Free Dangerously Broken by Eden Bradley Page B

know the inside of this thing—Brandon’s death and what it had done to the Rae family. He knew it because he’d become their second son before they lost their own. And because he knew what the loss of his brother Ian had done to his own family. It tore a hole that could never be repaired, only patched in some haphazard fashion.
    “Summer Grace, look at me, baby.” He took her face between his hands, cradling it in his palms. Her eyes were enormous. “This is
me
. And I’ve been doing this for a long time. While you’re with me, I promise you can let it go. Turn it all over to me. Into my hands. Do you feel how strong they’ll hold you?”
    She bit her lip, and there was so much emotion in her big blue eyes it made his chest ache with some sensation he couldn’t quite get a handle on. Just this raging need to protect her. To make her feel safe. If nothing else, he would do that for her. And suddenly, to his surprise, she flung her arms around his neck and buried her head there. As he wrapped her in his arms, drawing her down into his lap, he heard her soft sigh. Of release. Of surrender. And everything in him—the sex and the emotion, the kink and the chemistry, the heat and the history between them, melded into one thing. Into that moment. There was both beauty and terror there. Old grief and new delight. They would explore it all together, and he would keep her safe. He would not let her down.
    There was a small roar inside his head. A fierce need in mind and body—for
her
, to do what he’d just silently vowed. How was it possible that it was all connected? But it was.
    “Hey, sugar,” he murmured as he lifted her chin. “Do you know how Goddamn beautiful you are? Do you have any idea how much I’ve needed you all this time? I held back because I thought that was what I had to do. And maybe for a long while it was. But now, well, everything has changed.” He swallowed hard at the desire and the trust in her eyes, the swallow expanding until it was an ache in his chest he couldn’t think about right then. “I need to hear your consent one last time. It’s not like there’s no turning back once I have it—you always have that option. But tell me now what you want, Summer Grace.”
    She shook her head. “It’s not what I want, Jamie. It’s what I
need
. I need to know what it is to turn myself over to you.” She gave one small, slow shake of her head, her silky blonde hair rippling like pale golden silk. “Only you. So yes, you have my consent. You’re gonna have me begging in a few minutes if you don’t take me out of here and . . . Goddamn it, don’t make me beg.”
    Her words went through him like fire—scorching hot. He got to his feet. “Don’t move.”
    He went to the windows and, one by one, he dropped the blinds.
    “Jamie, what—?”
    “Shh,” he told her as he turned back to her. “I don’t want you to say a word now, Summer Grace. Not unless I ask you a question or you need to use your safeword.” He crossed the room and came to stand before her. Putting his hands on her waist, he lifted her off the desk. “On your feet now, sugar. I’m going to undress you.”
    “Yes, undress me,” she murmured almost as if to herself while her eyes lost focus.
    “Not a word, now.”
    Her entire posture changed and he recognized the loose set of her shoulders, her mouth, as surrender. He could feel her going deeper by the moment as he reached behind her and unzipped her dress, then untied the halter at the back of her neck. Her breathing slowed, her body stilling. He stepped closer as he slipped the cotton from her shoulders.
    “Ah, Christ, if I’d known you were naked underneath this sweet little dress . . .”
    His cock pulsed hard. He willed it down. The effort was only partially successful. Taking a step back to look at her as the dress fell to the floor, leaving her in nothing but the pinup girl shoes, he had to draw in a long breath. Her nipples were already hard, pink and