Breathe for Me (The Langston Brothers Duet #1)

by Brittany Ann

To the ones who try to save everyone but themselves. Remember that you are just as important as the person beside you. Remember to live.

The woman I’d just fucked like a whore was my brother’s fiancé.

Christ. Those fucking eyes. Green. Forest green. Eyes a man could get lost in. Eyes that made a man want to get lost in.

“City Girl, I’m fucking talking to you.”

“The answer is no, City Girl. Go on back to your paved roads and dirty air. Whatever you’re selling, we don’t want it. The answer will always be no. Go back to your city. Go get your suit wearing boyfriend to lay you down and fuck you until you fake it. Then, in a year or so, he’ll put a ring on your finger and a baby in your belly. You’ll be a stay-at-home wife. You’ll go to yoga and hire a nanny. You’ll be living off his money, so you won’t have to deal with men like me.”

I wasn’t a snake. I was just a girl trying to save her mom.

Then I was gone, running through the freezing rain to my truck, while my mind played images of her hurt or dead in a ditch somewhere over and over. I shouldn’t be giving a shit about her. I wanted her gone. You wanted her gone, Denver. Not hurt or worse…

“Smoke,” I whispered. He bit off a curse, then he was gone. Suddenly, I was flying, flying next to something warm and solid. I liked warm and solid. Then, I wasn’t flying anymore, and the rain had stopped. Now, warmth was all around me, but I still shivered. I was on something soft, my head resting against it. I felt heat run over my shoulder, down my torso and then a faint click. Then a slam. He put me in the truck. I was in the truck. His truck.

“You’re wet,” I rasped. He stared. My throat hurt now. Today was a bad day. “Don’t want you wet and cold…” I trailed off as another shiver rolled through me. Then, we were moving. “Flying again,” I said, closing my eyes. “Come on, City Girl. Stay with me. Let me see those pretty eyes,” a deep, velvet voice rumbled. Cold. So damn cold. But my eyes were pretty. Everything faded away and I was back in my mom’s flower shop…

Blinking quickly, I took a second to look around me. I was in a room—a man’s room. I was in a man’s bed.

I had other ways to make a woman like her scream, ways we would both enjoy.

“We need to get her warm,” Lawson hissed, putting his hand on her forehead. I didn’t like that. I didn’t understand why I didn’t like that. “I know,” I said, yanking off my shirt while she was passed out in Beau’s arms. I lifted my chin. “Set her on the bed and get out.” “Get out?” “Yes, out. I have to undress her. She doesn’t need all these eyes on her body without her knowing,” I snapped. Beau glared at me but set her on the bed. Once they were out of my room, I shrugged off my jeans then set to work on getting her out of those clothes.

She froze, her body stiffening, her breathing labored. I squeezed her wrists and brought my other hand to her hip. “Yeah. You feel that. Don’t you, City Girl?”

I chuckled in her ear. “Be a good girl or I’ll fuck you into one.”

“Let me ask you something, Kings, where is she sleeping?” Kings was my call sign in the Marines. I stared at him. He answered for me when I didn’t. “She’s in your bed. That’s the first woman to be in your bed since Cathy,” he said, putting his hat on. “It ain’t like that, Mags,” I hissed. He chuckled again, and the sound made me want to break his jaw. “Woman is in your bed, Kings. You have other bedrooms up there.” He stood, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “Think on that.”

She tried to pull her leg away from me, but my hand clamped down on her bare thigh. I looked up to her again, baring my teeth. “You can leave in the morning. Now, stay fucking still so I can get this wrapped,” I ordered. Those green eyes flashed with anger. “You are the worst man I have ever met,” she snapped. “City Girl, you saying that to a man on his knees in front of you, cleaning your feet and wrapping your wounds, makes me think you aren’t a good judge of character.”

“Mr. Langston, I would like to thank you for helping me yesterday. You and I have not gotten along but you still brought me into your home and for that—” “What the fuck are you doing?” I folded my arms across my chest and glared down at her. She was a tall woman, coming up nearly to my shoulder, so I didn’t have to look down far. Her emerald eyes flashed. “I was trying to be professional,” she stammered. “Woman, you saw me kill a man yesterday. I think we’re well past that,” I deadpanned. She flinched but recovered quickly. “Goodbye, Mr. Langston.”

“Never judge a cowboy for his sins, sweetheart. Ask who wronged him first.”

I’ve fisted my cock seven times since she left, thinking about those gasps and her green eyes as I came.

Mags and Jigs were coming up the hill now and Cathy’s focus shifted from me to Mags. “Hey, big boy,” she purred. “Rather fuck a cactus, sugar,” Mags said before looking at me. “She drive here like this?” I nodded once.

My pistol was in the waistband of my jeans, and I knew there was a very strong chance I might have to kill a man tonight, especially if that man touched her. No one was allowed to touch her. Except me.

She was pressed against the wall, front first, a man’s hand in her hair, his other hand was trying to push down her jeans. “Denver!” she cried. I saw red. Blood. Fucking. Red.

“You don’t touch my woman. You don’t look at my woman. You don’t think about her green eyes. You don’t think about her pretty hair. You don’t think about her enchanting face.” “Okay! Okay! Please!” I leaned in close to his ear. “Ya boy got three bullets in his body before I burned it,”

Her green eyes met mine and I said, “Baby, close those eyes for me.” “Den—” “Close ‘em, baby,” I demanded gently. When she did, I fired my gun, staring at her as I did it. She let out a yelp with each shot.

“I don’t want to stay out here alone,” she said weakly. “You aren’t. I need to sweep the room before you enter it, though.”

“You don’t get out of the truck until I open the door for you, understand?” I growled. “Denver—” “Do you understand me?”

“Get your stuff together.” “I have to stay here tonight,” she said. I looked at her. “You aren’t staying here tonight.” “But—” “Pack your shit.” “I don’t check out until tomorrow morning,” she explained, brushing past me. I stiffened. She was leaving.

“Mr. Langston, I wanted to thank you for what you’ve done for me,” she said, her professional mask back in place. “I can never repay you. You saved my life tonight. You saved me the other day. For that, I am grateful.”

“Look at me,” I demanded again. She didn’t. She just kept on. “I have to be out of the hotel by morning, and I have to book my flight tonight. I have to wake up early and drive to Denver. As much as I appreciate you helping me, I need to get some rest.”

“You aren’t staying here tonight,”

“You called me Denver in that alley. You called me Denver in my truck. You will only call me Denver from now on, is that clear?” “I—” “Is that clear?” I asked, bending my head as my fingers tightened. Her eyes flashed. “You don’t get to tell me what to do!” “Baby, I’ll gladly take you over my knee if need be.” She froze, and I pulled back from her face. “Pack your shit. I have to make a call.”

“Valerie.” My name left my dark cowboy’s lips, and I thanked the heavens that I was leaning against the counter, or I would have fallen to my knees in a puddle.

“Gotta move out of my way, Val, so I can make you and my boy breakfast.”

“So, when I came to Hallow Ranch and you pinned me against the barn, you have to know that I wasn’t afraid. I was glad.” His brows drew together. “I was glad I got see something so beautiful in my dull, sad life.” “What did you see?” he asked, his voice rough and thick. “The smoke in your eyes.”

The driver got into the car, and I pulled open the back door. I had one leg in when it happened. When my world spun. “Valerie!” My stomach fluttered almost as fast as my heart. I turned to see my dark cowboy heading up the hill to me, on his horse, his body moving with his steed. From his dirty boots, blue jeans, black shirt, flannel, to that damn cowboy hat—he was a vision. I knew in that moment that Denver Langston would haunt me for the rest of my days.

“Denv—” “Shut the fuck up,” he growled, his hand going to the back of my neck. Then he did it. He ruined me. His lips crashed against mine, his huge body, shoving me against the cab, pinning me to it as he pried my lips open with his tongue. His hot, delicious, tongue. My mouth fell open, letting him in, and I was kissing him back with the same urgency. I couldn’t control it. A sound ripped from him, causing my insides to quiver. It was rough, uncontrolled, dark…

“You leave me, so help me God, baby, I will hunt you down,” he clipped. “I will find you and take my anger out on that perfect, round ass of yours. You won’t be able to walk for a fucking month.”

“Denver—” He leaned down, getting a centimeter from my face, the brim of his hat over me. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” His hand went down and gripped the back of my elbow, and then he pulled me away from the car. The young driver was out, staring at us with her mouth hanging...

“You move one fucking inch, I will take you over my knee,” the cowboy threatened, not looking at me.

His eyes found mine and I sucked in a breath. Then my back was against the door, his body against mine, my face was in his hands. “What are you doing?” I whispered. “Not letting you go,” he hissed, baring his white teeth. Then he kissed me. Again.

“Denver,” I rasped, pulling away from him. “Fuck, the way you say my name…”

“Can you take your hat off?” I asked. His eyes darkened. “You want my hat off, baby?” His voice was deep. Rough.

“Jesus, your fucking body. I don’t even have you naked yet, and I know it’s perfect,” he whispered as he dropped his head to my neck.

“Nod if you want this. If you don’t, I’ll step away,” he ordered, his breath caressing my ear. My heart was cloud nine. He was making sure I was okay. After everything, he was making sure that I was okay. I nodded, clinging to him, my breasts pressed against his hard chest. I needed less clothes and more skin, more him. “You sure?” “Denver, touch me,” I begged.

“Wanted to pound into you then,” he growled into my ear, somehow reading my mind. “Fuck, I wanted to make you scream. Fuck you until you promised to be a good girl for me.” He snapped his hips, and I could feel his hard erection against my ass. “You wanted that too, didn’t you?”

“Fisted my cock thinking about you, Valerie. You’ve been in my fucking head since the second you stepped foot on my ranch.”

The hand around my neck snapped up to my jaw, gripping it firmly and he leaned in, towering over my tall frame. “You were leaving,” he spat, his eyes flaring. I swallowed. “Yes.” “You feel this?” he clipped, pressing against me. This. That little word held so much weight, and it terrified me.

I was the only one getting pleasure in this. That didn’t sit well with me. My right hand left his wrist, and I reached behind me, shoving it between us. I cupped his stiff bulge in the front of his jeans. A dark chuckle escaped him. “You aren’t ready for my dick, baby.” “I want—I want—”

“Good girls get cock, baby.” I whimpered. “You aren’t a good girl yet,”

“You said—you said you would fuck me into one.”