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He chuckled as he dropped his arms away from Jodi and took her small hand in his. “Stop worrying about it.”
“We can go somewhere else,” Duncan said with that same damn smile that was going to get him punched.
“We’re fine,” he said more firmly as he gestured to the guide map in his mother’s hand. “Where do you want to go first?”
She opened her mouth to say something, but his father cut her off before she got the chance. “Why don’t we start with Splash Mountain?”
*-*-*-*
“I’m not sharing a room with that bastard!” Garrett snarled, getting into Duncan’s face.
“Stop your bitching!” Dr. Bradford snapped, shoving a keycard in his son’s hands and gesturing towards the elevator where she stood, watching the show with morbid fascination as she waited for the elevator.
“Behave yourselves!” Mrs. Bradford said, hushing her boys with a look that left her sons looking appropriately chastised.
“Why don’t we go grab something to eat?” Danny suggested, leaning down and giving her another one of those chaste kisses that had her biting back a frustrated sigh.
“Sure,” she said absently as she glanced around the hotel foyer. “How exactly did they get kicked out of their hotel?”
“Room service,” he said with a shrug as he took her hand in his and led her towards the entrance.
“Room service?” she asked, frowning as she allowed him to lead her to double sliding glass doors.
“Probably for the best if we don’t mention it. Mom’s still pretty pissed that they broke the rules.”
“Rules?”
“It’s probably for the best if we don’t talk about that either,” he said, smiling down at her as she raced to wrap her mind around what he was saying. They had rules about room service?
“Where are you going?” Aidan asked, pushing away from the wall to join them as they walked past him.
“To grab food,” Danny said, not slowing his pace as they walked outside and forced his brother to jog to catch up with them.
“Great! I’m starving,” Aidan said, grinning hugely as he joined them.
“You’re not invited,” Danny said, not missing a beat. “So fuck off.”
“Where are we going? Pizza? Buffet? Burgers? Italian?” Aidan asked, ignoring Danny’s homicidal glare as he continued walking alongside them.
“What’s going on?” Reese asked, tapping his twin on the shoulder and gesturing towards them.
“We’re grabbing a late dinner,” Aidan answered before Danny had a chance, and judging by his glare, he desperately wanted to say something.
“I’m starving,” Duncan said from behind them, sounding relieved as he joined them. “What are we having?”
“I could go for Chinese,” she said, trying not to laugh at the look on Danny’s face when the rest of his brothers and his sister joined them.
“Great!” Garret said, as he joined them on the sidewalk. “There’s a buffet right down the street.”
*-*-*-*
“I’m sorry,” he said, having absolutely no idea what else he should say.
“It’s fine,” she said with a little sniffle.
“Really?” he asked, kneeling down in front of the bathtub and for some reason, not believing her.
“I-I just need a minute,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut tighter as she licked her lips and somehow managed to curl up into a smaller ball.
“No one got hurt,” he said soothingly as he reached down and touched her shoulder only to pull his hand back with a muttered curse when she flinched.
“I just need a minute,” she said, taking a deep breath as he knelt there, contemplating hunting his brothers down and kicking their asses.
“Sweetheart, it’s fine. It was just a little misunderstanding,” he said, reaching for her only to have her flinch away from his touch, again.
“I-I just can’t get the screams out of my head,” she whispered. “The screams……they were just……..,” she said, swallowing as she shook her head, clearly unable to go on.
He sighed as he stood up and pulled his shirt off. He tossed it aside as he kicked his shoes off. “It goes away. Trust me,” he said as he unsnapped his fly and pushed his pants and boxers down.
“When?” she asked with a shuddering sigh that had him chuckling as he grabbed the shower curtain and pulled it aside so he could join her, careful not to step on the beautiful woman curled up in the fetal position on the bottom of the tub.
“Soon,” he promised her as he reached down and picked her up.
“It was horrible,” she said with a little sniffle that had him smiling as he kissed the top of her head.
He settled her on her feet, but didn’t let her go. “I know,” he said, still wondering how his brothers could have fucked up this badly, especially right after their mother had taken each of them by the ear and read them the riot act before they’d been allowed inside.
“Your mother looked mad,” she said, pressing her face against his chest as she grabbed onto his biceps and held on tightly.
He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her, careful of the healing rug burn covering her back and arms. “Well,” he said, thoughtfully pausing only long enough to press another kiss to the top of her head, “they did break the rules.”
She sighed against his chest, but he did feel her relax. “Rules?”
“Mmmhmm,” he murmured, closing his eyes as he enjoyed holding her in his arms. Nothing in life ever felt more perfect than this. “My mother created a list of rules for us when we were little to help cut back on incidents like the ones today.”
“Smart,” she said, pressing a kiss against his chest as she settled more comfortably in his arms.
He chuckled as he closed his eyes and stood there, savoring this moment with her. For the past three days he’d forced himself to be content with holding her hand and small kisses when all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her, touch her, kiss her, run his hands over her and slide back inside the tightest, wettest hold that he’d ever experienced.
“Is that why you were avoiding your family?” she suddenly asked him, but it wasn’t enough to distract him away from what was really on his mind.
“Hmmm?” he asked, kissing the top of her head as he gently ran his hands down her back, testing the waters.
“Your back,” she said, giving him an, “Oh,” moment.
