Marie Harte - Whispered Words

“Hell. I don’t know. What I do know is we need to come to some understanding with her.”

“And nothing says we can’t do that while horizontal.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh hell. You guys are talking to each other. Great, more telepaths. Just what I don’t need.”

“What are you talking about?” A woman who talked about psychic ability as if it weren’t out of the ordinary not only made Josh instantly suspicious…it also intrigued him.

“You know what I’m talking about. Now let me go. I’m not working for your Werlin guy. Besides, I’m cold.”

Xavier grinned down at her tight nipples. “Yeah? Well, I know a good way to warm you up.” He leaned down and kissed her before she could protest.

Josh groaned as he stared at the back of his brother’s head. Their odd connection had always linked the two of them, making for some awkward moments during dating especially. Everything Xavier felt, Josh felt as well, and vice versa.

Magnified arousal rebounding between brothers made it hard for Josh to think beyond how good Chloe felt under his twin’s lips. Like when he’d touched her before, the connection was electric. And way more powerful than he could handle right now.

He wanted to rip off the rest of her clothes. Get next to her skin to skin, then plunge inside her.

She moaned and writhed, and he realized Xavier’s hands now cupped her breasts. “She feels so damn good.”

“God, Xavier, stop. I can’t…” He panted, his cock so hard he hurt. And then Chloe bucked up, grinding against his balls.

Lost in the woman and the carnal experience of his brother’s needs, he exploded. Like a fucking teenager during his first time. He felt the answering jolt in his brother, heard his disappointed groan, and then Xavier leaned up from Chloe.

Embarrassed and frustrated because he hadn’t planned on having a damn orgasm while interrogating the woman, Josh ignored the mess in his pants and left the bed. He dragged his brother with him. To Chloe, he ordered, “Don’t move.” They slammed out of the room, both panting and uncomfortable.

“That hasn’t happened in years. I hate that.” Xavier shoved him into the wall.

“Couldn’t hold it, could you, lightweight?”

“Fuck off.” Josh slugged his brother in the chest, right over the lingering scar still healing from a piece of lead that had embedded there after the bomb. “If you hadn’t been so busy shoving your tongue down her throat and feeling her up, I might have been able to control myself.”

“Shit. That hurt.” Xavier rubbed his chest.

Ignoring the wounded look in his eyes, Josh went on the offensive. “What the hell are you thinking? We don’t know who she really is. The Werlins are still after us with a vendetta you know won’t go away until either we’re dead or they are, and our mojo is on the fritz. So fucking that woman right now is not a great move, by any stretch of the imagination.” He glared at his brother, wishing he didn’t always have to be the voice of reason.

His twin ran an unsteady hand through his hair. “I know, I know. It’s my fault. But Josh, she was so damned sweet. I mean, those tits, that mouth… I couldn’t think when I looked into her eyes. She’s got to be our girl. I can’t hear her, but I feel her. You know?”

They blew out frustrated breaths at the same time. Then Josh froze. “We left her in there by herself with her bag. I sure as shit hope the gun I took from her was her only one.”

Together, they turned and pushed the door open only to find her lying on the bed asleep, looking like an angel. She’d pulled the covers up to her chin, and while they watched, she sighed into the pillow. Into Josh’s pillow.

Ignoring the flare of lust that grew to life once more, Josh took the opportunity to search through her things while Xavier called and asked their younger brother for any information on a Chloe King. If they’d had any connectivity out here, Josh would have called or looked online for the information himself. But the weather had knocked them out of the loop. Good for isolation, bad for backup.

After a search through her things, Josh pocketed another pistol, two knives, and her two-way radio. If the woman didn’t work for Werlin, she needed to come up with some answers for the arsenal in her bags.

“Sexy and lethal. Not a good combination.” Xavier shook his head. “Just our luck, eh?” He closed his eyes, breathed in and out a few times, and focused.

Josh could feel him reaching out. “Anything?”

Xavier swore. “Woman is locked up tighter than a drum. Either I’m still out of it, or she’s not ours. But this is confusing as hell. She’s the woman we rescued last week from the warehouse. We prevented that death.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she’s our girl. Some of my visions don’t seem to relate to her. At least not that I can tell.” He glanced down at her, at the full lashes creating shadows under her eyes. Chloe looked sweet and so vulnerable lying there.

“We have to be sure about her. But I won’t lie. I feel something more for her. It’s psychic but not. I don’t know.”

“I feel it too.” Xavier grimaced at the mess in his pants. “I don’t know why she’s not sensing me up here.” He tapped his forehead. “But I’d swear our girl and Chloe are the same person.”

Josh couldn’t have said why finally finding her made him so nervous. For the better part of their lives, he and Xavier had been connected to her. Their girl. The dependency had built throughout the years, until she felt like another, extended part of them. Fear that she might not be everything he’d once dreamed her to be crept over him, and he almost wished they had never found Chloe King in the snow, standing with a gun as she peered through their window.

Christ. He didn’t know what to feel. Excited? Scared? Angry?

Trying to concentrate on what he did know, he turned his thoughts back to their guest. “Chloe said she’s hiding from her stalker. He has to be the same guy with the big knife. I just wish we’d caught the bastard.” Another thought struck. “If Chloe is hiding from this guy, he could track her here. Wouldn’t that be fun? A crazy killer who likes knives, a mystery woman we both like who’s distracting as hell, and the Werlin clan coming to slit our throats. All in one happy little cabin.”

“With one bedroom and one bed, don’t forget that.” Xavier grinned. “You know, we should keep a sharp eye on her. Who knows what kind of trouble she might get into on her own?”

Josh considered the king-size bed in the sole bedroom. He and Xavier had planned to share it. “I guess there’s room for one more. But no sex, Xavier. I mean it,” he reiterated when Xavier continued to grin. Josh groaned. “Not yet, okay? Let’s at least verify she is who she says she is first.”

“That I can do.” His brother made a face. “Now I’m going to clean up while you keep an eye on sexy in there.” He turned away muttering, “I can’t believe I came in my pants.”

Josh couldn’t believe it either. He took another look at Chloe and amended that. Actually, he could. He sure the hell hoped she was on the up-and-up. She was a fighter, and he respected that. Sexy as hell and aggressive. Now if she had intelligence and moral boundaries he could live with, she’d be the perfect woman. A lot of ifs.

She rolled over, and the blanket slid off her shoulder.

His cock rose again, and he sighed. One way or the other, he and Xavier were going to have her. He just hoped she wasn’t working for Werlin.

He’d hate to fuck her, then have to kill her.

Nathan flinched as he sat across from Jack. “It’s bad, boss. Really bad. Chloe’s idea to use her shirt where he touched it to get a read worked.” He pointed at the collar of the sweatshirt she’d been wearing when she’d been in that warehouse. “I felt him.”