Above and Beyond (Twist of Fate 4)

Zach held out a hand while sizing up the five-foot-nothing brunette. “You don’t look Norwegian.”

Min barked out a laugh. “Good catch. Unfortunately, my big brothers got the tall blond genes and I got the shit runty ones from some Hungarian offshoot no one talks about.” I watched her expression turn frighteningly calculating before she added the kicker. “But man, you should see my brothers. Gorgeous specimens. At least that’s what everyone says. My girlfriends all curse the fact they’re both into guys. But not everyone minds that. Right, Lucky?”

I thought of her idiot brothers who were still in high school. She jokingly called them her big brothers only because of their height, but they’d always been a pain in both our asses and dumb as a box of rocks. Between the two of them, they were lucky if they could come up with one brain.

But I played along. I knew better than to contradict her when she was clearly up to something. Whatever it was, there was no chance of it working on Zach.

I made a sound that wasn’t exactly an agreement, but it had Zach’s eyes narrowing right before he turned them back on me. “Stay away from that prick. I don’t know what his deal is, but—”

The way he gave the order like there was never any doubt I’d follow it had me seeing red. I cut him off with, “But it’s none of your business? Agreed. M’kay thanks bye.” I grabbed Min’s elbow and steered her back toward the center of campus with the hopes she’d forgive a little manhandling if I bought her a coffee and her favorite cookie at the Drip.

“Lucky, stop.”

Min let out a squeak at the same time my body immediately obeyed the deep command and skidded to a stop. I didn’t bother turning around to look at him.

“What?” I forced out through clenched teeth.

He stepped up behind me until I felt the barest hint of stubble against the shell of one ear. I squeezed my eyes closed and prayed to every earth nymph and wood sprite I’d ever called on for safety in the wilderness. Please don’t let me pop a boner. Please don’t let me pop a—

“Stay out of trouble, kid,” he said in a low rumble that made me instantly sprout wood. Fucker.

“I’m not a fucking kid,” I hissed back, but by the time I got my body under control enough to turn around to make sure he’d heard me, he was already gone.

“Thank god,” I muttered, though my words were more to convince Minna I was just fine because I wasn’t up for one of her lectures on why falling for gorgeous, older, completely unattainable men was not really a good thing.

But inside, it was another word entirely that kept playing on a loop as I tried to deal with the disappointment that Zach was once again gone from my life.

Damn.

Chapter 3

Zach

“He’s fine, Jake,” I said tiredly as I reached up from the steering wheel to rub the spot between my eyes that had been pounding like a mother all afternoon. I’d gotten used to the headaches in the past six months, but I still wasn’t very good at figuring out how to keep them from turning into full-on migraines. The doctors who’d declared the headaches a side effect of the head injury I’d suffered had told me all the party lines like needing to reduce stress and getting enough sleep to keep the pain manageable, but it was all just a bunch of psychobabble as far as I was concerned. I’d seen countless members of my unit suffer far worse injuries and live with them each and every day.

A little paltry head pain was nothing compared to what many of the men I’d served with and who’d also managed to survive the bloodshed dealt with.

“Is he fine like you?” my brother asked softly.

I let out a little sigh. It shouldn’t have surprised me that my big brother had his suspicions about me. It also shouldn’t have surprised me that Jake wouldn’t have been satisfied with my simple text saying Lucky was fine.

I debated how much to say to Jake as I considered my run-in with Lucky and his boyfriend. My fingers automatically clenched as I remembered the sight of the larger man pinning Lucky against the car. That memory inadvertently led to ones that were nearly as disturbing.

Like how good Lucky had felt pressed up against me.

Or the images that had gone through my head when he’d made the comment about someone needing to spank him.

My body began to react all over again. “Look, I did what you asked and checked on him. He seems okay. Seems to have a lot of friends and he looks…”

“Looks what?” I heard Jake ask but my tongue felt heavy as I remembered how fit Lucky’s body had felt beneath his clothing and how vibrant and passionate his eyes had been as he’d stood toe to toe with me.