The Brody Bunch Collection: Bad Boy Romance

by Sienna Valentine

  As the last of the bats disappeared into the night sky, I became more aware of how tightly Wyatt was holding me, how our bodies were pressed together and warm. I could feel the hard muscles of his body leaning into the softness of mine, and although it was completely and utterly sinful to be so close, it felt utterly magical.

  “Who’s out there?” A voice rose from the field behind us, the sound of a man calling from the edge of the farm into the forest. “Are you the two I saw running across my crops?”

  “Shit,” came Wyatt’s voice. His arm slipped from around me and found my hand again, tugging on it as he started to move. “Run!”

  We both took off, turning away from the farm and running along the edge of the cliff, leaping over and around fallen trees and stepping carefully around rocks and roots. The forest grew thicker the farther we went, and Wyatt turned us into it until we were deeply concealed among the tall trunks, with no sound of anyone or anything following us.

  Only then did we both look at each other and burst out laughing.

  “Oh Wyatt,” I said, when I finally caught my breath. “I don’t remember ever feeling so… alive.”

  He smiled at me. “Sometimes not following the rules isn’t such a bad thing.”

  “Do you think he’s still chasing us?”

  Wyatt’s grin grew broader, his white teeth gleaming in the moonlight. “That old farmer? Nah, I don’t think he ever set foot in the trees. I just wanted to get you alone, deep in the forest.”

  I saw the teasing glint in his eyes, so I swatted him on the arm. “You needn’t have gone to all that trouble,” I said. “You already had a chance earlier tonight and you did nothing.” I wanted to show him I could tease back, and by the look on his face I was fairly certain I had done so.

  “Oh really?” he asked, regaining his composure quickly. He turned to me and I backed away a bit, but stopped when I felt a tree behind me.

  “Really,” I nodded. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and I wondered if he could hear it as well. My face felt hot, but it was dark enough that I was at least sure that he couldn’t see that.

  “You think a bunch of bats and being chased by an old man through the forest made you feel alive? I can do a lot better than that.” He moved closer, his body mere inches from mine and I was trapped against the tree, unable to escape. Yet I had no intention of escaping.

  “I’d like to see you try,” I dared him, my breath almost catching in my throat at the boldness of my words. If Sarah could hear me now, she’d probably die.

  Wyatt didn’t hesitate this time. One moment, his face was inches away as he gazed intensely into my eyes, and the next moment I felt his lips pressing against mine in a kiss. If his mouth hadn’t been covering my own, I probably would have shrieked in surprise. Instead, the sound I made was muffled and soon forgotten, replaced with a new noise that was coming deep from within my throat. A moan.

  It wasn’t even deliberate. It was just that the feeling of finally being kissed, and by someone like Wyatt… it just made goosebumps break out all along my flesh, and my lips tingle and burn, and I just couldn’t help myself.

  When his tongue pressed between my lips, it was all I could do not to gasp into his mouth. Not that it was unwelcome, and it wasn’t like I’d never heard of kissing like this before, it’s just that I wasn’t expecting it. And yet, as soon as it happened, I understood why some of the older, newly married girls in our village would gush about it so. There was just something so raw and intimate about it. I closed my eyes and let the new sensations continue to sweep over me.

  Wyatt’s hands were stroking both my arms, leaving trails of heat through the thin fabric of my shirt. When his palms touched my hands, he locked our fingers together and then lifted them up above my head, pressing them against the tree as his kisses grew harder and more insistent. I did my best to match him, although it was all so new to me. I was worried my lack of experience would cause him to stop, yet he was showing no sign of slowing. In fact, with my hands high above my head, my chest was pressed forward and I felt him lean into me, squeezing my breasts between our bodies.

  My head was spinning with emotion. I’d been taught for so long that doing something like this was a sin, but Rumspringa was a time for exploration, and I refused to feel bad about something that felt this good. Besides, I’d already learned that not everything I’d been taught back home was true, maybe this was yet another thing. Still, I was worried, too, about getting carried away. Hannah’s words were ringing through my head.

  Do it at your own pace.

  Not because you think it’s what Wyatt wants.

  Make sure that it really does feel right.

  It was that last one that finally made the fears and doubts stop spinning around in my head. I had asked her how I would know if it felt right, what did right feel like? She just said “you’ll know.”

  She was right.

  Nothing had ever felt more right before in my life. With renewed abandon, I pressed my mouth back against Wyatt, kissing him in a way that I hoped was correct, following his lead with both my lips and tongue. He answered with a groan of his own, and his body pressing back even more firmly against me. Now I not only felt his chest against mine, but his hips pressing forward as well. And pressing firmly in the middle of that was something hard.

  And after just a moment of thought, I knew what that was, too.

  My eyes shot open, but Wyatt’s own were closed so he didn’t notice until I stopped kissing him back. Not for lack of desire, but more out of distraction.

  “What’s wrong,” he asked, pulling his head back enough to look at me.

  “Nothing,” I murmured. “I was just surprised for a moment.”

  “By what?”

  “Umm,” I wasn’t sure what to say to that, and was once again happy that the darkness hid the reddening of my cheeks.

  “Are we moving too fast?” he asked.

  “It’s not that,” I began, although then I wondered how much further he was planning on taking this. I certainly didn’t want to do everything that I was certain he wanted to do. At least not now. Not in the middle of a forest. And yet, there was something exciting about all of it. Wyatt was constantly pushing my boundaries, and that’s what Rumspringa was all about, wasn’t it?

  “Do you trust me?” he whispered, pressing his face against the side of my neck and then catching the lobe of my ear between his teeth. I gasped and shivered at the sensation.

  I did trust him, there was no question about that. So far all of the surprises he’d had for me had been the right ones. He’d introduced me to experiences I would have never tried on my own, each one something I ended up loving, as if he knew exactly how to please me and what I would enjoy most. Almost better than I knew myself. So why stop now?

  “Yes,” I replied, leaning my head back to give him further access to my apparently very sensitive neck and ears. He kissed along them, dropping his hands slowly down my arms until they stopped at my hips. Once there, they squeezed my flesh, fingers and thumb rubbing and massaging them as he nibbled on my collarbone. My legs were beginning to feel like jelly, so I pressed harder against the tree at my back for support.

  “Do you want me to really make you feel alive?” he asked.

  I couldn’t imagine feeling more alive than I did at that moment, but if it was possible, I was more than eager to experience it.

  “Yes,” I said. “God yes. Please.”

  One of his hands skittered across the top of my pants, fingers dipping between the fabric and my stomach and a new shiver ran up my back. A moment later he had undone the button of my pants, loosening it, and then reached even deeper inside. A little squeak escaped my lips before I could stop it.

  “Is this okay?” he asked.

  I couldn’t trust my voice, so I just nodded. I do trust him, I repeated to myself.

  And then his hand slipped even further, down into my panties and touching me in a place I’d certainly never been touched by anyone else befo
re. Involuntarily, I felt my legs spread slightly, giving him more access. He immediately took advantage of that.

  “Oh my God, Wyatt,” I cried out, as his fingers pressed inside of me. They met with no resistance, sliding in easily along the wetness that had come about from our earlier kisses and the lips that were back to nibbling along my neck and ear.

  His fingers pressed deeper still, and then back out again, sliding up until they reached the top, circling the little button of pleasure that crested his prize, and then down they went again. My breathing was coming in short gasps and my arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, pulling his head closer to me and digging my nails into his back.

  His fingers were moving quickly, in and out, in and then back out and up, each time spending just a little bit longer at the top making wet circles. Faster and faster he moved, and if it weren’t for the tree at my back and my arms around his neck, I’d have fallen down to the grass already. I was shivering and shaking, and it felt like I was about to explode.

  And then I did.

  Leaning forward, I pressing my face into Wyatt’s shoulder and let out a shuddering cry, hoping that the sound would be muffled against his body and we wouldn’t have a repeat appearance from the old farmer that was chasing us earlier.

  Even as I shuddered and shook, Wyatt’s fingers only slowed, refusing to stop completely. My eyes were squeezed shut, but it felt like I was seeing stars that were brighter than the ones above our heads. Within moments I was shaking and moaning into him again, and then again, until finally I had to literally push him away so that I could breathe.

  I could say one thing for Wyatt Brody. He was a man of his word. I’d never felt more alive than I did right then at that moment.

  10

  Wyatt

  Pushing hundreds of pounds of iron above my chest in short reps was just what I needed to blow off some of the tension I had built up last night.

  Making out with Beth had been amazing, especially the end where I made her come for what might have been the first time in her life. It certainly wouldn’t have surprised me. But it didn’t exactly leave me feeling satisfied in the same way.

  I wasn’t going to push it last night though. I was amazed she let things go as far as they did, but she definitely seemed to enjoy it. That girl was constantly impressing me. I knew she grew up in a place where she’d been taught that doing what we did was some big forbidden sin—hell, lots of people around here are taught the same thing, although maybe less often—and yet when Beth decided to try something, she didn’t let anything stand in the way of doing it.

  She had a backbone that I really admired. It’s something I’ve rarely seen in women I’d dated in the past. I had no idea how she would have reacted if I had tried to go even further with her last night, but I didn’t want to take the chance and make her uncomfortable. She was in a good place, and stopping when we did hopefully left her wanting more.

  It sure as hell left me wanting more.

  I pushed the weights up over my chest one more time and let the bar fall back into place above me. Sweat was dripping down from my forehead and I needed a break. So far, coming for a workout was helping to burn off some tension, but it was doing nothing to calm the constantly churning thoughts about Beth. Even the thrashing music I had pumping through my earbuds wasn’t really helping. She had burrowed deep into my brain, that girl.

  I lifted my water bottle to my lips, taking a quick drink with one hand and wiping the sweat that was running down into my eyes with the other. The music of Daft Punk blaring in my ears suddenly fell silent, only to be replaced by a couple of beeps. According to the screen of my phone, it was Ash. What the fuck does he want?

  I debated ignoring the call, but as I was on a break anyway I tapped to let it through. Saved me having to call him back later when I was doing something more important.

  “Yeah?” I answered, still working to slow my breath down after my workout.

  “Geez, Wyatt, did I just catch you jerking off or something?”

  “Can it,” I snapped. “I’m at the gym.”

  “Okay, okay, keep your jock strap on. I called to ask for a favor.”

  I snorted. “Funny. For some reason, the phrase what have you done for me lately? comes to mind.”

  “Listen, don’t be an ass, this is important. Besides, I think it’s something you’re gonna want to do anyway.”

  “I doubt it.” Since when has a favor from one of my brothers been anything but self-serving?

  “I just need you to take Beth out tomorrow, preferably overnight if you haven’t already scared her from wanting to be alone with you.”

  “You have a funny way of asking for favors,” I growled. Still, I was curious why the sudden interest in getting Beth and I alone together. I was going to ask her to do something anyway, but I hadn’t really considered turning it into an overnight trip. That had interesting possibilities.

  “Sorry, old habits. Anyway, I thought it would be a good opportunity for you to stay even with Reid. He’s taking Sarah up to the cabin tomorrow. Wouldn’t want him winning the bet, would you?”

  Now I knew something was up. No way Ash would be trying to help me win a bet that he was also involved in. Maybe he was trying to get Hannah alone for himself. Still, I didn’t really care. “You can stuff that stupid bet,” I said. “I was never in it for that. You and Reid are the only two assholes playing that game. Besides, I call bullshit on your good intentions. What the fuck is really going on?”

  Ash was silent for a moment, enough so that I looked over at my phone to make sure the call hadn’t been dropped. Reception in the gym was spotty sometimes.

  “Alright, listen, I’m gonna be straight with you,” Ash’s voice finally came through with a heavy sigh. “It might not be safe around here. There’s more going on than you or Reid know about.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” I stood up, swinging my leg over the bench and walked to an unoccupied corner of the gym. Ash’s voice had taken on a tone that made me feel like I might need more privacy.

  “Someone broke into my apartment, tore the place apart.”

  Shit. “Really? That sucks. They take anything?”

  “No, I don’t think they were after my stuff.”

  “So what were they looking for then? What the fuck is going on, Ash?” I was completely confused, especially around how this had anything to do with the girls.

  “Look, I haven’t been completely straight with you and Reid. About the girls. The fact is, Hannah and I knew each other before the other night. I sometimes bounce at Trick Shots, so we met each other a while ago. She told me that her sisters were coming for a visit, but she was worried that there might be trouble. She wanted some help.”

  “Trouble? What kind of trouble?”

  “She wouldn’t go into details, so I really have no idea. Could just be something as simple as a crazy ex-boyfriend or something. That’s what I thought it might be, although after what just went down here at my place, I have no idea.”

  “What the fuck, dude?” I hissed. “Why weren’t you just straight with me?”

  “Because you and Reid are dickbags with enormous egos. I couldn’t think of a better way to make you stick to the girls like white on rice than to present you with a challenge. Something that would pit you against one another—and me. Tell me you weren’t just aching to show the both of us up.”

  “Actually, I wasn’t,” I practically spit into the phone, my anger rising to dangerous levels. Someone approached, looking to use some of the equipment I was standing next to but when they took one look at my face, they changed their mind and went to find something else. “About twenty minutes after I met Beth, I couldn’t have given one good goddamn about what you and Reid did with Hannah and Sarah. I was only ever in it for her. I get why you had to lie to Reid, Ash, but fuck you for lumping me in with him. We are nothing alike.”

  “All right,” he finally conceded. “You win. I was wrong. But there are way more important things
we gotta talk about right now. The girls need protection and I think maybe it’s better if we all split up. If someone is after all of them, that will make them harder to find. Maybe buy us some time to figure shit out.”

  “Just tell me who the hell is after Beth, and he won’t have to find us. I’ll go find him right now.” The blood in my veins felt like it was literally boiling. The thought of someone looking to hurt Beth was filling me with rage. I really felt a strong urge to punch something.

  “If I knew that, we’d be having a much different conversation, trust me. I do mean to find out though. That’s another reason why I need you to take Beth out. I need some time alone with Hannah to talk to her. Anyway, like I said, it’s probably just something like a crazy ex-boyfriend of Hannah’s that she’s worried might get mixed up in her life again, or might start hassling the girls.”

  If that’s all it was, then we could probably handle it ourselves pretty easily. We just needed to know who the guy was. If Ash didn’t want to do it himself, I’d be happy to take the job.

  “But listen, I don’t want you to say anything to Beth about this. Not yet, anyway.”

  “Why not?” That idea annoyed me. There were already enough lies and secrets flying around, and now he wanted me to keep something else from her.

  “I just think that until we know what we’re dealing with for sure, we should keep it on the down low. If Hannah had thought it was a good idea to tell them, she would have done it already. You don’t want to spook them into running back home or anything, do you? Besides, if you tell her the real reason why we approached them in the first place, the whole idea of the bet may end up coming up and I’m sure that won’t go over well for anyone.”