“I doubt you’ll ever be able to understand our friendship. To be fair, it confuses most people. You’ve spent the majority of your adult life in competition. I’m not part of your game nor would I ever give him up.”
“You’re brutally honest.”
“It’s a fault.” She shrugged. “He changed everything about how I viewed the world, my place in it, and what I considered for my future. I don’t take such things lightly.”
“His brother…”
“Don’t.” She blinked back instant tears. “It was as horrific for him as it was for me. More, in fact. He takes protection of the people he cares about very seriously. He loves rarely but fiercely. You may know Hudson, you may know everything about me on paper, but you have no idea how the entire situation affected both of us. I won’t discuss it.”
There was a quick knock a moment before her front door swung wide. She’d disengaged the auto-lock when she went to the lobby.
Hudson stood in the entry with Natalia’s hand in his. Both of them had clearly just rolled out of bed. Brie was grateful they’d managed to put on clothes.
The blonde exclaimed, “Fuck if you weren’t right.” Her blue eyes were huge.
“I would do the same.” Hudson’s voice was low and dangerous. “Point it away from my woman or I will snap your fucking neck.”
Turning her head, she realized Elijah held a wicked handgun pointed at the couple in the doorway. Brie hadn’t heard him draw it nor had she seen him move.
“Put it away, please,” she said softly. He immediately returned the gun to a holster beneath his jacket.
She gave her friends a careful smile. “You’ve checked, satisfied your curiosity, proven Hudson’s gut should always be followed, and seen I’m fine. Go back to bed.”
“Gabriella.”
“Hudson.” Her no-nonsense tone made him smile. “I’m fine and you know it. Don’t get up until both of you have plenty of sleep. No less than eight solid hours.”
“She’s right. I’m exhausted, darling.” She winked at Brie. “Perhaps finally go to bed yourself?”
Waving her hand, Brie said, “Ridiculous notion…sleep. Highly overrated. Go and we’ll have dinner.”
Hudson stared at both men for a long moment before tightening his hand around Natalia’s. He engaged the auto-lock and the door clicked shut behind them.
Harper’s expression was unreadable.
To Elijah, she said, “I…I understand your position but I’ve never been around guns. Perhaps we can find a compromise?”
“I’m proficient with knives and my bare hands as well.” Elijah kept his gaze somewhere over Harper’s shoulder.
He didn’t look or sound proud of his skills. The line seemed rehearsed. His fists were clenched on top of his thighs.
Reaching out, she gently lifted one of them and turned it over. She brushed her fingers lightly over his until he opened them. His hand was strong, the fingers long and blunt at the tips.
She laid her smaller one on top. “What instrument do you play, Elijah?” His green eyes snapped to hers. “I noticed your callouses last night. One of the strings?”
Voice barely audible, he replied, “Violin.”
“That’s lovely. Music was hard for me. I was horrible but never lost my appreciation.” She gave him a smile. “I imagine your hands are proficient in many beautiful things.”
His fingers curled around her wrist, his thumb stroking the side. They stared at one another for a long time.
Finally, he exhaled the tension he’d gathered around him in the single instant a possible threat to his boss and friend invaded her space. “I’m sorry, Brie.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Elijah. Your job as your best friend’s bodyguard must be stressful sometimes.”
“Sometimes,” he agreed. He applied gentle pressure and pulled her forward. Planting a kiss on her forehead, he said softly, “I like what makes you different. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Leaning back, she turned her attention to Harper. “Tell me what you want from me.” His eyes went wide in surprise. “Allow me to state my position so there’s no confusion.” She stroked her fingers over Elijah’s hand and returned it to his thigh, sad to lose the contact.
Inhaling deeply, she looked back and forth between the men. “I imagine you’re confused, as Hudson once confessed to being, that I’m not interested in money or position. You look at someone like me and see the perfect submissive. I admit it’s a role that seems to come naturally.”
Both men stilled.
“You figure I’m a woman who will allow you to dictate terms, be waiting to fulfill your needs, and show proper gratitude for your attention.”
Shaking her head slowly, she said, “It’s important that you understand a few things about me. I don’t need any man to take care of me financially.”
“There’s no such thing as too much money, Gabriella.”
“There’s such a thing as enough, Harper. I certainly have no interest in your money or assuming the position of your whore.”
Elijah growled, “You’d never be such a thing.”
“Isn’t that more about state of mind, Gabriella?” The man was far more exasperating than Hudson was in the beginning.
“Since I only have my state of mind as reference, I wouldn’t know.” She inhaled carefully. “I have months remaining of physical therapy.”
She told Harper, “My personality will probably annoy you as often as it intrigues you. The notion of a ménage relationship doesn’t offend me in any way but my bones are still too weak to handle the…pressure I imagine would be involved.” She was distracted by the intensity of Elijah’s gaze for a moment.
“Jesus, you’re blunt.” Harper had the angry expression on his face again and she grinned.
“I am. I’d apologize but I wouldn’t mean it.” She reached out and smoothed her fingertip along the crinkle in his forehead, startling him. “You get frustrated easily. You should smile more, Harper.”
He captured her hand. “Perhaps you could help me do that.”
“Perhaps.” She shook her head and tugged from his grasp. “Why are you interested in me? I doubt I remotely resemble your usual fare in regards to women.”
“Explain.”
“I’d guess the women you typically choose are tall, slender, and docile. Much like Hudson’s former lovers, they’re almost universally grasping, greedy, and willing to fake emotion in exchange for gifts, preferably of the sparkly variety. You don’t have any desire to talk to them nor do you give a single fuck about who they are as people. They’re permitted in your orbit for sex and discarded when you’re done. Paid for services rendered and quickly forgotten.”
“Damn.” Elijah’s single word told her she was right.
“Why invest your valuable time,” she gestured at the whale, “and money in someone like me?”
“Winters.”
“Tell me what you mean,” she pressed.
“You changed him. You…liked him.”
“I didn’t change him. He’s the same man he’s always been. I didn’t like him at first but I quickly saw the man he was behind his gruff exterior.” Pausing, she asked, “Do you find yourself unlikeable?” He nodded. She looked at Elijah and back to him. “Elijah likes you.”
“In the beginning, he had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice and I doubt his loyalty is easily earned.” She felt the bodyguard staring at her and swallowed hard. “Hudson and Natalia speak highly of you.”
“You respect their opinion.” She nodded. He curled his fingers into a fist on his thigh. “I can’t love you, Gabriella.”
She let the words hang in the air without addressing them. She needed a moment to process a statement that made her inexplicably sad.
Elijah was clearly upset. He turned to look at her.
“Did you…argue about me this morning?” The blonde didn’t answer but his eyes held incredible emotion. “Natalia mentioned you’re Harper
’s oldest friend.”
“Yes. Since he was born.”
“You share a lot of history then. Something tells me you’re not as tolerant about some of his choices as Natalia has been of Hudson’s. After so many years, you must know he has no desire to love a woman or receive her love in return.”
“You’re different from most women.”
Unsure how to interpret the statement, she looked at Harper. “Life is short. Every second counts in ways even I was unaware of before my accident. I don’t want to waste mine.”
“You value love so highly?” he asked her abruptly. The mere word held contempt when he said it.
“No. I value myself that highly. I don’t judge you, Harper. I also don’t judge my need to love and be loved.”
“You deserve to have everything you need, Brie.”
Elijah’s words shook her foundation and she blinked back tears. Staring at her lap, she inhaled carefully. When she lifted her face, she gave Harper a smile. “I’m not complex. Your attempts to unravel me are an exercise in futility. There’s no mystery, no ulterior motive, no desire to play hard to get.”
Hating to ask, she turned to the bodyguard. With a heavy sigh, she whispered, “Will you please get my chair from my room?”
Elijah rose instantly and returned pushing the wheelchair she’d left beside her bed. Without a word, he lifted her and placed her carefully in it. He smoothed his hand over her head and she tried not to lean into the simple touch.
“Th-thank you.”
Returning to his previous position, Elijah stared into her eyes for a long moment. “I can love you, Brie.”
The words made her heart tremble. Harper visibly stiffened.
“I suspect you could, Elijah. You strike me as a man who loves deeply and quietly. You ask for nothing, expect nothing, and aren’t surprised when that’s exactly what you receive.”
“It would be an honor to love you.”
“Elijah…”
Every word he said managed to penetrate to the innermost part of her. It had her completely off-balance. Much longer in his presence and she’d likely throw herself into his arms.
“My existence already causes issues between you.” They were not Hudson and Natalia, their relationship held a note of aggression she didn’t know how to navigate. “You’ve presented yourselves as a package deal. I respect that but ultimately, it would hurt me to be loved by one and considered hired help by the other.”
“Fuck.” Harper growled the word.
“You’ve stated you’ll be unable or unwilling to love me. That means I’d serve a specific purpose. A sexual conquest, perhaps a person to facilitate in ways Elijah is not permitted to do.”
Looking at the bodyguard, she sighed. “Something tells me you enforce rigid distance publicly.”
“You’ve spoken to Hudson about us.”
Frowning in confusion, she shook her head. “He wouldn’t share information about you nor would I ask. It’s just a vibe you both give off that I can’t quite define.”
To herself, she murmured, “Employee, employer…? I don’t know. Something.” She shrugged. “I’m pretty observant.”
“No one is that observant.”
“I’d say no one could be so arrogant. We’d both be wrong.”
Harper sat back and rested his chin on his thumb, his elbow on the arm of the sofa. One finger rubbed back and forth over his upper lip as he watched her.
She hoped she successfully hid the sexual effect it had on her.
It was important to choose her words carefully. These two men had her twisted up in all sorts of ways.
“I’m not incapable or unwilling to love. Time spent in your company would make me see the good, the beauty in both of you. It’s in my nature, both a strength and a weakness. I’d become emotionally attached, accept it wasn’t reciprocated, and end up with a broken heart.”
Harper didn’t get it. “Did Hudson break your heart?”
“I knew almost from day one that my role was meant to be a bridge between their past and their future. I guarded my heart and managed to keep it safe.”
“That must have been hard for you,” Elijah said.
“There were moments I worried. They’re incredible, separately and together. Too much time receiving everything they offered would have tipped me past what I could resist. I was getting too close already. After my s-surgery, I knew I had to set a time limit. They respected my decision.”
“How long?”
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand the question. Green eyes held hers as she whispered, “One night.”
“You spent one night with both of them…in every way?” Harper sounded as if he didn’t believe it but she nodded. “They didn’t attempt to talk you into more?”
Twisting her fingers together, she said softly, “The last pieces started falling together for them that night. The following morning, I was hit and spent a long time in the hospital. That’s when they saw what they shared.”
“You’re all very close. How was that accomplished in one night?” Harper frowned.
“We built friendships first. I gave them a fresh perspective. In exchange, they helped me reconcile the person I felt pressured to be with the woman I really was on the inside.”
“The woman you are is beautiful, Brie,” Elijah told her.
“That’s good of you to say. I have days of doubt.”
She pointed at the whale. “The sculpture makes me feel wonderful because when a whale’s removed from its’ home, it’s vulnerable, helpless, an object of pity. In the water, the one element in which it can survive, it’s a creature that’s fierce, beautiful, and powerful.”
Closing her eyes, she murmured, “All my life, I’ve been out of my element.” Gray eyes waited for her when she opened hers. “During my short time with them, I experienced water for the first time.”
She gestured down her body. “I find myself on land again, a creature that’s once again an object of pity.”
“I don’t pity you, Gabriella.”
“You find me weak as most do whereas I see you clearly as one of the strongest and most brilliant men I’ve ever met, Harper.”
Looking at Elijah, she added, “You’re the one who confuses me. There’s something…I don’t know. It’s just beyond my line of sight and I can’t put my finger on it.”
“Does it frighten you, Brie?”
“Not remotely. I’m pretty much mesmerized by it.”
“I’ve never met a person so honest.”
“My mother used to tell me I was so distracted I’d forget lies if I told them.” She stared at the bodyguard, struggling to nail down what it was about him that escaped her. “I feel as if I’ll figure it out and laugh at myself for not seeing it sooner.”
“Perhaps your reaction won’t be laughter.”
“That’s…intriguing.” She pulled her gaze from him and gave the darker man a careful smile. “I can almost guarantee you don’t need or want a woman like me in your life, Harper.”
“Why?”
“You don’t dislike me but you don’t like me either. I’m more trouble than I’ll be worth to you and it’ll be a long time before I can even be considered as a sexual distraction.”
Harper insisted, “You’d be more than a distraction.”
After a long pause, she nodded. “I guess we’ll see.” He looked victorious so she clarified. “When I’m back on my feet, if you’re still interested, I’ll spend time in your company.”
“Your terms?”
The question caused her to stiffen. “There are no terms on my side, Harper. I’ll guard my heart, help both of you in whatever ways I’m capable, and hopefully see you happy. Then our time will end and you can get back to your usual selection of vapid supermodels.”
Backing up, she made her way to the door. “Thank you again for the whale, Harper. I very much wanted to have it.”
The men rose and walked to stand in front of her.
Elijah lowered to his knees. �
�There’s no supermodel who could compete with all you offer, Brie.”
“That’s sweet of you, Elijah.”
“That’s the truth.” His hands reached up to cup her skull, his fingers lightly stroking her hair. “It’s like silk.” Staring into her eyes, he traced his thumbs over her brows. “Your eyes are blue. I just realized.”
“You’re a lovely human being, Elijah.” She brushed her fingers along his jaw and she watched the green of his eyes darken. “I’m happy to be your friend without conditions.”
“Will you be my friend as well, Gabriella?”
“You have no desire to be my friend, Harper.” Though it was the truth, it hurt her to say it out loud. He also didn’t deny it.
Elijah gathered her carefully in a hug and planted a kiss on the skin beneath her ear. Meeting Harper’s eyes over his shoulder, she knew he saw the physical reaction it inspired.
Against her hair, he whispered, “I’ll wait for you, Brie.”
Such a simple thing to say that affected her deeply. Inhaling the scent of her hair, he pulled back and pressed a kiss on her lips. Then he stood, picked up the envelope holding the sketch from her foyer table, and left her apartment.
Harper stared at her. “You fascinate me.”
“It’ll pass.”
“You make me hard.”
“I doubt I’m unique in the ability.”
Despite himself, he laughed. “Your mind is very quick. I’m giving you six months.”
“You make it sound like a stay of execution. I’ll still be under medical care and unable…”
“Eight months.” She shook her head. “Ten months and then you’ll agree to an arrangement with Elijah and myself.”
“Harper, why is this so important to you?”
“Do you agree, Gabriella?”
Exhaling slowly, she thought about giving the two men the same privileges to her body as Hudson and Natalia. A single image played across her mind that made her entire body heat in response. This time, she knew she couldn’t hide it.
“Agree, Gabriella.” His words were low, fierce.
Unable to deny her awakened nature, she nodded and replied softly, “Alright.”
The expression of victory on his face made her smile. He bent, lifted her from the wheelchair, and supported her weight.
Radiance Page 2
