“Be careful what you wish for,” I said, lowing my voice.
“Trust me,” she said as she closed the distance between us, “I always am.”
She stood onto her tiptoes. As I watched her face come closer to mine, I gripped that doorknob for dear life. Jesus Christ, I could have taken the fucking door off its hinges had I allowed my body to move. I had to stay still. Stay put. Even as I watched her lips gravitate to mine. Even as she placed so plump, pillowy soft lips against mine, I held my ground. I couldn’t be like my brother. I couldn’t just take what I wanted. That rule was for savages. That rule was for psychopaths. Brielle deserved better than that.
“Mav,” she whimpered against my lips.
And as much as I wanted to toss her onto that bed and claim her with my cock, logic won out.
“You need rest,” I murmured as I placed my hands on her shoulders.
I pressed a chaste kiss to the tip of her nose before softly twirling her around. Her body needed to recuperate, and the last thing she needed was to get caught up in yet another torrid affair. The gauze wrapped around her wrists and ankles glared like high beams on a night drive as I led her to the bed. She climbed in without another word, without a single sentence of protest, and I wondered how upset she was with me. But, as I tucked her in, inching that comforter up her body, a soft smile crossed her face.
Before she wiggled down into the deep expanse of the mattress.
“Mmmm, thanks,” she said softly.
I brushed her hair away from her blackened eye. “Rest as long as you need. The guys need me downstairs, anyway.”
She peeked her black eye open. “You could climb in with me, you know.”
I chuckled. “Cheeky, cheeky. But, maybe some other time. Once you’re healed.”
She groaned as she buried her face into the pillow. “You make good points.”
“So I’ve been told.”
I didn’t want to leave her, though. I wasn’t ready. She had me magnetized, and her body refused to give up its control over me. So, I sat there. I rubbed her back and slid my fingers through the ends of her hair, working out knots as her ragged breathing slowly morphed into a slow, rhythmic pulsing. Her body relaxed, sinking into the depths of the bed as she shifted back onto her side. A broken breath escaped her lips. Her eyes squeezed shut as her hand flopped over her head. And as she laid there with her lips slightly parted, I had to resist every single urge to press a kiss to her pillowy lips.
“Sleep well,” I whispered, standing to my feet.
And I hoped that she did.
If nothing else, so that her body could heal from the wounds we had inflicted upon such an innocent body.
12
DANTE
My phone buzzed in my pocket as I sipped my coffee. The night had been long, with fruitless patrols and nothing to report.
And Axton wasn’t happy.
“Who the fuck is calling you at an hour like this?” he grumbled.
I snickered and pulled my phone out. “It’s ten in the morning.”
He groaned as his head fell back. “Fucking hell, did any of us sleep last night?”
“No,” I said plainly as I answered my phone, “this is Dante.”
A familiar voice came alive. “Dee? It’s Roger. I need a favor.”
“Roger?” I asked, turning to Axton.
That got his attention, and he leapt to his feet before striding toward me with that determined look on his face.
When Roger called, there were jobs to be had.
