“She was being kind because of her friendship with you.”
“While there is a certain expectation that you’d feel the way you do, how about you trust me instead?” I saw her eyes scrunch and regretted my tone of voice. “All I’m saying is that I know these people. Innocent until proven guilty is a belief they hold dear.”
“Sorry, but personal experience has taught me that people aren’t so quick to believe the good when the bad is so much easier.”
“Does this mean you’re mad at me?”
She put one hand on her hip and cocked her head. “Why would you ask that?”
“Because you’re standing between me and those cinnamon buns. In a moment’s time, I will likely start drooling. Although that may have less to do with the baked goods as it does with how hot you look with flour on your cheek.”
She flushed again, looked away, and stepped aside. “Have at it.”
Since she wasn’t looking, I did, but not at what she was suggesting. Instead, I wrapped one arm around her waist and kissed her—deep and hard.
Her mouth opened to mine, and I took full advantage, my tongue sliding against hers as we waged a battle of lips, teeth, and will. I wanted this woman more than I’d ever wanted any other, and while I’d never renege on my promise to respect her wishes, I’d give anything to hear her ask me to fuck her here and now.
“Touch me,” she groaned, taking my hand and sliding it under her shirt.
“Like this?” I asked, sliding my fingers under her bra and pushing the cup out of my way.
“Harder,” she begged when I pinched her nipple between two fingers.
“Gladly.” I pinched harder, twisting until her breath caught and I heard her gasp. I backed her up against the counter, grinding my straining cock against her, and then leaned down, nipping through the lace of her bra. At the same time she yelped, she pulled my head closer.
“That’s my Rebel. You like it rough, don’t you, sweetness?”
Her only answer was to groan again and rub the wetness I could feel seeping through her knickers against me. I switched my hands, held her by the arse, and slid my right hand under her shirt. Before I could torture her other nipple, my hand spasmed. Bloody hell. The moment ruined, I pulled away.
“What happened?” she asked, looking as bewildered as I expected she should.
I walked out of the kitchen toward the garage, muttering, “Nothing,” as I left.
Instead of fondling the breasts of a woman who didn’t want to have sex with me anyway, I should be working out, strengthening the weakened muscles, not just in my hand but in the rest of my body. I couldn’t afford to be lax, or something far worse would happen than not being able to pinch a nipple.
I got in the truck and drove up to the barn. What I needed now more than anything was to saddle up a horse, ride out, and get a handle on my mood before I made things worse with Rebel.
The woman had enough on her mind, enough to worry about, without me acting like a horse’s arse.
Instead of getting out, I put the truck in reverse and drove back to the house. I got out and stalked in the back door, where I found Rebel straightening the kitchen.
“Fancy a ride?” I asked, trying to seem nonchalant when all I sounded was angry.
“A ride?”
Where did my mind immediately go? Imagining her straddling me, riding my cock as I slammed into her, thrust after thrust.
“Horseback,” I muttered, about to look away when I noticed her pebbled nipples. “Look, Rebel, I’ll admit I’m a first-rate wanker, but being around you, especially after spending so much time thinking about you—”
“I feel the same.” She leaned against the counter behind her and folded her arms, perhaps in an effort to cover her hardened nipples. “Long before you ever noticed me, I wanted you, Edge. Long before.”
I took two steps forward, almost close enough to touch her, but not quite. “What are you talking about?”
She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “The first time I saw you and your friends at the Long Branch, I wondered what it would be like to fuck you.”
I took the same deep breath she did, steeling myself against tossing her over my shoulder, carrying her into the bedroom, and showing her exactly what it would be like. I was about to take another step forward when my mobile chimed a sound that meant the call was work-related.
“Sorry, I have to take this.” I walked back out to the garage. “Hello, Decker,” I answered. “What can I do for you?”
“Mac and I found something on Possum.”
“Yeah?” I’d planned to call John “Mac” MacIver myself tomorrow. He wasn’t just the sheriff, he was a friend. He was also the best resource when it came to local criminals.
“He was involved in some dirty shit. I think you should take a look at what we dug up.”
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“Is Mac still with you?” I wasn’t sure how Rebel would feel coming face to face with the man who had arrested her.
“Nah, he got a call and left.”
“Should I head over now, then?”
“Yep. Come to Brandywine and bring Rebel with you.”
Brandywine was the name of the ranch Decker’s wife, Mila, had inherited shortly before they got married. It bordered the King-Alexander Ranch. On a day as nice as this one, I’d usually ride over on horseback. However, that might be too much for Rebel. Maybe she didn’t like to ride at all.
When I went back inside, the kitchen was clean and she wasn’t in it. I walked down the hallway and rapped on the closed bedroom door, but she didn’t answer. A few seconds later, I heard the water running. I turned, rested my back against the wall, and looked up at the ceiling. It appeared I’d be taking another shower soon myself, if only to relieve the ache in my cock from knowing that, at this very minute, Rebel would be stripping naked and climbing into a bathtub big enough that I could show her what I’d wanted to do to her before Decker’s call.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when the door opened and Rebel’s hand sneaked out, grasping mine.
“Edge,” she murmured. “I was wondering if you’d mind helping me with something?”
“Right. Of course.” I pushed the door open to find her wrapped in one of the large bath sheets. “Trouble with the tub?”
“Something like that.”
I motioned for her to go in front of me and adjusted my trousers as I followed. She walked over to the tub that looked to be about three-quarters full. “Do you need help with the jets?”
She shook her head.
“What, then?”
She dropped the towel. “Would it be too much trouble to ask you to wash my back?”
9
Rebel
I stood naked before him, shoulders back, breasts thrust forward, and waited while he looked me up and down and then back again.
“You are spectacular,” he said in the accent that added to the wetness already trickling down my leg. “Come here.” He held out his hand, and I walked over to him. “If I do as you ask, I might get wet.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Perhaps I should remove my clothes?”
“Yes,” I repeated.
“Do it, Rebel.”
His demanding tone of voice was nearly my undoing. Instead of removing his clothes, I wanted to rip them from his body. When I rested my hands on his chest, trying to stop them from shaking, Edge covered them with his.
“I need to know you want this, Rebel.”
“I do.” I grasped the hem of his shirt and lifted it. Edge raised his arms, and I pulled it over his head.
“Now my trousers,” he rasped.
I slid his workout pants over his hips and gasped when his erection popped free. As I’d expected when I looked at his hands and pictured his cock, it was long and thick.
“Finish,” Edge demanded as I knelt in front of him and he stepped out of his pants, leaving him naked other than his socks. I slipped each one off a
nd then, still on my knees, looked up at him. He put his hands under my arms and lifted me to my feet. “As much as I long to feel your sweet mouth on my cock, I want you so much I wouldn’t last.” He pulled me toward the bathtub. “Get in.”
As I climbed over, I felt his fingers skim my slit and had to hold on to the edge as I eased into the warm water. I sat and waited for him to join me. Instead, he picked up a bottle of body wash and squeezed some of the liquid into his hands.
“Lean forward.”
I groaned when his powerful fingers massaged my achy muscles.
“Feel good, little Rebel?”
“So good.”
As much as I wanted him to keep rubbing my back, I wanted to feel his hands all over my body more.
I looked into his eyes. “Aren’t you coming in?”
“I told you. I need to know you want this. You want it, you say it, and I’ll do it.”
“Get in.”
He smiled, and heat flashed in his eyes. “Yes, ma’am.” He pushed me forward and slid in behind me, picked up the body wash, and squeezed more into his hands, this time massaging the foaming liquid into my breasts.
“God, I love your tits,” he muttered. I could feel his hardness poking into me and shifted. “Get back here,” he said, lifting me and putting his legs together so I was seated on his lap, his cock now nestled between the cheeks of my ass.
Edge drizzled more of the body wash on my stomach and, when he set the bottle down, used his hands to spread it lower. He rested one hand on my mound and brought the other around the back of my thigh and thrust two fingers inside of me while the fingers of the other hand toyed with my clit.
If he didn’t have a strong hold on me, I would’ve thrashed the water from the tub when I violently shook with the power of my orgasm. My desire for him was sitting so close to the surface that even the lightest touch would’ve set me off. And Edge’s touch was anything but light.
“Be still,” he demanded when I tried to move from his lap. He continued to stroke me slowly, and I could feel yet another orgasm hovering. Just as I was about to explode, Edge pulled his hands away and touched my neck with his lips. “Decker has something he wants to talk to us about.”
What? I was on the edge of a mind-blowing orgasm, and he was talking about Decker? “What did you say?” I half-moaned, wanting to grab his hand and bring it back to my pussy.
“We’ll have to finish this later, little Rebel.”
“Wait. What?”
He shifted me off his lap and climbed out, taking my hand to help me stand. Did he expect me to be able to walk?
“Edge?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Do we have to leave?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Right this minute?”
He cupped my cheek after draping a warm towel around my shoulders. “We won’t be gone too long.”
“But…”
He winked. “Just say it, Rebel.”
“I was…I am…”
“Go on.”
“So close.”
“I see. And you thought I wasn’t aware of your current…predicament.”
“Well…”
He brought his lips to mine in a chaste kiss. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you, Rebel. Later.” He dried me off with the towel, and when he knelt in front of me, I practically thrust myself against his mouth. He looked up into my eyes. “Oh, and Rebel?”
“Yes?” I whined.
“No more orgasms unless it’s by my mouth.” He kissed the soft spot on the crease of my thigh. “Or my hands. Or my cock. Do you understand?”
I nodded, although I didn’t understand. Was he saying I couldn’t take my own edge off? I smiled, unable to stop myself from making the connection between his name and the torture he was putting me through.
After he’d rubbed me dry, he helped me get dressed, trailing his fingers over the most sensitive parts of my body and playing it off as an accident each time.
He led me over to the bench at the end of the bed and proceeded to dry off and dress right in front of me, not even trying to hide his erection.
I looked directly at his cock. “You know, I could help you with that.”
“I appreciate the offer, little Rebel, but if you have to wait, so do I.”
“That’s the thing. Neither of us has to wait, Edge.”
“But that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Why?”
He held out his hand, I stood, and he pulled me against him. “Because later, when I finish what I’ve started, the orgasms you’ll have will be the best of your life.”
Every bump in the road the truck hit registered directly between my legs. In fact, I thought maybe he was maneuvering it in order to drive over as many as possible.
Finally, he pulled into a driveway and cut the engine. The house in front of us was the quintessential farmhouse. It was a two-story with white clapboard and black shutters, and I instantly fell in love with it.
The place Edge lived in was spectacular, but this looked so much like my grandparents’ house, it almost brought me to tears.
Edge reached over to hold my hand. “Everything okay?”
“I love this house.”
He smiled as though he understood.
By the time he came around to open my door, a man had come out and was standing on the porch.
“Rebel, I’d like you to meet Decker.” Edge rested his fingers softly on the small of my back. I stepped forward and shook the man’s hand.
“Come on in.” He motioned for me to walk in front of him.
“Hi,” said a woman standing inside the front door. “I’m Mila, Decker’s wife. Can I get you anything?”
“A glass of water would be nice, thank you.”
Mila disappeared down a hallway while Decker led us to a dining room table.
“It didn’t take much digging to come up with something on Possum. The guy made a lot of enemies in his short life.”
That didn’t surprise me. The man was pure evil.
“Since the list is long, it’ll take us a while to sort through who had a motive to want him dead and who might’ve been at the Long Branch that night.”
Decker handed Edge a piece of paper. He skimmed it and raised his eyebrows. “Aryan Brotherhood of Texas?”
“Card-carrying member.”
“You didn’t know?” I asked, looking between the two of them.
Edge shook his head, but Decker continued as though I hadn’t said anything.
“The Bloods and the Mexicales would be at the top of the list of who’d want him dead. Not only Possum, but anyone associated with the ABT.”
Edge nodded. “If we’re right, with organizations like those, proving who actually killed him would be nearly impossible. However, establishing enough reasonable doubt that Rebel killed him shouldn’t be a stretch.”
I doubted it would be that easy, and by the look on Edge’s face as he spoke, he agreed.
Decker raised his head when Mila walked in with a glass of water.
“I love your house,” I told her. I would’ve had the same smile on my face as she did if it were mine.
“I grew up here. At least part of my childhood.”
She looked over at Decker; what passed between them was too private, too personal, and I looked away. The love they had for each other was powerful enough to be felt even without looking. I’d give anything to have a man feel that way about me someday.
My eyes met Edge’s when he stood and offered me his hand. “Let’s gather the troops and strategize.”
Decker walked us out, and while he and Edge didn’t speak again, there was plenty I sensed they communicated without words.
10
Edge
Rebel was in more danger than I’d initially realized, which meant I needed to talk both to Mac and Hammer. What stunned and confused me was, if the ABT believed she’d killed one of their own, she would’ve been dead her first week in jail. Something was off
, and the knowledge of Possum’s involvement with a white supremacist gang only reinforced my commitment to do everything in my power to keep her safe.
Fortunately, King-Alexander Ranch, given the Alexander family’s ties to the intelligence world, had one of the best private security systems I’d ever seen. There were international governments whose security wasn’t as sophisticated. As long as she didn’t leave without me or one of the other Invincibles by her side, she’d be safe.
As far as the security at the ranch went, I needed to brief Rebel on how it all worked in the event she wanted to take as much as a walk on the property alone. So far, everywhere she’d gone had been with me.
The equipment set up in the house I lived in would allow me to add Rebel to the system. However, doing so might make her feel uncomfortable, given I’d have to scan in her palm and fingers. It would also require facial recognition, which meant she’d have to sit in front of a monitor until it registered her features. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel anything that would remind her of being arrested. Particularly since I knew without any doubt that she wasn’t a murderer.
We were almost to the main house when I saw Tee-Tee coming out the front door. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her yet, but I was certain she could use Rebel’s help, so I pulled up, cut the engine, and waved at her.
“Hey, Tee-Tee. There’s someone I want to introduce you to.” By the time I walked around the truck, Rebel had already climbed out and was shooting a glare at me. When I turned around, Tee-Tee had a similar scowl on her face.
“We’ve already met,” muttered Rebel, who stood where she was, next to the truck.
Maybe I’d regret it, but I decided to forge ahead regardless of whatever was going on between the two women.
“Rebel is quite the chef, Tee-Tee. She’ll be staying on the ranch for some time, and I thought she might be able to help in the kitchen.”
Rebel put her hand on my arm and shook her head when I looked at her. Tee-Tee stood with her arms folded and head cocked.
Edged (The Invincibles Book 2) Page 5