50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Three

    Soft. Some of the softest lips he'd ever kissed. For years, Brian had heard couples say that they could kiss for hours and he'd never understood it. But now...now, he understood completely. He pressed himself against Destiny and savored the sound of her quiet moans against his mouth. For those first few moments, he was kissing her and she was allowing him to. But once those first few moments passed, she started to kiss him back. While kissing her, he forgot almost everything. He forgot that it was early morning and he should be headed to work right now. He forgot that she was a woman whose heart belonged to another man. If someone had asked him what his full name was at that point in time, he would have had to pause and think about it.

    Comparing notes from earlier this morning, she definitely had a trademark move. That move was catching his bottom lip between her teeth and sucking on it. It was a move that was guaranteed to get her cute little ass in trouble, because it drove him absolutely crazy.

    He groaned against her mouth and pushed her back against the counter, his arm tightening around her. His tongue danced with hers and her lips wrestled with his, and then he felt her hand gently pushing at his chest. Reluctantly, he pulled back from the kiss and looked down at her.

    Her eyes were just as drunk with lust as his probably were, but she blinked and turned away from him.

    He wanted to ask her if she'd felt anything, but he was also afraid of the answer. Hearing her confirm that she'd thought he was Aubrey earlier had crushed him; he didn't know if he could take that again.

    She kept her back to him for a moment, facing the counter. Then she took a deep breath. "You were right."

    A surge of hope ran through him.

    "You were right...now that we've kissed and I don't feel anything, I do feel better. I feel like we can move on, now." She turned back to face him and reached up to caress his jaw. "Thank you, Brian. I'm going to head to work. Okay?"

    Hope lost, but he couldn't show it. He managed a smile and nodded. "Yeah, sure." He stood back and let her pass.

    Both of their meals wasted, but she seemed not to care. She left the kitchen and he could hear her in the living room, gathering up the belongings she wanted to take to work with her.

    He leaned a hip against the kitchen counter and closed his eyes. A few moments later, he could hear the front door to the house opening and closing. Then, the sound of a car starting. She'd told him that he'd been right to suggest that they kiss again. Get it out of their system, prove to herself that she didn't feel anything for him. Great plan, Bri, he thought. He hadn't been right at all. It was quite possibly the dumbest suggestion he'd ever made. Now she felt like she could move on. She hadn't felt anything during the kiss. But while kissing her, it felt like his entire world had exploded. The kiss had been life-changing for him. So while he was out of her system, she consumed his system. I've definitely fucked up, he thought while trashing his and her breakfasts.

~~~~~~

    My heart belongs to Aubrey. I swear up and down that I love him, but I don't even last a full two weeks before kissing Brian. What kind of person does that make me? Destiny glanced at her reflection in the rearview mirror. Eyes red from crying, dried tears on her cheeks. And when will I ever stop crying over nonsense like this?

    Traffic was thicker than usual, because she'd left out later than usual. The longer car ride gave her more time to think about what she'd done, gave her more time to stew in regret.

    She tried to justify her actions. Aubrey stated that she was to consider herself single, after all. He'd stated that he just didn't want to know about anything that happened between her and Brian. But that is no justification for kissing another man only days after being sent to live with him, she told herself. I know better than that. I shouldn't have asked to sleep with him, no matter how scared I was last night. I should have just...sucked it up.

    Guilt. Completely riddled with guilt, and the feeling was so strong that her arms locked up while she was driving. She had to pull over the car in the middle of her commute and calm herself before proceeding. With music playing through the car speakers, she leaned her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes.

    Behind her closed eyelids, she saw Brian. Her lips tingled, reminding her of how it had felt to kiss him. She'd lied, of course. She had felt something while kissing him, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him that. No matter what she felt when she kissed him, her heart was with someone else. It wouldn't do any good to get Brian's hopes up when she would wind up going back to Aubrey somewhere down the line. Aren't you forgetting something? her subconscious nagged her. You seem to be forgetting that Aubrey can't have children and does not want to have children. But you do. You do very badly. So...maybe Brian is just want you need.

    She growled in frustration and her eyes snapped open. "I don't need this confusion," she said aloud. "I really don't. I just...I just want to love one man. I just want to be with one man who I love with all of my heart. And...I want to marry him eventually, and have children with him. Aubrey is supposed to be that man."

    Her entire childhood, growing up, she'd very much been the Disney movie girl. Throughout her adolescent and teen years, she'd carried with her the notion that you couldn't be in love with two people. You could love two people, but she felt you could only be in love with one person. She was in love with Aubrey. There was no doubt about that. But I'm starting to develop feelings for Brian too...and how is that possible when I'm completely, totally, head over heels for someone already?

    With great effort, she mustered up the energy to pull the car back onto the road. Her nerves were on edge by the time she pulled the car into the Graham Enterprises parking garage. She didn't know how she'd ever look Aubrey in the eyes again, after kissing someone else - even though he'd all but given his permission.

    As she rode the elevator to the thirty-fourth floor, she envisioned both Brian and Aubrey standing side by side. If it were a question of who she'd run to, it would be Aubrey. No hesitation, no thought needed. On a whim, she reached out and pressed the button for the thirty-fifth floor, one floor above where her office was located.

    She self-consciously smoothed down her shirt as she headed towards his office. Strange realization number one: Bridgette was not at her desk and neither was a replacement. With her brows knitted together, she knocked on Aubrey's door. No response. She turned the doorknob; it was locked. He wasn't inside, and Bridgette wasn't in. Where were they?