Page 32 (1/2)

Rowdy straightened as hurt flashed in Kelly’s eyes as she stared back at the othersnide, and Roas fed up with it

"Natches, shut the hell up," he warned softly

"Why?" Natches asked with apparent joviality "Hell, Rowdy, I’et your dick twisted in a knot like this over her is teachingto kill Natches

"Kelly, ignore that fool," Dawg drawled then "He’s just pissed as hell that you’re not twisting his dick, that’s all"

"And he’s getting ready to get his ass kicked" RowdyKelly’s flinch as he pulled her against hi to her forehead as he held her to hi

"We’re just discussing the best place to protect you, baby" He rubbed his hand down her arer "No plans are being made without you I promise"

"I don’t need to be babied" She pulled away from him, but the hurt in her voice was easy to hear and Rowdy pro to ht soet it"

She turned and stalked from the room as Rowdy turned back to Natches Theup the hallway, he ju ju hirowled in fury "You kno he gets Daonna kick all our asses"

"Get the fuck out ofback at Natches as his expression darkened with anger "And so help ain and I’ll tear your dick off and feed it to you You want to be a bastard because you’re not getting what you want, then you take it up with me"

He knew Natches’s proble and Natches both had waited, just as he had, for Kelly They had hungered, lusted, expected certain things where her relationship with Roas concerned

This was his fault As he jerked away fro, he ad to pay for it with Natches’s surly attitude

He paced to the bar, pouring a quick drink and kicking it back as he gri buttons, and, Rowdy admitted, Kelly was a sore spot with hi to work, rather than running from the situation as he had And he had run The emotions that damned woman caused to rise inside him threatened his sanity at times

"I didn’t mean to hurt her" Natches cleared his throat unco by it, Rowdy"

Rowdy lifted his gaze He was so da Natches that he had to clench his fist to hold onto his control

"She’s mine, Natches," he snapped "I can understand why you’re pissed but if you take it out on her again, you’ll deal with ot that" Natches snorted, though he didn’t sound overly concerned at the prospect "I’n of that bastard while you cool off Hell, son of a bitch needs to die for fucking shit up like this"

He sto room Seconds later, the door sla then

"He’ll chill out" Dawg slapped him on the shoulder as he headed from the room "You take care of Kelly, and we’ll watch your back And when Natches’s tiht even watch his"

NINETEEN

Kelly was furious The anger that sizzled through her carried her through the afternoon and into that evening

It was the fearher crazy And Rowdy, Dawg, and Natches weren’t helping et of the aall their lives, and it scared her to death And that’s where the anger ste to him rather than the man she loved A ood girl he had decided she should be

She snorted at that thought The fantasies she’d had over the years where those three ood But they were fantasies for her She liked the fantasies, she liked pretending she was daring enough, cool enough, to control Rowdy and his cousins

But the truth of thebut cool, calht of having all three men focused on her was, as hot as it had been in the boat, so still held her back Made her wary

"I didn’t asp, wishing now that she had turned the lights on Natches was shadowed froainst the wide entrance into the roos," she snapped "You pissed hed "I didn’t ht He grinned at her as she watched hi and I rushed to the hospital after you were attacked?" he asked, his voice soft, a bit sad

And they had Ray swore the doctors had alet them to leave the hall outside her roo hair from his devilishly handsoel and eyes that invited a woman to be bad

"We knew you were ours even when you were a little girl," he said reflectively "Not in the sense we knew it after you grew up, but we claimed you Watched out for you--"

"I love Rowdy, Natches," she whispered, halting what she feared was co "And don’t try to tell me you love me in the sahtened "We’re a set You’re destroying it, Kelly"

He stared back at her, his light green eyes wary and so the rules and he didn’t like it

"I don’t mean to, Natches," she whispered "I can’t be what you want, I can’t do what you need"

"You knew that was part of it," he growled "Everyone knows that’s part of it"