Tyler (Inked Brotherhood 2)

He snaps his body up, slamming deeper into me, and I distantly hear him cry out as his cock swells and jerks in my still pulsing core, sending another dizzying wave of pleasure through me. His hips buck as he thrusts again and holds, his lower body rising off the sofa, lifting me. I can feel his cock still jolting, drenching my insides with his heat.

I fall forward and he catches me, wrapping his arms securely around me so that I’m lying fully on top of him, my head on his shoulder. Every twitch of his cock, still nestled inside of me, makes me gasp, and Tyler chuckles.

Oh God. Sex with him is getting better and better. It’s mind-blowing. Not to mention that just spending time with him, curled by his side, feels way too good. Like I’ve been on an endless, lonely road trip, and now I’ve come back home.

I don’t want to move, ever. I don’t want to let go even to roll off him, and I especially don’t want to say or do anything to break this moment—like talk about children, when we’ve barely started talking about the past, let alone the present or the future.

“You okay?” Tyler asks, his hands coming to lay, warm, on my bare back. “Have you fallen asleep?”

“No. I’m just comfortable,” I mumble on his muscled shoulder.

“You’re so cute like this,” he whispers, a reverence in his voice I’ve never heard before. “I want…”

He doesn’t say what he wants, and curiosity gets the better of me. I turn my head to look and find myself nose to nose with him. My eyes widen and he laughs quietly.

“I want to protect you.” He nuzzles my cheek. “Keep you warm. Keep you safe. I’ve rarely felt this way before in my life.”

“You’re protective of your brother.”

“Yeah.” He’s silent for a beat, his gaze clouding over. He clasps the pendant I gave to him years back for his birthday. A tree of life. “I came back for Asher, but let’s be honest. I’m a shitty big brother. I never even realize the shit he was going through.”

“Neither did I.” I brace for impact as I confess. I lay my hand on Tyler’s cheek. “I didn’t help him at all. I was so angry with him, thinking he knew where you were and wasn’t telling me. I wasn’t there for him, Tyler.”

A sound rumbles through his chest, and I realize it’s a bitter chuckle.

“You and me both, then,” he mutters. “We let people down, let each other down, and yet here we are.”

It’s not funny. Then again, I don’t think he thinks it is, either. We’re both made mistakes.

“I’m not good at protecting those I love,” he whispers.

“Don’t say that.” I think of Jax. “I bet Asher followed you around like a puppy when he was little.”

“Yeah, he did.” Tyler rolls his eyes. “I suck with kids. He got on my nerves constantly, but always came back when I sent him away. Shit. I shouldn’t be allowed around kids. It’s a wonder Ash still wants to talk to me.”

My chest constricts. I bite my lip, trying to keep myself together. Does this mean he doesn’t like kids?

I lift the pendant of the tree of life off his chest. “Do you know why I chose this gift for you?”

He shakes his head.

“The tree of life symbolizes a crossing. A meeting point. An intersection between life and death, the known and the unknown, the past and the future.”

He looks down at it, then lifts his gaze at me. There’s a question in his dark eyes.

“You are your past, and your present and all the possibilities I saw in you from the start. You’re funny. You’re honest. You’re kind. What you went through hasn’t changed who you are. Asher knows it. I know it.”

He puts his hand over mind. “Asher and you are the two people in the world I’d fight for.”

I stroke his cheek. “I’m sure there are more.” Like Jax.

“I don’t think so. I only have Ash. And you.” He reaches blindly to the side and pulls his wallet out of his jeans. He draws out a photo and gives it to me. It’s a photo of me when I was fifteen.

I stare at it, dumbfounded. “You have this with you?”

“Always.” He gives me a faint smile. “I printed it out before I left Madison. With Uncle Jerry I didn’t have a cell phone or a laptop, and I got used to keeping it with me.”

Oh God, I don’t know what to say. I think I’m going to start bawling. He’s been carrying around my name inked on his arm, my pendant and my photo. All these years I thought he had forgotten all about me, that he’d walked away without a second thought, when in fact he’d never let me go.