Brayden : A Beckett Brothers Novel Book 1 (The Beckett Brothers)

by Susan Fisher-Davis

  “You’re saying I wasn’t a man at twenty-four?”

  “Hell no, you weren’t. You’re not one now either,” Gage chimed in.

  Brayden shook his head and laughed as he watched JD and Gage push each other.

  “Are you two ever going to grow up? Gage, you’re thirty-one and JD, you’re twenty-nine now.”

  “Nah, we have too much fun together, right, JD?” Gage reached over and tipped JD’s hat off his head.

  JD swore as he picked his hat up. “I’m not the one having trouble growing up.”

  Gage laughed. “Why should I want to grow up? Where’s the fun in that?” He turned to Brayden. “So let’s have dinner tonight.”

  “Uh, I can’t tonight, but we can get together in a few days. I’m anxious to get to Clifton and have more of Connie’s burgers.”

  Gage stared at him then nodded. “Sounds good then. Hey, the vet here—Melissa Conroy—she looks familiar. Do we know her?”

  Brayden didn’t like the stab of jealousy hearing Gage ask about Melissa. “She was Maisy’s best friend.”

  “That’s it. She was at the trial, wasn’t she? So how’d she end up here?” Gage asked him as he folded his arms across his chest.

  “Yeah, you saw her when she was at the trial. Well, she was out of work and James suggested her to me.”

  “James is one hell of a nice guy. Not many father in-laws would stick with a son in-law accused of killing his daughter,” JD piped up then frowned when Gage elbowed him.

  “Naw, you’re right. He’s here too, actually. I hired him as ranch manager and he loves it. Come on, let’s go inside the house and we’ll talk a bit but then I have to get…back to work.” Brayden led them from the room. He didn’t see Melissa anywhere as they headed for the house. The snow was coming down harder and he knew his brothers wouldn’t stay too long due to that.

  Later that evening, Brayden strolled hesitantly down the aisle of the barn to head for Melissa’s apartment. “You are out of your fucking mind,” he muttered trying to talk himself out of meeting her.

  This was so wrong on so many levels. Nothing good could come of this. Nothing good, but sex. Damn good sex. He was just going to tell her he’d changed his mind. It was better this way. He’d rather tell her to her face than just not show up. With that decision made, he knocked on her door.

  Only, when the door opened, all coherent thought left him as she stood there looking at him. She was exquisite. Her long dark hair fell softly around her shoulders. She usually wore it in a ponytail when she was working so now she looked softer—sexier, if that was possible. Her brown eyes sparkled as he ran his gaze over her. She looked so good in a tight white tank top and cut-off jeans that he wanted to feel her long, shapely legs wrapped around him as soon as possible. He moved his eyes up to her lips and she parted them slightly. Damn! He reached for her, pulled her up against him, and took her lips in a deep kiss. To hell with telling her that he’d changed his mind because he hadn’t.

  Melissa pulled back from him. “Come in. I can make dinner.”

  She turned from him, but Brayden wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “I don’t want any fucking dinner. I want you.”

  Making her give a quiet squeal, he picked her up, kicked the door closed and carried her to the bedroom.

  After placing her on the bed, he lay down beside her and she gazed up at him. His heart beat faster when her brown eyes darkened with desire as she ran her fingers down to the bottom of his T-shirt. It fluttered with what, he didn’t know when she pulled it off over his head then tossed it to the floor. He liked how she took charge. He liked a lot about Melissa Conroy. So why couldn’t he admit that? At least to himself.

  He watched her as she leaned forward and kissed his chest.

  “Melissa,” he growled. He wasn’t sure how much he could endure before he embarrassed himself in front of her. He couldn’t remember wanting any woman this much, not since Maisy, and possibly even more than he had her.

  She pushed him to his back. “I want to go over every inch of you, Brayden Beckett.”

  “I’m not sure I can take that.”

  Melissa laughed softly. “You will and you’ll like it.”

  Brayden hissed in a breath as her fingers trailed down his chest. “I’m sure you’re right about that.”

  He watched as she moved her hair off one shoulder and leaned down to kiss his chest again. When she ran her tongue around one of his flat nipples sending a shiver down to his balls, he grabbed fistfuls of her hair and wrapped it around his hands. Her hand ran down his stomach making his skin quiver and react in goose flesh as she unsnapped his jeans. She sat up and looked down at his cock straining against his zipper, and then shifted her gaze to his face. She smiled as she crawled off the bottom of the bed, and removed his boots and socks. Then she moved up between his legs and slowly lowered his zipper.

  Brayden held his breath when she reached into his boxer briefs and wrapped her hand around him.

  “You, Brayden Beckett, are devastatingly handsome. I love the way you feel.”

  “Melissa…” He had no idea what he wanted to say only that he wanted to say something.

  She removed her hand and once again slid to the bottom of the bed. Once there, she pulled his jeans and boxer briefs off then dropped them to the floor, all the while smiling at him. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she pulled her tank top off over her head and slowly removed her shorts and panties before drawing a low gasp from him, when she stood naked in front of him.

  “Come here,” he growled and held his hands out to her.

  “I’ll get there in time,” she whispered with what he could only describe as a sly grin then moved between his legs to press kisses on his thighs before running her tongue across his balls.

  Brayden jerked as she wrapped her hand around his hard cock and licked the head. She raised her eyes and looked at him as she placed her mouth down over him and sucked. He groaned long and loud. When she laughed with her mouth still over him, he just about came, right then, and there. The vibration rippled through him drawing a deep moan from deep in his chest. She stroked her hand along his hard length as she continued to suck on him. Damn, she was good.

  “Son of a bitch!” Brayden had to stop her because he wasn’t going to last. “Melissa, stop.”

  “No.”

  He sat up and tried to pull her off him, but she pushed at him without removing her mouth.

  “Please,” he begged, gritting his teeth trying not to give in to his body’s desire.

  “Please what? Please stop or please finish what I’ve started?” She licked slowly along his full length.

  “Damn,” he groaned. “Please, finish what you’ve started.”

  “Relax. I’m going to take care of you.”

  She put her mouth back down over him and sucked his length while she fondled his balls. The feel of her mouth on him was driving him insane. She sucked harder on him while she stroked her hand up and down his hard cock.

  Clenching his jaw, Brayden knew he was too close and a deep groan tore from his chest as he jerked up and came. Harder than he’d ever had in his lifetime and his orgasm seemed to go on forever. Collapsing back onto the pillow, he tried to catch his breath.

  Melissa crawled up his body, kissing her way up, her breasts caressing his heaving chest until she reached his face where she lightly kissed his lips. She caressed his damp forehead, and he liked her gentle touch more than he wanted to admit so he grabbed her hand as he fought to calm his body.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Hell no.” He half-laughed only because he still couldn’t catch his breath.

  Melissa burst out laughing. “Well, you’d better get all right because we have all night ahead of us.” She rolled away to lie beside him.

  “I’m kind of hungry now actually,” Brayden said, grinning.

  “Of course you are. No problem, I put some steaks out. How do you like yours?”

  “Medium rare.” He rolled toward
her and kissed her. “That was amazing. Thank you. I’ll definitely give back later.”

  “Damn right, you will. I’ll go make the steaks.” She got out of the bed and pulled his T-shirt down over her head. “You’ll need your strength.” She winked and left the room.

  Brayden blew out a laugh. And you were going to tell her you weren’t staying. Idiot!

  Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he searched for his jeans. When he found them, he pulled them on then tossed his boxer briefs to the side of the bed. Then he walked out of the bedroom, down the hall and to the kitchen. Leaning against the doorjamb, he folded his arms and watched her. His T-shirt barely covered her ass. He grinned thinking that if she reached for something…

  She spun around to smile at him. “Do you want a baked potato?”

  “If you do.” He shrugged.

  “Sure.”

  “Where’s Lucky?” Brayden glanced around.

  “Outside. Could you let him in?”

  Brayden pushed himself away from the doorjamb, walked to the back door, and opened it. Lucky came running in, glanced at Brayden then ran for Melissa. He skidded to a halt in front of her.

  “Hi, boy. Did you behave while you were out?”

  Brayden smirked as he looked at the dog staring at her with adoration in his eyes and he suspected that he probably looked at her in very much the same way. Wow, he suddenly realized he was in way over his head. He never thought he’d feel this way again and he wasn’t at all happy about it. It tore him apart to think he could be close to falling for another woman. No woman should ever replace Maisy.

  “Why don’t you go sit down and I’ll let you know when dinner is ready.”

  Brayden stared at her and then gave a terse nod. Here was his chance to back away, to beg off dinner, and get the hell out of here. He knew wouldn’t though. Hell, he knew he’d be staying all night. No matter how much he knew he should leave, he already knew he was staying.

  ****

  Huffing out a breath when he left the room, Melissa worried he was thinking of leaving. She’d seen that look before. Damn it. Why couldn’t he just admit they were good together? She had to admit she wanted more though. She wanted his love.

  Every day she spent with him here at the rescue, the more she wanted him. She realized now she shouldn’t have taken the job when he called. She’d just gotten to the point in her life where she knew it was time to move on because she knew she’d never have him. He’d loved Maisy so much. Of that, she was sure and she didn’t expect him ever to stop having feelings for Maisy but she was a living, breathing woman who loved him. Only could he ever love that deeply again? Those beautiful eyes of his held such sadness and she wanted to make it all disappear if he’d only let her. Would he even let her close enough to try?

  After pulling the steaks out of the oven and the potatoes out of the microwave, she turned to call out that dinner was ready, half expecting to find he’d already left but as miracles go, she ran smack into him. She laughed and leaned back.

  Brayden was still here, and he smiled at her before lowering his lips to hers. She moaned when he deepened the kiss. When he pulled back, she stared up into his eyes.

  “Your eyes are so sexy. They’re really beautiful.”

  “Thanks. Yours are too. Especially when they darken to almost black with desire.”

  Wrapping her arms around his neck, she stood on her toes, and tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth. “How hungry are you?” she whispered against his lips.

  “Are you talking food?”

  She laughed. “Yes.”

  “Well,” His hands ran down to her ass and he cupped it in his hands. “As much as I hate to admit it, I am starving for food. Right now. But with you being naked under my shirt, I could quickly change my mind.” He lowered his face to her neck and nibbled.

  Melissa leaned her head back. “Brayden, we will never get to those steaks if you don’t stop.”

  He raised his head and stared into her eyes. “All right. Let’s eat. The sooner we eat the sooner we can get back to bed.”

  “Deal.” She led him to the table. She set his steak and baked potato in front of him then watched him dig in.

  “This is good,” he said after putting a piece in his mouth, chewing, and then swallowing.

  “Thanks. I can cook. I’m not just a pretty face,” she said laughing.

  “You sure as hell aren’t. Tell me what you’ve been doing since…”

  “Since I finished college, you mean. When I met you, I was just beginning school. I don’t know if you know or not, but my parents are vets and own a hospital in Texas.”

  Brayden set his knife and fork down. “Yes, I know. So why are you here?”

  “I refuse to work with them. They thought I’d work there without even considering talking to me about it. They surprised me when I graduated with my own office at the hospital. I was so angry. I never wanted to be under their thumb.”

  “I can understand that. So, what happened?”

  “My mom and I got into a big argument about it. She said she knew I’d come crawling back to them. When I told her I had found a job, she hung up on me. She got past it though but when she heard I was let go from the hospital, she called me and told me my office was still waiting for me. I told her I wasn’t interested. She got very angry and told me I’d regret not working at the best animal hospital in Texas. I know she loves me but I’m thirty years old, I don’t want my parents’ help. Mom was appalled that I decided to come to Montana, although Dad said he was proud of me.”

  “Do you like it here?” Brayden cut into his steak.

  Melissa nodded as she put a bite of steak into her mouth and chewed. “I do like it here. I really enjoy it, although it about kills me when I see the abused and neglected animals come through here.”

  “Hartland is a nice place.”

  “It was a culture shock for me coming from Texas. So…have you seen many of your friends since you’ve been back?” Suddenly, she was desperate to change the subject off her reasons for coming to Montana.

  “Some. Most everyone here never doubted me. It’s funny that my brother is a cop.”

  “I’d like to meet him sometime.”

  “Gray’s a great guy. He was really pissed at the condition of the horses and Lucky from that ranch.”

  “Any man who loves animals is always good in my book.”

  Brayden laughed. “I think it was a good thing the man was gone. I think Gray would have hauled him in.”

  Melissa laughed with him. “I bet. That’s good though. No one should get away with neglecting or abusing animals or children.”

  “I agree.” Brayden stared at her.

  “How did you end up in Texas?” Feeling somewhat embarrassed, by the way he was staring at her, she dropped her eyes from him as she felt the blush move into her cheeks.

  “I was in Texas to buy horses from a guy I went to school with here. When I got to his ranch, Maisy was there looking at the same horse I was interested in.” He shrugged. “We started talking and I think I fell for her that very day. We started dating and I decided to move there to be with her.”

  “She really loved you so much,” Melissa whispered.

  “I felt the same about her.”

  “I know you did.”

  “I got lucky. I liked James the minute I met him too.”

  “I think he appreciated how much you loved Maisy.”

  Brayden cut his steak and speared a piece. “Yeah, I think you’re right. My mother in-law, however, never did like me.”

  “Why not?”

  “She thought Maisy deserved better than a horse rancher.” Brayden shrugged. “Maisy loved me and that went against her mother. Carla had been disappointed in her daughter’s choice of a husband, but she loved the attention from the wedding. Even though my parents had more money than she did, I wasn’t good enough for her baby. I think it sent her over the edge when Tara was found guilty of Maisy’s death because it came out that sh
e loved me too. It wasn’t long after that she divorced James because he had always believed in my innocence. Then she passed away a short time later.”

  “Tell me about your family.”

  “I have the best family anyone could want. My parents are great people. My mom inherited money from her father after she married Dad. Although, Dad does well too—he buys real estate and flips it by selling or renting it out. He’s made a killing at it. My great-grandparents were oil rich in Texas. My grandparents inherited that land then sold it and moved to Montana because my grandmother always wanted to visit here. Once here, they fell in love with Hartland and so bought land here then started their family. They had raised Angus beef for years but decided to retire, sell the cattle, ranch, and travel. They both died three years ago within a month of each other. Each of us inherited a good bit of money from them. Everyone, except me, bought about five hundred acres and built homes. You already know Ash grows feed and Gray’s the sheriff.” He shrugged. “Well, JD and Gage bull ride. Gage also steer wrestles and together, he and JD own Beckett Boots.”

  “Seriously, Beckett Boots?”

  “Yes. It’s something they wanted to get into years ago. They own a huge factory, just outside of town that employs a lot of people from Hartland and nearby towns. Although, the family is rich, all of us did our own things to make our own money. JD is the best bull rider on the circuit. He’s made millions a few times over. No one is better. He had some competition from the Callahans, but Roark is the only one still competing, and he sure gives JD a run for his money. You know I raised and trained cutting horses when I lived in Texas. The ranch Maisy and I owned did great, but it all fell apart when Tara killed her.”

  “Are any of them married—your brothers?”

  “Gage is, but he’s separated now. Maggie left him about two years ago. I don’t think Gage is over his wife yet, but he covers it well. Grayson was engaged at one time but when he brought her here, she hated the town and when he told her he was running for sheriff, she gave him an ultimatum—her or being the sheriff. You can see how that turned out.”

  Things grew quiet and they continued to eat in silence. Once they finished, together they cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. While she wiped up some final things, Brayden moved to stand behind her. He kissed along her neck and collarbone then pulled the shirt away from her shoulder and nipped at her skin making her shiver. His fist wrapped in her hair and he tugged her head to the side and bit at her neck. Melissa moaned. He spun her around and took her lips in a hard kiss then he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind them.