Enticed (Two Marks 3)

“You think my dad was in on this? He’s a smart man, but meth? I mean, it involves fertilizer and other chemicals, right? Why would he come up here and play chemistry set?”

Theo rubbed his fingers together on his raised hand. “Money. I doubt he did the playing. He doesn’t seem like the kind to get his hands dirty.”

“Except for shooting wolves,” Holt grumbled.

“They were on our land!” I countered, riled once again.

Holt shook his head. “No, they weren’t.”

“But—”

“Daddy told you they were, huh?” Holt asked. “Come to the station, and I’ll give you the report. You can read the truth. Don’t even have to hear it from me.”

I pursed my lips. Doubt crept in, and that made me angry. How dare they make me doubt my family? But if they were doing bad things…

“Can we get that sample, sweetheart?” Theo asked.

I blinked, snagged on the endearment.

They were right, it was better for these guys to take their samples and rule us out than to come back and set my dad off, especially when he’d been drinking all afternoon. They’d find out there wasn’t any chemical residue, that this was most likely an unfortunate lightning strike-caused fire.

The data would be impartial. It wasn’t Holt and Theo’s words against my dad’s. “Sure, that’s fine,” I said.

Theo lowered his hands and wandered closer. “I really am glad we bumped into you again.”

My heart beat faster. To hide my attraction, I pulled an attitude and raised an eyebrow. It was hard to be angry with them when they were just too… too… them. “Yeah, why is that?”

“I wanted to apologize for last night. I’m sorry if I—we—came on too strong. We didn’t mean to scare you off.”

“I wasn’t scared,” I countered. “I was… enticed.” Oh God! Did I just admit that? What was wrong with me?

Theo was near enough—he reached out to rest a hand lightly on my waist. “Were you?” His deep rumble activated all my nerve endings, making them vibrate and tingle. Holt finished putting his samples in little baggies and came over to stand behind me so I had one guy in front of me, one on my left. He lightly touched the other side of my waist.

They were showing me what it would be like to be sandwiched by them.

I swallowed, and tried to calm my racing heart.

“Can we entice you some more? How about dinner tonight?” Holt suggested, his voice low and rumbly.

Wind kicked up and brushed a wayward curl across my face. He reached up and tucked it behind my ear.

“Okay,” I said before I thought things through. As if my pussy had answered instead of my brain. “Er, actually, maybe that’s not the best plan. It’s a small town, and my dad really does not like you, Sheriff. I would hate—”

“Holt,” he prompted, clearly not wanting to be called by his job title right now.

“—for gossip to get started and find its way back home.”

“How about dinner at Holt’s place, then?” Theo offered. “I’ll barbecue some steaks. Say, six o’clock?”

I licked my lips, and Theo’s gaze tracked the movement. “Wow, you guys do come on a little strong.”

“But you’re not scared.” Theo said it as more of a statement than a question. A confirmation.

Maybe I should have been afraid, but I wasn’t. This was my town, and it was a small one where everyone knew everyone else. Plus, these guys were law enforcement agents. They wouldn’t force me into something I didn’t want to do.

I shook my head. “No. Should I be?”

“Never,” Holt said immediately, his presence warm and strong at my side. “We want to make you feel good, Ali. We are both completely entranced by you.”

I turned to face him and he was closer than I expected, which meant I found myself standing in his arms, my palm against his chest. Theo closed in from behind. I felt so small, so protected all of a sudden. “Entranced?” I sounded breathless, like I was the one being entranced.

God, how could it feel like this? So intense? So… right?

“Enticed.” Holt’s rumble was just as seductive as Theo’s. I felt it viscerally in every part of my body. He slid a thumb across my cheek, then gently took the rifle from my hand and passed it to Theo. “May I kiss you, Ali?”

I might have liked to read about women being kidnapped by aliens and forced to do all kinds of dirty things, but in real life, consent was sexy. The mere question had me soaking my panties.

A half-dozen different answers flitted through my head—all affirmative—before I managed to let out the single syllable. “Yes.”

The moment I spoke it, Holt’s lips crashed down over mine. Theo’s hand—at least I thought it was Theo’s—squeezed and massaged my ass the entire time Holt drank from my lips. Heat bloomed in my core, spreading in all directions, setting me on fire. I gripped the rough fabric of Holt’s t-shirt. I wasn’t sure whether it was to pull him closer or keep my balance. All I knew was that I was lost in the kiss. In drinking in this experience, in feeling both seductive and seduced at once.