I heard Aideen perfectly when she spoke, but I wanted her to tell me her name. I wanted her to give it to me freely.
“Branna.”
I dipped my head closer, so close I could feel her panted breathed on my face.
“One more time, beautiful, I didn’t catch that.”
“Branna,” she said louder, licking her lips. “Me name is Branna.”
The way her tongue flicked in her mouth as she said her name caused my cock to harden.
“Branna,” I repeated.
“Yeah,” she replied, her chest rising and falling.
My gaze was on hers, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw her thighs clench together, and my mind screamed that she was effected by how close I was to her.
“I’m Ryder,” I said as I held my hand out of her.
Her small hand shook as she placed it in mine, and said, “It’s nice to meet you, Ryder.”
I held her hand and tugged her closer to me until our chests touched. “The pleasure is all mine, Branna.”
“If he says me name in that low, husky seductive tone one more time, I’m gonna to jump ‘im in front of all of these people.”
I was going to fuck this woman tonight. I could practically feel her wrapped around me already.
“Feel free to jump me at any given time, Branna,” I said, sliding my tongue over my lower lip. “I’m more than ready.”
Branna’s eyes widened. “I beg your pardon?”
I grinned. “You said you would jump me if I said your—”
“Omigod.” She gasped and pulled her hand free of mine and covered her face with it. “I’m so sorry,” she began. “I didn’t mean to ... not out loud ... this is awful.”
She was embarrassed, and I had no idea what for, but she was killing me. Her nervousness, her embarrassment, her desire for me ... I wanted to fuck her into next week, but I knew I had to do this at her pace. Like she said, she didn’t hit on guys often so I was counting my lucky stars that she wanted to hit on me. I placed my hands on her soft, bare, milky white thigh, and it caused her to drop her hands and looked at me.
“Hi.” I smiled. “Branna, was it?”
She hesitated. “Hi back ... Ryder, was it?”
“Yeah.” I snickered. “I’m Ryder.”
“Ryder.”
I lowered my face to her, and said, “You’re beautiful.”
Without pausing, she said, “You’re beautifuler.”
I laughed as her eyes widened, and said, “Who’s sweet-talking who here?”
Branna shivered. “You can sweet-talk me. I’ll be quiet.”
“I don’t know,” I mused. “I like this. You’re saying what you want to say, then you get embarrassed over it. It’s very cute.”
She cringed, and I noticed it. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No, it’s just, I call me sister cute all the time and because we look similar it just weirded me out for a second.”
Cute is something you’d call a younger sister.
“How old is your sister?”
“She turns eighteen next month,” she said, and then she frowned ever so slightly. “She’s growin’ up very fast on me.”
I raised a brow. “On you?”
Branna nodded. “Yeah, our parents died when she was nine. I was nineteen at the time and refused to let anyone raise ‘er but me, so I put everythin’ on hold and brought ‘er up. She’s a good kid, too. I think I’ve done a good job with ‘er.”
My jaw dropped, and even though the music in the club was blaring, to me, I could have heard a pin drop. I had never met anyone who had to play the older sibling role, as well as the paternal role, like me. Granted, I was much younger than Branna when my roles switched up, but that didn’t matter to me. We had something in common, something selfless that told me a lot about her as a person.
“I’m so-sorry,” she stuttered. “I didn’t mean to take a huge turn in the conversation.”
I shook my head. “No, don’t apologise. I was just a little caught off guard. So you’ve raised your sister?”
She mutely nodded.
“All on your own?” I quizzed. “No boyfriend?”
“No one serious,” she answered. “I brought a man home once for dinner but me sister—who was eleven at the time—didn’t like ‘im because he couldn’t say ‘er name right. He was from Spain, and his English wasn’t the best. She ran ‘im out of the house while I was cookin’, and we never saw ‘im again. I stopped datin’ after that.”
She had barely finished speaking before I tipped my head back and laughed.
“She’s awesome.”
Branna smiled. “Yeah, she’s me whole world.”
I moved my arm that was resting on the back of the seat behind her, to rest on Branna’s shoulders. I was sure she held her breath as I tugged her closer to me, but she released it when her body moulded against mine. I lowered my mouth to her ear, and said, “Where is she tonight?”