Kendall Ryan - When We Fall

Shrugging on the backpack, Knox crossed the room and kissed me full on the mouth. He rarely did that in front of his brothers, but I met his kiss with my own fierce edge, letting my tongue briefly rub against his. His hands cupping my face trembled ever so slightly. “I love you,” he whispered.

I nodded. “Love you, too.” My eyes screamed at him to stay safe and come home to me in one piece.

He nodded in silent acknowledgement of my request. “We’ll be fine.”

My stomach dropped to my toes and for the first time, I could relate to Knox’s fears and hesitations when it came to love. If I didn’t love them all so much, this process wouldn’t be nearly as scary. I gripped Luke tighter and said a silent prayer that Knox knew what he was doing.

Several hours later and everyone was in bed, but I was way too amped up to sleep. I paced Knox’s bedroom, my heart heavy with worry. Where were they? What was taking so long?

I checked my phone for the hundredth time and fell back onto his bed. I curled into the pillow that held Knox’s unique scent, inhaling deeply. Warm leather and male musk, a delicious combination.

A short time later, I awoke to the sound of someone climbing the stairs.

Knox was back.

I sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from my tired eyes. Oh, thank God. He was okay.

Knox stood in the doorway, smiling at me like everything was right with the world, and the tense knot that had taken up residence in my stomach uncurled in an instant. His brilliant smile melted my heart and the hardened shield I’d erected in his absence.

He tossed the backpack onto the bed and it landed with a dull thud. It was still full. I lifted it to my lap and unzipped it. The cash was still stacked inside.

“What happened…how did you?”

Dread sank low in the pit of my stomach. They hadn’t succeeded tonight. Which meant the gang was probably coming for us. My mind was already running through scenarios of us five holed up in my apartment. I needed to buy groceries, milk, get more towels…

“McKenna.” Knox’s warm hands cupped my cheeks. “Look at me.”

My gaze drifted back to him and I took a deep breath. Just breathe.

“You didn’t think I was just going to watch them walk away with Luke’s college fund, did you?”

That was exactly what I’d assumed. That was the plan, wasn’t it? I wouldn’t have offered the money if I hadn’t thought it was the only way. “I don’t understand.”

I listened with bated breath while Knox filled me in on how he’d contacted his lawyer and provided the tip that this exchange was going down tonight. His lawyer agreed to inform the police; that way the call could never be traced back to Knox. Several members of the gang were wanted on various charges, and once the cops had the time and meeting place of tonight’s exchange, they showed up and apprehended the bad guys. Knox and Jaxon took off running—well, hobbling in Jaxon’s case—and hid out until the police had made their arrests and taken the gang members away to keep up the ruse Jaxon and Knox weren’t responsible for involving the police. Once the scene was clear, the money was returned to Knox.

I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn’t believe he’d put himself in danger, orchestrating that entire thing without me knowing. I felt sick thinking about what could have gone wrong. It was probably better that he hadn’t told me about his alternative plan; my head would have been spinning with what ifs. Saving this money was not worth the risk.

“Knox, you guys could have…” Been killed. I couldn’t even bring myself to speak the words. Hot tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. Why would he take such a risk? I couldn’t lose him.

He took my hands and held them. “That is your money to do what you want with. Your parents worked hard to earn that, saved for years to make sure you would be okay. Even if I don’t love the idea of you giving it to Luke, I get it. It’s who you are. It’s one of the reasons I love you. That money is yours to do what you want with. There was no way I was just handing it over.”

“But how did you know this would all work out? That you could trust this lawyer and the police to—”

“Shhh. It’s over now.” He kissed me softly on the mouth.

My whirling thoughts and racing heart felt anything but comforted. “Are you sure it’s not going to come back to you? They could find out you set this up. How do you know this lawyer, anyway?” Questions tumbled from my lips as my brain fought to catch up.

His gaze slid away from mine. “It’s been a long night. We’ll talk about that later.” Opening his arms, he urged me closer. “Come here.”

I sensed there was something he wasn’t telling me, and a flicker of curiosity bloomed inside me, but I let it go and curled against his side, savoring the feel of his firm body against mine. Knowing how close I could have come to losing him tonight quieted me and I clung to him, desperate for skin-to-skin contact.

Knox

I tugged McKenna closer, pushing my hand under the T-shirt she wore to bed, unable to resist running my hand along the soft curve of her ass. Tonight had been stressful—leading Jaxon into a situation like that and involving the police, which totally went against my gut and had put me on edge. But there was no way I was letting McKenna take the hit for Jaxon’s mistake. That money belonged to her. I wasn’t about to let it fall into the hands of a street gang. She deserved to be in control of her parent’s inheritance, and even if she wanted to use it to fund Luke’s education¸ it was hers to do with what she wanted.

“What are you doing?” She giggled as my hand squeezed her ass cheek.

“Just exploring,” I growled near her ear. I hoped she wasn’t too tired, because I needed to feel her around me. Tonight more than ever.

“How can you be thinking about sex right now?” she teased, wiggling her ass farther away from me. “You could have been killed tonight.”

“But I wasn’t.” I tugged her close again. No way was I letting her escape that easy. “And now I want to celebrate by getting my cock wet in your sweet honey.” It was crude, but I wasn’t in the mood to sugarcoat my mood with pretty words. I hitched her bare leg up over my hip so she could feel that I was already semi-hard for her.

“You and your insatiable boners.” She rolled her eyes for dramatic effect. Her playful mood was exactly what I needed to relax. And studying me in the dim light, McKenna seemed to understand that. “The things I do for my sex-addicted boyfriend.” She sighed.

Boyfriend. I liked that word coming from her lips. “I’m addicted to your tight, hot pussy. And I’m not going to apologize for that.”

“So, what are you going to do about it?” she challenged, a lively spark in her eyes.

I pulled her over the top of me so she was straddling my lap. I loved the weight of her against me, the sight of her sitting on top of me. Tugging her panties to the side, I touched my fingertips to her pussy lips, finding them glistening with her moisture, and my cock swelled even more. “I want to feel your heat squeezing my cock.”

McKenna let out a helpless whimper.

I continued rubbing her, spreading her apart so I could stroke her clit in a little circular pattern that made her hips rock slightly against mine, and nestled my cock nice and tight between her ass cheeks.

“Careful, angel. I’m tempted to bury myself inside you, and if that happens I don’t know if I can hold back tonight.”

She breathed my name, her head dropping back as she pushed her hips closer, greedy for more friction against her pleasure spot. A firm grip and a twist of the fabric and I tore the panties from her body, tossing them aside. “Oops,” I deadpanned.

She watched me with wide eyes, her pulse frantically thrumming at the base of her throat. She liked this side of me. Good girl.

Lifting her weight with one hand, I pushed my cotton boxers down my thighs with the other, freeing my cock to rest between us. Rocking her hips against me, her wet pussy slid along my shaft, coating me in her juices. A growl rose from my throat. I cursed under my breath, my hands clutching into fists at my sides. Restraint was not my strong point, and she was making me crazy with desire. I was about three seconds away from pounding into her, brutally taking everything she was offering.

“You better stop me now, angel, unless you want me to fuck you bare.” I knew her birth control hadn’t kicked in yet, but shit, in that moment, I was willing to risk it. I needed her. Just her, with no barrier between us. She made me want things I never thought I’d want. She made me crazy with the desire to not only fuck her, but to consume her from the inside out.

“Give it to me,” she breathed. Her confidence and husky tone caused a drop of fluid to leak from my tip.

Positioning the head of my cock at her entrance, I pushed forward slowly but steadily, easing past the tightness of her inner muscles and not stopping until I was completely buried deep inside her body. McKenna let out a low murmur of discomfort. I knew I was testing her, pushing her limits, but I also knew she liked it. And I loved the feel of her stretching around me.

“Ride me, angel,” I encouraged, placing one hand against her side, my thumb lightly stroking her hip bone.

She rotated her hips, drawing me even deeper and savoring the feel of me buried so completely, before lifting and lowering herself back down in tiny increments as she adjusted to my size.

Watching her hips move against mine, seeing her eyes slip closed as an expression of ecstasy overtook her features was too much. Fuck. She was my everything.

I gripped her hips, lifting her up and down while I planted my feet against the mattress and used the leverage to thrust into her. Unable to hold back, I pounded into her tight little pussy over and over again, loving the way her chest bounced as I plunged into her.

All too soon, McKenna was exploding around me, murmuring my name and gripping her breasts to rub her nipples as she started to come.

The sight of her, coupled with the intense way her body gripped at mine, wrenched the last of my self-control away. Tingles at the base of my spine drew my balls tight against my body as my own release began. Hot jets of semen pumped into her. McKenna clung to me helplessly and I lifted up on my elbows to kiss her. Her walls continued pulsing around me for several seconds as our breathing slowed and our kiss turned deeper, slower.

One thing was certain: I did not deserve an angel like McKenna. The only explanation for her presence in my life was that my mom had sent her from heaven to look after us all. It was the only thing that made sense. I’d known she was my angel right from the very beginning.