Twist My Heart

by Brooke Taylor

  Nik looked into her eyes. “You’re amazing.”

  Raking her lower lip through her teeth, she asked, “Can you do the thing again?”

  “What thing?”

  “The moving in and out thing,” she said with an embarrassed chuckle.

  “Is that your way of saying you want me to stop staring at you and get back to fucking you, Tiggs?”

  She laughed. “Yes.”

  He growled low as he slowly slid his cock out.

  “Wait, no. You’re not done, are you?” she whimpered.

  “Hell no. But if you want to watch, you’re going to get the whole damn show.”

  He positioned himself to go back in. They both witnessed her beautiful, soft body taking his hardened one. Hot as hell. He pushed in more easily, enjoying the sensation of her flesh tautly sheathing him.

  Thrusting his hips, he rocked himself in and out. She was so turned-on watching, any lingering resistance in her body evaporated. He wished he could rip the condom off and feel her slick heat on his skin. Fill her full with his own. He lifted his gaze to her—the woman who was making him want for so many things he’d never dared to risk before.

  Thea’s sexy pink mouth dropped open as she took him deep, letting him bury himself completely inside of her over and over again. Her heartbeat pumped all around him as they moved through each other in ways that went beyond the physical. God, she was perfect. As he pushed into her body’s embrace, falling in as far as he could go, the logical side of his brain told him this was just sex, damn good sex. But another side of him, one which had been silent for far too long, knew it was much more.

  Her focus waned as her body clenched tightly around his, her elbows giving out as she fell back flat against the bed. He leaned down, sucking the bowed column of her neck and rolling his tongue over the hard beads of her nipples. He was still on the edge, but he could stay there all night if she needed—his control was back in full force.

  Snaking his forearm under her butt cheeks, he lifted them as he pushed harder into her, each thrust gaining traction and building her pleasure. Her eyes filled, saturated in lust. She arched her back and came hard around his cock. His responding explosion must’ve knocked an avalanche somewhere in the high country loose, because it sure as hell felt like a landslide rocking through him, changing everything in its wake.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  I slipped out of Nik’s room, nearly tripping over Titan’s curled-up body. With a quick hug to his neck and kiss to his snout, I quietly padded toward the kitchen, where Coop and Leo were squabbling over a metal contraption on the counter. Rubbing the soft fur tips of Titan’s ears, I glared daggers at the brothers and hissed, “Nik’s asleep. Keep it down.”

  If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought the look Coop flashed held the slightest glint of a genuine smile. Then he checked his watch, cocked his lip and asked, “How long’s he been out for?”

  I didn’t even know what time of day it was. Nik and I’d been locked away for the better part of it. I no longer doubted he could come up with enough things to do to me for the next two weeks—things on the bed, the dresser, against the wall. Things which made me laugh, squeal, moan, sigh, scream, beg… Not that it was any of Coop’s business. I shot him a warning glare to back off.

  “Easy, sweetheart, we weren’t the only ones making a lot of noise. I’m well aware of how many of the past eight hours the two of you have played naked Twister. I had no idea you were such a spiritual girl. I’m guessing…Catholic?”

  “Jesus, Coop!” Leo groused.

  “More like ‘Mary, mother of God’ and ‘Oh, God, Nik!’ A ‘Jesus, Coop,’ would’ve been awkward.”

  “Awkward?” Leo grunted under his breath. “You mean like it is right now?”

  “It’s okay, Leo. I don’t care if your brother wants to try to embarrass me, but Nik hasn’t slept in a few days and if Coop wakes him up he’ll be the one spiritually praying to God I don’t cut off his balls.”

  Coop gave a short nod of his head. “I like you.”

  Too little, too late. “I don’t care,” I muttered.

  “Oh, darlin’.” He chuckled. “I know you don’t.”

  I ignored him and headed for the pantry. After topping off Titan’s bowl with kibble, I returned to find something for me to eat. The shelves were lined with mostly canned goods. I recognized a few of the things Nik had bought from the grocery, but like with most things of this nature, I was lost. Hungry, I dropped to the floor with a pout and sat cross-legged.

  “Need some help?” Leo asked from the door as he handed me a cold bottle of some sort of beverage.

  I stared at the neon green liquid and the hazard symbol on the logo. “Outbreak?”

  “It’s a sports drink.” He shot me an exaggerated wink. “Good for replenishing fluids after strenuous exertion.”

  Catching the innuendo, I flashed him a dry smile. “Clever. Nik mentioned something about you endorsing these.”

  Hands braced above his head on the doorframe, he leaned in, popping his triceps and reminding me of Nik. Maybe all tall, hot, physically-fit guys practiced the stance. If not, they should.

  “I can get you a different flavor? T-shirt? Ballcap? Coozie?” His dark-chocolate curls fell sheepishly across his equally decadent eyes. Their rich brown depths twinkled with humor and I got a bit lost in his curvy lips. Not in the way I did with Nik’s. I didn’t imagine them doing implausibly pleasurable things to me or anything. They just were sweet. Expressive.

  “This will be fine, thank you.” I unscrewed the cap and took a long drink. Tasted better than it looked. “I need food, though. I don’t know what sounds good and since apparently you can’t get fries or bacon off the shelf, I’m sulking.”

  Leo laughed as he let go of the doorframe to reach past me, grabbing up a bag of potatoes. “How about I show you how to make potato skins? They’re kind of like giant French fries with bacon and cheese.”

  My stomach growled in appreciation as I stood up. “You’ll probably hear a few more spiritual affirmations out of me because…bacon.”

  He cracked a wide smile as he pulled a package out of the refrigerator. “Let’s go to church, girl.”

  “Hallelujah!”

  Coop grunted. “While you two play Reverend Betty Crocker over there, I’m going to go have a smoke.”

  Leo’s brow furrowed, but he smirked when I told Coop, “Take enough to share. I’m guessing the neighbors need one, too.”

  We both watched Coop wordlessly head out to the back deck.

  “I was really expecting another comeback. A fuck off at least,” I remarked to Leo. “Kind of disappointed, I thought he and I had a thing.”

  “Sorry he’s so gruff. It’s really not about you.”

  “Oh, it’s a little bit about me.” I followed Leo’s lead prepping the potatoes. “I’m pretty sure hitting him with the bat left a dent.” In his ego, if nothing else.

  “Yeah, I imagine he’ll be feeling it for a few days. But he’s got a lot going on and is eager to get on the road. We’ve got an important job.”

  “And I’m screwing it up.”

  I couldn’t help noticing he didn’t say no, but then again, it hadn’t really been a question.

  Leo motioned to the contraption Coop had discarded on the kitchen counter when I’d come out to shush them. “He shot that flying monkey down a little while ago.”

  “Flying monkey?”

  “Coop calls drones that. Someone was using it to spy on the house. It’s not government quality, but nice. Earlier, when I took Titan out for a jog around the property, I noticed a black Chevy Tahoe drive by a few times. Nik said there was one following you in Kansas. He also spotted it at the tornado site the next day, in the same location the dead girl’s body had been. They more than likely followed you here using the tracking device Coop found on Titan’s collar yesterday. We still don’t know who it is or why, but it isn’t safe for us to hang out here until we figure it out, either.”

&
nbsp; My gut sank as I was reminded of everything Nik had told me. “I shouldn’t have come here. I wanted to protect Titan from going back to Animal Control. I didn’t want to drag anyone else into this.”

  “Did Nik talk to you about coming with us?”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Especially seeing this.” I motioned to the drone. What other options are there?

  “Nik’s not going to let anything bad happen to you. But we need to get you out of here, soon.”

  “What’s the point of running if they’re going to follow me?”

  “Trust me, no one is going to be following you where we’re going.”

  I stilled at the dark tone his voice had taken and followed his eyes to his brother. Coop was standing outside at the deck railing, holding a cell phone to his ear with one hand and a stubby cigarette between the thumb and forefinger of his other. His lips pinched hard around it and his forehead crinkled as he drug the smoke into his throat. He held it there for a long while before it resurfaced, blurring his face.

  “Nik said something about going to an island.”

  “Marakata Cay.”

  “Marakata? Doesn’t that mean emerald? Sanskrit, right?”

  Leo’s brows did a little jump. “Like the majority of people, I don’t speak Sanskrit. But makes sense, his boss owns a large emerald mine. Marakata Cay is a remote, private island near Turks and Caicos. Coop’s employer owns it. He’s a powerful sheikh or something… An eccentric billionaire recluse type. He uses the island as a hedonistic getaway for anyone he wants to entertain and influence. Hollywood A-listers, sports stars, titans of business, political influencers, crowned heads of Europe… You name it.”

  “Your brother hardly has the personality for guest service. What does he do for him?”

  “Security is the short answer. I learned a long time ago not to ask too many questions about Coop’s work.”

  Which I took to mean I shouldn’t ask any more questions either. But question after question popped into my head. I had enough anxiety about my own issues without trying to figure Coop’s out. Distracting myself from it all, I rashly changed the subject to something more social. Normal people asked about each other’s work, so naturally I blurted, “Nik tells me you go in a cage and beat the shit out of people for a living.”

  At Leo’s jaw dropping, I immediately wanted to reel the words back into my mouth and rearrange them like a proper, filtered person should.

  He grinned at my obvious embarrassment. “Nik and Coop always make it sound so brutal, like they forget it is an art. It’s right there in the name—Mixed Martial Arts. Which makes me more of an artist.”

  He did have a creative look about him. And I really couldn’t imagine Leo hurting anyone, even though he was strong enough to. But… “Nik said the last guy you fought left with his face rearranged, like literally. He had to have a nose transplant or something.”

  Oh my God, why couldn’t I control my mouth?

  “Picasso is my muse. I could think of worse.” Leo smirked as I continued putting the cleaned potatoes, now salted and stabbed, oiled and foiled, onto a baking sheet. “So this was Nik’s idea of pillow talk? Why am I not surprised?”

  I blushed, recalling a lot more than talking going on among those pillows. “So, um, Nik said you helped him research me on the computer?”

  “Nice change of subject. I tried to access the flash drive, but none of my usual tricks worked. I don’t suppose you remember the password?”

  “I don’t remember my name or how to bake a potato.” I mimicked him, sliding my tray into the preheated oven.

  “Yet you somehow remember how to fire a carbine, speak German and Sanskrit, and know how to twist men like Nik in knots and make men like Coop speechless.”

  “It’s wild. I have no idea where most of the things out of my mouth come from. I guess we could try putting me on a keyboard and seeing what I type.”

  “We do have an hour to kill waiting on the potatoes.”

  “An hour? I’m going to die.”

  “You’ll survive.” Leo handed me an Outbreak energy bar to tide me over, then walked into the great room and pushed the red flash drive into the USB port.

  The supple brown leather of the office chair felt cold and smelled rich as I scooted it up to the built-in desk. Closing my eyes, my fingers found their place on the keyboard. Within a few strokes I was in.

  “That was easy. What was the magic word?”

  “WickedGames321.” I lifted my foot, wiggling my sparkly red toes. “The color of the nail polish in my purse. I knew there had to be a reason I had it. Now what? What do these files look like to you?”

  “Photos mostly.” Leo leaned around me to change the view from file name to image before enlarging them. The screen filled with a hundred or more pictures of two girls from the time they were babies until barely teenagers. “Recognize anything?”

  The uneasy sensation wasn’t a memory, but the weight of it had me so breathless, the words had to be pushed from my lips. “My sister.”

  My fingers trembled as I clicked through the photos of the girls smiling, hugging, and playing like best friends. So happy. And like Nik had suggested, there were several shots of us riding horses and playing at a farm somewhere. My mind was spinning like a cyclone, my heartbeat frantic.

  Clicking out of the files, I removed the thumb drive. I hadn’t been prepared to see pictures of myself or of my sister. I wanted to take my time with them and study them in private, when I was ready.

  Leo pushed out a long breath. “Not what I was expecting.”

  Me either. “What were you expecting?”

  “Maybe hoping is a better word. It would be nice to know why you’re running and who you’re running from.”

  What if I hadn’t been running from something but instead I had been running to someone?

  I’d been so sure the items I’d escaped with had no personal value. But these images proved my sister meant everything to me. Being with Aimee at the mall, laughing and being girly, had seemed to fill a void. Now it made sense. Losing my sister had created an impact so large the crater remained even though the memory of it hadn’t. But did it mean I believed she was alive? Had I been trying to find her? Would I still be able to find her now, with no memories to go off of?

  Didn’t matter. Being on the run prevented me from searching for her… Yet.

  “Maybe it’s the money someone wants?” I suggested. “It’s a lot.”

  “Twenty-five thousand dollars isn’t enough. When people go to this kind of effort, it’s either for revenge or because you have something on them and they need to silence you.”

  “So let me get this straight, you think I know something big enough someone is willing to kill me over? And I have amnesia?” I laughed, because really, what else was there to do. “I guess the joke is on them, huh? Or me.”

  “They aren’t just willing to kill you, Thea. They’ve already done it. If someone has those kinds of abilities, they’re pretty powerful.”

  The pain usually throbbing in the back of my head had moved front and center. I pushed the heel of my palm between my eyes. “Are you sure no one can follow me to Marakata Cay?”

  “You need to talk to Coop if you want to know more about the island.”

  I slowly lowered my hand from my face so Leo could get the full force of my incredulous stare.

  “He doesn’t bite.”

  I made wide eyes at Leo. “And neither does Titan, but he sure had you up a tree.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t make my mistake of showing fear.”

  “I’m not scared of Coop. I just don’t trust him.”

  “He and Nik go way back. They were in the same platoon together for years, but the two of them were so close it was like they were their own team. They’re more like brothers than he and I have ever been.”

  I noted the wistfulness in his tone, but his expression had been so matter of fact it didn’t warrant questioning. Besides which, there had been the whole
thing about Coop having Steele blood in his veins. “Nik told me about saving Coop’s life.”

  “That was all he said about it?” At my nod, he elaborated. “A mission they were on was compromised. They were stranded for a couple of weeks in the mountains of Afghanistan—officially declared missing in action. Candlelight vigils back home, the whole nine yards. They were unbelievably outnumbered, outgunned, and both sustained major injuries. Coop especially. Thank God Nik was there and could keep him alive. After a couple of days hunkered down in a cave licking their wounds and waiting for extraction, they went on the offensive, stalking and killing the entire cell of terrorists they’d originally been tasked to eliminate. It wasn’t until communications experts intercepted chatter about certain men going missing night after night that Joint Special Ops Command figured out where they were holed up and sent a team in to extract them. After that, the Team Guys started calling them The Ghost and The Darkness, after the movie about the legendary pair of man-eating lions who worked together to pick off railroad workers in Africa each night.”

  “Man-eating lions? You do realize you aren’t exactly helping your ‘he doesn’t bite’ claim, right?”

  “I’m just saying they’re a package deal. If you trust Nik, you can trust Coop. And if you don’t go talk to my charming brother, I won’t give you any potato skins.”

  I narrowed my eyes at his cocky smirk. “And I thought you were the nice one.”

  “Oh, honey, none of us are nice boys.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Coop ended his phone call abruptly as I opened the door to the deck. Titan followed me out, bounding down the stairs and trotting toward the trees. I propped my forearms alongside of Coop’s and leaned heavily on the rail, mimicking his stance, but he didn’t bother to tear his gaze away from the mountain valley. In fact, his only acknowledgment of my presence was holding out a stubby cigarette in offering.

  The scent wasn’t familiar or enticing. In fact, the sweet aroma sitting heavy in the piney air confused me. Even though I’d yet to smell a cigarette, it didn’t mesh with what my mind told me one should smell like.