STEAL (Right Men Series Book 2)

by Mayra Statham

  ***

  I knew he was in the room before he even made a sound. Something about him was connected to me in a way that I could feel his presence. When his mouth touched my neck, I turned to him.

  “Hi,” I whispered, and in the darkness only lit up by the soft glow of moonlight outside, I saw the beauty in his eyes.

  I took a shower after breakfast, and by the time I was out and back in the kitchen, he was dressed and ready to go. With a murmured good-bye and kiss to my forehead, he was out and I was left wondering what was running through his mind. Luckily, or not, depending on how you looked at it, I had to hurry to work and had had a busy enough day, so had not been able to let my imagination run wild. I knew we were new, but I also knew we were real and solid. Which was weird in itself, but I knew it in my gut.

  “I woke you up.” His hand ran through my hairline and into my hair. I sighed at how good it felt.

  “It’s okay.”

  “How was your day?” his voice rumbled. I sighed on the inside.

  “Crazy.” I smirked with my eyes still shut to him.

  “I’m sorry about this morning,” he admitted, and I opened my eyes. He was closer now, his lips hovering over mine, his breath warm and minty.

  “You were stressed out,” I needlessly pointed out and shrugged slightly.

  “I shut you out.”

  “You did,” I agreed, my hands greedy to touch his bare chest. “But who is to say I wouldn’t have done the same thing?”

  “You have a nut case ex?” he asked, obviously still pissed at Courtney. I turned to switch on the lamp at my nightstand and rolled back to my side.

  “All I’m saying is, I get it,” I gently shared, wanting him to understand that I wasn’t playing games or saying things just to say them. I meant them.

  “I know, Blondie.” His eyes were tired but warm. “But what I’m saying is, I’m a grown man and should have dealt better with it.” That was sweet.

  “Did it get any better throughout the day?” I asked sitting up in bed and watched him roll to his back, his palms on his eyes as he exhaled a deep groan. “I’m guessing that’s a no?”

  “Not even a little bit,” he voiced, the agitation in his voice palpable throughout the room. I wanted to soothe him. Calm him.

  “Maybe today was a fluke?” His hands left his eyes before he turned to me.

  “Maybe.” One roughly uttered word, and just like that, my skin was covered with goose bumps. That’s when I remembered what I’d worn to bed. An ice-blue satin nightie with tiny spaghetti straps and off-white lace at the neck line. “Fuck, baby,” he growled as he took in what I was wearing, pulling my sheet lower.

  “What are you—“

  “Fuck,” he cursed sitting up and immediately leaning his body over mine. “Jesus.”

  “You like?” I smiled, but my smile faded as he stayed silent bringing his sexy body over mine, pulling me below his.

  “No. I don’t like it,” he roughly whispered against my lips.

  “Hmm.” I shut my eyes as his hand went up my thigh under the satiny material, making me shudder a breath, my own breathing shallow.

  “Satin?”

  “Surprise,” I mumbled, aching for him. Biting my lower lip, fighting to keep my eyes on him, not wanting to miss his reaction.

  Bryan was expressive.

  He wasn’t like any of the men I knew, who simply grunted and let sounds answer for them. He always let me know where I stood with him. But when I watched him close his eyes, his hand moving from my thigh to the mattress by my face, I had no idea what to expect.

  “Bry?” I called out to him, something reflecting in his eyes

  “I have no fucking clue what I did in my life to deserve a treasure like you, Blondie. But if I knew what it was, I’d do it every second of my life to make sure you would never leave it.” It was flowery and maybe a little cheesy, but his words hit the mark and my eyes burned. “I left here behaving like a dick, yet you still came home, put on a sweet nightie and waited up? For me?”

  “You weren’t—“

  “I love you.” My stomach flipped and warmth rushed through me. There was something beautiful about the easy way he gave me those words. Because coming from him, they were more than words. They were truth. “Love everything about you, Val, and whatever the fuck Donnie was up to that had his path cross with Vaughn, thank fuck.”

  “Donnie?”

  “Shhh.” His lips touched mine. “I’m going to show you tonight how much I love you.”

  “Mmm… That feels good,” I whispered as his lips traveled away from my lips and toward my chin, his nose skimming my skin.

  “I’m going to make you feel even better. Show you how much you mean to me.”

  “We work tomorrow,” I reminded him.

  “Mmmm….” his voice rumbled. “We’re going to need lots of fucking coffee.” His voice vibrated against my neck, covering my body with goose bumps, my body arching toward him. “Lots and lots of coffee.”

  I love coffee.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  BRYAN

  Standing shirtless in front of the bathroom mirror, his waist wrapped in a towel, he couldn’t get his fucking body to relax. He had just taken a long, hot shower, and nothing. Tension rolled and crashed, wave after wave at his shoulders and neck. His cell had been silenced the moment he had stepped into the house the night before, but he knew. He knew in the back of his mind that it was still going off.

  Courtney might have always been a little crazy, but it was official. She had lost her ever-loving mind. And he had no idea why he was the lucky winner of her attention.

  Blowing up his cell with text messages and voicemails. Each one worse than the last. Escalating in nature. He had no fucking clue what the best way to take care of it or stop her would be.

  Sexual texts, inappropriate photos, voice rants about their past and how their future would be if he only gave her a chance.

  Bryan’s hands clenched along the counter and he rested his chin on his chest, breathing in deeply. Letting the lingering scent of Val’s body wash and perfume in the air soothe him. She had taken a shower before him, and her scent made him feel slightly better.

  Cool, strong fingers touched his back, and he felt the soft curves of her body pressed tightly to his back “You okay?” she asked carefully, and he nodded. Looking at the mirror, he saw her head peek from his side, her gaze warm but worried.

  “You sure?” she asked, never wavering from their eye contact.

  “I had twelve voice messages and twenty-three texts.” He wasn’t going to mention the number of missed calls or photos.

  “Since she started calling?”

  “Since I got home last night and silenced my phone.” He swallowed hard wondering if Courtney’s shit was going to be the thing that had Val tell him ‘peace out’. Though if he was honest, he was surprised what his grandmother had pulled hadn’t already done it.

  “Have you answered any of her calls?” she asked logically, and he sighed.

  “Not since the first one yesterday.”

  “Maybe talk to her? Or report it to the…” She pressed her lips together, and he watched the amusement in her eyes.

  “The police? You want me to report this shit to my department?” he asked, a smirk of his own on his face.

  “I know,” she sighed, then he lost sight of her as she leaned her head on his back, her soft, delicate hands moving up and down his torso. “Maybe she’ll get tired of trying to get your attention and leave you alone.”

  “Maybe,” he repeated, not believing that Courtney would give up so damn easily. The only thing that would get her to give up was if some unsuspecting male fell into her web and caught her attention.

  “Either way, we have the entire day to be together tomorrow.” Her hands wrapped around his waist, and he held them as her lips touched the center of his back and let her kiss relax him.

  “Yeah. You’re probably right,” he lied again. He knew Courtney; she c
ould be like a dog with a bone, persistent when she had something stuck in her head.

  “Oh, shoot.”

  “What?” He turned, his own arms wrapping around her soft body.

  “I forgot that I’m meeting Tania in the morning tomorrow, and then I have an errand to run.”

  “You are?” he asked, his hand stroking her hair, smiling at the way her eyes fluttered shut, so much trust in the gesture.

  “Is that okay with you?” she asked softly, her eyes still closed, her light eyelashes fanned over her cheeks as his fingers stroked her scalp.

  “Why wouldn’t it be?” Her eyes fluttered open when he spoke, and she leaned further into his touch.

  “I just wanted to make sure…”

  “Baby, I’m happy you are making new friends. Tania’s great. So is Grace, if you—“ She covered his mouth, and his ears filled with the sound of her laughter, making his heart warm over.

  “I don’t need you to set up play dates for me.” She giggled.

  “I know, but you know if—“

  “I know, and I thank you,” she cut him off. He got lost in her emerald pools. “Turn around,” she whispered, and his eyes narrowed.

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.” Her lips twitched sexily in her attempt to boss him around.

  “Fine,” he groaned playfully.

  Giving her his back, he immediately felt her body shift closer but not completely flushed up against him. Her hands were warm and splayed open as they moved up and down his muscles, and he couldn’t help but groan in pleasure.

  “Fuck,” he grunted, “You have magic hands.” His head leaned forward and he stilled when her hands came off him. “What are you—“

  “Shhh…. Relax,” she whispered. “You’re so tense.” She kissed his shoulder before reaching around him.

  He watched from the mirror as her talented hands grabbed a bottle of lotion. She’s so damn beautiful. She bit her bottom lip as she pumped out creamy lotion onto her open palm, and he smiled inwardly when she spread it on her hands before touching him. Warming it up for him. Something so damn simple but just like that, he fell further, deeper in love with her. It was more than just her grabbing lotion and warming it up. It was how she cared for him. Every action showed it.

  She worked his back, and he couldn’t help but close his eyes. With a delicate strength that surprised him, the palms of her hands glided up and down then across the broadness of his back. She stroked and kneaded his flesh. Untying knots he didn’t even know he had. His little goddess rubbed him in all the right spots, loosening the tension his body had been holding on to throughout his shoulders and neck. Slowly, she moved her hands downward, sliding down his lower back, the sensation making him groan loudly.

  The minutes slipped by, and even though they both had to get to work, she didn’t seem to be in a hurry and he couldn’t get himself to ask her to stop; her hands felt like fucking heaven. Through heavily hooded eyes, he watched the mirror in front of him. Catching glimpses of her face on his body, taking in the way her sage-green eyes heated and her cheeks turned pink. Her tongue licked her lower lip, and his body was more than relaxed. He started to get hard and cleared his throat, trying to somehow get control of his body.

  “That feel good?” she asked in a throaty tone he recognized. A tone that made him swallow hard, because he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  “Yeah,” he groaned when she hit a spot that made him relax and all the blood in his body flow south.

  “Hmm…” Her hands dipped to the edge of the towel that was around his waist, and she quickly undid it, letting it fall at his feet.

  “Val.”

  “Hmm?” Her hands moved to his ass and she squeezed. He groaned. Had anyone ever squeezed his ass?

  “What are you doing, Blondie?” he asked as her hands glided over his hips, her body pressing flush up against his back, her hands moving to the V of his abs.

  “Trying to get you to relax,” she whispered against his back. Her lips peppered kisses just as one of her hands splayed open, flat on his abs, the other gripping his hardened shaft tightly.

  “Val—“

  “Shhh…” she hummed, and his eyes moved to his front, looking at her dainty hand on his abs stroking his flesh up and down as she stroked his stiff cock. Her touch was just right as she worked her silky hand up and down. Her lips touched his neck, and his balls tightened.

  “Val—“ he groaned.

  “Shh… Let me touch. Let me do this…”

  “A hand job?” he asked, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.

  “I want to help you relax. I want to help you start your day with a pep in your step, handsome.”

  “Fuck, baby, you keep doing that, you’re going to have a mess in your hand,” he warned, feeling her lips on his shoulder, then up to his ear.

  “Hmm, I like that.”

  “You want a mess?” he croaked, shutting his eyes as her breath sent sinfully delicious shivers down his spine. Hell, he could swear he could even feel her smile.

  “I want to make you cum so hard, you make that sound.”

  “Sound?” He licked his lips, his eyes on her hand working him, her touch so fucking perfect it was like—

  “Hmm,” she moaned into his ear. His body tightened. “You sound so sexy when you cum,” she shared, and he shook his head.

  “I’m sure you sound better. Let me—“

  “No. I love touching you,” she whispered. “Remember that back rub I gave you when you first moved in?” she asked him, and he was so damn delirious with everything she was making him feel all he could do was grunt.

  “Fuck!” he moaned, his head falling back slightly. “I remember. You made me so fucking hard I was afraid I was going to shoot my load in my damn shorts.”

  “I was so wet, so turned on,” she kept sharing, and Bryan knew if she kept up the dirty talk, he was going to be a goner. “No one has ever turned me on like you do, handsome.”

  “Baby,” he panted.

  “I want you all the time. I’m probably getting off on this more than you, Bryan.”

  “I fucking doubt that, Blondie.” He gritted his teeth, trying to catch his breath as her hand tightened around his girth as she kept working his shaft.

  “I love this. I’m so wet for you,” she mewled, panting softly, her lips on his bicep.

  “Valerie…”

  “I am. You make me like this. Please, Bryan,” she pleaded, and he was so fucking far gone he would give her the damn moon if he could. “This okay?” Her grip tightened and he moaned in return, his hand covering hers on his stomach. “I want you to feel good, baby.”

  “Fuck, Val!” he panted closing his eyes. Enjoying every stroke and sensation she brought out in him. From the way her breath tickled his skin softly to the way her luscious curves and softness molded to his body.

  “Let go,” she softly pleaded and didn’t stop.

  She whispered all the naughty things she wanted to do on their days off, and as much as his jaw clenched and his fist tightened, there was no way he could stop his body. His balls tightened, a tingle shot down his spine mere seconds before he shot his load, groaning her name, his release spilling out of him in ribbons onto her hand as she slowed her speed, milking every damn drop out of him.

  “I love you,” she whispered against his arm as he caught his breath. She kept stroking him with featherlight and barely-there touches until he couldn’t stand it. Covering her hand with his, he pulled it away and turned around, leaning into her, placing his head at her neck, and breathing in the scent of her hair and body.

  “Fuck,” he sighed, and she held him tighter. “I love you, too, Blondie,” he rasped, breathing in deeply. “Can I return the favor?” he asked into her hair. She pulled away, and he was gifted with her dazzling smile.

  “Tonight?”

  “You wanna wait till tonight?”

  “I don’t want to, but I should,” she pouted, and all he could think about was how d
amn adorable she was and she was his. His. Fuck, if that didn’t make him a lucky SOB.

  “Hmm.” He nuzzled his nose against hers. “You want to wait because of work?” he asked.

  “You know it’s because of work.”

  “What if we call in?” he suggested, the idea of spending an entire day in bed more than enticing even if he knew neither one of them could just call in.

  “I wish.” She smiled brighter.

  “Okay. I’ll make it up to you tonight, with interest,” he promised warmly.

  “With interest?” Her eyebrows rose, her green eyes glittering with amusement. “I like that.” She kissed him while his hands stroked the end of her hair. “Talking seriously, you know you have nothing to pay back? I wanted to do that for you.”

  “I know. But I wanna get in between those sexy legs, Val.” His lips moved from hers, trailing down to the sensitive spot on her neck that made her...

  “Mmm.” Right there, he thought to himself, smiling against her neck.

  “I have a list of dirty things I wanna do tonight, Val.”

  “You do?” she asked in a sexy purr.

  “Fuck, yeah,” he roughly answered and felt her body quiver in his arms.

  “Damn it!” she exclaimed, stepping back from him. “You are trouble.” She pointed at him, making him smile. “I need to get going,” she shared, her eyes on his chest traveling down to the semi hard-on he was sporting. Though just being around her, hell, the thought of her made him a perpetual walking erection.

  “You should go before I take you against that very wall behind you. Especially if you keep looking at me like that,” he threatened. Her head popped up to meet his gaze. He had kissed and touched every inch, every nook and cranny of her body, yet he’d made her blush with his dirty promise.

  She held his gaze, her eyes burning with lust and desire and so much fucking love he felt the warmth like a salve. She rolled her eyes playfully at him, and he grinned at her.

  “Tonight,” he repeated, watching her rush out before he picked up the towel and got ready for his day.

  ***

  “Fuck, that was a mess.” Tyler shook his head, running his fingers through his dark hair, and Bryan silently agreed as they walked back to his SUV. “Can you believe the shit she said?” Domestics were always hard on Ty. Hell, they were hard on him, but they affected Ty deeply.