She nodded and then continued to eat.
“So, I’m supposed to meet up with Athena for lunch tomorrow. Which one of you is going to be coming along as her bodyguard?” she teased him.
“You’ve seen our woman and know what happened to her. It’s hard to not be overprotective. What she went through, and how we found her haunts me. We came so damn close to losing her. I think maybe that’s why I’m talking to you like this today. We don’t know what tomorrow might bring. Hell, what could happen later today, or when we walk down the street. Thank God Athena wound up in Cherry Hill. That she snagged our attention, and we didn’t resist too much. Otherwise, there might not have been such a happy ending,” he said to her, and now it was him who looked away.
When he felt her hand cover his, he looked at his sister. His beautiful, caring baby sister, and he worried about her. Wanted her to be protected and loved, and to have a full life.
“Thanks for sharing that with me, Kane, and for this lunch and this conversation.” He nodded and then they finished their lunch.
“So, what are you going to do about Titus and his brothers?”
“Nothing.”
He raised one eyebrow up at her. “Seriously?”
“Seriously, and there isn’t anything more to discuss.”
Twenty minutes later as he hugged Charlie good-bye, he saw Corey Mullen gave a tilt of his chin and then gave her a wink as Kane headed to his patrol truck. He watched in his side mirror as Corey slid his arm around Charlie’s waist and went to kiss her, but she turned her face, gave him her cheek and Corey looked determined.
Corey had a break from the dojo and was heading down to the salad place when he saw Charlotte with her brother Kane. She looked gorgeous but thinner. Definitely thinner and that had been a concern of Titus’s who had seen her first. Corey hoped to have bumped into her since she got home two weeks ago, but it seemed she was working nonstop and he didn’t know how she might handle it if he showed up at her office unannounced. She smelled so good as he kissed her cheek hello even though he aimed for her lips. He squeezed her to him, felt how feminine and good she felt in his arms and that protective feeling consumed him. “God, I missed you, baby,” he whispered and kissed her ear.
“Corey,” she said and pulled back. He kept his hands on her forearms and held her gaze as he stared down into her incredibly green eyes.
“I missed you. Didn’t you miss me?” he asked, and reached up with one hand, releasing her forearm to stroke her cheek. Her skin was soft, and she looked so young and sexy. He worried that some other men hit on her when she was away. Did she sleep with anyone? A soldier or something? Maybe a doctor? Fuck.
“I missed town and all my friends, but I wasn’t gone that long.”
“More than a fucking month,” he said, and he knew he sounded harsh. He narrowed his eyes at her as she pulled back. It frustrated him so much that she could pull away when the attraction was there, and it was strong. He wondered if maybe she was just too young for them, but the attraction, the desire to make her their woman was so much stronger than that insecure thought.
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”
“Corey, listen, I need to get going.” She started to move, and he gripped her arm and pulled her against him. She gasped.
“I believe my brother told you that our patience is growing thin. I know you feel the attraction. We missed you so damn much. There’s been a lot going on, and we could maybe get together and talk? Catch up?” He stroked her jaw.
“Corey, I’m trying to get things back to normal. I just met my brother for a quick lunch. I have a meeting at the hospital in a few minutes, then back to work, the gym—”
“The gym? What gym?” he asked, eyebrows furrowed.
“My brothers’.”
“What? Did something happen when you were away? Did a guy try something?”
She shook her head, but he got the oddest sensation in his gut like something did happen. Like maybe she slept with another guy. Or that guys hit on her and she needed self-defense training. Shit.
“I started doing a bunch of intense training with friends I made on the base I was staying at. I really enjoyed eating clean and working out hard and decided that I wanted to continue the regimen. My brother said he could fit me in with some guys he does a class for in the evenings.”
He was breathing through his nostrils as he felt the jealousy tear at his gut. She should be with him, his brothers Aleck and Mavis and learning moves and working on her abilities. Not some flirtatious soldiers she didn’t know.
“Come to my place instead. I can show you a lot of things. We can talk about what you learned when you were away and how to improve upon it.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” he pushed.
“You know why not, Corey.” He squeezed her snugger against him, his one palm nearly over her ass and the other cupped her neck and jaw. She felt feminine, petite in his arms. He could crush her and that concern, that protectiveness and possessiveness grew stronger.
“Tell me what would be so bad about us spending time together? Getting closer, learning more about one another.”
She stared up at him, and he couldn’t resist. She smelled so good, felt incredible in his arms, and he would like nothing more than to bring her back home, strip her of her clothing and explore every inch of her body. Make her beg for more of him and for his brothers. “I missed you so damn much.” He lowered his mouth to hers, and that was it. When she didn’t resist but squeezed him tighter, he deepened the kiss, drew out a moan and had to remind himself that they were right in town, and people would be watching. He slowly released her lips and hugged her tight, kissed her neck, and she growled against his chest.
“It isn’t fair. You and Titus can’t keep doing this to me.”
“Yes we can, and I can guarantee it won’t be the last time we kiss you,” he said to her then held her a few seconds, just absorbing the feel of her in his arms and knowing she was here in Central Valley and safe in his arms. His fear that she might have been with someone else, maybe engaged in an intimate affair with someone else moved further out of his mind with the progress he just made. Or so he thought because a moment later she was pushing him away, putting up those walls again and acting like they just didn’t make out on Main Street.
Charlie was having a difficult time concentrating on work. Her mind in a whirlwind of thoughts over Corey kissing her yesterday, Titus’s threat of more moves by him and his brothers, and the sensations she was having more often and especially at night. She would think of them during the day. Wondered how Aleck and Mavis were doing and if they were handling their transitions into civilian life. She would get antsy, feel her heart race and then her pussy clench when she thought about their good looks, their capabilities and the way Corey and Titus kissed her.
They were all older than her by fifteen plus years. Analyzing why she was attracted to them was a regular process she engaged in whenever thoughts of them popped into her head. Typically, they represented everything that aroused her, turned her on about a man, but ultimately it was their professions and the fact that Aleck and Mavis had a touch of PTSD.
She hadn’t seen them since before she left, but she thought about them. In fact, Donovan, the commander who she met while overseas on the base, reminded her so much of the Mullen men. He was a combination of the four of them. Had that hard, determined, commanding look all the time and was well respected by his fellow soldiers and those under his command. He was good-looking, sexy, muscular and there was definitely an attraction there, but when they started kissing, and things got heavier, she felt that deep, guilty sensation, and all four images of the Mullen brothers filled her every thought. She contemplated their reactions if they were to find out she slept with another man even though she didn’t, and even though she never slept with the Mullen brothers, it was still in the back of her mind.
Donovan had been disappointed, to say the least, but
he knew when he looked into her eyes that there was someone else. He had stroked her jaw and shook his head. “Lucky fucking bastard. I hope he knows how special you are, Charlie. How amazing of a woman you are, and that he loves you deeply. Moves heaven and earth for you, and gives you everything you could ever need, want, and desire. Damn, I want to be that man. Hell, we can do this, and no one will ever know. We’re both feeling the attraction. We want this. No strings attached, a release God knows I need from being out here in the field for years now.”
She remembered his words, and she remembered feeling angry at herself for not being able to let go and just have sex for the simple fact that she hadn’t had sex in several years. Not since losing Tavern. There hadn’t been any man or men, and then Titus kissed her, and his brothers wanted her, too. The tears hit her eyes. She couldn’t keep doing this. Going round and round, and letting the fears keep her from feeling how good it felt in Titus and in Corey’s arms. She was lost in their masculinity and embraces. Was instantly aroused by how big they were, how muscular, capable and how small she felt, feminine and protected.
With thoughts of them protecting her, came insecurities about the validity to that. They were all men, all soldiers at one point in their lives, all capable beyond her knowledge. Her reaction to them, her need to resist out of fear were sensations and emotions she had helped so many other women with throughout the years when coping with similar emotions. Victims of rape, domestic violence, and abuse, seeking to give love a chance again, yet fearing the pain, the possibility of abuse again or even death.
She exhaled and thought about her own sessions with a therapist. With her friend and colleague, Jeremiah. He had helped her to regain her sanity, her guilt over Tavern’s death and to rationalize why he did it and how she had no control over his actions and wouldn’t have been able to help Tavern.
It had been tough, but she supposed being a therapist, and like she told her patients, time heals, and life goes on, and taking things one day at a time would help in the healing process. And it did, but there was still that fear. The aggression, the strike to her face and to her body when Tavern attacked her. To know someone you loved so deeply and claimed to love you in return so deeply, crosses the line and hurts you so badly, it’s hard to bounce back from that without having fears, reservations, and uncertainty. Times that by four individually intimidating men, soldiers like the Mullen brothers, and yeah, keeping away from the temptation and risking the pain and fear seemed like the best and only option.
Her cell phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She was supposed to meet Athena for lunch at Sparks in thirty minutes. Then she saw that it was Jeremiah. “Hello?”
“Hey, friend. How come I haven’t heard from you since you got back?” he asked.
“You did hear from me when I arrived at the airport and felt guilty for leaving all those soldiers and new friends behind.”
He chuckled. “And how are you feeling about getting back to normal and your routine?”
“Well, not quite getting back to the same routine. I’m doing like you suggested and holding on to the new training and conditioning habit I picked up along the way.”
“That’s great. I’ve been telling you for years how good it is to exercise on a regular basis and challenge yourself. So are you joining Corey’s dojo or sticking to your brothers’?”
“Ha, ha, ha, very funny.”
Jeremiah chuckled. “We talked about them too you know? You missed those Mullen men.”
“I confided in you, and we worked through things.”
“Not we. You need to work through them. Did they attack you when you returned or what?”
“Attack me?”
“Sweep you off your feet and right to their bed.”
“Jesus, you and I have gotten way too close.”
He laughed. “Um, I do recall you giving me some advice with Cassidy.”
“And I was right. She was after your body.”
He laughed again. “It wasn’t so bad.”
“How quickly you forget all your talk of settling down and finding someone who understands you and your brothers.”
“Don’t remind me. I’m still getting shit from Merdock. Who by the way will be in town this afternoon, and he has to see you.” This time, she laughed.
“He is a complete flirt.”
“He’s infatuated with you and has been for years. Ultimately, he knows you’re taken, but he still presses to spend time with you and to discuss a decision he is mulling over.”
“One, I am not taken, and two, what decision?”
“That isn’t for me to disclose. It isn’t anything bad, but he keeps getting calls from his old commander.”
“Oh no. He isn’t thinking about that job in Germany for six months?”
“He’ll explain, but needless to say he’s been preoccupied, and the distraction is a very attractive little blond who just started working at Sparks.”
“No way.”
“Yes, and he wants all of us to spend time with her.”
“So really I should be meeting with all four of you then, not just him,” she said to him.
“I already know there’s an attraction there. Malachi and Perrone are totally resistant. I’m sure they will discuss things with you too when they see you this week.”
“I saw that Estella put them into the schedule. You know I would meet them out of the office, whenever they want. They don’t need to schedule an appointment.”
“I guess they want to feel the setting of a therapy session and not a regular conversation with a friend. It helps them to express their feelings better.”
“Whatever makes them comfortable.”
“You know they’ll probably change the appointment to a walk in the park or something.”
“I’m fine with that, too. It’s peaceful in the park. I may be heading there later this afternoon myself for some quiet time.”
“So the Mullen brothers have made more aggressive moves?”
“Titus and Corey to be specific. I haven’t even seen Aleck and Mavis. It’s been so long, months.”
“I know, and perhaps seeing them, talking to them will bring down that protective shield you have up when it comes to those men.”
“I’m just not confident in my state of mind to approach another intimate relationship.”
“Yet you nearly engaged in a sexual fling overseas, no strings attached.”
“Hey, you’re not supposed to repeat that.”
“We’re talking, and you brought up my little encounter not too long ago.”
“Cassidy plays with your emotions. She knows you are kind and ready to help and she cries about things that don’t even happen in her life. Thank God you saw through her bullshit.”
“Thanks to you reminding me about my profession and to not let her pull the wool over my eyes.”
“See, I’m filled with great advice for my closest friend and colleague.”
“Yet you won’t concede to my advice when it comes to the Mullen brothers.”
“You’re biased. You like them a lot, you respect them, and they are close to your age, were Marines like you.”
“True, but I also know who they are and how much they adore you and would protect you and respect you. Your fears are getting in the way of your happiness. Come on now, admit it, especially after you turned down that good-looking commander.”
“I don’t know why I did that.”
“You regret it now?”
“No, not at all, and every time I think about it, I feel guilty, and that’s stupid.”
Love Heals Page 3
