A look of sadness settled into her face, and Abbi quietly said, “That’s not true. I don’t think you’re meant to hurt others.”
“Maybe she meant I was supposed to hurt. I don’t know. I never asked. Even as she lay dying in that hospital bed, the only thing that brought a smile to her face was telling me I was meant to hurt.”
“I can’t stand to see you like this, Kane. You’ve never been anything but caring and protective of me. How can anyone say you’re meant to hurt? People are meant to love, not hurt one another.”
“Maybe some of us can’t do anything else but hurt—others and ourselves,” I said as I thought about the reality of my life.
“I don’t believe that. You’re a good man. You got that tattoo because you don’t want to hurt people. I don’t know what these demons are inside you, but I believe you fight them with everything in you. If you didn’t, you’d hurt me too, and you don’t.”
I pulled her on top of me and held her close, feeling her heartbeat against me. “What I did last night hurt you, and I’m sorry. I let my demons run loose, and that’s what happens.”
Abbi softly placed her finger up to my lips. “Shhh. No more about that. For now, I don’t want to think about anything that happened. All I want to do is feel you inside me as you show me how much you love me.”
My hands ached to touch her, to cup her beautiful breasts in my palms and squeeze those dark pink nipples between my thumbs and forefinger. I slid my hands down her soft back and gripped her ass hard in my hands.
“Stay with me, no matter what I do.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Kane.”
For the first time with her, I didn’t hold back. She clung to my neck and with one sharp thrust I filled her. Her cunt was hot and wet, and I couldn’t get enough of her. I’d have given anything to just get lost in her forever.
Her body met mine with each time I pushed into her as my demons whispered, “She’s not frightened. Show her why she should be.”
But I didn’t want to hurt anymore. I wanted what Abbi gave me. I wanted to love.
Sliding out of her, I rolled her onto her back and slowly planted kisses down her body, loving the look of ecstasy in her eyes. With my thumbs, I spread her open and ran my tongue over her delicate skin to her clit, swollen and waiting for attention.
Abbi moaned softly above me and quietly begged for me to give her what she needed. “Oh, God…right there. Oh, that’s it…”
I kept my eyes focused on her and sucked her clit gently into my mouth, flicking the tip of my tongue against her silky skin. She closed her eyes and bit her lower lip, and I watched as her expression softened as my mouth inched her toward release.
Lifting my head from between her legs, I ran a finger down her wet slit, adding another as I reached her entrance. Her hands urged me back to where I’d been, but instead I slid two fingers into her, curling them against the tender skin of her willing cunt.
“You’re so wet,” I whispered against her body and slowly pumped my fingers in and out of her, loving the sound of her moans. She was close, and I knew all it would take to send her over that delicious edge would be a few more deliberate drags of my tongue over her clit.
She pulled me by the back of my head to take her to that place, and a few seconds later her orgasm exploded inside her. Dragging her fingernails across my scalp, she closed her legs around my head and rode my mouth in that erotic way that never failed to thrill me.
When her thighs finally stopped quivering, I sat back on my heels and licked my lips to savor the taste of her as she grinned sweetly up at me. “You look beautiful lying there like that.”
“Like some boneless creature totally satisfied by an incredibly hot man she loves?” she said with a giggle.
“Exactly, except that man loves her too.”
I showed up to the weekly meeting with Cash and Stefan late, but as far as I was concerned, I had an excuse—spending time with Abbi before the shit hit the fan. It hadn’t yet, which made me wonder what was going on in the D.A.’s office since I should have heard something by now. Every day I woke up expecting to hear something from Jessup, but he’d heard nothing and we’d taken the position that no news was good news.
“Nice to see you again, big brother,” Stefan teased as I sat down next to him. “We were wondering if you’d ever show your face again or if you planned on spending the rest of your days playing house with Abbi.”
“I would if I could, but then who would run our little funhouse upstairs?” I joked as I folded my hands behind my head.
“Any news from Jessup?” Cash asked with concern in his voice. “It’s been over a week. Long enough he should have heard something.”
I shook my head, as baffled as he was. “No. Nothing yet. I don’t get it either. Have you talked to Mason?”
“No. I’ve called a few times, but his secretary always takes a message and he hasn’t gotten back to me. I don’t like that.”
I sighed and blew the air out slowly. I didn’t like Mason’s behavior either. Stefan jabbed me in the arm. “Let’s call him now. Enough fucking around with these two. If he’s going to try and bury us, then let’s hear it from him instead of playing these fucking cat and mouse games.”
Turning to look at Stefan, I had to admit he’d really changed from the selfish younger brother who irritated me to no end to someone I knew had my back. It was a nice change.
Cash seemed less impressed with this new Stefan. “This is a delicate matter. We need to tread carefully.”
“Talk about shit we’re not doing. Cash, this guy thinks he has us by the balls. We need to show him and that brother of his that not only isn’t Kane going to jail for a simple bar fight but that Jethro asshole should consider himself lucky Kane didn’t fuck him up more for messing with Abbi.”
“Thanks, Stefan,” I said in near shock.
“We’re brothers, Kane. When someone fucks with one of us or the women we love, they fuck with all of us. Right, Cash?”
We both turned to face him, and he sat with his mouth hung open in similar amazement at Stefan’s brotherly behavior. “Okay, maybe you’re right. I might have been playing this too cautious. It’s up to you, though, Kane. You’re the one who has to pay in the end if this is a mistake.”
The real fear that stirring up the hornet’s nest might cause me to have to leave Abbi sooner than I ever wanted to raced through me, but I couldn’t just sit around and wait to find out my fate.