Bound, Branded, & Brazen by Jaci Burton

damn day. Odds are higher there than here.”
    “I don’t . . .”
    “What?”
    She shook her head. “Nothing.” She tried to pry his fingers loose. This time he wasn’t going to let go. He turned her around, cupped her face in his hands.
    “You can’t run from how you feel, Val. Sometime you’re going to have to face it.”
    “I can’t.”
    Her pain hurt him. He wished he could take it out of her and make it go away. But he couldn’t. Instead, he drew her lips to his, brushed his mouth across hers. Her breath whispered across his with a quivering sigh.
    “Mason.”
    “Quit fighting what we both want.” What they both needed. He walked backward, leading her into the bedroom.
    “Your leg . . .”
    “Is fine. Not bleeding. You stitched it up good.” He held on to her, leading her to the bed, sitting down with her, then lying down with her. On their bed, where they belonged together.
    “You shooting for a pity fuck?” she asked as he rolled her to face him.
    He laughed. “Is it working?”
    Her lips lifted, color coming back to her face now. “Maybe. I’m worried about your leg.”
    “Then I guess you can keep close watch over it, Doc.” He grabbed her butt and rocked her against the long, hard part of him that ached to be inside her.
    She gasped, pressed her hands against his chest. “You rip those stitches out with . . . strenuous activity, I’m not sewing you back up.”
    “Duly noted.” He slid his hand against her neck and laid his mouth on hers, let her know how much he wanted her, wanted this. Her pulse kicked up and he supposed that was his answer—she did want to be here with him, no matter how much she protested the opposite. The warmth of her breath released against him in a sigh and her body relaxed. Whatever war she fought internally, he supposed she’d finally given up the fight.
    That was all the encouragement he needed. He let his hand slide from her neck to her collarbone to her breast. She didn’t have a bra on, and her nipple peaked under her flimsy cotton shirt. Damn, it felt good to touch her, to feel the softness of her body against him again. He smoothed his palm over the hard bud to torture it a little more, and she arched into his hand, filling it with the softness of her breast. He jerked the material to the side and planted his mouth over her nipple, encouraged by the sounds she made as he sucked and licked. He’d missed those sounds of pleasure, had always loved listening to her in the dark when she writhed against him. The one thing Valerie could never deny was the sexual chemistry between them. There might be a million things wrong with their marriage, but sex hadn’t been one of them. Here they could connect, and all problems were tossed. It was just the two of them, naked, him inside her, rocking her until she screamed.
    He wanted that now, wanted to give her a release he knew she needed. He let go of her nipple, lifted her shirt off, and she rolled onto her back, gifting him with that serene, knowing smile that said she knew there was no going back now. She raised her arms over her head and let him remove the rest of her clothes.
    Naked, she still took his breath away. He slipped off his briefs and shirt, then rolled back onto the bed, climbing between her legs to press a kiss to her inner thigh. He slipped his hands under her butt to lift her, then laid his mouth against her sex, taking in the sound of her delighted sigh.
    God she was hot, her taste tart and sexy, and it made his cock so hard he could go off right there, spilling all over the sheets like a first-timer. Valerie did that to him, always did, made him hot and hard and ready in seconds. He never could resist the taste and sweet smell of her. She’d been a fire in his blood since he first became a man. She’d always been the only woman he craved like a drug he couldn’t do without.
    She lifted against him, her eager movements urging him to lick around her clit, flick the hard nub until she let out a