Branded (Strand Brothers Series Book 1) (2 page)

Once I regained some semblance of composure, he released himself into his hand. Holy shit. He was very large
there
as well—thick, long, and incredibly swollen. I was not convinced he would fit. He pulled out a condom and ripped open the package with his teeth. As he slid it over his impressive penis, his fingers were, once again, sliding in and out of me. He placed the head of his cock into my entrance, and I moaned in pleasure. Slowly, he inched inside me. Just when I thought he couldn’t go any further, he grabbed my ass and lifted. After he fully seated himself, he held still for a moment. “You’re so damn tight,” he growled as his eyes closed.

I wrapped my legs around his waist to get even closer, which caused him to groan. Then, he began to move. It didn’t take long for me to catch on to his rhythm. As I predicted, he began thrusting harder and faster. His hips slammed into my butt with enough force to rock the sofa back. I worried someone could hear the thumping. But there was no way I would stop him. My climax was building, and I knew this one would be even more intense than the other two. He didn’t fail me. My eyes rolled back as the orgasm hit, and then with one more powerful thrust he followed.

As our breathing began to regulate, I stroked my hands across his expansive chest. “You are amazing.”

He pulled out and said, “You’re the astounding one.”

I watched as he removed the condom, tied it off, and put it in his pocket. Then, he stuffed his still semi-erect sex back into his pants. He handed me my panties and watched as I put them back on. Once we were back to rights, he hauled me into his hard body and kissed me senseless. When he pulled away, I was once again breathless. He held out his hand to me and walked over to the door. We stepped out of the room hand in hand.

*****

I turned towards him and queried, “Are you going to tell me your name?”

He shook his head. “And ruin the mystery? Never.”

“But… if I don’t know your name and you don’t know mine, how will I see you again?”

He half-smiled. “I’ll find you, little one,” he promised.

“Mmm.” I pointed out the obvious. “You don’t even know what I look like.”

“Now that’s half the fun.”

Once we reached the ballroom, he pivoted towards me and drew my hand to his lips, where he kissed my knuckles. “Till we meet again.”

I stood there dumbfounded. Before I could say another word, he turned and left. The synapses finally fired in my brain. Oh, hell, no. He was not leaving here until I knew who he was. I searched frantically; however, I was unable to tell who was who in the sea of masks. I reached the door to the outside but couldn’t see in the dark. I slowly pivoted and then scanned the room urgently. It was useless. He was nowhere to be found. I noticed the song playing was “We’ll Meet Again” by Johnny Cash. How ironic. I shook my head to clear the fog and then stepped outside.

*****

I walked to the line of limos. When I heard my name, I turned around to see a couple striding towards me. The woman stuck out her hand. “Hello, Aimee. I’m Ann. And this is Jack,” she introduced.

I shook hands with both of them. “How do you do?”

Jack asked, “Were you going to leave without speaking to us?”

Crap. I’d completely forgotten why I was here. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t able to locate you, and it has been a long night.” Okay, yes, I was lying. I hoped they didn’t figure that out.

Ann smiled, “No worries, my dear. We just wanted to welcome you.”

Well, now I really felt bad. “Thank you.” I smiled. “When would you like me to start?”

They both grinned. “We’ll be in touch,” Jack answered.

Ann replied, “Expect a call on Monday.” They turned to walk back inside. She looked over her shoulder and called, “Have a good night, Aimee.”

I responded, “You as well. Again, thank you.”

With that, I found my limo driver holding the door open for me. I crawled into the backseat and closed my eyes. On the drive back to my apartment, all I could think of was my mystery man. How would he ever find me? More importantly, that had been the best sex of my life, so, how was I supposed to go on like nothing had ever happened? I inhaled deeply and could still smell him on my dress. The memory of his hands, his mouth, on my body brought forth an ache deep inside my core.
Ah, hell, I’m in serious trouble.

Chapter One

Aimee

Five years later.

Talk about a rock and a hard place. How had my life come down to this? I grabbed the note I received yesterday and, once again, read the ominous threat any fool could see.

Aimee darling,

You will agree to be my wife this evening at six o’clock sharp! I will neither accept any delays nor will I put up with you running away from me again. Now that I have your full and undivided attention you will do the following:

Cancel your airline ticket for San Francisco.

Explain to Renée you’ve changed your mind.

Call your parents and give them the good news.

Meet me at the Delmont to greet my constituents. This will be where we make our wonderful announcement.

Yours always,

—C

Damn the man! There was no use taking this note to the police. One, the threat was not spelled out. And two, half of the force was in cahoots with the senator. Well, crap! This was just one huge clusterfuck of epic proportions. Would he hurt someone I loved? More than likely. Not that I thought any of them were in physical danger, per se. But he could make their lives a living hell if he chose. Could he destroy my plans for the future? Without a doubt. Had I overlooked some obvious solution to this nightmare? That’d be a no. I groaned loudly and rubbed my face with my hands. Never in a million years did I want to be tied to such a horrid man. Why I ever got involved in the first place still baffled me. I knew why actually but was ashamed to admit it—even to myself. How stupid. I’d made my bed, so fate deciding I needed to lie in it really shouldn’t shock me. I couldn’t just sit here and sulk. Right now, I needed my best friend. Maybe she’d have some insight into this debacle. If you want to get down to the bare bones of the situation at hand, Renée was truly at the center of it all. No, in truth, that wasn’t quite fair—I’d made the decision. She was only responsible for offering me a solution to my financial woes.
Ah, hell. I need out of my head for a few minutes.
With any luck, together we could figure out a way for me to be free of Senator Caleb Reynolds. I threw the note in my purse and then walked out of my apartment with purpose. Come hell or high water, I was not marrying that man!

*****

Renée opened the door, took one good hard look at me, blew out an exasperated breath and asked, “What’d he do now? I thought you told him to pound salt.”

I shook my head. “I’ve done everything I can think of to make it clear I don’t wanna marry him. Yet he still insists. And now this…” I handed her the note before I sat down heavily on her couch. “You tell me, what more I can do?”

“Shit.”

That truly did sum it up. “Got that right.” I buried my face in my hands. At this point, crying and/or screaming didn’t seem like enough. So when I began to laugh manically, it shouldn’t have surprised me.

Renée more than understood me. She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and stated, “The man is freakin’ delusional.”

One of the things I loved most about my best friend was her ability to hit the nail right on the head. I was finally able to squelch the uncontrollable laughter. “I’m open to suggestions.”

She shrugged. “I don’t have any.”

“Great. So what’re you saying, I have to marry the asshole?”

She stood and began to pace. “What the hell is his game, anyway? I mean, you’ve told him no for the past three months now. Yet he continues. This little gem”—she held up the note for emphasis—“is just asinine.”

I couldn’t agree more. Still, there didn’t appear to be any solution. Sure, I could once again refuse; however, my gut told me he would make good on his warning. Not one single person I cared about was safe from his powerful reach, which meant he had me—there was not a damn thing I could foresee that’d stop him. My eyes began to burn with the tears I’d attempted to tamp down.

Renée looked over at me and comforted, “Oh, hey, none of that. The dickhead just isn’t worth it.”

I really did try to smile, but my mouth just wouldn’t cooperate.

She knelt in front of me and held my hands in hers. “Listen. Go ahead with this thing tonight.” I gasped as my eyes widened. She continued, “Shh, girlfriend. I didn’t say you were going through with it. I’m simply saying, for tonight appease him. In the mean time, I’ll do a little investigating. Maybe there’s something we can find on him, so you can flip the tables.”

I nodded. Because, at that moment, words just wouldn’t come.

She tried to make light of things. “Wear that awesome silver cocktail dress with the shimmer-y Jimmy Choo’s. At least that way, all eyes will be on you the entire night.”

While I rolled my eyes at her, I queried, “What good will that do?”

Her face was fierce when she replied, “He won’t be able to lay a finger on you.”

It was a valid point. In the year that I’d been involved with Caleb, he’d threatened to strike me more than once. But he never followed through. Although I began to realize, pushing him too far might have dire results. And like I said before, he was well connected. Not that I was making any excuses for his behavior, but, the fact remained, in my business getting knocked around really was nothing new. All any of my clients had to say was: “I got a little rough during sex, and she enjoyed it.”

I sighed heavily. Never did I think I would become a high-priced call girl. Really? What little girl dreamt of such a thing? When I started five years ago, it was going to be short term—and I was only going to
escort
. Yeah, right. Let’s face it; the money was too good to walk away from, not to mention my parents really needed the financial help that I had no other way of obtaining. My only true hang-up was that I in no way wanted to be with married men. I learned quickly I didn’t have to be, and, well, as the saying goes, “When in Rome…” Yep, I’ve made a huge mess out of my life. Where did all of my hopes and dreams go?
Oh, hell, no! I refuse to go down that road. What’s done is done.
Time to pull up my big girl panties and face the big, bad wolf. Um…maybe a red dress would be much more appropriate for this evening. I inwardly chuckled.

Renée stood and walked into the kitchen. A couple minutes later, she returned with a shot of whiskey. “Here’s to liquid courage.”

I raised my glass and affirmed, “Hear, hear.” In one gulp, my glass was empty. “Thanks for trying to help me out, Ren. I
do
love you.”

“Yeah. Yeah. What’s not to love?” She preened. Her face became serious when she said, “We’ll figure this out, Aims. Don’t worry about tonight. You’ll be fine, I promise.”

My lips curved up slightly. “From your lips to God’s ears. I’ll text you when I get home. If you don’t hear from me, call in reinforcements.”

When you were in the kind of business we were in, you had to have someone looking out for you. Renée and I had been each other’s safe call since college. I knew if she needed to, Blade would be brought in. The fact that he was Renée’s brother helped immensely. What didn’t help was that he was a mean son-of-a-bitch. You did not want to piss that man off. His name said it all. It was his gang name, and he still lived up to the rep. He scared the living daylights out of me; however, the knowledge that he’d take care of whatever or whomever we needed him to was comforting.

*****

I arrived at the Delmont around five thirty that evening. Caleb spotted me instantly. I was swept into his side tightly before I said, “Hello.”  By the feel of his tense body, I knew this would be a night to tread lightly. He was in no mood to hear the word no. Quite frankly, I was in no mood to fight with him. My decision to be subservient tonight would serve me well. I’d obviously learned a few tricks of the trade—so to speak—when to take the upper hand with a man and when to speak only when spoken to.

Once he finished his conversation with one of his cronies, he turned to me. “You will obey me, Aimee,” he ordered. “I’ll be damned if you refuse me publicly. Are we clear?”

I kept my eyes on the floor and softly answered, “Yes, sir.”

While he stroked my back, he praised, “Good girl.”

I mentally rolled my eyes at him and then flipped him the bird. Please! BDSM was not my thing or his either. He just liked control of any and every situation. I honestly had no problems with that. I was drawn to commanding men, as well as gorgeous ones. Once you got past the whole “do as I say or else” persona, you realized he was quite charming.  With his dark brown hair and chocolate eyes, plus, his lean, athletic build, you had yourself one nice piece of man candy. He ought to come with a warning to all ladies: Look out! No wonder the man held a seat in the senate at the tender age of thirty-eight. He had a charisma that drew you in. There really wasn’t a woman who could resist his thousand-watt smile. Even I had fallen victim, until he slowly began to reveal his true self. Now, the man gave me the heebie-jeebies. Something was off. But after a year, I still couldn’t figure out what it was.

By six the party was in full swing, with Caleb and me taking center stage. In true Caleb fashion, he commanded the crowd. After his spiel, he got down on one knee. “Aimee, my dear, you are my light. I cannot imagine another day without you being my wife.” He held my hand a little too tightly as he popped the question: “Would you do me the honor of marrying me?”

There were “ooohs” and “aaahs” throughout the room. For full effect, a single tear ran down Caleb’s cheek.
Oh, please!
I had to hand it to him, he was good. My bottom lip trembled out shear terror, albeit the effect was magnificent. Even Caleb thought it was from the proposal. I quietly answered, “Yes.” When he dipped me over his arm and kissed me, I was more than surprised. There was triumph in his eyes once he pulled away. This was definitely an oh, shit moment. How would I get out from under this train wreck? I felt like a wild animal that had just been trapped. As cold sweat trickled down my spine,
I chanted to myself:
I will not pass out. I will not pass out.
Nothing helped. Once we were off stage, I politely excused myself. “I need to use the powder room. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”