15: BRYNLEE

“I had a great time tonight, Ro,” I say, looping my arms around his neck.

In the last two weeks since Ambrose told me the truth about him and Lyndsey, things have been different between us. I still defy his orders in the office and challenge him in meetings, but I look forward to the punishments that he dishes out.

“I did, too. When are we going to stop sneaking around?” he asks, brushing my lips.

I sigh into the kiss, closing my eyes and not wanting to address what I know could be a real problem. Opening my mouth to him, I let his tongue take over. He leads me where he wants me to go.

“I was thinking you should spend the night,” I say, breaking the kiss and turning to unlock the door.

“You were, were you?”

“Mm-hmm. Maybe we could discuss expectations between orgasms and over a spanking or two,” I tease, standing in the doorway.

He laughs and pulls me into him, cupping my ass as he deepens the kiss. The night sounds of crickets chirping, wind rustling the trees, and the occasional car driving down the street echo around us.

“Tomorrow is Saturday,” he concedes against my lips.

We delve into the kiss, exploring the flame that never ceased all these years. The sound of a car idling has me pulling slightly back from the kiss but still pressed against Ambrose’s body.

“Bryn? Ro?”

My body tenses in Ambrose’s arms as his eyes darken and shut down. My heart slams against my chest, and I only want to disappear.

I pull away from Ambrose, peering over his shoulder to see my brother stomping up the driveway as Shayla peers out the window.

“Brayden. What are you doing here?” I ask, stepping off the porch.

“What’s up?” he asks, hands spread out at his sides.

“Brayden—”

“Where’s the trust, dawg? You know how I feel about this.”

“If you can’t trust me, who do you trust?”

“If your ass was trustworthy, you’d have stepped to me correctly, Ro! Sneaking behind my back and seeing my sister, ain’t it, chief!”

Ambrose moves from beside me. While I’ve never seen either of them argue, I don’t want them to start now, especially about me.

“Bray, stop. I have to tell you something.”

“And you? Was any of that even real? Pretending like you didn’t care for him?”

“That’s what I want to talk to you about, Bray. This isn’t new; this thing with Ro and me.”

“What?” Brayden spits, narrowing his eyes.

“I knew you’d behave like this, if not worse. Besides, it wasn’t Ro’s fault. I made him promise not to tell you. He wanted to. I was the one that didn’t want you to know.”

I see the hurt in my brother’s eyes as his face scrunches up in confusion, and he finally looks at me.

“We’re better than that, Bryn!”

“We were, but you make things hard. You feel like you have to cover Dad’s role by making sure whomever I date is good enough for me. I’m grown, Bray, and I make my own decisions. I’ve loved this man for more than a decade. I lost him because he knew I’d never stand up to you for our love.”

“You cheated on your wife with my sister?”

“No! I would never hurt Bryn. Not willingly. We’ve dated since her sophomore year...that shit with Lynds—”

“You’ve been fucking with her for that long and never said anything? You got my sister caught up in—”

“Bray! Stop!” I shriek, unable to take anymore. “Have you heard anything that I said? This isn’t about you but about Ro and me. We were in a relationship that I didn’t want to disclose because I didn’t want him to lose you as a friend.”

“Too late for that,” Brayden says, hopping into his car and slamming the door.

“Brayden!”

“Leave him alone. He’ll come around,” Ambrose says, pulling me into the curve of his arm and rubbing mine.

Tears well in my eyes. “This isn’t how I wanted it to happen.”

“Yeah, well, people have to make their choices and live with them. You may not have wanted him to find out this way, but when we weren’t proactive in telling him, we created this. He’ll get over it and forgive you.”

“What about your friendship?” My voice wobbles.

“I’ll do the best that I can to resolve that. Not for you to worry about,” he says, kissing my forehead. “Like I said, people make decisions and must live with them. We didn’t tell him, and this is our consequence. I chose you, Bryn. Maybe not back then, but I do now, and I’ll always choose you. Whatever consequences come with that, I’m willing to live with them.”

Tears well in my eyes because I don’t know where this leaves my brother and me. I can’t think of a time when he wasn’t close by being my protector and my best friend.

I think about calling my sister Makenzi, but she’s got her hands full, living her best life with her husband, Shep, her adopted son, Caleb, and her twin daughters, Chrissy and Maddy. I don’t want to stress her out.

Ambrose lifts me into his arms and carries me into my house. Long, tapered fingers wipe my tears away as he takes me straight to my room. I sniffle, wiping my eyes with my hands as this beautiful man kneels, removes my shoes, and slowly begins to undress me.

“Get under the covers.”

“What?”

“Under the covers,” he repeats, undressing.

When he crawls into bed behind me, he pulls me into his arms, and I rest my head on his shoulder, crying myself to sleep.

***

Teardrops seep from my eyes.

Pain rocks my heart.

A feathery touch tickles my thigh.

I arch my back like a feline in the darkness. Is this part of the dream?

I feel it again before I feel the moisture. Flickering my eyes open, I see my cover rise and fall before a huddled figure moves between my legs.

“Oh, God!” I cry out, arching my hips upward.

My fingers tighten in his silken strands, and my legs lock around his head. Fingers brush against my clit, spreading me wider, and his tongue replaces his fingers. I push into it, needing to drown in the pleasure it creates as my bad dream pushes to the recesses of my mind.

He’s hungry and voracious tonight. He’s nothing like he is at the office, where I often think he’s more reserved. Every lick and touch is more possessive than he’s ever been. My hips jerk wildly upward again as my fingertips clutch at his hair.

I swear my heart stops, if just for a few seconds, as my juices pool on his tongue and the tsunami of my flood drowns his lips, mustache, and nose.

When he surfaces, I see the gleam of desire in those golden orbs shining in the dark. Ambrose takes my lips in a hungry, desperate kiss, his moist palms clinging to my hips.

I taste my desire on his lips, smell it on his face, and forage into what clings to his tongue. He spreads my legs apart with his knees and nestles in my haven as he slowly and carefully slides himself inside me, filling me up, ripping me apart, and putting me together again.

My nails claw into his back, marking my territory. His dick is well-seated within me, claiming my pussy, my soul, and an eternity of orgasms to come.

Our lovemaking is slow, sweet, and passionate. It’s full of sweet love that was born over a decade ago. It’s the beauty of two souls who love and adore one another coming together.

Until it isn’t.

I don’t know if Ambrose’s hunger or mine ups the stakes. One of us begins to push as the other pulls, demanding more from the other. I pump my hips wildly, biting his bottom lip and tugging the strands of his hair.

He jackhammers into me, tapping a staccato rhythm before gripping my legs tightly, jerking them from around his back, and pushing them back until my toes touch my velvet, tufted headboard.

I scream as he thrusts hard and deep inside me at an infuriatingly fast pace until he knocks the wind from my lungs. My screams grow louder until he releases my legs, exchanging them for his hand around my neck.

Ambrose squeezes as his nostrils flare, his lips become pinched, and those fiery gold eyes flash at me. It’s then that I give him what he’s demanding of me. It’s then that I know that there’s no going back because, despite what happened between my brother and us earlier, Ambrose is staking his claim and won’t let go.

***

“Hey, Mak. How are my babies?” I ask when my sister’s face pops up on FaceTime.

“They’re doing just fine. Wanna see them?” she asks, pulling one baby into the screen and then the next.

“Chrissy! Maddy!” I exclaim, seeing the twins.

They wave their chubby little hands around and smile, drooling as they look at me. Maddy starts talking instantly, making her little baby gibberish while Chrissy presses a chubby fist to her mouth.

“She’s always hungry,” Mak says about Chrissy.

I laugh and talk with them some more before she sets both babies in their playpen.

“Where’s my little guy?” I ask, referencing Caleb.

“With Shep. They’re having a boys’ day out.”

“How cute is that,” I say.

“Girl, I never thought that I would miss those two so much. Caleb keeps his little sisters busy, and I can see the difference now that he isn’t here,” Mak says.

“Well, Mommy, this is the life that you asked for.”

She laughs. “It is.”

“So, what’s up? I know you didn’t call to hear me gush over my nieces and nephew.”

“Not exactly, but it’s always good seeing your face, and I know they appreciate seeing their Ti-Ti Bryn’s face. But you’re right; that’s not the reason for my call.”

“I’m guessing you spoke with Bray?” I say, dropping onto my couch and muting the TV.

I pull my spoon from the pint of chocolate pecan ice cream and scoop some onto my tongue.

“Yes, I did, and he wasn’t too happy. What’s this about you and Ro being involved?”

I sigh and say, “Well, I have no idea what Brayden said, but I can tell you that, yes, Ro and I are involved.”

“How long?”

“The first time was more than a decade ago. During college. Lately, it’s been for the last few weeks.”

“Shit! I thought he was lying or overreacting or something.”

“No, it’s true,” I say and tell her everything that happened from the beginning to the end, eating my ice cream as I go.

“Why’d you guys keep it a secret?”

“I’ll give you one guess. You already know how Brayden feels about his friends and me.”

“Try how he feels about you period, Bryn. He’s always been protective over you as though he were your guardian. He took his big brother role seriously.”

“Right! And when Mommy and Daddy moved back to South Carolina it made him even worse. He’s so damn obnoxious with it, Mak.”

“I will agree with that, but perhaps you could have handled this differently?”

“I could have, but he doesn’t make shit easy. He’s not the easiest person to talk to, you know. Bray thinks he knows everything.”

“He says the two of you were at his house last weekend for game day.”

“We were.”

“He also says that you both walked away at halftime and while he didn’t think anything about it then, he’s second-guessing everything now.”

“As he should, but he doesn’t even want to talk to me now, Mak. I don’t know what to do. It hurts because we’ve always been close. He won’t answer my texts or calls.”

“Well, it just happened last night. Give it some time and let it sink in. After a while, he’ll come around. Are you sure this is what you want, sis?”

“I am. I love Ro. I always have.”

“It sounds like it, and it sounds like he loves you, too.”

“He does. Of that, I’m sure.”

“Then stand strong for your love. Things won’t always be easy. You know it hasn’t been for Shep and me. You and Ro may have spent more than a decade apart, but try being married and spending six years apart while married.”

We hadn’t even known my sister was married all that time. It was a shock when she announced it to me, but she still didn’t tell our family or his right away. When the revelation came, it brought its share of challenges for her and my brother-in-law, Shep Maxwell, but they’ve both survived.

“I know that was hard for you, too.”

“It was, but our love helped us to survive, and we wouldn’t change a thing. Stand by that man’s side if this is what you want. Bray will get over himself in time. No one’s told him and Shay how to run their relationship. This is your time and your life. No one can tell you how to live it, baby girl.”

“I know.”

“So, just be patient. He’ll come around in time, and I’m sure Shay is over there giving him hell.”

I chuckle.

“I just wanted to check on you. I’ll let you get back to sappy movies and ice cream.”

“How do you know I’m watching sappy movies?”

“You’re eating ice cream, wrapped in your Snoopy blanket, wearing a hoodie from your alma mater, and your hair is pulled into a messy ponytail.”

“You think you know me,” I say, scrunching my nose at her.

“I’ll bet you’re wearing a pair of fuzzy neon-colored socks, too.”

“Goodbye, Makenzi Layla Amara Maxwell!” I say, blowing a raspberry at the phone.

She giggles and says, “Goodbye, Brynlee Olivia Scarlett St. Clair. And don’t forget that you are loved by me.”

“And so are you,” I say, blowing a kiss and catching the one that she sends back.

I end the call and look down at my attire.

Am I that predictable?

Since high school, I have always watched sappy love movies when I’m in my feelings. Whether I’ve been upset with my parents, siblings, friends, or a guy, I do the same thing.

I throw on a favorite sweatshirt and fuzzy neon socks, wrap up in my Snoopy blanket, pull my hair into a messy ponytail, and eat my woes away with my favorite ice cream.

I laugh and shake my head. Grabbing the remote, I unmute the TV and return to The Vow.