Criminal: A Bad-Boy Stepbrother Romance (12 page)

He shakes his head.

“Just the one double. There’s a school
group in,” he replies, and my heart beats faster, my body
feeling suddenly warm.

“So it’s just the one room, nothing
else?”

“Right. You want it?”

I head back to the car, keys clutched in my hand.

Kaiden looks like he’s passed out, and I rush
over to him. But before I can even reach out and shake his shoulder,
his eyes open and he looks to me.

“Don’t tell me we’re sleepin’
in the car. As I recall, that didn’t work out so well for you
last time,” he remarks with a wry smile. He sees me dangling
the keys and pushes the door open to get out.

“They only have the one room,” I say as I
try to help him out, “but they have a vending machine in the
lobby with some Tylenol and water.”

I feel hot and uncomfortable, though, and the thought
of sleeping with him in the same bed is messing with my mind.

He looks down at me as we make our way to the room.

“There’s something else you’re
keeping from me?” It’s half-accusation, half-question.

I hate that he can tell, and I just shrug, trying to
look nonchalant.

“Just the one bed is all.”

He’s looking down at me, brow arched in silent
questioning as we reach the door.

“I dunno if either of us is in much shape for
sleeping on a floor tonight,” he says. He’s still holding
his side as he leans against the door and I work the old-fashioned
keys in the door. “And as old school as this place is, they
might take issue with us livin’ in sin like that.” He has
a big grin on his broad, handsome— but battered— face.

I roll my eyes, but I have no idea how to feel about
it as I push the door open and take in the familiar smell. It’s
like I’m taken back five years, and I’m just a kid again.
But I flick on the light and help Kaiden to the bed and I’m
reminded of just how much I’m not.

“Stay here, I’m going to grab you some
Tylenol,” I say before making my way out once more and to the
machine. I’m grateful for the time away, but honestly, all I
can think about is coming back to him.

Spending the night with him.

It’s so wrong, picturing his body pressed to
mine, the way it makes my knees tremble with desire and my hands
shake with uncertainty. Maybe I should just spend the night in the
car, get away from it all and then just... take off.

But I know I can’t. We’re in this
together now, and I’m not going to run from it.

When I return to the room with the Tylenol and water,
though, and see him shirtless, laying back on the bed, I can’t
help but stare.

His broad chest exposed, thick, corded muscles all on
display as he rubs at his body, testing his ribs, clearly checking to
see if any were broken. He's bruised, badly so, and cut in a few
places, but none of that ruins just how much sex appeal my he has as
he lays there, inspecting himself.

“Luckily, none of those idiots were clever
enough to buy a pair of steel-toed boots,” he says. Judging by
the grimace he gives as he presses along one rib, though, they’d
done one hell of a job without it anyhow.

I go into the bathroom, grabbing a towel before
returning to him, kneeling on the bed.

“Here,” I say, passing him some pills and
the bottle of water as I bring the slightly wetted towel to the bow
of his lip, cleaning him of the blood from his nose.

The motel is completely silent, and I know it’s
probably just before dawn. There’s that strange stillness in
the air, like all the world has fallen away. Everyone but Kaiden and
I, holed up in a motel room at the edge of town.

“We should really go to a hospital,” I
say with a whisper, my hand reaching out, trembling before I lightly
touch my fingers to the bruise along his side. He winces, and I
withdraw my hand, but I continue to stare.

“You know we can’t do that,” he
says, his bare chest heaving with his heavy breathing. He’s a
massive man, and so battered and bruised, he looks like he’s a
gladiator from out of the past, having come to save me when I needed
him most.

He lets me clean his wounds with the wet towel,
knocking back the pills and water after I move from his face, on down
to his bloodied torso. Though all the while, his eyes are upon me no
less intently than mine are on him.

“Whatever happens, I don’t want you to be
in any more trouble, Princess. You hear me? That money is sittin’
and waiting for you, and whatever comes, I need you to be safe, so I
know you’ll be able to enjoy it. That means more to me than
anything right now,” he says, his husky voice so rough and
firm.

When I don’t respond fast enough for him,
pondering his words and what they meant, he reaches out, grasps my
arm and squeezes. His bicep bulging as he does.

“You hear me, Princess?” he says, but his
words aren’t angry, they’re… loving.

My eyes flit to his, and I nod gently, though I have
that sick feeling in my stomach and I know I’m not going to run
this time.

More importantly, I’m not going to let him run.

I hold his green, smoldering gaze and swallow.

There’s always been this strange emotion, this
connection, and we’ve both tried so hard to ignore it. It
wouldn’t be bad just to ignore it one more night. Just fall
asleep, like we were kids sharing a bed.

I sit back, putting the towel aside before taking off
my high heels and letting them drop to the floor.

“We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

Though how I would keep my calm next to my girlhood
crush, when he’s lying there, glistening and bare-chested,
looking gloriously tough after putting his life on the line for us
both…

He doesn’t quite let go of my arm though, and
no sooner are the heels off than he tugs me in. I land upon his lap,
where he clearly intended me, and he pays no heed to the pain that
must’ve caused on his battered form.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had so
clear a view of what to do in my head than right now, Abby,” he
says, his voice deeper, darker. Filled with lusty desire that made
him into a man that was irresistible to all the ladies.

Me included.

“I saw my life flash before my eyes back
there,” he says, continuing on as he looks over my face before
resting his gaze back to mine. “And my only regret… was
not letting you know how much you meant to me. How much… how
much I fuckin’ wanted you in my life. In every way.”

I pause there, in part because I’m afraid of
hurting him, and in part because I’m simply stunned by his
words. There’ve been hints, clues, little subtle things that I
kept thinking were all in my head, but now...

Now there’s no denying it.

Staring up at him, I swallow, and my lower lip
trembles as his hand moves from my hand, running up my forearm, then
my bicep, then up to my jaw, forcing my gaze to not falter from his.

“I know it’s wrong, dammit,” he
curses, the words so raw and unhindered, spilling out after long
being kept in check. “And you can pull away at any time and
I’ll stop… pretend none of this ever happened, if you
will, Princess. But… fuck it.”

That was that. He had lost his patience for words,
and simply pressed in, pushing his lips to mine and kissing me hard
and deep. His eyes shut as our mouths melded, his tongue sliding
between the seams of my lips and beyond, despite the groan of pain he
couldn’t suppress.

I’d thought about it for so long, daydreams and
fantasies alike all centered on those lips meeting mine, yet the
reality of it could never have compared to those thoughts. Of how
firm his lips are yet how soft and yielding they are against mine,
how insistent he is. My breath is short, and I can barely contain
myself as his tongue caresses mine.

My better judgment tells me to do just what he
offered. Pull away. Stop it. Stop him. This is
wrong
.

But I can’t. There’s a shy, hesitant moan
that escapes me, and no matter how wrong it is, I’ve wanted him
for so long...

Kaiden pulls me in closer against him, all the
bruises and battered bones be damned, he wants me pressed in against
his flesh and that’s what he takes. And I can feel him…
so lewdly pressed beneath me, that manhood which had pleasured so
many women just a couple of feet from me through the walls between
our rooms… it was now not even an inch away.

Separated only by his dusty jeans.

Our lips smack, and he wraps both arms around me,
resting his hard, strong hand upon my thigh running up to my hip as
he squeezes and rubs at me. He’s insatiable for me, and his
every motion speaks to that. There’s no longer any hiding just
how deep the well of his emotions run.

They run at least as deep as my own.

And the fact that I don’t pull away, that I
don’t run, that speaks volumes and only encourages his motions.

Most of my clothes are torn, my miniskirt barely
covering my ass, my tank top stretched and loose. I feel dirty, sore,
and yet I don’t care about any of that.

Instead I push back against him, my hand going to his
shoulder as I rub him.

I can’t believe it’s finally happening.
It’s so surreal, but if it’s a dream, I don’t want
to wake up.

Those strong fingers of his slide up along my thigh,
in underneath my skirt to grasp at my bare cheek to the side of my
panties. My shame is cast aside by him as he kisses me deeply and
feels my body.

It isn’t long before he pushes me over, onto my
back atop the bed as he comes with me. His big, broad form looming
large as he kisses me, feels me.

Appreciates my every inch.

It’s like a testament to how great his desire
for me is, and how strong he is, that his powerful body holds itself
up over me with all feelings of pain pushed aside. Forgotten.

And with it went all the cultural taboos. The fact
that we both know this is forbidden, if not legally, then socially.
The fact that we both know we’re off-limits to one another.

The fact that that’s what’s kept us apart
for so long.

But with his heavy, muscular body weighing down on
me, I’ve never felt more right. Despite the fact that I’m
a virgin, that I’ve never gone further than a little touching
with a guy, and had heard him screw so many women, that was what got
me the most.

If there’s anyone in the world I wanted to give
my virginity, though, it’s him.

I knew he would understand my body better than even I
could, judging by the many pleasured sounds I heard each night for so
long. And I knew, beyond all shadow of a doubt, that he would look
out for me.

His actions tonight prove it.

Kaiden squeezes my ass cheek, then slides his two
hands up my side. He takes hold of my flimsy tank top, the garment
already ripped, and pulls it up over my head to grasp at my breasts.
His fingers sink into the flesh over the top of my bra, and though I
was tiny—oh so tiny compared to the women he went with!—he
revels in my breasts as if they were the most sumptuous tits he’s
ever felt.