Page 27 of No Fear
Remy cut her off with a kiss. He couldn’t help himself. The idea of letting her go and watching her walk away from him sent sharp, stabbing pains through his chest. He wasn’t ready yet. And if she thought she could brush him off, she had another thing coming.
Rachel responded almost instantly this time and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. She’d told him over breakfast that she’d never really been kissed before and that caveman inside of him had cheered. He’d been her first kiss, which also made him wonder what other firsts he would be for her. All of them if he had any say in the matter.
First and last.
“Hmmm-hmmm!” Someone cleared their throat loudly nearby and Remy reluctantly broke the sweet goodbye kiss.
He glanced up and saw his little brother standing in the doorway of his tattoo studio, glaring at them. Colt stepped outside, coming even closer, but Remy ignored him and focused on Rachel. She’d gone stiff in his arms and he didn’t like that at all.
Rachel jerked back from him, her cheeks flushed and her breaths ragged. She glanced around, as if she’d forgotten where she was and damn, that was good for his ego. But then he saw it, saw the moment she realized they were standing on the street and someone had caught them kissing. Her eyes went wide. She ducked her chin and her shoulders began to curl in, as if she wanted to hide.
Remy held on to her with one hand when she tried to pull away and tipped her chin up with the other so that she had to meet his gaze, “Hey… hey… we’re not doin’ anything wrong.”
There was fear in her eyes again and it felt like a punch to his gut. He’d worked all morning to put her at ease. He thought they’d managed to get past it but he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. He’d never been able to forget his past and his fears that easily so why had he thought she could?
“I-I know.” She muttered softly and he grazed her damp bottom lip with his thumb.
“Don’t run from me, Rach. I’ll chase you.” He dropped his forehead to hers so they were eye to eye, “And we both know I’ll catch you.”
She smiled softly, her eyes twinkling, “I’m not running from you.”
She wasn’t running from him. Wasn’t pulling away from him. He swallowed his knee jerk reaction to assume it was his fault, that he’d done something to scare her and took a deep breath. They’d been fine until the interruption. She’d kissed him right there on the street. It wasn’t him.
It was their intruder that scared her.
“Good.”
He brushed his lips over hers again and swallowed a groan when she tilted her head up to kiss him back. For a girl that said she’d never properly been kissed until this morning, she certainly caught on quick. Her taste spread through him and he groaned as he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. Her tongue stroked against his, taking the lead, and he felt a little weak in the knees. This girl, she was going to be the death of him, because even when he heard his name, he couldn’t force himself to pull away from her.
“Remy!”
He broke the kiss and held Rachel close as he glared over her head at his brother, “What?”
Familiar light blue eyes narrowed at the way he snapped but moved away from him too fast for him to gauge anything else. Colt’s lips pursed when he looked at Rachel and Remy felt an insane urge to tuck her behind him, to hide her away. Colt wasn’t a threat to her, he knew that. Logically he knew that Colt would never hurt Rachel just like he knew that Colt was madly in love with Skylar and wouldn’t try to take her from him. But he’d never felt all that logical when it came to this girl so he kept a possessive hand on her so there was no way his brother could mistake what he’d seen as something casual.
“Rachel.” Colt said with more warmth than his stony face showed.
“Good morning Colt.” Rachel answered shyly but steadily.
His brother snorted, “No such thing sweetheart.”
Remy glared at his brother when he used that endearment. He barely resisted the urge to clench his fists. He would not hit his brother. He would not hit his little brother. He grit his teeth and thought of all the times he’d called Skylar by that particular endearment. His eyes narrowed, wondering if his brother was trying to get back at him for that. If so, it was brilliant because he swore to himself right then and there that he wouldn’t call Skylar that anymore so long as Colt didn’t call Rachel by it.
Rachel only smiled at his brother, “I guess it’s genetic.”
“What?” Colt looked between them.
“He said the same thing this morning when he woke up.”
At that, Colt’s eyebrows nearly hit his hairline and his gaze winged straight to his brother, “You two spent the night together?”
“I… well… we…” Rachel stuttered and Remy cut her off with a frown.
“That’s none of your business.”
Colt glared right back at him, “See, that’s where you’re wrong. When my girlfriend freaks the hell out because she,” he pointed to Rachel, “left a note saying she was in trouble and then neither of you pick up your phone. That makes it my business.”
“Oh God!” Rachel gasped and her face went pale as she brought a hand up to cover her mouth, “Oh God, oh God… I-I forgot. I forgot about the n-note.”
