Risk It All (Risqué #2) (20 page)

‘Smart thinking.’

‘If there’s one thing I’m used to it’s crooks. I’ve been around enough of them in my life, my father is one, my brother, and my lover too.’

‘I’m retired,’ he said, holding up his hands. ‘Turns out that I’m not as turned on by being bad as I used to be.’

‘Good,’ she said. ‘Because if we’re going to make this work then I need to know that all of that is behind us.’

‘Promise,’ he said, leaning over the centre console to kiss her.

‘Except parking,’ she said, taking her hands to his chest. ‘That’s one illegal activity I approve of.’

‘Good.’

This kiss was longer and his tongue edged into her mouth. When she responded and coiled her arms around him, he took hold of her waist to pull her forward then wrapped her in his arms. The awkward angle made her spine ache, but she didn’t care, the kiss was good enough to soothe all of her pain.

‘I’d suggest taking this into the back seat,’ she said. ‘But it’s a bit public around here.’

‘Can we go inside?’ he asked and she nodded.

He released her and came around the truck to open her door for her, his parents had taught him good manners and as silent as his father usually was, the Warner boys had certainly learned how to be gentleman so he brought her out of the truck and locked it up. Their twined fingers remained together, there was nothing awkward or inappropriate about their link now.

With linked hands they went into his apartment and as soon as the door was closed he tried to move into the kitchen, but she dropped her purse, kept his hand and didn’t let him choose their destination. Leading him into the bedroom she slipped off her shoes and cosied up to him, coaxing him toward the bed. She caught his tee-shirt and let her fingers find their way up over his abs.

‘Do you have time for this?’ she asked. Usually he spent all of his time working and afternoon delight, well evening delight, wasn’t often scheduled as far as she was aware.

‘I told you I’d shoehorn in an hour if you needed me to,’ he said with a grin that made her laugh.

Being together was different now that everything was out in the open. Last night sort of felt like a goodbye to her, like it was her last chance to be intimate with the man she loved. If she thought that she was going to ruin his life, if she really was a bad influence, then she would’ve walked away to give him the best shot at keeping his legitimate future together – and not going back to jail.

With everything now out in the open and the indication that Colt was going to accept them being together a weight was lifted.

Sitting on the bed, she wriggled back and reached up to pull him down over her. He kept his arms locked so that he remained high above her, but the way they’d fallen meant their legs alternated, giving her a solid thigh to push her pelvis up against; a stimulator to grind her core into.

‘Do you want to be on top?’ he asked. The joy of a few moments ago had given way to serious concern and that irritated her as much as it impressed her.

‘Just kiss me, Love. If I need to switch then we’ll switch,’ she said. ‘But I want to feel you, the weight of you on me. I’ve missed having your body protecting mine.’

Glad that he trusted her, Bri sighed when he bent his arms to bring his lips to hers again. The urgency that had been missing last night began to build as soon as their kiss took hold. Thoughts of therapy and family faded away. The need of her body took over, so lifting his tee-shirt she made him remove it, breaking their kiss for only a moment.

Her hands moved over the hot flesh he had revealed, and she imagined kissing every part of him, touching his chest she thought about how the unyielding muscles would taste and how he would react to her tormenting him with her mouth.

His hand skimmed down her hip to her leg, curling his fingers beneath her thigh he elevated the limb to pull it around his hip, and pushing his groin down into the soft heat of her body she clenched. There was no fear in feeling the erect length of him nudging and massaging itself at the tingling apex of her thighs.

Want was all that consumed her, and parting her legs further she began to meet each of his caresses with her own. Tempted to encourage progression to the next level, Bri didn’t want to take too much control of this union for fear that Blaser would assume that she was uncomfortable. Showing him that she had trust in him was important.

His mouth advanced south and when he began to kiss her breasts through the fabric of her dress she whimpered and arched up, trying to urge him to remove the fabric from between them. But he didn’t, and her breasts weren’t his destination, they were merely in the way of the path he wanted to travel.

Gathering her skirt, he continued to kiss her body through her dress until he reached her lower abdomen. Pulling her dress up over her hips, he exposed her belly and kissed down her left hip to her pubic bone then back up the diagonal formed by her other hip.

‘Blase,’ she whined.

He caught the elastic of her underwear in his teeth and dragged it down as far as he could. He kissed his way across to the other hip and pulled down the other side, spending time kissing the sensitised skin he’d just exposed. The tingling groove where her leg met her body was on blazing alert, he knew just how to torture her; the trigger spot was just the same as he’d learned when they were young. Letting his lips just meet her body and no more, he blew out a light breath that made her spine bend, trying to urge herself nearer to those tormenting lips.

Provoking another whimper, Blaser buried his head against her, then lifted to pull off her panties. She’d thought he would look at her, maybe smile to offer reassurance, but he was too fixated on the glistening pink flesh he’d just exposed with the removal of her underwear that he tossed away.

Coming down on her again, he lifted her legs over his shoulders and licked the length of her slit then sucked on her clit and flickered the tip with his tongue. If he kept pampering her like he was with that salacious tongue of his, then they wouldn’t need an hour, this would be over in just a few seconds.

Curling his arms around her thighs to hold them over his shoulders, he planted his hands on her hips to keep them still enough for him to feast. And feast was exactly what he did, nibbling her creases, he licked her clit, increasing the pace of his tongue until she was panting out. Her dress was loose enough to allow her to move it up out of the way to fondle her own breasts as he sucked her into him again.

Yelping at the strength of his mouth the spike of pleasure made her body try to leap away, but he was too strong and she was held there to let him deliver the last of the climax that clenched in her chest and stuck in her throat.

It was so powerful that her eyes began to water and her hips bucked despite the steadying pressure of his hands. He let her pelvis rise and fall and he stimulated her each time she came into contact with his mouth. All she could do was hold her breath and ride the endorphins pumping through her body.

Once the wave crested, she flopped down, spent and exhausted though she’d done nothing to cause such lethargy. Blaser’s arms fell away and she reached out for him, forcing herself to sit up and grab his wrist.

‘Come here,’ she said, yanking his body down on hers. ‘I’m spent.’ She wasn’t sure how they could ever follow that.

Blaser rolled to his side, holding them together and she began to psyche herself up for the next showing. The pounding on the front door made them both sit up.

‘Who is that?’ she asked. Her heart hadn’t regained its regular pace yet, but it ratcheted up at the urgency held in that knock.

‘No idea,’ Blaser said.

She watched him get up and leave the room, smiling when she realised that he was actually still wearing his boots. Fumbling to pull down her dress, she didn’t bother seeking out her underwear, just went after Blaser to discover who had interrupted their evening.

Her smile and memory of what they’d just shared fled when she got to the hallway. Blaser lifted his hands like in surrender and backed away from the front door. Her brother, Gary, came in holding a gun out in front of him, aiming it right at Blaser’s heart.

‘Gary!’ she screamed, running toward him, but he didn’t take his eyes away from Blaser.

‘Get in the car,’ Gary shouted at her, walking into the apartment, forcing Blaser to walk backwards. The door stayed open, but she had no intention of using it.

‘No!’ she replied and ran over to try and get in front of Blaser, but he caught her and kept an arm in front of her, holding her back with strength she couldn’t fight against. ‘Gary! Stop it! What are you doing?’

‘Saving you from this prick. Didn’t you hear me the first time, Warner?’ Gary demanded of Blaser. ‘I told you to keep away from my sister, didn’t I?’

‘I came to him,’ Bri said, beseeching her brother. ‘Put the gun down, Gar! I love him, I want to be with him!’

‘Get your ass in the car, Bri!’

‘No!’

‘You get your ass out there now or I’m going to aim lower this time!’

Gary wouldn’t listen to reason because he’d come here with one thing on his mind. And just like Blaser used to be, Gary thought that he knew better than everyone else. Her brother was a control freak, she’d always thought that his arrogance came from a place of love; that he wanted to take care of her because their parents hadn’t. But now she wasn’t so sure that it was about her at all.

Anger burned in Gary’s eyes and although she couldn’t see Blaser’s expression, Bri knew he didn’t return that anger. Any anger that Blaser had towards Gary was for what he had done to her and those he cared about.

She didn’t know how Gary had got here, or why he wasn’t in jail anymore, but his actions now proved that he had no fear of going back.

‘I should’ve got rid of you when I had the chance,’ Gary said. ‘Get in the car, Bri! You don’t need to see this.’

Gary was going to pull the trigger and it didn’t matter a damn what she did about it. Talking him down wasn’t going to be a possibility, her brother had never listened to her. Bri’s gaze darted around the room as she tried to come up with options, except none presented themselves. Blaser and Gary carried on their stare out.

Shoving away Blaser’s arm, she backed off and ran for the door. Blaser might think that she was following Gary’s orders and leaving him to his fate, but she wasn’t. Running up the stairs, she began to batter on Ivy’s door, not giving a damn if she brought out all of the neighbours in the process.

Ivy opened the door and Bri grabbed hold of her. ‘Where’s Dax?’

‘Inside,’ Ivy said. Bri appreciated Ivy gripping her arms because she needed the extra support.

‘He’s got a gun, he’s going to kill him!’

‘What? Who?’ Ivy asked. ‘Where are you—‘

‘Downstairs! Please! Where’s Dax?’

Ivy was shoved aside and in that move Bri was taken with her, Dax muscled them both out of the way and was immediately on his way down the stairs.

‘It’s ok,’ Ivy said, pulling Bri forward into a hug.

Bri sobbed and clung to her newest friend, overwhelmed by the shock and adrenaline of what she’d just witnessed: her love held at gunpoint by her only family. The blast of a gunshot startled them both and together, hand in hand, they ran down the stairs to find out who had been on the receiving end of that projectile.

Praying it wasn’t Blaser, she felt the tightening grip of Ivy’s hand and knew she may have just caused the demise of Ivy’s love too. Bri would never forgive herself if an innocent man was hurt because of her actions.

The door wasn’t closed, but it swung on its hinges, so the women shoved it aside to take in the scene. There was no blood. Dax was on the floor, holding Gary down by the throat and Blaser was on his feet, a few feet from where she’d left him.

The singular focus on Dax’s expression was fixated on the man he held on the floor with little effort. Pressure of knuckle and thumb was all he needed to subdue the man who had arrived with the gun. Searching the space, Bri saw the gun now under the kitchen table, obviously having skittered away from her brother. A hole in an upper kitchen cabinet door revealed where the shot had gone.

Blaser was at her side, he stroked down her hair and pulled her into his arms. Talking to Gary would fall to her, but when she peeked out of Blaser’s embrace she saw that Dax still had him pinned, and Gary wasn’t fighting as hard anymore.

‘Let him up,’ she called, shoving out of Blaser’s clinch. ‘Please, don’t hurt him!’

‘Don’t hurt him?’ Ivy said. ‘Who is he?’

‘He’s my brother,’ Bri said.

Dax either wasn’t listening or didn’t care because he held on until Ivy went over and crouched beside him to grasp his elbow and dip to break his eye line. She whispered something and Dax released his hold.

Gary coughed and rolled to the side. Dax stood up and took Ivy under his arm. ‘Thanks,’ Blaser said to Dax, who didn’t react to the gratitude.

‘Someone might want to grab the gun before he does,’ Dax said, saying nothing more and taking Ivy out of the apartment.

Blaser did as Dax suggested and retrieved the gun then emptied out all of the bullets. While he took it out of the room, she crouched beside Gary.

‘What were you thinking coming in here like that?’ she demanded. ‘Don’t you ever threaten Blaser again!’

Gary fell onto his back, blinking tears from his bloodshot eyes. ‘Who the fuck was that guy?’ he wheezed.

‘He is Blaser’s new best friend,’ Bri said. ‘Bear that in mind the next time you come over to ruin our evening.’ Standing up, she kicked her foot into his ribs. ‘Why are you out of jail?’

‘New lawyer,’ Gary coughed and managed to sit up, rubbing his throat. ‘Cut me a deal.’

Blaser came from the hallway and she jumped over her brother to run into his arms. ‘Love, I’m sorry, are you ok?’

‘Dax took care of business,’ Blaser said, embracing her. ‘Dude just came in and dropped to the ground. He assessed the situation in a second, did this sweeping move and took Gary’s legs out, boom, he was on the ground. The gun went off and by the time I realised I wasn’t shot, Dax had Gary by the throat.’

‘I was so scared,’ Bri said. Burying her face in his still bare chest, she closed her eyes and tightened her embrace. ‘If he had hurt you… if you’d… what would I have done without you, Love?’

‘This isn’t gonna happen.’

Gary’s snarl made her turn around, but she remained in Blaser’s arms, using her body as a shield between the men. ‘This, what?’ Blaser asked.

‘You two. I fucking told you, Warner!’

‘He has looked after me,’ Bri said. ‘While you were going around waving guns and shooting people, Blaser got his life together. He took care of Rafe, and now we’re going to be together.’