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“Are you insulting my fajita-making skills, woman?”
“Not insultin’, more like questionin’ if you even have those skills.” Her sassy response put a smile on my face as I caught up with her.
“I have plenty of skills, Brenna. As you well know.” I didn’t miss the way her body vibrated, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
“Yeah, maybe so, but those skills don’t exactly translate to cooking delicious fajitas, do they?”
“You guys are being weird,” Mariana said, her tone confused and a little grumpy. “Grown ups are really weird. I’m going back to my room.”
“Take your new bedding to the laundry room so we can wash it before you use it.”
She turned around with a pout. “But I want to sleep on them tonight!”
“And if they get going in the wash, you might be able to.” At my words, she took off as fast as her little legs would carry her.
“Good job diffusing that situation.”
I sighed. “Like diffusing a bomb.”
“Welcome to life with a soon-to-be teenage girl.” Her blue eyes bounced around the kitchen. “Need any help?”
“Eye candy is always appreciated when I cook. Have a seat and tell me about your day.” It was nice, listening to Brenna’s soothing twang while I made dinner and her loud laughter when she said something that she found funny. “It was sweet of you to tell her that story about her mama. She misses her like crazy.”
“I don’t know how to do that part. I liked Alyssa, for as little as I knew her but that’s not exactly something you can say to a little kid. Is it?”
“How should I know? I mean, I guess not, but just let her talk, I guess. That’s what I did.”
Dinner was unlike any dinner my kitchen had seen since it became my kitchen. Mariana talked pretty much non-stop about everything from her new room, the latest dinosaur facts she picked up online, her mother’s love of chicken fajitas and even the “cutest boy ever” on some teen show she liked to watch. It was a nice buffer between me and Brenna, which she clearly wanted, focusing more on the kid than the man.
I didn’t let it bother me, at least not now that I understood where she was coming from. I wasn’t offended that she thought I wanted her around because of Mariana, because I could admit that was a part of it. A small part, but they were already so close that it only made her more appealing.
Mostly, I wanted Brenna for myself.
And when Mariana fell asleep during a romantic comedy she’d insisted we watch together, I knew my moment to tell her had come. “I’ll go put her to bed. Wait for me?”
Brenna stood with a sigh, uncertainty swimming in her eyes. “I don’t know, Grant.”
“Please.”
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes and shooed me off and I took off as fast as I could, trading her daytime clothes for a pair of red and yellow pajamas that she’d brought with her and wore just about every night.
I wasn’t all that surprised to find Brenna putting on her boots when I returned to the living room. “Going somewhere?”
“Yeah. Home. Soon.”
“Not too soon, I hope?” I took a step closer and her eyes went wide as she stood and took a step back. “Running, Brenna?”
“I might be. Do I need to run, Grant?” That’s what her lush lips said, but the pulse beating a tattoo in her throat said she was just as turned on as I was.
I pressed my body against hers, the hard points of her nipples telling me that my proximity wasn’t exactly unwanted. “I really wish you wouldn’t run, Brenna. Then again, maybe I’d like to catch you.” She sucked in a breath and I couldn’t wait another minute, my lips crashed down on hers in a hard, forceful kiss that stole my breath.
Brenna’s hands were on the move, one sliding up and down my back while the other gripped a proper handful of my hair as she gave back as intense a kiss as she received. Her tongue danced with mine and she nibbled my bottom lip until I held her face and devoured her mouth, purring when our tongues touched once again.
A deep, throaty moan rent the air and I pressed my hips against hers, letting her see exactly the effect she was having on me. “Grant,” she said on a breathless whisper, her hands now both gripping my hair, tugging it hard.
“Right here, sweetheart.”
“Yeah,” she panted. “I can feel you. All of you.”
“I’d love to feel all of you, Brenna. Right now.” One hand slid up her silky legs. “And this skirt has been on my mind since this morning.”
“This ole thing?” She laughed and I swallowed it down, kissing her again because I could do nothing else when she smiled at me like she thought I was more than a good lay, like she thought I was special. “Grant,” she gasped when my knuckles scraped against her damp panties.
