Dance for Me

by Kay Elle Parker

  That was fine with him.

  “Seems to me some vital information was withheld from our conversations, little one,” Braun chastised gently. “Makes me think you don’t trust me. So that means we need to have a talk tomorrow.” He began stripping off her clothes slowly, watching the trembling intensify. “I don’t want you to worry about what was said between you and Connie, Bodie. She only told me what I needed to know, what you said she could tell me. I’m not mad.” Just hurt. “I can see why you’d want to hide the truth, but it doesn’t happen again. Trust has to work from both sides or it’s useless.”

  Bodie crossed her arms over her chest after he whipped away her dirty hoody. God, she looked edible, standing beside his superking size bed with that expanse of beautiful skin on show.

  Eating her a second time was high up on his wish list.

  “Do you want me to get you some ice for your hands?” he asked, kneeling in front of her as he tugged the jeans down over her hips and sleek thighs until they puddled at her feet. One by one, he removed her boots and completed his task of getting her naked.

  “They’re fine.”

  She speaks! Braun rose and captured the dainty weapons in his, inspecting them and growing displeased as he counted the teeth marks in her skin and the swelling consumed her knuckles. “They’re not fine. Jasper’s granite face roughed them up.”

  “Wasn’t his fault.”

  He hated hearing her so downtrodden. The spark he loved was dwindling, buried under exhaustion and worry. “Wasn’t yours either, little one.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, feeling her relax as she understood he actually wasn’t angry with her. “Been hiding some big secrets, Bodie. It’s got to hurt, letting them go.”

  No response to that, he noted. That was okay. She’d talked her heart out to Connie, and it was a vital step forward. Right now, she was worn down to the bone, swaying on the spot as though standing took far too much effort.

  Flipping the covers back on the massive bed, he guided her into sitting on the mattress so he could carefully detangle her hair from its plait. When the fall of dark strands tumbled free in sexy waves, he massaged her scalp for a few moments. Her head lolled forward.

  “That’s a good girl, darlin’. Time to sleep now.” He lifted her legs up and into bed, laying her against the pillows with an avuncular smile. A quick stroke along her jaw, a feathered kiss against her brow, and she was tucked up in the duvet. “Get some rest, Boadicea. Just shout if you need me.”

  “You’re not coming to bed?” she slurred, already half gone into slumber.

  He chuckled, but the sound was empty to his ears. “Before tonight, I’d have had a hard time keeping my hands off you, Bodie. Knowing what I know now...my control isn’t limitless. You’ll be safe from my Neanderthal urges, I promise.”

  “M’kay,” was the semi-conscious reply.

  Fuck, I need a cold shower and sleep. Braun left her sleeping and went to the bathroom. He might not be sleeping in his own room tonight, but he wanted to remain close to her for as long as he could in case she didn’t settle.

  Leaving the door ajar, he stripped, contemplating jacking himself off before he took a shower. He tossed his clothes into the hamper behind the door and then set the water running in the cubicle big enough for him, Jasper, and Atticus to fit in together. If they were so inclined. Hell, they could squeeze Loki in if he didn’t mind kneeling between his friends.

  That would be a hell to the no, he decided.

  He opted against masturbating; it felt perverted jacking himself off to thoughts of Bodie without her knowledge. Especially now he knew what she’d been hiding. Jesus, just the idea of all the shit in her head made him cringe.

  Liam had brought a ticking timebomb into Braun’s life. Braun wasn’t sure whether giving the man a raise or throttling him was the most appropriate avenue to take, but either way, this new challenge would surely give him renewed purpose.

  Ice cold water pelted his skin as he stepped beneath the showerheads. Gritting his teeth against the bite, he ducked his head and braced his hands on the wall, groaning as the sudden chill abated his erection. He’d been hard from the moment he’d laid eyes on Bodie outside, her warrior spirit beckoning to his own, and fucking her there and then hadn’t been out of the question.

  Bad Braun! Trying to get rid of the hard-on, not prolong it.

  It wasn’t easy. She’d responded so fucking well to their scene, he thought it was just nerves kicking in. Yes, she was tight, that pussy should be made illegal, but not once did he imagine she was...that. Hell, even Liam thought she’d been stripped of her virginity years ago.

  Would it have deterred him from pursuing her?

  Maybe. Probably. Braun was of the opinion a woman’s—or man’s—sexual journey should start with someone they trusted, enjoyed being with in other capacities, before leaping headlong into the fray. Sex was fun, something to play with and experiment with, as often as it was taken seriously.

  Love didn’t have to play a part, but it brought something beautiful to the party that simple fucking couldn’t.

  If Bodie had come to the club, boldly stated she was a virgin, Braun thought he might have considered taking her on as a project. Chances were one of the Masters would have vied for her attention, probably Loki, and Braun would’ve stepped back. He already carried the brunt of responsibility for the club on his shoulders on a daily basis.

  Adding Bodie with her issues and inexperience would have been too much to deal with if he’d given the matter any depth of thought.

  Instead she’d slipped under his skin and lodged in his heart so now nothing mattered but taking care of her. It was too late to turn back—if he refused her now, she’d either be so emotionally wounded on top of copious other scars that she’d never reach out again and deny herself the wonder of connecting with a lover, or she would go out and fuck the first guy who didn’t set off her warning radar.

  She’d probably do the latter just to spite him.

  Images of her climbing Atticus and riding him like a racehorse in the Derby had Braun’s hands clenching into fists on the tiles.

  No, he could this. He had her trust, didn’t he? His had taken a bit of a knock, but it could be rebuilt if she found the courage to be honest with him in the morning. One thing he’d learned from the lifestyle was that there was a reason for everything.

  Bodie had her reasons, and the ones he’d heard were good enough not to kick her out of his life. But he wanted all of them. She needed to lay the whole fucking mess down on the table so he could see which way they had to go to solve the problems.

  It wasn’t like he’d been with inexperienced women before. Playing a woman’s body was a game to him—find the sweet spots, the ones that made her sing, the ones that burned her throat with screams and soothed her from lofty heights, and wield the knowledge with skill.

  With Bodie, he might just have to move a fraction slower and make damn sure she was in the same headspace. Rather than banging her against the wall with rampant passion, he could initiate things in bed first.

  Fuck, who was he kidding?

  He wasn’t a callous bastard capable of hammering her into a mattress the first time. Not now he knew, anyway. His subbie was just going to have to take it as he saw fit, and one thing was for fucking sure, it wouldn’t be done in the club.

  His cock remained stubbornly at half-mast, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. Cursing it and the universe, Braun soaped up under the cold water and rinsed off briskly. No point freezing his balls off when it had no effect on his dick.

  He switched the water off and climbed out of the shower, dripping as he reached for a towel. Rubbing himself dry, he padded naked into his room and crossed to the dresser, hunting down a pair of loose cotton cargo shorts. He usually slept naked, but if Bodie woke through the night and needed him urgently, he assumed his cock waving at her wouldn’t reassure her in the slightest.

  More suitably attired, he moved to the bed to
check on her. She hadn’t moved an inch from what he could tell, body and mind completely burned out. He stroked his fingertips over her pale cheek, then switched on the bedside lamp as an afterthought. If she woke, it wouldn’t be in the dark.

  Leaving her, however tempting it was to just ease in beside her, was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? The moral thing. He frowned as he summed things up. Would she appreciate being left alone in a strange place? Would sleeping in the guest room provide her leeway to steel herself against the conversation she knew was coming, give her ample time to strengthen her impressive inner sanctum so she could hide from him and the uncomfortable mess of lies and mistruths she’d used to protect herself?

  Hell yeah, she’d use that time wisely.

  Hoping he was making the right decision and that he wouldn’t wake up to Bodie smothering him with one of his own duck down pillows, Braun abandoned his noble plan of crashing in the room across the hall.

  Her sanctum was in ruins after tonight. There was nowhere left for her to hide. It sounded as horrible as it felt to know he intended to use that to his advantage and keep her off balance.

  The sheets were cool when he slid onto them. The bed conformed to his body immediately, welcoming him home like a long-lost lover. He breathed a sigh of relief, aching in too many spots to name.

  His thoughts turned to her parents and the threat they posed. Liam had commented more than once on Bodie’s family so he knew she wasn’t exaggerating their cruelty, not that he doubted her honesty on that score.

  Personally, he didn’t want Bodie going near them again. From their repertoire of past crimes against her, kidnap, rape, and murder weren’t crimes they were averse to committing.

  He and Bodie would be discussing her relocation into his home. If she didn’t want to sleep in his bed, that was fine. He had two other spare rooms to choose from. She could use the club stage through the day to practice what she needed to, and what she earned from Avalon would more than keep her bills paid and give her a chance to save up a nice nest egg for future emergencies.

  Thinking of that future, with or without him in it, Braun fell asleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  She could get used to waking up warm and comfortable.

  It made a lovely change to jolting awake, muscles knotted by the cold and damp, shivering despite the layers of clothing she wore to keep herself warm. Maybe the landlord had taken pity on her and turned the heating back on for a couple hours.

  She wasn’t going to complain.

  Bodie stirred, humming contentedly in her throat. Soft warmth caressed her back as she rested facedown on an equally warm but much harder mattress. It took her drowsy brain far longer than it should have to click onto the fact that she didn’t own either a soft duvet capable of retaining any kind of heat, and that her mattress possessed all the fineness of a rotten banana.

  Forcing her eyes open, they rolled in their sockets as she fought off the draw of sleep waiting to suck her under again. It seemed ridiculous to entertain thoughts of moving when she was so sinfully comfortable.

  Her mattress lifted beneath her, then an arm rested over her lower back. She stiffened immediately, eyes popping wide with no intention of going back to sleep now. Well, this just took the cake, didn’t it? How many precarious positions could she end up in?

  Assessing the situation, Bodie came to the conclusion her body was up to no good. From what she could tell, she was completely naked yet again, and Braun only had clothes on his lower half. Her bare breasts were squished unabashedly into the hard pecs of his equally bare chest, and she’d managed to wedge her face into the curve of his neck and shoulder.

  One arm was flung to the side, the other was half buried beneath what had been her pillow until she evidently traded it in for the human version in her sleep. And her legs...well, there were roses climbing trestles looser than the tangle of Braun’s limbs and hers.

  Her pussy, the wanton hussy, was more than excited to welcome the thick erection knocking politely for entry through the material of Braun’s shorts. The dirty flirt was already wet and achy, ready to send out housewarming invitations, and it would seem Braun was ready to RSVP with a hell yes.

  Fingers flexed against her hip, the heavy arm low on her back twitching. “Far too fucking early for your busy brain to be this awake,” the man beneath her grumbled, the vibrations of his words humming into her, chest to chest. “Shit, it’s still dark out. Go back to sleep, Bodie.”

  She stayed very, very still. If he thought she’d drifted back off to la-la land, maybe he wouldn’t get any ideas about having a certain conversation she really wanted to avoid. Once he went back to sleep, she was totally getting out of there.

  Until she figured out what she wanted, how much she could handle, it wasn’t fair to him to keep pulling away then letting him suck her back in. Neither of them gained anything, and she knew it wouldn’t end well for either of them.

  Talking with Connie had loosened some things inside her, opened her eyes to how her life should—could—be if she got her act together and got off this nightmarish carousel. Maybe one day, when she was in a better place, she could come back to this, to Braun, and they could try again.

  Fresh start.

  If he wasn’t dating someone, of course, or married.

  Expecting a baby with the new love of his life.

  Bodie frowned, unsure what to do with the ache in her chest at the thought of Braun finding someone else, falling in love and starting a family with a nameless, faceless woman. Because marriage and family and kids wasn’t on her agenda, no sir.

  Looking after herself was trial enough.

  But he wouldn’t be alone forever—that was both a relief and a small agony she couldn’t resolve.

  Come on, she chastised herself. You can barely keep a roof over your head and food in the cupboards. You sleep on a heap of covers on the floor, dressed in layers of clothing to keep warm, because you’re too afraid to buy a fucking bed in case the family find out. How could you have a baby, raise it, knowing they’re waiting for an excuse to string you up from the rafters and call it justice?

  That was the crux of it.

  Her family was the thorn in her side, and she let them stab her in the back, in the heart, in the fucking head because she didn’t want to incur their wrath and face what came after. She’d become this because she was too scared to change, to step out of line, because she was aware of what waited for her when she did.

  Pathetic.

  She had enough money saved up to get her away from here. Just get in her car and drive away, over as many state lines as she could cross. Maybe go north, up to North Dakota or Montana for a while. Hunker down in a log cabin for a few months until she hashed out the shit in her life and found where she needed to be.

  She didn’t even have to go back to that wretched apartment if she didn’t want to. There was nothing left there for her, no keepsakes or mementos that were vital to her wellbeing. Everything she needed was stashed in her car under the passenger seat, so if she decided to go, there was nothing stopping her...

  Well, aside from one important thing.

  “Boadicea, you’re not fooling anyone, darlin'. Least of all me.” Braun’s breath ruffled her hair gently as he exhaled. “This busy mind is blowing shit way, way out of proportion again. Just be warned if you run a second time, I’m chasing your ass down to the ends of the earth and hauling you home.”

  Goddamn him.

  He shifted beneath her, leaning to the side and almost pitching her off his body onto the floor—or so it felt like. With a breathless squeak, she clung to him as he chuckled and checked the time on his phone. “Fucking four-forty a.m. Even the sun hasn’t gotten its ass out of bed yet, Bodie. Are you gonna be a good girl and go back to sleep, or do I need to keep you occupied until your brain switches off?”

  Occupied how? No, bad thinking! Skipping merrily down that path can only lead to bad, bad things happening. But her stern warning fell on deaf ears as her pussy re
adied itself for one hell of a party. Even her breasts were anticipating the festivities, growing heavy and sensitive, her nipples tightening into peaked buds where they pressed against his firm pecs.

  Her agreement to be a good girl fell by the wayside, locked in her throat when his hands skimmed up her back to knead her tense shoulders. Everything felt as though it was falling into place, and she wasn’t ready for it all to align.

  The heat of him defrosted the chill seizing her insides, banishing much of her anxiety. As they lay in the darkness, his fingers working their magic on the knots in her muscles, she absorbed his warmth and his scent, bathed in both until the sensation of being cherished sank in.

  The logical conclusion to their current situation was, of course, sex.

  Her body was eager to participate; her mind not so much, recalling the horrors of what she’d once seen. But even with those images in mind, trusting Braun came easier than she’d ever believed possible. Naked, sprawled over him, she couldn’t be more vulnerable, but he didn’t seem inclined to rush anything.

  Sounding more alert now, Braun was the first to disturb the peaceful silence. There was a rough edge of sleep still haunting the edges of his tone, as though he wasn’t quite ready to admit defeat and wake up properly. “Connie told me we have a little dilemma, darlin'. Something you’ve been scared to tell me, or anyone for that matter. I’d like to hear it from your lips.”

  Obstinacy lifted its ugly head. If he knew, why did he need her to say it all again? The man had spent too much time in Jasper’s company; the sadist was rubbing off on Braun. “I’m not hashing it all out again, Braun.”

  “Not asking you to, little one.” Shit, he was sliding back into Dom mode. “I’d just like to hear it from you for once. I think my firecracker has the balls to move past embarrassment and say the words.”

  “And then what? I knew I shouldn’t have said anything to Connie. I told her I didn’t want to be coddled and fussed over—if we’re going to have sex, I just want to get it over with and move past this bullshit.” There was an edge to her voice she couldn’t stop, nerves making it snappy and irritable. Brattish.