Melinda flinched. Harsh, but true, and it drove his point home.
Louis was out of his seat and kneeling before her. He cupped her face. “Chouquette, a man tried to shoot you last night.”
Fear flickered in her eyes and tainted her scent, but the determined set of her jaw remained.
Pierre clasped both hands around hers. “This is the type of thing Wolf Enterprises does. Whatwedo. Let us help you. Think of us as your personal bodyguards.”
“Oui.Very sexy bodyguards,non?”teased Louis.
Melinda cracked a hesitant smile.
“Everyone will be jealous.” Louis side-eyed him. “Mostly because of me. I’m the better-looking twin. Pierre’s the oldest. That’s how you tell us apart.”
There were as many differences between them as there were similarities. Would she notice? With time, he hoped so.
Melinda’s gaze bounced between the two of them. “Bodyguards?”
Pierre gave her hands another gentle squeeze. “Oui.”
A relaxing of her shoulders, a brief nod and the unmistakable change in the air, from fear to relief. “Okay. But I pay you for your services.”
Pierre snarled.Fuck, no.
“I pay you,” she said, her voice firm. “That makes me your boss, and you have to back off when I tell you to.”
This time it was Louis who snarled.
Chin jutted out, she stared them down. “It’s this way or not at all. I pay you, or we part ways as soon as we’re through customs in San Francisco.”
“Fine,” he growled. Let her think what she liked. He’d create a damn invoice for her if that’s what made her happy, made her think she had some control, but she wouldn’t be paying them a single euro. And he and Louis were never going to leave her side. No matter what.
Chapter Fifteen
They breezed through customs with little fanfare, except for Manchu’s caterwauling and hissing when the customs officer peeked into his cat carrier. The twins flanked her, guiding her to a waiting car like she was some sort of celebrity or foreign dignitary. It was an unfamiliar sensation, someone looking out for her. She liked it, but she shouldn’t get too used to it. It was temporary. And paid for.
The ride from the airport was uneventful, and they were soon pulling to a stop beneath the portico of a palatial building complete with Grecian columns. The Ritz-Carlton.Nice.As Pierre collected the key from the front desk, Melinda did a slow spin around the foyer—a picture of marble floors, chandeliers, and understated elegance.
In the lift, Pierre swiped the key card and pressed the button for their floor.The penthouse suite?She shouldn’t be surprised. A private jet, the penthouse suite. Wolf Enterprises had deep pockets. She might come to regret insisting on paying the twins for their services. No. Whatever it cost, even if it ate up all her savings, she was on surer ground with things between them as business only. Money got results. Trust… It’d been a long time since she’d trusted anyone.
Then again, she’d got on a plane and flown to a different country—and had wild sex—with two men she barely knew. She could chalk that up to the stress of the moment. The shock of being confronted in her own flat by a man with a gun. The twins’ take-charge attitude, and because they’d offered her theonly plausible choice in the circumstances. She could only hope it didn’t come back to bite her on the ass.
The lift swished open into a lobby, and once again, the twins flanked her as they crossed the vestibule and into the suite. Two people, framed by floor to ceiling windows overlooking the San Francisco skyline, rose from the leather sofa. A woman, lithe, tall and gorgeous. A Xena Warrior Princess. Or a Lady Sith. Beside her, Melinda would look like a pixie.
And a man, a big man. The family resemblance was obvious. This must be Pierre’s and Louis’ brother, Gabriel. He had the same dark hair curling at the nape of his neck, the same golden skin, the same smile. He was a little rougher, lacking the suaveness of Pierre, and more serious, Louis’ cheerfulness absent. Where Pierre and Louis were tall and muscular, Gabriel was a mountain of a man.
If the twins were the technical support, Gabriel must be the muscle. Director of Operations. Chief of Security. He wore the same leather wrist cuff with the silver wolf motif as the twins. The woman, too. Because they were all part of the co-operative? Wolf Enterprises?
Gabriel grinned and enfolded Louis in a bear hug, then turned to Pierre, dragging him in and clapping him on the back. “Good to see you, brothers. When was it? Before Christmas when we talked, face to face?”
Gabriel looked past the twins, his gaze settling on her, scrutinizing her from head to toe. Had the twins told him why they were here? What had happened in her flat? Was he angry she’d dragged his brothers into her drama? She must have met his approval, for he nodded, a jerk of his chin.
“Gabe, Stef—” Pierre held his hand at the small of her back. “This is Melinda Cheng. Melinda, this is my brother, Gabriel, and Stefanie, another member of Wolf Enterprises and a close family friend.”
Melinda set the cat carrier down. “Hi. Nice to meet you both.”
Gabriel quirked an eyebrow at the carrier. “What is that?”
“Manchu, my cat.”
