by Leigh, Mara
“Maybe.” Mac grinned as he straightened and then kissed Jade on the cheek.
I stepped over and put my hand around her waist. “What are you guys watching?”
Dill’s screen was paused on what looked like a BDSM porno, a woman in a tight black corset and stilettos bent over and strapped to some kind of leather bench, her legs spread.
Dill turned off the screen. “Just doing some research for Keagan’s case.”
I shook my head at the clear lie. What did I care if my brothers watched porn—together. Seemed like a solitary activity to me, but to each his own…
Or maybe Jade would be into watching with me sometime? Hmmm. Something to ask her later. I never wanted to stop learning about my amazing Jade.
“Where do things stand with Keagan?” I asked the twins. He’d been charged, held for nearly a week at this point, without a bail hearing. “Sorry we can’t kick in much money.” I squeezed Jade’s waist.
Jade was good with my putting up as much bail and legal fees as I wanted—she even offered some of her own savings—but after putting down the deposit on our new place, we didn’t have much to spare. And she’d been right. Sometimes I had to choose me. Choose us.
“Don’t worry, Nicky.” Mac plopped down on the sofa and stretched his legs out on the coffee table. “Keagan says he might not even need bail. The DA’s offered him some kind of deal.”
I laughed. “You’re kidding about him taking a deal, right? No way would Keag rat on you guys.” Even if maybe he should. Enough was enough with my brothers’ illicit business. Surely Keagan’s arrest was the wake-up call they all needed to end it for good.
“I don’t think it’s us the DA’s after,” Mac scratched his head.
“Does she want the guys Shane was dealing with?” Jade asked.
I hated that she knew about that, about any of this, that she was even around when we talked about it, but she’d made peace with it, as long as I didn’t get involved.
“I think it’s more complicated,” Mac replied.
“What kind of deal does the DA want?” Jade asked.
“The lady’s got lots of interesting wants.” Chucking to himself, Dillon went to the fridge and grabbed everyone beers.
“Keagan wasn’t clear on the deets of the deal when we talked,” Mac said. “He was worried the room was bugged.”
I sat on a leather chair, and Jade settled onto my lap. The past two weeks, we hadn’t gone a minute without touching if we could help it. She was back working at two of her old jobs, one close to full time, and I’d found a spot as a bouncer at a fancy dance club in the SoMa area of the city.
It was going to make for a long commute once we moved out of Keagan’s and into the small bachelor apartment we’d found in Oakland, and I’d had to buy a good suit, but the job paid well. Plus the owner hadn’t laughed when I’d said I was interested in moving up, learning the business and becoming a manager.
“I’ve got a good lead to unload most of the haul,” Mac said.
“That’s my cue.” Jade patted my chest. “Melodie invited me over for tea.”
“I’ll come.” My fingers spread over her ribs, loving how her body felt under my fingers.
“That’s okay, babe.” She peeled herself off me to stand. “Girl talk.”
“Okay.” I took her hand. “I’ll walk you out.”
I walked her from the twins’ apartment across the Shady Oaks courtyard to the bottom of the stairs. Jade mounted the first step, then turned to put her hands on my shoulders. “Go. Talk to your brothers. You guys need to help Keagan. It’s not like you’re going to get involved in unloading whatever shit they stole.”
“No fucking way.”
She kissed me lightly, and I pulled her forward, pressing her hips against my body. “Jade Cuoco. What did I ever do to deserve you?”
“I do remember a little sex slave thing you did for me once…”
“Speaking of that.” I grinned. “Can you believe what Dillon and Mac were watching?”
“What was that all about?” She raised her eyebrows. “And claiming it was for Keagan’s case? Why?”
“No idea.” I slid my hands down and squeezed her butt. “Maybe some night, we should watch a little…”
“Bored of me already?”
“Never.” My cock was semi-hard. “The sight of you makes me hard, Jade. The thought of you. Hell, your text messages make me hard. Even when they’re asking me to pick up groceries.”
“Duly noted.” She laughed. “Eggs and milk turn you on.”
“Sure I can’t come with?” I looked up toward the third floor where Melodie lived across the courtyard from where everything had started for us. “Or we could duck back to Keagan’s for a quickie…” I held her against my growing erection.
“Tempting,” she whispered in my ear. “But Melodie’s expecting me, and you want to hear what’s going on with Keagan’s case.” Pulling away, she stepped up another stair.
“Say hi to Melodie for me,” I said as she climbed another few stairs and our hands parted.
“Will do.” She smiled. “Did I tell you? Melodie got a new job. Teaching dance.”
“Thank god,” I said, then I watched Jade climb the stairs before I returned to the twins’ apartment.
Jade and I had been crashing at Keagan’s since I quit my job, and as far as we knew, Nicola had no idea Jade and I were still around Shady Oaks. New people had moved into our places upstairs. Looked like Russian mafia to me.
I walked back to the twins’ place and found Mac and Dillon staring at the computer again, Dillon seated and Mac leaning over. Boys had developed a serious porn problem.
“Do you think that’s the right kind of stuff?” Mac asked Dill. “How about that one?” He pointed at the screen. “Mistress Spanks the Baby Man. That sounds, um… How do we know what this chick likes?”
I slammed the door shut behind me. “Okay, now you guys really need to tell me what the fuck’s going on.”
They turned their heads toward me at the same second.
“Already told you,” Dill said. “Research for Keagan.”
“Porn research?”
“Dirt on the DA.”
I widened my eyes. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope. Nothing concrete yet, but we’re trying to get some leverage. Maybe get him out of this thing altogether.”
I dropped down on the chair I’d vacated, missing Jade already. “Blackmail? Why would he risk adding another charge? Plus what if it gets you guys arrested? That’s all we need.”
Dillon pushed his chair back from the table. “Probably nothing will come of it.”
“Something just came in this one.” Mac pointed to the screen and laughed.
“Just following all the angles,” Dillon said as he crossed the room. “Still not sure why the DA is so interested in Keagan, though. Clearly, there was more to that container than we expected.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Baby formula for one,” Mac replied.
“What?”
“Yeah. Baby formula. Boxes and boxes of the stuff.” Mac shook his head. “Shane was right about the electronics, though. We’ve got it all stashed. Best to unload it slowly… Not draw any attention. I’m working a few channels.” He shook his head. “But if Keagan’s bail gets set high, I could cash in quickly.”
“What about the formula?” Dillon asked from the other end of the sofa. “Dump it in the bay? Seems stupid to pay to store it.” He looked at me. “Or maybe you and Jade…”
I threw the TV remote at him. “We’re not making babies yet.” But the prospect made me so fucking happy. In a few years we would. After I had a more stable job and Jade had gone through culinary school…
“Pretty sure I can unload the formula,” Mac said. “Already working another buyer for that.”
I stretched out my legs, relieved my Jade-induced boner had finally subsided. Since meeting her, I’d had to get used to being half hard all the time.
&n
bsp; “Who buys stolen baby formula?” I asked Mac.
“I met someone…” He chewed on the inside of his cheek, and a flush rose on his neck.
“Holy shit!” I said. “Cormac Downey! You like a girl!” My brother was so transparent. To me, anyway. He might be a master negotiator with strangers, but I recognized this look on his face from back when he had a crush on Selena Gerard, a hot senior at Corpus Christi, when he’d been a freshman. The age difference hadn’t stopped Mac. He and Selena had fucked regularly the entire summer before she went off to college.
“It’s not like that.” Mac shook his head. “She’s just a mark. Works at a women’s shelter, and they go through a lot of baby formula.” He took a swig of beer. “Gotta admit, though, she is cute, but business aside, there’s no way. She’s off-limits.”
“When have you ever let a limit stop you?” I asked Mac.
Dillon started laughing, clearly knowing more about this than I did.
“What?” I asked. “She married or something?”
“Kind of,” Mac said. “She’s a nun.”
Thirty-Four
Jade
I set my shampoo bottle in the corner of the freshly washed shower stall in our new apartment. Nick entered the bathroom behind me and grabbed my hips while I was still bent over.
I wiggled my ass. He was hard. As usual. “Our shower sex days are over, babe. I don’t think we both fit anywhere in this bathroom at the same time.”
“I don’t know.” He ran his hands up over my ribs. “Worth a try.”
He had to back up for me to straighten, both of us squished in the barely-a-foot space between the front of the toilet and the entrance to the small shower stall.
“Can you even sit on this toilet?” I asked, peering to the side.
My man was big. It had never been more obvious than now, in our tiny one-room apartment.
I slid out of his arms and into the space in front of the sink, the open door resting behind me. Nick twisted through the small space left and sat on the closed toilet. His feet stuck into the shower stall.
“See.” He grinned. “No problem. Plus, I can wash my feet at the same time. Bonus.”
“Are you going to be comfortable here?” Had my frugality pushed us into a place too small?
“It’s not forever.” He adjusted into a position where he could stand, then pressed me against the open door of the bathroom.
One arm above my head and the other cupping my face, he looked down into my eyes. “We can save while we’re here, and you can go to culinary school.”
I smiled.
“And guess what?” His erection pressed into my stomach.
“You have a surprise? For me?” I grabbed his ass with the hand not trapped against the door.
“I’ve got a job interview tonight.”
“Really?”
“Yup. One of the assistant managers quit. The owner asked me to come in to talk about it.”
“Oh, Nick.” My hand circled his hard ass, loving how it flexed at my touch. “You’ll get the job. You deserve it.”
He bent to kiss me, and I felt so proud, so in love.
His hand slid down to fondle my breast, pushing the jersey of my thin tank top to the side, and my nipple tightened under his touch. He teased and fondled and made we wet. Didn’t take much.
I broke our kiss. “Don’t distract me.” I wagged my finger. “We’re not finished moving in.”
“Then we fuck?” he growled through a grin.
“If you’re a good boy.” I patted his ass.
He abruptly turned me to face the door. How he’d spun me in such a small space was baffling, but his power had my insides throbbing.
Reaching between the door and my body, he forced his hand into my shorts and under my panties. One of his long, thick fingers pushed straight inside.
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Nick.” I squirmed against the intrusion. “I haven’t unpacked the kitchen.”
“Your frying pan’s out. What more do you need?” He added a second finger, as his thumb found my clit.
I sighed as his fingers quickly took me close to the edge. “Oh, god… Fuck the kitchen.”
“I’d rather fuck you.” Driving his fingers hard and deep, he nearly lifted me off the floor.
I pressed my head against the door, panting, loving how he felt inside me, loving how he could overpower and satisfy me with just one hand.
He tugged my shorts to my upper thighs and pushed into me hard and fast. So focused on pleasure, I didn’t even know when he’d managed to free his cock.
Constrained by my half-removed shorts, I couldn’t spread my legs far, never mind bend at the waist in the small space. As a result, his thrusts were more shallow than usual, but the muscles of my upper thighs joined with my pussy to encase him. The added friction and tightness upped the intensity, making each drive so delicious. For him, too, it seemed, as his groans rumbled through me.
I came quickly and hard, bucking between his body and the door, and still he thrust, riding out and prolonging my pleasure.
When my contractions subsided, he turned me, then pulled down my shorts. He lifted me, holding me in his arms with my back against the door, and his cock invaded again.
I wanted to wrap my legs around his waist, but my foot was trapped against the sink. Still inside me, he maneuvered us out of the bathroom and into the single room of our new place.
In three steps, he set me onto the rounded counter at the edge of our tiny kitchen area, my back against the side of the cupboard.
“This apartment is perfect,” he said.
“Perfect,” I replied on an exhale.
As I balanced my ass at the edge of the short counter, he lifted my legs to rest on his shoulders, my hands around his neck. It was like he was wearing me as a necklace.
“The height of this ledge.” He thrust into me slowly, pulled back, then thrust again. “I knew it would be perfect.” He drove in again. “The second I saw it, I wanted to fuck you—right here. Just like this. I almost did it right then.”
“In front of the landlord?” I gasped at the extra deep penetration.
“Yup.” He got into a rhythm, nearly pulling out each time and driving in hard and deeply, his hands on my hips to keep me right where he wanted.
Looking into his eyes, I watched as his expression heated with the look he got when he was about to lose control—but his thrusts remained slow, each drive satiating me so completely, filling me both with his cock and his love.
As he continued to pump, his face grew strained, blood vessels rising and tendons bulging as he fought to stay slow. I almost told him to speed up, to take me with more force, but I tamped down the instinct, letting him set the pace and take what he wanted from my body, which wanted to give him everything.
In time, his thrusts grew more urgent—harder, faster—and I lost all sense of control, completely absorbed by his every pounding thrust.
My head banged the cupboard.
“Shit, sorry.” He slowed.
I moved one of my hands from around his neck to brace against the cupboard. It was awkward.
“Trust me?” he asked.
“Always.”
My legs still up on his shoulders, hands around his neck, he picked me up by the ass and turned me away from the counter. Gravity forced him even deeper inside me, and with his hands on my ass, he pumped his hips, his arms joining in on the action to pull me up and down on his cock as he thrust so very deeply inside me.
Immobilized in a V-sit, my feet up near his ears, I couldn’t do anything to contribute. All I could do was hold onto his neck and enjoy the wild ride. But I felt secure. Even if I lost my grip, I knew Nick had me.
And he did have me. He totally had me. Right now Nick was in control of my body, my pleasure, my safety.
He pounded me onto his hard rod and each time I landed, explosions went off inside my pussy and behind my eyes. And still his hips drove, gaining speed, driving like a jackhammer, his hands g
uiding me as I hung off his neck and he relentlessly impaled my body with his cock.
My hands were slipping, slicked with sweat, his and mine, but still he thrust into me, hitting deeply home with each stroke. Then he came—hard—pulling me tightly against him. My body was still bent in half, my leg muscles stretching against the force, and he kissed me, moaning into my mouth as his hips made a few last, seemingly involuntary thrusts, our tongues mimicking what his cock had just done.
With two steps and a turn, we were next to our bed and he laid me down gently, giving me room to unfold before stretching out beside me.
His leg captured me like a heavy blanket, wrapping over me to pull us closer together and trap me. A trap I never wanted to escape.
“What’s that?” I asked, spotting a small, framed picture on the table that held our lamp at the side of the bed.
He reached behind him to grab it, his thick muscles massaging my body as they slid over me. Then he grinned as he held the frame where I could see it.
“The card!” I bit my lip to contain the joy that rushed through my chest.
It was the card I’d torn up. He’d taped the pieces together and framed the patchwork result.
“Like it?” he asked.
“Love it.”
The big-eyed kitty, its tears mended and safe under glass, seemed to represent our relationship perfectly, what we’d gone through to get here. Our rocky road had torn each of us apart and then brought our ragged lives back together. And like me, the kitty’s rips and wounds were healing, sealed and protected.
His leg slid off me as he put the frame back. His cock was hard again, or still hard. The lasting power of my man astounded me, but I wasn’t complaining.
Turning back toward me, he scooped one of my legs over his hip and pushed back inside, effortlessly sliding past the slight pressure of my entrance and seating himself in me completely.
His leg scissored between my parted legs, tangling us together like a perfect spiderweb, and our bodies rocked together, our legs slipping luxuriously against each other’s as he stayed inside me, and his lips took mine in a languorous kiss, our tongues sliding and tasting, our breaths, our bodies, even our souls combining, and I wanted to stay like this forever.
