Page 74 of Legally Ours

I bit my lip again, but this time followed his orders as I removed my bra, and then my panties, shimmying my hips slightly from side to side until they dropped to the floor with my dress.

"You really are a goddess," Brandon murmured, his eyes dilating as they drifted over my now-naked body. "Hold your hands above your head," he ordered. "Don't move."

Obediently, I did as he said, still mesmerized as he moved closer behind me, pulling my hair over one shoulder to give him access to my neck. His hands continued to play all over my body, tickling the undersides of my breasts and the delicate skin over my rib cage in a way that had me squirming in no time. Just as his hands started to dip below my waist, I closed my eyes in apprehension. My hips jerked against his feather-light touch.

Then, in a sudden twist, I found myself picked up and tossed onto the bed, then quickly covered by Brandon's big body.

"I said to stay still," Brandon rumbled in my ear. "You're not listening."

He grabbed both of my arms and held them by the wrists more roughly over my head, forcing me to arch my back and hold my breasts out on display for him.

"If you're not going to listen, baby," he said, "Then there are going to be consequences."

I sucked in a deep breath as he bent low and took one of my tautly pebbled nipples into his mouth and began to worry it between his teeth. Gradually his bite began to ride the line between pleasure and pain. I was shocked to find that line was apparently directly connected to the tingling spot between my legs, which was currently being tortured by the presence of his thick erection.

Suddenly, he released my nipple and flipped us again in a single, smooth movement so I was straddling his waist and his big hands rested firmly on the swell of my hips. He drifted one hand up to continue teasing my breasts while the other fell to the sensitive spot between my legs.

"Ahhhh," I cried as he found my clit.

He pressed it, pinched slightly between his thumb and index finger, and began to rub it in a way that had me grinding into him, simultaneously trying to rid myself of that blissful pressure and get more of it. Brandon spoke so clearly with his body; every touch, every kiss was full of nuance and complexity. It was one of the reasons why, I suspected, unlike every other sexual partner I'd ever had, he had never failed to keep my attention, never failed to stimulate me, never failed to capture my mind alongside my body in that way I needed to find pleasure with him.

His other hand pulled me down for a kiss, and he teased my mouth open, sucking on my lower lip, then the top before slipping his tongue around mine in a delicate tangle. It was a kiss that wasn't hurried or needy, but it took my breath away just the same. It spoke of tenderness. It spoke of fear. It spoke of love.

His hand finally loosened its grip in my hair and moved down the back of my neck, cupping me briefly there before sliding over my shoulder, dipping over my waist, and finding my ass with a light squeeze. He continued to stroke over my thigh, relishing, it seemed, in my bare skin.

"Skylar," he whispered into my lips. When he released me, his eyes watered like two bottomless pools of love and sorrow.

"Oh, Brandon," I said, my heart breaking all over again.

"No, baby," he said as he rolled us over.

He moved over me, pressing me into the pillows and sheltering me with the wide expanse of his shoulders. He cradled my face with both hands, staring with wet-lidded adoration over the planes of my face as he stroked my chin, my cheekbones, my lips.

"Do you know why I know we are meant to be together?" he asked in a voice so low I almost couldn't hear him. His voice was deep, thickly laid with that South Boston accent that only ever came out with me when he was too overcome with emotion to control it.

"Why?" I whispered. I was dying to kiss him again, but I couldn't move. I could feel tears welling up, not out of sadness, but from the intensity building between us.

"Because I see you, Skylar," he said, continuing to stroke my face. "I see you. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. I see you, and I love you for all of it. And you see me too."

We stared at each other, blue eyes to green, both of us stilled in each other's allure.

"Yes," I whispered. "I do." It was the only thing I could say or think. "I see you, Brandon."

A long, slow tear made its way down his stubbled cheek, and when he leaned down, his kisses were salty with the evidence.

"Skylar?" he asked as he brought my hands up to his lips. "Will you marry me?" He blinked good-naturedly at my confusion, though his expression remained intense. "I know you said yes already. I just...need to know it's real."

Next to his lips, the ring he had bought me glinted in the moonlight. Everything with Brandon had always seemed on one hand like a dream, but on the other more real than anything I'd ever encountered.

I'd rejected him two weeks ago, but everything had changed since then. Everything that had held me back just seemed stupid, inconsequential. My life would be only a shadow of its potential if I didn't have this man in it. He was truly the only person in the world who saw me for exactly what I was, and loved me for it.

"I'll marry you," I said with a soft kiss. "I'd marry you today, I'll marry you tomorrow. I'll marry you every day for the rest of our lives if that's what you want. Brandon, look at me."

He did, and this time his eyes were wide and curious.

"Don't you always say I have a glass face?" I asked.

His mouth quirked up on one side in that adorable half-smile that melted my heart every time. "Yes."