Never Trust the Living (Battle Crows MC Book 7) Read online

  That was news to me.

  “What? Why?” I asked.

  He sighed, his fingers continued moving up underneath my shirt to play with the skin along my spine.

  “Mimi was clingy. And when I say clingy, I mean she never even let me go to the bathroom without coming to check on me if I was over ten minutes.” He sighed. “And I didn’t like how she had something to say about everything that I did. More importantly, when I told her I wanted to do underwater welding, she completely shut down. Wouldn’t talk to me for weeks. Though, she sure the fuck expected to know where I was every second of every day while she was doing the ignoring.

  “Mimi is on some sort of weird pedestal that I’m unable to reach when it comes to my family,” he said. “But she’s not there when it comes to me. You surpassed her the moment I watched you stab your brother in the chest. I think I fell a little bit in love with you then.”

  I snorted into his neck. “So romantic.”

  “That’s me. Romantic Bram,” he teased. “They write books about me, you know.”

  “That’s actually Dracula, darling. Not you.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Oh.” He hesitated. “My mistake.”

  I giggled and pressed farther into his body, only then realizing that he’d been hiding something from me.

  His steel hard erection.

  He tried to move away when I felt it, but I followed him, moving so fast that I ended up on top of him and him underneath me.

  There was no mistaking his erection then, seeing as it was pinned between us.

  I sat up, feeling the blanket that’d been covering us fall away, as well as my shirt fall back into place.

  My nipples pebbled, and though I knew he couldn’t see them, I smiled anyway.

  There was something about Bram and my hard nipples that always seemed to set him off.

  He couldn’t help but stare if they were there for him to see.

  His hand went to my hips but he didn’t say a word.

  Again, him giving me the reins.

  I took hold of them with both hands.

  “Bram?” I whispered quietly, unable to stop the whisper that always came when I got embarrassed.

  I had been having sex with this man for years. We both used each other equally whenever we wanted it. Why was this time any different?

  “Yes?” His voice was husky and full of sleep, and God, I just wanted to…

  “Fuck me,” I blurted.

  Then I felt my face heat.

  Because, holy shit, did I just say that out loud?

  His hands convulsed on my hips, and then we were moving.

  He moved quickly, ripping my shirt off faster than I could draw in a startled breath.

  Then he had my panties off next, and then he was settling between my thighs.

  I was so wet that he didn’t need to do any preparation—I’d been thinking about this very thing half the night.

  Yet, his fingers, still gentle as hell every time he touched me, came to my pussy and swirled.

  “Wet,” he growled. “So fuckin’ wet.”

  “For you,” I breathed. “I’ve been thinking about doing this all night.”

  “You should’ve woken me sooner,” he teased.

  Then he was bringing one breast up to his mouth and suckling lightly.

  My back damn near bowed off the bed.

  I’m talking, full on Exorcist shit.

  “Eeep!” I cried out. “Lighter!”

  He chuckled. “Sensitive?”

  “So sensitive,” I whispered. “Holy hell. I think I almost died there for a second.”

  “I’ll be gentler,” he promised as he laved the nipple. “At least until you’re ready for more.”

  Then he did exactly that, giving my breasts attention until I was a panting, delirious mess.

  “Bram,” I whispered. “I know that foreplay is always your thing, but… can we speed this up? I’m really needing you right now.”

  He obliged.

  Settling between my thighs, he started to rub his cock up and down the length of my pussy, coating himself in my wetness before notching himself at my entrance.

  “Holy shit,” I breathed. “This. I’ve missed this so much.”

  He sank in to the hilt, not stopping until he was fully sheathed inside of me.

  I felt so full, too.

  Fuller than I’d ever felt before.

  “I read that sex would be different when pregnant,” he growled. “But goddamn, you feel so much tighter.”

  “I think there’s more blood flow.” I shivered in delight when he shimmied his hips, grinding inside of me. “They’re more puffy or something.”

  “Puffy or not,” he said. “Shit, I’m not going to last. You should’ve let me get you off first.”

  I was already shaking my head. “No. Please. Move.”

  So he did.

  He moved.

  And it took one and a half strokes.

  I was coming before he could even get all the way inside of me the second time.

  My eyes closed, and stars burst behind my eyelids as I came.

  So.

  Hard.

  I’d never come so hard before.

  The squeak that left me was nothing short of embarrassing.

  Or maybe that was the fact that I’d just come in less than two strokes.

  Whatever the reason for my quickness, it was a good thing, because in the next three, he was coming right along with me.

  When our bodies settled, and he all but fell to the side as to not crush me, I couldn’t help but to laugh.

  “We’re two peas in a pod,” I teased.

  “I haven’t masturbated since you left,” he admitted, sounding chagrined. “It’s been a while.”

  I could tell by the wetness between my legs that it’d been a while for him.

  I moved out of the bed and all but waddled into the bathroom.

  When I got there, I had to have a laugh because I nearly ran into the bathroom door in my haste to get cleaned up.

  “We need to get some towels in the bedside drawer.” I heard him moving around. “I’ll be back. Gonna go to the hall bathroom.”

  I cleaned up and met him back in the bed five minutes later.

  He curled me into him as he said, “I’ll try to do better next time.”

  If he did any better, I’d be dead.

  I snickered. “Much better, and I just might not live to see the other side.”

  His arms tightened around me.

  Then, with more seriousness than I’d been expecting for a conversation I’d just been teasing him about, he said, “You’re not ever allowed to die, Dor. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you did.”

  I felt that in my soul.

  His heartfelt words, and the way he was so serious, made me realize that he meant every single word.

  Holy shit.

  CHAPTER 19

  Gossiping with my husband is a different kind of tea.

  -Text from Dory to Bram

  DORY

  “No!” I cried out, laughing as I did. God, could the man make me smile. “You can’t do that!”

  “Why not?” he asked seriously. “Dory, they’ll never notice.”

  “They will, too!” I hissed, but there was still a smile on my face. “Not to mention, they’ll be able to tell by the way my freakin’ arm is weighed down when I’m carrying out a to-go box.”

  He twisted the cast iron skillet over in his hand, then hefted it once. “It’s just so cute.”

  It was.

  We’d bought a ‘cookie monster’ dessert from the restaurant we were at, and it’d come out in the cast iron skillet that he was now trying to steal.

  “If I can’t take it, then how will I ever make you another cookie?” he asked, raising his eyebrows at me with mirth filling his eyes.

  I had to pause at that one.

  It might be worth it, going to jail for him trying to steal a skillet, just to have steady access to a cookie whenever I wanted it.

  “I’ll buy one on Amazon. It’ll get here in like two days,” I teased.

  “Amazon is taking like a fuckin’ week to deliver shit now. There’s no way it’ll get here in two days,” he grumbled, sitting back into the booth and crossing his arms over his chest. “For real. You won’t get it before next week. And I know you’ll want another one with how fast you ate that and barely shared.”

  I snickered.

  He was right.

  I’d want another one before then.

  “Then I’ll just get you to drive us back down the coast and we’ll come here again,” I pointed out.

  He smirked. “It was a two-hour drive.”

  “It was worth the two-hour drive.” I paused. “And if you let us take your motorcycle, then it’d really be worth it.”

  He was already shaking his head no. “We’re not, baby. That’s a hard no.”

  That made me sad.

  Because in the last month, I’d popped.

  There was no longer any way to hide that I was pregnant. And being on the back of his motorcycle was a risk he wasn’t willing to take.

  Then again, I wasn’t either. I just liked to tease him about it.

  His eyes flickered to something over my shoulder, and I saw his eyes narrow.

  “What?” I asked, looking behind me.

  My belly bumped the table, and he leaned forward and caught his beer before it could spill a drop.

  “Sorry,” I patted my belly.

  He glanced at me, watched me move my hand against my belly, and then winked.

  “What did you see?” I asked as I once again looked behind me.

  “Thought I saw someone staring at you. But when I glanced to get a better look, they were gone.” He shrugged. “You
were smiling. I’m sure it was just that mega-watt grin stalling them for a second.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  This man and his compliments lately.

  He may be feeding me a load of bullshit, but it was getting to the point where I was starting to really feel the compliments in my soul.

  “That’s sweet.” I snickered. “But I think that you’re blind or something. My smile is pretty dull.”

  He shook his head. “Maybe before I got my head out of my ass, yeah. But now? You smile all the time, and it always has the power to stop me in my tracks.”

  He was really good at making me feel like I mattered.

  Which I was sure were what his intentions were. Anything to get me to stay.

  “That may be the way with you.” I scrunched up my nose. “But I’m sure that normal people don’t feel that way.”

  He snorted, as if he wasn’t believing my line of bullshit either.

  I knew I was a pretty girl. I was petite, had long hair, and a cute face. But I wasn’t movie star beautiful or anything.

  “You don’t see yourself the way I do. The way a man does,” he pointed out. “You have all that hair and ass. You have a cute little frame that we can wrap up easily. You’re literally the perfect fit for right here.” He patted his lap. “You’re beautiful, you have a gorgeous smile. And you’re pregnant, which is giving you this glow. Which is really fuckin’ real. A glow. But you have it, and it’s obvious. Plus, from the back, you don’t look pregnant. Your ass is all round and…” He gestured with his hands to amplify my assets.

  “Whatever.” I smiled. “But I did see some man staring at me in the grocery store yesterday. He was standing next to his wife, though. So I wasn’t worried. Well, I was worried for him and what his wife was going to do to him when they got home. But I figured he was only looking because of the amount of groceries in my cart. Not because of my assets.”

  He gave me an unrepentant grin. “You ready?”

  I was.

  Getting up, I stretched my arms up high over my head, and he used that moment to move in close and put his arm around my back, pulling me into his body.

  I went ahead and crossed my arms behind his neck while I was at it, staring up at him with hearts in my eyes.

  “You’re pretty hot yourself,” I blurted.

  Bram was hot and he knew it. Everyone always commented that he was the ‘hottest’ Crow brother.

  I thought it was due to his brooding personality and his refusal to talk to anybody. The ‘broken’ aura he had about him was always enticing.

  His eyes heated more, and he dropped a kiss onto my nose before saying, “I think you’re biased. I’m pretty normal, babe. Beards instantly make any man more attractive.”

  He had a point, but before he’d had a beard, I’d been attracted to his angular jaw.

  His beard wasn’t long by any means. He had to have his beard short and well-groomed due to the respirator he had to wear while he was underwater welding, but when it was the weekend, and he would be off for several days, he usually allowed it to get a little more unruly.

  It was just enough that I could tug it if I curled my fingers just…

  “Ow!” He laughed as he pulled his face away from where I’d been tugging it teasingly. “That hurt!”

  “Chocolate,” I said. “From the small bite that you were able to steal.”

  He snorted and brushed his beard as if searching for any stray crumbs. “You ready?”

  I nodded, and instead of grabbing my hand like he usually did, he jerked his chin toward the door.

  I proceeded to walk in front of him and felt his heat at my back.

  When he got to the door, though, he moved in front of me and exited first, his eyes already scanning the surroundings.

  I caught the door with my butt and already started scanning too, not able to see much but from the sides.

  There were people everywhere.

  As in, they were milling about on the railings, along the planters. On the dock by the bay. On boats.

  There was literally nowhere that people weren’t around.

  This place was hopping, and I was honestly surprised we’d gotten in as fast as we had. But Wake had suggested the place and also told us to drop his name. Which we had.

  And we’d gotten right in, surprisingly.

  Wake obviously knew the owners.

  “Come on, darlin’,” he urged, bumping me with his hip when I’d stayed behind. “We gotta move.”

  I jumped into step behind him, not quite ducking my head, but not making eye contact out of habit.

  I passed so many people.

  As in, four or five times the amount that’d been there when we’d arrived.

  “Geez,” I said as we finally pulled free of the crowd. “This joint is extremely popular.”

  “This place is nice,” he said. “On the beach on a corner lot. You see the Gulf on one side and bay on the other. And it’s a small place that barely fits anyone in it. It looks busier than it actually is.”

  He had a point.

  Still, even more people were hanging out in the parking lot by their cars.

  By the time we made it to the X7, I was a little more freaked out.

  I didn’t like crowds. Never had, never would.

  And to distract myself, I watched Bram’s ass move in his pants as he walked in front of me.

  “Your chariot, my lady,” he teased as he opened my door for me.

  I rolled my eyes but settled them on the bulge in his pants.

  He wasn’t hard. The jeans had pretty much exemplified his assets, too. As in, they left a nice sized bulge due to their tightness.

  He closed the door once my feet were inside the SUV, and I was thinking about how I was going to peel those pants off of him later when he got in and shut the door.

  Then he pulled the skillet out of his jacket and set it down in my lap.

  “Bram!” I cried out. “You criminal.”

  He leaned back in his seat and burst out laughing.

  That’s when I couldn’t stop myself anymore.

  I all but crawled over the console, planted myself in his lap, and kissed the hell out of him, somehow hitting the lock button as I’d moved.

  The kiss started to get a bit out of control when he started to slowly push my long dress up.

  “We’re in a parking lot, Bram Crow,” I teased, nipping his lip. “With about half the population of Florida in attendance.”

  He grumbled something under his breath, his fingers continuing to delve under the yards of fabric to get to bare skin.

  Did I mention it was a really long, stretchy T-shirt dress?

  It looked absolutely adorable on and covered every single inch of my body from chest to toes.

  “Except that we have really tinted windows,” he said. “And nobody will know what we’re doing in here. They can speculate, but they won’t know.”

  “And when the Beemer starts rocking?” I asked. “Will they know then?”

  “Again, speculation.” He caught the skin of my neck between his teeth, then sucked lightly.

  I hissed, unable to stop myself from rocking against his erection.

  I threaded my fingers through his overly long hair and started to kiss my way down his neck.

  My belly, which was now starting to get in the way, pressed against his, causing him to practically curve himself around me.

  He moved his hand to my ass and froze.

  “Baby,” he rumbled against my neck. “You’re not wearing panties.”

  I wasn’t.

  I’d had them on earlier, but I’d taken them off in the bathroom because they were just barely on the verge of too tight.

  They’d been digging into my hips, and I’d been hyper fixating on them and the way they felt.

  So I’d taken them off.

  In no way had I planned for this particular moment, but it’d turned out perfectly, nonetheless.

  “My ass is bigger,” I told him. “They were killing me on the long ride over here. So I took them off when I went to the bathroom that first time.”

  His hands squeezed my ample ass that his sperm had a contribution in making, then started to rip his jeans apart.

  I laughed when he cursed and lifted up to give him some room to get his cock out.

  Which he did in the next second.

  “You sure you want to do this right here with…” I trailed off when he all but yanked me down onto his hard cock.

  He’d barely gotten it out of his pants before he was filling me with it.