Page 21 of Beat of Love
“Fine by me,” Olivia snipped back.
Amelia fingered a rude gesture and stormed up the stairs.
Brandy gulped a mouthful of coffee.
It burned all the way down her esophagus.
And Lordy, her shoulder ached where it slammed into the ground.
“Mom, you need—”
“Olivia,” Brandy cut in, “not now.” She turned to Preston. “You got breakfast?” It was her son’s week preparing breakfast.
“Yeah.”
“Good. I’m gonna shower.” Mug in hand, she walked into her bedroom. It was a new addition to the house, her private oasis from the general mayhem of loud and opinionated teenagers. The sage green and off-white décor only added to the overall sense of tranquility.
Don’t get her wrong — she loved her kids. Truly. And would walk through fire to protect them. But some days …
Brandy continued to the bathroom and set down the mug. Tugging off the flannel shirt she had draped over her tank earlier, she caught a glimpse in the mirror.Ugh.
When she had been summoned to the stables, she had stumbled from bed, donned yesterday’s jeans, and flung a flannel over the tank she’d slept in.
Her unbrushed hair fell about her shoulders in complete disarray. And it was time to invest in new sleeping tanks. The one she wore was ancient and threadbare from years of washing.
And he’d seen me like this.
She frowned at her image. “And why do you care? He’s nothing to you.Nothing,” she repeated.
So why do your breasts feel all heavy and sensitive?
And what about that ache deep inside? The one you hadn’t felt in … years.
She shook her head in disgust and lifted her arms to— “Ouch!”
Slowing her movement, she dragged the top over her head and twisted to view her back. The red discoloration on her shoulder was the first step of a nasty bruise. Turning back, she viewed her front. Yep, there it was. Another bruise formed on her left rib where his elbow had connected.
Idiot. Who ran around a corner like the devil was after them?
The devilisafter him, Brandy.
Shame flooded her, recalling her thoughtless remark about his addiction. The man had been through hell, and it would take a long time to conquer the demons embedded in his soul. He had been a prisoner. Even tortured, according to Branna, and forcibly injected with narcotics. Rafferty had already left for rehab by the time she had arrived from Austin, but she had come across his distraught mother a couple of days after her return. Curious to know the full story, it hadn’t taken much prodding for the woman to spill the sordid details.
So yeah, Rafferty Lawson had a long road of healing ahead of him.
“So, no lusting after the man, Brandy,” she instructed her image, loosening the button of her jeans. Bending, she dragged the snug denim down her legs and off her feet, flinging the jeans in the general direction of the hamper. She reached for ahairclip and, taking heed of her aches, she secured her hair in a haphazard twist.
The warm water pounding against her back, she reached for the sponge and squirted a generous amount of soap. She dragged the sponge over her arms, her chest, and across her breasts. Palming one, she ran the sponge beneath it. Her thumb scraped across her nipple, and desire zinged straight to her core. She pinched the nub, moaning.Ah. So good.And she did it again, recalling the firm grip of Rafferty’s hands as he lifted her from the ground, brushing against the sides of her breasts. Dropping the sponge, she closed her hands over her breasts and strummed her nipples, imagining they were his hands, all rough and forceful, teasing her, arousing her.
He’d picked her up into his arms, effortlessly. And she imagined pressing her naked body to his, feeling those sinewy muscles with not an ounce of padding, hard and unrelenting against her chest. She clenched her core, recalling the bulge in his shiny running shorts. And she imagined freeing his cock, taking it in her hand. Beautiful. A dichotomy of soft and hard. Was it as substantial as she imagined? Like Sullivan’s.
She froze.
What are youdoing, Brandy?
Pivoting on the balls of her feet, she turned the tap all the way to cold, and the icy blast of water cascaded down her overheated body.
Rafferty Lawson is out of fucking bounds.
