Page 130 of Back in the Saddle

I wasn’t sure if I should do what he said, and in my hesitation, he curled his fingers around my shoulder and pressed me forward.

It wasn’t violent and it didn’t hurt. It was actually kind of gentle, which threw me.

Then I heard a snap, and my wrists were freed. One hand was seized, though, but only for me to hear another snap, and the tie was off. Ditto on my other wrist.

And then the hood was yanked away, my hair went flying, but the instant I oriented myself, I saw my brother sitting on the end of a coffee table right in front of me.

He looked good. Healthy. His hair was a bit longer, but he worked it. In fact, his shoulders were a bit wider too. And his forearms, that I could see since the long sleeves of his black thermal were pushed up, were all thick and wiry and veined.

And there was a tattoo I’d never seen on one of them.

Even so.

“The fuck?” I whispered.

“Could ask you the same thing,Angel,” Jeff clipped. He then kept talking. Irately. “Have you lost your mind? Tangling with sex traffickers?”

Was he…?

Was I…?

Did he just…?

I surged to my feet, shouting, “Are you freakingkidding me?”

He surged to his too and got in my face.

“Calm down and sit down, Jess,” he ordered.

“Oh no. That ship has sailed, baby bro.” I got inhisface. “I’ve been looking for you forsix months!”

“Brother. Time,” I heard murmured, and I jerked my attention to our audience.

Or, I should say, I jerked my attention up, up and thenupto the only other person there.

He was tall, taller than Mace, and Mace was super tall (with Brady and Knox being the second tallest, both maybe an inch shorter than Mace, Roam being the third—yes, I could call out the order of their tallness, and their hotness, Eric wasnumero unohottie (obvs), but he was in the Cap zone in tallness, in other words, around six one).

Though, this guy had bulk Mace did not have, all of it muscle, which Mace did have, just not as much of it.

He was also spectacularly good looking. Like, take your breath away. There was maybe some Latino in him; his hair was dark, his skin was olive, and his eyes were a crystalline amber that almost didn’t seem real.

If I wasn’t saving my nighties for Eric, I’d so totally go there.

“I take it you’re Mountain,” I sniped.

He grinned, big and white, and no one but me would ever know, because I was never going to breathe a word, but that grin was so good, no matter the shitty mood I was in, my clitoris tingled.

“My friends call me Javi,” he shared.

So I was right about the Latino.

“I have a bone to pick with you,” I declared.

Jeff stepped between us and stated, “No, you don’t.”

I looked to my brother. “I know you’re not hiding anything from him, so you can just step aside while I have a few words with Generalissimo Hot Guy here.”

Javi chuckled.

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