The waitress says something and I look up to see she’s leaning over us and trying to get closer. I sit back in my chair and turn my eyes back to Amelia.

“Water,” I say when she won’t leave, and after a second she takes the hint.

Dean keeps trying to hold the menus in front of us so we can hide behind them, but I don’t give a shit if she sees us. We’re here to watch her, and I’m not apologizing for that.

We may have listened through her door when she was talking to her dad to find out she had a date tonight. That might be considered stepping over the line by most people, but to me it’s just good sense. We care about Amelia, and we want to make sure she’s safe at all times. Plus, we want to murder anyone who tries to take her from us, and we need to know where she is in order to do that.

“We’re supposed to be incognito,” Dean whispers, and I roll my eyes.

“She knows we’re here.”

“Shit. Do you think?” he asks, and I want to bang my head on the table.

What the fuck are we doing? Are we really going to sit here and allow our woman to be touched by another man? This isn’t who we are.

“We’ve waited our whole lives for her,” I say, looking at Dean.

There’s silence between us, then I hear Amelia giggle. I turn to look at her and see her touch the guy she’s with. The laugh is fake. I know what she sounds like when she’s happy, and that wasn’t it. She’s putting on a show for us just to make us jealous.

Oh hell no.

I stand up out of my chair so fast it falls over backwards. Dean is up instantly and by my side. I make my way over to the table with nothing but determination and possession in my steps. I won’t sit back and watch this any longer.

When we get there, her date looks up and blinks in shock to see us standing there. “Oh my god, you’re Wes Long and Dean Farmer. Wow, can I get a selfie?” he asks, standing up and getting his phone out of his pocket.

“Amelia is leaving,” I say, holing out my hand and waiting for her to take it.

She opens her mouth to say something, but I shake my head.

“Get up from the table, little one. It’s time to go home.”

Dean walks around behind her and grabs her bag. She looks at him and he gives her a big smile that shows off the dimple I know she loves. She turns her eyes back on me and I nod, letting her know this is okay. But just when I think she’s going to put her hand in mine, she squares her shoulders and turns her eyes back on her date.

“I think I’m going to finish my drink first,” she says, the sass clear in her voice.

“You know these guys? That’s awesome. Can you get me some season tickets?” the guy asks, and I want to knock him on the top of his head.

Having been pushed into a corner, I decide I’m tired of being polite. I lean down so my face is even with hers and wait for her to look at me. It takes a second, but we both know she can’t resist.

“I’m going to give you to the count of three. Then I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and carry you out of here. This isn’t a threat. I’m giving you the play we’re about to run.”

“Did you give that waitress the same one?” She crosses her arms over her chest and raises her chin at me in a challenge.

“Wait, are you, like, dating him?” the guys asks.

“Both of us, actually,” Dean chimes in, not the least bit ashamed.

“Hey, that’s cool. I was just looking to smash anyway. Since you guys share, you mind if I take her to the bathroom?”

There’s an echo in my ears, and my vision goes red. I blink a few times, but unfiltered anger clouds all my senses as I turn my body to look at the dumbest motherfucker I’ve ever met.

“What the hell did you just say?” Amelia asks before either Dean or I can speak.

“No offense,” he says, holding up his hands. “I just figured if these two guys were running a train, I want to get on board.” He has the balls to wink at her, and that’s when all hell breaks loose.

I lunge for him at the same time Dean does, knocking him out of his chair and to the floor. I hear the sounds of glass and plates smashing, and other people in the bar start shouting.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I hear Amelia begging us not to kill the guy, but I’m like a bull and he’s a red flag. I need to make sure this guy doesn’t use his mouth again. Ever.

Adrenaline is pumping in my veins and I don’t know exactly what happens, but when I feel strong hands on my arms pulling me off of him, I don’t fight because I know it’s Dean.

“Fuck, people are filming,” he says, and I look around the bar to see he’s right. It’s not super crowded, but one video sold to the right people and this might as well be the Super Bowl.

I turn around and see Amelia standing there, frozen, with her hands over her mouth. Before her eyes can meet mine, I stomp over to her and do what I said I was going to. I throw her over my shoulder and watch as Dean tosses some bills on the table and grabs her stuff.

She’s silent as I storm through the casino, mad as fuck and scared to death. The thought of anyone treating her like less than a queen enrages me. That’s our job. We’re the ones who are going to take care of her and make sure she has everything she wants. And it scares the shit out of me to see how easily we could lose it. What if she saw what we did to that guy and she doesn't want to be around us anymore? That’s not who we are, but we’ll fight to the death for her.

Dean pulls out his phone and I see him send our driver a text. When we go outside to the front of the casino, he’s waiting with the door open and we slide in. I hold Amelia tight in my lap as Dean tells him to take us home.

We ride in silence and I look straight ahead. I’m terrified to see the fear in her eyes when she looks at me, and I’m not ready to face it.

Dean is on his phone, probably texting our team media coordinator to make sure that what just happened doesn’t go viral. And that the guy we just beat up doesn’t sue us. This is going to reflect badly on the team, and though I never want to bring anything down on them, I don’t regret for a second what we did. If this turns into something major I’ll walk away from football if I have to. Amelia is more important to us than that.

When we get to our building, I carry her in my arms to the elevator and Dean hits the button for us to go up. When we get to our floor, I don’t go to Amelia’s place. Instead I go to our door and Dean opens it for us. When we get inside I head straight to the bedroom. We need to talk and it’s easiest to do it there because we can keep her from running.

I sit her down on the bed, then Dean sits down beside her and I kneel in front of her. I open my mouth to say something, but she looks up and bursts into tears.

“I’m so sorry,” she cries, and I look at Dean, who looks as shocked as I feel.

“No, baby, we’re sorry,” he says, wrapping his arm around her.

“I probably got you guys in so much trouble. I was just being a brat. I didn’t want to leave because I got jealous you were flirting with that hot hostess.”

“Who?” we both say at the same time.

“That one talking to you guys. She was being flirty, so I thought I could do the same and get back at you.” She looks up through the film of tears in her eyes and swipes at the fat drops rolling down her cheeks.

I help wipe them away and shake my head. “I’m a man of few words…” Dean laughs and she smiles. “You’re all we see, Amelia. We only want you.”

“He’s right,” Dean says, rubbing her back. “We’re not good at all this, and we’re not good at dating because we’ve never done it. But we’ve been waiting for you. We knew the moment we saw you on the plane you were the one. When we eavesdropped outside your door we heard you say you were going on a date, and we freaked.”

“You eavesdropped on me and my dad?” she gasps, her eyes wide with shock.

“Yeah, we’re not sorry about that,” I say and shrug.

A smile pulls at her lips, and I thank God her tears have stopped. I can’t handle her being sad.

“We just needed to get to you and to stop what was happening, but then we thought that maybe we should stand back and give you space,” Dean says and then shakes his head. “Obviously it didn’t go that way. We’re sorry you had to see the fight, but we’re not sorry we had to do it. If that makes sense.”

“You’re ours.”

She nods and then bites her lip as she looks between us. I see her eyes travel up and down my body, then she does the same to Dean. A slight flush of color hits her cheeks and I know what she’s thinking.

“And now that we’ve got you back here, we’re not letting you slip through our fingers again,” Dean says, leaning forward and placing a kiss on her lips.

I watch as the soft kiss turns deep and catch the edge of their tongues as they meet. My cock throbs at the sight and I sit up on my knees and reach out to push her thighs apart. I rub my hands up her bare legs and under her dress while Dean tastes her kisses. The sound of her little moans are intoxicating as my fingers go under her dress to her panties. I trace the edge of them before tugging at the material and pulling them down her legs.

She breaks her kiss with Dean as I push her dress the rest of the way up, exposing her little pussy. “I want a kiss, too,” I say, and I put her leg on my shoulder.