Hearts at Play(43)

He claimed me.

In front of the world, he claimed me.

Brianna had no idea if the filming would end up on television or even if it was actual footage or just still pictures, but that was immaterial. What mattered was how Hugh had instantly sprung into action to shield them and what was reconfirmed during the chaos.

He loves me.

Other women don’t matter.

He matters.

We matter.





Chapter Thirty-Six


THEY DROVE TO Brianna’s apartment in silence. Hugh’s stomach had been tied in a knot since their earlier conversation. The crowd outside the theater had pulled the noose a little tighter. He was proud to have Brianna by his side and was surprised when she’d agreed to stay with him instead of hiding in the car. It gave him hope that the look he’d seen in her eye in the theater had been something other than what he feared—that she had thought up some crazy reason to end their relationship. He’d racked his brain the whole time she was in the bathroom with her mother and Kat, and he hadn’t been able to come up with one single thing that rationalized the thought of her breaking up with him.

He parked the car and caught a glimpse of Layla, fast asleep in her booster seat. Brianna looked beautiful with the splash of light from the moon that cut through the window. He reached over and cupped her cheek. Her skin was warm and smooth. She was frustrating, moody, so damn sexy, and sensuous beyond his wildest fantasies, and until just a little while ago, she was all his. He let his hand slide from her cheek with the thought.

“Let’s get Layla to bed,” he whispered.

Upstairs, he laid Layla in her bed and waited in the living room while Brianna changed her into her pajamas and tucked her in. He noticed the copy of Racing magazine that she’d asked for on her counter, and he thought of the first night they’d met and how tough Brianna had acted. She walked into the living room, her black dress swishing against her legs, her bare feet padding softly across the floor. The hardened layers that held her together had been stripped away, revealing the warm, sensitive, and brave woman he’d fallen in love with. She reached for his hand, and without a word, he gave himself over to her, allowing her to pull him down beside her on the couch. Her head rested against his shoulder and her sweet scent enveloped them. He closed his eyes for a moment and just breathed her in, remembering the feel of her naked body beneath him, the way she closed her eyes when he kissed her, and the sexy little sounds she made when she came. His lips curved up when he thought of her telling him to stop asking if he could kiss her and how cute she looked when she said she was a tramp for spending the night at his house before he even had her telephone number.

He couldn’t imagine a life without her.

He didn’t want to imagine it.

Her lips on his cheek pulled his eyes open.

“Yes,” she said.

“Yes?”

“I wanna go to your race. Me and Layla, and I think Mom will go too.”

Her brown eyes searched his, and he knew he should respond, but his words were trapped against his heart, afraid to come forth lest she changed her mind again.

She furrowed her brow. “Is that still okay?”

“Yeah,” he whispered. “But I need to understand what happened back there.”

She looked down. “I’m sorry. I had a little freak-out moment.”

“Bree, don’t you trust me?” He felt like his heart was in her hands—literally. One wrong move and it’d shatter.

“I do. I really do. I wasn’t sure if I trusted me.”

“I’m sorry, but huh?”

She stared at the floor.

“I need to see your eyes, Bree. Tell me what’s going on. You broke me back there, and I’m not an easily broken man.” He felt raw. Exposed. Vulnerable. What the fuck happened to me? One look at beautiful Brianna and he had his answer. I fell in love.

“I was afraid of how I’d react. I might come across as brave, Hugh, but I’m pretty insecure. I’m not a beautiful, buxom blonde. I’m not the life of the party or the sexiest girl around.”

“You’re right. You’re more beautiful than any blonde could ever be, and you’re the sexiest woman around. I’m not looking for a party girl, Bree. Didn’t I make that clear the first night I met you?”

She nodded.

“Bree, I’m not a halfway guy.”

“I know, and I’m not a halfway girl.”

She moved closer to him, and he pulled her onto his lap. He needed to feel her close, to know he wasn’t losing her.

“I guess my father’s leaving did have a profound effect on me. I worry about it. I worry that no matter how much someone loves me, how much you love me, you might find someone better along the way and Layla and I would get really hurt. But it’s not just you. I think I’d be that way with any man, which is probably why I wasn’t so upset about Layla’s father not wanting to be involved from the beginning. It was easier to be alone than to worry about being abandoned.”

He felt his heart come back together. If Hugh had learned one thing about himself over the past few days, it was that he was capable of love. He knew he was loyal and honest and, without hesitation, he loved Brianna. He’d never abandon her. Before he could reassure her, she continued.

“I was afraid I’d run if I saw women all over you, because running away would be so much easier than being left behind. But then I saw you with those women tonight, and you didn’t give them a second glance. Your entire focus was on our safety. Our feelings.”

“Of course,” he whispered.

“Maybe to normal people it would be a duh moment. An of course moment. To me, it was an awakening.”

She touched his cheek. “You love me,” she said. It wasn’t a question. It was a confirmation.

He closed his eyes for a beat, relishing in the feel of her. “I do. Very much.” Relief eased his shoulders down a little lower.

“And you love Layla.”

“Very much.”

She nodded and pressed her hands against his chest. “Does that happen a lot?”

Her hands stirred a different type of warmth in him. “What?”

“Autographs, cameras.”

“Yes. Sometimes. Someone from the theater must have leaked that I was there. I’m sorry you had to experience that.” He laid his hand on her bare knee.

“I’m not. It helped me realize how silly I was being. I worried so much about Layla getting hurt—about me getting hurt—that I was ready to hide for eighteen years. I can’t hide from what we have, Hugh. Tonight I realized that I don’t want to. And the next time I fall into a what-if stage—and trust me, I will—will you please remind me that I’m being an idiot?”

He felt his cheeks lift with a smile. “No.” He laughed under his breath. “I know better than to do that. If you’re anything like you were tonight, it wouldn’t have mattered if I had carried you behind the curtains and made sweet love to you.” Damn, now he had that image in his head. “You were in a place all your own. Untouchable.” Mack’s words came rushing back to him. She doesn’t love easily. “Teach me how. I’ll do anything for you.”

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.

“That wouldn’t have worked. You were too upset. You would have smacked me. Help me help you, Bree. I’m being sincere. How can I break through next time without upsetting you further?”

She unbuttoned his shirt and slid her hand across his chest. Holy hell. Now he had a hard-on again. She was seriously fucking with his equilibrium.

“Next time I do that…” She leaned in close and took his neck in her mouth, sucking lightly. “We need a code word.”

He was still stuck on her tongue on his neck. “Code…”

“Mm-hmm,” she said. “If I get the what-ifs, you say—”

“Sidecar.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Sidecar?”

“Yes. It will remind you of the night we first met.” He pulled her mouth back down to his neck.

“Sidecar,” she whispered before taking his neck in her mouth again.

His broken heart reassembled and slammed against his chest. Her tongue stroked his neck. She came away from his neck with her lips parted, curling into a coy smile as he lowered his mouth to them, filling her with all the love he had. Their mouths fit together perfectly; their tongues moved in tandem; their bodies melded together. He slid his hand beneath her dress, stroking her through her damp panties. She looked at him hungrily, and he knew they were once again in sync. He slid his fingers beneath the thin fabric and groaned as he entered her. Brianna pressed her hips into him. He slid her dress open and took her breast in his mouth, inciting the sexy little moans that sent his desires into overdrive. Christ, she was hot. He felt her thighs tighten, and he moved his fingers quicker. His tongue teased the taut peak of her nipple, and she grabbed his shoulder in her fist, digging her nails into him. He loved the pain and pleasure all at once. She called out his name, and he brought his lips to hers to muffle her cries as the orgasm tore through her and she kissed him like she needed him to survive. He brought her down easy, replacing his fast strokes with lusciously slow teases. She sighed a sweet, gratified breath, and he leaned his forehead against her chest.