“Honey, while you were asleep, we ran your prints.” Xavier grinned. “But I’m betting you weigh a pound or two more than what’s on your license.”
“Hey.” So she’d fudged the numbers. What woman didn’t?
“Xavier.” Josh sighed.
“What? Look at her shape. And no way she’s five foot five.”
“I’m close.”
“If you’re more than five three, I’ll eat my hat.”
“Your point?” She fumed.
Josh interrupted before Xavier could open his fat mouth again. “His point is that we have resources. We know things, and we’re not your enemy. The question remains, are you ours?”
Chloe glared at them both, wishing they hadn’t put her on the spot. “So you two just want me to trust you because, what? You’re handsome? Because you’re both bigger than me? Because without your okay, I’m out on my ass?” They answered “Yes” in stereo.
“Oh hell.” She blew out an exasperated breath. “I’m not working for Werlin. If you know all that other stuff about me, then you know I’m telling the truth.” They didn’t speak. “It’s not like it’s a huge secret. Well, I don’t advertise it or anything, but if people ask, I’m honest.” But no one had thought to ask her about her abilities in years. Until the PWP. Until now. “I hear voices. Not crazy-town voices, like mental-case voices. Real voices. I’m a clairaudient.” The men leaned closer, their gazes intense.
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve heard them. Most of them want me to do things. Tie up loose ends for the dead. Fix things for the living. Share useless information. But some of them direct me to right wrongs.”
“Which is why you became a cop right out of college.” She frowned. “Yeah. Should I be flattered you know so much?” Josh’s expression softened. “We had to be sure, Chloe. If Otis Werlin has his way, we’ll be dead. For all we knew, you were working for him.”
“Knew? So you don’t think I’m working for him anymore? What did I say to convince you?”
Xavier took their bowls and spoons to the sink and returned with an answer.
“We already pretty much knew you weren’t working for Werlin. We just wanted to know more about you.”
“Asshole.”
He laughed. “That would be me.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it tight.
“We’ve missed you.” She heard the voice loud in her mind. But it still took her a moment to read the satisfaction on his face and connect the dots. “Oh my God.
You?”
Josh frowned. “You’re sending now? She can hear you?”
“Yeah.” Xavier’s grin widened. “I told you she was our girl.”
“Wait a minute. Hold on.” Chloe had a hard time understanding. “You knew it was me all along?”
“No. What we told you about Werlin was true. He wasn’t happy we stopped his stranglehold on the town. He’s old-school. Country. A real frontier-justice kind of guy.” Josh sighed. “I should have seen it coming, but for some reason, I didn’t.
Xavier and I were caught by one of Otis’s special concoctions. Bomb knocked us on our asses.”
Xavier continued. “And a concussion rattled me a bit. It’s screwed with my abilities to contact you.” He let go of her hand. “If I’m not touching you, I’m still having a harder time sending than I should.”
Josh nodded. “My visions are spotty since the bomb. Unless I really struggle to see something. But it’s getting better. At first, I couldn’t see anything. Now I can see little bits but nothing about our future.” He paused, his gaze intent. “I used to see things about you all the time. Like the vision of you in the warehouse. Except since the bomb, I didn’t realize the woman in danger was actually you. I had no idea the stalker was yours either.”
“If he had, I would have done everything I could to let you know. I should have tried harder,” Xavier said and closed his hand around hers again.
She couldn’t look away from him and Josh. For so many years, she’d heard the voices. But it wasn’t until she’d hit puberty that one particular voice had sounded louder than the others. Though at first just a cold, lifeless voice, it had nevertheless directed her from danger and along the path to success. She’d gotten so accustomed to it being with her—a voice that took a personal interest in her, wanting nothing but to see her do well, or so it seemed. Losing it had really hurt. So to find it now, here, in all places, with these two larger-than-life men, was hard to fathom.
Xavier stroked her palm, and butterflies raced through her.
She pulled her hand back, both disappointed and relieved when he let her go.
“I—I don’t know what to say.”
Xavier seemed ecstatic, and he had yet to take his eyes from her. Josh didn’t look as happy. He seemed almost haunted.
“Josh?”
He pushed back from the table. “I need some space. I’m going out. Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”
Xavier and she sat in silence. His coat, gloves, and hat in place, a gun tucked into his pocket, Josh left the cabin.
“This doesn’t seem real.”
Xavier blew out a breath. “You’re telling me. Chloe, you have no idea how hard it’s been not talking to you. Especially after what happened in Brownville.” She blinked. “You know about that?”
“Yeah. I wanted to tell you more, but Josh told me if I had, I’d have killed you.
He sees the events that unfold, and he normally tells me what I can and can’t tell you. Knowing there was a psychopath who had every intention of slicing your throat and ra—uh, doing other things to you, was killing me. But I couldn’t tell you. If I had, he’d have killed you and your friends, Noah and Lara, right?” She nodded, stunned. “So Josh sees my future, and you tell me all about it?”
“Yes.”
“But why? Why me? I’ve never met you before.” Another thought occurred to her, and she blanched. “We’re not related somehow, are we?”
“Hell no,” he denied with a vehemence that startled her. “My family is straight up the only family I have. I can trace relatives back for generations. And you’re nowhere close to family.”
Annoyed now, she leaned into his space. “Why? Don’t want that pretty white-boy blood getting muddied up with mine?”
His smile surprised her. “Honey, I’d be more than happy to be a part of you.
Hell, it’s all I can do not to get up close and personal with you right now. But I’m not into making out with my cousin. You get me?”
“Oh.” She blushed, understanding a lot more. “So you don’t mind that I’m a little darker.”
His lethal grin raised the temperature in the room. “I like the way you look against me. That tanned belly looked real good against mine. And I can’t wait for you to wrap those fine legs around my waist.” He licked his lips. “I’ve had a hard-on for you since I saw your pretty face. For a long time, you were just a person I had to speak to. I could feel you were female but not much more than that. But as the years passed, you felt more intimate. A part of me. A part of us.” He closed the distance between them and loomed over her.
“Xavier?”
“Just let me kiss you, honey. Now that you know, let me show you how I feel.” She couldn’t have stopped him if she’d wanted to. Her body was on fire, her lips tingling with the need to feel him. He held her close, his overpowering frame no longer threatening but protective.
And then he kissed her. Unlike before, this kiss promised care, tenderness, and a sense of belonging. His lips moved over hers with a hesitance as he learned what she liked. Then his tongue slid over her lower lip and pressed into her mouth.