by Zoey Marcel
Malachi appeared caught off guard for a few seconds before he composed himself and glanced over at him. “That’s kind of you to say. You’ve been a pleasure since the day you came to live with me.”
Several seconds of silence ticked by.
He had to say the words and hope that Malachi didn’t know what he meant by them.
“I’ll always love you,” Sean confessed softly. “Nothing you do could ever change that.”
Not even the antigay rallies some of the church members organized that Malachi never disapproved of.
Something vulnerable passed through Malachi’s eyes briefly. He cast an almost curious look at Sean, studying him for a minute as if reading him.
“I love you, too.”
Sean almost closed his eyes to wallow in the echo of those beautiful words. That would have been too obvious, so he kept them open.
“Always?” he asked.
Malachi glanced at him again, eyes softer this time, warmer. His hushed pitch radiated with sincerity. “Always.”
They held eye contact for a fleeting moment before Malachi averted his gaze back down at breakfast.
“Food’s ready.”
“Smells good.”
Sean was afraid to hope that something special had passed between them. It was probably a load of wishful thinking. At any rate, it meant something to say those words aloud and have Malachi receive them without suspicion or judgment. Hearing the man say them back to him moved him more deeply than he could have imagined.
Chapter Six
To go for a run or not to go for a run?
The bed was warm and cozy, so nice and squishy. Who the hell wanted to jog in the cold morning air?
Danielle rolled over onto her side and nestled in.
Of course, it wasn’t exactly cold since it was late summer. The cool morning air might feel refreshing and make her sweat less from the exertion. Maybe she’d better.
She pushed the covers back and lay there on her side, facing the mirrored dresser across the room.
Then again, she’d gone two days without food and lost some weight. Not exercising for a day wouldn’t kill her.
Smiling, she nuzzled the pillow and pulled the covers up under her chin, like a squirrel in love with acorns.
Hadn’t she read somewhere that going too long without food caused the metabolism to slow down and the body to go into starvation mode and to start storing food as fat as a survival mechanism?
Crap.
She tossed the covers back and sat up in bed. Surely not. Supposed starvation mode after missing a couple of meals seemed like a first-rate exaggeration of ghastly proportions.
Her reflection showed what looked like wind-tossed model hair. How had that happened when sleeping on her hair? Padding across the room, she saw in the mirror that she looked rested and healthy and kind of attractive with her curves.
I look good. I’m sleeping in.
So what if she was a couple of pants sizes bigger than before? She still had it.
Glancing over her shoulder on her way back over to the bed made her frown.
Crap, I don’t still have it.
The sunlight revealed a flaw—okay, more than one—flaw that she hadn’t had back when she was a trim size three.
Now she looked voluptuous in her clothes, but a little too human without them.
She pulled her pajama shorts down and admired the curvaceous spillage out of her satin panties. Kind of sexy…unless she turned like this…
Bleh! That’s it. Time for a jog.
She was getting back into her skinny jeans one way or another. True, she pulled off both a size three and a ten pretty well, but this weight gain hadn’t happened in a natural, happy-woman-in-a-loving-relationship manner. This was all Cash’s doing. He’d deliberately tricked her into getting bigger, told her she would be sexier that way. When they’d run into problems later in their relationship, he’d admitted to her as they were breaking up that he’d only wanted her to gain weight so she would be too self-conscious about her body to leave him.
She’d show the bastard and lose the weight.
Gavin had loved her curves, but he liked thin women, too. The face and attitude in bed were more important to him than a woman’s body size. It had been refreshing…until she’d walked in on him right after he killed someone. She could overlook a lot in a man, but murder was an immediate deal breaker.
Danielle got dressed and brushed her teeth. Her bum looked colossal in those black yoga pants. She kind of liked that, though. Now why couldn’t she have the cute tightness of her smaller butt and the shapely mass of her larger ass, or the flat abs of her former body and the enormous breasts of this one? Was that really too much to ask?
She’d been lucky enough to be born blonde, but of course, her plain face couldn’t let her be a natural beauty queen. God forbid she had it all. It was a round face, too—the kind that looked better on a smaller woman because it got a bit too circular with weight gain.
Lovely.
Oh well.
Sometimes she wished she could see that asshole Cash again when she got back down to her former size and flaunt her svelte figure in front of him while walking between David and Brighton McAlister, arm in arm. That would show the jerk.
She tried not to think about Heath Brodie. She really liked him, but he was Malachi’s son. Hell, Heath was the one who had outed Heller Enos all those years ago. That was a hell of a thing to do to your best friend.
Maybe he’d changed.
Yeah right.
Even if he had, it was too late. He’d seen her messing around with Brighton in that alley over in Stone River. She doubted Heath would forgive her for that.
Forgive? What the fuck? There was nothing to forgive. She’d done nothing wrong. She wasn’t in a relationship with anybody. Hell, she wasn’t even planning on staying in McKenna Downs or anywhere in this state. She had a gangster twice removed after her ass.
Heath was the one who should be sorry, keeping his jackass identity from her. What was up with that?
Speak of the devil.
Danielle stepped out onto the porch and saw Heath standing there on the walkway in the front yard, like he’d been waiting for her or had decided against talking and been about to leave.
It was difficult to know how to react to seeing him again. Part of her shrank like a violet in remembrance of what he’d seen, and the other half motivated her to cross her arms in indignation and wait for his apology.
“Hi,” she said quietly.
“Hey.”
Neither one looked at each other for a long moment.
“What are you doing here?”
Lord, this was awkward.
He licked his teeth and shook his head. “Just waiting for an explanation.”
“What?”
“You let some guy eat you out. You could have just told me you weren’t interested instead of making up some shit story about how you had to flee the state and go into hiding from the Mob.”
Her jaw dropped. “You think I made that up?”
“You’re one of those free-loving women.” He looked away in disgust. “I get it.”
“Excuse me? I’m not a free-loving woman. I’ve only had four sex partners in my entire life.”
Why are you telling him this?
“Counting me?”
She grimaced. “We didn’t have sex.”
He scoffed and shook his head in disgust. “And how many men have you not had sex with?”
Now she was pissed. “That’s none of your damned business! We’re not even going out.”
“I gave you my phone number.”
“I told you I can’t stay here. My ex is after me.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me no or give me a fake number instead of making shit like that up?” Heath gestured with his hand, expression hard with exasperation. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“Me? What’s wrong with you? You let me go on and on in your truck about what an asshole M
alachi and his church were, and all this time you were his son—the bad one no less.”
“Hey, I’m the good one.” Heath pointed at himself, stepping forward.
The assertive position would have been an immense turn-on if she weren’t so put out with him at the moment.
“Why didn’t you tell me who you really were?”
“I didn’t lie to you. I gave you my real name.”
“You didn’t admit to being his son. Was it so I would sleep with you? You just used me.”
“You used me just like you did that preppy, spoiled-ass dick you let go down on you in that alley.”
“How dare you! Brighton is a friend.”
“Yeah, that looked like friendship. That’s real good, Danielle. Keep piling up those convincing lies. They’re doing you a hell of a lot of good.”
“Fuck you! Omission of the truth is just as bad. At least Brighton said he loved me and asked me out before getting intimate.”
“Do you believe everyone when they tell you they love you?”
“Of course not.”
“How do you know I wouldn’t have ever said that to you if you’d just given me a chance?”
The words made her heart trip with feeling.
Heath lowered his voice. “Guess we’ll never know now. I don’t like loose women, and you hate anyone religious.”
And the anger was back. She yelled after him as he walked away. “You can’t even exit without coming across as a self-righteous prick! I don’t hate religion, just assholes!”
He spun back around, glaring at her. “Well, lucky you, I’m leaving now! You can go sit on whatever man’s face you want. I’ll be over in my pious town of assholes that could never measure up to you love-spreading Western hippies over here!”
“Oh clever!”
“You liked that?”
“I loved it!”
“As much as his mouth on your pussy?”
“Not quite!”
He stormed off.
She whirled around and went back into the house. Well, that was one hell of a run.
* * * *
“Good morning.” Dominic Hartwell yawned as he moseyed over to the pot of freshly brewed coffee.
“Good morning.” Danielle sat at the dining room table, hoping her older brother wouldn’t notice her glum state.
“Did you go for a run?”
“Not yet.”
He poured himself some java. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
That never really worked with him.
“Not so. Tell me so I can help. That’s what I’m here for.”
She gave him a faint smile before relenting. “It’s not a big deal. I don’t even know why it bothers me. I had a fight with someone. It wasn’t even a fight really, more of an argument.”
She rolled her eyes as he came over to the table and then sat down with her.
“An argument I’m sure the whole town witnessed or at least has heard about by now.”
“Who were you arguing with?”
“Just some guy.”
Dominic inhaled the steam from his mug of coffee. “Want me to kick some ass for you?”
“You’re the best. That’s okay. He kind of had a point.” That brought her down, but pride came to the rescue. “But so did I. We were both kind of right, I guess. Mostly me.”
“Oh, of course,” he teased in agreement.
She smiled weakly.
“I’m sure you can make amends.”
If only.
Why did she care so much? She barely knew the jerk. He had his good points, but she didn’t know him as well as she’d like to. No chance of that now.
You screwed it up. No. Heath screwed it up.
Danielle tapped the table lightly with her forefinger. “You love me no matter what, right?”
Dominic gave her a funny look. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to know that you wouldn’t think less of me for doing something crazy. I haven’t done anything. Sometimes I just think about it.”
“Now you’ve got my interest. What is it?”
“Somebody kind of proposed to me recently.”
“It’s not the guy you said you had a fight with this morning, is it?”
“No. It’s not him.” A dull sadness moved through her. “I doubt I’ll ever see him again. I don’t really want to say who proposed to me just yet. I don’t even know if I’m going to accept.”
Dominic raised the mug to his lips. “Do you love him?”
Her heart swelled with emotion.
You mean them.
“Yeah, I do. Things are just complicated right now with Gavin after me. It wouldn’t be safe.”
“Don’t worry about that. I told you already the cops in Chicago brought Gavin’s men in for questioning.”
“Have they found Gavin yet?”
“Not yet, but they will.”
She sighed anxiously. “That makes me nervous. What if he’s on his way here?”
“He doesn’t even know where you live, Danielle. You’re safe here. They’ll find him, and if he does show up here by some fluke, we’ll get him.” He reached across the table and laid his hand over hers. “I’ll protect you. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
She flipped her hand over to give his a squeeze. “I know. You’re a good big brother. I just don’t want them to get hurt.”
A sly smile turned his lips upward. “By ‘them’ you mean the McAlisters?”
Guilt showed on her face, she could tell. “How did you know?”
“I think everybody in town knows it. Those three have loved you since I can’t remember. Probably almost as long as you’ve been sweet on them.” Dominic patted her hand and then moved his back to his cup. “You have my blessing. Any man can have you as long as he loves you and you him. That and the McAlisters live outside of McKenna Downs, so I’m fine with it.”
She winked at him. “Trying to get rid of me, huh?”
“Not at all. You know I love your company. I just don’t want you to be stuck here all your life. If you want to leave, you should be free to.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, I might have to if Gavin shows up. I don’t know if this marrying two men idea even makes sense. It’s crazy, right?”
“A little bit, but that’s love for you. Is Cole not in on their deal?”
Her heart stalled. “He still lives in London. I doubt he has any feelings left for me.”
“Left?”
Remorse crept in. “He cared for me once. I hurt him pretty bad. I didn’t mean to. If I had known what it would do to him, I never would have left. I doubt he feels anything for me anymore.”
“You never know.” Dominic took another drink of his coffee.
She tried to appear upbeat. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’ll have my hands full with two husbands if I decide to go along with their crazy proposal, and I’m sure Cole is happy and in love with some classy British lady.”
That stung. Pain welled up in her chest like the fleshy organ within had fallen into a hive of wasps.
“I just want you to be happy. If any of them, or anybody else, breaks your heart, just tell me, and I’ll kick their ass. I mean it.”
She smiled and picked up her coffee mug. “You are good at kicking ass. When are you gonna settle down?”
He shrugged. “When I get all my ducks lined in a row.”
“Are you gonna share a woman or hog one all to yourself?”
He cocked a lopsided grin and tilted the cup toward his lips. “We’ll see.”
“David and Brighton invited me over to their house for a visit this evening. I’ll be home for bed, though.”
“You’d better be.” Dominic narrowed his eyes on her in a fraudulent warning. “Your curfew is seven.”
She snickered. “Seven o’clock in the evening, huh? Even Dad didn’t suck as bad as you.”
“He was too lenient with you,” Dominic joked. “It’s up to me to correct his mistake
.”
“Oh, uh-huh.” She got up and put her plate in the sink. “I’m going for a run.”
“Not in that tank top you’re not,” he teased. “You get your potato sack on and don’t let any men see you.”
She gave him a light shove, smiling and shaking her head when he laughed.
“It’s funny how you think I’m kidding. Well, you’re in for a rude awakening.” He shook his head, seeming entertained, before sipping his brew again.
Danielle fiddled with the back of a chair. “You don’t think I’m a slut, do you?”
“Whose ass am I kicking?” He set his cup down.
She forced a small smile. “It’s not like that. I meant because I’m torn about marrying two men. They want to share me.”
“I figured. Why would I think you’re a slut?”
“Well, they’ll be taking turns sharing me on different nights…I think.”
She hadn’t really gotten into the logistics of it. Trying a threesome would be hot, but she doubted they wanted that. It was probably just a “your turn, now my turn” kind of thing.
Dominic looked at her seriously. “I don’t think you’re a slut, Danielle. Even if you were a hooker, you’d still be my sister.” He took another gulp before throwing a concerned glance at her. “Don’t become a prostitute, though. I’d be obligated to arrest you. That would just be awkward conversation at the family holidays.”
She grinned. “No worries there. Thanks for saying that…about your views of me not changing.”
“You bet. You’re a good woman. Don’t forget that.”
“Thanks.”
She really wanted to believe that, but there were things that had happened back in Chicago that her brother was unaware of. If he knew, his opinion of her would most likely change.
* * * *
Danielle loved the McAlisters’ house. The mansion was exquisite and luxurious. She’d always enjoyed visiting when she was a girl. She would pretend she had grown up here and had been waited on hand and foot.
Later as a teenager, she’d imagined being pampered by Alan McAlister’s three sons, making love to them.
It blew her mind that two of them could very well be her spouses in time…if she said yes.
