and that connection I felt with him had me wishing we were alone. He squeezed my hand and I knew he felt it, too.
Lily didn’t seem to notice what was happening between me and Stephan. She was too caught up in her own excitement. “Will you go dress shopping with me?” She didn’t wait for me to respond before asking, “What’s your schedule like this coming week?”
Stephan
Lily was like a whirlwind. By the time we all called it a night, I was nursing the first signs of a headache.
As Lily had gone on about the need to find dresses, flowers, invitations, and other wedding stuff I had little to no knowledge of, I could feel the tension growing in Brianna. She hadn’t signaled to me that she had reached a seven, but if I was feeling overwhelmed, I knew she had to be as well.
Once Logan and Lily retreated upstairs to their room, Brianna and I headed into the master bedroom. As soon as the door closed behind us, I held out my hand. “Come here, Brianna.”
Her response was immediate. She took my hand and I crushed her against me, enfolding her in my arms. “What number?”
She didn’t answer right away, but I knew she would. “Five, Sir.”
I kissed the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her shampoo. “You did well tonight. Lily can get a little carried away.”
“I never realized there was so much to do for a wedding.” Brianna ran her fingers along the fabric of my shirt. Her touch was so light it almost tickled.
“Neither did I, but then again, this is Lily. You know how she is when it comes to planning a party.”
Without warning, I scooped Brianna up and carried her over to the high-backed chair in the corner. It was the same one that had been in her room at the condo. When we’d moved into our new home, we’d discussed her having her own room as she had in the city, but she had no desire for her own space. Given we hadn’t slept apart for almost four years, and that I slept better with her beside me, we combined our things into one bedroom.
Brianna snuggled into my lap, resting her head on my shoulder and toying with the buttons on my shirt. This was one of my favorite things, something I looked forward to every night, holding her in my arms as she sat on my lap, just the two of us. It was a time for us to decompress and to communicate anything we needed to. Normally, we had these conversations in the living room, but as we had guests at the moment, the chair in our bedroom would suffice.
She traced her index finger along my collarbone sending a jolt directly to my groin. It was an innocent touch on her part, but it didn’t matter. My body knew her and responded. “I want to be in Lily’s wedding.”
“But?” I could hear the reservation in her voice.
“I don’t want to have a panic attack and ruin everything.”
Her nose skimmed the side of my neck as she cuddled closer. Purely on instinct, I held her tighter. “You need to talk to Lily about your concerns. The wedding is four months away. We have time to prepare.” I tilted her chin up so she could look at me. “I love you, Brianna.”
Her sweet smile warmed my soul. “I love you, too, Sir.”
I gave her a soft kiss, and then rubbed my thumb along her jaw. “How was your day?”
“Okay.” She glanced down, a sure sign she’d done something she didn’t think I’d be pleased about. “I spent most of the time you were gone cleaning the house.”
I frowned. “You cleaned the house yesterday.”
“I know. I just…I wanted everything to be perfect for Logan and Lily.”
Several moments ticked by before I responded. While I’d gotten used to how Brianna’s mind worked over the years, I still preferred hearing her explanations directly. It did no good to assume. “Why did you think the house needed to be cleaned again?”
“I noticed the windows had some spots, so I cleaned them. Then a few minutes later, I noticed some specs of dirt on the stairs. I kept noticing little things and cleaning them up.”
“Do you think Logan and Lily would have been bothered by spots on our windows?” Brianna’s OCD tendencies had not abated in the years since we’d met. At first, I’d thought they were a learned behavior from her time with Ian.