“Because only a man stronger than Hercules could ever handle you, and his right hook just about put me in the ground.”
“Jake punched you?” Of my three brothers, Mitch has the bulkiest muscle, the coolest temperament, and the strongest loyalty. Hurt what he loves and nothing will save you. You won’t even go down swinging because you’ll be too busy running for your life. Jake had managed to punch all that and come out unscathed? “Holy shit,” I breathe. “When did that happen?”
“The night you were kidnapped,” Mitch replies, shifting around me toward the settee. “In the hospital parking lot. After he punched out Travis too.”
“The night I was …” Shoving my oversized Burberry aside, he sits and stretches his legs out, crossing them at the ankle and making himself comfortable. “What are you doing?”
“Talking.”
“Now?” I bleat, my mind still caught on Jake’s violent rampage.
“Yes, now,” Mitch replies mildly. “We’re meeting Jake and Elijah at the Tavern in a bit so we have time.”
“In a bit?”
“Yes, in a bit.”
“So they get to avoid shopping and your blabbering mouth and go toss back a beer, while you hold me hostage inside a fitting room wearing a six thousand dollar dress I can’t get out of?”
“Basically, yes.”
“I’m glad Jake punched you,” I hiss. I’m fuming at the trap, so when a light rap comes at the door and the sales lady calls out, “How’s it going in there?” I reply with, “Actually it’s not going so well.”
“Oh?” she prompts.
“I can’t seem to get the full effect of the dress without wearing heels,” I call out over the door. “Perhaps some Louboutins would help?”
Glee tinges the edge of her reply. “We have a few in his latest collection that would suit. Shall I bring them?”
Setting my jaw, I fix a hard glare on my brother. “Please.”
Her footsteps are soundless on the plush carpet as she leaves. Silence settles around the fitting room as my gaze falls to my brother.
“I’m sorry, Mac,” Mitch says quietly. “I interfered in your life. We all did. You’re our little sister. No matter how strong or capable you may be, it’s our instinct to protect you. Sometimes we do that without thinking clearly. And at that point, straight after a car accident in which our little nephew or niece was lost …” He pauses. He sits forward in the seat. “Any one of us could have died, and we all kind of lost it.”
My brother links his hands together and rests his elbows on his knees. “I know Romero told you he had people who wanted him dead. Just being around him was dangerous for you. Add in your fixation for danger, and it made you and Jake a volatile match. We feared for your life. So we acted in the only way we knew how. The only way we figured you would let it go without a fight.” He sighs heavily. “What we did wasn’t right. And it’s weighed on me, on all of us, ever since. But it was done. And yet somehow you and Jake managed to find your way back to each other. So no matter what we did to intervene, fate has determined otherwise for the two of you.”
His apology doesn’t sound rehearsed. It’s sincere and irrefutable. I knew his words would worm their way beneath my skin. His ability to charm is effortless. It’s no doubt the reason Mitch was sent as a representative for the three of them.
“Damn you,” I mutter. “Apologies don’t change shit, Mitchell Valentine.”
“They don’t. But in my opinion they’re pretty damn important. Don’t you think?”
They are but I don’t want to concede too quickly. I shrug and turn back to the mirror, studying the red dress with hands on my hips. “It’s a start.”
A light tap comes at the fitting room door. “Are you ready for some shoes?”
My eyes light up. “That’s a yes.”
Mitch stands and tugs his wallet from the back pocket of his worn jeans. “And that’s my cue to get out of here.” Grabbing my hand, he turns it over and slaps the wallet onto my open palm like manna from Heaven. My fingers curl around the soft leather as he tells me his PIN for access. “Don’t clean me out, sweetheart,” he mutters as he opens the fitting room door and walks out.
The sales lady fumbles the shoeboxes in her hand as she stares after him. She emits a longing sigh.
I clear my throat purposefully.
She spins quickly and loses her hold on the boxes. They tumble out in every direction. “Sorry,” she mumbles, crouching to collect the boxes. I go to help but I can’t bend in the dress for fear my organs will cave in. “Your boyfriend looks like someone familiar, that’s all.”
“He’s not my boyfriend, he’s my brother.”
“Oh.” She stands, eyes alight, her name badge proclaiming her as June. “Well maybe you wouldn’t mind passing on my—”
I cut her off quickly, my mind going to Gabriella. Mitch has always belonged to her. Soon enough he’ll be reminded of that. My eyes narrow. It’s too late for you, June. “He’s taken.”
June’s shoulders sag. “All the good ones are.”
Jake materialises when June finishes boxing the dress. Combined with the buzzed hair and fitted vintage shirt, the leather jacket and the jeans, he looks like a thug. A sexy thug.
Jesus Christ, Mackenzie Valentine. You’re trying to be friends again. Not sex him up.
My sales lady emits another longing sigh and I swallow a growl. I angle myself to block his view as the last of the material disappears beneath layers of tissue paper. For some reason I don’t want him seeing the dress.
“Almost done?”
“Just about,” I say with glee as June enters the payment into the EFTPOS machine.
He gives me a faint smile. “Spending all your brother’s money?”
“Doing my best.”
“Good.”
“I thought we were meeting at the tavern when I finished. Am I taking too long?”
“Nope. There was something I had to do.” June hands over the machine and I tap Mitch’s bank card to the Paypass device as he speaks. “I haven’t made it to the tavern yet.”
My interest is piqued. “Oh?” I punch in the PIN and hand back the device. “What did you have to do?”
He clears his throat. “Just some personal business.”
I can’t stand being kept out of the loop. “What kind?”
June hands over the boxes and credit card. She interrupts our conversation to inform me the receipt is tucked inside with the dress. Jake takes them from her before I can.
“Thanks, June.”
We walk off as I tuck the credit card back inside the wallet and pop it in my handbag.
“Hope to see you again soon,” she calls out behind us.
“The kind that’s none of your business,” he tells me, tucking the boxes under his left arm. He uses his right to link arms with mine.
I huff. My shoulder brushes his as we make our way to the tavern. “Well, why mention you had something personal to do if you aren’t going to tell me what it is?”
He gives me a mysterious smile, the cheeky kind that makes the reckless place between my legs throb like a bass drum. “You’ll find out in good time.”
“Damn you, Jake Romero.”
His grin deepens. “Keep talking dirty to me, Princess. I love it.”