by M. S. Parker
“And what the hell would Jake think?”
“Jake’s my brother. He’s not my parent,” I said calmly. Cocking a brow at him, I added, “And I don’t plan on telling him. Do you?”
With a nonplussed look on his face, Kane blew out a breath and tore his gaze from mine. He still looked uncertain, unsure how to process any of this.
I bit my lip as I shifted around on the couch, rising so that I could move forward. At my movement, his gaze returned to mine, and he held still as I pressed my lips to his. He’d prodded me into making moves the other night, but now I was doing it on my own, and I was insanely nervous.
Lifting my hand, I placed it on his cheek.
Rough stubble scraped against my palm as I edged closer. His mouth opened under mine, but he didn’t do anything else to deepen the kiss.
I took the initiative and slid my tongue across his lower lip, echoing the way he often kissed me.
He tasted like beer, and under it was the familiar taste I’d come to associate with him. Kane. He tasted like Kane, and I loved it.
His head craned back as I moved to stand in front of him, my head bent low as I continued to kiss him. I shivered as he moved his hands to my hips, his big palms restlessly kneading my waist.
Dipping my tongue past his lips, I sought out more of his taste and was rewarded when he closed his mouth around my tongue, sucking with a deep, sensual rhythm that weakened my knees. The sensation sent a thrill rushing through me, and the shivers in my body increased, arrowing down to center in my core. I wanted to wrap myself around him and rock against the heat that always emanated from him.
He’d be hard and ready, I thought, and the slick wet tissues between my thighs grew slicker, wetter in preparation. Drawing back, I stared down at him as I struggled to catch my breath.
Kane’s eyes glittered as he stared up at me from under his lashes.
I rested my hands on his shoulders, slowly stroking down, letting myself enjoy the feel of hard, roped muscle under my hands. “Can we take this off?”
Kane pushed up from the table, sitting straighter in front of me. “You do it.”
It was the first time I’d ever undressed a man and my hands tangled in the fabric as I drew it up, then away from him.
Dropping the shirt down on the table next to him, I stared at him, my hands returning to his shoulders. Despite the fact that it was winter, his skin was a mellow gold, and the scrolling ink of tattoos marked almost every inch of his upper body. A phoenix, mouth open in a defiant scream, spread across his right shoulder, the wings sweeping down from over his chest and back. There was a dragon on his left shoulder. I traced my fingers over the feathers of the eagle’s wings, studied the dragon’s scales.
Under my hands, his flesh was warm, and his chest hitched as I stroked my hands down.
He cupped my ass in his hands and tugged me closer. “Come here.”
I ended up sprawled on his lap, one hand curled over the back of my neck, the other gripping my hip and holding me steady as he rocked up against me.
Heat spilled through me with every movement of his hips, and I was whimpering by the time he brought his mouth to mine. “I can make you come just like this, Raye,” he told me. “Want me to do it?”
Dazed, I met his eyes.
I didn’t doubt his words, but I wanted to have him inside me when I climaxed.
I lacked the breath to speak, though, and he took my silence for acquiescence. He rose from the coffee table and moved to the couch, stretching out on the cushions with his legs sprawled out before pulling me down on top of him. He arched up against me and every roll of his hips, he used his grasp on my butt to rub me over him.
I was whimpering and shaking by the third or fourth, writhing against him by the sixth.
And by the time he hit his ninth or tenth stroke, I was coming, chanting his name and grasping his wrists as if I feared he’d pull away.
He didn’t. He pulled me even closer and moved faster, each movement more furious, more demanding. It was almost enough to trip that lever of fear that was never very far away. Almost.
But not quite.
As the climax shivered and rolled through me, he rocked forward and spilled me onto the couch.
I barely noticed much of anything, including him stripping my jeans and panties away. I did notice the heat of his hands as he pushed my thighs wide and bent over me, pressing his mouth to the slick wet flesh between my thighs. “You’re so delicious,” he whispered against me.
I lay half sprawled against the couch, my hips hanging over the edge. Staring up at him as he rose to kneel over me, I sucked in desperate gulps of air.
He covered my sex with his hand. “I want to fuck you like this. Can I?”
I blushed to the roots of my hair. Panic fluttered inside me.
But I nervously nodded.
He reached down, and I heard foil ripping.
I didn’t look away from his face as he rolled the condom on, nor did I look away as he bent back over me.
The head of his cock probed me. He had one hand under my ass, lifting me just the slightest. As he started to enter me, I gasped at the sensation, the weight on my lower body forcing me to accept him, forcing me to yield to him. He took me slowly, making me excruciatingly aware of who was filling me with his cock.
The intimacy of it hit me in the core, and I closed my eyes, my face turning away. But Kane cupped my cheek, guided my face back to his. “Look at me, Raye.” His palm slid down to my neck, his thumb aligning to my jawbone as he angled my head back. “Look at me,” he said again.
Then he rolled his hips, filling me completely before withdrawing, pulling out until only the head of his cock held me open.
I moaned, shivering around him, aching to feel more, but he was already withdrawing.
The next thrust took him deeper, faster.
The one after that was harder, all but knocking my breath from my lungs.
“Raye…” Kane’s lids drifted shut, my name a harsh grunt on his lips. His cock jerked inside me, the head of it passing over me in a way that sent shivers of pleasure slamming through me, and I couldn’t keep from twisting against him, seeking to deepen the sensation.
More…
I wanted to beg him for it, but a fist had clamped itself around my throat, and I couldn’t breathe.
More…
He did it again, and a harsh whimper of pleasure ripped out of me as he butted the head of his cock right up against me one more time.
I reached down and caught his wrists, my eyes seeking his out, desperate for more but unsure how to tell him. He swiveled his hips in the cradle of mine this time, and the sensations that lit inside me stole the breath from me, and I cried out, my nails biting into his skin as I rocked against him, seeking to deepen the contact.
More…more…more…
Kane reared forward and bent over me until his face filled my vision. His hands came up, cupping my breasts. I moaned, arching up against him as he circled my nipples with his hands.
“I fucking love your tits, Raye,” he muttered. “They’re so damned pretty.”
He bent low then, catching one nipple in his mouth. He sucked it deep, almost to the edge of pain before letting go and switching sides.
When he lifted, he stared down at me with glittering eyes, his face harsh with hunger. With need.
He drove into me, harder than before, deeper.
Panic flared.
The pleasure flared.
They mingled and became one, and I shoved my hands against his chest, uncertain if I wanted to push him away or pull him closer.
The climax slammed into me, hard and fast, stealing breath, thought, and reason.
When it ended, my mind was spinning itself in dizzying circles, and I couldn’t keep up any of the thoughts racing through my brain.
Kane hefted us up onto the couch and laid down, my body sprawled out atop his.
His heart slammed into mine.
Mine raced like a caged ra
bbit’s, and I laid there with my hands fisted against this chest.
What the hell…
My mind ran in circles, over and over, that one thought the only clear one.
What the hell?
“What do you think about ordering some pizza?” Kane murmured, nuzzling my ear.
I jerked at the sound of his voice, then sat up. My eyes landed on the clothes that had gone flying, and the sight of my pretty, green silk blouse served to calm my brain, surprisingly.
It was one of the shirts I wore to work.
Work.
I had to work tonight.
“I can’t,” I said, my voice weak. “I’ve got to be at work in a few hours.”
A soft groan escaped him, and his arms came around me. It took me a moment to realize he was hugging me.
I lay there, tense and uncertain. He was hugging me.
“How about a rain check?”
Making a noncommittal sound in my throat, I eased away from him and sat up, staring off into the dim corners of the room.
I needed to get out of there.
I didn’t know what was going on, but my mind was racing.
I needed to get out of there…now.
Get out of there, away from him…so I could think.
Twenty-Four
Kane
My apartment felt surprisingly empty after Raye left.
I’d pulled my jeans back on, so I could walk her outside, but once I came back in, I dropped back down on the couch and just laid there, smelling her on my skin and reliving the last thirty minutes…including the conversation we’d had.
She told me I made her feel safe.
I didn’t get that.
I wasn’t entirely certain I felt safe around her. She undid things when she was around. I liked the status quo, and it got shaky when she was in the equation. Like now. Sitting there thinking about how the apartment seemed dimmer and quieter and just a little too big without her there.
It wasn’t like I had a big apartment, so how could the absence of a woman I barely knew make such a big difference? I didn’t understand it, and I wasn’t sure I liked it.
“Stop thinking about it,” I told myself.
It wasn’t like I had a lot of time to kill tonight anyway. We didn’t even have time for the pizza I’d ask her about.
My nephew Connor had a basketball game, and I tried to make it to all the games. I’d missed out on enough things with the family when I’d been behind bars. Now that I was out, I made it a rule to do what I could to make it to the events.
You could have always asked her to go with you.
Not that it would have worked. She had a job.
But even the thought that I’d consider asking her was…weird.
My family was mine. Any woman I ever slept with…well, it was just sex. Sex and my personal life didn’t mix. That was another rule.
And yet there I was thinking about asking her to go to one of the family events with me.
“Shit, son.” Rising to my feet, I collected my clothes. “You’ve gone and lost your mind.”
I was no longer in the mood for pizza, but on my way to Connor’s school in Brooklyn, I grabbed a slice and a soft drink, so I wouldn’t sit through the game hungry. The family might decide to go out to eat after the game, but I rarely joined them when they ate out. Mom always offered to buy, but I never took her up on it, and I was pinching pennies and saving as much money as I could, so I could pay down the loan.
Besides, I had to get up at the crack of dawn to open the garage. Staying out until ten or so, then getting up at four-thirty was something that just did not mix in my books.
I found my mother sitting with Connor’s parents in the bleachers, a few seats held for the rest of the family who trickled in not long after I did.
The kids had yet to take to the court, and I glanced over at Nathaniel as he wrestled Rose out of her coat. Zoe was fighting with her own, insisting to her mother that she could do it. Madison lifted her hands and gestured for her to do just that. While Zoe stubbornly fought with the zipper, Rose snuck her way over and climbed into my lap.
I breathed in the scent of sweet baby girl and smiled as she wrapped pudgy arms around my neck. “Unca Kane.”
“Hey, baby doll,” I murmured, nuzzling her hair and squeezing her into a hug.
She giggled. “I baby doll.”
“You’re my baby doll.”
“Me, too!” Zoe insisted, shoving her way into the hug. “I’m baby doll.”
My mother snapped a picture of me with two little girls on my lap, and I felt my damn cheeks grow hot as she spun her phone around, brandishing the picture like a weapon. “Look at how sweet you look,” she said, smiling proudly.
Sweet was not a word I associated with myself, and the sight of me with my arms around two little girls didn’t change that.
The arrival of Eddie and Dinah caused a ripple effect among the little kids, each one needing to go to the various adults they hadn’t seen in several days. It wasn’t until the buzzer rang signifying it was time for the game to start that everybody in the family was finally seated.
Connor’s team came out onto the court, and everybody in our section broke out in hoots and cheers, clapping as if it was the Harlem Globetrotters that had just taken the court.
Connor had his very own cheering section with the family being there.
The game started.
Eddie sat next to me, and we chatted about our weeks. He shot me a look. “I heard Austen had been helping out over at the garage. How is that going?”
I shrugged. “It’s…going. We’ll let it go at that.” I glanced around, noting my baby brother’s absence. “He’s not here tonight.”
“Yeah.” Eddie’s mouth went tight. “I noticed. Connor will, too. Connor adores that kid.”
“We’ll figure out something to tell him,” I said.
Connor scored two points and shouts went out among the crowd, all of us cheering.
As relative quiet settled back in the gym and the game progressed, my mind started to wander…right to Raye.
Would she enjoy something like this? An elementary school basketball game?
I could think of any number of women I knew who’d be bored senseless by it.
But Raye…?
I realized I was smiling when Eddie nudged me and leaned over. “What in the hell are you grinning about?”
I was grinning because I had the weird idea that Raye would like the game…and my family, too.
What in the hell did that matter? It wasn’t like I was planning on introducing her to them.
What we had was purely a physical relationship.
It wouldn’t last more than a couple of weeks, probably.
At Eddie’s questioning look, I shook my head. “Just remembering something.”
“With a smile like that, you got me wondering just what in the hell you’re remembering…or who.” A sly glint lit my brother’s eyes.
Giving him a dark look, I shook my head. “Don’t go getting any ideas. I’ve told you. I don’t do relationships.”
“Yeah. And tell me, straight on…were you or were you not thinking about a woman?” Eddie asked, his dark brows shooting up into his hairline.
“Are you a firefighter or a lawyer?” I reached for the drink I’d put between my feet and lifted it to my lips, still stalling as I tried to figure out a way around answering him. He wouldn’t go running to tell the family or anything, but he’d nag me endlessly, and I didn’t need that shit.
I didn’t even understand why I’d been thinking about Raye so much anyway.
Sure, she was a beautiful woman, and I loved having sex with her, but I’d been with a lot of beautiful women who were fun to have sex with. Sex was fun. It was something I missed while in prison, and I was determined to make up for lost time now that I was out. I’d been free for several years, and I was still making up for lost time.
But Raye…
Things felt different with her.
<
br /> Next to me, Eddie laughed.
I shot him a look.
He met my gaze as he picked up the nachos he’d bought. “You go ahead and tell yourself that you don’t do relationships, brother. But you’re doing something right now, and that look right there? The only time I’ve ever seen a look like that on my brothers’ faces is when they’re thinking about a woman.”
Twenty-Five
Raye
Work didn’t prove to be the distraction it normally was.
Every customer seemed to grate on my nerves, and my co-workers did the same thing.
The chai tea I bought from the coffee shop across the square that normally settled my nerves tasted off. When I went to go eat my dinner, I discovered I’d forgotten it – probably at Kane’s, because I remembered packing it earlier.
I had to make do with a bag of chips from the vending machine because I was even tighter on funds than normal, thanks to the holidays and the new semester expenses.
I was going to be starving and exhausted when I got home because I’d agreed to close the store tonight. Those extra expenses meant I needed extra hours, which meant I’d get less sleep.
As it edged closer to closing time, I hauled out my school books and put them on the counter behind the cash register. We’d made it past New Year’s week which was one of the craziest weeks, but now we were slowing down, and I hoped to have a few minutes here and there to study.
But even though the odd lull did come here and there, I couldn’t get my mind to focus on anything.
Except Kane.
It kept going back to those intense minutes on his couch earlier in the evening.
You make me feel safe.
He did.
He’d made me feel safe enough that I’d been able to start things, that I’d been able to kiss him and touch him. And when he’d put his hands on me, I felt things inside me I hadn’t thought I’d ever feel. He’d come inside me and brought me pleasure that was…wow…earth-shaking.
And yet there’d been that odd instance of panic as he crouched over me. What was that?