Chapter 17 #2
There was still no rush, despite the heat building in a slow, fiery simmer.
Brynn bit his bottom lip, then stroked his chest. She moved lower and licked his nipple.
Fuck . He arched up. Such a simple caress, but he felt it deep. It was the emotion behind it, not the touch itself.
She shifted her hips and cupped his cock. She gave him a few lazy strokes, then she moved her hips, and slid him deep inside her.
“ Vander ,” she murmured.
She rose and fell, taking him deep, joining them.
He watched in the silvery light that made her seem like a dream. She reached out and grabbed his hands, their fingers entwining.
Her hips moved faster.
“Do you feel it?” she panted.
“Yes.” He bucked his hips up. “You’re mine, Brynn. Always.”
“Yes. Yes .”
He surged up and kissed her. She worked her hips faster, and a second later, the tension burst.
She cried out as her climax hit. Vander groaned and reared up. He shoved her onto her back and plunged inside her. He poured himself inside her to the sounds of her sweet cries.
Afterward, he collapsed against her.
He settled back on the bed, keeping her close. He pulled the sheet over them, and realized that she was already asleep, her hand resting over his heart.
Dammit, he hadn’t gotten the chance to feed her. He stroked her hair. Later .
Vander looked at the shadowed ceiling and felt…calm.
So much of his life was noise, energy, action. He wasn’t often still, and things were never really quiet.
But right here, with Brynn in his arms, her breath on his chest, everything was still and quiet.
“I’ll protect you,” he murmured against her hair. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, make you smile, give you what you need.”
In her sleep, she nuzzled into him. Vander tightened his hold on her, then drifted off to sleep.
* * *
When Vander woke, the sun was shining through the skylight.
They’d slept later than usual, thanks to the late night.
Brynn was mostly on top of him. He shifted out from under her and she snuggled into the pillow.
He smiled. After their slow, magical loving, he’d woken her later in the night again for hard and fast. He was pretty sure he had some scratches on his back.
He rose, then just sat there, watching as she slept.
Finally, he dragged his gaze away. Her sparkly dress and shoes were on the floor. Her little sparkly bag was on the dresser and he noted her SIG spilling out of it.
He pulled on a pair of black trousers that he wore around home when he was alone, and didn’t bother with a shirt. He got his gun cleaning kit, and then cleaned her weapon as he watched her sleep. Finally, he locked it in the gun safe.
She still hadn’t moved, and he decided to make some coffee.
The coffee machine was humming when he heard the front door to his place open. Since everyone he knew was well aware that they’d had a late night, he knew instantly who it was. He spun and saw his parents walk in.
His former firefighter father was still tall and strong, despite his gray hair. His mother was shorter, curvy, and kept her curls colored dark.
His mother’s gaze locked on him, and she made a beeline for him.
“A few messages saying you’re okay, Vander Niccolo, is not enough.”
“She needed to see with her own eyes,” his dad added.
“Rome won’t let us go anywhere without him.” Clara Norcross threw her hands in the air. “I love that boy, but he wouldn’t tell me anything. It took a lot of arguing to get him to bring us here.”
Rome was well over six feet tall and packed with muscle. Vander wondered if anyone else called Rome a boy. Doubtful. “He’s there to protect you.”
“Because you’re in danger.” Her voice wavered.
“I’m all in one piece, Ma.”
His mom threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. Vander hugged her back.
“You should put a shirt on. You’ll catch a chill.”
Vander grinned. His ma never changed. Never stopped fussing over her kids, no matter how old they were.
She looked up at him and cocked her head. “You look…different? More relaxed than usual.”
She stared at him like a scientist with a specimen under the microscope.
“Even as a toddler you were never relaxed. Always watching and planning.”
“I’m fine.”
She touched his back, then frowned. “You’re scratched up. You said you were okay.”
Shit . He cleared his throat. “It’s nothing.”
Vander watched his dad’s eyebrows wing upward, followed by a smile. Clearly, his dad had clued in.
“You want coffee?” Vander tried distraction.
His mother straightened. “Yes, I’ll—”
“Norcross.” Brynn’s voice. She breezed out of the bedroom wrapped in a sheet. “Where’s my SIG? It was on the dresser.”
Ah, hell. Here we go.
“I cleaned it,” he said. “While you were sleeping. It’s in my gun safe.”
She froze, her gaze on his speechless parents. Color filled her cheeks, but she rallied quickly.
She hitched the sheet up and painted on a smile. “You must be Vander’s parents. I can see the resemblance.” She came forward like she was wearing a ballgown, not a sheet. “I’m Brynn. Detective Brynn Sullivan.”
His father’s face changed. “You’re a cop?”
Brynn nodded and shook his hand. “I’ve heard all about you, Mr. Norcross. My brother is with the fire department.”
“Firefighter?”
She nodded. “He broke the family tradition of joining the police. We regularly give him hell about it.”
Then Vander’s mother took Brynn’s hand and didn’t let go.
“Brynn,” his mother breathed. “Such a pretty name.”
“Thank you.”
Tears welled in his mother’s eyes, and her gaze moved between them. Vander slid an arm around Brynn and his mother bit her lip.
“Ma, don’t make a scene,” he said.
She straightened, waved a hand, and dragged in a breath.
Vander’s dad pressed a hand to his wife’s back. “Now, now, Clara. Keep it together.”
She shot her husband a look, then smiled at Brynn. “We’ll take you both out for breakfast.”
“That would be great, Ma, but we can’t. I’m helping Brynn with a case. We have to work.” He wouldn’t mention the danger from a gang of bikers.
“Ah.” Disappointment slid onto her face. “Well, when you wrap your case up, you bring Brynn over for dinner. I’ll make my lasagna.”
Brynn smiled. “I love lasagna.”
“We’d better get to work,” Vander said.
“Oh, okay.” His mom hugged him, hard. “Put a shirt on. And clean those scratches.”
Brynn swiveled to look at his back and blushed.
He smiled at her.
Then he heard his mother’s happy sigh.
As his parents walked out, he heard his mother’s quiet sob.
“Hush now, darling,” his dad said.
“They’re cute,” Brynn said before she winced. “Sorry about meeting them in a sheet.”
“You worked the sheet.” He paused. “Sorry about Ma crying. She…”
Brynn’s lips quirked. “I know why she was crying, Norcross. You don’t let women invade your space. You’re crazy about me, and now she knows.”
“I might need to step onto the terrace, since that healthy ego of yours takes up so much space.”
She skimmed her hands up his chest. “You’re totally tangled up in me.”
He gripped her chin. That smile. “Cockiness and gloating are not attractive traits, Detective.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but just then her cell phone rang.
“That’s mine.” She swirled in a cloud of cotton fabric. “Hunt? Okay, hang on.” She put it on speaker, her face serious.
“There’s been a huge Stardust overdose at an apartment building near the University of San Francisco,” Hunt said.
Brynn cursed. “No.”
“Two are dead, and the others are on the way to the hospital.”
“Fuck,” she bit out.
“We caught it early. An anonymous caller called it in. The paramedics got to the victims fast.”
Vander stiffened. “It’s a trap.”
Brynn nodded. “They’re hoping I turn up.”
“Someone probably saw you at the club,” Vander said. “Reported to Nomad.”
She nodded. “This is our chance to find Nomad and end this.”
Vander’s gut hardened. That once-unfamiliar fear was starting to feel horribly familiar. It was like a ball of lead in his gut. “Yes.”
Now, he had to find a way to send her into the lion’s den, but keep her breathing.