She cleared her throat. She needed to be strong and to act like she wasn’t scared. Too many people noticed a scared person around here. “Well, take your time. How about some coffee while you decide?”
They rambled off what they wanted to try, and she went about making the coffee, their eyes on her as she turned away to prepare them.
“How about samples, darling? You giving out any samples?” the first guy, who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her, asked her as she placed down the coffees.
She had a feeling he wasn’t talking about the treats, but about her. She ignored him and acted like she wasn’t getting his flirtatious comments.
“I guess if you want to try a piece of brownie I can cut one up.”
“Oh yeah, they look so good,” the other guy said, and she got one out from the display and placed it down onto a place and cut it up for them to try. She then placed a piece on a napkin and gave it to each man, but when she went to place down the one in front of the guy who kept watching her, he put his hand over hers, and she gasped. Her eyes widened.
“What’s your name, sweet thing?”
She gulped, felt her throat close up and tears fill her eyes. It was instant. The feel of a man’s hard hand holding hers brought on the fears, the concerns and memories of her past.
She pulled her hand free.
“Lauren.” He squinted at her and then chuckled low and looked at his buddies, who now looked at her with expressions she wasn’t liking. In fact, she started to look around for Bo or one of the men.
“Well, you are gorgeous, Lauren, and look as sweet as these here treats. You’re new to town, right?” he asked, and she nodded but then looked to the left and saw Steve standing there with Philippe. He looked pissed off as usual.
“Well, I would love to show you around town, maybe introduce you to the ways of Repose. A beautiful, shy, young thing like you needs protection.” The guy reached out and stroked her arm. She pulled back.
“She has protection.” Steve walked closer, and she noticed Philippe’s expression change and then his lip curl slightly as he approached, too.
The guy nodded toward them and then eyed her over.
“I’ll take one of your cherry pies. I want to see if it’s as sweet as I think.” He gave her body the once-over.
The others ordered, too, and she got them what they ordered, and then they paid her. As she put the money into the register and then walked toward the side, Steve took her hand, and she gasped. He reached up, cupped her cheek, and stared down into her eyes.
“You’re okay. I got your back.”
It was odd, yet exactly what she seemed to need to hear. It was like he was a friend watching out for her. A man she felt comfortable talking to. She nodded.
“I’m okay.”
He gave a soft smile.
“I was going to head out, but I think I’ll have one of those coffees with the hazelnut and cinnamon you were preparing earlier when I arrived. It smelled so good.”
She smiled. “Okay, Steve. I’ll get it,” she whispered, and Philippe was right there.
“All good, honey?” he asked, and she glanced at Steve and then back at Philippe.
“All good.” She went to prepare the coffee.
* * * *
Steve kept his eyes on the men who’d come in here flirting and being very forward with Lauren. He didn’t like it or the jealous angry feeling he had. He shouldn’t be feeling this way. Hadn’t he just told his brothers, his team, that there wasn’t anything between him and Lauren? That he looked at her as a friendly face, as someone he felt comfortable talking to?
He was leaving for the wake and funeral for their old military buddy who’d been killed by these assholes who were being hunted down. He hated funerals. He didn’t want to go, mostly because it might set his mind back to the somber thoughts in his head and feelings wondering why he lived and couldn’t have just died out there in the fucking shithole he was held up in.
“Bo won’t be happy if you start tossing men through windows and into walls in her new place,” Philippe whispered to him as he took the seat next to Steve.
Steve hadn’t realized that he was in a dead stare at the guy who was flirting with Lauren. Hell, the guy was too busy checking out Lauren’s ass in the slim-fitting skirt she wore. She looked good, sexy, beautiful, yet classy. She was conservative and didn’t dress like a woman on the prowl, not that he couldn’t imagine her in a sexy, painted-on dress, high heels, and garters. Fuck.
He turned away and exhaled.
Philippe chuckled.
“Damn fucking crazy the way it hits ya out of left field,” Philippe stated, and Steve looked at him squinting, not getting his comment.
Philippe snorted. “The instant feelings of possessiveness, protectiveness, and jealousy at seeing other men want what you want.”
Lauren approached and set his coffee down in front of him and a homemade ice tea in front of Philippe.
“Did you want anything to snack on?” she asked, and Steve stared at her aqua-blue eyes and then her thin, feminine neck and the blouse she wore that showed off a bit of deep cleavage.
He imagined his lips pressing against her neck, taking a taste of her, then her jaw and even her lips. He inhaled her scent, that shampoo he would love to inhale again as he held her and ran his palm along her curves and maybe cupped one of her full, round breasts. He felt heated, shocked at his line of thinking and the idea of snacking on her. Fuck.
“I think I’m good for now.” He forced the words from his lips.
Philippe smiled. “Me, too. I’ve been eating more than my share of your baking. It is amazing, Lauren.”
“Thank you.”
“Hey, honey, I’d like to order something to go.” The guy who had been flirting with Lauren called out to her as his buddies got up from the seat and put tips in her tip jar.
She looked uneasy, and Steve didn’t like it at all. She walked over.
“What can I get you?”
He eyed her over, and Steve wanted to stand up, but Philippe stopped him.
“We’re both right here. Easy soldier.”
Steve needed that because his temper was so damn short he thought about smashing the guy’s face in.
“I bet your cookies are de-licious. How about you pack me up a dozen and write your phone number on the box. Maybe we can meet up somewhere and get to know one another better. I can show you around.” He pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and put it down on the counter.
Lauren bent to get a box under the counter, ignoring his last comment, and then started placing the cookies in the box for him. Apparently knowing the right amount, she sealed up the box and then took the twenty dollars, went to the register, and then came back with his change.
“You forgetting something?” he asked and winked.
“I’m not interested.” She then glanced at Steve.
Steve eyed the guy over, and the guy took the box and smirked.
“That your boyfriend?” he asked her, and her face flushed.
“No. I’m just not interested.”
“Hmm. Till next time, sugar.” He winked.
Steve noticed the guy was about the same height as him but had more fat than muscle. In fact, the man could seriously hurt a woman any size but especially one as feminine and thin as Lauren. He stood up, and so did Philippe.
“Easy,” Philippe whispered, and Steve just gave the guy the stare-down as he walked out with his buddies, chuckling.
“Assholes,” Steve whispered, and Philippe nodded but then walked away. Steve walked closer to Lauren and could see she was shaking. He reached out and took her hand. She gasped but held his gaze, and she didn’t pull back.
“You okay?”
She nodded but then shook her head.
He chuckled.
“It’s all right. You handled it well. Don’t let any man ever intimidate you. Stay firm in your expression and your tone of voice. They’ll realize fast that you aren’t weak.”
&
nbsp; She held his gaze, looking way up at him. It was another realization of how much smaller she was in comparison. She wasn’t too short. Maybe five feet five, but he was six feet three, so everyone seemed short to him.
“You think I looked and sounded weak?” she asked.
“No. You were a little shaky, I’m not going to lie, but you stated that you weren’t interested.”
He stared at her lips and then felt her relaxing as he still held her hand.
“So you think everything I said and did sounded good, would make him leave me alone?”
He stared at her gorgeous aqua-blue eyes, and goddamn, his body reacted. To her fragility, her femininity, and her gorgeous, sweet face.
“The only thing you should have done when he asked you if I was your boyfriend was to say yes, not no.”
Her eyes widened, and he quickly added, “It would have helped to keep him away.”
“I don’t think he’ll come back, and I don’t like to lie.”
“Even to keep you out of danger?”
“You and Philippe were right here.”
“What if we weren’t?”
“I don’t know,” she said after a moment’s pause.
“Exactly.”
“But you aren’t my boyfriend.”
He stared at her lips. “I’m a friend though.”
“A friend?”
“Seems to me we could both use one,” he said without hesitation. She gave a nod and a small smile.
“So, friend, how is your coffee?” she asked, and he released her hand even though he didn’t want to.
He needed to. This was crazy what he was feeling. Then, to top it off, he’d basically told her they were friends. Fuck, he didn’t think of her as a friend when he looked at her body, at that smile, and fantasized about her in bed at night. Fuck.
He took a sip. “Not hot.”
Her eyes widened, and she reached for it.
“I’ll fix that. It’s my fault. You were having my back.” She blushed as she took the cup away, and he watched her re-make his coffee. He couldn’t help but want to smile, but he fought it, shocked that this little woman made him feel so much. What the fuck was he thinking?
* * * *
“What the hell went down? Is she okay?” Bo asked Philippe in a whisper from the back room. Philippe chuckled.
“More than okay. Looks like Steve and Lauren are attracted to one another.”
“What? Oh God no, that would be disastrous, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s a soldier, number one, number two, from what you’ve all said and what I heard, Steve is into crazy dangerous shit and his team, too. Explosives, off-the-wall missions, and I heard they think he has a death wish he’s so outrageous.”
Philippe nodded.
“All true, but he’s on a little reprieve. He had a bad mission and nearly died. He hasn’t quite been the same, and his brothers-in-arms have been concerned for him.”
“Wonderful. You mean like he could lose his mind and go postal?” she asked.
“No, I mean he’s not himself. Angry all the time, short fused, confrontational, and to be honest, I thought he was going to put each of those guys through the walls or the windows.”
“Oh God, that would be all I needed.”
Philippe chuckled and pulled her close. He ran his hand along her ass.
“Honey, he kept his shit together. He looked at Lauren, had her back, was ready to defend her honor, and I knew that expression immediately.”
She smiled softly and looked up into his eyes.
“What expression would that be?”
“Possessiveness, desire, an attraction so great a man would do crazy shit to protect that woman with his life.”
“Oh God, really? You saw that? You think it could be a positive?”
“Honey, that team of men, Steve, Panther, Eddie, and Mink, are some of the roughest, toughest, badass MF’s I have ever met and known. It won’t be an easy process. Hell, they’ll fight it tooth and nail I think, but it only takes one special woman, one moment of acceptance for her to infiltrate those walls and declare permanent possession.”
“But what about Lauren accepting that? She had been in a ménage and was abused. This is complicated.”
“Falling in love with you was complicated, too, but the power of it defied all odds. If it’s meant to be more, none of them will be able to fight it.” He chuckled.
“What?”
“It’s going to be hell for them, absolute hell.” He then suckled against her neck as he squeezed her ass and made her giggle and swat at his shoulder.
Bo needed to call Thylane.
* * * *
Steve stuck around for over an hour just talking to Lauren. She felt comfortable conversing with him, and maybe because he said he was a friend and had her back, she wasn’t certain. The more they talked though, the more she started to feel giddy inside, and it concerned her. She had been hurt by two men. Soldiers who were supposed to be her protectors, whom she’d loved with all her heart.
“So what do you do exactly for Sons of Justice, or am I not allowed to ask?” she asked him.
He squinted at her and then leaned back and rubbed his hands on his thighs.
“I can tell you some of it. Currently I’m helping out with artillery operations, things like getting inside of a facility’s main power source area and destroying their lines of communication, their power sources, blowing shit up, or defusing bombs and things like that.”
She was impressed but also figured something like that took guts. It had to be super dangerous. She swallowed hard.
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It is, but since my main position involves explosives, it isn’t too bad and kind of a few steps back from what I’m used to handling.”
“Explosives?” She widened her eyes, looked around them, but no one was near the counter. People were spread out inside the various nooks and other comfortable seating, reading books and lost in them.
“I know a lot about explosives, about making them, creating special types for specific infiltration and destruction. I even know about disarming them, and it takes a steady hand and lots of patience.”
“Sounds insane.”
He narrowed his eyes at her and sat forward. “I’m not crazy. There’s nothing wrong with my head. I’m good at it. I don’t have any fears,” he snapped at her, but low, and then looked around them, ran his fingers through his crew-cut hair.
She was shocked at her reaction. She felt intimidated but also affected by his reaction. She’d insulted him somehow and didn’t know how.
“I didn’t mean to sound insulting. I wasn’t calling you insane, I was calling the job insane. That type of responsibility and danger, I wouldn’t even be able to be in the same room with explosives. Hell, I can’t even touch a gun,” she admitted and didn’t know why.
He squinted at her. “You should learn to.”
“To what?” she asked.
“To touch a gun, to shoot one and handle it.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Why not?”
She licked her lower lip. He followed it with his dark blue eyes, which were so serious and like ice.
“It’s empowering. It gives you a sense of control and confidence.”
“I don’t want to shoot anyone or anything for that matter. Guns scare me, Steve.”
She turned away and then looked around them and out toward the gardens in the back.
“Hey.”
She didn’t look at him right away.
“Look at me, Lauren,” he said firmly but low.
She did right away. It surprised her. He squinted, and she wrung her hands together.
“It’s okay to be scared. Guns can be very intimidating. Yes, they do kill, but knowing how to handle one, to use one, can make the difference between living and dying. It can stop someone from trying to hurt you just by you being able to aim and point it in defense. It doesn’t n
eed to be scary. It can be fun, too. There are targets to hit and different distances to test and challenge your capabilities. Have you ever heard of Lake Friedman? It’s not far from town. It’s a great camping area and way in the depth of the woods is a shooting range as well as obstacle training course.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Maybe I’ll take you there and help you overcome this fear you have of guns.”
She shook her head. Her heart hammered inside of her chest. She wouldn’t go anywhere with a man she didn’t know, friend or not. She shouldn’t have even gotten into the truck with Mink, but he had been so nice, and she felt like she could trust him for the ride. She felt that same level of trust with Steve, but she knew better than to lead him on and to believe they could be more than friends. She was so scared of guns, of soldiers, of confronting her fears. She stepped back.
“I have things going on anyway,” he told her, sounding insulted.
“What things?” she asked.
He looked away and then exhaled. “A wake and funeral for a friend.”
“A soldier?”
“Yes.”
“He died serving somewhere?”
“On a mission. Anyway, my brothers and I know him well, and so we’re going.”
“Your brothers?”
“My team, my family.”
“But not biological brothers?” she asked.
“We’re as close as brothers, if not closer. We don’t need blood to bind us. It’s different and hard to explain.”
“Try to.”
He tilted his head and squinted at her. She swallowed and then moved closer.
“My cousin Thylane is involved with Stack, Finlin, Pisces, and Rusty. I’ve watched them interact together, and it’s different. I worry about Thylane.”
“Because they’re soldiers she’s in love with?” Steve asked.
“Because they’re so close. They were a team, a family like you describe between you and your brothers. What happens when the relationship fails?” she asked.
Sons of Justice 7: Letting Go of the Pain (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) Page 7