Into the Lair

Chapter Twenty-Five

Braden looked up in surprise from the darkness of the small kitchen when Ian charged out of the bedroom. He fumbled with the light switch, and Braden shoved his hand up to shield the sudden flood of light.

“Sorry,” Ian mumbled as he poked around the cabinets with no clear direction.

“Something wrong?” Braden asked calmly.

Ian stopped and grimaced as he swung his head back and forth, surveying the countertops. “I hurt her, man. I was too fucking rough. You seen the pain shit that Marcus left?”

Braden almost laughed. He would have if Ian wasn’t so intense. Ian wouldn’t take his irreverence in this moment. He’d probably try to take his head off.

“She wanted it, Ian. Wanted it pretty damn bad, I’d say.”

“There’s no excuse,” Ian said.

“Dude, I was there, remember? She didn’t exactly give you a choice. As long as she didn’t bust any of her stitches, she’ll be fine.”

He reached over and snagged the package that was right in front of Ian’s nose. He held it out, and Ian made a sound of disgust. Then he stared up at Braden.

“You go in and make sure she’s all right. I need to…get cleaned up.”

Braden rolled his eyes. Big, bad Ian was scared of a woman. Katie had knocked him for a loop, and his nuts were so twisted that he didn’t know his head from his ass. It was pretty damn funny.

“So you get to have great sex, and I get stuck with the cuddling afterward? Hardly sounds fair to me.”

Ian yanked his head around, ready to jump down Braden’s throat until he saw Braden’s grin. Braden held up his hands. “Chill, man. You’re way too uptight for someone who just had bone-melting sex.”

Ian leaned heavily against the counter and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, well, you sound like a jealous bitch.”

Braden laughed. “Maybe I won’t be jealous for long.” He grabbed a bottle of water and sauntered past Ian.

Ian caught his arm. “Don’t mess with her now, Braden. She’s hurting pretty bad.”

Irritation seized Braden, and he looked pointedly down at Ian’s hand. Ian let it fall away. “I didn’t tell you how to handle your dick when you were with Katie. I don’t need you telling me what to do with mine, okay?”

Ian muttered under his breath and turned away. Braden headed toward the bedroom. He paused at the door and looked in to see Katie curled in the covers, her hand clutching her side.

Shaking his head, he strode toward the bed. When she heard him, she looked up and then did a double-take. No doubt she was expecting Ian.

He stopped at the edge and then sat down at her hip. As he shook out her medicine, she looked at him in amusement.

“Ian afraid I’m going to insist on a preacher and a ring?”

Braden grinned and choked back his laughter. Yeah, he liked this woman. A lot.

“He’s more worried about the fact that he hurt you. Here, open up,” he said as he shoved a pill at her lips.

She opened her mouth and then took the bottle of water he handed her. As she tilted her head back and swallowed, her gaze settled on his face.

He took the bottle back when she was done, and she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“You enjoy the show?” she asked bluntly.

Willing himself not to flinch or act like her question caught him off guard, he calmly regarded her. “I’d have enjoyed it a hell of a lot more if I was participating instead of watching.”

Let her make what she wanted of that statement. At least he’d get a good read on whether she’d ever be down with both him and Ian at the same time.

She didn’t so much as blink. “So why didn’t you?”

“Join in?” he asked, surprised by her seeming acceptance.

She nodded.

“I don’t think Ian would have appreciated it,” Braden said with a small smile.

“And yet you kissed me before he ever touched me. Some might say you had more to be unappreciative about.”

“Are you saying you wanted me to join?”

“Maybe.”

“There’s no maybe about it, sweetheart,” he drawled. “Either you wanted me there or you didn’t. An extra person doesn’t just show up for sex without some preplanning.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she said thoughtfully. “Some of the best sex is rather spontaneous, wouldn’t you say?”

As soon as she’d delivered that cryptic remark, she closed her eyes, her face creased with pain.

“Damn,” he murmured. “Ian was right. You totally overdid it.”

“If you knew how long it had been since I had sex, you wouldn’t have begrudged me,” she muttered.

He laughed and touched her face in a tender gesture. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she stared back at him with wide blue eyes.

“Want me to stick around and do the post-sex cuddling thing since Ian bailed?”

Amusement glittered deeply in her eyes. The corner of her mouth quirked up in a grin. And then her expression grew serious.

“Hey, what’s that for?” he asked.

As he waited for her answer, he stood and pulled his shirt over his head. She watched while he kicked off his boots and then began undoing his pants. When he was down to his underwear, he crawled back onto the bed and eased close to her body.

With a contented sigh, she spooned back against him, nestling her pert little ass to his aching groin. Hell, he should have jerked off before attempting this shit.

Still, she felt good against him, all limp and contented, even if he wasn’t the reason she was all limp and contented. He slid his hand down the curve of her body and settled it on her hip.

“So what was the look for?” he asked when she still hadn’t responded.

He felt her grimace. “Just an observation,” she murmured. “A nice one. I was going to say that it was cool that you and Ian were so relaxed about women. And sex. Paulo and Ricardo were psychotic. Both were jealous. Insanely so. It was what destroyed them. And nearly me,” she added softly.

Braden’s arm tightened around her, though he was careful to stay away from her wound. Her fingers found his and trembled as they cautiously slid over his palm. He twined his with hers and rested them comfortably over her middle.

“Ricardo was an egotistical ass,” Braden said darkly. “And Paulo sounded like an immature pussy.”

She shook against him then groaned when her laughter caused her pain. “Yeah, but he was good in the sack.”

Braden growled close to her ear. “I’ll show you good in the sack, woman.”

“Promises, promises,” she whispered as he grazed her ear with his teeth.

His entire groin tightened. Nice, sensitive Braden was saying: She’s exhausted, in pain and in no shape to be rode long and hard again. The Braden with blue balls was shouting: Flip her ass over and fuck her senseless.

“What I can promise is that when I make love to you, you won’t be thinking about how good Paulo de la Cruz was in bed.”

“Mmmm, I’d like to take you up on that challenge.”

“It wasn’t a challenge, sister. It was a promise.”

“Braden?”

He frowned at the thready sound of her voice. “Yeah.”

“Can we go to sleep now?”

She sounded faint, like she was already ninety percent there.

He nuzzled against her neck, his lips finding the softness against her hairline. She sighed in contentment and scooted back further against him until you couldn’t fit a hair between them.

“Yeah, baby. Go to sleep.”

“You won’t go anywhere, will you?” she asked sleepily.

He kissed her behind the ear, inhaling her sweet scent. “I’ll be right here, Katie. I’m not going anywhere.”