by Lori King
“Yes, he’s actually my ex-fiancé,” she mumbled against his throat. He smelled so good, and she loved the protected feeling of sitting in his lap. His huge arms were wrapped around her, holding her tightly.
“Ex-fiancé? Does he know he’s your ex?” Noah asked.
“Yes, he figured it out when I left and didn’t come back, but he hasn’t accepted it. He’s been following me since I left.” She looked up to gauge their reactions. They all looked so damn concerned. Why would they care? She just couldn’t understand why it would matter to them. “If he is here, I have to leave as soon as possible. I’m sorry. I’ll take a bus somewhere or find a ride.”
“You think we’re going to just sit back and let you hitchhike your way out of here when someone is chasing after you? Woman, are you insane?” Tyce bellowed, and she shrank back, slipping off of Xavier’s lap onto the couch beside him.
“I, umm…” Her whispered voice wobbled, and Tyce’s angry scowl changed quickly to a guilty grimace. He dropped to his knees in front of her and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, I’m not trying to scare you, love, but you are frustrating the hell out of me. We want you, Sidney. We want to keep you here and take care of you. We want to love you and protect you, but you have to trust us.” Tyce clenched his teeth, and his fingers pressed firmly into her shoulders, holding her in place.
“Why?” She was stunned.
“Why do you think you are so unlovable? What did he do to you?” Noah asked her. She looked over at him, calmly studying the sympathy in his eyes.
“I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it yet. I’m sorry.” She looked down at her fingers twisting in her lap. Her vision blurred with unshed tears.
Xavier sighed heavily next to her and reached out to take her hands, stopping her nervous fidgeting. “Sidney, look at me, honey.”
She lifted her head, expecting to see every manner of judgment in his eyes, but instead she saw reassurance and a flicker of something else.
“Okay, but we want you stay here for now. If this Wicks guy really is here and pissed off, then you are safer with us. You can have my bed, and I’ll take the couch for now. We’ll work out a schedule so that you are never alone. Maybe he will get the hint and give up,” Xavier said.
She sat gaping at him for several seconds. He still wanted her to stay here? With all three of them. In their home. In his bed. They wanted to help her and protect her. This was all just too much to take in. She had never had a man do so much to care for her while asking for nothing in return. She caught her breath. What if this was all a ploy to get her into bed? Why would they do something for nothing?
“I’m not sleeping with you,” she said firmly and then jumped when Xavier growled.
“I said you could have my bed, not my cock. Don’t get me wrong, I want you, but you will have to ask for it. I don’t force women, Sidney, so get that scared look off of your face. No one in this house expects sex in exchange for protection. If you truly believe that, then you don’t know us at all.” Anger glazed his blue eyes, and his jaw clenched tightly.
“I’m sorry, but that’s the point, isn’t it? I don’t know you, any of you. And you don’t know me. I could be a whore or a murderer, and you are letting me into your home. You could be a rapist or a bank robber, and you want me to trust you to protect me against someone that I know will kill me.” She was gasping for air now, and she couldn’t stop the trembling once it started. The shock on their faces said it all, and she swallowed a lump of regret at letting her fears slip.
“What makes you think he will kill you?” Noah’s eyebrow twitched and his lips formed a straight line of fury. “He has tried before,” she mumbled, looking away. Tears ran freely down her cheeks again, but when strong arms tried to hold her, she jerked away. “I’m sorry, please stop. I’m fine. I’m stronger than I look right now, believe me.”
“We’ve never doubted that for a second, love,” Tyce said. “You were strong enough to get yourself out of a bad situation. Now follow your instincts and trust us to take care of you.”
After several anxiously silent minutes, she took a deep breath and met each man’s eyes before speaking. “I will agree but only on a couple of conditions. One, you stop asking me to tell you more. I can’t talk about it yet. When I feel like I can, I will, but not until then. Two, no funny business. I’m not sleeping with any of you. I’m not a whore.”
“We know you’re not a whore, Sidney, but we can’t promise not to be attracted to you. We want you, and you want us, but no one will force you. I will only make a promise not to take what you won’t give willingly,” Xavier said in an icy-cold voice that made her shiver. Both Tyce and Noah wore angry expressions but nodded in agreement to her request.
“Agreed, but believe me, I won’t be giving anything. And three, if I need to leave, you let me go. I need to be able to make my own choices, and I couldn’t live with myself if my staying here caused one of you guys to get hurt.”
She waited nervously as they exchanged looks. They were silently communicating. She could tell they weren’t happy with that last condition and probably had no intention of letting her leave without argument any time soon.
Finally, Tyce and Noah both nodded silently.
“Fine, but you have to trust us and listen if we tell you to do something. We are all highly trained Marines, and we can handle ourselves, so don’t think that the latter will ever happen. It’s more likely that if that asshole shows his face, our fists will be the last thing he sees before St. Peter,” Xavier said quietly. She shivered at the intensity of his voice. He clearly meant what he said and would follow through with his threat. That meant that if she did something wrong, he could just as easily hurt her. She would have to be extra careful where he was concerned and not anger him.
“Come on, love, let’s get you some clean clothes and a bath. You look like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders right now, and you need a chance to relax.” Tyce took her hand and pulled her off of the couch.
He led her down a long hallway and into a large bedroom that was very masculine. A bed that was larger than an average king size dominated the center of the room, and an equally large chest of drawers set against one wall. The end tables matched the other furniture, and it was all made out of the same dark wood that the Triple Shot bar was made of. A crimson bedspread covered the mattress, and she wondered if she would need a lift to get up onto it. It was beautiful, and it reeked of Xavier’s strong personality.
The spicy scent of Xavier filled this room, and she breathed it in deeply, trying to embed it into her brain. For some reason it caused all of her muscles to relax, and she suddenly felt very tired. Feeling hands on her shoulders, she glanced back to see Xavier’s blue eyes lit with arousal as he watched her look around his bedroom. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears, and she could feel the moisture building between her legs. He smiled slowly, and she knew that somehow he felt it, too. He felt her desire as keenly as she did, and she could see it reflected in his sinful smile.
Choking slightly, she gasped for a breath and quickly moved further into the room and away from his overwhelming presence, inadvertently putting herself in Tyce’s path as he turned on his heel to direct her to where the bathroom was. She stumbled as she ran into his muscular chest, and he reflexively grabbed her elbows to steady her, pulling her hard against his front.
“Oh! I’m sorry, Tyce. I should have been watching where I was going. Are you okay?” She jumped backward, fumbling for balance and hanging her head guiltily and flinching away from the expected blow.
“I’m fine, but I’m not the one that just about fell on my ass. Though maybe I should have let you fall, then I could have kissed your bruises to make you feel better.” She was surprised to find that he was laughing at her, and his charm had her smiling back. How long had it been since a man laughed with her over her clumsiness instead of yelling at her?
“Please, stop it. You agreed. No funny busine
ss,” she said as she pulled away from him and stepped out from between the two brothers. Standing so close to both of them was like a powerful drug, and her body was tingling everywhere with awareness.
“Nope. I agreed not to force you into anything you didn’t want. You can’t expect me to ignore a beautiful woman or a perfect opportunity to touch her.” His wicked grin had her shaking her head and moving further into the room to put even more space between them. Noah had pushed his way into the room to stand shoulder to shoulder with Xavier, who crossed his arms while they watched her fidget.
“I’m not beautiful,” she huffed in frustration, and Tyce laughed. Xavier’s eyebrow arched mockingly, and Noah smirked, shaking his head at her.
“Did Wicks tell you that?” Noah asked.
“I’m not blind. I’ve looked in the mirror. No more questions. If you guys can’t keep the agreement, then please just let me leave.” She held her breath, willing them to just let her go. She wasn’t sure she could handle them like this twenty-four-seven.
“No way. You aren’t backing out, baby. Now, there are towels on the shelf in the bathroom, and my robe is hanging on the back of the door. You are going in there to take a bath right now, before I strip you down and bathe you myself.” Xavier’s quiet demand sent another rush of heat through her body. The image of his large, rough hands running over her wet body drowned out any argument she could have made. She dropped her eyes when he continued to hold her gaze steadily, and Tyce chuckled again.
“Perfect. Love, you are more perfect than you can imagine. Come on, Noah, we better go see if we can scrounge up some clothes for her to wear when she gets done.” Tyce and Noah left the room, and still she stood there with her eyes on the floor and her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides.
After a long pause of silence between them, Xavier sighed. “I’m not angry at you, Sidney.”
She lifted her eyes but quickly diverted them again at the frustration on his face. “Okay.”
“Baby, I just don’t want you to rush out of here and run away again. You can’t keep running forever. I want to protect you, and to do that I need you here, with me.”
She looked up into his blue eyes again, and tears filled her vision. “Okay.” When he didn’t say anything else, she moved slowly to the bathroom, while he continued to stand still watching her.
She wasn’t sure if he was waiting to pounce on her, or if he would just let her go, but she sighed with relief when she closed the door behind her and flipped the lock. Her wobbly knees buckled, and she slid to the floor where she sat shakily trying to catch her breath.
Between her physical attraction to the Dawson brothers and her fear of men, she wasn’t sure how long she could remain in their home. Ignoring the throb between her legs and the urge to run, she filled the tub and stripped her clothes off. She desperately needed a bath, and the large free-standing tub was too inviting to resist.
A little while later she jumped when someone knocked on the bathroom door.
“Sidney? Honey, I laid some clothes on the bed for you, and Tyce is making some breakfast. When you’re finished come on out and eat with us before you crash again. It will help you sleep to have a full stomach,” Noah called out to her.
“Okay, thanks, Noah,” she responded automatically. She really just wanted to go to sleep. Her adrenaline was completely gone, and her emotional breakdown had left her wrung out. She needed to rest, and at least for now, she felt safe here.
Forcing herself to climb from the now-lukewarm tub, she hurried to dry off before slipping on the black fleece robe that hung on the back of the bathroom door. Being Xavier’s, it was enormous on her, swallowing her up in its sensual embrace. Shivering as the soft fabric rasped across her skin, the eroticism of the sensation made her smile to herself. She wondered if Xavier’s touch would be as soft against her nipples, or if it would be rough and demanding like his kisses. When he and Tyce had held her before, every touch was like fire and swamped her with need. She wondered if he knew how to be gentle and tender?
If he didn’t, then Noah certainly did. Noah was such a gentleman and reminded her of a fairytale knight in shining armor coming to the rescue of a pretty, fair maiden. She giggled at the imagery. If Noah was the brave knight, then Tyce was the cocky prince, and Xavier more like the demanding king. Shaking her head at her own silly thoughts, she tentatively opened the door and stepped from the steamy bathroom.
Lying on the bed was a T-shirt and a pair of drawstring sweat pants. She really didn’t want to put dirty clothes back on, so she reached for the borrowed outfit. She pulled the T-shirt on and grimaced a little at her hard nipples poking through the thin material. There was no way to hide that reaction when she didn’t have a clean bra to wear. The T-shirt hit her at midthigh.
“Just add a belt for a chic evening-wear look,” she muttered to herself. The sweatpants were too big on her no matter how much she tightened or rolled them, so she finally gave up on them and folded them back up. Glancing at herself in the mirror over the dresser, she squared her shoulders and decided that there was less skin showing in just the T-shirt than there was when she wore her work uniform. She neatly piled her dirty clothes at the foot of the bed to worry about later, and she headed toward the kitchen. The smell of bacon made her mouth water, and she could hear the masculine voices talking in the kitchen. All three men looked up when she stepped into view. Her discomfort grew as they stared at her, and she shifted in place for a moment trying to think up something witty to say.
“Damn. You look good in that shirt, honey,” Noah said, his voice huskier than normal.
“It’s never looked that good on me, that’s for sure,” Tyce responded, and Sidney blushed.
“Thanks. Here, the pants are just way too big, so I will have to run to a store later to get something that fits.” She laid the pants on the breakfast bar and took a seat on the stool closest to her, crossing her legs to ease the ache in her pussy that their words had caused. “The food smells delicious. I didn’t realize I was so hungry until I smelled it.”
Noah and Tyce both returned her smile and went back to what they were doing, but Xavier just stood there frozen and staring at her. She paused awkwardly, and when he still didn’t respond, she started to fidget. He looked at her like he could see straight through the shirt that barely covered her. Her blood heated thinking about how little stood between her skin and his eyes. Oddly she felt the urge to jump up and walk directly into his arms, just to feel him hold her. She remained where she was, but she dropped her gaze away from him.
“Juice or milk?” she heard him mutter, and she jerked her head up, startled.
“What?” She felt stupid, but she wasn’t sure she heard him correctly. After all he hadn’t even acknowledged her presence in the room other than to stare at her.
“Do you want juice or milk to drink? I’d offer coffee, but you need to get some sleep today, and the caffeine won’t help that,” he said as he turned to the fridge and pulled both options out.
“Oh. Juice, please. Thank you. Can I help with something? You guys didn’t have to cook a big breakfast. I would have been happy with toast,” she said as she watched them move effortlessly around the kitchen. They interacted with the flawless familiarity of close family, and it was clear that they had a rhythm of their own around each other.
“Toast? Nah, toast is a side dish. We need something more than that to eat, and so do you. Why don’t you grab some plates from the cabinet next to you, please? And there is silverware in the drawer below.” Tyce grinned at her, and she smiled back.
She moved to retrieve the requested dishes and began placing them at each barstool. As she did she looked around their home. The living room and kitchen were open to each other with just the breakfast bar as a divider. The living room was comfortable, with the sofa and three matching overstuffed recliners that faced a large flat screen T.V. Under the T.V. was a cabinet that held a plethora of equipment. She was familiar with a few of the electronics, but o
thers seemed to be game systems.
There was a space to the side of the kitchen that was probably intended to be a dining space, but it was currently occupied by a massive desk with a laptop. Various piles of paperwork and receipts covered every inch of open desktop, and a pair of filing boxes sat on the floor next to it. The whole messy scene made her giggle.
“What?” Noah said as they all turned to see what caused her laughter.
“Nothing, I was just admiring your office space. Not particularly organized guys, are you?” she teased.
“We all hate doing paperwork and keeping the books for the bar. Xavier lost at Rock Paper Scissors, so he is stuck with that task for now,” Tyce explained.
“That’s actually the result of a long night of organizing that I had a few days ago,” Xavier said, and his face broke out in a wide smile when he met her eyes.
“That’s the result? Good grief!” She laughed even harder. “How do you guys ever pay your bills or balance your checkbook?”
“We use a computer accounting program that alerts us when bills are due, and usually pay them online so that we don’t have to search for the checkbook,” Xavier explained.
“At tax time it is a complete nightmare!” Noah said as he brought a platter of pancakes and bacon over to the bar. “Come on, let’s eat.”
They all took their seats with Sidney in between Noah and Tyce. The breakfast bar was good sized, but with the three large males the space seemed to shrink. She ate slowly, savoring the hand-prepared meal after weeks of granola bars and peanut-butter sandwiches. The men bantered and talked about the bar. They kept her in the conversation, stopping to explain inside jokes and ask her questions.
“You know, I actually worked as an accountant in South Carolina, before I left,” Sidney said during a lull in conversation, and when all three men looked at her in surprise, she felt uncomfortable. “I was just thinking that I could maybe help with the books until I leave Apache Crossing. A kind of trade for letting me stay here?” She looked at all three of them anxiously, and finally Xavier spoke.
