For the Sake of Their Son (The Alpha Brotherhood #5)(29)
Author: Catherine Mann

Her stomach lurched at the memory. “We were lucky we didn’t get T-boned in traffic. You had fast instincts, even then.”

His arms twitched around her, holding her too tightly. “I found out that my father had taken out a life insurance policy on me.”

She gasped, rising up on her elbows to look him in the eyes. His expression was completely devoid of emotion, but she could see the horror that must be on her face reflected in his eyes.

“Elliot, do you really believe your father tried to kill you?”

“I’m sure of it,” he said with certainty, pushing up to sit, the covers rustling and twisting around their legs.

“You had to have been so scared.”

Why hadn’t he told her? Although the second she finished that thought, she already knew the answer. He didn’t want to put her at risk. Debating the fact now, insisting he should have told the police, seemed moot after so long. Better to just listen and figure out why he was telling her this now.

“I didn’t have the money to strike out on my own. I knew the odds of teens on the street.” His head fell back against the carved headboard. “I figured the kids in juvie couldn’t be as bad as my old man.”

“Except you were sent to military reform school instead.”

Thank heavens, too, since his life had been turned around because of his time in that school, thanks to his friends and the headmaster. The system did work for the best sometimes. Someone somewhere had seen the good deep inside of Elliot.

“I finally caught a lucky break.” He cupped the back of her head, his fingers massaging her scalp. “I’m just so damn sorry I had to leave you behind. I see now I should have figured out another way.”

“It all worked out—”

“Did it?” he asked, his eyes haunted. “Your mom’s boyfriends… We’ve talked about so much over the years but we’ve never discussed that time when I was away.”

Slowly, she realized what he was asking, and the thought that he’d worried about her, about that, for all these years… Her heart broke for him and the worries he’d had. She wondered if that’s why he’d been so protective, giving her a job, keeping her with him—out of guilt?

“Elliot, the guys my mom saw were jerks, yes, and a few of them even tried to cop a feel, but none of them were violent. Some may have been perverts but they weren’t ra**sts. So I was able to take care of myself by avoiding them. I escaped to Aunt Carla’s until things settled down or until Mom and her latest guy broke up.”

“You shouldn’t have had to handle it yourself, to hide from your own home.” Anger and guilt weighted his words and tightened his jaw until the tendons flexed along his neck. “Your mother should have been there for you. I should have been there.”

She didn’t want him to feel guilty or to feel sorry for her. Angling up, she cupped his face in her hands. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to be my protector.”

“I don’t know what else I can be for you.” His voice was ragged with emotion, his eyes haunted.

They could have been teenagers again, the two of them clinging to each other because there was so little else for them. So much pain. So much betrayal by parents who should have valued them and kept them safe. Her shared past with Elliot wrapped around her so tightly she felt bound to him in a way she couldn’t find words to explain but felt compelled to express, even if only physically.

Soaking in the feel of bare flesh meeting flesh, Lucy Ann kissed Elliot, fully, deeply. She savored the taste of flan and strawberries and him. A far more intoxicating combination than any alcohol.

And he was all hers, for tonight.

Nine

Their tongues met and tangled as Lucy Ann angled her mouth over Elliot’s. They fit so seamlessly together as she tried to give him some sort of comfort, even if only in the form of distraction. Sex didn’t solve problems, but it sure made the delaying a hell of a lot more pleasurable. Her mind filled with the sensation of him, the scents of them together.

His hands banded around her waist, and he urged her over him. She swung her leg over his lap, straddling him. His arousal pressed between her legs, nudging against the tight bundle of nerves at her core.

She writhed against him, her body on fire for him. “I need… I want…”

“Tell me, Lucy Ann,” he said between kisses and nips, tasting along her neck, “tell me what you want.”

She didn’t even know what would settle out their lives or how to untangle the mess they’d made of their world. Not to mention their emotions. “Right now, I just need you inside me.”

“That’s not what I meant.” He held her with those mesmerizing green eyes, familiar eyes that had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember.

“Shh, don’t ruin this.” She pressed two fingers to his lips. She didn’t want to risk their conversation leading down a dangerous path as it had eleven months ago.

Even thinking about their fight chilled her. That argument had led to the most painful time in her life, the time without the best friend she’d ever had. They couldn’t go that route again. They had Eli to consider.

And as for their own feelings?

She shied away from those thoughts, determined to live in the moment. She shifted to reach in the bedside table drawer for another condom. He plucked it from between her fingers and sheathed himself quickly, efficiently, before positioning her over him again. Slowly, carefully—blissfully—she lowered herself onto him, taking the length of him inside her until he touched just…the right…spot.

Yessss.

Her eyelids grew heavy but the way he searched her face compelled her to keep her eyes open, to stare back at him as she rolled her hips to meet his thrusts. Every stroke sent ripples of pleasure tingling through her as they synced up into a perfect rhythm. Her palms flattened against his chest, her fingers digging into the bunched muscles twitching under her touch. A purr of feminine satisfaction whispered free as she reveled in the fact that she made him feel every bit as out of control as he made her feel.

His hands dug into her hips then eased, caressing up her sides then forward to cup her br**sts. She sighed at the gentle rasp of his callused fingers touching her so instinctively, his thumbs gliding over ni**les until she feared she would come apart now. Too soon. She ached for this to last, to hang on to the blissful forgetfulness they could find in each other’s arms. She flowed forward to cover him, moving slower, holding back.