To Forgive & Hold Safe (The Broken Men Chronicles Book 4) (15 page)

I’d been tending to reservation bookings for the last hour since my arrival when I heard the door to
Fairfax
open and shut.

“We’re closed until eleven,” I said without raising my head and continued to work, keeping an ear out for the door to open and shut once again.  A little annoyed at the fact that whoever had come in hadn’t left, I repeated myself. “I’m sorry, we’re closed right now.”

“And what makes you think I care?  I’m not here for service.”

My back straightened, and my feet reversed a few feet from the man who stood on the other side of the bar from me. Crossing my arms at my chest, I said, “Can I help you?”

His disgruntled demeanor was clear.  “No, you can’t.”

“Then why are you still here?” I asked, sick of this guy’s hostility toward me when I was pretty damn sure I had never seen him before.

“I just wanted to see what my sister-in-law left my brother for.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” His gaze was assessing.  “Yeah, I know you two are fucking.”

“What the hell is your problem?”

He snorted with evident disgust.  “She couldn’t be rid of Lee fast enough.”

“Not that I owe you or anyone in your family an explanation, but I tried to save your brother.” The man had the decency to look surprised.  “I have no clue what kind of deranged sense of thinking you and your family have, but had I not been there, none of them would have lived, and you would have been planning a double funeral.  Now, I suggest that you get the hell out of my establishment before I throw you out.  Unless you’re willing to apologize to Hannah for the way your family’s treated her, I don’t want to hear another word.”

“So she’s been crying to you about it, huh?” The man seemed delighted.  “Good.  She deserves a lifetime of tears for the shit she’s put us through.  I’m not shocked that Lee turned to drinking again.  It’s that damn woman’s fault.”

I was glad that the solid oak bar was between us because I was about two insults away from jumping the countertop and defending Hannah’s honor by tearing this man a new one.

“There’s nothing wrong with Hannah.  It’s you people who make me sick, preying on her when she can’t do much but try and heal, and you’ve taken away all of her options.  What’s next?  Do you not realize that she’s left with nothing?  You have no clue do you?  You’ve never been through what she’s been through.  Well I have!  I know!  I was there with both of them that night!”

I took a moment to gather my wits.  “And about tomorrow’s memorial,” I began.  “We’ll be seeing you there.  For the record, Hannah loved Lee, but I guess you’re too dense to get that.  Just like you and your family, she needs closure, whether you like it or not, and I’ll be there making sure she gets it.”

“If she loved my brother then what the hell is she doing with you?”

“What’s it matter?” I asked.  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.  You’re not worth my breath.  Get the fuck out!”

The man stood there and eyed me from top to bottom, his gaze softening.  “I won’t say anything to my folks about tomorrow, but I’ll warn you… Don’t let her come alone.”

“Don’t worry.  She won’t be.”

Once Lee’s brother left, I grabbed the phone to finish off my last reservation call when the door opened once more.

“Look, if you-”

“Whoa!” Mike said, and my head snapped up to see him standing with his arms in a defensive position.  “I’m assuming that this has everything to do with that bulldozer of a dude that just stormed out of here?”

“Yeah.” I sighed.  “What’s up?”

“I have a wife who’s looking for a girls’ night out, and since she loves Hannah so much, she wondered if she’d want to join in,” he said.

“So your wife’s got you over here doing her bidding?”

“Not quite,” he said.  “Things are crazy at the office.  It got me out. And there’s the fact that Nic’s birthday is coming up and I wanted to see if you had some availability.  Maybe we can use their girls’ night as a diversion?”

I worked out the kinks with Mike for Nicole’s surprise bash, finding myself looking forward to spending time with the gang again, more than I ever could have imagined.

Somehow, Hannah had gifted me with the ability to look forward to future events instead of dreading them like I had been for the last three years.  Mike’s and Nicole’s wedding had been a vast improvement, but those pangs of jealousy of mine had put a damper on my enjoyment.

“So, Hannah?” My best friend snapped me out of my reverie.  “How are things going with you two?”

As my employees trickled in, Mike and I took a seat at the back of the pub, and I filled him in on where she and I stood.

“Do you think she’s ready?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t have taken the chances I have if I didn’t think so.  It’s hard to explain how strong I feel.  It’s fast, but it feels-”

“Right?” Mike’s gaze was assessing.

“Yeah.”

“She’s a keeper, Ben.”

“Why thank you, Mike,” Hannah said, standing right behind him, making him jump.  I couldn’t hold my laughter in any longer.

I had watched her creep up on him with that mischievous glint in her eyes, urging me to stay quiet with a finger held to her lips.

She bent over and kissed him on the cheek to which he blushed, making me laugh harder.  “What are you doing here?” I asked her.

“I’ve got to eat lunch, right?”

“I have yet to eat the breakfast my girlfriend gave me.” I pulled her so she sat on my lap before giving her a quick peck.

“Hold on, girlfriend?”  Hannah smiled proudly and nodded.  “You said things were phenomenal, but you left that little tidbit of information out, Benny-boy.”

“Mike’s got something to ask you,” I told Hannah in an effort to take the heat off of me.

“Since when have you been his girlfriend?” The man winked at me.

“Last night.”

“Answer me this then.”

“Go for it, hot shot.”  She crossed her arms, pecking me on the cheek with a sure-of-herself look on her face.  That confidence of hers was sexy as hell.  “If this is a best friend test, I’ll ace it.”

“When’s his birthday?”

“June twelfth.”

“Who are his parents?”

“Roz and Doug have a game night with my parents every couple of weeks.”

Mike’s eyes met mine in inquiry.

I shook my head.  “We had no idea.”

“How many sisters does he have?”

“Trick question… he’s an only child.”

“What’s his favorite sport?”

She pondered this for a few seconds.  “To play or watch?”

Mike paused, grinned, and said, “Both.”

“Football to play, but to watch…hockey.”

“What does he like to bring when he goes out to someone’s house for dinner?”

“Strawberry cheesecake with a chocolate crust.” Mike looked at her in shock.  “The one I make,” she finished.

My best friend looked at me, his thumb pointing in Hannah’s direction.  “She owns that place?”  I nodded.  “Wow! Okay…Uh…Oh, right!  If a woman walked up to him and made a move, what would you do?”

“I’d watch as she walked off on the verge of tears, rejected because he’s amazing and a one-woman-man that I trust with my life.”

“You know that’s happened right?”

“I don’t doubt it for a second.”

“Final question.”  He paused for effect.  “In the bedroom, what does he like best?” He smirked.  I knew he was only going the mile to see if he’d stump her.  The damn man sure loved a good sparring session.  I’d have to let his wife know that she wasn’t challenging him enough.

“Mike,” I warned.

Hannah looked at me and then back to Mike.  “Seriously?”

The man nodded.

Hannah looked my way again, and shrugged her shoulders. “You asked for it.”  She turned to him with a grin. “Ben likes taking the lead, but loves it when a woman surprises him and takes control over things once in a while.  The kinkier, the better.” She had me stiffening in my seat when she ground her apple bottom in my crotch adding a, “Right, baby?”

I grabbed her hips to stop her movements and groaned.  “Hannah.”

There my woman sat on my lap where she’d rendered Mike into a shocked and speechless fool, while I was a turned on mass that wouldn’t be able to get up and walk around until my junk had relaxed some.

“Fuck,” Mike finally said, meeting my gaze.  “You’re screwed.”

Hannah harrumphed. “Quite literally.”

“I definitely agree with him.” Mike pointed at me.  “You and Nicole in the same room are going to be definite trouble, forget adding Dani to the mix.”

I hooted.  “And you wanted her number for Nikki and her girls’ night.”

“What girls’ night?”

The rest of the workday flew by, leaving me to meet up with Hannah at
Cake It Up
.

Aside from the habitual smell of sugar and vanilla, the next thing that struck my notice was the fact that there was no one around.  I made to the back of the shop, finding the one and only open door.

“You’re here by yourself with the front door unlocked,” I scolded.

“You just missed Cara.  She’s the one who I disappointed this morning by telling her you were off the market.” She got up and came around the desk to face me.  I walked toward her and backed her up so her legs hit the side of her desk.  “Are you ready to go?”

“Since that stunt of yours at lunch, I’ve been ready to
go
all afternoon.” I leaned in to kiss her neck.  “The only question I have for you, baby, is your place or mine?”

She pushed herself up onto her desk, hiking her flowing skirt up to her hips and pulled me in between her thighs by my waist.  Her hands began to unbuckle my belt and she smirked.  “How about right here?”

I stopped her hands’ progression. “We don’t have-”

“Take your pants off, sit in my chair, and look in the bottom left-hand drawer.”  So I did.  I took out a box of condoms and gave her an inquiring look as she began to shed her clothes.  “You didn’t think that you were the only one left horny after Mike’s little game earlier, did you?  I stopped at the drugstore on the way back here and picked some up because I knew that you were running low at home too.”

“Damn!” My hand released my cock from my unzipped pants.  “That desk is going to need to be cleared.”  I watched as she turned that lacy-briefed-butt of hers toward me and after slipping on the condom, I pounced.

I bent her forward onto her desk, the desk clearing simply being a diversion, just so her back was facing me for what I had planned.

My hand reached around her, two fingers dipping into her core, settling to rub her bud with their slickness.  “You’re not getting away with your earlier teasing, and I do believe that I owe you after being so reserved with that kiss this morning that it made you think of me as a brother.” I removed my hand to grab her underwear, and pulled them to the side.  I grabbed my length and rubbed against the crease of her heat.

“Oh, God!  Let me turn around, Ben.  Please!  I want to see you.  I need-”

Her words left the second my shaft sank into her moist core.  Her body stiffened as she pushed herself up onto her hands and my arms wrapped around her waist, pressing my front to her back as I began to thrust.  She leaned her head back on my shoulder and let me take her along for the ride.

Her arms cradled the back of my head, the slight stinging as she tugged on my hair added to the sensation of pleasure.

We were well on our way to bliss when, “Hello… Hannah?” came from the front of the store, making my woman stiffen.

“Who’s that?” I whispered against the side of her neck, scraping my teeth along its length.

“My mom.”

“What?”  I pulled myself out of her, immediately missing our connection.

“Quick, get your clothes on!” she hissed and I rushed.  “Hold on, Mom, I’ll be right out!”

“If you’re busy, I can come back, honey.”

Yes!  Please!

“It’s fine, Mom.”  She was grumbling as she left me in her office.

I tried to listen in on their conversation, wondering if we’d been found out, but I couldn’t make sense of the bits that I was able to hear.  I heard a squeal of delight and clapping hands.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Benjamin!” the older woman said as I heard her footsteps retreat.  “Just a quick pointer guys… lock the door.”

Busted!

The sexual tension had reached a boiling point by the time Hannah and I got to her home.

As her front door opened, I wasted no time, rushing us through the threshold, slamming the door shut behind us and securing the deadbolt. I was done with interruptions.

Turning Hannah so she faced me, I grabbed her head and crashed my lips to hers, hungrier than I’d ever been for a woman in all of my life.  She jumped up, wrapped her legs around my hips.  “Upstairs,” she said into my mouth as I took in her taste.

No longer caring about the bed she’d barely shared with her husband, I carefully made for her bedroom.

Unceremoniously dropping her to the mattress, my hands got to work on my pants, then threw my shirt to the floor as she shimmied out of her skirt.

I growled at the sight before me as she sat up, took her shirt off, undid her bra, and threw them to the side before she kneeled in the middle of the bed, fully bare for my taking.

Crawling up the mattress to her, my hands grabbed her roughly around her hips and pulled her so my sheathed shaft rubbed up against her core.  Her arms wrapped themselves around my shoulders as she whimpered the moment I probed the entrance to her folds.  My length slid slowly inside her heat, throbbing with the tension of unreleased passion as she straddled my thighs.

Buried deep inside her, Hannah pulled my face in for a searing kiss and began grinding against me.  She felt as soft as silk and tasted as sweet as sugar. I needed more.

Hannah rode me until she exploded first, at which point I laid her down and covered her body with mine without disconnecting us.  I thrust long and deep, powerful yet with enough gentleness so as not to bruise her.  Once wouldn’t be enough.  Not today.

Her core gripped me like a vice, initiating my release.  I can’t recall a time where my climax had been that explosive. Every time Hannah and I came together was better than the last.

As the night wore on, I could feel Hannah’s apprehension about tomorrow’s memorial growing.  It left me debating if I should tell her about Lee’s brother’s visit.

We were cuddled on the couch, watching the evening news when I decided to open up about it, only realizing then that I should have said something when she had mentioned the memorial earlier.

“You never mentioned that Lee had a brother.”

Hannah stiffened in my arms.  I ran my fingers over her arm so as to calm her.  “What about Luke?”

“He paid me a visit earlier today.”

She pushed me back so she could sit up.  “I’m so sorry.” Her eyes welled up.  “I shouldn’t go.  I’ll find another way.  Maybe-”

“Hannah, it’s okay.  We’re going.  Your parents are coming, and I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks, and neither should you, but you’re going to be there.”

“What’d he say?”

“He suspects something.” I shook my head.  “I’ve never met anyone so damn bitter.  What’s the history with you two?”

She shrugged her shoulders and looked down at her hands.  “He blames me for Lee’s drinking.”

I snorted.  “He said as much.”

“What do you mean by ‘he suspects something’?”

“He knows that you left Lee.  I don’t know how, and I never told him that I knew you had.  In fact, I never told him that you’d been pregnant.  It’s none of his business.  He knows that I was there on the road that night.  I think he’s been following you.  He accused you of being with me and claimed that’s why you left his brother.”

“What’d you say?”  Her eyes were wide.  “Oh, God! I can’t go now!”

“I told him that I didn’t owe him any answers.  It wasn’t his business and I never gave him any indication that I was anything more than a friend of yours.”

She nodded. “Anything else?”

“The way he spoke about that night struck me as odd.  It’s like they don’t seem to have the full story on what happened…or maybe they’ve only heard what they wanted to hear.” I grabbed Hannah’s hand and squeezed it.  “And I don’t think they’re ready to listen, but Luke had no choice but to hear me out.  I think I might have hit a nerve with him, and he walked away with something to think about.

“I asked him to put himself in your shoes.  Told him that I understood that they were hurting, but that their grief clouded their perception. They never took the time to realize that you were dealing with your own demons along with their bullshit.” I grabbed her hand.  “For Christ’s sake, Hannah, they never even called you, or sent flowers!  They never bothered to check on you when you were in the hospital.  What kind of family are they?”

Hannah was crying silent tears by the time I was finished. I pulled her into me, holding onto her tight.  She gripped me hard and I knew that there was no way that these tears would be done until at least after the memorial.

“You shouldn’t have had to do that,” she whispered.

“But I did and it needed to be done.”

“I need to learn to stand on my own two feet where they’re concerned.”

She did, but all in good time.  “I didn’t mind.” I pulled on her hair, tilting her head so I could look into her eyes.  “I would do it again if I knew it would make a difference.  It’s not a matter about who’s hurting more, it’s a matter of respect.  They didn’t respect you and I have a feeling they never have.  I can’t have that, Hannah.  You’re-”

Her fingers covered my lips.  “Thank you,” she muttered, then pressed her lips to mine in a tender show of appreciation.

“You’re welcome, but I don’t think it’s all done and dealt with, sweetheart.” I tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ears.

She sighed.  “I know.  Did he say anything about the memorial?”

“He was adamant that you don’t go.” I sighed.  “I told him it wasn’t an option.  He understood and said he wasn’t going to say anything to his folks, but to make sure you weren’t there alone.  I think he expects fireworks.”

“I’m having a hard time thinking that it’s a good idea to keep them in the dark.”

“How about you don’t think on it right now.  We can deal with it all when the time comes.”

She nodded and I kissed her forehead.

“Can you stay the night?” she asked.

“I didn’t know I had the option to leave.”

“You always have the option, Ben.  I don’t ever want you to feel obligated to stay.”

“I stay because I want to.” I cupped her cheek in my hand.  “Not because you’re someone I feel like I need to coddle or protect.  You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.  I know that you’d be well on your way even if I weren’t here.”

She smiled.  “You always know what to say, don’t you?”

My shoulders shrugged.  “I’ve been there.  I forced everyone away.  I learned to deal with things on my own even though it never worked out like I’d planned.”

“You seem all right to me.”

“You didn’t know me three years ago.” My laugh lacked any humor.  “I was a right bastard to anyone that approached me with what I felt was pity.  It was easier to be alone and bitter than to deal with not knowing what I’d see and hear from my surroundings.”

“And now you have to grieve all over again.”  She was speaking about Candace’s secret life.

“True, but it’s a bit easier when you find out that the person you chose to spend your life with had been betraying you for years.”

It was true.

The lack of respect I found myself having toward Candace, the anger, the bitterness… it all helped me in some way to move forward and seek out something better.  The sadness had been there, but with Hannah in my life, I was moving on pretty quick.  Hell, I was falling in love with one woman, while falling out of love with another!