* * *

“I told you it would work.” I high fived the others including Ariel even though she still looked like she was in shock.

I took a quick peek at the guys and toned it down a bit; they were not amused. Oh well! “So, our next move, you’re going to completely ignore him.”

“I don’t know Kelly.” Dana-Sue took a sip of her juice and looked back at her man before turning around again.

“Law has that look on his face, the one he always gets when I let Melissa talk me into doing something stupid.”

“Hey, my ideas are never stupid. If these cavemen weren’t so damn secretive and heavy handed we wouldn’t have to go to these lengths. Do you want to know when is the last time I was allowed off the ranch? A damn year ago almost.”

“Oh crap, we’ve only been sequestered a few months but if that shit goes on much longer I’m gonna revolt.”

“And Logan will lock your ass away somewhere for good.”

“Oh come on Vanessa, you can’t tell me you’re not going stark raving nuts by now.”

“I am, but I understand what they’re dealing with. Khalil is not a nice man; trust me I know. I lived in fear for my life everyday since I escaped him, until I came back to Zak. They know what they’re doing.”

“I have no argument with them knowing what they’re doing, but my wedding is getting farther and farther in the distance and that is unacceptable.”

“”I don’t understand why you ladies haven’t already done the deed. Law got the preacher to come out and everybody got married in the yard.”

Gaby’s face was comical. “No way in hell. I’ve had my wedding planned since I was twelve and each day that Logan makes me wait I’m adding on another expense.”

“The way I see it, our boys aren’t the problem it’s this Khalil person. We have to get his ass taken care of and then we can go back to living.”

“I’m working on that.”

“Do tell Cierra.”

“Not yet girls, I’ll let you know how it goes. If all goes to plan this may be taken care of pretty soon.”

“That’s good for you ladies but Law refuses to let anyone help him find Junior and I don’t see us getting early release from prison anytime soon since that little rat is hiding pretty good.”

“We already decided that after we take care of this Khalil, we’re gonna have our boys help Law.”

“Good luck with that, the man is hardheaded as they come.”

“Dani take a quick look, is Colton looking at me?” We all turned to look. “Yep!”

“Dammit, I knew he was gonna blame me. Well, in for a penny in for a pound. What’s next ladies, and remember, I’m way more pregnant than the rest of you so nothing too strenuous.”

“Oh the next part is easy; we all get on the dance floor and strut our stuff.” There was a chorus of mumbles and ‘I don’t knows’ around the table.”

“Come on ladies, what’s the worst that can happen?” They all looked at me like I had a second head growing out of my neck.

“Oh I forgot, she’s new, bless her heart.”

“I know what that means Danielle.”

“Uh-huh that’s the least of your problems. You get out there shaking your ass and you won’t sit down for a week.”

“But you told me to do it.”

“Yes Ariel but that was different. Your little exercise was to get a rise out of Devon and bring him to his senses. If we do it, it’s just pulling the dog’s tail.”

“And what’s wrong with that?”

‘Uh, Victoria weren’t you there the night Dani tried that shit and Connor lost his mind?” Dani’s face went up in flames as all eyes were on her.

“Do tell!” This was all very entertaining to me. I’ve seen mom wrap daddy around her finger my whole life and this stuff we were doing was child’s play compared to her stunts as far as I was concerned.

“I still say we do it, they can’t get mad at us for dancing, they brought us to a club for heck sake.”

“You ladies are missing one very important fact here. What is the worst your man will do to you?” Cierra looked around the table.

“My guess is they’ll grumble and moan, stomp around a little…”

“Uh Cierra, your Hank seems to be a gentleman, now you’ve seen Colton Lyon in action.” Kat looked over at the men again and waved at her husband who had her dead in his sights.

“You wanna know what he’d do if my pregnant ass get up there and shake my groove thing? Pregnant or not, he’d find a way to heat my ass up. No thanks.”

“No way, he’s so soft and kind with the kids, especially little Catalina. I saw him spend more than half an hour in a very serious discussion with her this morning, reminded me of me, and my dad.”

She spat juice across the table. “What were they talking about did you hear anything? What’s the last thing we were discussing in front of her?”

“Calm down Kat, what’s the matter with you?” Susie ran her hand up and down Kat’s arm. “He picks her for information, I already told you. We are so screwed.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. I think she’s working for our team on this one. She’s not too happy with her uncles these days.”

“Why what did they do?”

“They won’t let her into their little club.” Cierra laughed.

I can’t believe the twists and turns my life has taken in just a few short days. I went from facing a fate almost as bad as death to this.

A man who loves me like crazy and a whole bunch of new friends. They were completely different from my friends back home, not better, just different.

And from what Quinn told me earlier, these women are my family now. My head is still spinning and I’m afraid to wake up from this dream.

I never imagined that I’d meet the man who could hold a candle to daddy, but I’m inclined to think Quinn might give him a run for his money.

He’s too good to be true, and the fact that he comes with his team of brothers and their women only sweetens the pot. Daddy has given me a great appreciation for strong military men and the brotherhoods they form that last years.

I think it’s the presence of the women that’s helping me come to terms with this gigantic shift in my life.

Without their stories and their gushing about their brothers, I might’ve put the reins on; then again I get the feeling that with Quinn I wouldn’t have stood a chance.

In the past few days I’ve barely given any thought to what happened, other than to try to figure out how to make the ones responsible pay. Especially after hearing the other women’s stories.

It didn’t take much after we all put our heads together, to realize that it was all connected and it had something to do with our men.

Their antics are helping me to overcome whatever lingering fear I might’ve had because in the real world I should be hiding away somewhere afraid to leave the house.

And at night, when I’m in bed with Quinn, after he’s melted my bones, and I drift off to sleep with his scent in my nose and the feel of his strong capable arms wrapped protectively around me, his whispered ‘I love yous’ makes me feel like anything is possible.

I feel like I’m living in a dream and we haven’t even touched the surface of anything resembling a relationship yet. But somehow I feel in my very core that this is real.

Each time I have a doubt I only have to turn to any one of the women here for some reassurance. Their own story gives me hope, especially Kat, whose relationship is the oldest.

I watch the men with their women and can see the love and adoration with my own two eyes, my daddy taught me how to read people. And if all these couples were lying they should be on a Broadway stage.

I gave Quinn my perfected innocent look while the women debated whether or not we should test the men. I was in the mood to kick up my heels and do a little teasing of my own.

Though for a second there I’d doubted my suggestion that Ariel should get Devon’s goat. He’d looked ready to kill, but even then I didn’t have that fear in my gut that he would actually do something harmful to her.

“Come on girls, the DJ’s going to put on our song soon, so, are we in or not?”

“Ah geez.” Kat rubbed her protruding tummy.

“He can’t do too much to me, let’s go.” I threw my hands in the air and whooped as we got to our feet and made a beeline for the dance floor.

I’m sure they were all as aware of their men as I was of Quinn when the music changed and us girls started doing our thing.

We weren’t as good as Ariel, she dances like a dream, only for some reason she calls it exercise. For someone who didn’t have any formal training she was damn good.

But since it appeared that she and I were the only ones not pregnant, this number was a little less wild. That didn’t stop the men from getting into position though.

“You see, this isn’t so bad, they’re fine.”

“Yeah because we haven’t started that crazy dance of yours yet. How did I let myself get talked into this?”

“Oh come on Victoria, we’re having fun.”

“Yeah, you don’t know Tyler.”

“Look, you ladies have been living like prisoners forever, we’re on an island for one night of fun and we’re going to have fun dammit.”

I can’t believe these men would be so bent out of shape if their women danced in a public place. Granted the dance Ariel had done was just a tad seductive, but that was by design.

I’d drifted off with my thoughts so didn’t notice the shift until his shadow fell over me. “Let’s go Scheherazade.”

“What, what’s going on?” My mouth was almost to my chin when I realized the other women were already being led to the door. That’s what I get for closing my eyes and getting lost in the music.

“Was this your idea?”

“Who me? Why what and why do you think it was?” The look he gave me told me he saw right through me.

Damn, that’s not gonna work. I can’t have him knowing me that well already, how will I ever get away with anything then?

Was he mad? I couldn’t tell, and from the way the others had their lips buttoned I couldn’t correctly gauge the situation.

Once we boarded the yacht for the short trip back, I still was none the wiser. Quinn hadn’t said anything else and the men didn’t appear upset.

In fact they were carrying on a conversation like they hadn’t just dragged us off the dance floor. I did notice though, that each of them had their hand on their woman in some way. Including Devon.

The look on Ariel’s face was worth whatever was waiting for me once we got back to the cottage. She was so secretive, so reserved it was obvious that there was some serious shit going on there.

So seeing the secret little smile on her face as he held her hand in his made me happy. I caught Quinn studying me as I studied them and smiled.

Resting my head on his shoulder, I squeezed the hand he had wrapped around mine and when he kissed my hair I got tears in my eyes for some stupid reason.

My heart felt so full in that moment that all I could think was how much I couldn’t wait to spend the rest of my life getting to know him. Because what I’d seen thus far only made me need more.