The sadness in her voice was Noah’s undoing. He gathered her in his arms, forcing her to break contact with Liam. He held her so tightly he was probably hurting her, but he wanted to tell her with more than just words what he felt.
“I promise we have all the time in the world,” he said gruffly. “One day at a time. There’s no hurry, honey. We’ll get that bastard out of your head. Just give it time. And give us time. You talk about us being patient with you, but sweetheart, I’m the one fucking up over here. Promise that you’ll be patient with me, and I’ll do my damnedest to make you happy.”
She lay her head against his shoulder and buried her face in his neck.
“I think we’ll both make our share of mistakes. I just have to recondition myself not to expect violence as a result of a mistake I make.”
Noah closed his eyes, his teeth clenched so tightly that his jaw hurt. When he reopened them, he saw the same rage in Liam’s expression.
How could anyone hurt such a beautiful, sweet woman? Any woman? What kind of an asshole got off on controlling someone weaker than himself?
More than ever, Noah wanted to hunt that little bastard down and make him suffer for all the women he’d ever hurt. He doubted Lauren was the first or that she’d be the last.
“You’ll never receive violence from either of us,” Noah said in a low voice. “I may get mad as hell. Liam’s got a black temper and he can be a moody son of a bitch.”
Liam scowled at Noah in response.
Noah chuckled. “My point is we can fight and argue and I’m sure we will. But you don’t ever have to worry about either of us physically retaliating. I’m more of an air-my-grievance-and-get-over-it guy.”
Lauren nodded, and he gently pried her away from his neck so that she could once more see him and Liam.
Liam reached forward to claim the hand he’d held before, and Noah slid his hand up her arm to squeeze her shoulder.
“Don’t you understand, sweetheart? You’re going to have us both so wrapped around your little finger, that I doubt there’ll ever be that much disagreement.”
“We plan to spoil you rotten and give you everything you could possibly ever want or need,” Liam added gruffly.
Lauren smiled, chasing away the shadows in her eyes. Her gaze sparkled once more. No ghosts haunting from the past. No remnants of pain or shame.
“Is it wrong that I love the idea of having both of you wrapped around my finger?” she asked, her voice so sweet that it made Noah want to groan.
Liam lifted her hand to kiss each finger in turn.
“Not a damn thing wrong with that,” Liam said, his tone resolute. “It’s good you like the idea, because that is one thing you aren’t going to have a single say in. We’re going to spoil you rotten and we’re going to enjoy every damn minute.”
Chapter 16
TO Lauren’s surprise, when she got out of the shower the next morning, both men were up, dressed and waiting in the living room for her.
Dawn hadn’t even broken yet and the apartment was cloaked in darkness except for the lamp one of the men had turned on in the living room.
“Still have half an hour before you have to show up for work. Want some breakfast here? Thought you might be tired of the same ole stuff at the diner,” Noah said when she walked out of her bedroom.
She smiled. “Honestly I don’t normally eat the food there. I did at first, but you’re right, it got old fast. It’s good, don’t get me wrong. But different is definitely better.”
“I make a mean breakfast taco,” Noah said with a grin. “I don’t figure you have that on the diner menu.”
Lauren laughed. “No, can’t say we do. A breakfast taco sounds . . . intriguing.”
“Come on then. Come sit at the table while I make it. Then Liam and I will take you to work. We’re going to have a look around town today. We’ll be checking in on you periodically. I also programmed both our cell numbers into your phone while you were in the shower. If you have any trouble, if you even think something’s off or wrong, you call one of us immediately. Okay?”
She nodded.
Noah headed for the kitchen and Liam followed behind, taking Lauren’s hand on his way by. She settled at the table with Liam while Noah banged around in her tiny kitchen for the stuff he needed.
Ten minutes later, he presented her and Liam with a flour tortilla shell he’d fried brown in butter, filled with scrambled eggs, seared ham, and cheese with jalapenos and salsa.
Knowing it would be afternoon before she’d get the opportunity to really talk with them, she spoke up while they were eating.
“I handled last night all wrong,” she said firmly.
They were going to argue. She could see it in their eyes. Especially Noah’s. He got this fierce look on his face and his eyes filled with self-condemnation all over again.
She sighed and held up her hand to stop the flow before it began.
“You guys did everything right. I overreacted. I did. You were very honest and up front with me. You told me explicitly that if you did anything I wasn’t comfortable with to tell you and that you’d stop immediately. It should have been that simple. All I had to do was tell you I didn’t like what was happening.”
Noah shook his head, but she held up her hand again.
“I don’t want to turn it into another huge ordeal. I just thought that I owed you that at least. I got scared. I overreacted in the moment. That doesn’t mean that you did anything wrong. It just means that we hit a bump in the road. And as you said, we’ll get past it. I promise not to beat myself up about it, if you promise not to beat yourself up over it,” she said pointedly, staring Noah down as she spoke.
Liam’s lips twitched and he stuffed a bite of taco in his mouth, probably to stanch his laughter.
Noah opened his mouth, then promptly shut it. Then he nodded. “Deal.”
She smiled. “Okay, I need to get to work now.”
Noah rose, quickly clearing the plates away while Liam headed into the living room. He had his back to her when she came in on his heels, and when he turned, he was putting on a shoulder harness with a pistol. He reached for his leather jacket draped over the back of the armchair and pulled it on to cover the gun.
It was a sharp jolt of reality. She may be immersed in the fantasy of having two hot guys in her bed and in her life, but the reality was that they were here to protect her from a man who had no compunction about hurting her.
It was a sobering thought, and some of her good mood evaporated.