Releasing Raven [Braden Security 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  “I wouldn’t listen to him. He’s only out for himself, telling you to go into a home. You have Mary and now me to help. You’re fine living here. Don’t let him influence you into something that you don’t want.”

  “I agree with you, he is an ass, but he is also my brother and all I have left. So I listen when he comes on his weekly visits. They don’t all turn out to be shouting matches, just when he brings the topic up. I will admit it is getting to sound like a broken record, the closer we get to the elections.”

  “Would you like me to talk to him next time he’s here?” Brad said, lifting her chin so she was looking at him.

  “No, that’s okay. I don’t want you involved with my problems. I can handle him, he’s a nuisance, that’s all.”

  “Okay, I don’t agree, but if that’s what you want, we’ll drop it for now. But if I hear him yelling at you again, all bets are off. I don’t think I could stand around and not say something. Well, I better get going, you need your sleep, if you are to come jogging with me in the morning. You will come and keep me company?”

  Raven almost missed his last words as she had her eyes and mind focusing on his lips as he talked. She wanted to kiss him in the worst way. Moving her eyes up to his when he stopped, she tried to hide her thoughts, but Brad had seen her look and had an answering twinkle in his eyes.

  “I think the time is passed for me to go. But I have to have one taste to last me until the morning.” With that said, he lowered his lips to hers. First he licked her lips and when she opened her mouth in surprise, he swooped in and pushed his tongue into her mouth. Brad savored the full taste that was uniquely Raven, this was something he had wanted to do from the first moment he saw her laying on her kitchen floor.

  Raven loved his taste also and touched her tongue to his and felt him shiver. Liking the reaction she got from him, she put her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss even more.

  Brad moaned as he lifted his lips from hers. “I could stay here all night and just kiss you.” He took her arms from around his neck and stood up from the couch.

  Leaning down, he picked her up and set her back in her wheelchair.

  “You know you don’t have to leave yet, it’s still early,” Raven told him, a little disappointed that the night was ending.

  “You might not think I should leave, but I know that I have to. I don’t think I could stop with just a few kisses and I don’t think you’re ready for anything else yet. See me out?” Brad walked behind the chair and pushed it in front of him toward the door. He stopped a few feet away from it and went around and knelt before her. “Get a good night sleep and be ready at eight in the morning.” Brad leaned down and kissed her nose, then got up and opened the door.

  Standing in the doorway, he looked back at her, “Come and lock up. I’ll wait on the other side until I hear the bolt turning.” Walking out onto the step, he pulled the door closed behind him and listened as Raven wheeled herself to the door and threw the bolt.

  “That my girl,” she heard Brad say as he left.

  Chapter Seven

  Hurrying back to his house, Brad barely shut the door behind him, before he pulled out his cell phone and called Grant. Brad didn’t give Grant time to even say hi, before he blurted out, “I need your help. You have to get on your computer and find out about Raven’s family and something called conversion disorder.”

  “Slow down, Brad. I already did some digging on the brother. His name is Les Windfield, he has a job in a government office down town, but tries to hobnob with the big wigs. He is currently running for a council seat and has a wife and no children.”

  “Did you find out anything underhanded? He doesn’t seem to treat Raven very good. I just don’t like the guy. My radar just seemed to go off the more I heard about him.”

  “Well your radar might be right, but nothing came up in the background check. He is maxed out on his credit cards and seems to be living on borrowed time. But I didn’t see anything illegal. Maybe he’s just an S.O.B.”

  “You could be right, but I think there’s more. We’ll just have to dig deeper. What about the family?”

  “Raven’s family were killed in an auto accident four year ago. Raven was with them at the time. Their car was side swiped by another car, running an intersection. Both parents were killed instantly, but Raven survived with just a broken arm and some bruises. When she woke up in the hospital, they told her about her parents and she took it hard. When they tried to get her up and around, they found she couldn’t walk. I hacked into her medical records and found that there is no physical cause for this. It is called conversion disorder cause by trauma, and she has been in therapy now for a couple of years.”

  “Okay, thanks Grant. That’s what I needed to know. If you find out anything else, give me a call.” Brad closed his cell phone and thought about Raven being so traumatized that her mind couldn’t cope, and did something like this. She was such a warm person, full of life. He pondered ways to help her on his way to bed. There had to be something he could do to help her. With her dipshit brother, he knew there would be no help from him.

  Brad spent most of the night tossing and turning, trying to think of ways to help Raven. He wanted her back whole. Not for his sake, he liked her just the way she was, but for her own. He remembered her commenting on loving the feel of the wind on her face, from his pushing her on their jog. He wanted to give back to her the ability to do it for herself. Pushing himself out of bed, he made his way to the kitchen and coffee pot. While waiting, he wandered into the living room and pulled back the curtains. He could see Raven’s house. The only sign of life was a small light on in her kitchen. Brad smiled as he let the curtain go and went to get his coffee.

  He could feel her pull even from this distance. Only an hour and he would be with her again. He knew if he wanted to help and understand, he would have to talk her into letting him go to physio today with her today. And he was damn sure he was going to be with her when he brother came to visit. Finishing his coffee, he took a quick shower and donned his jogging shorts and shirt. As he sat on the couch to tie his sneakers, he couldn’t stop himself from pulling back the curtains again. There was Raven, already sitting in her driveway waiting for him. He just wished that she was standing.

  Brad walked up to Raven, holding the rope in his hand.

  Raven looked up with a wide smile and gestured to the rope. “Ready to tie me up?”

  Brad gave her a wicked grin. “Lady, I would tie you up anytime or anyplace, if I could have my way with you.”

  “Brad, what a thing to say. We are just getting to know each other. But keep the rope handy…You never know,” Raven answered back with a sly smile, lifting her arms so Brad could tie the rope around her and the chair.

  Brad took his time tying the rope in front of Raven just below her breasts. He couldn’t help moving his hand just a little higher, so he could brush a nipple he could see poking through her top. Hearing her sudden intake of breath, he straightened. Pretending nothing unusual was going on, he moved behind her and grabbed the handles of the chair. Looking down at her, he could see her blush and he felt ten feet tall, knowing that the attraction between them wasn’t one sided.

  Their jog was a repeat of the day before, but they made it all the way around the park and through a back street before he stopped at a bench just outside the park entrance.

  Raven was laughing and holding her hair out of her face. “God I loved that.”

  Brad sat down on the bench and pulled her chair right in front of him. “I loved it, too.”

  Raven looked around the park. “I used to love it here. Especially the Fourth of July, we would pack a large picnic and spend the day in the park. They always had rides and fireworks. I miss not coming to the celebrations.”

  “Why don’t you still come? It’s not the far from your house.”

  “It’s not the same when you’re alone.” Raven turned her head down, looking depressed.

  Brad reached out and took her
chin and raised it. “This year you won’t be alone. We’ll go together, but you have to make the picnic.”

  Raven looked back at him. “But that’s not until next month. Maybe we won’t be seeing each other by then.”

  “Are you saying that you’re going to get tired of me?” Brad joked at her.

  Raven lifted one of her hands and put it over his, holding her chin. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of you.” She blushed again at her words and moved her chin and hand away from his. She hadn’t really meant to put it out like that. She didn’t want him to feel obliged to stay with her.

  “Good.” Brad got up. Taking the handles of the chair, he started walking toward their homes. “I don’t think I will get tired of you either.”

  Raven held her breath as she listened to Brad’s words. Letting out a long sigh, she hoped that he meant what he had said. She was starting to more than like Brad. She didn’t know what he saw in her, but she was glad that he did. He was a glorious man with too long hair and a very sharp wit, and she wouldn’t change anything. She couldn’t ask for more.

  Arriving back at her house, she couldn’t help sniffing him as he leaned close to untie the rope. He smelled of sweat and man, she wished she could bottle it up and keep it with her for when he wasn’t around.

  Brad hesitated as he stood wrapping the rope around his hand in front of her. “Are you going to physio now?”

  “In a couple of hours. I have to clean up and call for the wheel trans bus.” Raven started moving her chair back to go into her house.

  Brad reached out and grabbed the chair, stopping her from moving forward. “Why don’t you let me take you today?”

  “Oh, you would probably be bored. I have an hour of stretching, then they put me into the pool and try getting my legs to work.”

  “Do you go to the gym at John Street? I’ve noticed it and it has a clinic attached to it. I’ve been thinking of joining it.”

  “Yes, that’s the one, but you already jog. I don’t really think you need to join a gym. You seem in great shape.”

  “Well thanks for noticing, but that’s how I stay in shape outside of my job. If I took you today, I could fill out the papers while you’re in your session. Maybe we can start going together every week, if I’m off.” Brad would make sure he was always off to take her, he was sure that James and the guys would allow him to work around her schedule.

  “Really, that would be great. I hate going alone. But the doctor said I need this.”

  Brad let go of her chair and she turned it completely around and said over her shoulder, as she wheeled toward her house, “I’ll be ready whenever you are.”

  Brad watched her go up the ramp and into her house, then turned and walked over to his. He thought again about the girls telling him he would need a ramp, as he walked up the steps and into his house. But if things progressed the way he wanted, they would only need one house. Maybe he was being overly confident, but he knew that Raven was someone special. He would never let on to the guys, but he was envious and admittedly a little jealous of what they all had with their wives. He had seen so much change and it had happened so quickly, after each man had found his soul mate, as Angel liked to call each of their wives. Brad knew they were lucky bastards. And he wanted to be one, too, now he knew what they were talking about. He knew Raven was going to be his, he just had to bide his time and convince the very independent woman of it. Shaking his head, he put his house keys on the hall table and whistled as he walked into his bedroom, into the connecting bathroom and shower, throwing his clothes off as he went.

  An hour later Brad was pulling his truck into Raven’s driveway, he had fixed the back with cables to make sure that the wheelchair was stable as they rode. Raven smiled as she spotted him and locked her door and came down the ramp to his truck. Getting out, he pushed her over to the passenger door, opened it, then leaned down and plucked her out of the chair and onto the truck seat. He pulled the seatbelt around her, and gave her a quick kiss on the nose and shut the truck door quickly. Picking up her chair, he lifted it into the back of the truck and secured it. Jumping in, Brad started the truck before looking over at Raven. She had a smile on her face and was touching her nose.

  “What was the kiss for?”

  “I just missed you.” Brad couldn’t believe it when he felt himself blushed, he felt like he was fourteen again and nervous around a girl. To cover his unwanted feeling, he abruptly put the truck in gear and backed out of the driveway, heading toward the gym.

  Raven was shocked, but delighted by his answer. She wanted to pinch herself, to make sure that this was happening to her. This beautiful man missed her. She had always dreamed of meeting a knight in shining armor one day, and even though he looked more like a surfer dude, he sure was becoming her knight. Raven was so lost in thought that she only came out of her muse when Brad was opening the passenger door in front of the gym. He had the chair down waiting for her, reaching, she grabbed him around the neck, hugging him a little too tight, as he reached in and picked her up from the seat.

  Brad didn’t seem to notice. “Will you be okay while I park the truck?”

  “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Raven watched and admired his tight ass as he moved and got into the truck to park it. He rejoined her and took the handles of her wheelchair, pushing her through the sliding glass doors and into the gym.

  Chapter Eight

  They were met just inside the door by a burly muscular man and a small woman. Raven introduced Brad to the two of them, the woman Lucy was her physio instructor, and Jim was a floor spotter. After saying hi, Jim, who was standing with a wheelchair in front of him, walked up to Raven’s side and picked her up and transferred her to the other chair. Lucy, after Jim had moved her, took Raven and the new chair and started to push it toward the gym. Jim took Raven’s wheelchair and wheeled it into a door off to the side. Brad didn’t say anything, just watched what was going on. He didn’t know the routine, but found it funny that they had changed chairs. Raven’s chair seem perfectly okay, in fact was a better model that the one they were using. He really didn’t like the Jim guy either, but he didn’t know if he was just being jealously at the familiarity he used when picking up Raven, or if something was off that he could sense. Sometimes he wished he was like Angel, who could really sense things and had learned to listen to his inner feelings. Brad was just going to have to keep a close eye out.

  “See you later.” Raven waved back at him as she and Lucy disappeared into the gym. Brad watched the doors close then went to the front desk to fill out a new membership. Walking around, after he had paid the yearly fee, he was impressed with the set up. Since he hadn’t thought to bring any workout clothes, he ended up sitting in the waiting room.

  One hour and a half later, Lucy wheeled Raven back out and Jim brought her wheelchair out of the side room back to her. This time Brad knew the routine, so he made sure to reach Raven’s side before Jim could. He didn’t want Jim touching her, maybe he was just jealous, but he would think about his actions later. Brad scooped Raven out of the chair and transferred her back to own. Jim gave him a dirty look that Brad just ignored. Making sure Raven was comfortable, he said good-bye to Lucy, completely ignoring Jim. Raven thanked both of them and Brad wheeled her out of the door out into the parking lot and stopped next to his truck.

  Brad picked her up and set her in the passenger side of the truck. Raven noticed that he wasn’t smiling and had a very serious expression on his face, but waited until he was in the truck to question him.

  “What’s your problem? You almost scowled at Jim when he picked me up earlier and you made sure that he didn’t do it just now. I’ve known Jim for years and he has always moved me chairs, since my brother bought me this new one.”

  Brad didn’t reply until he had the truck moving on the highway back to their houses. When they came to a stop at a stop sign, Brad finally turned and looked at her.

  “I didn’t like him touching you. What’s the deal with th
e change of chairs anyway? Your chair is better than the one they put you in. I don’t see the need.”

  Raven couldn’t believe his highhandedness, it seem very petty to her that he would complain about Jim touching her, after all he hadn’t been around that long.

  “Well I’m sorry that you didn’t like it. But if it bothers you, maybe I should continue going alone. I won’t have you upsetting people that I have been working with for years. As to my chair, I really don’t remember, but I think he told me it was some regulation of the gyms.”

  Brad pulled the truck into Raven’s driveway and put it in park before running one of his hands through his too long hair. Giving an exasperated sigh, he turned in his seat toward her, not knowing how to explain the uneasy sense that he got from Jim.

  “Look, I will not try and run your life or upset your routine, but something about the guy just seems off. This is all new to me, and maybe I’m just being overprotective. Can you put up with me, and allow me to be the one, to move you back and forth between chairs?” Brad reached out and took one of her hands in his, brushing his fingers over her knuckles and looking seriously into her blue eyes.

  “Well if it bothers you that much, okay. When you’re with me, you can be the one to move me around. Now let’s get me in the house, so I can clean up and get ready for my brother, who will be here in a couple of hours.” Raven gave in, she would rather be in Brad’s arms any day over Jim’s.

  Brad squeezed her hand before letting it go. “Thank you for that. I can’t help the feeling I get around that guy. So now we get ready to meet your brother, here’s hoping for the best.” Jumping out of the truck, he opened Raven’s door and sat her in her chair that he had unloaded from the back.

  “You don’t have to come and meet him.” Raven didn’t know if Brad meeting her brother in the overprotective mood he seemed to be in today was such a great ideal.