“I don’t like it,” Natches muttered, plowing his fingers through his hair again. “Damm it, Janey. You need someone around the clock. Not a night watchman.”
“If anything other than letters happen, I’ll consider it,” she promised him.
The fear was there. Alex saw it, even if she did think she was hiding it from her brother. Those letters had her spooked, and rightfully so. But guts and courage were Mackay traits, even if they were mixed with pure hardheaded stubbornness.
“How long is your leave?” Natches clearly wasn’t happy.
Alex arched his brows. “I have extended leave right now. I’m clear.”
He could feel the other men watching him closely.
“I don’t like this,” Natches muttered again.
“Look at it this way,” Janey chirped. “You get what you want.” She turned to Alex, tilted her head, and smiled with a tight little curve to her lips. “And he gets to pay for it.”
FOUR
Alex followed the others from the apartment almost an hour later, carefully keeping his expression calm and his mouth shut. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to chuckle. And that chuckle could risk his carefully laid plans.
It wasn’t often a man could claim he’d managed to maneuver not just one intrepid little Mackay female, but her brother and two cousins as well. Though, he wasn’t so sure about the cousins. Or the uncle. The
three of them were a little too quiet, and a little too amused.
Mackays could be subtle when the situation called for it. It just had to suit them to do so. Now, Natches, he wasn’t so subtle.
“Touch her. Just one time. Even dare to touch her, Alex, and I’ll cut your dick off,” Natches warned him as they reached the trucks, his cousins and uncle trailing behind them.
Alex turned to him, staring back at Natches’s furious green eyes curiously. “Hell of a warning to give me, buddy,” he snorted. “I’m doing you a favor here, not the other way around.”
Natches was right up in his face and, under most circumstances, would have found himself flat on his ass for his trouble. Problem was, if he hit Natches, he would have three others just as mean he’d have to fight, and then all his planning would go to hell.
“You don’t do anyone favors,” Natches informed him heatedly. “And don’t think I forgot how you were watching her six years ago.” He gave Alex a disgusted look. “She was a baby.”
Alex stared back at him coolly. Janey had been seventeen at the time, which didn’t excuse him, but she hadn’t been a baby.
“I’ve done the Mackays plenty of favors,” he reminded Natches. “The past six years I’ve busted my ass and my team’s to not just do our job, but cover her when we’re not on assignment. When on assignment, I’ve invariably managed to find backup, Natches.” He sneered the other man’s name. “That was a hell of a favor, buddy.”
“From a man lusting after a kid,” Natches charged.
Alex had control. He’d majored in control. He was the king of control. But it snapped. Before he realized what he was doing, he had Natches’s jacket in his fists, throwing the other man against the side of the building.
“Don’t cross the line, f**ker!” Alex snarled in his face. “Don’t even cross that line.”
He was surprised the others hadn’t jumped in. He was even more surprised when Natches’s expression lost its fury. His hands came up, not to hit, but to jerk Alex’s hands back.
“Christ!” Natches dug his fingers into his neck, shook his head. “Hell, Alex. I didn’t mean that, man.”
Alex stepped back, fury and guilt, more guilt than fury, pumping through his veins as he retreated.
“You’re right.” Natches ran his hand over his face and shook his head again. “You’re right. You’ve been in this all along, watching out for her. More than I was.” Torment creased Natches’s face. “You did what I couldn’t.”
And Alex had lusted. Every year it had grown, surged inside him until now. But Janey wasn’t a baby. She was a grown woman. An innocent, seductive young woman. And he was old enough to know better.
“Fuck it.” Alex moved back to his truck. “I’ll be here after dark. Hell!” He got into his truck and waited.
He let Natches pull out first, then, as Dawg moved to the window, he hit the control and lowered the glass.
Dawg leaned against the door, watched Natches leave, then turned back to Alex.
“I know what he doesn’t.” Dawg nodded after Natches.
“And that is?”
“You want her too f**king bad to walk away.” Dawg turned back to Alex, his gaze steely. “And that’s okay. She’s a damned pretty woman .” His voice hardened. “And a damned vulnerable one. Break her heart, Alex, and brother-in-law or not, we’ll take you apart.”
Alex stared back as Dawg nodded, then moved away. Hell, Mackays were a pain in the ass.
He looked up at the apartment, and, standing there in the chill morning air, that cat cradled in her arms, was Janey. How much had she seen? Heard? From the look on her face, probably all of it. He knew the look of a pissed-off Mackay, and she definitely had that look. The only difference was, on her, it looked damn fine.
He lifted his fingers in a lingering salute and shot her a mocking smile before backing out of the parking space and heading down the street.
His things were already packed at home. He was prepared. He’d return in a few hours. And then what?
He frowned at that question.
What? Seduce her? Show her how nasty he could get, then walk out on her later?
Hell. What was in his mind? What made him think Janey was anything like the other women who understood that when morning came, he would be gone?
So why wasn’t his dick listening? Hell, why wasn’t his head listening? He couldn’t stop thinking about her, remembering that kiss. The innocence was killing him, and God only knew, he thought innocence was a damned fine thing in a woman. So why did he want to destroy Janey’s?
Because it was his. He wasn’t even going to let himself think she was his, just her innocence. He wasn’t going there, he promised himself. He had never let himself get mired in the quicksand of false love, and he wasn’t going to let it happen now.
Janey was more grounded than her brothers or her cousins thought she was. More mature than any of them believed. He had seen that in her, felt it in her. Or he was just fooling himself and creating an excuse to allow himself into her bed.