Authors: Hayden Braeburn
Tags: #romance, #romantic suspense, #romance series, #the everetts of tyler, #hayden braeburn
“
Like injure yourself when
having sex?”
S
hit. That was an opening
he wished he hadn't made. “We'll be careful.”
“
Are you sure?”
He held back a groan. W
as
he sure? “I wanted to toss you on the floor before we left, pin you
to the wall at your parents house, have you ride me in the truck. I
am not the one who has to be sure, Cassie. It's you.”
“
I.” She closed her mouth,
her eyes tracking the lights in the ceiling, and he prayed the rest
of the sentence was “want you.”
S
he spun away from him,
walking down the hallway toward the bedrooms. He held his breath to
see where she went, and almost let out a whoop when she walked into
his room. “Throw me down and have your way with me,
Dylan.”
T
here was a God and He was
good. “Gladly.”
~
*~
H
e took her invitation to
heart, catching her around the waist and pulling her close to
him.
“Make me forget everything but you,”
she asked. It might sound weak, but she wanted to ignore the world
and drown in him.
H
is lips covered hers, his
tongue invading her mouth, stealing her breath. She was crushed by
the strength of his left arm, teased by the texture of his beard
against her skin, lost in the need to hold on and never let go. She
kissed him harder, pushing that thought from her mind. Forever
wasn't on the table, but right now, oh, right now she was vibrating
with the need to have him inside her. She slid a hand beneath the
waistband of his pants, snaking it into his boxers until her hand
was full of the hot, hard length of him. The memory of how he
filled nearly made her crazy with wanting. “Now.”
H
e pulled away from her,
his eyes blazing. “No,” he said with a shake of his head, “I need
to taste you this time.”
S
he heard herself whimper
and almost laughed. She wasn't normally such a lusty woman, but
Dylan made her crazy. She pulled the strap off her shoulder,
letting the dress fall to the floor. She smiled at his sharp intake
of breath.
“
You've spent the whole
day in that dress with only a tiny thong underneath?” His voice was
thick with lust, and she loved it.
I
nstead of answering him,
she slid the white lace underwear down her legs. Before they had
even hit the floor, she was pushed to the bed, two hundred plus
pounds of Army Ranger on her. “The things you do to me,” he
growled. “I have been hard all fuckin' day, wantin' to do this.” He
shouldered her thighs apart and buried his face in the heart of
her. He worked her with his tongue, teasing her relentlessly for
what seemed like hours until finally sucking her into his mouth.
She heard herself scream as her body convulsed in a powerful
orgasm. “Please,” she choked. “Please love me.”
H
e pulled away from her
for a moment to drop his pants, his long, strong cock standing at
attention. She knew he would need help to dislodge the sling and
get himself out of his shirt, but right now she was so desperate to
have him, she didn't care he was half-dressed. “Please, Dylan, I
can't wait anymore.”
H
e let out a grunt when he
covered her, bracing himself on his good arm and thrusting home. He
had been inside her before, but she was still surprised by the
slight burn as she stretched to take his entire length. Last time
he had given her the reins, but this time he took her with long
strokes, filling her fully before pulling out and filling her
again. He claimed her mouth as well, sharing her taste and smell
with her with every thrust of his tongue. She wrapped her legs more
tightly around his waist as he pounded into her, her nails scraping
over the crisp cotton of his dress shirt, and she felt her body
clench in anticipation of another mind-bending orgasm. He didn't
slow his pace when she shattered around him, finally groaning into
her mouth when he found his own release, his cock pulsing within
her.
~
*~
H
is cell began to ring at
the same time hers started to vibrate and Cassidy groaned. “Go
away,” she said when she answered.
“
Where are you?” J.D.
demanded.
I
n bed after being
thoroughly fucked. “Dylan's.”
“
Oh my God, I was so
worried,” the other prosecutor said in a rush. “I mean, your car
was blown up a little while ago, and now—”
“
And now what, J.D.?” she
cut him off as she propped herself against the carved oak
headboard. She shot a look at Dylan having a similar conversation
on the other side of the bed as she listened to J.D. blow out a
breath into her ear.
“
Judge Simmons is
dead.”
“That's terrible!
What
happened?” Robert Simmons was in his sixties, healthy and
relatively fit. Her mind spun with the implications.
“
He was poisoned,” J.D.
told her. Ignoring her gasp, he went on to explain, “They're
looking into his cases, his wives, anyone who might have reason to
murder him.”
“
He was only a judge for a
few years, but Commonwealth's Attorney for twenty, and a prosecutor
long before that, not to mention the three ex-wives.” The suspect
list would be long, but poison was a personal weapon. “Who's on it?
Monroe and Delmonico?”
“
Got it in one,” he
agreed. “After the threat to you, I was so worried when I couldn't
find you.”
S
he felt her eyebrows
knit, but knew the expression was lost on the phone. “You called me
on my cell.” It wasn't like she was hard to find, she was never
without her phone.
“
This is my twelfth call,
Cass.”
T
welfth? “We couldn't hear
the phone earlier,” she apologized, fully aware the excuse was a
weak one. J.D. wasn't blind nor stupid, and had been at the wedding
with them just a a few short hours ago. She knew her friend had
seen Dylan press her against a wall and kiss her senseless. She
braced herself for the inevitable snark J.D. would throw at
her.
“So, what were you doing to keep you from
answering your phone, I wonder?
Maybe your heroic
roommate?” She could clearly envision J.D. with his lips curved in
a smile, his green eyes sparkling as he teased her.
“Maybe,
” she answered
without elaborating. Turning the conversation away from herself and
Dylan and back to the horrible loss of life, she said, “Keep me
apprised of the investigation, and let me know when the funeral is
scheduled, please. I don't mean to sound cold, or harsh, but this
may not have anything to do with me.”
“
Right. Why would the
murder of a judge be related in any way to a bomb planted in the
car of an Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney?”
“
Dammit, it's been two
weeks since the explosion and nothing has happened. Maybe Dylan was
right and it was just a warning.”
“
A warning that you'll be
next?” J.D. snapped. She heard him take a deep breath, and she knew
he was trying to curb another sarcastic comment. “Just be careful,
Cass.” He paused, a slight chuckle vibrating the phone against her
ear. “Next time you disappear, I won't worry, I'll just assume all
is good in Hotsexlandia.”
“Really, J.D.? Hotsexlandia? You graduated
top of your class from Harvard Law, yet you say things like
that?
His chuckle gave way to a full laugh.
“Harvard Law does not a comedian make.” He took a breath, his tone
somber when he went on to reiterate his earlier caution, “Just be
careful, Cass.”
“
I will,” she promised.
“You don't have to worry about me.”
“
Somehow, I don't believe
you.”
~*~
“
She's here with me,”
Dylan assured Caleb, surprised by the call. “Why did you call me
anyway?”
“
I tried calling her, she
didn't answer.”
H
e knew Caleb was fully
aware Dylan was sleeping with his sister, but chose not to address
their relationship directly. “I won't let anythin' happen to
her.”
“
I know, but that doesn't
make me worry any less,” the doctor said. “She's my sister, and
until we know who did this and put them behind bars, I won't stop
worrying.” He paused. “My brother was nearly killed a month ago
because Priscilla was obsessed with him, and now Cassidy is in
danger.”
He was there a month ago and had the scars
to prove it. “
If anyone knows about the danger
your brother faced, it's me, Caleb,” Dylan reminded him.
“Shit, how could I forget?” He paused, his
steady breathing the only sound for long beats. “I still worry
about her, have for years with what she does.
”
H
e knew the feeling, but
chose to treat it lightly. Forcing a chuckle, he asked, “Who'd've
pegged you a worrywart, Doctor Everett?”
T
he other man laughed
along with him. “You'd never guess, would ya?” He took a deep
breath before speaking again. “Judge Simmons was murdered tonight.
He came into the ER unresponsive and I determined he was poisoned.
Doctor Marquette ordered toxicology, but there's no way this is
accidental.”
“
That explains the panic,”
Dylan said unnecessarily as he chewed on Caleb's news. He'd been
sure Cassidy had been the target all along, and this sealed it for
him. They needed to look at cases she'd tried in Judge Simmons'
court room, those that were on his docket, and anything else that
could lead him to the murderer. A murderer was after his Cassie. He
would die before he let anything happen to her. “She's safe with
me.”
“
I know she is, Dylan. She
cares about you.”
“
She's special,” he said
instead of voicing the thoughts swirling in his head. She cared
about him, but she wouldn't acknowledge their relationship as
anything but casual fucking, no matter that she screamed his name
when she came. He gritted his teeth. He shouldn't be thinking about
making Cassie come when talking to her brother.
“
I saw you at the
wedding,” Caleb went on, his tone knowing.
H
e and Cassie had made
eyes at each other throughout the ceremony, and he'd been anything
but discrete when he'd pinned her to the wall and nearly made love
to her right there. “I can't deny anythin'.”
“
Wouldn't want you to,
anyway. Take care of her, Dylan.”
“
Is this where you remind
me that if I hurt her you can kill me in any number of untraceable
ways?”
“
Yes.”
“
I will protect her with
my life.”
“
I know.”
Chapter Five
B
randon threw himself into
his chair. Judge Simmons was dead, but he'd been murdered in
Aylesford and not Tyler, so he couldn't legitimately investigate
until he tied it to Cassidy Everett's break-in. “Tiffany, what do
we know?” he asked the perky young officer.
S
he bounced on her toes,
her tits struggling to break from the confines of her uniform and
he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning. He was
getting more than a blow job tonight. “The judge was poisoned, but
that's all I know. Doctor Everett wasn't sure what the agent was,
just that it was poison.”
“
Wow, helpful.”
“
He's an ER doctor,
Brandon. Doctor Marquette will figure out what's going
on.”
“
Before or after she fucks
Monroe?” he said under his breath. He respected Adrienne
Marquette's expertise, but her choice in men was greatly lacking.
Jason Monroe was a hothead who rushed to the rescue with no regard
for regulations. He laughed aloud, causing Tiffany to raise her
blonde eyebrows at him. “Nothing,” he assured. “I was just thinking
of something funny.” He was indeed. He himself viewed regulations
and laws as guidelines, yet he was judging Jason Monroe as a
hothead. The irony was not lost on him, but he didn't particularly
care. “So, Miss Morgan, what do we think about the break-in at ACA
Everett's?”
T
he stacked blonde thought
a moment, her brows drawing together.
Don't hurt yourself, there, Tiff.
He
didn't expect her to make it far in the department, but she was a
great fuck. He'd lay bets she ended up knocked up and married—in
that order—before the end of the year. He knew she'd burned her way
through all the uniforms and was now sleeping with both him and his
partner. He shook off the vision of Tiffany taking Steve Archer
with a grimace. Archer was a retired point guard for the Wizards.
He didn't want to think about the gymnastics required for the small
framed Tiffany to satisfy his giant of a partner. Instead, he asked
again, “Thoughts?”
S
he pursed her full lips,
and he waited. Finally, she said, “The perp was looking for
information from both Ms. Everett and Mr. Black.”
G
ive the girl a gold star.
“What kind of information?”
“
Steve was thinking it was
about an upcoming trial, but what if it were a pending parole?
Maybe someone is waiting for their partner to get out, or is afraid
their, say, brother won't be released.”
T
here was a brain under
all that hair. “Good thinking. Since Ms. Everett lives here in
Tyler, we have point on the break-in, even if we don't get to look
at Judge Simmons' murder or the bomb at
In
The Stacks.
”