Brody

I held Morgan that whole night through.

There’d been no words I could use to express how I felt when I walked down that hallway and heard what they were talking about. It was perfect timing in some ways, but my arms had been itching to take her, hold her, and carry her away. Once Matthew, Finn, and Abby left the room, Morgan leapt at me at the same time I was going to her.

Her arms and legs wrapped around me, and it was all the permission I needed to carry her from the house and down to my cabin.

When I realized she’d been sleeping in my bed, a wave of tenderness filled me. But again, there’d been no words.

I set her down, and our lips found each other’s. I showed her how I felt that night, and she showed me.

After only a few hours of sleep, the police were knocking on the door. They questioned Morgan, and once they were done, they assured us they had enough to press official charges against Peter Kellerman, who was already in custody.

The gossip already swirling about Morgan and me went up a whole other level with Peter Kellerman’s arrest. So, when the news broke, I wasn’t surprised when ABC, CBS, and CNN picked up the story as well.

We were all in the living room at the main lodge watching the press release when Gayle called.

Morgan was on my lap and looked down. She saw the name, and without saying a word, she shifted to the side so I could stand. She snuggled into where I’d been sitting as I crossed the room and went out to the patio, shutting the door behind me.

“Is it true?”

“Hello to you too, Gayle.”

“It’s true then.”

I sighed. Some days we didn’t need to use actual words to communicate. “When are you coming?”

“Now. Shanna’s with me.”

I looked back. Morgan was watching me, not the television screen.

I’d have to use a car and pick them up or send someone. “When?”

“We’re arriving in an hour.”

I barked out a laugh. “That’s the real reason you’re calling.”

“You’ll pick us up?”

“I’ll be incognito and everything.”

She laughed from her side. “How are you?”

She wasn’t asking about me. “She’s strong. So I’m strong.”

“You picked a good one then.”

I heard her begrudging respect, and my smile grew. I nodded to myself. “I know. See you in an hour.”

Morgan shut the television off when I came back. “That was your manager?”

I nodded, saying to the whole room, “She’s arriving in an hour with Shanna.”

Matthew cursed but was smiling at the same time. “She’s coming to make sure the movie is still a go.”

“Yeah.” I glanced to Morgan and then Finn. “I was going to go and pick them up.”

“You have a car?”

I rented a motorcycle. I hadn’t been able to help myself, so I asked, “Could I borrow a car?”

Abby laughed, the sound filling the entire room and hall. She stood and gestured to Finn. “I think they’ll go crazy if they see you, even if you wear a baseball cap and sunglasses. They’ll still recognize you.”

Probably. They all saw my disguise yesterday.

“We’ll go.” She and Finn both started for the door. “We’ll get food and—”

“We’re out of wine.”

“—we’ll get some booze too.”

Both Abby and Finn laughed.

I warned, “They’ll want to stay here.”

Abby turned around at the door. She glanced to Morgan. “Is that what you want?”

Morgan shook her head. “It’s Brody’s call.”

They all waited for my decision.

They’d want to stay here. I wanted them at the hotel. I sigh before saying, “They should stay here. They’ll be swarmed in the hotel lobby every time they leave otherwise.”

“Decision made.” Abby followed her twin outside and waved over her shoulder. “Be back in an hour and a half with two more if all goes accordingly.”

Once they were gone, the room became awkward.

Matthew laughed to himself. “And on that note, I have some business to take care of.”

He was halfway to his office when Morgan called to him, “You’ll kick him out?”

Matthew stopped. His shoulders tensed, and he took a breath before he turned back around. His face was fully guarded as he nodded. “Yes. I already have the board of directors working on removing him. He’s been arrested. His position will be stripped from him.”

Morgan’s head cocked to the side. “Another item you’ve been planning.” Her tone was knowing.

“I started planning this the day I found out what he’d done. Yes.”

“You’ll promote Finn and Abby?”

Matthew’s eyes narrowed a bit, studying Morgan. “I had already planned on it.” His eyes flicked to me and then back to her. “If you wish to come to the company, you could have a position there.”

“Do you know who my grandfather was?”

I didn’t know if it was the sudden jump in topic or the question itself that surprised Matthew more, but his eyes went wide as he shook his head.

“My mom never talked about him, but the money I have is from him.” Morgan shifted on her feet. “I’ve never looked for him.”

“And you want to know now?”

“Do I have other family? Do you know why she was estranged from her family?”

Matthew hesitated again. I could see his reluctance, but his head lifted again. “Your grandfather died and left most of his estate to Karen, but not all of it. The rest of your family didn’t like that she got the majority, and they fought her. They took her to court to try to get more of the inheritance, but they didn’t win, and she left after that. I don’t know all of it, but I did overhear her telling my father that she feared her family would come for you and also your money one day. She took up with your father because she thought he would protect her. She took up with my father to help protect against him. In some ways, it was a sad cycle.”

As he spoke, Morgan’s head lowered a centimeter at a time. By the time he was done, she was fully looking at the floor.

I stepped forward, my hand going to her shoulder. I drew her against my side.

He added, “I wish I could say they were people worth knowing, but if Karen was scared of them, I doubt they would be.”

I nodded to him. “Thank you for telling her.”

Morgan didn’t say anything. She turned and moved into me as I wrapped both my arms around her.

As Matthew left, with some reluctance again, I just held her close to me as we walked back to my cabin.

An hour later, I shifted to my back and pulled her against me. I skimmed a hand down her arm. “You were hoping to find more of your family?”

She rolled her head to look at me as her free hand caught mine. She laced our fingers together, gently kissing my hand before resting them on her stomach. She settled more against me, getting comfortable.

She murmured, almost too quiet for me to hear, “I think I’d always hoped.”

I traced a hand down the side of her face, lingering over her cheek and lips before I skimmed down her knee and leg.

She closed her eyes at the touch, as if it helped to steady her. “It’s a sobering thought to think you’re completely alone. Creatures aren’t meant to be alone.”

I sat up in bed and grinned at her. “Creatures?”

“Four-legged or two-legged. We aren’t supposed to be on our own.” She bit down on her lip. “I think I might look for my mother’s family, and judge for myself if I should stay away.”

A strand of her hair fell forward, coming to a rest on her cheek.

I lifted it, tucking it back in place, before moving to tug her lower free from between her teeth. “How will you know if they’re good people or not?”

“They probably are not, but I have to see myself. I’ll know.” She grinned. “I have horse instincts, remember? We can tell who are good and who are not.”

I grunted. That was true enough.

I traced my finger over her face again, down her chin, resting in the cleft there before falling back to my side. “I worry about you.”

“Why?”

“Because I care about you.” It was more. We both still hadn’t said the words.

She smiled. “I’m fine. I’ve always been fine.” She laughed, poking me in the chest. “It’s you I worry about. You aren’t fine, unlike me.”

I started to laugh and then thought about it. “Shit. You’re right.” I slid my hand against hers, lacing our fingers again. “You’re more stable than I am.” I couldn’t help myself. She was an inch away, an inch too far. I tugged her onto my lap, and she squealed until she straddled me.

I was tired. I wasn’t hard, but he would rise again. It wouldn’t be long. I ran my hand down her back, around her ass, and cupped her there. I couldn’t stop running my hands over her. I felt my dick stirring. It wouldn’t be long at all.

I rocked her over me, and she let out a full-body sigh, tipping backward.

She let go of the sheet, but it didn’t fall all the way. It fell open, letting me see her. I tugged it down and then cupped one of her perfect breasts.

I could watch as the sun bathed her through the window for hours. I felt her hair on my legs. Both her breasts free for me to touch, lick, taste. They were there for me to hold on to, every inch of her was. She was soft but toned.

I let go of her breast and ran a hand down her waist, rubbing over her stomach and then lower, lingering on her nub. She shuddered slightly, breathing heavier, as she always did when I touched her there. And while she remained like that, literally a buffet for me to touch and taste, I leaned forward and caught one of her nipples in my mouth.

She surged alive, straightening and sliding her hands through my hair. She moved higher on my lap, and I held her tight to me, my teeth biting her gently. I licked around her breast, loving the taste of her, loving how I could almost touch her anywhere and she would gasp in pleasure.

“Brody,” she said on another sigh.

I let go of her breast, tipping my head back so her lips could find mine.

I could die touching her like this.

Her mouth on mine. Her legs straddling me. My dick rising to her entrance.

I caught her bottom lip with my teeth, and she gasped lightly and slid down onto me.

I opened my eyes and looked up. She was gazing down at me, a look of wonder in them, and her hands found my face. Her thumb rubbed over my lip in a familiar gesture that I hadn’t known how much I’d missed until right then. I felt her body tighten, then that look of wonder melted into something more, something warm, something kind, something overwhelming. I felt it surge through me, and I wanted to say it first. I didn’t know why, but I knew I had to.

I leaned back so I could see her, making sure I had her full attention.

“I love you.”

At my words, that emotion was named.

It was something loving in her, but her lips found mine. That was her response, and I couldn’t do anything except savor the touch. I held her hips and began to move her up and down on me. She rolled them with me, riding me, but I wasn’t content this way. I laid her down, my lips never moving from her, and I bracketed her between my arms, thrusting in slow, deep strokes. I rode her this time. Her legs lifted, her ankles hooking around my back, and I began to thrust harder and faster.

I skimmed a hand down her side, rubbing against her breast as we kissed.

I kept moving in her. She kept moving with me.

We were synced. Maybe we always had been. It was something deeper than us. I felt it when I first saw her on that horse, crossing in front of my car. It’d been there the whole time, like we were literal soul mates.

And as I thought that word, it clicked in place for me. Everything flooded loose.

We were.

I just hadn’t realized.

I stopped moving and lifted my head.

My eyes found hers, and she twisted her head to the side. “What’s wrong?” she asked, touching my mouth.

I caught her fingertip, kissing it before releasing it. “I have never felt like this with someone before.”

I lowered my lips to hers.

It wasn’t the first time I made love to her, but it was the first time I was in awe of it.