Chapter Eighteen

Brent

"Where's Zoey?" I ask Phoebe when I come in from cigars and notice she's nowhere to be found.

I don't like that Liam isn't here either. He came in a few minutes before me. Then again, I don't see Shelby in the bar.

"She said she was sick. She went upstairs. Are you going to check on her?"

"Yeah, I'll go," I tell her.

She and I probably need to talk anyway.

I need to tell her that I'm falling in love with her… or maybe I've always loved her.

I need to tell her that I can't sit back and watch her try to win Liam back.

It should be me… she should be with me. She should have been from the beginning.

I needed to take that drive to remind myself that no matter what I've done in my life, I've worked hard for it. Working toward getting a rookie NHL deal, raising my sister, becoming one of the best left-defensemen in the league… Everything I've done, I've thrown myself into and given it everything I have. And that's what I'll do if Zoey gives me a shot.

I'll give her everything I have because she deserves it. Liam made the biggest mistake of his life when he let her go, and I won't stand by and let her go again like I did with prom.

I exit the bar and head for the elevator. I don't know how well she'll take this, but I have to try. It's been almost fifteen years, and she's still the only one I've ever wanted.

I've only ever stayed away because I thought Liam was who she wanted, but what if all that changes this weekend?

Zoey

I hear the door to our suite close.

Brent must have followed me up.

I hear his heavy steps getting louder as he gets closer to the bathroom.

"Zoe, are you okay in there?" Brent says on the other side of the bathroom door.

"Yeah," I say softly, trying not to let my voice shake.

"What happened down there? You disappeared."

"He gave her my ring," I say, my voice breaking at the very end.

I shouldn't be the one sad. Shelby should be irate that Liam would give her a ring he gave someone else first, but what hurts is the idea that our ruined future meant so little to him that he could give the last token of love he ever gave me to someone else.

How could he care so little about our past together?

Isn't a woman's engagement ring sacred?

"Shit, I'm sorry," he says.

I hear the wood of the door crack and the shadow under the door move closer. He's leaning against the door while he speaks to me. As if he wants to be as close as he can.

I hate how much I need that.

How much I need him to be here with me.

I don't want to be alone, but I'm also embarrassed that he's witnessing me falling apart like this—crying again.

Even after prom, I never showed emotion in the halls of our school. I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he hurt me. I wish I could be that unaffected by Liam giving her my ring.

"I'm sorry I left like that. I just wanted to be alone," I say, sucking snot up my nose.

"Do you want me to leave?" he asks.

Do I want to be alone? Yes.

But do I want to be alone, with Brent nearby? Also yes.

"No, I don't want you to leave," I tell him.

Silence grows for a moment on his side of the door.

I swish the warm water around me, batting the few bubbles around me.

"Can I come in?" he asks softly.

My heart thuds wildly against my chest at his request.

My hands slide up my body and cup my breasts at the thought of covering them. If I let him in, he'll see everything, but his hands already know my body from what he did to me last night. The thought of it has my nipples hardening and my center warming.

What we did last night has my body answering instantly.

Yes, please.

But my brain can't stop the thoughts of what will happen if I do.

Will he want to touch me again?

Will I let him for a second time?

There's only one way to find out, and the girl who used to crush on Brent all those years ago is begging me to let him in.

"The door is locked," I tell him.

Am I creating a barrier to see how hard he'll work to break it down to get to me? Maybe that's what I want more than anything. I want someone to fight to be with me. I'm so tired of being the one wanting someone who clearly doesn't think of me at all.

He tries the door first. The sound of the knob twisting sends a thrill through me, but the door doesn't give.

Will he break down the door to get to me?

My center squeezes at the thought of it. I've seen Brent lay an opposing player out against the plexiglass. I know he could damage the bathroom door, bursting through it and breaking it off its hinges.

If Brent breaks down a door to gain access to me, I don't think I'll be able to stop myself from asking him to take me.

"See," I say.

I expect him to give up, plop on the bed, and flip on the sports channel instead.

"You have such little faith in me," he says, and then I hear something plastic jamming into the door.

In barely a second, the door clicks open, but he doesn't bust through the door. He keeps the door ajar and stays on the other side of it.

Did he just pick the lock with a plastic door key?

"Did you just…?"

"Nothing in this world would stop me from getting into this room right now. Except for you to telling me not to," he says. "One last time, Zoe… can I come in?"

I hesitate for a second, but I already know the answer. I just need a second to prepare myself for being completely bare in front of him.

"Yes," I say.

My voice doesn't wobble in the least, and the clog of tears that used to be there has cleared completely.

Any thought of Liam and my engagement ring flew out the door the second Brent came through the bedroom door looking for me. Brent seeing me naked in this bath is the only thing I'm thinking about.

He pushes through the door slowly as if giving me another second to object, but I won't, not anymore.

Brent steps around the door, and the moment I see him, our eyes lock. He reaches back and closes the door behind him. His eyes don't dip down my body like I expect them to. They stay focused on mine as if he couldn't take his eyes off them, even if he wanted.

Is my face blotchy from crying? Are my eyes bloodshot from the tears I cried earlier? I don't know, but I wish I had never wasted a single tear over Liam just now because I wish I looked as desirable as Brent makes me feel.

He takes a couple of steps forward.

"Fuck," he says, taking a full scan of my body under the bathwater. "Liam's a goddamn idiot. You know that, right?"

I bite down on the inside of my lip while my toes curl against the acrylic white bathtub at the way he's looking at me.

"I'm not so sure about that," I whisper.

Brent takes a couple of steps forward into the bathroom.

"Trust me..." He reaches down and adjusts his hard-on. "Or better yet, let me prove it."

My ears perk up at "prove it."

"How would you do that?"

The question isn't necessary. His hooded eyes and the growing bulge in his jeans say it all.

His tongue darts out to lick his lips, taking another scan of my body.

"If you let me in, I'll show you."

My belly flutters with the memory of how good last night was with him. Maybe I should say no and turn him away, but my sex-starved body begs me to give him another night.

I nod in agreement.

He grins back at me.

That sexy, confident smile.

He doesn't waste any more time and crosses his arms over his body, gripping the bottom hem of his T-shirt, then pulling it up and over his head.

I swallow hard as his bare torso comes into view. It's not the first time I've seen his chest, but this is the first time he's stripping down for me. I let myself admire every mountain and valley of his ripped body.

The second he pulls his T-shirt over his head, his eyes lock back onto mine. He discards his T-shirt, and it slides against the glossy white bathroom floor, stopping under the bathroom vanity table.

Next, his fingers work to unbutton and unzip his jeans.

I watch as Brent pushes his jeans down to his ankles with both hands and then tears them off, kicking them toward the vanity as well.

When he straightens back up, his hard erection reaches out toward me, his boxer briefs straining to keep him in, the front of its elastic band no longer touching his skin due to how far his boxers have to stretch to accommodate his protruding cock.

I clear my voice and fidget in the tub, reaching out and gripping around the sides of it.

I can't take my eyes off the impressive erection between his thighs, and all I can think of is what it would feel like if Brent filled me with it.

He walks toward me until he stands at the side of the tub.

I glance back down at his boxers still on his body.

"Aren't you going to take those off?" I ask.

As if that's the most important thing I should be asking right now.

"That's up to you, Zoe. I want to make you forget tonight, and I don't want you to think I expect anything in return."

I appreciate that he's trying to make me feel more comfortable, but I don't want anything between us anymore.

I want to forget Liam.

"Will it be any different if you take them off?" I ask.

Why do I want him to tell me that it will? That with nothing between us, there's nothing off-limits with him tonight.

"No," he says, shaking his head. "I won't cross any boundaries you set, with or without them on."

His eyes stare back into mine, waiting patiently for my answer.

"Then take them off," I tell him.

He stands there, so close, looking down at me as his thumbs hook into the sides of his boxers. He pulls down on them, pushing them to the ground, and when he stands back up, his cock bobs out in front of him.

It's as impressive as it felt against me this morning.

My body aches with the need to feel the stretch that Brent could give if he pressed his cock inside me.

When I look up, our eyes meet again.

He's watching me carefully.

My hands are still on the edge of the bathtub, so I pull myself forward, giving Brent room to slip in behind me.

He takes my cue and steps into the back of the tub. He crouches down to sit and then stretches his legs along the outside of mine. Seeing the contrast of his lighter skin that probably never sees the light of day, and his dark hair, against my spray tan and recently waxed one, this moment almost feels too surreal.

I never imagined I'd ever be naked in a bath with Brent Tomlin.

He wraps an arm around my middle and pulls me back against him.

My outer thighs slide against the inside of his, and the minute his cock slides up my back as he pulls me to him, I hear him muffle back a groan.

"Lie back. I've got you," he says, his deep voice low against the side of my head, just above my ear.

I go willingly as my wet back presses against his solid, dry chest.

My head falls just below his left shoulder, and I feel him reach between us and adjust his erection to run along my back instead of under me like it wants to.

His head leans forward over my right shoulder, his mouth just below my ear.

"I'm going to help you forget whatever you want to tonight," he says, his hands softly sliding against my belly and up toward my rib cage.

His large hands brush against the base of my breasts, but they don't go any farther. I arch into Brent, attempting to egg him on without words.

He watches over my shoulder as his hands explore me.

"Is that what you want? You want me to make you remember how fucking gorgeous you are?" he asks, his thumbs and index fingers cupping around the base of my breasts, pushing them up slightly.

I nod while my eyelashes flutter closed to block out all other senses but his touch and voice.

His lips glide along the side of my neck, summoning goosebumps everywhere he touches.

"Can I kiss you here?" he asks, his mouth against my skin.

"Yes," I tell him, my voice almost breathless.

He kisses me just below my ear, and my clit throbs to his hot, wet mouth against me.

His hands glide over my breasts now, catching my nipples between his index finger and his middle. He clamps down on them, creating a tinge of pain with overwhelming pleasure.

I squirm against him, my back rubbing against his cock. He takes a deep inhale at the friction I've created between us.

"He never deserved you, Zoe. You light up every room you walk into. You always have," he says against my ear as his hands slide up and grip my breasts.

I moan at his touch.

His right hand releases me and begins to travel down my rib cage, over my belly button, and down my leg, his thumb caressing my inner thigh with a tease.

I want to beg him to reach down and touch me. To run his fingers through my folds, but I don't want to rush this either. I want to enjoy every second with him.

The need is so overwhelming that I might combust before a single finger ever touches me where I need him the most.

"You outshined in his shadows. He couldn't have held onto you, even if he wanted to," he says, pressing another kiss to my neck while the thumb caressing my thigh reaches over, sliding over the top of my crease.

It's not teasing. Instead, he's easing me into his touch, but I don't want to be eased in. I want to be taken.

I arch instantly against him. Pressing my butt against his cock again, I roll my needy center into his thumb.

He chuckles against my ear like he's enjoying how easily he can get me to want him.

He understands what I'm asking for, and he moves his hand off my leg, running his fingers between my thighs.

His two middle fingers press against my clit, circling gently but with enough pressure to spark a flame inside me.

The warmth growing low in my belly begins to build.

He presses a kiss to my shoulder and runs his teeth over my skin slightly as his fingers start to circle faster with slightly more pressure.

The sharpness of his teeth and the heat in my belly have my body starting to hum.

"Brent…" I moan out.

"Does that feel good, Zoe? My fingers in that sweet pussy?" he asks, his words muffled against my neck.

My clit starts to pulsate with need, begging to be pushed to the edge.

My hand releases the side of the tub and reaches for his bicep.

Tingles shoot down my legs, and my toes curl again.

I nod. "I need more," I tell him.

His fingers slide through me until they begin to rub again at my entrance.

"Right here?" he asks.

"More… please," I plead.

"Fuck, I never thought I'd get the chance to hear you beg. I like you this needy in my hands."

His index finger dips inside me slowly, preparing me for more.

My fingers grip around his bicep tighter, holding on in case my knees give out.

"How about another?" he asks, but he's already pushing a second finger inside me.

"Brent," I moan out his name again.

He presses his lips against my head, right behind my ear.

"That's my girl." His gruff voice says, "You take my fingers like I knew you would."

My girl? We might be in the bathtub, but I feel my body coat his fingers in my arousal at his words.

His girl…

I open my eyes and look over my shoulder at him.

He's watching his hand as it moves back and forth, working me into a wet mess of nerves and need. I can feel his cock straining between us.

He's as turned on as I am.

I follow his line of sight to find the deep veins and muscles of his forearm flex and strain as the fingers of his right hand sink into me.

"You like that, Zoe?" he asks, his finger hooking inside me and hitting that spot against my inner wall.

I nod, barely able to utter a single vowel, let alone a word.

"Take one more so I can finish you off," he says, his voice low and gravelly.

I nod, and his third finger is there, stretching me wide. My legs fall farther apart to give him better access while he works my body like he knows every inch of it.

"Oh God…" I moan out.

I release his bicep and wrap my hand around the back of his neck. When I look up at him, he's there, waiting for my mouth. He dips down and crushes his lips to mine. I can feel the need in his kiss.

Our mouths are desperate to meld together, our tongues entangling to taste one another.

I gasp into his mouth as his three fingers work me, and his thumb presses against my clit.

"Come, Zoe… I can already feel your sweet pussy gripping me," he says, his left arm wrapping around my middle as though my legs might give out, and he'll need to hold on to me so that I don't sink under the water and drown. "Let go… I've got you, I swear."

Hot heat bursts from my center. My body squeezes and pulsates as I come against Brent's hand. I know if we were in bed, the sheets below us would be a wet mess.

My vision blacks out for a split second as my orgasm takes hold of me.

Brent kisses me over and over even though all I can do is breathe through it. Embracing the moment of coming with his hands between my thighs as he holds me against him.

I can't remember a time I've come this hard.

I don't remember a time I've felt this safe.

How does Brent have the ability to do this to me?

He's gifted, that isn't debatable, but it's more than that for me. Sex has always been a little more than just the mechanics.

Sex has always had a mental element that needs to be met for me to get off.

What emotional currency does Brent have on me that made me come like that in his arms?

His kisses ease up as my body regains consciousness from the euphoria I just encountered.

"That was… unbelievable," I tell him while I lay in his arms, the bathwater starting to cool too lukewarm.

I look down at our feet at the end of the tub lined up together.

"The sounds you make when you come are addictive. Any chance I can get you to make that the ringtone to my alarm clock?"

I laugh. "I don't think so."

His cock pulsates against me.

"Damn… I guess you'll just have to let me keep doing that to you so I can keep hearing it," he says, nipping at my ear.

He has to be hurting with how hard he is and after watching me come.

And now that I know how good my orgasms are with him, I can't help but want another one.

I turn over in his arms.

It's a little slippery, and I don't want to hurt him by putting a knee where it doesn't belong, but he holds on to me as I twist to keep me secure.

"What are you doing? Are you leaving?" he asks, a frown forming at the idea that I'm about to leave him in the tub alone.

I have no intention of leaving until I get my fill of Brent-created orgasms… as many as he'll give me.

I lift myself and press my knees to the outsides of his thighs, pushing his legs to the middle and allowing me to straddle him. A little of the water swishes high enough to spill off to the side, but the bathroom is completely tiled so I don't concern myself with it. It can be cleaned up later.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

I look down between us to find his cock as hard as ever, pointing up at me. He follows my line of sight to his erection.

"What do you plan to do with that?" he asks, his eyes hooded.

I reach between us and wrap my fingers around his cock.

His eyelids flutter closed for a second, and then his jaw tightens. He exhales slowly like it's taking everything he has to keep it together.

When his eyes open again, he stares back into mine, his bright green eyes dilated with arousal.

I brush my thumb over his perfect head, and he groans at my touch.

"After watching you come on my fingers, I'm on a hair trigger. I might explode in your hand right now, and there isn't much I can do to stop it."

I bite down on my lip to keep from grinning like an idiot at how much I can affect him and how quick he is to admit it.

Liam was never like this. Never open about us or sex or what he was struggling with mentally or physically.

Brent is the complete opposite of everything Liam is, and for the first time in years, I feel seen in the bedroom.

"Maybe I want you to come," I admit, because the idea of Brent coming with me this time is all I want tonight.

He blows out a breath and glances down to watch my hand smoothing over the top edge of his cock's head.

"Tonight is only supposed to be about you. I promised you that," he says, sliding his right hand over my thigh that's straddling him, his eyes wandering over my bare breasts.

"Then, if it's about me, I need to know what this feels like," I tell him, running my hand down this thick shaft.

"And I'd love to feed your curiosity." He grins.

His hands move toward my butt, each hand gripping as much as they can hold and pull me into him closer.

I push up on my knees and hover above his legs where I sat, his cock still in my hand as I inch closer.

"Are you going to ride that cock?" he asks, his eyes glued on my face, waiting for my answer.

"I'm on birth control," I tell him.

"I'm clean," he says back.

I nod and lower myself onto him.

"Jesus..." His head falls back, and his eyes clamp shut the second his head enters me.

He's big, and he doesn't slip inside easily, even with how wet he got me with his fingers. I'll need to work him in slowly, but the stretch already has my eyes wanting to roll to the back of my head.

His smooth cock pushing into me is pure heaven.

I rotate my hips to help take more of him, and his hands grip me to stop me from inching him farther into me.

"Whoa, hold on. Go slow, or I'm going to come," he says.

"That's the whole idea," I tease with a giggle.

"Not this fast. I want it to last longer."

I smirk down at him. I love that I can bring him to the edge. "You're not in control… I am," I tell him while I work myself back and forth on him, almost fully seated.

"Don't get it twisted, baby. I can fuck you just as good from the bottom as I can from the top." He grunts as he pulls me down and fully seats me onto him.

"Oh!" I moan out and fall forward against his chest.

That movement sparks my clit, and I can feel that I'm not far either, my body still so sensitive from the last time.

"You want me to come?" he asks, his hips starting to work me from the bottom.

I grip my arms around the back of his neck and hold on. He's right. How did I ever think I was in control with Brent, even if I was on top?

I don't think I've been in control since the moment I agreed to fake date over this weekend.

His lips find me and press against mine.

"You're mine tonight, Zoe. All mine," he repeats. "Now tell me to fuck you."

His arm wraps around me and starts to move my body up and down against his chest, and his hips start to grind into me.

"Fuck me, Brent," I say, gripping his jaw into my hands.

His hips start thrusting into me harder and faster.

If he can fuck this good from below, I can't imagine how good he'll be from on top.

With each stroke, he's hitting against the spot that has my nerve in my clit pulsing again.

I've never come twice in one night, but Brent likes to break records, and I have a feeling he's about to blow my orgasm record out of the water… or, in this case, the bathtub.

He works me while I match his rhythm. We're working each other, fucking each other, and the intimacy of his hooded eyes on mine as he watches me bounce on his cock has me chasing that feeling again.

His cock throbs inside me and presses against the spot that his fingers already found. As if his fingers created a treat map and gave the coordinates to his cock.

His cock strokes it once, then twice, then a third time. I swallow hard, knowing I can't keep this up. My rhythm already falters as my knees weaken again.

"I'm getting close," I whisper.

"Then take my dick and come," he says.

His arms unlock around my waist, giving him access to take my left nipple into his mouth.

I moan, sliding my hands through his hair, letting my head fall back as he sucks on me and fucks me from below, his cock not letting up as it strokes that same spot over and over.

Then Brent bites down on my nipple, and I can't take it anymore. My body erupts in hot heat, and my head falls to Brent's shoulder, and I come even harder the second time. My knees give out, and I grip around his neck to keep myself steady.

Brent groans as I know it's taking all he can not to come.

"Where, Zoey?" he groans.

He wants to know where he can come.

"In me."

"Goddammit," he grunt, gritting his teeth. "You sure? Because just hearing you say that, I've got about two seconds left."

"Then fill me with it," I tell him.

It only takes another thrust, and then Brent growls out as he comes, buried deep.

His cock pulsates inside me as the last bit of cum empties out of him and into me.

He slides his wet hand, that's been gripping my thigh under the water, behind my neck and pulls my mouth down to his.

He holds on tight to me as we both come down together, kissing through the aftershocks of our orgasms.

"Holy hell…" he says, not finishing his thought when he finally releases my mouth.

"Better than you thought?" I tease.

"Fuck no," he says, pulling back and looking at me, "I always knew that being with you would be unforgettable."

My heart squeezes.

"So what was it, then?" I ask, biting down on the inside of my lip.

"I think you just ruined me. I don't think it gets better than that."

Did my heart just skip a full beat?

"So what does that mean? You only want to fuck me?" I joke.

"Is that an option? I get to keep you for myself because you ruined me for life for anyone else?"

Keep me for himself?

I can't stop the giddy feeling that Brent gives me.

"All to yourself? A little greedy?" I ask.

"When it comes to you… yeah, I might be a little greedy."

I lean in and kiss him.

"Okay then, what do you want to do now?" I ask.

"Shower sex with you pressed against the wall is a good start," he says.

I nod, and then he grips me around my waist and hauls me up against him, standing quickly.

I squeal in his arms with a giggle, and he chuckles in return.

He slides my legs around his waist as he steps out of the bath and then carefully walks up to the shower so we don't fall.

How could I have almost missed him?

To think that Brent has always been right there, and I kept him at arm's length all these years because of prom.

It almost makes me sad to think of how close we were to missing out on one another, but then he kisses me, and all the wasted time fades, and I'm just happy to be here with him now.