Chapter 2
Chapter Two
CARLY
I might have physically gotten away from Brandon, but I couldn’t seem to get him out of my head. He’d been seared into my brain from the moment his lips crashed down on mine. Or more likely, from when I saw him for the first time. Brandon DeLuca was a man most women would find impossible to forget. At six-foot-three with an athletic, muscular frame, he made me feel downright tiny next to him. His dark, tousled hair made my fingers twitch with the need to touch. The thick, long lashes, surrounding brown eyes so dark they almost looked black, evoked a ridiculous amount of envy.
I’d mentally undressed every inch of his swarthy skin more times than I could count. But I hadn’t taken it any further. It was the worst possible timing for me to be attracted to anyone, let alone a DeLuca. Even though I’d caught a hint of attraction in his eyes, he hadn’t acted on it either. Not until the night my already precarious position was blown to smithereens, and I’d had to run.
I tried pushing him out of my mind, but he haunted my dreams every single night. There was no escape from him, probably because part of me wanted him near instead of hundreds of miles away. A very particular part of me, if the pulsing sensation in my pussy was any indication.
“Brandon,” I moaned.
My hand slid across the rumpled sheets and slipped into my pink panties to ease the need my dream had caused, yet again. Only this time, I didn’t even make it to my clit before fingers wrapped tightly around my wrist and stopped my progress. The tiny bite of pain made my eyes pop open, and I found myself staring straight into the chocolate brown orbs I’d just been dreaming about.
“Fuck!” I gasped, pushing up with my free hand until I was on my knees.
“Sounds like an excellent suggestion to me,” Brandon drawled.
To me, too, but I wasn’t about to admit to it. “How in the hell did you get in here?” I asked, yanking on my hand in an attempt to get him to release it.
He didn’t let go, his hold tightening until I stopped. My chest heaved, drawing his attention to my tits. My nipples beaded under his gaze, poking against the thin shirt I’d worn to bed. Brandon froze, staring with such intensity. I gripped the sheet in my free hand and pulled it up to my chest.
“Your hands are going to get you into all sorts of trouble tonight, kitten.”
“Kitten?” I sputtered in indignation, even though hearing Brandon call me a cute nickname made my heart melt a little. “Trouble?”
“You hiss and claw at me like an angry kitten would,” he explained, his hand coming up to cup my cheek. “And I caught your hand touching what I consider to be mine, only to be followed up by you using the other one to cover up more of what’s mine.”
“If I want to touch myself,” I purred, dropping the sheet to trail my hand down my body. “I damn well will.”
“The fuck you will,” he roared.
The crazy bastard grabbed my wrist and yanked it above my head as he shoved me onto my back. He lifted my other arm, crossing them together to hold them down with one hand. I tried to buck him off me, but his heavy body pinned me to the bed.
“Brandon,” I growled.
“That’s right. Brandon,” he bit out. “I’m the one you come to if you want an orgasm.”
“What?” I shook my head, certain I wasn’t hearing him right. “Why in the world would I do that? The last time I saw you, you accused me of double-crossing the DeLucas.”
“Yeah, I acted like an asshat,” he admitted. “But I figure I’ve already paid for my mistake since you shot me.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “I did you a favor, shooting you the way I did. My brother had you in his sights, and if I hadn’t acted, he would have aimed for your head. It’s what our father taught us to do. At least I went for your leg.”
“It’s a lucky thing for both of us you didn’t hit anything vital.” He ground his hips into mine, and I felt the heat of his hard length as it slid against my panties. “Then again, I’d just have to figure out other ways to keep you satisfied if you had.”
He lifted my shirt up, and his mouth took possession of one of my puckered nipples. My hips bucked upwards, and his hand slid down to hold me in place while he licked and sucked at my tits. Each tug of his lips sent a shock of feeling straight to my core, making me writhe in need underneath him. He whipped my shirt over my head, giving him better access.
“Brandon,” I moaned, trying to squeeze my thighs together to gain enough friction to set me off.
He didn’t move from between my legs, so I couldn’t find the pressure I needed. But he seemed to know what I was looking for because his hand moved down my belly to cup my pussy. I squirmed, widening my legs and his hand dipped inside my panties. His fingers glided between my wet folds, and I arched up. When he slipped a finger into my pussy, I almost wept with need. I was already on the edge of an orgasm, and it exploded when his thumb swept over my clit.
“Brandon!” I screamed, convulsing around his finger as he continued to nip and suck at my nipples.
“That’s right, kitten. It’s my name you’ll call each and every time you come from now on,” he growled against my skin, licking his way down my belly while he tore my panties from my body.
He yanked my knees over his shoulders and his tongue was on my pussy before I’d had the chance to come down from my orgasm. The flick of his tongue against my clit triggered another, making me scream his name again.
“One more,” he ordered, pinching my clit between his thumb and forefinger as he thrust his tongue into my pussy.
I gave him exactly what he wanted, screaming as I came again. By the time my heart stopped racing and I could see straight, Brandon was right above me. “I can’t wait to feel this tight, little pussy wrapped around my cock.”
I felt him nudge my opening and blurted out a warning. “I’m a virgin.”
He froze, his eyes widening in surprise. “Fuck!” he hissed.
He dropped his head against mine, and I tried to prepare myself for his anger and disappointment. I felt his chest expand as he took a deep breath, and my vision blurred. Great, now I was mortified and crying. What a fucking perfect combination. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to stem the flow and block out whatever was about to happen.
“Oh, kitten.” The whisper-soft sound of adoration in Brandon’s tone had my eyes popping open. If anything, his eyes were even more heated at my admission.
“You’re not angry?”
“Hell, no! I’m thrilled as fuck to know I’m going to be the first and only man to have you.”
I wasn’t sure what to think of the possessive gleam in his eyes or the way he used the word ‘only.’ Considering how he’d acted around me since we met and what he’d accused me of, it was enough to give a girl whiplash. “I know it’s weird, me still being a virgin. But if you knew the way I grew up, you’d understand.”
He twisted, rolling onto his back and pulling me onto his chest. His dick was rock hard and digging into my stomach, but he acted like it wasn’t bothering him. “Then tell me so I’ll understand. And while you’re at it, explain why an O’Reilly was willing to help the DeLucas.”
“It’s a long story,” I sighed.
“We’ve got all night.”
I must have been delirious from the orgasms because I found myself closing my eyes and resting my head against his chest while I told him things I’d only admitted to one other person, and that was out of sheer desperation. “My da isn’t a good man. Back when my ma was alive and I was a little girl, I thought he hung the moon. Then she died, and I realized he was only pretending for her sake. For what it’s worth, he loved her. He really did.”
I rubbed my cheek against his hot skin, thinking about how I’d dreamt of finding a man who looked at me the way my da had looked at my ma. “Once she was gone, it was as though something broke inside of him. The darkness he’d tried to overcome for her consumed him. He didn’t care about anyone—not even his kids. The only thing that mattered to him was money and power. And if we interfered with his goals in any way, we paid dearly.”
I gulped, thinking of hours spent locked in a dark closet as punishment for one infraction or another. I still had an aversion to small spaces. I didn’t think I’d ever overcome it. “As I grew older, I realized he was willing to do almost anything to get what he wanted. Drugs, guns, human trafficking. It was all the same to him. A means to an end. And then I learned that’s all I was to him, too.”
“What’d he do to you?” Brandon growled.
“It turned out he hadn’t guarded my virtue all those years to protect me. He just wanted a virgin daughter to barter off for even more power.”
“Motherfucker,” he hissed. “That’s why you came to Nic?”
“Yeah, a fat lot of good it did for me, since my own father wants me dead for being a traitor to the family.”
“It did a lot of good, Carly.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“It brought you to me.” His arms tightened around me. “I swear to fuck I’ll keep you safe from him.”
“I don’t want to go back, Brandon. I’m so tired of it all.” Really, I was just plain old tired, as my wide yawn proved.
“Then sleep, kitten. We’ll worry about it in the morning.”
I’d shot him in the leg, made him chase me across several states, left him with a case of blue balls after he gave me the most amazing orgasms ever... and he responded by holding me in his arms while I slept soundly for the first time in my entire life, secure in his embrace.