Visions Of Paradise

by Tianna Xander

  Milla’s heart raced as the man held and kissed her. No. He wasn’t a man. He was a boy and she was old enough to be his mother—or almost old enough. She couldn’t allow the kiss to continue. It was wrong.

  Placing her hands against his chest, she pushed away from him. Looking up, she swung her arm, her palm striking his face. She glared at him, and tried not to feel bad when the welt in the shape of her hand appeared on his jaw.

  She tried to catch her breath. She couldn’t let him know that kiss had stirred her blood. Her cheeks burned with mortification when she realized just how much she had enjoyed that kiss.

  “Don’t touch me again.” She picked up the box he dropped and shoved it into her truck. “In fact, I think you should go. I can pack the rest up by myself.”

  The refrigerator would be heavy, but she’d manage. She had to. Milla hadn’t planned for his help. She could certainly wrestle one small refrigerator into the SUV by herself. She opened the passenger side back door and headed for her room. There was no better time to find out. Surely she could manage to make it out the door of the room and the twenty feet to the vehicle without pulling a muscle.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Some of the heaviest stuff is still in there.” He followed her into the room. Just inside the door, Milla spun around and held her hand up. “Don’t come any further. I don’t need your help.”

  “Of course you do.” He pointed toward the back of the room. “You need me to carry that out to your truck, unless it’s empty.

  Milla bit her lip. The mini fridge wasn’t empty. Even if it was, she would have a hell of a time getting it into the truck without tipping it. She knew if she tipped it more than thirty to forty degrees she would ruin the compressor. She didn’t know why, but she’d seen it happen before.

  Getting it out of her truck had been easy. She had no idea what even possessed her to buy the thing, other than eating things she made in her room were less expensive than anything she could purchase at the cheapest fast food place.

  Milla glared at him. “I don’t trust you.” How could she trust the man? He could force himself on her at any time. Just that kiss was enough to make her realize that he could do whatever he wanted and she would be powerless to stop him. He might be younger than her, but he was also a lot bigger.

  “Look,” he said as he frowned down at her and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I took advantage and I realize that. Let me make it up to you.”

  She wanted his help. Milla wrung her hands. In fact, she needed his help, more than she wanted to admit. Her skin crawled with the familiar sensation that told her Perry and the rest of the group was hot on her trail.

  Her skin itched as though a thousand bugs crawled on her. It was her internal warning system. Perry was close. He was very close.

  Mason was no longer a safe haven for her. She had to leave before they showed up. Milla didn’t know how Perry kept finding her. She’d even ditched her truck and fifth-wheel camper, thinking that he’d somehow put some sort of GPS tracker on them. She’d replaced them with the SUV. It was still technically a truck, and she could sleep in it if she had to.

  Leaving her trailer had been a difficult decision and one of the hardest things she’d ever done. It had been her home for ten years. Dumping the trailer made it easier to run but it left her homeless. She spent more of her nest egg on hotel rooms than she cared to think about.

  If she didn’t manage to lose Perry and his minions soon, he would get his way. Milla would have nowhere else to go. She would have to go crawling back to the carnival. She’d rather do anything but that. It had taken her years to save up enough of her tips to leave. If forced to go back, she could be stuck for the rest of her life.

  “Okay.” She sighed and waved her arm for him to enter. “But only because I need to leave here as soon as possible.” She cast a wistful gaze at the mountain. She would miss that the most. She had fallen in love with that mountain over the last few weeks. “I liked it here, too.” Dropping her gaze to the floor, her shoulders slumped. How could she keep Perry from catching her?

  “What are you running from?”

  Milla spun around at the sound of the strange, male voice. Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open as she stared at the man who stood in the door to her room.

  “Y-you’re…y-you’re…” Milla couldn’t wrap her mind or her tongue around the fact that she was looking at one of her favorite movie stars. Only it couldn’t possibly be him. This man was too young—in his early to mid thirties at the most. It couldn’t possibly be the actor he resembled so much unless the man really was forever young.

  “Hi!” He held his hand out with a grin. He knew what she thought and he liked the fact that he had her speechless. That was plain to see. “I’m Mel.”

  “Oh, god!” She brought her hand to her throat. Her face burned as she stared at the poor man. It was all she could do to stand staring at him when her legs wanted to give out and her body threatened to melt into a puddle at his feet.

  “Don’t faint. I’m not that Mel.” He flashed a smile. “I just look a lot like him. That’s all.” He flicked a not-so-friendly glance at Jonas. “His last name is Gibson, not mine.”

  “What are you doing here so early?” Jonas glowered at the other man. It was easy to see that there was no love lost between the two men.

  “Merrick sent me out to get parts for the new squad cars. Penny’s garage didn’t have them in stock.” He made a face. “I don’t know why they didn’t buy new units. It’s not as though the town is destitute.” He shook his head. “The man is going to pay more fixing up those pieces of junk than if he’d just shelled out the cash for new cars.” Mel crossed his arms, showing off his impressively toned arms and chest.

  Milla tried not to look. They were both too young for her. It was difficult, though. She was nearing middle age, not dead!

  Mel glanced around her to the interior of her room. “Going somewhere?”

  Why didn’t she take the man’s hand while she’d had the chance? She needed to know if he worked for Perry. Generally, she could read everyone, but those who worked at the carnival. Carnies had some sort of built-in barrier—at least those who worked at Perry’s carnival had one. Those, she had to touch. Somehow, contact overrode the barrier and opened their minds to her.

  These two were different from normal folk. They were like carnies. They both had some sort of invisible guard that blocked her. However, she’d read Jonas. She knew that Jonas was no carnie—unless he’d managed to hide his true self from her. Was that even possible?

  Whatever it was, that made them different. It also made them suspect. She couldn’t trust Mel until she read his true intentions. Even then, she couldn’t trust him to keep his hands to himself. After all, she hadn’t seen that toe-curling kiss that Jonas gave her coming.

  God, she hated this life. She hated secrets and all of the reasons for keeping them. Why couldn’t she just find a nice, normal town and settle down? Even then she would still have secrets, but at least they would be her secrets, not everyone else’s.

  “Yes. I’m leaving town.” She had almost told the man it was none of his business, but her mother always said she would catch more flies with honey than she would with vinegar. That much, at least, was true. She glanced down at her feet before offering him her hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t accept your hand before. I didn’t mean to be rude. You just surprised me.”

  It wasn’t every day she saw a dead ringer for a major movie star. It was a miracle she hadn’t fainted dead at their feet.

  Mel took her hand in his much larger one and squeezed her fingers before lifting it to his lips.

  What was it with these two? Were they throwbacks to another time or did they have a healthy respect for women that she had thought long dead? It was too bad she had to leave here. If this town bred their type of man, it could be just the town she’d been looking for to settle down in—a veritable para
dise for someone like her.

  “I’m happy to meet you, Milla. It isn’t often that we are blessed with the presence of such a beautiful woman.”

  Milla’s face grew warmer. “You two really know how to lay it on thick.” She stared at the two for a minute, wondering what their parents would think about them flirting with a woman of color.

  The two men gave each other a narrow-eyed glare. There was no mistaking the animosity between them. If she read Mel right, the two barely tolerated each other. Both of them were in some sort of law enforcement, but it wasn’t the police and it wasn’t the military. Milla frowned. Was it the FBI or CIA? She doubted it, but she didn’t read that deep when he’d taken her hand. She’d only wanted to know if they knew Perry, or knew of him. They didn’t. Thank god for that. The rest was none of her business.

  That was why Perry wanted to keep her close. He was constantly trying to get her to read deeper. Even if she had, she wouldn’t consciously try to remember anything and she definitely wouldn’t tell Perry what she’d learned. He’d wanted the information to steal from people or to blackmail them. It was wrong and Milla had refused to be a part of his scheme.

  “I don’t know about him,” Jonas said with a growl as he jerked his thumb toward Mel. “But I’m being sincere. I hate to see a woman in need. I help them whenever I can.”

  “Do you shower them with kisses whenever you can, as well?” She raised her brow.

  Jonas flashed those white teeth at her again. “Only the irresistible ones. So far, baby, you’re the only one on that particular list.”

  “So,” Mel interrupted as he stepped between them. Why don’t you stay a few more days? Hang around. Get to know me.” He stared at her with those sky-blue eyes and Milla’s legs grew weak again. Heat settled low in her middle and cream slid from her innermost core and soaked her panties.

  There was no mistaking the competition between the two men. They each wanted her to stay for their own reasons. If it wasn’t so sad, it would be comical. Why couldn’t they have been her age?

  “I-I can’t.” The familiar itching crawled over her skin. Milla bent, picked up a box and headed for the door. “I wish I could stay. You don’t know how much I wish I could stay, but I can’t.”

  “We can protect you.”

  She paused in the doorway. “What makes you think I need protecting?”

  Jonas stepped forward, rested his hand on her arm and stared deep into her eyes. The sincerity rolled off him in waves and she read nothing but his desire to protect her and keep her here with him. “Whatever it is you’re running from, we can protect you. I swear it, Milla.”

  “As much as I hate to agree with him, Milla, he’s right. We can protect you in ways that you can’t possibly imagine.”

  “No one can protect me.” How could they? She shook her head. The carnival folk had secrets. They had powers that others didn’t understand. Powers that these two men most likely wouldn’t even believe existed. “No one can protect me. Not from this.”

  “Don’t underestimate us. Our town embraces those who are different. And when it comes to secrets, yours can’t possibly be any more fantastic than ours.”

  Chapter Four

  Mel didn’t want her to go. He wasn’t sure what it was about her, but something drew him to her. He wanted to protect her. No. It was more than that. Something deep inside him—that part of him that he still wasn’t quite used to, needed to protect her. He had no idea why.

  She stirred something deep inside him, some strange, inner desire to protect and an equally surprising sexual hunger he had never felt before. Maybe it was the animal side of him. He wasn’t sure. He hadn’t found a woman as attractive as Milla since he’d had his first shift.

  He also didn’t like the fact that Jonas was here drooling all over her like the fucking animal he was. Gods, please don’t pair me with this ass. He repeated the prayer twice. Though something told him his prayer was too little, too late. He’d been in Paradise long enough to know the fates paired those it deemed worthy to mate together. No matter what he thought of Jonas, there must be something about the man that he could learn to like, possibly even love, though he had no idea what that could be.

  “No one can protect me from these people.” Milla swiped her arm over her face wiping away the tears streaking down her cheeks. “They always find me.” She wrung her trembling hands together. “It doesn’t matter where I go. It doesn’t matter how many times I run or how far. They always find me.” Reaching up, she pushed her hair back from her face.

  “I never should have left. I should have known that they wouldn’t let me go. No one ever leaves the carnival if they’ve received their gift.” She shook her head. “I should have known…” Milla whispered the words to herself, no doubt believing they couldn’t hear her.

  She gave a little hiccupping sob that brought out every one of his protective instincts and he had a damn lot of them for this woman he’d just met.

  Army Rangers didn’t quit. They retired and they still kept their protective nature—at least those in his group did. Every one of them would still put their lives on the line for those weaker than themselves. Now that most of them were full-fledged shifters, there weren’t many people who were stronger than they were. There were even less who were as well-trained.

  “Honey, it won’t matter if they find you if you’re with people who can protect you.” Mel glanced at Jonas. For the first time since his change, he asked the other man for help. Are you just going to let her run when you know we can help her?

  What was wrong with him? Granted, the man had never been a Ranger, but he’d been trained Tudra. If what he’d learned about Paradise’s paramilitary force was true, the two were almost synonymous in present day Paradise.

  Though there was a time when Tudra meant abuse and rape at the hands of those sworn to protect. That time was over. Those men were long dead—at least most of them were and Mel had gladly helped send them to Hell.

  If it will keep your sorry, ungrateful ass from mating her, I might. Jonas practically growled the words through their mental link. All shifters had a link, but those who exchanged blood with each other held stronger communication connections with each other. Unfortunately, Jonas and he fell into the latter category.

  Mate her? Mel inhaled sharply. Is that what that delicious smell is? He shifted his gaze back to Milla. He couldn’t help but admire her courage to keep running, even when they offered to help her. She thought to protect them from something she thought they couldn’t understand. The realization stirred him. His cock throbbed, growing long and hard behind the zipper of his jeans.

  For the first time, he noticed more than her lovely scent. He noticed her curvy body and wide hips. He loved the way her long hair brushed her shoulders and her dark-caramel complexion glowed in the afternoon light that shone through the open door.

  She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He loved her rounded breasts and full lips. He could almost feel the warmth of her mouth as he imagined her wrapping those sensuous lips around his cock.

  I’m not sure, but I think she could be mate to both of us. And if that’s the case, we’re going to have a lot more in common than a blood bond.

  Mel clamped his mouth shut. He tried not to resent the other man’s statement. Jonas was right…again. If they were mates, they would have to find a way to get along. Perhaps the fates had already insured that they could eventually become friends.

  Deep down, Mel knew he was being unreasonable. Jonas had saved his life three years ago. If the other man hadn’t taken the initiative and given him his blood, Mel would have died and he knew it.

  It was just that he’d always assumed the choice to become shifter, or not, would be his. He had wanted to choose the time and the place. He’d also wanted to choose who would give him blood. He’d wanted to ask an all-shifter to bring him over.

  He’d envied all shifters since he’d seen one shift into a bad-a
ssed, fire-breathing dragon. Who wouldn’t want that?

  I don’t give a damn how you feel about me, you ungrateful prick. If we’re meant to be her mates, we’ll find a way to get along. We’ll have to—for her sake.

  Jonas was right, damn it. Why did the arrogant ass always have to be right?

  You’re right. But just because you’re right, it doesn’t mean that I have to like it. Mel severed their communication and bent to pick up a box. “Well, it doesn’t matter what you choose to do, we still have to get your vehicle loaded so you can get the hell out of here before your friends show up.”

  “They aren’t my friends.” Milla shook her head. “Not anymore. I can’t call anyone friend who would attempt to force me into a life I no longer want.”

  “Either way, you need to get moving because I have the feeling that your carnival folk are the reason Jonas was sent here.” Mel shoved the box he held into the back of the SUV, turned, and then rested his hands on his hips. “We’re having our summer festival in Paradise. I’m not sure, but I think your people are the ones he’s been waiting for.”

  “Jesus! I hadn’t thought of that.” Jonas shook his head.

  “Then you can’t protect me like you thought.” Milla gave him a sad smile. “I really didn’t think you could.”

  “We can protect you, baby,” Mel said as he moved closer to her. “The only problem will be that they will know where you are.” He grinned. “And that’s really no problem. I can promise you that.”

  Chapter Five

  Milla wanted to believe they could protect her, but how could they? The carnival where she grew up—where she had spent her life—was more than a group of drifters selling rides and tickets to the fun house. They were different. Most of them had strange powers. Natalie, the sword swallower could change the shape of her throat. Milla had no doubt the other woman would make some lucky man very happy one day. Marcus, the man most women hated had the ability to know a person’s age, just by looking at them. He even knew their birthdays. Milla read minds and saw the future of those who asked her to peer into their lives.