Loving Attention

by Becca Van

  The three men started eating and chatting about what was on their schedule for the afternoon but glanced in her direction often to include her in their conversation. At first her stomach was a mass of knots and her throat was tight, making it difficult to swallow, but little by little she started to relax.

  “Where did you learn to make biscuits like these?” Heston asked before taking another bite. He continued on after swallowing before she could think of how to answer. “These are the best biscuits I’ve ever tasted.”

  “They’re so light they almost melt in my mouth,” Rigby joined in.

  All three men were looking at her expectantly, and since she couldn’t think of anything else to say, she blurted out the truth. “My father’s housekeeper taught me how to cook.”

  “Not your mother?” Heston asked.

  She lowered her gaze and shook her head, trying to keep the threatening tears at bay. Just as she picked up her glass of water and took a sip Brentley placed a hand on her shoulder. She gasped with anxiety and ended up sucking the water into her windpipe. She coughed and spluttered, trying to clear her airways, and tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. Brentley rubbed and gently thumped her on the back, trying to help.

  When she had her breath back, she wiped the moisture from her eyes and cheeks, hoping she wasn’t as red as she felt.

  “Are you okay, Niki?” Heston asked.

  She nodded and tried to answer but stopped to clear her raspy throat. “I’m fine, Heston.”

  “Call me Hes,” he said. “Rigby goes by Rig, and Brentley likes to be called Brent.”

  “I’m sorry I startled you, Niki,” Brent said. “Do you need some more water?” Since he was already reaching for the water jug, she nodded again.

  “Thanks.” She took a couple of sips to soothe her now slightly sore throat after her coughing fit.

  “I’m sorry for making you sad,” Hes said. “I gather your mom’s no longer alive.”

  “No,” she replied hoarsely.

  “Our folks died just over five years ago. Our dads and mom were hit by a semi-trailer when the truck’s brakes failed,” Rig explained. “They were all killed instantly.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss.” Niki started eating again, hoping the subject would change. She’d already given away way too much information about herself and didn’t want to give up anymore. The last thing she needed was for these three caring men to figure out her father was the mob boss of Chicago. They’d probably fire her on the spot just by association and not on her own merit.

  Niki and Kat had never done anything illegal. In fact, they were more or less kept housebound their whole lives. They hadn’t even been allowed to attend school. Their dictator of a father had hired tutors to get them an education.

  It had taken her and Kat years to figure out that their father was scared that his daughters would inadvertently slip and tell someone something about his organization, which was almost laughable since he’d taken great pains to keep his business hidden from them.

  What she hated the most was that her mom’s death hadn’t been investigated. Her father used to hit her mother all the time. She and Kat would often huddle together in one bed, holding each other as they cried silent tears, scared out of their minds when they’d been young. Kat had tried to put on a brave face, but Niki knew her sister had been as frightened as she had been.

  She’d been eight and Kat had been ten. They’d woken up and hurried downstairs, eager to see their mother to make sure she was okay, but no one had been about. The house had had a solemn, dark feeling to it, and she’d known deep in her heart that something was wrong. Kat had felt the same way and after clasping her hand in hers, her big sister had led her to their mother’s bedroom. The room had been empty and the bed hadn’t been slept in.

  Rosita had been the one to find them curled up on their mother’s bed. She’d told them that their mom had slipped on the stairs and fallen. Her neck had been broken and she’d died instantly. Niki was too shocked and full of grief to question anyone, but years later she’d begun to suspect her father had killed their mom. He always lost control of his temper when he drank too much. If he got angry enough, he was more than capable of pushing someone down the stairs and killing them.

  A shiver of fear ripped up her spine.

  She didn’t doubt that he’d killed in his line of work, and she was terrified that if he and/or Vinnie found her and Kat, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them too.

  Chapter Three

  Rig kept gazing at Niki as they finished eating lunch. She’d been frowning off and on all through the meal, and while he and his brothers had tried to engage her in the conversation, for the last five minutes she’d been sitting statue still with her spoon clutched in her white-knuckled grip. The expressions flitting across her face had gone from sadness to outright terror. When he looked at Hes and then Brent, he wasn’t surprised to find them both watching her with frowns on their faces.

  If they hadn’t just met her that morning, he would have demanded to know what was wrong, what she was so frightened of, but he was worried about digging into her life way too soon. She was likely to tell him to fuck off and mind his own damn business.

  He and his brothers had lingered longer than usual over the meal and should have headed back outside to get more work done, but that was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon with Niki, getting to know her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that someone had hurt her. Especially after the way she’d flinched when Brent had raised his hand near her face.

  Anger simmered low in his gut, and he ground his teeth together. If he ever found out who had hurt her, he would hunt that fucker down and give him a dose of his own medicine.

  When his brothers stood and collected their dirty dishes, Rig did the same even though he was reluctant to leave the house. He and his brothers left their bowls, mugs, and glasses in the sink. Their movement seemed to snap Niki out of whatever turmoil she’d been caught up in, and she also rose.

  “You don’t need to take your dishes to the kitchen,” Niki said as she collected more of the things still on the table. “That’s what you hired me for.” She walked toward them and after unloading her arms, she met each of his brothers’ eyes before looking at him.

  With slow deliberation, he lifted his hand and brushed a few strands of hair off her cheek. Her skin was so warm and soft he lingered, the pads of his fingers stroking down the creamy skin of her face. “Our mom taught us to pick up after ourselves for the most part, but lately we’ve just been too busy and too tired to be bothered so much. If we can make your tasks a little easier by bringing our dishes to the kitchen, then we will.”

  She gnawed on her lower lip as she stared intently into his eyes. He wondered if she was trying to see if he was handing her a line, but he’d never lied to anyone, and wasn’t going to start now. Speaking the truth, especially to Niki, was paramount if they wanted to have a relationship with her.

  He’d determined when he was younger that lies didn’t do anything but get you into a shitload of trouble. Once he’d lied to his dads about breaking his bedroom window and had to keep lying. He hadn’t wanted to get into trouble for throwing his baseball inside. He’d said he had no idea how the window had gotten broken, but of course his fathers hadn’t bought it. After getting a spanking, his fathers had sat him down and told him he was in trouble for lying and not breaking the window. They’d told him if he’d owned up they would have worked out a way for him to work off the cost of the replacing the broken glass. In the end he’d received a walloping and he’d had to work off the glazier bill. He’d begged their forgiveness and promised to never lie again. Lying just wasn’t worth it. If he’d done something wrong from then on, he’d spoken up. His punishments hadn’t been that bad and he’d never been spanked again.

  Brent had and always would be the type of guy who walked the path of the straight and narrow. He’d never done anything wrong growing up, had alwa
ys obeyed the rules laid out for him and his brothers. Hes and Rig had tried to follow in their older brother’s footsteps, but sometimes there wasn’t just black and white. Sometimes there were gray areas and it had been up to him, to them, to make the right choices. Thankfully, they had.

  Rig sighed with disappointment when Niki stepped back from him, and he dropped his hand back to his side.

  “What time would you all like dinner ready?” she asked. Before he or his brothers could reply, she continued on. “I hope you liked the beef stew and the biscuits because that’s what you all will be having for dinner, too. Tomorrow I’ll need to go shopping to stock up the fridge and pantry.”

  “The biscuits were amazing, sugar,” Rig said with a smile.

  “The best biscuits and stew I’ve ever tasted.” Hes slung an arm around Niki’s shoulders and hugged her against his side. “Thank you for a wonderful lunch.” He rubbed his belly with his free hand. “I ate so much I’m stuffed.”

  Niki gazed up at Hes shyly. “I’m glad you liked it. It wasn’t much.”

  “It was filling and delicious,” Rig said.

  Hes nodded as he released Niki and walked toward the back door. “We’ll see you later, honey.”

  Rig followed his brother but paused in the open doorway, glancing back at Niki over his shoulder. “Don’t work too hard, sugar.” He grabbed his hat from the rack, then shoved it onto his head as he stepped out and closed the door after himself. There was no time to waste if he was going to get all his chores done. He hurried toward the barn, intent on saddling his horse and working as fast as he could.

  Brent had given him and Hes a silent signal to leave. He just hoped his older brother didn’t scare Niki off with whatever he wanted to talk to her about.

  Rig wished his list of jobs weren’t as long as his arm. If it had been shorter, he would have been able to head back to the house and spend more time with Niki before she left.

  If he had his way, they would be spending way more time with each other, every single day until she agreed to be their woman.

  “To answer your question about dinner,” Brent said, “we usually eat around six. Of course, that time changes with daylight savings and the seasons, depending how long the sunlight lasts.”

  “So, in summer you keep working to around 9:00 p.m.?”

  “Yeah, and sometimes later.”

  “It sounds like you need help.” Niki turned from him to start rinsing the dishes.

  “We do. Rig and Hes put an advert in the paper for a ranch hand at the same time they advertised for a housekeeper.”

  “I can’t believe I was the only applicant.”

  Brent cupped her cheek in his hand. “I can’t either, but I’m mighty glad you were.”

  Niki blushed and shrugged, glancing toward the floor.

  Brent wasn’t about to let her keep hiding from him, so he grasped her chin lifting her eyes to his. “Who hurt you, baby?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he cursed under his breath. He hadn’t meant to blurt out that question, and from how pale she’d gone she hadn’t expected him to either.

  He watched as she literally built up a wall between them, all expression fleeing her face as she backed away from him. She turned her back and started doing the dishes, trying to ignore that fact that he was still in the room. She was so uptight her tense shoulders were almost up around her ears.

  Brent knew he’d fucked up big time, but he couldn’t go back and change his blunder. For now, all he could do was give her some time to calm down, and hopefully when he saw her next, she’d be more open to him and his brothers.

  He was worried sick about her, but there was nothing he could do right now. Wrapping her up in his arms and holding her would probably cause her to build more walls around her heart and body.

  Wishing he didn’t have to go out and get back to work was useless because the chores weren’t going to get done by themselves. If he was lucky enough, he and his brothers might be able to catch her before she left for the day, but he didn’t think that was going to happen.

  Hopefully tomorrow morning would be better. It would certainly be brighter having Niki in their home.

  Brent said, “Good-bye,” in the softest voice he could before he spun on his heels and walked out of the house. If she replied he didn’t hear her.

  As far as he was concerned tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

  “How was your first day?” Kat asked as soon as Niki walked in the door. “And who are you working for?”

  “Good.” She sighed as she kicked off her shoes, dropped her bag on the table just inside the front door, and put Kat’s car keys in the bowl where they were kept so they wouldn’t be lost.

  Kat had already changed out of her work clothes into jeans and a T-shirt. She was currently in the kitchen opening a bottle of wine. Niki was glad to see her sister had set out two wineglasses. “Brentley, Heston, and Rigby Lyndon,” she replied as she sank onto a stool next to the counter.

  “Are you shitting me?” Kat practically screeched in excitement. “I’ve seen those three men in the diner regularly.” She waved her hand in front of her face. “They are hot. Hot. Hot.”

  “If you say so,” Niki said as she grasped the now-full wineglass and took a couple of sips. When she looked up at Kat, it was to find her sister staring at her through narrowed, intently scrutinizing eyes.

  “You can’t fool me, Niki. I know you. You’re attracted to them.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “What are you talking about? Are they married? Do they have a girlfriend hidden away somewhere?”

  “I have no idea,” she answered distractedly. In the year or so that she and Kat had been apart, Niki had forgotten how insightful her older sister was. Right now, she wished that Kat would just shut up, but she was like a dog with a bone and wasn’t going to let the subject drop until she knew all the ins and outs of everything.

  “They don’t,” Kat said emphatically.

  Niki tried to ignore the way her heart flipped and thumped against her sternum. “And how could you possibly know that for certain?”

  “Because if they were seeing someone, they would have brought her to the diner whenever they go there to eat.”

  “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “Actually, I do. All the men courting women in this town take their women out at least once a week to give her a rest.” Kat sighed, her eyes glazing over as she stared off into space. “What I wouldn’t give to be on the receiving end of that kind of love and attention.” She blinked her gaze back into focus, meeting Niki’s eyes. “I was a bit freaked out when I first came to Slick Rock and noticed the unusual relationships, but that all changed as I watched the men interacting with their women. They are protective. Would never raise their hands to a woman, child, or anyone weaker than they are, but if someone was in trouble, they would be the first to step into the fray even if they don’t know who you are. They treat their wives and girlfriends like precious princesses.”

  “Sounds too good to be true,” Niki said.

  Kat shook her head. “I thought that too at first, but they just don’t want their better halves getting hurt or putting themselves in danger. The men aren’t perfect, and they can be overbearingly dominant at times, but their hearts are in the right place.”

  “I don’t want anything to do with another man ever again,” Niki blurted out and quickly lowered her head when tears welled.

  “Niki,” Kat asked in a hoarse voice, “did someone besides Father hurt you?”

  Niki’s throat was so constricted with her emotions she couldn’t speak. Kat rushed around the counter, sat on the stool next to her, spun Niki toward her, and wrapped her arms around her. “Talk to me, sis. You’re scaring me.”

  The tears flowed and a sob escaped. “Father sold me to Vinnie.”

  “He fucking what?” Kat yelled.

  Once she started crying, she couldn’t stop. The tears rolled down her cheeks, and the sobs wracked her whole body
. She cried because she missed her mom. Cried because she’d left Rosita behind. Cried for all the abuse she’d endured from the one man who was supposed to protect her. And then she cried for herself. After about ten minutes, her tears finally dried up and she gasped in breath after breath until the spasms stopped. Kat released her and handed her the glass of wine. Niki drank it all down in one go. Without saying a word, Kat refilled her glass. “Thanks. I’m sorry for falling apart on you.”

  “Don’t you ever fucking apologize to me for being human,” Kat said through clenched teeth. “I think I cried myself to sleep every night for twelve months after I got away. The guilt of leaving you behind was torture. If I could have come and gotten you out without being caught, I would have.”

  “I know you would have.” Niki clasped Kat’s hand. “I’m glad you didn’t come back.”

  “How did you escape?”

  “Rosita helped me. She gave me as much cash as she could and when she was cleaning the security room, she made sure to watch Father’s goons and the monitors. She worked out which camera was connected to which monitor. When she was out collecting herbs from the gardens, she did something to the wires to make the picture hazy. Each time she went out she did something else until eventually two of the cameras no longer worked. They quit working the day I climbed out my bedroom window and left.”

  “How would Rosita know what she was doing with electrical equipment?” Kat asked.

  “She told me that she looked it up on the internet,” Niki answered. “I tried to talk her into coming with me, but she kept refusing. I’m worried that Father and Vinnie are going to figure out she had a hand in helping me to flee. If they do, they’ll beat her to within an inch of her life or kill her.”

  “Was she anywhere near you when you left?” Kat asked.

  “No. I was locked in my bedroom as usual. Rosita should have already been in bed asleep.”