Burning Bridges (Beech Grove)

by Mayra Statham

  “Okay.” I smiled weakly.

  “But in the meantime,” he whispered hoarsely against the edge of my lips, hovering over me, “how about I be your now man?”

  “My now man, huh?” I grinned. My skin started to warm up as his hands roamed my body.

  “Yeah. You tell me when, and I serve you,” he whispered against my mouth, and I smiled while his lips went to my neck. The scratchiness of his scruff created a delicious sensation.

  “Now,” I whispered, and he growled, flipping me over. A giggle escaped as I landed on his chest, straddling him.

  “Your wish is my command, my pretty princess,” he grunted. I pulled his hard cock out of his boxer briefs while he quickly pulled my panties to the side. “Use me like your toy, baby,” he ordered, and I did.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Maverick

  “Oh, come on, Gabe!” The disgust in Sofi’s voice was clear as day. Maverick had just walked into Jill Blanco’s home and had obviously picked the wrong moment.

  “What? It’s true. Mom, tell her,” Gabe argued, and Mav stilled standing next to Sofia in the living room.

  “Believe it or not, Gabe, you are allowed to be wrong from time to time. I think she’s fine the way she is. That dress is gorgeous, honey.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” Sofi’s voice gentled.

  “Mav, tell her that her ass is hanging out in that thing!” Gabe pushed. Mav looked at Sofi, fighting his body from a hard-on that would show exactly what he thought of the bright blue dress she was wearing.

  “Mav doesn’t have to say shit to me. He’s not my dad, and last I checked, neither were you,” Sofi shouted before storming out through Jill’s front door.

  “Fuck,” Gabe cursed, running his fingers through his hair.

  “Gabe,” Jill bit as she clearly tried to keep herself together. “I know it’s in your nature to try and protect us.”

  “It’s my job, Mom.”

  “But I think you’ve gone overboard here. She looks great. She looks like a young woman her age. Hell, I can almost guarantee she’s more covered up than your last three dates.” Jill would win that bet.

  “Mom.”

  “Combined.” Jill added before turning to Mav. “I’m sorry you are seeing our true colors after five years, honey.”

  “I... Yelling means you care. You can hear a pin drop at my family events,” Mav shared. Jill gave him a strained smile.

  It was Sunday night Blanco family dinner. The first one since Gabe was on the mend. Usually, Maverick tried to be there early, but he had been running behind due to a surprise he had planned for his princess after dinner.

  “Now, Gabe,”—Jill turned—“I am seeing someone,” she announced, and Maverick braced, not sure how his best friend would take his mom dating. “I like him a lot. No.” She shook her head and smiled, meeting her son’s eyes. “I am in love with him. He will be here next week. Now, if you plan on behaving the way you did tonight, not even an hour after arriving, don’t bother coming over next week.” Without a second to spare, she turned around and left for the kitchen.

  “Who said you weren’t a lady’s man, huh?”

  “Shut up,” he huffed, putting his hands on top of his head.

  “Want me to go talk to Sof?” he offered.

  “Yeah, if you don’t mind? I’ll go try and figure out what to say to Mom.” Gabe sighed, his eyes on the kitchen.

  “You okay about that?”

  “I had an idea she was seeing Jeff.”

  “Jeff? You mean Jeff Rossum? From the police department?”

  “Yeah. They used to be friends back in high school,” Gabe shared and shrugged. “About time. Life’s too short to live it alone,” he mumbled the wisdom under his breath as he walked into the kitchen.

  Maverick turned and walked out the front door and found her standing on the patio under the moonlight. He couldn’t read her expression, and before he tried to come up with something to say, she spoke, “He’s an ass.”

  “You have an amazing one,” he shot for levity, but when she didn’t laugh, he knew he’d chosen the wrong way to deal with the situation. “Gabe’s just being protective.”

  “I know, I know.” She shook her head and looked away, out toward the street. “He has been since my dad died.”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “No. Yes. Sometimes.” She shrugged. He moved to stand next to her, the small distance too much to bear. His hand skimmed hers, and he didn’t think. Both his hands captured hers, stroking the top it. “Moments like that, I don’t know if I made the right call coming home,” she admitted. He stilled.

  “Why would you think that?”

  “I just feel in the way. Like if I weren’t here, he wouldn’t have to act like my dad. He could just be Gabe.” She looked up at him, tears in her eyes and so much conflict that all he wanted to do was take that weight off her shoulders and place it on his own.

  “He was a dick. He shouldn’t have said what he said. You look great, and you know it.”

  “I wore it because I knew you would be here,” she shared, and his lips twitched upward.

  “And I thank you. You know I love your legs.” He tipped his face forward. “And your ass and…“

  “And what?” she breathed, her eyes hooded as they breathed one another’s air.

  Before he could answer or get a taste of her lips, he heard the door open and begrudgingly had to make space between them but kept his face hard as he looked at the guy who was his best friend. Anger swirled around him after having seen his princess that upset.

  “Sof,” Gabe’s deep voice said. She turned to glance over her shoulder. “I was a dick. Forgive me?” Gabe said. Mav stepped away from his princess but didn’t leave.

  In any other circumstance, he would have left Gabe to clean up his own mess, but he found himself standing guard. Making sure Gabe didn’t upset her any further. At that moment, Maverick found he couldn’t give a shit if Gabe Blanco was his best friend; his girl, his Sofi, was more important. He blinked once and then twice as the thought settled and it didn’t scare him. This was a hell of a lot more than some itch to be scratched or a fling that wouldn’t go anywhere. Looking back and forth, pretending to listen to Gabe apologize, Maverick Bridges realized this whole thing with Sof was quite the opposite of a fling.

  This was the end game, the be-all-end-all kind of shit. Especially if he was willing to bust in Gabe’s face if he caused her any more distress. She stayed away all this time because she felt in the way?

  “Give us a minute, yeah, Mav?” Sofi asked. He searched her eyes to see if it was what she really wanted. Her eyes softened. Something happened between them at that moment. He squeezed the hand he was still holding.

  “Stop being an ass,” he growled at Gabe, who was obviously confused. Join the club, he thought to himself as he stepped back into the house.

  Sofia

  I watched Maverick step into the house, and something about the way he clearly didn’t want to leave made me braver in a way.

  “I’m not sixteen anymore,” I finally spoke, my eyes narrowed in the direction of my older brother.

  “I know that.” He shrugged and leaned against the wall.

  “Then stop acting like I am.”

  “I can’t do that,” he admitted, and I rolled my eyes.

  “Then what’s the point of you apologizing?”

  “Can we sit?” he asked, pointing toward Mom’s two Adirondack chairs, but I crossed by arms. “Please,” he asked with a wince, and I gave in. He was obviously hurting.

  “Fine, but only because you’re hurting.”

  “No, I’m not,” he scoffed even though it was clear by his face when he sat down that he was relieved not to be on his leg.

  “You shouldn’t push yourself.”

  “And you shouldn’t wear such short—“

  “Here we go again!” I exclaimed. He shut his mouth and looked away.

  Gabe muttered something under his breath and ran his hands
over his head. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Look, Sofi, I am sorry about earlier. You look beautiful.”

  “Thanks.”

  “But as your big brother it’s my job to look out for you.”

  “Maybe when I was younger, but I’m an adult now, Gabe. I’ve lived on my own for a very long time.”

  “You will be eighty-one day, and I’ll still be screening your boyfriends and telling you your dress is too short.” That was sweet in its own unevolved way.

  “You’re funny,” I muttered under my breath, letting my hand cover his. “I just need you to know I’m not a kid anymore.”

  “I know that, Sof. You’ve been gone a long time.”

  “I have. And I grew up while I was gone. I’m a grown-ass woman. Trust me when I tell you that I am far from the skittish school girl who left to study abroad.”

  “Why did you?”

  “What?”

  “Why did you go?”

  “It was easier if I did.”

  “In what way?”

  “I’d be one less thing for you and Mom to worry about,” I answered honestly. He lifted his right brow, but before he could say anything, Mom popped out and smiled, saying she was glad we were getting along now, but that dinner was ready.

  “Did she tell you about next week?” I asked him as we walked in, and I didn’t miss his groan.

  “Jeff Newsom,” he mumbled, and I laughed.

  At least I wasn’t the only Blanco woman who drove my brother into an overprotective mess.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Maverick

  She’s going to kill me. That was all his poor brain could compute as she rose and fell on his cock. Coating him with her beautiful wetness. She tightened herself around him and released. The pressure was a sweet kind of torture he would happily take.

  For the rest of my life.

  He shook the thought away and concentrated on the woman in front of him. He knew what she was doing. She was toying with him. Playing him like her own little fuck toy, and damn, he loved it. He loved everything she did. I love being around her.

  “Mav,” she purred his name, and his balls tightened, ready to shoot his load. He didn’t want it to end, so he bit his lower lip, tasting copper in his mouth.

  “Fuck… Love how you say my name,” he grunted as she slowed, edging both of them. He could feel that her pretty little pussy was ready to let go. Small quivers clenched around his dick, but she didn’t give in. Every little clench and squeeze drove him to the brink of sanity. “You purr like a kitten.”

  “Maverick,” she gasped again, and he closed his eyes tightly. They might not have been together long, but he knew her body. He had made damn sure of it. Any and every chance he had, he had explored, kissed, and licked every inch of her more times than he could count. She was past the brink, and her nails dug into his shoulders. The bite of pain told him they would probably leave a crescent moon-shaped mark; the idea only made his balls tighten further.

  “More,” she begged, and who was he to disappoint her?

  His hands held the flare of her hips as he thrusted up, her little gasps egging him on to keep going. He forced himself to watch her. She looked like a sensual belly dancer. She rolled and grinded her hips into him, making him slide in deeper. Her beautiful face contorted, pleasure marking her features. Her back arched, pushing her beautiful tits toward him like an offering, her hair wild behind her as she came hard.

  Her pussy milked his thickness. Her guttural sounds and the sight in front of him made him go over the edge and release rope after rope of cum into her tight sheath.

  Her body fell forward until they were chest to chest, both their bodies covered in a light sheen of sweat. They panted as they tried to catch their breath. Thoroughly exhausted, he barely had the strength to stroke her back. Slowly, Maverick dragged the tips of his fingers back and forth on the small of her back and felt her body melt into his.

  “How does it get better every time?” she wondered out loud. He had been thinking the same thing.

  “Because it’s with you, Princess,” he muttered, kissing her temple.

  “Thank you for tonight,” she whispered before taking a deep breath. He rolled to his side and stroked the side of her face. He didn’t need to ask her what she was talking about. “No one has ever had my back like that when it came to Gabe.”

  “You got me,” he told her. She blinked and shook her head before looking away.

  “I should go get cleaned up.”

  “Come on, let’s get a quick shower. I’ll clean us up again.”

  “You and the shower,” she teased, but he didn’t mind. He liked getting her wet and bubbly.

  Sleep claimed her the minute they got settled back into bed, where he held her against his chest, her ear over his heart. Damn Princess was in there. Somehow, somewhere, she’d wormed her way into his heart, and he had no idea how that was possible.

  ***

  “You’re back,” he muttered at Gabe as he walked into the workout room at the firehouse just as he was about to leave.

  He was back at work, looking forward to a couple of days off and spending as much time as possible with Sofia. As he stood in front of Gabe, the need to tell him rose again.

  “Hey, man, you have a sec?” Mav found himself asking, making Gabe stop in front of him.

  “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “Umm—“

  “Man, is this about you not coming home last night? Because I was just joking about your side piece, man.”

  “No. Well, it’s about her…” He started, hoping to God Gabe wouldn’t hit him when he told him the truth.

  “Gabe!” Jaxon Suarez, their buddy and fellow fireman, came up to them. “You ready?”

  “You guys going somewhere?” Mav asked, swallowing hard. He was relieved and disappointed. He needed to tell Gabe. It was time.

  “Just to work out.”

  “Oh—”

  “You mind if we talk later?” Gabe asked, and just like that, another opportunity to fess up slipped through his fingers.

  “Yeah. Sure. Talk to you later,” Mav said, patting both men on the back before walking out and toward the kitchen to grab a snack before hopping in the shower.

  A couple of steps from the kitchen, he stopped in his tracks. He saw her before she noticed him. Her dark auburn hair shined, and when he took in what she was wearing, his body immediately started to react.

  Her sexy body was encased in a deep wine dress that hugged every curve and angle, leaving nothing to the imagination. He knew because he knew the roads of her body like the back of his hand.

  Mav’s eyes roamed the deep V of her dress. His mouth watered at the exposed cleavage and the hem of her dress hitting mid-thigh. Swallowing hard, he looked around, hoping to God that none of his brothers were around. He didn’t want to kill them for seeing her in that sinful excuse of a dress. Hell no, the sight she made was for his eyes only. His eyes kept traveling along the supple flesh of her thighs down to her long, beautiful legs. All of it fucking hot. But it was the black leather sky-high fuck-me heels that served as the cherry on top.

  Maverick was painfully hard. He looked at her and tried to tamp down the primal force and need rushing through his veins.

  Sofia

  “What are you doing?” he growled, and I bit my lip. Now or never, I reminded myself. “Sofi?”

  “I…” I hesitated. Mav and I had been getting closer and closer. I was falling for him. Hard. I needed to remind myself that I couldn’t get too close to him. I didn’t know when he would tell Gabe, and if he didn’t, I had to make sure to see this thing between us as a fling. Sex. No more, no less.

  Now or never.

  I walked toward him. My hips swayed a little more than normal, and my skin prickled at the intense way he was looking at me. By the time I reached him, I felt ten degrees warmer, but I was on a mission. My hands landed on his hard, solid chest. He was clearly surprised by my brazenness. He opened and closed his mouth as if perplexed abou
t what to say.

  I didn’t try and mask the grin on my own face. I was proud of myself. His reaction was better than anything I could have hoped for. My timing was perfect, too. He was sweaty and in a navy-blue tee that not only matched his eyes but felt soft under the palms of my hands. The growing bulge behind his dark grey BGFD sweatpants told me my little seduction was working.

  “What are you doing here, Princess?” he asked again, his tone tight and low.

  He took a couple of steps back, and I matched each one. We walked until his back hit the wall. My breath hitched when his hands held my waist. The heat of his skin burned through the material of my dress, and I loved it.

  I loved the warmth he infused me with, with just his touch. It was quickly becoming an addiction for me, and that was exactly why I was here.

  “Sofia,” he gritted, and I cupped his face.

  “Now,” I whispered against his lips, loving the way the heels gave me a boost in height.

  “What?” His eyes might have narrowed, but the fire that burned behind his gaze made me wonder if I had bit off more I could chew. Now. I wanted him right here, right now.

  “Sofi…” he started to say, but I ignored him as I looked around. The locker room caught my eye.

  My breathing was off, and I stood on the tips of my toes, enjoying the way his hands tightened their hold on me. “Sofi,” he warned. My hands moved up the soft navy-blue tee, and I appreciated the hard muscles that lay beneath. “You’re killing me here, Princess,” he groaned.

  “Don’t call me that,” I whispered, prolonging my tease. My eyes were fixed on his Adam’s apple, enjoying the way it bobbed as my fingers skimmed and dragged down his nipples.

  “I want you,” I admitted, though I was pretty sure he knew. I wasn’t trying to be subtle.

  “Now?” he asked, and I smirked.

  “Now.”

  “But the guys—”

  “Now,” I repeated, holding his stare. Daring him. Challenging him.

  “Your brother is working out in the gym,” he shared, but I didn’t care. I kissed his lips.