All Wrapped Up (A Pine Mountain Novel) (15 page)

“No.”

“No?” She pulled up halfway through her swing, tightly wrapped knuckles just barely grazing the edge of the black leather. “Then how is it supposed to relax me?”

Brennan let go of the bag to take a step toward her, dangerously close. “By letting you control your emotions and turning them into something that’ll help you.”

“You like control, don’t you?”

Ava heard the suggestive slant of her words only after they’d escaped, and her cheeks filled with a heated flush. Brennan angled himself behind her, placing a hot exhale by her ear that said he’d heard
the innuendo loud and freaking clear.

“And you still like asking questions,” he said, his voice honey over gravel. Ava’s heart pounded a wild rhythm in her chest, but before she could point out that he hadn’t answered, he finished, “Yes. I like being focused. Now let’s see if you like it too.”

Fitting his stronger frame over her lithe one, Brennan showed Ava exactly how to throw a jab that
incorporated the strength of all her muscles. Guiding her arms tight to her rib cage, he walked her through each move with a fluid ease, and she repeated them with growing enthusiasm. The friction of his callused fingertips on her bare forearms and thinly clad shoulders lit her up and spurred her on, the tension from her terrible day melding in with the all-out stress of her really terrible week.

Ava’s unease rose up like a sudden tide, but with each full-bodied punch, she found herself channeling it rather than shoving it away. All the frustration over Gary’s ridiculous demands, having to prove herself with a blockbuster story, leaving Pete and Lily—all of it became focus rather than fear, and she poured every last ounce of that laserlike attention into hitting the bag again and again
and again.

“Holy crap,” Ava gasped, finally stopping to catch the breath she’d long since lost.

Brennan orbited around her, steadying the heavy bag on its shiny silver chains before grabbing a hand towel from the shelf on the back wall. “You okay?” He passed the towel over and methodically removed his gloves, but his eyes measured her the whole time.

“Are you kidding?” She pressed the soft
terry cloth to her cheeks and forehead, but hiding her laughter was impossible. Every one of her nerve endings tingled with a rush of power like nothing she’d ever quite felt before, as if she was both energized and serenely calm at the same time. “That was
amazing
. I feel great!”

“You really got the hang of it,” Brennan said with a smile, reaching up to unwind the skein of now-damp cotton from
Ava’s left hand. “I told you you’d be a natural.”

“Well, yeah, but only because you showed me how to start. Without you, I never would’ve made it past that first punch.”

“Glad I could help.” He gestured to the bag with a tilt of his darkly stubbled chin. “But really, I don’t think you need me for getting your frustration out.”

Something unspoken and hotly impulsive made Ava curl her fingers
around Brennan’s, halting his ministrations. In that moment, her mind couldn’t deny what her body already knew.

She wanted Nick Brennan. And she wanted him right now.

“I do need you,” Ava whispered, sliding her arms over the strong ridge of his shoulders to brush her heated body against his. He stiffened, the plane of his chest immovably firm even through the dual layers of cotton between
them.

“Your emotions are all over the place from hitting the bag, that’s all,” he said, but Ava shook her head, pressing even closer.

“No. My emotions are all over the place from you, Brennan. I want
you
. And I’m tired of fighting it.”

Chapter Fifteen

Brennan’s mouth was on hers the instant she finished her sentence, and dear God in heaven, Ava felt his kiss rake over every inch of her sensitive skin. Pressing the balls of her bootless feet into the cool concrete, she maximized the contact of her mouth, her chest, her
everything
against Brennan’s body as she parted her lips in a reckless request for more.

“Ava.” He hooked
his fingers into the belt loops on her jeans, thrusting against her hips in one long, sinuous slide before taking an infuriating step back. “We can’t just jump into this.”

But she reclaimed the space between them in an instant. “Oh yes, we can. It’s not like we’re strangers.” The thought was as foreign to Ava as breathing grape jelly instead of air. “I want this, Brennan, and I think you want
it too. Even if it’s just for today. Be with me.”

He bit out a curse as she strung a trail of kisses down the side of his neck. “You’re really killing me here.”

Ava shifted to look at him, confused. The rock-hard erection pressing tight to her belly left little guesswork as to his desire, and his kiss had been hungry to the point of need. Still, a tendril of doubt flared deep in her gut. “Do
you not want this?”

Brennan’s eyes glittered, nearly black beneath the scant light overhead, and something unspoken broke loose as he pinned her with a stare so dark and unrelentingly sexy, Ava lost her breath.

“I want this more than you can imagine.” The muscles in his jaw went taut as he dropped his forehead to hers, his mouth barely an inch away. “I want to kiss you until I’m out of air,”
Brennan whispered, his lips feathering over hers in the barest sweep, and Ava nearly whimpered from the want pulsing underneath her skin.

“Brennan, please, I—”

“Shh.” He cut her off with another brush of his mouth, and she exhaled, hard and hot. “Let me finish. Yes, I want you. I want to touch every last part of you until we both scream. Damn it, Ava, I want to bury myself inside you so deep
and so sweet, you can’t tell where I end and you begin. But I can’t.”

“Why not?” she rasped, her voice so thick she barely recognized it as her own.

“Because.” Brennan’s palms slid up her arms, a corresponding shiver climbing the length of her spine. “If we do this, it won’t be once. I’ve wanted you beneath me and screaming my name for the last seven years. This happens”—he paused, his fingers
flexing into her shoulders with just enough pressure to make her knees wobble—“and it’s not going to be fast. It’s not going to be impulsive, and it’s not going to be just today. Do you understand?”

Ava’s breath caught in her lungs, and she tilted her head to look up at him, catching the intensity in his gaze full-on. “I understand,” she said.

But instead of walking away, she kissed him.

“Ava.” He ground out her name, the vibration melting against her lips as he coaxed them open with his tongue. Testing her lower lip with barely there flicks, Brennan explored the sensitive bow of her mouth, tasting and teasing until Ava was certain she’d explode. She tightened the knot of her arms around his shoulders, molding their upper bodies even closer as she swept her tongue over his in a bold
push. He responded in kind, cupping the back of her neck with one palm while gripping her hips closer to his with the other. The heat, the friction, the pure, unfiltered desire building like an out-of-control wildfire between them—all of it pushed Ava higher and harder and faster, until finally they broke apart, gasping for breath.

“Come with me.” Without waiting for a response, Brennan grabbed
her hand and carved a direct path toward the door, but Ava slipped in front of him for another greedy kiss.

“Why?” she asked, nipping his bottom lip. She’d wanted his hands on her for the last nine days. The idea of waiting even nine more seconds felt like an eternity.

“Because the next thing on the list is to touch every last part of you until we both scream, and I’m not making you come in
my utility closet.”

Brennan had her halfway into the hall before she could process the movement, walking her backward with his arms banded under her rib cage to guide the way. Her shoulder blades bumped against a cool surface, but the easy give and continued motion told her it had to be the cracked-open door she’d seen across the hall on their way into the utility room.

Muted sunlight edged
past the stark white window blinds in the new space, surprising Ava with its late afternoon slant. She registered details in tiny clips—the soft carpet under her feet, the brisk, ocean-like scent of Brennan’s skin on hers, the sleep-rumpled navy blue sheets suddenly surrounding her body as he laid her on the bed in the center of the room.

The way he could make her delirious with nothing more
than a simple touch.

“Christ, I missed you,” Brennan said, kneeling in front of her on the bed. She parted her knees in a wordless bid to bring him closer, and he angled his hips over her center, leaning in to frame her face with both hands.

“I missed you too.” Ava arched against him, reaching for the hem of his thermal shirt so she could finally,
finally
get her hands on his bare skin. But
Brennan hadn’t removed the second wrap from her hand, and in the heat of the kisses that had followed, she’d failed to notice the blue cotton still keeping her right fingers prisoner.

“Ugh, I want this off so I can feel you.” She reached for the edge of the wrap with her free hand, but Brennan cut the move short by capturing both wrists in one fluid sweep.

“No.”

“I’m sorry?” Ava breathed,
her heartbeat ratcheting higher. The urge to touch his body without barriers thundered beneath her skin, growing from an ache to a full-blown demand.

One Brennan refused to let her answer. “I said no. I promised to make you scream, and believe me, I intend to be a man of my word.”

“You promised we’d both scream,” she reminded him, and he responded by tucking her hands beneath either side of
her hips.

“Sit on your hands if you have to, sweetheart. You’re screaming first.”

In the span of Ava’s gasp, Brennan covered her body from shoulders to core, his mouth making a slow, sexy descent from her ear to the column of her neck. Her fingers tingled with the white hot urge to leave the spot where he’d placed them, snug against the denim-covered curve of her ass. But not being able to
touch him meant having to slow down and focus, and oh God, the man’s mouth was pure magic on the spot where her shoulder folded into her collarbone.

“Ohhh.” Ava groaned her approval, bowing her spine from the bedsheets to give him better access, and he smiled into her skin.

“Well, that’s a start.” Hooking his fingers under the hem of her long-sleeved T-shirt, Brennan relieved her of the garment,
returning her hands under her hips as soon as the cotton hit the floor. He picked up right where he’d left off at her collarbone, heating her skin with his tongue and his lips before cooling it right back off with gentle puffs of breath. Each move brought him closer to her aching breasts, until finally he traced the slope of one side all the way down to the center of her breastbone, the following
exhale turning her untouched nipples into tightly drawn peaks.

“Oh
God
.” The words spilled past Ava’s lips even though she didn’t remember forming them, and she impulsively pushed upward with her trapped hands, canting her hips against the ridge of his cock.

Brennan froze, one finger beneath the front closure of her bra and both eyes locked on her face. “Ava.” The word was a warning, low and
rough in the back of his throat, and a tiny thrill of realization snapped through Ava’s mind.

“Yes?” she asked, using her hands to press her hips up more slowly this time.

“You need to stop that.” He thrust back against her, the cradle of his lower body keeping time with her movements for just a minute before he stopped with a groan. “Now.”

“Not a chance.”

Brennan’s eyes flew wide before
narrowing in on her in disbelief. “What?”

Ava shook her head, her hair spilling over both shoulders. “I might scream first, but you’re coming with me.”

Using her hands to guide her, she moved her hips in a rhythm both slow and full of purpose. It took only seconds for Brennan to match it, pushing back into her as he slipped the straps of her lacy white bra from her shoulders. Her nipples strained
with the need to be touched, and he didn’t disappoint. Brennan balanced his weight on one forearm at her side as he used the other hand to gently skim her nipple with the pad of his thumb. Three passes had Ava panting, and when he dipped his head to draw the needy tip past his lips on the fourth, she arched up on a cry.

“Better,” he said, his goatee rasping her nipple with a delicious glide
of pleasure-pain. He shifted his body more tightly to her side, coasting both hands down the midline of her torso to reach for the button on her jeans. Returning his mouth to her already aching nipple, Brennan alternated his attention between both breasts as his fingers made fast work of removing the denim. He snapped up both of her hands, unraveling the second wrap from her wrist, then fingers, in
a series of well-placed tugs.

“Not so fast,” he grated as she lifted her hands to reach for him. “I like you here.” Lacing his fingers through hers on first one side, then the other, Brennan slid her palms back into place beneath either side of her hips. The unexpected thrill of their joined touch under her body sent a shot of damp heat to Ava’s core, and it doubled as he dropped his eyes to
the swath of her white lace panties.

Brennan released one of her hands, notching his body against her side to drag a fingertip over the crease where her thigh met her body. “Show me what you want, Ava.”

His other hand, still wrapped around hers and tucked tight to the swell of her backside, pushed her palm into motion, rocking her hips along with it. The contact of his fingers on the edge
of her panties coupled with the rhythm he created with her hips took her straight from slow burn to screaming need. Brennan tightened the hand beneath her to meet Ava’s wordless demand for more, and when he slipped past her panties to test her heat with his fingers, her eyes flew open wide.

“That,”
she cried, tilting her hips even further off the bed. “I want you to touch me like that.”

Brennan’s
lashes swept downward, shadowing his face in the low afternoon light as he gazed at their intimate contact. “Damn, you are so hot. I want my hands on you all night.”

Ava took in his face through her lust-filled haze, slowly registering the hard line of his jaw and the taut flex of muscles pressed hard to her side. The sheer want on his face broke past his waning look of control, and between
his expression and his touch, she was lost. Ava’s knees fell wide as the rest of her body gripped tight, her fingertips curling into the flare at the back of her hips as she thrust against Brennan’s hand.

Together, they built a rhythm both hypnotic and hot, the sheer pleasure mixing in with Ava’s bright urge for release. Brennan’s movements were unyielding, but he watched her with reverence,
his heavy breaths matching hers moan for moan. He slid his thumb past the lacy edge of her panties, stroking the tight bundle of nerves at her center, and Ava jacked her hips all the way off the bed.

“Brennan,” she cried, arching into his touch. “Oh God. Please . . .”

The request broke from her chest at the same moment he called out her name, and the ragged sound of his voice sent her right
over the edge. Ava unraveled under Brennan’s hands, wave after wave of breathless free-fall coaxing her trembling from the inside out. His strokes became gentler as she returned to awareness in slow degrees, until he finally smoothed her panties back into place and returned to her side.

“Ava.” Brennan cupped her face to kiss her with just a surprisingly soft brush of his lips. “Show me what
you want now.”

She met his gaze, fully prepared to give him a sexy comeback, when his expression registered in her brain. His hands were still, one palm cradling her cheek, the other propped beneath him where their shoulders touched. That black-coffee stare that had glittered with openly sensual intention just minutes ago slid into something else, something questioning, and the truth slammed
into Ava all at once.

Brennan wasn’t telling her to show him something brazen as part of their foreplay. He was giving her a chance to run.

“Brennan.” Ava slid fully to her side, placing her fingers over the center of his shirt. She should feel vulnerable, nearly naked while he was still dressed, but she didn’t. Slowly, she splayed her hand over his thumping heartbeat, sliding close to fortify
the contact with her shoulders and chest.

“I’m sure.” She kissed him, the salty-sweet taste of his lips invading her senses and rekindling the ache between her thighs. “I want this. I want you.”

Ava reached between their bodies for the hem of Brennan’s shirt, guiding it over his head in a swift pull. She took a minute to drink in the corded muscles, the hard, masculine curve of his shoulders,
the sinewy fold of his pecs. A dusting of dark hair covered his chest, and Ava followed it with her fingers all the way to the thin trail leading into his waistband.

“You still keep a stash of condoms in your wallet for emergencies?”

Brennan laughed, nipping at her bottom lip. “Yeah.”

Her hands landed on the top button of his jeans, sliding it free with a twist. “Good. ’Cause we’re going
to need them.”

The garment hit the floor, and with only one quick pause to grab a condom, Ava returned to the bedsheets with a sassy smile. She ran one hand up the length of his thigh, gliding past the edge of his black boxer briefs. Positioning herself on her side to face him, she angled her hips to his, leaving just enough room for her hand between them. Her nipples tightened at the friction
from the crisp smattering of hair on his chest, sparking a fresh burst of heat in her core, and she followed it on nothing but impulse.