by Amy Olle
A soft groan escaped her and she bit her lip. “You are so sexy when you talk like that.”
How could it be that he was laughing? Their situation was growing more serious by the minute, and he had no idea how or even if he could keep her safe and unharmed.
Until this moment, the threat had been an indistinct, if undeniably dangerous foe. Now he knew what hunted Prue. What remained to be known was how far Aron King was willing to go to silence her.
The Fear crouched in the shadows, ready to pounce. Since he’d left Blackstone four years ago, he hadn’t been able to control it, and operated under no illusions he’d be able to do so now. When it struck, he’d be on his ass in a flash and useless to help her.
Rather than sit around and wait for something bad to happen, he needed to be proactive. He needed a plan. He needed information.
He needed backup.
“I’ve got to go out for a bit,” he said.
Fear flashed in her blue eyes. “Okay,” she said warily.
“You, uh, want to come with me?”
Surprise flitted across her face. “Where are you going?”
“To my brother’s place.”
Her eyebrows raised slightly. “Is he going to help us?”
“They, and I hope so.” He gritted his teeth. “Luke is in law enforcement, and I have some legal questions for Shea.”
“Luke and Shea?” She tried out their names. “Shea is a lawyer?”
“Last I knew.”
“What are your other brothers’ names?”
Dread gnawed at him. He didn’t share personal details about his life with others. Ever.
Until now, apparently.
Inevitability settled on his shoulders. “Jack and Noah.”
“Noah. How could I forget him?” A teasing smile played on her heart-shaped mouth.
While she slipped into her bedroom to change, he tried to shake off his unease. What would it hurt to talk to them? It didn’t mean he’d become attached to them, or them to him.
If there was a chance his brothers might be able to help him keep Prue safe, then it was worth the risk.
Chapter Nineteen
As Leo steered the SUV along a winding coastal road, Prue relished the dramatic views of the lake and the quaint charms of the small island. The road became rural and the path more twisty before they turned up a long driveway and arrived at the doorstep of a massive, majestic estate. The home, obviously built in a different era, sat proudly atop the terrain, its soft yellow stone façade aglow in the dying light of the day.
At the base of the sweeping front porch, she bent her head back and gazed up at the grand house. A pang of insecurity struck her. Having been in the lake two, often three times a day, she hadn’t shampooed her hair, so she’d pulled the dark mass over one shoulder and wove it into a braid that didn’t fully contain the flyaway strands. Then she’d thrown a navy T-shirt dress on over her swimsuit and yanked a baseball hat onto her head before stepping into her flip-flops and rushing out the door with Leo.
Nervously, she licked her sun-dried lips and ascended the stone steps behind him. When she considered his gray T-shirt and low-slung blue jeans with a worn patch on one knee, her anxiety eased a little.
Until they entered the breathtaking foyer. Black-and-white marble flooring gleamed in the soft light, and regal twin staircases soared skyward. A beautiful man sitting on one of the steps pushed to his feet.
His bright green eyes glinted when he approached them. “You must be Prue.” His voice was low and a cockeyed smile lifted one side of his perfect, puffy mouth. “I’m Luke.”
Leo bared his teeth. “Easy,” he warned.
Luke’s eyes danced. “They’re waiting for us in the library.”
Luke led them beneath the staircases and down a wide hallway, stopping before a set of ornately carved pocket doors. Sliding open one door, he stepped into the room and she caught a glimpse of three other men before Leo’s broad shoulders blocked her view. Inside the door, he turned to her.
His green-gold eyes glittered with a light she’d never seen in them. “I’m going to talk with them alone for a minute.”
“Oh okay.” She swallowed hard.
He hesitated. “You all right?”
She felt sick, like the time her mom had found her journal and read it.
Not a typical teenager, Prue’s journal didn’t resemble a typical teenage girl’s diary either. Rather than being filled with the identities of her secret crushes, or laments about the mean girls at school, Prue’s journal had brimmed with scientific theories she’d researched at the library, inquiries of studies she’d wanted to pursue, and renderings of inventions she wished to one day, possibly, create.
She’d also loved to scribble her musings about the universe, the meaning and purpose of life, and what the concept of God, if such a thing existed, might look like.
That, of course, was the part her mom had zeroed in on. To her parents, Prue’s words were a direct challenge to the teaching of their church and their faith. What’s more, she’d disobeyed them. Again. Her dad had first flown into a rage before icing her out with deliberate cruelty while her mom had locked herself away in her bedroom for days, crying and praying for their wayward daughter.
To Prue, life was a wonder, and it’d filled her with joy to ponder its complexities and explore its mysteries. That journal had contained all her hopes and dreams for a future filled with science and truth-seeking. And her parents’ reaction to it had made her feel ashamed. Ashamed of what she’d done to them, the family, and the church.
Ashamed of who she was.
Emotion clogged her throat, so she nodded.
Reaching into the hallway, Leo brushed her cheek with the tips of his fingers and she turned her head to soak up more of his touch. A slow, reassuring smile pulled at his lips, and then he slid the door closed.
Alone in the hallway of a stranger’s home, Prue waited.
Minutes ticked by and she paced the hall, peeking into nearby rooms and studying a painting hanging on the wall.
Still the men remained in conference.
She was sitting on the floor, her knees drawn to her chest, when the figure of a woman appeared in the foyer.
“Prue?” The woman started toward her.
Prue climbed to her feet and tugged on the hem of her dress.
“They left you in the hallway?” Despite her expression of disgust, the woman had a rather pretty face. Her auburn hair and deep blue eyes shone, and when she smiled, Prue relaxed for the first time since she’d entered the house.
“I’m Mina,” she said. “Come, meet the others while you wait.”
They returned to the grand foyer but then split off into another huge room with an oversized dining table. Passing by it, they pushed through a swinging door and entered a massive gourmet kitchen. Bright sunlight streamed in through large windows, washing the white cupboards and marbled gray-and-white countertops in radiant warmth.
Two women at the kitchen table, fat textbooks open in front of them, looked up when they appeared. Mina claimed a spot in front of the third textbook as she introduced Prue to Emily and Haven.
With all their attention focused on her, Prue’s insecurities came rushing back. For a hundred different reasons, but mainly that she preferred schoolwork to friendships and her parents viewed socializing as the devil’s doorway to temptation and moral corruption, she’d never had a lot of practice making friends. Or acquaintances. Or even small talk.
Luckily, she didn’t have to.
“Did you guys figure out the answer to number eight yet?” Mina asked.
The two women’s gazes dropped to their notebooks and they grumbled.
Haven tossed her pencil onto the table. “This sucks. Whose bright idea was it to go back to college anyway?”
“Yours,” Mina and Emily said together.
“I was right to drop out the first time.”
Prue sidled closer to peek at the content of their textbooks.
Mina’s frown deepened. “No way. It’s so easy for him, and I never understand it when he tries to explain it to me.”
“What do you expect?” Haven crunched on a pretzel. “He’s a teacher.”
While Prue stretched to read the problem numbered eight, Mina smiled.
“Honestly, it isn’t him,” she said. “He’s patient and sweet and tries so hard to help me understand. But it only frustrates me more that he has to work so hard at it, and I either end up snapping at him or crying. It’s humiliating.” She snapped a pretzel stick between her teeth. “We’re not asking him for help.”
With a collective sigh, all three women frowned down at their textbooks.
“Actually,” Prue said, pointing at Haven’s textbook, “there’s an easier way to solve that problem than they’re showing.”
She scribbled the shortcut calculation in the margin of Haven’s notebook, and moments later three “ahas” were said in unison.
The kitchen door swung open and Luke, Noah, and a third man Prue didn’t know filed into the room ahead of Leo.
The unknown man had the same striking features as the others, but instead of their dark hair, his was a warm silvery gray. Cut short, it stood in sexy disarray around his head and somehow enhanced the striking handsomeness of his face. Or maybe it was his tall, lean physique, or the smattering of tattoos on his arms, one of which circled a hard bicep, the other running along his forearm.
Leo went immediately to Prue’s side. Around his shoulders hung the black straps of a gun holster, and two guns nestled under his arms, against his rib cage.
He peered down into her face and when she smiled up at him, he relaxed. “You’ve met my sisters, then?”
Before Prue could answer, Noah interjected, “See, that right there.” He leaned his narrow hips against the kitchen island and crossed his ankles. “That’s why you’re their favorite.”
“That’s not why he’s our favorite,” Mina said.
“You’re not supposed to admit you have a favorite.” The gray-haired man had a distinct accent, like Noah, and a deep, gravelly voice that thrilled the part of her recently awakened to the allure of the male species.
Mina shrugged. “Of course we admit it.”
“The old man is Shea,” Leo said near her ear.
“I thought I was your favorite,” Luke complained. “I’m everyone’s favorite. Why does he get to be?”
“He brought us Prue.” Haven smiled at her. “And she knows math.”
“W-we’re keeping her.” Emily pushed a lock of her bright hair behind one ear and her warm brown eyes landed on Prue. “At least until the semester is over.”
Then Emily stretched, as if to work a kink out of her back, and her enormous pregnant belly wedged against the table. The action drew Luke to her. Sliding a hand over her stomach, he bent and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
Beside her, Prue felt Leo stiffen and she turned in time to see the pained emotion that twisted his features before he dropped his head to stare down at the floorboards.
Her smile fell and she glanced back at Emily and Luke. Glimpsing no sign of unhappiness or worry in them, she frowned. Didn’t Leo like his brother’s wife? Did he like her too much, his negative reaction the evidence of his jealousy?
Her stomach knotted as Haven pushed to her feet and moved to stand next to Leo.
Reaching up, she rumpled his hair. “You need a haircut.”
His slow smile didn’t banish the dark pain in his eyes. Seeing it, anguish seared Prue’s heart.
Just then, the back door opened and yet another brother, this one carrying a hockey stick, entered the home. Prue deduced him to be Jack. He was taller and broader than the others, and Haven’s face lit up when she saw him.
“Hey, baby,” Haven said. “Did you get a gun, too? Can I touch it?”
One corner of Jack’s mouth lifted. “You can touch my gun anytime, sweetheart.”
Haven laughed. “Where is it?”
“It’s tucked safely away.”
“Will you teach me how to shoot it?”
A frown slashed across Jack’s striking face. “Are we talking about firearms?” With a flick of his wrist, the hockey stick whirled, and then the butt of the blade smacked into his palm. “What the hell do I need a gun for? I’ve got my own weapon.”
Noah twisted around and placed his cell phone in the center of the kitchen island. “All right, here’s the layout of the property.”
The men pulled into a tight circle around him. Standing broad shoulder to broad shoulder, the brothers made quite a sight. Darkly beautiful, fierce, and masculine.
Mina sighed dreamily. “Just… wow.”
“I know, right?” Emily whispered.
Prue, studying the way Leo interacted with his brothers, was caught off guard when his eyes suddenly captured hers. One side of his mouth twitched with his smile, and her heart filled with soft fluttery surges of happiness.
“They’re like an army of hotness,” she said to the others.
Giggles floated around the table.
“We should provoke them.” Haven’s dark eyes shimmered. “I want to be conquered.”
The howls of their laughter drew the men’s attention.
“You girls want to settle down over there?” Jack called out. “We’re very busy plotting our world domination.”
“Sorry,” Haven crooned.
“It’s P-Prue’s fault.” Emily winked at her. “She makes math fun.”
And just like that, Prue had friends.
Chapter Twenty
Four years earlier
Fresh from the shower, she dropped the towel from around her body.
A new fullness swelled her breasts, and the soft rounding of her belly struck a pang in the center of his chest.
He swallowed the painful lump in his throat. “I don’t want you to go.”
“I have to go. It’s my job.” She wrapped the bathrobe around her pregnant tummy. “Besides, you’ll be with me, and I know you won’t let anything happen to me. To us.”
He wanted to argue, but he turned his head and gazed out their bedroom window.
“I need to go back.” She spoke so quietly he almost missed her words. “Last time, it was so awful. If things are better, and they’ve worked out a ceasefire, I want to be there. Then maybe I can forget….”
With a defeated sigh, he went to her and pulled her into his arms. “If they won’t give us adequate staff—”
“They will. The network head talked to your supervisor directly. He’s already agreed to it.”
He squeezed her tight and buried his face in her hair. “I don’t know if I can do it,” he whispered, giving voice to The Fear. “I don’t know if I can keep you safe.”
“I trust you, Leo.”
Leo woke in the black of night when she crawled beneath the sheets.
He rolled toward her. “Prue, you have to stop this. Stay in your own bed.”
“Why?” She snuggled into his side. “We sleep better together.”
His hand moved to her hip. “I don’t want you here.”
He was losing track of the lies he told her, as they became twisted and inverted. Unrecognizable. Was it that he didn’t want her there, or that he didn’t want to want her at all, let alone with a craving so deep that his bones ached with it?
She gazed up at him in the dark. Though unable to read her face, he could feel the hurt his words caused in the way she held her body.
Good, he thought, and dropped a kiss on the crest of her cheek. She should hate him. She should shrink from his tainted soul, not move toward it.
Then her hand slipped to the hem of her sleep shirt and she drew it slowly up her body to reveal the triangle of dark hair between her thighs.
“Then tell me to leave, Leo.” Lifting one knee, she parted her legs for him.
Reckless, savage lust overcame him. With a fierce growl, he shoved her shirt to
her shoulders and clamped his mouth around her taut nipple. Her gasp melted into a moan when he pressed two fingers into her silken curls and teased her lips apart.
She was tinder beneath his touch. Helpless to the sound of her sweet moans, he settled between her bent knees, in the cradle of her hips, and slid sure and hard inside her. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, capturing him even as the soft, mad love in her heart set him free.
He knew it was wrong to want her love, but feeling it unleashed a tidal wave of emotion and lust. Ferocious tenderness engulfed him as he used his body to please hers. His world dwindled to the spot where he invaded her. The rim of her sex clamped tightly around him, and a roar of need and triumph exploded from his chest.
But The Fear hovered, reminding him that he’d never be worthy of her love, and would never be able to give her the love she deserved in return. But he fucked her with everything he had, loving her with his body the way he couldn’t with his heart.
“Dammit, Prue.” He buried his face in her neck and pressed his cock into her moist opening. Into her heart. “What am I doing? What the fuck am I doing?”
Her flesh squeezed and pulsed around him, wringing agonizing pleasure from the darkest places inside him. She lifted her hips, and his name falling from her lips wrested ecstasy from him in great voluptuous rushes.
Lying in the dark afterward, emptied and aching, he couldn’t find his voice to ask her to leave.
As the first slivers of light filtered into the room, Leo left the bed. On his way out of the bedroom, he plucked Arlo from the bedsheets.
“C’mon, buddy, time for our walk.” He scratched the cat behind the ears and tried to ignore the knotted ball of angst in the pit of his stomach.
Outside, the sound of the birds flitting through the trees caused Leo to flinch more than once. Arlo climbed to his shoulder and, with his one good eye, stalked the treacherous birds.
When a twig snapped in the distance, Leo jerked around. For a moment, the image of Prue in his bed, her throat slit and the life bleeding out of her, blocked his vision. He blinked rapidly until his sight cleared and nothing except a gentle deer walked through the woods.