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Grayson held out his hand to Avery as she stepped behind the bar, her short, silky sheath clinging to her plump, unfettered breasts and rounded stomach. “They’re more fun to torment, that’s for sure.” With his free hand, he reached up and tweaked a distended nipple before resting his palm on her baby bump.
“Master Mitchell, it’s good to see you again.” Leslie’s blue eyes lit with pleasure as she leaned against Kurt, her damp red camisole and satin boy shorts adhering to her damp curves and drawing his eyes to her long slender legs.
“You too, Leslie. And what’s this?” Mitchell lifted a brow as he picked up the blonde’s left hand and eyed the large diamond adorning her ring finger. “I didn’t know congratulations were in order.” A pang gripped him as he wondered if he’d kept himself so aloof his closest friend hadn’t thought to inform him of his engagement.
“No one did until tonight. Sorry, Mitchell. You arrived after our big announcement and there hasn’t been a chance to bring it up.” Kurt sent Leslie a possessive look of love as he slid a hand down the back of her shorts. Both her and Avery’s faces glowed in pleasure of their Dom’s touch. Mitchell worked to school his features to hide the spasm of emotional pain his friend’s good fortune generated.
Cupping Leslie’s face, he kissed her before holding out his hand to Kurt. “Congratulations.” He tugged on her long hair with a grin. “You’ve reeled in a good one.”
“And Kelsey just accepted Devin and Greg’s proposal,” Avery announced, drawing their attention to the threesome making their way up the stairs to the loft. Devin held the petite sub they shared over his shoulder and she lifted her dangling, white-haired head to finger wave at them, her ring sparkling from across the space.
“Just so long as it’s not a requirement I didn’t know about, I’m happy for all of you,” Mitchell stated as the memories of his one chance at such happiness played through his head. When the two scenes he’d indulged in with Lillian intruded and kept him from hooking up with anyone before leaving The Barn an hour later, he drove home wondering how he would put her aside like the others with her staying so close.
Salt Lake City
Bryan stood beside Brad’s hospital bed, gazing down at his brother’s pale face and bandaged head. Damn stubborn fool. His hands fisted as he imagined what would have happened if Brad hadn’t finally realized he wasn’t immune to serious injury and gotten help for what turned out to be a slow brain bleed. Just the sound of it scared Bryan all over again. According to the surgeon who performed the operation a few hours ago, his brother would recover but would require a combination of therapy and drug treatment.
Knowing how close he had come to losing his only sibling, Bryan wasn’t in the mood to let the person responsible get by with what she?
?d done any longer. Brad wouldn’t like it, but he planned to go after Lillian Gillespie and bring her back to face a charge of attempted murder. He had no doubt he could make that charge stick if he got hold of and destroyed the pictures she claimed to have of bruises Brad had put on her. He was sure the woman deserved every one given her jealous behavior and the jeopardy she’d put Brad’s life in.
Reaching down, he squeezed Brad’s shoulder. “I’ll be back. Trust me to make this right.”
Bryan lit up as soon as he reached the hospital parking lot. He should quit, if for no other reason than to make his brother happy. Brad had been harping on him to get help to kick his chain-smoking habit since the day he started medical school. The truth was, Bryan not only craved the addictive nicotine rush, but he liked smoking. It gave him something to do with his hands and calmed him as he dealt with the stress of his job. Working Vice put him in contact with a lot of scum and as far as negative ways to cope, walking around with a lit cigarette in his hand so he could relish the burn of pungent smoke filling his lungs whenever he wanted wasn’t near as bad as the lines his cop friends crossed. At least he hadn’t sunk so low as to accept a bribe or line his pockets from a bust before turning in evidence.
As Bryan drove away from the hospital and his suffering brother, he realized what he was planning would cross over those lines he’d been so proud of avoiding since making detective ten years ago. Tracking down Lillian’s whereabouts by tracing her finances would be on the up and up using resources at the precinct, but he didn’t doubt ridding her of those pictures would require breaking a few laws. As he recalled Brad’s slurred speech, loss of physical coordination and almost daily nausea that had laid him low since she’d attacked him, he didn’t feel in the least guilty for what he planned to do.
Getting retribution for the pain and suffering she’d caused his little brother was all that concerned Bryan right now, that and Brad gaining full recovery of his life and health.
Chapter 7
Lillian kept the 9:00 a.m. appointment at the clinic Monday morning, swearing that wasn’t disappointment tugging at her when another doctor called her in to tell her the x-rays a tech had taken were clear. After checking her for lingering tenderness and giving her instructions not to overdo for another week, she walked out of the clinic promising herself not to give Mitchell another thought. The man was good at giving her orgasms and irritating her, and that was it.
Unlike most years in Utah, March was not rolling in like a lion here in Montana. This week’s temperatures were expected to reach the lower fifties, prompting Lillian to zip up her coat and walk the one block over to the town square as she left the clinic. It was still cold enough her breath blew out in white puffs, but the bright mid-morning sun was already warm enough to make the air tolerable.
The walk helped calm her irrational disgruntlement over not getting Mitchell’s personal attention at the clinic. He never said the appointment would be with him, she admitted, and since he annoyed her when he wasn’t touching her naked body, she couldn’t understand why her mood had taken a nose-dive after he’d pawned her off on his colleague.
Coming around the corner into the square, Lillian stopped in her tracks upon seeing a large moose with broad antlers meandering across the cobblestone courtyard as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Even several feet away, the animal’s size was intimidating. As she stood there pondering the safety of going around the buck, Gertie stepped out of the diner and moved in front of her.
“Just stand still, girl. They’re harmless, for the most part, but if startled, they can move fast and attack. Big son-of-a-bitch, isn’t he?”
“Yes, and he doesn’t look to be in a hurry to leave here. The one that ran out in front of me a few weeks ago was smaller and didn’t have those antlers, yet still managed to scare the crap out of me.”
Gertie snorted. “City girl. That would have been a female. This guy might linger for a while. May as well come in for a cup of coffee and piece of pie. All I have is chocolate cream.”
She opened the door and went back inside the diner, expecting, Lillian was sure, for her to follow. Who needed Mitchell’s friendship when people like Gertie were so nice to her? A giggle worked its way up her throat as she entered the restaurant imagining the gruff woman’s reaction if someone called her nice. She stayed for an hour, eating pie and talking to friendly patrons who took the time to chat for a few minutes, before strolling down to the library after the moose finally lumbered off. Willa greeted her with a wave and held up a book as Lillian approached the counter.
“I saved this back for you, figuring you would be in soon. It’s a new release I think you’ll like if you don’t already have it.”
“Oh, no, I don’t and I saw this advertised. Thank you so much.” She pulled the book she finished from her bag and traded it for the new thriller, the librarian’s consideration warming her as much as Gertie’s brusque invitation for coffee and pie.
Leaving the library, Lillian veered toward Nan’s teashop and ran right into Grayson Monroe as he exited the city building. “Oops, sorry, Sheriff,” she apologized, stepping back. She only got a glimpse of his eyes from under his lowered Stetson, but it was enough to see the same probing intensity Mitchell would look at her with that always put her on guard. Or maybe it was the size of the men in Montana that caused her to take notice with more interest than she’d ever bestowed toward anyone back home.
“Lillian. You look better than the last time I saw you.”
“I feel much better,” she returned, relaxing. “I’ve met Avery. Your first?”
He nudged his hat back and smiled around the toothpick. “Yes, a girl.” He looked around at the parked cars. “Where are you parked?”
