Nailed Down

by Chelle Bliss

  Eventually, I finished college, after Kiel graduated from NYU and Mom’s diabetes got manageable.

  But for all the big brothering I’d done, there were lines I wouldn’t let him cross. Lines he was inching toward right fucking now on my set.

  Standing too damn close to Kit.

  “Kit Kat got herself a new man?” Asher’s laugh died on his tongue the second I glared down at him. He swallowed, and the sound of his throat working was almost funny. Almost. The hipster blinked at me, the pale spot where his stupid mustache had been still lighter than the rest of his face. “What…what did I…”

  Dale shut him up, slapping the kid on the shoulder. “Dude, why are you always poking the storm?” He nodded toward Gin and the small crew of landscapers that had set up a line to lay pavers along the cabin walkway. “Go be useful and stop annoying Kane.”

  But my attention wasn’t on the scramble the hipster made toward Gin and her crew of laborers. She shot a look at Dale that was half smile, half glare and I shook my head when the man bristled.

  I returned my focus to my kid brother and the smooth, practiced smile he shot down at Kit. I knew the look. Hell, I’d invented it and gave Kiel lessons in how to perfect it.

  “Kiel rarely shows on set,” Dale said, coming to my side. His focus shifted to my brother, then back at me, but my gaze was locked on Kit, laughing as Kiel twisted a stray peony petal at her, offering her the flower as an afterthought. “Kane?”

  “Hmm.” It was more noise than answer, and Dale must have heard something that worried him in my low grunt. He stepped in front of me, blocking my view.

  “So, what I see here is you, glaring at your kid brother because he’s making moon eyes at Kit.”

  Attention jerking back to Dale, I couldn’t keep it there for long. “The fuck are you talking about?”

  Kiel shouldn’t be standing so damn close to her.

  “Uh-huh. Yeah, I’m the one that’s out of my head.” That asshole laughed, shooting a glance over his shoulder before he moved again, arms folded as he stood close enough that I had no view at all of anything but his ugly face. “Fuck’s sake, man, when are you gonna make a move?”

  “With who?”

  Dale rolled his eyes, smile lowering. “Jesus, you’ve been all alpha male around Kit since I got here, likely before that time. I’m telling you, do something or quit beating on your chest when anything with a dick gets near her. It’s embarrassing.”

  Dale was out of his head—and a huge hypocrite. Gin walked in front of us, barking orders to the hipster, and Dale’s gaze followed her like a puppy whining over his mama.

  Yeah, but he thought I was embarrassing. I was about to point out that he hadn’t made the move he clearly wanted to. But just then, Kit laughed at whatever dumb shit Kiel fed her, and she brushed a hand against his arm and let it stay there, and any excuses or insults I thought of yelling at Dale got squashed as I headed for my kid brother.

  “You said Kiel’s single now,” she’d said, “Do you think he would want to…”

  No, I silently answered her. Not Kiel, not fucking anyone.

  It made no sense for me to be jealous. It made no sense for me to do the chest-thumping thing Dale had accused me of, I knew that shit. But just Kit mentioning being with Kiel, asking him to take her, her asking anyone to do the same… Fuck me, I couldn’t take the image. It was too much.

  Once, I’d caught Kiel’s ass moving up and down as he fucked Tiffany Williams in the back of our mom’s gardening shed. He’d been sixteen and, from the looks of it, clueless as to what he was doing. As I moved across the set, steps heavy, gravel crunching beneath my feet, I couldn’t help but still see his skinny ass, jerking up and down, this time, moving over Kit and…fuck. Something snapped in my head. I took two more steps, came to my kid brother’s side, and pushed his shoulder.

  “Kane…” he started, but he tensed at my hand on his chest, then frowned when he lost his balance and had to catch himself on the porch railing.

  “What the fuck?” he asked, righting himself to square off in front of me.

  “You got a job here?” I asked him, cheek twitching as I narrowed my eyes at him. “Huh? There something I can do for you?”

  “Kane,” Kit tried, but Kiel talked over her.

  “Damn, big brother, see if I stop by to see your ass again.” He adjusted his coat, stretching his neck and inhaling, catching hold of the easy calm that was never too far from his reach. “Bad day?”

  “We’re busy,” I told him, sounding lame. We were never too busy for visitors. Hell, Kiel had been on set so much that he knew the crew by name.

  My brother looked over my shoulder, to the crew that were breaking for lunch, to the others that were in between jobs and having smokes before he looked back at Kit, then at me. “Yeah,” he said, smiling that smooth asshole smile of his. “I can see you’re slammed today.”

  “Kane,” Kit started, pushing on my arm. “You’re being rude.”

  Kiel echoed her, exaggerating a frown that I guessed was supposed to express his offense. Total bullshit. “Very rude.” He dusted off his sleeve as though he weren’t sure how he’d recover from the made-up insult he felt. “Now, you can apologize.”

  “Kiel,” I said on a sigh.

  “Yeah?”

  “Go fuck yourself.”

  I said it through a growl. There wasn’t any humor in my tone, no mocking smile on my face because I’d meant it. Kiel was invading my space. He was getting too close to my…to Kit. Was I a jealous prick? Yep, probably, but for half a second it felt good to see the surprise washing over my kid brother’s face. Half a second longer and I spotted Kit’s frown, that soft pout that moved across her mouth and the barely there line that dented between her eyebrows. I hated that it was me putting that look on her pretty face.

  I didn’t explain. I didn’t apologize. Instead, I turned away from my brother and the worried look on Kit’s face and left the set before I did something I wouldn’t be able to take back.

  11

  Kit

  “Want another?” Kiel asked as he tapped the empty beer bottle in front of me.

  I gazed at his thick finger, and my mind filled with all kinds of dirty thoughts. Hot, naked Kiel. Wide chest brimming with muscles, hovering over me with those to-die-for bedroom eyes peering down at me. “Sure.”

  I knew I should’ve left a long time ago, but when Kiel showed up at Lucky’s, I thought maybe it was meant to be. When he invited me to stay for a drink, I figured, why not? Kane wasn’t even willing to discuss helping me with the sex bit on my list, and I figured his brother would be the perfect substitute.

  Still, he was a substitute. Not the real deal.

  “Two beers and two vodka shots,” Kiel told the bartender before tossing me a smirk. That look reminded me of another tempting grin, and the man attached to it. The Kaino men swam in a delicious gene pool. Both were all male, all rugged, and striking. They were alphas—strong, disciplined, and so damn fine.

  But where Kane was all hard edges and gruff passion, Kiel was smooth contours and sweet words. He was seduction personified in a fit, designer package.

  I wasn’t sure which turned me on more. At the moment, Kiel was taking the lead.

  As soon as the bartender placed the drinks on the bar, Kiel pushed the beer and shot in front of me.

  Another grin that he hid behind his shot and I mimicked Kiel, shooting back the vodka, trying not to think of the last time I’d done shots. With Kane. Beautiful Kane and the night I kissed him.

  I chased the shot with my beer and tightened my eyes closed, trying to block out the memory. Kane was unbelievably sexy. Women basically threw themselves at him and begged for his attention. Kiel was no different. Just a younger carbon copy of his older brother, one a little more carefree and easygoing, which was nice for a change.

  “So, what has my brother’s panties in a wad?”

  “How ’bout another shot?” I mumbled, motioning to the bartender. He placed two
more vodka shots in front of us, and I grabbed mine before Kiel could even answer me. Explaining this to Kiel would either work to my advantage or blow up in my face entirely.

  Just as the glass touched my lips, Kiel tipped his shot in my direction and smiled. The man wasn’t in a hurry to do anything, even drink. I wanted the buzz I already had to deepen and make the bullshit from the day melt away. Watching him, I held my beer between us and waited for his words of wisdom.

  “May all your ups and downs be under the covers,” Kiel said and tapped his glass against mine.

  I choked out a laugh, still managing to get another swig of beer down my throat. Without thinking, I watched the slow movement of his tongue against his bottom lip, and I held my breath, momentarily forgetting about anything at all but that mouth, that tongue, and where it could be put to good use.

  Thoughts of Kiel naked, his fine, hard ass moving up and down as he pumped into me swarmed my mind.

  Wipe it away, Kit.

  Kiel’s tongue darted out again, swiping the remnants of the drink off his full lips as my head started to buzz, making it impossible for me not to think about him sexually.

  “So, my brother…”

  It took me a second to refocus but the mention of “brother” and the reminder of the last time I’d been in this bar eradicated that small fantasy of Kiel that had just begun.

  I sighed, leaning against the bar. “He’s impossible,” I muttered. I didn’t even know if that word was big enough to describe the clusterfuck going on between Kane and me.

  I hated that this stirring, this thing deep inside me, was resurfacing. I’d made it go away before, that night I saw Kane standing in the breezeway of the banquet hall the network had rented for our Christmas party. We’d only met a few weeks before and had already become friends. The attraction had been brewing since the day I’d met him, but I was sure it was all one-sided.

  He’d been honest, but not to me.

  “What do I think of you and Kit?” he’d asked Bill, frowning when the producer offered him a cigarette he didn’t take.

  “Yeah. She’s fine, right? Think I can hit it?” Bill had been drunk and a little sloppy. Kane, though, looked sober, and I watched him in the reflection of the glass in the lobby window. They could see me standing near the doorway, and the second I heard my name, I’d stopped, wondering what my new coworkers would say about me. I’d been a little more than curious, especially to hear what Kane thought.

  “No,” Kane told Bill, turning to glare down at the man. “You definitely can’t hit it. She’s out of your fucking league.”

  “But not yours?” Bill had asked, his face screwed up in a sneer. “Think you’re better than me?”

  “Fuck, I know I am, man. But, Kit? No way. We couldn’t touch her. Not any asshole in this building. And I suggest you don’t try. I damn sure won’t.”

  Despite his promise, I couldn’t help but fall a little bit for Kane that night. He was protective, even back then. He was fiercely loyal, and I’d wanted him, all of him. But it wasn’t going to happen. Not when he promised he’d never try.

  Still, it took me months to push back what I felt, until that desire became a pulse and not an electric current. After his rejection in the mountains, I realized Kane was sticking to his promise.

  “He giving you shit? He was in a particularly assholeish mood today.”

  I plucked at the label on my beer, tearing the paper away at the top edge and glanced at Kiel. “You know about my cousin, right?”

  “Yeah.” He turned, caging my body in with his knees, one arm propped on the bar and the other holding his beer against his leg. “Sorry about that, Kit.”

  I couldn’t hide my sadness, and I didn’t even bother around Kiel. Besides Kane, he was the only person I knew who wouldn’t judge me for not being the perky and always happy Kit Carlyle. “When she passed, she left me a list.”

  “A list?” he said, but the half smile told me he might already know about Jess’s list.

  “A bucket list filled with things I’ve always been afraid to do.”

  “You’re fearless, Kit.” He smiled easily, bumping my leg with his knee. “What makes you quake?”

  “Silly things.”

  “Nothing’s silly.”

  “You haven’t seen my list, Kiel. Kane’s helped me with a few things, but…” I took a sip of my beer, avoiding eye contact with Kiel because I wasn’t sure I could get the words out of my mouth without sounding like a horny, sexless idiot.

  Kiel’s chest puffed out, and his back straightened. “My brother’s a chickenshit. I’ll do what he won’t.”

  Typical brothers, those two. A few months after meeting Kane, then his brother, I’d caught on to the huge competition that was always between them. I had male friends from school with brothers as a kid. Boys always had this unspoken competition with each other. The Kaino brothers were no different. They never spoke about it, but I guessed growing up in the shadow of a brother like Kane couldn’t have been easy, not even for Kiel.

  “But you don’t know what I have to do.” I shook my head when he only shrugged like nothing on Jess’s list should warrant worry. I picked one of the hardest examples just to get that grin off his handsome face. “I have to shake hands with a president.”

  Kiel’s eyebrows drew down, and his lips flattened. He probably wasn’t expecting anything as big as meeting the present or even a former commander in chief to make my list of things to do before I died, but I could thank Jess for that one.

  “Well…” He paused, his teeth working on his bottom lip. Damn, it was plump, and from the looks of it, velvety smooth skin that was made for kissing. “Luckily, I have a buddy who’s on the president’s detail.” He elaborated when I could only manage to gawk at him. “I should say, the former president. You know he’s coming to Seattle, right?”

  I sat up straighter, my stomach fluttering. I loved the former president. He was my hero, and I’d spent an entire month on the phone trying to land a seat at the fund raiser he was speaking at in Seattle. I’d had zero luck.

  “Kiel…are you serious?” I asked him, holding my breath.

  “Yeah, I could probably swing a meeting somehow.”

  My eyes widened, and I couldn’t help the shake that had taken over my fingers. “No way!”

  He nodded slowly, a lazy smile planted firmly on his face. “That fund raiser is packed, but I could work some magic.”

  “That would be amazing.” Somehow, I knew Jess would approve. She was far more political than I was, but she swore I was a secret fangirl.

  “I’ll ask around tomorrow. See if I can call in a favor.”

  I practically jumped onto his lap and wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you. Oh my God, thank you,” I whispered against the warm, silky skin of his neck.

  Kiel turned his face, and the scent of his cologne hit me. It was different from what I’d always picked up on Kane. Kiel’s scent was refined, expensive, and I couldn’t help how it worked up something inside me that felt a lot like lust. When I leaned back, trying to put space between us, Kiel tilted his head, bringing our lips so close I felt his breath skid across my mouth.

  “Anything for you, Kit. Anything,” he whispered, shooting a slow, sexy look at my face, to my mouth, and up again right at my eyes.

  Damn, he was good.

  Slowly, I peeled my body away from his, my arms suddenly cold at the loss of contact. Kiel Kaino’s pull was undeniable and just as strong as his brother’s. Both lured me closer and sucked me in with little effort.

  “You’re the best.”

  “I meant what I said.” Kiel reached a hand up, grazing the tip of one finger over my cheek. “Anything you need, Kit, I’m your man.” He smiled, that perfect, white, panty-dropping Kaino smile.

  His touch was soft, smooth, just like the slip of his gaze when he went on watching me, taking a second to stare before he cleared his throat and sat back, elbow again on the bar. “So…what else is on this list?”

&nbs
p; “Um.” I turned my body forward and my gaze away from Kiel. God, this was so embarrassing. Kane knew about my lackluster sex life. There was very little we didn’t know about each other, but Kiel…he was a different story. He wasn’t my best friend. He never had been. I loved him because of his brother, but in all the years I’d known him, I’d never once thought about sleeping with him…until now. “Most things we’ve already finished.”

  “Like?”

  “We went zip-lining, and we’ve been training for a marathon.” I tore another piece of the label away from the bottle, rolling the scrap into a ball between my fingers, and finally glanced at Kiel.

  “What else? And don’t bullshit me.” That grin returned, and for some reason, the gesture had me believing I couldn’t lie to him. Kiel cocked an eyebrow, staring at me like he expected nothing but the truth. “I know my brother doesn’t lose his shit unless…” His eyes widened as the pieces must’ve clicked into place. Placing his beer on top of the bar, he lifted his ass and pulled his stool closer to me. “You got the list?”

  I nodded, and he motioned for me to hand it over. Rummaging through my purse, I pulled out the folded paper and handed it to him. It was easier for me to let him experience the list for himself than to say the words out loud. Somehow, the humiliation didn’t seem so great if I didn’t actually talk about it. That’s where Kane and I were alike. We didn’t need to speak much in order to communicate. We were on the same playing field, using our actions more than syllables, at least when it came to each other.

  Kiel’s gaze moved across the paper as he rubbed his chin with one hand, running his thumb across the bottom corner of his lip. His eyebrows shot up just as I’d expected when he must have reached the one item that had Kane in a tizzy. A moment later, he folded it up, following the embedded lines and slid the paper back across the bar.