50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Torn: Chapter Seventy-Seven

    During Destiny's past intimate experiences with Brian, she'd had blinders on. She'd seen him, heard him, and paid attention to him, but thoughts of being rejected by Aubrey still hovered at the back of her mind. She hadn't been able to fully process her feelings for Brian, hadn't even been able to process just how much Brian felt for her. This time, she could see him clearly. No filter, no blinders. She could see the love in his eyes, feel the affection in his kisses. The feelings she had for him were just as clear.

    After her conversation with Aubrey, she'd been filled with a sense of fear that he was right about her not loving Brian as much as she thought. In a way, that would make everything easier, but she hated to think that she had been using Brian this entire time. That isn't the type of person she was, not at heart. There were certain moments when she'd stayed with him, that she had taken advantage of him because of her own selfishness. She'd hated how it felt then, and still hated herself for it now. But her feelings for him, bubbling to the surface, reassured her that she wasn't a horrible person who used people whenever it suited her. The feelings that were overwhelming her were real.

    Water lightly splashed around them as they kissed. Brian pushed her against the nearest pool wall. With how aggressive his kisses were, she had to constantly remind herself that one of his arms were injured. She sucked on his bottom lip while touching his bare chest beneath the pool water and moaned at the feel of his hand on her waist. If there were ever a moment she wished his arm wasn't broken, it was now; she would have preferred to feel both of his hands on her.

    He pulled back and lifted his hand so he could rub his thumb across her bottom lip.

    She stared up at him and lost herself in the murky depths of his deep blue eyes.

    He lowered his head and replaced his thumb with his lips, pushing himself against her and groaning low against her mouth.

    Her hand slid down his chest, skimmed past his abdomen, and came to rest at the waistband of his boxer briefs.

    He laughed against her lips.

    "I didn't know you were ticklish," she said against his mouth.

    He laughed again and shook his head. "As much as I would love to take you, right here and right now, I'm going to be useless to you in a pool with this bum arm."

    Those words didn't stop her from tugging on his boxer briefs. "I'm kind of surprised you came in here with me."

    "Soon, you'll realize that you will never have to test just how far I'm willing to go for you," he said, his blue eyes the most intense she'd ever seen them.

    "I'm already starting to realize it," she said, kissing his shoulder.

    He closed his eyes.

   She bent her head and kissed his chest. Water lapped against her cheek, but she disregarded it. Gripping his hips in her hands, she lifted her head and kissed the bottom of his chin. Then, she kissed along his jawline while tapping her fingertips against his hipbones.

    He whispered into her ear, "I can't wait anymore." With his eyes locked on hers, he backed away from her, his movements slowed by the water surrounding him.

    Her eyes tracked his every move, watched water drops rolling down his chest. The lust she'd felt earlier that day came surging back, and she found herself following him without even thinking about it.

    He turned so he could walk up the steps leading out of the pool. He bent at the waist to retrieve the clothes she'd taken off.

    "Leave them," she commanded.

    He turned surprised eyes on her.

    She slowly climbed the steps leading out of the pool while looking him in the eyes.

    He straightened his posture and his eyes lowered down the length of her.

    With the way he was looking at her, she couldn't help but feel like Venus, the goddess who embodied sex, beauty, love, and lust.

    His gaze never left her as he approached. He leaned down and snaked an arm around her, beneath her rear end. Before she could protest or think to question his action, he slung her over his shoulder with one arm.

    "What are you doing?" she shrieked.

    "Taking you upstairs," he answered simply.

    "You're going to hurt yourself, Brian. Put me down."

    "I'm not going to hut myself. I got you." As if to prove his point, he carried her across the yard, up onto the patio, and into the house. "Can you close the door and lock it, though?"

    She laughed. "Seriously?"

    "Will you cut me some slack? I'm trying to be romantic and shit, but I do only have one arm."

    "Umm...okay, you have to swing me a little more to the right." Closing and locking a door sounded like simple tasks, but when you were hanging upside down, motor functions tended to get a little tricky. It didn't help that her wet hair kept swinging in the way of her vision. She closed the door and flipped the lock. "Got it."

    He walked across the kitchen and down the hallway.

    "Watch out for my shoes," she cautioned him. "I left them near the stairs somewhere."

    "Were you trying to kill us both?" he asked, moving around her discarded heels.

    "I probably would have put them in the foyer closet or in the living room, if I'd known you were going to go all Fred Flinstone-caveman on me," she quipped as he started climbing the stairs. Without much else to look at, she watched water drip down his back - only from her viewpoint, it wasn't dripping downward, but upward. It was disorienting, but also fascinating.

    He walked down the hallway, pushed the door of his room open, and tossed her on the bed.

   She propped herself up on her elbows and watched as he flipped on one of the nightstand lamps. "No lights," she reminded him.

    "I want to see you," he said, returning to her.

    She had a smart retort ready for him, but held it back once she realized that she wanted to see him, too. Excitement buzzed inside of her stomach as she rose from the bed and touched the cast keeping his broken arm stabilized. "Your arm is like this because you selflessly thought to save me."

    "I'd do it again."

    "So you've told me," she said, looking up at him. "I do believe you would. After seeing who you were willing to go up against tonight, just to protect me, I'm realizing that you deserve so much more credit than you've gotten. Tonight, I plan on correcting that."