Brody (13 page)

Was she going to be an ally? Or was she their jailer to watch them for the night?

“Elena?” Brody sounded as confused as Olivia felt.

“I am to be sure you have pleasure.” She stepped toward Brody and put her hand on his chest; then she turned her head to look at Olivia. “Both of you.”

Olivia’s education with regard to sex was limited to the two men she’d been intimate with and watching the animals do their mating. Nothing had prepared her for the surge of panic that burst within her now. She wasn’t sure if it was part curiosity and part crazy fear, or more one than the other.

Brody stood very still, looking down at Elena with his face devoid of emotion. “We don’t need help with our pleasure.”

Elena shook her head. “You do not understand. I cannot leave this room until you are both satisfied. Rodrigo would be unhappy if I did.”

With that, Elena reached for Brody’s trousers. He tried to push her away but she would not be deterred. She dropped to her knees and had the buttons undone in minutes. His cock was half-aroused, yet when she wrapped her long fingers around him, it appeared to grow and harden instantly. Then Elena opened her lips and pulled his pulsing staff into the dark recesses of her mouth.

Olivia was frozen, stuck to the door as though an unseen force kept her there. She’d never seen anything like this, never knew people did such things.

When she and Brody had been together, they had both found pleasure, but was it the same as what he was experiencing at Elena’s touch? She didn’t want to know the answer to that question.

Her own body reacted to what she saw. Her nipples ached and grew taut while a low throb settled in her core.

“Jesus, stop. Stop.” He pushed Elena’s shoulders away and stepped back. His cock bobbed up and down, wet and pulsing with life. Olivia wanted to shove the other woman out of the way and taste him.

The thought shocked her. It also sent a pulse of pure arousal through her.

Brody pulled his trousers up, pushing himself back in as best he could.
“No mas, Elena. No mas.”

Elena wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and stared up at him for a moment before she turned her head toward the door. Toward Olivia.

The other woman’s eyes were darker than pitch. She got to her feet and approached Olivia. It was like a dream, unreal and unbelievable.

“Leave her alone.” Brody’s husky command didn’t stop Elena’s approach.

She took Olivia’s hand and pressed a kiss onto the palm, her lips hot and moist. As Elena moved closer, her breasts pressed into Olivia’s and she gasped.

Just as Elena’s mouth brushed hers, suddenly the other woman was gone. Brody held her by the arm, righteous anger on his face.

“I don’t know what Rodrigo told you to do, but she’s not a whore and she sure as hell isn’t going to fuck you.” He glanced at Olivia. “Move aside, Meredith.”

Olivia slipped sideways along the wall and tried to catch her breath. Her body hummed with both fear and arousal. She watched Brody push Elena out the door, then vaguely heard the lock tumblers scrape together.

They were locked in.

C
HAPTER
E
IGHT

B
rody’s breath had stopped the moment Elena’s lips touched Olivia’s. He’d never been as aroused by a sight, not even purely naked women. Of course, his hard cock probably had something to do with it. Elena had a very talented mouth.

Olivia’s eyes were wide as saucers in her face. Her mouth quivered slightly as she stared at him.

“What just happened?”

He had to stop himself from throwing her on the bed and fucking her until they couldn’t see straight. His arousal was roaring inside, but he took a deep breath to tamp it down. Olivia was nearly in shock from what she’d seen and experienced. He had to focus on her, not on himself.

“What just happened?” she repeated.

Brody had to choose his words carefully. He forgot sometimes that she grew up on a family ranch. Her experiences had been limited until her parents had been murdered, then her world turned upside down. Now she’d stepped even further into the shadows of the dark corners and this time, she’d been unable to stay on her feet.

“Rodrigo told her to seduce us. Both of us. She wanted to see how we would react, if we’d take her up on the offer.” He took her hands, which trembled like trapped birds in his. “She also wanted to search us, so she knows both of us have a gun.”

He pulled her into his arms, noting her breath came in short bursts, warm against his skin. For now, he needed this contact as much as she did. They stood there for what could have been ten minutes or forty minutes. When he realized she wasn’t shaking anymore, he stepped back and looked down at her.

“You need to tell me what you’re planning. I don’t like not being ready. If I had known she would, well, do that, I could have, well, I don’t know what—” Olivia had gotten her wind back, that was for sure.

“I didn’t want to risk your life.”

She snorted. “I’ve been risking my life for a week with you. I asked you, begged, even pleaded, although I’m not proud of that, to tell me what your plan was. You didn’t.”

It was a raw truth but she was right. He’d left her vulnerable because he didn’t trust her yet. Hell, she’d only been with him a short time. Not long enough to know if he could trust her.

That wasn’t enough time for him to know her well enough.

He was lying to himself though. He did trust her. He felt more when he was with Olivia than he had in a couple of years. She’d brought him from the cold reality he existed in as a ranger and dragged him into living again. His brothers would’ve laughed at how much of a twist his tail was in. It was all due to Olivia.

“I, uh, I’m sorry.” He barely choked the words out but he did.

Her eyebrows went up, but her expression was skeptical. “Do you mean that?”

“I don’t do this. I don’t know how to do this. Being with someone all the time is too damn hard.” He sat down on the bed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I don’t have partners. My life is solitary. When you wanted to be my partner, I didn’t know what to do.”

She sat beside him and leaned against him. “You don’t have any family or friends?”

His heart pinched at the memory of what he’d lost. “My brothers died in the war. Didn’t have anybody but them growing up.”

“I’m so sorry. That’s why you understand how I feel about Benjy.” She kissed his shoulder, but he felt it through his shirt anyway. “You do have a heart, Ranger.”

The aforementioned organ thumped hard. “I wanted to forget it but you wouldn’t let me.”

“I was never allowed to hide how I felt so I just let it loose on the world. For better or worse.” She sighed. “I’m afraid I can be opinionated.”

Brody didn’t point out it was obvious she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. “You are a unique woman.” Brody had no doubt he would never meet another woman like her.

He’d be a fool if he didn’t try to keep her by his side. Brody thought maybe he was an even bigger fool because he couldn’t find the words to tell her that. They were trapped somewhere inside him.

Olivia stared at him, but he didn’t look her in the eye. He was no coward, but right about then he wanted to have more courage than he possessed.

“You are a hard man, Ranger.” She pulled away from him and rose from the bed.

His heart cried out, battering against the bars that held it captive. Yet he said nothing, did nothing, just let her walk away from him.

He couldn’t have a wife as a ranger, hell, he might not even be a ranger anymore. An outlaw certainly couldn’t keep a wife and neither could a dead man. Until this thing was finished with Rodrigo and Benjy, and he could bring her safely back to Texas, he had to let her go.

Damned if his eyes didn’t sting.

She sat down in the rickety chair in the corner. “Now that we’ve been all foolish and lovey-dovey, let’s get back to business. Tell me your plan, Brody. Now.”

He owed her that much. It was his plan that had landed them in this room, at the mercy of a man who would use them for sport with his own whore. It was an untenable situation and they had to work together to change it.

“An idea hit me when I was talking to Jeb at the jail in Austin. I realized no one had ever seen his partners and he refused to give up information easily.” Brody wasn’t proud of the way he’d pushed Jeb to talk, but he had been desperate to get something from him. He decided not to tell Olivia about that part of the conversation. “After some time, he mentioned Bluehound and that sparked my idea. I still didn’t know who his partners were but I realized they didn’t know me either.”

She leaned forward. “You decided to take over Jeb’s business.”

“Exactly. I wanted to stop the supply chain from the bottom up. Finding whoever was buying the goods was going to be the hardest part. I thought at first I’d pretend to be Jeb, but when Bluehound already knew about Jeb’s death, I had to think of something else.” He gestured at her. “And with you along killing bad guys and pretending to be a whore, I had help.”

This made her expression relax just a bit, but it was enough for him to know she would be okay. It was important because he was going to be brutally honest with her.

“I wanted to set up a deal with the buyer in Mexico and kill him. I can’t operate as a ranger here in Mexico, but I have to do this, to bring down these monsters. My brothers gave their lives for what they believed in. I want to do the same.”

Brody could hardly believe how much he’d just told her. For the first time in his recollection, he had spent time talking, just talking. The silence between them grew longer and he silently urged her to say something. Her blue-green eyes watched him steadily.

“I respect that, Ranger. You are doing what you think is right. That’s why I’m here too. Because I had to do what was right, no matter what the consequences.”

Brody didn’t breathe a sigh of relief, or at least not out loud. It shouldn’t be important to him that she accepted his motivations, but he’d be lying to himself if he said it wasn’t. He’d never experienced such a thing before. He’d lost his parents young enough he didn’t remember them. It wasn’t as though his brothers didn’t love him, but two teenage boys didn’t know how to spread loving on a five-year-old.

As frightening as it was to admit, he had a sneaking suspicion he was falling in love with the rancher’s daughter. She was the perfect woman for him, fearless, smart, gutsy and bossy.

Well, damn. That was a development he didn’t expect. It could be dangerous for both of them.

“What do we do next?” A small smile curved the corner of her mouth.

Brody found his own lips twitching to return the grin. “We use Rodrigo to find the buyer and nail the son of a bitch.”

She rose from the chair and sauntered toward him. “I think she locked the door behind her. We’re not going anywhere tonight.”

Brody’s lust roared back to life. This time it was more than physical. It was pulling at every fiber of his body. He wanted Olivia. No one else.

“We shouldn’t do this.” His protest was halfhearted at best.

“We have to do this. I have to.” Olivia stopped in front of him, her breasts inches from his face. “I need you to wipe her touch away. Please.”

He understood that more than she knew. Oh, Elena had a talented mouth, but she’d left behind a residue he needed gone.

“Let me wash up first.” He got to his feet and pulled her close. Her soft curves felt perfect against him, exactly where they were supposed to be. He leaned down and captured her mouth in a hard kiss. “I need to wipe her away too.”

“Then let me do it.” Olivia stepped back and went to the rickety washstand in the corner. She peered into the pitcher, then stuck her hand in. “There is water but it’s not warm.”

She poured water into the basin and glanced around for a cloth. Brody pulled a clean neckerchief from his pocket and tossed it to her. She caught it and smiled. His cock twitched with anticipation.

“Take off your clothes.” Her soft command felt as though she’d shouted it. He obeyed without a peep of protest. To his surprise, she took off all her clothes too before she approached his overly anxious naked self.

She stopped with the basin in hand and looked at him, her gaze traveling up and down his body. Her eyes drank him in as though he was a feast before her.

“What?” He would not cover himself, although he sure as hell felt odd being ogled.

“You are a good-looking man.” The simple compliment made any embarrassment fade. She was the most genuine woman he’d ever met.

This time when a woman knelt in front of him, he wanted her there. She dipped the rag in the water and wrung it out, then began washing him. Her scent surrounded him, her touch excited him. She worked her way down his body, leaving behind a trail of goose bumps he couldn’t hide.

By the time she made it to his cock, it was standing up like an oak tree. Hard, aching and pulsing with each rush of blood through his veins. She rinsed the rag again and took the unruly staff in hand.

He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath through his teeth. So good, so damn good. She washed his cock, then moved to his balls, much to his delight. Her nimble fingers cupped him, made him want to fuck her hard right then and there. But he had to hold back; restraint was called for and he could do that. He would do that.

When her mouth touched him, he cursed loudly. She sat back and looked at him with wide eyes, her expression wary and unsure.

“Oh, honey, you don’t have to do that.” It was the most unexpected thing she’d done and that was saying a lot. Not that he didn’t want her mouth on him—he’d had dreams about it, but he didn’t want her to do it because she felt she had to.

“I want to. Please.” Her throaty whisper made his cock twitch.

“Oh, God, Olivia.” He lay back on the bed and waited.

She was hesitant at first, hot and wet on his flesh. She swiped him with her tongue and his leg muscles tightened. When her mouth closed around him, a rush of pleasure shot through every pore of his body.

“Jeeeesus,” he gasped.