Chapter 8 Sam #2
She’s also a woman, and she would be way easier to physically harm than any of her brothers.
All the Redford boys are muscular and over six feet, with tanned skin and straight black hair that they inherited from their mother.
Dolly probably weighs one hundred twenty pounds soaking wet. She’s tiny, only five foot two.
I have to force myself to inhale and exhale slowly at Duke’s next words.
“Whoever this fucker is, he’ll most likely come after Dolly before he tries to fuck with any of us boys. Sterling is stationed overseas right now, and all of us carry guns with us. She’s the only one he’d have a chance at overpowering.”
The table falls silent. I grit my teeth, trying to force myself not to speak and insist on becoming her full-time bodyguard and sleeping at the foot of her bed like a lap dog.
They can handle this. They’d never let her be exposed and vulnerable to an active threat. It’s not my fucking concern.
“What do you think, Cash? Dolly isn’t gonna be happy about the idea of a full-time security detail based on a letter. She already feels like we’re suffocating her,” Holden says.
And who fucking cares? It’s her life we’re talking about. She can get the fuck over it.
I manage to keep quiet.
Duke throws his hands up. “And? She’s gonna have to suck it up. We’ll find this motherfucker before too long and put an end to this shit.”
Cash and Holden exchange glances before Holden’s eyes settle on me.
He studies me for a few beats before speaking. “What do you think, Sam?”
I inhale slowly, trying to get my heart rate to calm back down. Rosie’s laughter floats to my ears from the kitchen, where she’s hanging out with Monroe. I don’t know where Dolly is tonight.
I lean forward, placing my elbows on the table. “Would you ever forgive yourselves if something did happen to her? She can have her freedom back when this bitch is dead.”
“Maybe it would be better if she weren’t at Redford Ranch for a while,” Holden says.
“How can we protect her if she’s not there? Where would she go?” Duke says.
Cash sips his bourbon. “Actually, I agree. When Monroe was being stalked, moving her around was the best way to keep her safe. But he will eventually find out if she’s gone and where she is. She’ll still need protection while we look for him.”
She can stay at Moonlight. Fuck, can she?
The chances of me keeping my hands off of her by pretending she doesn’t exist will drop to drastically low numbers if she’s living in my house and we’re alone all the time.
I can handle Dolly Redford under my roof, swaying those hips in her frilly dresses and infiltrating my curated bachelor pad. I have self-control.
Duke turns to me. “That’s true. She could stay at your place until we find him. If you’re with her, I can help Holden track him down. You’re the only man I trust to take care of her besides us.”
All three of the Redford brothers turn their eyes to me expectantly. They’re asking me if their baby sister can move into my house … to be protected.
Duke leans forward, misinterpreting my silence for reluctance to agree.
“Look, I know she’s got the annoying-younger-sister thing going on, and you might have to make girls be quieter when they come over and put on a pair of pants when you leave your room, but it will be temporary.
Maybe a week or two, while we track this guy down.
Also, Dolly is a damn good cook. She bakes and reads, and that’s really about it.
She’s not gonna try to throw a party or make a huge mess or anything.
There’s no other man on the planet we can trust to keep his hands off our sister, not after what happened with Cain. ”
And that’s just it.
I don’t know if they can trust me to keep my hands off their sister, even though all three of them clearly expect it and are only proposing this with that condition in place.
Cash taps a poker chip on the edge of the table. “Take time to think about it, Seymour. No need to give us an answer right now. Between the three of us, finding this fucker and watching out for all of our women and running the ranch will be difficult, but we can manage if this is too much to ask.”
“It’s not that,” I finally say.
Fuck, what possible good reason can I give for not wanting to do this, aside from, If you leave your little sister alone with me for too long, I will most likely be making her scream my name into a pillow?
And to make things worse, I know she’d be enthusiastic about it since she’s had a crush on me for as long as I can remember, and a few years ago, I started to notice she wasn’t a kid anymore.
Oh, and last week, she came on my lap on a boat, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
I swirl the amber liquid in my glass, feeling the weight of three sets of intense eyes on me. “How do you know she’ll even agree to this? She might balk at the idea of having to move to Moonlight.”
Holden leans forward. “Look, I’m all about giving her the freedom to make her own choices and be the person she wants to be, but not when it comes to safety.
This is a serious threat, and the less vulnerable bodies we have here on Redford Ranch, the more time and energy Duke and Cash and I will have to find this guy.
We’re all at risk, not just Dolly. But she is, by far, the most obvious target. ”
Cash leans in. “Her being with you, especially if, to the outside world, it looks like you two are dating, the less chance he’ll view her as an easy target.
A single woman is a much more appealing mark to a sick fuck than a woman in a relationship, living with a man who’s expecting her in his bed every night. ”
My pulse spikes. “You want us to pretend we’re dating?” The hair on the top of my arms rises.
Duke slaps the table. “Hell yeah, that’s actually a damn good idea. If people think y’all are together, he won’t view her as the most vulnerable one.”
My chest tightens. “You really are gonna have to get her to agree to that then.”
Cash nods. “Where is she anyway? How long have you had this letter?”
“She was at the house when I left. I’ll check her location.” Duke pulls out his phone.
Holden grabs the letter. “This is the first letter, and it was left inside the mailbox in a blank envelope with just my name on it. I also had a note left on my truck in town a week ago, which was odd. I threw it away and didn’t think anything of it until now, but it said, I hope you’ve enjoyed your last few years of freedom. ”
Cash nods. “Definitely connected.”
Duke swears. “Fuck. She’s in town right now; looks like she’s eating at Mario’s.” He stands. “I’m texting her, telling her to get home now.”
“Who is she with?” Cash asks.
That’s what I’d like to fucking know.
Holden stands. “Y’all go pick her up, and we’ll talk to Rosie and Monroe while you’re gone so they can help us convince her this is the best plan of action.”