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“Trust me darlin’, if he’s anywhere near this house, he will be the only one getting hurt,” Kailan assured me.
“He’s right. We know what we’re doing, Evie. We were trained for far more dangerous shit than this fucker,” Nick agreed.
“Just try to get some rest, okay? Don’t worry about anything. We’re all gonna be safe,” Aleks told me as he leaned in and kissed my cheek softly. I caught his face between my hands as he pulled back and drew him closer again, placing a soft, but chaste kiss on his lips. I couldn’t resist. I wanted to know how his lips would feel against mine.
Aleks pulled back just enough to study my face and when I smiled happily, he did too.
“I’ll stay with Evie and keep an eye on Zack,” Harris said, breaking the moment between Aleks and I.
“Will you…would you all come back up here? When you’re done whatever you have to do, I mean?” I asked shyly, feeling awkward at the need I seemed to be feeling to have them all close.
“Of course we will, if that’s what you want,” Nick agreed easily.
“I just…I feel better when you’re all close. I know how that sounds, but…”
“Sshh,” Kailan cut me off as he stepped in front of me and placed a finger over my lips. “None of that. We all want to be close to you too, so it’s no hardship, right?”
“Right,” I agreed with an unsure nod.
“Don’t ever worry about telling us what you need, Evie. Be as strong as you need to be with everyone else, but here, with us, it’s okay to just be however or whoever you need to be. No matter what, we have all got your back, just like we know you’ll have ours,” Kailan went on, leaving me feeling tearful and emotional. How did he see me so easily, wounds and all? How did they all so easily see through the shield I tried so hard to erect, and right into my broken?
“Come on. Let’s get this done and get back up here with our girl,” Nick said as he threw me one last sexy as hell wink, then walked to the bedroom door. Kailan leaned in and landed a speedy kiss on my cheek, then headed for the door too.
“We’ll be back soon, malenka.” Aleks had barely set me down on my feet before I felt Harris at my back, wrapping a supportive arm around my shaking body. I watched the others leave the room, the whole time the fear rising within me that Soloman would be in the house, and that he would hurt them.
“They’re fine, sweetheart. No one is getting on the property, and even if that fucker could, he wouldn’t stand a chance against a single one of them. We were really fucking good at what we did and we all still train hard. No one is in danger right now, okay?” Harris assured me firmly. “How about that shower?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Clean would feel really good right now.” I tried to put aside the worry I felt for the guys as he ushered me through to the adjoining bathroom, but I couldn’t help feeling a sense of doom. I had been so lucky to escape Soloman as I had, and I knew it. I just had this feeling something was about to happen to make up for that good luck, and I was terrified it would happen to someone I loved or cared for. I only just found the guys – I couldn’t lose any of them.
I leant back against the vanity as Harris opened the large glass cubicle to set the shower running. As he turned back to me, he looked a little nervous, his hand rubbing anxiously at the back of his neck as he avoided eye contact with me.
“Do you…um…should I help? With your clothes, I mean. Getting them off…Can you manage or should I…?” he asked all at once, much to my amusement. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen Harris so flustered.
“Harris?” I paused until his eyes met mine. “Are you okay?” I laughed when they finally did and I saw how red his face was.
“Sorry. I just…I don’t want to over step or anything. You’ve been through so much and I don’t want to make it worse.”
“I’m not scared of you, Harris Orson. I never have been and never will, so you don’t need to worry, okay? I feel safe with you,” I assured him as I stepped forward and wound my arms around the back of his neck, reaching up on my tip toes to lie my head on his chest.
“Sorry. I don’t think I was this nervous our first time together when we were kids,” he laughed as he wrapped his huge arms around me and held me in return.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you nervous in all the years I’ve known you,” I agreed, refusing to release my grip on him. I felt so safe nestled against his huge form and I never wanted to move away.
“I’m usually better at hiding it. Mom and dad taught me well. Grooming me for the family business,” he laughed.
“Soloman…he never hurt me….not like that. He messed me up and left me with scars…but not in that way, Harris, okay? You don’t have to handle me with kid gloves,” I explained as I looked up and met his eyes. “I have so many issues from what he did to me. Don’t let him take this from me too.”
“I am never going to allow that motherfucker, or anyone else to take a damned thing from you again, sweetheart.” Harris lowered his hands to the backs of my thighs and picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist so his hands were free to roam my back. “No matter what happens with all of us, I swear I will always be here for you, Evie. I’m never walking away again.”
The last word had barely left his lips before I smashed my own over his, attacking him with the ferocity of my kiss. The familiarity of it all as he took control and kissed me back was like a comfort blanket being wrapped around me. We were both older and changed, and yet that kiss took me right back to being a teenager, so desperately in love with this handsome boy who kissed like nothing I had ever imagined.
It was exactly what I needed. The events of the last twenty four hours, and all that had come before to get me to that point fell away as I wrapped myself in the comfort blanket that was Harris. My fears were forgotten, my worries erased as I gripped his ridiculously large shoulders and tried to climb even higher up his body, needing to be even closer.
Then we were in the shower, under the blissfully hot spray, the both of us still fully clothed and not for one second breaking the frenzied kiss between us.
Harris pressed my back against the cool tile, bracing me between the wall and his body. His hands found their way to my ass and he cupped my cheeks, kneading them as heat rushed through me.
“Jesus, Ev,” he gasped as he pulled back for a breath, then looked down at me with dark, hooded eyes. “You still got me under your spell, even all these years later.”
