Chapter 31
To keep her under control?
Was he kidding her?
“Keep me under control?” she repeated. “Did you really just say that?”
“Yes, I did. Did you not hear me properly?” Kellan turned off the shower and stepped out before lifting her out.
Not that she needed to be lifted out. But these guys seemed to think she was made of glass.
Sometimes she kind of felt that way, she had to admit.
He started drying her off, but it was difficult when she was wearing a sopping wet shirt.
“Um, I can do it,” she said. “But I need something to wear.”
Kellan nodded. “Wait a moment.” He disappeared out of the bathroom and she quickly stripped off and wrapped the towel around herself.
When Kellan returned, he held a bundle of clothes. “Some women dropped these off at reception for you. We’ll get you new things today but hopefully there’s something to wear. Breakfast is here.”
Something to wear? There were so many clothes that she was overwhelmed. Including new underwear. The bra size was slightly off but not by much and it would work.
And best of all was the new toothbrush and hairbrush. She knew she shouldn’t brush her teeth before eating, but she couldn’t stand it anymore.
After she was dressed, she stepped out to find the food spread across the small table. Both men were already seated and drinking coffee.
Eli got up and pulled another chair back. “Coffee?”
“God, yes. I can’t believe someone dropped off those clothes for me,” she said.
“Not just one person,” Kellan told her. “Several.”
“Really? Do you know who they were? I want to say thank you.”
“Think it was Laken and a couple of her friends. Probably Savannah and Lila.”
“Was the bra the right size?” Eli asked as he put a cup of coffee down in front of her.
“No, but it doesn’t matter. It’s not like I have much to support.”
Both men glared at her.
“What? It’s true.” She reached for some scrambled eggs and put them on her plate along with half a piece of toast.
Kellan grunted and, grabbing her plate, filled it with more egg and another piece of toast. Then he spooned some oatmeal into a bowl with some sliced fruit on top.
“That sounded like you were putting yourself down,” Eli said, pointing at her.
“I really wasn’t,” she said. “It was simply the truth. There’s not much there.”
“I still don’t like you saying that.” Kellan pointed at her. “Don’t do it again.”
“Yes, no putting yourself down,” Eli reiterated.
She sighed. “All right. What are these other rules? Also, this is way too much food for me. I’ll never eat it all.”
“Just do the best you can,” Eli told her. “You haven’t eaten much in the last twenty-four hours.”
That was true.
“Fine. The rules?”
“No putting yourself in danger, talking down about yourself, risking your health, breaking any laws, or lying to us. Also, you have to always tell us if there is a threat, if you’re scared, where you are going and when you will be home.”
“But not at the moment,” Kellan said. “Until the risk is eliminated, you’ll be with one of us at all times.”
“Yes, true,” Eli said. “Do you understand them all?”
She nodded, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
“Oh, and there might be other rules for the bedroom.” Eli winked at her.
Yeah. She could just imagine.
“Eat,” Kellan told her.
With a sigh, she started eating. “Kellan said the rules were to control me.”
Eli stared over at his brother and she waited for him to tell Kellan that he was wrong or could have worded that differently.
Instead, he smiled.
“Yeah. That’s about right.”
Dear Lord.
She was still fuming about that as they left the hotel and headed into Haven later that morning. Neither man had been all that thrilled at the idea of her leaving the room but she was going a bit stir-crazy in the hotel. First, she’d been stuck in the hospital, then the hotel.
She needed some fresh air and space.
Plus, she had to do some shopping.
The men had her sandwiched between them. They’d wanted to drive her into town. But it was a five minute walk and it didn’t make much sense. However, she was regretting this decision the closer they got to more people. Both seemed to be on high alert, watching everyone suspiciously.
Even Horse was looking around distrustfully.
“Are you guys all right? Did you see someone? Or something?” she asked
“No, baby. We haven’t seen anything.” Eli took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze, reassuring her.
“If we had, you wouldn’t be here,” Kellan said. “Eli would take you somewhere safe while I dealt with the threat.”
She really didn’t like the sound of that.
“We couldn’t just leave you here to deal with something like that!” she protested.
Kellan stopped and she turned to him.
“Eyes on me,” he ordered.
Jeez. What was with these guys and wanting her to look at them?
But she stared up at him. He really was so gorgeous. And she wanted to kiss him.
Desperately.
“If there was anything dangerous, any threat, you would run. You would get somewhere safe and you would leave me, understand? I can deal with anything that comes up but not if I have to worry about you. I will be far better off knowing you’re safe and I’m free to do what I have to do.”
“You being here would just hinder him,” Eli told her. “And it’s the same deal if it’s just you and me. You run. You save yourself.”
“You come first,” Kellan stated before walking again.
Right.
To her shock, as they moved along, Kellan kept staring at her hand. She wasn’t quite sure why until he reached out and grabbed hold.
She barely managed to hide her surprise. And then her smile of satisfaction. He might think he didn’t know how to be affectionate or show how he was feeling.
But she didn’t agree.
“I don’t suppose there’s an electronics shop here?” she asked Eli who had Horse on the lead.
Horse hadn’t seemed that impressed about that.
“No, we’d need to go into Freestown for that.”
“I need to get a laptop urgently,” she said. “I need that for work. And some lighting and a tripod and a few other things.”
“All right, we’ll drive in there later,” Eli reassured her.
“I’ll also need to go to the house and clean up,” she said.
They shared a look across her head.
“We’ll handle that,” Kellan told her.
“No, it’s my problem to solve.”
“That’s what you need to realize,” Eli said. “Your problems are our problems now. We’ll take care of it.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she said.
“Just say yes, Kellan or yes, Eli,” Kellan told her. “You should memorize those words. You’ll be saying them a lot.”
What was she going to do with them?
They grew closer to the bakery and she stilled.
“You don’t have to go in there, baby,” Eli said, misinterpreting the reason for her hesitation.
“No, I do. I want to check on Iona. I hope she’s not upset by what happened.”
“Maybe she should be.” Kellan glared at the shop as though it was its fault that she’d had an allergic reaction.
“She shouldn’t. It was entirely my fault for not checking on the ingredients. I got . . . distracted.”
Kellan grunted as though he didn’t quite agree.
But they both went inside with her. Eli entered first while Kellan held her back. Then he let her go in once Eli glanced back with a nod.
“You guys are acting like my bodyguards.”
“Your home was broken into and trashed. Just yours. No one else. Stuff wasn’t taken, it was destroyed. That feels personal not random,” Kellan told her seriously. “So, yes, we are.”
“Should I . . . should we go home?” she asked fearfully. Was it Lee? Or someone else? But who else would do that? Were they watching her now?
“We’re not going to let anything happen to you. All you have to do is what we say,” Eli said.
“Yes, Eli? Yes, Kellan?” she said sarcastically.
“Exactly,” Kellan replied. “Glad to see you’re getting it.”
Uh-huh.
As they moved through the shop, people called out greetings to Kellan and Eli. Mostly they replied with chin lifts and nods.
Which was actually sexy as hell.
But what surprised her was how many people asked if she was all right. And if she needed anything.
She hadn’t expected that. She knew that small towns could be different from the big city. That was part of the reason she was here.
But she hadn’t known that people would learn her name so quickly. Or be so caring. Sure, a few just seemed nosy or curious. But there was genuine care on some people’s faces.
And that really struck her hard.
“Thanks, I’m really fine now,” she said to an older lady who was leaning heavily on her walking stick.
“Good, dear, good. And I heard about the break-in. That’s terrible. Things like that shouldn’t happen here. I hope the sheriff is working hard to find who did it. Valerie will be horrified once she hears.”
Wow gossip spread quick in a small town.
“Mrs. Taylor? Do you know her well?”
“Oh, yes, we’re great friends. She’s on a boat tour of China right now.”
“Jake is trying to get hold of her,” Eli said.
“Hmm, I’ll try to get in touch. But I know she said that her phone was acting up. Is Abe all right? Not too shaken?”
“I’m going to go check on him,” she promised.
“Arabella!” the cry came from behind the counter and then Iona was barreling toward her.
Shit.
She was about to collide with her when Kellan swept Arabella behind his back, causing Iona to come to a surprised stop.
“Oomph, hey big guy, I wasn’t going to hurt her. You can step aside.”
Iona shooed Kellan. Either she was very brave or a bit foolish.
Arabella wasn’t sure which. Maybe she lacked self-preservation. Because Kellan was not taking kindly to being shooed.
And he didn’t move or take his arm away from Arabella so she could move.
Shoot.
Finally, Iona moved to the side so she could see Arabella.
“Arabella! Are you all right? I’ve been so worried.
I need your phone number because I didn’t know how to get in touch with you!
I went by your house but there were cops there and one of them said you’d been broken into!
What the hell is going on in your life? And now you’ve got a bodyguard? ”