Draw (Gentry Boys #1)(38)

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, moving hesitantly closer.

“I am too, Say. I am too,” I told her and laced my fingers through hers to show her it was true.

She exhaled with ragged emotion. “So now what?”

I ran my thumb over her palm. “Depends, baby. What do you want?”

She gave me a faint smile. “You already know.”

The boys were at my back, holding off on saying a word for once. I was grateful. Chase unlocked the door to the apartment and he and Creed walked through it silently.

I nudged her. “Let’s go inside.”

She nodded and I snaked my arm around her shoulder as we crossed the threshold. Tonight would be the end of all uncertainty between us. I’d never wanted anything more.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN


SAYLOR



He was a mess. I saw that as soon as I laid eyes on him. I didn’t know if he’d gotten the better end of the fight. It didn’t matter. I didn’t even want him to tell me about it. I just wanted him.

Chase and Creed were trying to stay in the background, which was fine with me. I saw them grab a couple of beers and head out through the sliding glass doors to the back patio. Cord ducked into the bathroom and examined his face in the mirror while I idled in the doorway, watching.

“You should put something on that,” I said, pointing to the small gash above his right eye.

Cord squinted into the mirror and pulled off his shirt. Mixed in with his tattoos I could see the faint bruises on his chest but he scarcely seemed to notice, only smiling vaguely when he caught me staring.

“It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“I’m happy to hear that.” I reached around him and turned on the sink, searching the medicine chest for something with antibacterial qualities.

Even though I had moved so close that my arm brushed against his, Cord didn’t retreat an inch. The only thing I found to treat the cut was a brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide. I motioned for him to sit atop the closed toilet and soaked a wad of toilet paper.

I tilted his chin up, looking critically at the puffy area above his right cheek. “You should probably ice that.”

He grinned. “Don’t you think it gives me character?”

My mouth twitched. “I think you’ve got plenty of that already, Cord.” I pressed the wad to his cut and he winced.

“Shit stings,” he complained.

“You’re a big boy. You can take it.”

He raised an eyebrow and I figured he was about to say something smart but he only watched me patiently as I finished cleaning the cut.

“It’s not bleeding anymore so it’s not that deep,” I told him, closing the cap on the bottle. “But you should take better care of that head.” I leaned over to kiss his forehead, as he had done to mine when we’d sat side by side on the edge of the pool.

But Cord saw where I was going and jerked his head up so that our mouths met. I felt myself sinking, sinking fast, and when he opened his lips slightly I moaned, sliding my tongue inside his mouth. I could feel my body readying, opening like a flower, wanting to take him inside. I knew if he were to search with his hands he would find I was already wet as hell.

But Cord just drew back a little and gave me a grin full of sex and mischief. He looked down at himself and laughed lightly. “I could probably stand to shower.”

I didn’t know if that was an invitation. In any case, I had one of my own. I let my hand travel lightly over his, just grazing the fingertips. “Would you settle for a swim?”

Cord closed his hand around mine. “Yes,” he answered, a gruff undercurrent in his voice which said he understood what I was really asking.

He grabbed a pair of towels from a hallway closet as an afterthought. I slipped my hand into his as we left the apartment and ventured into the hot night. There was a faint breath of humidity, telling the story of the approaching summer storm season. Far off in the east, flashes of light were breaking over unseen mountains.

“What are you looking at?” I wanted to know as he searched the sky.

“Moon’s too bright,” he finally said, holding my hand more firmly. “I’ve had this habit since I was a kid, of searching for the Three Kings.”

“Orion’s Belt,” I nodded, knowing which constellation he meant. “Easier to see out in the desert. Three stars in a row.”

“Three brothers,” he said softly, confirming why he searched for the line of three which shone in the sky for all eternity. The Gentry boys were an entity unto themselves, the three necessary points of a triangle.

The pool was empty, as it usually was at this hour. Cord opened up the gate and shepherded me through it.

I pulled my dress off slowly, knowing he was watching as he unzipped his jeans.

“You went shopping,” he observed.

“What?”

Cord gestured, a smile on his face. “Bra.”

“Oh, yeah,” I flushed, letting the dress fall to the ground.

Cord’s smile disappeared as he watched me walk to the pool and climb down the steps in my black bra and panties. A moment later he joined me. This time he didn’t bother to try and hide the hard arousal fairly bursting through his boxers. I couldn’t wait to feel him inside me.

I wondered what he saw when he looked me over. Maybe he was thinking of the last time he’d undressed me, so long ago in a different place. Cord was looking pretty rough himself; bruised from the fight, wild eyed with lust.