The Payback (Team Zulu 2)

“Don’t stop,” I said on an exhale and would’ve collapsed if Brandon weren’t holding me up. I tightened around his finger, but he only thrust in farther, harder, all while using the pad of his thumb to tease where I needed it most.

The intensity continued building inside me, gaining strength. I rode Brandon’s hand, grinding on him, needing more. Leaning my forehead against his chest, all I could do was savor the feel of him and focus on the perfection of this moment. Whenever I was with Brandon, everything seemed magnified, and this was no exception.

“Brandon,” I moaned, and it sounded like a desperate plea. “I’m so close.”

“I’ll get you there,” he said. “Just let it happen.”

He consumed all my senses. His voice in my ear, his heat and scent surrounding me, his finger inside me. All of it took me higher until I felt like I might implode.

“Get used to this, Sage. Get used to feeling this good because I’m going to give it to you every chance I get. In the middle of the night. When you wake up in the morning. I’m going to know every inch of your gorgeous body. Every scar, every freckle. I’m going to learn what sets you on fire, so the only thing you can think about is what I’m doing to you. Your body and your mind will be filled with me and only me. Do you understand?”

What he offered sounded like perfection. I wanted out of my overthinking head and away from the crushing weight of my world for more than a few fleeting moments. If I gave myself over to Brandon, he’d make that happen. All I had to do was let go.

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Good girl,” he purred in my ear. I wasn’t sure why I enjoyed hearing those words so much, but they made my inner muscles clench around him again. “That’s it,” he said and added a second finger, curling them against that sweet spot deep inside while his thumb circled my aching clit.

“Oh God. Bran—” My hips bucked against him when my release ripped through me, shattering me with its force.

I clung to Brandon, muffling my moans against his chest, and rode out wave after wave of bliss.

Still stroking me slowly as I came down, Brandon tilted my chin up. I was jelly in his arms. His eyes roamed my face. “That was fucking beautiful. But the next time I make you come, you’re going to be under me with my cock buried deep inside you, and I want your eyes on me when I take you over the edge.”

“Okay,” I said with a breathy sigh. Tingles worked their way through me because that was a mental image I was totally on board with.

But then his words hit me.

The next time.

I realized how much I wanted there to be a next time. And a time after that, and so many more, because I didn’t think I’d ever get enough of Brandon. He’d given me a taste of what things would be like with him, and it was too perfect to be true. Staring into those crystal-blue pools and seeing more than lust, I knew he felt the same.

My heart took up an erratic beat, and my stomach plunged in a free fall.

No.No.

This couldn’t be happening. This was everything I’d been trying to avoid since Brandon had slammed into me on the sidewalk. And look at the danger I’d dragged him into since then. He was crazy to want anything to do with me. He’d already been shot once trying to help me. It was only a matter of time before something worse happened.

Dante was still out there, rebuilding, gaining strength. What we were doing was risky. Until the Wolf Street Mafia was wiped from existence, we were in constant danger.

An icy chill washed over me, the same feeling I fought every time I remembered Kieran’s murder and how it should never have happened. I couldn’t go through that again. It’d be even worse this time because I knew better than to drag Brandon into this mess. It was my fault for landing in Vixens, my fault for demanding we take the hard road to get the justice I needed, and my fault for allowing things to go too far between us.

I was to blame for everything.

“Hey.” Brandon’s gentle word drew my attention, and when our eyes met, the joy I saw in his destroyed me. “Where’d you go just now?”

I stepped to the side, shoved his hand away, and fastened my fly.

“Sage?” He came toward me. “What’s going on? Did I do something wrong?” When I shifted away again, Brandon’s features twisted in concern. “Wait. Did I hurt you?”

“No. It’s not that.” I stared at the floor because I couldn’t look him in the eye a moment longer. “This was a mistake.”

“That wasn’t a mistake. That was fucking perfect.” He blew out a sharp breath. “Christ, would you look at me? Did I move too fast? We can slow things down.”

“I don’t want us to slow things down. I don’t wantusto be a thing at all.”

With jaw clenched, he looked toward the curtained window before returning his eyes to mine. “Is it because of Kieran?”

I froze, and all blood drained from my face. Dizziness threatened to overcome me. “What did you just say?”