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  A second later she sniffed, collected herself and put his hand back on her arm, patting it in what he hoped was sympathy. He sure as hell didn’t get any from Brianna or her two lovers. He guessed they’d grown too used to him over the years. His nieces were the only ones who really cared anymore. And his mother. She coddled him like he was still six.

  “You know, it’s really not funny anymore. It happened right after I met you,” Tyler reasoned.

  “Some things are hard to forget.”

  “Okay, Scott, there are twelve steps in front of you.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “You always go around counting steps?”

  “Absolutely. Don’t you?”

  His other brow matched the first in height. “Every day.”

  “Sorry.”

  She sounded so disgruntled he had to laugh. He pulled her to him and squeezed her in a tight hug.

  “I’m kidding, Tara.”

  “I’m not. I didn’t even think, it’s like you aren’t really blind. I mean you do so much that’s so normal, sometimes I forget. Especially when you don’t have Kissy or the cane or—”

  “Hey.” He pulled back, separating them. “It’s okay, Tara. I’m used to it. And I know you don’t mean anything. Trust me, after twenty-six years, you’re not going to hurt my feelings.”

  Scott leaned over and kissed her forehead. She sighed and sank into his chest, snuggling against him. It felt so good. So right. Perfect.

  He wanted more. He wanted forever.

  Tara twisted the key in the lock and shoved the door open. The smell hit her before she even took one step inside.

  “Ugh. What is that?” She cautiously entered, expecting to be greeted by a dead cow. What she found was almost as bad. Her once adorable apartment had turned into a pigsty. Dirty dishes, clothes, papers. You name it, it was on the floor. And the couch. And the table.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Scott nudged Tara farther into the space which had once been considered a living room.

  “Looks like good ole Eric needs a maid.” Tyler cursed and spun a slow circle, taking everything in.

  Tara couldn’t move.

  “Maybe he thought he already had one.” Scott pulled her closer and pressed her back to his front. He rested his chin on the top of her head. “You okay?”

  She nodded. What an ugly piece of work Eric had become. Thank God she’d gotten out when she did.

  Shaking his head, Tyler put his hands on his hips and sighed.

  “Why don’t you get what you need and let’s get out of here.”

  There was nothing else to do. It didn’t look like Eric had done one thing since she’d left. What the hell was he even eating on for God’s sake? He hadn’t appeared disgusting when he’d cornered her in Scott’s office the other day, so what was he doing?

  “I’m not sure there’s even anything I want to—”

  “Tara? It’s about time you came home.” Eric strode down the hall, took one look at her with Scott and Tyler, and his face turned beet red. “What the fuck are they doing here?”

  “You weren’t supposed to be here, Eric.”

  Scott stiffened along her back.

  “I damn well wasn’t going to be anywhere else when my woman finally decided it was time to come back where she belongs. Maybe I should thank you two for bringing Tara back,” he snarled, edging closer. “You can leave now.”

  Tyler moved between her and Eric, blocking her view. Scott tried to force her behind him.

  Damn it, this was her fight.

  “I’m not back,” she yelled. “We’re finished, if you haven’t gotten that message through your thick skull over the last couple weeks.” Tara stomped past all three men, leaving them staring at her back.

  “Nothing like egging on a sleeping bear,” Tyler muttered and moved to follow her down the hall.

  She didn’t look back. Stupid man. She could only wonder where she’d be right now if she’d stayed with him. Probably tied up in the closet. Tara shook with the thought and eyed the once tidy closet in a new light.

  “I’m glad you got out of this, Tara.” Tyler stopped in the bedroom doorway and leaned negligently against the frame.

  She knew better. There wasn’t a relaxed bone in his body. If the situation warranted it, he could spring into action in a millisecond. It was what he was trained to do. Tara had seen him do so a while back when someone had threatened one of their girls. Tyler in full fight mode was more than impressive.

  Tara dropped her shoulders and looked around the room, wondering what she could salvage. What she even wanted to try and salvage. Was there anything left here of great importance to her? Most of her things she’d taken with her the first night.

  There were some more clothes and a few momentos. Oh, and her mother’s quilt. She rummaged in the mess of her closet and pulled out a box.

  “I don’t have much left to get.” She knelt and started packing.

  “That’s good,” Tyler said, distracted.

  Tara lifted her gaze. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Just watching Eric with Scott. I don’t trust the fucker.”

  Tara jumped to her feet. “What’s he doing? I’ll be damned if I let him do anything to Scott.”

  Tyler smiled and arched a brow. “Really? Eric is circling him and Scott’s just following him around with whatever freaky sense he has that lets him know where someone is.”

  She smacked his arm. “Bring him back here with me. Poor guy’s just standing there, being corrupted by the loser.”

  “I wouldn’t let Scott hear you call him a poor guy.”

  “He doesn’t scare me,” she scoffed.

  Tyler laughed and went to do her bidding, leaving her to search the disaster area for her things. When she heard the front door slam, Tara hurdled the box she’d withdrawn and dashed down the hallway. She practically slammed into Scott’s back since she had to watch where she ran because of the crap Eric had strewn all over the floor.

  Scott turned and caught her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. What happened out here?”

  Tyler slapped his hands together as if removing dust from them. He sniffed. “Eh, nothin’, just taking out the trash.” He shrugged. “At least you can pack in peace now.”

  She eyed Tyler in suspicion. “What’d you do to him?”

  “I swear I didn’t do anything, though I would have loved to put my fist through his face.”

  “And his leaving had nothing to do with the fact you got right in his face and told him to leave Tara the fuck alone, or the fact you had your hand on your gun?” Scott said.

  “How’d you… Damn psychic freak,” Tyler muttered.

  Tara gasped but Scott laughed, his fingers rubbing up and down her spine. It felt so good she leaned into it.

  “I heard the snap of your holster pop, and he did squeak, ‘my nose’, when you bumped it.”

  “You’re still a freaky bastard.”

  “So you tell me, almost daily.”

  “Nice exchange, boys. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get this packing done so we can get the hell out of this creepy place.”

  Chapter Six

  Fucking bitch. She’d let them brainwash her. He slanted a look back at the apartment. How long did he have? A few minutes at least.

  He stormed over to the shiny black BMW. It was Tyler’s. He knew from the countless times he’d seen Brianna show up in it.

  Damn it. He could have prevented this a long time ago. Nipped it in the bud. But no. He’d wanted her to trust him and so he’d let her keep a few friends and slowly weaned her from the rest. One by one he’d picked them off. He had seen the light at the end of the tunnel that was her alone, dependant on him. He’d been so fucking close.

  Eric hadn’t foreseen something like this happening. He kicked at a mound of snow and trailed his hand along the hood. With one last glance at the apartment, he slid underneath the front end where he’d be hidden from view.

  His heart raced in excitement
as he pulled his pocketknife from his jeans.

  “If this doesn’t scare you back where you belong, nothing will.”

  He found what he was looking for and cut through it.

  A muffled sound from above startled him and he froze. Were they here already? He wiggled around, looking in every direction but saw nothing. On his way out he rapped his head on the undercarriage and bit back a curse.

  Another noise reached his ears. This time louder. It sounded like it was coming from the car. Shit. He hadn’t even thought to see if there was an occupant.

  Kneeling at the front bumper, he slowly rose to peek through the windshield. Staring back at him was a huge German shepherd, tongue hanging out.

  Eric stood. “Stupid dog.” He rounded the hood and stooped at the driver’s side window to see better. It had a contraption attached to it, some kind of harness. It was the same dog he’d seen Tara petting at that coffee shop the other day.

  He jerked his head up to his apartment.

  “Mother fucker. That son of a bitch is blind.”

  He smiled. Tara wouldn’t date a blind man. She was using him to play hard to get. He patted the roof of the car. The dog barked again.

  What he’d just done ought to fix everything. He’d have her back by morning. He started walking away and realized her car was parked a couple of spots away. Shit.

  They hadn’t come together. How would she be scared if she wasn’t in the car with them? The weight of the knife in his palm gave him another idea.

  Eric slithered over to her Civic and stabbed the knife into one tire and then another.

  He nodded in satisfaction. Now she’d have to go with them.

  Scott reached over the seat and laid a hand on Kissy’s head. “Should we stop for lunch?” God knew his stomach was rumbling.

  “No,” both Tara and Tyler snapped.

  “That was rather emphatic.”

  “Lily’s got a Christmas thing this afternoon,” Tyler said, shifting in his seat.

  “And I need to finish the decorations for tomorrow night. I can’t believe that asshole slashed my tires.”

  Scott turned toward her. “I’m just glad it wasn’t you he cut, sweetheart.”

  She sighed. He hated Eric for this.

  “You’ve got to eat sometime,” he said, changing the subject.

  “Does it look like I don’t eat?” She gasped. “Shit. What I meant is—”

  “Settle down. I can feel that you’re not lacking in eating.”

  Tyler laughed. “Way to go, bro.”

  “You saying I’m fat?”

  Scott dropped his chin to his chest and rubbed his eyelids beneath the sunglasses. He was starting to get a killer headache.

  “I’m just teasing, Scott.”

  Tyler couldn’t stop laughing. Idiot. “You sure know how to… Fuck.”

  “Excuse me?” Tara’s shocked voice whipped through the car.

  Scott braced his hand on the dashboard. He knew by Tyler’s tone something was wrong. He heard him fumble with his phone.

  “Cole. Send Max to pick us up, would you? Yeah, at the corner of Kingston and Cooper in Creve Couer. What’s up? The brakes are soft and getting softer.”

  “What?” Tara screeched in the back seat.

  Scott held his hand out, offering it to her if she wanted something to hold. Or mangle. He recognized her panic.

  “I’m pulling off now.”

  Thank God they were moving slow enough to do so. What if they’d been on the highway?

  “I’m not sure, but they were fine when we got to her apartment and now they’re not. I’ll call Garner so he can go over it. He’s the expert in cars.”

  They jerked to a stop.

  “Is he saying what I think he’s saying?” Tara whispered.

  The wobble in her voice ripped at him. “If you think he’s saying that maybe Eric fucked with our brake lines, then yes, he’s saying what you think he’s saying.”

  “I can’t see Eric doing anything like this. He may be a total ass, but why would he want to hurt me? He thinks I’m coming back to him, for God’s sake.”

  “Tell Lily I’ll be there. I might be late, but I’ll be there. Will do.”

  The phone snapped closed. “Max will be here soon.”

  The door opened and slammed shut.

  “He’s pissed,” Tara murmured.

  “What’s he doing?”

  “Popping the hood. I can’t believe this is happening.”

  He didn’t want to ask her the obvious, but if he didn’t know, it would kill him. Tomorrow night was the annual Masters Christmas Party and Scott fully intended to be standing under the mistletoe with Tara bundled in his arms. He didn’t want anything standing between them, especially not this dickhead.

  “Has he ever been physical with you, Tara?”

  Kissy whined from his spot next to Tara. “Shh, boy, it’s okay,” she consoled.

  Was she deliberately avoiding answering him? Did that mean she’d felt Eric’s rage? His hand fisted on the dash.

  “No. I think it was headed in that direction, but he hadn’t gone quite so far yet,” she said honestly, with a hint of sadness. “He wasn’t like this when I met him and it was just in the last few months he started getting…possessive, I guess.”

  He had to grit his teeth against jumping out of the car, hunting Eric down and killing him with his bare hands.

  Tyler’s door opened, letting in a rush of cold air. “Brake line’s been cut.”

  Tara inhaled deeply behind Scott. “I’m moving out of the house,” she said.

  Scott spun around. “What the hell for?”

  “Now’s not a good time to make rash decisions. If he’s gone to this extreme, there’s no telling what he’ll do next,” Tyler explained.

  “I don’t want to put your family at risk.”

  “Absolutely not,” Scott hissed. “The best thing for you to do is stay where you have protection. No one can help you if you’re alone. No fucking way will I let him get to you, Tara. Besides,” he added, wanting to give her every reason in the world to stay with them, “Brianna will be pissed if you don’t finish her decorations.”

  “Ooh, I like it when Bri gets pissed.” Tyler chortled.

  Scott rolled his eyes.

  “You would.” Tara groaned and shifted in her seat. “How did this get to be such a mess?”

  “Because Eric’s a psycho, Tara. He needs some serious help, and not from you,” Tyler pointed out. “If he’s been kind of standing on the sidelines, waiting for you to come back to him, then I have a feeling seeing you with Scott has pushed him over the edge.”

  “Which wasn’t my intention at all. I only wanted him to get the drift of us being over. Done. Kaput. God, what a disaster.”

  “Let’s get through the party tomorrow night and then we can sit down and get a better grasp on the situation,” Scott offered.

  “Sounds good to me. I’ll have Max drop me off and you guys can finish whatever needs to be done at the house. At least security’s tight there, Eric won’t be able to bother you,” Tyler said.

  He wouldn’t bother them in person, but Scott doubted Eric would be far from Tara’s mind the rest of the day. He wished he could offer more to make things right.

  Chapter Seven

  “Another late night?”

  Tara’s heart pounded. Milk sloshed out of the glass onto her hand when she slammed it down on the counter.

  “You’ve got to stop doing that,” she breathed. “What are you still doing up?”

  Scott shrugged. “I heard you moving around and couldn’t sleep knowing you were agitated.”

  She swallowed as he came nearer. He wore only silky black pajama pants and nothing else. His feet padded across the tile floor. She drew her attention up, trying hard to bypass the noticeable bulge below abs to die for. And if she didn’t stop looking at him, she’d likely embarrass herself.

  “Nice pants,” she muttered. Her cheeks heated and she covered her mouth wit
h her hand. “I didn’t just say that out loud, did I?”

  The corner of his lips lifted. “I believe you did.” He raised his arms, holding his hands out to “feel” for her.

  The fingertips of one hand brushed across the curve of her breast. She sucked in a breath. He paused for the longest of seconds, both of them frozen in place, their harsh breathing the only noise in the otherwise silent kitchen.

  She wanted so badly for him to touch her again.

  He did. His fingers curled and his knuckles grazed her hardened nipple. She moaned and dropped her head back. Exquisite tingles shot through her body, yet it wasn’t enough.

  Scott leaned into her, his fingers growing bolder on her breast. “I’ve wanted you since they day I met you,” he whispered, tickling her lips with his.

  “Really?” she squeaked. Tara closed her eyes in mortification.

  “Mm-hm.” He nibbled along her jaw, up to her ear.

  “I think I have too. Wanted you, I mean.” Babbling idiot.

  “What are you wearing?”

  “Umm…a tank top and boxer shorts.”

  “My favorite.” He nuzzled his nose into her hair and his hand crept beneath the hem of her shirt. “If you don’t want this, tell me now, because once I start, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.”

  Not want this? Was he crazy? Couldn’t he feel her heart pounding?

  “Yes. Yes.”

  She felt his lips curve at her cheek and then he was there, touching her breast. Pinching and tugging at the nipple. His thigh pushed between her legs. Tara ground her aching pussy on the slippery fabric of his pants.

  “Maybe we should—” She gasped when his other hand suddenly insinuated itself inside her boxers. His fingers slid between her folds, finding her wet and more than ready.

  “Maybe we should what?” His tongue darted into her mouth, rubbing against hers.

  Two could play this game. She cupped his thick erection through his pants and squeezed.

  Scott groaned. He laid his forehead against hers and tilted his hips into her caress.

  “Bed.” His voice was guttural to say the least.

  She smiled. “Exactly what I was about to say.”