Skirt Steak (Grade-A Beefcakes 5)

“No, she wouldn’t,” Porter said. “Did she say where she was headed?”

“Arizona. Something about starting over where it was warm. You two need to find her.”

Porter was already heading for the garage. “On it,” I said, then hung up. “I’ve got the sheriff SUV. We’ll take that.”

Porter changed directions and went out the front door. The snow was coming hard and fast but I doubt he even felt it. I was pissed at him for fucking things up with Jill, but I could understand how it had happened. Now he was a man on a mission, because he wasn’t raised to let his woman drive alone on a night like this. Hell, spend the night by herself in a strange hotel. To let her spend one minute more thinking we didn’t love her.

Jill was out there. Alone. We had to find her and we had to make this right.

17

JILL

* * *

I willed myself to sleep, but it wouldn’t come. The sliver of light peeking through the curtain highlighted the square tiles on the ceiling, which I’d counted over and over, like sheep. I was exhausted, having worked all day and then driven fifty miles in a Montana snow storm. By the time I pulled into the parking lot of a chain hotel off the highway, my muscles ached from being so tense. I’d leaned forward like a little old lady as I drove well below the speed limit because of blowing snow. I should’ve stayed home and headed out in the morning when the front was to clear away. I hadn’t been thinking clearly. I hadn’t really been thinking at all. That was better than actually listening to the voice in my head.

It had been relatively easy to do with the radio blasting, but now, in the quiet of the hotel room with only the hum of the heater to distract me, I thought of them.

I had on sweats, thick socks and a hoodie sweatshirt because while the heat worked in the room, the blanket was thin. I missed Porter’s internal furnace. I missed Liam’s arms as he held me close through the night. The bed was empty, cold. Even after Mom died, I hadn’t really felt this alone.

I’d had Tommy to think about, to take care of. He’d been sixteen at the time and needed a ride to school. Needed dinner on the table after. Needed clean clothes.

Now, he didn’t need me. That was obvious. I had to wonder if he even loved me. Did he even know what that meant? To care so desperately for someone you’d do anything for them? To—

There was a knock on the door and I bolted upright. I’d turned the deadbolt, slid that bar thing across. No one was able to get in, even if they had a keycard.

“Jill!”

I jumped from the bed, stared in the darkness at the darker door. Only a tiny circle of light showed through the peephole. Porter?

The knock came again. “Jill, it’s Porter and Liam. Open the door.”

I blinked and my heart skipped a beat.

“Please,” he added.

I raced to the door, slid the bar over, turned the handle.

Before I could take in more than two big men, I was picked up in Porter’s arms as he walked into my room. Liam must have flipped on the light as he shut the door. Porter didn’t stop until he was on the bed and I was settled on his lap.

“What are you two—”

“Shh,” Porter murmured. “Just let me hold you, sweetness. I think I aged ten years worrying about you.”

“I’m fine.”

“Shh.” He wrapped his arms around me tighter and the cold from his shirt and pants seeped into me. I shivered and he rubbed my arm, pulled me in even tighter.

Liam dropped to his knees in front of us, brushed my tangled hair back from my face. His jaw was covered in pale whiskers, his hair stuck up in places. While his blue eyes were tender, I couldn’t miss how tense he was. “You okay?”

I nodded against Porter’s chest. I could feel his heart beating a mile a minute. He was truly freaked.

“How did you find me?” I asked after a minute.

Liam’s mouth turned up at the corner. “I am the sheriff.” His uniform shirt backed up the words. “The roads are shit, so I requested a snowplow and we followed right behind. Cleared a path for us. We checked every hotel on the way and the front desk was very cooperative with giving your room number.”

In this remote part of the highway, there weren’t all that many hotels, and only clustered at a few of the exits.