* * * *

  “What the fuck do you mean she’s coming here with him?” Dell asked Watson as they ran around trying to make sure the place was cleaned up. They wanted to be clean, as well.

  “I don’t know, but obviously he made some progress with her at the hardware store and at her place.”

  “What do we do? What should we be doing when she gets here?” Dell asked.

  “The fuck if I know. I guess work on this leak,” Watson said, and Dell ran his fingers through his hair and paced.

  “You’re under the sink. What the fuck am I supposed to be doing?”

  “I don’t know, the laundry?”

  “Seriously? You want me to be doing the fucking laundry when some sexy, hot twenty-four-year-old woman we have an attraction to comes over out of the blue? No. I’ll look like an asshole.”

  “You’re going to look like an asshole if you stand there and seem panicked. Damn, Dell, stop making me so fucking nervous. This isn’t a date. She’s coming over to spend time with us and maybe get to know us. The best thing to do is be relaxed.”

  “I’m not relaxed. I’m all fired up, and it’s this woman that does this to me. I didn’t sleep well all week, and at some point, I thought I smelled her shampoo. I’m not used to this. Hell, we haven’t even slept with her. Shit, when you think about it, any women we have slept with we didn’t even see again. It was simple, just sex. This feels different. I look at her and I think differently.”

  “Fuck.” Watson exhaled.

  Dell walked to the counter and grabbed some tools. “Start pretending,” he said, and Watson chuckled.

  “Holy shit, this is different, and we’re the older ones.”

  “Don’t remind me about robbing the fucking cradle. She’s young, Watson.”

  “Not that young and all woman. But most importantly, she snagged all of our attention. Never happened before.”

  “No, it hasn’t.”

  * * * *

  Fogerty held Amelia’s hand on his thigh as he drove. She was shaking. He could feel it, and he tried to calm her.

  “It’s just a visit, to get to know us.”

  “They weren’t expecting me though, and I’m not sure about any of this.”

  “Take your time. No pressure here.” He found himself driving a little faster to get there quicker, as if she could change her mind and demand he turn around.

  “So what else do you try to fix around your apartment?” he teased.

  She gave his arm a tap. “I’ll have you know I’m pretty good at handiwork. Just that flusher thing gave me a hard time.”

  “I’m sure you would be good at anything you set your mind to.”

  She smiled. “I try my best. There’s no one else to ask.” She then looked away.

  “Well, that changed now, didn’t it? Glad we met in the hardware store. Know anything about plumbing? Because Watson he isn’t so great at it,” he said, and she stared at him with a small smile.

  ‘“You’re close, huh?”

  “Real close, the three of us are. Share everything.” He eyed her over before pulling up their long driveway.

  She blushed, and he chuckled inside. She sure was sweet.

  “This is so nice back here. Very private. I didn’t see this at all when I was here over a month ago at Mike’s barbeque.”

  “We share the property, and the house in the back is ours. Plus we have a separate building as a dojo back there. See it?” he asked and pointed as he pulled the truck into the spot under the shaded trees.

  “A dojo? You guys do martial arts?”

  He had to remember that most people didn’t know what he and his brothers did for a living. Their cover story was that they were in the service, which they were, and they still did some freelance work with logistics and planning, not that they were mercenaries. Something like that could scare this young woman into running. She was already looking intimidated again and nervous.

  “My brothers believe in maintaining our combat capabilities, and it’s great exercise. Ever try any martial arts?” He got out of the truck and came around her side to open the door. He had to reach up to help her down. Well, he didn’t have to but wanted to. He couldn’t stop touching Amelia. She held on to his shoulders.

  “I’m starting a self-defense class with Casey on Monday.”

  He squinted. “Where?”

  “The gym in town. They offer classes.”

  “Hmm, I wonder if I know the instructor. You’ll have to let me know names, and I can tell you if they’re good enough to teach you ladies.”

  He set her feet down but didn’t release her. Instead he slid his hand along her waist to her ass and then lowered his mouth to kiss her. She gripped his arms and started pulling back. He released her lips.

  “Fogerty.” She spoke softly and looked away.

  He hugged her to him and ran his one palm up her back to under her hair and neck and the other over her ass. “I can’t help it. You feel so good in my arms, taste incredible, and I can’t seem to stop touching you.”

  She pressed her palms to his chest and rubbed them up and down. His cock hardened.

  “Baby,” he hissed.

  She looked up, and he stared down into her glossy eyes, and his heart felt like something tightened around it. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. I don’t want you or your brothers to assume something is going to happen that isn’t.”

  “We’re gentlemen. We want to get to know you and spend time with you.”

  “I don’t know what I was thinking saying yes to coming here.”

  He cupped her cheek. “You were letting go and just feeling. Isn’t anything wrong with that.”

  He slid his palm to her hand and squeezed it before they headed toward the house. That was when they heard the yelling.

  * * * *

  Fogerty released Amelia’s hand as they entered the house. She followed him toward the yelling and the loud laughter. As they came into the kitchen Fogerty abruptly turned, as water was spraying through the air straight at them. The sight had her covering her mouth laughing as Watson was trying to tighten a pipe that was shooting out water and Dell was laughing.

  “Quit messing around and help.” Fogerty remained straight-faced, and Amelia was shocked at the scene before her.

  “Turn off the faucet,” Fogerty said to Dell, and Dell placed a finger over his lips as if saying to be quiet. So it seemed that Dell was messing with Watson.

  “The faucet is on? What the fuck, Dell?” Watson roared. Since neither Fogerty or Dell was moving, Amelia hurried to the faucet and turned it off.

  “Not funny!” Watson yelled, and she stepped back and locked gazes with him as he pulled out from under the sink, his thick body hitting the cabinets as he cursed under his breath.

  “Hi, Watson.” She held his gaze. He stared at her and looked at her bare legs in the short shorts she wore and then up to her tank top that had gotten wet. He was soaked, and his brown hair was slightly in his face, water on his eyelashes, and he licked his lips as she took a few retreating steps back until hands gripped her hips. She gasped, turned to the left, and there was Dell. Six feet four, dark brown hair, scruff along his cheeks, and deep blue eyes.

  “Hey, beautiful, so glad you stopped by to hang out.” He lowered his lips to her cheek to kiss her hello. His hand slid along her back as he pulled away.

  Fogerty was up, and he gave Dell a shove backward. Dell laughed and stepped to the side. Fogerty shook his head. “Next time. Just you wait until next time,” he threatened him, and she had to hide her chuckle.

  Watson was fired up, but it seemed for such intense men they enjoyed playing pranks on one another. He squeezed out his shirt and then made her freeze where she was as he lifted the shirt up over his head and tossed it into the sink. He ran his hand along his jaw, but her eyes focused on all those muscles and tattoos. There were so many of both. Her eyes didn’t know where to land.

  She gazed up, and she saw the hunger in his eyes as he looked her over.

  “This is a nice surprise.” He closed the space between them, slid his arm around her waist, and kissed her cheek. His lips lingered there, and he inhaled. She instinctively went to hold on to his arms, but they were bare. He had no shirt on, and she felt overwhelmed.

  He pulled back and squinted at her. “You okay?” he asked.

  She nodded and then worried her bottom lip and looked away, only for Fogerty to press up against her back and then slide his palm along her jaw, turning her toward him.

  “No walls. Just let go and feel,” he whispered and pressed his lips to hers.

  She didn’t know what was happening, or how he was able to take command of her, but Fogerty did it. He had her relaxing in his arms as he kissed her. When she felt the second set of lips against her neck and a palm slid up under her tank. She pulled from his lips to see Watson. Those dark blue eyes held hers.

  “You’re gorgeous, woman. So fucking sweet and shy. I’m glad you’re here.” He pressed his lips to hers.

  Fogerty released her to Watson, who lifted her up into his arms and pressed her to the table. He was between her legs, devouring her moans and cupping her breast. She rocked her hips, and he lowered her down to the table. As he eased his mouth from hers, she locked gazes with him.

  “What are we doing?”

  “Getting to know one another.” He lowered his mouth to the cleavage between her breasts and kissed along the dip and then up her neck. He eased her arms up above her head, and then Dell was there. Blue eyes, clean-shaven, handsome-as-sin Dell slid his palm up her belly under her tank top and pushed it up. He cupped her breast as he held her gaze.

  “You’re a sweet, sweet surprise, Amelia. I couldn’t get you out of my head all week. I couldn’t sleep, kept smelling your shampoo, and then craving it, craving you,” he said, shocking her. He lowered down and pressed his lips to hers.

  When she felt fingers undoing the button on her shorts, she pulled from Dell’s lips. “Watson, no.” She started to panic and pull her arms free of his grasp. They immediately released her, and she was free, and as she was pulling down her top, she felt her ponytail loosen and strands of hair probably stuck out, making her look as wild as she felt.

  Both men squinted, but Fogerty stepped closer and slid his palm along her thigh.

  “She needs slow.” He gave her thigh a squeeze.

  The three men stared at her. She felt her cheeks flush, and her nipples pebbled hard.

  “Let’s clean up this mess and move things along here.” Watson stepped back.

  Dell pulled her up off the table and into his arms to set her feet down but not before sliding his palm along her ass and squeezing. “So glad you’re here.” He gave her a wink before he released her. He stepped away, and Fogerty looked at what Watson and Dell were doing.

  “So what the hell happened?” he asked, and she watched the three men discuss the problem.

  So Watson was too big to fit underneath there to fix the pipe, and Dell was messing with him by turning on the faucet.

  She watched them, trying to get a feel for each man, who they were, maybe who the leader was, but it seemed they shared that position. She couldn’t believe she was here with them. That she let them kiss her, fondle her breasts, and she wasn’t even totally scared. She was more turned on than anything. They were very attractive men, seasoned, too, and she wondered how old they were. Why were they interested in her, a woman so young? Was it because they thought she was naive? Gullible? Easily manipulated? Did she come across that way because of Cavanaugh and his treatment of her? Her emotions were strangling her. She tried not to overanalyze this situation. Tried not to think of them as her saviors, as men who could rescue her from the chains Cavanaugh had on her, but she did. She wondered with all those muscles, experience, and capabilities if they could indeed save her from the depths of pain. Then she thought about Cavanaugh and when he found out about them, that she had perhaps been intimate with them. What would he do? Would he attack or maintain his distance and maybe leave her alone and move on?

  No. Not Cavanaugh. He loved playing games with her head. Loved maintaining the power he had because he knew she was deathly afraid of him. That night he’d broken into her apartment and had been waiting there for her was the worse night of her life. She saw a side of him that was worse than any side she had seen before. He wasn’t just a batterer, an abusive boyfriend who had little respect for women. No, it was worse than that. He fed from her fears. He manipulated her mind. He hurt her in ways she didn’t want to look back on. He made her do things to him, say things to him, and she’d thought she lost her soul.

  She was lonely, afraid, and not sure what to do with her life when she met these three men on the side of the road, and instantly, the connection had happened.

  She cleared her head as Watson threw his hand up in the air. “I can’t get under there to do that.”

  “I can do it,” she said before even thinking it through. The three men looked at her from head to toe, and holy shit, did she feel it. She swallowed hard and reached for the wrench Watson had in his hand.

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I’m here, and I can fit better than the three of you, so let me do it. I think I know how to. I had a similar problem about a year ago in the apartment and the landlord couldn’t get a handyman there for a week, so I took matters into my own hands.”

  “Did you get sprayed like I did?” he asked, still standing there shirtless and looking so darn sexy. His jeans hung at his hips, and she saw the dips of muscles there. His body was perfection.

  “No.” He released the wrench, and she knelt down and then shifted to lie on her back as she got under the sink. Dell lowered to his knees on the other side and shown the light on the pipes, and she started to undo it.

  She could feel her tank top lift a little and one look toward the men and she saw all three were looking at her skin and breasts, not the pipe.

  “You loosened it good. Just don’t turn the water on, Watson, to seek revenge against Dell.” She said it just as he did just that. The water sprayed, and she gasped but then he turned it off.

  “I had to,” Watson said, and Dell laughed and reached out to brush the water from her cheek then along her cleavage. “You can borrow one of my shirts afterwards.”

  “Hmm,” she said and then continued to unscrew the pipe.

  Watson handed her the items she needed and instructed her on what to do next. When he leaned down between her legs and slightly under to help her tighten the pipes, she nearly came.

  * * * *

  Watson was entirely too turned on right now. Amelia didn’t even seem to know how sexy and hot she was. As she lay here under the counter, her tank top lifted, revealing her tan skin and a bit of the floral tattoo on her hip, he swallowed hard. His eyes roamed up her body to her breasts, full, larger then he’d thought they were, and some water was still sitting there from the spray. He took advantage of the situation and now had one knee between her thighs and his hands over hers tightening the pipe. He looked down, and she stared at him, lips parted, and he knew things were not going to go slow.

  “Thank you, Amelia,” he whispered and lowered down, his hands on her hips, and he kissed her belly. She tightened up.

  “Watson,” she whispered.

  He pulled back, and she wiggled her way out of the cabinet, but then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. He couldn’t resist. She looked so good and smelled incredible. He ran his palm up under her ass, and she straddled his waist. With ease and use of his strong leg muscles, he knelt on one knee and then lifted up to a standing position. He placed her ass on the counter, and he ran his fingers through her hair, cupped her head, and thrust his tongue deeper into her mouth. She moaned, and then he pulled back, lifted her tank top up and off of her, and tossed it. He stared at her breasts and the wetness from the water and licked along her skin.

  “Watson, oh God, please, we have to slow down.”

  “Can’t.” He licked up along her neck and suckled hard.

  She moaned and gripped his shoulders. He maneuvered his hands around her back and unclipped her bra. She gasped.

  “Watson, oh God. I don’t believe this is happening.”

  He shook his head and gave her a firm expression. “Arms up,” he ordered, and her eyes glazed over. He pulled off her bra and then cupped one breast and suckled on the nipple. He tugged and sucked hard.

  “Oh, Watson.” She rocked her hips.

  “Goddamn, Watson,” Dell said, and he was there, too, cupping her other breast and then kissing her lips as he pinched her nipple.

  “My turn,” Fogerty demanded in a deep, hard tone that made Amelia shake.

  Watson felt it, and he was so turned on right now. He released her breast and gave her a wink. He stepped from between her legs, and Fogerty was there. He held her gaze, slid his palm up under her bare breast, and stared at it.

  “More than a handful. So smooth and soft, you’re an angel, Amelia.” He pressed his mouth to hers. Watson watched Dell and Fogerty taste from her breasts, her lips, and then Fogerty lifted her up into his arms and against his chest.

  “We’re going to spread you out and do a little exploring, honey.”

  “Fogerty, we shouldn’t. I’ve done too much with the three of you already. I hardly know you, and there are things going on in my life. I can’t do this right now.”

  “Stop. Remember what I said about letting go and not thinking about anything but feeling?”

  She nodded, but Watson wondered what things she was talking about and had concern over whether she was involved with someone else or if there was trouble attached to her. She definitely was shy.

  She gripped Fogerty’s cheeks between her palms. Tears were in her eyes.

  “I’m scared to let go right now, Fogerty. As much as I feel, and as deeply so soon, I’m afraid. I’m in no position to be intimate with you.”