[Steel Brothers 01.0] Craving

by HELEN HARDT

  The nights were the worst. The concrete floor was often chilly, even though it was summer. Was it still summer? The days had rolled together. How long had he been here? At first, he’d kept track of each time they came to him, but he stopped doing that. He didn’t want to think about those times.

  The door to the small room opened, and one of them came down the stairs, wearing a mask, of course. They always wore masks.

  He didn’t speak to the boy, just set out a tray of food. The boy didn’t dare move until the man had ascended and closed and locked the door. Then he scrambled to the tray and gobbled up every bit of tasteless food. Maybe it was poisoned.

  I stood abruptly when the officer walked back in. The walls flew back to their normal places.

  “Ready, Mr. Steel?”

  I nodded. I was okay. Everything was okay. Needed to get home. Needed to see Jade. She’d make it all right.

  Marjorie and Jade sat in the waiting area. Marj ran up to me and flew into my arms.

  “Talon. I was so worried. Are you okay?”

  I couldn’t tell her I’d just had a panic attack. “I’m fine.”

  Jade said nothing, but she stood, her blue-gray eyes piercing into me like two spears.

  “Let’s get you home,” Marj said.

  Home. Where was home, anyway? I hadn’t felt like I’d been home for twenty-five years. We walked out together. Marj’s car was parked nearby on the street. Jade still hadn’t said anything.

  “Are you hungry?” Marj asked. “We can stop and get something. Jade and I already ate.”

  I shook my head. No, I wasn’t hungry. I was rarely hungry. I ate for sustenance. Fuck. I’d missed Marj’s steak dinner last night. I’d have to apologize. God… I hated hurting my sister. Hated hurting my brothers.

  “I’m so sorry all this happened, Talon.” Marj’s eyes misted up.

  I could stand anything but her tears. So many tears had been shed over me during my life. I was damned sick of it.

  After that, Marj stopped talking, and we were all silent during the half-hour ride out to the ranch. I sat in the front seat next to Marj, and Jade sat in the back. I couldn’t see her, but her presence surrounded me, enveloped me, permeated me. She was inside me, and I was being pulled in different directions. One part of me wanted her more than anything, but the other part pushed her away. I couldn’t bear the thought of hurting her, and if she stayed near me, she would get hurt. I was a mess—a mess she, or anyone else, shouldn’t have to deal with.

  We pulled into the ranch, and Jade went into her room without another word. I watched her walk down the hallway. Only she could make a navy-blue conservative suit look hotter than hell. I wanted to rip that tweed off of her and fuck her good right there.

  But that would have to wait. Marj was coddling me, fawning all over me. Guilt raced through me. I’d missed her dinner, but she didn’t mention it. Instead, she made me a pot of tea and told me to go to my room and rest. Rest was the last thing I needed. Yes, I was perpetually tired, but right now, my body was agitated. I needed to keep moving, needed to work off some steam. Needed to release…

  And I knew just where I could find one. How to get past Marj was the problem.

  After I had waited a while, I sneaked out of my bedroom and down the hallway toward Jade’s room. I knocked lightly on the door.

  “Come in.”

  She had changed out of her stuffy suit, and she sat on her bed in a pair of denim cutoffs and a hot-pink tank top. My cock reacted at the sight. On the bed was a manila folder, and several documents were splayed out.

  She looked up at me. “Hey, I was just looking over your case file.”

  “So you’re really going to prosecute me, huh?”

  She shook her head. “Not if I can help it. But I need you to cooperate.”

  “You think you can get pretty boy to drop the charges?”

  “I will try. Even if he doesn’t, you have a great chance to get a good plea bargain. But honestly, we’re putting the cart before the horse. Formal charges haven’t even come in yet.”

  “Well, you’re the city attorney. You file the charges, right?”

  She shook her head. “Larry does that, I’m afraid. But I will certainly recommend to him that we go lenient on this.”

  “Don’t hold your breath,” I said. “The good folks of Snow Creek like to stick it to the Steels.”

  She arched her eyebrows. “Why would you say that?”

  I wasn’t sure why I had said that, to be truthful. As far as I knew, no one had anything against us in town. “I don’t know. Because we’re the rich ranchers. We own half the damn town.”

  She nodded. “I see.” She paused a moment. “So where were you last night, anyway? Marj worked her butt off cooking that great dinner for all of us. She was really hurt when you didn’t show up.”

  I gulped. What could I say? Turned out I didn’t need to say anything, because Jade kept talking.

  “And then that cop comes around looking for you, saying he has an arrest warrant. Do you have any idea what you put all of us through? I was worried sick. But never mind me. What about Marj and your brothers? None of us got any sleep last night.”

  I let out a guffaw. “Join the fucking club.”

  “No way. Don’t turn this around. I get that you have trouble sleeping, and I’m sorry. But that doesn’t negate what you did last night. And you have sleeping pills now. Why aren’t you taking them?”

  I didn’t know what to say. She kept talking.

  “You owe your sister an apology. And for God’s sake, where were you last night? People here care about you, you know. You can’t just take off like that when your sister is expecting you for dinner, and then have some cop come along—”

  “Hey, I didn’t know Steve was coming around. It’s not my fault that jerk ex of yours had me arrested.”

  “Not your fault? Do you listen to the words that come out of your mouth, Talon?” She shook her head.

  I looked down. I don’t know why I’d said it wasn’t my fault. But he’d been kissing her, touching her… “I told you I’d plead guilty.”

  “And back to that again.” Jade sighed. “You really are determined to fuck up your life, aren’t you?”

  I didn’t have to fuck up my life. It was already fucked up beyond recognition. “Fine. What should I do? Will he drop the charges?”

  She looked back down at the files on her bed, shaking her head again. “All right, we’ll talk about your case, since whenever something personal comes up, you clam up.” She cleared her throat. “Honestly, I don’t think you have a lot to worry about. I tried calling Colin and left a voice mail. When he calls back, I’ll get this taken care of. After all, he owes me a lot more than this.”

  “Why does he owe you anything?” The thought of him owing her made my teeth rattle.

  “Hello? He left me at the altar and humiliated me beyond repair. He did come back here to apologize and try to make things right, though. I’ll just tell him that he can make things right by dropping the charges.”

  “You don’t have to use your favors on me.”

  Jade gathered the papers together and stuck them back in the file, slid the file into a slim briefcase, and set it by the side of her bed. Then she looked up at me, her eyes slightly misty. “Why are you resisting my help? I’m here and willing to help. I care about you.”

  Pinpricks covered my body. “No, I don’t want you to care about me.”

  She scooted to the edge of her bed and stood, facing me. “I don’t understand you, Talon. We’ve had some amazing times together, and don’t tell me you haven’t felt the connection. I know you have.”

  I said nothing. I couldn’t deny it. I felt the connection, and it scared the hell out of me. As much as I wanted to disconnect from it, I couldn’t stay away from her.

  “Look, you made it perfectly clear where you stood when this first started. You’re not going to fall in love with me. Fine, I can deal with that. But for God’s sake, I can help you her
e. Please, let me.” Her red lips trembled.

  All thought fled from my head. I grabbed her, pulled her to me, and kissed her.

  As usual, she responded right away, opening, sliding her silky tongue against mine. She tasted of strawberries and sweetness, and I was hungry, hungry for the flavor that was her.

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her breasts into me. When I needed to take a breath, I broke the kiss. “My God, what have you done to me?” I said into her neck.

  She didn’t reply. She just pressed tiny kisses to the top of my chest that was exposed. Her touch, I hungered for it. Something about her… Being with her…

  I almost felt whole.

  I pushed her slightly away. “Take off your clothes,” I commanded.

  I turned and walked back to her door, locking it. When I returned, she stood before me, naked and inviting. So beautiful. I trailed a finger down her cheek to her chin, down her neck, over the plump swell of her breasts, and flicked a nipple. She moaned and jerked.

  “Now undress me,” I said.

  She pushed me down until I was sitting on the bed, and then she knelt before me, pulling off my boots and socks. She slid up, unbuckled my belt, and unzipped my jeans.

  My cock was straining. I wanted her so much. I ached to have her beneath me, obeying me.

  She stood and pulled me into a standing position. She brushed my boxers and jeans over my legs, and I stepped out of them. Then she worked at my shirt, unbuttoning it and pushing it off my shoulders until I was as naked as she was.

  “Lie down on the bed,” I said, “facedown.”

  She gazed at me with those steely blue eyes and then did as I bid. I could take her now, have her any way I wanted her. She would let me. She gave me that power. She trusted me. Unworthy as I was, she trusted me.

  I grabbed my jeans off the floor and pulled the blue bandanna out of my pocket. Quickly I bound her hands together behind her back.

  She tensed but said nothing.

  “Okay?” I asked.

  She moved her head in what I thought was a nod, but because her head was on the bed, I wasn’t quite sure.

  “You have to answer me. Verbally.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  I trailed my finger over the globes of her beautiful ass and then between the crease. She shuddered.

  “Close your eyes,” I said.

  She complied.

  “I’m going to do what I want to do to you, blue eyes,” I said. “If you want me to stop, you tell me to stop. Okay?”

  Again, she attempted a nod.

  “Verbally,” I said.

  “Okay,” she said, her voice shaking a bit.

  Was she truly ready for this? I didn’t know, but she would stop me if she needed to.

  Starting at her toes, I grazed my fingers all the way up her smooth legs to her ass, up her back to her shoulders. No millimeter of skin went untouched by me. When I trailed back down and touched her between her legs, she was dripping wet. Oh, God. No woman had ever responded to me quite like Jade did.

  “You’re wet, baby. You’re so wet for me.”

  She attempted her nod again.

  “I’m going to slide my cock into you, baby,” I said. “Keep your legs together like that, and I’m going to slide right into that sweet cunt. It’s going to be so tight, and it’s going to feel so good.”

  I gave her a gentle slap on the ass. She jerked but didn’t say anything. I had told her to tell me to stop if she needed me to, so I continued. I slapped her ass again, a little harder this time. It turned a luscious shade of pink. Then I leaned down and spread kisses over her pink cheeks to soothe the sting.

  “You like that, baby? You like it when I slap your little ass?”

  “Y-Yes,” she stammered.

  I would go easy this time. As much as I wanted to smack her cute little butt until it was bright red, I couldn’t. She would need to understand me better before we could go there. And she would never understand me fully. I couldn’t let that happen.

  I climbed on top of her and rubbed my cock between her ass cheeks. I dipped the head into her slit and then slid it between her ass cheeks again, lubricating with her wetness.

  “Keep your legs together, baby,” I said again. “I’m going to slide into that tight heat just like this.” I knelt, my knees on either side of her thighs. I notched my cock at the entrance to her pussy, and slowly, achingly slowly, I slid into that wet paradise.

  She let out the softest, sweetest sigh as I entered her.

  That sound was better than the sweetest music I’d ever heard, better than the soft patter of rain on the roof, better than a baby’s laugh. And with that sigh, something opened inside me. A tiny bit of my heart that had been hard as stone for so long broke free.

  A tear slid out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t know why. I had no idea where it came from. But something inside me broke, if only for that single moment. I pulled out slowly and slid back in, letting her warm suction surround me, take me, make everything okay.

  Was this the person I had been looking for? Was this the person who could take all the bad away? Did such a person even exist? She lay still, not resisting, letting me take what I needed from her.

  And even though she knew nothing about my past, what I had been through, something inside me, something on a deep carnal level, knew that she understood.

  I slid back into her one more time and let my orgasm take me. More tears fell down my cheeks as I moaned and released.

  I poured everything inside me into that release, into her. She lay beneath me, moaning into the comforter, her hips bucking, her hands tied behind her back. Taking me, trusting me, and giving me so much in return.

  If only I were worthy.

  Chapter Twenty–Three

  Jade

  He convulsed into me, and although I hadn’t had an orgasm, something about this joining of our bodies was more special and sweet than any before.

  When his cock stopped pulsing, he withdrew. He released my hands, and I turned to face him. His dark eyes were sunken and wet, and moist trails lined his face where tears had fallen.

  I cupped his cheek, thumbing the remainder of a tear away. I longed to ask him what was wrong, why he was crying, but I knew he would not respond. So I said nothing, and after cupping his cheeks for a few more seconds, I crawled into his arms.

  He held on to me, and I burrowed my face into his chest. I inhaled the salty cinnamon masculine aroma. I loved his scent. I loved how I smelled like him for hours after we’d been together. I sometimes hesitated to shower so I could keep the scent on me longer.

  He didn’t say anything, didn’t offer any explanation as to why he had been crying. I didn’t ask for one. I just held him, and I let him hold me.

  And we came a little bit closer that night.

  “If you just drop the charges, I can get him to pay restitution. I’m almost sure of it.”

  “Why should I? The jerk beat the shit out of me. If you’re the new city attorney, aren’t you supposed to be on my side?”

  I pushed my chair back and sighed into the cell phone. “I’m on the side of the city, Colin. Taking this to trial would be a waste of the city’s resources. You told me yourself that you’re okay. That you didn’t have any lasting effects from the incident.”

  “He damn near broke my nose.”

  “But he didn’t.” I was surprised he hadn’t. Colin’s nose had been bleeding pretty badly.

  “He could’ve broken my ribs the way he was kicking me.”

  “And again, he didn’t.”

  “Only because I knew how to protect myself by getting in the right position.”

  “We can all be thankful that you knew how to protect yourself.” I let out another sigh. “Don’t you need to get back to Denver? You really want to hang around here to testify?”

  “I can fly out here anytime to testify. Has your office filed charges yet?”

  “Yes, my boss did this morning. But, Colin, this is a misd
emeanor assault. He didn’t use a weapon, and you didn’t sustain any lasting injuries.”

  “I’m not dropping the charges.” Colin clicked the phone off.

  Now what? I’d have to talk to Talon’s attorney and come up with a plea bargain. Would Larry object? I smiled to myself. He couldn’t possibly. He had given me this case. If he objected, I could easily go to the judge and tell him that Larry had given me this case in spite of all the conflicts. It was my case. I would handle it as I saw fit.

  I perused the Colorado criminal statutes. Reckless endangerment carried a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a maximum fine of five hundred dollars. I could probably get Talon to plead down to that and get him a fine instead of prison time. God knew he had the money.

  I laughed out loud. I was the prosecution, for God’s sake. The defense should be pleading down the case. Where was O’Keefe? He should be taking care of this.

  I pulled his business card out of my briefcase and punched in his number.

  “Peter O’Keefe please.”

  “May I ask who is calling?”

  “Jade Roberts from the city attorney’s office.”

  A few minutes later, “Peter O’Keefe here.”

  “Mr. O’Keefe, hi, this is Jade Roberts at the city attorney’s office. I’m calling about Talon Steel.”

  “Yes, what can I help you with?”

  “I’ve been going over the file, and I don’t think there’s any reason to take this to trial. The people are willing to plead down to reckless endangerment and a five hundred dollar fine plus restitution to the alleged victim.”

  “That’s a generous offer, Ms. Roberts. I think I can probably sell that to my client.”

  “Great. Let me know.” And please do sell it, I added myself.

  Now, to convince Talon. I checked my watch. It was almost five. Larry had left an hour ago to take his grandkids for dinner and ice cream. I’d put in a full day, so I gathered my things. I said a quick good-bye to Michelle and left.