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The moment the two stepped foot into my place last night, I began making inquiries. Security footage gave me her image for facial recognition software to begin digging into her background. Snap judgments aren’t typically my thing, but one look at her, and I knew she belongs to me. Which makes whatever’s going on to bring her here my business.
Even more so, now I know I don’t have to take her from my brother. At least, not romantically. He’s obviously attached to her and feeling some sort of overprotective impulses. Nothing in the quick and dirty background dossier I’ve received from the bots currently scrubbing her digital footprint explains it.
“Sit down, kid. Let me get breakfast started. You’re a shit cook, and you know it.” I hip-check Rory to nudge him away from the coffee machine. When he turns to take a seat, I quickly swap out the coffee pod he’d selected for Perla’s coffee for a decaf brew. Caffeine won’t be good for the baby, so it’s best she gets used to decaf now.
Not a single bit of me was kidding about breeding this girl. In thirty-three years of living, I’ve never felt the drive to imprint my genetic material on another human being. Point of fact, it’s something I’ve actively avoided. Raising Rory after our mom dipped when he was eight and I was twenty-three was more than enough parenting for me.
At least, that’s what I’ve believed all these years. Now, it’s as though one glimpse at her and biological compulsion has taken over. My body is tense from holding back the urge to pull her beneath me and rut my kid into her belly. She’s so tiny, and I’m so big. I bet her little tummy pops within just a few weeks of being knocked up.
“Why are you even here, Ev? I thought you were going to be incommunicado for the next few weeks? It’s why you sent me back to campus the day after Christmas?” He hadn’t wanted to go back to school early, but I’ve never liked the idea of him here alone. He’s too trusting and would be an easy mark for an enemy trying to weasel their way into the place.
As the one-man tech security specialist and digital clean up crew for the Allard family, this place is locked up tighter than the US Mint. That makes it a target our enemies would love to hit. Not a problem when I’m in residence, but Rory’s sweet and gullible. It would be too easy to trick him into allowing access. I’ve sheltered him from the darkness I walk in as the beast of the Allard mafia.
Glory and Hunter Allard are good people. Well, good as far as criminals go. Hunter Allard and I went to school together. And when he joined Xavier Kingston’s underworld operation, he let me tag along for the ride. He also made sure I had advance notice when my junkie mother traded my kid brother to a Kingston rival for drug money.
By pledging my life to Kingston, I was able to earn the favor of him rescuing Rory before anything terrible happened to him. Our mom, loaded with a bag of cash and fuck knows how much methamphetamine, never came around again, and Rory’s been mine to care for ever since. Meanwhile, I’ve been indebted to Kingston.
When Hunter and his bride, Glory, ended Xavier, my debt transferred to the Allard family. Unlike owing Xavier, being in Hunter’s debt is an honor, and it’s why I changed my name to Allard. Serving Hunter may mean I’m on the wrong side of the law more often than not, but that’s never bothered me. Even the occasional trip to do their bidding isn’t a problem now that Rory’s not a little kid anymore. Not that I relished being out of town while Rory’s on class breaks.
Fortunately, my scheduled trip ended with lightning speed, thanks to some new connections by Hunter’s second in command, Maxen, and Maxen’s new woman, Cynbel, a stone-cold assassin. The group she worked for helped us, so the job I thought would take weeks only took days. Which is good. Now, my schedule’s wide-open, and I can figure out why Rory brought his friend, Perla, with him for the last part of winter break. And I have time to claim her with a permanency nothing can ever refute.
ChapterFive
PERLA
“You’re staring.”It’s intense, but I admit the shivery feeling isn’t unwelcome.
“Don’t ask me not to stare when looking away is impossible.” There’s no apology. Just the unrelenting heat of his dark gray gaze on my face.
“Um, okay?” I honestly don’t get this guy. He practically bit off my head, ordering me to stay out of his brother’s room. He carried me to his room while I was asleep and then guarded me to make sure I didn’t go wandering through his house again.
Now, he’s gonna stare at me as if he wants to eat me up? And saying stuff like I belong to him and he can’t not stare at me? Make it make sense.
“Eat your breakfast, Mouse. It’s the most important meal of the day.” Ev gestures with the spatula to the overfilled platter still steaming in front of me. It’s loaded up with scrambled eggs, cut fruit, sausage patties and toast. Way more than I can eat, even for a dinnertime meal. It’s definitely too much for right after waking up.
“Damn, what’s gotten into you this morning? See, this is why I never bring friends around, Ev. Can you ease up some? So fuckin’ bossy, dude.” Rory’s attempt to lighten the tension is in vain. Not that it stops him from diving face first into his own plate of food the instant his brother places it in front of him.
“Eat your food, kid. Then you need to go facetime Glory and let her know you’re still in town. If she finds out you’re spending the rest of break in town and not visiting her, she’ll cry. Then Hunter will be Hunter, and none of us need that.”
I know Glory Allard is like an aunt to Rory, though I don’t think she’s much older than he is. Then again, Rory’s more than a decade younger than his older brother, if I remember the family tree he described on the way here. It’s all a bit fuzzy, considering I wasn’t expecting to meet any of these people. The house was supposed to be empty.
“Crap, I didn’t even think about that. You gonna be in the shit for coming back early? Guessing you’re only here because the security system notified you…” Rory’s got a guilty flush to his cheeks that makes me nervous.
He was so convincing when he persuaded me to spend the rest of break here, away from Perry Hurd and his grabby hands. I’m starting to think it was selfish of me to expect him to be able to save me from my problems. The last thing I want is to cause trouble for him.
“I can just go, Rory. I really didn’t mean to cause problems.” Nerves make my voice shaky. Rory’s my first real friend. The first person to be kind to me for reasons other than scoring points with my father. And this is how I repay him? By pissing off his brother and maybe getting both of them in trouble with his aunt and whoever Hunter is?
“You’re not leaving, Mouse. Sit down and eat your breakfast like a good girl. You need the nutrients.” Ev’s immense palm cups my shoulder and gently pushes me back into the chair. His hand is so big his pinky curls around my upper bicep and his thumb curves midway up my neck.
Now that I’ve met him, it makes more sense why everything in this house is practically double the size of regular furniture. Evander Allard is easily the biggest man I’ve ever seen. Not just the tallest, either. He’s got one of those barrel chests like old-time strongman boasted on circus posters.
I have no idea how a man as enormous as Ev manages to run an internet security department for Allard International. Just trying to picture his thick fingers poised over a computer keyboard makes me want to giggle.
Somehow, I manage to keep the laugh at bay. A good thing, considering I’m feeling more hysterical than humorous. The last thing I need is Evander Allard realizing how nervous he makes me. Showing this giant predator any weakness feels like an animal of prey giving its belly.
I don’t think he’d hurt me. Not physically at least. But there’s something about the way he stares that makes me think he sees more than I’m prepared for. Power and dominant energy radiates from him, and my hand moves forkfuls of breakfast to my mouth without conscious decision on my part.
“Good girl. See how easy it is to give me what I want?” His eyes are warm with approval I almost feel physically petting every nerve in my body.
