Pregnant by the Maverick Millionaire(25)

I want you but I don't want to rely on you. I like feeling protected and  cared for but it scares me spitless. I'm so close to falling in love  with you but I can't let myself be that vulnerable again.

Brodie felt Kade tugging her shirt from her jeans and sighed when his  warm hands spanned her back. His thigh pushed between hers and suddenly  she was straddling his hard leg. Her body responded immediately by  rocking against those hard muscles, moaning when the friction caught her  in exactly the right place. Kade immediately responded by slipping his  hand down the back of her jeans and he growled when her tight pants  stopped his progress.                       
       
           



       

"Get them off."

This was too intense, too urgent, and Brodie knew they should back off,  but she didn't want to. She wanted him out of control and reckless,  demanding and insistent. He was feeling raw and so was she. It added an  edge of excitement she'd never experienced before. It was primitive  sex-hot, urgent-and she wanted to ride this maelstrom with him.

If they worked off enough frustration they'd be able to talk calmly and  she'd be forgiven sooner. Besides, there was nothing wrong with  channeling their anger into something that afforded them a great deal of  pleasure...

Kade's fingers working the zipper of her jeans pulled her back into  pleasure. He pushed her pants and her thong down to her ankles. Brodie  stepped out of her backless wedges and kicked her feet free as Kade  placed one hand behind her butt and lifted her up and into him. His  tongue invaded her mouth again and she knew this would be hot and fast  and crazy.

Bring it on!

Matching his urgency, she pulled his shirt up his back and over his  head, forcing him to let her go so she could pull it off his arms. She  ran her hands down his torso-she'd missed his body, missed him, more  than she should. Far more than was healthy.

She hated that but she loved this. Loved his hot, masculine,  hair-roughened skin. She placed her mouth on his chest to taste him as  her hands dropped to his shorts, pulling his belt open with unsteady  hands. She needed to feel him in her grasp, needed to taste him on her  tongue, to fill her, to complete her.

She needed him.

She both loved and hated the need he stirred inside her.

Kade pushed her hands aside and quickly stripped. She reached down to  touch him but he grabbed her wrists to stop her. He encircled them with  one hand; easily restraining her while his other hand gripped her jaw  and tipped her face up so her eyes collided with his.

Anger and desire were both still there. "We probably shouldn't do this."

"I know." Brodie licked her lips. "But I want to anyway."

"You sure?" Kade demanded, his voice rough. "Because it's not going to be pretty. I'm going to ride you, hard."

Brodie lifted her chin. "I can take everything you hand out, Webb. I'm not a hothouse flower."

The fingers on her jaw loosened and his touch turned tender. "Dammit, Brodie." He rested his forehead against hers.

It was her turn to touch his jaw, to allow her fingers to walk over his  face. "You won't hurt me and I need you. I need you so damn much."

Those amazing eyes hardened, just a fraction. There was hurt beneath the  anger and she was sorry for it. "You could've fooled me."

Brodie gave him what she could. "Right now, I need you as much as you  need me. Give me that, Kade. The rest we can fight about later."

"And we will fight."

"I know." But that was for later so Brodie stood up on her tiptoes to align her mouth with his.

"How are we going to do this?" she whispered against his lips. "Where are we going to do this? Bedroom? Couch?"

Kade's eyes darted around the room. "Too far. Too civilized."

He spun her around and placed her hands on the hall table. Standing  behind her, he put his palm on her stomach and pulled up her butt.  Brodie swallowed, ferociously excited. So this was...new.

Kade's hand stroked her spine and her lower back, kneaded her butt  before sliding between her cheeks to find the damp, moisture between her  legs. She heard him sigh and then he was sliding inside her, the  position filling her more deeply than he ever had before.

She felt exposed and dominated, but thrilled to her core, which he  happened to be touching. His arms encompassed her, crisscrossing her  from chest to thigh, and she felt protected and enveloped as her climax  built. He was so deep inside he hardly needed to move and his thrusts  turned gentle. Bright white lights sparked in her head as the warm,  rushing wave pummeled her.

She screamed; he groaned. He pumped against her, once, twice, and then  he exploded inside her, his arms tightening as a shudder ran through his  body. Slowly coming back to herself, Brodie realized her fingernails  were digging into Kade's forearms. The only thing keeping her from doing  a face-plant on the floor was Kade's python-like grip. She sucked in a  shallow breath and felt his lips on her neck. She was still  half-dressed, her bra and shirt still on.

Whoa, Nelly.

Kade's arms loosened and he pulled her upright, sliding out as he did  so. He dropped one arm but kept the other around her waist, anchoring  her to his side. Brodie stared at the oil painting above the hall table  and wondered if she could ever look at it again without remembering the  hot sex they'd had beneath it.                       
       
           



       

"You okay?" Kade asked, his voice low, rough.

Brodie cleared her throat and nodded. "Yeah."

"I didn't hurt you?"

Brodie looked down at his arms and saw the deep grooves her nails had  left in his skin. She traced her fingertip over the marks. "I should be  asking you that."

"I'm good." Kade's arm tightened once and his hands flexed on her hips  before he let her go. He picked up her jeans and handed them to her. "Go  on up. I'll get clean downstairs."

Normally they'd shower together after sex and frequently showering would  lead to round two. Brodie sighed. Guess that wasn't going to happen  today.

He was still mad. Well, he'd warned her. Brodie nodded and walked toward  the stairs, embarrassed he would watch her bare butt the whole way.

But when she turned around at the top of the stairs he'd disappeared to the lower level and his solitary shower.

Wishing she could run away again, Brodie headed into his bedroom and the  en suite bathroom. She wouldn't get away with running again.

* * *

Brodie found Kade on the balcony, dressed in a faded pair of jeans and a  pale blue T-shirt. He sat close to the edge, his bare feet resting on  the railings, a beer in his hand. Brodie, dressed in the clothes she'd  arrived in, saw there was a diet cola and a glass on the table so she  sat down and perched on the cushion.

Kade poured her cola into the ice-filled glass and handed her the cold  drink. He sat back and linked his hands behind his head looking like the  urban, relaxed businessman he was. Except she also saw the tension in  his jaw, the banked anger in his glittering eyes.

"You missed your doctor's appointment and the first ultrasound."

"I called and rescheduled."

"Thanks for letting me know," Kade said, his tone bitter.

Brodie frowned. She'd briefly mentioned the appointment to him and he'd  never indicated his intention to go with her. "I didn't know you were  planning to go with me."

Kade cut her a look. "Of course I was, Brodie."

Wow...okay. "I thought you'd only take an interest in the baby once it was born."

"I. Take. An. Interest. In. You." Kade spat out the words.

"Oh."

After a couple of minutes, Kade broke the silence. "I was worried about  you. I thought something had happened to you, to our baby. I couldn't  find you. I didn't know where to start looking."

Brodie closed her eyes at the note of desolation in his voice, the hurt  he was trying so hard to hide. Brodie turned her head and looked at his  hard profile, the way the evening breeze picked up his hair and blew it  over his forehead.

"My dad did that once."

Oh, God, no.

"Did what?" she asked, not really wanting to know the answer because she  knew it would make her feel ten times worse than she already did.

"Disappeared. I was about ten and I came home from school and he wasn't  around. By eight that night I was worried, by midnight I was terrified.  Three days later I was out of food and out of my mind with worry. Ten  years old and I had cramps in my stomach from hunger. The morning of the  fourth day I decided to skip school and go to the police. I was leaving  the house when he pulled into the driveway, looking like he'd rather be  anywhere rather than back in whatever town that was, with me."

Brodie gripped the arms of her chair and closed her eyes, silently  cursing Kade's waste-of-space parent. She heard Kade stand up and felt  the brief kiss on the top of her head. "I was terrified then but that  had nothing on what I felt this past week." Kade's voice sounded like it  had been roughened with sandpaper. "Everything is up in the air with us  and I get that. I don't want to take over your life or control it or  you. But if-when-you go, keep in contact, okay?"