“Is a mistake, and we shouldn’t let it happen again.”
“Hell, no. It wasn’t a mistake. It is going to happen again, and I won’t be the only one kissing these lips or exploring this body.”
“What?” she asked filled with shock.
“You know damn well that you’re attracted to all of us on the team. Just like we’re all attracted to you. What you need to understand, is that things are going to change from here on out. You’re going to explain everything so that we have the tools and the knowledge we need to protect you and help you. Keep an opened mind and just let it happen. After dinner, we’ll start,” he said and then pushed away from the wall. He took her hand and was leading her from the bedroom.
“Hey, I need to fix up or they’re going to know that we kissed.”
“Honey, they already know,” he said as they headed down the hallway. She felt her cheeks warm up mighty damn fast and her belly tighten in fear before they reached the kitchen. How would they know? Would Conway and the others be angry, pissed off, confrontational? She just didn’t think she could handle anything else tonight. When they entered the kitchen, all eyes were upon them.
J.J. swallowed hard as Calder held her by her hips and directed her toward her chair.
One glance around the room at Conway, Brook, and Lincoln, and she felt her temperature go up another notch. They weren’t mad. Those weren’t expressions of anger, disgust, or disappointment. No way. Instead, every feminine instinct told her exactly what was in their eyes.
Hunger.
* * * *
Long after J.J. went to bed, the men gathered around the surveillance room to talk about what had transpired. Conway was leading the discussion, taking his role as their team leader beyond the years in the field. He was good at it, and none of his team complained. He had some concerns about this job, and ultimately the way all his men immediately took to J.J. It was time to have a serious discussion.
“Okay, I understand that we discussed the possibility of sharing one woman, just like some of our close friends have. But what we need to discuss is number one, are we sure that we’re ready to do something like this, now that we’re face to face with a prospective candidate that we obviously mutually are attracted to, and secondly, why J.J.? What makes her stand out from any other women we’ve ever met since retiring from the military?” Conway asked.
He looked around the room and Brook very seriously began his perspective.
Brook was leaning back in the chair, his palms flat on his thighs as he looked at each of them and then back at Conway.
“Initially, she pissed me off. Her attitude sucked, and her refusal to even engage in a civilized conversation with any of us got to me. However, it was the lost look on her face, in those moments when she zones out, like we’ve all witnessed, that tugged at something deep within me. Maybe it’s the artist in me, the craftsman that molds plain wood into something more, that makes me realize how beautiful J.J. truly is. Discard the bruises, the piss-fucking-poor attitude, and peel away those layers of distrust and fear, and look at her. She’s everything each of us had discussed that we wanted in a woman.”
“He’s right. Everything Brook said is right on. She’s scared, and those bruises on her neck indicate that her struggle to survive must have been frightening. Have you seen her neck up closely? There are finger marks there. Fucking finger marks, guys. Someone held that woman by her throat to try to kill her or control her. That just fucking pisses me off. She wants our help. I know she does. You heard our conversation in the gym. She asked a lot of questions about PTSS. She knows she has it and she’s suffering from it. We can help her,” Lincoln stated.
“J.J. is stubborn, she’s used to handling things by herself and being left with nowhere to go, no one to trust, and being hunted like some fucking animal isn’t right. She needs us. But to answer your question more directly, Conway, we need her. She’s the first and only woman that the four of us met and that we all agree we want. She’s got the tough no-nonsense attitude that I find pretty fucking sexy,” Calder stated.
“No shit. That’s why an argument between the two of you ended up with your tongue down her throat and her pinned against the bedroom wall,” Lincoln retorted.
They all chuckled.
“She’s not a pushover. This case she was working undercover on must be considered pretty high profile. I want her safe. I don’t want her touched, bruised, hurt by another person again. If that’s not good enough of an answer for any of you, then I don’t care,” Calder added.
“It’s a good enough answer. It’s what we’re all thinking, besides the fact that she’s got the sexiest body any of us have ever seen on a woman,” Brook said.
“Well, at least one for real and not in between the pages of Playboy,” Lincoln added. They laughed.
“What about you, Conway? You weren’t too keen about engaging in this type of relationship when we started talking about the possibility years ago. What’s changed?” Calder asked.
Conway took a deep breath as he leaned against the desk. He looked at his men, his team, his family.
“We did. The four of us have been together for most of our lives. We always have one another’s backs. We feel safest together as a team. There are no secrets between us because we’re one unit, one team, and together we’re whole. That’s with all our faults, our weaknesses, although we don’t admit to those, and our strengths. We’ve gotten through some heavy shit in our lives, together. She doesn’t have anyone. She’s tough, but she still can’t handle this alone. She can’t keep up this pace of self-sacrifice. J.J. definitely does have all the qualities we said we wanted in a woman to share. She has more than all of them. She is beyond anything we could have conjured up in our minds. But my fear is for her sake. She’s in over her head. She has already admitted that she believes death is coming. She’s fragile. Is it fair for us to pursue her romantically, when the woman is so scared and distrusting?”
“She needs us right now. She needs reassurance and support, but she needs honesty. We can’t pretend that we don’t want her in our bed, and between us. We can’t lie to her and ignore these desires. It will cause trouble between all of us, and that could scare her even more. I say we let it happen. She’s not going anywhere and neither are we. We take the time to get to know her, the situation, and how we all fit together. That’s a normal process, Chief,” Brook said and they chuckled.
Conway shook
his head.
“Holy shit, when she called me chief like that, I was so tempted to throw her over my knee and spank that ass of hers. Fuck. She shocked me,” Conway admitted.
They laughed.