Leverage (The Brannock Siblings)

  Leverage

  By: Jessica Wilde

  Other titles by Jessica Wilde

  Every One of Me

  Our Time

  Coming Soon

  Conned (The Brannock Siblings, #2)

  Copyright © 2014 Jessica Wilde

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means without written consent from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Cover photo from iStockphoto.com

  Cover design by Jessica Wilde

  ISBN-13: 978-1495276989

  For you, because let's face it…

  without you, there is no point.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Conall

  Chapter 1

  Ash

  My life has probably been the least exciting that a life could possibly be.

  I mean, don't get me wrong, I've had a good life. A happy life for the most part. I just always felt like something had been missing. Adventure. Thrill.

  I wanted to live a stimulating life. Make memories that I could tell my children about and keep them captivated by the stories of my experiences.

  Nothing so far, unless becoming a workaholic is thrilling to you.

  I worked from the very moment I turned 16 and between school and work, never had time to do anything else.

  But I was taken care of.

  My dad has been a cop since before I was born and has been the captain for as long as I can remember and a damn good one. He knows everything that happens in his city and would give his life for his men.

  He has stories.

  Lots of them.

  He has seen a lot in his 63 years, so you can imagine how protective he would be of his youngest child and only daughter. My two older brothers followed in his footsteps. Both of them cops, both of them adrenaline junkies, and - thank the good Lord - both living far enough away that I was able to breathe a little easier in my early adult years.

  I didn't date in high school.

  The reason, you ask?

  Their names are Conall and Fergus. My brothers and quite frankly, pains in my ass.

  My parents were really into names that meant something. Especially Irish names since my dad, William, is Irish. He always reminded us that his name, when broken down, meant 'desire to protect'. Just a convenient excuse, I think. Conall means 'strong wolf' and Fergus means 'man of vigor'. Each chosen perfectly since they seriously lived up to the meaning.

  Ridiculously lived up to it.

  Mom and Dad named me Aislinn, meaning 'dream' or 'vision'. Apparently, Mom had a dream the night I was conceived and saw me. She said when I was born, it was like reliving a memory.

  I love my name, honestly. But a lot of people aren't sure how to pronounce it. I got a lot of 'Ace-lynns' and 'Eileens' throughout my life. Another pain in my ass, but tolerable. It's pronounced ASH-ling. I just tell everyone to call me Ash.

  But I digress.

  My brothers. Conall and Fergus. They chased off every boy that looked my way. Well almost every boy. They let the ones they liked hang around, which was maybe two guys, but I was still completely off limits. They never treated me like the annoying little sister, but they made it their life mission to ensure I never saw adventure or the back seat of a car with a guy. Told me I couldn't be a cop like Dad if I wanted to and that I was supposed to act like a lady.

  A lady.

  Did I ever get the chance to be a lady, a girl, a woman?

  NO!

  They are both as protective of me as my father, but at least Dad never locked me in my room on Prom night and told the only guy who asked me - who I would later find out was paid to ask me - that I was in the bathroom with diarrhea from a bad burrito and it - I quote - "Didn't sound good."

  I spent the next hour plotting my revenge on them.

  That is until they started feeling guilty and got Lucas to take me at the last minute.

  Lucas Shade.

  The Lucas that took me to my Junior Prom when he was a senior because my brothers told him that he was the only guy they trusted because he didn't think of their sister 'that way'. We danced once the whole night and he didn't say more than a few words to me the entire time, but it was still one of the greatest nights of my life.

  The Lucas that more than frequently left the room the second I walked in after I turned 15.

  The reason I am even telling you all of this.

  Because Lucas is right now standing at my father's front door, looking at me like I just grew another head or two. Or maybe he was looking at me like I was the lost city of Atlantis and he had just stumbled upon it. I couldn't decide. I tend to imagine things.

  He has been my brothers' best friend since the time they all said their first swear word, which unfortunately for Mom, was around the age of one.

  He has been the kid who always came over for dinner and slept on the couch because his mom was too drunk to cook and had a 'special friend' over.

  He has been the one guy, I knew with every fiber of my being, I was in love with. Completely. Irrevocably. Miserably.

  But there was no way he would ever feel anything for me. If not for the way my brothers protected me and scared off any human being with a penis or the way my dad kept a shot gun hidden in a secret compartment in the grandfather clock right by the front door… if not for any of that, then for the fact that I was me.

  Aislinn Brannock. Captain Brannock's only daughter and the least exciting person in the city of Oakland, California.

  He was saying something to me, but I couldn't hear a damn thing because the loud rush of blood flooding my head drowned everything out and I was standing there like an idiot, trying not to drool because… damn he was fit.

  "I'm sorry?"

  He smirked because he was well aware of the little problem I had when it came to him. My brothers told him I had crushed on him since I was 5 years old and the real reason I never went anywhere was because I didn't want to miss the nights that he came to our house.

  The assholes did this in front of me, too.

  That was the last time I saw him. Seven years ago on my 21st birthday. Not the worst birthday of my life, but all of my birthdays were bad since the 17th one.

  It's the same day that Mom died.

  Talk about a buzz kill when I was finally old enough to drink. My brothers and Lucas took me to the only bar Dad allowed, the one that all the cops went to after work. They ordered me all the drinks I wanted and by the time I got to the point where the memory of Mom didn't quite hurt so much anymore, it was too late to take back the three words that had spewed from my mouth due to 'loose tongue syndrome' that occurs after one too many tequila shots.

  I tried to take it back, but Asshole #1 and Asshole #2 took it to a whole new level.

  "I asked you when you got back," Lucas said, his tone more than a little amused.

  Right, someone at the door. Rein in the flashbacks, Ash.

  "Oh, um, I got back last night. I had a late flight so no one really knows that I'm back, yet. Dad didn't really want to announce it since it wasn't a for sure thing and I didn't really want him to because I really didn't plan on moving back in
with him. I'm just here for a little while until I can find a place…"

  Oh, God. I was rambling and Lucas was smiling at me. The crooked one that always made me want to kneel down at his feet and thank the good Lord for creating such a beautiful creature.

  "Sorry," I said weakly, and tugged on the end of a lock of hair, something I did when I got nervous. If I was around him too much, I would end up bald one day.

  He chuckled and winked at me, "It's good to have you back, Ash."

  The wink.

  The famous wink that caused me to never have any girlfriends, they were all extremely jealous of me because he only ever winked at me. I always thought it was because he knew I was the only one that could handle the force of that sexy tease and unleashing it on the other girls of the world would lead to the dwindling of mankind because women wouldn't ever settle for anything less than Lucas. Of course, he would probably take it upon himself to replenish the earth with inhabitants and have a great time doing it.

  Another reason why I was nowhere on his radar.

  He was experienced.

  I was not. Not even a little bit.

  "Are you okay?" His voice was deep and smooth, so incredibly sexy and it washed over me and snapped me back to the reality I couldn't seem to stay in for longer than a few seconds.

  "Huh?"

  "You seem a little distracted. I was asking you if your dad was still in or if he left for the station already."

  "Oh! No, he is still here. Come on in."

  I opened the door a little wider and stepped to the side, making a space big enough for him to move his gorgeous frame inside, but small enough that he had to come a little closer so I could smell the familiar scent that always seemed to radiate off of him. I was good at this little move after years of practice. No one had a clue what I was really doing.

  And there it was.

  A spicy, masculine scent that made me dizzy and brought back memories that wouldn't help me with my lack of attention at all.

  He cleared his throat when I stood there longer than what was considered normal with the door still open and my eyes grazing his entire body. He was tall, standing at about 6'3", a little bit wider in the shoulders than before, a lot more muscular, and it was glorious.

  I finally shook my head clear and shut the door with a soft click.

  "I don't mean to pry," he said cautiously, "but why are you back?"

  Pry? He could pry me all he wanted. I wouldn't complain.

  I stifled a girlish giggle that bubbled up from my thoughts. "Oh, um, had a little mishap back in Ohio."

  "A mishap," he repeated and his brow furrowed in confusion.

  Growing up the way I did, I learned to be smart, and not just smart in school or with numbers, but street smart. I was always careful, always weighed my options before making a decision, and rarely made mistakes. Guess I shouldn't be too surprised that he would be confused.

  "Yeah, I guess the guy I was dating thought I had more money than I actually let on, but instead of leaving me a few bucks to keep on living, decided it was more frugal of him to just take it all."

  I had been staring at his chest while I rambled and noticed his muscles tense a little more with each word that left my mouth.

  Good.

  At least the people that mattered to me were upset by what happened. The so called friends I had back in Ohio told me it was my fault and laughed about it. Another reason I didn't belong there anymore.

  "How the hell did that happen?" Lucas asked, his voice now strained with the first signs of anger. I wasn't sure what to expect from him since he always reacted the way my brothers always did. He grew up protecting me the same way, at least, when they were around he did. My brothers had been close to coming to Ohio to drag me away, but only after torturing the man who cheated me. Dad talked them down, barely.

  "I trusted him? That's the only thing I can come up with. He took my cards out of my purse when I wasn't in the room and when I got back from work the next day, I found my apartment empty. He sold all my stuff, too."

  Now, I know how this sounds. Extreme. What kind of a person does that to the woman he has been dating for 5 months and how does she not see any sign of foul play beforehand?

  A desperate kind of person does that and the woman who doesn't see it coming, well she was just being ignorant. Apparently, his real girlfriend was pregnant back in Virginia and he was just killing time before the baby came, screwing over anyone who was stupid enough to trust him.

  One day later and he would have left with a lot more than my Visa. I thought I had been ready to give up the other V-card currently still in my life.

  Yes, I am a 28 year old virgin.

  Unheard of nowadays, right?

  Well, I guess my brothers did something good for me. They taught me to keep my legs closed until I was absolutely one hundred percent ready to give that part of me to someone. The trail of broken hearts they left behind reinforced my resolve every day. I had no intention of ending up like one of those girls.

  Lucas looked like he was ready to tear someone apart while I just kept rambling.

  "The funny thing is that all but one of my cards was already closed. All he got was my bank card, so he got a little over fifteen hundred bucks after five months of paying for dates that were really just a waste of his time," I laughed. Really, it was funny if you thought about it.

  Why put all that time in for someone who you weren't absolutely sure was rich? Just because I dressed nice and had a nice apartment didn't mean anything. Dad helped me out with that stuff. I made just enough to feed myself every month and pay my bills.

  "There is nothing funny about it, Ash. Who the hell is this guy?" he bit out, his bright blue eyes flashing with fire.

  "I already took care of it, Lucas," my dad said from the kitchen doorway. His tall frame and broad shoulders filled the space he stood in. He was what my idea of a fairytale hero looked like. Strong and confident. No one could mess with my dad and get away with it. "Wish I could have beat the tar out of him myself, but not much I can do from across the country."

  He stepped over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek before patting Lucas on the back.

  "True," Lucas said, but he was still frowning.

  "You ready for the meeting today?" Dad asked him, changing the subject for good. He knew I didn't really want a lot of people to know what happened, but around Lucas, I lost my head and always said too much.

  His grin finally appeared and his eyes flickered with excitement for a brief moment. "Always."

  Oh yeah, Lucas is a cop, too. A detective, working for my dad.

  Yet another reason why nothing could ever happen between us if he was ever interested.

  God, I wish he was interested. He was dressed in dark jeans that hung from his hips just right and a white dress shirt that looked like it was made for him and was opened at the collar. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows showing off his tanned muscular forearms. Arms I would kill to have around me. His tie was loose at the collar, like he was waiting to cinch it up the minute he got to work. It was the same blue as his eyes, like the sky on a cloudless summer day. Holy crap I was getting poetic already. I really tried to stop my eyes from wandering, but they did their own thing and like always, I didn't punish myself. He was just too handsome from his tuggable dark hair, his sharp jaw, full lips, and dimples that were hidden at the moment but I knew popped out when he really smiled. He rarely smiled like that, but the few times I caught it were singed into my memory.

  Like seeing the original Mona Lisa for the very first time.

  "So, what can I do for you, son?" Dad asked and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

  He was really happy that I was back home again. Even though the situation made him furious and he felt bad that it happened to me when I had been attempting to be independent. He liked having me around and I loved being around, I just always wanted my own life away from the suffocation of everyone steering clear of the captain's daughter.

&nbs
p; Oxymoron type phrase? Yes. But it was suffocation. The loneliness had been stifling.

  My thoughts must have been given away by the look on my face because Lucas was watching me intently now and his brow was back to being furrowed, but his expression went back to neutral a split second later.

  "I was just hoping to speak to you about the Banetti case before we got to the station, sir. I wanted to make sure I was fully updated on anything I might have missed over the weekend."

  That was my cue to leave.

  I needed some space anyway before I ended up sprawled out on the floor. I felt like such a pathetic mess. I had dealt with this for years. Years! I should be able to control the emotions that coursed through me whenever he was around. It had been seven years for hell's sake, I should be over it.

  "I'll be upstairs unpacking if anyone needs me. If not, then have a good day." I kissed Dad on the cheek and he smiled sweetly at me which in return, got him another kiss. He was such a good guy. A man everyone in the family and those outside of the family who were close friends, looked up to.

  I turned to Lucas and he smirked. "Do I get one of those, too?"

  I felt my face burn with a blush, but I didn't look away from those perfect blue eyes. I'm a woman now. Yes, I had a crush on him for most of my life and yes, I was mortified that he had been told how big of a crush by my brothers, but I wasn't going to let that turn me back into the little girl I had been on my birthday so long ago. The little girl that he wouldn't dare to care about more than he would care for a sister.

  So what did I do?

  I shakily stepped forward until we were toe to toe and my hands lifted to his shoulders because he was tall enough that I would need the support to reach his face. My efforts were rewarded when I saw his eyes widen in surprise. He never expected me to take risks.

  Good.

  A little surprise would be good for him. Show him that I had grown up and I was strong.

  I raised to my tip toes and turned my face up to him until my lips touched his cheek. I made it quick because I had been holding my breath since I made the decision to do this and I was starting to feel lightheaded. Plus, the warmth that spread through me from the touch and the smell of him was heady.