Tattoo (Take It Off #7)(38)
Author: Cambria Hebert

Newman waved and drove away.

I felt Taylor’s stare and turned, our eyes connecting from several yards away. A possessive feeling unfolded inside me and an urgent need clawed its way to the surface. Usually, I claimed a woman with nothing but my body—with nothing but my dick. But this was wholly different. I hadn’t even had her in that way yet, but she was already mine.

And as soon as this mess was cleaned up here, I was going to have her completely.

18

Taylor

It was not quite dinnertime when Brody finally pulled his truck into the driveway of my dad’s house. After everything that happened, the hour felt like it should be much later.

Thankfully, neither one of us needed to make another trip to the hospital. My stitches were looked at, the area around them was cleaned, dried, and then a new bandage was applied. They even gave me a new sling, which I refused to put on until I got out of these annoyingly wet and grimy clothes.

Brody required a couple new stitches, which he insisted they do right there instead of him going to the hospital. Since his shirt was also drenched with water, he opted not to wear it home (and just ruin the new dressing over his stitches), so I had been constantly trying (and failing) not to stare at his hard body and chiseled muscles.

I found myself daydreaming the entire ride home about using my tongue to trace along the tattooed path of the vine that wound its way down his arm.

My father wasn’t home yet and I didn’t expect him until very late. Since the robbery, he and all the executives had been working practically around the clock, putting out fires and dealing with angry members. Thankfully, word hadn’t gotten out about what happened today, so I opted not to tell him just yet, but to wait until things calmed down. There was really no use in worrying him anyway. He already had enough to worry about.

And truthfully…

I knew if I told him, he would come home. I didn’t want him to come home. I wanted to be alone with Brody.

The stark possessiveness and want in his eyes made my toes curl against the floorboard of the truck and my teeth chew the inside of my lip with mouth-watering anticipation. My God, the thought of his rippling muscles and sleek tattoos sliding over my pale and boring body was enough to stop the heart in my chest.

The inside of the house was quiet and felt cold. It wasn’t that the AC was turned especially low; it was more because I was still slightly chilled from our impromptu dunk in the lake. Goose bumps raced over my skin as we stepped into the house and locked up the door behind us.

“I need to get out of these clothes,” I said, my eyes straying down to the black duffle bag in Brody’s hand.

I looked away and pressed a hand between my breasts, trying to rub away the ache that formed there. When I suggested we stop at his place to get him a change of clothes, he told me he didn’t have a place of his own.

Since closing the case he had been working on for years, he was literally living out of a suitcase. The thought of him spending so much time alone in hotel room after hotel room and keeping all his possessions in the bed of his truck hurt me. I knew the reasons he pushed away his family, but now that the case was over, why didn’t he go see them? Surely his mother would open up her home to him.

Of course, judging from the way he expected me to act after I watched him force Snake’s location out of that man, he seemed to think he didn’t deserve to be welcomed by his family.

“Come on,” I said, leading the way up the staircase and down to the end of the hall where I pushed open a white door and stepped into my room. It was spacious, with a queen-sized bed taking up the center of the room. The headboard was tufted cream fabric that reached nearly to the ceiling, and all the bedding was monochromatic in shades of white. At the foot of the bed there was a long, velvet-covered bench in an apple-green color. The floors were carpeted with a light neutral shade, and I kicked off my one remaining shoe and let my toes sink into the plush softness. The far wall had three large windows side by side, with white wooden blinds, which were still closed, and cream-colored drapes with large apple-green polka dots covering the fabric. I thought it added a touch of whimsy into an otherwise elegant and calming room.

Aside from the bed, there was a tall console table that held a few picture frames and a vase of white flowers. Above it hung a flat-screen TV. Off to the left was the entrance for the attached bath, which was also done up in very light neutral shades.

“Nice,” Brody said, closing the door behind him and setting his duffle on the bench at the end of the bed.

“It’s bigger than my room at my apartment.” I smiled. I laid the sling on the end of the bed so I could put it on later, once I was dry.

“You can change out here. My clothes are in the closet just off the bathroom.”

He fastened his gaze on me and prowled across the room, abandoning his bag, intent on his prey.

His prey = me.

“You need some help?” he asked, stopping in front of me and fingering the buttons holding my shirt together.

I nodded, unable to actually form a word.

Slowly, his large hands undid each small button, one by one. With every one he freed, my shirt opened just a little bit more. When he got to the buttons at my waist, he allowed his knuckles to brush against my abdominals, and I sucked in a breath.

Once all the buttons were free, he took both his hands and slid them into the neck of the button-up, slipping easily right beneath the collar. He drew his hands over my shoulders and down to the center of my back, gently pulling away the shirt, gradually exposing more and more of my skin.

My injured arm wasn’t in the sleeve of my shirt. I hadn’t bothered to fit it back in after changing my bandages. So that side completely fell away, and the shirt was left to dangle behind me, just beneath my shoulder. Brody dragged his hands down the back of my arms (avoiding my injury) and tossed the shirt onto the floor.

My nipples were so tight beneath my bra they actually hurt, and even though I was wearing a semi-padded undergarment, my nipples showed through like the sun on a cloudless day.

Brody bent his head, his lips fastened on the top of my shoulder, and he trailed moist kisses from the inside of my neck all the way out and down the top of my arm. I swayed slightly because his touch was so incredible.

“Your skin is cold,” he murmured, his lips brushing against my flesh when he spoke.

I didn’t feel cold. I felt the farthest thing from it. Not being able to take another second of not touching him, I wrapped my hand around his bicep and marveled at the hardness of his body compared to mine. It was like he was carved out of stone and I was filled up inside with cotton.