Melody of the Heart

“I’m surprised you even have to ask. I would think it would be a given.”

“Being the mother of your three children?”

He laughed. “Okay, I guess you need to think a little more superficially than our kids.”

“Is it sitting at home in our garage with its own custom-made covering, and no one is allowed to get too close to it?"

“Bingo!” Brayden replied, his eyes wide with amusement.

“Hmm, let me guess? It’s a car,” Giovanni said.

Brayden winked at me. “It isn’t just a car. You can’t call a ‘68 Challenger just a car. It was my pride and joy until Lily came along, but she managed to make it special, too.”

Giovanni’s brows creased in confusion. “Is that where the most romantic thing comes in?”

Brayden held up a hand. “Hang on. To understand why the Challenger is the most romantic thing, we have to give you a little backstory with the car and with us.”

Feeling warmth flood my cheeks, I said, “I don’t know how much I can actually say about us and your car that is appropriate.”

“While you’re giving him the just the basics of the story, I’ll be remembering all the good details…or maybe I should say the naughty details?”

“You’re impossible,” I muttered.

Brayden merely grinned. “But you love me.”

“Yeah, I do.”

LILY

THE PAST

Friday night after the last football game of the season found me in the back seat of Brayden’s car. All four windows were fogged up from the heavy breathing of our exertions. The top to my cheerleading uniform lay crumpled in the floorboard along with Brayden’s shirt. The rough denim of his jeans chafed against my thighs as his hips worked against mine. The friction caused more and more moisture to grow between my legs.

It had been two months since he had serenaded me in the middle of the night. We’d been an exclusive couple ever since. Any free time I had after school and work was spent with him. If I wasn’t with him, I was on the phone with him. Friday nights I usually went solo to cheer at the football games while Brayden went to Atlanta to play with his band. I’d usually join him on Saturday nights. There was nothing I loved more than to listen to him sing. Of course, I loved it the most when we were alone, and he would sing into my ear.

That’s what had originally led to tonight’s make-out session. Something about his voice did things to me, made me squirm with an ache between my legs. After kissing in the front seat for a few minutes, Brayden had climbed over the backseat and beckoned me to join him. While we might have moved fast with our initial attraction and becoming a couple, we hadn’t gone full speed with the sex stuff. I was glad that Brayden was being patient with me and taking things slow. At the same time, the more I felt for him, the more I wanted to eventually give him my virginity.

As his hand drew down one of the straps of my bra, he jerked his lips from mine. His warm brown eyes questioned if I was okay with this next step. I bobbed my head, causing a lazy smile to drag across his lips. One of his hands delved beneath me to find the clasp of my sports bra. Grunting, his fingers worked to unhook it. After a few minutes, he blew out a breath of frustration. “Dammit, I can’t do it.”

I giggled. “Big bad Brayden can’t get a little bra undone,” I teased.

“I think they’re really made to keep guys out.”

“Here. Let me.” Pushing him off me, I sat up. As my arms reached around my back, I caught Brayden’s intense gaze. Even though we were in the dark, I couldn’t help feeling a little shy. I’d never let a guy see my breasts before. I’d never really wanted to until Brayden. He had been so good not to pressure me into anything. Although he was dying to lose his virginity, he wanted me to be ready. While I wanted everything with him, I was still nervous. Once the clasp came free, I hesitated, keeping the loose fabric of the bra pressed against my chest.

Brayden’s hand came to tenderly cup my cheek. “Baby, if this is too fast, we’ll stop.”

With a shake of my head, I slowly slid the bra down to my lap. “God, you’re beautiful,” he said, before the hand that had cupped my cheek came to my bare breast. As he cupped and kneaded it, his lips found mine. Once again he pushed me back down onto the leather seat. He feathered kisses down my chin and neck, which caused me to shiver.

When his lips closed over my nipple, I gasped. His head jerked up in alarm. I grinned down at him. “It’s okay. It felt good.”

“Let me see if I can make it even better,” he replied.

This time his tongue flicked back and forth across my hardened nipple, teasing it and me. The ache between my legs began to grow. He sucked at it again before pulling away to blow air across the tip. “Mmm, very good,” I murmured.

As he moved to the next breast, I opened my legs wider, letting him ease deeper between them. We both moaned when he began to rub the hardened bulge in his jeans against my center. Sensing I needed more, one of Brayden’s hands slid underneath my cheerleading skirt. When his fingers grazed against the cheerleading bloomers I wore over my panties, my hips bucked against him. “Please, Brayden,” I said, breathlessly.

He released my nipple with a pop. “You okay with under?”

We’d been playing the over the shirt and panties feel up the last few times we had made out. But I knew I was ready for more. I wanted him to make me come with his fingers the same way I had learned to. His hand slid beneath the elastic band of my bloomers. I sucked in a breath at the feel of his hand cupping me. As he stroked me, I arched my hips in time. Although it felt good, it still wasn’t enough.

I tugged at the strands of his dark hair. As if he knew what I wanted, Brayden pushed one finger inside me. “Mmm,” I murmured, closing my eyes to the sensation. After swirling one finger inside to tease and test me, Brayden slipped in another. Once again, my hips rose involuntarily.

“Oh, Lily, you feel so fucking good,” Brayden groaned against my neck. He continued rubbing his erection against my thigh as he pumped his fingers furiously in and out of me. As I started to climb higher and higher, I grabbed his shoulders, my fingers molding into the flesh. Although I was embarrassed, I couldn’t stop the pants and noises I was making—it felt too good. When his thumb pressed against my clit, I cried out, convulsing against his fingers. I clung even tighter to him as the waves rolled through me.

When I could breathe normally again, Brayden had removed his hand from my panties. Hazily, I watched as he slid his fingers into his mouth. “Mmm, baby, you taste good. I can’t wait to put my tongue inside you.”