Page 72 of Taboo

His face paled and for the first time in hours, she laughed. “Oh, that was brilliant.”

“Mother, please. Don’t scar her. She’s already broken.”

“I am not broken.”

“She’s had all this going on and that wanker Gregor—and, just so you know, Jensen and I will be having a chat with him—and now this.”

“I’m not broken,” she repeated, a little louder this time.

They both continued to ignore her.

“I understand that, but it’s time to pick up the pieces. She needs to get her life back on track,” her mother said.

Anger flushed through her as she stood up. “I. Am. Not. Broken.” She fairly bellowed it. Both of them turned to look at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“Who the hell said you were broken?” someone rumbled from the doorway.

She blinked and looked in the direction of the voice. There, with the mid-afternoon sun shining behind him, stood Alek. He was dressed for work and he was holding a bag. Marta stood next to him, but Jules barely noticed her. Instead, she had to fight back the tears that filled her eyes.

“Alek.”

Her mother and brother looked over and, of course, Jakob was a complete tosser. He strode up to Alek, who had a couple of inches of height and probably about twenty pounds of muscle on her older brother.

“What the actual fuck are you doing here, Johnson?”

“Language,” our mother ordered as she rose from the sofa. “I take it you’re Aleka Johnson?”

He nodded, but his gaze remained focused on Julienne. “Who said you were broken?”

She didn’t say anything. Instead, she glanced at her brother. Alek’s stony gaze moved to her brother and she wasn’t sure, but she thought he might have gulped. Her brothers were big men, but Alek…he was just massive. All those years in the military, along with his Samoan blood, helped with that, she was sure.

“I think you need to reassess your opinion of your sister.”

Oh, bloody hell…that tone. It raced along her flesh, leaving her breathless. Yes, he was threatening her brother, but he sounded so damned sexy doing it.

“Excuse me?” Jakob asked, derision filling his tone.

“Your sister is not broken. Far from it.”

“Listen here,” Jakob started, and Julienne rolled her eyes. God why was he sounding like such a prig? Alek paid him no attention as he walked past him.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, and for the first time since her family arrived, her eyes filled up with tears. He didn’t hesitate. He slipped his arms around her and crushed her to him. “Don’t cry,kuuipo.”

“I’m not crying.”

He chuckled, the vibration of it warmed her soul. She hugged him back with all of her might as she felt his lips touch her temple. After a long moment, she pulled back from him and looked up.

“I’m sorry,” she said. His expression hardened.

“Fucking stop it.”

The profanity lashed out at her. Alek didn’t use much profanity, unless they were in bed.

“Stop what?”

“Stop apologizing to me. You have nothing to apologize for.”

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