Cole's Mistake (Haven, Texas 8)

Cole buried his face in her neck. “You have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing.”

Julian lifted her onto his chest, lying on his back with her curled up on him in her favorite sleeping position. She looked over at Cole, hoping he didn’t feel left out. But he just moved closer, wrapping his arm over her middle.

“There’s only one person to blame for this and when I find him, he’s a dead man.” She knew Cole meant every word.

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But instead of scaring her, it soothed her.

And with one man under her, the other wrapped close to her side, she drifted off to sleep.

27

“We need to have a talk about how to help you both,” Cole stated.

It had been two days since they’d told him about that psycho kidnapping them, hurting them. And the anger still hadn’t dissipated. He’d barely slept these past two nights. Each time he closed his eyes, he thought about what had happened to them and grew furious all over again.

It didn’t help that Keira’s nightmares had been worse since they’d told him. Molly, their therapist, said it was because she’d tried to suppress everything, so when she’d actually spoken about it everything had come up to the surface.

He had to admit, Molly sounded like she knew what she was talking about. Keira and Julian had given permission for her to speak openly with him. He’d also spoken to Keira’s doctor about her health. The doctor was mostly concerned with her weight, which Cole had reassured him he would monitor closely.

There were some definite upsides to living in Haven. Females were closely guarded and were under the protection of a guardian. While Julian was officially Keira’s guardian, he’d taken over dual duty. And no one had batted an eye at her having two men in her life, two guardians to protect and take care of her. If anything, everyone had grown more welcoming towards him.

Julian was trickier to watch out for. But he suspected a lot of Julian’s issues stemmed from not knowing where Vincento was. He did intend to do a couple of things in order to try to help him sleep more. One being having one of Raptor Inc.’s security specialists patrolling outside the guest house at night. He’d spoken to Joel and learned he’d put in cameras and more alarms since bringing Julian and Keira home. He was grateful for his brother’s help, but he’d take over now.

“Like what?” Keira asked, leaning back in the couch. She’d worked the dinner shift while he and Julian had eaten there, staying close to her.

He lifted her into his lap, and she curled up. Christ, he would never take this feeling for granted again. Julian grabbed her feet and pulled them onto his lap, massaging them gently.

“I know you said making decisions scares you.” She stiffened and he rubbed her back. “How about this? When it all gets too much, you tell us, and we’ll take over. You can make the decisions when we’re out that door, but once we’re inside you say the word and we take control.”

“Will that . . . do you want that?”

Poor baby, she really did find it hard to trust in herself.

“What do you want?” Julian asked, leaning forward, placing his elbows on his knees.

They both waited, giving her a chance to think it all through, not pushing her for an answer.

“I think I would like that. It will take some of the pressure off. When I’m submitting, I feel more relaxed.”

“Good girl for telling us what you want,” he praised her. “Then that’s what we’ll do.” Cole turned to Julian. “I get why it’s hard to let Keira out of your sight. I feel the same now that I know everything. But do you trust me to watch over her?”

Julian frowned. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just, it’s more than just protecting her.”

“She’s your anchor,” Cole guessed. “She helps keep you focused? In the here and now?”

“Yes. I guess that’s pretty accurate.”

“How about when you’re working out?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“You use Joel’s gym, right? To work out? And Keira goes with you?”

“She pretends to lift weights. Mostly, she just checks me out.” Julian grinned.

“Hey. Not my fault if my husband is sexy as hell.”