by Megan Lowe
Chapter Twelve
REED
I wake to my alarm blaring way too fucking early in the damn morning, but my hand cupped around one of Bria’s tits makes it worth it. She’s a solid C-cup, a nice handful for me. I give her a squeeze before shutting my alarm off. We’ve only had about an hour and a half of sleep but I couldn’t help it. I just couldn’t get my fill of her. I still haven’t, judging by my rock-hard dick. I wasn’t joking when I said I was falling for her and she’d ruined me for everyone else. For as long as I live, all I want is Bria, and that’s what I’m gonna have right now.
I nuzzle her neck and gently roll her to her back. “It’s time to wake up.”
She swats at my face. “Just a little more sleep, honey, please?”
I fucking love that she calls me honey. I love that this incredible girl is mine and she’s willing to overlook my history.
“I’m afraid not. We have to be on the road soon, and I need to have you before Chris comes running in here.”
If I thought the amazing sex Bria and I had last night was a fluke, this morning wonderfully proves me wrong. It leads me to think sex with Bria is always going to be amazing and it’s enough to not want it with anyone else.
She collapses on my chest and I hold her to me tight.
“With wake-up sex like that, feel free to wake me anytime,” she pants.
I laugh and kiss her neck, inhaling her sweet, fruity scent. “Whatever you want, angel. If I remember correctly, I did promise to take care of you, so if this is what you need to get you going….”
She laughs and slaps my chest, climbing off me. “You’re such a martyr, aren’t you, Reed Ryan?” She winks at me over her shoulder as she walks that sexy arse of hers into the bathroom.
I get up and follow her immediately, like the whipped arse that I am. “Hey, a promise is a promise.” I reach around her to start the shower.
Once it’s warmed up, I pick her up, her legs wrapping around me, and walk us in. I sit us down on the bench, grab the back of her neck, and bring her lips to mine. I kiss the hell out of her while she reaches down and squeezes my still-hard cock.
“Can you go again, angel, or are you sore?”
“I’m a little sore but I’ll deal. I want you, Reed.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Only good hurt, honey. Don’t worry.”
“Baby….”
In the end, Bria takes matters into her own hands by sliding down on me again. If bed sex with Bria was amazing, shower sex is out of this world! She takes me so deep I almost lose my mind. This girl….
“Damn, Bria, I swear you’re gonna be the end of me.” I kiss her neck as I lift her off me so we can clean up.
“But you’ll go happy, right?”
“I’ll be fucking ecstatic, but I want more with you.” I grab her and bring her body flush to mine. I can’t stop touching her, and to be honest, I really don’t want to. I’m so into this girl it’s not even funny.
“Can I ask you something?” she asks as she lathers soap all over me.
“Anything.” I run my hands up and down her sides.
“Do you miss racing?”
“I miss the competitiveness and the thrill of the race, but not all the bullshit that came along with it.”
“Like what?”
“All the stuff that allowed Hunter to get such a foothold, and the pressure from the sponsors. It was insane. Now, I’m just happy to ride recreationally and leave all that shit to Liam. He’s so goddamn talented I’m in awe of him, and so’s the rest of the circus.”
“So all the stuff that bothers you doesn’t bother him?”
“It doesn’t touch him. Liam’s the star, the drawcard. Whatever he wants or needs he gets.”
“It must be nice.”
“He’s earned it and now he’s reaping the rewards.”
“And he’s not in danger from Hunter?”
“You worried about my brother, angel?” I ask, bending so I can look in her eyes.
“Of course. He’s your family, plus, all your brothers are lovable in their own right.”
I’m so glad to hear her say that. My family and I are as close as we can possibly be, so any woman who comes into our lives is going to have to get along with them. Bria fits in like she was born to do it and that’s good, because when the time’s right, I’m making her one of us. Every time I think such a statement, I expect the panic to set in. There was a time the thought of settling and being with one person would make me rush out and find a new lay quick. But with Bria, there has been nothing but rightness and contentment. I'm happy to go along for the ride.
Just then we hear small fists banging on the door. “Uncle Reed, Aunty Bria, are you in dere?” Chris shouts.
I rest my head against Bria’s shoulder. “I’ll never know how someone so cute can be so annoying.”
Bria giggles and I kiss her quickly. “I think his cuteness more than makes up for that.”
“As much as I hate to pop this bubble, if we don’t get out there he’ll come in, and even though he’s three, I don’t want anyone who’s not me looking at you.” I hop out of the shower.
“Aw, honey, are you getting all territorial over me?” she coos.
I pull her tight to me. “One, I love that you call me honey,”—I kiss her nose—“and two, we said last night that I’m yours and you’re mine, so you’re damn right I’m going to claim you every chance I get.”
She bites her lip. “Damn, Reed, now I’m wet.”
I arch an eyebrow and slip a finger between her slick folds to find her practically dripping. I throw my head back and groan. My dick's standing at full attention to her heat.
“Damn, Bria, now I’m hard.”
“A quickie?”
“Will you be quiet?”
“I can try.” She smiles her mischievous grin. Damn that grin; it gets me every time.
I grab her hips and bend her over. “Grab on to the sink, baby.” She does as she’s told and I plunge into her.
We’re both breathless but more than satisfied when Chris bangs on the door again.
“Uncle Reed! Aunty Bria!” he whines, and Bria giggles.
“I’ll go keep him occupied while you clean up,” I say with a kiss to her forehead.
“I left my bag in my car, and it has my clean clothes in it. Can you grab it for me?”
“No worries.” With another kiss, I open the door and nearly bowl over Chris, who is readying his little fists again.
I scoop him up and close the door before he can cop a view of Bria, three-year-old or not.
“What were you doing with Aunty Bria?” he asks as I put him on my bed. He immediately starts jumping on it.
“We were having a shower.”
“Why were you in dere together?”
“Saving water, buddy. How come you’re calling her Aunty Bria?”
“Daddy and Uncle Jax told me to.”
“Of course they did. Where is Uncle Jax?”
“He’s at his house. He said to come get him when you and Aunty Bria stop sucking face. Why are you sucking her face? Does she like it?”
I laugh and start to get dressed. “Yes, buddy, she likes it, and it’s something you’ll do when you’re older. Where’s Pa?”
“Grown-ups are weird. Pa’s making breakfast.”
“All right, you go have breakfast and I’ll get Uncle Jax.” Chris nods and hops off the bed. I follow him out of the house, grab Bria’s clothes, and drop them off to her.
“Thanks, honey,” she says, rewarding me with a hot kiss before kicking me out so she can get dressed. I personally don’t see the problem with me watching her get dressed; it’s not like I can’t control myself. Okay, so it’s probably better I don’t stay. Instead, I barge next door to rouse Jax.
I open his bedroom door. It hits the wall before bouncing back at me. I rip off his blankets and kick his feet.
“Get up, fucker.”
He stretches languidly. “You an
d sis done sucking face?”
“Never, but we’ll wait, and thanks for telling Chris that. I had to explain what it meant.”
Jax bursts out laughing. “That’s practice for when you two have little Reedlets.”
Shit, I hadn’t thought of having kids with Bria. Don’t get me wrong, I want them; she’d be a great mum and the image of her belly round with my baby makes my dick twinge again—shit. I adjust myself and Jax laughs again.
“Like that idea, huh?”
“Man, you have no idea. The girl’s a dream.”
“Seriously?”
“She’s it, 100 percent.”
“I gotta tell ya, it’s an awesome thing to watch.”
“Huh?”
“Watching the great lady-loving Reed Ryan, my big brother, being brought to his knees by a woman? Granted, a very lovely, very beautiful woman, but a woman nonetheless. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen for any of us.”
And with that statement, Jax reminds me why there hasn’t been a prolonged female presence around this family: we’re not good for them.
Chapter Thirteen
BRIA
I finish getting dressed and go into the living room. Seconds later, Reed and Jax come in, and I walk into Reed’s arms. He seems a little sombre and sad.
“Hey, sis,” Jax says, and flashes me a panty-dropping smile.
“Hey, Jax.”
“You ready for the circus?”
“Sure. It’ll be nice to see the world you guys live in.”
Reed doesn’t say anything so I give him a squeeze and look into his eyes. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He kisses my nose. “Come on, Pa’s cooking breakfast.” He takes my hand and leads us over to the big house.
Chris comes flying at me when we enter the kitchen. I bend down to pick him up and he hugs me tightly around my neck.
“Aunty Bria!”
“Hey, handsome.”
“Uncle Liam’s racing today and we’re gonna watch.”
“We are,” I say, sitting down. “Are you excited?” He nods.
I’ve chosen to ignore him calling me aunty along with Jax and Parker calling me sis. Admittedly, I love it and it makes my heart skip a beat, but I don’t want to read too much into it, especially in the wake of Reed’s weird mood. I thought he was fine in the bathroom, and then when he wanted to watch me get dressed, so what happened once he left?
Jay’s bustling around the kitchen and turns, spotting Chris and me. A big smile breaks across his face. “Bria my girl, how are you, darling?”
“I’m good, Jay, thank you. How are you?”
“Still trucking, darling. Someone’s got to keep these knuckleheads in line.” He nods in the direction of Reed and Jax.
I laugh. “Funny, I thought that was Chris’s job.” I bounce him in my lap.
“We do it together, don’t we, buddy?” Jay asks Chris.
“Yep.” He nods.
“You keeping an eye on your Uncle Reed for me?” I ask Chris.
“I dare say you’ll be around enough to keep an eye on him yourself,” Jay says, and I shoot him a shy smile. I wonder if Reed’s thinking the same thing, or if he doesn’t want that to be the case anymore.
“How do you like your eggs?” Jay asks, breaking me out of my reverie.
“Er, scrambled will be fine, thanks, Jay.”
He puts a plate down in front of Chris, his bacon already cut up. I pick up a fork and begin to feed him.
I look up at Reed and he has a strange look on his face, almost a cross between pain, want, and love, and I’ve never been so confused. What the hell is going on with him?
“There you go, sweetheart,” Jay says as he sets a plate down in front of me.
I manage to feed both Chris and myself, and then we’re hitting the road.
Reed is driving. I’m up front with him; Jay and Chris in his car seat are next, and Jax is in the back of Parker’s SUV.
I look over at Reed. He shoots me a small smile and takes my hand. It’s something, but I have no idea what’s going on. Is he trying to get rid of me now that we’ve slept together? Were all the sweet words he was saying last night empty?
I squeeze Reed’s hand once and then make myself comfortable.
Chapter Fourteen
REED
I know I’m acting weird but I can’t help it. I want Bria so badly, but my family doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to keeping women. It terrifies me to think of anything happening to her, but it also makes my heart ache at the thought of being without her.
Seeing the way she was with Chris this morning killed me. It killed me to see what our future could be like, how she’d be with our kids. Can I go through a relationship with her knowing I’m putting her at risk? And kids? Can I risk them having to grow up without a mother just like I did? I mean, sure, I’m a well-adjusted member of society, but we all need our mum. On the other hand, can I walk away from her? Can I function without her?
I care about this girl so damn much, but I don’t want anything to happen to her and therein lies my dilemma. I know she’s noticed my change in behaviour, but I’m so goddamn fucking torn on what to do here. Pa only had eighteen months with Nan; she died during childbirth and he was a mess afterwards, apparently. Pop fared better; he and Ma were together almost ten years before she died of ovarian cancer. I was only six at the time, but I remember how the life went out of our family afterwards. I know it’s not a scientific thing and nothing may happen to Bria, but what if it does? I can’t lose her, and with our track record, if I were a betting man the odds wouldn’t be good for us. But I can’t let her go; I won’t let her go. Maybe we’ll be lucky like Pop was with Ma. A decade’s a long time, right? And surely any time is better than none. What it comes down to is I don't think I can imagine my world without her.
Bria sleeps the entire two and a half hours to the track and I’m glad. I kept her up late last night making love to her. Not that I regret a single second of it but I don’t like the thought of her being tired.
I gently shake her to wake her up. “Baby, we’re here.”
She blinks, smiles a dazzling smile at me, and I lose my breath. She’s so goddamn amazing. Why the fuck am I thinking of pushing her away?
My mind made up, I kiss her deeply and she smiles so big at me I feel like my heart is going to burst. “Morning, angel.”
“Hi,” she says shyly. I can tell she’s wary of my reaction but her intent is clear. I can see the care in her eyes.
“We good?” she asks.
I kiss her nose. “Yeah, we’re good. Come on, let me show you around.” I get out of the car and race around to open her door.
She giggles. “There’s that smoothness, Ryan.” She winks at me.
I take her hand and lead her into the pits. For obvious reasons, we’re down at one end and Devil are down at the other.
We walk into our garage and are met with wolf whistles and suggestive gestures. Bria blushes and hides her face in my arm while I give my brothers the finger. Pa covers Chris’s eyes and ears.
“Nice of you to show up,” Liam says, coming through the crowd. “Nice to see you again, sis,” he says, kissing Bria on the cheek and slapping me on the back. “Warm-up is in an hour.”
I nod. “Got it. All right,” I say, bringing my attention back to Bria, “this is our garage. Welcome to the inner sanctum of Ryan Racing.”
As I say this, Jax comes up and presents Bria with a Ryan Racing polo.
“So this is where the magic happens, huh?” she asks, pulling the polo over her head.
I lean down to whisper in her ear, “No, angel, that’s my bedroom. Or did you already forget last night?” I’m rewarded with a blush.
It’s then that I see her good mood vanish. I take her arm and lead her away from everyone else.
“What is it?”
“Devil Racing will be here, won’t they?”
Ah, so that’s it. “Yes, baby, they are.”
&nbs
p; She looks around. “Where?”
“All the way down the other end of the pits. They won’t bother us here.”
“But they could, couldn’t they?” she says, and bites her lip.
I release her lip with my thumb. “Realistically they could, but so could an asteroid by landing right here on this very track.” That gets a smile.
“Smart-arse.”
I kiss her quickly. “I’m your smart-arse.”
“Yes, you are.” She grabs the back of my neck and kisses me unhurriedly.
Pa clearing his throat brings us back to earth. We break apart and Bria hides her blush in my chest.
“Hey, Pa,” I say, running my hand through Bria’s hair.
“Reed, I was wondering if our girl Bria there might do me a favour?” Bria peeks up through her lashes.
“Sure, Jay, what’s up?” she asks.
“One of the mechanics can’t make it today. He says he’s sick but I reckon it’s one too many beers. Anyway, Liam’s a mechanic short, so I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind looking after young Christian during the race?”
A smile graces her face and she jumps away from me. “That’s no problem, I’d love to. I’d hate to deprive Liam of a top mechanic.” She winks at Pa.
I pull her back to my front and grind against her arse a little. “Oh, he’s already got a top mechanic in me. Pa’s just there to make up the numbers.” Pa scoffs and Bria laughs.
“If that’s the case,” Pa says, “then you better get a move on. Warm-up’s in just under an hour.”
“Got it. Come on, we’ll get you and Chris set up here for warm-up and then you can go to the box for the race.”
“You mean I get to see you get all hot and sweaty?” She bites my earlobe. I have to hold back a groan. “I can’t wait.” She dances away from me to go get Chris.
I really shouldn’t be worried about anything happening to her. She’s going to kill me before too long.
Chapter Fifteen
BRIA
Getting to see Reed work up close was a lesson in self-restraint I never want to repeat. Seeing him all hot and sweaty and covered in grease? Holy shit, it was hot; and he’s all mine. I’m so glad he got over whatever was troubling him earlier. Especially since I’ve completely fallen for him.