Live. Love.

“Kitten.” The voice was deep and suggestive from behind her. Making her stomach clinch and body heat in ways it hadn’t in years. Nicky let her eyes close for just a moment, a sigh rolling through her on a warm wave before she turned to face him.

Sexy as fuck in his black Denver Avalanche hoodie and worn blue jeans that wrapped around powerful thighs. Tall, every inch of him rippled with mouth watering muscles. His sweatshirt didn’t disguise his broad shoulders and ripped chest. A strong jaw covered in stubble, short cropped brown hair that she was sure was still long enough to tangle her fingers in. Hazel eyes that had always had women melting in a puddle at his feet.

Gage Ryker.

Her brothers’ best friend. The boy she wanted in ways that were not allowed. Her bantering partner. Sounding board. Mirror. Bully. They’d spent their childhood pushing each others’ buttons ignoring the one thing that had always lived and breathed between them. It wasn’t hate. An attraction that neither of them wanted but couldn’t completely walk away from either.

He’d always been confident, dominating every room he walked into without even trying. He carried himself easily like the world didn’t matter to him, he was just in it. A leader, people looked up to him. Followed him without question. He stood in-front of her his thumbs hooked into his front pockets a familiar smirk on his face, eyes sparkling.

“Ryker.” She didn’t saw his name. She breathed it. Like a stupid little girl crush. Nicky kicked herself. Fucking dumb. Pull yourself together.

“Heard trouble was coming back into town.” Gage said a smile pulling at his mouth. His eyes dropped, running over her critically, making her self conscious in only a way he had ever been able to. “You look good.”

“I know.” Nicky said. Hiding the excited drop in her stomach with a confident smile, sassily tossing her hair back over her shoulder.

She looked fucking amazing. Five years and she’d turned from a cute teenager into a freaking goddess. Curvy and soft in all the right places. Her crop top revealed an impressive amount of cleavage, tight waist and a belly button ring she hadn’t had when she’d left. Her jeans were fitted hugging her thighs and rear, sitting low on her hips. Her dark brown hair hung down her back in a mess of waves and curls, that looked like she hadn’t even tried to tame them. Her green eyes, deep and expressive. Filled with sass and attitude exactly how he remembered them.

He’d been obsessed with her for as long as he could remember. His best friends baby sister. Off limits. Younger by four years she’d pretty much followed them around all through childhood. Gage and Brad had rarely gone anywhere without Nicky close behind. An annoying little narrator to their activities with her snarky sass. Completely oblivious to the effect she had on him. Not that he had ever let on about it. He’d spent most of his life trying to ignore it.

When she’d left home for college, they’d kept up their banter via text, unable to let each other completely go. Meme, videos, jokes. Little things. He’d tell her about a game. She’d tell him about a class. He told her about his latest bed partner. When she’d moved in with Jeremy, he’d thought he’d lost her. Lost anything that could have been. But now she was back. Moving into the house he shared with his best friend Brad, Brads girlfriend Cia and their little girl Remy.

“Where’s Brad?” Nicky asked.

“Right here kid.” Brad said swooping in around Gage to wrap her in a hug, lifting her feet off the floor. Nicky wrapped her arms around his neck taking a deep breath of his cologne, sweet and earthy. Brad was goofy, stupid and relentlessly annoying. But no matter how much she fucked up. How much she’d pissed off their mother. He was always there backing her up. Her safe space.

Two days ago, she’d caught her boyfriend in bed with another woman. Nicky had been furious. She’d gotten loud and in his face. He’d gone from contrite and apologetic to angry and threatening in a split second. Before she’d known what was going on he’d had her by the hair slamming her into the wall. He’d pressed her face against it leaning in close behind her, mouth brushing her ear telling her she didn’t get to dictate their relationship.

He’d fuck who he wanted, when he wanted, how he wanted. And that had included her. He’d groped her squeezing her breasts, humping her through her clothes. His breath hot in her ear he’d latched his teeth around her shoulder. He’d been pulling at her clothes, groaning when the woman on the bed had whined his name. He’d shoved Nicky into a chair and gone back to where the other woman was waiting on the bed.

Nicky had been stunned. Terrified. She’d never been treated that way. It took her a minute to pull herself together and snap out of it. She managed to slip out of the room without being noticed. Grabbing her dance bag and her purse she’d ran, leaving everything else behind. With only a hundred dollars in her pocket she’d gone to a dirty motel. Two a.m. she’d called him and Brad had answered without irritation or accusations. He’d got her on a flight home the next day.

With his arms around her now the tears pushed back into her eyes, tightening her throat. She’d kept it together over the ten hours of traveling. Even when her phone had started blowing up with texts, calls and facetimes from Jeremy. She’d ridden high on the anger at his gall. Nicky wasn’t a wilting flower. She wasn’t the type of girl to be controlled. Who did he think he was? She’d blocked him, building high walls around the fear he had caused. The feeling of helplessness. They crumpled now. Her breath catching on a sob and she tucked her face into Brads neck.