The 2015 R.L. Mathewson Chronicles Collection Read online

  “Caine,” the seductive whisper came as she gave his cock one last lick before slowly pulling away and before he could choke on his next breath, getting down on all fours in front of him, shaking that beautiful ass enticingly in front of him.

  Helplessly licking his lips, he looked from the beautiful ass swaying invitingly, letting him know exactly what she wanted and to the bathroom door, the only means of escape. His eyes shifted from her beautiful bottom to the door, from the door back to the beautiful ass waiting for him.

  Escape.

  He needed to make his escape now before it was too late, before he did something that they would both regret. He needed to get out of here now and-

  “Caine,” the seductive whisper grabbed his attention away from the door and back to the beautiful woman on her hands and knees, waiting for him to fuck her.

  Licking his lips, he weakly mumbled, “Help,” with a whimper as he somehow managed to pull himself up and get on his knees.

  “Caine, please!” Danni groaned, pushing her ass back towards him in offering as he fell forward, barely catching himself in time before he fell face first into the floor.

  He had to get out of here…

  He needed to get out of here, for her safety and his sanity, he needed to go now, he told himself as he began crawling towards the bathroom door only to moan in ecstasy seconds later as he found himself sliding inside her.

  He was so fucking weak, he decided with a groan of pleasure as he grabbed onto her curvy hips with trembling hands and held on while his weak body tried to keep up with his mate’s needs.

  God, she was going to fucking kill him, he thought as he pulled back, making sure the tip of his piercing rubbed her the way that she liked before he pushed back inside, loving the way her pussy welcomed him home and praying that he was able to find the strength one last time to do the right thing.

  What Really Happened…

  Part I

  “This is fucking bullshit,” Jason said with a murderous glare towards the large man standing in the doorway of the restaurant they were trying to get into, who just happened to be glaring right back at Jason with his large muscular arms crossed over his chest, silently daring Jason to try and get past him.

  Marybeth sighed heavily as she leaned back against her husband, pleased when Darrin wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, rewarding her with a kiss on the top of her head as he no doubt joined in the glaring game. “He’s never going to let us inside,” she pointed out for probably the third time that day since her husband and his cousins had announced that they were going to try to get into the Fire & Brimstone Pub tonight.

  “Oh, I’ll get in there, guaranteed,” Trevor said tightly, shooting Lucifer a glare that only made the larger Bradford’s lips twitch with amusement as he gestured lazily for them to leave.

  “Can’t we just go to Burger King?” Zoe asked with a slight wince and a definite pout as she placed her hand over the large swell of her stomach and leaned back against Trevor, who absently placed his hand over hers where Marybeth and Darrin’s babies for them, as his eyes narrowed dangerously on Lucifer, a look of challenge that most Bradford boys mastered within hours of being born.

  Lucifer simply ignored the challenge, shot them a wink and turned his back on them, returning to the busy restaurant that he owned and operated, leaving them there to fume as they were once again denied entrance into the best restaurant in town.

  It was also the same one that every Bradford was automatically banned from since the day that Lucifer had opened the restaurant’s doors. Most of the family, while they weren’t happy about it, understood. The Fire & Brimstone was Lucifer’s dream and he’d worked his ass off to make it happen. None of them would ever do anything to jeopardize his dream, but that didn’t mean that they had to be happy about being denied entrance into what was supposedly the best restaurant in town.

  They were Bradfords after all.

  “Are you boys ready to call it a night yet?” Marybeth asked with a heavy sigh, because yeah, they’d done this before, spending hours that she would never get back sitting in this parking lot, waiting for an opportunity to get past Lucifer’s guard dogs and get their hands on what she’d heard several Bradfords refer to as, “The forbidden fruit,” several times over the years.

  Personally, Marybeth just wanted to grab a burger, fries and a shake and go home so that they could finish putting the nursery together. Since that’s what she already knew they’d up doing in the end, she’d rather just call it a night and get it over with.

  Unfortunately for her, her husband and his cousins were determined bastards, who had a hard time accepting a ban that in their minds, they hadn’t earned. They were determined to get in and every few weeks or so they worked themselves up, calling this ban an injustice, got together, drove over here, sat in the parking lot and glared at the restaurant until someone, usually her or one of the other Bradford wives, got pissed, stole their husband’s car keys, drove off and had a girl’s night out somewhere.

  Since she’d already reached her limit with the whole glaring contest, she pulled away from Darrin, grabbed his keys, walked away from him and jumped in his truck. By the time that she shut her door and started the truck, the passenger door slammed shut and Haley and Zoe were buckling up, apparently having had more than enough for one night as well.

  “Where to?” Marybeth asked as she put the truck in reverse.

  “Anywhere that we can get a meatball pizza and a root beer float,” Zoe said with that wistful sigh that she usually got when was pregnant and craving a snack and yes, sadly a large meatball pizza and a root beer float was considered a light snack for a woman carrying Bradfords, especially triplets.

  “Pizza sounds good to me,” Haley said with a pleased smile that she couldn’t quite hold back as she added, “And maybe you’ll finally tell us the story behind how Darrin finally managed to snag you?”

  Part II

  “Okay, asshole, spill,” Jason snapped as soon the SUV pulled away, getting in his face with the other large bastard stepping up behind him.

  Sighing heavily, not only because he had no fucking clue what they were talking about and not really caring, Darrin leaned back against the side of Trevor’s truck and asked, “What now?”

  Trevor shouldered Jason out of the way and got in his face, trying to intimidate him, which was really just fucking sad. “Spill.”

  Cocking a brow, he reached out and shoved the large bastard back and out of his space. “If you want to know something, just ask,” he said, really not in the mood for this today, not when he should be inside the Fire & Brimstone finding out what his brother had been hiding all these years.

  Selfish bastard, he thought with a glare towards the restaurant that he was unjustly banned from. After all the shit he’d gone through over the years for Lucifer and this was how he repaid him? He could understand banning the rest of the assholes in their family, but he was Lucifer’s favorite brother and as such should be inside that restaurant getting fucking pampered right now.

  “You better start talking before your wife does, because if I lose this bet I’m going to make your life a living hell,” Jason threatened, shouldering Trevor back out of the way so he could get in Darrin’s face.

  “You already do,” Darrin reminded him as he shoved him back as well.

  “It will be worse,” Jason promised with a glare.

  “Oh, so much worse,” Trevor added with the murderous glare that had him rolling his eyes and wondering what he’d done to deserve to be related to these annoying bastards.

  “Not possible,” he said, wondering if Marybeth was going to grab him something to eat while she was out or if he was on his own.

  “What really happened that night?” Jason asked just as Darrin pulled out his phone to text his wife.

  “What night?” he asked absently, wondering if he should just call a taxi or walk the five miles home.

  “The night that Marybeth became desperate enough
to settle for you,” Trevor said, making the decision for him.

  A five-mile walk home it was then.

  “Oh, come on!” Jason called after him. “Don’t be that way!”

  Not bothering to look up from his phone as he headed towards the sidewalk, he raised a hand and gave his cousins the finger, which of course amused them.

  “Look,” Trevor said, chuckling as he caught up with him, “we have a bet going with our wives, who are even at this moment questioning Marybeth and bugging the shit out of her until she tells them.”

  “What’s the bet?” he asked, damn near groaning as he put his phone away and came to a stop so that he could face his cousins, because he knew that Zoe and Haley would have the truth out of Marybeth in a matter of minutes if they played their cards right, which basically meant that Haley sat there looking sad and hurt and Zoe used guilt and the fact that she was carrying their children for them to get what they wanted.

  “Losers have to watch the kids while the winners get a weekend in New York to catch a game,” Trevor explained before adding, “and if you help us win this bet, you can come with us, all expenses paid.”

  A free trip to watch the Yankees?

  No Bradford in his right mind would be able to pass that up, which is why he rubbed his hands roughly down his face as he said, “Okay, this is what happened…”

  Part III

  Darrin’s Side of the Story…

  The night that it all began all those years ago…

  “I’m hungry,” Darrin grumbled as he tossed the remote on the couch cushion next to him so that he could rub his hands down his face with the hopes that the small movement would somehow give him the energy to stay awake.

  “Me, too,” Marybeth said next to him as she laid down on her side and laid her legs across his, using him to get more comfortable as she released a small yawn and curled up, “I’ll take Chinese food. Thanks.”

  “Why are you telling me?” he asked absently as he sat back and placed his hand on her knee, using any excuse to touch her, which in his book made him fucking pathetic, but what else was he supposed to do when the woman that he loved only saw him as the pain in the ass brother that she never really wanted.

  It made him feel really fucking special, he thought dryly as he gave in to the need to gently caress her knee with his thumb.

  God, he was fucking pathetic.

  “Because you’re going to order the food and go pick it up. Thanks,” she said around another yawn as she reached down and picked up the pillow that she’d used last night when she’d crashed on his couch and made herself more comfortable.

  “Yeah, I’m really not,” he said, deciding to use their exhaustion as an excuse to hold her.

  He laid down on his side behind her, loving the fact that she shifted forward to make room for him, and curled his body around hers, promising his needy cock a cold shower if it misbehaved and gave him away.

  “You really are,” she said she placed her arm over his rested over her side and began absently tracing shapes on his arm.

  “I’m really not.”

  “Would you like to place a bet on this?” she asked with a sleepy little sigh as she settled back against him, putting his ability to control his cock to the test.

  “Sure.”

  “Loser buys dinner?”

  “Sure,” he said as he struggled to stay awake.

  When she didn’t answer, he stopped fighting and let his eyes close as he told himself that this was enough. He wished he could believe that, but he didn’t. It would never be enough until she was his, but every day, about a thousand times a day, he told himself this lie, hoping that it would help him get through one more day.

  But in the back of his mind, he knew that it would never be enough.

  He wasn’t sure that he could keep bullshitting himself for much longer. God, he loved her, he thought as he tried to ignore the ache in chest and gave in to the need to press a kiss against the back of her neck. When she settled back against him so that there was no space between them, he nearly groaned.

  “Goodnight,” he whispered, closing his eyes as he promised himself that one day things would change.

  Part IV

  “Do not push back. Do not push back. Do not push back. Do not push back,” Marybeth told herself as her fingers dug into the couch cushion beneath her while she struggled to ignore the incredibly large, hard erection that brushed against her bottom anytime Darrin shifted.

  Which was a lot.

  God, he felt so good, too damn good.

  No, this was wrong. It could never happen, because he was her best friend and deserved better than to be stuck with a woman that couldn’t give him…give him….umm…oh, God, that felt good, she thought, biting back a moan of pleasure as that freakishly large erection pushing against Darrin’s zipper brushed up against her bottom again.

  She should get up and return to her own apartment, she told herself, but for some reason she didn’t move. Maybe she was a masochist? she wondered as Darrin shifted in his sleep again, making her gasp as she reminded herself how wrong this was.

  He was her best friend.

  He wanted a family.

  He deserved to be a father.

  He deserved-

  To cup her boob and pull her flush against him. He groaned in his sleep softly as he shifted, rubbing that erection that she was desperately trying to pretend was a flashlight against her bottom caressed her, making her nipples harden and making it even more difficult for her to do the right thing. She needed to get up and get out of here before they did something that they were going to regret.

  Okay, so she might not regret it immediately, especially since she’d fantasized about him making love to her for as long as she could remember. He’d been her first crush, the first man that she’d ever fallen in love with and most likely would be the only man that she ever loved.

  She just couldn’t do this to him, to make him think that they had a future when she knew that she couldn’t give him the kind of future that he deserved. She had to do the right thing. She was going to get up, walk back to her apartment and take a very long and very cold shower and if that didn’t work, she was going to head into work early and lose herself in her work.

  That was the best plan.

  Or at least it would have been if Darrin hadn’t pulled her even closer and palmed her breast in a way that made it difficult to take her next breath, never mind get up.

  “Marybeth,” he groaned in his sleep as kneaded her breast and ground his erection, that she could swear had actually gotten bigger in the last few seconds, against her bottom.

  Okay, that was it.

  It was definitely time to put an end to this before-

  He kissed the back of her neck, making her shiver with desire as his hand abandoned her breast and slid down her stomach and-

  “Oh, God,” she gasped, unable to take it any longer.

  Telling herself that this was for the best, she went to sit up, but somehow found herself turning around and facing Darrin, who used her new position to place her on her back and settle between her legs as he continued his sensual assault.

  She wrapped her arms around him, closed her eyes and tilted her head back, took a deep breath and decided to end this here and now before things got out of hand.

  “Darrin, stop.”

  Part V

  “Darrin, stop.”

  The words sent a chill down his spine as he slowly opened his eyes and looked down at the beautiful woman beneath him. He felt his stomach drop as dread slammed into him.

  He’d just seriously fucked up.

  God, he couldn’t believe how badly he’d just fucked up. All these years of struggling to stay in control, forcing himself to act like it didn’t tear him apart when she saw other men, that he didn’t want to kill every last fucking one of them with his hands, but he’d somehow always believed the bullshit that they meant nothing and that one day she would realize what they had, but he’d just ruined everything b
ecause he couldn’t keep his fucking dick under control.

  “I…,” he opened his mouth to apologize? To explain how fucking badly he wanted her? That sometimes he thought he’d fucking die if he didn’t find out how it felt to slide inside her and now he’d just ruined everything. He closed his mouth, swallowed and tried again, but the look on her face said it all.

  He’d just ruined everything.

  “Oh…fuck..no,” he whispered hoarsely as he slowly pulled away and climbed off the couch, unable to look her in the face and terrified that if he opened his mouth right now that he’d fuck this up even more. He needed to get away from her right now before it was too late.