He cupped her cheek. “I did, baby. You need looking after. You need protection, and you need to learn that we can be trusted and we won’t do you wrong. I understand that the past and your experiences have hurt you, broke you down, and developed this wall around your heart. We’re going to break that wall down. We’re going to prove to you that we care and this is right.”

  “How can you be so sure this is right?”

  He stared into her eyes and then looked at her lips until he held her gaze again. “I hold you in my arms, breathe in your shampoo, feel you this close, and I want more. I feel it in my heart, in my gut, which is never wrong, and I just know. Take a chance. Maybe we can all find healing together.” She held his gaze and then closed her eyes as he lowered his lips to hers. She didn’t push him away, or make him stop kissing her or caressing her body with his hands. She let go just a little, and felt it so much she wanted more. Maya would see how the day went, how living here went, and take each day, each encounter as they came. Hopefully the pain and bad luck would be behind her, and perhaps good times and safety lay ahead.

  Chapter 4

  “Goddamn, what a fucking shame. How old was she?” Texas Ranger Sam Hacherd asked Detective John Baker.

  “Twenty-three, and a damn beauty before this monster got a hold of her.”

  Sam was looking at the pictures. He had gotten some updated information on the rape and murder of this young woman Felicia Solera. She worked in one of the local bar restaurants in Benter and was reported missing a week ago. From the looks of the details of injuries to her body, the sick monster who held her captive did a number on her. “Did you get anything from any witnesses at the bar, or her friends, coworkers?”

  “We did it all and got nowhere. This woman worked her ass off six days a week, was putting herself through school, and always showed up on time. No current boyfriend or anyone else from her past. Just a sweet young woman who was taken, raped, and beaten numerous times.”

  “I see here that there were ropes found at the crime scene, and other things. Any prints off of this stuff?”

  “Nothing. Clean as a fucking whistle. The only thing that could possibly connect to the case you’re working on, Sam, is the description of the woman. Brunette with light green eyes, petite in stature, a waitress.”

  “It’s too early to be thinking a serial rapist and killer. Though the description is pretty identical. The two women are from different towns, but nearby, which leads me to believe this killer is local,” Sam said and rubbed his chin. “I don’t want him to get away with doing this to some other unsuspecting female. I’m personally going to go by some of the local bars and restaurants and spread word. Ask them to have their girls take extra precaution.”

  “It’s a good idea, and can only help. Awareness is key here. I’ll wait for the final outcome from the coroner’s report then compare it to my case a bit further. I want to see if there are any other connections at all between these two women. Word will travel fast, and hopefully we can get something from your crime scene to help us narrow down our killer.”

  “So we’ll work together on this then?” John asked.

  “Definitely. This really pisses me off, John. We all run safe, clean towns around here. We have to find this guy and fast.”

  “So you liked it when they kissed you?” Charlie asked Maya as Maya got together with Charlie for lunch.

  Maya played with her ice tea glass as they sat at a table in the Cherry Hill Café. “Of course I did.”

  Charlie smiled. “Honey, it was bound to happen. We can only fight these attractions for so long. Take it from me, it’s a useless battle.”

  Maya chuckled. “You were resistant for years.”

  “Don’t remind me. When I think about how close I came to dying, how I wasted time being scared instead of embracing time with my men, I cringe and wish I could have changed things. However, things happen for a reason. We need to process everything and feel sort of confident about taking a chance.”

  “I guess so. I think I’ve been focusing on my bad luck, my life thus far.”

  Charlie scrunched her eyes. “Your life thus far? What do you mean?”

  “Well, without getting into too many details, I had a bad childhood. I don’t have any family, and what I had betrayed me and I could have wound up in worse condition in my teens. Anyway, I just seem to focus on the rape, then the assault, and then the other night how some guy grabs my ass and then my wrist and I have to use a defense move Nash and Alex had taught me.”

  “What?”

  “Another long story, but the point is when Kase demanded that I quit my job, and then told Nash to handle it and walked away, I was shocked, scared, and angry.”

  “Wait, you need to back up and explain this to me. Kase?”

  Maya exhaled and then told her the entire story about moving, including the conversation with their mom.

  “LizAnn is so nice. A great elementary school teacher, too.”

  Maya continued and then ended with the conversation with Rhett.

  “Damn, of course you were upset and confused. You got those four Marines all twisted up inside.”

  “Me?” Maya asked and pointed to her own chest.

  Charlie chuckled. “You, my dear, frazzled them. Kase and Rhett for example only recently retired from the Corps. From my understanding they rarely come into town. They work on the ranch, do some business online or something, and are definitely hard-core disciplinarians. They were commanders in the service. That’s serious stuff. So ultimately their reaction, well, Kase’s is typical. He kissed you, was immediately upset about your wrist. He knows about the assault, and the recent one, so he was immediately protective and he shot his mouth. Him and Rhett do not mince words.”

  “Tell me about it. I shake when either of them are around.”

  “But not with Alex and Nash? They’re just as superior and big.”

  “I’ve known them longer, and they don’t deliver such orders all the time. They’re calmer when they speak to me I guess.”

  Charlie smiled. “They can’t all be the same. How boring would that be? Each man will have his negatives and positives just as you do. There’s no such thing as perfect. That’s something you need to understand.”

  “I think I’m fine with that. It’s my fear of making a mistake. Of trusting them, four huge men like them, and getting hurt.”

  “If it’s just fear holding you back and not that you don’t have feelings for them, then you need to get over the fear.”

  “Oh, I have strong feelings for them. Thoughts of them kept me calm all week in bed alone.”

  “Ahh, so you were fantasizing about them in bed with you?”

  “Actually, holding me. It’s like I wanted to call them, to ask them to lay with me. Is that stupid to feel that way? To think they would? I mean they’re all forty or close to it. They’re definitely experienced. They might find it annoying or just appease me so they can have sex.”

  “No. I bet if you asked them they would jump at the opportunity to sleep with you and just sleep. However, those little naps will turn into more very quickly. It just happens. The connections, the desire, the need, and you’re ready for that.”

  “Am I?” Maya asked and looked away.

  “Sweetie, is it the sex that scares you?”

  She nodded.

  “They won’t hurt you. Talk to them.”

  “And say what?”

  “The truth. That you’re scared to be intimate. To let go like that because the last thing you remember about sex was violent and forced upon you. They’ll understand.”

  Maya felt the tears fill her eyes. “Will they?” she whispered.

  “Of course they will because they already care deeply about you. They asked for guardianship of you, but you’ve not accepted it.”

  “They did that. Nash and Alex pushed for that because they walked in on me being attacked, and it affected them.”

  “Partially, sure, but you were talking to them more and more before that attack from Hurley. It was bound to happen.”

  “I don’t want to feel like a sad case. Like because I have no family, was a victim, and a survivor that I need a man or men to take care of me or I could crumble.”

  Charlie smiled. “I know what you mean. You aren’t giving up your independence. You’re gaining an army of support of soldiers, no pun intended, that will help you and protect you along the way. There’s no need to be alone anymore, to feel you have to fend for yourself. If the attraction is there and you care about them, want more, then only you can say yes, let down your guard, and let them in. No one else can take that chance for you.”

  “Is Maya working tonight?” Alex asked Nash the second he got into the house from work. Rhett and Kase were making dinner.

  “Yeah, she’s working. Why?”

  Alex had been upset and thinking about Maya all day since hearing about a case of abduction, rape, and murder of a young woman, Maya’s age, who was waitressing at a bar in Benter.

  “She’s getting out late?” he barked.

  “It’s Thursday, usually slow, and she’s done by eleven.”

  “I’m going to shower and go over there, follow her home when she’s done.”

  “Hey, what’s up?” Nash asked him.

  Alex placed his hands on his hips. “You’ll probably hear about it in the next few days. A woman was abducted, raped numerous times, beaten, and then killed. She was missing for a week, and it’s believed she was abducted coming out of the bar restaurant she worked at.”

  “Fuck,” Rhett whispered.

  “Do they have a suspect? Any witnesses?” Nash asked.

  “Nothing, at least that I heard about. You know they keep the information they have confidential. However, the trooper from Benter started spreading word to all the local bars and restaurants for women to take extra precaution when leaving work and getting home alone.”

  “I can’t believe that no one saw anything, or picked up on this guy at some point,” Rhett said, and Kase kept silent. He looked as angry as Alex felt.

  “I don’t know. I’m going to go to Harper’s and stay until she’s done then follow her back.”

  “Let’s all go,” Rhett said, and Alex raised both of his eyebrows at him. He knew that Rhett and Kase never ventured out to any bars or into town for much except the hardware store, maybe.

  “You heard me. Let’s finish up dinner, then go.”

  Harper’s wasn’t busy at all, and the majority of the time Maya spent walking back and forth toward the high bar table where Nash, Alex, Rhett, and Kase sat watching over her. She kept hearing how Kase and Rhett never came out, from Harper, York, Ade, Charge, and Orlando. She noticed that Alex and Nash had a conversation with the bouncers, and she couldn’t help but to think they reprimanded Charge and Orlando for not notifying the sheriff about the guy who grabbed her wrist the other night. They really seemed to care.

  Maya actually felt a bit relieved when they showed up. At the beginning of her shift, Harper called all the girls into the back room by the kitchen to make sure each of them were aware as they left and came to work and even went home alone. There had been some kind of abduction and murder only an hour from Cherry Hill. The woman had been a waitress at a bar. Since that conversation Maya had felt uneasy and kept thinking about being grabbed or assaulted. She was actually looking forward to a training session with Nash and Alex if they were still interested in doing them. Ever since the day she moved in a week ago and got angry with them, they had kept their distance, but Nash would follow her home from work at night. She wondered if she should ask them, then thought better of it. Maybe later.

  It was really slow, so Harper said she could leave early since she got in first tonight. She grabbed her things and then washed up in the bathroom. When she came out, Kase was standing by the exit looking serious as two women tried flirting with him. When the one woman reached out to touch his arm, complimenting his muscles, he gently took her hand and removed it. “Don’t touch me. In fact, you ladies should be careful coming on too strong to a man. You never know what kind of creeps could be out there.”

  “See, you’re so nice, and good looking, too. Are you sure you aren’t looking for some company tonight?” the other one said, and Maya chuckled as Kase looked annoyed and as if he was talking to airheads. They were young, just twenty-one.

  “Get lost,” she heard him say, and the two young women quickly took off. His eyes went right to Maya’s, and she felt his stare everywhere as he gazed over her breasts, then her body in the knee-length black skirt she wore. Tonight she had on a tank top, and it was a bit low and very tight. He didn’t look happy.

  “You ready to go?”

  “Maybe.” She narrowed her eyes at him. He started walking toward her, and she instinctively took a few steps back as he closed the space between them. Her ass and back hit the wall, and he placed his palm up against the wall behind her and over her shoulder. When she felt his hand on her hip, she took a sharp intake of breath.

  “Something you find humorous about that situation?” he asked.

  “You seemed out of sorts.”

  He squinted at her. “Don’t like games or little girls. They should be more careful. Men don’t always have good intentions.”

  “I thought men liked easy prey?” she asked. He slid his hand up her hip and ribs then to her jaw and cheek. She stared into his dark blue eyes. He really was very big and tall.

  “Boys like easy prey. You’re all woman,” he said and then lowered his mouth to hers. She didn’t hesitate to run her palms up his chest which gave him the room to pull her closer and flush against his body. He deepened the kiss, right there by the main entryway and wall, sliding his hand along her ass and squeezing it. She started to pull back, but then felt the others gathered around her and heard their words.

  “Easy, brother, you got a hell of an audience right now,” Rhett said, and she felt him right next to her.

  As Kase released her lips, he held her gaze and licked his lips. “Good. Let everyone know she’s ours,” he said fiercely and gripped her hand and squeezed it. “Tell me you’re ready to leave.”

  “I’m ready to leave, Kase.”

  He pulled her along with him, and one glance over her shoulder and his three brothers followed as Charge and Orlando said good night and she kept up with Kase’s long, fast strides.

  “Keys?” he asked.

  “I have them.”

  He held out his hand. “Let me drive.”

  “Why?”

  He gave her a look. That expression was all Kase and meant business. She was handing him over the keys way too easily. He paused at the passenger side.

  “I got her,” Nash said, and before she could open the side door, Nash pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight.

  She hugged him back, had a feeling something was wrong. “Nash?”

  He pulled back, cupped her cheeks. “Just needed a hug, doll.” He pressed his lips to hers. It was long and a tease as he released her lips, turned her around, slapped her ass gently as he opened the passenger door. She got in, face all flushed, and he closed the door and off they went.

  In an instant, her car smelled like Kase’s cologne. The whole feel of the atmosphere was different, and masculine. He reached over as he drove and pressed his hand to her knee and thigh. He glanced at her skirt. “This is a bit short.”