Maya Banks - Colters’ Lady

“It isn’t home,” Michael argued. “We should take her to the mountain. She’s uneasy here, and you’d have to worry at every turn that she was going to take off again. There…there she could rest. Eat good food and have a roof over her head.”

“Are you suggesting we take her to Mom’s?” Seth asked incredulously.

Michael hesitated. “No. My place.”

Seth’s eyes narrowed. “You’re serious about her. You’re not going to let this go.”

“Would you?” Michael asked.

“Hell no.”

“She needs us. She needs a home, a place she feels safe. You’re needed at home, Seth. Callie needs you. Mom and the dads want you there. It just makes sense that we take Lily back to Clyde.” Seth ran a hand through his hair. He’d forgotten all about Callie. Forgotten everything once Lily had disappeared.

“What are we doing here, Michael? Are we really considering the kind of relationship the dads have with Mom?”

“I don’t see we have a choice,” Michael said quietly.

“Christ. What about Dillon? Are we going to have to go throw Lily in front of him to see if he loses his mind too?”

Michael smiled faintly. “Are you asking me if I think it’s possible he’ll react as we have?” Seth nodded.

Michael sighed. “Yeah, I’m thinking it’s possible. Am I going to go shove Lily under his nose and say hey do you like her? Uh, no. But you can be damn certain I’m going to be watching to see how he reacts when he meets her.”

“Jesus, this is weird. Beyond weird. I’ve witnessed this sort of thing all my life, but I never thought for a minute that I’d share a woman with my brothers.”

“You aren’t the only one struggling, Seth. This isn’t exactly how I envisioned my life either.”

“Yeah, I get it.” He glanced in the direction of the living room again. “So how are we going to convince her to go home with us?”

“We could always kidnap her,” Michael said with a shrug.

Seth looked at him like he was deranged. Maybe he was.

“I’m a cop, remember?”

“I’m merely suggesting that we bundle her up and go for a ride. A long ride. And if we end up in Clyde, all the better. If she truly freaks out, we can always drive her back, but I don’t believe for a minute that either of us is going to idly stand by and watch her walk back onto those streets.”

“Hell no.”

“So we take her to Clyde—to my house. I don’t want to overwhelm her with Mom and the dads right away or she’ll feel ambushed. I think we should ease her into things there—namely our family.”

“You assume a lot, Michael. What if she doesn’t want anything to do with us? She’s running from something or somebody. She could be in a lot of trouble.”

“To quote one of the dads, when they laid eyes on Mom, her walking away simply wasn’t an option.

They were willing to do whatever they had to in order to make her stay. As I recall, there was a lot of cooking, pampering and worshiping.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Depends on who you ask. Of course Mom is going to spout that nonsense.” Michael shook his head. “No, that came straight from Ryan’s mouth. Hell, Seth, you see the way they still are around her over thirty years later.”

“That’s the way it should be,” Seth murmured.

“But will it be that way for us?”

“I don’t know,” Seth said in frustration. “Do you realize how stupid this conversation is? We can’t make her return our attraction.”

“No, but we can damn sure show her our caring—and eventually our love.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Okay, so we pull off the kidnapping. Christ, I can’t even believe I’m going along with this.”

Michael chuckled. “It’s not like it’s a real kidnapping, and look at it this way. She’ll be the most pampered captive in existence.”

“I need to pack a bag. We should probably head out before it gets dark. Weather’s already nasty.”

“Go then. I’ll watch over Lily while you get your stuff together.”

Lily awoke to light stroking on the curve of her cheek. She opened her eyes to see Seth kneeling in front of the couch, his face close to hers. She tried to sit up, but he gently pushed her back down.

“Is something wrong? How long did I sleep?”

Instead of answering he leaned in and brushed his lips across hers. Just a simple, delicate whisper over her mouth, gone almost before he was there.

“Nothing’s wrong. We were going to kidnap you. I’d rather you tell me you want to go with us.” There was light humor to his words that made her wonder if he was serious at all. She cocked her head to the side and then looked beyond him to see Michael standing in the doorway to the living room shaking his head.

“Where are we going?” she asked. Then she realized how ridiculous the question was. She flushed, but Seth only smiled.

“You’re going home with us,” Michael said from the doorway.

Before she could express her confusion over that statement, Seth spoke up.

“Home to Clyde. I don’t want you on the streets, Lily, but I won’t take you there against your will, either. I want you to come with us. I need you to come with us.” He traced the line of her lips, and fire gleamed in his eyes. “Let’s see where this takes us, honey. Let us take care of you.” Her mind blanked for a moment, and she stared between the two brothers. Pain was a dull throb in her arm, forgotten in breathless anticipation. Seth was close, so close, and she realized she wanted him to kiss her. Worse, the same odd longing filled her at the idea of Michael doing the same. Of touching her and letting his warm, tender voice flow over her.

It was because she’d lived too long in a vacuum. What was it they said about animals starved for affection? They’d allow anyone to pet them? That was what she felt like. Sensory deprived. Devoid of the most basic human comforts, like love and acceptance.

She didn’t deserve them. But God, she wanted them.

“Lily?” Seth prompted.

Slowly, she nodded.

She expected triumph in Seth’s eyes, but what she saw was relief. It warmed some of the cold encasing her soul that he worried for her. That he cared.

“Now, there are some things I need to know before we leave,” Seth continued. “And I need you to be honest with me. Are you in some kind of trouble? Because if you are, I can help.” She shook her head. It wasn’t any kind of trouble he was talking about. The cop in him probably thought she was a fugitive in hiding.

“Okay, are you running from someone?” His eyes narrowed as he asked, and his jaw tightened. “Is there someone who hurt you? I don’t want to endanger my family by bringing you home if there’s some threat I need to know about. If there is, you need to tell me about it so I can eliminate it.” Again she shook her head, and she saw frustration mirrored in both Seth’s and Michael’s gazes.

“There’s nothing like that,” she said in a low voice. “You have no reason to believe me, but I would never endanger you or your family. I’ll understand if you no longer want to…do this.” Some sins weren’t so black and white. No, there wasn’t anyone after her. But it didn’t mean she hadn’t done a terrible thing. Time hadn’t dimmed the guilt or the pain, but she’d become more adept at blocking it out.

“We can accept that. For now.” Michael’s tone warned they wouldn’t always allow her to avoid the issue forever. And maybe “for now” was what she needed. Just a little while to be someone else. To live someone else’s life and escape her own.

Seth looked like he wanted to press, but instead he pulled up a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans that looked awfully close to her size.

“I know your arm hurts, but we need to get you into some decent clothes before we leave. The T-shirt you’re down to won’t protect you from zip. I noticed a few holes in your jeans, and my sister left a few of hers here so you can try them.”

Without waiting for a response, Seth pushed the covers away and helped her sit up on the couch. Then he carefully pulled the flannel shirt around her shoulders. She thrust her good arm through the armhole and then slowly straightened her injured arm so that she could fit it through the other sleeve.

He buttoned the shirt up, his fingers lingering at each one as he worked down her chest. Her breasts tightened and throbbed, and it embarrassed her that her nipples thrust against the softness of the material.

The shirt was large enough that he might not see, but she was acutely aware of each touch.

The awareness startled her, but it was pleasant. No, not pleasant. That was too mild a word to describe the pleasure that hummed through her veins like sweet honey. It was warm and electric and it brought her to life—into the sun after so long in the cold.

To her surprise, he didn’t waste any time divesting her of her jeans. He unbuttoned the fly and helped her to her feet and then pushed the loose material over her hips until she stood in only her panties and the too-large flannel shirt hanging to her knees.

She stole a glance at Michael, her cheeks flaming, but he had discreetly looked away.

“Hold on to my shoulder,” Seth directed as he held the jeans open at her feet.

She braced herself, her fingers sliding over the well muscled cord of his neck until she gripped his shoulder. Then she stepped into the pants and allowed him to pull them up her body and fasten the waist.

They fit her well with only an inch or two to spare at the waist. Her hips were slimmer but they hadn’t always been. There’d been a time her curves were lusher and she was more rounded. Living on the streets made a person lean and efficient.

A sudden thought occurred to her. It was quick and painful and cut her to the core. How long would they want her to stay with them? A day? A week? How much harder would it be to go back to the life she’d forged for herself after having a few days in the sun?

Michael caught her gaze and must have seen the bleakness she felt. He crossed the room, his lips drawn. Seth had barely stepped back when suddenly Michael was there, so close she could feel the vibrations from his body. She could smell him. His warmth enveloped her and drew her closer.

He smoothed his hand over her hair, his fingers trailing through the strands and then resting at her nape. “What are you thinking?”

It didn’t occur to her to be anything but honest. “I was imagining how hard it will be to go back to my life after you…” She couldn’t bring herself to say anything more. Sometimes the truth was more painful for being spoken.

Michael cursed low and hard, and then he cupped her jaw in his palm and tilted her head up as his lips came down over hers. It was a shock to her senses. A jolt that rocked her spine and sent tingling awareness in waves over her body.

It wasn’t as sweet and gentle as Seth’s kiss. The aching awareness she felt with Seth was more like a bomb burst as Michael fed on her lips.

Oh God, what must Seth be thinking?

She pushed at Michael with her good hand, and he stepped back immediately. Her breaths coming in ragged bursts, she wavered and stepped to the side, distancing herself from Michael as she sought out Seth’s reaction.

He was there. By her side, his arm slipping around her waist in support. His lips pressed to the top of her head in a gesture of comfort—and reassurance?

She looked up, searching his gaze for any sign that he was angry, but she saw something else entirely.

She saw concern for her. And something that looked remarkably like acceptance.

Michael caught her hand and rubbed his thumb over the tops of her knuckles. “This is going to sound crazy to you, Lily, but we don’t want you to leave. We aren’t going to keep you a few days and then toss you out. I don’t expect you to believe it—yet—but I don’t want you to worry.” Seth squeezed her against him and murmured low in her ear, “We want you to stay, honey. Trust in that if nothing else.”

She took a deep breath and prepared herself to take the plunge. She was a little lightheaded, and at the same time a surge of…anticipation licked through her veins. For the first time in so very long, she felt alive—like she had something to live for.

There was a word for it, an emotion so alien to her that it took a moment to grasp. There, shining like a beacon at the end of a very long, very dark tunnel was…hope.

Lily dozed most of the way to Clyde. Michael had arranged a few pillows in the backseat of his Jeep and covered her in a blanket so she’d be comfortable. Seth followed in his truck.