as a kid whenever she was up to no good. He could read his sister like a book. Apparently so could her boyfriends.

“Freddy.” Dylan crossed his arms over his chest. “Faith is a patient. You said you only wanted her number to go out for coffee. Not for Brian. You promised you wouldn’t interfere with his pitiful social life in any way.”

“Pitiful? Thanks a lot.” Brian groaned. His whole fucking week went from bad to worse. “Dylan, tell me you’re not Faith’s therapist. You told me she was a nice woman.”

“She is a nice woman.”

“With a smokin’ hot rack,” Harper muttered.

Freddy glared at him.

“What? You know it’s true.”

Dylan sighed. “What Faith and I discuss is confidential—”

“Fuck me sideways.” Brian let his sister go.

“I take it the date didn’t go well?” Freddy asked. “She refused to talk to Hailey about it. I know. I asked.”

Brian shot her a look that had her taking a step back behind Dylan.

“Uh-oh.”

Dylan pulled her out from behind him and forced her to the couch next to Harper, who sat her on his lap and kept her in place with his massive arms. “Talk, woman.”