I’ve got more important things to do than play house with a spoiled rotten princess. You don’t want me. You’re just bored. Go back to your wealthy lovers, Mia.
She wasn’t sure what the hell he’d meant by that. She’d broken up with her fiancé a little while after she’d met that caveman. She’d realized Jeff was nothing more than easy to get along with. They’d fallen into dating and she liked him, but she hadn’t known what chemistry was until she’d met Case.
And she hadn’t known what she wanted sexually until she’d taken the class at Sanctum.
“I only needed to meet him once,” Bran insisted. “I also happen to know that he has some deviant sexual proclivities. I have to tell you that I don’t approve.”
She felt her eyes narrow. “You want to explain what you mean by that?”
Something in her voice must have gotten to Bran because he backpedalled like a pro. “I was just saying that I don’t think he’s the man for you and you should think about that.”
“No, you just told me you don’t approve of the man because he belongs to a sex club. I belong to the same sex club. You want to talk about my sexual proclivities? Let’s get into yours if we’re going to throw everything on the table. You want to slut shame me, brother, I can toss that shit right back in your face.” She didn’t take the shame crap from anyone.
“I never said that word. Not once. I’m not worried about the sex, Mia. I’m worried about the fact that you’ve suddenly decided you want a man who likes to hit women for sexual pleasure.”
She sighed. Something had happened in Bran’s past. She wasn’t sure what it was, but his time in foster care after their parents’ deaths had been the worst. Drew and Riley had gone into a group home together. Mia had been adopted by the best parents in the world. And Bran had gone through home after home after home. He’d been a sweet boy one day and the next he’d been alone, his privileged world destroyed, and when Drew had managed to put enough money together to get him out of the system, he’d been a different human being altogether.
“It’s not like that, Bran. It’s wholly consensual and I have all the power.” At least in the dungeon she did. The Dom might nominally be in control, but the sub made the real choices.
The choice to trust her partner, the choice to let go and enjoy the moment, the choice to throw off all those silly rules and be herself.
Of course outside the dungeon, Case was the one with the power. The power to tell her no. The power to rip her heart out of her chest.
She glanced down at her watch. If she didn’t get a move on, he would find her standing outside.
“I’ll back off,” Bran said quietly. “But you have to know I’ll kill him if he hurts you.”
She wasn’t sure Bran was thinking properly. Case Taggart had been a Navy SEAL before being recruiting into a CIA black ops program. He was fast and deadly and he wouldn’t hesitate to defend himself. Bran only had rage on his side. The good news was while Case might break her heart, the man would never, never hurt her in a physical way.
Not in any physical way that wouldn’t lead to an orgasm.
“I have to go, Bran. Please, if you’re going to tell on me, at least give me a day. This is important.” It might be the most important thing she’d ever done. She’d been a journalist for the last five years and she’d tried to do good in the world. But this felt like more.
Theo Taggart had been kidnapped by a woman who was torturing and using him. He’d already spent months away from his family. He didn’t even know that when he’d “died” his girlfriend had been pregnant with his child. Erin had given birth to their son today.
If she could find Theo Taggart and bring him back, that would be one less kid in the world without a dad.
Sometimes she missed her father so damn much. She could barely remember him and yet she felt the hole in her heart. TJ Taggart shouldn’t feel that hole.
Whether or not Case decided to take a chance on her, she couldn’t leave his brother out there alone in the world.
“You tell Case to call me. All right? I’ll keep my mouth shut, but god Mia, try not to blow anything up. Or bring down the whole country.”
That had only been once and it had been a small country with a terrible dictator. It was good it had come down. “I promise.”
“I love you, sis.” The line clicked and she was alone again.
She pocketed her phone and tried to concentrate on her mission. Case’s building was nice and had good security, but she’d discovered that a smiling girl with a hint of cleavage could get just about anything done. It was mere moments before a man in a suit came out and she sprinted up to catch the door.
“Thanks,” she said, giving him her biggest smile.