Page 54 of Rescuing Brinley

“I’ve got you. I haven’t been with anyone in at least a year and the Army tests us regularly, and I’m healthy. I’ve got condoms too.”

Brinley nodded. This was a little awkward, but not too bad. “I’m on the pill to regulate my periods, but I’d feel more comfortable using condoms for a while.”

She felt another shiver run through Dash.

“Is that bad? Are you mad?”

“No, sweetheart. Not at all. Had planned on using them no matter what. But you saying ‘for a while’ has me thinking of how it might feel to sink inside you without anything between us. Something to look forward to.”

She smiled again. She was doing this. Was actually going to experience sex for the first time…finally.

“You have any other concerns about this?”

Brinley shook her head.

“Good. Because I can’t wait to see you. All of you. See those freckles I’ve thought about nonstop. Trace them with my tongue. Connect the dots is suddenly my new favorite game.”

Brinley giggled. “I might fall asleep on you if you do that, since it’ll take a while.”

Dash returned her smile, then sobered. “If at any time you change your mind, don’t be afraid to tell me. I’ll stop and we can talk about what’s making you nervous and decide if you want to continue or not. I have no problem holding you all night as we sleep and doing nothing else.”

This guy. He was good down to his core. Brinley felt emotional all over again. How in the world she’d found someone like him, and he actually seemed to like her, was a minor miracle. She’d waited her entire life for him, and she couldn’t wait to share the most intimate thing a couple could share together.

She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t going to change her mind, and even if she got nervous, she trusted him to take care of her. To make tonight as good as it could be for her. But instead, she simply said, “Okay.”

Dash leaned down and kissed her again, but it felt different this time. Knowing they weren’t going to stop at kissing and touching made Brinley’s entire body tingle with anticipation.

They started walking again, Brinley following as Dash walked backward down a hallway she knew led to his bedroom. By the time they arrived, her hands were under his shirt and she felt desperate to feel him skin-to-skin.

“Easy, Brin. I’ve got you,” he said, as he stepped back for a moment. He peeled his shirt off, then picked up her hands and put them on his now-bare chest.

Brinley’s fingers curled, and she lightly ran her nails down his skin, loving how his muscles tightened in response. Dash had a tattoo on his chest, and the black lines swirling amongst the chest hair was so…masculine.

She ran her gaze up and down his body, memorizing the moment. His light-brown eyes, so piercing in their intensity; the little dimple in his chin, mostly hidden by the scruff of an almost-beard that she couldn’t wait to feel against her tender skin. The broad shoulders, the Adam’s apple that bobbed up and down as he swallowed, the gray streaks in his hair.

All of it made up a man who Brinley had fallen hard and fast for. She still wanted to pinch herself that he was with her. Carrot-topped little orphan Annie who’d been looked down on and made fun of throughout her school years. A woman who felt overlooked time and time again, only wanted for her sewing and designing skills.

Standing there with Dash, next to his bed, knowing what was about to happen, she was almost overcome with emotions. Desire, certainly. But also gratitude that she’d found him and that he’d gotten to know who she was beyond her outward appearance. Happiness. Contentment. Awe. So many emotions raced through her.

“Still good?” he asked softly.

“Oh, yes. Dash, you’re…” Words were failing her.

“Forty years old, not twenty anymore,” he said, with a small self-conscious laugh.

“I don’t want twenty-year-old Dash. I want you. The man standing in front of me right now. Because you’re real. And all mine.”

He swallowed hard. “Fuck, I love hearing those words from your lips. I’m yours, sweetheart. All fucking yours.”

And with that, he moved. Putting a hand behind her back and pulling her against him with a forceful tug.

Brinley fell against him, and she was smiling even as he kissed her roughly.

She loved it. Loved that he wasn’t treating her like a piece of fine china. She needed him real. Raw. And she was getting it.

He kept his eyes open, staring into her own as he slowly pulled down the zipper at her back, loosening the top of her dress.

Wanting this man more than she could put into words, Brinley shrugged her shoulders—and then she was standing in front of him in nothing but her bra and underwear.