by Maya Banks
A few minutes later, he carried two steaming mugs of hot chocolate into the living room and set his on the coffee table. She reached for her mug with both hands, cupping them around the warm surface as if capturing and holding the heat as close to her as possible.
Without a word, he went over to the stone hearth and tossed a few logs from the wood rack into the fireplace. A few moments later, the first flicker of flame licked over the dry wood.
He returned to the couch where he took a seat on the opposite end of her. “Better?”
She smiled. “Perfect.” Then she shook her head. “I’m still baffled by this whole thing, Seth. I shouldn’t be here. This is…crazy.”
Her fingers fluttered against her mug, and she had such a bewildered look on her face that he scooted forward on the couch until his knee rested against hers.
He touched her cheek, letting his fingers graze over her cheekbone and then down to her jaw. She closed her eyes and nuzzled into his palm as if she’d long been denied the pleasures of another’s touch.
“I’m having my own set of what-the-hell-is-going-on thoughts,” he said honestly. “But I’m not going to fight it, whatever it is between us. From the moment I saw you, I knew you were going to be a part of me. A big part of me. I don’t understand it, but I’m not going to fight it. I don’t want to fight it.”
“I don’t either,” she whispered.
Triumph blazed through him with savage intensity. It was primitive and dark, and he wasn’t entirely comfortable with it, but it wasn’t something he could control.
“I’m going to kiss you, Lily,” he murmured.
Her lips parted in a breathless gasp just a moment before he nudged forward and pressed his mouth to hers in the lightest of touches.
He savored that first brush and the electric sensation that slid over him, pricking each nerve ending on the way to his groin. He cupped her jaw and deepened the kiss, plunging his tongue inside to taste the sweet chocolate on hers.
She was his. That fact beat a steady rhythm through his body. His blood pulsed through his veins, whispering to him to take her, to fill the gap that he hadn’t known existed inside him. One that she could fill.
Mine. It was all he could do not to say it. Only the thought of frightening her kept the word from pouring from his throat.
He didn’t want to end the kiss. He wanted to make it endless. He wanted to carry her to bed where he’d kiss her and taste her for the rest of the night.
It’s too soon.
The thought echoed in his mind as surely as if he’d said it aloud.
With a groan, he pulled away. She blinked and stared back at him with hazy, confused eyes. Her lips trembled and were wet from his tongue. She raised a shaking hand to her mouth, and he knew she felt what he did. His lips tingled and felt alive, like he’d die if he didn’t kiss her again.
“Seth, what’s happening here?” she asked.
He touched her face again, sweeping his hand down in tender strokes. “I don’t know, Lily. But I’m sure as hell going to keep finding out.”
Chapter Three
Michael Colter pulled up to his brother Seth’s house and cut the engine on his Jeep Cherokee. It was barely past dawn, but Seth wasn’t one to sleep in. He was probably already up with a cup of coffee.
He stepped out into the chilly morning air and stifled a yawn. Leaving Clyde at three in the morning hadn’t been conducive to a good night’s sleep, but he was up and not likely to fall asleep so he hadn’t waited to make the trip to Denver.
He ambled to the front door, knocked once and then let himself in. It always cracked him up that Seth was a cop and he never locked his door. Too many years of living on a mountain with the Colter clan. Not many people in their right minds would try to break in there.
“Seth?” he called as he shut the door behind him.
As he walked into the living room, Seth left the kitchen, predictably with a cup in his hand. But it didn’t smell like coffee. Michael sniffed the air. Chocolate?
“Giving up the good stuff?” Michael asked with a grin.
“Michael? What the hell are you doing here?” Seth demanded.
Michael arched an eyebrow as he made his way over to where his brother stood. “It’s good to see you too.”
Seth put his cup down and then grasped Michael’s arm and pulled him into a hug. “You know I’m glad to see you, dumbass. I just wasn’t expecting you. I just spoke to Mom and Dad last night. Neither said anything about you coming.”
“That’s because I didn’t tell them,” Michael said dryly. “You aren’t the only one who doesn’t report in to Mom and the dads on a regular basis.”
Seth laughed but then grew serious. “What’s up? And don’t tell me nothing. You wouldn’t have dragged in here at this hour without calling if something wasn’t wrong.”
Michael sighed. “You’ll just call me a drama queen.”
“I haven’t called you a drama queen since you were in the fifth grade,” Seth refuted. “Spill.”
“Can I have some coffee or have you changed your poison? By the smell, I’m wondering if that bullet wound didn’t turn you into a pussy.”
A peculiar look crossed Seth’s face, but before Michael could press him, Seth turned back into the kitchen.
“Come on, I’ll make you a cup and then you need to make it quick. I’ve got things to do.”
Michael blinked in surprise. Seth wasn’t usually so abrupt. What the hell was up his ass this morning?
“Sit down and talk while the coffee’s brewing,” Seth said, pointing to the table.
“Anyone ever tell you that your hospitality sucks ass?” Michael grumbled.
Seth shot him a look and Michael held up his hands. “Okay, okay. It’s Callie.”
At the mention of Callie, Seth frowned as he poured the water through the coffee maker.
“Dad said she was back and that something was up.”
“Yeah,” Michael replied. “Something.”
“What’s the deal?”
“I don’t know. I wish I did. It’s why I came. I was hoping you’d go home for a few days. Maybe she’ll talk to you. I’m…I’m worried about her. Everyone’s worried about her.”
Seth blew out his breath and dragged a hand through his hair. When he turned to Michael, concern had darkened his eyes.
“She not talking to anyone? Not even Dillon?”
Michael shook his head. “Nope. She’s more tightlipped than Ryan.”
“I’m telling you, man, Callie has to be his biological daughter. There is no way she can be so much like him and be Ethan or Adam’s daughter.”
Michael laughed. “Ryan likes to think so. He’s pretty damn smug about it. She looks and acts just like him.”
“Scary,” Seth muttered. “So she’s not talking to him either?”
Again Michael shook his head. “She’s not talking to anyone, Seth. It’s driving Mom and the dads crazy. She came home looking like a wounded animal. For several days she holed up at Mom and Dads’ and wouldn’t leave the mountain. Then she came down and asked Dillon for a job. She’s been working behind the bar every night since.”
“And what’s this about a problem the other night?” Seth asked.
“Well, that’s just it. You know Callie doesn’t take shit off anyone but she’s usually so easygoing. Laughs about everything. The kids were being typical college buttheads. They’d had too much to drink. From what Lacey said, one of the witnesses swears all the kid did was pop off at Callie. Harmless. She put him through the window.”
Seth whistled. “Sounds like our girl has some unresolved anger.”
“What was your first clue?” Michael asked dryly.
Michael’s gaze was drawn to the kitchen entrance where he was astonished to see a woman standing in the doorway. She was dressed in what looked like a pair of Callie’s old pajamas. Her eyes were wide with…fear? She looked anxious, and she stared at Michael like she was afraid he was going to jump up and pounce.
And what the fuck was he doing sitting here mooning on about goddamn fairies? Jesus on an eggshell but he was losing his ever-loving mind.
He was starting to think stupid things, like he’d do anything at all to remove the fear from her gaze. He wanted to protect her.
And she was coming out of his brother’s bedroom. Or at least from that general vicinity.
“S-Seth?” she asked in a wavery voice. But before Seth could respond, she said, “I should go. I need to go.”
Her voice was whisper soft, and before he could catch himself, Michael was on his feet—to do what? Keep her from going?
He forced himself to stand there while Seth hurried toward the woman.
“Lily, no,” Seth said in a soft, urgent voice as he took her shoulders in his hands.
So Lily was her name. Michael watched as Lily skittered away from Seth’s grasp, her eyes darting toward Michael as she did.
“Honey, it’s only Michael. My brother Michael. Remember, I told you all about him last night?”
“The vet,” she said in a husky voice.
“Yes, that’s right. He just started his practice back home.”
“I should go,” she said again, and Michael saw her edge toward the hallway that led to the bedroom.
“Stay and eat breakfast. I made you a cup of hot chocolate. It’s probably cold by now, but I can pop it into the microwave for you.”
She hestitated, her gaze going between the two brothers.
“I need to get dressed,” she said faintly.
“Okay. I’ll be here in the kitchen. I’ll make breakfast so you can eat when you get out.”
She was gone before Seth could say another word. When he turned back to Michael, there was something decidedly desperate in his older brother’s eyes. A desperation that for some reason, Michael felt in equal measure.
“Who is she?” Michael rasped out. Hell, he couldn’t even talk right. He had a knot in his throat the size of a boulder.
Seth cut an impatient glance at his brother. “Lily,” he bit out. “Just Lily.”
“Who is she to you?”
Seth swung around, his eyes blazing. “Why the hell do you want to know that?”
“I want to know,” Michael said. “I need to know, because damn it, I just had the most powerful reaction to a woman I’ve had in my entire life, and I damn well need to know if I’m poaching on my brother’s territory.”
Seth’s mouth gaped open. “You stay the hell away from her.”
“So it’s like that,” Michael said grimly. “You’ve staked a claim.”
“Are you out of your mind? You just met the woman. What are you planning to do, haul her off over your shoulder?”
“Maybe,” Michael said calmly. “Probably.”
“Over my dead body.”
“When did you meet her?” Michael asked. Seth hadn’t mentioned a woman. Not to anyone. He would have known. The dads wouldn’t have kept something like that quiet. They would have been too busy giving him hell.
“Yesterday,” Seth said in a gruff, pissed-off voice.
“Yesterday? Yesterday? And you’re going off on me for having just met her?” Michael laughed. “You fucking hypocrite.”
And then the thought came. Stuck in his head like someone had hit him with a hammer. He’d walked into his brother’s house and met a woman he instantly and absolutely had to have. It wasn’t just sexual. No, his reaction to her hadn’t even been sexual. It was emotional. On a level he couldn’t even explain.
The same woman his brother was having some psychotic caveman episode over.
“Oh no,” he whispered. “Oh hell no.”
“What are you talking about?” Seth demanded.
“Goddamn it, I thought it was bullshit. I thought it was some hokey bullshit that the dads made up to make Mom feel all soft and mushy.”
Seth got into his face, breathing fire he was so pissed off. “What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Talking. About.”
Michael closed his eyes and let out a helpless laugh. “It’s some fucked-up Colter gene. It has to be. There’s no other explanation.”
Seth threw up his hands. “I swear to God if you don’t start making some fucking sense, I’m going to knock the shit out of you.”
“Think about it, Seth. How many times have we heard the story over the years. The dads met Mom and they knew immediately and with absolute certainty that she was the one. The one. They said it was instant and so powerful they didn’t have a prayer of fighting. They wanted to love and protect her, wrap her in cotton and lock her away for about a hundred years. Now you tell me. Is that what you’re feeling when you look at Lily? Because I sure as hell am, and it’s worse for me, because I don’t even know the goddamn woman.”
Seth looked like someone hit him square between the eyes with a bat. For a moment, Michael thought Seth was going to hit him.
“That’s crazy,” Seth finally said. “She’s a beautiful woman. Of course you’d have a strong reaction to her. You probably haven’t been laid in a year.”
“No need to get insulting,” Michael drawled. “I’ve probably gotten lucky at least twice since the last time you shed the monk robes. And sure, she’s beautiful, but step back a moment, Seth. Really look at her objectively. She’s not the most gorgeous woman you or I have ever seen.”
Seth’s lip turned up into a snarl and Michael held up his hand. “Let me finish. We’ve seen any number of women who were heart-stoppingly gorgeous, but tell me this. Were you tripping over yourself like this with them? You look at her and you see something beyond beauty. I know because I saw the same damn thing.”
Seth shook his head. “I’m not listening to this. This is insane. Our dads may have fallen for the same woman, but you can’t tell me we’ll do the same.”
“You’re forgetting the granddads. Explain that one, Seth. If there isn’t some hinkey shit going on in the gene pool then why are you and I about to go to fist city because we’re both determined to get close to Lily?”
Seth’s eyes looked haunted as it all sank in. “Damn it, Michael, this isn’t what I wanted. It can’t be possible. It has to be some stupid coincidence.”
“Yeah, well, believe me, sharing a woman with my two bonehead brothers doesn’t exactly appeal to me either, but unless one of us suffers a fast change of heart, we’re either going to have to do some serious compromising or one of us is going to go home to Mom in a pine box.”
“I’m not having this conversation with you right now,” Seth bit out. “There are things you don’t know about Lily. I can’t even convince her to let her guard down around me. She walked in here, saw you and now she’s ready to bolt.”
“What the hell’s going on?” Michael asked, now dead serious.
Seth glanced down at the mug of hot chocolate, swore and then stuck it in the microwave. Then, as if realizing how much time had passed since Lily had gone to get dressed, he glanced at his watch and frowned.
“She’s been gone too long,” he muttered.
Michael watched as Seth stomped off down the hall. A few seconds later he heard, “Son of a bitch!” And then the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting the wall.
Michael surged to his feet, adrenaline spiking sharp through his veins. Seth came barreling out of the hallway and then ducked into the dining room. He came back out, face set in stone.
“What the hell is wrong?” Michael demanded.
“While you and I were out here discussing Lily, she took off.”
Michael’s eyebrow went up at the urgency in Seth’s voice. “Won’t she be back?”
“No, goddamn it. She’s homeless, Michael. She doesn’t have a place to stay. I found her between two card
board boxes on the fucking street. She’s scared and alone, and she has no place to go. It took me forever to convince her to come here, and now she’s run scared.”
Michael’s stomach bottomed out with a thud. “Homeless? What the fuck?”
Seth whirled around like he couldn’t figure out what he needed to do first. He grabbed up his keys and then shoved his feet into his shoes.
“Yeah, homeless. I served her in the soup kitchen yesterday. I volunteer there once a month. She came in and bam. I mean I still don’t know what happened. When she left I followed her because I couldn’t stand the thought of her having no place to go. I found her in an alley, cold and alone.”
“Son of a bitch,” Michael muttered.
Seth pointed a finger at him. “Right now I don’t give a damn about what you feel for her or think you feel. I don’t give a shit about some fucking Colter gene that you think we got from the dads. All I care about is getting her back. Here. Where she belongs. Get your ass out to your Jeep so you can help me look. Everything else is just going to have to goddamn wait.”
Chapter Four
Seth punched in Michael’s cell number as be backed out of the drive. Michael picked up on the first ring.
“She can’t have gone far, Michael. We’ll skirt the perimeter of the house and make our way downtown. She’s probably heading back to the only place she knows.”
“I’ll keep my eyes peeled.”
Seth hung up and focused his attention on the streets. At each intersection, he crawled forward, glancing each way for any sign of her.
For an hour he traversed the streets around his neighborhood, gradually falling away to the cityscape of downtown Denver. She could have caught a bus. She could have walked the entire way. Or she could be at any point in between. Cold. Alone.
Gentle rain began to fall, almost certainly a precursor to sleet and later snow. Seth cursed as he turned his wipers on. Not only would it make it nearly impossible to see her, but now she would be cold and wet with no protection from the elements.
“Where are you, Lily?” he murmured as he turned down a narrow street just a few blocks from the café where he and Lily had hot chocolate. “Why did you run? What are you running from?”