Hold (Gentry Boys #5) Read online

  HOLD

  (Gentry Boys #5)

  By Cora Brent

  © 2016

  All Rights Reserved

  BOOKS BY CORA BRENT:

  GENTRY BOYS

  Draw

  Risk

  Game

  Fall

  Hold

  Cross (Coming Spring 2016)

  Edge (Coming Summer 2016)

  BORN SERIES

  Born Savages

  Born Restless (Coming Spring 2016)

  Born Rivals (Coming Summer 2016)

  DEFIANT MC Series

  Know Me: A Novella

  Promise Me

  Remember Me

  Unruly

  Reckless Point

  Contact me at [email protected].

  www.facebook.com/CoraBrentAuthor

  https://www.goodreads.com/CoraBrent

  Amazon Author Page

  COPYRIGHT

  Please respect the work of this author. No part of this book may be reproduced or copied without permission. This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Any similarities to events or situations is also coincidental.

  The publisher and author acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks and locations mentioned in this book. Trademarks and locations are not sponsored or endorsed by trademark owners.

  © 2016 by Cora Brent

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover Design: © L.J. Anderson, Mayhem Cover Creations

  Image: http://www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/4x6

  DEDICATION

  To all of the amazing readers who have laughed, cried and loved along with the boys.

  Here, just as you requested, is their continuing story.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  EPILOGUE

  “…and for all the messy, beautiful pieces the

  human heart manages

  to glue together.

  Love each other.

  Hold each other.

  For now and for always.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  CORD

  I paused in my storytelling to adjust my tiara.

  Two wide-eyed little girls watched me and waited while I firmly resettled the rhinestone and plastic piece. I made a mental note to keep my chin tilted up so it wouldn’t slide off my head again.

  The girl on the left, the one who looked the most like her mother, sat up on her knees and bounced, unable to wait any longer.

  “Keep going, Daddy! Tell us what happened next,” she begged, bouncing more excitedly and knocking a stuffed hedgehog to the floor.

  “Hey,” complained her sister as she reached for her favorite toy.

  I scooped up the doll and pretended to examine it closely for damage.

  “You all right, Miss Happy?” I placed the thing’s mouth against my ear and nodded. “All right. I’ll tell her.” Gently I passed Miss Happy back to her impatient owner. “Here you go, Cassie. She said she just needs a hug.”

  My daughter reached out and carefully cradled the stuffed animal in her little arms. “It’s okay,” she soothed in the same maternal tone my wife always uses when she’s trying to calm the girls.

  “Come on,” urged my other daughter, beginning to bounce again, “keep going!”

  They both had their mother’s luminous green eyes and they were born on the same day. Cassie will likely keep the wispy golden curls that tumbled past her shoulders at this point. Even though she passed her third birthday several months back we can’t bear to cut any of it off. Cami’s chocolate brown hair was shiny and thick, just like Saylor’s. She pursed her lips together and the impatience that flashed in her eyes was such a mirror image of the look I’ve seen from her mother a thousand times I had to struggle not to laugh out loud.

  Instead I masked my amusement with a stern throat clearing because I was in the middle of a serious story. No room for hysterics.

  “Where were we?”

  Cami jumped in right away with an answer. “The evil giant was trying to hurt the brave knight.”

  “That’s right. Thanks, sweetheart. The knight found himself in the lair of the evil giant.”

  “What’s a lair?” asked Cassie, frowning and clutching Miss Happy.

  “It’s the evil giant’s house. It’s dark and smelly and filled with nasty things like snakes that hide in corners, just waiting for a chance to strike. The knight knows he can’t let his fear get to him. The evil giant stomps in his direction, thump, thump thump. acting like he’s going to step right on the knight with his fat, ugly giant feet.”

  “Oh no!” gasped Cassie.

  I put a finger to my lips. “But the knight won’t be easily defeated. He holds his sword in the air. ‘You will pay for what you’ve done!’ he shouts.”

  I glanced at the girls. They were enraptured. I cleared my throat and dropped my voice to a malevolent rasp.

  “‘I will destroy you like I have destroyed the rest,’ sneers the giant. He raises his massive foot higher and higher, ready to bring it down with deadly force.”

  The girls were silent, staring at me with such intensity it was like the fate of the world hung in the balance. I leaned closer and continued.

  “The knight remains steadfast and clutches his sword. He is a good fighter, maybe even one of the best. But the giant is so strong and has destroyed so many. The knight knows if he does not strike first and strike hard then it will not be enough. He thinks of his home, back in the peaceful kingdom of Templeton. He thinks of the beautiful princess who loves him. He had promised her he would return. He knows he must keep his promise. He must find a way to defeat the giant.”

  The girls didn’t move. Usually they were only this still when they were asleep.

  “The evil giant laughs and gives the knight a rotten green-toothed grin. He is completely confident that he will easily destroy the knight, as he has destroyed everyone else who has ever stood up to him. It’s what evil giants like him do. He ruins all that is good. And once the knight is gone there will be no one to stop him from invading the peaceful kingdom and attacking everyone and everything in his way.”

  “Even puppies?” asked Cami in a fearful whisper.

  Cassie gave me a worried look.

  “Maybe not the puppies,” I conceded. “But the whole time the knight is thinking, ‘I must win. No matter what, I must win.’ But the giant is so huge, and so evil!”

  I stood up on Cami’s bed and raised my arms to get the point across that the giant was really really huge while I twisted my face into a grimace to show that he was really really evil. Cami gasped and covered her mouth with one hand. Cassie hid her eyes in the matted fur of Miss Happy.

  When I jumped down from the bed I narrowly missed losing my tiara or ‘Knight Hat’ as Cami liked to call it. I held my arm out as if I were brandishing a noble sword that was ready to impale the big toe of an evil giant.

  “Oh!” sho
uted Cassie, “Look out!”

  “Don’t get squished!” begged Cami.

  “The knight has his sword raised, prepared to die fighting if that’s what it takes to defeat the evil giant, when suddenly….” I paused and glanced over my shoulder.

  “What?!” shrieked the girls.

  When I swiveled my head toward the doorway I caught sight of Saylor standing there in the shadows, biting her lip to hold her laughter in. I winked at my wife, sliced my imaginary sword through the air with a flourish and continued.

  “The knight’s two brothers, great knights themselves, come rushing in just in time! They stand beside their brother, offering up their swords together. They manage to cut deep enough into the foot of the giant to knock him right over!”

  “Yay!” cheered Cassie.

  “Did he die?” Cami asked. “Is the evil giant dead?”

  Say flashed me a look from the doorway, a silent request to keep the violence to a minimum.

  I got down on my knees in front of my girls and talked in a hushed voice. “He fell right off the side of the mountain and no one ever saw him again.”

  Cassidy exhaled in relief.

  Camille, a stickler for details even at age three, frowned. “But was he dead?”

  I tousled her smooth hair. “He was gone forever.”

  Cami nodded and seemed to accept that. Cassie pulled on my hand.

  “What about the knight’s princess?”

  “Ah, my favorite part,” I said, scooping up the girls and settling them each on one knee. “The knight went home to his beloved princess and they lived happily ever after.”

  “In the castle?” asked Cassie, smiling dreamily.

  “In the castle,” I confirmed. “And they had two beautiful little girls who made the knight so happy he thought he would burst.”

  “Daddy?”

  “Yes, Cami?”

  “What about the knight’s brothers?”

  “What about them?”

  “Did they get princesses too?”

  I smiled. “Of course they did.”

  “All right everyone,” said Saylor, finally entering the room and putting her hands on her hips. Her posture said no nonsense but her green eyes danced. “Bed time for everyone under the age of four.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “What about those of us over the age of four?”

  She grinned sweetly. “I’ll deal with you later.”

  We took turns tucking the girls under their frilly blankets and giving them forehead kisses. Their eyelids were already fluttering with the rapid approach of sleep. Since they were tiny babies they’d been quick to fall asleep and stay that way all night. I knew it was unlikely we’d hear a peep from the pink-walled bedroom until the light of day and that suited me just fine because I was already checking out my wife’s ass and making plans. She wore a sleek black nightgown that was long and simple yet existed for the sole purpose of fucking with my imagination. I could tell from the smooth outlines that she probably wasn’t wearing any panties, bless her dirty heart.

  Saylor caught the look and strutted in front of me as I followed her out the door. She tossed her long brown hair over one shoulder and gave me the kind of seductive over-the-shoulder glance that had my dick jumping to life and saluting the backside of my zipper.

  Once I had the door firmly closed at my back I wasted no time getting my hands on her.

  “Cord,” she scolded in a scandalized whisper as I cupped her tits and pushed my hard-on into her back. “They’re not asleep yet.”

  Since all of Saylor’s squirming told me she was already hot and bothered I didn’t stop. I ran my hands down the sleek fabric, enjoying the sharp way she inhaled as my hands traveled over her belly and lower to the hot split between her legs.

  As for me, things were getting pretty tight down below and I was ready to get busy. The week had been a long one, putting in over seventy hours at the tattoo shop, planting tramp stamps on backs and tribal snakes on biceps. Coming home to my girls every night was always a gift but these days I was temporarily running the shop by myself while Saylor burned every end of the candle trying to get her next book done. Lately romance had taken a backseat. I was ready to atone for that oversight. I was ready to atone the fuck out of it.

  Saylor let out a breathy moan and braced her open palms against the far wall while I grinned because my finger was right there on the button, pushing into the satin folds of her gown and getting her so slick and open I knew she could come with another twenty seconds of light teasing.

  Meanwhile one black strap fell from an ivory shoulder and threatened to fall even further. The sound of her stifled groans, the sight of her left breast, and the way she was pushing against my hand was creating an emergency in my pants. We were still paused in the hallway though. Contrary to erotic pop culture, hallway humping was actually not the most fun thing in the world, particularly if you’re trying not to disturb the children sleeping on the other side of the wall.

  I could do this several ways. I could sweep her up into my arms and carry her all majestic and romantic into our bedroom down the hall. My arms would be glad to do the work and she proved a long time ago that she was the only one to meant to fit inside them. But when Say pushed her hair out of her face and gave me those ‘Fuck Me Now!’ eyes I became a little less patient. No matter how many years go by with this woman at my side she’ll always be able to level me with one heated glance.

  Grabbing Saylor around the waist while a surprised gasp of laughter escaped her lips, I dragged her into the narrow laundry room, hauled her atop the washer and got her legs around my waist.

  “No foreplay tonight?” she panted as she helped yank my shirt over my head. I felt a seam rip but that hardly mattered.

  “No foreplay,” I growled. “Just post play.” I roughly pulled the straps of her nightie down and got my mouth around the left tit that was taunting me a minute ago.

  Say angled her body toward me and the tender nipple hardened in my mouth. Her hands roamed all over my back and shoulders while my dick just about howled for his turn at some attention. I grinded against her in a fever, ready to bite, tear or shred my way right through the flimsy fabric of her gown so that I could get to where I needed to be. She got the message and I felt her fingers working at the zipper of my jeans. I helped her along by ripping that shit open, getting boxers and all dropped to my knees. My hands got between the soft flesh of her ass and the hard surface of the washer, groping, kneading and getting her as wide open as possible. The gown was in a defeated puddle around her waist and every inch of bare skin, from her soft thighs to her sweet breasts, was begging to be taken advantage of.

  “Fuck,” I groaned as she wrapped her warm hand around my dick and started stroking the length, pausing to run her thumb over the swollen head and grazing against the sweet spot in the way she knew damn well would drive me to the brink.

  “Is that a promise?” she asked, sucking lightly on my neck and then leaning back so she could stroke me harder. She was the picture of filthy sex with her hand on my cock, her bare tits bouncing and her knees spread wide.

  “More like a threat, baby.” I reached around and deliberately turned the washing machine dial to the spin cycle before flicking the switch on, both to drown out our noise and to make the ride even wilder. I would worship her later, slow and reverent like she deserved. But right now there was something more urgent in the way. I needed her bad and if that meant it was quick and dirty, then that’s what it meant.

  The second I plunged into her she went rigid and let out a sighing groan. “Cord.”

  There were no adequate words for how much I loved her. I’d never believed in anything remotely holy until I fell for Saylor McCann. I put a ring on her finger and my babies in her belly because she was more than sex, more than heart; she was everything I’d ever heard rumors of and didn’t believe existed until she was mine.

  “Tell me, honey,” I demanded as I got her hair all wound into one fist. “Tell me about it.” />
  She was already deep into her own pleasure and it was so hot I almost lost it. She clutched me like I was the last life belt on the sinking Titanic as the orgasm bore down.

  “You’re so good,” she moaned. “And I love you so much.”

  I paused and waited until she opened her eyes.

  “Say it again.”

  “I love you.”

  I played with her, my fist still controlling her hair, my cock pulling out enough to just graze the slick surface in a deliberate tease. “You love who?”

  “I love you, Cordero Gentry.”

  “I love you too, Saylor Gentry.”

  She moaned and tried to pull me back in. “Then keep fucking me!”

  What kind of man would ignore a plea like that? I went at her rough because I knew in certain moods she liked it that way. This was one of those moods. Her nails dug into my back and she was shaking, her muscles clenching around me in a rhythm that added to my triumph. The machine vibrated underneath us.

  And when I came it was even more powerfully intense than usual because I knew what was at stake. We’d been tossing the idea around for months. Damn, but there was nothing sexier than letting go inside of her and hoping part of me would get to stay there.

  Once we caught our breath I grinned and kissed her. “I hope I knocked you the hell up.”

  She was still a little shaky, holding onto my arms so she wouldn’t topple right off the washing machine. She smiled back. “I hope you did too.”

  I stroked her thighs. “Can’t believe I agreed to get this hot body pregnant again.”

  Saylor tilted her head and licked her lips. “You should be excited about it. Remember those lusty reproductive hormones.”

  “Does this mean I can again look forward to waking up in the middle of the night with your tongue on my dick?”

  She tapped her fingers on the washer and pretended to consider the question. “It might.”