Page 16 of Nightfire

Sam stepped away for Mike.

Mike put his arms around her. Somewhere along the way, she’d shed her coat. She had on some silky thing, a ruffled blouse in a delicate pink—the color of her flushed face.

She eased into his arms. She fit so perfectly, just slotted right into him.

The hug with Sam had been awkward. He was so much taller than her, and she’d moved stiffly. The embrace had been genuine but stiff.

But with Mike, she just moved naturally into his embrace and just as naturally his arms closed around her.

Time stopped, telescoped.

The room disappeared. Harry and Sam, Nicole and Ellen—gone. No more.

There was no noise, nothing. Just Mike and Chloe, in his arms.

Mike was shorter than his brothers and Chloe’s head fit naturally, perfectly, right against his shoulder, at exactly the point where all he had to do was tilt his head to rub his cheek against her soft golden hair. Bend down just a little more to kiss her.

Mike felt heat all along his front, like being covered with a soft, warm blanket that was silky, too. And smelled like heaven. Something fresh and warm.

He was super-sensitized. He could feel the short gasps of her excited breath against his neck. His hand was so big it covered a good portion of her narrow back and he could feel her rapid heartbeat against the palm of his hand. The quick heartbeat of joy.

Mike had fucked hundreds of women, but he’d never felt anything even remotely like this. A mild electric shock as he held her raced through him. Everywhere he touched, it felt as if he’d never touched a woman before. Never felt such silkiness, such warmth. Never felt as if she’d moved her body into his like magnets of opposite poles meeting. A force that was unstoppable, natural, utterly right.

She rested against him and he wanted to keep her there forever, but when he felt himself harden, he moved away subtly, mentally rolling his eyes.

Goddamn. His dick had never known how to behave itself.

Oh man, way to turn this moment into something that belonged in the dives he frequented when he got his black moments.

He couldn’t really blame his dick, though. His dick was right to move. He felt it wasn’t getting erect so much as trying to get closer to her, close to all that silk and gold.

His dick would get closer to her eventually. Close to her, in her. Oh yeah. Only not right now.

Her hand was still in his and it took real will power not to bring her fingers to his mouth. She had beautiful hands, fingers long and slender. A pianist’s hands though he had no idea if she played or not.

He could almost feel her fingers against his lips, so strongly he had to drop her hand and step back, muster a smile.

When he pulled back, Chloe did too, and smiled back up at him. “A brother,” she whispered.

Mike didn’t answer, didn’t reassure her that she’d just found another brother.

Because what he was feeling right then wasn’t brotherly at all.

FIVE

Chloe received more hugs that morning than in her entire lifetime. It was magical, beyond words. Beyond even her imagining—and she’d done a lot of imagining on sleepless nights, staring at the ceiling, wondering what it would be like to have a family.

Wonderful, that’s what it was like.

It took her a second to sort the women out. The small, pretty red head with the slight southern accent was Ellen, Harry’s wife. And…and her sister-in-law. And Chloe had a niece.

Chloe had never, ever thought she’d have a sister-in-law or a niece. A blood relation. The thought made her shiver.

And then Nicole, Sam’s wife. Beautiful and warm and welcoming. And, since Harry said Sam was like a brother to him, well then, apparently Nicole was her sister-in-law, too.

Then there was Sam, very tall, as tall as her brother Harry, only not as good-looking. He actually looked rough, exactly the kind of man she’d shy away from, instinctively. Tall, strong, rough-looking men automatically equated danger. This was a message that came to her from some place so deeply embedded in her heart and mind and sinews that she had never even questioned it, until now.

Notwithstanding his appearance, though, Sam seemed like a good guy. Though he looked like he could pick you up and smash you against a wall without breaking a sweat, the truth was, he made a real point of being gentle with her. He’d hugged her with almost exaggerated care, the way you’d hug a frail grandmother. There wasn’t anything he could do about his rough voice, but he did seem to try to modulate it for her.