Free Now and Then by Mira Lyn Kelly

are you?” she gasped in breathless wonder.
    The devil was in his dark eyes when he answered, “I’m not
Fred.
”
    No, but he used to be.
    He met her eyes, let out a low rumbling groan, and shook his head. “Truth? When I look at you, I’m not above either of those suggestions. I want you, Brynn. I want to feel your breath breaking beneath me again and again. I want to see your eyes when I make you come apart. I want to hear you begging me not to stop. And after, when I’m holding you in my arms, I want you to be thinking about how good it was, and not about whether you made a mistake. Whether any of your friends saw. What kind of explaining you’ll have to do.”
    Was that even possible? She couldn’t imagine not worrying or wondering when this was done, because deep down, as much as she wanted it, needed it, there was a part of her that still knew it was a mistake.
    Her eyes skated away and she tried to ease some of the intensity of the moment. “You want a lot of things, Ford.”
    He caught her chin and brought her eyes back to his. “No. Just one. Tonight, Brynn. For tonight, all I want is you.”

Chapter 9
    Ford was going to have to throw the suits a bone after all. Because stepping out of the club to find their limo at the ready when there was nothing on the planet he wanted more in that moment than to get Brynn alone, have more of her mouth and restless body moving against him, her breathy little noises there in his ear—yeah, that was big. Huge.
    “This is for you?” Brynn asked when Ford led her by the hand to where the driver was opening the door.
    He helped her inside and then folded himself in next to her.
    “Yeah, the business thing. They pull out all the stops.”
    She looked a little confused, but he’d explain about the games later. Tomorrow morning, or soon anyway. Once he figured out what had scared her off relationships so badly. Once he showed her she didn’t need to be scared with him. But right then, his entire focus was dedicated to making sure he waited until
after
he’d given the driver the address and the privacy shield was securely in place to pull Brynn into his lap.
    She was quiet beside him, a tension building in the intimate space as the driver rounded the car.
    He opened the door and Ford’s hand covered Brynn’s, needing the contact. Needing a hell of a lot more than just the contact, but knowing it was all he would take until they were on the road.
    The driver slid inside and Brynn’s hand flipped, her fingers threading between his. And shit, if that slow slide of flesh against flesh didn’t have him half hard already. He wanted her. Wanted to be sliding between her legs, between her lips, deep in—
    Focus.
Just a few more seconds.
    There was a nod of understanding at Ford’s directions and then the partition was sliding up and up until, finally, they were alone. He turned to Brynn as she turned to him and, catching her by the back of the neck and the side of her hip, Ford pulled her into his lap.
    She let out a gasp of surprise, but then her mouth was at the perfect height for the assault he couldn’t contain another damned second, and she was moaning against his lips and around his tongue. Softly, sweetly.
    Fuck, then less sweetly, and more urgently as her one hand found its way back into his hair and the other wound in the fabric of his shirt. So good. He loved the way she clung to him when he kissed her, like she was afraid if she let go he’d stop. He wouldn’t, but the needy grip was like a firm stroke to his ego all right. And then her hips were shifting against him as she squirmed to get closer and—
    “Oh God, Ford, I’m already going crazy from inside the club,” she panted, those dark curls shadowing her face where they hung in front of her eyes. “I can’t wait.”
    —something in his brain shorted out.
    In the next second, he had her straddling him. His hands were wrapped around the backs of her thighs, pushing upward until he had her skirt