And Then There Was Us (Sweet with Heat Read online

  “The red one? You’re so cute.” He took her hand and opened the passenger door of the Ferrari 458 Speciale. “If you’d have picked any of the other cars, I would have offered for you to drive, but the 458 is more like a race car than a luxury vehicle, and I’d worry about your safety.”

  “Trust me. You don’t want me driving one of your cars.”

  Her insecurities were cute, but not at all necessary. She was obviously a bright woman who made sound decisions. He trusted Brianna, and if he was really going to show her who he was, he had to show her that, too. “You know what? How about I take you out in the Ferrari another time, and you drive the Aston Martin today?”

  She backed up, waving her hands in front of her. “No. No way. No, no, no. I’m like a big gray cloud when it comes to cars.”

  Hugh crossed his arms and laughed. “Then I guess we’re not going anywhere and you’ll be late to work, because I’m not driving.”

  “Hugh. No.” She shook her head.

  “Sorry. No can do.”

  “Hugh,” she said in a harsher tone. “How can you even ask me to drive one? They’re more expensive than anything I’ll ever own.”

  “They’re cars, Bree. They’re less valuable than Layla, and you trust yourself with her.” He watched her lips press together, and he knew he’d struck a chord. “They’re just cars.”

  She shook her head again with the most adorable, emphatic frown he’d ever seen. Hugh went to her and wrapped his arms around her.

  “I’m not worried. You shouldn’t be either.” He needed her to see that cars were just possessions. They weren’t what made him who he was. She needed to separate him from everything else in her mind so he could prove to her he was worth going out with again.

  “Hugh,” she whispered. “What if I wreck it?”

  “I have insurance, so as long as you don’t hurt yourself…” He shrugged.

  She buried her face in his chest. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

  “I can’t believe you’re fighting me on it.” He held up the keys, and she snagged them from him.

  “Fine. Whatever. Do you do this to all your girlfriends?”

  “I don’t have girlfriends, so the answer is no.” He smiled as he opened the driver’s side door for her and then climbed into the passenger side. He clicked the remote, and the garage doors lifted.

  “A guy like you has girlfriends.” She gripped the steering wheel so tight her knuckles were white.

  “Okay, wait.” He pried her fingers from the steering wheel and gently settled her back against the seat. “First of all, no, I don’t. I have dated women, but I haven’t had a real girlfriend, someone who I cared about and went out with more than three or four times, since I was in college. Just so you know, I’ve spent the last few months separating myself from that dating world of fan girls and models. Second…I’m really sorry, but you’re so tense. I’ve got to do this.” He leaned across the seat and kissed her until he felt the tension ease from her body. She met each stroke of his tongue with a passionate, hungry stroke of her own, and then he kissed her longer, simply because she was too sweet to forgo.

  When he drew back, her eyes were closed. “Better?” he asked.

  She blinked several times. “Yeah.” She nodded. “Good. Fine. Great.” She put her delicate fingers back on the steering wheel and wrapped them gently around the leather, as if she had no energy left to put forth. She shifted the car into gear, and her lips curved into a smile as she drove onto the main road.

  “This isn’t at all like driving. It’s like flying or something.”

  “She’s a beauty,” Hugh agreed as they made their way through town.

  “Still, you shouldn’t have let me drive it.” Bree hadn’t taken her eyes off the road once, and she was an excellent driver.

  “It’s just a car.”

  Brianna parked in front of her apartment complex. She handed him the keys and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Hugh noticed that her hand was still shaking a little.

  “I was so nervous.” She let out a long sigh. “The kiss helped, but…I was sure I’d wreck it.”

  “I had faith in you.”

  Hugh surveyed the old brick apartment building. Grass sprouted through fissures in the sidewalk. Stacked boxes and plastic chairs littered the patio of the first-floor apartment to their right. A bearded man with a beer gut hung over the second-floor balcony, watching them walk inside. Hugh put his arm protectively around Brianna, his biceps and neck muscles tense.

  “That guy kind of creeps me out,” Brianna whispered.

  Hugh stood up tall and threw his shoulders back, then narrowed his eyes and cast a harsh glare at the ogling man.

  Brianna’s third-floor apartment was bright and sunny. The white-tiled foyer was clean and, though small, it was functional. There was a small table against the wall with a stack of mail and Layla’s school papers. Beyond the foyer was a cozy living room with glass sliders that led to a small balcony. On the wall between the kitchen and living room was a large black-and-white photograph of a sleeping baby. The light illuminated the baby’s forehead and eyes and then softened as it covered her bundled body.

  “That’s a gorgeous picture. Is that Layla?”

  “Yeah. I took that when she was three days old. I love that picture.” Brianna’s eyes filled with love, and the edges of her lips curved upward into a sweet smile.

  “You took that? Bree, that’s amazing.” He looked at her and wondered what other hidden talents she had.

  “Thanks. I haven’t taken pictures in about a year, since my camera broke.”

  A fluffy red love seat and sofa created a warm, comfortable nook in the living room. It faced three rows of white bookshelves littered with books, drawings, clay pieces that were obviously made and painted by Layla and photographs of various sizes. Three colorful throw blankets were bundled together in one corner of the couch, and a half-finished game of Candyland was spread out on the cheap wooden coffee table.

  “What happened to your camera?” Hugh asked.

  “Oh, Layla bumped it off the table when she was playing one day. It’s not a big deal. I mean, I miss taking pictures, but it was just a hobby.”

  “By the looks of this picture, it could be much more.” When she didn’t respond, he said, “This is a sweet apartment.” He crossed the floor to the bookshelves.

  “Oh, please. It’s a dive, but it’s home. We like it.” She set her purse and keys on a small table by the door.

  Hugh picked up a photograph of Brianna and Layla from the bookshelf. “This is a great picture. You look radiant, and Layla is adorable. She looks like a miniature you.”

  Brianna laughed. “Thanks. She’s my girl.”

  He set it down and picked up another photo of Layla sitting on a woman’s lap at sunset. The woman looked too much like Brianna not to be her mother, but it was the colors and the angle that caught Hugh’s eye. “Your mom?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you take this one, too?” He watched her tuck her hair behind her ear again.

  “Yeah. It was a long time ago.”

  “Bree, these are magnificent. Did you study photography?” Hugh set the frame back on the bookshelf and watched as her face flushed.

  “In college.” She fiddled with the edge of her sweater. “Do you mind if I shower and change quickly so we’re not late?”

  He set the photograph down. Brianna stood in a stream of sunlight at the edge of the living room looking so beautiful that just the idea of her one room away, naked and washing that gorgeous body of hers set Hugh’s desires aflame. He shook the thought from his head and then cleared his throat to find his voice. “Uh…Go right ahead. I’ll wait here.” And try not to think about you.

  Brianna’s cell phone rang. She dug through her purse for it, then put it up to her ear.

  “Hi, baby. Are you having fun with Grandma?” A smile spread across her lips. “Really? For breakfast? She does spoil you.” She listened for a m
oment.

  He loved how her voice softened when she spoke to Layla.

  Brianna continued talking to Layla. “I’m sorry, baby. I must have been in the bathroom. I’ll keep my phone with me from now on. I know. Okay, I love you. I’ll see you in a little bit. Be good for Grandma and enjoy the play.” She listened again. “Always.” She ended the call and let out a sigh. “See? I’m not a great mother. Layla called me this morning and I forgot to call her back.”

  “You’re a great mother. That was probably my fault because I kept kissing you. From now on we’ll make sure you keep your phone by your side and that it’s turned up loud, so you don’t miss her again.”

  She tucked her hair behind her ear again—a nervous habit Hugh already found adorable.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  She nodded before heading down the hall to her bedroom, but Hugh had seen the worry in her eyes. He scanned the room and saw Layla everywhere, from the sparkly little sneakers lined up by the door to the coloring books on the bar between the kitchen and the living room. He listened to the bedroom door close, then began to pace. Man, he liked her. She was smart, responsible, family oriented. She tugged at all the right places in his heart. He picked up another picture of Layla and searched the little girl’s eyes. Day by day. That’s how he’d have to take things with Brianna, although just thinking about the man on the balcony set a fire through his veins. He was way past day by day.

  “WHAT AM I going to do? He said we. He didn’t say that I had to keep my phone on; he said we’d have to make sure,” Brianna whispered into her cell phone to Kat. She hoped Kat would set her racing heart straight.

  “I don’t see what the big deal is. He likes you, Bree. If you’d let a man near you, you’d know that wasn’t a horrible thing.”

  “I did. Remember?” Brianna sighed.

  “That was years ago. I say…You have some time before Claude’s expecting you. Invite him into the shower with you,” Kat teased.

  Brianna stripped off her clothes as she spoke. “Kat! I’m serious. I almost had sex with him. I need you to tell me to stick to my plan. Tell me he’s not a great guy, or he’s a player, or something. Please.”

  “Okay, well, you didn’t have sex with him, so that tells you something, right? He’s not a jerk, because if he was, you’d have had sex. He’s not banging down your door when he knows you’re naked in the bathroom, and that tells you he’s not a bad guy, right? So, I can’t do it. I can’t tell you not to at least go out with him a few times. I can watch Layla.”

  Brianna stood in front of the mirror with her eyebrows knitted together. “Oh, Kat, I’m in trouble.”

  “You know what they say. If you can’t be good, be careful.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s why I went on the pill after Layla was born. Just in case.” She glanced over her shoulder at the bathroom door and thought of Hugh. A pulse of heat flared inside her. “I’ve got to go. Thanks for not helping,” she teased.

  “You’ll thank me later.”

  Brianna stepped under the warm spray of the shower and closed her eyes. She could still feel Hugh’s whiskers against her cheek, his lips caressing hers. Knowing he was only two rooms away aroused her, and as her hands slid over her slick skin, she pretended they were his…

  Chapter Twelve

  “YOUR CAR WILL be ready by two, but I don’t want you to feel trapped with me, so I can take you to pick it up or I can pick you up after my appointment and we can shop for Layla’s gift together.” Hugh leaned casually on the console as he drove toward town.

  Brianna’s mind told her to shop by herself and spend less time with Hugh, but her heart—and her body—refused to listen. The words fell out of her mouth without hesitation. “Let’s go together, if you really don’t mind.” She’d thought pleasuring herself in the shower would help her stop thinking about Hugh in that way, but all it did was make her want him more. She’d even taken extra time with her makeup, and after seeing him smile at her boots the night before, she’d purposely worn them again, this time with black jeans and a flowing white blouse that was just see-through enough that it showed a hint of her laciest bra. Sitting in the confined car only increased her desires toward him. His cologne filled the air, and each time he shifted gears, his triceps jumped. She had the urge to run her finger along the defined edge of the muscle, where it curved toward the back of his arm.

  “Bree?”

  Oops. She didn’t realize he was even talking. “Sorry, yeah?”

  “You said you were helping your friend today. We’re coming up on Main Street. Where to?”

  She’d been so lost in him that she’d totally forgotten about directions. “Up here on the right.” She pointed to the end of the block.

  “Wait. CD Studios?” Hugh laughed. “No way.”

  “No way what?”

  “That’s where my appointment is. I had a photo shoot with CD Thursday for my sponsors, and we’re wrapping up the last of them this morning.”

  No freaking way. “You’re taking pictures here? Today?” How am I going to manage this?

  “Yeah. This is great. We can spend more time together. What do you do for CD?” He opened his eyes expectantly, and then his dimples appeared again.

  Why do you have to be so good-looking? Brianna tucked her hair behind her ear. “I…uh…I help Claude…CD. I do the lights, help make sure the models’ clothes and props are set right, you know, that kind of stuff.”

  He pulled into a parking space. “That’s great. It’ll make the shoot even more fun. I really don’t like getting my picture taken, but now I’ll have you to smile at.”

  Or I’ll die of embarrassment from not being able to focus. “Yeah, great.”

  Hugh came around and opened her door. He pressed a kiss to her lips. Brianna’s hands found his waist as he deepened the kiss, and when he pulled away, she felt light-headed again.

  “Hugh.” She cleared her throat.

  “Yeah?” He opened the trunk and grabbed his driving suit, helmet, and gloves.

  “You can’t kiss me like that.”

  His smile faded. “I’m sorry. I just assumed…”

  “No, it’s not that. I like when you kiss me, but I can’t concentrate in there if we’re…” Shoot. I sound like an idiot. No woman on earth would tell you not to kiss her.

  “I’d never kiss you like that at your workplace. We’re on a side street. No one can see you.”

  Now she felt like a fool as heat rushed up her cheeks. “I know. Never mind. I just get flustered.” She started for the building, and Hugh reached for her hand.

  “Brianna, am I pushing myself on you?”

  His eyes were serious, laden with concern. She couldn’t play a game of push-pull with herself anymore. It wasn’t fair to either of them. She was used to being completely in control of hers and Layla’s lives. Organizing them, maintaining their crazy and tight schedules. And now she felt it slipping away, as if a door had opened and she wasn’t sure if she should slam it to contain their orderly lives or leave it ajar and allow the chaos of the rest of the world to seep in and see what happened. This was such a mess. She could no better let the chaos in than she could lie to Hugh—or to anyone else for that matter.

  “Hugh, I really like you, and I know you said we could take things day by day, but in my head I’m wrestling with everything. You travel all the time; you’ve got a dangerous and sexy job that makes women want you. I’m a boring, busy mom with no interest in competing with anyone, and what I want more than anything is stability for my daughter.” She looked down, feeling her chest tighten at the thought of turning him away—again.

  He moved in close and lifted her chin so she was looking up at him. She loved—and hated—that he didn’t let her hide from the things that she found uncomfortable.

  “Has it occurred to you that I might not like those women wanting me? Or that I might be scared about dating a woman with a child?”

  “That’s what I mean. I’ve got major baggage. I understand. It�
��s better that we end things now rather than later.” She suppressed the lump in her throat that urged tears to her eyes. Darn it. I’ve only known you two days.

  “That’s not what I mean, Bree. I’m scared, too, but let’s not run from something that might be everything we both ever wanted. Taking it slow will allow us to see if it’s worth pursuing. I won’t entrench myself in Layla’s life. I promise you that. You lead this relationship and I’ll follow. I know how much you need to protect her, and I respect that.”

  Brianna felt her heart soften.

  Hugh continued. “I won’t push myself on you, either. If you really don’t want to date me, then I’ll go on my way. Not that I’d want to. I want you to be happy. But if any part of you wants to…” He took her hand in his and looked into her eyes.

  Brianna’s knees weakened.

  “The ball is in your court, Bree. Let’s do our photo shoot, and afterward, you tell me if you want me to take you to get your car or if you want to go shopping together. No pressure.” He kissed the back of her hand and then gently released it.

  She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

  “Don’t answer now, Bree. Take the next few hours to think about what you want. I’m not going anywhere, and even though I’m scared, I want to spend time with you. You tripped something in me. Ever since I saw you sleeping in my bed, I had the feeling that I wanted to protect you and Layla.” He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “And, yes, I realize that’s crazy. Believe me. I’ve never felt this way before.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  BRIANNA FLEW THROUGH her morning routine helping Claude and trying not to think about what Hugh said, even though he was standing right there before her in his sexy racing suit that hugged every inch of his hot body and made him look even more masculine. No wonder women loved him—between competing in one of the most dangerous and manly sports and looking like that, it was a no-brainer.

  She adjusted lights and handed Claude lenses. Now that she’d had a minute to breathe, she was watching Claude direct Hugh into another disturbingly alluring stance. How was she supposed to concentrate with that going on right in front of her?