by Lexi Post
He couldn’t wait any longer. He let go of her nipple. Positioning himself at the entrance of her pussy, he pushed his cock into her in one hard stroke.
Kat’s hips pushed upward, though her eyes remained closed.
He was ready to come, but he needed her with him. Leaving finesse behind, he pulled out and pumped into her hard. Her body moved upward on the rug, away from him. Gritting his teeth, he positioned his hands on the floor above her shoulders.
“Kat. Come for me.” He pistoned his hips down, filling her until he hit her cervix. Her shoulders moved against his forearms, but he had her tight.
Her eyes fluttered open. “Now?”
“Yes. I need you to come with me. I need you tightening around me, hugging me to you. Can you do that for me?”
“Oh Braeden. Yes.” She wound her legs around him, tilting her pelvis and taking him deeper.
“Yes, Kat. Like that.”
He pulled back and thrust again, and again, and again. His body trapped hers, keeping her against him, but her excited whimpers egged him on to fulfill her need.
Harder he thrust, pounding now as her sheath pulled at him to stay inside her, pulsing against his cock as it moved in and out.
Every muscle in his body drew tighter until he lost control, slamming into her.
His orgasm hit him against his will, forcing his cum from his body as Kat’s pussy grasped him in a viselike grip, her cries of ecstasy drowned out by his shout. Satisfaction filled his body and his heart. A feeling of being where he was supposed to be threaded its way into his brain.
He moved his arms to Kat’s sides and lowered himself to his elbows.
“Oh.” Her moan and tightening sheath had his body tensing for a moment.
“Are you all right?” He kissed her lips.
“I am now. I thought— I thought you weren’t coming back.”
He gazed into her pale-blue orbs and was lost. He felt her heartache and cursed himself for being a thoughtless jerk. “I’m sorry. I lost track of the time and then the traffic was backed up and—aw, hell. I was an idiot.” Kat’s nod had his male ego stiffening. “Well, you didn’t have to agree so fast.”
“Yes, I did. You were an ass to worry me so.”
He stared in stunned silence before chuckling. Her honesty was definitely one of her charms. He pulled out and knelt between her legs. “You’re right. I was an ass, and I promise never to worry you like that again.”
She nodded regally, her braid to the right of her head, barely recognizable as a braid, her lush naked form sprawled before him like a willing sacrifice and yet she behaved like a queen. What wasn’t there to love about her?
He froze. That was a good question.
“Braeden, what’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He squatted and picked her up in his arms, the feeling of contentment in his heart filling his soul.
“Braeden!”
“What?” As he walked toward her bedroom, for once he was happy for his overdeveloped muscles. She weighed less than his barbell, making it easy to maneuver inside the door and gently lay her on the bed. He didn’t waste a second. He lay next to her and pulled her close. The need to touch her, physically stay connected, remained strong.
“Braeden. What’s wrong?”
The grandmother clock in the hall took that moment to announce the hour. Midnight. He shivered. Could he have really lost Kat for a year because he was too engrossed in a computer? “That was too close.”
She wrapped her arm over his chest. “I agree.”
“Let’s make love earlier in the day next time.”
“Make love?”
He grinned in the darkness, pleased no one had said this to her before. “Have congress.”
“Oh.” She yawned. “That sounds like a fine idea.”
Braeden grinned.
* * * * *
Kat worried her bottom lip as she and Braeden approached the Van Brunt farmhouse. Dame Van Brunt was much better, but the cold had been keeping her in. As much as Kat didn’t want her former “almost” mother-in-law to meet Braeden, it might be the only way to convince him that there were two different timelines. He had plied her with so many questions over breakfast, she had determined they had to make this stop before going for a private lunch in a small meadow she wanted to show him. At least the blueberry muffins she carried appeared to be a good excuse for a visit.
“Now remember, you will be a surprise to her.” She glanced up at Braeden’s face to be sure he listened. “She may even think you’re her son.”
“I understand.”
“And don’t repeat anything Dame Vandend said. I don’t want to worry her.”
“I won’t.”
“And if she—”
“Kat.” Braeden halted, her arm in his causing her to stop as well. “I am well aware that I look a lot like Brom.”
“Not to me.”
He nodded. “I understand that you, more than anybody, see the difference, but at first it was a surprise to you too. I have had plenty of people turn white and stutter to a stop in my presence. I’m ready.”
She swallowed. He thought he was ready, but a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her the day wasn’t going to go as planned. “Fine.”
He raised his brow, but consented to commence their walk. When they reached the house, they stood upon the porch and she knocked.
“Yah. Yah.” The older woman’s shuffled step could be heard.
Kat pulled her arm from Braeden’s. Dame Van Brunt had seen her and Brom arm in arm too many times. It would be best if she saw Braeden separately.
The door opened and the old woman’s welcoming smile changed to an open mouth before her eyes rolled back and she started to fall.
Braeden moved fast, brushing by and catching Dame Van Brunt before she hit the floor.
“Oh dear.” Kat hurried inside. “I was afraid of something like this. Let’s put her on her settee. I will find some water and try to revive her.” As Braeden laid Dame Van Brunt down, Kat strode outside to fill a pitcher of water. When she came back in, she dampened a cloth and gently stroked the older woman’s face.
As the lady’s eyes opened, she clasped a hand over her heart and stared wide-eyed at Kat. “I saw Brom.” Her voice was raspy with emotion.
Kat squeezed her hand, but shook her head. “No, you saw Braeden. He is a Newtimer and he is right here.”
The woman’s gaze moved to the side. She swallowed hard.
Braeden bowed. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Van Brunt.”
She glanced at Kat, then back to Braeden. “Yah, you are not Brom.”
He knelt next to her and she tentatively touched his face. She shook her head. “Niet, you are not Brom. But you are big like my Brom.”
Braeden smiled. “Yes, I have been told that. I understand he is an ancestor of mine, so that must mean we are related in some way. Perhaps you’re a very great-grandmother of mine.”
Her fingers continued to touch him. When she reached his biceps, she grinned. “Yah, strong like my Brom too.”
“Glad to know it has been a family trait.” He glanced at Kat and grimaced.
Dame Van Brunt’s hand dropped into her lap and her face fell. “I still miss him.”
Kat took the older woman’s hand. “I know you do. I don’t know how you get along here all by yourself.”
Dame Van Brunt patted Kat’s hand and returned her gaze to Braeden. “Jurgen and the boys come over and help sometimes. If you see him, could you tell him there’s a break in the fence?”
“Maybe Braeden could fix it.” Kat glanced at him to see the softest expression on his face as he looked back at Dame Van Brunt. “Do you think you could help?”
“I would be happy to.” He rose to his full height and Dame Van Brunt leaned her head back.
Kat pointed to another door. “You will find tools in the barn in the back.”
“I
noticed your fence is wood. Are there any additional rails?”
Dame Van Brunt shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“I’ll take a look and see what we require. Kat and I can stop by Jurgen’s if we need to.” Braeden walked to the door, but hesitated. “You’ll be here, right, Kat?”
“Yes. Dame Van Brunt and I are going to have some of these blueberry muffins I brought.”
At her reassurance, Braeden exited the house. Now that was odd, nice, but uncharacteristic of him. Kat shrugged and turned back to Dame Van Brunt. She was still staring at the door Braeden had exited.
“It is a shock at first, isn’t it?” Kat put her hand on the older woman’s and Dame Van Brunt grasped it tightly.
There were tears in her eyes. “Yah. He is not Brom, but he makes me miss him more.” She turned her head to look at Kat. “Does he make your heart ache for Brom too?”
“At first, yes. But Brom had his life and his family. Braeden is a testament to that.”
Dame Van Brunt’s eyes grew intense. “And you did not. You like this Newtimer.”
Kat nodded.
“He is not Brom.”
“No, he isn’t. He is different in many ways, ways I admire.” Ways she loved, but she didn’t want to insult Brom’s mama.
Dame Van Brunt studied her, a habit so much like Braeden’s that she grew uncomfortable.
“You brought muffins? Yah?”
The change in subject had Kat smiling. Dame Van Brunt was known for her appetite. “I did.”
The two of them moved to the small kitchen and Kat made herself at home there, preparing coffee and pulling out plates while the woman who was supposed to have been her mother-in-law sat at the table.
When the coffee was ready, Kat poured before lifting the cloth off the basket.
“You are too good to me.” Dame Van Brunt licked her lips as she gazed at the basket of muffins, breads and koekjes.
“You deserve it.”
They each helped themselves, and the older woman closed her eyes with her first bite. She was not heavy, just big, and she did enjoy her food. “This is lovely. You need to be someone’s wife.”
Kat waved the comment aside. “I’m too busy with the inn for that. Did you hear we are still in Newtime?”
“Yah. I also hear it has to do with your Newtimer. Jurgen told me.”
The man was becoming more than an irritation. “He isn’t happy. He won’t understand I don’t love him.”
“And you love this man?”
She started. “I-I don’t know.”
“But you like him a lot.”
She took a bite of muffin to avoid the question.
Dame Van Brunt stared hard at her. “You have congress with him.”
Kat’s cheeks heated and she quickly took a sip of coffee. The whole darn village knew they coupled and it made her uncomfortable, but for Jurgen to have told Brom’s mama was inexcusable.
“It is all right. You need to live life too.”
Kat swung her gaze to the old woman’s face. “I do.”
“You do work, not life. You need love. You have my blessing.”
“But I didn’t—”
“Did you hear about the schurk on the black horse?”
She shook her head at the change in topic. “What? There’s a ruffian on a horse?”
Dame Van Brunt nodded sagely as one who knew more gossip than her guest. “Yah. He trampled through Jurgen’s garden. This is not good.”
Kat stiffened. She’d been knocked down last week by a man on a black horse. All they needed now was another supernatural event and her village would be sure to be rid of Braeden. “It’s probably someone playing a prank.”
“That could be. Or it could be the spirits warning us of hard times to come.”
“I doubt it’s spirits. We haven’t seen spirits in years.” Braeden’s concern after his first ride came back to her and a chill ran up her spine. Had he seen a spirit?
A loud banging behind the house interrupted her thoughts.
Dame Van Brunt reached her hand into the basket again. “Yah, your man, he is a good one.”
Yes he was. But could she keep him? Would Sleepy Hollow let her?
* * * * *
Braeden threw aside the two old pieces of wood that had made the bottom horizontal bar of the fence section. Strolling into the barn, he was surprised to find new railings. Dame Van Brunt must be unaware of the new wood stacked inside. He sawed the wood to the length he needed. Working with it reminded him of his days after high school when he and Reed would build houses during the day and raise hell and pick up women at night…until he’d slept with the wrong woman and injured Reed emotionally, physically and mentally. He dropped the saw as the small piece of wood fell to the floor. He stared at it, his memories as painful as they’d been the day he’d tried to stop Reed from leaving. He could still see himself grabbing Reed’s arm, his friend falling, and the loud thump of his head hitting the concrete.
He took a deep breath, trying to dispel the images from his mind. Grabbing the rail, he strode outside with an axe. Focusing on the task at hand, he fitted the wood into the holes on each post. It was a snug fit. With the back of the axe, he knocked the piece into place. Reed had been good at wood. Maybe he would find a job in finish-work again.
Braeden kicked the old boards aside so he could step back and view his work. It looked odd. The entire fence was rotting away. Most of the wood had softened with decay, and the new plank appeared out of place.
He shrugged. It was fixed and that was what his very-great-grandmother wanted. He paused at the thought. For that to be true, what Kat had said about the timelines would have to be factual, an idea he no longer dismissed. So if it was, then what?
He turned to pick up the broken rail to place it near the woodpile when he noticed a strange impression in the wood. With the two pieces lying together as they would have been whole, there was a definite indentation. Squatting, he moved the two halves tight against one another. It was a boot mark. The wood was so soft that the bottom of a man’s shoe was clearly visible stamped across the break. Someone had kicked this fence in.
For what purpose? To prove how old it was? Just looking at it was enough for that.
“I planned to fix that.”
Braeden looked over his shoulder to find Jurgen walking toward him. “You don’t have to now.”
The man scowled. As Jurgen stopped, Braeden noticed even his hands were clenched. “We don’t want you here. We can take care of our own.”
He stood to remind Jurgen of his large stature. “So you mentioned when you attacked me in the barn. But I’m here and I plan to stay a long while.”
“Why? So you can be Brom for Katrina? It’s wrong. You need to let her go.”
“What do you mean Brom? I’m not Brom, and she is quite aware of that.”
Jurgen’s mouth turned up to one side in a nasty smirk. “Is she? The man she was going to marry disappears on her wedding day and then you arrive over four years later looking just like him? I doubt she even knows what she’s feeling.”
Braeden froze. Kat had meant to marry Brom Van Brunt? His heart started a march in his chest as his body tensed.
“But if you don’t mind her loving you for her long-dead betrothed, then I guess that’s your decision. She could even marry you in the dress she sewed for her wedding to Brom. She probably still has it. Me? I’d never take a woman who loved someone else.”
The shrewd calculation in Jurgen’s eyes brought Braeden’s fighting instincts to the fore. “Kat is well aware of who I am, just as Dame Van Brunt is. So try your mind games on someone else.”
Jurgen’s shoulders slumped but he wouldn’t give it up. “You can think what you will, but when she calls Brom’s name in the dark one night, you’ll know where you stand.” He turned and stalked off, back the way he’d come, his boot treads in the soft earth very similar to the one on the fence rail.
Braeden didn’t utter a word, his throat refusin
g to work. All the signs fell into place. Kat’s shock when seeing him in Brom’s coat. Her not wanting him to stay at her inn. His stomach tightened as if he’d just been gut-punched and nausea took hold. The betrayal was worse coming from her, the one, the only one he didn’t have to control himself with. The only one who had seen past his body to who he was.
He sneered. Who he was? She hadn’t seen who he was at all. She’d seen who she wanted to see, her long-dead bridegroom! The hurt melded with heated anger and he stalked to the house. Throwing open the door, he stood on the porch. “Kat.” The word came out as cold as he felt.
She saw him from the back room where she sat and jumped up. Saying something to their hostess, she quickly made her way toward him.
“What is it? Are you all right?”
“No. Come.” Grabbing her hand in a viselike grip, he pulled her outside and down the road.
“Braeden, what’s wrong? What has happened?”
He didn’t look at her, but kept them moving. “I had an enlightening conversation with Jurgen.”
“Jurgen? What did he say?”
“He said you were planning to marry Brom. He said Brom disappeared the very day of your wedding. He said you’re with me because you’re still in love with Brom and think I’m him.”
Her gasp gave him a small amount of satisfaction, but then she tried to pull away. “Braeden, I think I can tell the difference between my dead betrothed and you.”
He stopped and looked at her. “Can you? Then why didn’t you tell me you were engaged to Brom?”
He started to pull her toward the inn again before she could form a word. He had one goal in mind to confirm everything.
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to think what you’re thinking, especially when I hadn’t decided what my feelings were yet.”
They were at the back door of the inn, and he let her go. “And what exactly are your feelings, Katrina Van Tassel, fiancée of Brom Van Brunt?”
Kat put her hands on her hips, her eyes flashing. “And what are your feelings, Braden? I have yet to hear how you feel about me.”
“How I feel about you right now is that you betrayed me. You led me on. Let me think you enjoyed my company when all the while you were pretending I was your ex-lover!” He yanked open the door and stomped inside, making a beeline for her bedroom.
