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“You’re sorry because I’m upset?” Nico whispered.
“Yes. And I’m sorry for being like this. For disappointing people. I wasn’t supposed to do this anymore.”
“This has happened before?” Liam asked sharply.
“Not for a while . . . but after I was kidnapped, it happened a few times.”
Liam started swearing and she curved in on herself. She tried to draw her legs up, but he was still holding her hands.
“Liam’s not upset with you,” Nico soothed, moving so he was sitting next to her. “You’re shivering? Are you cold? We should get her off this floor.”
Liam nodded and before she even knew what was happening, she was being lifted and cradled in the huge man’s arms.
She tensed, waiting for the panic to come over her. Nobody touched her except her family. Oh, and Nico today. But for some reason, she didn’t panic when he touched her.
Although panic bubbled in her stomach, it didn’t manifest into an attack. The anxiety didn’t overtake her. And she wasn’t sure why.
Liam Carmichael wasn’t a safe guy. He was imminently dangerous. Maybe not to her physical health. But her mental and emotional health couldn’t take him. Couldn’t stand up to him. She stiffened. Prepared to fight him off.
“Easy, baby,” Liam whispered, making her tense for an entirely different reason.
Baby?
He’d called her baby. And it wasn’t just the word, it was the way he’d said it. In a soft croon that filled her body with warmth. Suddenly, she wasn’t cold or afraid.
Liam carried her out to the bedroom, where Nico sat on the bed. He patted his lap. “Give her to me.”
They were treating her like a doll. Precious and easily breakable. She didn’t want to be like that. But right then, she felt very, very fragile. And their care was like a bandage on her wounds.
She was placed in Nico’s lap. Then Liam picked up the blanket at the end of her bed and gently tucked it around her.
Lottie couldn’t help but stare at him in amazement.
“Told you,” Nico murmured as Liam turned away and walked into the bathroom. “Marshmallow.”
“Why are you both here?” she asked as Liam returned with a wet cloth and the first aid kit.
“We wanted to check in on you after today,” Nico told her. “You weren’t at dinner. We were worried.”
Liam was silent as he crouched in front of them. He grabbed her sore hand and gently started washing it with the cloth. She hissed as he touched a particularly sore spot, reflexively trying to draw her hand back. But he kept hold.
“Easy, baby. I’ve got you.”
He was being so gentle, it brought tears to her eyes.
“Sh, pretty girl,” Nico whispered in her ear. “Everything is going to be all right.”
Liam had moved to cleaning the other hand. She shook her head.
All right? How can anything ever be all right?
“Because Liam and I won’t allow you to be anything else,” Nico told her firmly.
“I said that out loud?” she asked. Now, she was really losing it. She didn’t even know what she was thinking and what she was saying.
Liam didn’t look up from his task. Didn’t say anything. He just took care of her silently, but with such attentiveness that she could feel tears filling her eyes.
Lottie was loved. She knew that. Her brothers adored and protected her ferociously. And if they didn’t, her cousins would. She’d always been loved. Always.
