“Where are we?”
“The boys’ place. My house is farther down the road, about a half mile or so.
And the others have properties out there. We own a few thousand acres, so it’s private. After what Xavier told us about your stalker situation, I figured you’d be safer out here than in town at your place.”
He had a point. She needed time and space to think. Maybe she’d get it here without having to worry.
“The boys won’t be back for a while, so make yourself at home. If you need anything, our numbers are listed by the fridge. Or at least they’d better be,” he murmured and took a card out of his back pocket. “That’s my cell if you need anything.” He got out, turned off the alarm by the front door, and unlocked the door for her.
She left the truck, still feeling as if she were dreaming. When she would have passed him into the house, he stopped her.
She froze, wondering what now.
Then Mike Cannon kissed the top of her head before pushing her into the house. “Welcome to the family, Chloe.” He shut and locked the door behind her.
Chapter Eight
Xavier flinched as his mother put her hands over his shoulder and concentrated. The heat in her palms tingled and burned for a minute.
“Stop being such a baby.” She kissed his cheek and finally removed her hands.
He rotated his shoulder and sighed with relief. His mother did excellent work.
She handed him a handheld mirror, and he looked at the smooth skin. Not even a scar.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Sure, honey.” She paused and looked again at Josh’s leg. His brother lay on the table next to him. Movement outside the room indicated business during the night. At his look, she shrugged.
“Flu epidemic. Good thing you had your shots, hmm?”
“Good thing I had them forced on me, you mean.” Xavier grinned to take the sting from his words. His mother was hell with a needle.
“I liked your girlfriend.”
He and Josh exchanged a glance. They’d been waiting for this.
“And?”
“And what? She’s clearly attractive. Seems in good health, though she’s a bit small for a Cannon.” She studied them both and slyly grinned. “I suppose she fits you two well enough.”
“Mom.” He couldn’t hide the flush creeping over his cheeks. Neither could Josh.
The evil woman laughed. “I’m sure your father is grilling her as we speak. He took her home.”
“She can’t go home. There’s a problem—”
Before Xavier could jump off the exam table, his mother put her hand on his chest and shoved his sweater in his face. “She’s fine. He took her back to your house. We know all about her secret admirer. You told Sam, and of course he told us.”
“Oh, right.” Xavier felt stupid.
“Way to go, braintrust. Now you look pathetic and lovesick.” Josh’s humor didn’t make him feel any better.
“At least I didn’t let myself get stabbed by an old man and his cronies.”
“Asshole.”
“Boys.” Their mother sighed and turned her attention to Josh. She settled her hands over his leg and worked her magic. “I have patients to see. Amanda’s down with a cold, so I’m it for medical unless the folks out there want a hospital. So if you’re done needing me, and you’re finished telepathically sniping at one another, get your butts home.” She took her hands away. “Josh, I did a lot of surface work.
You’re still going to be stiff and sore for a few days, so take it easy.” She moved to the door but stopped before she left. “You two want my advice?
Slow down with Chloe. Give her some time to fall in love with you. Because if she’s not there already, she will be. Who couldn’t love my boys?” Then she smiled at them and left.
Xavier turned to Josh. “She has a point.”
“That she does.” They walked together outside, Xavier helping Josh.
While they’d been seen to, their brothers Kyle and Justin had retrieved their truck from the mountain and had left it out front with a big You Owe Us taped to the inner windshield.
“Idiots,” Xavier muttered with a grin. His younger brothers got into more trouble than he and Josh ever had. Hell, the only one of his siblings who could do no wrong in his parents’ eyes was May, their kiss-ass younger sister. Which made him ask, “What’s with May, anyway?”
“Who knows? I think she’s up in Canada helping a friend of hers with something.”
“A girl friend, or a guy friend?” Xavier asked, more protective of her than the others were.
“Hopefully a guy. I’d hate to think of our sister as perpetually dateless. And I’m pretty sure she’s not a lesbian, so a guy would be more her speed.”
“Jesus, Josh. You’re a nut, you know that?”
Josh’s laugh turned into a grimace as he climbed into the truck.
“If you’d have waited a minute, I’d have helped you.”
“I’m good.”
“I can see that.” Xavier made sure to let the sarcasm seep through his words.
“Come on. Drive. We have a woman to woo.”
“Yeah, we don’t want to give her too much time to rethink what she sees in us.”
“Good point.” Josh scowled. “But make sure you drive the speed limit. The roads aren’t that safe, Xavier.”
“Control freak.”
“Yeah, but we’re still alive, aren’t we?”
Xavier had to give him that one.
They made it home in record time, keeping to the speed limit, since hardly anyone was on the road at two in the morning.
After letting themselves inside and resetting the house alarm, they relaxed, feeling so boneless and tired, their thoughts merged and settled into one voice.
“Let’s get to bed.”
“I am so tired.”
“And my leg hurts.”
“How about a shower?”
The buzz of thoughts swirled between them, and neither could say who had conceptualized which idea. Crabby and tired and aching, they showered. Josh went first. Then Xavier forced himself to clean up.
He exited the shower with a towel around his waist and found Josh snuggled up next to Chloe in his huge bed.
Xavier didn’t care that Chloe had taken Josh’s bed, but he knew his brother would make a big deal of it come the morning. Smiling to himself, he studied the pair, contentment and a surprising warmth creeping over his soul. The two were more than people he loved.
For so long he’d thought of himself as half, a mirror of Josh. No matter how hard he and Josh worked, how much pleasure he received from helping others while doing his job, something remained out of reach.
Seeing Chloe, he knew what he’d missed. The other part of his heart.
He joined them in bed, falling in love all over again when she murmured his name and reached out to him in sleep.
She snuggled into his arms, and when she moved, Josh muttered under his breath and plastered himself to her back.
Xavier could feel her against Josh’s front, and his brother felt her curves brushing Xavier’s chest. Three people joined as one. If not in body, then in mind and heart. Or so he hoped. Chloe seemed like a woman on the verge of love. She’d been so afraid when Josh had passed out. Xavier chose to view her upset as a good sign.
Now they just had to figure out the details of a life together. But not before he and Josh reminded Chloe where she belonged. That thought in mind, Xavier drifted into sleep.
Josh woke with the notion of seducing Chloe, an idea Xavier had planted before falling asleep. Not that Josh needed added incentive. He leaned closer to Chloe and inhaled. The scent of his citrusy soap lingered in her soft hair.