Blind Passion Read online

  Sophie began to feel as though she was intruding but she had a feeling the two siblings might need a referee if it came to it.

  “About one in a million, give or take.”

  “Is there anything else?” Brandan asked.

  Michaela thought for a second. “Nope.” Then she turned her gaze to Sophie.

  “So...” Michaela asked gesturing to her brother.

  “Oh, Brandan was injured in an accident,” Sophie said stupidly.

  “My mouth still works.” Brandan informed the women which caused Sophie to choke on her orange juice. Brandan’s lips turned up in a smug smile and she wanted to tip the rest of her glass out on his head.

  “When I spoke to Gloria this morning, she told me about the accident. Does it hurt much?” Michaela was trying to sound sympathetic but between Sophie’s coughing and her brother’s grin she looked so curious.

  “No, but thank you for asking. It’s just so damned annoying not being able to see where you’re going or who is around you.”

  “Language,” Michaela scolded gently, rubbing her hands over her bump again.

  “I’m sorry, but it is.” He sounded like an angry child.

  “So,” she turned back to Sophie. “Where do you fit into all of this?” No more beating around the bush.

  “Michaela,” Brandan warned again.

  “No, it’s ok.” Sophie put her hand on his arm to calm him down. “I work for Qantas and was asked to look after Brandan, take him to the hospital, that kind of thing.”

  “So, you’re working for him?” Michaela was clearly confused as her gaze landed on Sophie’s hand and where it sat.

  “No,” Brandan replied forcefully at the same time Sophie said, “Yes.”

  Michaela looked to Sophie again, her question repeated in her eyes.

  Sophie sighed. “It’s a long story. Brandan couldn’t get a carer because of the medico strikes and I was taking holidays anyway so I agreed to hang around for a few days to help. He had no-one else.”

  “You make me sound like a defenceless stray puppy.”

  “Well you sort of are,” Sophie chuckled.

  Michaela joined in the humour half-heartedly but then Brandan turned back to his sister. “Where are Bruno and my nephews?”

  “Oh, they went wind surfing to give me a few hours peace,” Michaela rolled her eyes.

  “Aren’t they a little young?” he asked.

  Sophie squeezed his arm. She wasn’t sure if this was the way to two usually spoke to each other but even she knew mothers didn’t like being treated as though they were making bad decisions.

  “You are never too young to start.” Michaela told him.

  “Does he leave you alone very often?”

  “I’m not dying, I’m pregnant,” she said stubbornly.

  “Yes, well I want you to look after yourself and those nieces of mine.”

  “Yes, dad.”

  The touching moment was interrupted by the rowdy arrival of Bruno, Jordan and Jonathan.

  Brandan was greeted with a jarring back-slap from his brother-in-law and cuddles from his nephews who promptly asked him what he’d bought them followed by ‘ohs’ of disappointment.

  “How long are you staying?” Bruno asked after Sophie had been introduced and their situation loosely explained.

  “Only for a few hours,” Brandan answered before she could, followed by more disappointing groans from the twins.

  “No, you only just got here,” his sister complained. “You have to at least stay for dinner.”

  “It’s up to Sophie,” he told them.

  “Come on Sophie, what harm could there be?” Bruno asked her in his deep all Australian voice.

  “Please?” Came twin pleas.

  “You are the one who will have to drive that car back in the dark,” Brandan said softly from her left, squeezing her leg under the table where no one could see.

  She wasn’t sure if he wanted to stay or not, it was too hard to tell what he wasn’t saying when she could feel his breath on her cheek when he spoke. What other option did she have? Go back to the hotel where she would be alone with Brandan and the cloud of sexual tension following them around or stay here and get to know his family a bit better? There would be no chance of him catching her unawares if they stayed and she was enjoying the banter, the gentle arguments, even the twin’s fighting was endearing rather than annoying.

  “Sure.” Sophie knew in the back of her mind she was going to regret this. “We can stay, as long as it’s no trouble.” She gestured towards Michaela’s tummy.

  “Don’t be silly, I want you guys to stay,” Michaela replied.

  Before Sophie could change her mind, Brandan piped up. “Then it’s settled.”

  They spent the rest of the day and into the evening talking, joking, arguing, laughing, drinking some of the finest wine she’d ever had and eating exotic, delicious foods. She couldn’t have asked for a better day and Sophie knew she would remember it for a long time to come.

  When she started to yawn, Michaela suggested that they stay the night. “You’ve both had far too much to drink and it’s too dangerous on strange roads in a strange car.”

  “She’s right, Soph.” Brandan agreed with his sister but his tone was off, his huge grin was off too.

  Sophie suddenly got the feeling she’d been conned, manoeuvred into having to stay the night, but she had no idea why? Maybe it had nothing to do with her and everything to do with Brandan? She could understand that his family would want him to stay longer with them so she agreed and was shown to a beautifully luxurious guest room on the first floor behind the living areas. There were two rooms side-by-side.

  “We’re upstairs if you need anything else,” Michaela winked and said goodnight.

  Sophie turned around, put her small bag down beside the king-size bed and pulled down the lavender coverlet revealing matching satin sheets. If these were the lengths Michaela went to for her guests, she wondered what the other woman’s own room would look like. Sophie envied the unborn triplets for the lives they would lead, for the parents who would sacrifice anything and go to any lengths for their children.

  She turned at the light tap on the open door to find to find Brandan lounging on the threshold in his customary stance, leaning against the frame. He looked so handsome, his cheeks had a little colour in them from the wine and his hair was dishevelled around his bandage from a game he’d played with the twins.

  “Do you have everything you need?” he asked. Another question that could be taken any number of ways.

  After the day they’d had she would have liked nothing more than to be held in his arms until the early hours of the morning but she knew that was the wine talking and it was a dangerous voice indeed.

  “Everything is great,” she replied, not directly answering his question.

  She watched him turn to leave, he took a step, she nearly released her pent-up breath but then he turned back and walked a few steps into the room.

  “Sophie?” Her name rumbled off his tongue, sending shivers up her spine.

  “What is it Brandan?” She hadn’t meant for her own voice to sound so husky, so thick with what was probably anticipation if she’d admit to it.

  From the direction of her voice he closed the distance between them, his hand cupping her cheek.

  “Thank you,” he whispered before sealing his mouth softly to hers in what was a soul searing but brief kiss.

  He broke contact and turned from her to leave.

  “Wait,” Sophie put her hand on his arm. She touched her fingers to her tingling lips. It was the straw that broke her resolve. He’d been so gentle, his kiss touching the edge of her soul. She knew it was wrong, they were in his sister’s house, his family were only meters away and he was way out of her league, being one of the world’s richest men but in that moment, the moment his lips, warm and tasting of the chocolate they’d had for desert, had touched hers, her walls came crashing down, her barriers knocked over and her hea
rt yearned for another.

  She walked around him and closed the door, turning the key with a solid click.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Brandan stood on a sword’s edge, his muscles strained and tensed as he waited for her next move. He would let her call the shots. After all he would have left her alone after his impromptu kiss. As much as it would have pained him in his lower extremity he would have walked right from the room telling her to lock the door so he couldn’t be tempted to visit her through what was going to be a long night.

  His body trembled as her soft hands ran from his wrists up his arms, over his shoulders to wrap around his neck. He still didn’t move, he didn’t want to break the spell, didn’t want her to come to her senses and kick him out.

  “Brandan?”

  “Are you sure about this, Sophie?” he asked.

  “No,” she replied and reached up on her toes to press her lips to his.

  Brandan groaned and pulled her hard against him, kissing her with a fervour that shocked. He let his hands roam down over the curve of her back, over her ass then back up to gently pull the elastic holding her ponytail in place. He wanted to feel the silken weight of her hair against his skin as he made love to her.

  He felt her tugging on his shirt, trying to lift it high enough to touch his chest.

  He chuckled as he stood back and removed it for her, throwing it over his shoulder having no idea where it landed. He didn’t care. He took her lips and kissed her again, slowly stepping back until his legs bumped against the edge of the bed.

  He let her touch him, over nipples that hardened beneath her fingertips, over his ribs where her fingers traced each muscle down to the waistband of his black slacks.

  “Not so fast,” he murmured when she cupped him through his pants.

  He slid his hands up under her tank top, his rough palms mapping her curves. She lifted her arms so he could pull it off over her head and then stood still while he had his turn to explore.

  With the deft movements of a pro he made quick work with the catch on her bra and let it join her singlet on the floor.

  Brandan grabbed at the leash of his desire and tried to haul it back so he could prolong the experience. He wanted to savour, not rush. He sat back on the bed and pulled her forward so she was standing between his legs, her knee rubbed him suggestively as he took one of her nipples into his mouth. He licked and nipped as she held onto his shoulders, his hands going to fastenings on her jean shorts. One by one he undid the buttons, pressing each one into her sensitised flesh before moving to the next. When he got to the last and he applied the gentlest of pressure, she arched against him, grinding her hips against his fingers while he nipped at the skin of her hip. Soon her pants and underwear fell to the floor. She stepped out of them, naked not to his gaze but to his touch.

  Tremors wracking her body vibrated against his fingertips and hands each time he sucked a puckered nipple deeper into the haven of his mouth but when he combined tongue and hands she cried out and would have fallen if he hadn’t wrapped his arm around her bottom to hold her to him. The delicious scent of her sex teased him, turned him harder than he ever remembered being.

  “Brandan, please,” she moaned as he found her slick folds surrounded by crisp curls with his fingertips. God, he wanted her to beg. He wanted to hear her scream his name as he pleasured her.

  “Not yet, my sweet,” he whispered as he stroked her warmth, his fingers grew wet and it made it hard for him to think. He would have to have her otherwise he was going to come right there in his pants.

  He removed his hands and stood up turning her so he could lay her down on the bed, but she had ideas of her own. She pushed against his chest to leave him standing and sat in the place he’d just vacated.

  With a keen urgency she stripped him of his shorts and the boxers she’d bought him. She let the fabric fall to the ground to rest around his ankles with his pants and gasped as his erection sprung free of the confining garments. Her touch was as light as a feather as she ran her fingers over his hard length. Brandan gritted his teeth and endured the torture.

  Finally gripping him in one hand, cupping him firmly with the other, her tongue made the same journey as her hands had.

  Brandan tensed and tangled his fingers in her hair. “You don’t have to do that,” his mouth said as his brain yelled at her to keep going, to take him right into her mouth.

  He’d been dreaming about her doing just that since she’d been on her knees last night, when her hand had brushed his cock. He rocked back on his heels as her hot mouth took him in deep, pulled gently yet firmly. He may not have the gift of vision, but he didn’t need it. If all of his senses were working fully, he would probably die.

  His hold in her hair tightened as she sent him rocketing to the moon. He was so close, so close to letting his juices erupt into her mouth but he didn’t want to do that to her. He wanted to be buried inside her when he came. Deep inside her.

  With a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a groan he pulled out of her mouth and pushed her down on the bed, opening her legs with his hands and positioning her for his thrust. He slowed enough to stroke one finger inside her tight passage, making sure she was ready for him. He didn’t want to destroy the moment but it occurred to him that he had no condoms. In those seconds, he didn’t want to use one anyway but he was smarter than that. “God, Sophie I don’t have any protection.” he said with a slow slide of his finger along her clit before pushing into her. He wished he could see what he touched. It just wasn’t enough.

  “I’m on the pill, no diseases,” she told him with a wriggle and a moan.

  He continued to slide his fingers in, then out, testing her slickness, revelling in the sensations and the lines of her inner muscles. When her breath came in short puffs and her hips lifted off the bed too eagerly, impatiently meet his strokes, he pressed his erection against her and then right into her in one smooth movement.

  She might have called out his name, or the lord’s. Blood roared in his ears and colours splayed over his eyelids from the exquisite sensations.

  Brandan pulled her hips to the edge of the bed for better leverage, his hands digging into her skin. He pounded into her with a savagery he should have reigned in. She met him eagerly, lifting to meet each plunge, each thrust, building higher and higher with little moans and groans until she exploded, her muscles contracting around his length. He pulled out of her and pumped his cock, once, twice, a third time before coming. Hard. He sighed her name against her slick skin before collapsing next to her sweat sheened body.

  They lay in a panting heap at the end of the bed, struggling to regain breath and thought, still joined as one.

  “That was...” Brandan struggled to find words to describe what had just happened. Apart from his ex-wife, he’d never had sex with a woman with no condom. Until now.

  “Awesome,” Sophie breathed, finishing what he was going to say.

  “I’m sorry,” Brandan said kissing her neck and her collarbone as he cupped the weight of her breast in his hand, felt her nipple harden against his palm. He cursed himself a fool when she stiffened beneath him. “I’m sorry that I didn’t slow down and take it easier,” he clarified.

  She softened and stretched, her curves rubbing against him as she nipped his shoulder with her teeth and then soothed with her tongue. “Let me get cleaned up and then you can make it up to me.”

  He kissed her long and hard. When she came back from the bathroom, he urged her up onto the pillows and between the satin sheets. At first they felt cool against his skin and the fresh clean scent mingled with the smells of their lovemaking.

  When he’d recovered his breath and his wits, he slowed down and savoured the feel of her, he worshipped every dip and hollow on her hot body with his hands and then followed with his mouth, tongue and teeth, her salty flesh was as erotic as nothing else could have been to a blind man, and then when he finally eased into her again he didn’t plunder, he loved her gently, slowly and thor
oughly until, sated they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

  ~

  Sophie woke to the warm sun on her face. Just outside the open window, birds sang in the trees and gentle waves broke on the sand across the street. She stretched languidly, sore in places she hadn’t been sore in a long time but it felt great. She felt great. Liberated almost.

  The warm solid wall at her back stretched with her, his arms tightened beneath her breasts, his breath warm in her ear.

  “Good morning,” his voice purred and rumbled through her.

  “It is, isn’t it?” she replied, rolling over so they were chest to delicious chest. Her nipples pebbled as they brushed over his pecs. Should she say something else? It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that that was the best night of sex she’d ever had. That even blind he’d made her body do things she hadn’t known it could do. That he had made her feel with him what she had never once felt with her husband. No. It wasn’t time for bringing any of that up. She was kind of glad Brandan wasn’t chatty during sex.

  Placing her mouth against him, Sophie nipped with her lips, teasing, tasting, coaxing, until he crushed her against his body and deepened the kiss. His erection rested heavily on her stomach as he rolled her onto her back and then without words he was deep inside her again, filling her, stretching her. She’d barely shifted beneath him when he started to move, sliding in and out, in and out, working to a silent rhythm until she cried out, her legs tightening around his hips until he groaned and slumped on top of her, satisfied and smiling like the devil.

  “Yes, a good morning indeed.”

  They could have stayed like that all day but all too soon, reality came crashing in to destroy her inner peace.

  “We’d better get up,” Brandan said, unmoving despite the words.

  “I suppose we had better get back,” Sophie agreed without an ounce of enthusiasm.

  They were both startled by a knock.

  “Breakfast,” was announced through the door by Michaela, followed by her retreating footsteps.

  “Oh no, no, no,” Sophie moaned as the enormity of what they had done, several times, sunk in. She pushed against Brandan’s chest but he didn’t budge. “She’s going to think I’m a fortune hunting slut.”