Alpha Province Sweet Miracle

by Becca Van

  Jace glanced at his brothers with a quirked brow, and when they nodded, he reached his hand out toward her. When she tried to maneuver on Karter’s lap, his brother got a pained expression on his face, and he realized Tami was probably squashing his hard dick. Karter grasped her waist, lifted her from his thighs and turned her until she was sitting with her back against Karter’s chest.

  “You shouldn’t do that. You’re likely to hurt something.” Tami frowned up at Karter over her shoulder.

  Karter frowned back at her and gripped her chin as he leaned forward until his cheek was against hers. “If you don’t stop putting yourself down, honey, I’m going to put you over my knee and spank that sexy ass.”

  Jace bit his lip when Tami blushed. She drew her head away from Karter’s before she scowled at him.

  “Karter’s right, Tami,” Zayn said. “You have nothing to be ashamed about. You’ve got the sexiest, lushest body I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing.”

  “Whatever,” Tami murmured.

  “You don’t believe us,” Jace asked.

  He waited until Tami was looking at him before he eyed her body over. The pink in her cheeks darkened to a red hue as her blush deepened even more. When she scowled at him, he couldn’t hold his smile back and felt the edge of his lips curve up. His gaze lingered on her breasts, and his breath hitched in his throat when he noticed her nipples hardening beneath the thin cotton of her large sleep shirt. He growled low in his throat as he imagined tearing the material down the middle until her glorious breasts spilled out. When he realized his wolf was too close to the surface and he’d just growled, he quickly chuckled, trying to cover up his animal side.

  “You think it’s funny? Are you mocking me?”

  Jace couldn’t take her uncertainties any more. He wanted, needed, to show her that they meant what they said. His recent thoughts of telling Tami what they were faded into the background as he imagined what her lips would feel like, would taste like against his own. He got back up onto the bed and slowly crawled toward her. Tami eyed him warily, but beneath that caution was desire. Her amazing delicious perfume of vanilla-flavored chocolate permeated the air and drifted to his nose. He inhaled deeply and swallowed as he started to salivate. He had to taste her. Now!

  As soon as he was close enough, he dropped onto his ass, grasped one of her hands, and tugged gently. She frowned but slid from Karter’s lap. He was too impatient to wait for her to come to him, so he released her hand, clasped her waist, and lifted her toward him.

  “What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly as she clutched at his shoulders.

  “Proving something to you.” Jace cupped her face between his hands.

  “What?”

  “This.” Jace slanted his mouth over hers, brushing his lips back and forth, coaxing a response from her.

  The second she moaned and parted her lips, he licked into her mouth. He was the one groaning as her delicious chocolatey-vanilla flavor exploded on his taste buds. He tilted her head and delved in deeper, tangling his tongue with and around hers before rubbing them together. When he noticed she was shoving against his shoulders, he reluctantly lifted his mouth from hers. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead into hers as he caught his breath. Even though Tami had been tentative to respond, it was the best fucking kiss he’d ever experienced, and he wanted more. So much more, but he’d overstepped the bounds by moving way too soon. They’d barely known each other for a few hours, and their mate wasn’t a shifter. Women were the total opposite to men. Even if they were highly attracted to a man or, in their case, men, they tended to want to know a male on a deeper emotional level before getting involved intimately.

  Jace just hoped that she’d give them the chance to do just that.

  Chapter Four

  “Why did you do that?” Tami asked as she drew away from Jace.

  “I already told you why,” Jace replied.

  “Are you playing with me?”

  “Fuck, no, darlin’,” Jace answered emphatically. “Why would you think that?”

  “Because no one’s ever been interested in me before.”

  As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Tami wished she could retract them. What was it about these men that had her blurting shit out? Normally, she held her own counsel, didn’t tell anyone what she was thinking. Tami was polite and responded when she was asked something, but she’d never been a great conversationalist. She mentally shook her head. That wasn’t quite true. Being a hairdresser meant she’d had to build a rapport with her clients while cutting or dyeing their hair, but she’d always kept the conversations to everyday things, not divulging things about herself.

  “Most men don’t see what’s right in front of their faces, baby,” Zayn said, drawing her gaze. “You’re fucking beautiful.”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m not.” As Tami scrambled from the bed, she hoped her sleep shirt hadn’t ridden up to expose her panties and ass, but she needed to put some distance between herself and them. Being so close to them was making it hard to think. They were so hunkalicious and smelled so good they were scrambling her brain. She had no idea how the topic of conversation had moved away from the trouble she was in to a more personal nature, but she didn’t like to talk about herself. Maybe she could get them back on track to the investigation and ignore the sexual tension in the air.

  She’d never had a man look at her the way they did and wasn’t sure how to handle it or the way her body responded.

  Tami cleared her throat and glanced at them. When she saw all three pairs of eyes staring at her chest, she crossed her arms over her breasts to try and hide them and had to bite her tongue when her arms brushed over her sensitive nipples to hold in the gasp forming in her throat. She wished she’d had the foresight to bring her robe, but it was too big and bulky and would have taken up precious space in her small case. Plus, she wished she hadn’t packed her clothes away because she would have pulled her jeans on under her nightshirt. She wasn’t willing to kneel on the floor and bend over with her generous-sized ass wagging in the air for them to ogle. Tami was uncomfortable enough as it was. These types of situations were totally foreign to her, and she didn’t know how to behave.

  Tami didn’t notice she’d looked away from them until she saw a big pair of boots near her bare feet, and she lifted her gaze up. The hunger simmering in her blood fired up as she perused Zayn’s long, denim-covered legs and strong muscular thighs. When she got to his groin, she rolled her lips inward as she briefly stared at the long, thick bulge of his crotch before quickly moving on. His black T-shirt was clinging to his abs, and she could see the defined ridges of his toned stomach muscles. She swallowed convulsively as her gaze wandered over his muscular pectorals, wide shoulders, and bulging biceps. Once she got to his face and met his amazing eyes, she wanted to look away, but for some reason, she couldn’t. She was mesmerized and felt as if he were drawing her into him, her heart and soul somehow reaching out to his as if they were connected on more than a visceral level.

  For a moment Tami wondered if there was such a thing as reincarnation. She felt as if she knew Zayn, Karter, and Jace on a soul-deep level, and yet she’d never met them before landing in Ambrose. What was it about these men that got to her so deeply? Had they met in a previous life? Had they been lovers once before and that was why she felt as if they were bonded?

  When Zayn cupped her face in his large, rough, manly hands, she had to stop herself from nuzzling into his palms. The heat from his flesh seeped into her cheeks and warmed her like no other person ever had. Tension eased from her neck and shoulders as she stood there staring into his sky-blue eyes. It was difficult to ignore the urge to move closer to him until her body was pressed against his, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.

  Tami should have been backing away instead of standing there like a great lump of what, she didn’t know. Even her brain was having trouble analyzing the situation.

  “You are beautiful, Tami. You have gorgeous b
rown eyes with flecks of gold that shine through like sparkling stardust. Your long brown hair is like shiny milk chocolate, all silky, and smells amazing. You have the most arresting face I’ve ever seen. Your skin is soft and creamy, and when you blush, the pink draws attention to those amazing cheekbones.”

  Tami shivered when someone moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She sucked in a breath and knew it was Karter. He and his brothers all smelled similar, and yet, they also smelled different. There was a wildness about them all. Zayn’s scent was a mix of citrus and a wild earthy musk. Karter’s fragrance was musky and spicy. Jace’s aroma seemed to be a mix of both of his brothers’ scents. Individually, they sent heated shivers racing through her body. Collectively they set her blood on fire.

  “You have such sexy fucking curves,” Karter said as he held her shoulders before caressing his way down over her arms, her waist, and hips.

  Her breath hitched in her throat when his hands moved to the sides of her ass, and while she realized she should be moving out from between them, she couldn’t seem to find the will to do so. She almost groaned with disappointment when he lifted his hands from her body but bit her lip when he hugged her from behind again. Tami wanted to lean back against him, but she remained still. If she leaned against him, she might never want to stand on her own again.

  Jace moved to her side and clasped one of her hands in his. “Scrawny women don’t appeal to us, darlin’. You’re the epitome of what a healthy, sexy woman should be. We’d fear touching and hurting anyone smaller than you are, Tami. We’re big men, and we’d likely break someone who is just skin and bones.”

  For the first time in her life, she felt sexy. Tamika Darnel, who’d always struggled with her weight and been teased about not being thin. She’d never, ever had a man, or men, look at her the way the Strike brothers did. Even though she wasn’t fat, she wasn’t skinny and never would be. Although she’d tried to diet, exercise, and watch what she ate, nothing seemed to make a difference. She’d tried to accept the way her body was, but that was an almost impossible task with the media and fashion industry shoving their perfect image of what a woman should be down everyone’s throat. She was a size fourteen and had been for a long time.

  “I…” Tami licked her lips and shrugged helplessly. She didn’t know what to say, how to respond to them since no one had ever said anything like what Zayn, Karter, and Jace just had. Tears of exhaustion and emotion burned her eyes, but she pushed them aside as she tried to smother the yawn trying to escape.

  “You’re exhausted, baby.” Zayn pressed his lips to her forehead.

  “Why don’t you crawl back into bed and get some rest, honey?” Karter kissed her temple, and his warm, moist breath caressing over her skin sent another spark of heat coursing through her body.

  When Jace lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it, she had to lock her knees in place so they didn’t buckle out from under her. “We’ll talk more in the morning, darlin’. You need sleep.”

  Tami nodded. All three men stepped away from her at the same time. She shivered with cold now that she didn’t have their body heat warming her. Of course she’d felt their heat, but now that they moved away, it wasn’t just her body that was feeling the cold. Her heart felt empty when it had been so full moments ago. She mentally berated herself. She was probably reading more into this than was there. Getting her hopes up that a man, men, actually liked her just the way she was might end up being a disaster when they turned their backs on her.

  She pushed those thoughts aside quickly with a shake of her head and turned toward the bed. When she glanced toward the doorway over her shoulder, she met Jace’s gaze as he glanced at her.

  “We’re glad you’re here, Tami. Tomorrow is soon enough to sort all the other stuff out, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Try and turn that busy mind off, darlin’. Just relax and sleep. You’re safe here with us.”

  Tami didn’t get to respond because Jace pulled the door closed behind him. She sighed wearily, got back into bed, and curled up on her side. She did feel safe with Zayn, Jace, and Karter. She just hoped that she could get at least a few hours of sleep without having nightmares. Her whole world had come crashing down on top of her, and sometimes, she thought she was going to be crushed under all the weight on her shoulders.

  Tears welled as she remembered her dad, but she blinked quickly to dispel them. She’d cried enough tonight and was too tired for another bout. Tami blanked her mind and concentrated on relaxing each and every muscle in her body until the tension eased, and she felt herself sinking into the mattress.

  Maybe she’d be able to sleep after all.

  * * * *

  Chad stared at his phone and wondered if he should call the fucker who’d hired him. He had a lead, but there was still a shitload of work he needed to do to find the bitch Browning had a hard-on for. He wasn’t stupid and knew there was more going on here than Browning had told him, but other than a police report saying that Tamika Darnel was wanted for questioning in regard to the stolen funds from her old man’s company, and his apparent suicide, he hadn’t found anything else. The last time Jeremy Browning had contacted him he’d sounded desperate, and that had all Chad’s alarm bells ringing.

  He’d taken up hiring himself out after not finding employment after serving in the army. Most of the time the cases he took were more suited to a PI, but he liked his job, and his reputation for being the man to go to for a satisfactory result, in and around Vegas, had grown. He had no idea how Browning had found him, but when he’d offered Chad thirty large ones to find a missing woman, he’d jumped at the chance. He wished he’d dug deeper into Tamika’s background before he’d accepted the job, but he’d thought the case was just another mysterious disappearance. At the time he hadn’t known what a media circus he’d stepped into the middle of. If he hadn’t been in desperate need of cash, he would have dug deeper before taking the job.

  There was something real fishy about all of this, but he hadn’t been able to find out what. However, he had a feeling that he’d just jumped into the deep end, and he was sinking fast.

  With a sigh of resignation, he put his phone down on his desk and ignored it as he turned back to the computer. He’d found Ms. Darnel on a CCTV just as she’d boarded a bus out of Vegas. All he had to do was find out the destination of that bus and follow her trekking route.

  Chad was also going to infiltrate Browning’s life and find out why the man was so desperate to get his hands on the girl. He didn’t think this was a case of a lover’s tiff since the asshole was old enough to be her father, but he could be wrong. Younger women had been shacking up with and/or marrying older men for eons wanting the live the easy life. Maybe Tamika was like-minded. And yet that didn’t ring true either.

  He’d gone over her life with a fine-toothed comb, and from what he could tell, she was squeaky clean and kept mainly to herself. He hadn’t even found evidence of a boyfriend in her life. Nonetheless, that didn’t mean she was innocent. For all he knew, Browning and Tamika had been having an illicit, tawdry affair right under daddy’s nose. Things like that had happened since the beginning of time and would over and over again.

  He shook his head. That didn’t sit right in his gut either. There was way more to this situation than he could see on the surface. He was debating on whether to bring in a couple of his army buddies to help him find the bitch but quickly changed his mind. If there was something going on, he didn’t want to put any of his friends in the line of fire if things ended up going south.

  “Nah, not a good idea,” Chad mumbled. If this turned out to be a shitstorm, he didn’t want to bring any of his friends into it. He was better off working alone, and he’d hold Browning off for as long as he could.

  When he knew what he was dealing with, he’d decide what to do.

  * * * *

  Zayn pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Preston Louis. “She doesn’t know where the money
is or if her father is innocent or not.”

  “You believe her?” Preston asked.

  “I do,” Zayn replied emphatically.

  “That’s good enough for me,” Preston replied.

  “She’s convinced her father didn’t commit suicide.”

  “Why?”

  “She knew him better than anyone. Tami said the only time he was really down was just after her mother died, and that was over twenty years ago. She said there was something going on her with her dad but didn’t know what.”

  “Shit. If he didn’t take his own life, then someone murdered him,” Preston speculated.

  “Yes,” Zayn agreed.

  “The question is, who?”

  “That’s what we want to know,” Zayn said.

  Preston sighed. “I’ve asked one of my fellow agents to look deeper into this affair. If there’s anything to find, he’s our man.”

  “There’s more,” Zayn said.

  “Tell me,” Preston demanded.

  Zayn explained about the break-in at Tami’s house and how she suspected she was being watched and followed. He also explained what the Vegas’ police reaction had been to her suspicions.

  “Assholes,” Preston snarled. “Did they send someone out when the house was broken into?”

  “I don’t know.” Zayn sighed and rubbed at his chin. “She didn’t say they came out, but she also didn’t say if she’d called them. Maybe after being treated like a criminal she didn’t bother to report the break-in.”

  “Shit! I hope she did. That would take some of the speculation off Tamika. Is she available? Can me and my brothers come and talk to her?”

  “She’s asleep. I’m hoping she’ll be out all night. She’s exhausted, Preston.”

  “Yeah, I could see that when we were all at the pub. We’ll come out tomorrow and talk to her. She might know information she isn’t even aware of. The right questions may trigger a memory of something.”