Burnin' Love [Men for Hire: Firemen 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

She could sense the men tense up behind her, but she pretended not to notice. Instead, she sought out Melissa to make sure she knew that it was her decision. “What do you want? If you like, the guys and I can take a table and wait for you. You don’t need any pressure from anyone, including us. We’ll just be here.”

She met John’s hard gaze with one of her own. “You know. Just in case.”

Melissa seemed more confused than ever. “I don’t know what I want to do.”

John whirled on her. “Yeah, you do. You want to come with me. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

Melissa cried out when John took hold of her arm. That was all it took for the men to jump into action.

It was John’s turn to cry out as Paul snagged him by the neck. His fingers sunk into the boy’s neck. John’s mean expression was lost as fear replaced it. He turned Melissa loose and she scooted farther into the booth, putting as much distance between them as possible.

“Let me go, man!”

Troy and Wade positioned themselves in front of John and Paul.

Wade put his face a few inches from John’s. “Sure thing, Johnny-boy. But you’ve got to understand one thing.”

Troy pushed his brother aside and took over. “Do you know what that one thing is?”

By now several of the other patrons were getting anxious. An employee scurried toward the swinging doors leading into the kitchen area while the girl manning the bakery station took out her cell phone and started recording their interaction.

“Uh, guys, let’s all calm down, okay?” The last thing Daisy wanted to see was a video of them on YouTube. She placed her hand on Paul’s arm. “He let Melissa go, so you can do the same. Right? Paul?”

He didn’t want to turn John loose. Judging from his face, he wanted to do more than just hold onto his neck. Heaving a large sigh, he flicked his hand open, and let him go.

John sneered at them. “You guys better get the hell out of here before we call the cops.”

Daisy followed the direction he was looking to see a couple of the bulkier workers and what was probably the manager headed their way. She didn’t see any police yet, but she had no doubt they’d call 9-1-1 if the situation grew any worse.

“Is there a problem here?” The manager spoke with a heavy accent, but she still understood him. She would’ve understood him even if he’d spoken Italian. It didn’t take a genius to figure out his meaning.

“Nope. No problem.” She gave him her friendliest smile. If only she could get Paul to stop scowling. “We’re here to pick up our friend.” She nodded at Melissa and knew that anyone with eyes in their head could tell that the girl was frightened.

Sure enough, the manager caught on and shifted his body toward John. “Sir, are you bothering this young woman?”

That was enough to send John over the edge. “Fuck off, man.” He lunged for Melissa who shrieked and cringed away from him.

Troy and Wade had John collared before he could make it halfway to Melissa. The manager started demanding that John leave immediately.

“Did you hear the manager, John? He wants you out of here.” Troy and Wade handed the irate young man off to the waiters.

That, however, wasn’t good enough for Paul. “I’ll make sure they take him out.” He strode after the still-cursing John and the waiters through the restaurant and out the front door.

The manager clasped his hands together. “Miss, are you all right? Would you like me to call the authorities?”

Daisy slid into the booth next to Melissa. The girl was trembling and she wouldn’t blame her for wanting the cops called, but she hoped she wouldn’t. To her relief, Melissa managed to get out a firm “no.”

“And you are all right with this woman and her men?”

Her men? Daisy liked the way that sounded.

Again, Melissa came through. “Yes. They’re my friends.”

He took another hard look at them, then nodded. “Very well. But should you need anything, please let me know.” He did a short bow then hurried toward the front door.

“Are you all right?” Daisy slipped her arm around Melissa. At least she’d stopped trembling.

“Uh-huh.” But there were still tears in her eyes.

“Why did you meet with him, Melissa? I mean, that’s your decision and all, but didn’t you think he might try something?” She looked directly into her eyes. “You can tell me the truth. Has he ever hurt you?”

The answer was clear enough in her face. “I’m so stupid. I keep thinking he’ll go back to the sweet guy I knew when we first met.”

Daisy didn’t have the heart to tell her that they rarely, if ever, did. “It’s okay. I understand. But what do you want to do now? Do you want to come back to the house?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. But do me a favor.”

Melissa wiped away a tear. “What’s that?”

“Don’t go sneaking out the window again.” She was happy when that earned a smile from Melissa. “Come on. Let’s get going before anything else happens.”

Pulling Melissa along with her, Daisy was almost ready to breathe a real breath of relief when, as soon as she stepped outside, she saw her car. She froze, unable to believe what she knew was real. Paul stood next to it, his usual scowl even blacker than normal. A long line ran from the tip of the front tire to the taillight.

She let out a cry and dashed over to her car. “Oh, no, no, no! Someone keyed my car!”

Paul crossed his arms, his body language as angry as his glower. “I’ll give you one guess as to who did it.”

“John.” She skimmed her fingers along the scratch and fought to keep her tears back.
Just keep telling yourself that it’s only a car. It’s only a car. It’s only a car.

It’s only a thirty-five thousand dollar car that had taken her years to afford. She’d never spent so much money on a vehicle. Had, in fact, thought it wasteful and ridiculous to buy anything that sat out in the open since the B&B didn’t have a garage. But when she’d seen the car, she’d fallen head over heels for it. She’d taken money she’d saved for a fantastic month-long vacation and had splurged, using that money to get the payments low enough that she could swing them. Since buying it, she’d taken extra care to keep it from getting dinged by other cars. And now this had happened.

Paul slipped his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

“How is this your fault? It was John.”

Troy, Wade and Melissa stood several feet away as though giving her time to mourn.

“Yeah, I’m sure he did it. But I should’ve watched him after they threw him out. Instead, I was asking the waiters if they’d seen anyone else around. I wanted to know if Charlie had come, too.”

She’d given all the men a complete description of her. “It’s only a car. I’m hoping I’ll feel better if I keep telling myself that. And that it’ll make it hurt less.”

“We know a guy who can make it look brand new, Daisy. Isn’t that right, Troy?” Wade urged Troy, who was still gaping at the damage, to join in.

“Yeah, we do. He’s a freakin’ genius at that kind of thing. Don’t worry. He owes us a favor so we’ll get him to do it for you. Free of charge.” Troy pulled out his phone. “I’ll give him a call right now.” He pivoted and walked away from the group, his phone at his ear.

“Wait a minute. How’d he know this was my car? He couldn’t have seen us arrive. The booth where he and Melissa were sitting was too far back in the restaurant.”

Melissa let out a small moan. “He knew. He saw it last night.”

Daisy couldn’t believe her ears. “Last night? Did you meet up with him then, too?” If Melissa was holding information back or meeting up with John at other times, she didn’t know whether she wanted to keep trying to help her or not.

“No. Yes. I mean, he called me and said he was outside the house last night. But I was too afraid to go outside. That was before he finally suggested that we meet someplace where there were more people so that I’d feel safer.”

“And how’d he find out where we were?” None of this made any sense. Did Melissa want to go back to John or not? She had to wonder if Melissa was using her. But the girl’s fear was real enough.

Melissa couldn’t meet her gaze. “I know I should’ve said something, but I was afraid you wouldn’t want to help me. That he’d scare you away.”

Daisy took her hand. “Melissa, you’ve got to start trusting me. Trusting us. Tell me how he knew.”

“He followed us when we drove away from Charlie.” Her sweet face seemed to cave in on itself. “When he phoned me, he was right behind us.”

“So when we went home, he followed us and found out where you were staying.”

Paul said something under his breath that she was grateful she couldn’t hear. She doubted it would’ve been anything pleasant.

“I’m sorry, Daisy. Really.”

“It’s okay. I know all of this is hard on you.” Daisy turned away from her scratched car. “Just don’t keep anything else from us. We can’t help you if you don’t tell us everything.”

“I’m not convinced that you even want help. Do you?”

She couldn’t blame Paul for asking the question she’d been thinking. She just wished he’d asked it with less of a snarl in his tone.

“Yes. I do.” Melissa leaned into Daisy. “I’m just so confused.”

Daisy shot Paul a warning look. “Shh. It’s okay. Like I said, let’s get back to the house.”

* * * *

Paul was proud of himself. Many other men wouldn’t have been able to stay out of the mix when Troy and Wade had taken Daisy to bed the previous night. He wasn’t sure how he’d managed to withstand it, but he had. Of course, he’d about drained the water tank of cold water when he’d stood in the shower until he’d finally been able to get relief. Even then, he’d dreamed about her, with and without his friends sharing the experience.

He’d wanted to strangle Wade and Troy when they’d finally let her go to sleep and had come down to the living where he’d been nursing a large goblet of wine. They’d talked about her incessantly. They praised not only her body but her wit, her personality and her heart. They’d been smitten with her in high school and now they were falling for her, hook, line and sinker.

Thing was, he didn’t blame them one bit. He hadn’t known her before, but he was already more attracted to her than he’d been with any other woman. Even Amber.

He gripped the wheel of his Range Rover and glanced over at Daisy, her legs crossed, one foot bopping up and down to unheard music. She was different, that was sure. Not only was she not his usual type—he preferred brunettes with big booties and generous-sized chests—but she was smarter than the women he usually dated. Her quirkiness was fascinating and the offbeat way she had of looking at life made him want to know more about her. No other woman had ever piqued his curiosity as fast and as hard as she had. He wanted to know what made her mind tick as well as what would make her scream in pleasure. For him, the man who never wanted to get tied down, never wanted to go through the pain of heartbreak again, that was a major new development.

When the opportunity had presented it, he’d jumped at the chance to run to the store with her. After almost barreling the Chambliss brothers out of the way, he’d tried to act nonchalant when he’d told Wade and Troy to stay at the house with Melissa and keep watch over her. Troy had started to argue until Wade had elbowed him in the ribs.

Still, it wasn’t as though he’d made up an excuse for them to stick with the young girl. They wouldn’t let anyone get near her and they sure as hell wouldn’t let her run off again. That was the only way that Daisy was going to leave her side.

“I’m sorry about your car.” He felt responsible, although he realized he wasn’t directly at fault. “I should’ve stuck around and made sure that jerk John had gone.”

“Will you stop it? It’s not your fault.” She shifted her soft dark eyes his way. “Besides, it’s only a car.”

“Okay. I’ll stop apologizing if you stop saying that it’s only a car. Any fool can see that you love it.” He chuckled and saw that she was surprised he’d laughed. The smile she gave him made him promise to chuckle more often.

“Okay, but only if you’ll stop apologizing.”

“Didn’t I just say as much?”

“Fine. Then it’s a deal.”

They rode for a bit longer in companionable silence. He hoped she wouldn’t notice that he’d taken the long route to the grocery store. Anything to buy more time with her.

“Paul, pull over.”

“Please.”

“Why?”

“Will you just do it?”

Paul pulled the vehicle off the main road and into the alley between two businesses. They were only a couple of blocks away from the store, but he didn’t mind the delay. “What is it, Daisy?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.” He didn’t like answering questions, but for her? Yeah, he’d do it.

“Why are you such a grump most of the time?”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

Was he a grump? Granted, he took his work, both as a fireman and as someone who helped women, seriously, but that was a good thing. “I didn’t know I was.”

“You’re kidding me, right? No one’s ever told you that before?”

He wasn’t sure he wanted to tell her the truth, but then again, he didn’t like lying to her, either. “I guess a few people have. But I’m not. I’m just”—he searched for the best word—“serious.”

She made a face. “Serious to the max. I understand that you want to do your job and do it well, but you should try lightening up once in a while.”

Shit. Does that mean she doesn’t like me?

He’d felt like the odd man out last night, but that was nothing to the way he felt right now. “I’m just”—again he had to search for the best way to describe himself—“somber.”

Somber? Shit. That wasn’t right, either.

“Can I ask you another question?”

He wasn’t sure he wanted her to. At least, not if the conversation kept going in the direction it was headed. But saying no wouldn’t do him any good, either. “Sure. Why stop now?”

“Why didn’t you join in last night?”

He’d expected almost any question except that one. For one of the few times in his life, he was embarrassed. “I didn’t think you wanted me to.”

If the way she’d looked at him was any indication, that was a load of bullshit, but she didn’t need to know that. Telling her that he’d chosen his job over her didn’t sound like a bright idea. And he didn’t want to tell her everything. The whole truth involved protecting himself as much as it did keeping her safe.