Wild Man

Chapter Thirteen Errol Fucking Flynn

One arm wrapped around my back, one hand on my ass, Brock surged out then back inside me and I stifled my moan against his neck as my fingers fisted in his hair and the nails of my other hand dragged down his back.

He growled in my ear because my man liked my nails on his back and then he surged out and thrust in again.

And again.

And again.

I lifted my head and yanked his up by his hair, maneuvering his mouth to mine; I kissed him hard as he pounded inside.

Then my nails dug in his back and my legs spasmed around his hips as my head jerked back and I whimpered, “Oh my God, honey, I’m gonna –”

I didn’t finish, my eyes closed, my head fell back, he drove in faster and harder and I gasped and held him tight to me as I came.

“Eyes,” he growled and my eyes fluttered open and focused hazily on him. “I want your eyes when I come,” he ordered.

“Okay, baby,” I whispered and held his eyes, held him tense in three limbs as one hand roamed, gliding across his skin, up his back, around his side, my thumb rubbing his nipple hard then down his chest, his abs until it was at our wet connection and I was feeling him taking me from outside as well as in. “God, that’s beautiful.”

“Tess,” he groaned.

I touched my lips to his, held his eyes and whispered, “Fucking beautiful, baby.”

He slanted his head, took my mouth and planted his cock, his grunt of release driving down my throat.

Yeah. Beautiful.

Since his mouth was on mine, when he recovered, he started gliding in and out as he kissed me, deep but soft and sweet and I wrapped him tight and kissed him back.

Then his mouth released mine, he buried himself to the root as his lips glided down my cheek to my ear, his arms curved around me squeezed and he whispered in my ear as his hips pushed deep, “Sweetest fuckin’ cunt I ever had.”

I shivered in his arms.

Then he pulled out and pulled me off the vanity in his bathroom where he’d walked in when he heard me turn off the faucet after I brushed my teeth, closed the door and instigated operation maximum physical contact in the only room in the house (possibly and hopefully) his sons couldn’t hear us having sex. Thus, me ending up with my ass to the vanity, my arms and legs wrapped around Brock and my first-ever orgasm in a bathroom.

It was sublime.

But when he dropped me to my feet, he surprised me when he stayed close and turned me to facing the mirror then he pressed forward and fenced me in against the vanity, his hands moving slowly around my ribs, my belly, crossing over to go down to my hips. My surprised eyes went to the mirror and I saw his were already there following the trail of his hands. Then I saw my hair was a mess, my cheeks pink, my eyes still hazy and his hands were still moving over the amethyst-colored, simple, short silk nightie (another Neiman’s purchase, not the splurge of the first I got at Nordstrom’s, but also not cheap either) he’d fucked me in.

I could tell looking at his face he liked it.

Actually, I already knew this considering I could tell by his face (and actions) last night when he first saw it that he liked it.

Suffice it to say we’d broken the seal on having sex with his sons in the house. Last night, it was late, the boys definitely asleep but Brock still took care to muffle my noises with his mouth and his own with mine or my neck.

This morning, the bathroom.

“How many cupcakes you gotta sell to give me this, darlin’?” he asked and my eyes shifted from his hands moving on me to his in the mirror.

“Less than the extravaganza I treated you to that first night at your apartment, more than the cotton candy eyelet one,” I answered.

He grinned at me. “Cotton candy eyelet one?”

“The one I wore our first night together.”

“The pink one?”

He remembered.

Damn.

He remembered.

“Cotton candy,” I corrected softly.

His grin became a smile and for some reason that smile settled in my belly.

He thought I was funny. He thought I was beautiful. He got close anytime I was near. He wanted to stand between me and roaring lions. He wanted to help me battle my ghosts. He had two fantastic sons, a screwy but loving family, a great body, an affectionate manner and he remembered the color of the nightie I wore our first night together in my bed.

I stared into his smiling, warm, quicksilver eyes in the mirror but I wasn’t smiling.

I was searching.

But it was gone.

“It’s gone,” I whispered, his smile faded and his brows drew together as his arms convulsed tight around me in reaction to my tone.

“What’s gone, baby?”

“That poisonous thing in my belly.”

I felt his body still against mine as his eyes locked on mine in the mirror. Then I was turned from the mirror and lifted up. Automatically, my limbs wrapped around him as he walked us out of the bathroom, into the bedroom and then he put a knee to the bed, twisted and I had my head in the pillows and my man on me.

He didn’t say a word but his eyes searched my face and I let them.

My search was going to be multisensory.

So my fingers went to his face and moved over his skin, his stubbled jaw and chin, his lips, his temples, his thick eyebrows then both hands glided down and wrapped around the sides of his neck where it met his shoulders and my eyes went back to his.

“My wild man,” I whispered. “My snake charmer.”

He closed his eyes and shoved his face in my neck, groaning, “Fuck, Tess. ”

I turned my head so my lips were at his ear and no lies, no masks, no bullshit, no games, I kept whispering when I told him, “I love you, Brock.”

He growled against my skin then his head came up, his hands slid up the silk at my sides, over my armpits, forcing up my arms, they kept sliding up, up until his fingers laced with mine and he planted them in the pillow above my head.

Then he asked, “My sweet fuckin’ Tess, what am I gonna do with you?”

“I’m yours so… anything,” I answered.

His fingers clenched mine then his head slanted and he kissed me hard and deep and wet and sweet and, most importantly, un-fucking-believably beautiful.

I bucked my back, he let go of my hands and allowed me to roll him and we kept making out with him on bottom, me on top, his hands at my ass.

And about that time, as was our luck, a loud knock came at the front door.

My head went up and his fingers dug into my ass as he snarled, “This is fuckin’

unbelievable.”

He had that right.

We waited, frozen in position then it came again.

“Fuck,” he clipped, one hand left my ass, drove into my hair and he positioned my face close to his. “Don’t want whoever’s there to get one of the boys or wake ‘em. I’ll be back.”

I nodded, he lifted his head, touched his lips to mine, rolled me off of him then rolled off the bed. Tagging his jeans off the floor, he pulled them on as another knock came at the door.

Then he tagged his tee off the floor and prowled to the door yanking it on, jeans still undone.

Damn but my man was hot.

The door closed and I pulled his pillow to me, hugging it close and smiling.

Then I smelled his hair on the pillow, his hair, not cologne, not aftershave, all Brock.

My smile got bigger.

Then I rolled off the bed, went to the bathroom and cleaned up thinking about our upcoming day.

No, thinking how much I was looking forward to our upcoming day.

It was Saturday after Thanksgiving. Brock got the boys yesterday at three. Why Olivia didn’t let him have them all day Thursday and Friday considering they had both days off school, I did not know and upon asking Brock, his response was to ask back, “Why the fuck does that bitch do anything?” and I had no clue as to the answer to that question but also, at his response, I decided not to prod further.

Since our plans were what they were for that day, I came over last night, made dinner and spent the night. We were going to see how it went with the boys as to whether I spent the night tonight.

And what we were going to do that day was go out and buy Christmas decorations and a tree and decorate Brock’s tree and house and then we were going to go back out and buy another tree and take it to my house and decorate that.

With the boys.

I already had my Christmas decorations out and at the ready.

Double the Christmas.

Double the joy.

I couldn’t fucking wait.

I rinsed out the washcloth and smoothed it around the edge of the basin. Then I stared at it.

Navy blue, like his sheets, both of which I bought.

My eyes went to my own personal toothbrush in the holder on the wall. Then they went to the shower where my shampoo, conditioner and bath wash was. I’d noted Brock’s brand and bought him shampoo so his was in my shower. He also had a toothbrush at my place.

I leaned forward and opened the medicine cabinet.

My face wash. My body lotion. My moisturizer. My contact lens solution. My deodorant next to Brock’s.

I did the same thing with his deodorant, buying his brand and putting it in my medicine cabinet.

This all came about naturally, no words, no discussion. He came to my place and found the stuff then didn’t say a word but didn’t bother packing it again, he only brought over clothes and when he did, he brought enough to last awhile. I went to his place and saw a new toothbrush in its wrapping on the vanity. A statement. The next time I went over, I stocked his bathroom. He didn’t say a word. Nor did he say a word when I brought a big workout bag filled with fashion selections and, as he did in my house, deposited it in a corner and that was where it stayed unless it was scheduled for rotation.

I smiled again.

Yeah, it was gone. That thing in my belly was long gone.

This different kind of wild was a good, safe place to be.

I closed the medicine cabinet, spied my undies on the floor, nabbed them and slid them on.

Then I walked into the bedroom thinking Brock had been gone awhile. Maybe he was making coffee. Maybe one of the boys was up.

I considered this dilemma. Then I walked to the nightstand, slid my glasses on my nose and walked to Brock’s closet and selected one of his flannels. Soft, oft-worn, burgundy. I slipped it on and it engulfed me.

Okay, it wasn’t a robe but it hid more than most robes and if I saw one of the boys, I could hightail it back to the bedroom and put on clothes.

I rolled back the cuffs then I walked out to the landing.

Then I stopped dead when I heard Brock’s clipped, “Jesus, she’s in the next fuckin’ room, brother.”

To that I heard the whispered, but still loud angry words, “So?” Then, “Fuck, Slim, this is the same damned shit as with Bree.”

Levi.

But who was Bree?

“Leave it,” Brock growled.

“Honest to God you think I’m gonna leave it? You think I’m gonna stand aside, keep my fuckin’ mouth shut and watch you slide over the edge again, tied to another woman with a mountain of problems you think you can fix?”

I sucked in a silent breath and put my hand to the wall.

“Levi –”

“No, Slim, fuckin’ no. You need me to spell it out? I will. Bree got raped, that was tough man, you know I know it. It was ugly, it was brutal, fuck, Slim, it was me who went with you to visit her in the hospital and I saw her, Slim, I fuckin’ saw her messed up, jaw wired, teeth gone, eyes swollen shut, bones broken, same as you. Then you go gung ho, nearly losin’ your job, I might add, pullin’ out all the stops to take that motherfucker down. I get that too. Then she finds her way to deal and she does it usin’ a needle. She checks way the fuck out before she injected too much of that poison and finally checks out. What do you do when your ex-fuckin’-girlfriend overdoses? You leave The Force and take a job with the fucking Drug Enforcement Agency and no one fuckin’ sees you. You’re undercover, livin’ with the scum of the earth on some wild ass crusade to turn back time and bring Bree back. Well, man, you can’t do that. It isn’t Bree’s ass hangin’ out there ‘cause she’s dead. It’s yours. Mom, Jill and Laura, and I’ll admit, me, we all lost sleep with you doin’ that job, wonderin’ when the call would come.”

“Well, now you don’t have to lose sleep, Levi,” Brock said low.

“No, now we don’t. ‘Cause sweet Tess and her cakes are in your life now.”

I moved closer to the wall of the landing and tried not to hyperventilate.

“Careful,” Brock snarled.

“Careful?” Levi asked. “Not even for your own fuckin’ wife, and I will give it to you, I wouldn’t do shit for that bitch either, but not for your own fuckin’ boys did you leave that job but Tessa O’Hara with her haunted eyes walks into your life and what do you do?” A pause then, “No, your answer will be bullshit so don’t even say it because I know because you told Laurie and Laurie told me that you knew before you even approached her to see if she’d accept you back in her life that you looked for a way out of the DEA so you could concentrate on her and give her what you didn’t give Olivia and you couldn’t give Bree seein’ as the bitch essentially killed herself and took her time doin’ it.”

My heart started thumping and me legs started trembling.

Levi kept talking. “And not only that, you lived in your goddamned place since Olivia took your ass to the cleaners but all of a sudden,” another pause where I visualized him throwing out an arm, “here you are in a sweet condo that sweet Tessa of Tessa’s Cakes would find more agreeable. So now you’re a homicide detective with a middleclass condo and five months ago you were an agent for the DEA with a death wish but at least you had a fuckin’

mission and all that is for her. Fuck, I’m lookin’ at my brother in his fuckin’ kitchen with new fuckin’ dishtowels and I don’t even know who the fuck he is because he’s losin’ all that he is, again, for another, lost, haunted soul with a great pair of tits.”

And that was when I moved because it came over me. I didn’t know what it was because I’d never felt it before, nothing like it. But it was there and I had no control of my actions.

I just moved.

And I did it quickly.

So I forged through the abrasive atmosphere of the Lucas brothers’ mood and in the middle of Brock growling something low in response, I ran down the stairs, took three long strides and then ran up the steps to the kitchen.

Brock’s eyes came to me, his mouth snapped shut and Levi turned in the direction of his brother’s stare.

I ignored Levi and launched right in.

“I don’t believe you,” I hissed at Brock.

“Tess –”

I shook my head and made it to him, planting both hands in his chest, I gave him a shove; he went back on a foot, his head jerking in surprise as his hands came up and clamped on my wrists.

I got close and went up on my toes to get in his face and snap, “I told you I didn’t want you to change for me.”

His face went soft and he whispered, “Baby –”

“No,” I shook my head again, tried to yank my wrists out of his hold, failed and gave up.

“I don’t need you to be anything but what you are. Hell, when I fell in love with you I didn’t even know your…” I got closer to his face, “Fucking…” I got even closer, “Name. ”

He let my wrists go but only for his arms to fix around me, I pulled at them but he held tight, murmuring, “Tess, darlin’ –”

“Unh-unh, no way, Brock. I don’t need a nice apartment where I don’t take my life in my hands walking up the rusty, rickety staircase to get to it. Don’t you see? I’d walk through fire if you were what I was walking to.”

“Fucking hell,” Levi breathed and I watched Brock do a slow blink but I was in another zone, totally in pissed off la-la land and there was no going back.

“If you had a dangerous job that took you away from me, it would suck and I’ll admit, I would hate it because I had three months without you and that was enough. But if it meant something to you, I’d suck it up, I’d deal, because I’d know you were doing something you believed in and you’d eventually come back to me so that would be enough for me.”

His arms separated, grew tighter, gathering me closer, his eyes so warm they were liquid mercury and he whispered, “Baby –”

“You can be Brock, you can be Jake, you could call yourself Errol fucking Flynn and I wouldn’t care because, bottom line, you’d be the man for me. I know from knowing a bad one, the worst, I know a good man when I see him and it’s important to me to let him be just who he is, not what he thinks I want him to be.”

“Tess –”

“No, I –”

“Tess –” he growled.

“No, I’m not done –”

“Tess,” he clipped, one arm leaving me so his hand could cover my mouth and his face got in mine, “Shut it. ”

I glared at him.

He held my glare and stared at me.

Then his eyes started dancing and he asked, “Errol fucking Flynn?”

“This is not fucking funny,” I said against his hand so it came out garbled and he burst out laughing, his hand leaving my mouth to become an arm wrapped tight around me again and he shoved his laughing face in my neck.

“I’m not finding anything funny, Brock,” I told the wall behind him as my hands slid up and put pressure on his shoulders (to no avail).

He lifted his head still chuckling and gave me a squeeze.

Then he asked, “Can you shut up for two minutes so I can talk?”

“Yes, but I’ll give you that answer with the warning that you better not say anything that pisses me off or I’m cancelling Christmas.”

His body started rocking and his eyes were still dancing but he wisely didn’t verbalize his still obvious hilarity.

“Right,” he muttered but it came out sounding choked.

“You have two minutes,” I prompted him.

He grinned at me, repeated a muttered, “Right.” Then said, “All right, baby, no games, no bullshit, no lies, you called the scene and I’ve been playin’ by your rules. I told you, shit got hot for me with what I did at the DEA and I was facin’ a desk. I didn’t lie. What I didn’t tell you is that I had an option. They were thinkin’ of transferring me to LA.”

My body grew tight at these words and his arms grew tight with it.

“Now, I got family in Denver, I got kids in Denver and, yes, you are in Denver and my boys are gettin’ older, shit is not right there so I had a decision to make. Bail on all that, leavin’ my boys, and yeah, you behind or takin’ a job with the DPD, doin’ something that has less of an opportunity for my dead body to be found in an alley or stay here, take care of my sons and explore things with you. No lie, you know you meant something to me when I was going over my options so you were part of that decision. But I didn’t do it to change into what I thought you would want. I did it because it was time.”

Oh, well then.

“Oh, well then,” I whispered and he grinned again.

Then he said, “I got that apartment because Olivia worked part-time as a medical receptionist when we were married, she wasn’t very good at it and doesn’t have any other skills except whatever she did to get her bulldog attorney to wring me dry. I didn’t fight that too hard because kids get caught up in that shit and I didn’t want my boys in the middle of a dirty war between their parents. I also didn’t fight because, bottom line, she needed the money to take care of my sons. I lived in a shithole so they wouldn’t. I got on my feet since and two years ago she got herself a man where the extra she asked for and I gave her, I stopped givin’ her. But I had no time or need to move outta that apartment, in fact, livin’

there solidified the cover I was under at the same time it allowed me to set aside a whack. Not havin’ that job or crippled by Olivia, I didn’t need to live there anymore. It isn’t a great place for me to take my woman, for my boys to stay in but, honest to God, babe, I didn’t like it either. I got my shot, I moved out. End of story.”

Hmm.

Maybe I overreacted.

I didn’t share this. I just held his eyes.

His arms gave me another squeeze and his lips twitched.

He knew I knew I overreacted.

Crap.

Then he asked, “Now, I was gonna suggest tomorrow that you go with me and the boys to look at new trucks. My heat doesn’t work, the tires need changing, winter’s almost here and any money spent on that truck is the same as burnin’ it. So are you gonna have a shit hemorrhage if I buy a new truck?”

“I didn’t have a shit hemorrhage,” I denied.

His face dipped to mine. “Baby, you flew up here, put your hands on me and lost your mind. I had to put my hand over your mouth to shut you up. If that isn’t a shit hemorrhage, I don’t know what is.”

Oh man. I did that. I shoved him.

Not good.

“I…” I swallowed. “That wasn’t cool, Brock. I don’t know what came over me. I shouldn’t have shoved you.”

His body started rocking again and he shook his head like he didn’t know what to do with me but, luckily, he was shaking it like he thought I was so damned cute, he didn’t know what he was going to do with me.

“Darlin’,” he said low, “I love that body of yours, all soft, all curves, no way you could take me, even in the middle of one helluva shit hemorrhage and you know it. You didn’t do that to hurt me because you know you can’t. You did it because you were pissed and wanted my attention. There’s a difference.”

“It still wasn’t good,” I whispered.

“You make a habit of it, I agree. You do that often?”

I thought about it. Then I said, “Uh… not to my recollection.”

He burst out laughing again.

I glared at him still not finding anything funny.

“Uh… hello,” Levi called, my body grew tight and Brock stopped laughing and his eyes went over my shoulder.

Damn. I totally forgot about Levi.

All humor was void in his tone when Brock announced, “You and me got problems, brother.”

Uh-oh.

I turned in Brock’s arms and he let one drop but the other one he used to tuck my front in his side and keep me close as I looked to a Levi who had his hands up and his thoughtful hazel eyes were on me.

Then they went to his brother as his hands dropped. “I’m seein’ I might have got it wrong.”

“You think?” Brock asked sarcastically.

“I was –”

“You were doin’ what you do, Levi, mouthin’ off without thinkin’. You gave me the two minutes Tess gave me, I woulda told you the same thing I told Tess.”

Levi’s lips twitched and he reminded his brother, “You had to put your hand over her mouth to get that in there, Slim.”

“All right, next time you mouth off and piss me off, I’ll let loose the urge to find a way to shut your mouth so I can have my say, is that good for you?”

Hmm. It appeared even though Levi admitted he was wrong, Brock wasn’t going to let it go.

It was time for me to intervene mainly because we’d lucked out the boys hadn’t shown in the middle of this drama and the longer we were at it, the more we courted it.

So I found my mouth saying, “Lenore is in love with you.”

Levi had his mouth open to retort to his brother but his head jerked, his mouth snapped shut and his eyes sliced to me.

Brock’s arm around my back gave me a squeeze.

“What?” Levi asked.

“Jesus, fuck,” Brock muttered.

I looked up at Brock to see him scanning the ceiling.

Oh well. It was out there.

I looked to Levi.

“Lenore is in love with you,” I repeated.

He did a slow blink.

Uncanny, just like his brother.

Then he asked, “Did she tell you that?”

“A girl knows,” I informed him.

“A girl knows,” he repeated after me.

I shrugged.

He stared at me.

Damn. I had to keep going.

“Okay, well, you’ll probably never notice shit like this but her outfit at Thanksgiving…

very nice. It suited her. This is good for you if you’re, uh…” I paused then forged on,

“interested in her. She’s young but she knows herself, what suits her. A lot of girls struggle with that through their twenties and into their thirties. She’s already found her style. That’s impressive.”

Levi blinked again.

I kept talking.

“Anyway, what I mean to say it, it was very nice but not too nice. She wanted to make a good impression not to be in your face about how pretty she is or what a great body she has.

And she’s pretty, don’t you think?” His eyes slid to his brother and I kept going. “Well, of course you do.” His eyes slid back to me. “You were with her. My point is she wanted to make a good impression on your family. She thought Thanksgiving was a move forward in your relationship and it was important to her. But I think it wasn’t only that. It was about being part of you, reflecting on you. She wanted your family to like her but she wanted to represent you in a good light to them too. No flashy clothes. No cleavage. Not overboard.

Decent, respectable. She cares about you and what your choice of her says about you.”

Levi stared at me again.

Then he asked, “You got all that from an outfit?”

“Well…” I hesitated, “yeah.”

Brock’s body started rocking again and I looked at him to see he was now staring at his bare feet but he was doing it smiling.

“That doesn’t say she’s in love with me, Tess,” Levi noted and my eyes went back to him.

“No,” I agreed. “It says you mean something to her. I knew she was in love with you when you tested me, your whole family got pissed at you and she closed in on you.”

Levi’s body went visibly still.

Quietly, I went on. “It was automatic. You were pissed, facing off against the force of the Lucas Brigade and she didn’t move away and leave you hanging and she wasn’t afraid of or turned off by your anger. And she also didn’t hesitate. She moved right in and had your back.”

“Christ,” Levi whispered, his eyes glued to me.

“She’s sweet. She’s thoughtful. She’s polite. She has great style. And she’s head over heels in love with you,” I said softly. “So, if you can’t feel that for her, it’s not my place to tell you this and I don’t mean to offend you but I’m speaking on behalf of the sisterhood here, you need to let her go so she can find someone who feels about her the way she feels about you.”

I held his eyes before he closed his and turned his head away.

Crap.

Well, I was out there so I might as well finish it.

“Levi,” I called, waited a moment then his eyes came back to me. “Again, speaking for the sisterhood, if you gave all that devotion and loyalty to a woman and she was a good woman, I swear, honey, you will live every day for the rest of your life until your dying breath never regretting it.”

Brock’s arm got super tight, curling me partially into his front while Levi held my gaze.

When he didn’t speak, I whispered, “I’m sorry. It wasn’t my place.”

“No,” Levi finally spoke. “You’re wrong. Any member of this family has a right to say what they gotta say.”

My lips parted, my belly warmed and I melted into Brock.

“Brother,” Brock murmured and Levi looked to him.

Then he pulled in breath through his nose.

Then he remarked, “It’s good you didn’t piss off your little minx, would suck, Christmas getting cancelled.”

I grinned.

“She wouldn’t do it. Longest Tess has been able to remain pissed at me is five minutes and that was when I came back after she thought I played her when I worked her for the DEA,”

Brock shared.

“Bodes well for you, Slim,” Levi returned.

“Fuck yeah,” Brock muttered.

Oh for goodness sakes.

I cut in, asking Levi, “Are you staying for breakfast with the boys or what?”

He looked at me. “What are you making?”

“French toast with caramelized cinnamon apples.”

Levi did another slow blink.

“Brock loves it,” I informed him when he made no response and continued to stare at me with unconcealed disbelief.

“Uh… yeah. He would,” Levi stated then he looked to Brock. “She cook like this all the time?”

“Man, she owns a bakery,” Brock answered.

Levi looked at me. “I’m stayin’.”

“Good,” I muttered and pulled away from Brock, ordering, “Honey, go wake the boys. I’ll start breakfast. The Christmas trees aren’t going to march in our houses by themselves and we need to get there early. There’s always a rush the weekend after Thanksgiving and we need two good trees.”

“She always bossy?” Levi asked as I turned to the coffeepot.

“No, she’s usually always sweet but Christmas does shit to people,” Brock’s departing voice replied.

I yanked out the coffeepot, turned to Levi and rolled my eyes.

He took that in and, sounding just like his brother and nearly as beautiful as when Brock did it, he burst out laughing.