by Karen Renee
“You’re right about that. He needs his eyes tested.”
“Should I be worried? Not about the detective, but the guy who—”
“No,” he said more forcefully than he intended. Then he spoke without thinking. “What are you doing right now?”
“I was going to take a nap before the Mississippi State game.”
She might be perfect.
Her house might be pristine, but his gut said her house wasn’t safe right now. “No, you’re not. At least not yet. Bring a change of clothes, your marshmallow fluff if you’re feelin’ sticky, and drive to the address I text you. I’ll pick you up there, so I can make sure we’re not being followed, and then take you to my place. We’ll nap, and then watch football.”
She made a humming noise. “I don’t trust that.”
“Say that again,” he growled.
She laughed. “You, me, and horizontal surfaces aren’t conducive to sleep, Sam.”
He laughed. “I need a nap in the worst way, woman. If I say we’ll nap, we will nap. You down to meet me?”
She hesitated, but then whispered, “Yeah.”
Kenzie
A LITTLE VOICE IN MY head said I was being stupid. I ignored that voice, only for another voice to tell me I was definitely being a slut because I wouldn’t be able to lay next to Brute and not attack his fine ass. Even if he could keep me at arm’s length, I knew we would have sex. And proving that voice right, I couldn’t wait! I had a small suitcase packed when I heard my phone chime with a text.
He had sent me the address but added another message. No suitcases. Pack a backpack if you got one. Duffel bag if not.
My brows drew together and then I remembered about his bike. I texted back asking if we’d be on the bike. His return text was immediate.
Damn right.
That excited me so much I felt wetness between my legs. But that was craziness. A ride on his bike turning me on... what was that?
I scrounged deep in my closet for an old backpack. Then I transferred my stuff to it and drove to the address, which turned out to be a shopping center. I glanced around, uncertain about leaving my car overnight in a parking lot.
A thunk on my window made me jump in my seat.
My door opened and Brute leaned down. “You need to lock your doors when you drive, baby. Now, be honest. Do you trust me?”
I nodded.
He grinned. “Good. You trust my brother, Mike? He’s gonna drive your car somewhere else, so it’s not in a parking lot where it might get towed, or have a tracking device put on it, or any shit like that.”
“Your brother?”
“MC brother, but we’ve been like brothers since we were nine.”
“Where’s he taking my car?”
“He owns a bike repair shop. He’ll put it in an empty bay.”
Over Brute’s shoulder, I noticed a tall man with sandy blond hair standing a few feet away. I recognized him as the man who got engaged the day Brute and I met. “Okay,” I said.
He grinned. “Got your bag?”
I nodded.
“Fluff?” he asked in a low voice.
I hung my head. “I forgot.”
His fingers tipped my chin up. “Lucky for you, this grocery store is fully stocked.”
I SWUNG OFF BRUTE’S bike after a very fun, but long and circuitous ride. I removed the aviator sunglasses he’d encouraged me to wear before leaving the grocery store. Then I took off the helmet, my hair spilling out because Brute had insisted I put it inside the helmet to disguise myself. He really wasn’t messing around about us being followed.
We’d ridden from Ocean Springs through Biloxi and almost to Gulfport before he took side streets to wind his way past Keesler Air Force Base. He took the bike up to such high speeds, I had to cling to his back, which only added to the thrill. When he pulled into a gated apartment complex my brows furrowed, but I thought it was part of his ruse to lose whoever might be following.
As he removed his helmet, he lowered his chin and looked at me over the top of his shades. “You sure seemed to like that ride.”
I grinned. “Yes. But, I’m confused. Do you live here? I would’ve expected a general contractor to have a dream home or something.”
He shot a wry smile my way. “You’re right, but I’ve yet to find the right home at the right price.” He grabbed the marshmallow fluff from a saddlebag. Before locking it, he tucked the helmets inside. “Let’s go.”
We walked through a breezeway, then wandered through the complex around the pool, past a dog park, a playground, and over to the opposite side of the complex from where he’d parked. He unlocked a first-floor apartment, disabled an alarm system and gestured for me to come inside.
While he shut the door, I asked, “Do you have a dog?”
He grunted with humor. “No, babe. Kind of dog I want needs room to move. Why do you ask?”
“Because I saw the dog park, and believe it or not, that’s the first place Aubrey would want to play even though we don’t have a dog.”
He chuckled and slid the backpack off me. “Take it she wants a dog.”
I grimaced. “Yes, though she’s not hard-core about it yet. I can distract her, but she’s ramping up. In a year or two, I’m sure that’s all I’m going to hear.”
He put my pack and the fluff on a kitchen counter, grabbed my hand, and led me to a bedroom with a king bed. “That took longer than it should’ve, so I hope you can power nap. Because I don’t miss kick-off on M.S.U. games.”
I grinned. “Good, because neither do I.”
When I saw him undoing his jeans, I took it as my cue that I could sleep without my jeans on, too. Somehow, I wound up in bed before he was, so I watched the show of him removing his shirt, getting an eyeful of his tattoos. He had barbed wire spiraling around his left forearm, which gave way to a thick tribal pattern up his bicep and around his left pec down his abdomen.
“Can’t stare at me like that and expect a nap, Kenzie.”
I felt a blush heating my cheeks as I looked into his brown eyes. “Sorry, I can’t help it. Your tattoos are interesting to me. Why is the tribal pattern only on one side of your torso?”
He climbed into bed. “Not a pattern. It’s a tribal phoenix. The feathers extend onto my bicep, and the wire is what holds the phoenix back.”
I gazed up at him ready to ask why a phoenix, but his face was inches from mine. “Kiss me good, babe, but not too good. Then we can nap.”
That was a tall order because all of our kisses were good, and I didn’t know anyway to prevent that. I kissed him, but he took over and it was just as good as ever, only shorter.
“Sleep tight, honey,” he whispered, then shifted around on his back.
I let him go and rolled to my back. That wasn’t working because I was a side sleeper, so I curled toward him while keeping my distance. I didn’t want to curl around him like I did earlier that morning. With a deep yawn, I shoved that worry out of my mind and fell asleep.
My eyes fluttered open and I saw deep green on skin. Blinking, I realized I had snuggled up to Brute and had an extremely close-up view of his tattoo.
I lifted gently and saw his eyes were pointed forward. I followed his gaze to see a flat screen showing the game.
“Crap. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sleep on you.”
His eyes slid to me. “Baby, if it bothered me, you’d know it. By the way, you lied.”
My brows knit and I shook my head. “What?”
“Said you don’t miss kick-off, but you did.”
I rolled off with a huff. “Fabulous. What quarter is it?”
“Still the first.”
With the pillow folded double, I propped myself up to watch the game.
“What are you doing?”
I looked at him. “I’m getting comfy.”
He shook his head while his arm wrapped around my waist and he dragged me to him. “Sitting a foot away from me isn’t comfy, Kenzie. This is.”
Oh boy. I lik
ed that he felt that way. My eyes darted up at him. “You’re a snuggler.”
His other hand gathered my hair and slid it over my shoulder where he started playing with it. “I’m not. Just like having you close. Sucks that someone’s watching us, or I’d take you out on my bike later. Love that you liked being on it with me.”
I tilted my face toward him. “Do you really think that guy’s watching me? I figured it was just you he was watching.”
He stared at me for a while and from the way his eyes moved over my face, I knew he was weighing his words. “Thing about this guy is that he might decide to use you against me. Could be overkill on my part, but his brother... well, he had no problem using women or putting them in harm’s way. You aren’t part of my world.” He paused, looked the side and I felt like he cut himself off from saying something else. Then, “I’m doing whatever is necessary to keep you safe. Within reason, of course.”
I nodded.
A receiver caught a pass and ran up the field. I forgot where I was, leaned forward and yelled, “Go baby, go!”
Suddenly, Brute’s weight was on me, his lips were on mine and he kissed me. His tongue hit mine, but as quick as it did, he pulled away from me. “Quiet, baby. Got a bitch of a neighbor upstairs and we don’t need to deal with her, too.”
I slid my fingers into his spiky hair. “I wasn’t that loud.”
His eyes widened. “You were, and she is just that much of a cunt.”
My hand stilled and my head pressed back into the bed. “That’s harsh. Really harsh.”
His head tipped down, my fingers sliding further into his hair. “She’s just that harsh, herself. Now, what are you doing? There’s a game on.”
I heard a fast-food commercial in the background. “No, they went to break. But the question should be what are you doing? You pounce on me like that and give me some sampler-sized kiss. That’s rude.”
He did a long blink and shook his head.
I wiggled my hips as I brought my lips to his, kissing him. With a groan, he kissed me back. Against my lips, he said, “One kiss. Have to wait until halftime before I fuck you.”
Before he could shift away three hard, short knocks sounded at the front door. As far as we were from the front, the person must have been pounding on the door.
My eyes widened. “You have to be kidding! She came down here that quick? Let me at her because I think you’ve been too kind.”
He knifed off me, laughing. “That ain’t the bitch upstairs, baby. I got a bad feeling that’s my dad. Or it’s one of my brothers. Either way, you gotta put on some pants.”
Since he made for the door without putting on his pants, I scoffed. “And you don’t?”
“If it’s my dad, he ain’t gonna give a shit. If it’s one of my brothers, I’m sending them packing.”
I eyed his crotch. “Perhaps none of them should see you packing?”
One of his eyes narrowed at me, and he snatched his jeans from the floor. “You’re a troublemaker, Kenz,” he said as he left.
As quick as I could, I put my jeans back on, and then used his bathroom. When I came out, I heard a deep male voice talking to Brute. “...need to put a shirt on. I raised you better than to answer the door half naked.”
I sniggered and felt the silence become charged, even from my spot outside the room.
“He heard you, so you might as well come out here.”
I sighed but trudged out to the living room.
At the sight of Brute’s father, I stumbled over my own feet. If that wasn’t embarrassing, I didn’t know what was. Yet, if he was a vision of Brute in the future... good heavens! His hair was dark, but liberally interspersed with silver. Like Brute, his hair stood up. It was hard to tell if it was natural or if he added product to make it look so full of body. His hair was longer, so there was wave in it that I hadn’t noticed in Brute’s. His father had a well-groomed beard, but the hair along his cheeks and chin was full on white, while his mustache was a blend of dark and silver whiskers.
He had the same beautiful brown eyes, but they were set a little narrower and slightly deeper in his face. When he chuckled, I got the feeling he knew my thoughts.
He turned to Brute. “Junior, you should’ve told me you had a woman here.”
Brute sighed and arched a brow. “Really? You’re gonna break out the ‘junior’ bit right now?”
Sam senior scoffed. “You’re the one who called me ‘old man’ when you opened the door. If I told you once, I’ve told you twice, you got to get your priorities straight.”
I desperately wanted to creep back to the bedroom, but Brute hooked me around my shoulders. “Dad, I’d like you to meet Kenzie. Kenz, this is my Dad, Sam.”
Sam reached out a hand to me, and I shook it. “It’s nice to meet you, sir. Did you happen to bring—”
Brute nudged into me with his shoulder. “Don’t ask him that.”
I glowered up at him. “Why not?”
His chin tipped down and I watched his lips quirk. “You know what... you’re right. Have at it, babe.”
I looked to his dad who had a bemused expression on his face. “Did you bring your fried green tomatoes with you?”
The bemused expression turned curious and he focused on me. “How do you know about my tomatoes?”
I grinned and tipped my head toward Brute. “Because this guy said the only person who makes them better than Cora’s is you.”
His brown eyes rounded at Brute. “Been talkin’ about my food, but this is the first time I’m meeting this woman?”
I blurted, “It was just last night, and I don’t think Brute planned to see me again so soon.”
The weight of Brute’s glare hit me like a beam of unwanted light. I glanced up at him, but he turned to his Dad. “Excuse us.”
He shuffled me to his room, shut the door and put his hands on my shoulders turning me to face him. “Don’t make assumptions about me, Kenzie. Most likely, I’d have called you tonight after this game is finished. But now, we’ll never know because you texted me and after talking to you, I knew I had to make sure nobody’s watching you. Got it?”
I nodded and he led me back to the living room.
His dad gave me a long look, but he was smiling so it didn’t make me that uncomfortable. “I didn’t get a chance to say so, but it’s a pleasure to meet you, too, Kenzie.”
“Oh, no,” I whispered.
“What?” his dad asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing. Just, Mom isn’t going to be happy I met you when I told her it was too soon to introduce her to Brute.”
“Then don’t tell her, babe,” Brute muttered.
His dad laughed, loud and boisterous like Brute. “You know it don’t work that way with mothers and daughters.” He gave me a serious look. “Though, I’m with Sammy. Don’t mention it to her and you should be okay.”
I widened my eyes at him. “You had it right the first time. It just doesn’t work that way with us. She finagles things out of me worse than my daughter.”
He tried to hide it, but I saw his dad pause. His eyes slid to Brute for a moment then back to me. “You have a daughter?”
I gave him a closed lip smile. “I do. She’s six going on twenty-six, and with her father this weekend.”
He nodded, but something in his expression had dimmed. “Where does that put her, first grade?”
I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“That’s a fun age. Hell, they’re all fun ages, until you get to thirteen.”
I tilted my head in a reluctant nod. “You’re not the first to tell me that, so I’m trying to enjoy it while I can.”
Brute turned on the television in his living room, and the three of us watched the game. At halftime, my stomach growled and both Vaillant men heard it.
“You want a pizza?” Brute asked in my ear.
“Sure, if your dad’s down with that,” I said.
His father pulled out his phone, and Brute shot him a glance over my head. “Dad, you’re
not ordering us pizza. I got it.”
His father arched a brow and I wondered if I could introduce Mom to him, too. I shook my head a little at the thought.
“I’m using one of those grocery delivery apps to get some decent beer in this place. You’ve gone all namby-pamby on me and started drinking overpriced beer.”
“Fine,” Brute muttered. “If you’re doing that, order whatever Kenzie’s drinking.”
“I’ll just have water.”
“Woman, it’s bad enough that Dad’s ordering beer. There’ll be Abita or Bud Light for him. You want red wine or something, say so.”
“Cabernet, merlot, or something else?” Sam asked.
I gave him my preference while Brute ordered pizza.
Half an hour later, I had a glass of wine and the pizza had arrived.
“Got oregano, son?”
Brute, who stood at the counter dishing up plates of pizza, reached into a cabinet and handed a bottle of dried oregano to his dad. As I reached for my plate, Sam grabbed it while he carried his plate and the oregano in his other hand.
“I could carry my plate, sir.”
He shot me a look. “You could, but you’re not gonna.”
“Dad,” Brute said.
I sat down next to Sam and put my glass on the coffee table.
He handed me my plate which I put in my lap, then he flipped open the top on the dried herbs and started sprinkling. “Don’t know if you put stuff on your pizza, but it’s always better with extra oregano.”
“I don’t normally, but when in Rome, right?”
He grinned, handing me the oregano. “That’s right.”
Brute sat down on my other side and put his bottle of beer on the table. “Stop flirting with Kenzie, Dad.”
“He wasn’t flirting,” I said, sprinkling oregano into my hand.
I put the container on the table, then smushed the flakes in my palm. I could feel them both staring at me, but I ignored it.
“Look at her acting like one of those TV chefs. Crushing dried herbs.”
I smirked. “I bet the cook at Cora’s crushes their herbs. Makes their fried green tomatoes so good.”
They both chuckled.
Then I heard, “She’s a giver. Like that for you.”
