“Good,” she replied and stared up at him. He towered over her, especially in the tennis sneakers she wore.

  He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers softly. “I missed you,” he said. She nibbled her bottom lip.

  Then Alex approached. He slid his hand along her waist and pulled her closer. “You look good,” he said, and she felt him slide his hand along her ass. It felt good, right, unlike last night. That uneasy feeling hit her as she slowly pulled back.

  “Well, I don’t want to waste your time or your day off, so let’s get moving,” she said.

  He stopped her. “You are not wasting our time or ruining our day. We’re planning on spending it with you, helping you settle in and get comfortable.” He gave her French braid a tug and winked. She smiled, felt all giddy but then heard the other truck pull up. She was shocked. It was Kase and Rhett.

  “Oh God, they didn’t need to come, too. I don’t have that much stuff, and the cottage furniture stays,” she said as both men got out of the truck, and holy Jesus did her heart race.

  Kase looked huge and muscular. He wore a flannel shirt in green rolled up to his elbows. It was tucked into tight blue jeans, and he wore cowboy boots just like Rhett. Rhett’s shirt was navy blue and rolled up to his sleeves, too. As they approached it was like a force field of manliness, and she was a small object of arousal in the middle. Her throat closed up, her heart raced, her palms sweat, and she said hello and her voice cracked.

  “How are you?” Rhett asked, but Kase just stared at her.

  “Good. I truly appreciate the help, although it’s not really necessary. I don’t own that much.” She reached for a box.

  “Let us do that. You keep packing,” Alex told her. She watched the men begin to pack up what she had started the last few days. She walked back into the kitchen and got on the small step ladder to reach the items on the top shelf. Just some old glasses she had from college. She started to bend and place them down when she felt the hand on her hip.

  “Easy there or you’ll fall,” Rhett said to her. His large, warm hand was on her waist, and then Nash was there helping to place more things into the box.

  “You really don’t have that much, huh?” Nash asked her.

  She looked down at Rhett who was caressing her skin under her shirt. “Not really.” She went to step down. Rhett didn’t move his hand, so as she stepped down his fingers inched higher and then around her waist. She pressed her hand to his chest and gasped at the pain.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her. She nodded, but then Rhett cupped her cheek and stared into her eyes. “You smell real good, Maya.”

  “Thanks, Rhett,” she said, but then he pressed his lips to hers. He lifted her from the ladder and placed her ass on the counter behind him. He pressed between her thighs and continued to kiss her. She was afraid he might go too far. This was a complete shock to her to have Rhett kiss her today, right now, only after being around her for like ten minutes or whatever. He must have sensed her need to slow things down as he eased his mouth from hers, but slid his palm and hand around her waist under her shirt and hugged her to him. “You sure are a sweet surprise, doll. A sweet surprise indeed.”

  Rhett didn’t think before he took control as usual. When he wanted something, and in this case, a taste of Maya, he didn’t hesitate. Thank God she was okay with it, and seemed to feel the attraction as well as she kissed him back. She was light, feminine, and he completely understood the possessive and protective instincts Alex and Nash had started having for Maya. He could pick her up with one arm. She needed protection. He squeezed her to him, inhaled against her neck, and then pulled back. He had to bend slightly to look her in the eyes. “Was that okay? Not too much?” he asked, and it surprised him too as he caressed her thighs and then held her hips.

  She swallowed hard. “It was unexpected.”

  “I’d say so,” Kase commented then picked up a box and headed back out of the house. Nash and Alex, however, smirked, then winked.

  “Let’s get things moving so we can have you all set in your new place as soon as possible, neighbor,” he teased, and that surprised him, too. He did not flirt or tease. He demanded. Hell, he was almost as bad as Kase.

  Maya was grateful that the men didn’t try kissing her again, but then she wondered why Kase hadn’t yet. She was losing her mind. These men were seasoned, experienced in ways she hadn’t a clue about. Kase and Rhett particularly intrigued her because they were so fierce, and represented characteristics she felt she should stay clear of, yet she found them attractive, too.

  She was feeling pretty warm as she locked up the cottage then left the key in the drop box the landlord said for her to do. She then got into her car and followed the trucks back to the cottage. When she got there, the last thing she expected was a welcoming party. A woman, Scott, Edward, and another man. That had to be dad number three. She got out of her car and smiled wide. Kase and Rhett looked annoyed. Well, mostly Kase who just started to bring in boxes to the new place.

  “So nice to meet you, Maya. The men have told us all about you. Welcome to the ranch,” their mom said.

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “Oh, please call me LizAnn. My goodness, you are gorgeous, and your eyes, they are such a unique green,” she said to her, and Maya blushed.

  “Thank you, ma’am, I mean LizAnn.”

  Their mom chuckled. “Let me show you inside. We also prepared some lunch and have drinks and things if you wanted to come by and have something.”

  “Oh thank you, that’s so kind. I figured once we unpacked I would clean up the kitchen then head into town to go food shopping.”

  “I already cleaned the place,” Nash told her and gave her a smile.

  “Nash, you didn’t need to do that. I would have been fine.”

  “You were working last night, and it would be too much to try and clean this morning and move everything in.”

  “That makes sense. I’m sure Kase and Rhett, as well as you and Alex, have a lot to do on your day off and need your trucks. Let’s get things unloaded, and then I can handle the rest.” She started to head toward the truck.

  Alex snagged her around the waist and pulled her into his arms. He stared down into her eyes, towering over her. “We’re all yours today, baby, anything you need,” he said with promise then went to kiss her on the mouth. She turned, and he kissed her cheek. He gave her a squeeze, and she felt embarrassed that he would make a move in front of his mom. Was that silly of her? She didn’t know, but their mom and their dads chuckled.

  “This ought to be good,” Scott said, and then LizAnn cleared her throat. When she looked at Rhett and Kase as Alex released her, both men looked as serious as a heart attack. She quickly turned away.

  As they worked side by side, bringing in boxes and emptying things, getting organized, she was really feeling hot. “What about this one?” Kase asked her in that abrupt, angry tone that seemed to be his normal voice.

  “Oh, the bedroom bathroom.” She started to follow him in there. He set it down, and it started to open. Some fancy soaps and body wash, plus little knickknacks began to fall as the box ripped. She hurried to help him and then started to pull things up. Without thinking, she yanked up her sleeves so she wouldn’t get any liquid on her. Kase grabbed her arm.

  “What the fuck is this?” he demanded, shocking her not only by his cursing but his tone. She fell back onto her rear.

  “What’s wrong?” Rhett asked, and she saw Alex and Nash, too.

  “You know about this?” Kase lifted her arm up so they could see.

  “It’s fine,” she said and pulled free then went to get up. They were staring at her.

  “When did that happen and how?” Nash demanded to know. She rubbed her arm, pulled down the sleeve, and took a deep breath and exhaled. “I handled it fine, Nash.”

  “Handled what fine?” he asked through clenched teeth. She put some space between her and the four extra-large men, then crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I was working. Some drunk guys got a bit rowdy. One guy was overaggressive.”

  “What the fuck did he do? Every detail, Maya, or else,” Alex commanded, and she was surprised.

  “It was stupid. The guys were drunk and flirting. I kept ignoring them and declining their offers.”

  “Offers?” Rhett asked.

  “Dates, sex, whatever.”

  “What the fuck?” Rhett exclaimed.

  “Anyway, when he wouldn’t stop and I was walking away, he grabbed me.”

  “By your wrist?” Alex asked. She nibbled her bottom lip.

  “Maya.” Kase said her name this time.

  She looked away as she spoke. They were just too intimidating like this.

  “He grabbed my ass, I pushed away, and he pulled me closer then snagged my wrist. Harper came over to tell him to release me, and he wouldn’t. As the bouncers approached, I did that move you guys showed me this week in our training session. I struck him in the gut as I shoved my elbow down, and he fell off the chair. Orlando and Charge got over there and kicked them out. See, I handled it.” She rubbed her wrist.

  As she went to move, Kase grabbed her around the waist, shocking her. She gasped, and he cupped her cheek. “Then you leave work without calling my brothers to follow you home? What if those men followed you? Or found out where you lived? Then what?” He raised his voice. She never thought about that. She figured it was handled and that they were drunk.

  He looked at his brothers and was breathing through his nose, sounding pissed off. “Goddamn straight she needs looking after. I’m in,” he said. She didn’t know what he meant, but it didn’t matter because suddenly he lifted her up, pressed her body up against the wall, and kissed her. He rocked his hips and ran his hands along her hips, then slid one to her ass and squeezed it while he used the other to grip her hair and head and plunged his tongue into her mouth. It was the wildest, most arousing kiss she had encountered. So different from Nash and Alex who took their time, and more forceful and demanding then Rhett’s had been in the old kitchen. No, Kase was lethal, wild, but when he cupped her breast and moved his mouth along her neck and then shoved her shirt up to kiss her cleavage, she had to slow him down.

  “Kase!” she exclaimed as she felt his mouth and then tongue lick along her cleavage then into the cup of her bra. He was trying to push it off her breast but couldn’t because she was so well endowed. His tongue somehow made contact with her nipple as she gripped his head, and she came. Right there in his arms against the wall. She felt flush, silly as he stopped, lifted up, looking wild hungry as he stared down into her eyes. “Oh shit. Goddamn, where did she come from?”

  “Who cares? We’re going to make her ours, Kase. All fucking ours,” Nash said.

  Kase held her gaze and began to lower once again to her breast. “Kase, slow down. Oh God, please. Please, it’s too much. I hardly even know you,” she said, sounding panicked. He gave himself a mental shake. He was practically mauling the woman. Fuck. He couldn’t seem to stop looking at her face, her lips and breasts until her shirt began to fall and cover the deep cleavage. He was trying to catch his breath while he set her feet down and fixed her top. Kase caressed under her shirt, around her waist, and then placed one hand against the wall above her shoulder and the other against her arm, stroking her. She didn’t turn away. She looked so young, so vulnerable, and his first thought was she appeared as prey and he was the hunter that would capture her and make her his woman.

  He lifted her sleeve and brought her wrist to his lips and kissed it where the bruising was. She deserved better than to be manhandled by any men. It wasn’t right or fair, and he wanted to protect her. She was feminine, soft, and delicate, and he felt like he could hurt her. Like he wasn’t good enough for her. Jesus, his hand was so much bigger he could wrap it around her upper arm.

  “Who were the men? Harper didn’t call the sheriff or anyone else?” Nash asked her, with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

  Kase slid his palm along her hip to her ass and caressed it. She held his gaze. “Answer him,” he said to her, and she pulled her hand back and then turned to face Nash.

  “It wasn’t necessary. They were drunk, and the bouncers handled it.”

  “You don’t know that, and nor do they. What if they followed you?”

  “They didn’t, Nash.”

  His brother ran his hand along his jaw and exhaled. “The bouncers, someone, should have followed you home. That shit does not fly around Cherry Hill.” He raised his voice.

  Kase watched her reach out and run her palm up his chest. “It worked out, and you should be proud that I did that move. That I reacted.”

  Nash grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close. “You shouldn’t have to react. To defend yourself against drunk assholes.”

  She caressed his cheek. “I’m fine.”

  “She should quit that job. She doesn’t belong there,” Kase said, and Maya turned to look at him as Kase looked at his brothers. “Changes need to be made,” he said and looked her over, felt hungry, needy to claim her physically his woman, yet he knew he couldn’t. He was reacting out of shock and confusion by what he was feeling and so strongly. “No woman of mine will be getting her ass grabbed or anything else while she’s working. Fucking handle it.” Kase walked out of the room.

  Alex never saw his brother so bent. The attraction was super strong here and quadrupled with all four of them surrounding her. He was bent, felt possessive and protective like they all did, but his approach to order and demand would not go over well with Maya. She stepped from Nash’s arms.

  “There’s a lot to do. Then I need to go to town. You guys have the day to relax from work,” she said, dismissing them, or at least trying to, but that wasn’t going to happen even though she walked out of the room.

  “Go calm Kase down please. He can’t make statements like this,” Nash said to Rhett.

  “You go fucking calm him down. I agree with him. She doesn’t belong there,” Rhett said and walked out after Maya had.

  Nash looked at Alex. “Well, at least we know they feel like we do about Maya,” Alex said.

  “Their barbaric attitudes are going to fuck it up and send her running.” Nash ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

  “I don’t know. She let them kiss her, and they got pretty far and only just met. This attraction is powerful. Maybe just let things go and see what the day brings.”

  “I’m a little concerned about that.”

  Alex chuckled. “The attraction is there. Let’s build on that.”

  Maya was in the bedroom hanging up the clothes she had. She was shaking still, about an hour after that make-out session with Kase and his order for her stop working at Harper’s. The nerve of the man to think he could kiss her once, feel her up, taste her breasts… “Grrr.” She folded, unfolded, and then refolded the T-shirt several times before she gave up and decided to make the bed up. She was bent over, pulling on the bottom sheet, when she heard the footsteps. She was ready to tear into whichever Weathersen was about to walk into her bedroom, and that surprised her. She was the least confrontational person, and despite what occurred she obviously wasn’t afraid Kase or his brothers could physically hurt her. She was just thrown off by the intensity of the attraction and his demands. Seriously, they were just men. Just spent ten minutes together and he was pissed she got grabbed at work, and he kissed her then demanded she quit. Actually, he didn’t demand it to her. He told Nash to handle it. What was up with that?

  “Need some help?”

  She turned around and jumped as she heard the female voice and then saw LizAnn standing there. She gave a soft smile. Maya felt guilty, and she didn’t know why. Was it because she was angry at LizAnn’s sons and didn’t want the woman to know that, or maybe their mom did know what happened? God, I’m losing my mind here.