AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Come here," Brandon said. He placed a broad hand at my waist and held my other hand so we were swaying slowly with Springsteen's soft melody. " 'Show a little faith, there's magic in the night'," he crooned gently into my ear.
"'You ain't a beauty, but hey, you're all right'," I sang back. We were so cheesy, but I didn't care a bit.
Brandon leaned back, clearly surprised I knew the words. "I didn't know you were a Springsteen fan, Red."
I chuckled. "I wouldn't say that, necessarily. But everyone who grew up in the Tri-State area knows the words to 'Thunder Road'. And I went to school with a lot of kids from New Jersey who really like The Boss, Bon Jovi, and Journey."
"Sounds like my kind of crowd," Brandon said, with a waggle of his dark blond brows.
"God, you're old," I joked.
He laughed and pulled me close so we could continue moving with the gentle guitar and Springsteen's earnest, raspy voice. I closed my eyes, content to lay my head on Brandon's firm chest. More weight fell from my shoulders as I breathed in his fresh scent. Brandon didn't just feel good; he felt like home. My skirt swished gently about my knees, and Brandon's hand tightened at my waist while the other dropped my hand and clasped behind my neck, cradling me close. I buried my face into his shirt, slipped my arms around his waist, and hummed, as content as I'd ever been in my life.
As the harmonica sang at the back end of the song, Brandon framed my face with his hands and forced me to look up at him.
"I really want to kiss you, Red," he said with a rueful smile as his thumbs fluttered over my lips. "Will you let me?"
Something in my heart melted when he asked that way. Brandon was usually the kind of man to just take what he wanted, and it usually pissed me off. He had approached our relationship from the beginning with all the finesse of a bull in a china shop. And here he was, requesting something as a benign as a kiss.
Still, I could see the determination in his eyes, a hardness that wasn't there before. I wanted desperately for it to disappear.
"Okay," I said softly.
He bent down to touch his soft lips to mine, one arm wrapping tightly about my ribcage, the other hand weaving into the thickets of my hair. This wasn't a kiss that was just about sex, although it promised that and more, eventually. It was a kiss that was sad and happy all at once, tentative, passionate, tense, and yearning. Our tongues slowly mingled as our hands began to explore each other again. My hands slipped up his chest and into his thick curls.
When we finally let each other go, I was surprised to see Brandon's eyes glistening as much as mine.
I grinned. "You're such a softy," I teased, but didn't move my hands from his shoulders.
Brandon gave a light-hearted shrug. "The man's a poet. And I've been listening to way too much 'Red-headed Woman'," he said. He kissed me gently on the forehead. "Now come on, let's eat."
~
We finished our dinner quickly, and then Brandon insisted on helping me with the dishes. He was a bit clumsy washing them, and ended up getting quite a bit of soap and water on his expensive clothes. At one point, when I came back from taking out the garbage, I reentered the apartment to find him dabbing his tie with a paper towel, but while a large dollop of soap bubble bobbed in his hair.
I giggled.
He looked up. "What?"
I walked in and reached up to wipe away the bubbles. "You made a bit of a mess of yourself here, Mr. Clean."
I was expecting a sharp retort, but instead, Brandon quickly captured my wrist and pinned it behind my back as he walked me quickly against the wall.
"Did I?" he asked as he leaned in to kiss me again.
This kiss was far less gentle than the one before, and I couldn't help but moan slightly in his warm embrace.
"How about we make a different mess?"
I snorted. "Good one."
"Do I sound like I'm joking?" he murmured into my ear before biting softly on the lobe.
Lust immediately shot right to my core. Suddenly I was acutely aware of just how long it had been since we were together, last weekend notwithstanding.
"Oh––" I breathed aloud as his teeth found the soft skin of my neck.
Brandon dropped my arm behind my back and used both hands to pick me up, leveraging me against the wall so my legs were wrapped around his waist.
