“Dead battery, most likely,” I told her. “We can take care of it tomorrow.”
Rebel nodded and climbed out of the car. While she locked it up, I repacked the things she’d taken out of the boxes.
“What are you doing?” she asked when I lifted the first out of the boot.
“Taking this to the truck. Be right back.”
“Edge?” she shouted as I walked away.
I turned around. “Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
She was quiet on the way back to the ranch, but I sensed finding her belongings had given her a certain amount of comfort.
I pulled through the gates and drove past the main house. Typically, I’d stop and check in before driving the rest of the way to my place, but tonight, Rebel and I needed to talk.
“Hungry?” I asked when I led her into the kitchen from the garage.
“Starving.”
“Me too,” I said, feeling like a wanker for not thinking of it sooner. “I don’t have much, I’m afraid.”
She walked over and stood behind me when I opened the refrigerator. “No, you don’t.” She reached around and grabbed a handful of items and set them on the counter. “Pantry?” she asked, putting her hand on the doorknob.
I nodded.
“Wow. You can walk in it,” she gasped. Less than two minutes later, she brought more things out and set them on the counter with the items from the fridge.
“What are you doing?”
“Making us dinner.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
She looked into my eyes and smiled. “And if I don’t, what will we eat?”
“Right.” I stepped out of her way.
“Besides, who wouldn’t want to cook in this kitchen?”
I raised my hand as I took a seat on one of the barstools, and she laughed.
“Wow,” I said, thirty minutes later after taking a bite of what she’d made. “This is brilliant.”
“Thanks,” she murmured. “I love to cook.”
“Cook? God, woman, you could be a chef.” When her cheeks turned pink, I knew I was onto something. “Is that what you’d like to do?”
She looked away. “Not that it’s an option, but yeah.”
I made a mental note to hunt down Tee-Tee tomorrow. She ran the ranch dining hall; perhaps she could use some help. Fall calving season had come to an end, and my guess was the cook could use a break. Another bonus? Rebel could earn some money.
The money didn’t matter to me. I had more of it than I knew what to do with. I was more concerned about Rebel’s pride. I sensed it was difficult for her to accept my help earlier when we were shopping for her “essentials.”
I took another bite of my dinner, groaning over its goodness. Thinking about those red lace knickers only made my groans more pronounced.
“You said you were going to tell me a story.”
“And I shall.” When I stood and took her plate, she stood too. “Sit down and let me clean up. While I do, I’ll explain a few things that may seem mysterious.”
“I can help.”
“Sit down,” I said again, using my sternest voice.
She smiled. “All right, all right. Jeez.”
“Earlier,” I began, “when we were chatting with Shadow, she mentioned the Invincibles.”
Rebel nodded.
“It’s a firm I work for. Actually, I’m part owner. We do private security and intelligence work. Prior to that, I worked for MI5. Do you know what that is?”
Her eyes opened wide. “Like James Bond?”
“Essentially.” I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand. “This part is harder to say.”
“Just say it.”
“You asked me why I was helping you.” I finished washing the pot she’d used to cook our dinner, set it down, and gripped the counter with my left hand. “When I left in August, I didn’t know at the time, but it was for a mission. During that mission, I was shot.” It had been a black op to extract an MI6 agent and a British diplomat who had been kidnapped by the Chinese government. We were minutes from making it out unscathed when I was hit.
“Oh my God.”
I raised my right hand which, thankfully, was still. “The bullet went in here.” I pointed to my upper arm. “It did considerable damage, requiring more than one surgery. Three to be exact. After the first two, I still didn’t have full use of it.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Nothing to say. Except maybe to ask me what this has to do with my helping you.”
“Why are you?”
I dried my hands on the towel and walked around the breakfast bar. I spun her stool so she was facing me, put my hands on her knees, and spread her legs. “Because every day, when I thought about giving up, it was the idea that I’d one day do this, that kept me going.” I leaned forward and kissed her the way I’d told her I would the night at the Long Branch.
Rebel opened her mouth to me, and I plunged my tongue inside, thrusting it like I planned to do when I was finally between her legs, with both my mouth and my cock.
She whimpered and grasped both cheeks of my arse, pulling me closer to her. She scooted forward on the stool, and I was at the right height that, when she did, she could grind her pussy against my hardness.
“Imagining fucking you, putting both of my hands on your body, was the incentive I used every day.”
“God, Edge,” she groaned.
“Tell me, little Rebel, did you think of me at all?”
7
Rebel
Yeah, I thought about him. Like he’d said, the idea that I’d see him again someday kept me going. As long as I didn’t think too far into the future, the fantasy of him swooping in and breaking me out of jail recurred almost daily. While he hadn’t broken me out, here I was, sitting in his kitchen, only because he’d come to get me.
Would telling him that scare him off? My experience with men led me to believe it would. Anytime I’d mentioned seeing someone again, it was the last time I did.
“Tell me what you thought about, Rebel. If you did.”
“I did.” I could barely speak I wanted him so much.
Our eyes met, and the look he gave me sent a shot of lust straight to my clit. The red lace panties I couldn’t wait to put on since I saw the look on his face when I added them to my purchases, were now drenched.
Edge kissed me again, this time sliding his hand under my shirt. “Is this okay?” he whispered.
“Yes,” I moaned. “More than okay.” Merely having his hand on my skin sent a scorching shudder through my body.
“Do you have any idea how much I wanted you that night? How much I want you right now?” His accent sent shivers down my already quivering spine.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Was this going to happen? I’d wanted Edge to fuck me since the first time I laid eyes on him, but what would happen after he did? I was a murder suspect, facing trial. I had nowhere to live, except with him. And it wasn’t that I was just living with him; I was in his custody. Would things be too awkward after we had sex? Would he want me to leave as much as I would feel like I should?
“Wait.” I pushed him back so our bodies were no longer touching.
“Wait? I’ve waited three painfully long months to be with you, Rebel.”
“But…”
Edge’s face changed; instead of heated, it looked…disappointed. “If you’re saying no, I will respect that.”
I bit my bottom lip, wondering if I was making the wrong decision. What if he asked me to leave because I wouldn’t have sex with him?
“Little Rebel.” He cupped my cheek with his palm.
“I’m saying…not yet.”
He brought my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “Let me ask you this.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Can I still kiss you?”
“Sure, we can still kiss.”
He turned my hand over and brought his lips to my wrist. “Here?
”
“Yes.”
He pushed the sleeve of my jacket out of his way and kissed the hollow on the inside of my elbow. “What about here?”
My eyes drifted closed as another shudder ran through my body. Saying no to this man was going to be the death of me.
“Rebel?” He kissed the same sensitive spot again, this time opening his mouth and pressing the hard tip of his tongue against it.
“Yes.”
He brushed my hair out of his way and kissed my neck, right below my ear.
“Yes,” I groaned before he asked.
“And here?” He touched my temple with his lips and then kept going, kissing across my forehead, my eyelids, my other temple, and below my other ear.
He had to know how turned on I was. Had to. He also had to know how close I was to changing my mind and dragging him to the nearest bed.
He kept going, down my other arm, to the hollow of the inside of my elbow, to my wrist, and finally, to the back of my hand.
“Come with me.” He pulled me from the stool and led me down the hallway. I figured he knew that my resolve was long gone and even though I’d said no before, this time I wouldn’t.
He opened the door of the bedroom where we’d put my packages, walked over to the bed, and picked them up. I watched with curiosity as he took them farther down the hallway.
“Rebel?” he said, turning around. He motioned with his head for me to follow.
I stepped into what I guessed was his bedroom. The king-size bed was on a platform and covered by a copper and black spread that matched the mottled walls of the room. Shelves full of books flanked each side of the bed, and at the foot, there was a leather-upholstered bench that matched the headboard. It was exactly how I would’ve described the room of the man currently dropping my packages on the end-of-the-bed bench. He walked past me and, a minute later, came back, carrying one of the boxes we’d found in the trunk of my car.
“What are you doing?”
“Moving you.”
“So now I’m sleeping in here with you?”
After setting the final box on the bench, he walked over and cupped my cheek. “You are sleeping in here, yes, but not with me. You said ‘not yet,’ and I told you I would respect your wishes.”
“But—”
He quieted me with a kiss that rocked me from my lips all the way to my toes.
“After what you’ve been through the last several weeks, I want to pamper you. And while I happen to think my bed is the most comfortable I’ve ever slept in, that isn’t what’s most special about this room.”
He led me over to the fireplace and flipped a switch. “In case you get cold,” he said before opening a door that led into the nicest bathroom I’d ever seen. It even outdid the ones I’d seen in magazines.
Three steps up led to a bathtub large enough to hold two people comfortably. It was set into black and white marble that matched the floor as well as the sinks in the double vanity.
Across the room was a shower that, like the tub, could easily fit two people. Behind the double glass doors, there were two shower heads and two benches on either side. Those and the walls were made from the same marble as the rest of the bathroom.
“The best part is the radiant heat,” he murmured.
“What is that?”
He pressed a button on a panel that looked way too complicated for me to ever figure out how to use, and then took my hand, pulling me into the shower with him.
“Feel.” He rested my hand on one of the benches.
“It’s warm!”
“Exactly. The floor and the walls heat too.”
“Why are the walls heated?”
His eyes flamed. “Better to show you sometime.”
I stepped out of the shower enclosure and walked out of the bathroom. “Edge, this is nice of you, but I can’t let you give up your bedroom. Believe me, the guest room is far nicer than any bedroom I’ve ever slept in.”
“You can and you will,” he said in a tone of voice that, once again, sent heat coursing through my veins.
He walked over to another door that led to a walk-in closet. “There’s plenty of room for your things in here. Several of the drawers are empty.”
“But—”
He crossed the room in a flash and captured my mouth with his. After another deep, panty-melting kiss, he rested his forehead against mine. “I’m beginning to enjoy your protests very much.”
“Me too.” I wished he’d kiss me again. In fact, if he wanted to keep kissing me, I wouldn’t stop him.
“Little Rebel,” he murmured, backing away from me. “Get some rest. It’s been a long day.”
“Edge?” I said before he could walk out the door. “Um…could you maybe show me how to use the shower?”
He smiled. “Of course.”
By the time he went through everything the shower could do, I decided a bath would be far less complicated, and maybe more relaxing.
“Enjoy, beautiful girl.” He kissed my cheek and left me alone in the space that should be his.
He hadn’t said so, but the tub had radiant heat too and soft water that glided over my skin. Figuring I’d never have another opportunity like this, I luxuriated until my fingers and toes were pruny, turning the jets on for the last few minutes.
I climbed out and grabbed the towel that Edge had put on the warmer for me. This was all so far over the top, and for a ranch hand’s house, no less.
I pulled a cozy nightie out of one of the shopping bags, thinking I should put things away tonight, but the promise of the bed that Edge said was the most comfortable he’d ever slept in was too tempting.
I opened one of the boxes, though, and pulled out the three framed photos of me with my mother, hoping he wouldn’t mind if I set them on the bookshelves, temporarily of course. I rummaged deeper and found one other photo. It was of me with my grandparents, taken shortly after I’d gone to live with them.
I hugged the photo to my chest before setting it on the shelf alongside the others. While I didn’t understand my mother’s inability to care for me at the time, I did now. I couldn’t imagine having a kid, and I was four years older than my mother was when she’d had me.
I studied the last image taken of the two of us, so grateful that we’d had that time together. For what felt like the briefest of moments, I’d let go of my anger long enough to have a relationship with her. And she’d let go of the drugs. Until that night…I closed my eyes and pushed the memory from my head. If I dwelled on it, I’d have nothing but nightmares.
I set the photo on the shelf, climbed into bed, and hugged the pillow close to me, imagining it was Edge beside me. Not necessarily for sex, although my lady bits were cursing me for turning him down.
I knew it was silly, but I found myself wanting to tell him about my grandparents and my mom. In reality, he probably wouldn’t be interested, but my pillow Edge would listen with rapt attention, wanting to know everything about me.
I rubbed my aching nipples, only one part of my body that was screaming at me for my foolish decision, imagining how Edge’s mouth would feel soothing them. Soon my hand was between my legs, imagining his fingers were inside of me instead of my own.
8
Edge
I heard the jets go on in the master bath and adjusted my trousers to better accommodate my growing cock. Only seconds ago, I’d talked that part of my anatomy down from the precipice of raging desire.
As ridiculous as it would’ve sounded had I said it aloud, I found myself glad that Rebel had put a governor on the accelerator of the two of us having sex. I was enjoying the anticipation of our slow, deep kisses, knowing that each part of her body she allowed me to touch with my lips, would excite me so much more than if we’d rushed into shagging.
As for Rebel, I planned to torture her in the same way she was me. When I did, finally, feel her naked body beneath mine, I would bring her to the brink of ecstasy again and again before I actually let her come. My last name, Edgemon,
wasn’t the only reason I’d been given my code name, after all.
I locked myself in the modest guest bath, climbed into the shower, and while I imagined the jets of the other tub pulsating between Rebel’s legs, I brought myself temporary relief.
When I ventured out of the bedroom the next morning, it was mainly because the heavenly smells wafting from the kitchen were more than I could resist.
I was surprised Rebel didn’t hear my approach, but understood once she turned around and I saw she was wearing earbuds.
“Sorry.” She pulled one bud out. “I saw these on the counter and like to listen to music while I cook.”
“No apology necessary. What divine thing are you whipping up so early this morning?”
“I’m sorry,” she said a second time. “Did I wake you?”
I walked over and removed the second bud from her ear and cupped both of her cheeks with my hands. “Stop apologizing. It was like a dream come true, not only to have the scent of breakfast wake me from my…ahem…erotic dream, but also to open the bedroom door to find you’re truly here.”
A timer went off, and Rebel twisted out of my arms and pulled a pan from the oven. “Cinnamon rolls.”
If the guys in the dining hall got a whiff of these, the line for firsts, seconds, and thirds would be never-ending. “I had an idea last night that I’d like to run by you.”
“Okay,” she responded with a furrowed brow.
“It’s something you’ll like. At least I think you will.”
Her cheeks turned pink.
“There may be a job opening in the ranch kitchen—”
“Seriously?” she said before I could explain further.
“I’ll confirm with the head cook, but I believe so.”
“That would be amazing, but…”
I took the potholders still covering her hands off, set them on the counter, and pulled Rebel into my arms. “But?”
“I doubt they’d want to hire someone who’s been accused of murder.”
“I had a feeling that’s what you’d say. However, you met Shadow yesterday. Do you think she would’ve been so welcoming, so generous, had she believed there was a murderer in her house?”
Edged (The Invincibles Book 2) Page 4