The Nauti Boys Collection

by Lora Leigh

  With a flick of his fingers he sent Natches ahead of them to check out the house before Kelly entered. His eyes continued to scan the exterior, the hairs on the back of his neck tingling as he moved closer to Kelly. He could feel the bastard out there, watching them.

  She leaned into him as his arm went around her. Damn, she was exhausted, terrified. What the hell was he going to do about her? As the warmth of her swept through his body, the possessiveness growing inside him seemed to expand, strengthen.

  Leading her toward the house, he kept his senses on alert as Natches slipped in ahead of them, with Dawg following close behind.

  “Rowdy, we need to talk,” Kelly whispered as they stepped up to the porch.

  “We will, baby.” He bent his head, kissing the top of her head before leading her into the hallway, his eyes finding Dawg as he made his way along the top of the stairs. Natches had moved into the kitchen, each man checking the rooms thoroughly as Rowdy led Kelly, and their parents, into the darkened living room.

  “Leave the lights off for now, Dad,” he advised his father as he moved Kelly to the wide chair at the side of the room. “There were signs of a watcher on the hill overlooking the house on this side the other night. The lights will pick up shadows with the thin curtains in here.”

  “Shit,” his father muttered, but the lights stayed out. “I need a drink.”

  As Ray took care of drinks for himself, Maria, and Kelly, Rowdy went through the house again, checking windows, assuring himself it was safe for the few hours of night left. Dawg was currently set up in Kelly’s room, armed with a night vision telescope as he watched the hill across the clearing, while Natches had slipped outside to take watch.

  Returning downstairs, he escorted Kelly to his own bedroom. She was quiet, withdrawn, and he’d be damned if he knew what to say to her.

  “Grab one of my shirts and go on to bed, darling.” He couldn’t touch her, if he did, he was guaranteed to completely humiliate himself. How could one man be as big a fool as he was? he wondered. And now, how did he fix it?

  She was moving for his closet even as he spoke, and pulling free one of his more comfortable T-shirts. He had to give her credit for knowing what she wanted.

  As he stood silently watching her, she stripped down to bare skin, then drew the shirt over her head and smoothed it down past her thighs. His clothes hung on her, but they carried her scent for weeks after she wore them. The soft, subtle hint of woman that only he could smell.

  “You go ahead and do whatever you have to do,” she told him, her voice cool as she flipped the blankets back on his bed and crawled in. “I’m too tired to deal with it tonight.”

  “Go to sleep, baby.” He came close enough to bend, to let his lips caress the still kiss-swollen curves of hers as she stared up at him. “I’ll take care of you, Kelly.”

  “Yes, you will,” she sighed heavily, her gray eyes shadowed. “And tomorrow, I’ll take care of you.”

  He didn’t think she meant sexually.

  “Kelly—”

  “Not tonight, Rowdy.” She shook her head firmly. “Tomorrow. I’m just too tired to talk tonight.”

  He could see the adrenaline crashing through her, wiping her out. She was still in shock, fighting the reality of the attack. She would dream later, he knew. And the nightmares could be ugly. He promised himself he’d be back by then, that he would hold her through them, ease her.

  “Tomorrow.” He smoothed her hair back from her face as she settled into the bed. “I’m going downstairs for a while, baby. I’ll leave the door open and I won’t be long—”

  “I’ll be okay, Rowdy,” she assured him, a thread of mockery filling her voice. “Go. Just let me sleep.”

  Rowdy paced the house. Nervous tension was a bitch, and suffering from it wasn’t something he normally did. But damn if he wasn’t just about to cut his own throat just to ease the thoughts tormenting him.

  What the hell had he done?

  When he first came downstairs on the Nauti Buoy, the sight of Kelly standing next to Dawg had sent his cock to full erection and the blood racing through his veins. Just as it had earlier when his cousin had moved behind her, his lips moving over her buttocks, spreading them, caressing her.

  It had been hot as hell, feeling her pleasure as her hot little mouth surrounded the sensitive crest of his cock. Holding back had been iffy. His balls had drawn up in tortuous need, desperate to explode as the pleasure of it had seared his nerve endings.

  He had ignored that unfamiliar tension that began to hover at the back of his mind. Fought with it. Then later, as his lips suckled at her tight nipple his eyes had watched as Natches pleasured the other, and he heard the words Dawg whispered to her. How snug she was, how hot, and the lust that filled his cousin’s voice had slapped at Rowdy.

  Jealousy. Possessiveness. He wasn’t used to those emotions, but now they raged inside him until his fists were clenched and violence simmered just beneath the surface. He prayed for the chance to get his hands on the little son of a bitch stalking Kelly. To take out the fury and aggression rising inside him on someone who deserved it. Neither Dawg nor Natches deserved it, but it was building, growing inside him until Rowdy wasn’t certain he could contain it.

  Stalking back to the living room, he moved to the small bar Ray kept at the side of the room and poured a measure of whiskey into one of the tumblers sitting ready. The liquid burned going down, but did nothing to calm the beast raging inside him.

  “Liquor doesn’t help, boy.”

  He turned, his hand tightening on the butt of the pistol he carried before recognizing his father.

  Ray stood just inside the doorway, dressed in a pair of dark cotton pajama bottoms and a faded T-shirt. His expression was sober, lined with worry, and his eyes gleamed with knowledge.

  “We’ll catch him.” Rowdy shrugged. “He’s losing focus—”

  “I wasn’t talking about her stalker.” He moved farther into the room. “I was talking about what happened on that boat before he attacked.”

  Rowdy brought the glass to his lips and threw back the rest of the whisky before grimacing tightly. Damn, he didn’t need this conversation with his father.

  “Let it go, Dad.”

  “Doesn’t set well, does it, Son?” Ray moved closer to the bar, lifting one of the clean tumblers and pouring his own drink. “It starts eating at your gut first thing, tearing at you, making you wonder where your mind was.”

  Rowdy narrowed his eyes on his father, hearing the knowledge in his voice, the assurance that only came from experience.

  “They didn’t take her,” he muttered, wondering why the hell he was bothering to explain this to his father of all people.

  “Might not have, but something happened. Something strong enough to make you panic, to keep you awake. To tear your guts up with guilt.”

  Son of a bitch.

  “She was shot at, Dad, that’s enough to shake any man’s insides.”

  Ray sipped at his drink, staring at him over the rim of the glass. Rowdy couldn’t hide from the knowledge, no matter how much he suddenly wanted to.

  “I know what’s going on, Son,” he finally sighed heavily. “You think you and those two hardheaded cousins of yours are the only men in this family to think they know what they want in a woman? And in her pleasure?” Ray frowned heavily, his eyes darkening. “You’re not. I’ve tried to warn you since I first caught wind of what was going on, and you’ve never wanted to listen.”

  Rowdy watched his father curiously then. Through the years, there had been whispers that Ray Mackay and his best friend had been up to some sexual little games, but nothing concrete and nothing his dad had ever confirmed.

  Ray grunted mockingly. “Your generation thinks they know everything. You don’t. Mine knew what a reputation was, and we knew what should be kept private and what should be flaunted. Women like Calista James were steered clear of except for a certain few. We knew our actions would always backfire on us, if not at the ti
me, then later, on our wives, our children. I thought I taught you that, but maybe I failed there too.”

  Ray shook his head as he nodded to the chairs Maria and Kelly had sat in earlier. “Come over here, Rowdy. Let’s talk.”

  “What’s there to talk about?”

  “Saving face,” his father sighed. “Those two cousins of yours have waited nearly as long as you have for Kelly. They don’t love her like you do, but when you yank something like that out of a man’s hands, he’s bound to get pissed. And you don’t want that kind of pissed from men you’ve been as close to as brothers.”

  Ray leaned forward in his chair, staring back at Rowdy intently. Damn, that look had the ability to send him right back to his teenage years and the memory of his father’s chastisements.

  He wasn’t a teenager anymore, but at the moment he felt as uncertain as one.

  Rowdy turned his gaze to his drink, wondering what the hell he was supposed to say. He’d already figured out the fact that he was making a hell of a mistake—he didn’t need his father to point that out to him.

  “It’s tough, being as close to men as you are to Dawg and Natches,” Ray sighed. “You three are closer than brothers, you always have been.” He shook his head, staring down at the glass in his hand as he grimaced painfully. “I had a friend like that once, Rowdy.” He lifted his eyes then. “A damned good friend.”

  Rowdy stared back at him, knowing what was coming. Knowing he didn’t want to hear it.

  “It was before your mother.” Ray cleared his throat. “And there was this woman. One that made the blood boil in my veins, made me want forever. But I was dumb. Brick dumb. I thought I’d always be the man I was then. That what I wanted sexually would always be a part of my life. And I shared that woman. Because I thought that pleasure was the greatest gift I could give her…”

  He tossed back the rest of his drink before meeting Rowdy’s eyes once again.

  “Kelly should have been your sister, Rowdy. If I hadn’t been so stupid, I wouldn’t have lost Maria all those years ago. She chose the lover willing to love just her, rather than his own selfishness. Willing to give her all of himself, without the childish need to have it all his own way.”

  Rowdy’s jaw bunched tightly.

  “Dad, let it go.” Rowdy shook his head sharply.

  “You’re figuring it out, I can see that in your eyes. The same way I thought I was figuring it out. But I let that bond I thought I had with my buddy get in the way. I was torn between the loss of friendship, and my own wants. And I thought the woman would be there either way. It wasn’t the friend I lost, Rowdy. It was the woman. And trust me, when it comes right down to it, Kelly is no different than her mother.”

  Rowdy breathed in deeply. Damn, he hadn’t wanted to hear this. He lifted the whisky before tipping more of the liquor into his glass.

  His father was silent then, finishing his drink as Rowdy sipped from his.

  “I love her,” Rowdy finally breathed out roughly. “I didn’t expect this though.”

  “Love changes us, Son.” Ray rose to his feet, crossing the room slowly to set his empty glass on the bar. “Don’t make the same mistake I did, Rowdy. Once it’s over that first time, once you’ve let another man claim what’s yours and yours alone, you lose a part of your soul. Getting it back is hell. A hell I hope you never know.”

  Rowdy stared back at his father silently, finally hearing what the other man had always tried to teach him. What was fair, what he wanted alone, wasn’t all that mattered. He had begun learning it in the Marines, but it was slapping him upside the head now.

  “James Salyers was still a friend when he died, Rowdy. And I grew up and learned some damned hard lessons. Maria gave me a second chance, but that chance came at a cost. A very high cost. The daughter that should have been mine came from another man, and the son I love more than life is about to fuck up not just his own life, but that girl’s as well. Watching it and knowing I can’t stop it is hell. Remember that while you struggle between what you love and what you want.”

  As Rowdy watched his father leave the room, a heavy sigh slipped past his lips. Maria’s objections to his relationship made more sense now. He shook his head, realizing how well his father, James Salyers, and Maria had kept that secret. Reputations. Theirs was intact, but his wasn’t. And now, he was risking Kelly’s as well.

  Kelly was awake when he returned to the bedroom a little after midnight. Sleep wasn’t coming, no matter how hard she sought it. Each time she closed her eyes she saw…herself…surrounded by the Mackay cousins, their hands touching her as pleasure whipped around her. But it wasn’t pleasure she felt in the memory. She felt the dark swirl of shame.

  The same emotions she had felt each time she swore she wasn’t waiting one day longer on Rowdy and she was going to find someone to love her. To stick around and be with her. Each time she had tried, each time she had attempted to allow another man to touch her, shame had eaten her alive for days later.

  The door closed behind him, the click of the lock causing her to open her eyes, to stare through the darkness as his shadow moved toward the bed.

  God, she loved him. If she could give him his every desire then she would do it in a second, but some things she knew she couldn’t do. Dawg and Natches she couldn’t do. And she had no idea how to tell him. No idea how to broach what she knew could destroy the relationship she had dreamed of.

  “Everything’s quiet,” he said softly as he pulled his shirt from his body.

  The room was dark, too dark to make out his expression, but she could hear his voice, see the gleam of his eyes.

  “I couldn’t sleep.” She could feel the tension between them.

  Rowdy sat at the edge of the bed, pausing before he sighed tiredly and bent to take off his sneakers.

  “Rowdy?” She whispered his name, uncertain what to say, what to do as he rose to his feet and shucked off his jeans.

  He was naked. As he turned to her she glimpsed the heavy, engorged length of his erection a second before she was suddenly jerked to him.

  “Rowdy?” She gasped his name as his lips covered hers, stealing her breath, her startled cry.

  And from there, her strength. His hands were hard, dominant as he tore the shirt from her body, tossing it carelessly to the floor before his lips took hers again. Her muted cries built in her head as he bore her to the bed, spreading her thighs, sinking into her.

  There were no preliminaries. No foreplay. One moment she was empty, the next she was full, her pussy stretched to its limits as he groaned into her mouth.

  She fought to breathe, and she could feel his struggle as well. The harsh sounds that tore from his throat were almost animalistic in their hunger, their intensity. His lips held back both their cries as he began to move, hard, furious strokes inside, sending her nerve endings into shock, the pleasure ripping through her with the same desperation with which his erection thrust into the slick, heated depths of her body.

  Her arms wrapped about his neck, fingers pushing into his hair as one hard hand gripped her hip, holding her in place as he moved. The other arm curled beneath her as he supported himself on his elbow.

  He surrounded her. He possessed her. Pleasure became a burning, consuming need as he fucked her with a hunger that swept through her soul. She could almost touch his soul. Then her eyes opened, widened, shock and ecstasy exploding through her as the orgasm overtaking her stole a part of her very spirit. Stole it and merged it with his. Melded them together as he stiffened above her, his cock swelling then pulsing as his release jetted inside her. Deep, almost violent spurts of his seed heated her, triggering another, deeper orgasm, sending stars to explode around her as she screamed soundlessly into his kiss.

  “Mine!” The hard, throaty growl that left his throat had to have been her imagination. “Mine.”

  Possessive. Consuming. His.

  EIGHTEEN

  “Rowdy, we’re not going to be able to keep her here.” Dawg moved through the living room
, checking the windows and their latches the next afternoon. “Your dad’s security system is good, but it won’t stop a bullet.”

  “Don’t know many that will,” Rowdy muttered, tamping down his impatience as he pushed his fingers through his hair and surveyed the living room.

  He had been through the rest of the house, just as Dawg and Natches had been over the hill above it. The bastard was hiding there at night, watching the house, and he had a clear shot into every room from one point or another, if one of them messed up and didn’t close the curtains well enough.

  And that didn’t change the fact that his dad and Maria were refusing to leave now. As was Kelly.

  “He’ll come back at us quick enough to keep us from making headway into security here,” Natches drawled from the entryway. He was in that clearing across from her room last night. I never caught sight of him, but I could feel him. He was out there. And he’s damn good.”

  Shit.

  “We have to get her out of here, Rowdy,” Dawg reiterated. “Now. My gut is going crazy with this. Whoever the bastard is, he’s lost his damned mind. He won’t care who he kills to get to Kelly.”

  “Your place?” Rowdy’s eyes narrowed on Dawg’s expression. He could see the expectation there, the excitement.

  Dawg’s house was an underground masterpiece built by his parents. The outside was cement and stone overlaid with roughened wood siding. The windows were extra thick and after Dawg’s return from the Marines, bulletproof. As far as anyone knew, there was only one way in or out. No one knew about the hidden entrance except for the three of them.

  Dawg nodded. “It’s the most secure.”

  Rowdy braced himself. He could feel the sexual tension beginning to heat up in the room. His cousins had waited years for this. Hell, they all had.

  “I’m not sharing her.” The words were out of Rowdy’s mouth before he could stop them.

  His head snapped up, his jaw tightening as Dawg and Natches stared back at him in surprise.

  “Is that your decision or Kelly’s?” Natches tipped his head to the side and watched him curiously.