Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

Penny

Aweek goes by in a blur. For the first two days, I’m in the hospital, recovering from smoke inhalation. My aunt and cousins arrive to take care of the funeral arrangements, dropping flowers off in my hospital room, crying into tissues. People visit. Voices, facial features, comforting touches all feel the same.

I don’t know how to feel. Sad, yes. Lonely? That’s really nothing new. My father was increasingly absent leading up to the fire, coming home late at night, leaving before I woke. The meager time we spent together, he seemed nervous, chain smoking in our backyard while I watched television or did housework. We weren’t close even before my mother left, but we respected each other. He cared about me in his own way and made an effort on my birthday and Christmas. My father wasn’t a bad man, he just didn’t know how to be a dad.

Laughter echoes in my head every time I close my eyes now. Did someone want to hurt my father? Was there something he didn’t tell me?

In the hospital, everything shifts and changes around me. Except for the two men who take turns patrolling my bedside. They don’t say anything to me. And I don’t have the strength to start a conversation. Sometimes when I’m restless, caught between nightmares, I feel them stroking my hair and whispering to me. It’s the only thing that lets me sleep kind of peacefully.

I’ve learned that the older firefighter is Nick. He’s at least six foot five, silver beginning to creep into his black hair and beard—and the nurses are scared to death of him. Which probably has something to do with him glowering every time they administer my medicine. Unmovable, steady. No bullshit need apply. He stands beside me, arms crossed over his wide chest, giving the third degree to each and every one of my visitors, whether they’re from church, relatives or college classmates. His disdain does not discriminate.

Zeke is a different story. The nurses all clearly want to jump his bones. I shouldn’t care—it’s not like he’s my boyfriend—but every time he ignores their advances in favor of watching me like a hawk, I get a secret thrill. Younger than Nick by a good fifteen years, he’s got an unruliness in his golden-brown eyes. Energy ripples in his tattooed muscles every time he moves.

My father asked these men to protect me, but I never expected them to take it this far. With the dark laughter replaying on a loop in my head and memories becoming clearer and clearer from before the fire, though, I’m grateful for their presence. They don’t leave me alone for a second, only turning their backs when I’m bathed by the nurses. I’ve started to notice a slight tension building between Nick and Zeke, too. Dark looks being exchanged when they trade shifts at my bedside. As if one is warning the other. About what?

When it comes time to leave the hospital, I panic. That panic only gets worse when I move in across town with my aunt. Sleep is impossible. I need my protectors. I need Nick and Zeke or the nightmares and hazy memories will suck me down. Fear keeps me awake, along with the sound of crackling flames and my father’s last words. I’m a zombie during the day, because I can’t sleep at night. Forming sentences is impossible, let alone returning to my courses at the fashion institute.

Where did they go? Maybe I should have spoken to them more.

I need them.

Five days after leaving the hospital, I’m tossing and turning in the middle of the night. The walls are closing in on me, the scent of smoke filling my nose. Need to get outside. Need to breathe clean air.

I throw off my covers, open the window and climb out into the night.

* * *

Nick

My fist poundsthe steering wheel at the sight of Penny climbing out the window, oxygen seeming to fill my lungs for the first time since she left the hospital. She’s beautiful beyond words, with her white-blonde hair and big, green eyes, moving with grace and innocence, especially in the simple nightshirt she wears. I didn’t want the aunt to take her—she belongs with me—but I had no choice. People tend to frown on a forty-year-old confirmed bachelor moving an eighteen-year-old girl into his house.

Hell, they should frown on it. I shouldn’t be dreaming of my hands slowly parting her knees and kissing her pretty pink underwear top to bottom while she squirms. She’s been through a trauma, for the love of God. Lost her father. I have no right wanting to take a dead man’s place as Penny’s provider…and more.

A lot more.

I married young and divorced just as fast. My ex-wife didn’t want to be dominated…and hell, I was only half interested in dominating her. Since then, my only relationship has been with my job. Why bother dating when no woman has ever roused me enough to set my blood on fire? No female has managed it until Penny. She’s stirred this almost…paternal instinct. It’s consuming me now. Making me realize why I’ve remained unmoved by other women. I was waiting for her.

My whole life has been about fighting fires, but the one inside me for Penny spreads out of control. And it rages hotter knowing another man is dreaming of taking the same privileges as me.

It’s not easy to tear my eyes off Penny where she sits on the lawn in her white nightshirt, legs drawn up to her chest. But I do—and I lock eyes with the man sitting in the truck in front of mine. Zeke. Every night since she left the hospital, we find ourselves in this position. Our trucks damn near bumper to bumper, our attention zeroed in on the guest bedroom on the east side of the house.

Christ, we’re fucking vultures. There’s no help for it, though. Penny’s father was protective for a reason. She’s a little slip of a thing with a body ripe for cock. But her looks aren’t the only reason Zeke and I spend every waking moment between shifts stationed outside her house. No, it’s a hell of a lot more than that. There’s something about Penny that makes me want to lie down in front of a train to protect her. Take a bullet. Run straight into a fire.

I still remember her whimpering in the darkness, reaching out for help. Just thinking about it scares me. Makes me want to rage at fate for trying to hurt someone so sweet and beautiful. For trying to take something that’s mine.

I’m distracted from my thoughts when Zeke climbs out of his truck, slamming the door closed behind him. He tilts his head at me, that crazy cowboy look in his eye. As if to say, you can’t stop me, motherfucker. I’m taking her.

I’m out of my own truck like a shot, following him across the lawn toward Penny. Up ahead, I watch her shoot to her feet, a tiny squeak leaving her mouth.

“You’re scaring her,” I growl. “Slow the fuck down.”

“Ah, now. She’s not scared of us,” Zeke drawls. “Are you, baby?”

Her hands are covering her mouth, but she drops them now and shakes her head. “No. Never.” Her fingers curl in her nightshirt. “What took you guys so long?”

* * *

Zeke

God. Damn.

As an ex-Army brat, I’ve been all over this planet—from Tokyo to Russia to the Florida damn Keys—and I can confirm, there’s nothing hotter or sweeter than Penny. The night I swore to be her protector, I deleted every female’s number on my contact list. I’m done. Not looking any further. She’s everything I was too young and too wild to know even existed. When I look back at my life, it’s just a sea of faces that changed every time I moved. Even my own parents had faded right into that sea, seeing as how they booted me out when I turned eighteen. I don’t know a commitment from a hole in the wall. But the first time I laid eyes on Penny, I knew I wouldn’t budge from her side until this world stopped turning.

I’ve held her and guarded her as she slept. She’s looked up at me like I’m her superhero. And if it means I have to kidnap, steal and murder, I’m not letting her get away. This girl is mine for life.

If this old fucker Nick would take a hint, I could bring Penny back to my apartment and get started making her happy. First order of business is helping my lieutenant understand that I have no intention of sharing. Then I’m going to take her home and bury at least a damn gallon of come between her thighs. Been keeping it just for her, because nothing else will do except that tight pussy. Spent two days in the hospital fighting guilt over watching the sheets twist up around her waist as she slept, but I know she’s a virgin. Wouldn’t be surprised if she’s never even put a pinkie finger in it.

What took you guys so long?

I’ve been so intent on getting Penny back to my truck, I forgot she asked us a question. “Sorry, baby.” Ignoring Nick’s growl, I step closer and give her a wink. “I’m here now. Why don’t you go get your things?”

“I-I…” Penny looks back toward the house. “I can’t just leave.” She gives an adorable flutter of her hands, before clasping them at her waist. “Can I?”

She hasn’t talked much since the night of the fire. Just hearing her voice free of the soot makes my pulse start to pound. God, I want to hear it every day of my life. “Your father asked me to protect you. I can’t do it from out here.”

“He asked us to protect her,” Nick cuts in, stepping up beside me. “Don’t go twisting his words to suit yourself.”

Anger tightens bolts in my neck. “That’s not what I’m doing.” I square up and meet his eyes. “But she ain’t going anywhere with you.”

He faces me slowly. “And if you think I’ll let her leave with you, you’ve got a fucking screw loose.”

“Excuse me, gentlemen.” Her chin lifts. “I’ll decide where I’m going, thank you very much.” For the first time since we arrived, she no longer seems relieved. No, she looks troubled and I don’t like it. “Is it my fault you stopped being friends?”

“Yes,” Nick grunts, but he frowns at the sad sound Penny makes. “We weren’t close before or anything, sweetheart, but we worked fine together. It’s just…”

“He doesn’t have friends,” I supply. “He’s the house asshole and everyone avoids him. That’s what he’s trying to say.”

“You’re both mean.” She spins toward the window in a cloud of blonde hair. “I’m going back inside.”

“No,” Nick and I say at the same time. We both reach for her. My hands close around her waist, Nick cages her hips…and I’m shocked to find it as natural as breathing to sandwich her in between our two bodies. My cock has been hard since she climbed out of the window and I caught a flash of white panties, but it pounds with blood now. Over Penny’s head, I can see Nick is in the same condition, his eyes squeezed shut, his nose sifting through her hair to smell her. My instinct is to rip her away. Put her behind me so I can fight Nick. But something happens. She presses her face to my chest, then Nick’s, laying light kisses. And I can’t move.

“I would have been so scared if you two hadn’t been in the hospital with me,” she whispers, going up on her toes to kiss Nick’s cheek. “Nick, you made sure the doctors were never late and that visitors didn’t overstay.” My surge of murderous jealousy dies when she turns and lays pouty little lips on my cheek. “Zeke, you made me want to laugh, even if I couldn’t show it.”

Penny tips her head back and intuition deeper than the ocean sends me and Nick stooping low, our lips trailing from the curve of her shoulder to the notch of her throat, playing tug of war with her lower body. What is happening here? I should be beating him bloody for touching what’s mine.

“You both made me feel protected. Like I wasn’t alone. Don’t you understand? I need both of you,” Penny says, gasping at the contact of our mouths. “And I’m not leaving here unless you can give me that.”