Better When He's Brave
Page 40
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She didn’t reply but I heard her steps change direction as she headed up the stairs. “I didn’t want to wake you up. You looked like you needed the rest.” Her head cleared the landing and her eyes skimmed over me before a flush worked into her face.
I looked down at myself and had to smirk. I was still on top of the covers and still very naked. All it took was her being in the same room to have my dick twitching in interest.
“I did. I wasn’t thinking very straight. Did you take care of whatever you needed to do?”
I could have sworn something that looked like guilt danced across her dark eyes, but then her attention landed on what was happening below my belly button and her expression shifted to something else.
“I did. Booker took care of it for me, and I also stopped and got you this.” I grunted a little as she pulled a small box out of her purse and tossed it in my direction. It landed on my chest with a thump. I picked up the cell phone and lifted an eyebrow at her.
“You got me a phone?”
She shrugged and took her purse off her shoulder. It hit the floor with a thud and she winced a little. I frowned at her and shifted so I could swing my legs over the edge of the bed. I wasn’t used to having anyone do anything for me, and every time I turned around she was doing something thoughtful and kind like that.
“Thank you.”
“Well, you said you didn’t have one and I figured you needed a throwaway since Roark is probably tracking everything you do. It’s no big deal.” She bit down on the lush curve of her lower lip and my cock went instantly hard. There was no pretending I wasn’t paying attention to every little thing she did now. I was stripped naked in more than one sense and she could see it all. “Wanna get dressed and go see Bax? I’ll tag along if you don’t mind. I kind of want to check on Key.”
I rubbed a hand across the fuzzy lower half of my face and cranked my neck to the side. The popping noise it made was loud enough that she heard it from where she was still standing at the top of the stairs. “Key?”
“Keelyn . . . Honor, whatever you know her as. She used to come into the salon I worked at before . . .” She trailed off. Before and after always seemed to be such important indicators. “Anyway, she’s never had it easy and she doesn’t have many friends because she’s kind of a bitch, but I’ve always liked her. I think she might like seeing a friendly face.”
“Friendly? Weren’t you trying to beat the crap out of each other last week?”
She shrugged again and moved a little closer. She licked her lips again, her gaze locked firmly on the erection that was now standing tall and straight between my legs.
“There are only a few shades of difference between friend and foe in the Point. Sometimes the same person plays both roles.”
The tension between us popped and cracked like it was a living thing. Electricity arching and bouncing from me to her and back to me.
“Reeve, come here.” My voice dipped low and heat started to pool thick and dense in my veins.
She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at me just a fraction. “I don’t think so. I gave you your hour, Titus. I don’t think I’m up for giving you anything else right now. I know you want Roark to make his move. I know you’re furious he almost killed Bax, but no one wins a game like this if everyone playing is a pawn.”
Shit. I knew she was pissed about the windows, and even with that she had stayed with me while I slept. That made me want to grab her and put her under me forever.
“You aren’t a pawn, but I am an idiot. Look, when I walked in that door I had so much stuff going on in my head . . .” I trailed off and took a deep breath. “I was barely holding on waiting to see if Bax was going to make it, and then he opened his eyes. I had to explain to all the people that matter to me that Novak’s legacy is still fucking with our lives. I had to tell Bax he has another half-sibling out there besides me, and this one wants him dead.” I shook my head slowly at her. “All of that had to go somewhere and that somewhere was you. I wanted you, Reeve. I came here to you instead of going back home or to the apartment in the city. I screwed up, but what happened between us is very much about you and me and has nothing to do with him.”
She wrinkled up her nose like she was considering the validity of what I was saying to her. So I held out a hand in her direction. “Come here and I’ll prove it to you. The windows are dark. There is no one in this room but you and me. I want you whether we have an audience or not. I’ll show you if you just come here.”
She was wavering. Her eyes told me she wanted to take those few steps that separated us but the way her body was stiff and the way her hands involuntarily curled into tiny and fierce fists told me she wasn’t completely buying my assertion that our previous interlude had been based on lust and overwhelming passion rather than macho pride and bitter vengeance. That made me feel like an utter tool bag. Now that I wasn’t sleep-deprived and strung tight with too many emotions to name, I knew that in this moment I absolutely wanted her more than I wanted revenge for what Roark did to my brother.
I asked her softly, “Have I ever given you reason to doubt me before this morning?”
Her fingers finally relaxed a little and she took one step closer to me. “No, but we haven’t really known each other very long.”
“I don’t have any kind of hidden agenda here. You know I want you and that it’s complicated because I need you to get at Roark. I can admit that neither one of us was really playing pretend when it came to acting like we were attracted to each other and that something between us was bound to break loose. Now that it has, I’m done trying to stop it. You want me, you got me.”
She took another step closer and reached out her hand so that her fingertips brushed mine. “It’s not the want that’s the issue, Titus. It’s everything that’s more than that.”
She wasn’t wrong but I couldn’t think about that until Roark was off the streets. That was a different battle that was going to have to be fought and I didn’t know what kind of shape the warriors were going to be in when it was time to fight or throw up the white flag. Since she was close enough to touch now, I snagged her wrist and pulled her so that she was standing between my legs. My dick twitched happily in her direction, and I put my hands on her hips and leaned my head forward so that it rested right below her breasts. She tunneled her fingers through my hair and nothing had ever felt so nice. She was trying to soothe me, but I wondered if she knew that the gentle way she handled me had the opposite effect. It made me want to eat her up, which is exactly what I was going to do.
I looked down at myself and had to smirk. I was still on top of the covers and still very naked. All it took was her being in the same room to have my dick twitching in interest.
“I did. I wasn’t thinking very straight. Did you take care of whatever you needed to do?”
I could have sworn something that looked like guilt danced across her dark eyes, but then her attention landed on what was happening below my belly button and her expression shifted to something else.
“I did. Booker took care of it for me, and I also stopped and got you this.” I grunted a little as she pulled a small box out of her purse and tossed it in my direction. It landed on my chest with a thump. I picked up the cell phone and lifted an eyebrow at her.
“You got me a phone?”
She shrugged and took her purse off her shoulder. It hit the floor with a thud and she winced a little. I frowned at her and shifted so I could swing my legs over the edge of the bed. I wasn’t used to having anyone do anything for me, and every time I turned around she was doing something thoughtful and kind like that.
“Thank you.”
“Well, you said you didn’t have one and I figured you needed a throwaway since Roark is probably tracking everything you do. It’s no big deal.” She bit down on the lush curve of her lower lip and my cock went instantly hard. There was no pretending I wasn’t paying attention to every little thing she did now. I was stripped naked in more than one sense and she could see it all. “Wanna get dressed and go see Bax? I’ll tag along if you don’t mind. I kind of want to check on Key.”
I rubbed a hand across the fuzzy lower half of my face and cranked my neck to the side. The popping noise it made was loud enough that she heard it from where she was still standing at the top of the stairs. “Key?”
“Keelyn . . . Honor, whatever you know her as. She used to come into the salon I worked at before . . .” She trailed off. Before and after always seemed to be such important indicators. “Anyway, she’s never had it easy and she doesn’t have many friends because she’s kind of a bitch, but I’ve always liked her. I think she might like seeing a friendly face.”
“Friendly? Weren’t you trying to beat the crap out of each other last week?”
She shrugged again and moved a little closer. She licked her lips again, her gaze locked firmly on the erection that was now standing tall and straight between my legs.
“There are only a few shades of difference between friend and foe in the Point. Sometimes the same person plays both roles.”
The tension between us popped and cracked like it was a living thing. Electricity arching and bouncing from me to her and back to me.
“Reeve, come here.” My voice dipped low and heat started to pool thick and dense in my veins.
She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at me just a fraction. “I don’t think so. I gave you your hour, Titus. I don’t think I’m up for giving you anything else right now. I know you want Roark to make his move. I know you’re furious he almost killed Bax, but no one wins a game like this if everyone playing is a pawn.”
Shit. I knew she was pissed about the windows, and even with that she had stayed with me while I slept. That made me want to grab her and put her under me forever.
“You aren’t a pawn, but I am an idiot. Look, when I walked in that door I had so much stuff going on in my head . . .” I trailed off and took a deep breath. “I was barely holding on waiting to see if Bax was going to make it, and then he opened his eyes. I had to explain to all the people that matter to me that Novak’s legacy is still fucking with our lives. I had to tell Bax he has another half-sibling out there besides me, and this one wants him dead.” I shook my head slowly at her. “All of that had to go somewhere and that somewhere was you. I wanted you, Reeve. I came here to you instead of going back home or to the apartment in the city. I screwed up, but what happened between us is very much about you and me and has nothing to do with him.”
She wrinkled up her nose like she was considering the validity of what I was saying to her. So I held out a hand in her direction. “Come here and I’ll prove it to you. The windows are dark. There is no one in this room but you and me. I want you whether we have an audience or not. I’ll show you if you just come here.”
She was wavering. Her eyes told me she wanted to take those few steps that separated us but the way her body was stiff and the way her hands involuntarily curled into tiny and fierce fists told me she wasn’t completely buying my assertion that our previous interlude had been based on lust and overwhelming passion rather than macho pride and bitter vengeance. That made me feel like an utter tool bag. Now that I wasn’t sleep-deprived and strung tight with too many emotions to name, I knew that in this moment I absolutely wanted her more than I wanted revenge for what Roark did to my brother.
I asked her softly, “Have I ever given you reason to doubt me before this morning?”
Her fingers finally relaxed a little and she took one step closer to me. “No, but we haven’t really known each other very long.”
“I don’t have any kind of hidden agenda here. You know I want you and that it’s complicated because I need you to get at Roark. I can admit that neither one of us was really playing pretend when it came to acting like we were attracted to each other and that something between us was bound to break loose. Now that it has, I’m done trying to stop it. You want me, you got me.”
She took another step closer and reached out her hand so that her fingertips brushed mine. “It’s not the want that’s the issue, Titus. It’s everything that’s more than that.”
She wasn’t wrong but I couldn’t think about that until Roark was off the streets. That was a different battle that was going to have to be fought and I didn’t know what kind of shape the warriors were going to be in when it was time to fight or throw up the white flag. Since she was close enough to touch now, I snagged her wrist and pulled her so that she was standing between my legs. My dick twitched happily in her direction, and I put my hands on her hips and leaned my head forward so that it rested right below her breasts. She tunneled her fingers through my hair and nothing had ever felt so nice. She was trying to soothe me, but I wondered if she knew that the gentle way she handled me had the opposite effect. It made me want to eat her up, which is exactly what I was going to do.
