by Jayne Rylon
Kari was glad to have someone to stand up for her even if she knew she was capable of doing it herself. This was so much…easier.
“Thank you.” She leaned against Josh, who hovered close to the bed.
“You don’t need to thank us, Kari.” He hugged her. “We’re here for you, and we always will be. That’s what family is for, right?”
Brady and Ford nodded as if Josh hadn’t just set her world on fire.
Was that what they thought of her? Did they feel the same way she did?
For now it was enough that they were near. She relaxed into the pillows and let herself rest while the doctors did their thing. The sooner she was out of there, the better she would feel.
4
Kari stumbled. Her arms flailed as she searched desperately for anything to halt her momentum. There was nothing. She was going to end up in the street. A flash of yellow filled her peripheral vision.
The crunch of her body rolling up onto the hood of the vehicle was followed by a razor-sharp, white-hot pain that lanced through her upper thigh. For a split second, she glimpsed the driver’s face. It looked as horrified and shocked as she felt.
A scream ripped from Kari’s throat. She tried to get up, but she couldn’t. The pain was too intense.
“Hey, hey. Kari! You’re okay. It’s all right. It’s only a dream.”
Kari thrashed some more until she realized she couldn’t move because she was tangled in the softest and most luxurious sheets she’d ever slept on.
A shadowy figure stood nearby, naked from the waist up. She could make out his features in the glow from a light in the bathroom. That’s right, he’d left the door cracked when he tucked her in earlier. “Yes, sweetheart. That’s better. You’re here. With me, Brady. At our house. Josh and Ford’s house too. Okay? Is it all right if I come closer?”
Tears blurred Kari’s vision. She couldn’t speak, so she put her arms up.
Brady whispered his thanks to her or to some invisible force, she wasn’t sure which. Either way, he crossed to her in two giant strides and sank onto the edge of the bed. He gathered her gently, carefully, into his arms and stroked her hair.
When he began to rock her back and forth, she clung to him and the comfort he offered them both.
“I was so scared,” she cried. “I fucking hate that. Hate being afraid. Am I going to freak out every time I cross the street now? It’s bad enough I can’t go into alleys on my own anymore or enjoy parties like I used to or even have a damn drink to calm my nerves. That bastard. How much more is he going to take?”
She didn’t say it, but she wondered if something might have developed between her and the guys sooner if they all hadn’t been fucked up by what had happened at the office Christmas party. How much time had they wasted?
“I’m sorry, Kari. I was terrified too. I still am.” Brady wasn’t too macho to admit it. She appreciated that about him. “I couldn’t take it if anything happened to you and now—not once, but twice—you got hurt when I should have been looking after you.”
“No. That’s not true.” Kari tried to shake him. Too strong to budge beneath her trembling arms, he stayed still while she rattled herself. “You’re not taking this on. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It feels like I did. When I saw you in that hospital room. Unconscious…” He buried his face in her hair. “Son of a bitch. I’m sorry.”
“Brady?” she whispered, aching to take away his pain like his presence alone did for her.
“Yeah?”
“Kiss me. Don’t stop until I forget about yesterday and six months ago and all the things I’m afraid of.” On the growing list was ruining her budding relationship with him, Ford, and Josh. They were the brightest part of her life right now and she needed them…him…more than ever.
Kari tugged Brady closer. He didn’t resist. It was sort of like it had been with Josh and yet, different too.
Because Brady wasn’t playing. He was dead serious. Yet so damn careful, she knew without words how precious she was to him and how shielded she’d always be, here in the circle of his arms. So she didn’t resist when he leaned forward, pressing her back against the mountain of pillows on the ridiculously plush bed they’d lent her.
It felt like sleeping—okay, well, making out—on a cloud. It was easy to forget the harsh realities of everyday or the ache in her thigh when he sucked her lower lip between his and nipped it.
Kari whimpered.
Brady moved far enough away to ask, “Did I hit your leg?”
She hated the space between them. Needed to feel his heat and weight grounding her. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight, until he slid back into place, their chests mashed together. “No. I don’t feel that at all when you’re touching me. Distract me some more.”
“How much more?”
“A lot more.” Kari figured she would have to deal with any repercussions later. Right now, she needed him. Not wanted—although that was true too—but needed. He eased the tightness in her chest and chased away the lingering wisps of her nightmares.
“Are you sure?” he double-checked.
She nodded then wriggled until she could walk the oversized T-shirt Josh had lent her up her thighs and hips. When it bared her pussy and the dip of her waist, Brady froze.
At least for a moment or two. Then he dove between her legs to inspect the flesh she’d revealed to him. He petted her stomach, not seeming to care that it was softly rounded instead of chiseled into abs. She was nothing like the swimsuit model he and the guys had been rumored to be fooling around with most recently.
In fact, he seemed to like the way her skin felt against his fingertips. Brady kept caressing her, over and over, following every line, dip, and curve of her body as if committing them to memory. His rapt attention turned her on, making her feel like a goddess when all she was doing was lying there, enjoying herself.
Kari buried her fingers in his hair and rubbed his scalp. His eyelids lowered, making him look even sexier when he shot her a smoldering stare. He turned his head to place a kiss on her wrist, right above her pounding pulse, before returning his attention to her torso.
He gently pried her hand loose from the cotton and took over, lifting it over her ribs. It took forever, because he insisted on blanketing every exposed inch of her skin in butterfly kisses. It was as if the thought of someone hurting her pained him too, so profoundly that he had to reassure himself that every bit of her was intact.
Kari didn’t plan to rush him. She wallowed in the liquid heat he inspired with his mouth, tongue, and the warm wash of his breath. Here, in their hushed togetherness, she couldn’t imagine anything negative intruding. She felt truly safe for the first time in months.
Ironic that it was on the day she’d been attacked, yet again.
Brady healed wounds that were too deep for stitches. He was like the world’s best medicine being pumped through her system. Serious, yet kind. Patient. Everything she needed right then.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly when Josh’s T-shirt was hung on the bottom swell of her breasts. “Is this too much?”
He paused to swipe a tear from her temple. She hadn’t even realized they were rolling from the corner of her eyes and into her hair as she stared up at the ceiling. “No.”
Brady stopped and began to get up from the bed.
She hooked her good leg around his waist to keep him in place. “It’s not too much. In fact, it’s not enough. I still need more. It feels so good to let go.”
“Then give me everything. I’ll take care of you this time.” He kissed her neck then, nearly making her spine arch right off the bed. “You don’t have to worry about anything when you’re with me.”
It was pretty much the most intoxicating thing anyone had ever promised her. And because she knew him—knew how responsible and detail-oriented, how kind and hardworking he was—she believed it was true.
Kari surrendered. She went limp beneath him, flinging her arms out and spr
eading her legs wider so he could settle more fully between them. He wasn’t in any hurry. Not rushing toward some destination. Rather, he let them both enjoy this exploration, wherever it took them and whatever they discovered about each other along the way.
“Yes.” He licked and nipped a path down her neck to her collarbones, which were visible in the wide neck of Josh’s shirt.
That thought made her hesitate. Long enough that Brady noticed. “If you change your mind, say so. You won’t hurt my feelings. I’m here to do whatever you want me to do…or not do. You never need a reason to say no to me, okay?”
Maybe not, but she had two of them to think about.
“What about Josh and Ford?” She sighed, already craving the feel of his lips against her again.
“They went back to the office to hammer out some details on our case and draft a request for a delay to give the judge in the morning.”
“Because of me?” she groaned, some of her passion fizzling.
“No, because of Marty. None of this is your fault, remember? Plus it’s good experience for Cooper, who’s assisting them in my place.” Count on Brady to spin this into a positive.
Kari gasped then. “Wait. What about Andi?”
Brady grimaced, though he never stopped caressing her, toying with the edge of the cotton at her collarbone and tracing imaginary swirls up her neck. “She’s on lockdown at her apartment, worried for you and pissed that her guys wouldn’t let her out to see you, mostly. Reed and Simon are there with her. So far it seems like Marty is blaming you for losing his job and being unable to get a new one, even though we all know his blackmail attempt on Cooper over his relationship with Andi was the real reason he got fired.”
“Oh, thank God.” Kari felt like shit that she hadn’t considered sooner the possibility that Andi might also be in danger. If it meant her friend was safe, she’d gladly take the brunt of Marty’s focus and attention.
“You don’t have to worry about any of that tonight, Kari. It’s just you and me here. No one else can get inside if we don’t let them, remember?” He said it as if he was talking about inviting guests or warding off intruders, but she realized he was referring to her thoughts. Her fears. Her ability to let phantoms run her life. She didn’t intend to do that anymore.
Kari nodded. She got what he was saying and even knew what she wanted to do about it. Mostly. “Do you think…? Will Ford and Josh be mad if we…?”
What were they doing exactly? How far would they venture together?
“If we make love?” he asked, as if afraid to say it out loud in case she wasn’t on the same wavelength.
He shouldn’t have worried about that. Releasing her lip from between her teeth, she nodded again. “Yeah. That.”
“They’ll know I’m the luckiest man in the universe tonight. I don’t think they’ll be upset. They care about you and they want whatever is best for you. Somehow, right now, that might be what I’m good for. To help you. Please, let me make you feel better.”
Kari sniffled, then decided she’d had enough of tears for one day. His generosity moved her. “Am I dreaming again?”
A wide smile graced Brady’s face then. “No, sweetheart. You’re wide awake. I mean, have you ever had a dream that felt like this before?”
This time he wasn’t playing around. Brady trailed his hand down from her neck, between her still-covered breasts, then over her stomach. He brushed her mound, making her rock toward his touch. When he cupped her pussy, pressing the heel of his hand over her clit with precisely the right amount of pressure to make her moan, she practically saw stars.
No, that was definitely too vivid to be a dream.
Just the stuff of one come to life.
Under ordinary circumstances, she might have rolled to her knees, straddled him, and taken her time getting to know his body as well as he was coming to know hers. Not this time.
“Do you mind if I just lie here and let you do…well, whatever it is you’re about to do?” She wiggled her fingers at her boobs and lower.
“Not at all.” He smiled, slow and sexy.
“Have at it.” She couldn’t say what it did that he waited for her to give him the clear green light before advancing.
“Tell me if I hurt you,” he murmured as he peeled the shirt off her. He kissed every single bruise and scrape he came across, making them seem inconsequential in the face of the rapture he gave her.
“You won’t.” She hoped she wasn’t lying. Not that he’d ever harm her physically, but emotionally? If this went astray, she wasn’t sure she could recover.
“I’ll do my best not to. Ever.” He admired her, laid out in front of him. Both with his gaze and his caresses, which made her feel worshiped. They put her in a floaty daze.
So it surprised her when, after a few minutes, he nudged her shoulder and rolled her onto her side before lying behind her. He took her injured leg and gingerly raised it so that it was draped over his own. To be honest, she was on enough painkillers that she didn’t feel any discomfort. Or maybe that was his touch working its magic.
Kari gasped when his naked chest pressed to her back—skin on skin.
He was so much more muscular than his lean form in his crisp shirts might have had her believe. His cut form molded to her perfectly.
“You fit me just right,” he said into the darkness. The firm length of his cock aligned itself along her ass, nudging her as he shifted his hips.
Would that be true when he was inside her too? She couldn’t wait to find out.
Brady adjusted behind her. Fabric rustled as he did something—shoving his pants down, she assumed, when suddenly the thick heat of his erection lay against her ass.
“Damn it,” he growled. “I need to get a condom.”
He shifted, and Kari thought she might die. The last thing she wanted was for him to leave her alone in this giant bed.
“No, you don’t. I mean, not for my sake.” She winced in the darkness.
“You’re on birth control?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah, ever since Marty… It just seemed like the smart thing.” She was so glad he couldn’t witness the stain on her cheeks then. “I’ve been tested a bunch too, since…you know…but if you’re not comfortable with that, I totally understand.”
“Kari…don’t.” He kissed her cheek. “I would never think less of you because of what that scumbag did. I hope you know that.”
“I do, but sometimes it’s easy to forget.” She shrugged one shoulder.
“Let me remind you then.” He reached between them to align his hard-on with her opening. Brady notched the tip at the entrance to her body, then pressed forward, fusing them together bit by bit. His cock worked inside her pussy, reminding her just how long it had been since she’d welcomed someone inside her.
It didn’t hurt, not exactly. It felt like the aftermath of going to the gym after a decade-long hiatus. She’d forgotten she even had some of those muscles. Brady reawakened them, from the inside out.
Kari gasped.
He froze. “Are you okay? Is this okay?”
“So fucking okay,” she groaned, and squirmed in his embrace, trying to force him deeper.
He chuckled, then resumed his movements. Before long, he’d advanced as far as he could.
Brady held her in his arms and slid into her from behind, hugging her to him as he joined their bodies. The only thing she regretted was that she couldn’t look into his eyes as he filled her and made her entire being hum with satisfaction. It blew her mind to be joined with him like this.
Kari tipped her head to the side. Brady groaned and covered her lips with his own. He was so gentle. So kind and forgiving. It was everything she needed right then.
Tonight Ford might have been too intense.
And Josh might not have been serious enough.
Brady was perfect. The perfect man. The perfect lover.
He rocked his hips behind her, fucking her slowly. Every slide of his cock in and out unraveled her furthe
r. She melted all around him and in his arms. Her eyes widened when he shifted. The blunt head of his cock rubbed against someplace magical within her.
“There?” he asked, whispering in her ear.
“Mmm…” A soft moan was all she could muster in response when he did it over and over, perfecting his approach until she thought she might swear off sex with anyone else for the rest of her life.
Except that brought Ford and Josh to mind.
Her pussy squeezed Brady’s stiff shaft as she imagined what they would think or do if they were in the room—no, in the bed—with them right now.
Ford wouldn’t hesitate—he’d enter her, squeezing beside Brady’s cock, stretching her until she could accommodate them both. Josh would kiss her, distracting her from any temporary zings of discomfort. Kari could almost sense their presence.
Brady groaned. He cupped her breast in his palm before running it down her stomach and toying with her clit instead. “I need more hands.”
“If Ford was here, he’d help.” Kari couldn’t believe she’d said it. Her thoughts spilled out. With Brady she was comfortable enough to say whatever came to mind without censoring herself.
“Fuck yes, he would.” Brady’s next thrust was a little less steady, a little more forceful. “And Josh would give you something to do with your mouth.”
Kari licked her lips, imagining sucking him while Ford and Brady sandwiched her between their pumping bodies. That much heat and muscle and man surrounding her might be enough for her to OD on testosterone.
Or maybe to lose herself entirely. She could finally be unburdened from her doubts and fears long enough to fly.
That thought coupled with Brady’s skilled lovemaking shoved her to the precipice of pleasure. She flung her hand down and grasped his, squeezing his fingers as tightly as her pussy hugged his cock.
“You’re ready?” he asked as he stroked her faster and deeper.
“Yes.”
“Thank God.” He groaned, then nipped her neck. Only enough to let her know how much he needed her too. His finger rubbed across her clit at the exact right angle to set her off. Her back arched, pressing her ass closer to his. Her breasts thrust forward.
