by April Zyon
“We have the doctor, coming to you,” the one with the chilling gaze said, pressing a finger to his ear. “Copy that. We’re all clear out front, but we need to move now.”
“Wow, so I get a Jacuzzi and everything?” she asked. She let them usher her out of the office, and she easily fell into step along with them. “I have a friend, Tom, I need for you to get in touch with him as well. He recently started at the hospital, and I was pretty much his only friend. So, can you do that?”
“We’ll get word to him, ma’am,” Gareth told her. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ve got one of our best guys letting him know we’re on the job now, and that he doesn’t have to worry a moment longer.”
“Thank you for that,” Hailey said with a nod and then took a deep breath. “I guess I should know your names, right? I’m Hailey Davenport, but you all know that. Who are all of you?”
“To my left is Mikhail, and to your right is Stefan. On your left is Dieter, and riding on the back are Antonio and Thomas. The others you’ll meet outside, and then over at the hotel. Out at the SUVs are James and Victor.”
“Hello, pleased to meet you all.” She tried to commit each man’s face to memory, saying their names over and over in her mind. “Can we stop somewhere for food? I’ve not eaten since six this morning.”
“Probably best if we wait until you’re at the hotel. If you want, we can place an order once in the vehicles so that it arrives shortly after we do,” Gareth told her. “I have the menu in the truck so we can make this happen.”
“We can do that. I’m pretty easy. So long as it’s not still breathing and moving, I could eat it,” she admitted bluntly. “Because I’m telling you right now, food is my weakness.” She tugged her top, knowing it didn’t hide the extra pounds she carried thanks to her love of eating.
Gareth chuckled softly at her words. “We’ll remember that if we take you back to the Farm. Most of us like to have ours still bleeding to some degree. Some more than others.” He pushed open a door before they reached the double sliding doors.
“Yeah, not me,” she muttered. “Thank you for wanting to keep me safe. I appreciate that greatly. I know that it’s your job, but still.” She waited when they stepped outside and looked up at Gareth. “Where is the vehicle that we are taking to the hotel?”
He pointed to one side. “We’re going over to those two SUVs there.” Taking her arm, he gently guided her across the lot toward where two men stood waiting for them.
Hailey moved toward the SUVs and held her hand out when they made it to the men standing there. “Hello. I’m Hailey. As I told them, thank you for taking so much time out of your lives to watch over and keep me safe. I think perhaps Uncle Moe is overreacting, but if he isn’t, I’m happy to have you with me.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am. I’m Victor, and this is James,” he said tipping his head to where the other man stood. “Let’s get you tucked away for the first part of your vacation.”
“You’re only saying that because you want to get to hunting,” James said.
“Well, yeah, I do,” Victor said with a grin. “This way, ma’am,” he told her. Leading her around the one vehicle, he pulled open the door to the back seat and gave her a hand inside.
Stefan handed her a cell phone. “Tell the front desk what you might want for food. Remember, presidential suite,” he said with a grin. Shaking his head, he sat back once she’d taken the phone from him to place her order. Once she was done, she leaned back and closed her eyes. “Which hotel are we going to again?”
Victor named one she knew, hell that anyone alive knew the name of. They catered to the wealthy, the elite, and the famous. Their security was top-notch, and getting a reservation for even a broom closet was beyond difficult. How these men had managed it, she couldn’t even begin to guess. “Don’t go falling asleep back there, doc. We’re only ten minutes out, and it’s probably best for everyone if you walk into the suite on your own two feet instead of being thrown over Dieter’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve had longer days than this while doing my residency. I can handle this. If I close my eyes, it’s no big deal so don’t worry about it,” she assured them. “I wouldn’t want to throw out Dieter’s back lugging me around.”
Apparently, that amused all four men. “It would take a lot more than a little bit of fluff like yourself to throw my back out,” Dieter told her. “I could likely carry you and two of the guys at the same time without too much strain. Not that I would carry any of them, they smell funny on the best of days, but I figured it would illustrate my point well.”
She snorted at that but kept her eyes closed.
They turned into a secured parking garage and drove under the hotel. The SUVs were quickly parked, and all the men hopped out.
They hustled her to the elevator and then packed in with her. Even with all of them crammed in the same car they somehow managed to leave her a bubble of clear space around her so she didn’t feel squashed.
Hailey rocked back and forth on her feet. She really was tired, but she had been tired before. “So, is it just you guys?” she asked with a frown. “Are you going to take turns on who gets the night and who gets the day and so on?” She heard the door slide open, but couldn’t see it with all the men that were in front of her.
“Nope, there are more of us,” Gareth told her from somewhere up front. The elevator began to empty out. Gareth waited for her and waved her into the foyer of the suite. “They’re waiting inside for us. I’ll introduce you before you pick the room you want to use—there are six up here—and then your dinner should be here.”
She walked into the suite with Gareth and straight to the windows. “Wow, this is a gorgeous view.”
They were at the top of the hotel and looked out over the city. It was stunning really. She turned around, and when she did lost all thought and all capability of speech. The two men that seemed to appear from thin air captured her attention and sucked the brain out of her head and air from her lungs, or at least that was how it felt in those moments.
“And there it is,” someone said from one side.
“Hailey Davenport, this is the rest of the team. Lincoln and Wyatt on the right, and the two you’re drooling over are Owen and Nolan. Guys, this is Hailey.” She heard a couple of hellos, but they couldn’t really compete with the white noise filling her head as she stared at the two men.
She just stood there and looked at the men. She didn’t hear anything but her heart rapidly beating. “Um.” She swallowed, hard. She struggled to find words, but for some reason, she couldn’t find words to bring forth. She thought she was brighter than she was acting right now, but she obviously was wrong because words wouldn’t come to her. The men were massive. They were night and day when it came to their hair color, one with midnight black hair and the other a bright blond. One had green eyes and the other blue, but they both caught her attention as soon as she had turned around.
“Hi?” It didn’t come out as a statement, more of a question because her brain simply wasn’t firing enough to make her come up with anything other than the two-letter word.
“For a woman that wouldn’t shut up on the ride over, that’s the best she can do?”
She struggled to find the right wording. What could she say that wouldn’t make her sound like a complete idiot around men who suddenly got her motor running on full steam? But she needed to keep her wits about her, to stay focused on everything happening.
“It’s the whole recognition thing, totally fries the brain. They’re not all that much better off.”
“Leave them be. It’ll start to clear in a few. Will someone get the damn elevator already? That’s her food, and she’ll be really pissed if they take it back to the kitchen while she was all dazed and confused.”
She shook her head and looked away from the two men because if she didn’t, she would lose herself again. “Yes, food. I’m hungry.” She noticed that she had moved from in front of
the windows and instead was right there within touching distance of the two men that had struck her dumb. “I’m sorry, what are your names again?”
“Owen,” the blond told her.
“Nolan,” the other man said with a crooked grin.
“Food’s here,” Gareth called to her. “I’d come get it before they finish eating all the fries off your plate, and move on to something of more substance.”
“They touch my fries, and I will break their fingers,” she muttered without taking her eyes off Nolan. “Right, food. Sorry, but I need to eat. I—holy mother, you are both so good looking, I swear this is a dream. I’m sleeping, or dead, or maybe it’s from being so damn hungry, I just don’t know. I thought that these others were hot, but hell, you guys are even hotter. Wow.” She wanted to reach out and touch them to ensure that they were real, and she wasn’t dreaming. “I thought Tom was the best-looking man I ever met in my life, but he’s got nothing on you guys. At all. Holy crap on a cracker.” She covered her mouth when an unexpected laugh burst free at her wayward thoughts.
“Crap on a cracker?” Owen asked, hiding his smirk.
“I try not to curse around the kids, so I switch it up, well, unless you wake me up, or I’m really ticked off,” she explained, still snickering at the giant men in front of her, who she now thought must have been carved out of clay or something. But everyone around her looked puzzled as to why she as acting like a crazy impression of the Joker from Batman.
“Any idea what she’s going on about?” Nolan asked softly.
At his side, Owen shook his head with a bemused look. “Nope, not even the foggiest. But I think we can forgive her. She’s a little flustered, and a lot distracted right now. She really should eat something, too.”
“Right, yes, food. And I’m not confused.” She shook her head and got her mind back where it should be. “I was saying that you are all seriously hot. I thought that these guys were seriously hot, but they are nowhere near as hot as you two. Seriously, it’s ridiculous how cute you are. I bet your wives are thanking God every day for you.”
“We’re not married,” Nolan said with a grin. “Of course, neither are they, yet. Some of them are taken, though,” he added.
“If she’s not planning to eat the burger I’m calling dibs on it,” Dieter said. “I’m fucking starving.”
“You touch my burger, and I will not be good to you. I know lots of ways of killing without leaving a trace. I know you all likely do as well, but I would do it when you weren’t even looking. I’m patient.” She snorted at her own words. “And could totally do it.”
“They won’t touch your burger. They know better than that,” Owen said. He waved her over to where the tray of food was sitting waiting for her. “Go and eat. We need to get a few things straightened out before we go into lockdown for the night.”
“Okay.” She walked toward the table where her food was settled and looked back at Owen and Nolan. “Do you feel it as well? Please tell me that I’m not the only one who’s dumbstruck right now. Am I?” God, she hoped not.
“I’m a little more gobsmacked, I think,” Owen told her.
Nolan ran a hand through his hair. “Flabbergasted for me,” he said.
“Oh goodie, the thesaurus is out,” Gareth muttered. Then he snapped his fingers. “Hi there, gents. We need to get some of the gear out of the trucks if you feel the urge to maybe assist. Not a request either, move it.”
She watched the men move into action and turned back to the table instead of staring at them. She didn’t say another word and began to eat the food that she’d ordered, watching the men as they came in and out of the room carrying various bags and what looked suspiciously like weapons cases.
A large body blocked her view suddenly. Lifting her gaze, she met Gareth’s amused look. “You screw your face up any more than you are, and you’re not going to be able to eat. What has you all pensive?”
Hailey swallowed before she answered his question. “Just looking at the sheer number of weapons cases that you all have with you. Do you always come prepared for WWIII when you go to watch over someone?”
“Uh, not all of it is weaponry.”
Shaking his head, Gareth wandered across the room when one of the others called to him. Two more bags came into the room, the door finally being shut after all the in and out the men had done. The men all left her to eat as they moved about doing whatever it was they did. Bags went various places, logistics were discussed, and the room checked top to bottom as well as a few bits and pieces of hardware set out. The laptops she recognized, but the rest was a bit of a mystery.
“Are there enough beds in this suite for all of you? I would hate to think that some of you would be without a bed,” she asked finally, after finishing off every single bite of her meal. She had been starving. “I’m getting tired and would love a shower and bed but only if I know that you guys are all going to be okay, too.”
“We’re on rotations, so it won’t matter. Only half of us will be awake with you at any given time, while the other half sleep. Then when you are sleeping those that were awake will sleep, and the others will be on watch. We don’t expect a lot of trouble here at the hotel, but it’s best to be proactive. Plus, we’ll be digging into the mob more to figure out who we need to whack to get them off your back permanently,” Mikhail said.
Gareth let out a groan. “Mik, we’re not whacking anyone.”
“You promised me I could shoot someone this time.”
“No, I said that if it became necessary, I’d let you wing someone.”
Mikhail shook his head. “That was not what you said. Nolan, what did he say?”
“You told Mik he could whack someone this time out,” Nolan piped up. He grinned her way with a wink and hid a laugh behind his hand.
“I would never say that,” Gareth protested.
“I remember hearing you say it,” one of the others said. Leaning forward in her chair Hailey saw it was Dieter.
Gareth threw a hand out, pointing at Dieter before glaring at the man. “I did not ask you for your opinion.”
“I suppose that we shouldn’t also step up and admit to hearing you say that Mik could shoot someone this time out in the field,” Stefan said. A couple of the other guys standing near him were nodding.
Throwing his hands up in the air Gareth muttered something she didn’t understand but had the others all howling with laughter.
“I don’t think that’s physically possible to accomplish,” Dieter said in short bursts between his laughing. “But good luck with it!”
Finally, Gareth cleared his throat to break the mood. “We stuck your bags in the biggest bedroom, Hailey. It has the Jacuzzi tub, so I thought you might prefer it over the others.”
“You are truly a wonderful man. I will totally make use of that tub after the long shift I just finished.”
He pointed to one of the hallways. “It’s right at the end, through the double doors. There’s a panic button on the side table should you need it for any reason. I will warn you, it’s a little loud, so try not to set it off accidentally.”
“Right, don’t set off the alarm that will have twelve half naked men running into my room with weapons drawn.” Hailey grinned and then shrugged her shoulder. “Then again, that might be a thing to do, especially if you sleep naked.” Instead of looking at Gareth, though, she was looking at Owen. Her face was flushed. She felt the heat in her cheeks, but she maintained eye contact without looking away.
He peeked over the top of the computers again to grin at her. “Stark naked, actually. Never could sleep all that well in clothing. It’s been rather refreshing not having to worry about keeping something on since we got out of the military. Very liberating, as it were.”
She fanned herself and nodded. “Okay, on that note I’m going to bed. First, however, I’m taking an icy shower. Forget the Jacuzzi bath.” How could men affect her as much as these men were in the space of moments of meeting them? What in the ever-loving name
of Hades was going on right now?
“Give us a shout if you need your back scrubbed,” Owen called after her. “Or anything else.” When she gave him a last look, his flirty wink did funny things to her. Damn lethal man.
“Right, maybe tomorrow?” she asked with a smile. “The scrubbing and all that.”
“Whenever you want,” he assured her. “Better get a move on before we decide you’re waiting on us to take up that silent invitation you have written all over your face. Sleep well, doc. Give a holler if you need anything. We promise to come running.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Oh yes, there was a silent invitation because she wanted these men. God help her, but she wanted to jump into bed with them right now and to hell with everything else that was going on around them.
Chapter Four
3:30 AM
There was a vibrating sound. What was it? Hailey turned over in her bed and closed her eyes again. She had been having the most amazing dream ever that starred Owen and Nolan, so the buzzing sound was pissing her off. Hugging the pillow close to her body again she let out a breath and yawned once more.
“Sleep,” she whispered and drifted once more.
And there it was again.
Vibrating.
“What in the blazes is going on?” She started to reach blindly for the side table and found her phone. Without even looking at it she swiped her finger over the phone. “Dr. Davenport.” The display on the phone was an unknown number, so she assumed it was a hospital or doctor’s office calling at this time of night.
“Why aren’t you at home, Hailey? You should be home in your bed. I know you’re not on shift for the next few days, so where the fuck are you?”
A chill raced through her, and her breath hitched. She knew that voice, one she had prayed she would never hear again.
“None of your damn business.” She was wide awake now, sitting up with the sheet around her naked body. “I told you that I didn’t want you calling me again. It’s over. In fact, it never started, so lose my number, you idiot. There was one date. One!”
