Page 59 of Brandishing Beginnings

He nodded, as if he already knew. “Go shower and get ready for bed. Nico’s cooking dinner, it’ll be ready in a bit.”

Relief washed over me—I wouldn’t have to make any more decisions; they would take care of everything. Nodding, I reached out to open my suitcase when Jason moved behind me and wrapped me in his arms.

“You’re safe darlin’, we got you.” He murmured the words into my ear as he pulled me back against his chest.

“I’m sorry I’m such a mess,” I muttered.

He chuckled softly. “You’re not a mess. This is just a bump in the road, you’ll see. You were meant to be with us.”

I smile softly. “This place is beautiful. I’m so happy you guys got this place.”

Jason only squeezed me tighter, before he spanked my ass once. “Go on, shower.”

“Yes, sir,” I smiled.

Jason chuckled again. “Easy now, we haven’t negotiated yet.”

“Right,” I sighed.

“Don’t worry about it just yet. We’ll talk this weekend. Go on, shower.”

I nodded and headed into the attached bathroom, feeling lighter, despite my exhaustion. My men would take care of everything. I didn’t have worry. They would take care of me.

Maya

Therestoftheweek went by as if in a dream. I got up and went to work every morning and after a day of training and learning at the hospital, I came home to one of my guys cooking dinner. The four of us ate together before either sexy time began, or we snuggled on the large sectional couch in the living room, binge watching TV.

It was finally Friday night and I was chilling on the couch, watching TV while Nico was cooking dinner. “Are you sure you don’t want to come to the party tonight?” Nico called from the kitchen.

“I’m good,” I said, snuggling further under the blanket. “It’s been a long week. I’mprobably passing out early.”

A cell phone rang upstairs and moment later Marcos’s deep voice answered. I couldn’t hear his words, just the cadence of his voice.

Jason walked in the backdoor through the mud room, just off the right side of the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the table to undo his boot laces. “I changed the oil on the Civic,” Jason said, meeting my gaze across the open concept room.

Warmth spread through my chest and I smiled easily. “Thank you.”

“You’re due for a tune up. We’ll bring it by the shop tomorrow and give it a work over.”

I nodded, before my eyes snapped to Marcos, who was walking down the stairs from the second floor. Fresh from a shower, he had on a pair of dark washed jeans and a black button up, with his leather cut over it. “Kara called. The lease is about to end on my mom’s apartment.”

“Well shit,” I said looking around. “We could put a door on the back den and turn it into a bedroom.”

“That makes the most sense,” Jason agreed. “No sense in paying for an apartment when she’s living in the dorms nine months a year.”

“Yeah,” Nico nodded. “I’m cool with that. It’ll just be for the summer aways, then she’ll go back to school.”

Marcos smiled down at me, as he wrapped his thumb and forefinger under my chin and gripped it gently, “You’d be OK with my sister moving in here?”

A soft smile spread across my face as I nodded. “Yeah. She’s my best friend and your sister, of course she can stay here. We’ll have to set some ground rules of course, the last thing your sister wants to hear is us going at it like animals.”

A wicked smirk spread across Marcos’s face. Tightening his grip on my chin, he pulled my face closer to his. “When we negotiate, I’m going to ask for punishment measures.”

The blood drained from my face as her my parted, and my jaw practically dropped to the floor. My eyes widened as my heart skips a beat. “Wha—”

“I’m going enjoy spanking this luscious ass and watching it bounce with every hit.” A wicked grin pulled across his face, making my breath catch in my throat. “I think you like the sound of that.”

Speechless, I couldn’t answer him, unable to form a coherent thought. I could only stare up at him with my mouth open.

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