Текст книги "Taking Chances"

Автор книги: Molly McAdams

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“Well I wasn't going to let her keep touching you. That's my job.”

He grinned and pressed two loud kisses to my cheek before locking his door and setting me on the ground. He threw a pair of boxers at me and I held them up confused.

“Unless you want to fight your way to Chase's room, that's all I have for you.”

“Oh.” When he turned toward his dresser again, I switched my jeans for them quickly. They were so big I had to roll them up a few times, but I loved the fact that I was going to sleep in his clothes. “Um, do you have a shirt too?”

He unbuttoned his shirt and sauntered over to me with a mischievous grin on his face. Slipping his fingers under my chin, he titled my head up and nearly kissed me senseless. I felt his other hand trail down my side to the bottom of my shirt, and then his warms fingers were on my stomach, soon followed by his other hand. Other than the second it took to pull my shirt over my head, his lips never left mine and his eyes stayed closed. A chill ran across my body and my breaths started coming faster as I thought about his hands running over my bare body. He shrugged out of his button-up, draped it over my shoulders and resumed to running his fingers over my bare waist and stomach while I pulled my arms through the sleeves. Once my hands were back on his muscled chest he slowly buttoned it back up. I was gasping for air by the time he finished.

I flipped on a lamp and Brandon turned off the light as I sunk onto the bed. Turning back towards me he stopped mid step. “This was a bad idea.”

“Why?” I sat up quickly.

He chuckled and crawled onto the bed pushing me back down and hovering over me. “You're in my bed, wearing my clothes, and your hair was splayed out across my pillows.” He kissed my neck before gruffly whispering in my ear, “You look so damn sexy, I want to take you in my arms and never let you leave this bed.”

“Then why don't you?” I countered huskily.

“God Harper, you're going to be the death of me I swear.” He turned the lamp back off, rolled onto his side and pulled me towards him.

I hmphed and curled deeper into his embrace. “I love how I feel in your arms.” I sighed into his chest.

“You fit there perfectly.” He squeezed his arms around me and kissed the top of my head, “Get some sleep sweetheart.”

***

I was woken up the next morning to Brandon's lips on my neck. I smiled softly and ran my fingers over his head, “I want to wake up to this every morning.” My voice was raspy from sleep.

He chuckled against my throat and placed a warm kiss on it causing me to bite my own lip to stop a moan from escaping. “Does that mean I get to keep you?”

“As long as you share me with Bree. I'm pretty sure she'd kidnap me otherwise.”

Brandon had gently moved the collar of his shirt I was wearing away and was smiling against my collarbone, “I went to Kindergarten, I learned how to share with others.”

I burst into laughter and brought his face to mine for a quick kiss. “Well I don't want you to share me with everyone.”

“I don't plan to.” He propped himself up on an elbow and brushed his thumb across my cheek. “I want you to be my girl Harper.”

A slow smile spread across my face and I was beaming inside. It was Saturday morning, and we’d just met on Thursday, but it didn’t feel like this was coming a moment too soon. There was something about this dangerous looking god that made me feel safe and cherished. Being with him felt so right, it was almost scary but incredibly thrilling to have found someone that made me feel this way. Pulling his face to mine, I stopped less than an inch from him, “I'd love to be your girl.” I whispered against his lips.

Brandon kissed me fiercely, but when I ran my fingers down his side and rested them on the top of his shorts he caught my hand and held it away. “I just woke up with the most beautiful girl I've ever seen beside me, and you agreed to be my girl. If you keep touching me...well, let's just say I can't make any promises.”

I brought his mouth back to mine and wrapped a leg around his hip arching my body into his. I was suddenly extremely aware that his boxers on my body, and his basketball shorts were the only thing separating us, and apparently so was he. I didn't want to go further than this, I just wanted to be closer to him. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. He pushed me back down to the bed and stood up laughing and shaking his head.

“I'll go make some coffee.”

I pouted and fell back into the pillows. “Fine.”

His mouth curved up on one side revealing his deep dimple as he leaned over to kiss me chastely. “I was planning on spending the day with you in here, but if you're gonna force me into a cold shower, we'll have to find something else.”

I quickly climbed back under the covers. “I'll be good. Promise.” I mumbled.

Deep brown eyes searched mine, “There's no rush Harper. You don't have to prove anything to me, or anyone else. Let's just take this slow, okay?”

My face turned bright red. “Did you go slow with the other girls?” I wasn't sure I wanted to know this, but I couldn't help but feel like the reason for him not wanting to go any further was because he didn't actually want to be with me in that way. I certainly didn't look anything like his last girlfriend, Kendra. That girl had looked like a freaking Barbie.

He sighed and dropped his head to my shoulder. “No. But I know what you're getting at, and you're wrong.”

I didn't say anything, just waited to see if he'd explain, and after a few awkwardly silent moments, he did.

“I don't know how you could even think that I don't want you, I can barely keep my hands off you.” He cupped my cheek and held my gaze, “We just met, but I already know there's something different about you, and I'm not about to ruin this by rushing into things. I plan on taking my time with you. Those girls, yeah I had relationships with them, but all they were was a distraction for me. I wanted to feel something other than being pissed that my dad was gone for good. I didn’t…” he took a deep breath in and out, “they weren’t you Harper.” He said it like that explained everything, and in a way, it did.

My heart thudded irregularly against my chest and I couldn't stop smiling knowing that I wasn’t the only one that was already in this deep, “Thank you.” I whispered before pressing my lips softly to his.

We did end up spending the rest of the day in his bed, and I loved it. We turned on a movie, but had to keep restarting it because we ended up talking throughout the entire thing. Other than sweet kisses to the top of my head and nose, all we did was stay curled up in each other’s arms. Brandon would intertwine our fingers and hold them close to his chest whenever I started trailing my fingers down his bare stomach, and eventually just ended up putting a shirt on. I had frowned at that, but knew it was my fault. We left the room to go to dinner with Bree and Konrad that night, and other than a quick trip to buy coffee and donuts for everyone on Sunday morning, we repeated our previous day in his bed. We were dozing off while attempting to watch another movie when Bree came walking in.

“I'll be ready to go in a few minutes, do you have all your things?”

Guess that means Konrad went back to the dorms already. “No, but it won't take long, give me a few minutes.”

I started to climb off the bed, but Brandon wrapped his arms around me and pulled me back down. Bree snickered and walked out the door. After it was shut, Brandon pulled me closer to him.

“You're leaving?” He asked softly, his fingers trailing down my arm.

“Yeah, I have to go back to my dorm.”

“You don't have to. I want you here with me.”

My first thought was of Chase and what he would think about that. I scolded myself and shook my head, “I can't, we're not rushing, remember?”

He grumbled halfheartedly and squeezed me tighter, “If I knew you were going to leave at the end of today I would have clarified what we weren't going to rush.”

I giggled against his jaw and continued on with a trail of kisses. “I know what you meant. But I can't stay here.” Lord knows I would love to wake up to his handsome face every day. But like he said, we just met and I've only been out of Sir's house for a little over two weeks. If that's not the definition of rushing, I don't know what is.

“Weekends?”

“What about them?” I asked against his neck.

“Will you stay with me on the weekends? You'll probably be here anyway.”

I sat up and looked down at his breathtaking face, “You really want me here? You're not going to get tired of me being around?”

“Seriously Harper? I told you I wanted to keep you here. You're right though, you do need to stay at the dorm with Bree. So if I have to 'share' you with her, then I plan on using this sharing to my advantage so I get you too.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed against his chest playfully, “Okay fine. How about this? Unless something comes up, I will stay here with you on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.”

A huge smile showing off his perfect teeth and dimple spread across his face as he brought his mouth to mine, “That sounds perfect.” He spoke around our kisses.

“I feel like I'm the kid of a divorced couple.” I grumbled and he laughed.

We kissed a few moments longer until we heard Bree complaining from the hallway. Brandon hugged me tight to his chest at his door and planted a quick kiss on my forehead, “I'll see you at school, have a good night sweetheart.”

The door swung open to reveal Bree with our bags slung over her shoulders and hands on her hips. “Sometime today, Harper.” After we were in her car, her fake sullen mood disappeared, “Tell. Me. Everything!”

I laughed and turned in my seat so I was facing her. “I'm afraid I'm about to disappoint you again, nothing happened.”

“What!” She looked between the road and me “You guys never left his room! You can't tell me nothing happened.”

I shrugged and smiled, “I'm serious, nothing happened. All we did was talk and sleep.”

Her jaw dropped and after a minute formed into a perfect O, “He's gay?”

“Oh my God! What? No!”

“I'm sorry but you're going to tell me that a straight guy had you in his bed for three whole days and didn't try anything with you?”

“It wasn't that, we talked about it on Saturday and decided we aren't going to do anything for a while.”

Her eyebrows scrunched together and she looked more confused than I'd even seen her, “But...why?”

“I think he's afraid of rushing me, and to be honest, I'm kind of glad. I can see how easy it would be to get too carried away to stop, and I feel like everything about us has already moved so fast. Not that I'd change anything so far, but I'm happy we're going to wait. When I think about it, I know I'm still not ready to go there. He's my first boyfriend, and it's only been a couple days.”

“Huh. I guess when you put it that way.”

“Is it safe to assume you and Konrad had a good time?”

She beamed a smile at me before turning back to the road, “I actually think I like him. Who knows, I may even try to date him!”

I just shook my head. She's just like her brother. How people could be like that was totally beyond me.

***

“Ooo, don't look now, but someone's man is at our one o'clock.” Bree nudged into my side as we walked towards our second class of the day.

Of course, I had to look then. I saw Brandon with a couple guys and a girl I didn't know standing off to the side. His deep husky laugh reached us then and I smiled at the sound of it.

“Well are you going to go over there?”

I stopped walking for a few seconds then continued on the path we'd been on, “No, I don't want to bother him.”

“He's your boyfriend Harper! You're supposed to go bother him.”

I smiled and dropped my head hoping my hair would hide my blush, “I'm just kind of worried he doesn't like me as much as I like him. I didn't think I could feel so strong about someone after such a short time, and I'm sure it's because I've never dated anyone. I'm afraid I'll be too much for him, and he'll get annoyed with me quickly.” I’d seen that more than enough times with the guys on base. I knew how frustrated they’d get with their clingy girlfriends.

“Okay, I know you don't have much experience in this department, but let me clue you in. You didn't see that boy when Chase had you in the room. Guys don't go all hero over some girl they don't feel strongly about. And they definitely don't worry about protecting their innocence.”

I shushed her and looked around to see if anyone was listening.

“I'm just saying, Brandon's in deep. Trust me, I don't think it's one sided.”

“If you say so.”

“I do. So stop trying to be invisible and –” She looked over my shoulder and smiled, “looks like someone beat you to it.”

Before she could finish her sentence, Brandon had me scooped into his arms and his lips planted firmly on mine. I ran my hands over his buzzed hair before clasping them around his neck.

“Hello to you too.” I mumbled against his mouth.

He smiled and rested his forehead against mine, “I missed you this morning sweetheart.”

His voice warmed my body and I bit my lip in an attempt at hiding my idiotic grin, “Only three more and then I'll be there.”

Bree's annoyed tone broke through, “Uh, rude. It's like I'm not even here.”

Brandon's eyes didn't leave mine, “Good morning Breanna.” He gave me another quick peck and set me on the ground, capturing my hand in his.

She snorted, “He's in deep alright.”

“Bree!” I hissed.

“Yeah,” Brandon laughed huskily and squeezed my hand once, “yeah I am.”

I hid my face in his chest so he couldn't see my red cheeks or elated expression. He wasn't having that though, his fingers tilted my chin up and he bent down so our faces were almost touching.

“My class is about to start, I have to get going. See you at lunch?”

Nodding, I kissed his hard jaw, “See you then.”

He turned to leave and called over his shoulder, “Take care of my girl Bree.”

My smile fell as I caught the glare of the girl from the group he'd been talking to earlier. Was she another ex? I leaned into Bree and whispered, “Hey, you wouldn't happen to know that girl, would you?”

“You mean Psycho Barbie over there? She was at lunch with us a couple days last week. You don't have to worry about her though, he kept turning her down, and that was before he met you.”

Not another ex, but still another girl that wants Brandon. “Everywhere we go some girl ends up shooting daggers at me.”

Bree grabbed my arm and turned me toward our English class, “Um, have you seen your boy lately? Don't hate me, but he's freaking hot. I swear he should be a model. Lots of girls are going to want him, especially the ones who go Underground and see him fight, just remember he's yours and there's a lot of people ready to kick his ass if he forgets it. Me included.”

My eyes widened but she cut me off before I could say anything.

“He's not going to, I was just saying. He just let everyone in the immediate area know he's taken. Brandon's a goner when it comes to you, roomie.”

As soon as she said that, goose bumps covered my body and I tensed at what that could mean. Chase. This whole being physically aware of him was getting beyond ridiculous.

“What's up sis?” He threw an arm around Bree's shoulders and walked with us towards class.

“Uh, nothing. I thought you didn't have classes ‘til later?”

I couldn't look at him, but I saw how his feet missed a step after her question. “Had some things I had to take care of earlier, didn't feel like going home.”

A paper was pressed into my hand nearest him and I curled my fingers around it. His fingertips brushed softly from my wrist to my elbow and I had to fight the urge to look at the trail of fire he'd left on my arm. Chase and Bree talked about something at their parent's house this weekend all the way up to the door of our class. I still hadn't said anything or looked at him.

“You ladies have fun, I'll see you later.” He gave Bree a quick hug and nudged my shoulder before walking away.

After taking our seats, I leaned over toward my backpack and unfolded the piece of paper so Bree wouldn't see.

'You look beautiful today.'

I crushed up the paper, slid it under the rows of seats and prayed that she wouldn't ask why I was beet red.

That night, Bree and I both got texts a little after ten. We looked at each other, confused and rushed into getting ready when we read the messages. Brandon was going to fight within the hour, he was coming to pick Bree and me up, we'd meet the guys from the house at the place.

“Is it weird that I'm nervous to watch this?” I huffed as I hurriedly fixed my hair and make-up.

“You shouldn't be, Chase said he never loses, and the time I watched was awesome.”

“But you aren't going to have to watch your boyfriend possibly get beat up!”

“I'm sure he'll be fine!” She rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand, “Come on, we have to go.”

We ran outside and hopped into Brandon's Jeep, he had his iPhone to his ear and was smiling widely when he leaned over to kiss me.

Brandon gave someone an address and name of a building I'd never heard of and stopped for a second, “Yeah, it's on in forty, start calling people.” After hanging up, he dropped his phone in my hands, “Hold that for me ‘til it's over, would you?” He was still smiling, his left knee bouncing up and down fast.

“Uh, you a little excited?” I was terrified, how could he be so excited? It's not like I'd never watched UFC, but I hadn't known the guys fighting, and they were on TV, it's a little different.

He laughed lightly, “I've never fought this guy before, but from what I've heard, he hasn't lost and has a pretty good reputation for knocking out his opponents and I plan to show him what that's like. It should be a pretty high paying night, and my girl is gonna be there. So yeah, you could say I'm excited.”

“That makes one of us.” I mumbled under my breath. He must have heard because his next laugh was louder and he squeezed my knee.

We pulled up to a restaurant that was already closed and went around to a back door. Taking the stairs to the basement, I was assaulted by loud music and voices.

“This way.” Brandon held my hand tight and I latched onto Bree as we continued to turn corners in the dark hallway. When we got to a set of doors, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me hard. “I gotta go talk to Scarecrow, go with Bree and find the other guys before the fight starts. I'll see you when it's done sweetheart.” He took off down a hall and I looked to Bree.

“Scarecrow?”

“He's the guy that puts all these on. He finds the places, sets up, decides who fights, refs, collects the money, it's all him.”

“Huh. Nice name.”

Breanna snorted and opened the doors, my jaw dropped when I saw inside. I don't know what I'd been expecting, but I hadn't been thinking at least a hundred people, plus the ones still pouring in from the other door, would all be smashed together surrounding a make-shift ring.

“There's Jared!” Bree yelled and pointed to a guy I'd never seen before, but just behind him was Drew and Derek.

We began making our way to the other side of the room, but we were just as far away five minutes later when the music got louder and a guy, I'm guessing Scarecrow, started riling everyone up and announcing Kale and Brandon. It was already loud enough with the music and people yelling, but it was near deafening when Brandon came out in only a pair of loose shorts. His smile was breathtaking and that dimple was enough to make any girl sigh, but then you looked down and saw his tanned muscled body, skipped the sigh and went straight to drooling. The girls that were there were screaming for him and I grinned to myself, knowing that he was mine. The music lowered a bit and the fight began.

Right away Kale threw a punch, Brandon leaned back letting it pass an inch from his face, his smile never faltering. He looked so comfortable and confident, it started to make me nervous. When people get cocky, they mess up, and messing up with this guy swinging and kicking at you? It wouldn't end well. Kale looked to be a little shorter than Brandon, but had to have at least an extra twenty pounds on him, and he just looked evil. Kale went after Brandon again, and they both started in on each other. A tall guy stepped in front of me and I had to struggle to even catch a glimpse. I was up on my toes and leaning to the side as Kale brought his leg around, I didn't even see if he'd gotten Brandon because I stumbled, falling into the guy in front of me. Thankfully he caught me around my waist before I could hit the ground.

“You alright there, Graceful?” He smirked, but his eyes were bright, I knew he was teasing.

I narrowed my eyes at him, but couldn't help but laugh. “Yeah, fine. Sorry about that!” I raised my voice enough so he could hear me above the crowd.

“Trust me,” His eyes heated as he raked them over my body, “it's not a problem.”

The basement filled with cheers and frustrated roars, Scarecrow started yelling into the mic, “Knock out! I can't effing believe it!”

I tried looking to see who had gotten knocked out, but all I saw were people cheering. Everyone was screaming, but no names were said, and for a few moments I was terrified that Brandon was in that circle, unconscious. I surged forward, but Mr. Tall Guy grabbed and pulled me back against the wall I'd originally been standing by. I wanted to yell at him to let me go so I could check on Brandon, but when his hands locked around my wrists, all thoughts of Brandon flew out the window as I turned to face him.

“You look scared baby. I promise not to bite. Hard.”

“Baby?!” Oh, hell no.  “I am not your baby.” If his hands weren't still gripping my wrists, effectively pinning my arms to my side I would have shoved him back far enough so I could show him what I thought of random guys calling me baby. I looked around him and noticed no one was watching us, and I couldn't see Bree anymore. I'd lost her when I'd originally fallen.

“No?” He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, after a couple seconds a twisted smile crossed his face. He leaned in and pressed his body into mine, his breath reeked of beer, “Well, we're about to change that.”

I understand that I’m petite and look like I can be forced, but I was not raised by hundreds of jarheads just to let some preppy douche try to tell me what I was about to do. Friendly strangers and guys I like, sure I get nervous around them, but belittle me or try to dominate me, and I get pissed.

“Get. The hell. Away. From me.” I growled.

He responded by pressing himself harder into me so I could feel how excited he was getting. “I know you're scared, but I'll be gentle.”

Sad thing was, this guy was attractive, and his outfit suggested he came from a country club home, I'm almost positive he could have any girl he wanted, and yet he was getting hard because he thought he was going to have his way with me by scaring me? I tried not to gag. He lightly licked my neck and put a hand under my shirt. My knee jerked up but he pushed back too fast for me to connect. He was glaring, but still had that stupid grin on his face. He laughed once and tried to pull me closer, but I kept my feet planted where I was.

“You're feisty, I like that. I think we're going to have fun.” he winked and tried pulling me toward him again, “Let's go.”

“Yeah, that's not gonna happen.”

That husky voice made me sigh in relief, Brandon was okay.

“Can I help you bro?” Mr. Tall Guy asked calmly and released my wrists.

Brandon refused to look at, or answer him. The muscles in his jaw were ticking from the pressure of trying to keep his mouth shut. He held a hand up toward me, and when I went to put my hand in his, my new best friend grabbed my wrist again.

“Sorry man, but you're gonna have to find another chick to bag tonight, this one's mine.”

Brandon's eyes shot toward him, his right hand clenched into a fist and his body turned to face him. This Brandon was terrifying, he hadn’t even looked at Chase like that the morning he saw the bruises. I knew what was about to happen, and there's no way I was letting Brandon take this from me, so I acted before he could. I kneed the prick hard in his groin, when he bent at the waist my hands flew to the back of his head and I slammed his face into my still-bent knee. Blood instantly poured out of his nose and onto my bare leg, I let go of his head and let him fall to the ground. One hand was gripping his crotch, the other trying to hold back as much blood as possible.

“Asshole.” I murmured.

Looking up slowly, I made sure to avoid my boyfriend's eyes. I think he liked being protective of me, and honestly I loved that he was, but I'm not going to cower down and play the damsel when a boy that's sick in the head treats me like that. I knew Carter and the other guys would have been proud that I used some of the moves they were always teaching me, but I didn't know what Brandon would think about it.

The few people that had seen the little exchange were razzing Mr. Tall Guy for letting a “little girl” bring him to his knees. I smirked at him still curled up on the ground, but my face fell when I finally looked at Brandon's wide eyes and dropped jaw. My cheeks blazed and I bit my lip, worried about what he was about to say.

He blinked and shook his head in disbelief, “Damn, sweetheart. That was hot.”

I laughed and jumped over my victim and into Brandon's arms, kissing him fiercely. He still had his shirt off and was covered in sweat, but I didn't care. He was okay, he'd won the fight, and he liked the way I was able to take care of myself. He hissed and sucked in a sharp breath before setting me down.

“Are you okay?”

He was grimacing, but pulled me close, “Yeah, I'm good. Let's get out back and find Scarecrow.”

When we got out of the main room and found Scarecrow and Brandon's shirt, I pulled out my phone to call Bree, but she'd sent a text saying she caught a ride with the guys. Brandon introduced me to Scarecrow who let out an appreciative whistle and clapped Brandon on the back.

“Nice catch man, keep bringing your good luck charm around, I like the money she's making me.” He smiled at us and handed over a massive wad of cash.

Brandon didn't even count it, just shook his hand and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, leading me outside. I noticed the rigid way he was holding himself, and how it took him a little extra time climbing into his Jeep, but didn't ask. Instead I wrapped my hands around one of his and silently inspected him. He didn't look like he had any cuts, or bruises, but I couldn't see much of him now. I wished I'd looked earlier, while his shirt was still off.

He smiled and moved his hand from mine to place it on my thigh, “Do I pass inspection?”

I blushed and looked out at the street, “Sorry.”

“Don't be, I was joking. Did you have fun?”

“Well I wasn't really able to see anything because of that guy, and then I was focused on getting him away from me.”

Brandon laughed and cut off abruptly, sucking in another quick breath, “Seriously Harper, that was by far the best thing I've ever seen. I couldn't believe my girl put someone down faster than I did.” He smiled, his eyes bright.

I smiled back at him and shrugged, “I really don't understand why you all think I'm so breakable. Remember, I spent almost every day of my life with a bunch of horny Marines that treated me like I was their little sister. They made sure from early on that I could handle myself against guys like them.”

“Well, I'm glad for that, and I do know that you can take care of yourself. I'm sorry if I go a little caveman when it comes to you sometimes, but I've never met anyone like you. You're precious to me, and everything in me screams to take care of you.”

My heart started hammering in my chest. How was it possible that he was mine? “Did you just say you go caveman?”

 His smile got even wider, and I leaned over to kiss his dimple, “You can't act like you haven't noticed. I was worried it was going to start pissing you off. That's why I tried to stay calm tonight.”

“I'm pretty sure you were justified every time you've done something like that. And don't worry, you're protective, you aren't possessive. That would piss me off.”

“I don't want to own you, Harper, I just want to be with you.”

“I know.” I said softly, thinking about actually being with him, even though that wasn't what he'd been talking about. “Can I stay with you tonight?”

He kissed my hand, “I'd hoped you would.”

When we got back to the house Brandon took me to the bathroom and after helping me onto the counter, proceeded to clean the blood off my leg. I left him in there so he could shower, and went into his room to put on some of his clothes. I inhaled his scent surrounding me and smiled while climbing into his bed. I'd left off bottoms, opting for one of his shirts that came down to my thighs. I hoped it would get my message across, since I didn't exactly know how to tell him what I wanted. He turned off the light when he came in and got in the bed, each movement was stiff and he winced twice.

“Are you sure you're okay?” I really had planned on waiting for him to tell me, but he looked like he was in a lot of pain.

“I'm fine sweetheart, come here.”

Brandon pulled me close to him and kissed me softly at first, when I brushed my tongue across his lips he groaned and deepened the kiss. Before I could let my nerves take over, I pulled myself up and swung a leg over his body, keeping myself from pressing my body to his. I wanted him to be the one to pull me closer. His hands were on my legs, slowly sliding up my thighs and under the shirt, when he realized I wasn't wearing shorts he growled against my lips. “Jesus Harper.” Keeping one hand on my hip, and bringing the other one to the top of my back, he slowly lowered me to him, freezing and cursing when I pressed harder against him.

“Okay, you're lying.” I quickly hopped off and tried not to touch him at all until I knew where he was hurting.

He grumbled and placed a hand back on my thigh, “I bruised or cracked a rib,” he tried to sit up and fell back onto the pillows, “or two.”

“Brandon! When?”

“Kale got a pretty good kick in, but I'm positive they aren't broken.”