Tattoos & Leather: BRANDED

by Jaymie Holland

  She shook it off, gripped the strap of her purse in one hand, her mojito in the other, and followed Faith into the kitchen.

  Chapter 2

  Colton frowned and his gut tightened as he watched Drew walk toward the kitchen with Faith. Before she’d tugged down on her too-short skirt, after climbing from her stool, he’d seen her garters. The sight of the lace tops against bare skin on her sexy, endless legs had been enough to make his groin ache and his cock rigid.

  His gaze lingered on her as she reached the entrance to the kitchen. Her neck appeared slender and delicate with her dark hair up, a few tendrils loose around her face. He loved a tall woman and her legs were long, toned, and fit. Between her knockout legs and her shapely arms and figure, it would have been obvious to anyone that she worked out.

  Of course he and Dane knew that in fact she did work out in her apartment almost daily. She did fast-paced aerobics to videos, weight trained with hand weights, and jogged on the treadmill in a corner of her apartment. She also ran in the park when the weather wasn’t too cold, or too hot, as the case was now.

  At this moment, Colton was more concerned with what she was wearing. A sleeveless and backless white Spandex top and that damned tiny black skirt did little to hide her assets. The snug Spandex outlined her nipples and he couldn’t help but wonder if she was aroused. He let his gaze drift across the room and noticed other men watching Drew walk toward the bar, and he wanted to growl his displeasure.

  When he spoke, Colton’s voice came out in a low rumble. “She shouldn’t dress like that when she’s out at night. Alone.”

  “Especially with a rapist on the loose.” Dane leaned back in his chair and took a drink of his bourbon. He set the glass back on the table. “She’s going to find trouble if she’s not careful.”

  “I don’t like it.” Colton looked at his lifelong friend. “Any woman should be a hell of a lot more concerned about her safety, which includes dressing on the conservative side when she’s out alone.”

  “Hell, she shouldn’t be out alone at night as it is.” Dane scowled. “She should be taking a taxi door-to-door.”

  Colton’s muscles ached from the tension of knowing Drew was putting herself constantly in danger. “Having Louis follow her from the club every time she comes here isn’t enough. He should be escorting her everywhere she wants to go.” Louis was their usual driver, and the bald, big, and beefy man could take care of himself and anyone around him.

  “As independent and headstrong as she is,” Dane said, “fat chance she’d accept that.” He shook his head. “If she knew we had her followed every time she stops in here, she’d probably lose it.”

  They’d experienced her stubbornness firsthand a couple of times. The first time was when they installed the security system. She hadn’t wanted it, but Megan had promised the Dorians that she would allow them the safety measure. Drew finally relented, but she hadn’t been happy about it.

  The second time had been when they’d told her that she wasn’t safe going anywhere alone—especially with a serial rapist out there somewhere in the city. Drew had narrowed her eyes and told them she may have moved here from the Midwest, but she had lived in New York City for over ten years and she knew how to take care of herself. She was conscious of her surroundings and she carried pepper spray with her.

  If she was so conscious of her surroundings, why hadn’t she noticed Louis following her whenever she’d stopped in at Spirits?

  A folded piece of paper at the foot of the stool where Drew had been sitting caught Colton’s attention. He pushed back his chair, strode to the stool, and scooped up the paper before heading back to the table and taking his seat.

  He frowned again as he unfolded the sheets. “Past due electric bill.” He handed it to Dane. “It’s Drew’s.”

  Dane took it and frowned, too. “Like we thought, she’s having problems paying her bills.”

  The expression on Dane’s face told Colton that they were thinking about the same thing. Their company was paid to keep an eye on Drew with the security system they’d installed, but she likely wouldn’t be pleased to know they watched her when they could. With the serial rapist still at large, each felt the need to make sure she was safe.

  Colton looked toward the doorway that Drew was walking toward. “We saw her close to crying the last time she went through her bills.” His stomach churned. “But I don’t think she’d take kindly to us offering to help her catch up.”

  “Drew is damned proud,” Dane said. “She’d be pissed if she knew we were watching her.”

  “All the more reason to make our move.” Colton glanced toward the doorway through which Drew had disappeared. “We can stop watching her via her security system and take care of her in person.” Guilt stabbed at him. They shouldn’t be watching her like they were, but they were so damned concerned about the wellbeing of the headstrong, sexy woman.

  “I’d be happier if we could take care of her and keep her safe.” Dane nodded. “I overheard Megan say she worried about Drew making it without her as a roommate.”

  Colton tapped his fingers on the table. “From what Megan has said, Drew insists her business is going well.”

  Dane tossed the bill on the table. “Is selling sex toys for a living lucrative?”

  “According to Megan, Drew has done well with it.” Colton looked back to Dane. “A lot of horny women out there.”

  “There’s only one horny woman I’m interested in.” Dane inclined his head in the direction Drew had gone.

  Colton swallowed as he thought about Drew. Naked. On her knees. Sucking his cock. They’d tie her up and he’d move his shoulders between her splayed thighs, pressing them further apart, and go down on her. She would taste incredible.

  Damn. He shifted in his seat to alleviate the increasing ache in his groin.

  An image of Drew playing with one of her toys flashed through his mind along with more guilt. It was so damned hot seeing her bring herself to orgasm.

  What the hell had they become? A couple of peeping Toms? Perverts?

  Shit. It wasn’t about getting off by watching her. It was about her safety.

  He ground his teeth. Oh, hell. He could rationalize all he wanted, but it was what it was—they were doing something they had no business doing.

  “We’ve got to end this.” Colton shook off the thoughts. “Or rather, we’ve got to get started. We’ve waited long enough.”

  “Yep.” Dane picked up his lowball glass. “It’s time we make our move.”

  Colton swallowed a drink of his whiskey, enjoying the burn in his throat as his thoughts pondered Drew. “She comes off as a woman who is sexually liberal, but we know that’s not the kind of woman she is. She’s a forever kind of woman.”

  “That’s exactly what I want from her.” Dane knocked back the rest of his own drink and thumped the glass on the table.

  Colton looked at his friend. “You mean what we want from her.”

  “Yes, what we want.” Dane nodded his agreement.

  Colton’s thoughts returned to pleasuring Drew. He and Dane had shared women before and found that they preferred to dominate together, giving one woman the pleasure of having two men worship her body. Together they focused entirely on the woman. It wasn’t about a good fuck. It was all about the woman and giving her pleasure beyond her wildest dreams.

  It made him so damned hot knowing that he and Colton gave a woman the ultimate experience every time they made love to her.

  Since Dane had returned from the Navy, and Colton had retired from the NYPD, they’d had two relationships. One of those had ended when Sally had decided to move across the U.S. to California to fulfill her lifelong dream of having an acting career.

  The other relationship had ended abruptly when they’d discovered that Anne had cheated on them with a Dom, Buck, who she’d met at the BDSM club they all frequented. Colton had wanted to kick Buck’s ass, but Dane had made it clear that Anne wasn’t worth it. After all, she’d done the cheating. S
till, it didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt like hell.

  Over the past year, Colton had come to terms with what had happened with Anne. Meeting Drew six months ago, and then watching her over the past weeks, had done a lot to prove to him that Anne definitely wasn’t worth the effort it would have taken to pound Buck into dust. Drew was worth the effort, anything it took.

  “Just how much convincing do you think it would take?” Dane’s question brought Colton’s attention back to the here and now.

  Colton gave a not-so-casual shrug. “I think she’s interested. In both of us.”

  Dane looked thoughtful. “She just might not realize we’re a package deal.”

  Colton swirled his whiskey in his glass. “She will.”

  Over the next half hour, Colton kept an eye out for Drew. Most of the time she didn’t stay long, as Faith only had so much time to take a break or her boss, Jim, would likely blow a gasket.

  Colton had found himself irritated on more than one occasion at Jim’s behavior. Colton wondered if the Dorians were aware that Jim could be a real ass, but figured it wasn’t his place to get involved and share that fact with the twins. Unless they had reason to ask and then he’d offer his opinion. But if Jim stepped way out of line with the women, all bets were off.

  While they waited for Drew to leave the kitchen, Dane called Louis to make sure their driver was ready to follow Drew when she left.

  When Drew finally appeared, Colton let out his breath. Damn, she was gorgeous. She looked directly at him before turning her gaze on Dane, and gave each of them one of her sultry, inviting expressions.

  Colton wanted to get up and stake his claim right fucking now. He glanced at Dane who looked like he was feeling the same way. They watched her push open the double doors that led into the coat check area. The doors closed behind her and she vanished from sight.

  They watched her vanish from sight before looking at each other. “We’ll call her tomorrow and set something up,” Colton said.

  “Perfect.” Dane nodded. “For tonight, Louis will follow her and make sure she’s safe, like always.”

  Prickles rolled up Colton’s spine as he got a sudden bad feeling. It was bad enough to make his gut clench and it caused a measure of fear to shoot through him like an arrow released from a bow. Fear for Drew. Call it cop-sense, call it whatever he wanted, he only knew that he had to go after her.

  “No.” Colton’s chair squeaked on the hardwood floor as he pushed his seat back. “We are. Now.”

  Chapter 3

  Drew walked along the sidewalk in the direction of her apartment. She wore her purse strap cross-body to keep one of her hands free to carry her pepper spray while pulling the rolling case behind her.

  The night was cooling off a bit, but it was still humid. She felt sticky and horribly in need of a shower. Tonight she felt like she looked like hell, but that hadn’t stopped most of the guys in the club from looking her up and down while she’d been in Spirits.

  Her mind turned back to the men, their images stuck in her head like a song. Just seeing them and imagining being with both at the same time had made her so damned hot. Even now she throbbed between her thighs and her nipples were hard and aching.

  Damn it. The last things she needed were two men who would use her for sex and then end up cheating on her. Wasn’t one cheater at a time bad enough?

  At least she had a variety of battery-operated-boyfriends to choose from as she fantasized about Colton and Dane. It wasn’t the same thing, but her imagination and her B.O.B.s would just have to do.

  She let out her breath, picturing her bathroom and running the water until it was lukewarm. She’d take a long shower before she slipped into her robe, selected a toy, and settled herself on the couch as she imagined riding Colton’s cock while Dane fucked her in the ass. It had been a long time since she’d had anal sex and it was something she missed.

  A hand grabbed her arm.

  Someone jerked her into the darkness of an alleyway, tearing her out of her thoughts and plunging her into immediate terror.

  The canister of pepper spray slipped out of her hand and it clattered as it hit the sidewalk. The rolling case fell with a thud as she released her grip on it.

  Her heart jumped and slammed against her breastbone as a hand clamped over her mouth. Something metal that the man held in his opposite hand glinted in the near darkness. A knife, she realized in horror.

  “Scream and I’ll cut you.” The voice was rough and mean as he shoved her away from him. “Gimme your fucking purse, bitch.”

  The mugger wore a black ski mask and in the dim light she couldn’t see his eyes. Her entire body trembled.

  “It’s all I have.” She stared at the knife, its metal flashing in what little light made it into the alleyway. Even though she knew she should just hand over the purse, all she could think of was the fact she wouldn’t survive without the cash. “Please. I need it to pay my rent.”

  The man narrowed his gaze. “Stupid bitch.” He backhanded her, causing pain to nearly blind her. She cried out as she stumbled back.

  He grabbed the wide purse strap that crossed her body and he jerked her close to him. In one quick movement he sliced the strap with his knife and yanked the purse away from her.

  Her entire body trembled from fear and rage at the man who held her life in his hands. A part of her knew she should run, but she couldn’t think straight. Couldn’t move.

  The mugger swung the knife and pain singed her cheek as she felt the knife cut through her flesh. She screamed, the pain bringing her back to her senses, her face burning while blood flowed over her skin.

  She finally thought to turn and run when he drove his fist toward her face. She’d started to step back when she realized he was gripping the front of her shirt, holding her close.

  Just before the fist slammed into her face, a man’s hand snapped up and caught the mugger by the wrist.

  The mugger grunted and cried out as another man came from Drew’s other side and rammed his fist into the mugger’s gut.

  Drew tripped and fell hard on her ass on small rocks and asphalt. The fall jarred her teeth and sent pain shooting up her tailbone.

  Eyes wide, she watched as her two saviors subdued the mugger. It was over in seconds with the mugger pinned to the ground. A man’s knee pressed against the mugger’s back while his arms were pulled back, his wrists held in one strong fist. It was too dark to see anyone clearly.

  “Are you all right, Drew?” one of the men said as he got to his feet.

  She startled at the sound of her name, but couldn’t think of a word to say.

  “Damn.” It was Colton’s voice. “She’s injured. Louis is calling it in.”

  “Injured?” She went blank for a moment then felt the burn of the cut on her cheek and the throbbing of her face, where the mugger had backhanded her. Warm and sticky fluid covered her lips and she tasted blood. Her forehead stung, her nose was bleeding, and so was the cut on her cheek.

  She looked at Colton to see him pulling off his white collared shirt. She had to have been in shock because all she could think of was Colton’s rippling muscles and the tattoos that covered his upper arm to his wrist.

  He pressed the shirt to the cut while using another part of the white shirt to wipe blood from her nose and lips.

  She pushed his hand away. “You’re ruining your shirt.”

  “Like I give a damn about that.” Colton wiped away more blood. “Are you all right?”

  “I think so.” She glanced at Dane who had the mugger subdued. “If I hadn’t dropped my pepper spray—”

  Dane studied her with concern. “You’re safe now and that’s what matters.”

  “How did you two find me?” She looked from one to the other. “You don’t live in this direction, do you?”

  “We had a bad feeling about tonight.” Colton looked grim. “We were almost too late.”

  She blinked in surprise. “You followed me?”

  Colton searched her gaze. �
��Like I said, we had a bad feeling.”

  “I’m grateful you did.” She felt tears bite at the backs of her eyes and she looked down at her shirt and saw that the white was now blotched dark with blood. She never cried and she wasn’t going to start now.

  When she raised her head, she had her emotions under control again. “You were right, all the times you said that I need to be more careful.”

  Colton looked grim when she met his gaze. “Thank God it wasn’t worse.”

  She felt suddenly helpless, a feeling she didn’t like at all. “What am I supposed to do? I can’t stay in my apartment all the time and I can’t afford to take a cab everywhere.” The moment it came out, she regretted saying anything that might reveal her financial situation.

  “Use our driver.” Dane gestured toward the darkness behind Colton. Drew turned her head to see a big, powerful, even scary-looking, man with a shiny bald head. “Louis can pick you up and drop you off whenever and wherever you’d like.”

  With a frown, she moved her gaze away from the intimidating man. “I can’t do that.”

  Colton’s and Dane’s expressions showed the magnitude of their concern. “Of course you can,” Dane said.

  She started to shake her head but Colton caught her face in his palms, managing to avoid the cut on her cheek. She heard sirens nearing as she looked into his eyes.

  “We’re not going to take no for an answer, Drew,” he said firmly.

  She closed her eyes, refusing to get lost in the depths of his gaze. “I won’t be beholden to anyone.” She opened her eyes and looked from Colton to Dane and back. “Especially a man, or men, in your case.”

  Lights flashed, illuminating the alleyway, as an NYPD vehicle pulled up, followed by another, and behind that an ambulance.

  Colton’s expression held a hint of frustration. “You wouldn’t owe us anything. We just want you to be safe.”

  A police officer came into view, saving her from arguing any more with Colton and Dane. She got to her feet with Colton’s help. She winced from the the pain in her backside as they headed toward the emergency vehicles. The police took the mugger into custody and Colton talked to his former NYPD brothers as she and Dane walked away.