Safe With Him (21 page)

“I don’t know, baby, sometimes even the laws are wrong,” he told her instead. Hell, he had always tried his hardest to be the best cop he could be, but even the best cop in the world couldn’t hold the law against Storm for protecting his sister.

“Do you really believe that?” she asked, and he could hear the hope in her voice, see it in her eyes. She wanted so badly for him to see Storm as her protector. Her eyes were practically begging him to.

“Yeah, I do really believe that. In some cases, like you and Storm, the law was against you when they should have been there for you.” Did that sound too cop-ish, would she be reminded of him being a cop and withdraw from him again? He hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

She moved so quickly he didn’t even see her move, just felt her arms wrap around his neck as she hugged him tightly to her. “Thank you,” she exhaled, “thank you for understanding.”

He held her tight to him for a long while, then he finally asked what had been on his mind for a while now. “Baby, why didn’t your dad do anythin’?” He felt her whole body tense at the word “dad,” but she didn’t say anything.

He pulled back from her, to look at her. “Bree?” She wouldn’t meet his eyes, wouldn’t say a word. “Baby, where was your and Storm’s dad?”

“Storm’s dad left when he was two, and yes she blamed that on me as well, even if he left before I was born. Hell, it was two years before I was even conceived.”

“And your dad?” he asked softly, but all she did was shrug her shoulders. “You don’t know?” That time he got a quick shake of her head. “No? You don’t know where he was?”

She took another breath and jerked her body away from him, twisted to move to the other side of the bed.

“Bree, stop.” He demanded as she started to get off the bed. He grabbed her around the waist, flipped her over, then moved over her, pinning her down with his hands and body. Holding her without hurting her. “Why are you tryin’ to leave?”

She narrowed her eyes at him like she was…pissed? “Get off of me.”

“Tell me what’s goin’ on in that head of yours.”

“Get off of me,” she repeated, but this time she bucked her hips up and tried to pull her arms free from his grip.

“Tell me!”

“No, Draco, I don’t know where he was,” she yelled, then all of the fight went out of her, and she added quietly, “Because I don’t know who he is.”

“Breezie—”

“What kind of person doesn’t even know who her own father is?” She didn’t wait for an answer before she told him. “The kind like me.”

“Bree—”

“You know why I don’t know?” Again she didn’t wait for an answer. “Because my lovely mother doesn’t know. I asked her once, and she laughed and asked if I wanted a list. Then she told me she didn’t know if she would even remember to add the right one to the list, so not to bother her with simple shit like that.” She met his eyes then and she looked so forlorn that it squeezed his heart. “Simple shit. She called it that, like it was a grocery list that she might leave salt off of.”

“Baby—”

“What does that say about me?”

He kissed her hard but quick, then looked right into her eyes. “You not knowin’ who your father is doesn’t say a damn thing about you. That’s on her. All of it. It’s on her, not you, baby. But what I’ve seen, what I know you to be, tells me that you’re fuckin’ incredible. Didn’t matter what that bitch tried to throw at you, you overcame it and became a better, stronger, amazin’ woman that she couldn’t even dream of touchin’.” Then he lowered his head and kissed her softly, over and over, for a very long time.

Draco lay with his Breezie held tight in his arms, her head resting on his chest, her naked body pressed to him as her breathing slowed and she drifted off to sleep.
His Breezie
, she gave him all of her, not just her body, something she had never shared with anyone until him. Gave all of her, her trust, her faith, and her acceptance. His courageous, head strong, gorgeous, sexy as hell, Breezie.
His
. He kissed the top of her head, then carefully moved out from under her. He blew out the last of the candles that hadn’t as of yet managed to burn themselves out. Then went downstairs to check to make sure the security alarm was set. He knew it was, but he had his Breezie upstairs sleeping in his bed, so he needed to double check just to be sure.

When he returned to the bed, she had turned on her side. He very carefully, so as not to wake her, pulled her back tight to his front and felt her snuggle into him. He wrapped his arms around her, breathed her in. “Peaches,” he mumbled reverently with a smile. Just as he was drifting off to sleep, the smell of peaches, of Bree surrounding him, very softly he muttered,

“I love you, Breezie.”

Draco stood in the kitchen, eyeing the plate of food. He needed a tray, he thought, one of those bed trays. He would have to get one, today, so from now on when he fixed breakfast in bed for Bree he would have that to serve her breakfast on.
Flowers
. He should get her flowers. All women liked flowers, right? Did she have a favorite? He was thinking this at the same time he was trying to find something he could substitute as a tray when Bree came running down the stairs wearing nothing but his T-shirt.
She’s so damn sexy
, he thought, but he didn’t get a chance to utter a word.

“I’m going to be late,” she complained, then stopped when she saw him. “Why didn’t you wake me? I have to get dressed.” She was looking around the living room when she spotted her bag, rushed to it and starting digging around in it. “Yes!” she screeched as she pulled out…clothes? She turned toward the steps.

“Late for what?” he asked. “You didn’t ask me to wake you.”

“Class. I have a class in…” she glanced at the clock, “dang, thirty-five minutes. I’m going to be so late. I’ll be ready to go in five minutes.”

“Go? Now? But I just fixed you breakfast, for in bed,” he grumbled to her back as she was heading up the stairs.

She stopped, surprise written all over her face. “You made me breakfast in bed?”

“Yeah.”

“Dra.” She sighed his name in amazement, and then started to walk to him with a dazed look on her face. She was about halfway when she picked up her pace and almost ran right into his arms.

He caught her around her waist, lifting her as she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. She hugged him to her, or her to him. That was all she did for a long minute; his Breezie just held him tight, her face buried in his neck, her little body wrapped tight to him. Draco felt that so deep inside of him that he knew he never wanted to let this woman go. “Breezie.” He barely managed to choke out, he was so overcome with emotion.

“I didn’t know,” she mumbled in his neck. “I can just skip class—”

“No! No skippin’ classes,” he informed her firmly as he loosened his hold on her. When her feet touched the floor, he told her, “Go get dressed, I’ll be ready as soon as you are.”

“But the class is just—” She tried to explain.

“Bree,” he growled. “You’re not skippin’ classes.” He leaned down, face to face with her. “Ever.” He kissed her hard, but quick. “Go, I’ll make sure you’re not late.”

“But—”

“Five minutes.” He turned back into the kitchen and when he looked back over his shoulder she was stomping up the stairs mumbling something about, “Macho man speak. Girl jump. Yeah right…”

“Bree,” he called right before she made it to the top of the stairs and when she stopped and turned to glare at him, he finished, “You, not in a skirt, we’ll take the bike.” Then that glare turned into a smile as she started to come back down the steps, so he added quickly, “If you’re ready in five minutes.” He laughed as she jerked back around and raced up the rest of the stairs and then disappeared from his view.

Bree raced through the bedroom and into the bathroom, tearing off clothes as she went. Five, okay really it was more like seven minutes later, she ran back down the stairs dressed in her extra leggings, sports bra that she kept in her bag, and one of Draco’s button down shirts folded over her arm. “Dra, can I—” she started to ask.

“Hell fuckin’ no!” She heard him bark from across the room.

She jerked to a stop. “Well dang, it’s just a shirt. I just wanted to borrow it, not destroy it. And you have two more exactly like it hanging in your closet.”

“You are not fuckin’ wearin’ that out of this hou—what? Borrow? What shirt?”

“This shirt.” She held up the shirt in both hands, then turned to go back up the stairs. “I didn’t know you would be so extremely sensitive about a shirt. Sorry.”

“Bree, wait…you wanna wear my shirt? That shirt?” he asked with a cocky grin.

“No, Mr. GQ, the other blue shirt that looks just like this one,” she answered sarcastically. Sheesh. She wore Storm’s shirts all the time over her dance clothes, and he never minded.

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “You can wear
that
shirt, all you want.”

“Then what was with all the ‘hell F-en no’ drama before I even got the chance to ask?” She was confused. One minute he seemed to be totally pissed off, then the next he was all cocky and laughing.

“Sorry, baby,” he said as he walked to her. “I didn’t realize you had my shirt in your hand.” He helped her put it on, then buttoned it up for her…all the way up. “You ready?” he asked with a kiss on her nose.

“Yeah.” She strangled out as she tugged the shirt away from her neck. When he turned around, she quickly unbuttoned the top few buttons.

When they reached the garage, Draco handed her a jacket that could have wrapped around her three times. “It’s mine, only one I got, and you’re not ridin’ without a jacket,” he told her when she just looked at it.

She looked back at him, narrowed her eyes, then glanced back at the jacket. “Getting just a little bit too dang bossy,” she mumbled, apparently out loud.

“Not bossy. Protective.” He slipped a helmet on her head and started to fasten it.

Whatever
, she thought silently. She watched him climb on his bike, while she stood beside him. “Oh, before I forget, just go to the front door. Nobody will be by the back since we’re technically closed.”

“Closed? How the hell do you have a class if the campus is closed?”

“Campus? No. Stripped.”

“What?”

“Stripped. You know, where I work. Where you drove me to, just last night?”

“Yeah, Bree, I know what Stripped is. Why are you goin’ there now?”

“Dance class? Once a week? Remember? I told you all of this.”

“Dance class? You were pitchin’ a fit ‘bout bein’ late for a damn dance class?”

“I was not ‘pitching a fit,’ and two, if you would have hushed, you would have known when I tried to tell you I could just skip it this week. But oh no.” She deepened her voice. “Caveman speak, little woman hush.”

He hooked his arm around her waist, pulling her to his side. “Gonna show you caveman, when I get you back home,” he grunted, then kissed her hard, flipped her faceguard down and while putting on his helmet, he told her, “Get on. Hold on.”

Draco sat astride his motorcycle in the almost empty parking lot of Stripped, waiting. He had walked Bree inside and met Skylar and a few other girls that made up Skylar’s little
dance class.
He also talked to T-Rex, so he knew that those handful of women were not in that near empty building by themselves.

He hit the kickstand and rose off his bike when he saw the car pull in. He was standing beside it before Storm was even out of his car. “You need to tell her.”

“What? Tell who, what?” Storm asked, confused.

“Bree! Who the fuck you think I’m talkin’ ‘bout?” Draco barked.

“You called me all the way here just to tell me that shit? A-fuckin’-gain?” Storm shot back.

“She doesn’t like dishonesty. You need to fix that shit.” He leaned into Storm. “Now!”

“Don’t tell me shit about
my
sister. I already know. I know
my
sister, and I told you I’m gonna tell her. Soon.”

“If you don’t, I will.”

“You gave me your word, brother.”

“Yeah, I did. Fuck! Now I’m givin’ you more words. Your shit bites me in the ass with Bree, you will not want to know me…
brother
.”

“Is that all you wanted? I got shit to do.”

“Tell her!” Draco demanded as he turned to walk back to his bike, then turned back just as Storm was getting into his car. “One more thing,” he said as means of stopping him from leaving. When Storm just looked at him, he continued, “What’s her favorite flower?”

“What? Flower? How the fuck should I know?”

“You’re her damn brother.”

“I don’t know. Wait. When we were younger, out back near the woods, she used to pick these yellow…cup looking flowers…shit, she said they were like a cup of sunshine, that they made her happy just looking at them. Damn, what were they…daffodils! That’s what she said they were. She took one with her to the library in town and asked about them. She was told they were daffodils.

“Daffodils,” Draco repeated with a smile.

“Seriously?” Storm just shook his head. “You’re all fuckin’ flowers and shit, deep with my sister?”

“You best get all honest and shit, deep with your sister,” Draco stated, then turned and walked back to his bike, slipped his helmet back on and revved the motor once, pulled out, then drove the block and a half to pull into another partly empty parking lot. As soon as Draco walked into the somewhat empty, grungy bar, he spotted his partner sitting at the booth in the back. He walked over, took the seat across from him and before Lee could utter as much as a ‘hello’ Draco spoke. “Hugo fuckin’ Serafino. Annihilation. Yesterday.”

*  *  *

An hour and forty-five minutes later, Draco walked back through the doors of Stripped, with the beginnings of a plan for Hugo Serafino as well as the men who worked for him. He stopped dead in his tracks. There were about five women on stage dancing, one of which was Bree, wearing only the leggings and sports bra, with another pair of those mile high shoes and she was wrapped around the stripper pole, moving to the beat of Lorde’s
Royals
.

“Fuckin’ hell,” he groaned low in his throat. She wasn’t just dancing. No, dancing would be too tame a word for what his Breezie was doing. Every movement of her arms, suggestive. Every swing of her legs, sensual. Every sway of her hips was salacious. It was too seductive, too arousing to be labeled dancing. It was the most erotic thing he had ever witnessed. She was an aphrodisiac in fuck me heels. The only thoughts running through his mind besides getting Bree home and in bed were,
thank fuck she’s not a stripper
. With her able to do…that, he knew his ass would be in prison for mass murder the first time she
danced
like that in front of a bunch of men. He took a quick look around the empty club, to see only T-Rex sitting at one of the booths close, but not too close, head bent doing what looked like the books.
The man has to be gay
, Draco thought, then turned his attention back to Bree. When the music ended five more women he hadn’t even noticed came from backstage, plus the ones who had been on stage now all of them were moving to Bree, all giddy and talking at once. He walked to the stage, that Bree had plopped her ass down on, right up to her, leaned into her, face so close he could feel her breath on his lips. Looking her right in the eyes, he growled intensely, “You’re fuckin’ killing me.” He kissed her with all the pent up sexual frustration she caused him just by watching her
dancing
and couldn’t take her right then and there.

*  *  *

Bree walked through the door of the small diner Draco held open for her, his eyes on her, that cocky grin on his face. After he had kissed her beyond senseless, he asked if she was ready. When she was able to put a coherent thought together, she realized he meant if her class was over and if she was ready to leave. When they were walking out of the club he asked if she was hungry and her reply was a quick, “Starved.” So he put her back on his bike and took her to a little diner not far from Stripped. “Why do you keep looking at me like that?” she asked him as they walked to a table by the window.

“I like your look,” Draco replied, eyeing her clothes up and down. “A lot.”

“It’s your shirt.” She indicated. After class she had changed her shoes and slipped his shirt back on and ever since he had been giving her that cocky grin.

“Yeah.” More weird cocky grinning.

“You like me wearing your shirts?” She took the seat next to the window, then looked back at him.

“Yeah, but I especially like you wearin’
that
shirt.” He took the seat right beside her, then proceeded to move his chair even closer to her.

“What’s so special about this one? I mean, you have two more just like it?”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “Baby, do you know why I have three shirts exactly alike?”

“Uh…no.”
Come to think of it, that is pretty strange to have so many of the same shirt
, she thought.

“Bree.” He couldn’t hold it in anymore and he guffawed, then lowered his voice as he leaned in closer. “Baby, that’s one of my uniform shirts.”

“And you like me wearing your uniform shi—” She stopped in mid-sentence and just looked at him. “Uniform as in un-i-form?” He just sat there grinning and nodding his head. “I’m wearing a…a…cop shirt?” When he just sat there still grinning and nodding at her, she knew.
Great
, she thought. It was bad enough to be in love with a cop but now she was wearing a cop shirt too. How could this happen…wait…In love? Was she in love with Draco? She looked at him, reached over and cupped his cheek in her hand. She saw his grin fade from his face, but she just continued to stare while holding her hand to his face. In love? Her? With him?