The Braddock Boys: Brent

by Kimberly Raye

  The party Brent had been responsible for. He’d missed it, just like he’d missed the past one hundred or so years with his little brother because he’d been too busy keeping his distance and staying on the move.

  Afraid to get close. To connect.

  For fear he’d lose it all over again.

  That was the real reason he kept running. He’d had everything way back when and in the blink of an eye, it had been gone. The pain had nearly destroyed him.

  So he’d pushed it all away and bricked himself up behind his hard-ass persona, pretending like he didn’t care. He’d been at the point that he’d actually stopped caring altogether.

  Because it was easier.

  But there was nothing easy about the emptiness that sat in the middle of his chest as he stared up and saw the disappointment in Cody’s eyes.

  “The wedding is tonight.” Brent noticed the dark blue slacks and the crisp white shirt his brother wore and he damned himself a thousand times over.

  “Three hours and counting.” He grinned, but the expression didn’t quite touch his eyes. “I hate it that you won’t be able to be there, but then, you’re not really into weddings anyway.”

  No, he was into running and keeping his distance and being a bonafide shit.

  That’s how he felt at the moment. Not just outside, but inside, too.

  “Rest up,” Cody told him. He set the glass in his hand on the small nightstand and started to turn.

  “She’s gone, isn’t she?” Brent voiced the one question he’d been wanting to ask since he’d first opened his eyes.

  “Actually, she’s right here.” The soft voice crossed the distance to him and his heart lurched.

  It couldn’t be.

  That’s what he told himself, but there was no denying the sweet scent of strawberries that filled his head and the frantic heartbeat that echoed in his ears.

  His chest hitched and every nerve in his body tensed. He turned. And sure enough, he found Abby standing in the doorway.

  “I’ll leave you in charge,” Cody told Abby, handing her what was left of the bag of blood. “Miranda will kill me if I’m late.” Cody ducked out and suddenly it was just the two of them.

  “So this is where you’ve been sleeping when you’re not at the motel.” Abby swept a glance around the large room. There was very little furniture except for the media stuff sitting in the corner but she had a quick vision of what it would look like with a woman’s touch. She couldn’t help but smile. “Cody did a good job.”

  “Yeah,” Brent groaned and her heart paused.

  He still looked ravaged, but the healing process had already started. His skin still looked red and raw, but it wasn’t as disfiguring as it had been before. His hair had started to grow back and she knew by the following day, he would be back to his old self.

  Provided he fed, that is.

  She reached for the hem of her T-shirt.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like I’m doing?” She pulled the cotton up and over her head. She wasn’t wearing a bra tonight and the first whisper of air against her nipples brought them to throbbing awareness.

  A rush of insecurity welled over her, but she was determined to do this. While she knew he loved her enough to risk everything, she’d yet to be completely open with him. She wanted him to know what he was getting into. And then if he still wanted her, well, they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

  “I know I did a pretty risqué striptease the other night,” she told him, “but that wasn’t really me.” She dropped the white cotton to the floor and bent to unlace her boots.

  She caught her bottom lip and gathered her courage. “I’m not into fancy clothes or sexy lingerie.” A few frantic tugs of her fingers and she toed off the black monsters. “I’ve never really been comfortable with all that stuff.” She hooked her fingers in the waistband of her camo pants and pushed them down to her ankles. Her panties followed until she was completely naked. “I usually go for fatigues and combat boots. And sometimes I even pick my teeth, but that’s beside the point.”

  “Which is?”

  “I’m willing to take a chance on you, on us, but only if you realize what you’re getting into. I’m not the kind of woman who freaks out when she sees a spider or waits for a man to open the car door for her. I deal with my own spiders and open my own doors and while I can’t say that dressing up was all that bad, for the most part I like to be comfortable. This is me. Take it or leave it.”

  Brent let his gaze rove over Abby and for the first time, he didn’t feel the pain gripping his insides. Instead, he felt frustration. He’d nearly turned himself to dust to protect her and she still didn’t get it.

  Talk about stubborn.

  He ground his teeth together and forced himself to his feet despite the flash of panic on her face. Stepping forward, he closed the distance between them until they stood only a few inches apart.

  “You look pretty comfortable right now,” he pointed out, her nipples rosy and tight.

  She glanced down as if only now realizing she’d stripped bare and her cheeks flushed. “I wasn’t sure which would help the most. Sex or blood.”

  “I’m thinking both,” he murmured. And then he touched his lips to hers.

  21

  BOTH.

  The word sparked her memory and pulled her back to the previous night. To his mouth feasting on her neck while his body plunged into hers.

  “That’s one way to do it.” Brent’s deep voice pushed into her thoughts and she realized he’d read her mind. Instinctively, she put the wall up, but he shook his head.

  “Don’t shut me out all the time. It’s nice to know what you’re thinking once in a while.”

  She relaxed and stared into his eyes. “So what am I thinking right now?”

  “You’re wondering if I’m going to bite your neck this time.”

  “Are you?”

  “Maybe.” He backed her up against the nearest wall and trailed a finger down her throat. She swallowed.

  “Or maybe I’ll try it here.” He touched the underside of one breast and traced her ripe nipple. “Then again, I might nibble here.” A few tantalizing touches and he slid his palm down, over the soft skin of her abdomen, to the inside of one thigh. “Or here.” Her breath caught as he dipped a finger between her legs.

  “That would be good.” The last word caught as he slipped another finger into her steamy heat and wiggled until a gasp bubbled from her full lips.

  “Or maybe I’ll try all of them.” A hiss worked its way up his throat as he bared his fangs. His body trembled and he touched his mouth to her ripe throat.

  She arched her neck, the movement pushing the soft flesh against his fangs and pricking her skin. Her gasp sizzled in the air as a sweet drop of blood bubbled and slid down the luscious curve of her neck.

  Brent caught it, relishing the taste before he leaned down to lick the source. A few sweet drops spilled onto his tongue as he laved the prick point clean.

  Need twisted inside of him and hunger seized control.

  He leaned down and latched onto the ripe tip of her nipple. His fangs sank into the tender flesh of her areola and his groin tightened. Blood spurted into his mouth for a long, delicious moment before he managed to stop himself.

  This wasn’t just about drinking and healing. It was about branding her as his. Once and for all.

  He dropped to his knees and slid his palms around to cup her ass. He gripped her leg and hooked it over his shoulder to tilt her more fully toward him. Then he licked her, tracing the seam of the slick flesh between her legs before he parted her.

  She closed her eyes and flattened her palms against the wall, hesitant to touch him because she didn’t want to cause him pain.

  He knew that because he felt it. He felt her. The pleasure rushing through her and the maddening thought that she was going to die if he didn’t take a bite out of her.

  Now.

  He drew her clit
into his mouth and she jumped. He suckled her for a long moment before replacing his lips with his fingers. Shifting his mouth to the tender inside of one thigh, he licked the soft spot. The smell of sex filled his nostrils and fed the already ravenous appetite gripping him. A growl rumbled past his lips. He sank his fangs deep and drew on her.

  Convulsions gripped her and her legs gave out, but Brent caught her.

  He would always catch her. From this day forward.

  A shudder ripped through him as he started to draw on her. Her essence filled his mouth and the tingling energy of her climax zapped him at every point of contact.

  But it wasn’t enough. He wanted to be inside of her. He needed to be inside of her.

  Pulling back, he got to his feet and swept her up. He could feel his strength returning, his body re-charging. And while the pain was still there, it faded in the rush of need that gripped him.

  He urged her down onto the cot and followed. He skimmed her body, his fingertips brushing her neck, her collarbone, the slope of her breasts, the indentation of her ribs. She was his now and she knew it. And the realization made him all the more desperate for her.

  He lowered his head and drew her nipple fully into the moist heat of his mouth.

  He suckled her long and deep, until her lips parted and a gasp escaped.

  Reaching down, he traced the soft folds between her legs before pushing inside just a fraction. She quivered and he lingered, suckling her breasts, first one then the other.

  “I want you,” he murmured. “I don’t care what you wear or don’t wear. I don’t care if you get rid of your own spiders or open your own doors or wear a pair of high heels ever again. I want you.” He pushed his finger deep to punctuate his statement. “Are we clear?”

  “Yes.” Abby stared up into his gaze and a rush of joy went through her, because she finally believed him. And she was going nuts thanks to his expert hands. She lifted her pelvis, focusing on the pleasure that gripped her as she worked her body around his decadent finger. She swayed from side to side, her movements frantic, desperate.

  “I love you.” The words pierced the humming in her ears and she went still. Her eyes opened to find him staring down at her. Waiting.

  “I love you, too,” she said.

  His mouth swooped down and captured hers in a deep kiss that went way beyond anything she’d ever felt before. He coaxed her open and slid his tongue inside and drew on her as if he couldn’t get enough. He plundered her mouth with his, exploring and savoring. The air stalled in her lungs and her heart sped faster. A few more seconds, and he tore his mouth from hers.

  He slid down her body, now slick from the fever that raged inside of her, leaving a blazing path with the velvet tip of his tongue. With a gentle pressure, he parted her thighs and stroked the soft folds between her legs.

  She was wet and throbbing and the discovery made him swear softly. Tremors seized her when she felt his warm breath blowing softly on the inside of her thigh. His tongue darted out, laving the tiny prick points where he’d drunk from her, and it was like being zapped by a live wire. Pleasure crackled through her and she gasped. She clutched at the sheets, desperate to keep her hands to herself since his body had yet to heal completely.

  She wasn’t sure what happened after that. She only knew that one minute he had his jeans on and the next, he was settling his naked body between her damp thighs.

  With a swift thrust of his hips, he impaled her on his rigid length. Sensation overwhelmed her at first. The feel of him so hot and thick pulsing inside her nearly made her come then and there, but then he withdrew and the sensation eased just enough for her to catch her breath.

  He slid back in a second time, his hard length rasping her insides and she caught her bottom lip. He kept moving, his body pumping into hers, pushing her higher with each delicious plunge. She lifted her hips, meeting him thrust for thrust, eager to give back as much as he was giving her.

  She stared up at him, into the brilliant purple of his gaze and gave herself over to the convulsions that gripped her. He followed her over the edge, a moment later, in a rush of warmth.

  They lay in each other’s arms for several long moments afterwards, before she leaned up on one elbow and eyed him.

  Sure enough, he looked a hundred times better than when she’d first walked into the room. The redness was fading. He was healing.

  “Should we do it again?”

  He turned his brilliant green gaze on her. “Darlin’, we’re going to do it so many times, you won’t be able to see straight.”

  “Is that a promise?”

  “One I fully intend to keep.” He touched his lips to hers in a long, lingering kiss that filled her with such joy she felt her eyes sting. “You don’t have to leave the military. I’ll follow you anywhere, Abby. I can hire a private investigator to do the legwork and find Rose if I have to.”

  “You don’t have to do that. I understand your need to get to the bottom of what happened.”

  “Not if it means losing you. I want you to be happy. And if going back makes you happy—”

  “I wasn’t happy,” she cut in, pressing a finger to his lips to silence him. “I was hiding. I threw myself into my career so I wouldn’t have to think about everything I was missing. A family. A home. I want both of them, Brent.” She shook her head. “I’m not re-enlisting. I’ll take the blame for Rayne’s MIA and let them force me out with a dishonorable discharge. Then I’ll come back here. Or I’ll follow you to New Mexico. Or wherever you need to go. We’re a team.”

  “It doesn’t seem fair for you to take the blame for Rayne.”

  “What isn’t fair is forcing him to take the blame for something that wasn’t his fault. He doesn’t deserve that. He deserves a little happiness. We all do.” She grinned and eyed him. “What?”

  “I never figured you for a hopeless romantic.”

  “You don’t know everything.”

  “Is that so?”

  “You need something to look forward to, otherwise forever is going to be a really long time.”

  “Not nearly long enough.” He leaned down and caught her in a deep, searing kiss that told her he was feeling much better. “Before we go for round two, there’s something I need to do first.”

  22

  AN HOUR LATER, Brent found Cody pacing the back hallway of the Sawyer Ranch as he waited his cue to join the guests and the justice of the peace behind the house where the ceremony was to be held.

  Surprise gleamed on Cody’s face when he spotted his older brother. “What are you doing here?”

  “Being your best man.” Brent shrugged on the jacket Miranda had thrust at him the moment he’d driven up with Abby. “If the job’s still open, that is.”

  Cody gave him a questioning glance before his face split into a grin. “I thought you didn’t do weddings?”

  “This isn’t just any wedding. My little brother is getting married for the first time.” He caught his brother’s gaze. “And the last time.”

  Cody’s smile widened and a warmth spread through Brent.

  He flexed his shoulders and, thanks to Abby, felt only a small stinging between his shoulder blades. Her blood flowed through his veins and her thoughts rooted in his head.

  “Don’t forget the tie.”

  He pulled the scrap of silk from his pocket and wound it around his neck just as Garret signaled them from the patio doorway. “It’s time.”

  Brent finished knotting the tie and turned toward his brother. “You ready?”

  “I was born ready.”

  He clapped his brother on the back. “Then let’s go get you married, hoss.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-6001-0

  THE BRADDOCK BOYS: BRENT

  Copyright © 2010 by Kimberly Groff.

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