Chapter 9
Lane
Hard or Soft
“I understand that you’re just trying to help the kid out, but I don’t think you’ve thought of all the ramifications of picking a runaway up and taking him across state lines.”
Cy’s voice was infinitely patient, but I could hear his concern for the teenager he hadn't met in his tone.
“And what if you get to Denver and the brother doesn’t have his shit together. Eighteen is pretty young to take on raising someone else.”
I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead to the glass window. Down below, the lights of Vegas glittered like a piece of gaudy jewelry. I was glad I was so high up and separated from the noise and chaos that spilled out onto the Strip. Vegas was the opposite of what I was used to, and I was man enough to admit that I found all the people and noise intimidating. This city moved at a pace I’d never seen before, and the rush of it all made my head hurt.
“I can’t even put words to what this kid will do if he runs again, Cy. People have been taking advantage of him and using him for so long. He doesn’t know anything else. I can’t be the one to force him back to the streets. I just can’t.” Not to mention Brynn would rip my nuts off and feed them to me for breakfast if I so much as suggested going to the authorities behind the kid’s back.
“I understand, Lane, but I think you’re missing the big picture. What about whoever set the kid up?” Forever the big brother looking out for me. Of course, Cy didn’t want me embroiled in something bigger than I could handle. “They sent out that other kid as bait. They have a fucking website to lure unsuspecting victims in. They sold that kid like he was property. This isn’t one man in a beat-up old RV, this is a corporation and like any business, whoever is at the head of the table won’t like losing money. I know you can watch your own back, but you’ve got Brynn and now this kid relying on you too. That’s a lot for anyone to manage.”
I didn’t bother pointing out when he first met Leo he was guiding not only her but two other men unfamiliar with the Wyoming wilderness to safety with armed drug runners on his tail. I never doubted for a second that my older brother would get everyone out alive. I was a bit disappointed he didn’t have the same faith in me.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to them. I’m going to get everyone home safe and sound.” I wanted to sound as confident as I felt, but there was a waver in my voice and one in my self-confidence when the ramifications of what was at stake started to settle on my shoulders. I had no idea how Cyrus held the whole world up. I only had a portion of it, and I was already exhausted from keeping the weight from dragging me down.
“Lane.” Cy swore, and I could practically see him dragging his hand over the salt and pepper scruff that covered his face. It was his signature move when he was stressed out, or when Sutton ended up in a situation no amount of brotherly love and concern could get us out of. “I know you would die to protect anyone who you think is your responsibility. I thought you were going to die in my arms waiting for the search and rescue copter when you got shot trying to protect Daye. What I don’t want is you in a situation where you have to prove that. I’m getting married soon. I can’t have a wedding without both of my brothers as my best men.”
I didn’t tell him about the guy with the RV pulling the knife on me in the parking lot, but it was like he already knew. He always seemed to know when I was in over my head.
“I’ll be careful, and I’ll give Webb’s brother a call and see what he has to say about the website and whoever might be behind it.” Webb had taken over Sutton’s position on the ranch when my brother left for California. He was also one of the people Cy had led through the woods that fateful week he met Leo and when Em came into Sutton’s life, in order to find his missing brother, an older brother who just happened to be a DEA agent. The Bryant brothers couldn’t be any more different from one another if they tried, but the cop and the criminal were as close as us Warners were. “If things feel off once we get to Denver, I promise I’ll get the authorities involved. I need this kid to feel safe. And Brynn really needs to be the one to give it to him.” And I would stand between them both and whoever tried to stop that from happening.
“How is she?” Both of my brothers considered Brynn family and loved her in a different way than I did. It would devastate them if I made the wrong call and something happened to her. “How are you?”
I let out a bark of laughter and glanced over my shoulder to where Brynn was sprawled across the bed, her feet on the pillows where her head should be. On the floor near one of her limp hands was a half-empty bottle of Booker’s Rye. The booze cost more than one of my truck payments, but Brynn seemed determined to lose touch with reality for the evening. She spent a good chunk of the afternoon putting Bauer back together in the privacy of the room I insisted he take for the night. When she came back to the suite we were sharing, I asked how the kid was doing and how extensive his injuries were. All she could do was shake her head and tell me it was too hard to talk about. She ordered the bottle of whiskey a few minutes later and proceeded to put a solid dent in it all by herself. I tried to get some dinner in her but was waved off. She didn’t even offer to share, which told me whatever injuries I could see on the kid, was just the tip of the iceberg.
“We’re both doing the best we can. We’re finally being honest with each other about what we want and talking about how we got so far off track. The way I was hurting when she turned down my proposal was so big and took up so much room that I couldn’t see around it. I had no idea the way she hurt felt as huge as mine did to me.”
“It’s amazing what you can learn when you take the time to talk things out.” I rolled my eyes at the humor in his tone.
“It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to say.” I also needed time to figure out how to say it without sounding pathetic and pitiful. No one wanted to admit they’d let their fears get the best of them, that they had been a coward.
“It’s worth the time it takes to get it right. Keep me updated on your progress home and don’t hesitate to call if you need anything. Keep your eyes open and don’t let that soft heart of yours get you into trouble.”
I promised him I would do my best to stay safe and assured him I had no illusions about what Bauer was capable of even though he was so young. The boy had lived a thousand lives already, and none of them were anything good.
I dropped my phone on the ornate desk and moved over toward the bed. I had pulled Brynn’s boots off of her feet before she passed out, but there wasn’t much more I could do to make her comfortable. Sighing, I ran my hand over the silky fall of her hair and wished there was more I could do to take care of her. She was going to have one hell of a hangover when she woke up, and none of that was going to do anything to erase the images she now had of what Bauer had been through.
I pulled my hand back when her dark eyes suddenly popped open. It was obvious she was still out of it by the way she squinted up at me and frowned in confusion. She flicked her tongue out to lick her lips and my dick instantly hardened. There was a steady throb that had been pulsing in my blood since our heated kiss. A taste of her was never going to be enough. It was a tease to my senses that had lust and desire threatening to overtake all the other things she forced me to feel. She pulled her hands up and folded them under the cheek that pressed to the mattress. She blew out a shaky breath and asked, “Do you know how easily it could have been me in that RV? I was so close to ending up exactly like that kid, Lane. So fucking close.”
I put my hand on the back of her head and sifted my fingers through her hair. The coppery strands slid across my knuckles, and I felt the impact of that barely-there caress all along my cock. The sensitive flesh thickened behind my zipper and I lost myself in the image of what it would be like to have that soft, silky hair rubbing against the inside of my thighs and slithering across my balls.
It wasn’t an appropriate reaction to what she was telling me, but there was no controlling the longing now that I had embraced it and called it what it was.
“But you didn’t, and now you’re giving him a fresh start. That’s what you need to focus on.” I brushed a thumb along her cheekbone and bit back a groan when she leaned lazily into the gentle touch like a cat stretching in the sunlight.
“Do you know why my mother stopped bringing her men home once I agreed to marry Boyd?” There was pain speared through every word of that question. It was more noticeable than usual because of the care she was taking to keep from slurring and sounding sloppy.
“No. I don’t know much about what happened after Dad asked you. I didn’t like to think about why you told him yes when you had told me no. It was selfish and immature, but now I can see how much I missed by thinking that way.” It was true. There was an entire chunk of her story I hadn’t bothered to read. I loved the beginning where it was her and me against the world, but I skipped the entire middle part of the book when things got hard.
“She stopped bringing her mistakes home because your dad paid her off. Every single month like clockwork he gave her two thousand dollars. He threatened her. He tried to get Opal out of the house as well. He offered to double the amount if she would let my sister leave with us, but Mom refused. Partly because she didn’t want to be alone in that musty trailer surrounded by people who were disgusted by her, but mostly because she gave Boyd an outrageous figure he refused to pay. He agreed to pay the protection money, and he told Mom that if Opal got so much as a hangnail the money would stop. He promised that he would be checking in on them and touching base with Opal’s teachers once a week. He ordered her to keep her men away from the house or else he wouldn’t pay anymore. All my mom ever wanted was someone to take care of her. She wanted to be kept. She stopped putting us in danger because she got paid to put us first for once. Not because she loved us, or cared about us. Your dad bought my freedom and my little sister’s safety.” Her eyes drifted closed, and her shoulders shook in such a way that I knew she was fighting to hold back her tears. “I keep paying her now that Boyd is gone, and I’ll keep it up until my sister is eighteen and can get out of that house the way I did. Once Opal is an adult I’m writing my mother off. I won’t have anything to do with her or her mistakes ever again.”
It was so much worse than I imagined. My old man saved her life and put a lot on the line, including his reputation, to do so. All I could see was her rejection. I was blind to how badly she needed salvation from someone who could actually provide it. Even if she had accepted my proposal, there was no way I could do for her what my father had done. I didn’t have the means, and truthfully, I was too young and full of myself back then to see that there was another way to fight back with anything but anger and violence.
Silently saying every dirty word I could think of, I tugged my boots off and climbed into the bed upside down so that I could lie down beside her. I pulled her into my arms and was struck again by how soft she felt, but there was no ignoring that she had a spine forged of steel. I rubbed a hand up and down her back, muttering useless words while she battled booze and ugly truths for control of her emotions.
I thought she was drifting back to sleep when she went limp in my hold. I rested my chin on the top of her head and told myself I was not going to screw this up. I promised both of us that I would figure out how to be whatever it was she needed me to be. I had my eyes closed and was concentrating hard on keeping my excited cock to myself when she whispered a question that pulled me from my reveries.
“What would you have said back then if I was the one who asked you to marry me?”
She rolled over so that we were face to face. Her gaze was darker than the rest of the room around us, and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. One of her hands fluttered until it landed in the center of my chest. My heart lurched at the contact. Every time this woman touched me, I felt something I'd never felt before. It was almost as if everyone who came before had to fight and claw their way through protective layers and never quite reached the unguarded core of the man beneath the smile and charm. There was none of that with Brynn. As soon as her fingers hit my skin, she was touching every raw and uncovered piece of me, and I felt that contact all the way down to my toes.
“I have no idea what I would have said. My parents’ marriage was a nightmare, and that was all I had to go by when it came to relationships. You were the one thing in my life I never wanted to risk losing, so there’s a good chance I would have said yes if it meant I got to keep you close by and tie you to me forever. I would have fucked up either way. I was so screwed up back then, so busy trying to prove I was good enough, strong enough, so that Dad didn’t have to worry about me or the ranch when Mom left and with Cy going, then again when he got sick. I wouldn’t have been able to give you what you needed back then regardless of who asked and who said yes.” I was giving it all to the birthright my father was leaving behind, trying to show him I was the man he needed me to be. There was nothing left for anyone else.
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to the point of my chin. “What if I asked you now.” One of her hands lifted and curled around the side of my neck. My pulse jumped to kiss her fingertips. She lifted one of those long, shapely legs and wrapped it around my hip. There was no hiding how hard I already was, and I nearly forgot my name when she slowly started to writhe and grind against me. It was languid and sensual and quickly made me forget she didn’t have a handle on herself because of the whiskey.
I smoothed a hand down the elegant line of her back until it was resting on her ass. I allowed myself a squeeze of that delectable flesh before pulling back, so there was more than an inch of space between our bodies. I could feel the heat radiating from that spot high between her thighs, and combined with my aching dick was making it hard to think straight.
“You want to ask me to marry you, Brynn? You weren’t even sure you liked me anymore when we started on this trip.” A groan slipped out when she used the leg that was coiled around my waist to regain the space I’d put between us. She was hot enough that I was ready to stick my hand in the fire and let it burn.
“I just want to be the one to ask. I want to pick the time and the place. I don’t even care if you say no. I want to be the one asking the person I choose to spend the rest of their life with me. I’m sick of being the one who gets asked and either I’m not ready, or the question doesn’t mean what I want it to mean.” Her lips ghosted over mine, and I tasted whiskey and want on her breath.
“I guess you’ll have to ask me and we’ll find out what I’d say.” I honestly didn’t know the answer. I never planned on getting married aside from marrying her to get her out of that house when she was younger. But if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with me, I couldn’t deny that I liked the way that made me feel. I was settled and whole in a way I hadn’t been since I pushed her out of my life.
She sealed her lips against mine, and I groaned when her tongue darted between my teeth. She was the headiest of flavors and intoxicating in a way that went right to my head. I kissed her back, taking my time and drinking up every drop of that smoky flavor. When she licked along the sensitive roof of my mouth, there was no stopping my hips from thrusting forward, or my cock from searching out her liquid warmth. I was so turned on it was hard to pull a coherent thought out of the haze of lust that was consuming me.
“As much as I like where all of this is going, you drank half a bottle of top-shelf whiskey. I think we need to put the brakes on and revisit this exact spot when we’re both in a better frame of mind.”
She pulled back and shot me a scowl. Her eyebrows dipped to form an angry V above her nose, and her obsidian eyes seemed to shift to an even darker shade of black as she glared hotly at me. Her words were sharp and pointed when she spoke. I could feel the way they pressed into my unprotected heart. “When are you going to trust me to know what I want, Lane? When are you going to believe that I know what’s best for me? I’m a big girl, I don’t need you to protect me anymore, and the last person I want to be saved from is you.”
She started to wiggle away, but I locked my arms around her and used the hand I had on her butt to keep her in place. I lifted my eyebrows and watched her closely. “You want me, Brynn, or is this the booze and a broken heart talking?”
She blinked at me and studied me intently in the dark. “I want you, Lane. I’ve always wanted you, and it has nothing to do with the booze or the broken heart.” She let me tug her body even closer to mine and didn’t argue when I rolled her so that she was underneath me and I was hovering over her in an extended push-up. She reached up and pushed at a lock of hair that had fallen over my forehead and dangled into my eye. “You are the only thing that will make all the bad things we faced today go away. You are the only man who has ever been able to make the rest of the world disappear, even when it’s falling down around me, and the wreckage is impossible to ignore.”
I only had so much self-control and so much willpower. This woman and I connected on every single level except for one, and if she said she was ready to cross that bridge that took us from friends to lovers, then who was I to stop her. Especially when everything inside of me wanted nothing more than to meet her in the middle of that bridge. Hell, I would follow her over if she decided to jump off the damn thing.
With a feral sounding growl, I dropped my mouth to hers and lowered myself so that I was braced above her with a forearm over her head. It took no time at all to pop the buttons on her flannel shirt and even less time to get her jeans open, and a hand shoved down into the tight space. Her skin was so soft, but her wet, faltering folds and the silken skin hidden between them was even softer. She arched up against me making our teeth clash and driving the aroused points of her breasts into my chest. There were still too many clothes in the way, but I didn’t have the wherewithal to do anything about it. Keeping my throbbing dick trapped behind my zipper was the only thing keeping me from coming all over her like an excited teenager before I got inside her sweet heat.
Her tongue twisted around mine and her hips lifted to ride my fingers, and I found her soaked opening and delicately protruding clit. The slip and slide as I worked my way inside her lithe body had a damp spot growing on the fly of my jeans. We were both wired and ready to blow. The anticipation of this moment, of how we would feel, and move, and the taste was almost too much to take. Brynn panted into the ravenous kiss as she frantically pulled on the hem of my shirt, wordlessly asking me to remove it. I had to pull my hand free of her grasping, pulling center to get the garment off. While I was up on my knees, I urged her to lift so I could pull her pants down her endless legs and ordered her to strip off the rest of her clothes while I was unveiling her creamy thighs and perfectly bare and pink pussy. She had a smattering of freckles that danced across her lower abdomen, and I couldn’t stop the urge to lower my head and connect the dots, and I ran my fingers teasingly from the inside of her knee back up to her wet and willing center. I felt her muscles contract, and her thighs spread wider when I dipped the tip of my tongue into the tiny indent of her belly button.
Her fingers threaded through my hair, and I let her drag me up her torso until my mouth was hovering over the tip of one puckered nipple. I exhaled a deep sigh and watched as her pretty points contracted into even tighter peaks. They were a rosy, raspberry color that glowed against her golden skin. All the parts of her individually were perfect, stunning, flawless; when they were all together and splayed out before me, willing and waiting, I knew there would never be anything more beautiful. At that moment, all I wanted was to be worthy of that kind of beauty.
I pushed my fingers back into her damp opening and used the pad of my thumb to circle her clit. I swore I could feel that little bud of pleasure vibrating against my finger and I felt the way she reacted when her pussy clenched down tightly on my stroking and searching fingers. She let out a gasp that echoed through the big room, and her back bowed up off the bed when I lowered my head and encased her nipple in my mouth. I used my teeth to tug on the sensitive skin and rubbed the rough scruff of my chin across the satin surface of her breast. Brynn’s fingers tightened in my hair, and her thighs quivered. Her chest was rising and falling with raspy breaths, and she was saying my name over and over again. Her eyes were only half open, and there was a pretty flush covering all of her naked skin.
She was so responsive. Her reactions were both sweet and wild with every touch, every stroke, every flick, and twirl. I kissed my way across her collarbone, stopping to leave a mark at the base of her throat. When I landed on the breast I’d neglected up to this point, I added another finger to the ones that were already inside of her and added more pressure to her pulsing clit. I could feel her arousal flowing hotly over my fingers and taste it on her skin. When she pulled her legs up and set her heels on the edge of the bed so she could move more fully against me, I almost lost it. My cock pressed painfully against the denim keeping it from her skin and hardened to the point I was worried any move I made was going to leave us both with a mess. I rumbled dirty words against the side of her neck and moved my fingers with more force.
She threw her head back, red hair fanning out like flames across the white comforter. She looked as close to the edge as I was, but she was coherent enough to tell me between moans, “I’m so close, Lane, but I want to feel you. I want you inside of me. I want you to take me.”
Shit. I was planning on getting her off at least once before I got inside of her. This had been such a long time coming I didn’t want to ruin the moment or have it end before it even began.
“I’m close. Too close. Once I feel you all wrapped around me, I’m going to lose it. I want this to be good for you, Brynn. I want to be the best you’ve ever been with.” I wanted to replace every guy I was unknowingly fighting with for her heart.
She huffed out an irritated sound and pushed against me until I was standing at the side of the bed shirtless, with the head of my cock poking out from the top of my jeans. The slit was shiny and almost angry looking with my arousal.
“It’s you, so it’s already better than it’s ever been. I want you to fuck me. I don’t care how long you last. Hopefully, we get to do this a couple million more times, and you can make it up to me then. Besides, I told you I’m right there. I won’t last long either. I’ve waited my whole life for this moment.”
I grunted when she put her hand on the button of my jeans and wrestled it open. The brush of her fingers against my overheated skin was enough to make my knees shake, and my balls lift and tighten. When she reached for the zipper, I had to wave her off. There was no way I was making it through her putting her hands on me and taking me out of my pants without blowing my load.
To distract her and to get rid of the pout on her face I handed her my wallet and told her to find the condom I had stashed in there.
When I shoved my jeans down to my knees, my dick bounced up toward my navel. The swollen tip left a trail of moisture in its wake, and I could feel the heavy vein that ran along the backside of my cock throb with each beat of my heart. Brynn’s eyes widened at the sight, and her mouth dropped open in appreciation. Her gaze lifted to mine as she handed me the condom.
“That’s the only part of you that’s always been a mystery. I have to say the wait was worth it.”
I wasn’t about to be recruited for porn anytime soon, but I’d never had any complaints about what I was working with. I did feel a swell of masculine pride surge through me at the naked admiration in her eyes. I loved the way she looked with, and without, her clothes on; it was nice to know the feeling was mutual.
I rolled the latex down my shaft hissing through my teeth at the sensation. I usually had way more staying power than this, but something about her went right to the center of every desire and want I had. This was about so much more than getting in and getting off. I’d never fucked anyone I cared about before. I never went to bed with anyone I was desperate to keep in my life before. This was the first time I’d ever been with anyone my heart wanted as much as my cock did and it was wreaking havoc on my control.
Once my cock was sheathed, I shoved my pants the rest of the way down my legs and crawled up over her. Immediately her legs locked around my waist, her heels digging into my lower back. Her hips effortlessly lifted and my hardness met her softness with no resistance. Her fingernails dug into my shoulders, and I curved the hand I wasn’t using for balance around the curve of her hip. Even with the condom on I could feel how hot and tight she was. Her body quivered and shook around mine as I pushed my way inside. That sexy slide had both of us swearing and closing our eyes as the push of my body gave way to the pull of hers. I was surrounded by velvet heat. I was encased in the kind of warmth I never wanted to leave. Being inside of her brought it all together for me. This was how happy was supposed to feel. She was the only one who ever gave me that feeling. This, more than a good time, this was something that glowed radiantly from the place that had always belonged to her inside of my heart.
“Fuck, Brynn…why did we wait so long to do this? You feel so damn good.” I started to rock into her, hips pumping, my hand curling around the back of her leg and lifting so I could open her up even more. I loved the way she moved around me, taking whatever I had to give as I moved faster and got rougher.
“So do you. It feels perfect, and you didn’t even have to try.” She ran one of her hands over her breast, and I swore again when she started to play with her nipple.
“Oh, I’m trying, believe me. It’s taking everything I fucking have not to come before you.”
She smiled up at me and lifted her head so our lips could touch. Her tongue flicked against mine, and I felt my orgasm swirl around the base of my spine and coil along my nerves. She made a noise that almost sounded like a purr, and her eyes got a dreamy, faraway look in them. “Come. I’ve dreamed for years about what you would look like when you let go. I know all your expressions except for that one.”
Her teeth attacked my ear, and one of her hands skated down my spine and smoothed over my clenching ass. It was too much. She was too much. This moment collided with all of the feelings I was having, and I thrust inside of her hard enough to make myself see stars as I exploded inside of her. I felt her body ripple in approval around mine, her inner walls locking down on my still pulsing dick. I shifted into her a few more times even though I was empty and had nothing left to give. I let go of her thigh and reached between us to playfully pull on her clit, and that was all she needed to follow me over the edge. She might have imagined what I looked like when I came, but there was nothing that could have prepared me for how spectacular she looked when she let go and lost it. The way her mouth opened on my name and the way her eyes glittered with satisfaction would stay with me forever. I would risk everything and give anything I had to put that expression on her face as often as possible.
“You okay?” When I pulled out, we both groaned at the separation. She smelled like sex and whiskey, and on top of all of that, she smelled like me. I wanted to bottle the scent up so I could take a whiff whenever I wanted. Losing her after inhaling that intoxicating mixture wasn’t an option for me now.
She gave me a sleepy smile and stretched languidly. “Best I’ve ever been.”
I felt the same, and I told her as much when I kissed her and got up to deal with the condom.
I found myself wondering if there was even another answer besides yes if she ever did ask me to marry her.
Chapter 10
Brynn
Float or Sink
I wasn’t expecting Bauer to still be in the room adjoining ours the next morning. He was skittish and nervous in a way that led me to believe he was absolutely going to bolt as soon as he was left to his own devices.
I’d taken him to one of the shops in the hotel and spent a mini-fortune on the basics for him. I tried to get him to eat dinner with Lane and me, but he flat out turned me down. He did use Lane’s phone to send a flurry of text messages to his brother, but there hadn’t been a response back. Lane let the kid keep his phone in case the brother was tied up and couldn’t shoot a text back until later. That left Bauer with everything he needed to cut and run. He was so used to relying on only himself; he couldn’t fathom two complete strangers honestly having his best interest at heart and worrying about him.
When the connecting door opened silently under my hand, I held my breath as I peeked into the still dark room. I thought for sure he would lock me out. I literally begged the teenager to let me look at his varied and extensive injuries. He tried to refuse the same way he had with dinner, but I pushed and pleaded until he caved. There wasn’t much I could do for the old wounds, but the fresh ones and the wounds that looked raw and possibly infected I did my best to clean and bandage up. There wasn’t a spot on his long, gangly frame that wasn't marked in some way. He’d been through hell in the back of that rusted out RV, and when I said as much, he quickly corrected me and told me that some of the bruises came from his time hustling. The poor kid hadn’t seen kindness in so long he didn’t recognize what it was anymore.
There was a lump under the covers in the center of the bed. I sucked in a surprised breath and put a hand on the center of my chest when my heart leaped in reaction. I couldn’t believe he was still here. I couldn’t believe he believed in us enough to stay.
I was backing out of the room as quietly as I could when a disembodied voice drifted up from the cocoon of covers. “I know you’re there, Brynn.”
I stopped and pushed a hand through my damp, shower-sex tangled hair. I’d done a lot more to get dirty than clean while soaping up and sucking off Lane this morning. I should be embarrassed by getting caught snooping on Bauer, but I wasn’t. I wanted him to know someone cared, that he was worth checking on and fussing over.
I tugged on the belt of the fluffy bathrobe from the spa-like bathroom that I’d thrown on after my shower, twisting it around my hand. “I wanted to see if you were still around. I wasn’t sure you were going to be here this morning.”
The covers rustled, and suddenly his head appeared amidst all the white linen and cotton. His hair was clean, but the auburn strands were sticking up in a million directions indicating that he fell asleep when it was still wet, and it had dried crazy. The red in his hair made me smile, and so did the way he rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his fists like he was a little kid. There was still some youthful innocence buried inside of him. I wanted to give him the chance to let more of it out. He was young enough that there was still time for him to salvage his childhood.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to be here either. I planned on taking off, but after you left, I took a shower, ordered some food and tried to get in touch with Mikey again. It’s been years since I wasn’t smelling my own stink and not fighting off hunger pains. I’ve been sleeping with one eye open and my hand on a switchblade for so long I think I forgot what it was like to sleep straight through the night. I told myself I was gonna close my eyes for a minute. I guess I needed more than a minute and having a full stomach didn’t help my plans either.” He reached for the phone that had dropped to the floor at some point in the night. I could tell from the glower on his bruised face that he didn’t like whatever was on the display. He shoved a hand through his wild hair and looked up at me. “Thank you for last night.”
I tugged on the terrycloth and nodded. “It was my pleasure.” I motioned to the phone. “Any word from your brother?”
He shook his head and threw himself back against the mountain of pillows. “No, and that’s not like him. Mikey always responds right away when I find a way to contact him.”
I worried my lower lip with the edge of my teeth and tried to push down the apprehension that was rising in the center of my chest. “Did you tell the guy in the RV about Denver?” I didn’t know how far the people who abducted Bauer would go to get him back, or if they even would try.
Bauer shifted his eyes toward the ceiling and tapped the phone against his palm. “No. I didn’t tell that asshole anything other than I wanted him to let me go.” His thin shoulders shifted, and he pulled at his hair in frustration again. “But I did tell the guy who picked me up in the BMW that I had an older brother. When we were exchanging sob stories, I told him all about Mikey trying to protect me from my dad and how he promised to take care of me once he was old enough.”
That wasn’t good. That meant the kid they sent in as bait knew more about Bauer than he did about the people who snatched him. His older brother not responding suddenly seemed even more alarming, but I didn’t want to worry him any more than he already was. I forced a smile that I was sure he could see right through and offered a platitude that he met with a flat stare. “I’m sure we’ll hear from him soon. Order something to eat, and after we pack up, we’ll get on the road. If we drive straight through, we should hit Denver sometime after midnight.”
He nodded and looked back at the phone. He tried to appear nonchalant, but I could see how anxious he was.
I told him, “Take your time.”
Hoping I wouldn’t freak him out or give him the wrong idea I walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress. I reached out a hand and put it on his bony shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. His eyes were so sad and filled with so many secrets that it was impossible not to get pulled into the darkness trapped inside of them. This kid got to me on so many levels it was nearly impossible to separate his hurt from mine. I was starting to understand why Lane had felt the need to put his entire future on the line for me when we were younger. All I wanted to do was put myself between this kid and everything in life that was going to hurt him.
I felt him shiver under my light touch and watched as he slapped a practiced but indifferent expression on his face. “It’ll be okay, Bauer. Whatever is waiting for you, it will be okay. You don’t have to face it alone.” I knew how hard it was to have hope when it felt like every day brought some new, unmitigated horror with it.
“I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me…because of who I am.” The last part of his sentence dropped off and his face twisted into a mask of disgust.
It was so wrong that the people who were supposed to love him unconditionally didn’t. It killed me that anyone would tell a child that who they were was somehow wrong and worthy of all the pain and suffering he’s been through.
I squeezed his shoulder again and rose to my feet. I didn’t want to crowd him, even though I wanted to stay close by if he needed me. He needed to know someone would show up for him, no questions asked.
“There is nothing wrong with who you are. You are exactly the way you were always meant to be, just like I was. When I was born with this red hair all I heard was how wrong it was, how ugly and against my heritage it was. I was an anomaly, a monster and my mother and her people never let me forget it. I thought something was wrong with me until my little sister came along. She looks just like my mom and just like all the other little girls on the reservation where I grew up, but she wasn’t treated any better than I was. My mom still acts like she was an inconvenience and an abomination, and the people on the reservation still treated her like she was less than worthy because our dad is white. Some people hate because that’s all they know how to do. That’s their problem, not yours, and eventually, you will find someone who loves everything about you. Anything that happens from this point forward is not your fault, Bauer. That blame lands squarely on the shoulders of the people who only had one job, to take care of you, to raise you. They failed, not you.”
Something I said erased the self-loathing that was creeping over his entire body. His head cocked to the side, and I bit back a smile because he reminded me of a curious puppy when he looked like that.
“You grew up on an actual reservation?”
I nodded. “I did. My mother belongs to the Crow Nation. My grandfather is one of the Crow tribe elders. Believe it or not, he used to be a rodeo star back in the day.” If they had been better people, I would have taken so much pride in both those facts. I never took my heritage lightly, but it wasn’t something that I used to define myself either. I couldn’t, not when I heard over and over again I wasn’t enough of anything to claim it. “He was very disappointed when my mother hooked up with a roughneck and had me when she was still a teenager. I don’t know if he hated that my dad was white more than the way he beat on my mom when he could be bothered to be around.” My dad was my mom’s biggest mistake, and very much like Lydia Warner, he came and went like a bad rash we could never quite get rid of.
Bauer jerked his gaze away from mine once again and fiddled with the seam of the comforter. It was crazy that his mannerisms appeared so young and untried when his eyes seemed ancient and world-weary.
“I loved history when I was in school. Learning about cowboys and the Old West was my favorite. Is Lane a real cowboy? He looks and acts like one.”
I couldn’t hold back the laugh that bubbled out. “He’s the real deal. If you ever make your way to Wyoming, he can show you how to rope and ride, how to herd cattle and catch fish. He can even teach you how to play sad country songs around a campfire. His family’s ranch is pretty much my favorite place on the whole Earth.”
A wistful look crossed Bauer’s face, but he hid it when he looked back down at Lane’s phone, swiping the screen and typing what I assumed was another message to his brother. “I would like that…a lot. Once I told my dad I was gay, he stopped trying to teach me anything besides how not to be gay anymore.”
I could tell by the inflection that he didn’t believe a trip to the ranch would ever happen, so I told myself that I would prove him wrong. I would show him that sometimes those of us who had had to fight for every little thing we had, eventually got the things we wanted most because we deserved them.
“Eat something hearty for breakfast. I don’t know when we’re going to get a chance to eat lunch. Don’t give up on your brother. He’s probably just tied up with something.” That got me an absent nod that felt like it came from any teenager who was done with an adult hovering over them. It made me smile.
When I got back to the suite I shared with Lane I was surprised to see our bags already packed and the room empty. When I left to check on Bauer, Lane was still in the shower weak-kneed and breathing hard from the blowjob. It appeared he had recovered and was getting us both ready to go. I couldn’t help but feel a little swell of pride that it took him a few minutes to recover after I was done with him. I’d wondered how he would taste and feel in my mouth for a long time, so I made sure to draw the experience out and savor it for as long as possible. It was torment and temptation for both of us.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement in the bathroom. The door was open halfway, and Lane was standing in front of the vanity, the lower part of his face covered in a thick slather of white foam. He was watching himself in the big mirror as he scraped a razor over the stubble that dotted his chin. Of the three Warner brothers, Lane was the only one who kept his face clean-shaven. I asked about it once, and Cy jokingly told me it was so that no one missed the sexy little divot in his youngest brother’s chin. Like Lane Warner needed anything else to make him absolutely irresistible.
Wordlessly I moved around him, pushing him back a step, so I was between him and the sink. He lifted his dark eyebrows as I made a gimme motion with my hand, asking him to give me the razor. Under the robe, I wasn’t wearing any clothes. Watching him watch me with those hooded and hot baby-blues, I suddenly felt every place on my body where that scruff he was getting rid of rubbed my skin raw the night before.
I wrapped my fingers around his jaw and moved his head, so I had a clear shot at his cheek. Slowly and carefully I pulled the blade across his skin and watched as smooth, tanned flesh was revealed.
He didn’t flinch.
He didn’t twitch.
He didn’t tense.
He let me handle him like he was mine to do whatever I wanted with, and there was something so exciting and arousing about that that I felt my body start to throb and hum in response.
He stood perfectly still and trusted me to take care of him. He trusted me and more than that he believed that I wasn’t going to hurt him now that I knew that I could. He watched me with those bright eyes of his, and I swore he saw all the things I’d tried to keep from him for so long. There were no secrets left, nothing left to hide.
When I had all the shaving cream removed, I dropped the razor in the sink behind me and found a washcloth that I could finish cleaning him up with. The burn in his eyes changed from something hot to something that bordered on the edge of dangerous. I let out a strangled yelp when his hands found their way under the heavy material of the robe and landed on my naked backside. His rough palms moved across my skin in a caress I felt right between my legs. My arms went around his neck as he pressed me harder into the marble behind me, dropping a heated, wet kiss on my mouth before lifting me up like I weighed nothing and setting me on the edge of the vanity.
It felt good to have his strong body pressed into mine. It was hard to ignore that rigid length that pulsed against my center behind the towel he loosely wore around his hips. Nevertheless, I felt obligated to warn him, “We don’t have much time. Bauer can’t get ahold of his brother, and he’s worried. We need to get on the road soon.”
His dark hair rubbed against my fingers, and the muscles in his shoulders flexed enticingly where I held him close.
That grin of his did what it always did, charmed the pants off me, not that it was hard since I was mostly naked.
“I’ll be fast…in a good way.”
It was hard to argue with that, and there was no denying the promise of pleasure in his eyes.
When he kissed me again, I kissed him back and arched into his touch as he pulled the belt of the robe apart. I obediently opened my legs to make room for him as his hands drifted up and down my thighs. His tongue teased mine, darting in, and out, and around. It felt like he was mapping out the way I tasted and all of his favorite spots in my mouth so he could revisit them over and over again. I submitted to his control, letting him handle me and take care of me the way he let me maneuver him.
He pushed the robe off my shoulders, and it pooled around my hips where we were pressed together. His hands worked their way across my chest. He took his time tracing the line of my collarbone, stopping to circle the mark he left at the base of my neck the night before. His palms skimmed over the swell of my breasts, his thumbs pausing to circle the swollen tips. My nipples pulled even tighter under his touch, throbbing with a pleasure so sharp it had me pulling in a pained breath.
He outlined my ribs and rolled his fingertip around the outside of my belly button, all while making love to my mouth. His lips never left mine, and his tongue never let up on its sexy exploration. When his hands reached the tops of my thighs, I had to pull back so I could catch my breath. Lane grinned at me again, and I was ready to hand my heart right on over to him then and there if he promised to never smile at anyone else that way ever again.
I couldn’t get a single word out though because he used his thumbs to trace the indent where my legs were wrapped around him. That curve led him right to the place that was already wet and waiting for him. Typically, I took a minute or two to get warmed up and into the swing of things. With Lane, I had a hair trigger, and it took nothing more than the flash of those blue eyes, or the hint of that lady-killer grin and I was ready to beg him to stick his cock inside of me. He wasn’t the only one who was running hot and fast when we were together like this.
His fingers dipped between my legs, and I felt a rush of moisture follow. That grin of his turned wicked, and before I could get my thoughts in order, he dropped to his knees on the bathroom floor. My head fell back with a gasp, and my fingers clutched desperately at the edge of the countertop. I felt him use his fingers to lightly stroke the slick folds in the way of his target. He made a low sound of appreciation, and my heart tumbled when he dropped a sweet kiss on the inside of my thigh.
“When you blush, you blush all over, Brynn.” He sounded like he liked the pink heat that was under my skin. “You are so pretty, everywhere.”
His rough fingers carefully pulled me open. I’d never been this exposed to anyone before. I’d never let anyone study and examine me the way Lane was doing. While I sought out intimacy and the kind of connection I only felt with him, when it came time to let someone in who wasn’t Lane, I couldn’t do it. For him though, I let my legs fall open even more, letting him move me like I was liquid as he put my legs up on his wide shoulders. I gladly lost myself in the sensations he was creating. His breath was hot against my core, and I almost came right out of my skin when I felt the edge of his strong, white teeth on my clit. The almost bite made my spine stiffen and had my ankles digging into his back.
His tongue flicked at my entrance, lapping up the silken moisture he drew out of my body. When he moaned in satisfaction, it vibrated against my most sensitive parts and had my head spinning.
“I like the way you taste, Brynn. Doesn’t matter where my mouth is on your body, it all tastes so good.” He proved his point by licking his way inside of my body, making love to me with every part of his mouth.
I tossed my head from side to side as he curled that subtle appendage and sought out every place he could find that would make me scream. When I was panting his name, and begging him to hurry, he changed his focus so that his mouth was surrounding my clit and his fingers were pushing in and out and scissoring back and forth inside of me. He used his tongue and his teeth to relentlessly torture my clit, biting down on the hypersensitive spot and soothing the sexy sting with mind-numbing kisses. He curled his fingers with unerring accuracy and hit the place inside of me that made me a slave to his touch.
That steady pressure against that tender spot combined with the rougher, more aggressive attack on my clit pushed me into the oblivion of pleasure so quickly that I didn’t even have time to tell Lane how close I was or how amazing what he was doing felt. All I could do was helplessly come apart under his hands and mouth as he continued to work me over, pulling every last pulse and shudder of my orgasm out of my body. When he pulled his thick fingers out of me, they left a wet trail across the insides of my thighs, a sight that was so erotic and satisfying I wanted him to paint my entire body with the proof of how good we were together.
I had no energy, so when he pulled me to him and cuddled me into his chest, I flopped into his embrace like a limp noodle. “Fast seems to work just fine for both of us.”
He chuckled and I felt it rumble on the top of my head. It was such a simple, perfect moment that I wanted to freeze time and keep the way it felt forever. “We did everything else in slow motion. It took us years to get here, Brynn. Eventually, it won’t feel like we have to rush through all the good we have together. Soon enough we’ll know that this, what we have together, isn’t going to go away.”
I hoped he was right. I wanted the time and the space to savor this particular bend in the ever-winding road we were traveling together.