Extreme Danger (McClouds & Friends #5)(71)

He wished. “None of your damn business,” he said mildly. “Butt out.”

“Fuck, no! No way am I butting out! If I don’t butt in, who will?”

Nick had nothing to say to that, having never had siblings, or any family at all who gave a f*ck about him after Mom died. The concept of family butting into his business was foreign to him. Still, he liked the feisty kid, even if he was getting reamed out. Josh was protective of his sister. He put his heart into it. He got points for that.

“Bad enough what that slimy buttface of an ex-fiancé did to her,” Josh fumed on. “Now she’s picking up punks off the street? Jesus!”

Punk? Nick stomped on the laughter before it escaped. It wouldn’t endear him to the guy. “She didn’t exactly find me on the street.”

“I don’t care what gutter she scraped you out of. Like, what the f*ck are your intentions?” the kid bellowed.

“Intentions?” he repeated, at a loss. Christ, he lived from second to second, just trying not to get killed. He never intended anything.

“Are you just going to dip your wick and then f*ck off?”

He had the odd sensation of something or someone speaking through him. “No,” he said slowly. “That is definitely not my intention.”

“Uh, good.” Josh sounded nonplussed. “Because if it was, I’d, like, have to kick your ass.”

“Gotcha,” Nick soothed. “I get the ass-kicking part. Loud and clear.”

“Do not hurt her.” Josh’s voice wobbled with intensity. “She’s taken enough shit from worthless bastards. She deserves better.”

“Yeah, she does,” he said. “And, uh, I won’t.”

He felt like a lying prick. Christ, with his track record? He’d never gotten close to a woman without eventually hurting her.

Josh hung up. Nick let the receiver drop from his ear, dazed. Another surreal vignette. Fending off the furious brother while his dick waved wild and free outside his jeans, like a flag in the wind. Wow.

“Your brother’s very protective of you,” he observed.

Her hands were still clamped over her cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “He’s really excitable. I shouldn’t have given you the phone.”

“It’s OK,” Nick said. “I kind of liked him, actually.”

She dropped her hands into her lap, incredulous. “You what?”

“He gives a shit,” Nick said. “I like that quality in a person. My only problem is, I’m not sure whether I promised to marry you, or keep my hands off you. And if I get it wrong, he’ll kick my ass.”

She dissolved into giggles, tears squinching out of her eyes. “Don’t worry,” she said breathlessly. “I won’t hold you to either one.”

“Have you got any more family that I should be looking over my shoulder for?” he asked. “Dad with a shotgun? Mom with an Uzi?”

“Just a sister. Carrie’s nineteen. Josh is twenty,” she confessed. “Our parents died a long time ago. I raised the two of them myself.”

He blew out a long breath. “Wow. That’s heavy.”

“Yeah, it was, pretty much.” She gave him a tremulous smile. “Well. I guess that kind of killed the moment, huh?”

Shit, shit, shit. Mayday. Going down. “Depends,” he said, trying to maintain a deadpan expression in the face of his own lust. He grabbed her small hand, pulled it down and wrapped those soft, smooth fingers around his turgid cock. “Personally, I think the moment’s alive and well. In fact, this part of me never even noticed the interruption.”

She stared down at him, stroking and exploring with those light, feathery fingers till he thought he would scream. “I see,” she whispered.

“If I’m going to get my ass kicked, I might as well make it count, right?” He retrieved the condom from where it had fallen on the rug, and put it into her other hand. Crossing his fingers. Please. Please.

She shook with a burst of silent giggles, and finished ripping the condom open and pulling it out one-handed. It took her for-f*ckingever to pry the thing out and fumble it over his dick. He was just about to end the ticklish torture, yank it out of her hands and get it on himself when she finally rolled the lubricated latex slowly up the length of his shaft, with one long, tight, fantastic squeezing stroke.

“It looks awfully snug,” she commented, sounding worried.

“It’s great,” he said, his voice strangled. “Please. Do that again.”

She made that soft little laughing sound, and obliged him, petting and pulling and milking his cock until he was gasping for air and clutching her, his arms shaking.

God, he loved that sound, that breathy happy gurgle. He wanted to hear more of it. It made him feel…he didn’t even have a word for it. He didn’t even have a place for the feeling, but it spurred him to grab her and kiss her again.

That awkward hand job was the most erotic sensation he’d ever felt. He’d got lucky, damn lucky. A soft, fragrant, laughing woman filling his arms, her soft lips opening, her shy tongue retreating before his, and then slowly responding. Becca was sweet beyond belief.

He cupped her head and deepened the kiss till he was practically drowning in her—and knocked those weird black glasses askew. Oops.