Damaged!: A Walker Brothers Novel: (The Walker Brothers Book 3)

by J. S. Scott

  His dark eyes lightened, and he grinned at me. “Trust your instincts. I guarantee I’ll like whatever you do.”

  I moved my hands to his firm butt, my fingers tracing over the muscled, smooth flesh.

  Like he said, I followed my instincts, putting my mouth to his wet abs, and tracing that seductive V with my tongue.

  I let my mouth trail over his shaft, then opened to take him into my mouth.

  Dane tasted like sin, and hard, stubborn, irresistible male, and I was intoxicated the moment I first sucked on his cock.

  I fumbled, but Dane reached down and held my head, coaxing me into the rhythm he needed.

  “Fuck, Kenzie! I told you I was never going to last. Watching my fucking wet dreams play out for real is too damn hard for me.”

  Had he dreamt about this, about me? God, I hoped so, because he’d been the star of my sensual dreams almost since the moment we’d met.

  I picked up the pace, getting comfortable with his mammoth size. I tried to keep taking more and more of him, but I would probably never be able to handle all of Dane.

  On instinct, I lowered my hand from his ass down to fondle his balls, and I was satisfied to get a guttural, sexy groan from his lips.

  “Just like that, Kenzie,” he groaned.

  “Just!”

  “Like!”

  “That!”

  I wrapped my hand around the root of his cock, finally getting to know his responses. I let my hand work with my mouth, and when I sensed his body tensing, I knew he was going to come.

  “Back up, baby. I’m going to come.”

  I didn’t want to back off. I wanted to taste him just like he’d tasted me. In fact, I craved it.

  I got exactly what I wanted, and Dane’s orgasm flowed powerfully down my throat, the warmth and his sensual groans fueling my own pleasure.

  I did it! I didn’t suck at giving head. Well, I guess I sucked, but only in a very good way.

  Dane grasped me tightly under the arms and hauled me up and into his arms.

  “Was that okay?” I asked hesitantly as I looked up at him.

  “No, it wasn’t,” he said as he tried to catch his breath. “It was more than okay.”

  I smiled as he kept his eyes closed and his head tipped, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

  “I’ll improve eventually,” I mused. “I just need practice.”

  He hauled me against him and he kissed me. I sighed into his tender kiss as I tasted the two of us mingled together.

  When he finally released my lips, I rested my head on his strong shoulder, happy to just be with him.

  “If you practice anymore, you’ll probably kill me,” he grumbled.

  I smiled against his skin, knowing that he really wouldn’t complain if I wanted to improve my skills.

  We cleaned up lazily, taking our time before we finally left the warmth of the shower.

  CHAPTER 32

  Kenzie

  ABOUT A YEAR AGO…

  I was not going to cry.

  “I’ll miss you,” Paige said in a forlorn voice.

  “I’ll miss you, too. But you’re going to leave here soon yourself,” I reminded her as we said our goodbyes at the bus station. My coach was just starting to load.

  Maybe Paige’s impending graduation was spurring me on to move and try out a different city. The New York gallery had kind of been an excuse. I’d applied intentionally for any positions in the art world, knowing my best friend would be moving on to bigger and better jobs. Since I had no experience, being a receptionist in a renowned gallery was going to have to be a place to start for now.

  “Be careful. Don’t walk alone after dark,” Paige cautioned. “And don’t forget to eat.”

  God, I was going to miss my honorary older sister. Paige was only a few years older than me, but she fussed like a mother hen sometimes. I was going to miss that so much. She’d always treated me like family, and it was something I’d never had.

  “Come here,” she said in a tearful voice. “I’m so worried about you.”

  I hugged her tightly, knowing that it was possible that I’d never have another friend who cared about me as much as she did.

  “You be careful, too,” I whispered. “It’s not exactly small-town here.”

  I’d always been a lot more streetwise than my buddy. Paige had taken some hard knocks, but she hadn’t spent as much time as I had roaming the streets.

  “We’ll stay in touch,” she said, trying to be cheery while tears were leaking from her eyes.

  I will not cry.

  I nodded, knowing we’d probably lose touch eventually. Paige was destined for big things, and we wouldn’t have much in common once she became a high-income attorney.

  “I’ll call you,” I yelled over my shoulder as I raced for the entrance of my bus. It was getting ready to move.

  I found my window seat, and saw Paige waving at the large vehicle as it prepared to pull away.

  I’ll make it. I just have to find the strength to keep trying.

  I didn’t start bawling until the bus had pulled away and I could no longer see my best friend on the sidewalk of the bus station. After that, my sorrow had free reign.

  There would only be one Paige in my lifetime, and missing her was worth crying about.

  CHAPTER 33

  Dane

  THE PRESENT…

  Mine!

  I couldn’t stop the tension forming in my body as I watched Kenzie eat the breakfast we’d ordered from room service.

  Yeah, she was mine. She just didn’t know it yet.

  Christ! Just watching her suck a drop of syrup from her finger gave me a giant sized erection, and I wasn’t even touching her.

  Okay, I knew I was pathetic, but I just didn’t give a damn. The only thing that mattered, my only objective, was to keep Kenzie by my side.

  When she’d run away from me in the pottery room, I’d been terrified that I’d moved too fast, and done the wrong damn thing when I’d offered her money. I was pretty sure I’d blown it. Considering her history, I didn’t blame her for not trusting anyone. Thinking about the hardship she’d gone through made my damn gut ache. And I couldn’t help wishing that I’d been there for her earlier, but I was here now, and I wasn’t going to let her be alone and frightened ever again.

  I couldn’t think about her being attacked without flying into a rage. Some low-life motherfuckers had nearly killed her, and left her for dead.

  I’d been that close to losing her, and I’d never even met her.

  It scared the shit out of me to think of Kenzie dying before I’d ever had a chance to have her in my life.

  You know how sometimes you just know that something was meant to happen? Kenzie was that certainty for me. I knew we were supposed to meet. I don’t know how I knew it, but it was true. I could feel it.

  Problem was, Kenzie now had the power to completely destroy me, and that was fucking terrifying. But I wasn’t going to let that fear stop me. She needed me just as much as I needed her. It just might take a little more time for her to see it my way.

  There was no turning back for me. The minute I’d touched her, she was all mine. In fairness, I was all hers, too. All I needed to do now was convince her that she wanted a scarred up bastard like me.

  “We’re supposed to go snorkeling with the giant turtles today,” she informed me between bites of her enormous stack of pancakes.

  Hell, I loved the way she ate. There were no dainty salads for Kenzie. She enjoyed her food almost like it was some kind of religious experience.

  “Are we going?” I asked as I picked up my fork and started to demolish the breakfast on my plate.

  She looked at me with a frown. “You know I can’t swim.”

  “I’ll take care of you,” I promised. “We cou
ld get you into a life jacket and let you watch the reef. Are you game?”

  I should have started her swimming lessons on the island, but after I’d screwed up, we’d never had the chance.

  “I’m not really afraid of water,” she mused. “I just don’t know how to swim. But I’d like to learn.”

  Yeah, I needed to get her swimming. I didn’t like the thought of her getting in trouble in the pool or on the beach at the Cay without the basic skills to keep herself afloat.

  She’d jumped into the shallow end of the pool so easily that I’d just assumed she knew how to swim until she’d told me otherwise.

  “I’ll teach you,” I answered. “You like the water, so that’s a good start. I’ll have you diving with me eventually.”

  Her face lit up. “That would be incredible.”

  I was humbled by how easy it was to make her happy. Life had shit all over her, and she was excited by things I’d been doing my entire life. How fair was that? I couldn’t think about it or it would make me insane.

  “So you want to go?” she asked.

  “Don’t you?”

  She nodded. “I do. I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to Hawaii again, so I’d love to see as much as I possibly can.”

  “We do have beautiful beaches on the island,” I reminded her.

  “I know. And I love it. But there’s something magical about this place.”

  I agreed. The something magical was her presence here. I liked Maui. I’d been here many times to dive. But it had never been this good.

  “I should get into my swimsuit,” she said excitedly.

  I held up my hand to stop her. “Finish your coffee. We have time.”

  She picked up her mug, and kept her seat, smiling at me as she put the coffee to her lips, and then drank. “About what happened last night,” she started hesitantly once she’d slugged back some caffeine.

  “And this morning?” I asked.

  “Yeah, that, too. I was thinking that maybe it was just some kind of fling for us.”

  Shit. She was nervous, and I hated that. She didn’t need to explain away what had happened. I’d been there with her. I was well aware of just how powerful it had been.

  I put down my fork and looked at her stubbornly. “It was no fling for me,” I told her with certainty.

  I had to convince her that everything that had happened was real for both of us.

  “But if it doesn’t happen again, I’ll understand.”

  I stood up, my gut aching at the thought of her throwing us away before we even got a chance to start. “I want it to happen again, Kenzie. Over and over. Every. Single. Fucking. Day.”

  Could I possibly make myself clearer? I didn’t think so.

  She stood up and walked up close to me. “I’m not on birth control,” she blurted out. “It shouldn’t have happened without protection, and I was stupid. I mean, it’s not really the right time of the month to get pregnant, but it was still a dumb thing to do.”

  She looked so forlorn that I wanted to tell her that I didn’t care if she got pregnant. I’d take care of her and any child I’d brought into the world, but I was afraid she wasn’t quite ready for that. “We were both there, Kenzie. I was just as responsible as you, maybe more so.”

  At some point, I could have gotten some condoms. I’d never missed using a raincoat before, especially not with Britney. But I never even thought about it with Kenzie, probably because I already knew I’d never want anybody but her once I’d touched her.

  She was it for me. Kenzie was the only woman I was ever going to love. She was my fucking everything. Now all I had to do was convince her what my gut and my heart had been saying all along.

  “I know we were both participating,” she answered. “I just didn’t think about the consequences. I’m not sure why. I’m usually careful about everything.”

  “It’s like that with us,” I explained. “I think we both got caught up in the moment.”

  At least, I knew that I had. Hell, I couldn’t even breathe when she was touching me, much less think.

  “You’ve never done that before?” she questioned.

  I took her hands and held them both tightly. “Never. And I should have thought about the fact that it would worry you. I’m sorry. But know that if it happens, you won’t be alone.”

  Hell, if she was pregnant, I’d never be able to let her out of my sight. Not that I could now, but it would be a lot worse.

  “But we could get protection,” she suggested breathlessly.

  “We will get it,” I corrected. “I’m not letting you kick me out of your bed.”

  She flung herself into my arms, and I caught her around the waist.

  “I’d never kick you out,” she vowed. “You’d have to leave me.”

  “Then I guess we’re stuck with each other,” I teased, my heart a hell of a lot lighter knowing that she wasn’t going to bolt.

  I was as scared as she was, but I was going to stick it out and fight for what I wanted this time. I wasn’t going into hiding, and I sure as hell was never going to let her go.

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her warm curves into my harder body. And Jesus, she felt good.

  “I don’t feel stuck,” she murmured. “I feel lucky.”

  “You feel lucky to be with an asshole?” I joked.

  She sighed and relaxed against me, and my heart started to hammer against my chest wall. Kenzie was starting to trust me, and I felt like I had something really fragile and beautiful in my hands. All I had to do was handle it carefully.

  “You’re not an asshole, and believe me, I feel like I’ve met every one of them in existence during the last several years.”

  I hated the fact that she’d ever been at any guy’s mercy. But there were some men who preyed on the innocent. It got their rocks off.

  I stroked my hand over her silken hair, trying not to think of the tight situations that Kenzie had suffered through in the past.

  If I considered it for very long, I’d end up homicidal.

  “You’re safe now. You know that, right?”

  Please say yes.

  “I feel safer than I ever have in my entire life,” she replied. “But that isn’t always comfortable for me, Dane. It’s hard to let my guard down.”

  “Then take your time,” I said. “We’ve got plenty of it.”

  I wasn’t going to be fucking impatient.

  Kenzie had a right to be careful, but I hoped that she’d eventually drop every single wall with me.

  Sometimes, it was more comfortable being vulnerable with somebody who was just as terrified as I was.

  CHAPTER 34

  Kenzie

  A FEW MONTHS AGO DURING THE HOLIDAYS…

  “You’re fired, Mackenzie. Go collect your things from your desk.”

  I was sitting in the office of my boss, Keith Maxfield, getting ready to go over the morning schedule of prospective buyers coming in that day.

  It wasn’t something I’d expected him to say, especially not since I’d had to kick him in the balls yesterday for trying to assault me.

  My blood ran cold at the thought of being without a job at the holidays. Especially my primary, full-time work. New York was so expensive that I’d be broke within a week, and nobody would be hiring this close to Christmas.

  “Why?” I asked. “Is this about yesterday?”

  I would have left if I could have. Keith was a prick, and I’d been fighting off his advances since I came to work here. In fact, it might be the reason I got the position in the first place.

  Yesterday, he’d gone much too far by groping at me in places that never saw the light of day very often.

  It had hurt, and I’d been fed up. Unable to stop him without a struggle, I’d resorted to the only way I know of to get him to le
t go.

  “Of course not,” he answered in a snotty voice. “I forgive you for losing control.”

  I wasn’t stupid. It was his way of telling me that my story would never be believed. He was well-known in the art industry, and I was a nobody, a woman he could fondle and get away with it.

  “Nobody is here, Keith. And we both know the truth. You’re pissed that I put your balls in your throat because you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself.”

  “Now, Mackenzie, we know that isn’t true,” he said in an annoyingly calm manner.

  “Fuck off, Keith,” I told him as my body trembled with anger.

  I stood and dropped the schedule on his desk.

  “No hard feelings, Mackenzie?” he queried.

  When I got to the door I turned around and shot him a furious stare. “There are plenty of hard feelings, you jerk. I’m losing my job because you couldn’t have your way. I get it.”

  I’d been through this routine plenty of times in my life, but to have it happen now was a nightmare.

  “Mackenzie, you know you spent half of your day talking to your mother on the phone. I’m letting you go because you aren’t a productive employee.”

  I pulled open the door as I said, “My mother is dead, you asshole.”

  I slammed the door behind me, and it echoed in the halls as my heels clicked on the tile while I made my way to my desk.

  I never talked on the phone. The only one I spoke to on the phone was Paige, and we rarely talked these days since she was busy starting her career. But when my best friend and I talked, it was never on company time.

  I drew a deep breath, and then let it out slowly as I searched my desk, looking for anything I wanted before I hightailed it out the door.

  I’ll make it. I just need to find the strength to keep trying.

  I left the office only to hit the cold, New York air. It was snowing, so we were going to see a white Christmas. Not that it meant much to me.

  I didn’t care about the holidays. Never had. All I wanted was to live through the season without ending up homeless.