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Truth is, deep down I’d hoped and prayed and silently wished I could have them at my side again. I’d fallen asleep thinking about them. I never thought anyone was listening though. Now that I have them standing in front of me, so many mixed emotions have me pushing them away one second, sandwiched between two of them and melting into their kisses the next.
I’m as confused as the look on Landry’s face.
Ten solid minutes of arguing with them have the same words coming out of their mouths.
“Do nothing? That’s your major game plan?” I let my hands fall to my sides. I’ve passed the same stretch of flooring between the couch and table so often, I can feel the warmth beneath my feet.
Landry’s brow pulls into a scowl, and he leans all that muscle and brawn against the large wooden table dividing the living room from the dining area.
“You are. Safe, that is. We’re here and according to the intel from your father, this place isn’t known to many. No need to move and open ourselves up or risk your safety. A lot of people are looking for the kidnappers.”
The reporters and news crews attending the gala did a fabulous job of covering the whole event. Including plastering my face all over the TV. Anyone with an internet connection or TV knows my family, my face and who my father is by now.
“So what, because you’re here I should feel protected? All cuddles and kisses? Last time I trusted you, you all three left.”
“We know what we’re doing. You don’t have to trust us or even want us here for that to be true.” Landry’s once straight nose shows signs of being broken at some point, and I briefly wonder if he’s had anyone kiss it for him.
“Enough! That’s not gonna happen again. So get it out of your head.” Boone takes my chin in hand and raises my gaze to his. I want to believe him—believeinhim—but I did that once and look what it got me. His impossibly square jaw is shadowed with the beginnings of a beard. But his sharp, dark eyes are the same. Never missing a detail.
Everything about this screwed-up night and now morning should feel wrong. But in some odd way, I feel I’m where I’m supposed to be. Don’t judge. Doesn’t mean I have to make anything easy on them. Not by a long shot.
There are more secrets behind those dark eyes of his but it’s proving to be impossible to pull them out of the darkness. Landry was ready to spill, but Austin stepped in. I saw the silent communications between them.
Using the kiss Boone surprised me with to measure his level of agitation, I’d say he’s about to burn through his limited amount of composure and spill what I know he’s keeping from me. I don’t know what that might be, but I have a deep-seated notion it’s something that will hurt as much as watching them walk out of my life without a backward glance.
And all that about me being the only woman to have touched their hearts?
I have a big wake-up call for all of them.
Me. Too.
And that’s the problem.
I feel the same about them, not that they ever cared to ask or find out. And I don’t feel in the sharing mood.
No one just throws that on the table without wanting something in return. Not a man like Boone, anyway. There’s something else weighing on his chest and it’s only a matter of time.
“Austin, see to Honor’s cuts. We don’t have the luxury for your stubbornness to end in an infection.” Boone’s entire body language fits the cold tone in his voice. Tense and rigid from the strained veins in his neck down.
“Landry, secure the perimeter while I secure all entries and exit points.”
I roll my eyes. “Just say you’re going to lock the doors and windows, for Christ’s sake.” I don’t mean to sound like a bratty pain in the ass, but his take-charge alpha chest-thumping is riling me up. Men always complicate the easiest things. “And give me that. I can clean my own wounds.”
I pluck the damn towel out of Austin’s unsuspecting hands.
Boone leans over me, hands on the armrests of the chair and his nose practically touching mine. He’s waiting for me to back down. Yeah, well he can keep on waiting.
“If memory serves, you liked it when I took charge.” And with that, he steps away, leaving my chin hitting my chest.
Austin pulls my gaze from Boone’s retreating back. “I’m sure you could clean yourself up, but I like to think I’m a better doctor. Plus, I don’t think you can see the splinters as well as I can. You either go sulk in your room alone,” he pauses and raises those steel-gray eyes to me with a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. “Or, sit back and enjoy a morning cup of coffee from my thermos while I see to your feet.”
I am thirsty. I don’t think I’ve had anything since that glass of wine before dinner and that was hours ago.
“Decaf or regular?”
Minutes later Landry slips a hot mug of Columbia’s finest in my hands.
I swallow down a warm mouthful and savor the burst of sweetness on my tongue. Austin’s sweet tooth rivals my own.
