Page 12 of Nauti Intentions (Nauti 4)

“What notes, Zeke?” Alex could feel the tension tightening in his body then, the hairs at the back of his neck lifting in warning.

“There’s been three in the past two months. Words cut out of the newspaper and taped to plain white paper. No prints, nothing unusual, no way to trace it. Always left somewhere she won’t miss them. The first was taped to the door of her apartment. The second shoved under the front door of the restaurant.

The third was shoved under her apartment door. All three warning her to get out of town. That a traitor’s slut wasn’t wanted in Somerset. ”

Damn. Alex felt his hands curling around the steering wheel, tightening. Violence raged through his body, and the need to exact vengeance slammed inside him.

“Natches doesn’t know?”

“She made me swear I wouldn’t tell a single Mackay. ” Zeke smiled at that thought of that. “I haven’t told a single Mackay. ”

No, he was telling Alex. Alex slid him a furious glance. The bastard.

“So I get to spread all the good news?”

Zeke shrugged before pulling a plastic envelope from inside his jacket. “I was out looking for you tonight anyway. I was waiting for you to heal up a little bit before we talked. You’re still officially deputized with DHS last I heard, so this is your business. ”

Alex took the envelopes. “Copies?”

Zeke nodded. “All three of them as well as the report where we dusted for prints. We didn’t find anything. But I don’t like the tone of those letters, Alex,” he admitted. “They worry me. ”

They worried Alex now. And what worried him even more was the fact that Janey wasn’t telling her family about them. They could protect her, help watch out for her. Yet she was taking it on alone.

“You weren’t able to find out anything?” Alex asked again, even though he knew Zeke would have told him if he had.

“Nothing. And I’m worried about her. I hear the crap that goes on in this county. And I’ve been in that restaurant to hear some of the comments she gets. She’s like a damned robot in there, and people can be mean. They keep striking until they see blood. Janey doesn’t show blood. It could end up getting her hurt worse. ”

Natches was going to have to know about this. If Zeke thought the youngest Mackay cousin would kill him for fooling with his sister, it was nothing compared to what Natches would do if Janey ended up hurt and he’d had no idea there was a threat against her.

“Natches is going to be pissed at you, Zeke,” Alex warned him. “He’ll know you held back on him. ”

Zeke shrugged. “It won’t be the first time, will it?” His voice was filled with amusement. “Be careful, though, Alex. Janey’s not the play-around type. She’s been hurt a lot in her young life. There’s no sense in adding to it. ”

No. There wasn’t. But damned if he could stay away from her now.

“I know that, Zeke. ” He knew it clear to the bottom of his soul.

Zeke nodded and left the truck, leaving Alex to stare up at that damned window as the light went out.

She was going to bed. His body clenched at that thought of it. Did she sleep naked? Somehow, he doubted she did. She was young, a virgin; had she learned how sensual the sheets could feel against her naked flesh?

He would show her. Show her how erotic it could be to sleep naked, curled against his body, his hands petting her through the night.

He closed his eyes and breathed out roughly. His cock was pounding in his slacks, fully engorged and torturing him with the need for sex. Not just any sex either. Oh hell now, it had to wait thirty-seven years to get picky and decide it was getting hard for only one woman.

One younger woman.

He was hooked on her kisses, and he had a feeling he was about to get hooked on much more than those perfect sweet lips.

He groaned at that thought. Natches would kill him for sure, but after that kiss earlier, Alex decided, it just might be worth it.

THREE

Alex pulled into the marina parking lot a little after seven the next morning. It was damned cold on the water in February. Those Mackays were frickin’ insane. All three of them were still on the houseboats, all of them with very pregnant wives.

Certi-fucking-fiable. That was all he could think. One of those very pregnant wives was his sister, Crista, and Alex was still ready to blow Dawg’s head off for not having that house ready yet. If it weren’t for the fact that Crista was the one holding things up, he and Dawg would have already fought.

He looked around and saw Ray Mackay’s pickup in front of the marina office, though he knew Ray wasn’t there. He’d called the other man that morning and asked him to meet him at Natches’s.

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