Make It Last (15 page)

             
Her movement caused a tortured sound to emit from his throat. Colin left her breasts and brought his lips back to her mouth, suckling and biting her lips, as he pulled her closer to him and lifted her off of the counter.

             
He carried her back to his room, but before placing her on the bed, he pulled away from
her and looked into her
eyes.

             
“Is this okay?” he asked
,
clearly
trying to keep his control in check, even as she rocked against him once more.

             
“Yes,” Briana said with total confidence. “Please.”

             
Th
at was all the affirmation he
needed.
He laid her down
and took off her clo
thes. T
hen he took off his. He laid next to h
er on the bed, stroking her skin
with his hands, as he placed light kisses down her down her body. He started with the nape of her neck, then travelled along her collar bone to her breasts. After licking and nibbling her nipples again, he continued his descent alo
ng her stomach to her
thighs.

             
He moved down the bed so he was in front of her, and nudged her legs,
asking her to open them for him
.
She
did as he requested, the blood pumping hot through her veins.

             
He kissed his way up her legs, starting at her knees, and ending in the one place that burned the most.
When his mouth touched her, she felt momentarily embarrassed. No one had ever kissed her like this before, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

             
One second later, when his tongue began to lick her and he looked up to make sure she was okay, she lost all thoughts of embarrassment and let herself be ta
ken away by the feelings he evoked
.

             
It didn’t take long for the tension to build
in her
core, causing her to
buck and thrash against his
mouth. He took that as a sign of encouragement and began to lick faster and deeper.

             
She
came with a shout and a moan. S
he couldn’t believe she was being so vocal, but she was no longer in control of herself.

             
Colin kissed her thighs once more, before kissing a trail back up her stomach to her chest. Her se
nsitive nipples tingled when he
stroked them. S
he worked to catch her breath.

             
When he
was fully on top of her, she moved appreciatively at the feel of his weight. His skin felt silky and slick, and she knew that he had to b
e ready to explode himself. S
he felt him throbbing against her.

             
She couldn’t help the large grin of satisfaction that spread across her face, as he said, “I need to be inside you.”

             
She felt him reach for the condom and heard the packet crinkle as he tore it open.

             
She pulled her knees up
anticipating the feel of him inside her.

             
H
e slid in slowly,
making
her breath
catch. Her eyes closed
as she let the pleasure of this intimate joining overcome her.

             
When he
was fully inside of her, he
momentarily still
ed, and
looked into her eyes. E
motion wash
ed over her. She
lifted up to kiss him long and hard.
She pulled her knees up further and wrapped her legs around him, lifti
ng her pelvis up off of the bed and
bringing him further inside of her.

             
H
is control snapped.
He started pumping in and out of her
,
and she held onto his shoulders for support. She rocked her hips up, causing him t
o rub roughly against her. S
he felt the orgasm begin to spread through her limbs once more. When she knew she was about to cum, she suckled on his
earlobe, then bit it.

             
“Oh,
God.
Yes
,
Now
.
”

             
Her throaty words caused him to intensify his thrusts
, and they both came
with moans and shouts of satisfaction.

             
Briana lay there, stroking Colin
’s back and wondering at how he had just mad
e her feel. He had brought things out of her that had never
happened
before.

             
She couldn’t help but smile, as she closed her eyes and kissed the side of his neck.

             
“I think I just
died and went to heaven,” he
muttered, his face in the pillow.

             
She
giggled.

             
“If that’
s what death is like,
I’m
ready to die. Repeatedly
.
”

             
Colin chuckled
, then lifted his head up to look down at her.
“
You’re
amazing
.
” He kissed one corner of her mouth, then the other, before kissing her fully on the lips.

             
“I think you’re amazing too
.
” she
admitted, gazing up at him with happiness and hope in her eyes.

             
He
smiled down at her, then cocked his head to the side and said, “What the hell is that beeping?”

             
“Oh, no
.
” She tried
to move him off of her so she could get up. “My chicken. Has it been going off long?”

             
“I’m not sure,” he
admitted, letting her up. “Let’s go check on it.”

             
They got up and ran to the kitchen to try and salvage their lunch.

Chapter Fifteen

             
After Briana left to get ready for work
, Colin got on the computer and continued researching coaching at the college level. He was really excited about an opening at the University of Te
xas in Austin. He called his former
coaches and asked if they would give him letters of reference, which they agreed to do. He looked at all of the requirements for the application and was excited at the prospect.

             
When he opened his
email, he noticed another message
from Shawn. All it said was “Call me, 911.”
He really didn’t think there was anything left to say to he
r. He had no interest in
getting involved with her again, or hearing about her latest conquest, so he deleted it.

             
While he was taking a shower before work, he couldn’t help but think back to his afternoon with Briana.

             
Damn, she was hot
.

             
He figured years of
pent-up sexual tension
probably hadn’t hurt
in making
their first time together amazing. Lord knew he’d wanted her in high school. Bad. She hadn’t been ready then and he’d respected her and her wishes, but it had been difficult.

             
She was better than he’d ever imagined in his fantasies, and there had been plenty of those throughout the years. He turned the temperature of the water down and tried to cool himself off.

             
Once he was dressed and ready, he headed to the store to meet his dad for inventory.
When he pulled up, his dad’s car was already there, so he went inside to meet him. He found him in the back storeroom.

             
“Hey, Pop,” he
greeted his father. “You been here long?”

             
His dad looked up from his inventory sheet and gave him a broad grin.
“Hey, Colin. Not too long. Your mother made sure I
sat down for dinner before she
let me leave the house. She’s worried
that I’m not eating healthy enough. She ma
de me eat steamed vegetables,” h
e said with a grimace.

             
Colin chuckled. H
is dad hated eating healthy. He was a meat and potatoes kind of guy.

             
“Where
do you want me to start?” he
asked.

             
His dad turned to him, dropping the clipboard to his side and looking seriously at his son. “Your mother and I had a l
ong talk about you over supper,” he said.

             
Colin
blinked over the unexpected turn in the conversation. The
mirror
image
of his own, and felt his heart ache at the sadness in them.

             
“What about?”
             
His father put his hand on Colin’s shoulder and squeezed.
“Look, Colin, we know how much getting injured has affected the p
lans you had for your life. We’
re so sorry that things turned out this way. Initially I thought that when you came back here,
things would fall in to place… t
hat you’d learn about the s
tore and eventually take over. But it’
s obvious that
you’re
not happy. I know
that you love
me and
your mother
,
and
that you want to help us and mak
e us happy. B
ut son, you settling
for less than your dreams won’t make us happy. Would I have been happy if your dream had been to
run the store and
pass it along to your children? Heck yeah. But that’
s my dream, not yours.”

             
Colin
throat tighten
ed
. He looked down and tried to get a handle on his emotions.

             
“Thanks, Pop. T
hat means a lot to me. I don’t want to disappoint you, and I know you’re ready to retire. I want that for you. Yo
u work so hard. It’s
time for you to enjoy your life with Mom.”

             
His father’s face burst with pride.
“
You’re
a wonderful son, Colin, more so than your mother and I ever could have imagined. We don’t want you to put our wants ahead of your own. There are
other people in our family who
can run
the store. Your cousin Steve has always expressed an interest. Maybe I’ll give him a call,” his dad said
. “We want you to do something that is going to give you a full and happy life.”

             
Colin pulled his dad in for a hug, holding on a little longer than normal.
He cleared his throat be
fore he spoke, “Actually, they’
re
hiring assistant coaches at UT.
I was thinking about applying.”

             
His father grinned again.
“That sounds perfect. Now, we’d better get to
work. T
hese items aren’t going to count themselves.”

             
Colin was in dry storage when Rich came shuffling in through the door.

             
“What’re you doing here, m
an?” Colin asked him.

             
“The
re’s nothing going on tonight, T
his town is dead, so I thought you might be able to use an e
xtra set of hands for inventory,
” Rich answered with a shrug.

             
“Sounds good.
” Colin pulled a page out and handed it to Rich. “There are pens and another clipboard on the desk. Thanks.”