“Hey, what about me?” Bash frowned at her. “What am I? Chopped liver?”
She pressed her lips together, remembering Bash’s less than friendly reception. “Bean, meet Chopped Liver.”
Bash sputtered at the insult, but she continued her introductions, enjoying the parade of shocked expressions rolling over Bash’s face. “The big guy is Sam. He’s a member of Angel Fire’s security team.” She turned to the other two men. “Sorry, I don’t know you.”
The man to her left lifted his hand. “Donald.” He looked to be ex-Marine with close-cropped hair, a square chin, and a strong jaw, and he probably bench-pressed some ungodly weight for fun on his days off.
The other one gave a chin bump. “Reggie.” He was a tall and handsome with ebony skin, six-foot-four or maybe taller, and probably used to being the largest man in the room. He eyed Forest with caution.
She guessed there weren’t many men who out-massed Reggie. Sam impressed her and held his ground, his protective six-feet-plus stance shielding Ash and Bash, but he looked small with Forest so near.
And, as she stood in a roomful of men she barely knew, she realized she was wrapped in nothing more than a damp towel. “Um, now that everyone has been introduced, do you mind leaving my bedroom, so I can put on some clothes?”
“She didn’t introduce me,” Bash complained.
“Maybe it’s because of your charm,” Ash quipped. He tapped Sam on the shoulder. “It’s okay. You can leave us alone.”
Forest stepped clear of the doorway. “Everyone, out of my sister’s room.” He narrowed in on Ash. “Especially you.”
Forest spun on his heel and took a step back down the hall. When no one followed, he turned back, using his growly voice to get everyone moving. “That was not a request.”
Sam looked to Ash, who gave a nod of assurance, before he followed Forest to the living room. Reggie, Donald, and Bash trailed on his heels.
Ash grabbed the doorknob and started to shut the door.
Forest’s voice carried from the living room. “That means you, too, Lover Boy. Don’t you dare touch my sister when she’s not wearing any clothes.”
Ash shifted from foot to foot. “Is he for real?” He lowered his voice. “He does know we’ve had sex, right?”
Yes, if the most fucked up fuck of fucks could be called sex. She laughed at the memory of their first time because to acknowledge how bad it had truly been would mean facing a past still torturing her present.
“Unfortunately, yes,” she said.
“And that we’re married?”
“Right now, that’s your biggest problem.”
Ash ran his fingers through his hair, curling the dark strands around his knuckles. With a flex of his neck, the dragon sitting astride the web arched its wings. “Damn it, Skye, why did you leave?”
Before she could answer, Forest’s bellow ripped through the air. “Get your fucking ass out here right now, Lover Boy. You do not want me to come get you.”
She shook her head. “You should go.”
“I’m not afraid of him.”
“You should be,” she warned. “Remember what I did to Bash at the airport?”
He gave an almost imperceptible nod and shifted toward the door.
“Who do you think taught me? Now, imagine an irate Bean doing that to you or Bash? Don’t think for a minute that Sam, Reggie, or Donald would be able to stop him.”
“He and I are going to have a problem if I can’t touch you.”
“Just go. Don’t worry about Bean; you’ve got one up on him. You’re the lead singer of his favorite band. He’s more bluster than anything else. He’s acting tough and trying not to be the starry-eyed fool. Use your rock-star charm and win him over. I’ll be out in a minute.”
Before Ash left, she tugged on his sleeve, pitching her voice low, careful so that it wouldn’t carry to Forest in the living room. “Bean’s a few days shy of earning his sixty-day abstinence coin. I emptied all the alcohol in the house, but I’m worried.”
“Alcohol or drugs?” Ash asked.
