Page 93 of Love Me Gently

“Bower,” I growled his name. “Maybe back off a bit?”

He shrugged and then grabbed one of the coffee mugs I’d filled. “I’m an honest guy.”

“Thank you,” Trina whispered. “As scary as the thought is, thank you for that.”

“The other two men are Brock and Rocco.” I gestured to each of them. Twins, with shorn close dark hair, eyes even darker, and bodies that could tear some of these mountain pines out of the ground with their bare hands.

“Brock,” one said, and lifted his hand. “Nice to meet you, Trina. Rocco and I will be close to you at all times, but don’t worry if you can’t tell us apart.”

“Our mom still has a hard time doing the same.” The other one grinned and had a gap in his mouth on the side.

I glanced at Brock, whose expression remained stony.

Hard to believe any woman carried these huge men, and at the same time. Seemed like they could have been created in a test lab for the scariest men on the planet.

At least they’d found their calling in security.

“Not to be rude,” Trina said, “but I was told you two would be mostly invisible, and that doesn’t really seem possible.”

Brock broke his stony expression and winked at her. “We’re good at our job. Don’t worry.”

“Easy for you to say,” she muttered and then glanced at me. “The girls okay?”

“Yeah. They’re still sleeping.”

She turned back to the men. “Um, is there anything besides coffee I can get for you? And well…where are you staying? Here?”

“Outside,” Bower said, I snorted. It was dropping into the teens, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these men could sleep beneath the stars even in freezing temperatures.

“Really?” Trina sounded much more shocked at the idea than I was.

“No,” Brock said, back to being stone cold. “We got a place nearby, but you don’t need to know where it is.”

“Because it’s where you’ll keep the bodies?” Trina asked. Her tone was full of lighthearted sass I wouldn’t have expected considering why these men were here and what was going on.

Brock’s expression remained tight. Rocco chuckled before he hid it behind a cough. Bower said nothing.

“It was a joke,” she muttered.

“There won’t be any bodies to bury,” I told her, and then made sure I met each of their gazes.

Ifsomething happened to Jonathan, it wouldn’t be buried and hidden on a frozen mountain.

“Right,” Rocco said, but it sounded more grumbled. Like he wasn’t quite on my side.

I bumped my hip lightly into Trina. “Let’s get you some breakfast. Need anything else besides coffee?”

“This is good for now, but thanks.”

We all settled at the table. Bower went over the plan while they were in town. While Brock and Rocco stuck close to Trina, they’d also be switching off to make sure the girls and Marie were safe at their homes, schools, and work. Bower would mostly be on Jonathan, even if he hadn’t been able to find him yet.

He was close, though. He had to be considering yesterday’s threats.

Eventually, the girls’ bedroom door squeaked open, and the patter of one of my daughter’s feet headed toward us.

All the men turned to watch, which meant as June, and her mop of bedhead hair andFrozennightgown reached the mouth of the hallway, all eyes were on her.

I’d meant to go in and wake them up to let them know we had company so they weren’t scared, given the size and burliness of the men at my dining table, but it hadn’t really been June I’d been worried about.

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