And he didn’t plan on sleeping alone in the king-size bed he’d built with his own hands longer than a few nights.
Looking into the rearview mirror, he caught Tira watching him with those clear blue eyes before she quickly shifted her gaze out the window again.
Leaving him to stare at her perfect profile.
She personified the word lovely to him with her soft features, rounded chin and cheeks, full lips and huge eyes. Golden blonde hair fell in waves past her shoulders. She’d gotten the unusual color from her father, who she’d never met. Su had never even told the guy she was pregnant.
No way would he ever let a woman run him away from his child.
If he was ever lucky enough to have one.
Which wasn’t looking too likely at the moment.
He caught back a sigh before it could escape. Didn’t want Duke and Tira to think—What? That he was tired?
Hell, he ached all over, he wanted to close his eyes and sleep so badly his body had already started to shut down and he had a hard-on.
He was screwed. Completely. Absolutely.
And he needed a few minutes to recharge.
He’d close his eyes, just until they got to the house.
And when they were all enclosed by the same four walls, nothing was going to stop him from showing her what she meant to him.
* * * * *
The drive to the ramshackle-looking house took only minutes, so Tira didn’t have much time to second-guess her decision. No, she had just enough time to work herself into a state of panic.
Which she absolutely hated. Hated the feeling that she couldn’t handle herself. Handle her life.
Taking several deep breaths as Duke pulled to a stop at the steps to the front door, she tried to get the panic under control.
Idiot. Get a grip.
Duke opened the car door, the squeak of the hinges tearing her thoughts back to the present and, when he stuck his hand back in to help her out, she didn’t hesitate to take it.
When she had her feet on the ground, she tried to release Duke, but he held on.
She looked up into his eyes and felt a little bit of the panic fade away.
His gaze narrowed on hers and his warm hand tightened the tiniest bit more. “Okay?”
She automatically nodded then realized she was. Just from his touch. Since her Gift had kicked in at eighteen, she hadn’t touched many people. Her mom, Cat, the occasional eteri she picked up in a bar for a night of mindless sex.
She dropped her gaze, not wanting Duke to read the regret in her eyes. She wasn’t ashamed of anything she’d done. She was an adult and she’d never had sex with anyone she didn’t genuinely like.
But she could admit, even if only to herself, that those other men had only been stand-ins for these two.
“I’m fine.”
His raised eyebrows let her know he didn’t believe her but when she shivered as a cold breeze swept by her, he put his keys in her hand and released her.
“Open the door for me. I have a feeling I’m going to have to carry Sleeping Ugly.”
Her gaze automatically flipped to see Nic asleep in the passenger seat.
Her lips curved at the exasperation in Duke’s voice. “He needs the rest,” she said as she headed for the door. “He should’ve stayed with Tam, at least for a few days.”
She opened the front door and turned to watch Duke lift Nic out of the car as easily as if he was lifting her.
Nic didn’t move as Duke transferred him from the car to the house and Tira hurried to shut the door and lock it then followed Duke through the house.
“Pull the covers back, Ti. This bastard weighs more than he admits.”
Her first impression as she caught sight of the bed was that he could fit an army in there.
Her second thought—she, Duke and Nic would fit just fine.
She tried really hard not to think about any other women he might have had in there.
Reaching for the deep blue satin quilt on top, she stripped it and the blue sheets beneath to the end of the bed then stepped aside for Duke to set Nic down. The blue sheets set off the brown highlights in Nic’s auburn hair and made his light skin seem even more pale.
After Duke removed Nic’s sneakers, she expected him to move away and let Nic sleep in his sweats and long-sleeved t-shirt. Instead, Duke stripped off Nic’s sweatpants.
She had a brief, heart-stopping glimpse of strong thighs and tight cotton boxers before Duke pulled the covers up. Without conscious thought, her feet took her to the edge of the bed as Duke stepped back.
She stared down at Nic’s pale face, sudden anger taking her by surprise.
She was angry that he’d forced her into this position. So close and yet not able to touch. Angry that she couldn’t say no to him. She sighed, long and loud, her frustration building with each second.
This was wrong. She shouldn’t be here. This was going to make everything worse. He—
“Tira.”
Duke’s quiet command jolted her out of her thoughts and she looked up to find him standing right next to her, concern in the depths of his dark gaze.
She wanted to throw herself at him, let him hold her against him and comfort her. Like he had early this morning.
They needed to talk about that. They needed to talk about a lot of things but she couldn’t read him. She’d never been able to figure out what his expression said about what he was thinking. She was usually pretty good at reading body language but Duke… He was an enigma.
As much as she loved him, sometimes she felt she really didn’t know him.
“Are you hungry, Tira? Do you want something to eat?”
Her eyes flashed wide. “You can cook?”
Well, shit. She wanted to take back the words the second they left her mouth. Damn, she needed a filter between her mouth and her brain. Duke probably thought that was a dig at him.
“No, wait, that didn’t come out right,” she hurried on before he could say anything. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply—”
“Hey. Ti.” Duke did the only thing guaranteed to shut her up. He touched her, just one finger against her lips. “Stop over-thinking everything. You’re gonna make yourself sick.” Then his lips actually curved in a slight smile. “And yes, I can cook. Nic and Kaine would starve if they had to fend for themselves. You look like you could use some food. You’ve lost weight.”
If anyone else had said that, she’d take it as a compliment. She’d never been model skinny. Her hips were too wide and her breasts too big for her to ever look good without a few pounds padding out the rest of her.
Duke sounded almost angry. As if he was worried about her.
“A few pounds.” She looked away from his intense stare, down at her hands that she didn’t know what to do with. “Mom’s been sick…and I just haven’t been hungry.”
“Well, no more of that. You need to eat. Come on.”
Grabbing her hand, he pulled her after him, out of the room and toward the tiny kitchen she’d seen when they’d walked in. And tried not to cry at the casual touch of his bare skin against hers.
It made her feel almost normal. Most people don’t realize how much they rely on the touch of another person. The brush of skin against skin.
She hadn’t realized until it’d been taken away from her.
When they reached the kitchen, he released her but put his hands on her shoulders and guided her into a chair. “Sit. An omelet okay or you want something else?”
What she wanted was his hands on her skin again. “An omelet’s fine, thank you.”
She barely got the words out around the lump in her throat and he had to be able to hear the tears in her voice. But he either didn’t or he ignored it and got down to business, cracking eggs, heating the pan, chopping ingredients.
They didn’t speak as he cooked. And the silence never got uncomfortable.
Which was amazing.
“He misses you.”
Duke’s voice carried l
oud and clear even though he was facing away from her at the stove. Her heart thumped at the sentiment.
But what was she supposed to say to that?
That she missed Nic too? With all her heart? That she missed Duke too? Would he even believe that?
How could he not after last night?
Damn it, she was sick of playing this game with him. Sick of tiptoeing around everything.
“I miss him. And I miss you, Duke.”
He froze, the spatula he was using to make the eggs poised in midair over the pan. But he didn’t turn.
“I miss what we could have had if I wasn’t what I am.”
“Shit, Tira, that’s not—”
“No, Duke. You started this. Now you get to listen.”
He fell silent, his hand tightening around the spatula’s wooden handle. When he didn’t say anything, she let him have it.
“I dream about the three of us, together. I imagine what it would be like if I were normal. If I could touch Nic without seeing his death, his funeral. If I could touch you without the guilt. If I could just let go of the fantasy that someday I could have the two men I want most in the world. I don’t want to settle for empty sex with men who don’t know me. Who can’t know me.”
The spatula handle broke in his hand, the wood making an audible crack as it splintered.
A small measure of satisfaction burned in her gut at his reaction, even though she didn’t want to be that kind of woman. The kind who tormented the men she couldn’t have or tried to make jealous the ones who didn’t want her.
But she had several years’ worth of gripes to get off her chest and Duke had pushed the right buttons.
“Tira—”
“No. Duke, just—just don’t.”
“Just don’t what?”
Nic’s gaze narrowed as Duke and Tira turned toward the sound of his voice.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Tira sounded both pissed off and upset as she jumped from her chair at the table. She headed straight for him then stopped just before she hit touching range. It was a now-unconscious habit of hers that made him want to punch a wall.
“Kind of hard to sleep with you two going at it out here.” He let his mouth curl in a slight smile to let her know he wasn’t pissed. “Besides, I’m not all that tired.”
Duke snorted. “Yeah, that’s why I had to carry you out of the car.”
Nic caught and held Duke’s gaze. “You’ve been carrying my ass a lot lately.”
Duke nodded, knowing what Nic didn’t add. “Then don’t let any more ceilings fall on you. Your mom’ll have my ass in a sling if anything happens to you.”
Nic was about to spout his normal smart-ass response about his time being up soon enough but slammed his mouth shut before he did. The reason he knew he had limited time was standing not three feet away, staring at him with beautiful blue eyes.
He wouldn’t do that to Tira, wouldn’t make her feel any worse than she already did. Hell, he wanted to make her feel good, not rotten.
So he said, “I’ll work on that,” knowing he didn’t mean a word of it. “Now tell me what you two are arguing about.”
He honestly didn’t know because he’d come in at the end where Duke had punished the spatula for something Nic was pretty sure it hadn’t done.
Tira shook her head. “We weren’t fighting. And you nee—”
“Bullshit. Neither of you can lie worth a damn. You know that, right?”
“You should be in bed.” Tira completely ignored him. “You look ready to pass out.”
“Well, I’m not.” His stomach rumbled as the scent of one of Duke’s excellent omelets drifted to his nose. “Actually, I’m hungry. You wouldn’t want me to starve, now, would you?”
He gave her one of his best pathetic looks, the one that always worked on his mom, and damn if her expression didn’t soften.
In his peripheral vision, he saw Duke roll his eyes. The guy never had understood the power of a well-executed pity play.
Turning, Tira waved at the table. “Sit down. Duke, why don’t you give him those eggs? I can make my own—”
“Why don’t you both sit and let me worry about the food.” Duke turned back to the stove to split the omelet he’d made onto two plates, which he then slid onto the table. “You both nee—”
“Stop it.” Tira’s voice cut through the air like a sharp blade. “Just…stop it. I’m not a child, Duke. I know what I need. I’m here to take care of you two idiots to make sure you don’t do anything stupid. But I’m not sure that’s even possible.”
Duke had turned away from the stove to watch her, his brows lifting further with each word.
Nic had to give it to her. Not many people had the balls to stand up to Duke. The guy looked like the kind of muscle hired to protect Mafia bosses. Dark, cold, ruthless. Duke used those looks to keep people at arm’s length.
Tira was the only one who’d never let him get away with it. She’d taken his attitude and thrown it back in his face.
Then again, Duke had only ever wanted her. Yeah, he’d slept with other women. But Duke could probably count that number on one hand. The guy just wasn’t the type to sleep around.
On the other hand, Nic had slept with anything that offered. Which made him a prick.
He’d excused his actions as those of a dying man. He figured since he didn’t have more than thirty years or so to live, and he’d never have the woman he loved, he’d be excused for being a jackass.
Until that ceiling had fallen on him.
And he’d realized that if he didn’t do something soon, he’d die a jackass and never have even one night with the woman he loved. Blessed Goddess, this had to work.
“I don’t think you’re a child.” Duke’s deep voice knocked Nic out of his thoughts. “But I cook better than you do. And I like it. And you need to eat. You look like a breeze would knock you over.”
Nic watched the heat shimmer between them like a mirage. But this was no illusion. Hell, he was getting a hard-on just watching them. Duke had to be sporting wood too, as he and Tira practically went nose to nose.
“Oh, please.” Tira rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re being ridiculous. I’m perfectly capable—”
“Actually, I’m being pretty damn reasonable but if you don’t sit down and eat, I’m gonna sit you in a chair and feed you like a child.”
Nic’s brows lifted even higher and he had to fight back a grin as Duke took one step closer to Tira. He towered over her but she didn’t back down. She never backed down from Duke and she gave as good as she got.
She refused to do that with Nic.
She loved the guy. Just as she loved him. Nic had never doubted her affection for either of them and he’d never been jealous. Because it was Duke.
Any other man he’d kill for trying to take her from them.
Duke had never seen how much she cared for him because her guilt and his clouded everything. Made him blind to what was right in front of him. Hell, Tira had given Duke her body, had let him love her and still he refused to see how much she loved him.
Tira’s eyes had narrowed down to slits and Nic didn’t think he could get any harder. If Duke bent her over his knee to spank her, Nic figured he’d come in his pants.
Her right hand lifted, index finger pointed at Duke’s chest. “If you honestly think you could even try that and get away with it, you’re more delusional than I thought.”
“And you are the most stubborn fricking woman I have ever met.” Duke’s voice rose to a level Nic had never heard him take with another woman. “Vaffanculo, Tira. I’m trying to take care of you, not fight with you.”
“And like I said, I’m not a child. I don’t need you t—”
“Fuck that.” Duke’s raised voice shocked the hell out of Nic. “You do need me, but only to fuck, right? But you know what? You’re right about one thing. You’re not a child. We proved that this morning, didn’t we?”
Tira’s startled gaze
tripped from Duke to Nic, her mouth opening and closing. She looked like she’d been slapped, a red flush consuming her cheeks, before she let her gaze fall, as if she were guilty.
Damn, he hadn’t thought Duke would take that tactic with her.
“Don’t,” she said, that one word sounding strangled. “Don’t you dare do this now.”
Nic pushed away from the counter and stood, ignoring the twinge in his side. “That’s it, scassacazzo. Knock it off. Now.”
Duke ignored him completely, his gaze glued to Tira’s. “Poor Tira. How awful she can’t have the man she loves. Too bad she has to settle for the asshole she can touch.”
Tira’s face went sheet-white and she actually swayed on her feet.
Fury raced through Nic’s body like adrenaline and he felt his wolf snarl inside his chest. It wanted to rip into Duke’s sneering face, tear him limb from limb and destroy him for daring to hurt Tira like that.
Gods damn him, the bastard didn’t know when to stop. Nic strode around the counter and pushed Duke away from Tira.
“That’s enough. What the fuck, Duke?”
Duke didn’t take his eyes off Tira. “Yeah, that’s what we did this morning. Right, babe? We fucked. So, as a stand-in, how’d I do?”
Nic’s fist connected with Duke’s chin the second after the words left his mouth. Duke’s head snapped back, the sound of the impact like a lightning crack in the silence.
But it was Nic who groaned in pain as his bruised ribs protested the movement.
Tira turned to him with tears in her eyes, her gaze dipping to the hand pressed against his side. She took a deep breath then shook her head as her shoulders straightened. “You shouldn’t be upright. Go back to bed. I’ll bring breakfast in to you.”
She turned to Duke, her eyes tracing the blood trickling from his cut lip before meeting Duke’s gaze. She didn’t say anything right away.
Nic thought Duke might actually be holding his breath, waiting for her to speak.
“You,” she stuck one slim finger at Duke’s chest, “are an ass if you think you’ve ever been a stand-in for anyone. Why don’t you go for a run? Maybe when you get back, you’ll be more sociable.”
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