Midnight Renegade by Anya Summers

14

Reegan pressed a steadying hand against her belly, attempting to contain the nerves hopping around like bullfrogs on speed.

What was wrong with her? This was Brody. It wasn’t like the man hadn’t seen her naked, and she had to do the will he or won’t he make a move dance tonight. She knew that, at the conclusion, they would end up in bed together, because that was the one place they fit. It was the one place where she didn’t question what she was doing with him or worry that she was in way over her head.

It was merely a date.

That didn’t mean anything other than they were spending time together outside of his bedroom and dungeon. And, frankly, they needed to, or they were going to wear each other out—and had, on more than one occasion.

But if the date didn’t matter, why had she gone to such lengths with her appearance? It wasn’t every day she put on a skimpy black halter dress with a plunging neckline that displayed her breasts to perfection with just enough to leave him panting for more. Or four-inch pewter strappy heels that sparkled in the right lighting and showcased her calves.

She had styled her hair into a high, sleek ponytail. Teardrop rubies hung from her ears. She’d used a heavier hand with her makeup as well. The whole smokey eye deal magnified her blue eyes.

Reegan had spent the last hour on her appearance for a date with Brody, a man who had seen her without a stitch on multiple times, because deep down, she wanted to knock his damn socks off. And there was this needy part of her that, after their confessions last weekend, wanted to show him what he had missed out on all those years ago. She realized that he knew the damage he’d caused in some fashion, even if he hadn’t explained why he’d ghosted her, otherwise he never would have apologized. It was her damn insecurities rearing their ugly ass heads that left her needing to prove that she was worthwhile. Demonstrating yet again, she was still twisted up about him ghosting her back then.

At the knock on her front door, she exhaled a shaky breath.

Here goes nothing.

She made the short walk from her bedroom past her kitchen and living room to the front door, her heels clicking over the hardwood floor, and grabbed her black clutch purse off the table near the front door along the way.

Her breath whooshed from her lungs the moment she opened the door. Brody was dressed in dark gray slacks and a mint green dress shirt that was unbuttoned at the neck. The shirt magnified the color of his eyes. He had shaved off his scruff, which she secretly adored. And he was so damn handsome, he took her breath away.

“Well, you certainly clean up nicely,” she said.

Brody pressed a hand against his chest. “Give me a minute. I need it to get my mind back in working order because you’re a fucking knockout. I’m going to have to beat other guys off with a stick.”

Sublime pleasure spread through her. The time she had spent getting ready and all the small touches she had added had been worth it because he saw the big picture. His green gaze roved her form hungrily, like he had just discovered the most delectable dessert and had every intention of overindulging.

Every woman should have a man look at her the way Brody currently was, at least once in their lifetime.

There was power Reegan had ceded him and hadn’t even been aware of. Somehow, she had grown dependent upon what he thought of her, desiring to please him not just in the dungeon or bedroom, but outside of it as well.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Let’s go before I go all caveman on your sweet ass and cart you directly into the bedroom.”

She shivered at his lustful threat. “And if I said I wouldn’t mind that at all?”

His gaze was hooded, with carnal flames. “Don’t tempt me, babe.” He gripped her hand and pulled her out into the hall with him. Shutting her front door for her, he held out his hand. “Keys.”

She handed them over, letting him assume command, not bothered in the slightest by the undercurrent of dominance he displayed. It warmed the farthest recesses of her heart that she affected him this profoundly that he had to slide his dominance around himself like body armor.

He pocketed her keys and took her hand once the door was locked.

“So, what’s on the agenda for tonight?” she asked as they strolled hand in hand toward the elevator.

“Dinner first, but then I have a surprise for you.”

“A surprise, huh?”

“I promise you’ll like it. How was the test run with your program?”

Brody shifted gears on her. She was shocked that he remembered, or was interested. But then, he had been acting more and more like the Brody she had met at the frat party, and not the man who had rubbed her the wrong way for years. “So-so. I’m going to have to go back through the lines of code. Taking it into the larger arena with the hacker groups assaulting the program for weaknesses is one of the best ways to determine its readiness for full-scale launch. And the tests determined there were a few vulnerabilities I didn’t find with my assessments.”

“You’ll figure it out. I have the utmost confidence in you,” he said, pulling up in front of Passage, a posh upscale restaurant with private booths that was difficult to get a table at—and yet, they were here…

She had to give the guy credit for style. She’d figured they would head to a New Dublin Table restaurant, which was an upscale chain owned by Colin Ryan, one of Gabe’s younger brothers. She had only ever heard about this place—all good.

Brody handed his keys to the valet, clasped her hand, and escorted her inside. She loved the ambiance of the restaurant. Gold filigree crystal chandeliers added elegance above gleaming hickory wood floors, complemented by warm beige walls, and between every booth hung a sand-colored linen partition providing privacy for every table. Brody gave the man his name, then the tuxedoed maître’d escorted them to one of the white leather circular booths in the back. This was certainly a far cry from the college guy Reegan had known.

Once they were seated in the booth with Brody ensuring they were intimately side by side, she leaned over and murmured in his ear, “You’ve got some smooth moves.”

“Oh babe, I haven’t even begun with the moves tonight, especially not with that dress you’re wearing.”

“What’s good here?”

“Do you trust me?” he asked with quiet intensity.

She stilled at his penetrating stare, like he was attempting to divine the inner workings of her soul. Trusting him with her dinner selection was something she could do, although something told her that he was asking for far more than that. “Yes.”

“Good. There are two dishes that are superb. I figure we can share them.”

When the waiter appeared at their table in his crisp white shirt and black tie, giving them a rundown of the specials that evening, Brody ordered the lamb and seared scallops, along with a bottle of Dom Perignon.

“Are we celebrating something?”

“We are. My company scored the contract with Harrison Developers. Contracts were signed this afternoon.”

Her mouth dropped open and before she could stop herself, she threw her arms around him. “And you’re just telling me this now? I’m so happy for you. All the hard work you’ve put in paid off.”

Brody didn’t seem to mind that she had practically wrapped herself around him in the booth. One of his hands trailed up and down her spine, and he looked fucking elated. “It has. My mom would have been thrilled too. Harrison Developers strives to be ecologically responsible and eco-friendly. It’s one of the reasons I wanted this account so badly.”

He’d done it for his mom. Her heart quivered, and a tiny crack appeared.

Reegan saw how much Brody ached over his mother’s passing. His mom had been a huge driving force in his life. It wasn’t any wonder he would craft his business dealings so that his company honored her memory.

Brody released her when the waiter delivered the champagne first, with a cheese plate to start them off.

“So, what should we toast to?” Brody asked, lifting his flute up with a sexy grin.

“Your mom.”

Warmth filled Brody’s gaze; he nodded and held up his glass. “To Mom.”

“For raising such an incredible man, to your mom.” Reegan clinked her glass against his, and drank the bubbly.

Their meal was delivered. And dammit but he was right, it was fabulous. She kept looking at him as they ate.

“Do I have something on my forehead?”

It was like she was seeing him for the first time—the real him. They had finally scraped away all the bullshit. Perhaps the clearing of the air last week had done the trick. But she no longer considered him her enemy. “You’ve changed,” she said.

“Hopefully for the better.”

“Yes. I like the way you’ve grown up. And it’s more than just you being a Dom.”

“I’m glad. But then, you’ve changed too. You’re no longer this dewy-eyed schoolgirl afraid of her own shadow.”

“I wasn’t that bad,” Reegan protested, remembering what that first taste of true freedom had felt like.

“You wore your emotions right on your sleeve. It was so easy to read you.”

He’d seen her, even then. Even when he had walked away, he had seen her. “And now?”

“Layers of mystery with a confidence you didn’t have back then,” he leaned in close, “and the desires you have no longer scare you, they exhilarate you. I’ve never known anyone as beautifully open.”

His husky voice sent shivers down her spine. Warmth curled through her limbs. “Thank you, Sir.”

He whispered. “Like for instance, I bet if I told you to take off your panties and hand them to me right now, you would.”

She peered into his eyes that were mere inches away and murmured, “I would… if I were wearing any.”

Brody sucked in a breath. “Tell me you’re not commando under that dress.”

“Can’t. Then I would be lying. In fact, there’s nothing beneath this dress but my skin.”

His heated gaze slid over her body like a caress. “You’re killing me, babe. My dirty, dirty girl.”

“And I’m stuffed. I think if I eat another bite, I will explode.”

“We should get going anyway if we’re going to make it on time.” Brody lifted his hand to get the waiter’s attention.

While he paid for the meal, Reegan made a quick visit to the restroom. She needed a minute to cool down. It had started getting way too heated between them, to the point where she had been ready to lead him to a darkened corner and have her way with him. Going out in public with him was so new and different that it was throwing her for a loop. Because she was enjoying being with him, being seen on his arm.

Plus, he was correct in his assumption. If he had commanded that she remove her panties in a crowded, upscale restaurant, and she’d been wearing some, she would have, without question.

When it came to him and exerting his dominance, it seemed there was little she wouldn’t do for him. As soon as she felt steady enough, she headed out and joined him back at the table, where he escorted her out the door and handed the ticket for his truck to the valet. Then he placed a proprietary arm about her waist while they waited.

Peering up at him, she asked, “What’s next on the agenda tonight?”

The valet returned with his truck before he had the chance to respond. Brody held the passenger door open for her. “I told you, it’s a surprise.”

She rolled her eyes. The man was damn near giddy with his secret. Just what was the confounded man up to? “Have I told you I don’t like surprises much?”

“This one you’ll like. Promise.” He joined her in the cab and drove toward the mountains. The sun was setting, casting glowing golden light over the craggy peaks.

When Brody took the exit for Red Rocks Amphitheater, she shot him a quick glance. “We’re going to a concert?”

“Yep.”

“Who’s playing?”

“Broken Machines,” he replied with a small smile playing around his lips.

“Are you serious?” she asked breathlessly, excited. She had always wanted to see them in concert but the opportunity hadn’t presented itself.

“Yep.”

“Do you have any idea how lucky you’re going to get when we leave tonight?”

He flashed her a manly smirk full of carnal promises. “Oh, I’m counting on it.”

After he parked, they headed to their seats. Red Rocks Amphitheater was an outdoor concert venue built into a red rock mountain formation, using the natural slope of the land. And the acoustics in the place were just incredible. Brody had even brought a blanket for them to sit on since there were no physical seats, just a series of wide concrete steps.

They relaxed on the step with his arm around her and her head on his shoulder until the band started playing. They rose with the crowd at the first heavy riff of guitar and drums, and danced side by side as the band played through their fan-favorite hits. The night seemed to speed by in a surreal fashion. That she was here with Brody. And they were having a blast together. Much like that night all those years ago when they had connected in ways she never had with anyone.

With the crowd going wild over a drum solo, Reegan laughed up at him just as he glanced down with a gregarious grin. Their eyes connected, and it was like sparks sizzled in the air. The jovial mood shifted, became saturated with heat and hunger. Brody cupped her face in his hands. His gaze darkened. He sealed his mouth over hers for a deeply sensual kiss that rocked her foundation while the band played on. His kiss was a promise on multiple levels. It spoke of his commitment and desire, that he was all the way in wherever this relationship proceeded, and that he wanted her in a way no other man ever had—with his entire being.

When Brody finally lifted his mouth, running his thumb over her bottom lip as if he couldn’t bear the thought of not touching her, she said, “Take me home.”

“There’s still a good thirty minutes left.”

She leaned in close, put her mouth next to his ear to ensure he heard every word, and said, “Please take me home, Sir, because I can’t wait any longer for you to fuck me.”

The hand on her waist tightened, tension entered his body.

“Then let’s go,” he growled, hoisting the blanket into his arms. Grasping her hand, he led her through the crowd and out of the venue to his truck.

Brody wasted little time getting her situated, in as much of a hurry as she, now. Once they were in his truck and heading toward the highway, she said, “Hurry. Please.”

He nodded, never taking his eyes off the road around the twists and turns of the mountain. “I’ll get us to my place as fast as I can without killing us.”

“My place is closer. We can get there much faster. I don’t want to wait that long.”

He shot her a heated glance. “Good idea.”

With the simmering undercurrent of lust infusing the truck cab, it seemed like the drive lasted into eternity. Whereas in truth, they arrived at her building and parked in the garage in less than thirty minutes. In the elevator, they were the only ones present. And she couldn’t handle the need coursing through her being any longer. She had to get her hands on him.

She was the one to initiate. She grabbed the front of his shirt, and pulled his mouth down. Reegan kissed him with everything that had begun building inside her for him over the last few weeks. He confounded her, scared her, thrilled her. This was a man she had wanted for thirteen years—and, she was beginning to suspect, she would want until the day she died. She poured all her need for him into the kiss, showing him with her body what she was too afraid to give thought or voice to.

With Brody, she didn’t have to hide her darker needs. Her addiction to his touch and brand of lovemaking only continued to grow. He was the man she had kept locked inside her heart for thirteen years, and unknowingly used as a measuring stick for all the men who had come after him. None had ever measured up because they weren’t him.

She kissed him like he was leaving for war the next day and she wanted her taste and touch to be the torch he carried into battle.

The best part of all was that Brody was right there with her, matching the fury of her carnal desire. His hands gripped her ass and pulled her against his erection straining the confines of his slacks. She moaned at the contact, no longer caring that they were in a public space and could get caught.

But then Brody tore his mouth from hers and drew her off the elevator. Hand in hand, they rushed down the short hall to her door. He unlocked the door with her keys. Then they were shoving inside, with his hungry mouth on hers. The short few minutes apart had felt like a lifetime.

She didn’t want to breathe unless that breath came from him.

They walked into the living room with their mouths fused together. He marched her backwards until the icy panes of her windows met her back. His hands fumbled with the zipper on her dress, but only because neither wanted to stop kissing to remove it.

Brody lifted his mouth, panting, his eyes near black with lust. He swiveled her body around so that she faced the window. The lights of downtown Denver were lit up beyond the glass panes. The living room was pitch dark, illuminated only by the outside lights. They were in too much of a hurry to turn the lights on.

And then he drew the dress down to her waist. Those big, firm hands kneaded her breasts, teasing the hard points of her nipples, and had her shaking with the sheer force of her need for him.

“Put your hands on the window.” He growled the command huskily.

She obeyed instantly as his hands shoved the dress down over her hips. He let the material fall to the floor. The move left her in only her heels.

His hands slid down her torso until his fingers delved between her cleft. He stroked her intimate flesh and uttered a dark groan. “You’re so fucking wet, babe. Spread your legs for me and keep your hands where they are, or you will be punished.”

She moaned. “Yes, Sir.”

She stepped out of the dress and did as he instructed. Behind her, she heard the sound of him removing his clothing. Hearing a zipper being lowered had her panting, on edge, and dying to feel him inside her.

Brody crowded her body. Staring into the window, she spied their reflections. He gripped her waist with one hand, holding her steady as he nudged the wide head of his shaft against her pussy. Their gazes connected in the glass. One minute she was empty and the next, his broad shaft was deep inside her.

She gripped the glass with her fingers, moaning at the amazing feel of him. At this angle, the penetration was infinitely deep, and hit that bundle of nerves in her pussy with precision.

Moaning, she lowered her forehead to the glass as he clutched her hips tightly, and thrust.

“I’ve waited to do this all fucking night long. You wore that dress tonight to tease me, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” she grunted, gritting her teeth as he stroked deep.

He smacked her ass cheek. “Such a naughty, bad girl. Do you like it that if anyone in the nearby buildings looked over, they would see me fucking you?”

“God, yes.”

“You like the thought of us being watched,” he growled, ramming his fat cock into her.

She whimpered. “Yes.”

“Would it turn you on if the person watching masturbated, like you used to do when I was fucking Kristi?”

“Yes,” she sobbed.

He grunted as he fucked her hard, pounding his cock in deep, violent strokes. Her upper torso was pressed against the glass. She arched her back, meeting his thrusts. Moans poured from her mouth, growing in tenor the harder he pounded. He wasn’t the only one who had been waiting for this all night. She had wanted to drag him inside when she first opened the door this evening.

“Brody,” she keened. Her legs trembled from the tectonic force of her climax crashing over her system.

He withdrew, and turned her body until she faced him. Then he was lifting her up, pressing her back against the glass. The move brought them face to face as he wrapped her legs around his waist. The next moment, his cock was furrowing inside her. Her eyes widened and she mewled as he thrust.

“Bed. I want you in bed. Where?” he grunted, not stopping his thrusts.

She flung her arm toward the right.

“Hold on to me.”

She nodded, unable to form words. The only sounds she emitted were unintelligible moans. At his order, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Brody carried her in the darkness, down the hall to her bedroom, never withdrawing from her sheath. He lowered her onto her bed and followed her down.

He took her hands in his, threaded their fingers together, stretched them above their heads on the pillows, and began to move. Only this time, he moved differently. The fury of the earlier storm had morphed, and he was no longer screwing her brains out.

Awed, she gazed up at him with wonder because he was making love to her. No man ever truly had, and she fought back the moisture threatening to fill her eyes. Their breaths mingled. Their eyes locked together, watching, seeking, surrendering to the tide as it swept them up within its turbulent seas.

Reegan knew she had never been loved so tenderly or thoroughly. Intimacy had always been something she had run from—until now. Gripping Brody’s hands tight, she undulated, rising to meet him as he plunged deep. Her lips parted as she gasped and writhed, holding onto him like a lifeline. He was her lighthouse in the storm. Her north star guiding her through the hurricane.

Their torsos pressed together, slick with sweat as the tempo increased, as need battered them. But her gaze never wavered from his face. They were connected, more than she had ever been with anyone. Intimacy had always been difficult for her. But in this instance, tonight, she dropped her shields and gave him everything. Let him see everything she felt for him in her eyes and in her touch. Ceded parts of herself that she had never trusted anyone with—until this moment.

She had agreed on the date tonight thinking that it could put the nail in the coffin of their arrangement. It was what she had expected. But as he thrust so deep as to be a part of her, she knew the date had been a catalyst, just not in the way she had thought it would.

With her shields fully down, her heart took a flying leap over the cliff, confident that he would catch her on the way down.

As she leapt, tremors of ecstasy seized her, and his lips crashed down, slanted over hers as he followed her over, as joined as two people could be.

It was a long time before Brody lifted his mouth, but his touch gentled and lightly caressed. At first, he didn’t move away, like he wasn’t ready to break the fragile, newfound connection. Then he finally withdrew and rolled onto his back. He pulled her with him, cradling her against his side, as if he didn’t ever want to let her go.

The night caught up with her as she snuggled against him, knowing without a doubt that she loved him. And in this moment, it didn’t terrify her at all.