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At least he had a place to start, and a face to shove his fist into. Eldon Vessante may not have been behind Piper’s beating, but the only reason he hadn’t been was because Broecun would have stopped him.
Broecun wouldn’t stop Jed from teaching the other man how to treat a woman. And blackmailing Piper with her dream of a big-time fashion show and an exclusive sponsorship was something Jed would exact a little atonement for.
“Well, you’re home now.” He pulled into the Mackay Inn’s lot, parked the truck, then shut it off. “Let’s see if I can sneak you into the house and get you settled before Dawg gets his first report that you’re home.”
He sure as hell didn’t need Dawg around right now, or Timothy Cranston. He’d talk to them both in the morning instead. Dawg and his cousins were going to have to step back a pace or two, regardless of whether or not they liked it. If they wanted to know the trouble—or potential trouble—his sisters got into or were headed for, then the girls couldn’t be afraid to let him know what they were doing.
Her fear of being smothered during what she believed was an important event had almost cost Piper her life; he wouldn’t allow it to harm her more in the future.
“I’m scared for him, Jed,” she whispered as he cut the engine, then turned back to her, confused.
“Scared for whom, honey?”
“For Dawg.” He could see the tears in her eyes, the faint tremble of her lips in the dim light of the moon.
“Dawg and his cousins take care of themselves and one another just fine, Piper,” he promised her.
She shook her head at his statement. “That’s not what I mean.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s going to be very alone,” she told him softly. “He’s becoming out of control, Jed. He makes me frightened of him when he starts standing over us like guard dogs. He can’t keep telling us what to do or how to live. I know Lyrica and Zoey, too. If he doesn’t stop, I swear, we’ll all end up leaving. We talk about it more and more often. He may well be headed for a stroke, but Lyrica, Zoey, and I are headed out of town if it keeps up.”
“He worries, Piper.” His hands clenched on the steering wheel in an instinctive protest at the thought of her leaving.
“I would have been in your bed a year ago if he hadn’t been watching us all like hawks. I’m terrified to show any interest in a man, and God forbid I should actually consider taking a lover after the grief he gave Eve.” The words were out of her mouth before she could hold them back.
A wave of heat flushed through her at the sudden, brilliant gleam of lust that lit his gaze.
He may not have tightened with the information she’d given him about Eldon’s attack, but the moment she mentioned being in his bed, his entire body seemed to jerk in abrupt interest.
Or perhaps “interest” was far too tame a word. It was as though every thought, every emotion, every particle of his being was suddenly intently, greedily focused on her.
“Did Dawg order you to stay away from me, Piper?” he asked her calmly, but what she saw in his gaze was anything but calm.
She shook her head slowly. “No, but who I sleep with isn’t up for debate, Jed. And I won’t let it become a family point of interest that I’m fighting my brother over the man I want for a lover because he disapproves of him as he did with Eve. It shouldn’t be like that, and I can’t stand the thought that Dawg would turn it into such a battle.”
He’d nearly broken Eve’s heart.
Her sister had finally told her of the fight she’d had with Dawg when she had taken Brogan as her lover. Dawg had gone so far as to use the worst sort of emotional blackmail to keep her from giving in to the man she’d been fascinated with for years.
Piper had been terrified he would try the same tactics with her. If he had tried such a guilt trip with her, she would have gone ballistic. Eve had had far more patience than Piper could have ever found in the same situation.
“I was beginning to wonder if you even wanted to find yourself in my bed.” He reached out, his palm cupping the uninjured side of her face.
“I didn’t say you wouldn’t have to seduce me now,” she informed him tartly, despite the heat rushing through her body at his touch. “I simply said I may have ended up there sooner.”
“You call that little tease a month ago being in my bed?” He came closer, his gaze focused on her lips as Piper brushed her tongue over them, wishing her attacker had kept the back of his hand away from them.
“You call that a little tease?” she whispered roughly. “I’m going to have to show you a real tease, Jedediah Booker, so you’ll know the difference.”
“And exactly what would you call a little tease, Piper?” he asked, his lips moving close, oh, so close to hers.
“What you’re doing right now, maybe?”
She could barely breath
e.
