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Lottie was the last piece, the missing bit, and now they could be complete.
18
Lottie felt a hand grab her arm from behind. She froze.
No, don’t freeze.
With a cry, she kicked back, trying to slam her foot down on her attacker’s before she turned and brought up her knee toward her attacker’s cock.
She stopped before she could make contact, though. After all, she didn’t want to actually hurt him.
“Good girl,” Liam called out. “That was much better.”
It didn’t feel better. This was her third day of self-defense lessons, and she was still freezing up.
“I still froze.”
“But only for a few seconds,” Nico said to her.
She didn’t want to freeze at all. And she knew it was Nico reaching for her. What would happen if it wasn’t Nico? If it was someone intent on hurting her? That moment where she froze could spell disaster for her.
She had to get this right if she was going to move on.
Each morning they’d been working on self-defense and in the afternoons, she’d spend time with them in the solarium or her sitting room. She’d paint in the solarium while Nico read, and Liam was often on the laptop working. He had managers for all his business dealings back in New York, but there were still things he had to do. She wondered how much of a nuisance it was to be here.
But what was the alternative? For her to go with them to New York? She couldn’t manage that, could she?
Although she could walk all over the gardens now when one of them was with her and she’d stopped panicking when she couldn’t see the house, she still felt stressed at the idea of going off the grounds.
“I need to be doing better.” Frustration filled her. “It’s not good enough.”
“Come here,” Liam commanded from where he stood at the side of the mats. He looked so good in his workout clothes. So did Nico.
“I want to go again.” She turned her back on Nico. She was determined not to freeze this time.
“No. No more.”
She glared over at Liam. “Yes, more.”
He raised his eyebrows. To her surprise, her brothers had been remarkably good about giving them time to themselves. Then again, they had a lot going on. Apparently, more shit had gone down. A business deal had fallen through, the other party having gone elsewhere. She didn’t know the details. That was something she was never privy to. Maxim had once told her that Regent kept a hold on the underbelly on the city because leaving would create too much of a vacuum and put them all at risk. But she figured there was as much risk in staying.
At least she didn’t have to worry about that with Liam and Nico. Liam told her that all his businesses now were legitimate. Although there was Liam’s family to be considered.
“I said no. Come here, Lottie.”
“Damn it, Liam.” She stomped over to him. “I’m not going to get better unless I push.”
“Better? You think there’s something wrong with you?”
“Well, obviously! Even though I know it’s Nico grabbing me, I still freeze. I can’t go off the grounds without freaking out. Can’t even have you touch me because we don’t know if I’ll panic.”
Liam watched her thoughtfully. “You can’t expect everything to instantly change.”
“I’m not. I just . . . all right, maybe I wish it would instantly change. I know it’s not going to. Molly said I have to have patience, it’s just hard. I want . . . I want to be perfect for you.”
With a sigh, Liam grabbed her hand and led her to the weight bench. He sat then lifted her onto his knee. Nico came and sat next to him.
“That’s what you don’t get, you are perfect for us,” Liam told her.
