by Sami Lee
Emily’s heart skipped a beat at his use of the L-word. She closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of him which had become so familiar, some mixture of exotic spice and leather. She filled her senses with it, filled her soul with everything about Jet that she’d come to love. A calm sense of purpose overcame her. “Then I’ll tell everyone the truth.”
Jet sighed. “No, Em.”
“Why not?” Her family loved her and wanted her to be happy, and once they understood that Jet and Brand made her happy, they would accept her unconventional choice. She hoped. If they didn’t…well, she didn’t want to think about that right now. “I don’t want to hide you, Jet. I’m not ashamed of you.”
Jet closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. “You really think you can do this? Tell your whole family you’re in a relationship with two men?”
Emily’s palms sweated at the very thought, but she said, “I have to. It’s what I want and I don’t want to lie about it.”
“Ah, Em. We’re going to have a hell of a time convincing Brand. He’s running scared right now.”
His words frightened her, but his use of the word “we” helped alleviate some of the fear. They’d work this all out somehow. Together.
Emily stroked the silky hair at Jet’s nape. “Don’t give up on me, Jet. I need you. Brand needs you.”
“I can’t give up, Em. Christ, I love you both too much.”
Emily’s heart leapt to her throat at his impassioned confession. Before she could get her bearings, he kissed her fully, his warm lips and mobile tongue drawing the usual response from her.
Jet loved her. Emily’s pulse raced, spreading the desire quickly around her body. She tilted her head back and opened her lips compliantly, encouraging Jet to deepen the kiss.
He devoured her, and Emily responded fervently, kissing him back until they both ran out of air. “Oh, Jet,” she panted when they broke apart. “I…”
The sound of the dogs whining a greeting made her break off. She turned to see Brand standing in the doorway, his expression fierce.
“Brand!” Emily gave Jet’s hand a squeeze before standing and walking toward Brand. “Where have you been? We were worried.”
“Were you?”
He gave her body an assessment that was both scathing and intensely carnal. Emily was suddenly aware that her nipples must be standing out clearly against the silken material of her green crossover top. She flushed with embarrassed heat, which was crazy because this was Brand. Brand had seen her in an aroused state more times than she could count.
Rebelliously, she planted her hands on her hips, not bothering to hide herself. “Yes, we were. Did you forget I wanted to leave for Penny’s party by five thirty?”
“No.” His gaze wandered indolently over her outfit again, taking in the slim fit of the top and black slacks and the high heels. The outfit Jet had helped her choose after he’d convinced her not to buy some frilly dress she wasn’t comfortable in. “You look damn sexy. Are there any kisses left for me or did you use them all up?”
Emily didn’t like the latent anger in his tone. He didn’t have the right to complain that she was kissing Jet. “Not until you tell me—”
He cut her off by grabbing her and forcibly yanking her into his arms. His kiss was peremptory, almost brutal. The absence of the gentleness Emily was used to made her lose her breath. She was stunned into compliance. She could do nothing else when Brand simply took what he wanted without asking.
Despite the complete lack of finesse in the kiss, by the time Brand pulled back Emily’s nipples gave away her response. Brand studied the effect, his lips tilting mockingly. “Plenty left for me, after all.”
Emily swallowed, not at all sure what to make of Brand’s behavior. “We need to get going.”
“Your family can wait a bit longer.” Brand followed up his arrogant statement by placing his hand on her ass and squeezing. “I want you.”
Heat flushed through Emily. Part of it was due to embarrassment, because Brand had never spoken to her with even an ounce of condescension and she didn’t know how to respond to it now. The other part was pure physical reaction, because despite his attitude Brand’s brusque hand on her ass was a turn-on.
He put both hands on her ass and drew her toward him. His hardening flesh prodded her stomach as he swooped down to graze his teeth over her throat. Emily shuddered with pleasure at the peremptory treatment, her panties filling with damp heat. Brand was being a total ass, but somehow Emily was still aroused by him.
“Brand, wait.” She gathered the strength to push against his chest in protest. “I don’t want this.”
“Bullshit.” He lifted a hand to cup her breast, rubbing his palm over the distended nipple. “You’re enjoying it.”
He gave her a solid pinch to prove the point. Emily gasped, both in shock and undeniable sexual response. If this had been a game, Emily would have apparently loved to explore it. But it wasn’t a game. Something was wrong, and they were late for her sister’s party already.
“Brand, don’t.”
Emily shoved at his arms, trying to wrench herself out of his embrace. When he didn’t immediately release her, Jet came and pulled her out of Brand’s arms and into his.
“Brand,” he hissed. “She said no.”
Brand took a step back at last. He lifted his hands to show his compliance, but the twist of his lips was mocking. “Just trying to be straight up about what I want. Felt like a screw without all the foreplay. Guess I should have come to you.”
Emily sensed the anger vibrating through Jet’s frame. “I’m not in the mood.”
Brand laughed, a cruel sound. “Emily is.” He raked his gaze once more over her body. “You got her hot, but I get her hotter. And she’s always saying she wants all of me. Just the way I am, isn’t that right, Emily?”
Brand raised a brow, his silver eyes assessing her flushed cheeks and heaving chest. Was he challenging her? “That’s right. I even want the parts of you that are one hundred percent asshole.”
“No, you don’t.”
“You’re not going to scare me off, if that’s what you’re trying to do. Is it?”
“Thought I was clear about what I was trying to do.”
“Jesus, Brand,” Jet swore. “Lay off.”
“Emily doesn’t need your protection. We were fine before you came along.”
“That’s a load of bullshit.”
Brand glared at Jet, and Emily could see the situation was only going to deteriorate if she didn’t reduce the level of airborne testosterone.
“It’s okay, Jet.” Emily stepped out from under Jet’s protective arms. “You said you wanted to give the bike a run. Why don’t you go on ahead? We’ll meet you at Leyton’s.”
“No.”
Emily looked at him steadily. “I’m okay. Brand and I will be right behind you.”
Disbelief swirled in the depths of Jet’s dark eyes. Maybe a degree of hurt too, something Emily would have to smooth over later. Hell, the man had just told her he loved her and now she was effectively kicking him out. She’d definitely need to make it up to Jet. But right now separating him and Brand was the priority.
“Please, Jet.”
Swearing under his breath, Jet stalked to the coffee table and grabbed his keys. He shot daggers at Brand with his eyes. Brand responded with a smirk. Jet didn’t even look at Emily as he left the house, slamming the door behind him.
A moment later the thrum of the Harley started up. It roared as it sped off into the night. Emily prayed Jet wouldn’t speed and get into an accident. I’m sorry, Jet.
All through Jet’s stormy exit, Emily and Brand faced each other. When the sound of the motorbike’s engine had faded, Emily said, “It’s just us now, Brand. Is there something you want to get off your chest?”
“You think I want to talk?” His
gaze seethed with lust as it raked over her.
“Do you honestly believe sex is going to fix whatever’s got you pissed off?”
“It’s never hurt my mood before.” When his gaze reconnected with hers, Emily was sure her pulse stopped. “Get your clothes off.”
Her heart started again, beating so hard and fast Emily felt faint. Brand’s dominance was something she’d grown addicted to in the past month, and she couldn’t prevent her body from responding with a rush of wet heat.
Was he intentionally being a jerk to prove she didn’t want all of him as she’d always said? That she didn’t want his dominant, demanding side or the darkness that he had never before shown her? She’d always sensed there were depths to his personality he kept back. If she turned him away now, would she ever find out what he was hiding?
“Emily.”
The steely command caused her breasts to tighten. She allowed her base lust, and love, to make the decision for her. She would do whatever it took to prove to Brand that she wasn’t afraid of his pain. She grasped the hem of her top and dragged it over her head, revealing the black lace bra she only wore for special occasions. See through, push up. It had all the seductive elements, and it never failed to incite Brand’s passion.
Now, his response was more like fury than lust. “Bedroom. Now.”
Emily turned and walked on jellied legs, undoing the buttons at the waistband of her black pants on the way. She kicked off her heels and stripped out of her pants, bending over so Brand would get a perfect view of her black lace G-string as he followed her into the room.
Playing with fire, Emily. The spark of fear that ignited at the thought only added an edge to her arousal. When her trousers were gone, she placed her palms flat on the bed and propped one knee on the mattress well.
“Don’t,” Brand hissed from the doorway.
Emily looked over her shoulder and saw him standing there wearing only his jeans and a thunderous scowl. “I thought this was what you wanted. A screw, no foreplay.” It was an outright challenge. He’d never wanted sex like that from her. Would he go through with this?
He stalked toward her, his belt buckle jingling as he undid it. He grasped her hips and twisted her so she was forced to turn. She fell onto the bed with a plop. He watched her breasts bounce as he unzipped his fly. “First your mouth. Then your cunt, and maybe your ass too.”
Emily’s pussy clenched. She wanted all of it, even though Brand’s behavior seemed designed to induce the opposite response. Was he trying to piss her off? Scare her? He was doing a little of both, yet her overwhelming reaction was arousal. And determination not to cower.
If he was trying to push her away, she had to show him she wasn’t so easy to shove. She kept her gaze steady on his face. “Whatever you want.”
There was a subtle hitch in his breathing, a telltale sign that he wasn’t as in control as he appeared. But the momentary weakness was gone quickly. With coldly efficient movements, Brand shucked his jeans and underwear. He held his erection in one hand and sank his other into her hair. An instant later Emily’s mouth was full of him.
She grasped Brand’s thighs to steady herself against the shock of having him plunder her so thoroughly, so quickly. Usually he loved the way she licked and stroked him first, drawing out the pleasure before he sank into her fully. Not this time. He pushed into her, past her tongue to the back of her throat, and set a purposeful rhythm right away.
Emily fought the reflex to gag. She relaxed her muscles as best she could, letting him in because when his free hand was on the back of her head she could do little else. He’s using you, Emily. Brand had never been a selfish lover before, but he used her mouth as though he didn’t care for her pleasure, only his own.
She looked up at him. He was watching the way his cock sank in and out of her mouth, but if he was gaining any pleasure from what he was doing to her, it wasn’t revealed by his scowl. If anything he looked deeply unhappy.
It was that thought that finally made her gag reflex kick in. Emily choked and spluttered, pushing against Brand’s hips. He swiftly withdrew, released her hair from his tight grip. His hand came to rest on her shoulder, a comforting gesture. Or so she thought. She glanced up, expecting to find remorse or concern on his face.
Instead there was nothing but unadulterated pain. “Tell me to stop, Emily. Tell me to go, and I’m gone.”
A shudder moved through her, a premonition that he meant what he said in a permanent way. That if she asked him to leave, he would leave forever. That all along he’d been waiting for her to reject him so he would have an excuse to disappear. “No,” she gasped. “I want you here with me—with me and Jet. I just wish…”
“What? What do you wish?”
“I wish you’d be honest with me.”
“Honest?” He scowled as he pushed her back on the bed and leaned over her. “I honestly want to fuck. How’s that?”
There was more going on, obviously. But Emily’s body didn’t care so much about the more. It grew damper when Brand’s erection prodded her opening. Her body wanted him, and her heart was desperate to make him understand she accepted him on every level. She held his gaze and tilted her hips. “Do it. I want you to.”
Something primal flashed in his eyes. Something dangerous. Emily didn’t even have a moment to process what was going to happen before Brand was on her, his hips between her splayed thighs. He tore her panties, the fine lace coming apart easily in his fisted hand. He grabbed her thigh, held it open. Then he entered her in one plunge.
She was wet for him, despite everything. Still, his first brutal thrust pushed a shocked gasp from her lungs. Brand didn’t falter before he drove into her again, imbedding himself even deeper, tunneling straight to her womb. He set a furious rhythm, taking her over and over again as she clutched his shoulders and held on.
Emily looked up into his eyes and saw…nothing. Brand was staring at her, holding her gaze, as though ensuring that she would see the emptiness there and know how completely he was closed off to her in this moment. The cadence of his thrusts generated an instinctive, explosive heat, but the cold gray steel of his eyes lodged in her chest like ice. She was losing him. She didn’t know how, she didn’t know why, but he was retreating, and it left her feeling cast off even as he was joined with her in the most intimate way possible.
Her eyes stung, but Emily met each of his thrusts with an acquiescent tilt of her hips. Desperation tightened her chest. She put her heart in her eyes, wanting to match Brand’s emptiness with the fullness of her love for him.
“I love you,” she rasped.
For a moment light bloomed in the darkness. Before Emily could dare hope, Brand evaded her, staring somewhere over her shoulder as he continued to fuck her in silence.
Emily grasped his face and dragged his gaze back to her. “Brand. I love you.”
His eyes bore into hers, and there was so much fury and pain in them Emily lost her breath. “You know this isn’t working. Tell me to leave.”
Emily shook her head, her eyes growing damp. “No.” Somehow she knew Brand’s rage wasn’t directed at her, but at himself. But that was so much worse. A sob choked her throat, strangling her words as she tried again to reach him. “I love you.”
“Stop it.” He ceased the motion of his hips. Resting his weight on his elbows he glared down at her. “You and Jet are both the same. So fucking deluded. You think you know me, but you don’t. You don’t fucking know anything.”
“Then tell me,” she cried. “Please.”
“Tell you what? That my mother was a drug-addled whore and my father was a drunk who used to beat on women? Or would you rather know about the people I killed in the war? I killed people, and I did it without a second thought. I put bullets into their heads, scattered their brains in the dust. Is that what you want to hear?” He pounded the heel of his palm into the mattress beside her head. �
�Tell me what would satisfy you, Emily.”
She shook her head from side to side. “I love you, Brand. I love you.”
He swore violently and covered her mouth with his hand, smothering the words. His voice seethed. “Shut the fuck up.”
Emily couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. They seeped from her eyes and ran down her cheeks, wetting Brand’s hand. He didn’t lift it from her mouth as he began to fuck her once more, pounding into her with frenetic motions, rutting with her like a mindless animal. He was intent on shutting her out, pushing her away even as he took her, branded her, punished her. Punished her, she assumed, for making the mistake of loving him.
He didn’t want her love. That’s what he was trying to tell her. He didn’t want her to love him.
When Emily’s body responded, it was a purely base reaction to the physical joining. Her muscles contracted without her emotional consent. Her body climaxed, even as her heart bled and a sob tore from her throat to be muffled by Brand’s palm. He pushed inside her one last time and filled her with his essence. No, he filled her with his come, nothing more. He took from her even as he gave. He took her beliefs about their relationship and shattered them like rose-colored glass.
She’d been such an idiot. She suspected there was a measure of self-loathing in Brand, but she’d had no idea how soul-deep it ran until he looked into her eyes after his climax and it was all written there—carved there as though it could never be erased. He hated himself for doing this, hated the life full of rough experiences that that had left him emotionally shattered and unable to understand her love. She’d been a blind fool to think two years of her softness could smooth out the rock-hard pain inside him.
Brand withdrew and rolled away from her. He sat on the edge of the bed, his shoulders stooped. He made no attempt to comfort her as she cried, although he could surely hear the shuddering sniffles she couldn’t quell. Emily sat up, hugging her knees to her chest to ward off the chill of isolation. Of loss.