Misjudged (24 page)

“Brandon gave it to me,
” I grin widely as I answer. Neil leans forward to take a closer look as I turn around to see if Brandon is back on our planet yet. “I love you.” I tell him when I see him watching me with a happy look on his face. He wraps his arm around my waist, which Neil obviously takes as a sign that we’re about ready to leave.

He glances between the two of us
with his lips pulling up into a smile, “Forever?”

“Forever,” Brandon answers him with a nod
, while bending down to pick up my bag. It’s time to go. My breathing instantly accelerates just thinking about what’s coming next.

“Oh.My
.God! Have an amazing night!” Alyssa kisses me on the cheek and then moves over to Brandon to do the same. “Details!” She mouths at me with beaming, wide eyes, before stepping back into Ryan’s arms. Now that I’m watching how the two of them interact with each other, I think they may well be a match made in heaven.

Brandon entwines his hand with mine and squeezes it gently. I take that as a signal that it’s
really time to go now. We congratulate them again and say our goodbyes, before making our way out of the building and towards my car.

“Why are we taking my car again?” I ask him when I see him pulling my car keys out from his pants pocket.

“I thought tomorrow we could take a drive somewhere after breakfast,” he says, and his face lights up when he sees me bobbing my head with great enthusiasm. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

***

Swiping the key card through the small white sensor on the side of the door, Brandon never removes his other hand from the small of my back as we make our way into the Penthouse Suite. Walking through the hallway and into the large open plan living area, I head straight over to the enormous floor to ceiling windows and gaze out over the Seattle skyline.

“Brandon, this is incredible,” I say when I feel him come up close behind me and wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. “I mean it’s just—”

“You’re more breathtaking than the view,” he whispers into my ear, before tugging gently on my earlobe with his teeth.

I let out a small chuckle at his choice of words. “Those are the
exact same words you said to me when we were down by the lake during the ball,” I remind him as he trails kisses softly over my shoulder.

“Well, then they must be true,” h
e laughs before spinning me around to face him. “I’m gonna take your bag to the bedroom. Why don’t you go ahead and grab some champagne from the bar over there?” He plants a small kiss on the end of my nose, before turning around and heading through the opposite door.

Unable to control the overly large smile that’s lifting my cheeks, I walk over to the bar and see a bottle of champagne already sitting in an ice bucket on the countertop, with two champagne flutes beside it. Perfect!

After pouring us a glass, I notice my hands are shaking a little as I carry them into the bedroom. My breath catches when I see what he’s been doing in here.

Red rose petals are scattered over the exceedingly large bed, there are at least forty white candles flickering all the way around the room, and the lights are turned down low. He’s already unpacked our bag, and sitting on
the end of the bed is my black laced lingerie.

He walks out from what I assume to be the bathroom, wearing one of the hotel’s white, fluffy robes. Holy hotness. He smiles as he takes the glasses from me, before placing one on each of the
nightstands located on either side of the bed.

Picking up my underwear, he keeps his eyes on the items in his
hands while walking slowly over to me, “Why don’t you go and …?” He lets out a deep breath, and when he brings his eyes to mine, I see a deep fire ignited in them.

I take them from his hands
and feel my pulse speeding as I walk into the bathroom to get changed.
Deep breaths, Alex. Deep breaths
.

Do I wrap a robe around me or should I go out there in just these?

When I enter the bedroom, he’s sitting in the middle of the bed and holding his champagne. He almost spills the contents all over himself as he bolts forward when his gaze lands over on me. I feel myself blush a little as I slowly walk over to join him.

“Fuck.
” I’m not sure whether I was supposed to hear his little outburst, but something tells me that he likes the lace. “You look …” His eyes stay fixed on me as I take the flute from his hand.

Leanin
g over him and placing the half-filled glass back on the nightstand, I feel his hot breaths breezing over my breasts, and one of his hands stroking along the inside of my thigh. When I go to move back, he grabs my hips and pulls me down so that I’m straddling him.

He licks his lips,
sits up straighter, and I can feel that he’s already hard through the robe. “Why do you get to keep that on when I’m sitting in these?” I tease him while yanking at the opening of the robe.

“I’ve, um
…” He closes his eyes for a brief moment and when he reopens them, they land back on mine. He’s looking anxious. “I have one more surprise.”

I sit back and eye him curiously as he slides his arms out of the robe.

“You got another tattoo? When?” I’m shocked that I hadn’t noticed before. I stare at his body every opportunity I get, he knows I do. He always calls me on it, but when and how did I not see it before?

“This afternoon. I
t’s still a little sore so you’re gonna have to go easy on me,” his mouth forms into a devilishly handsome grin as he positions my hips, so I’m sitting right on top of …
him.

I lean closer and see t
hat it’s a Chinese symbol. He’s had it done just underneath the faithful one, on his left upper arm, “Forever?” I whisper while gazing at the ink.

“Forever,” he answers quietly as he tries to read my face. “I love you, Alexis.”

“I want one too, exactly the same!” I feel excited at us both having the same one. “In the morning, I want you to take me to get one of those! Wait, does it hurt?”

Laughing at my question, he reaches his right hand up to my face as I lean down and place a soft, lingering kiss on his lips. Moving his hand down to cup my left breast, I feel his left hand skimming across my
naval, until he reaches my sweet spot.

He begins to
massage me with his thumb in slow, yet firm, motions and I begin grinding myself against him, “You’d better stop that right now or I’m not gonna last longer than five minutes!” He growls as he flips me over onto my back.

Stroking his right hand through my hair and resting it to the side of my face, his fingers on his left hand are making their way b
ack down to the apex of my legs as he hovers over me.

I close my eyes and lift my hips when I feel his fingers tracing around the fabric
, before he sits back and climbs off of the bed. He extends his hand out to me, I take it, and then he pulls me to stand in front of him.

Kneeling before me, he places his hands on my hips as he swirls his tongue slowly over the fabric of my panties
, while keeping his eyes on me the whole time. I can feel my excitement building already.

Moving his mouth higher, he licks along the top of the fabric until he reaches my left hip. I see a sly grin form
ing as he takes my panties in between his teeth, and then he begins to slowly drag them lower, until they’re resting at my feet.

Wrapping his arms around me as he stands back up, he unclips my bra before crashing his lips onto mine. I grab at the belt of his robe and untie it, before yanking it from his body. He’s fully naked. I’m fully naked. I can’t breathe because of the anticipation.

Pulling away just a touch, his eyes flicker over mine and I see the burning desire within them. “Are you nervous?” He asks in a soft whisper, and I close my eyes when I feel his firm length brush over my stomach.

“No. I’m not,” I smile
at him as I answer. It’s true, I was feeling a little nervous earlier, but I’m not now. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be. “Are you?” I tease, but immediately feel my eyes widen and my confidence fall when he nods his head slightly.

“Terrified,” h
is voice is hoarse as he answers me. He tilts his head towards the bed and gently pushes me back, while holding his grasp on my hips.

I lie down in the middle of the bed and smile when I see him coming to lie beside me. He reaches under his pillow and pulls out a small, square shaped packet. My stomach flips over and over, and my breaths are ge
tting heavier with each one I take.

I can see how nervous he is f
rom the way he’s gazing at the packet, and I watch as he inhales and exhales a couple of deep breaths, “Brandon, I’m on birth control.” My voice is only slight, but I see him swallowing hard, as the words I just said appear to sink in.

“You are?” He narrows his eyes on
me as he asks and I nod with a smile. A large grin creeps over his lips as he climbs on top of me again. “I’ve never done this without one,” he murmurs, before placing a long, soft kiss on my lips.

Pulling him as close as I possibly can to me, I stare into his big, bright
, beautiful blue eyes and smile, “Make love to me, Brandon.”

He tenses a little, but then I finally feel him slowly moving himself along my folds. Reaching up and holding his
face in my hands, I notice that his whole body is trembling, “Are you okay?”

“I’m the happiest goddamn man alive, beautiful,” he responds while resting his forehead against mine. “Just tell me if it hurts too much or if you
—”

Before he has the opportunity to finish his sentence, I kiss him hard and feel his shoulders beginning to relax.

Lifting my hips when his tip reaches my entrance, he moves forward slowly and gently as he pushes himself inside of me, while we continue to stare into each other’s eyes.

Forever.

Feeling his warm breaths as they breeze lightly over my shoulder, makes a beaming wide smile immediately appear over my face. When I open my eyes, I see the daylight flooding through the floor to ceiling windows, and I let out a sigh filled with contentment.

Lifting up Brandon’s arm that has been tightly wrapped around my waist ever since we fell asleep, I check the time on his watch. I inwardly groan at the fact that it’s only seven o’clock in the morning. This means I’ve only had roughly three hours of sleep, although I’m in no way complaining.

It’s Sunday
and last night was … “Good Morning, beautiful,” I swear my heart just skipped a beat at the sound of his husky voice. His voice is always so hoarse when he first wakes up, and well, it’s kind of sexy. “Mmm,” he snuggles his face into the back of my neck, while tightening his arms around my waist.

“Hi,” I answer while turning myself over to face him. Wow. The big, stunning, and sparkling pair of blue eyes that are gazing back and directly into mine, overwhelm me every time. “You didn’t snore last night, so technically that means we should do this every night,” I tell him as I place a tender kiss on his slightly swollen lips.

“I have no problem with that theory,” he laughs while stroking a strand of stray hair away from my eyes.

After we’d made love
for the third time last night, yes,
third
, we held and kissed each other until we fell asleep.

It was so intimate and so
special. It was just so perfect. “I’m gonna go and run you a nice hot bubble bath,” he kisses me on my nose before leaping out of the bed. “Stop checking me out, Alexis.” He teases, while throwing me a wink and crooked smile over his shoulder.

He walks lazily around
the room and picks up all the discarded pillows and items of clothing from the bedroom floor, which were thrown out of the way during round three.

“Then stop walking around in front of me butt naked!” I laugh and rest my chin on my hands
, while my eyes continue to follow his every move. “What time do we need to check out?”

He comes back over and sits by me
, while pulling on a pair of boxer shorts. I move closer to him and begin trailing kisses around his neck, in the hopes it’ll lure him back to bed, “Can we do that again? I just don’t think I was getting it right.”

“Trust me, you got it,” h
e peers over his shoulder and throws me an amused grin, before raking one of his hands through his hair and standing himself back up. I sigh dreamily as I watch him walk to the bathroom.

A couple of moments
pass and I hear the sound of running water. I snuggle myself back into my pillow and think about all of the amazing things we did together.

After we’d
made love the second time, I went down to the small bar and grabbed us both a soda, and when I returned, I was completely blown away. The way he looked at me when he played his guitar made my heart melt, but that wasn’t what made the tears spring into my eyes.

No. It was when he sang to me. He sang the song he’d written for
me. It was overpowering and awe-inspiring. The fact that he had the courage to sing again in itself was incredible, and I’m so proud of him.

He told me that he dropped
the guitar here yesterday afternoon, while I was at the spa with Alyssa. He said he wanted me to still have some surprises, considering I had messed up some of the others. I can see his point.

“Your bath’s
ready, beautiful,” he calls to me as he walks back into the room. He puts his hand out to me and when I place mine into his, he pulls me gently off the bed before scooping me up in his arms and carrying me towards the bathroom.

He places me on my feet before grabbing a co
uple of towels from the railing, “Alexis,” he says my name, and I’m worried by the expression crossing over his face when I look at him. He lets out a deep sigh and that’s when I really begin to worry. “Were you serious when you said you wanted to get the same tattoo?”

I nod my head instantly,
“Yes!” I watch as his whole face relaxes. He looks so relieved. “Did you think I wasn’t serious? Brandon, I want what you want. I want forever.” I lift my hands up to his face and make him look into my eyes.

“I know a tat
too place that opens on Sundays,” a small smile tugs at the corners of his mouth when he answers me. “Forever.” 

“Let’s do it!” I stand on my tiptoes and
peck him on his cheek, before sinking my body into the bathtub. “Aren’t you coming in?” He shakes his head and laughs, before removing his boxers and climbing in behind me. I rest my body onto his and feel him already growing against me. I’m guessing round four is on.

***

“No, it’s my car, I’m driving!” I tell him with a touch of authority in my tone. “Brandon freaking Taylor! Give me my goddamn keys!” My voice is getting louder as I try to grab them from him.

We’ve been standing in the hotel’s parking lot for the past ten minutes having this same argument, and there’
s no way I’m going to back down, “Alexis, please,” he’s dangling the keys up high above me, and I’m beginning to feel a little flustered. “If we want to get to the tattoo shop before they close, I need to drive.” He’s smirking when he sees how much he’s winding me up.

I fold my arms across my chest, tap my foot on the pavement, and see him actually sticking his bottom lip out at
me, “Brandon, please?” I try to persuade him by using a seductive voice, and press myself against him while running my hands over his crotch, and placing my lips on his.

“Alexis, it’s not ladylike to use your body as some kind of bribe to get what—” He can’t finish because the way I’m rubbing my hand firmly across his fly, is
throwing him off his game. “Mmm …” Pressing his lips hard against mine, he wraps his arms around my waist and now I have the perfect opportunity to grab the keys.

One, two, three
… “Ha! Sucker!” Taking the keys from his grasp, I run around to the driver’s side before he even has the chance to say ‘you snore’.

Glancing through my rear
view mirror, I see him shaking his head and smirking. God, I love that guy. I start the engine and watch as he slowly climbs into the passenger seat, “I promise I’ll go a little faster this time okay?” Shifting the car into reverse, I flash him a grin and see him letting out a deep sigh.

“It’s not your driving t
hat’s the issue anymore, Alexis,” his tone is flat, but I can tell he’s not really pissed with me. “You just gave me a fucking raging hard on and I have no way of dealing with it for at least a few hours!” He is practically growling and avoiding looking over in my direction.

“Head downtown to Spring Drive and then tak
e the second turn on your right,” he’s resting his elbow against the car window and chewing at his nails.

“If you’re going to act like such a baby then I might just change my mind and not get one done!” I joke with him and notice the corners of his eyes crinkle in amusement.

He switches the stereo on before placing his left hand onto my thigh as we head out of the parking lot, “I don’t know if I told you this before but, I fucking love you.”

“Well, I fucking love you too,
” I tell him sternly and we both start laughing uncontrollably at the way we communicate our feelings with one another.

***

Because I drove over to the tattoo shop, I let Brandon drive back to campus. That was probably one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made. I found myself holding on for dear life and I actually didn’t think we would make it back to campus alive.

Now I feel
bad for accusing Ryan of being a lousy driver. He’s great compared to the race car driver that was sitting beside me on our way back home.

“Let me tak
e a look,” I don’t think I’ve ever seen Brandon this enthusiastic before and I can’t stop staring at his beaming face. “Are you okay?”

I roll my sweater over my left sh
oulder so he can see the tattoo, “You’ve seen it like five times, Brandon.” I shake my head and laugh as we head into the dorm. “It hurt like hell.” I wince when I think back to that horrible needle, and promise myself that this will be the one and only tattoo I will ever have done.

Making our way through the main door, I see Neil, Ryan
, and Alyssa sitting around the coffee table and playing a game of Monopoly. I love Monopoly, even though I suck at it.

“Guys, check out what Alexis had done!” Brandon ushers me over to them and urges me to show them my tattoo. “We got matching ones!” He’s smiling wide
and if this is what it takes to keep that sexy appreciation on his face, then maybe I’ll take back what I said before and have my whole body covered in ink.

“Isn’t that the same design as your necklace?” Ryan points out as he glances between the two. “Sweet! You’re a
badass now, Alex!” He laughs while going back over to take his move on the board.

I turn to face Brandon when I realize he was originally only planning to stay here until he recove
red. That time was up yesterday, “Are you staying tonight? I want you to stay.” It’s going to be really weird not waking up beside him each morning. My stomach is already dropping to the floor just thinking about it.

“Oh, I’m
staying,” he wraps his arms around my waist and places a kiss in my hair. “I need to pop back over to my place though and grab a couple of things. I’ll be back in about an hour,” he tells me and then squeezes me tightly, before letting me go and heading back out of the dorm.

“Fuck!” My attention is drawn over to Ryan, who just raised his voice so loud that the students a couple of dorms over would most probably have been able to hear. “I hate this stupid game!” He kicks the board off of the coffee table
, and I see Neil shaking his head as he claims yet another victory. They’re so competitive.

I laugh as I watch Alyssa rolling her eyes at them both before she comes over to join me by
the door. “How does it feel?” She asks, and I smile widely at her while dragging my suitcase over to my bedroom. “I want to know everything later!”

Hearing Neil
groan, I look up and see him shaking his head as he walks over to his room. I’m guessing he’s not so keen on being filled in on last night’s events, although there’s no way I’m going to tell Alyssa everything. Some things are too personal to share, even with your closest friends.

After dumping our bag on the bed, I
decide I’m in need of some sugar and since Brandon won’t be back for around an hour, I grab my purse and choose to head over to Starbucks.

Walking over to the main door, I see Alyssa and Ryan snuggling up on the sofa together. How didn’t I see those two together before? They’re made for each other, just like Brandon
and I are. “Hey guys, did my father call while I was gone?” I just realized I haven’t heard from him since yesterday morning, and seeing the bouquet of flowers still sitting on the breakfast bar has made me curious as to who sent them. It was most probably my dad and he perhaps forgot to mention them while we were on the phone yesterday.

“Not that I’m aware,
” Alyssa sits herself up and shrugs her shoulders, before being pulled back down by Ryan, and I hear her letting out a giggle. I can’t wait for Brandon to get back. I’m starting to miss him already.

Checking my watch, I see it’s almost one thirty, and after picking up a coffee for both myself and Brandon, I’ve decided to drop by his place to see if he’s gotten everything he needs
, before we head back over here.

Although I know only thirty minutes have passed, the time feels as though it’s dragging as I approach campus
with both our coffees in hand. I glance up and my lips immediately stretch wide at the sight of Brandon walking through the large iron gates. I watch him place his duffel bag on the ground and lean himself up against the wall.

“I was just coming for you,” I say as I walk up to join him. “Here, I got your favorite.” I hold the takeout cup to him, but he doesn’t respond. Instead, he averts his face and eyes away from me. “Brandon?”

I notice his head is hanging low and can hear his deep breaths as he starts raking his hands though his hair, “Brandon?” I look away from him as a black SUV pulls up beside us, and when I bring my gaze back to him, his eyes are focused directly on the ground and his whole body has become rigid.

I plac
e the coffee cups on the ground and step in front of him when I see him bend down to pick up his duffel bag. I place my hands on either side of his face in an attempt to make him look at me.

Fuck no.

I notice the grimness in his eyes and the expression all over his face. It’s the very same look he had when he told me about the night Holly died in his arms. He looks hollow. He looks broken. He looks dead. His complexion is pale and his eyes have darkened, and in this moment, I can feel my heart beginning to break.

Tears are beginning to fall onto my cheeks
and I can hardly speak through the bile that’s rising in my throat. “Brandon!” Why won’t he look at me? Why won’t he talk to me? It’s as though he can’t even see or hear me. It feels as though he’s looking straight through me. “Dammit, Brandon!”