by Sheila Kell
“It’s me, man,” Ken said. “I think she hit her head when I pushed her out of the way of the bullet that hit me.”
His attention immediately turned to Ken. “Medic!” he yelled to Rodney, who had been a medic in the military and had breached through the back door with Jake and Rylee. Brad gulped past the lump in his throat. “Thank you.” He cleared his throat and fought back the watering of his eyes. The man took a bullet for his woman. Brad would never be able to repay him. “Thank you for protecting her.”
“Don’t sweat it.” His breathing became labored. “It’s my job.”
Job or not, the man still took a bullet. His stomach lurched at how Madison would be upset that someone was hurt protecting her. But Ken’s quick moves potentially saved her life. Brad couldn’t be more appreciative of the man who saved the woman he loved.
With Ken’s bleeding being staunched by Rodney and Sam at his side, Brad turned back to Madison. Sitting near her head, he pulled her head into his lap and ran his hands through her hair. She’d be all right. She had to. He couldn’t live without her.
“IT’S NOTHING BUT a slight concussion,” Madison told Brad as they entered his home. “So you won’t need to worry about me like before.”
Worry about her? Was she out of her fucking mind? He’d worry about her to the ends of the earth. “Still. I think”—he winked at her—“that lying in my arms is what the doctor ordered.” At least he should have ordered it.
“Oh, is that so?” She turned around to face him, and he kicked the door closed with his foot while reaching his arms out to pull her close.
He could’ve lost her today, and that churned his gut. If it hadn’t been for Ken’s quick action, she probably would be dead. He’d have to give the man a raise for taking a bullet in his hip to save Madison. Of course, he’d just say it was doing his job. Like he had said already. And it was, but still, he went above and beyond in trying to save not only Madison but Sam, who was still spitting mad at Rogers for pulling a weapon on her. Too bad he was dead.
AJ and Rob—the two who shot and killed Casden and Rogers—were at the police station with the HIS attorney. Brad had no doubt it would be classified as self-defense and the men would be back in the fold. They’d gone through that process more than once and knew when they were right in their shots. They’d deal with the anger of the police department for not calling them, and they’d survive.
Finally, there was no threat to Madison. She was free to return to her life. His heart clenched at the thought of losing her. He knew that the strength of his love could be enough to carry them, but he needed her love in return.
Focusing on the here and now, he lowered his head and touched his lips to hers, gently as if he might break her. She was fragile, even though she’d amazed him with her strength. Of course, her anger at the men doing what they did was stronger than her fear of when the handgun had been held to her temple.
He devoured her soft lips, tracing his tongue around them and then sliding it into her mouth where her tongue met his in a splash of erotic bliss.
Brad could kiss Madison all day and never get tired of her sweet taste.
With all that had happened, he had to make love to her. Let her know she was his, no matter what. Show her how precious she was.
Madly exploring her mouth, he grasped her ass and pulled her tight against him, his hardness firm on her belly. “I need you, Maddie,” he said when he broke the kiss, but he kept his lips hovering over hers to let her know he wasn’t finished kissing her.
“I need you, too.”
His heart soared, and his dick hardened even more. It wasn’t a devotion of love, but need was strong. “Then let’s kick off our shoes and head to the bedroom.”
She had already toed off one shoe before he finished his sentence. He hurriedly removed his footwear and left them where they landed on the floor. Grasping her hand, he pulled her to his bedroom and shut the door. He didn’t expect anyone, but who knew if Matt would just show up. He did still have a key to the house.
Pulling her to him, he tugged at the blood-soaked blouse tucked in her shirt while his mouth landed on hers, a hot, sexy kiss letting her know how much she was needed. He didn’t think he could show her the need was stronger than just sex. It extended to everything in life. As he tasted her kiss, he knew he’d have to say something and take the hit to his heart and ego if she didn’t love him back.
With her shirt up to her neck, he broke the kiss and pulled the blouse all of the way off and tossed it on the ground. He immediately reached around her for her pink, lacy bra. He’d mastered those things in college, and it only took a few second before he was unhooking it and watching it fall off her shoulders and to the floor.
“This isn’t fair,” she said coyly, and reached for his T-shirt. He didn’t stop her from undressing him, but he did take the shirt when she reached his neck. She was tall—and he liked that—but not tall enough to pull the shirt over his head unless he bent down. It was easier for him to take it off at that point.
Both of their hands went to exploring the other’s chest. He had a mound in each hand, kneading and massaging before his thumbs flicked her erect nipples.
A shiver ran through him when she played with his nipple. He’d never realized how erotic that touch could be. It never had been. It was all Madison and her hands that did it for him. She made him want to break all of his rules.
“Pants,” he breathed, after lifting his mouth. He slid his lips to her throat and began undoing her pants while she undid his.
“Faster if we do our own,” she said through breath that sounded like she’d just run a mile or two.
He didn’t argue. He needed to be inside her, now. Needed to feel how alive she was.
In her hurried state, he barely had a moment to register the pink, lacy panties she wore that matched the bra. He’d see it on her another time, because even though she didn’t need to stay with him any longer, he expected her to be here a great deal.
“Do you need to grab the scarf,” she asked as she climbed on the bed.
No. He wanted her hands on him. Wanted the feelings that flowed through her. “No.”
“Are you sure? The first time we were together, you told me it was the one rule you didn’t break.”
True. That was before he got to know Madison. “Well, I’m breaking it for good with you. I want your hands on me.” Since he planned to remain honest with her, he saw no reason to not explain further.
“Then come here,” she directed, lying in a sensual pose that made his dick pull him forward by need and desire.
God, he loved this woman, both in and out of his bed. She might be stubborn and hardheaded, but it worked for him.
He pulled out a condom from his bedside table and put it on. Then he climbed on the mattress and lay beside her, propped up on an elbow. His free hand traced circles on her stomach, and he watched the goose bumps ripple across her skin.
Leaning his head down, he took a taut nipple into his mouth and sucked and licked it until she mewed and moaned. When he caught it in his teeth, she almost leaped off the bed.
The amber scent of her lotion lifted lightly to his nostrils, and the urge to just take her almost drove him mad. He’d make sure she was ready for him.
Reaching his hand down between her legs, he leaned over and kissed her stomach. Hot, fiery kisses that trailed around in the same circles he’d made with his fingers. Damn, she was wet and ready for him.
“I want to taste you,” he said, his breath blowing on her belly.
“Next time,” she said. “I want you now, Brad.”
Who was he to argue with that? He lifted himself over her and positioned his cock to her hot core. Leaning down, he took her lips with his and entered her slow and steady until he was fully seated. With the heat and tightness and her hands rubbing up and down his back, he might just come on the spot.
Football stats, he reminded himself. If this problem kept occurring with Madison, he would be a genius on footb
all stats because he always wanted to come as soon as he entered her, but he preferred to remain there, sheltered in her warm heat.
They moved at a slow rhythm, lost in their sensual kiss. After a few minutes, he broke the kiss and attacked her throat with his mouth and tongue. He loved her taste. So sensual yet feminine.
“Faster, Brad.”
Again, who was he to argue? He increased the rhythm until he found the speed where she moaned and arched her back. She was close. Knowing she could come so fast with him set his spirit—and ego—afire with delight.
Reaching a hand down, he touched her nub, and she almost came off the bed. Blatantly watching her now, he rubbed it in a circular motion and looked for clues as to what felt the best. When she gasped in pleasure, her body straining against his, he gave it all he had with the motion of his hips and the movement of his hand.
When his balls drew up and that tingling at the base of his spine started, he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer.
“Oh, Brad, I’m going to come.”
Thank God. “Me, too.”
They came together—or close enough—and the world tilted off its axis for a moment. Aware he was crushing Madison where he’d just fallen, having lost control of his muscles, he shifted off her and the bed with wobbly legs to dispose of the condom.
When he returned, she still lay on the bed with that “just fucked” look—her face flushed with a hint of a satisfied smile on her swollen lips and her body glistening. It was sexy as hell.
He had to tell her he loved her before she was good and away from him. He was a big boy; he could suffer the hurt. Not that he believed that, but he had to tell himself that or he wouldn’t have the courage to say those three little words.
Standing by the bed, naked, he called to her, “Maddie.”
She turned her head to him and smiled. “Yes?”
“Maddie—” He gulped against the nervousness in his throat. “Maddie, I love you.” There, he’d said it for the first time in his life to a woman who wasn’t his sister or mother.
It took a moment for her to grasp his words, and those were some of the worst seconds of his life. But when she caught them, he knew he’d been right to tell her.
She sat up in bed, then stood before him, her naked body still glistening from their lovemaking. Placing a hand on his cheek, she whispered, “I love you, too.” Then she kissed him tenderly, and after too many years of being empty, Brad felt whole again.
BRAD SHOOK HIS head. He was right where his other brothers were at one time when he’d made fun of them. Standing at the altar of a church he’d attended once, to marry the love of his life, was more peaceful than he thought it would be. Madison would be his forever.
They’d spent the last five months really getting to know each other. With her support and help, he’d lost his anger at the world and had dropped all the pain and misery he’d heaped on himself after the incident in Columbia. He’d cleared his name. Yet when the Secret Service offered him a job again, he’d said no. He was settled with his brothers, and there was no place he’d rather be.
He rarely listened when his brothers told him he’d gone over the top with something, but his Maddie had no trouble telling him. And he listened. It didn’t stop fights between the two of them. They were both too hardheaded, but the makeup sex was always great. They even brought out the scarf from time to time. Well worth getting angry for that brief time. They never went to bed angry. That had been a rule they’d established up front.
Madison closed on her new home, and he would move in with her—officially—after the wedding. Instead of selling his home, he was renting it to two HIS team members at a low rate. Enough to cover the mortgage was all he wanted.
Looking out to the crowd, he saw his family with a fully recovered Ken. Besides them, there were quite a few tough men dressed smartly in suits and sports coats sitting on one side. Virtually all were turned and drooling at the abundance of gorgeous models dressed to the nines with wide smiles who sat on the other side. The reception was going to be very interesting. Even so, he and Madison would be slipping out as soon as possible. They were eager to have their first sex as husband and wife.
The church had been decorated with white flowers. Some he knew were roses, but the others, he had no clue what they were. But he liked it. Clean and simple yet elegant. His fiancée had great taste. He grinned to himself. Of course, she did choose him.
“The last man standing takes a fall,” he heard AJ say from within the line of groomsmen. He’d planned to have only Matt stand up for him, but Maddie had Rylee and some model friends she’d asked to be bridesmaids. So he had Matt, Jesse, Devon, and AJ standing up with him, all dressed in their tuxedos.
“And he said it would never happen,” Devon added with a laugh.
Fuckers.
“We knew it would happen, and when we saw him with Madison, it was obvious he was a goner,” Jesse said to the group, as if Brad wasn’t there.
And he had been, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He understood his brothers and their wives’ relationships better now. His heart beat for the love he had for his family. “No matter, I’m glad I’m here,” he said to them. This was important for him to say, but it took swallowing hard past a lump in his throat to do it. He’d never spoken such words from his heart before to his brothers, but he had to say this. “I now know what you were feeling with Caitlyn, Kate, Rylee, and Megan. You can’t let her go for anything in life.”
Matt slapped him on the back. “Things will only get better after this.”
He couldn’t imagine them getting any better, but he wasn’t going to argue with the men who’d married that one special woman and were still in love to this day.
Music began to play, and the group turned toward the church doors. Reagan and Amber, in their cute little white dresses, carried baskets of white rose petals that they dropped on the ground on the way to their special seat on the front pew. The two would never remain still during the ceremony if they had to stand. As it was, everyone knew the two would be squirming around and probably talking, but no one cared.
One by one, he watched the bridesmaid models walk up the aisle toward him before they turned to the bride’s side of the altar. Then the music changed, and he held his breath, waiting for the vision of his soon-to-be wife.
She stepped in the doorway and took his breath away. Dressed in a full-length gown covered in lace, cut in a V-shape on the front and form fitting where her beautiful figure showed before it fanned out loosely below the waist. There was a small train or whatever they called it that marked it off as the perfect dress.
As she neared, he saw the bit of lace that covered most of her face. A veil. The lace, like the lace on her dress, had flowers in it for design. He loved the look on her, although he wanted to rip the veil off and kiss her hard. He swallowed back the urge. His nieces weren’t the only ones who had to promise to behave today.
“Dearly beloved….”
He tuned out the words the minister was saying. He’d heard them over and over again while his brothers had married. He just had to be ready for his part. Matt had the ring. He was relatively sure of it. Shit. He should’ve checked. No. He could depend on his twin.
He was about to be a married man where he felt his responsibility to take care of his wife. It was an old-fashioned value, but he didn’t discount they were partners, and as strong as she was, there was no denying she would stand beside him. Even so, he wanted to be that rock for the two of them and any children they were blessed with having.
Financially, she’d never need him. La Belle was up and running, and based upon the hours she happily spent there, things were going well. He’d visit her at the store, and she’d be swamped with customers. He had no clue people would spend that much on underwear. Yet it was quality, so he guessed that mattered.
But still, not being able to support her financially since she made more than him did hurt his pride. She didn’t flaunt it in his face, so he’d lear
ned to deal with it. Hell, they were going to live in a house she bought and wanted no contribution from him in return. That had been one hell of an argument where they’d had makeup sex for days. Finally he’d caved. He made good money, but he could also be a kept man. He laughed inwardly at that. His brothers would have a field day with that one, especially since he’d given Jesse such a hard time about Kate and her millionaire status.
The girls were squirming in their seats, as expected. He imagined their mothers were itching to move to that pew and correct them. Mothers always did. It didn’t bother him though; it actually brought a smile to his face. One day he and Maddie would have children of their own. They’d talked about it. Before, he’d never seen himself as a father, but with Madison the dream was all too real in his mind. Thankfully, they hadn’t had an argument over that topic. They just wanted however many children they were blessed with, and be it boy or girl, they didn’t care as long as he or she was healthy.
Matt nudged him and brought him out of his reverie. “I will,” he said fast, hoping that was what was needed at the moment.
The minister smiled, so he had gotten it right. Thank goodness. He’d have hated to mess up their special day.
He paid attention through the rest of the vows and ring exchanges, knowing these were the critical parts.
When he was told he could kiss the bride, his heart beat fast. This was the final step, and she was his forever.
Facing each other, he lifted her veil and leaned his lips down to her. He only meant to give her a chaste kiss—they were in church for Christ’s sake. But well-laid plans could have a monkey wrench put in them. She kissed him back with gusto, and he couldn’t let go. He had to deepen the kiss until he tasted her completely and branded the kiss in her memory.
After the clearing of a throat, he pulled back slowly and watched the darkening of her eyes. He wondered if they could skip the picture taking and reception altogether.
