Alexis (The Love Family Series Book 6) (3 page)

Chapter 5

Stabbing her knife into the table may have been overkill, but it was better than burning her house down with a lightning strike and killing him on the spot. She could live with a little gash in the wood. She glanced over at the man sleeping in her bed, on top of the covers.

He turned toward her. “You don’t snore, do you?”

“This isn’t some slumber party, and I’m not your girlfriend.”

“Not yet.” He flashed an alarmingly charming smile that would have made any woman swoon, and it made her want to run. “I called in reinforcements.”

“Perfect.” She grumbled and rolled away from him, facing her closet. “Maybe one of those guys has better bedside manners.”

“What? No kiss goodnight?” he teased.

She glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes.

“It’s okay. It can wait,” he answered and rolled onto his back.

“You’re annoying.”

“And you’re sexy when you’re annoyed.”

“If I’d known all of this would happen, I would have never met Skylar in the park.”

“It’s cute that you think that was a coincidence.” She felt the bed dip as he leaned closer. His hot breath was on her ear. “We’re not scheduled to wash the truck on Thursdays, babe. That…all of that little show was just for you.”

His wide hand landed on her hip and warmed her through the covers.

“Is that right? You expect me to believe that Skylar had her hand in getting me to notice you.”

“Oh, honey, quit fooling yourself. You’ve noticed me just as much as I’ve noticed you.”

“Is that right?” She turned on the bed. His hand moved to her stomach. “Then what? You weren’t man enough to ask me out?”

“I think you know I was plenty man enough. You’ve seen my goods and know that isn’t the case. A girl like you responds to action, not words.”

“A girl like me?” She raised her brow. “What are you implying?”

“Alexis, baby, you talk a big game. I’m actually surprised you let me get to second base.”

“You don’t know me,” she reminded him, acutely aware that his hand had drifted up from its last location.

“Your last boyfriend was a guy named Mark Steverson, and that was over a year ago. You broke up with him because you were bored.”

Her mouth parted.

“You bought this house from your uncle because you like living in the forest. It comforts you. You have been at the same job for five years, even though you don’t have to work at all. You do it because you like interacting with the people. You’ve lived by yourself, because even though you like others, you don’t like them constantly around you. You love your family, and you’d do anything to ensure their happiness, including making anonymous donations toward their future and finding secret ways to keep them from knowing the money is coming from you. You don’t have a computer because you're happy not knowing about the atrocities that happen in the world. You’ve never been arrested and have never gotten a ticket. You aren’t afraid of a little thunder or lightning when you swim.”

She smiled at that.

“Should I go on?”

“I don’t know if I should be mortified that I have a stalker in my bed or impressed you went to the trouble. It’s obvious that you’ve done your homework. The question is, why?”

Cole rolled over on the bed and put his hand beneath his head. “That’s simple.” He turned to look at her. “One day I’m going to marry you.”

She outright laughed and turned to face him. “You’re too arrogant for me to marry. I want a nice guy, and you aren’t nice.”

He turned to face her. “You don’t want nice, baby. You want a man who stands up to you. You want a man who tells you that he doesn’t like you skinny-dipping. You want a man who can make you have multiple orgasms and a man who makes you cream when he’s near because there’s an off-chance he’s going to make good on his promise and touch you. You, Alexis Love, have a fire in your eyes, and if you ever settled for a nice guy…that flame would diminish, and that would be the real injustice here.”

Alexis huffed and rolled away from him. Cole moved closer, spooning her from behind, and laid his arm around her waist.

“Get some rest. We have a busy day tomorrow.”

“What’s happening tomorrow? Are you going to burn my house down so the asshole threatening to kill me won’t get the chance?” she asked.

“Tomorrow, you’re moving in with me.” 

“Like hell.” She tried to turn, but he held her in place.

“Don’t worry. You get your own room, and I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Cole, you can’t just come in here and order me around. That’s not how any of this works.”

Cole was unusually quiet for a minute before he spoke. “Do you want me to leave?”

“Yes.” The answer flew from her lips.

“Kiss me.” He loosened his grip so she could turn to face him.

“You’re resorting back to blackmail?”

“Kiss me like you mean it, Alexis Marie Love, and I’ll leave.”

“You’re serious? I kiss you and you’ll go?”

“I thought you’d appreciate the fact that I’m asking and not taking. ’Cause, Alexis, I want to do more than take. I want to bend you over my knee and spank that ass until it’s shiny and red and until you agree with me. I want to be on top of you, inside of you, beneath you…all of the above. There’s a shitload of things I’ve contemplated in the twenty minutes we’ve been lying here. I may be many things, but I’ll never take you without an invitation.”

“If that’s so, then what happened at the hot springs?”

“You touched me first,” he reminded her.

“You want to spank me? Why?”

“If you have to ask, then I can guess you’ve never experimented in the bedroom before.” He leaned up on his elbow. “I bet I can make you so wet that you’ll be begging me to take you.”

“In your dreams, hotshot.”

“Give me the green light and I’ll show you.” 

“Your mother dropped you on your head when you were a baby, didn’t she?”

His lips twisted at the corner. “The fire in your eyes is going to be my undoing.”

“You’re getting me all hot and bothered on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Am I? Kiss me or go to sleep. It’s that simple.”

Chapter 6

Alexis woke up in a foul mood from her lack of sleep. The hand that had wrapped around her in the middle of the night was still holding her, and the aggravating man was even more imposing in the light of day.

Alexis heard the footsteps on her porch and was surprised when Cole jumped from the bed, a gun in his hand. “Stay here.”

“As if.”

Cole bolted from the room, and Alexis slid out from beneath the covers and donned her robe, ignoring the typical stop in the bathroom. Cole was jumpy; based on the fact that it was light outside, not to mention exactly six in the morning, she knew there was only one person that stopped by at this time of day, and she’d be damned if she’d let him get shot.

“Cole, don’t shoot. It’s just my brother,” she said, still wiping the sleep from her eyes. She rounded the hall into the living room to find Gabe standing in the doorway with his hand still on the knob and a gun pointed at his face.

“Cole, why are you in my sister’s house?” Gabe questioned, his gaze going between Cole and her. “And why are you pointing a gun at my head?”

“Put that thing away,” Alexis demanded and moved to the kitchen. “Did you bring me the good stuff?”

“Uh…yeah.” Gabe lifted the bag full of donuts and shook it. “I brought glazed and chocolate eclairs.” Gabe slid past Cole and toward the kitchen. “What did I miss? Are you two…?” His words died on his lips, and the bag hit the counter when he saw the pictures she’d forgotten to hide lying out in full view on the counter.

“Fuck,” Cole mumbled as Gabe swung around in Cole’s direction. “It looks like you already did.”   

Cole glanced at Alexis. “Are you going to help me out here?”

She waved her hand and turned to start the coffee pot. “Nope, this honor is all yours.”

“I can explain.”

Laughter exploded from Alexis’ lips, causing them both to look at her. “Sorry. Continue. No, wait...” She held up her hand. “Can you two take this outside? I like my furniture. It’s not great, but its mine and it’s comfortable.”

Cole spun on his heels and stepped outside, waiting for her brother to follow. Gabe’s eyes narrowed, and he slammed the door behind him.

“Finally, alone.”

Alexis picked up the bag of donuts and made a cup of coffee. She grabbed the glazed donut and ate it at the window while she sipped her coffee. The yelling had commenced, and a few punches had been thrown, but they were both still standing. She sighed, walked back into her bedroom, and took her time in the shower, relieving some of that pent-up stress that Cole had created. Her brother was a big boy. No matter what kind of badass Cole thought he was, he probably had no idea that Gabe was a three-time champion and master in martial arts.

Alexis got out, dried off, and ran a brush through her hair before dressing and re-emerging as a clean and renewed woman. She rounded the hall into the living room and stopped dead in her tracks. Her other brother, Jackson, had come to join the party and was standing around her kitchen island with Gabe and Cole drinking coffee. Gabe and Cole looked no worse for wear.

“I hear you’re in trouble,” Jackson said as nonchalantly as if he were asking her if she’d planned to go for a run.

“Sounds that way,” she answered and joined them.

“Why didn’t you go with Cole to his place last night?” Gabe asked. “It’s more secure.”

“Because you both know I don’t like being told what to do.” She raised her hand and gestured between them all. “Did you guys have some powwow that I wasn’t privy too?”

“We did, and we’ve all decided that you’ll be staying with Cole, so go pack your bag.”

Alexis let her head loll back on her shoulders and stared at the ceiling. “You’ve seen the pictures. So you know what will probably happen if I stay with him.” She lifted her brow. “Hot monkey sex, all night long. You’re sending your little sister away with a man who threatened to spank me?”

“You threatened to spank her?” Gabe asked, turning back to look at Cole.

“I didn’t threaten to spank you,” Cole said, holding her gaze. “I told you I wanted to spank you. There’s a difference.”

“Listen, I don’t know what alternate universe I just walked into, and I really do appreciate you guys caring about my safety, but I am not staying with Cole, and he’s not staying here. So I think everyone should just leave.”

Jackson was the bravest of the bunch. He approached her. Bravest, missing a screw, it was all the same in his case. He was always the one whose bravery had gotten him hurt as a child. This time wouldn’t be different. “Alexis, you’re not safe here.”

“The only ones not safe here are all of you.”

At that moment, thunder cracked outside and hail pelted the window.

“Stop,” Jackson demanded.

“I’m sick and tired of all of you telling me what I’m going to do.” She stepped into his face, making him back up until he was pressed against the kitchen island. “I have spent the entire night listening to Don Juan over there trying to order and boss me around, and I’ve had enough.” She lifted her hands to her head as though it had exploded.

Lightning struck outside, and her skin flushed with fire. “I am not some child to be passed around or protected. I’m a grown-ass woman.” She seethed, and the thunder rattled the window. “I won’t ask again.” She narrowed her eyes as anger invaded every pore and fiber of her being. She was done, and it was high time they knew it. “Everyone needs to leave. Now.”

The fire in the fireplace sparked to life, the unyielding flames flickering high.

Jackson lifted his hands. “You heard her. Everyone out.”

“But it’s pouring,” Gabe complained.

Jackson glanced back at his brother and narrowed his eyes. “It’s going to get worse if you two don’t get your ass moving…now.”

Gabe grabbed Cole’s arm, pulling him to the door to open it. She ceased the hailing.

Cole resisted. “I’m not leaving without Alexis. He’ll find her and kill her, and that’s on me. If you guys are scared of your sister, then leave. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh yes, you are.”

“What the….” Cole started to say as the wind formed in the house and blew her hair around her head. The force of it was like a small tornado. It lifted her furniture off the ground. She blew in his direction, and he flew out the door, landing on his ass in the mud. The door slammed closed behind him.

Jackson was still holding onto the kitchen island when she let the wind die down.

“Now look what you made me do,” Alexis complained and started righting her furniture before starting on her books, which had flown off the bookcase.

“Do you think that was wise, doing that in front of him? Now he knows your secret.”

“Better than being forced to leave my home,” she countered.

“Alexis, that man is military. What if he goes running back to the government and tells them about you? We can’t afford for that to happen.”

“Fine.” She stomped over to the door and yanked it open. Cole was on his feet, and Gabe was holding him back from entering the house. Surprisingly, he didn’t look confused or dazed. He looked….pissed. Ha. Small miracles. “Sorry.” She slammed it closed again and spun to face her brother. “Happy now?”

“No.” He walked over to her and placed his hands on her arms. “Alexis, I love you, and you’re my baby sister. I would do anything in the world to keep you safe. You know that, right?”

Her brows dipped at the thought of what he could do to her, to get her to comply. “You’ll go willingly, or you’ll sleep through the entire thing. It’s your call.”

“You wouldn’t.” She gasped. “I’m your sister.”

“I’d rather have a rested, sleeping sister than a dead one. This guy that threatened you? He’s bad news, sis, and although I think, in the right environment, you could take him, what happens if he knocks you unconscious and you can’t defend yourself? What then?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and remained silent. She didn’t have the answers he was looking for. The only answer she had was that she’d die, and that wasn’t going to appease her big brother.

“For me? Please, just go with Cole. Look at it this way. You can help protect him from this asshole. You can protect each other.”

The thought of her being useful, by keeping Cole safe, changed the playing field, if only slightly. She’d never willingly let anyone get hurt unless it was a knife-wielding pyromaniac. “Fine. But I’m only doing this because I can help him, and fully under duress. You win. Give me ten minutes and I’ll pack a bag.”

Jackson kissed her forehead, and she headed to her room to do the last thing that she’d ever thought she’d be doing today. The idea of moving in with Cole had been ludicrous last night. Now she had no choice. Not if she could help keep him alive.