Her Daddies’ Saving Grace

by Laylah Roberts

  “Stay still,” he commanded.

  She glared up at him.

  “I’m not putting you down until I know you’re all right. Actually, maybe we should take you to the hospital. You could have swallowed water. Sterling, get her a towel. Elias, start the truck. We’ll take her there now.”

  Now she started wriggling in earnest.

  “I said hold still, little girl. If you were mine, you’d already be in . . .” his voice trailed off, a look of horror filling his face.

  What? Was the idea of her being his so abhorrent to him?

  Wait. Little girl? Did that mean . . . no, of course it didn’t. He only said that because he probably saw her as young and immature.

  Someone cleared their throat, and she glanced over to see that Sterling was holding out a towel. She shied away from him before she could stop herself. Even though all he did was hold the towel and give her a small smile.

  Damn, he was pretty. Like movie star handsome.

  “Give it to me,” Brick snapped as he shuffled her weight around and grabbed the towel. He attempted to get the towel around her while holding her, which wasn’t exactly working.

  “Here, do you want me to . . .” Sterling attempted to help him, but a small panicky noise left her throat. Sterling stepped back with his hands up. “Maybe put Juliet down, and then she can do it herself.”

  “Juliet fell into the pool. She nearly drowned. We need to get her to the hospital.” He half got the towel around her and started striding towards the truck.

  No way. Not happening.

  She wriggled around in his arms, trying to get down.

  “Stay still,” he bossed.

  She growled up at him. He froze, his eyes widening.

  “Um, Brick. She doesn’t seem like her dunk in the pool has caused any issues. You sure she needs to go to the hospital?” Sterling asked.

  “She nearly drowned!” Brick roared.

  For goodness sake!

  She slapped the palm of her hand against his forehead. He stilled, then he turned that dark gaze onto her. His eyes were actually dark blue, but they looked black. Like the devil.

  “Did you just slap me?” he growled.

  There was a bark of laughter from Sterling who was standing beside them.

  “No, I’d say that she was trying to knock some sense into you.”

  She nodded. Sterling got her. Brick was just dense. He deserved that smack in the head and she wasn’t going to feel bad about it. Nuh-uh. Not even with him glaring at her like he’d like to smack something of hers.

  Something lower.

  Her ass tingled just thinking about it.

  “What’s going on?” Elias hurried towards them. “I got the truck ready. I thought we were taking her to the hospital.”

  She scowled over at him, and he came to a sudden stop. “Or not.”

  “We’re going,” Brick insisted.

  Smack!

  Um, okay. She didn’t actually mean to smack him in the head again. It just sort of happened.

  “Did she . . . did she just . . .” Elias stumbled over his words.

  “Try to smack some sense into him?” Sterling spoke through his laughter. “Yep, she sure did.”

  Elias burst into huge guffaws of laughter. “Holy shit. That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “Not funny,” Brick snapped. “Hospital. Now.”

  She held up her hand.

  “I swear, you smack me again and I’ll . . .” his voice drifted off.

  He’d what?

  She raised an eyebrow as he obviously attempted to come up with something to threaten her with.

  “Brick, she looks fine. Cold, but fine.”

  Brick’s gaze swung back to her as Elias said that. Sterling had disappeared somewhere.

  “She’s going to catch pneumonia and die.”

  She huffed out a breath. She was not. It was hot as hell out here. Although she was a bit cold with her clothing all pressed against her body. And he was in the same state. Hm, now if she could just get a good look . . .

  You’re an idiot, Juliet.

  Chill.

  “She won’t if you let her have a shower and get into warm clothes,” Elias said reasonably.

  “She nearly drowned. She needs the hospital.”

  “Why don’t we ask her?” Sterling said, coming back with her whiteboard and pen in hand. Her hand shook as she wrote on it, which made Brick growl. Well, she thought that was why. Hard to tell with him.

  He seemed to be awfully fond of growling. Especially at her.

  Didn’t drown. No hospital.

  “You fell into the water. I had to rescue you,” Brick said.

  I can swim.

  “Then why were you just lying there?” he snapped.

  She shrugged.

  Peaceful.

  Elias cleared his throat. “I’m going to go turn off the truck.”

  “And I’ll go get started on dinner. Juliet, you want to join us for dinner?” Sterling asked.

  Eat dinner with them? No, she didn’t want to do that. Right?

  “She’ll be coming for dinner,” Mr. Grumpy-Butt said.

  She was scowling up at him and didn’t notice that they were on their own until he started to set her down on her feet. Needing to get away from him, she stepped back too quickly, tripping over her own feet. She would have gone flying if he didn’t grab her, pressing her against his body.

  A gasp escaped her, and it wasn’t because they were both cold and wet. Nope. This was a reaction that sizzled deep inside her. She could feel his hard, muscular body. And she wanted to feel more. To strip him off and lick every inch . . .

  Whoa, girl.

  Brick stared down at her. There was something in his gaze. Something that looked like hunger. He licked his lips, his gaze caught on her lips.

  Was he going to kiss her? He was, wasn’t he? Her fingers tingled and her lips parted as she went up on tiptoes in preparation.

  All of a sudden, Brick stepped away from her. He took several steps back then ran his fingers through his hair.

  “Sorry for . . . for everything.” He turned away, took another few steps while she gaped at him.

  Then he turned back. Right, this was it. This was the part in the movie where the hero would run towards her, wrap his hands around her waist and spin her in the air before setting her gently down and kissing her.

  Except real life wasn’t a movie.

  And truthfully, she’d rather be pressed up against a wall, with his hand wrapped in her hair while he ravaged her mouth.

  Yeah, she kind of had a thing for the sort of romance books where the man was all possessive and dominant. Where he wanted the heroine so much that he was constantly bending her over pieces of furniture or ordering her to suck him off, or pulling her over his knee.

  Not that she was ever going to get that. Because she had less than ten people who she could stand touching her, let alone trust to do any of that with. And of those ten people, there was only one she was attracted to.

  And Xavier definitely wasn’t the push her against the wall and fuck her until she screamed kind of guy. He was more of a roses, champagne, and sex under the covers guy. Which there was nothing wrong with. That was absolutely what she wanted.

  Right?

  Stupid Juliet. Just because something sounds sexy in a book doesn’t mean it is in real life. She’d probably immediately freak out and then make a fool of herself.

  She could totally see that happening.

  “Get out of those wet clothes,” he ordered.

  Why don’t you make me?

  Sheesh. Where had all this sassiness come from? This wasn’t her. Well, she was a bit sassy in Little space. But not in the rest of her life. She was sweet and compliant, mostly. Unless she didn’t want to do something

  Hm. Okay, maybe she was more disobedient than she’d thought.

  “Have a shower. Or you’ll get ill.”

  She rolled her eyes at him, but he’d al
ready turned and started stomping away.

  To Brick’s surprise, she came to dinner. She stood shyly at the edge of the patio, watching them as they got dinner ready.

  Well, Sterling was at the grill, and Elias was putting out some condiments while he set out the plates and cutlery.

  Part of him had been hoping she wouldn’t turn up. Even though he’d been the one who’d basically demanded she come.

  There was something wrong with him. Really wrong with him. When he’d seen her floating on the bottom of the pool, he’d nearly had a heart attack. He’d felt sure she was drowning. And then when he’d picked her up, well . . .

  He hadn’t wanted to let her go.

  He hadn’t felt this attracted to someone since Linda. And Linda was the reason why he shouldn’t trust himself. Because it turned out he was a bad fucking judge of character when it came to the women he was interested in. His dick didn’t make good decisions.

  And doing anything with Juliet wouldn’t be a good decision.

  He could kiss his reputation goodbye if Reuben Jones decided to blackball him.

  So, no way was he going to go any further with this girl.

  But that didn’t mean that his dick wasn’t still interested in her. When she’d been pressed against him, he’d been so close to kissing her. To ravaging that small mouth, picking her back up, and carrying her inside to strip her of her clothes.

  But not because he was worried about her getting pneumonia.

  Nope, he’d wanted to strip her for entirely different reasons.

  Thank fuck he hadn’t.

  “Juliet, hi. Come on. Sit down,” Elias said with a wide smile. “Not that you need an invitation since this is your place.”

  He watched her move forward warily. He was surprised she’d come.

  “If you can swim, then why did you just float on the bottom?” he snapped.

  Elias and Juliet turned to look at him. Her eyes were surprised. While Elias glared at him.

  “Sorry about Brick, doll,” Elias said. “He does have some manners. He just forgets to use them.”

  Brick scowled at his friend. What the fuck was he going on about? Then he noticed that Juliet looked like she was contemplating leaving.

  “Sit down, Juliet,” he said gruffly. He pulled out a seat for her, then looked pointedly at Elias, who rolled his eyes.

  She moved slowly. Like a wounded animal who was worried that a gesture of kindness might turn into a trap. That made his heart ache. Who had hurt this woman? What he wouldn’t give to know.

  Easy, man.

  He pushed her in. “Don’t look so worried, Sterling’s cooking isn’t that bad.” He took a seat next to her.

  A plate filled with steak landed in the middle of the table. Her eyes widened as she took it in.

  “Don’t listen to him, I’m a fantastic cook.”

  “Finally!” Elias said, sitting across from Juliet at the round table. He reached out to grab a steak. Brick slapped his hand.

  “Hey!”

  “And you said that I don’t have any manners. Ladies first.” He picked up the plate and held it closer to Juliet. “Take one.”

  She shook her head. Then she picked up the whiteboard she’d carried over.

  No thanks.

  “You don’t like steak?” he asked with a frown.

  She shook her head.

  “More for me,” Elias said cheerfully as Brick set the plate down.

  “Elias,” Sterling said with a sigh. Then he turned to her. “Would you like me to make you something else? I have some chicken in the fridge. We should have asked you if you ate steak.”

  No problem. Bread and salad are fine.

  “It’s not fine,” Brick countered. “You need protein. You’re too pale. Sterling, get that chicken.”

  No!

  She slapped the table with a frown as Sterling got up. He raised his eyebrows.

  Please don’t. I’ll feel bad.

  Brick grumbled under his breath. Obviously, she was so pale because she didn’t eat enough meat. Salad and bread weren’t a proper meal.

  But he took note of Sterling’s warning look and backed down. After she put a ridiculously small amount of food on her plate, he added more.

  “If you’re not eating meat, then you need to eat twice as much of everything else.”

  That’s not a rule.

  “Is now.”

  Elias and Sterling started arguing over the game they’d watched earlier that afternoon, and Brick leaned in to speak quietly to Juliet as she moved her food around on her plate rather than eat it.

  “How’s your foot?”

  She gave him a thumbs-up. She hadn’t been limping on it earlier, so he guessed it was all right.

  “I want to check it after dinner.”

  She gave him an exasperated look, but he ignored her.

  “And your hand.”

  A long sigh came from her this time. His lips twitched, and he had to avert his face so she didn’t see. Wouldn’t be a good idea to let the brat know she amused him.

  After dinner, Elias and Sterling insisted on cleaning up. He turned his chair.

  “Foot.”

  She glared at him.

  “Please,” he managed to get out.

  She picked up the whiteboard. That wasn’t so hard, was it?

  Actually, he thought he might have pulled something. But then she raised her foot so he could look at it. He sucked in a breath as he realized she was walking around on bare feet. How had he missed that?

  Because you were too worried she was about to bolt.

  “Where are your shoes?” he snapped.

  She tried to draw her foot back but he held onto her ankle. “Could have gotten infected.”

  But the bandage looked like it had been recently changed and when he drew it off, her foot was looking good.

  “Looks fine. Hand.” He held out his hand for hers.

  She wasn’t wearing a bandage, but the burn on her hand looked much better. She made a funny sound and he suddenly realized that he was stroking her hand with his thumb.

  Holy. Fuck.

  Abruptly, he let her go and then stood. His chair went crashing back.

  “Everything okay?” Elias asked, rushing out.

  Brick strode towards the door to the pool house, needing to get away from her.

  “Yeah. Fine. Everything’s fine. I’ve just got some paperwork to do. Good night.”

  Like a coward, he fled.

  8

  Juliet was still smarting over his hasty retreat the next morning as she got ready for work.

  She sighed. She was being ridiculous. There had been several times yesterday when she’d picked up the phone to call Reuben and tell him that his bodyguards weren’t going to work out.

  But truth was, they weren’t the problem. She was. And it wasn’t fair for them to be out of a job because of her issues.

  Abandonment issues. Check.

  Nightmares. Check.

  Anxiety. Check.

  Panic attacks. Check.

  She was just a bundle of fun. Honestly, it was a wonder anyone wanted to be around her. Even Missy and Angelique. Not that they had much choice.

  Here were these gorgeous, normal men. In her house. Interrupting her routine. Messing with her mind. It was no wonder she was mixing up signals.

  Just because she was attracted to Brick didn’t mean he felt the same.

  Standing in front of the mirror, she took in her appearance. A long black skirt. Black, loose shirt. Her brown hair was tied back in a single braid. No make-up. Pale skin. Sharp cheekbones. Shoot, was she losing weight? Reuben would have a fit if he thought she wasn’t eating. Darn it.

  She’d worry about that later. She had to get to work. Urgh, she hated work. Pretty much everyone who came to the library was a local, which made it easier. But they weren’t all nice. And her boss was a total dick.

  However, if she didn’t have a job to go to, people who relied on her to turn up, she worried she�
�d never leave the house.

  So, she got up four days a week to go to her job, which she didn’t particularly like with a boss who sucked because that’s what people did. Well, most people. It was something that was normal. And it also made Reuben feel better knowing she was getting out of the house. She would do anything to make Reuben stress less.

  Including putting up with Darin the dick.

  Nobody liked her boss, and she knew he would love to get rid of her. But he was also scared shitless of her brother.

  Sometimes having a scarily powerful, autocratic, insanely overprotective brother came in handy.

  Other times, like when he sent three strange men to live with her, not so much.

  Picking up her phone, she texted Xavier.

  * * *

  Juliet: How r U doing?

  Xavier: Remembering why I don’t visit my parents that often. Soon as I got off the plane, they were trying 2 convince me 2 come work at NY-Pres.

  * * *

  Her stomach rolled in protest. He couldn’t do that. She’d be devastated if he left. She didn’t even want to think about it.

  * * *

  Xavier: Mother’s appointment this morning, hope 2 be home by Wed. U okay?

  Juliet: Yep. Hope everything goes ok.

  Xavier: Me too, Twink.

  Juliet: Miss U.

  Xavier: Miss U more.

  * * *

  More than he probably realized. She felt bad about not telling him the truth, but what was he going to do? He had enough going on without her problems.

  Walking into the kitchen, she grabbed an iced coffee from the fridge. Her whiteboard and a marker were sitting on the kitchen counter. She probably needed to carry those around.

  Or you could just talk to them. You know, be normal. That’s the new quest, right? To be normal.

  She drank the coffee slowly. She still felt half-dead.

  What she needed was some of her special chocolate. The stuff that had enough caffeine in it to really kickstart her brain. She hid it up high in case Reuben surprised her with a visit. He claimed too much caffeine was bad for her.

  Lies. All lies.