by Leah Brooke
Curiosity killed the cat.
His lips twitched. “Yes, ma’am.” Staring into her eyes, he closed his hands over the lapels of her robe. “I’m only going to touch your breasts, that is, unless you ask me to touch you somewhere else.”
Irritated at herself for jolting, Stormy swallowed heavily and pressed her hands to her stomach. “I won’t.”
Caleb said nothing, just continued to watch her as he slid her borrowed robe from her shoulders, where it caught on her bent arms.
Stormy sucked in a breath at the feel of the air on her nipples, trembling harder when Caleb slid his fingertips slowly down her arms, carefully avoiding the bandage.
Her nipples beaded tighter, tingling with an awareness that unsettled her.
“You’re very beautiful.”
“No. I’m not.”
His fingertips slid lightly over her upper chest, one sliding up her chin to lift it. “You’re calling me a liar?”
She clenched her hands together to keep from reaching for him, her pussy and stomach muscles clenching when her traced the outer curve of her breast. “I don’t fall for lines.”
“Glad to hear it. I don’t use them.” He lifted her hands to his chest. “Keep your hands here, and keep looking at me.”
Although he kept his voice at barely above a whisper, the steel in it was unmistakable.
And it turned her on.
Fisting her hands in his soft T-shirt, Stormy nodded, her breath escaping in sharp pants.
The feel of his warm fingertips moving over the underside of her breasts made her nipples tighten even more, the sensation so intense that she moaned, biting her lip to hold back another. Her eyes fluttered closed of their own volition, her head falling back as she waited expectantly for him to caress her nipples.
Instead, his hands went to her neck again, lightly caressing the curve of her neck and upper shoulders.
A moan of frustration escaped before she could prevent it, her eyes popping open.
Caleb met her glare with a raised brow and small smile. “I told you to keep looking at me. I need to see your eyes, Stormy. Look at me and I’ll give you what you want.”
Swallowing heavily, she nodded again, not trusting herself to speak, her fists tightening on his chest.
His eyes glittered, his gaze holding hers as he lightly brushed his fingertips over both nipples simultaneously.
Catching her when she cried out and her knees buckled, he carried her to the bed, sitting on the edge of it and holding her on his lap. “Your nipples are very sensitive, aren’t they, honey?”
Since Stormy had no idea how sensitive they were supposed to be, she didn’t answer, her face burning.
Her clit throbbed, but pressing her thighs together did nothing to ease it.
His smile widened, his eyes indulgent. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You’re an absolute delight.”
To her surprised delight, he stroked her nipple again, staring down at her.
Shaking her head, she put her hand over her eyes, his attention making her feel incredibly vulnerable. “Please don’t look at me.”
Caleb took her hands away from her face and smiled again. “I’ll let you get away with it this time. I want to use my mouth on your nipple. Okay?”
The thought of it had another rush of moisture escaping to coat her inner thighs, and she nodded automatically, relieved that he wouldn’t be able to see her face.
She watched him lower his head, but nothing could have prepared her for the feel of his warm lips and tongue on her nipple.
Her toes curled when he began to suck, the pull to her clit so intense that she writhed on his lap, the pleasure like nothing she could have imagined.
He worked her nipple with his lips and tongue, alternately licking and sucking. Lifting his head, he used his mouth on her other nipple while his fingers worked magic on her damp one.
The tingling heat at her clit sharpened, and suddenly a wave of heat seemed to explode inside her, spreading and washing over her in a sublime heat that forced a cry from her.
Caleb groaned and covered her lips with his, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against his chest.
Surprised at the gentleness in his kiss, she fisted her hands in his hair and held on for dear life as her world tilted.
Running his hand up and down her back, he lifted his head. “You are incredibly passionate.” His tender smile raked over her. “What am I going to do with you?”
Mortified that she’d all but thrown herself at him, and scared that he would expect to take her, Stormy scrambled from his lap, suddenly chilled. Wrapping her robe more tightly around herself with hands that shook, she turned away from him. “Nothing. Please leave.”
She felt him rise, and stiffened, expecting him to pull her into his arms again.
Instead, he sighed. “Of course. Your breakfast should be ready.”
She held her breath, waiting until the door closed behind him before slumping and letting it out in a rush.
She had to admit that she suddenly found herself far out her depth in dealing with her brother’s friends at a time when she couldn’t afford to be distracted.
Getting away from Desire seemed the only thing to do.
She had to ignore the fact that it didn’t sound as appealing as it had the day before.
* * * *
Still smiling at the way Stormy had fallen apart in his arms, Caleb made his way to the kitchen to join the others.
Intrigued that her arousal seemed to surprise her—and more intrigued that it appeared to unsettle her—he continued to the kitchen, promising himself that he’d take the opportunity to explore her desire to the fullest.
Even more intrigued at the hunger she stirred in him, Caleb smiled in anticipation of their next encounter.
He hurried his steps at the sound of Logan’s angry voice, pausing in the doorway. He already knew the subject, and Logan’s reaction didn’t surprise him.
“No. I’m not about to leave my sister. How the hell can you even suggest such a thing?”
Closing the laptop in front of him, Lucas reached for his coffee cup. “I understand how you feel, Logan, but—”
Logan whirled on him. “You have no fucking idea how I feel!”
Understanding that Logan’s anger came from fear, Caleb started forward. “Logan, I know how you feel about your sister. I know how close you are.”
Scrubbing a hand over his face, Logan sighed. “You know nothing about our relationship. You know nothing about her knee-jerk reaction to come to me. I’m just glad I got in touch with her before she passed Tulsa because, if I hadn’t, she had enough time to recover to change her mind.”
Lucas frowned and sat forward. “Recover? Did he attack her before she made her getaway?”
Running a hand through his hair, Logan picked up his coffee cup and moved to stare out the window. “No. At least, not that I know of.” Turning back, he met Caleb’s gaze. “You saw the pictures.”
Caleb glanced at Lucas and Devlin before looking back to Logan again, wondering what he’d missed. “Yeah. What about them?”
“It was raining. Remember? That line of thunderstorms went through.” He moved slowly to the table, his movements uncommonly labored as if the ordeal with Stormy had mentally and emotionally exhausted him. “Stormy’s deathly afraid of thunderstorms.”
Caleb frowned. “Logan, a lot of people are scared of thunderstorms.”
Logan gripped the back of the chair so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “Not scared. Terrified. So terrified that it nearly paralyzes her.”
Saying nothing, Devlin sent a meaningful look in Lucas’s and Caleb’s direction before turning back to finish cooking Stormy’s breakfast.
There was something there, something more.
It was in Logan’s tone, a sadness and anger that Caleb knew didn’t have anything to do with Stormy’s fear of thunderstorms.
Lucas’s gaze sharpened. “It’s a little more than just being
afraid of storms, isn’t it?”
Turning away, Logan refilled his coffee cup. “Yes, but don’t ask me what. It’s her secret to tell. It just explains why she came here. She was still dealing with the aftereffects. Otherwise, she would have just disappeared. That thunderstorm probably saved her life.”
Dividing his attention between Logan and Lucas, Caleb opened one of the lower kitchen cabinets and slid the first aid kit inside. “If the reason for her fear has anything to do with protecting her, we need to know.”
“It doesn’t.” Logan stared down into his coffee cup. “I just can’t leave her. She needs me.”
Devlin turned from the stove. “You hired us to protect her and to get rid of the threat of the man who wants her dead.”
Logan paled, but Devlin continued. “Your presence is making our job more difficult and could potentially endanger her.”
Logan’s jaw clenched. “Don’t give me that shit! She’s my little sister, damn it, and I’m not leaving!” Glancing toward the doorway, he lowered his voice and leaned closer to Lucas. “She tries to keep me at a distance.” He smiled humorlessly and dropped into a chair. “Hell, she keeps everyone at a distance, but I don’t let her. She came to me for help. She never asks anyone for anything. How the hell do you expect me to walk away from her?”
“It’s not like you’re ignoring her. You already arranged for her protection.” Lucas glanced at the doorway and leaned closer. “I know it’s difficult, but our top priority is her safety. I thought it was yours, too.”
Logan dropped into his seat, raking a hand through his hair. “You’re damned right it is. Her safety comes before everything. Christ, I’d die to make sure she never gets hurt again.”
Caleb stilled, sharing a look with Lucas and Devlin, more curious by the minute. Feeling her presence, Caleb turned toward the doorway just as Stormy spoke.
“I sure as hell don’t want anyone risking their life for me, especially you or one of your friends. I still think I should leave Desire, Logan.”
All eyes turned to follow Stormy as she walked into the room and made her way to the coffee pot.
Dressed in the soft cotton pants and one of the loose T-shirts Hope had picked out for her, Stormy accepted a coffee mug from Devlin and filled it. Turning, she eyed her brother as she made her way to the table, avoiding looking at Caleb. “I think it’s better if I leave. I’ll keep in contact with you, and—”
“No.” Lucas rose to refill his own cup, gesturing toward hers. “Do you want cream and sugar?”
Dropping into the chair next to Logan, Stormy shook her head with a frown. “No. I take it black. What do you mean, no?”
Lucas’s lips twitched. “Woman after my own heart.” He glanced at her, raising a brow. “I already told you that you’re not going anywhere. I seldom change my mind.”
Devlin filled her plate and turned. “Your brother, on the other hand, has to go.”
Logan wrapped a hand around her forearm as if one of them was about to rip her out of his reach. “I’m not leaving her.”
Caleb took his own coffee to the table and lowered himself to the seat on the other side of Stormy, smiling faintly when she stiffened. “It’s for her own good. When she’s feeling nervous or insecure, she looks toward you, and you move toward her.” He gestured pointedly to Logan’s hold on her. “If one of us had to grab her, we’d have to fight you to get to her.”
Stormy glared at him, her green eyes flashing. “I’m neither nervous nor insecure.”
Logan blinked, staring at him blankly for several seconds before releasing his hold on her and blowing out a breath. “I’m her brother. It’s only natural.”
Lucas took his seat next to Logan while Devlin slid Stormy’s breakfast in front of her.
Watching her intently, Lucas inclined his head. “It is, and nothing less than I expected, but it could prove to be dangerous. She woke several times during the night and didn’t settle until she saw you. We’ve got to build a trust with her that’ll allow us to settle her.”
Sitting back, Logan met Stormy’s look of surprise with a reassuring smile. “We don’t have that.”
Stormy swallowed a bite of eggs and grinned at him. “Your friends are cute. They think they can snap their fingers and I’ll trust them.”
Devlin turned, both brows going up. “Cute?”
Pleased to see Stormy dig into her breakfast, Caleb wrapped his hand around his coffee cup and divided his attention between her and Logan. “She needs to defer to us, Logan. She needs to obey us without hesitation. Without argument. Without question.” He met Logan’s gaze squarely. “Her life may very well depend on it.”
Looking from Logan to Stormy and back again, Lucas sat forward. “It requires a level of trust we can’t build with her if she’s always looking to you. We also have to be able to get to her quickly, and we can’t have you getting in the way. Caleb’s right. It very well may cost her her life.”
Logan paled, reaching out to touch Stormy’s shoulder. “I can’t desert her, especially when her life’s in danger.”
Setting her fork aside, Stormy laid a hand on his forearm. “Logan, I know you would never desert me. I started here without thinking because you’re the only safe thing in my world. But I’m not a scared little girl anymore. I’m more worried about leading them to you. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to use you to get to me. If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t even want to live.”
“Don’t say that!” Logan gripped her arm. “I’d gladly give my life to protect you.”
Stormy smiled sadly and nodded. “I know that. I also know I couldn’t live with it.”
Caleb shared a look with Lucas and Devlin. From all of his conversations over the years, he knew that Logan was very protective of his sister, but Caleb had underestimated Logan’s protective instincts. “That won’t be an issue. The three of us will protect her, and in the meantime, you’re going to stay away from her. Ace and the others will keep an eye on you, and we’ll give you a panic button. Don’t be afraid to use it. Trust your instincts.”
Devlin sipped his own coffee, seemingly unable to take his eyes from Stormy. “She’ll have one, too, even though she won’t be out of our sight. You can talk to her on the phone whenever you want, but don’t come here again. I don’t want anyone realizing you’re her Achilles heel.”
Stormy finished eating and pushed her plate aside, reaching for her coffee. “It’s better this way, Logan. You go open your store. I’ll talk to you later.”
Logan stood, blowing out a breath. “Fine. But I don’t like it.”
Getting to her feet, she hugged him. “I know. But it’s better this way, and you know it.”
Nodding, he cleared his throat. “I’ll pick out a new leather jacket for you.”
Leaning back, she grinned up at him. “Nope. I’m keeping the one I have. I looked tough when it was just scuffed. Now that it has a bullet hole in it, it’ll make me look like a real badass.”
Chapter Seven
Sitting at the table, Devlin sipped his coffee as he watched Stormy refill her cup from the fresh pot. “When we told Logan that he had to leave, you agreed pretty quickly. I thought for sure we’d have a fight on our hands from both of you.”
The fact that that she’d agreed so readily made him suspicious as hell and made him wonder about her agenda.
Stormy shrugged, keeping her eyes lowered to her coffee cup as she made her way back to the table. “I don’t want anything to happen to him.” After lowering herself to her seat again, she sipped from her cup before meeting Devlin’s gaze with flat eyes, which gave away nothing. “He’s your friend, and I’m sure you feel the same. Now that he’s gone, and I know people are going to look after him, I really think we need to talk about me being on my way.”
There it is.
“No.” Lucas finished the last dish and turned as he dried his hands. “I thought I’d already made that clear.”
The flash of anger in her eyes replaced the flat lo
ok, but she blinked once, and it was gone again.
Devlin wanted to shake her as much as he wanted to pull her onto his lap and hold her.
Sitting back, he kept watching her, determined to get a reaction. “Now that he’s gone, we can talk about the rules we expect you to follow.”
Keeping her expression cool, Stormy held her cup in both hands, her elbows resting on the table. “So what kind of rules are we talking about?”
Challenged by her lack of reaction, Devlin lowered his own cup and leaned forward. “You’re to stay away from the windows and doors. You don’t answer the phone or make any phone calls without permission. You’re going to give us all the information you have on Sam Kline. We’re already investigating your client, Nicole Johnson.”
If Stormy was impressed that they’d already discovered the identity of her client, she didn’t show it.
She reached for a napkin, folding it carefully next to her mug. “I need to call my client, but I don’t have anything on Kline except the pictures I sent. I only started following him the other night when he went out with Nicole. I took some pictures of them together and left a few minutes after they went inside. I just knew what Nicole told me. I was hired to find out if he was cheating, and if he was, she wanted to see the proof.”
Devlin lifted his cup again, the niggling feeling that she kept something from them growing stronger. “We’ll let you call her, and if necessary, we’ll protect her, too.”
Stormy stiffened, lifting her gaze to his. “She’s my responsibility.”
“And you’re ours.” Lucas’s words held an icy steel that made Stormy’s eyes widen.
She looked momentarily disconcerted and opened her mouth as if to say something, closing it again almost immediately.
He’d like to believe that she decided that arguing would be useless, but strongly suspected that she’d kept quiet to keep something from them.
Pleased to see that she’d finally reacted, though, Devlin smiled, not trusting her at all. “Lucas is right. You’re our responsibility now.”
