“I’m here to help.” Eli took to his feet and headed for the door. “I’ll leave you to it. You know where to find me.”
When the door closed behind Eli, Ivy said, “He really is a good man. I know he comes off a little brutish, but he’s honest, kind, and cares about us.”
“It’s the weird accent. I don’t get it,” Dace said.
“I know, right? I never could figure out where he was from.”
“Look, if there’s any unsettled business between the two of you… It was a long time to be away, Ivy. I’d understand if…”
Ivy reached for Dace’s hand. “It wasn’t like that for us. Maybe at one point, we thought maybe…but it just wasn’t right. We were meant to be with other people. He’s been my best friend for years, and probably always will be, but our friendship isn’t anything more than that – friendship.”
Dace nodded. “I’m going to find Cash, and I’m going to take care of you. Both of you.”
“I know you will. That’s why I came home. I knew you were the only one who could.”
“And because you thought Eli was dead.”
“No. The plan was to come here if anything went wrong. It was Eli’s plan, actually. I think he knew if it came down to it, he couldn’t do it alone, and he was right.”
“It takes a lot for a man to admit his limits. I respect him for knowing his and knowing where you needed to be. He’s been a huge asset – and a huge pain in the ass – but without him, we wouldn’t be where we are. I still don’t know how full of shit he actually is, but…”
“Yeah. I worry about what happens with him when all this is over.”
“He seems like the kind of guy to land on his feet. We’ll make sure he does.”
“You haven’t changed. Not one bit,” Ivy said, grazing his jaw with the pad of her thumb. “You’re kind even when it pains you.” She laughed.
“When you look at me like that…” Dace dropped his head back on the couch and adjusted his quickly tightening pants. “You’re right; I haven’t changed – you still do that to me with a single look.”
“What does it say about you if a bruised-up face and puffy eyes get you…uncomfortable,” she teased.
Dace didn’t find her comment funny in the least. His head shot up, and he turned his body to face hers. With his hand behind her neck, he said, “Baby, I don’t see all that. All I see when I look at you is the beautiful woman I’ve always seen. One who’s kind, loyal, and makes you feel something so deep in your soul where you didn’t think you could feel anything. I’ve waited so long to see if I could still feel those things, and I’m not empty anymore, Ivy. You still fill that part of me.”
A lone tear made its way down her cheek. “The only way I survived the time apart was knowing that someday I’d be right here with you again.”
Dace pulled her onto his lap and cradled her. When she winced, he was quickly reminded she was still tender. “I’m sorry, darlin’. Are you okay?”
Running her hand through his hair, she leaned in and kissed him.
“As long as you don’t stop kissing me, I’ll be just fine.”
Dace stood and carried her to the bedroom, where he placed her on her bed and began to take off his clothes. “I’ll never be the source of your pain, Ivy. Only your pleasure. And I promise to be slow and careful with you in this bed, but only until you’ve healed. Then I’ll show you all the ways I’ve missed you, and nothing will be slow and soft about it.”
Ivy moaned at his words, thrilled by his tantalizing promise, and she began to touch herself through her clothes.
“Take them off,” he ordered. “All of it. I want to see all of you while you’re doing that.”
Ivy sat up on her knees and pushed her yoga pants sans panties down before sitting back so she could kick the garment off at her feet. Her legs were bent, and she spread them wide when she grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Her eyes were locked on his, and they grew heavier with every touch to her own body.
Her hand swept down her chest and belly to her center, where she swirled her fingers around her core and let out a small moan before dragging her hand back up to her breasts where she toyed with her nipples through the thin clothing, causing them to harden.
“Take it off,” he said as he grabbed his length and gave it a long, slow stroke. “Show me what you want me to do to you.”
She smiled and spread her legs wider, opening to him while she released the simple clasp between her breasts and let them free. She shimmied the piece of fabric from her shoulders and went back to pleasuring herself. First, with her breasts, pinching and pulling at her nipples, then laid back. There was more pleasure in knowing he was watching her every move and seeing him rub and stroke in response than through the sensations she was swirling.
“Is that what you want from me?” he said in a low timbre as he climbed on the bed and kneeled between her legs, cock in hand. “Show me what you really want, Ivy. Where do you want to feel me?”
His words alone could have been her undoing and caused her breath to quicken as a flood of heat rushed straight to her center, and her hand followed. She circled and teased while Dace hovered above and watched every touch. She quickened her pace and added pressure while stroking her swollen core. Dipping her fingers in her hot center, she allowed them to glide over her with ease and pleasure, stroke after stroke. When she arched her back, she nearly stopped, waiting for him to join her, but he didn’t.
“Come, Ivy,” he said. “I want to watch you come.”
Her pace increased, and she lifted her legs off the bed, pulling her knees up and out, completely wide for him to see. She arched her back at the feel of his fingers sliding inside her while she continued to massage her most intimate part, and together, they brought her to her peak. He replaced his fingers with his length, filling her as she continued to rise and tighten around him. His pace, in and out, matched hers, and she came down around him, calling out his name as she rode him back, feeling him with every wave of pleasure as she pulsed around him.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he said before taking her breast in his mouth while he rode out her pleasure until he took his own, careful not to crush her. He turned them to their sides, still connected, while they caught their breath and readied for another round. He was just getting started, and so was she.
With Ivy sound asleep, Dace carefully slipped out of bed and slid on his pants. With his shirt in his hand, he stood in the doorway and looked at her in her bed, so still, so content, and for a moment, he wondered where this would go. They cautiously rekindled a relationship neither one of them quite understood or could define yet. They were invested in each other now – while still missing the piece that completed them – their son. A family? Definitely. A couple? Maybe.
Too much had changed for them to just pick up where they left off. Too much had happened. Hell, they had a child now. If anything turned their world upside down, it was that. Whether they would be working toward forever or just a for now, nothing changed the fact that, as he watched her sleep, it was clear he never stopped loving her. Not even a little bit.
Dace was grabbing his boots and turned to leave when Ivy said in a soft voice, “I love you.”
He paused, looking at her over his shoulder, and saw that she was still sound asleep. Was that for someone in her dream? Maybe Cash? Or was it for him? Dace shrugged it off and shook his head, which was full of so many thoughts, wants, needs, and even fears.
He needed to go for a ride.
28
Ivy stepped off the elevator and into the building's parking garage where she was told to meet the team escorting her to an appointment. Most of her rehabilitation care took place at Watermark Tower without any issue, but today was a bit more complicated. She was having her cast removed and images done to make sure everything had healed as they’d hoped.
A quick trip to an imaging facility only a couple of miles away was what they told her. With the connections they had, it was nothing
to reserve the space after hours when nobody, but essential staff would be there to operate the equipment.
When she turned the corner, headed for the fleet of vehicles lined up to escort them, Ivy paused. Dace and Cally were standing at the end of the staged caravan, hugging. He rubbed her back, she gripped his neck, and when all was said and done, they kissed each other’s cheek. As Cally walked away to get in her vehicle, there was a moment where their hands held, and they looked at each other in a way Ivy had never noticed. There was something there. A certain intimacy danced between them. They were something — a couple.
Now Ivy knew where Dace had gone the night before – from her bed to Cally’s, it seemed, and this was the morning after walk of shame. Though neither looked ashamed, it made sense, though. Ivy had been gone – Dace was a virile man and easy on the eyes, so of course, he’d had relationships in her absence. It just didn’t dawn on her that she’d returned right in the middle of one. And now she’d slept with someone else’s man not once, but twice.
Her lapse in judgment and desire to fill a missing piece of her led her to be the proverbial other women. She was such a cliché. When the other elevator dinged announcing its arrival, she was quick to move and not be noticed in such a state of…whatever it was she was feeling.
“You okay, love?” Eli said from behind her.
Ivy glanced over her shoulder and feigned a smile. “Yeah. Great. Hope I get this thing off today and get to keep it off.”
Eli noted her mood and traced her sightline when she turned her attention back to whatever she’d been trained on. He watched Cally get in her car as Dace looked on, tossing a wave Cally’s way. “Ah. Miss Cally.”
“Mm-hmm. It sure was,” Ivy said saltier than intended.
She had no right to feel anything where Dace and Cally were concerned, and frankly, it was none of her business. Cally was sweet, and Dace deserved sweet. Even if it wasn’t his thing, it didn’t matter, though, because she had no right to him. She lost that when she left.
It wasn’t like she expected him to drop everything, dump his girl, and come back to her. That would be selfish and wrong for either of them, even if they did have a child together.
“You ready?” Dace smiled hard and kissed Ivy on the cheek to greet her just as he had Cally’s. “You’re riding with me.”
“I think I’ll ride with Eli,” she said, offended that he could just jump from one girl to the other and think she’d be okay with it.
“Eli?” Dace questioned. “He can ride with us. It’s fine.”
Ivy turned up her nose and marched on to the vehicle Dace had pointed at, climbed in the back seat, and slammed the door behind her.
“Did I miss something?” Dace asked.
Eli grinned. “Not a clue, mate. Old habits die hard, I suppose.” And he climbed in the back seat next to Ivy.
Dace could feel Eli’s sly grin pointed his way through the dark tinted windows, so he raised his brow and pointed at the front passenger side for Eli to ride shotgun. When he heard the door lock, he shook his head and whispered under his breath, “What the fuck is going on?”
As the small convoy left the building, groups of two broke off in different directions, making it hard to be followed should anyone attempt to. Dace was the lead car in his pack and made sure to check his rearview as often as he could without causing an accident. He wasn’t watching his surroundings or keeping an eye on his protective detail on his tail. He was watching Eli whisper to Ivy with his arm around her shoulder the entire ride.
When they arrived at their destination, the security team in the second car went in first to secure the building. When they got the all clear, Dace helped Ivy, followed by Eli, out of the back seat of their SUV.
Ivy noticed two more SUVs had arrived from different directions and parked on opposite sides of the building they were entering as some kind of lookout. It made the danger she was in more real than it had been and sent a shiver down her spine.
Each of the men went to place an arm around her and captured each other in an odd side embrace instead, which they quickly pulled away from.
“You okay, Ivy?” Dace asked, full of concern. “Dr. Mendoza is the only one treating you today. You’re safe, or I wouldn’t have brought you.”
One of their guards held the door for the three of them to enter, when Eli said, “And I wouldn’t let this buffoon take you anywhere unless I knew you were going to be safe.”
“Yet you’re here,” Dace said back just loud enough to hear.
“Please recall, buffoon.”
“Seriously, stop. Both of you,” Ivy said, walking ahead to Dr. Mendoza who greeted her with a smile that quickly turned to a look of concern.
Mendoza addressed the men. “You two can stay out here. You going to be okay, or do I need to assign seating?”
“Fuck off, Mendoza,” Dace said, taking a seat.
“Okay, then.” Dr. Mendoza left through a door to the rooms where he’d be seeing Ivy.
“You treat all your friends that way?” Eli snickered. “Surprised you have any.”
“What the fuck is your problem, Eli?”
“I thought it was quite obvious. It’s you.”
Dace stood to face the man. “I thought we were past this. Now you’re acting like some possessive asshole, and Ivy isn’t speaking to me for who knows what reason. What did you say to her?”
“Oh, it’s not what I said, it’s what you did, you jealous ass.”
“Jealous? Of you?”
“Clearly.”
“What the fuck, man? Did I miss a memo or something? I’m really sick of your shit, man. All this speaking in odd codes, rambling in circles and secret bullshit. Why does it take a grenade up your ass to get you to talk?”
“Grenade up my arse? Interesting. Sounds a little…uncomfortable.”
Dace grabbed Eli by the shirt and got in his face, causing two of his men to step up. “Dace?” one of them said. “Should we escort him out?”
He let go of Eli’s shirt and pushed away from him. “I’m good. I’m good. Just sick of this prick’s shit.”
“Is he always like this? Does he walk around beating things up?” Eli’s accent was thick in surprise as he addressed the guards.
“I don’t know what you’re doing here. What you’re trying to stir up with Ivy, but this isn’t the place or time.” Dace sat down in a nearby bank of chairs.
Eli joined him and waved the guards off to speak privately. “You really don’t see it, do you?”
“See what? Can we not play this bullshit game and get on with whatever you’re going to say here?”
“You’re an asshole. A blind asshole. If you think Ivy holds any feelings for me that you should be threatened by, you’re mistaken and haven’t been paying attention.”
“Again. Get to the point, Dr. Phil.”
“That girl only has affections for you. It’s always been you, man.”
“Then why the back seat cuddling and whispers?”
“Because she saw you hugging and kiss another woman, you buffoon. And I enjoy rattling your cage.”
“No, I…” Dace ran a hand through his hair. “Cally. Shit. That wasn’t anything but a goodbye. She’s a special girl, we were there for each other through a time when we each needed something, but it’s over. What she saw was just closure.”
“I know that, and you know that, but does Ivy know that?”
“You were there. She didn’t exactly give me a chance,” Dace said.
“Because you let her walk away, more concerned by why she wanted to ride with me. Get your head out of your arse, or you’ll blow it before it even begins.”
“Good talk.” Dace sat back in his chair, counting the ways he’d just screwed up, and made a plan to fix it. “Good fucking talk. Jackass.”
Wylie walked in from outside, checking his watch when he noticed Ivy wasn’t done. “We’re clear to go whenever she’s ready. If she’s running late, we need to adjust the detail.”
As if on cue, Ivy walked through the doors, sans a cast, sporting a new brace and a smile.
“Wow, look at you,” Wylie said. “Looks like you’re going bowling with that thing on.”
“Nice,” she said, smacking him in the chest with her good hand. “Doc said everything is healing nicely. I just have to wear this while I get through physical therapy.”
“That’s good, sis,” Wylie said. “How about we get you out of here and head over to the Pub for Sunday dinner?”
Ivy looked at Dace and lifted her eyebrow.
“Hey, let’s double back and make sure we’re still clear,” Eli said to Wylie, giving the couple a private moment.
“Ivy.”
“Stop,” she said. “I saw you, with Cally, and…well…I have no right to be upset or jealous. I left a long time ago and gave up my right to be those things. Cally is sweet…I really like her.”
“You want to date her?” Dace asked, throwing her for a loop. “She’s single.”
Dace walked the pair toward the door. They could have this conversation on the move because it was going to be a short one. Just a misunderstanding, and they were both guilty.
“Wait, what?” Ivy paused, taken aback. “No. Not interested. Single? But I saw…”
“You saw two friends wishing each other the best. Nothing more. Not anymore.”
“Oh. I see.” Ivy grinned, feeling as foolish as Dace looked. “Why was she there so early in the morning if Sunday dinner at the Pub isn’t until midafternoon?”
Eli opened the back door for Ivy. “She was there with me. Well, leaving. She’d been there since last…night.”
“Oh. Ohhhh,” she said when it dawned on her what he was implying.
Dace lifted a brow. “Really? She’s special. Fuck it up, and I fuck you up.”
“I’d expect no less,” Eli replied, hopping in the front passenger side of the vehicle.
The convoy was underway and deployed together on the way back to Watermark. They had loaded the vehicles out in the open, so it was obvious which rig Ivy was in, should someone be watching. Splitting up at this point would have left each of them more vulnerable.
Brother's Keeper V: Wylie (the complete series BOX SET): NEW RELEASE + Series Box SET included! Page 111
