by Dawn Ryder
The guy wasn’t going to turn him down.
No, he was just going to put up a good fight. So he could live with himself tomorrow.
Fine.
Great, actually.
Ricky admitted to liking the knowledge he was going to fuck with the guy’s mind just as much as his body. It would make the victory sweeter, more complete. Why just win a game if you could also completely dominate your opponent?
“Car’s this way,” Brendon said at last.
* * *
LeAnn wasn’t shy.
Nope, not a bit.
She looked around outside their quarters before boldly walking around the little fifties-era house. Most of the action seemed to be taking place well past the boulder fence Saxon Hale had warned them to stay behind.
LeAnn contemplated the hum coming from the site and stepped past the boundary line.
It didn’t take very long for Bram to meet her in the expanse of the wild plot of ground overgrown with weeds and saplings between the house and the construction site.
“LeAnn,” he said, growling at her.
She flashed him a smile. “I’m sort of liking this new chapter of our relationship. I don’t have to care if you’re ticked at me.”
Her comment caught him off guard. His lips pressed into a hard line as he hooked his hands into the construction belt he was sporting.
“Sister of your girlfriend, it’s working for me,” LeAnn continued. “You’re lucky to have me.”
“Care to expand a bit?” he demanded. “Because from what I can see, you’re already breaking rules set up to protect you. I don’t need a headache.”
“Well, you took my phone, so I couldn’t send you a text,” she informed him, then waved her hand in the air between them. “Let’s get on topic. This isn’t about me.”
Bram looked at her over the top of his shades. It hit her in the middle of her heart. On one hand, she was more convinced than ever of how right she was to go looking for him, and on the other, she was, well, a tad jealous that he’d never looked at her the same way he looked at Jaelyn.
Moving on …
“You need to go be … there for Jaelyn.”
His expression tightened. “What’s wrong?”
“She didn’t say anything, doesn’t know I’m talking to you, and it had better stay that way.” LeAnn sent him a dead serious look. “But the walls are thin in that mobile unit. She’s been in the shower for the better part of an hour.”
He contemplated her for about half a second before he was striding off toward the mobile housing unit.
She smiled and jumped when someone chuckled nearby. Dare Servant was contemplating her.
“You guys take the concept of team to the extreme,” she muttered.
Dare offered her a single shoulder shrug. “You’re not doing too bad, either. Might have thought you’d be a little bitter over seeing Bram with your sister.”
LeAnn only sent him a bored look back. “He was a friend with benefits. And that was exactly the way Bram wanted it, too. I’m no worse than he was for enjoying the arrangement.”
“No argument,” Dare replied, pointing her toward the boulder fence.
LeAnn went feeling like her spirit was lighter than it had been in a long time. Hooking up hadn’t really satisfied her, even if she’d claimed it was all she wanted.
No, somehow, getting a spot on the squad had become more important than anything else in her life. Sure, there was a sense of achievement in knowing she’d set a goal and succeeded.
But at what cost?
She caught sight of her grandfather. He was heading back toward the housing unit from where he’d been walking through the rusting cars that decorated the back half of the lot.
She barely knew him these days.
Well, change had landed on them all.
She walked toward her grandfather, heading him off before he made it too close to the mobile housing unit.
Yeah, thin walls for sure.
* * *
“Jaelyn…”
Bram startled her. She jumped, her bare feet slipping on the floor of the shower. Bram reached out and caught her by the biceps, reintroducing her to the amazing amount of strength he had.
Something slithered through her insides in response.
A sensation that made her smile as well as frown.
How did she deal with it?
With … him?
Her body had ideas. Ones that bubbled up, covering the emotions which had sent her into the shower in the first place.
“Come on, baby…,” he said.
No … cooed.
“I am not fragile.”
But she was nude while he was fully dressed. She shuddered, hating the way Creepy’s face rose from her memory making her belly heave.
“Look at me, Jaelyn.”
Authority edged his tone. She like it a lot better, too, opening her eyes and locking gazes with him. His blue eyes were full of desire. The sight made her gasp as her balance felt like it was shifting.
But that was the way Bram affected her.
“Come out, baby…”
Her fingers were wrinkled from how long she’d been in the water. There was still steam rising from the water falling steadily from the shower head but she didn’t feel it anymore.
“Alright.” She crossed in front of a mirror and caught sight of her red skin. The air was cold but she looked back and realized the water was turned to the top of the hot water setting. In fact, the change in temperature made her a little woozy. She faltered and a moment later, Bram scooped her off her feet.
He wrapped her in a towel at the same time, cradling her as he carried her toward the bed.
“I’m not fragile,” she repeated when he sat her down.
“You’re overheated,” he commented as he pulled the towel away.
“Don’t gripe at me about it,” she argued, feeling a need to flare at him. No, it didn’t make any sense, but nothing did at the moment. “It was just a shower.”
“No, baby…” He pressed a latch and the buckle holding his tool belt on opened. He dropped it to the floor as he opened his chest harness next. “It was a lot more than that.”
He’d hit the nail on the head. Tear stung her eyes and it pissed her off.
“I’m fine.”
Bram pulled his shirt off in the next moment, making her forget just what else she’d been thinking of saying. He was reaching for his fly when she stopped him.
“Don’t…”
“You’ve got a choice to make, baby … be bold or fragile … tell me which one you prefer…”
Bold … definitely bold.
She reached for him, hooking her hands into his fly and opening it. He made a sound of male approval before she was pushing the fabric down his hips so that his cock sprang free.
“Is that what you want, baby?” Bram asked as he cupped her chin and raised her face so that their eyes met. “Want to be in charge?”
Her lips had gone dry.
He was so very right …
And she was wrong to take out her frustrations on him.
She pulled her hands back, staring at him as she wrestled with the dilemma of her impulses.
Well, at least that was a very familiar quandary for her when it came to Bram Magnus.
Impulse against reasoning.
Bram cussed. “Don’t stop now.”
His tone had softened, frustrating her with how much her emotions were flip-flopping. God, she felt like a newly caught fish, unable to control anything as she died while fighting for her life.
Fighting … she liked the sound of that word.
“I’m waiting for you to take your boots off.”
He froze, one side of his mouth twitching up. “Well … yes, ma’am.”
Jaelyn moved away as Bram sat down to do as she’d said. He was wearing steel-toed work boots that were laced up over his ankles. She plucked the towel from the floor and rubbed it through her wet hair.
When Bra
m finished, he stood and shucked his pants, facing her in nothing but creamy skin and hard muscle.
“Let the towel go, baby … Don’t let him make you hide from me.”
Her mouth was dry with nervousness but the confidence in Bram’s tone made her bold enough to release the terry cloth. The towel slithered down to land on her feet.
Bram nodded. “What do you want, Jaelyn?”
To go back … to the way she’d felt before …
That was the long and short of it really.
And the night before Creepy had come into her life, she’d followed her impulses into Bram’s embrace.
He knew it …
“Take me to bed…” Her tone was husky. Once again, it took only moments for her impulses to flare to life. What had just been an inkling a few seconds ago was now a roaring need.
Bram lifted his hand and curled his finger at her.
Jaelyn felt her lips twitching.
He was daring her …
And she liked it so very much.
She went toward him, felt him sliding his hands along her cheeks, holding her head before he leaned down and sealed her mouth beneath his own.
She shivered.
Only now she was warming, her skin drying and feeling more sensitive than ever. Where his hands connected with her face, there was a surge of sensation, a new level of intensity.
All she wanted was more of it.
She moved forward, reaching for him, continuing until she was pressing herself against him. He slid one hand into her hair, maintaining his hold on her as he kissed her with a slowness that threatened to drive her insane.
And she didn’t want him to stop, either.
But he was moving his lips across her cheek, hooking one arm across her lower back and bending her over it so that her breasts were thrust up high.
“I love these…” He claimed one nipple, making her gasp as his lips closed around the tender tip.
A jolt of desire was running from her nipple to her clit.
So intense.
So needy …
She could feel her body heating, sense the way the walls of her passage were relaxing. Fluid was easing down to coat the folds of her slit and all the while, she was so conscious of how hard he was.
She smoothed her hands over his chest, along his upper arms and then down, reaching for his length because thoughts had dissolved into cravings, leaving her nothing but a pile of impulses that all pointed toward getting him inside her.
Be bold …
It was more than a need, the idea was pulsing through her. She pushed him back, straightening. She heard him growl and it only tossed more fuel on the fire consuming her.
“Sit.”
Her voice was strong and edged. Bram’s expression was hungry. His lips curled back as he bared his teeth at her.
“I’m going to ride you, Bram…”
His eyes narrowed with her declaration. The arm around her waist tightening as he backed up until he hit the bed and sat down. He lifted her up, pleasure glittering in his eyes as she placed her knees on either side of his hips and felt the head of his cock slip into her wet slit.
“I’m going to be bold…,” she said.
He cupped her bottom, spreading her folds as she lowered herself. But his grip controlled the pace.
“Let me…”
“Shhh…” He whispered against her lips. “Savor the moment, baby … feel the connection…”
She felt it alight.
His cock was stretching her passage, opening her wide as she sank down all the way, and he kept her there while it felt like she was on the verge of tearing.
So full …
So … close …
It was the thing she needed, deep down inside where emotions refused to be ruled by logic or sense. At her core, she was a creature that wanted to show him she could keep pace with him.
She rose up, and plunged down, groaning as his length slid into her. Her clit was a pulsing bundle of nerve endings, every little motion sending pleasure through her.
Bram was groaning, too, his chest heaving as he lost control, loosening his grip and thrusting up to meet every one of her downward plunges. They were striving toward each other and with each other as well, united in a common goal.
She felt the climax bursting inside her. Heard her own cries bouncing around the room. Bram opened his eyes, gripping her head so that her eyes popped open in that moment.
She was bare in that moment. More naked than she’d ever realized a person might be. Pleasure was exploding through her, twisting and wringing her like a toy.
And Bram witnessed her need.
His blue eyes were bright with hunger and desire. His cock was rock hard inside her, her body wetter than it had ever been. She was gasping for breath, losing her grip on reality, when he flipped her over and pounded into her.
He took her back to that boundary of pain. Where she wasn’t sure she could take it or him or her need for what he was giving her. He spread her wide, pushing her thighs open as he rode her.
Something jerked inside her. The hot spurt of his release made her cry out and then she was writhing as another orgasm burst inside her. This one was deeper, harder, and sharper.
It made her groan. The sound mixing with Bram’s grunts.
Savage …
They both were.
But it pleased her. When her brain was able to process a thought once more, Jaelyn found herself enjoying the way Bram was sprawled on the surface of the bed next to her, both of them too heated to touch more than fingertips.
It was intimate.
That moment when they were bared to the bone or maybe to the soul was more correct.
Just bare and satisfied and she drifted into sleep, her thoughts completely wiped clean at last.
* * *
“I haven’t been fucked like that…” Brendon was fighting to stay conscious. “… since…”
“Since the last time I was here,” Ricky finished for him.
Brendon nodded and then his eyes rolled up in his head. Ricky listened to the way his breathing deepened and slowed.
Nice. He didn’t really want to knock the guy out again. After all, Brendon was turning out to be a nice little source of information.
The air-conditioning was pumping the small house full of cold air. It felt good on his skin after the workout he’d just given Brendon. Ricky tossed a blanket over the guy so he wouldn’t wake up too soon and grabbed Brendon’s cell phone on his way out of the bedroom.
Ricky snickered as he discovered the fact that Brendon hadn’t even changed his access codes since the last time Ricky had used his flight-controller status to track down Saxon Hale and his team.
Nope, it was pathetically easy to get into the global system.
The Shadow Ops teams weren’t above the need for flight plan records. It was a sweet little loophole in their cloak-and-dagger world. One he didn’t want them to discover until he’d exploited it.
It sort of tickled him to know that someone would track it down, as part of the investigation into why he’d been able to take out a Shadow Ops team. Ricky wasn’t going to lie, it would give him a nice little buzz to know he’d pulled off something future agents would be trained on how to avoid.
Change the world.
Something his father had always lived for. Looked like Ricky would actually do it.
He tossed the phone down, wiped the screen clean before dressing and heading out of the door. The Las Vegas sun was brutal, but Ricky started walking anyway. Calling a cab or using one of the other options for a ride would leave a trail. Instead, he grabbed a bottle of water from a gas station and looked at the map posted in the window to find a bus station.
Buses were still a great way to get places without being asked for identification. He hoped Saxon and his team enjoyed their last few days of life.
Because he was coming for them, and thanks to Brendon’s access codes, he knew exactly where to find them.
* * *
<
br /> She was sleeping soundly.
Bram indulged in a long look at Jaelyn.
He carefully picked up his boots and tool belt and crept toward the door.
The dark circles under her eyes told him how much she needed the rest.
She needed him, too.
Right, you’re just hoping she does …
Or maybe it was just better to remind himself that Jaelyn needed to heal. He’d come in the night before to help her, and she didn’t owe him squat.
It was his fault she had issues to deal with.
The best thing he could do was let her have enough space to sort out her thoughts.
That wasn’t what he wanted.
No. What he wanted was something he was having trouble defining. Of course that was nothing new when it came to Jaelyn. He needed to check himself. Let her decide what she wanted to do.
Even if it felt like it was punching a hole through his gut.
* * *
The fifties-era house came complete with a little boy.
Jaelyn emerged from her so very sedate room to find him merrily on his way into the auto graveyard.
He couldn’t have been more than two, and with the contentment of toddlerhood, his blue eyes sparkled with the need for adventure.
A quick check showed Jaelyn that no one was around and the child was rounding the corner.
Well, it was something to do.
Besides, wonder where Bram is?
She took off after him, earning a happy little giggle as he realized she was following. He picked up his feet faster, running away as he laughed, completely assured by his youth that no harm would come to him.
Jaelyn scooped him up just as he was heading full speed into foliage that was twice his height.
He let out a whoop of laughter while clapping his hands. “Again! Again!”
Jaelyn placed him on his feet but pointed in a different direction and let him go. He took off but looked behind him to make sure she was giving chase. Jaelyn wiggled her fingers at him before she did.
He laughed again, raising her spirts as she tossed him into the air after catching him. But when she set him down, Saxon Hale came into sight.
“Daddy!”
The toddler ran straight toward Saxon. Jaelyn watched the way his face transformed while he caught the child, lifting him up and holding him against his side.