CHAPTER FOUR
Cold fingers of dread gripped Adam’s chest. Already married? He looked up to see the same dread mirrored on his brothers’ faces. He glanced down at her finger, unbelieving that he would have missed a ring. But none shone there.
Ethan’s hands had stilled on her shoulders. Ryan’s grip on her hand had loosened. Could it be the one woman meant for them was forbidden?
No, he wouldn’t accept that. Couldn’t.
“Who is he?” Adam demanded.
Her hand fluttered to her throat, a defensive gesture. Panic flared across her face, quickly running out of control.
Ryan’s expression grew stormy. “He’s the man you’re running from.”
“He’s the man who put the fear in your eyes,” Adam added, tilting her chin up once more.
She closed her eyes and nodded.
Relief poured through Adam. Ethan’s hands once again smoothed over Holly’s shoulders. This was something they could deal with. She would simply divorce the bastard.
“You’re not going back to him,” Adam said simply. “You’ll never go back to him.”
Tears sparkled in her cinnamon eyes. “You don’t understand. He’ll never let me go.”
“He doesn’t have a choice,” Ethan growled.
“He’ll hurt you, just like…”
Her voice trailed off but Adam understood what she had left unsaid. He’ll hurt you, just like he hurt me. He had never dealt with such fury as what built within him. It raged like an out-of-control storm.
She cleared her throat and continued on. “He’s a very powerful man. He’ll kill you. All three of you. Murder means nothing to him. I can’t let him do that.”
“And you think going back to him is the answer?” Ryan asked incredulously.
She shook her head. “No, I’ll never go back to him. Not willingly. But I also can’t stay here. If he doesn’t know I’m here, if I’m somewhere else, he can’t very well hurt any of you.”
A smile tugged at the corners of Adam’s mouth. He felt a surge of pride. The little spitfire was trying to protect them.
“I realize you’ve only known us a short time, baby, but you’re going to have to learn to trust your husbands,” Adam said.
Her eyes flew open even wider. “But you’re not my husbands! Weren’t you listening? I’m already married.”
“A mere technicality,” he said calmly. “One we intend to rectify as soon as possible.”
She made a sound of frustration. “Did you hear anything I said?”
He smiled. “We heard everything, but your concern is unfounded. We can take care of ourselves, but more than that, we can take care of you.”
Her hand fell, a helpless gesture that stated she was at a complete loss as to what to do or say. They were pressing too hard, something they couldn’t afford to do if they didn’t want to lose her.
“Come into the kitchen. Let us fix you some breakfast,” Adam said, changing the topic to something neutral. Safe.
He saw the relief in her eyes. She nodded.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” she said, her voice husky.
Adam got up and motioned for his brothers to follow him. A few seconds later, Holly was alone in the big bedroom, her senses reeling from what she had just experienced.
They wanted her. All of them. And damn it, she wanted them too. She desperately wanted to see where this whole bizarre episode would take them. But there were several problems with doing that.
One, Mason would find her if she stayed here. She knew that just as well as she knew he would step on anyone who got in his way.
Two, her longing to be cherished, protected, was what got her into her present mess, and here she was falling under the spell of three gorgeous cowboys. She had to quit looking to others for her happiness.
Their wife. She shook her head, still unable to comprehend what they had proposed. As progressive as today’s society was, she didn’t think it was so forward-thinking as to take one woman living with three men in stride.
But then, why should she care what anyone else thought? She sure hadn’t when she had run from Mason Bardwell’s home in the dead of night. On their wedding night at that.
She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. She needed aspirin and maybe a good stiff drink. Nothing made sense to her, and it hurt to try and sort through the myriad of emotions swimming around in her head.
“Holly,” Ryan said from the door.
She looked up to see the youngest brother leaning against the doorframe, studying her quietly.
“It’s time for breakfast.”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Not trusting that she wouldn’t throw herself across the room into his arms.
As if reading her mind, he ambled over to the bed and extended his hand down to her.
Slowly, she reached out and took his hand, liking the warmth that spread up her arm at an alarming rate.
He pulled her to stand beside him. His gaze slid over her, heating a path where it fell. “You haven’t kissed me,” he murmured.
Her eyes widened in surprise.
“You’ve kissed Ethan and Adam, but not me. If I were a jealous man, I might take exception to that.”
Her eyes widened.
“What do you say we remedy that?”
He bent down, his mouth hovering a mere inch above hers. Sweet Jesus, how could she possibly resist? His hand slid over her jaw to the back of her neck. His fingers plunged into her hair and pulled her to meet his mouth.
She sighed against his lips and let herself melt into his chest. The kiss was slow, hot, and thorough. Different than his brothers, but wonderful all the same. Hot. It was the only word she could come up with to describe it.
Her nipples hardened against his chest. Her breasts swelled in desire. An ache built in earnest between her legs. She clenched her thighs together, trying to ease the burn, but it only grew stronger.
His big hands traveled down her back and settled on her ass, cupping and squeezing, pushing her against his groin. His cock, hard, big, bulging in his jeans, thrust into the cradle of her pelvis.
“Can you feel how much I want you?” he whispered.
He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he resumed devouring her lips, raining a trail of heated kisses over her jawline and down her neck.
She threw back her head and moaned when his teeth nipped the delicate curve of her shoulder. One hand still palming her ass, his other hand slid around to her belly then underneath her sweater, upward until he cupped her breast.
Her breath caught in her throat when he thumbed her nipple. Exquisite currents of pleasure radiated in all directions from her breasts. Her pussy pulsed in response. Her clit tightened, ached, strained.
She moved restlessly in his arms, so close to something wonderful. Then he shoved her shirt up and lowered his head. She clenched her teeth together in anticipation. Hot breath blew over her nipple, puckering it, tightening it unbearably. But still he didn’t suck it into his mouth.
“Please,” she gasped out.
“Please what? Tell me what you want, Holly.”
“Your mouth. Please. I want your mouth there.”
“Here?” he asked, kissing the soft underswell of her breast. “Or here?” He kissed the area above her nipple.
Losing patience with his teasing, she shoved her hand into his hair and pulled his head to her nipple.
He chuckled. “Oh, you mean here.” He sucked her nipple into his mouth and her body exploded in pleasure.
“Oh my God!”
She held him tightly against her, demanding his mouth not leave her breast. Currents of fire streaked down her belly and into her pelvis. How could she be so close to coming when he’d only sucked her nipple?
“I hate to interrupt, but breakfast is getting cold,” Adam said lazily from the door.
Heat rushed to Holly’s cheeks, and she yanked away from Ryan. She pulled at her sweater, trying to restore a semblance of modesty to her appearance.
But Ryan wouldn’t let her get away that easily. He pulled her to his large frame and kissed her, hard. “Pay him no attention. He’s pissed because he wants very much to be on the other side of you.”
“True,” Adam said with a shrug. “But I will be .”
“Want breakfast?” Ryan asked as he motioned to the door.
“You go first,” she said nervously. The idea of passing by Adam was enough to make her knees turn to jelly. She much preferred the protection Ryan’s body offered as a buffer between her and Adam.
Ryan’s eyes glittered with unspent need as he tucked her hand into his. He pulled her along with him as he walked by Adam. She was almost out of the bedroom when Adam snaked an arm out and caught her.
To her dismay, Ryan let her hand fall from his and ambled on toward the kitchen. She found herself hauled up against Adam’s rock-hard chest and staring into his green eyes.
“You have no reason to be afraid of me,” he said seriously. “There’s no need to hide behind Ethan and Ryan every time I say something to you. I’m very glad you feel safe with my brothers, but they don’t have to protect you from me.”
She bit her lip nervously. “It’s just that you’re so…”
“So…what?” he prompted.
“So big,” she blurted out.
He arched an eyebrow. “And Ethan and Ryan aren’t?”
She flushed. “No, yes, I mean yes, they’re big but I don’t think they’d hurt me.”
His lips tightened. “And you think I would?”
“Not intentionally,” she said lamely. “M-Mason is nothing compared to you and yet…” She broke off, not wanting to blurt out all of what Mason had done. “If he could do so much, what could you do?”
“Is that the bastard’s name?” Adam demanded.
She pressed her lips together, refusing to say any more.
Adam sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. “Come here, baby.” He pulled her over to the bed and sat down, settling her on his lap. “I don’t know what all this Mason bastard has done to you, though I fully intend to find out, but it’s obvious he’s destroyed any trust you might’ve had. I can accept that. What I can’t accept is the fear in your eyes every time I look at you.”
Her heart thudded painfully. Adam looked earnest. Hard, but earnest. She felt silly over the fear that nagged her when he was focused on her, but she knew without a doubt she would never be the same after meeting this man. And maybe that was what she was most afraid of.
“I have been very honest with you,” he continued on. “I want you. More than any other woman. Ever. I won’t be satisfied until you’re in my bed. In our bed. Bound to us. Pregnant with our children. Belonging to us, heart and soul, forever. I can’t put it any straighter than that. I won’t let you go without a fight, that’s for damn sure, but I sure as hell won’t ever hurt you, and I’ll move heaven and earth to make sure no one else does either.”
She felt his speech to the very depths of her soul. How could she not? No one had ever spoken so honestly with her or with such conviction.
“Give us a chance, Holly. It’s all I ask.”
Not examining the voice inside her that warned her to run far, far away, she slowly nodded.
A triumphant smile spread across his face. “Now, let’s go eat that breakfast.”