Capturing Kylie [Slick Rock 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 3
Gray and Pierson sighed but left her room. Eva escaped from Quin’s embrace and gave her a tight hug. “I love you like a sister, Kylie. Please don’t leave?” Eva whispered for her ears alone.
“I’ll think about it.” She released her friend. Quin guided her from the room and she was left alone with Xavier, Lachlan, and William.
Will’s voice drew her gaze. “Kylie, I know you don’t know us, but we’ve been working as bodyguards for over eight years. We can protect you if you’ll just let us.”
“I–I…Shit.” Kylie turned away from three piercing gazes, and even though she was no longer looking at them, she could still feel their eyes on her.
“Think about it, sugar. We’ll talk to you in the morning.” Lachlan and Will headed toward the door with Xavier on their heels. Xavier paused in the doorway, looking at her over his shoulder.
“This isn’t over, baby.”
Kylie sighed and sank down onto the edge of the bed as the door closed. Her mind and emotions were in turmoil. Even though she wanted to stay, she knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. Putting everyone around her in danger wasn’t conducive to her peace of mind in the least.
She undressed and pulled her sleeping shorts and T-shirt on. She knew from past experience that she would have trouble falling asleep. The violent incident was as fresh in her mind as if she had just witnessed the crime, and even though she was exhausted and her head was aching, she knew it would be hours before she finally succumbed to sleep.
She tried envisaging sitting near a brook with birds chirping around her and the sound of water gurgling over rocks but her thoughts were too scattered. She readied herself for another sleepless night, but this time it wasn’t the visions of the crime she witnessed that preoccupied her mind. No, tonight she was surprised that her mind was spinning from the instant attraction she felt for the three Badon cousins. Now that scared the absolute shit out of her!
* * * *
Kylie was typing rapidly, her fingers flying over the keyboard of her laptop as she transcribed medical facts for a doctor. Her hands froze when she thought she heard a muffled shout. Her desk was close to her bedroom window and all she had to do was spin a little and push the curtains aside to see out into the lane beside her apartment building. Her eyes searched the alley until they lit on two male figures. One was very tall and big and the other looked to be thin and gangly. She let her eyes adjust to the dimmer light outside after looking at her bright computer monitor, and when she did, her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped.
The large man had pinned the smaller man to the ground, facedown, and had his jeans and underwear down around his ankles. And then she nearly yelled with fury when her brain finally registered what she was seeing.
Kylie’s eyes glanced toward her desk and quickly grabbed her cell phone and dialed 9-1-1. When the despatcher answered, Kylie gave her name and address and reported what she was seeing. She was vaguely aware of the dispatcher saying that someone was on the way when the bastard finished raping his victim. Then Kylie watched in horror as he punched and kicked his victim until the smaller man was lying on the cold, hard concrete in the alley without moving.
She had no idea whether she had made a noise to alert the perp, but all of sudden he turned his head and looked up. Kylie couldn’t see his eyes but she knew in her heart that he was looking right at her. There was a low wattage lamp ten yards from where the rapist stood and even though she could see his face, his eyes were in shadow. Just as she placed her hand against the rapid pulse in her neck, the bastard smiled at her, his white teeth seemingly bright in the darkness and then he raised his hand to his throat, placed a finger at one side of his neck and ran it across to the other. She cringed back but still couldn’t seem to look away. But then he cocked his head as if listening and took off running, disappearing into the shadows at the other end of the alley and that was when she heard the distinct wail of a siren.
But then everything changed. Kylie somehow was standing in the middle of the alley, shaking fearfully. There was no lamplight and she couldn’t see anything. Goose bumps and a cold sweat broke out across her skin and she clutched her cold hands into fists. She could feel his eyes on her. Turning in slow circles, she tried to find where he was hiding so she could run in the opposite direction, but he stayed elusive in the shadows. Just when she opened her mouth to scream, cold metal pressed against one side of her throat. Drawing in a gasp of breath she opened her mouth and let loose with the loudest yell she could. Her cry was cut off when the knife slid along her flesh and into her throat.
Her hands clawed at her neck and she made gurgling sounds, but her eyesight was diminishing rapidly.
Kylie knew she was dying.
Chapter Three
Xavier sat up, rolled to his feet, instantly awake, and reached for his gun, which he always placed on the bedside table, as a piercing scream rent the air. He quickly pulled his jeans on and, with gun in hand, cautiously opened his bedroom door and scanned the hallway. When he saw that it was all clear, he moved stealthily along the hallway until he reached the next bedroom door. His hand was already on the doorknob, turning it slowly when his brothers joined him. None of them spoke as he pushed the door open. Will slipped inside the bedroom quickly checking behind the door as Lachlan raced to the bathroom across the other side of the room.
After he and his brothers ascertained that there was no danger, Xavier approached the bed where Kylie was shifting restlessly. Just as he reached her side another bloodcurdling scream left her mouth and then she was grabbing at her neck and making a funny gurgling sound as if she couldn’t breathe.
Will switched on the bedside lamp on the other side of the bed, illuminating Kylie in the dim light.
“Jesus!” Xavier reached down and pulled her hands away from her throat. She’d left red welted scratch marks on her neck. “Kylie, wake up.”
A tortured moan left her mouth and then was she fighting him, trying to get away. Another bloodcurdling scream rent the air, making the hair on his nape stand on end. Xavier hated seeing her tortured in her sleep and didn’t want her hurting herself as she tried to fight off her nightmarish assailant, so he did the only thing he could think of. He covered her body with his, making sure not to crush her with his weight but applying enough pressure so she couldn’t move anymore. He brought her arms up above her head, pinning them to the mattress while quietly talking to her.
“Kylie, you’re safe. It’s only a dream, baby. Come on now. Open those pretty eyes for me.” Xavier felt the instant he got through to her. She stopped trying to thrash beneath him, and even though her body was still taut and shaking, her breathing changed. Instead of the gurgling panting sounds she had been making, she gulped in great gasps of air and then her eyelids slid up and he stared into her pretty green eyes.
He slowly released her arms, and using his elbows propped the top half of his body up from hers before carefully lifting his pelvis away from her lower half, hoping she hadn’t noticed his burgeoning cock. He then wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumb.
“What’s going on?” Quin’s deep, gravelly voice pulled Xavier from the trance he hadn’t been aware he was in.
With great care, Xavier rolled off of Kylie and sat up next to her as Lachlan explained what had happened.
Quin walked further into the room and stopped at the end of the bed, looking at Kylie, who was taking great pains not to look any of them in the eye as she clutched the covers to her chest. “Are you okay, Kylie?”
“Yes,” she answered with a cracked voice, and then she cleared her throat. “I’m sorry I woke you all.”
“Don’t worry about that, honey. I’m just glad you’re all right.” Quin eyed Xavier and then his brothers, giving them a narrow-eyed stare before turning his gaze back to Kylie. “Do you want to talk about your nightmare?”
“No!” she replied emphatically then replied again with a palliated tone. “No, thank you.”
Quin sighed and turned toward the door.
“We’re here if you want to talk, honey. All you have to do is come to one of us and we’ll listen.”
“Thanks, but I’m fine.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning.” Quin gave Xavier another measured stare. “Try to get some more rest, Kylie.”
Xavier didn’t speak until Quin disappeared from sight. He knew that stare was a warning to him and his brothers, but Xavier would never do anything to hurt Kylie on purpose. He supposed if Quin’s fiancée’s friend was under his care, then he would also make sure she was protected and taken care of, so he knew where his cousin was coming from. But he was still a little pissed off, because Quin knew damn well he would never hurt a woman or child. Pushing his irritation with his cousin aside, he finally turned back toward Kylie. Her breathing was still elevated, but it was slowing. By the white-knuckled grip she had on the top of the covers, he would bet if she released them he would be able to see her hands visibly shaking.
“Are you sure you’re okay, beautiful?” Will took a seat on the end of the bed near Kylie’s feet and then placed a hand on her shin over the blankets.
“Yes, I’m good.” Kylie stuck her chin slightly into the air as if shoring up her defenses. The action more telling than words, her next statement confirmed his suspicions. “You can leave now.”
Xavier didn’t want to leave. He wanted lie down beside her, pull her into his arms and hold her all night long. With a mental frown, he realized he’d never wanted to do that before. He and his brothers had gone through their share of women over the years, but they were sick and tired of emotionless sex. They had decided around six months ago that they wanted to get back into ranching, and after much deliberation on their part, they had gone to see a financial advisor and found out that they had more than enough cash to pay for what they wanted outright. But Xavier had wanted to have another few months’ savings up their sleeve before biting the bullet and resigning from their security jobs. Now that they were ready to buy an operation and were out of such dangerous work, they were also ready to settle down and have a relationship with one woman.
He and his siblings had always been attracted to the same type of women and had ended up sharing a few times. After the third such session, they had sat and talked for hours and decided that maybe they would want to share a wife, too. Xavier had thought that idea had been a pipe dream. That was until Quin, Gray, and Pierson had moved to Slick Rock, Colorado, and found the love of their life. But what had clinched the deal for him was the fact that his cousins’ relationship wasn’t the only ménage, and that unconventional relationships were expected and accepted in the small, rural town. That wasn’t to say there weren’t some folks who baulked at such things, but mostly the unconventional was accepted as the norm and anyone heard disparaging or making vilifying comments was ostracized, and if they owned a business, they were boycotted until they went bankrupt and left town.
Xavier wanted to explore the attraction he and his brothers had toward Kylie, but he wasn’t sure what her take on a polyandrous relationship was, so they would have to start off slow. All things considered, Kylie had enough on her shoulders without him or his brothers adding to her worries. He wasn’t sure what to do at the moment, but there was one thing he was certain of, and that was that there was no way Kylie was leaving and putting herself in more danger.
Xavier rolled to his feet with a sigh and then turned to look at Kylie again. She looked so lost and scared in the bed, but there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it, at least not yet. He and his brothers were going to have to talk and plan. He wanted Kylie to be able to come to him, Lachlan, or Will if she needed to talk things out, but first they had to ease her into a relationship.
“If you need anything, beautiful, all you have to do is give a yell,” Will said before he left. Lachlan didn’t say anything. He gave one last longing look toward the bed and followed Will out.
“We’d like to be able to help you, Kylie,” Xavier said as he paused in the doorway. “We have the expertise to keep you safe. Think about it.”
Xavier closed the door quietly behind him and headed to the kitchen. He wasn’t surprised to see Quin and Gray already sitting at the table, talking quietly while Lachlan and Will made three more cups of coffee.
With coffee now in hand, Xavier eased himself into a seat as did his brothers. He should have known Quin would get right to the point.
“What are your intentions?”
“Fuck, Quin, you don’t mince words, do you?”
“Never have and never will.” Quin leaned back in his chair.
“We want her,” Lachlan stated abruptly.
“Yeah, I kinda figured. Explain.”
“You know we want to have our own ranch,” Xavier paused and took a sip of coffee while he gathered his thoughts. “We want a woman to share our beds.”
“For how long?” Quin asked, staring at him through narrowed eyes.
“Permanently,” Xavier answered and watched the tension slowly drain from his cousin’s muscles.
“She’s going to give you a fight.”
“Yeah, I know.” Xavier sighed.
“There is no way she’s leaving without us exploring the attraction between us first,” Will said, putting in his two cents.
Xavier glanced at his brother. Usually Will was most easygoing of them all. For him to make a statement like that, he had to be very attracted to Kylie, too. Thank you, God. He hadn’t had time to speak to his brothers to find out how they felt about pursuing Kylie. Obviously he’d seen how physically drawn to her they were, but Will’s statement just confirmed that he was on board. He glanced toward Lach and received a nod.
“It just so happens that Eva told me Kylie has leased out her apartment in Sheridan and is all set to find a place to lease here.”
“Does this decision have anything to do with this fucker stalking her?”
“Yes, although Eva has been working on Kylie for about six months, trying to get her to move and be closer to her. She’s running scared as she has every right to, and from what I gather, the law in her hometown suggested she might want to stay with relatives or friends, since it’s uncertain who this fucker is.”
“Why haven’t they got anything on him?” Xavier leaned forward in his chair.
“It appears that this was his first offense. DNA was taken from the victim, but there was nothing in the police database to connect him to, and the letters he sent to Kylie were all clean. According to Eva, and this is from Kylie, the cops have nothing and can’t do a thing until this prick makes a move.”
“Do they know what he looks like?”
“Only the description Kylie gave the police artist.”
“I want a copy of that picture.”
Quin nodded. “I’ll contact the sheriff’s department in the morning and let them know what we’re dealing with. Between Luke Sun-Walker and Damon Osborn, as well as the deputies, we should be able to get some information.”
Quin and Gray stood and stretched. “We can go visit the sheriff while the two girls have their dress fitting. That way Kylie won’t be aware that we are doing everything we can to protect her.”
“She’s just going to have to accept that we want to help her. Her safety is paramount,” Lach said in a firm voice. Xavier and Will nodded in agreement.
Gray snorted. “Good luck with that.” Gray and Quin headed back to bed, leaving Xavier and his brothers alone.
“So, how the hell are we going to woo that woman into our life and beds and keep her safe?” Will asked.
“Let’s get her used to us being around first,” Lach said. “If we can keep here her close and protect her, then we have a chance of wooing her.”
“That little filly is a skittish as if she were a mare facing a rattle snake.” Xavier sipped from his mug.
“It’s understandable that she is wary. Look at what she has had to deal with over the last couple of weeks.” Will leaned his elbows on the table and wrapped his hands around his now-empty coffee mug.
Xavier paused outside Kylie’s bedroom door. There was a strip of light glowing under the door and before he knew that he was going to do it, he had raised his hand to knock. He hesitated before his knuckles connected with the wood. If he knocked and she was asleep, he would feel really bad for disturbing her. She may have left the light on after the nightmare she’d had. But she could also being lying in her bed wide awake, too scared to go back to sleep. From the look of the dark smudges beneath her eyes and the hollowness of her cheeks, she’d already suffered a lot of sleep loss. Probably her appetite had suffered, too. Women were strange creatures. Whenever their emotions were in turmoil, they either ate, trying to gain false comfort, or their appetite diminished totally.
Xavier vowed that starting tomorrow morning, he and his brothers were going to take care of Kylie and make sure she ate whether she wanted to or not. The last thing she needed was to get sick on top of everything else. She was such a delicate little thing. Although she was just shy of the average height for a woman, standing at around five foot five, she was willow thin and delicate, but showed signs of having curves before her loss of appetite had set in, and he wanted to run his hands all over her body, shaping every dip and hollow he found. He’d noticed how small her wrists were and her skin was so pale it was almost lucent. Her deep, red, shoulder-length hair only seemed to enhance her delicate features and her green eyes seemed to draw him in whenever she met his gaze. Yet there wasn’t one single freckle marring her beautiful face. Not that any sun spots would have detracted from her looks. In fact, he had a feeling no matter what Kylie looked like, he would still feel the deep attraction he had toward her.
Kylie Mailing seemed to have a spine of steel but underneath the backbone was a deeply vulnerable and lonely woman.