Their Masquerade (The American Soldier Collection 6)

“Why would he do that?”

“Like I said. He was worried.”

She was annoyed but since telling these men she didn’t need them or their constant brotherly protection she decided to ignore the anger. She took a long drink of beer and leaned back.

“It’s nice to have you back in the country. We were getting concerned about you.”

He took a slug of beer.

“Concerned? Why?” she asked, taking another slug. She looked at him and absorbed the smell of beer in the air combined with his cologne and that damn perfectly muscled chest below his cowboy shirt. The man was making her mouth water. She’d love to place her hands under his shirt, or down his pants, and finally see how big he really was. She shook her head and took another long slug. Maybe taking the alcohol through IV would be better. Sitting this close to him, not being able to touch him, was pure torture.

“It’s our job. It’s kind of hard to keep a watchful eye over you with all the miles between us.”

She looked away from him. “It was a good thing. I needed to establish my own life and make my own decisions.”

“You could have done that here,” he said with a bit of an attitude. She looked over at him.

“No, I couldn’t have. Not with people around directing me and telling me what I could and couldn’t do. It was a great opportunity, and Michael wanted me to apply for the grant. I always wanted to go to Italy, and travel.”

Quentin finished off his beer and then reached down for another. She quickly polished off her beer, wanting to keep up with Quentin for some stupid reason.

“We all come here whenever we’re in town. Michael meant so much to us. It’s like we don’t feel complete anymore,” he admitted. She turned toward him.

“You shouldn’t feel that way. You have one another. The group of you work together, live together.”

Share together. Don’t you want to share me?

He turned toward her.

“We do share a lot together. It makes things easier somehow,” he whispered then took another slug of beer.

She did the same thing and stared out toward the cemetery.

“He loved you guys a lot. I appreciate you four looking out for Uncle Jeb while I was away.”

He sat forward.

He locked gazes with her. “We would never stop watching out for Jeb, just like we won’t stop watching out for you.”

There it was again. Smacked her libido right in the kisser, reminding her that they didn’t get it.

She made a noise and then leaned back against the bench. She took another long slug of beer and felt the alcohol reach her veins, the cold liquid cool her heating temper.

“So, are you still doing private jobs for the government or are you solely involved in the family livestock business?” she asked him as he stared at her.

He answered her, and she was half-listening because she was absorbed in looking at his thighs, and how tight the denim stretched over his muscular thighs. She knew if she touched him, he would feel like steel benea

th her fingertips.

She shivered as a small, cold breeze collided against her body. She looked straight ahead and nearly jerked forward when his arm ascended over her shoulders. He pulled her against his side, instantly warming her. She’d dreamt of this. Being held by one of them, all of them.

Slowly she tilted her head up to look at him.

“Why did you get mad at L.T. and Axel last night?”

She wasn’t expecting that. What the hell did she expect? For him to kiss her, exclaim his hidden desire to have her. She cared about him so much, and wanted him so much, her mind jumped ten steps ahead, and she saw herself bent over the bench while naughty Quentin fucked her from behind. Her cheeks warmed up quickly, and she looked away. He had a reputation as a wild cowboy. He was crazy, sexy, and creative in bed. At least that was what she’d heard through the grapevine. She wanted that. She wanted to trust him enough to let him tie her to his bed and take what he wanted and needed to feel complete. But instead, she remained the lonely virgin, holding out for she didn’t know what anymore.

He pressed his warm hand against her cheek and she was forced to look up at him. His green eyes darkened, his expression serious.