BRIELLE
“Dylan! I didn’t know you’d be back so soon.” I voiced out, the surprise still laced in my tone. His expression was blank, I couldn’t guess his current mood or emotion even if I tried. “Well, Anna and dad needed to talk, so I left almost right after you had.” His gaze shifted to Ryan. “What’s he doing here?”
Ryan chuckled. “You know, my mouth works just fine too, Thomas... and I can bloody speak for myself. I came to see Lucia because I had a meeting with Savannah, but she failed to show up.” He tucked his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “Seeing as Lucia here was the one who assigned her to me, I only thought it right to come and inform her of this development.”
“I see. Well, Savannah’s in the hospital, so you can be rest assured that she didn’t bail out on your meeting because she wanted to.” Dylan threw over his shoulder as he made his way over to me. “I’ll leave you to it then, Bree. I have to get a few things for my sister and all that. Talk to you later?” I nodded, relaxing into his arms as he wrapped his arms around me and pressed a light kiss against my cheek. “We’ll talk about that kiss later though.” He whispered only to my hearing and pulled away, a wicked glint in his eye, as he silently promised retribution later.
Oh Lord.
Dylan walked out of my office without sparing Ryan another glance, as I fought real hard to keep my arousal under control.
“You didn’t tell me Savannah was in the hospital.” Ryan accused, all traces of playfulness had vanished from his face. I blinked in confusion. “I was going to, had you not made conversation all about yourself and how I’d hurt your feelings.” I threw back, and then felt guilty all of a sudden. He was right, I should have led with that. I opened my mouth to apologise for my outburst, but he cut me off.
“Which hospital is she in?”
“St. Nick’s.” I replied, trying to convey how sorry I was in my tone. I don’t think it worked. He just nodded, and walked out of my office without another word. The door lightly closed behind him, leaving me all to myself. I strolled lazily to my desk, deep in thought.
Ryan cared about Savannah.
My heart jumped at the suspicion even as I felt my entire body become giddy with excitement. Were they attracted to each other? Well, we all knew how beautiful Ryan was, Savvy was equally lovely.
God, they were going to have breathtaking babies.
“Lucia! Calm your tits.” I admonished myself as I settled into my seat. Whatever was going on between them was none of my business, and even if I was itching to play matchmaker, I wasn’t going to get involved,
Sighing loudly, I leaned forward and opened my laptop.
Time to get back to business.
*******
I was just exiting the conference room after the meeting with the techs when my phone rang.
What did he want now?
“Nicholas, what do you want? I’m at work-”
“Lucia, have you seen or heard from Silvie?” He asked, his tone frantic.
What had my stupid elder brother done now?
“I haven’t seen her all day, neither have I heard from her. Why?” I asked. “Uh… she hasn’t been answering my calls since she got back to New Orleans, so I thought her phone had been damaged?”
I rolled my eyes. “Has it crossed your mind that perhaps, she actually doesn’t want to speak to you?” I asked ironically. He was silent for a while. “Oh.”
“Yeah, Nick. Oh’s right.” I hung up and continued to my office, done for the day and getting ready to check out. I was going to make a last stop at the hospital to see Savvy before heading home.
****
For some reason, after visiting Savannah at the hospital, home was the last place I wanted to be, so I drove around aimlessly, appreciating the colorful blends of city lights, and how from my perspective, everyone seemed happy, and without a care in the world. I knew it wasn’t true though. Everyone had their own fair share of demons, and sometimes it took being crazily close to realise that people had issues. Take Savannah for instance… she had been surrounded by family, I tried to be there for her every time she needed me, but she still didn’t trust to tell any of us about her problems, and now they had caught up with her. My ringing phone broke my thoughts. Connecting the call through Bluetooth, I answered. “Dy, what’s up?” My voice felt falsely cheery, and I hoped to the heavens that he wouldn’t detect how down I was. “Where are you, Bree?”
“Oh, I’m heading home now, where are you?” I asked, turning the spotlight back to him.
“I just left Marin’s office. Are you alright?”
Damn this man and his keen detective skills.
“I’m fine, Dylan-”
“You know, I think you should come over to mine… just to spend the night.” He suggested, his tone hopeful. It honestly didn’t sound like such a bad idea, but I didn’t want him to see me like this. Not when I wasn’t feeling myself. He probably had a lot on his plate with his sister being the hospital… I didn’t want to be a burden.
“Dylan, I’ve not planned this, I’ll have to get clothes if I want to spend the night you know?”
“Don’t worry that cute brain of yours about this. Just drive to my place, I’ll take care of everything else.” He quipped causing me to groan softly. “Alright fine, I’ll see you soon.”
“That’s my girl.”
I ended the call and pulled up at a nearby parking lot so I could make a U-turn back to his place.
I smiled faintly at the porter that met me at the door, he smiled back and proceeded to lead me to the private elevator that always took me right to Dylan’s floor. His apartment building never ceased to make my jaw drop. I always prided myself on being able to secure a very expensive apartment, but Dylan’s was on another whole level. It was obvious only the filthiest of the rich could afford the place, which made me slightly wonder why he wanted to work at Lavish in the first place if he had already made so damn much.
The door to his apartment opened even before I could ring the doorbell, and there he stood before me in comfy-looking blue jeans and a tank top that proudly displayed his impressive chest and toned arms, his hair was a curly wet mess, like he had just stepped out of a shower.
“Hi.” I whispered softly, suddenly grateful that he had the whole floor to himself, perks of buying the penthouse. “Hey yourself. Come here.” He pulled me in, and wrapped his arms around me in a long tight hug. “I missed you.”
His right hand reached out to raise my chin, causing my gaze to meet his. “You also looked like you could really use a hug.” He finished softly, lightly planting a kiss on my forehead in the process. Dylan broke the hug to take my bag and laptop from my hands, then he proceeded to steer me into the apartment, his free hand still thrown lazily over my shoulder.
The immediate rush of intimacy warmed my heart immensely. He was right. I had no idea how much I had been craving this… how much I needed it. “Thank you, Dy… you know, for inviting me over.”
I watched him place my stuff on one of the couches that littered the large living room, he seemed nervous, as evident by the way he ran his hands through his curls. I’d noticed that he usually did that when he was uncomfortable, nervous or angry. “Do you want to have dinner before you shower or you’ll shower first? I ordered Chinese, but I wasn’t sure you were in the mood for Wonton soup, so I ordered pizza too. If you’d like me to get you something else, I could equally-”
“Woah, Dylan… calm your horses, man.” I looped my hands around his neck, lightly planting a soft kiss against his lips even as I chuckled. Honestly, his nervousness had me feeling much better already. “Pizza sounds lovely, we can have the soup for breakfast.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” I leaned up to stare him in the face, a small smirk making its way to my lips. “Dylan Knight, is this the first time you’re having a girl spend the night?”`
He stroked his lightly stubbled chin thoughtfully. “I’ve never brought a girl home with me, to even talk about letting her spend the night. You’re the only woman I’ve brought here, and even with you, you never spend the whole night, even when I beg. I have the right to be nervous, Bree.” We both chuckled at that. “Well, you have nothing to be nervous about. It’s just me, Dy.” I pulled him in for another kiss that lasted much longer than I’d anticipated. Pulling away before it got out of hand, I asked. “Can you show me the bathroom? I could really use a shower right now.”
“This way, my lady.” He bowed slightly and led me towards the bathroom.
I felt so much better as I stepped out of the massive bathroom, clad only in a sea-blue shirt, Dylan’s, and black lace panties that looked a lot like mine, which was weird, because I’d never left anything behind in all the times I visited. I reached for my phone lying on the counter and pressed the power button, the lit screen telling me I had been in the shower for almost twenty minutes.
That was long.
I rubbed the towel through my hair to dry it faster, as I entered my password to check if I had any new emails or messages, a grin breaking out on my face at the sight of a message from Silvie.
Go get that d, B!
Chuckling at her antics, and making a mental note to text her later, I made my way to the hall, where Dylan already had the steaming hot pizza waiting. I felt my belly rumble, probably reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since morning.
“I was just about to check up on you, you know? You’d been there for ages.” Dylan teased when his eyes landed on me, his gaze hot and heavy as he took in my appearance. “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t plan on washing my hair but I did anyway… guess I got carried away.” I smiled sheepishly as I made my way to him. “Smells lovely in here, can’t wait to dig in.”
Dylan whistled appreciatively. “You look lovely in my shirt, and your panties.” He acknowledged with a smirk.
“I knew the panties were mine. How did you get them?” I asked with interest as we made our way to the couch.
“Oh, I passed by your place. Silvie packed everything you’d need, including clothes for work tomorrow so you won’t have to do the walk of shame.” He teased lightly.
That explained things.
We made quick work of devouring our dinner, mostly eating in silence as our eyes avidly followed the movie I had chosen: Greenland. The movie ended, and as the credits rolled by, we both stood up at the same time and reached for the dirty plates. “Uh, what are you doing?” Dylan asked, an incredulous look on his face. I gave him one right back. “Well, what does it look like? You served dinner, so I’m doing the dishes.”
“I can’t let you do that! What kind of host would that make me?”
I giggled. “Suit yourself then, but I’ll come along to keep you company.”
“Fine by me.”
I trudged after him, and watched him do the dishes, my eyes discreetly appreciating his state-of-the-art modern kitchen. It had every gadget you could think of that was necessary to get by in a five star restaurant, which left me wondering if he was even that good at cooking, because if he wasn’t, then it was such a waste.
“Brielle.” Dylan called out softly breaking my line of thought, his gaze focused on getting the plates spotlessly clean. “Yeah?” I answered.
“Is there anything you want to talk about?”
My heart skipped a beat. “Like what exactly?”
He put the plates away and turned to me, wiping his wet hands on a dishcloth. “You seem down, and even though you’re trying so hard to hide it from me, I can sense it, and from the police report on how you were able to rescue Savannah, I know today hasn’t been an easy day, but, I’m here for you, Bree… so if you want to talk about it, just let me know.”
I felt my shoulders slump in relief. For a second, I thought Silvie had gone behind my back to tell him about Madeline and the whole gun thing, but he was right.
I wasn’t alright.
Finding her like that had been very traumatic, but one thing he didn’t know was that, he was already helping me. I pulled him towards me and wrapped my arms around him in a hug, pulling away to gently sweep his curls away from his face. “You’re right, Dylan. Today hasn’t been an easy day. I drove for hours just contemplating life, with no desire to go home because I was afraid of sleeping alone, but somehow, you managed to know that I wasn’t doing okay, and you made me come over. You’ve honestly done enough just by being here for me, Dy… so thank you.” I pulled him in for a kiss that quickly turned frantic, scorching, uncontrolled. My hands sneaked into his shirt, feeling his rock hard abs and toned back, even as I relished in the slight tremble my touch invoked.
“Brielle-”
I needed him. Pure and simple.
“Shh. Don’t say anything, just make love to me, Dylan.” I murmured, the plea evident in my tone. Just like I’d begged, he didn’t say a single word, but his eyes spoke volumes as his hands found their way to the nape of my neck and he lightly peppered kisses down my jaw, back to my mouth. He wanted to go slow and easy on me, but slow and easy wasn’t what I needed today.
Taking my hand in his, he led me away from the living room, through a long corridor that took us straight to his room. I trembled slightly, my desire at its highest peak as the door closed behind us and he suddenly jerked me around, pinning me to the door.
DYLAN
I was completely, and utterly in love with the woman standing before me.
I realised it when I saw her in her office with that stupid bloke this morning, as a matter of fact, I knew this a while ago, but I’d been in serious doubt. Doubt wasn’t going to change the fact that she had captured my heart though. It was easier to admit it than to waste time fighting it anyway.
“Dylan.” She panted softly, snapping me out of my thoughts. My hand reached out to secure both of hers above her head, a smirk making its way to my lips as she arched into me. “I’ve got you, princess.” I assured her as my mouth found hers again, my right thigh parting hers with a thrust as I pressed myself against her panty-clad core. We both quivered at the contact, and I reveled in the sound of her moans filling my room. My left hand played with her perky mounds, our eyes fixed on each other as she rode me out. A grin made its way onto her face as her orgasm peaked and she collapsed against me. “Who knew I could come just from riding you like this?” She asked breathlessly, causing me to chuckle. “We’re just getting started.”
*****
We both collapsed on the bed, weak and spent as we struggled to catch our breaths. “That. Was. Amazing.” Brielle breathed out lazily as she rolled over to me, planting a kiss against my cheek. Her eyes shone with mischief. I grunted, pulling her against me. “Feeling better already?”
“Much.”
Her response was music to my ears.
“Are you sore?”
“I’m perfect. Stop worrying, dad.”
I couldn’t help the smirk that made its way to my lips. “Ooh, someone’s got a daddy fetish-” I laughed when she pushed at my chest slightly, a disgusted look on her face that quickly morphed into laughter. She rolled out of bed. “I need to use the washroom, I’ll be right back.”
My phone rang as I watched her sashay to the bathroom. Reaching for it, I was surprised to find that it was my mum.
“Ma? Is everything okay?” I asked immediately after answering, a bland look making its way onto my face after hearing what she had to say. “Alright ma, bye.” I hung up right after, just as Brielle was making her way back into bed.
“Is everything okay?” She asked in concern.
“Oh yeah.” I assured her. “My mum just informed me that said she’d be in New Orleans by ten am, tomorrow. She wants me to come pick her up at the airport.
“Oh shit. I’ll leave.”
I sat up in surprise. “Why? It’s tomorrow, Brie. You promised to stay the night.”
She looked torn for a moment. “Okay fine, I’ll stay. But we wake up very early tomorrow… I don’t want to make you late.”
I pulled her close to me. “Sounds good, princess.”