Make Me Burn: Fireborne, Book 2 (26 page)

“I will?” Aziza’s lips quirked, pretending she wasn’t concerned. “Won’t I trust him to make good choices? Or leave him alone because he’s a grown man who knows what he’s doing more often than I do?”

Chiye snorted and shook her head. “No way. If anything, you’ll be more suspicious because you know how solid he is. And you’ll tell yourself he always knows what he’s doing, except when it comes to this. Because didn’t he hold a torch for you forever, one that isn’t quite out yet?”

Aziza’s eyes widened. “Did he tell you that?”

“It’s obvious to anyone with eyes.” She reached out and covered Aziza’s hand with her own, sending a jolt through her system. “Seeing you, getting to know you? I’d think he was an idiot, or mad, if he wasn’t a little bit in love with his best girl.”

“I think I like you.” Aziza grinned.

Chiye laughed. “Oh, you do. You definitely do. We’re too much alike for you not to. Everyone underestimates us, thinks we’re too young and helpless to know what we want or how to protect ourselves, don’t they? And they’re all wrong. We’re both orphan misfits who managed to find people to care for. People who care about us. We were supposed to meet, don’t you think?”

Yes. That’s exactly how it felt. The thread connecting her heart to Chiye Wyn’s had only gotten stronger when Aziza realized that she was one of the women she had to protect. When she realized how Chiye felt about Greg. “Over the moon,” she’d said. It was exactly the right thing to say. “Sisters, then?”

Chiye stood up on her stool and leaned over the table, kissing her on the cheek. She smelled like wild flowers. “Sisters,” she whispered in her ear.

Aziza was still reeling from the gesture when West and Greg arrived back at the table, their hands full of drinks. “Aziza Jane?”

“Yes, West?”

He looked over his shoulder. “You didn’t tell us you invited your
detective
boyfriend to our party tonight, and I’m guessing you didn’t tell him you were coming either, did you?”

Her…
Brandon?

Greg swore.

Aziza put her hand on West’s back, trying to peer around him. “Why would you say that? Are you having a psychic vision?” One could only hope.

“Not unless by
vision
you mean twenty-twenty, because I’m seeing a mutant-sized man that fits the description of your current love interest parting the crowd like Moses did the sea…and he hasn’t taken his eyes off this table. He must see Greg.”

Or he’d caught her scent.

Great. The Jiniyr were coming for someone tonight. And now an Enforcer was coming for her.

“Motherfuckingshit,”
she swore softly. When West snorted, letting her know he’d heard, she added, “Excuse me. And if he asks, I didn’t see him.”

“Think he’ll believe that?” West called after her, grinning as she ran around the table and headed back for the bathrooms like the coward she was. Maybe Shev would show up and pull
her
through the mirror so she wouldn’t have to face the music.

Days.
She hadn’t seen him in days. She’d never responded to his messages, but she knew he was keeping tabs on her. There were Enforcers outside of Penn’s place day and night, and she was sure Hillary had told him she’d gone to meet his father without him.

Did he know something was going to happen tonight, or had someone told him about Ram having played with the deceased Stacy?

How would she stop herself from jumping into his arms, and did she even want to? How would she tell him about her night with Ram?

Her head was about to explode with questions when Brandon came into the bathroom. He swiftly held up the badge she knew all Enforcers had to use in case of inconvenient humans.

“Out,” he told the two women touching up their makeup in the mirror.

They reacted predictably, racing away in a flutter of nerves and panic, leaving Aziza alone with him. She leaned forward against the sink for a moment and then glanced at him over her shoulder. “Hey.”

“Hey?” He sounded calm and mildly curious.

Hell. Brandon was pissed.

“I’ve heard some men say that when women run from you, they might be trying to hide something,” he continued. “Hiding something, baby? Did the Alpha upset you? Did you not want me to see the bruises you must still be enjoying after your performance with Ram, or are you still avoiding me on principle because
I
lied?”

Shit. She turned to face him, knowing with a sudden clarity that after all these days and nights of worry there was only one thing she could do—tell him the truth. “I’m not hiding anything, Brandon. Your father did upset me, in more ways than I can possibly express, but I’ve agreed to go to his party tomorrow night in spite of it. I don’t have any bruises and I’ve been avoiding you because…” she shook her head and took a ragged breath, “…because I didn’t know what to say. I’ve been a little on edge and crazy. But you knew that when we met—who else but a crazy woman would proposition a man after he kidnapped her and locked her in an interrogation room? You can’t say you weren’t given clues.”

His silence went on for too long, making her nervous.

She swallowed. “Look, I know you’re here about the investigation, so you probably don’t want to talk about this now. It can wait.”

Brandon’s golden eyes narrowed dangerously. “No, I don’t think it can. Yes, I am here about the investigation. We got a tip from a possible witness and we’re following it up. But all I’ve wanted to do from the moment I left you the other night is talk about us. To
be
us.” He took a deep, shaky breath. “First you need to tell me why you’re here. And if you’re hiding the exile.”

Aziza frowned. “I had a sense that something was going to happen tonight and I wanted to protect the only potential human girlfriend I’ve had since I was twelve, who also happens to be the woman Greg has a thing for.” She crossed her arms defensively. “And Ram is here, somewhere. I was sitting with the people who brought him. Do you honestly believe I would do that? Hide a killer from you? Even if it
was
Ram, which I know it isn’t.”

Brandon leaned his back against the bathroom door, his gaze steady on hers. “I believe you are, on occasion, bloody stubborn-minded and crazy. I believe I’ve missed you so much these last few days it was hard to breathe. I believe every time I called and you didn’t answer, I wanted to put you back into that interrogation room until you forgave me for seeing you as my woman, instead of the Vessel. And I believe—I know—that you would do anything for the people you care about. Whether they were guilty or not.”

She opened her mouth to speak then shut it again, the tortured look in his eyes tearing her apart. What could she say to that?

He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her into his embrace. The heat of him instantly surrounded her and her body came alive. “The question is, can you care about someone and not trust them? Because I trust you.” He slid his arms around her, his large hands cupping the curve of her ass through her backless, vinyl minidress. “I trust you, even when I find you here, dressed in a way that demands to be noticed. Look at this dress, Aziza.”

He turned her around to face the mirror, studying the plunging, draped neckline and the hem that ended midthigh. He ran his fingers over her back. “I don’t see any marks at all.”

“They healed that night,” she murmured. “And for the record, I asked Ram to do it. My plan was to get to know the other girls who played here and find out what they knew.”

“Did it work?” She nodded and his rough fingers scraped across her arms, moving toward the skin the plunging neckline revealed. “And after your ruse was over, did you let him fuck you again?”

He’d always known how her powers had been initiated. He’d followed her into the garden and been there right after it happened, smelling Ram and sex on her skin. She knew it bothered him. “No.”

His fingers skimmed the hard tips of her nipples. “I trust you, Aziza. I believe you.”

It hurt to hear him say it. “You don’t. You’ve been smart not to up until now and you shouldn’t start. There are things you don’t know…”

Brandon wasn’t looking into her eyes now. He was watching his fingers as they pulled the fabric of her dress apart until her breasts were bared to his gaze. “We have Enforcers placed here and at Mr. West’s townhouse in Soho. I know you and Greg spent the night with Ram and his friends after you let him whip you until you came onstage.”

Aziza gasped and her eyelids fluttered. He knew where West lived? “How thorough of you.”

In reply, he pinched her nipples between his fingers and squeezed hard. “I know you feel something for him. Something more than gratitude for saving your aunt’s life. I know you care about him.”

Aziza shivered, moaning at his masterful touch. “Brandon, wait. I have to tell you about that night.
Oh God.
” He would stop if she told him. She didn’t want him to stop, but she couldn’t be selfish.

His fingers tightened even more on her flesh, and the piercing sensation sent heat through her body. She had to resist her need for him. Had to be as honest with him as she was with Ram. Brandon cared about her. More than cared. He deserved to know everything she’d done. “We didn’t have sex that night but we both…
oh
…I’m so sorry.”

“How?” His voice was a growl as his hands left her breasts and went to the hem of her dress. He wrenched it up over her hips to her waist, revealing the black thong beneath. “Did you take him in your mouth, the way you did that night in the stables?”

She gasped.
“You knew?”

Meeting her shocked gaze in the mirror, he snarled as he smacked one bare cheek then hooked a finger under the flimsy fabric of the thong and twisted. It ripped easily and he balled the now-useless material in his fist. “Don’t you know what I am yet, baby? What
I
can do? Answer me. How creative did you get this time? Did you suck the Jinn’s cock again? Or stroke him with your talented fingers? Did you let him push your breasts together and slide between them until he came?”

When he dropped her underwear and his fingers slid through her wet, waiting sex from behind, she moaned, “No, none of those.”

“Did he kiss you here?” Brandon rasped when he slipped two thick fingers inside her. “Did you spread your legs and let him use his tongue to make you scream?”

“No. Brandon, we didn’t. We didn’t even kiss. We made ourselves…
Oh fuck.
” It felt so good. What he was doing felt so good.

But his words were off. She’d expected a fight from him. Judgment. Betrayal in his eyes. But when she looked at him she could see the anger transforming into lust. Wildness. The beast in him needed to mark his territory. She wanted him to mark her. “Brandon.”

“Yes,” he groaned, fucking her with the fingers of one hand while the other returned to her breasts. “Brandon. Not Ram. Not the fool who had you begging and chained and didn’t take what he’s been dying to. What every man who sees you seems to want, including your new friend who couldn’t take his eyes off you when you were running away from me. Tell me the truth—since we’ve been together, who else has been inside your tight pussy?” He thrust his fingers deeper inside her, and his thumb, already slick with her arousal, pressed between the cheeks of her ass. “Who else has gotten in here?”

Aziza bent forward, bracing her hands on the sink as her body responded desperately, almost helplessly, to his touch. “No one but you, Brandon. I swear. Only you.”

The hand on her breast lifted to her face and turned it towards his. His kiss was carnal, full of urgency. Perfect.

She wasn’t the fire. He was.

“You like this, don’t you?” His voice was gritty and rough when he tore his lips from hers. “Tormenting me for days. Playing with other men and pushing me to the edge. You distract me with your scent and tempt me to forget my responsibilities long enough to make you remember who you belong to.”

As he spoke Aziza forgot everything else. Everyone. The pain and confusion, the elation and realizations of the last few days—it all burned away and there was only Brandon. Only his eyes, his heat. Only his scent and the passion that consumed them both whenever they were together.

“Yes, Brandon. God, I’ve missed you.”

He growled. “You need to be chained to my bed for my sanity’s sake alone.”

She met his gaze in the mirror. “Whatever you want, Copper.”

“Fuck, baby, look at you. This is all I see. You are all I see. One woman whose body I will never get tired of exploring.”

He placed his hand between her shoulder blades and pressed firmly until she was leaning her elbows against the marble counter. “One woman who fights my every sane request but yields to all my forbidden desires.”

She watched his reflection as he gripped her hip with one hand and undid his jeans swiftly with the other. “One woman who drives me insane. Who makes me want things I can’t want. Makes me want more.”

The head of his bare cock pushed inside her and she moaned, closing her eyes and tilting her hips back instinctively to take more of him. More. “Oh God,
yes, Brandon.
More.
”

“That’s my greedy baby. Look at her,” he growled. “Watch while I take her here, while I fuck her where anyone could walk in and see her so wet and sweet and spread out for me like a fucking feast.”

She opened her eyes, forcing herself to focus past the haze of desire that crashed over her when he thrust his hips against hers, filling her. So deep.