Page 34 of Peyton's Price

Peyton stood, heart in her throat as she watched Liam and Patrick Tyler cross the near-empty room to reach the booth.

Liam was faster than Trick. She’d just opened her mouth to greet them both when he yanked her into his rock-hard arms, crushing the breath out of her.

For a moment, the walls came down. Tears stung at her eyes in contradiction to her soaring heart, but she remembered he was spoken for all too soon.

Fortunately, Trick saved her from herself. The younger Tyler brother tried, unsuccessfully, to get her out of Liam’s arms, but when he didn’t let go, Trick joined in, embracing her from behind in a Tyler brothers’ sandwich.

While it would be most women’s dream come true, it was just uncomfortable under the circumstances. She could barely breathe. Sometimes, the guys just didn’t know their own strength.

Outside of the muscular prison, Matthias snickered.

Peyton tapped Liam on the arm like a wrestler asking for mercy. “Liam,my ribs,” she said in an exaggerated wheeze.

When he released her, she stepped away from him, meeting his eyes for the briefest of moments before glancing to check Matthias’ reaction.

Liam didn’t cooperate. He grabbed her firmly by the arms, turning her this way and that before asking if she were hurt.

“No,” she replied, red-faced. “I wasn’t harmed.”

“But—” Trick began.

“No, I assure you I’m fine,” she insisted, cutting him off. “That would have been damaging the goods.”

The relief in Patrick’s expression was gratifying. He’d always been a caring friend, but Liam didn’t appear satisfied. His face was still dark. He kept a hand on her arm, running his eyes up and down over her body as if checking for bruises or missing limbs.

Matthias cleared his throat. “Gentleman,” he said, inclining his head formally.

Their host’s aloof demeanor crumpled when Patrick threw himself at him. Peyton almost laughed aloud when Trick lifted him off his feet. It was quite a feat considering Matthias outweighed him by at least twenty pounds.

“Oh my God. I can’t believe you’re here in the flesh. Thank you—thank you so much.Again.”

“Again? I’m sorry, have we met?” Matthias asked as Trick let go. He smiled, taking the overly familiar greeting in stride.

“I’m Patrick Tyler—I played you once.”

“Youplayedme?”

Trick’s—a hand-waver when he talked—swept his arms up in a grand gesture, encompassing the room. “I pretended to be you when you lent us your other yacht. It was over a year ago.”

Matthias nodded, enlightenment clearing his frown. “Oh, that’s right. When you rescued Eva Stone from her captor. A brilliant woman.”

“Did Liam tell you about her?”

“No. I met her recently. Common business interests.”

“Did you?” Trick’s brow raised. He started to say something else when Liam cleared his throat.

“Hello,” Liam interrupted, his hand still on her arm despite her best efforts to move farther away from him.

His voice, normally a low growl, sounded hoarse to her ears.

For a moment, the two men stared at each other. Despite the practice she’d had over the years, it was difficult to read Liam’s expression. Matthias was much easier. He was clearly amused.

“Hello,” he replied, a hint of a smirk on his face. “I wasn’t expecting you so soon. I left a message saying we’d be docking later this afternoon.”

A flicker of annoyance crossed Liam’s face. “Yeah, I had a man watching the harbor,” he said, putting a hand on Peyton’s shoulder to haul her a little closer.

Trick nudged him away, throwing both arms around Peyton’s neck and hugging her to his front. “I don’t know how we’ll ever repay you. My sister hasn’t slept since we found out what happened. She’d be here now, but Liam got the message theOrmen Langehad arrived and he peeled out—I had to chase him down the street or he would have driven off without me.”

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