“I feel nothing,” she said.
“How about now?” He pressed his lips to hers and pulled her close. She was shocked by his move, his tactics but more shocked by the feel of being in his arms and feeling his tongue explore her mouth. She couldn’t resist kissing him back, giving in to the desire of being held by a man, a big, capable, sexy man like Kenneth.
The kiss grew hotter, deeper, wilder quickly. She was moaning into his mouth and rubbing her hands along his chest and then over his arms. He was so muscular beneath the dress shirt. She knew he worked out, just like his brothers did. The fact that she thought of them right now was unacceptable. Soon her mind went to the feel of Kenneth’s hands massaging up her skirt against her thighs. Then a hand was over her ass, squeezing, kneading her flesh.
In an instant she thought about the scars. The thin one against her mound and the two on her breasts. They were ugly, though slightly faded but still visible, always visible to her and what Skip did to her. Just as his fingers grazed her panties and mound, she pulled away.
“Stop. We need to stop,” she said and used the back of her hand to wipe her mouth. She had tears in her eyes.
“Shelby, wait.”
“No. Please, don’t do that to me ever again. Please. I can’t be with you or your brothers. Not ever. You don’t understand. I can’t. It can never happen.” She ran from his office, hearing him call after her but she ignored him, grabbing her bag.
“Shelby, you felt the attraction, too. You were kissing me back, baby. Why are you so resistant to this, to us?” he asked as she stood by the front door, unlocking it. She kept her face straight ahead.
“I’m not capable of giving you what you want. I can’t be intimate with you, with any man ever
again… I’m sorry.” She opened the door and slammed it closed then hurried to her car. She wasn’t halfway down the street when the tears began to flow and she slammed her hand down on the steering wheel. “I hate you, Skip. I hate you. You’ve ruined my life forever. Forever.” She cried all the way home, feeling as if happiness and freedom was something she would never, ever have.
* * * *
Hunter went to meet Caroline by the gazebo in the park. He was a bit annoyed because Sheehan, one of the guys that worked in the hardware store, asked him if he and his brothers were staking a claim on Caroline. It seemed Sheehan and his four brothers were interested, and by his attitude seemed adamant about moving on when Hunter told Sheehan that he and his brothers were staking claim to Caroline. So when he headed down the path and saw two of Sheehan’s brothers, Tomas and Merk, talking to her, he flipped out. Tomas reached out to touch her hair, and Caroline lowered her head and stepped back. He felt his chest tighten and anger filled his gut.
“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked and both men seemed surprised to see him.
Merk gave him a nod. “Hey. Hunter.” He stood there looking confident and smug, but Tomas stepped back.
“My brother and I were just talking to Caroline and seeing how she liked living in Chance. We were telling her about the beach and trying to convince her to come along with us this weekend.”
“We have a boat, a pretty big one,” Merk added.
“She isn’t interested,” Hunter told them and stepped closer to Caroline.
Merk and Tomas stared at him. “She didn’t say no. I think she’s just shy,” Merk said and Tomas gave his brother a gentle tap to his arm as his cell phone went off.
“We need to get going,” he told him.
“We’ll see you around, Caroline. I’ll stop into the store and see you. I need a few things,” he said then winked and the two of them walked away.
Hunter was fuming. He had his fists by his side and felt completely jealous.
“Hunter,” she said his name, and when she touched his shoulder he turned around quickly, still feeling angry, but Caroline covered her face and ducked. It was worse than a sucker punch to his stomach.
“Fuck,” he said and pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight. She was shaking as he caressed her back and calmed his anger. He scared the hell out of her. She would think he was like that dick who abused her. Damn it to all hell.
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m angry,” he said to her. She pulled back and he cupped her cheeks and looked down into her glistening eyes.
“I’m sorry, Hunter. Please don’t be angry with me.”
“Shh, baby, I’m not angry with you. I’m angry with them. They’re over here being pushy, touching your hair and trying to get you to come to the beach with them. It pisses me off because you’re mine, and my brothers’. We care so much about you, and we’re protective of you, especially because we know what you went through. You deserve better than that. Hell, you deserve better than a man like me. I’m no good at hiding my feelings. I see men talking to you and I’m jealous because I don’t want to lose you and what we have. It’s a first for me, so I’m sorry if I scared you.”
She smiled at him.
“I think we both have a lot to learn. Maybe I can help you to not be so jealous and you can help me to not be so scared and afraid that you could strike me in anger because it became almost normal for Cameron to do to me.”
He tightened his jaw. “We would never hurt you or strike you, not ever. Real men don’t do that. And of course I’ll help you. My brothers and I will help you any way we can.”
“Okay then, so what’s the plan?” she asked.