Brothers of Paradise Series

He gives a hoarse chuckle and pushes in. My body protests for a second before I relax and he sinks in, and in, and in. It’s a delicious pressure.

“Jesus,” he mutters.

I don’t talk. I just hold on to his shoulders, my fingers digging into the muscles, and raise my hips to his. He drives into me again with powerful rolls of his hips that send me gasping every time he bottoms out. The movement leaves no room for thought beyond the present. No sensations except those our bodies provide, and I’m here, with him, in his bed, and nowhere else.

He rises up on his arms and looks at me. It’s intimate, our eyes meeting while we’re doing this. A flush creeps over my face and he smiles as he sees it.NôvelDrama.Org copyrighted © content.

“Getting shy on me, James?”

“Never,” I say, and pull him down for a kiss.

His body grows more frantic, the skin beneath my hands damp with sweat. I wrap my legs around him and hold him when the movements crescendo into a snapping of hips. He groans when he comes, just like he had in the shower, the sound deep and honest. Just like him.

He’s always been honest in his feelings.

Afterwards, I keep him on top of me, my forehead against his shoulder. I don’t want to break away from the bliss of the now.

Parker is the one who finally pulls away, disposing of the condom. Afterwards he tugs me against his side like it’s the most natural thing in the world. I rest a hand on his chest and feel it rise and fall beneath my palm, thinking that maybe, just maybe, it could be.

PARKER

I wake up early. It’s a habit, ingrained after years of morning sailing lessons. The blinds aren’t drawn in my bedroom and summer light filters across my bed, gilding the woman lying next to me.

Jamie’s hair is a light brown cascade across her pillow and her left shoulder, mussed at the temples. Her cheeks look rosy with sleep.

She’s still here, and as I watch her, a deep sense of satisfaction sweeps through me. Last night had been everything I’d ever wanted and more, but this? This is just as good. To have mornings with her in my bed, with Jamie’s guard down. To be the person she trusts.

She blinks her eyes awake to the sunlight, and then immediately closes them again. Stretches out.

“Mmm. Parker?”

“Yes?”

“Oh,” she murmurs. “Oh.” She laughs, burying her face in the pillow. “I slept here last night.”

“Sure did.” I put a hand on her bare back, the skin silky to the touch. She looks up at me from beneath her hair and I can’t stop my wide smile. “I’m glad you did, too.”

“So am I,” she says. “Gosh, I almost can’t believe we… but we did. And it was great.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You sound almost surprised.”

“I was, a bit.”

“I’ve always known you and I would have the best sex.”

She laughs. “You did not.”

“Of course I did. You think I haven’t thought about it? Back in the day, or in the weeks since you’ve been back?”

She slaps my chest and I catch her hand, pulling her across me.

“I know you did too,” I say. “Come on. Tell me.”

Jamie pushes her hair back and admits the truth. “Fine, I did. Of course I did.”

My grin widens. “I knew it. I was your friend’s hot older brother, wasn’t I? And you couldn’t stop thinking about me. Had my name in your diary.”

“You should shut up while you’re ahead.”

“That’s never been my strong suit,” I say, and I’m rewarded by another eye roll. But she’s grinning, and her breasts are flattened deliciously against my stomach. Sleeping naked with Jamie is something else.

“Then why was it better than you expected?” I brush a tendril of hair off her face. “You and me, together?”

Her face is open and soft, but she looks away from my eyes. Traces a finger down my chest instead. “Well, you know who I last…”

“Yes,” I say, because do I ever.

“This was very different. So much better. I didn’t expect…” She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“You can tell me,” I say, sweeping my hand over her back. Give me more reason to hate your ex.

“Well, I didn’t think you’d go down on me.”

A slow smile spreads across my face at the memory. “Baby, I’ll want to do that every time. All the time.”

She swallows. “Wow. Well, he didn’t.”

“He didn’t deserve you.” My hand curves around her hip, and then across the twin dimples on her lower back. “Were you in your head at all? Last night?”

She shakes her head. “No. I didn’t have the space to think about anything but us. You took it all.”

“So I did,” I say with a grin, and she chuckles. But then I sober, looking at a lock of her hair I’m twining around my finger. “Any man who would criticize you during sex lost his mind a long time ago. You know that, right?”

She smiles, a finger tracing through my chest hair. The touch is light and teasing. “So you don’t think my nipples are a bit too big?”

“What? Of course not.”

“They changed size after my pregnancy. So did my hips. Not too wide, then?”

My hand drifts to her round hip and tightens. “Fuck no.”

Jamie’s smile widens. “And I wasn’t too loud? Or too wet? Or too needy, or clingy, and I shouldn’t have taken a shower before, or worn nicer underwear for you?”

Gently, but with hands that I have to work to keep soft, I turn her over. Run a hand over her body, across all the spots she’d mentioned. She’s still smiling, in a teasing mood.

I’m not. “He said these things?”

“Yes, interspersed over the years. That was just in bed. Other days I was worthless, or a failure, a terrible girlfriend and mother.” She gives a little laugh. “Once it was over how I’d cooked his bacon. I can’t believe I ever listened.”