by Peak, Renna
“No?” Krystal’s eyebrow cocked up. She took another sip from her drink and leaned back again in her chair. “I know I’ve told you this before, but the girl’s been through enough.”
He rubbed at the back of his neck with his free hand. “I agree. It’s why we don’t need to do this tonight.”
She shook her head and stabbed at the ice in her cup with her straw. She looked up at me. “Has my brother told you about his occupation?”
My cheeks burned red. “Not… Not exactly, no. He also didn’t tell me you were his sister.” I wished I still had my drink in front of me. A little liquid courage seemed like it would have gone a long way in that moment.
“Half-sister,” he interrupted.
Krystal stabbed again at the drink with her straw. It looked like a dagger had twisted in her heart, too. “Yes, half-sister.”
I took a long breath. The last thing I wanted was to be in the middle of a sibling war.
She took a deep breath of her own, her eyes never leaving Brandon. “Our mother died. His grandmother raised him.”
He ran his tongue along the top of his teeth. “I was four.” He glared over at her again.
She narrowed her eyes again, clearly pained by his comment. She spoke through her clenched jaw. “I was seventeen.”
I had no idea what had gone on between them over the years. The pain was still evident with both of them, even though it had been over a quarter century since they’d lost their mother. I just looked back and forth between the two of them. Their anguish, their anger was palpable.
He didn’t respond, just continued to glare. I could see the tops of his ears had reddened and his jaw was working overtime.
She tilted her head from shoulder to shoulder, popping her neck. She took another sip from her glass. “Now that we have that out of the way…”
I looked back at Brandon, who was now somewhere else. He stared over Krystal’s shoulder at nothing, still working his jaw.
“Let’s discuss our most recent arrangement, shall we, dear brother?” She tried to catch his gaze.
His eyes snapped to hers. “There was no arrangement, remember? I didn’t sign it.” His hand pulled me toward him, possessing me.
Her eyebrow raised. “We had a verbal agreement, did we not?”
He snorted. “How many verbal agreements have you broken with me, Krystal?” He motioned at the waitress to come over to the table. “Vodka. Double. Neat.”
The waitress nodded and looked at me. “Just water, please.” Things were getting too interesting now to be clouded by anymore alcohol.
She brought our drinks back to us within a few moments. Brandon took a drink from his tumbler and closed his eyes, leaning back against the leather bench. His arm never left my waist, his hand holding onto me with a firm grip.
Krystal watched all of this with some amusement. “Why don’t you explain what you do for a living for her?” She nodded in my direction.
A tiny smile formed on his lips, his eyes still closed. “I already did.”
“Really?” The same smile formed on her lips, and I could then see the resemblance. It was all in the mouth.
“Really.” He opened his eyes to meet hers.
“So you told her all about why you’re with her? Your past dealings with people like her?”
My eyes widened a bit at her comment and I looked up at him.
His nostrils flared a bit and his gaze narrowed again. “She knows everything.”
“Everything? You’re sure? You told her why this…” She waggled her finger between the two of us. “…why this is so concerning?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He grabbed his glass and took a quick drink. I saw how hard he clenched the drink and I was afraid it would break in his hand.
“No?” Her eyebrow cocked up again with feigned amusement. “I’m sure she remembers Pauline Edwards.” She looked across the table at me. “You went to school with her, right?”
His jaw clenched. “Don’t.”
My brow furrowed into my eyes and I looked at Krystal. “Polly?”
She leaned back into her chair with a grin. “Polly. Right. That was what? Six, seven years ago?” She turned back to Brandon. “That would have made her… what? Seventeen?”
I felt my cheeks begin to burn. I picked up my water and buried my lips in the cold liquid, trying to hide my embarrassment. Polly and I were the same age and had gone to our little private school together, along with other children of politicians and foreign dignitaries. She had left school in shame our senior year when her father’s transgressions were revealed. The fact that Congressman Edwards was having an affair was nothing compared to the other things he’d been caught doing. As far as I knew, the man was still in jail. I’d never heard from Polly again after that.
His voice was low, almost a grumble. “We all make mistakes when we’re young.”
I heard him say it and the realization of what he meant made my heart sink in my chest. He’d been with her? With Polly? I couldn’t even turn my head to look at him to confirm it.
Krystal snickered. “Sure. But that mistake brought a man and his family to their knees. Ended his career, his life, even.” She swished the ice around and motioned at me with the glass in hand. “You can understand how that would look.”
I didn’t understand anything about what she was saying. The confused look on my face must have given me away.
“My brother blackmails people, Jenna. Politicians are his favorite.”
I hadn’t taken a sip from my water in a while, but I choked anyway. I coughed and sputtered, taking a drink from my water glass to calm the words that were stuck in my throat. The grip on my waist didn’t waver, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.
His voice was calm, steady. “That is a crock of shit, Krystal.”
She gave her head the tiniest shake and took a sip from her glass before setting it back on the table. She pressed her lips into a tiny, sweet smile. “If telling yourself that helps you sleep at night, then good for you, little brother.”
I looked up at him, then. His eyes had returned to narrow slits, glaring across at his sister. He didn’t move except for his thumb rubbing at the nail of his index finger.
She glared back at him, but it was different this time. She knew she had won.
His fist pounded against the table. He spoke through gritted teeth. “I told you. I do not blackmail anyone.”
She shrugged a bit and fiddled with her glass. She directed her glance to me. “That hasn’t been my experience. But now that we all know why Brandon is here…”
His fist pounded against the table, loud enough this time to make the guard at the bar stand up to see what was going on. He spoke through his clenched jaw. “Enough.”
Even Krystal seemed to understand that she had pushed too hard. Her gaze dropped to her now almost empty glass.
His grip on my waist held firm. I could feel the tension throughout his body. I didn’t know if he was just angry with her or if he really did have something to hide.
My lip began to tremble and I took a sip of my water. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know anything else. I didn’t want to know anything anymore.
He took another swig of his drink and turned to look at me. “Nothing she is insinuating is true, Jen. If you can’t believe anything else, believe that.”
Krystal let out an audible snort and my gaze darted to hers. She tapped her straw into her drink again, clinking the ice around the glass. She held my gaze for a few moments. “You don’t actually believe in all of these coincidences, do you Jenna?”
Nothing like being put on the spot. They both waited for my reply, which didn’t come immediately. I turned my gaze to my water, tracing a drop of condensation down the glass. I could only speak in a whisper. “I don’t know what to believe.”
Brandon’s hold on my waist tightened, forcing my breath to hitch in my chest. I dropped my hand to the one he had gripped against my waist, trying to get him to loo
sen his hold on me. His hold was so tight, it almost hurt.
His voice dropped to a more hushed tone and he turned his head to face me. “Trust me, Jen. Can you do that?”
My own voice lowered to a whisper and I continued to try to wriggle out of his grip. “Yes.”
He nodded and turned to face his sister. “Good. Let’s get out of here.” His hand moved from the grip on my waist to entwine with my fingers.
“Jenna,” Krystal interrupted. “This is a very, very bad decision.”
I gave her a little nod and the same chill of fear I’d felt earlier ran through me again. “It wouldn’t be my first.”
5
My guard scrambled to his feet to follow me out of the bar. I ignored him and led Brandon back to my room, the guard following close behind. I shook my head at my own stupidity—how had it taken me so long to figure out that these guys couldn’t tell me what to do? I didn’t speak to Brandon on the way up to my room, still fearing that any conversation that the security people overheard would be immediately relayed back to Krystal. She already knew too much about what was going on in my life.
I unlocked the door with my key card and closed it behind me, kicking my shoes off into the dressing area off to my side. I leaned back against the door and watched him as he strode into the room. He turned to face me and I took him in. Seeing him standing in front of me, devouring me with his eyes, took my breath away.
He ran a hand through his hair and a sheepish grin came to his lips. “What?”
I rested my back against the heavy door and stared across at him with my hooded eyes. “Tell me about Polly.”
The grin fell from his face and he closed the gap between us in only a few steps. He snaked his arms around my waist and leaned his head into my hair. “No.”
My brow furrowed and I let out a sigh of frustration.
He turned me into the room and walked me backwards toward the bed, never letting his arms leave my waist. His voice was almost a growl in my ear. “I’m not talking about her tonight. I’m not talking about her father.” He nipped at my ear. “I’m not talking about your father.”
My hands stroked up his back and tangled into his hair. I arched my neck to him as he laid me on the bed. He had a way of making any fear, any anger I felt disappear like it had never been. Like I had never wanted anything other than him. His scent alone, being that close to me, sent me almost to the edge.
He held himself over me, resting his weight on his forearms. He leaned into me and kissed at the sensitive spot under my ear, and I felt myself melt into him, falling at his touch. He whispered into my ear again. “If there is no more talking tonight, I’ll be fine with that.” His lips returned to that spot beneath my ear, and I knew I was going to lose myself completely.
“Far too many clothes.” He said it almost to himself as he continued kissing the spot he knew would make me come undone. His hand reached around my back and found the zipper of my dress, causing my breath to catch in my chest, heat coiling between my legs. I sucked in another breath as I felt his hands shove the fabric down and off my chest, around my hips then down my legs. He groaned my name into my hair. “Jen.”
I slid my hands down to his chest and clenched his shirt in my fist, pulling his weight onto me. His hands found my hips and he rocked against me. I could feel how much he wanted me, even through his pants.
His mouth covered mine, claiming me. His hands slid up my waist to my breasts. He found the closure of my bra and had it unhooked a second later, both of us almost desperate to remove the thin covering. He lowered his head to cover one taut peak, then the other. My hands found his neck, then entwined in his hair again as he sent pleasure coursing through my every nerve.
“So fucking beautiful.” He moved his lips back to my neck, working that spot just below my ear again. I moaned into his hair and moved my hands down to his shirt again. I fumbled aimlessly at the buttons, finally ripping open his shirt. I struggled to get the shirt over his broad shoulders and pulled up helplessly at the t-shirt I found underneath.
He shifted his chest and took off the dress shirt, now button-less. He raised his arms and lifted his head briefly so that I could pull his t-shirt off. I ran my hands across his toned chest and down his muscular biceps, down his arms, finding his hands.
He entwined his hands with mine, lifting them over my head and taking my bra completely off in the process.
I closed my eyes when he found my lips again, his kisses urgent, his body tensing beneath mine. He removed his pants in a single motion, allowing me to feel his hot length against my thigh as his mouth claimed mine. A warm current flowed through me in anticipation of feeling his flesh inside me again.
His hands found my breasts again, his thumbs rubbing against my nipples before he bent to lave against one again with his tongue.
I gasped and my fingers found his hair again, pulling his head even closer to me. Heat cascaded through me, pulsing from my core.
His hands moved to my wrists, which he lifted again over my head, holding them both in one hand, not allowing me to touch. He slid his other hand down, first teasing against each of my tight, hard nipples, then caressing down my side. His hand slid further down my body, caressing against my inner thigh before moving to touch me at my center. He slipped first one finger, then two into my slick opening, his thumb swirling above in just the right spot.
My back arched as I came undone against his hand, moaning against his demanding kiss. I opened my eyes and saw his gaze rake over me as I shattered.
“So fucking beautiful.” His mouth moved to my neck again and he released my wrists, his hands sliding to my hips, angling them against his middle.
I wrapped my legs around him and felt him thrust into me, hard and deep. My breath quickened with each thrust, feeling myself growing closer and closer to shattering, already, again.
He groaned into my neck, driving his hot flesh into mine again and again. His hand found mine again, entwining my fingers, and lifted my arm over my head. His other hand held my hip, almost reaching the small of my back, pulling me impossibly close.
I tightened the grip my legs had around him, the friction between us coiling to another lightning bolt in my core. I arched my back, pressing myself against him shamelessly, desperate for another release.
His thrusts slowed and deepened further, and I knew he was close to his own finish. He adjusted his angle only slightly, and looked into my soul with his ocean blue eyes. I shattered again, only a moment before he came himself.
He released his grip on my hands and they fell to his shoulders, clutching him against me. He lowered his weight gently to my side, raining kisses across my neck and chest. His words were short, breathless. “God, Jen.”
I curled against him and he shifted so that his arm cradled my neck, his other arm still wrapped around me. Our fit was perfect, like we were meant to lie just like that forever. I nuzzled into his chest, my eyes closed, still breathless myself.
Sleep had almost found me when I felt him kiss the top of my head, then rest his cheek against it. His voice lowered to a whisper. “I love you, Jen.”
6
“Hey, gorgeous.” Brandon placed a kiss on my neck.
I opened my eyes and saw sunlight just starting to glow through the sheer curtains of my hotel room. I glanced at the alarm clock. It was early—only five o’clock. I rolled onto my back to look up at him, smiling. “Hey.”
He kissed my forehead, his head resting on his hand as he gazed down at me. “I have to go.”
My sleepy eyes must have given away my confusion.
He smiled down at me and traced a stray hair behind my ear. “I have an early flight.”
The tenderness in his gaze made my body tingle just like it had the night before. I returned his sweet smile and reached up to touch his silky hair. “Stay.” I wanted him to say those words again when he knew I was awake. I wanted to hear again that he loved me. I wanted it to erase all of the other ugly things that had been said the night
before.
He pressed his lips into another smile and made a sound through his closed mouth. He traced his index finger from my temple down to my chin, tilting it up to his before giving me a chaste kiss on the lips. “I wish I could.” He sat up and I could see that he had dressed. His t-shirt clung to his musculature and sent more electrical pulses racing through me than I cared to admit.
He noticed my admiration and cocked an eyebrow at me. “It’s a good thing I wore this yesterday. Someone ruined my favorite shirt.” His mouth twisted into a wicked smile.
I clutched the sheet against my chest and sat up to face him. “Sorry about that.” I gave him my own version of a wicked smile, wishing he’d stay for at least a little while longer.
He gave me a little shrug before leaning in to kiss my forehead again. “I really do have to go.” He glanced down at his watch and stood up from the bed. His look turned serious. “About last night…”
“Yeah.” I looked down at the comforter on the bed and picked off an imaginary piece of lint. I wished I could forget what had happened before we had gone back to my room. The night would have been so perfect if it hadn’t been for that conversation with Krystal.
“Jen…” He sighed and came back over to sit on the edge of the bed. He touched my chin and lifted it gently, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Don’t believe everything she tells you. Can you at least promise me that?”
I swallowed the knot of fear that had formed in my throat and looked him in the eyes. I gave him a little nod of agreement.
He mirrored my expression and stared into my eyes, like he could see into the bottom of my soul. “Promise.”
“Okay.” I could barely choke out the whisper. “I promise.”
He nodded again. “Good.” He brushed his lips against my cheek and stood up, turning toward the door. “I have some things I need to take care of. I’ll be back in a few days.”
All I could do was nod and watch him walk out without another word, no mention of the three words he had whispered to me the night before.