Chapter 8

Eight

A bigail dug her toes into the cool sand, her gaze leveled on the calm waters of Puerto Vallarta. They had landed a little over an hour ago in the quaint Mexican beach town, but she could be in Alaska right now for all it mattered. After the men cleared the perimeter, she'd made a beeline for the water and hadn't moved since.

She mentally recapped the last hour. For the entire ride from the airport to their safe house, Reece and Caden had peppered her with questions she had no answers for.

Do you have any family members that might have joined with the Mexican drug cartels ?

Do you have any friends that could link you to any organizations beyond the border or possibly in the States?

The answer was the same for all of them. No. Contrary to what everyone thought about Latin families not everyone had a big posse of relatives. Abigail shook her head, trying to make sense of it all.

Frustration bit at her resolve and her chin quivered. She ran through the questions again, searching for any connection that tied her to the craziness of the past twenty-four hours of her life.

She fisted her fingers in her hair and sank her head to her knees, the beginnings of a headache working the fringes of her mind.

She inhaled a lungful of salty sea air and her shoulders relaxed slightly. She raised her head and rested her chin on her folded arms. Dawn breached the horizon and the sky brightened with indigo and fuchsia. She loved watching sunrises on any other day, but today she only feared what the new day would bring to her doorstep.

Still wearing her borrowed sweatpants and T-shirt, Abigail pulled the elastic cuffs of her pants over her calves and let the fresh air cool her skin.

Over the years, she'd taken several self-defense lessons, but how could she defend herself against something like a freaking Mexican drug cartel? Trepidation slinked a slimy path across her mind. The simple fact was she couldn't.

Reece and Caden were the only people she knew that could deal with the extraordinary circumstances. Looking back, she was so foolish to think she could have stayed at home without their protection.

With bullets zipping by her head and a fire straight from hell turning her house into an ash grave, between both men she never doubted her safety. Ghost sensations of their distraction methods tickled a trail of anticipation along her spine. Caden had promised that their little demonstration on board their private jet was only the beginning.

She scooped a handful of sand and let the tiny grains flit through her fingers and be carried away on the wind. If only she could get time to stand still right here and right now. Locked away with two bosses who obviously expressed more than a professional interest in her would be the easiest solution to all her problems. Abigail laughed at herself. The release felt so good she rocked back and let out a heartfelt laugh that reached deep down into her belly. She'd almost slept with not one but two drop-dead gorgeous men after getting death threats, being shot at and losing everything she owned in this world.

She could still laugh, but it quickly fell away. Something was up with Reece. The way he pulled back into himself so quickly worried her and if she asked him, he would only give her a cagey look. She'd be better off asking a rock for answers. Or Caden. Maybe he'd give her a little insight as to what bothered his best friend.

Abigail rose and dusted off the damp sand clinging to her sweats. Determination elbowed out the self-doubt and fear, and she straightened her shoulders. She hadn't gotten this far in life only to let some damn criminal intimidate her and push her out of her home. She quickly amended the thought. She had every right to be petrified of the Uzi-toting bad guys, but she had help and she intended to take full advantage of that fact. In more ways than one.

A small smile played at the corners of her mouth. If nothing else, today reminded her that tomorrow was never promised. Faint memories of her father's warm laugh and vanilla-scented pipe tobacco danced across her mind.

Sí, everything could change in a blink of an eye. If she waited, who knew where they would be tomorrow or even an hour from now.

Abigail turned on her heel and crossed the small distance between the beach and the back patio of the villa Reece and Caden had secured for them. Speaking of, both older men sat facing her, their sunglasses masking their eyes from her.

"I'd like to take a shower, if that's all right?"

"Make yourself at home, darling. The bedroom is on the top floor to the left. Use the one in the master suite."

"You'll find a T-shirt and another pair of sweats in the drawers to change into. Sorry, there's not anything else, but we'll remedy that today."

"Don't worry. Clothing is the least of my problems." She added a seductive inflection to her accent and raked her gaze over Reece's body for good measure. No way she'd let him shut her out. Not if she could help it. Damn those glasses, she'd kill to see into his eyes right now.

Abigail walked over to where Caden sat and trailed her fingers along the defined muscles of his arm, across his broad shoulders and down the other arm. She leaned in and brushed her lips against his in a feathery kiss.

Without breaking a step, she moved to where Reece sat opposite Caden and settled in his lap. She slipped her arms around his neck and dipped her head to claim her taste of him.

Abigail pulled back and peeled back his glasses to hold his gaze. Her lips hovered a whisper away from his, teasing him closer.

She trailed a finger along his stubbled jaw then stood, never breaking eye contact as she continued on her way up the stairs opposite the back doors that opened to the patio. With her foot braced on the bottom stair, she blew them each a single kiss. Even from this distance she could feel their heat radiate out and it wasn't from the tropical sun that now poured down on her men.

Her heart quivered and she inhaled deeply to calm her nerves.

Sex kitten didn't define her abilities, so she thought. From the looks they gave, she may have to change that detail about herself.

She tore her gaze from theirs and forced herself to move. But their game of seduction was far from over. It was up to them now to follow her.

C ADEN GRUNTED and shifted his weight from one side to the other. He hissed from the pressure of his jeans against his dick. The damn thing was like granite thanks to Abigail. Those amber eyes and the way she moved that tight little ass in Reece's sweats. Damn, he wanted to sink himself into her tight, sweet pussy and get lost forever.

He leaned his elbows on the round glass table positioned on the back patio and braced himself for impact.

"What the fuck are we doing, man? You can't treat this like this is a forever thing. She could walk away any minute and where would that leave you or me? Holding our dicks. Fun is good, but I can see in your eyes you want more. Hell, we both do, I won't argue, but you're too invested and too fast."

And there it was. A war raged in Reece's eyes and it looked like he was on the losing end. Abigail had gotten to him and Caden knew that had to throw the man off-kilter too.

Caden turned his gaze toward him.

"You're trying to guard against something you don't know. Judging her off someone else's' actions. And why can't I dream of a forever? She's the one, man. I know it." He couldn't help it. A smile stretched Caden's lips despite his best efforts to bank the drive to seek out Abigail and her sweet kisses again.

"I can still taste her on my tongue and all I can think of is getting back between her legs for another drink. My dick is damn near busting out of my zipper I'm so hard and don't try to lie about how she affects you." Caden raked a hand through his hair and leveled his attention on the man that sat across from him. Frown lines creased the space between his eyebrows, which was the first signal to a coming argument.

Ten years together in the CORP allowed a few insights and reading the man's telltale signs were one of them.

"You're doing it again, man. Stop overanalyzing everything." Caden worked to keep the growing frustration from his tone.

He and Reece had been through some rough times together and that put it mildly. War had a damn strong way of bonding a unit and its members. They'd quickly become friends and now partners, but if Reece wanted to throw on the brakes before they even left the damn parking lot, Caden would have no problem in giving his best friend a pounding if that is what it took to knock some sense into that thick skull of his.

Caden angled his head to keep the beach in his peripheral while he waited for Reece to gather his words. "Just let it happen, Reece. You saw how easy the three of us fit together. You had no problem earlier and I can see how she affects you."

"That's what scares the shit out of me. It's too easy and I can't keep away from her. That kind of power is dangerous." Reece retreated into his chair, slipping his glasses into place once again.

Fuck. Classic Reece move when something weighed on his chest. "There's something different about her. I get it."

"Not everything is supposed to be hard." Caden stood up and shoved his fists into the pockets of his jeans. He had to do something or he'd be tempted to give the man a good wake-up call.

"Fuck it. Look, Reece, Abigail's not like the other women we've dated together or alone. You're right. She's different on so many levels. Give her a chance to prove it, if that's what you need. We've chewed on this topic for the last six months and there's no going back after what we've already shared with her."

"Do you really want to go through with this? Taking her? Damn man, what if..."

"What if she leaves like Heather? I know that's what you're thinking. She left us a year ago, Reece. And if Abigail wants to leave, well, then that's up to her. Not a damn thing we can do about it, but I'll tell you one thing. While we're here figuring the clusterfuck of a situation out, I'm not going to sit around waiting for you to grow a set. We decided a hell of a long time ago that our fucked-up way of life is the way it is. We are who we are, Reece. Not many accept it. Heather is one of them. She couldn't take the people talking or her family's disapproval. Time to move on. If you want to back out, go your separate way, no hard feelings. But if you want something real, Abigail's upstairs naked and fucking horny for us. That's enough for me. For now. Everything else will play out like it's supposed to. Or not, hell, I'm not a fucking fortune teller. I'm just not waiting around anymore."

With that thrown out there, Caden did an about-face and crossed the threshold to what awaited him upstairs. They had a lot of work to do to nail down the group behind the threat on Abigail's life, but it was all in the hands of their team at the moment.

For now, they had to shift gears for their afternoon meeting with the Jalisco governor. Training the federal police of Mexico as private contractors would look damn good in their portfolio, a topic that was hitting a little too close to home since the revelations of the past few hours.

His fists ached to give the fucker after Abigail a good pounding, but today's meeting was a bigger move toward taking the bastards down for good.

He took the last steps that led him to where Abigail showered and his mind looped back to his talk with Reece. Damn. He had better ways of spending his morning than going over the same old argument with him. The man would have to make up his own mind.