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“You don’t know what you saw. She challenged me. I challenged her back. It was stupid and it won’t happen again.”
“Challenged you? How so?”
“Will you stop with the fifty questions? We were just talking. There were all these guys showing up and buying raffle tickets from her. When I got there, there were half a dozen cowboys surrounding her.”
Ricky felt his temper rise as he scrunched up his eyebrows and turned toward Murphy.
“Were they bothering her? Did you get rid of them?” Ricky asked.
“Big Jay was with me. We both went over, then Duke, Grace, and Sandman with the baby came over.”
Ricky nodded his head. Every time he thought about some other man looking at Amelia, trying to flirt with her, never mind touch her, it filled him with rage. He wanted to hit something. The attraction, the possessiveness came out of nowhere. Like a fucking Mack truck, he was instantly possessive. It seemed that Murphy was feeling the same way.
Murphy pulled up next to Amelia’s car as she parked in the parking lot.
* * * *
Amelia noticed Regan’s car in the corner and Galen’s truck a few spaces down. She prayed that they were in the middle of something as she dialed Regan’s cell number. Regan said they were going out. Were she and Galen inside, in bed together? Oh shit!
She frantically dialed again as Ricky stood by her door. She put up her finger, indicating for him to hold on a second as she pretended to talk on the phone and the damn thing kept ringing. It was the third time she tried calling and she wished she had Galen’s number. Amelia was about to hang up.
“What’s wrong?” Regan asked, sounding out of breath.
“If you have your man in there, may I suggest getting dressed, making the bed, and pretending to be cooking something. Your brothers are here to help me move.”
“Fuck!”
Amelia heard Regan scream and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“Stall them. Oh God, do whatever you have to. Please, Amelia,” she begged then disconnected the call.
Amelia felt the instant anxiety slowly release since she got through to Regan, but one look out of her window at a scowling Murphy and she was shaking.
Slowly she got out of the car. She looked around the area and saw a walkway that led to the gardens. It would be obvious that she was stalling if she suggested walking that way.
“Is everything okay?” Ricky asked as he closed her door for her.
“Yes,” she whispered, staring up at him and Murphy. They were so tall and handsome, yet they looked hard, almost unemotional. Well not totally unemotional. But the Haas brothers sure had “pissed off”
and “untrusting” down pat.
She walked really slow. So much so, that Murphy stopped to stare at her.
“Are you okay? Something hurting?” he asked with concern. She was embarrassed. Damn, Regan. You knew I would be back by noontime or so.
She smiled up at him. “I guess I’m a little stiff from standing all morning. Sitting in the car was the only rest I had gotten. I must be out of shape.”
Ricky stopped her, took her hands into his, and held her arms out as he looked her body over. “Amelia, you look to be in perfect shape to me.” He winked and she blushed. She knew she did. She felt her hot cheeks followed by a wave of heat. Ricky was so good at this.
“I bet you say that to a lot of women. Pretty smooth, Ricky, but I’m not biting.” She pulled away and began walking, then reminded herself about moving slowly.
As they entered the front entryway, Amelia saw Will and Paul, the two men who lived there, too. They had talked to her yesterday about hanging out this weekend.
“Hi, Amelia,” Paul said then looked up at Murphy and Ricky, almost in shock and disappointment. Paul and Will were really nice guys. They weren’t military, boxers, fighters, dominant men, but instead very calm, kind of boring, and worked in business and accounting. They were safe, so she felt comfortable. But she realized, neither man affected her like the Haas brothers.
“Hi, Paul. These are two of Regan’s brothers. They’re helping me move to the cottage today.”
“Hello,” he said to Ricky and Murphy who looked annoyed, as usual, as they stood there a moment. This would buy her some time.
