CHAPTER TWO

MIRA

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The clearing spans wide. A white circle of gravel surrounded by towering pine. It’s empty apart from the single, black bike parked on the opposite end. Faint residues of light barely filtering in through the heavy canopy of trees glints off the sleek, shiny metal. I don’t know squat about bikes, but it’s massive, a slumbering beast hiding deep in the woods.

“Christian’s here,” Daniel mutters.

In the ten months I’ve known Daniel, Christian never once came to visit. Whenever he calls, it’s from some exotic locale across the world. I teasingly asked if his brother was a spy.

Daniel had laughed.

“Location Scout.” Had been his answer.

I had to Google what that was. Apparently, someone who travels the world scouting different locations for businesses. I hadn’t realized that was even a thing.

Now, eyeing the sleek beast parked a stone’s throw away, I can’t help the flutter of nerves in my belly, a weird tangle of excitement and dread. The way Daniel talks about him, Christian doesn’t mince words. He doesn’t hold back his thoughts, and I’m terrified he’ll take one look at me and ask what the fuck Daniel is doing with me.

In our bubble, it’s just us. What little of the world we let in never matters. I have no one except Daniel and Daniel only has Christian. We don’t socialize, so we’ve never come across the side-eyes or whispers I know we’d get.

Christian will say something. He’ll tell Daniel he’s being an idiot saddling himself up with someone damaged and broken with abandonment issues and trauma, because Daniel could have anyone he wants. And when Christian tells him, I will have no choice but to agree because he deserves better.

“You’re overthinking.” He drags my hand across the console and sweeps his warm lips across my knuckles, sending jolts of lightning down my arm. “He’s going to love you.”

“I hope not,” I whisper.

Disapproval curls his eyebrows over his eyes. “Mira.”

He knows the drill. He knows no one else can come into my circle. I can’t afford more blood on my hands. But I also know he’s going to disagree and press that I need more people in my life.

I cut that off promptly. “How long has it been since you’ve seen him?”

He’s not stupid. He knows I’m changing the subject, but he’s also a smart man and picks his battles wisely.

“Three years,” he grumbles. “He was my witness when Sam and I got married. It’s the longest we’ve been apart. I know he loves his job, but I hate it.”

“Well, I’m excited to be here for this reunion.”

Daniel chuckles. “I’m honestly more nervous about him meeting you.”

I stiffen even as my stomach knots. “Why?”

His laugh ricochets off the cabin walls. “You’re exactly his type. He might try to steal you.”

Not sure how I’m supposed to feel about that, I offer a weak chuckle. “He’s not you,” I murmur quietly.

The fingers of his free hand slip beneath my chin and my face is tilted to his, tilted until I’m captured in the warm gold of his eyes. “You are both the two most important people in my life. I want you to get along, but Christian has a way of testing a saint.” His thumb brushes my cheek, dips into the hollow the way it always does when I’m upset. “But you need to promise me that you will tell me if he makes you uncomfortable.”

I’m trying to process his implication, but my skin feels too warm and he’s so close, and I want so badly to lean in and capture his lips that are inches from mine.

“Okay,” is the best I can offer with only half my brain listening.

I feel Daniel’s hand release mine, leaving an unwanted chill prickling my skin despite the mild temperature. He kicks open his door and I hurriedly gather up my bag. My phone is snatched out of the cup holder and tossed inside, as is my paperback. I loop the strap over my shoulder, careful not to crush my flower as Daniel appears at my door and yanks it open.

“Okay?”

I accept his offered palm with a nod and let him help me down. Ribbons of pain coil down my thighs and across my lower back. I groan as my knees pop and wobble.

Daniel chuckles when I whimper and hobble slightly. “Want me to carry you?”

I shoot him a wrinkled nose despite desperately wanting to say yes .

He keeps a light hold on my hand not still holding his flower and leads me down a dark path that winds downwards across heavily uneven dirt. Knobby roots protrude beneath our feet, catching my sneakers and nearly crippling my ankles. Low branches smack our faces and claw at our clothes.

“Was it always like this?” I ask.

Daniel shakes his head. “The lawyer said the place hasn’t been maintained for a few years. Dad lost a lot of mobility after his second stroke and let the place fall apart, apparently. There was a nurse who used to come by and help him around the house, but she stopped coming after he passed so I can only imagine the inside is equally neglected.”

“Are you okay being here?” I ask softly, stopping to peer up into his heavily shadowed features.

Daniel’s a big man. Easily six-five of pure, raw muscles and a trim waist that ends at long, toned legs to my barely five-two without heels. He terrified me in the beginning. Everything about him is just so intense, so ... masculine and solid. It’s hard to stand so close without wanting to press my face into the center of his chest — the only part of him I can reach at eye level.

But it’s his scent. The hot, musky cologne I bought him for Christmas that he wears every damn day. It makes my core pang and my nipples harden. Smelling it on him first thing in the morning after he’s showered and dressed for the day in his suit and tie ... and that smell...

Fuck...

“Mi?”

My heart is cracking against my chest. My pussy is on fire and he’s standing so close I’m having trouble breathing.

“Hm?”

Even to my ears, the single sound is a breathy murmur dripping with how badly I want this man.

He’s so still and silent for so long. His fingers grip mine too tight. He lowers his head, an unexpected descent that floods my panties with anticipation.

“I said, I can do anything if you’re with me.”

The words ghost my upturned face, caress my parted lips. It’s dark enough that I almost feel brave enough to arch my toes, capture his...

A snap from somewhere behind me has me jolting.

“What was that?”

Daniel chuckles lightly and squeezes my fingers. “You’re going to get used to that, city girl. Out here, you’re the outsider.”

With a tug, he continues the rest of the way while I scan all the places I can’t see past the heavy brush. The obscurity doesn’t diminish or lessen the deeper we go in. Even when the two-story cabin with wrap around porch and a sharp roof comes into view with the wild practically right up against the log walls.

No yard. Not even a patch of space at the bottom of the five steps leading up to the porch for two little boys to play.

“Where did you guys play?” I ask.

Daniel pauses with one hand on the doorknob, the other still cradling mine. “This whole forest was our playground. We know every inch of it.”

It doesn’t strike me as the kind of place for children, but I have never lived anywhere with less than a few million people, a Starbucks at every corner and skyscrapers spearing up into the heavens. Maybe it’s not meant for someone like me to understand.

Door open, Daniel lets me go in first. His long fingers brush the small of my back as he closes it behind us.

“Christian?” he calls into the weighted silence.

The entrance opens to a cozy sitting room with worn furniture and a giant fireplace taking up nearly an entire wall. A flat screen hangs over top, facing a long, leather sofa in rough, faded brown with matching armchairs flagging either side of a cluttered, wooden table.

Everything has a thick layer of dust and grime. Dishes, old newspapers and magazines choke every flat surface. The floor is scattered with leaves and dirt and trash, and there’s a pungent stench of rot and mold heavy in the air that makes my stomach churn. Daniel had said his father let the place go, but this wasn’t any way for a person to live.

Across the room, is an open doorway surrounding a blue-black hue. On the left, a narrow set of stairs lead up to the second floor and the breathtaking man standing at the top clad in nothing but miles of smooth, tanned skin covered in swirls of colored ink and a fluffy, white towel.

“Water heater’s out,” he’s saying as he jogs down the stairs.

He’s wet. Thick, black strands fall in damp waves to broad shoulders. Water drips off the ends to trail lazily down a rugged chest lined with an array of winding color. They follow hard, carved lines, tracing a taunting path between square slabs of granite before soaking into the cloth slung low over narrow hips.

Everything about him is a warning, a neon, flashing hazard sign cautioning unsuspecting mortals to keep their distance unless they want to be destroyed. It’s easy to see this man straddling the beast outside, dark jeans taut over corded thighs, back straining against his top. It’s almost humorlessly comical how completely identical he is to Daniel and still nothing like him.

Where Daniel is suave and cunning like a mafia billionaire mob boss, Christian is a ruthless and dangerous biker hitman with several kills under his belt and maybe a mask...

Oh man, maybe Daniel’s right. Maybe I am reading too much, but fuck! He did not prepare me for this, and I am taking my little bookworm fantasy to the hilt.

No pun intended.

Pretty amused by my wayward thoughts, I am not braced for eyes the sandy gold of the Sahara Desert to lift through heavy fans of soot and fix right on me. I’m not prepared for the hard punch in the sternum when he blinks and freezes.

Just stops.

Kind of just stalls mid stride. The breath I’d greedily gulped down lodges in my chest with his sharp focus. The lingering travel up the entire length of my body from sneakers to stop at my mouth burns.

Not a mild discomfort I can run under some cold water. He burns me like I need a month in ICU. He scorches every strip of flesh he comes across, caressing them as accurately as if he’d physically touched me. But his focus on my mouth is personal.

It’s so fucking intimate I have to press my thighs together to calm the heat soaking through my panties. I’m not wearing a bra and there is no hiding the hard points of my nipples poking hard and proud through the thin fabric of my tank.

He seems to know it too when he finally forces his gaze to my eyes and there’s a dirty smirk curving his lips I can almost taste on mine.

“Hello, sweetheart.”

Holy. Fuck.

If a person could orgasm on a voice alone, this man has it or has mastered it. The rumbling, silk across stone baritone dances seductively along the arch of my spine and...

Daniel is suddenly in front of me. Blocking me.

Saving me?

I can’t be sure of anything except my heart is pounding a million miles per minute and I might have had a micro-orgasm from his brother’s voice.

“Stop it,” he warns his brother.

“Her first,” Christian taunts and the horror of those words flood me with mortification.

“Put it away,” Daniel snaps.

The other man snickers. “You know he doesn’t listen to me.”

Curiosity has me peeking around Daniel’s enormous frame just in time to watch Christian close a big hand into the straining swell tenting the towel and squeeze.

My eyes widen.

It’s huge. Thick and long, and fully erect.

It’s definitely a tool for destruction. A weapon I can easily visualize stretching places...

Daniel turns his head. It’s so quick I don’t have the chance to duck back before he can catch me eye-fucking his brother’s impressive hardware. Not my finest moment when his scowl deepens. Even the honey gold of his eyes are nearly opaque.

Mortified, I duck back behind him. My face tingles all the way to my hairline and I drop my gaze.

He sucks in a slow, steady breath before facing the other man.

“Christian, this is Mira. Mira, my idiot brother.”

Embarrassment still at a high ten, I force myself to step out and meet the guy making my pulse buzz.

“Hi.”

I offer him my hand and feel the skin tingle when he swallows it with the curling of his long fingers. The rough patches along his fingertips and across his palm scratches my skin. Making my hypersensitive flesh prickle in all the places it would feel amazing skimming.

“I’m beginning to see why Daniel was hiding you.”

“I wasn’t hiding her,” Daniel protests immediately. “You were off conquering the world.”

But Christian’s whole focus, all the weight of his scrutiny never wavers off my face. The heat behind his searching blazes through me, making me too aware of ... everything.

“Oh, don’t lie, Daniel. I would keep her all to myself, too.”

He hasn’t let go of my hand and the firm pressure of those long, tattooed fingers feel so deliberate. They make me wonder what they would feel like in my hair. Around my wrists pinned over my head.

Around my throat.

Horrified by the insane derailment of my sanity, I yank my hand free and take a hurried step away from the demon.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

Daniel’s arm slips comfortably around my middle and I’m tugged into his side. It’s not possessive, but the message is clear, no more touching. I shouldn’t, but I’m a little giddy.

“Get dressed,” Daniel tells his brother. “I’m going to show Mira her room.”

I don’t see Christian as Daniel guides me across the room to the stairs. I’m marched up with Daniel’s bulk blocking my back.

I feel like I should say something. Apologize. I very blatantly was eye-fucking his brother. Another part of me prickles with guilt. Daniel has been the main star in all my fantasies since I got off the plane and saw him waiting for me. Neither of us knew who the other was but our eyes had locked and something in me had melted. I begged the heavens to let this be my ride and nearly died when he stepped forward with a smile that nearly killed me and said my name.

He’d been my weakness ever since.

No one had even come close. Every man dims drastically in comparison.

Until his brother waltzed into my life, apparently.

“Daniel.” I capture his hand and tug him to stop in the narrow corridor with me. The light at the opposite end all but vanishes behind him, creating a fine glowing halo around his size as he faces me. “I’m sorry.”

His warm palm touches my cheek, successfully shattering my heart. “Don’t. You have nothing to apologize for.”

He’s wrong, but what am I supposed to tell him? I don’t want him thinking I want his brother over him.

I take the hand he offers and let him guide me the rest of the way along the hall. We pass four sets of doors. Two on each side. All of them sealed, even the final door at the very end where Daniel pauses.

“It was my parents’ room,” he says, turning the knob and pushing the door open.

I freeze in the doorway as he hurries in to flip the lamp on next to a gorgeous, solid piece of oak carved into a wide bed with a thick mattress and faded bedding that may have been a dark color with tiny tulips scattered across the surface. The headboard is a chunk of wood with six iron bars running down the center and a heavy footboard at the other end. The other pieces in the room are made from the same dark wood, except a dainty, white vanity tucked next to the window.

“It has its own bathroom, so you’ll have privacy and—”

I cut him off softly. “I can’t stay here.”

Daniel faces me. “You don’t like it?”

My head is shaking even as I cross to him. “I love it.” I tip my head back to study his gorgeous face. “But you should be here. I can take another room or sleep on the sofa—”

“You’re not sleeping on the sofa.” His sharp retort leaves no room for argument, not even when he hooks a finger under the strap of my purse and drags it off. “We have our own rooms. This one is yours.”

He places the bag down on the bed like that solidifies the decision.

Next, he takes the flower I’m still holding and gently tucks it behind my right ear. His fingers ghost the side of my face to my chin and I feel that touch to my toes.

“I want you here.”

How am I supposed to argue when he’s melting my insides? How am I supposed to think when he’s so close and his scent is making me dizzy.

It’s terrible to want a man I could kill, to want him so badly it hurts, but the very idea of anyone else is impossible.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

He gives me a smile that tightens the chords around my heart. “I’ll get our bags. Then we can go into town for supper.”

I nod and watch him leave me. The door is shut behind him and I turn to face my new room for the next while. The duration unclear.