The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(14)

And he’d never forget the way his father had called him a faggot after they had gotten kicked out of the Army for sharing a woman.

His father would never understand. No one would.

Adam cleared his head and got back to the case. His father would never forgive him. Neither would his brothers. Jake was his only family now.

“Do you hear anything?” Adam asked. The house seemed perfectly quiet. Serena had turned off most of the lights. He was in a small breakfast area. Her kitchen was to the right. There was a bottle of wine open on the counter. Sauvignon Blanc. It looked like a decent year.

“At least she has good taste in wine,” Jake noted. “Probably not the best idea to drink when someone is trying to kill you, though.” His head came up. Jake gestured down the hall. That way.

And he saw her. She was in the living room. Her figure danced across the opening that led to the large space. She was actually dancing. And then she stopped, as though having a revelation. She was still for a moment and then a single fist pumped in the air and she began dancing again. Ear buds sat in her ears, connected to a small device hooked to her shirt.

Serena Brooks looked completely different than she had earlier in the day. Gone was the bulky sweater and loose fitting jeans. Her hair was out of its messy bun and flew out at odd, strangely sexy angles. In the soft light from her lamp, he could see that her hair wasn’t a simple brown. It was threaded with blonde and red and dark brown, and there was a ton of it. Without the confines of a comb, the soft stuff seemed to go everywhere in a silky cloud. She wore red cotton underwear and a black tank top. Neither was inherently sexy, but on her the cotton clung to her every curve, accentuating her hourglass figure. Her breasts bounced, obviously free of confinement.

“What the hell is she doing?” Jake asked, his mouth slack as he watched her dance.

The dance wasn’t some seductive siren call. It was odd and slightly awkward and joyous. It was the dance of a woman who was completely sure that she was alone. Adam relaxed a bit. She sure as hell didn’t look like a woman who would ruthlessly plot her own stalking to get a little publicity. Maybe he was the na?ve one, but damn, he didn’t want to believe it.

“I got it. So simple. Why didn’t I think of that before?” She started to sing. Again, it was probably not a thing she would do if she knew someone was watching. And Adam found her entirely adorable.

“She’s insane.” But there was a smile on Jake’s face.

He had to see that Serena wasn’t anything like Jennifer. Jennifer had been utterly perfect. She was an elegant female, never a hair out of place, even when she was in uniform. She always did the right thing and knew exactly what to say. She’d been ambitious, and she’d known exactly how to get what she wanted.

Serena didn’t even know the words to the song she was trying to jam to. And she played a terrible air guitar. But damn she had pretty tits.

“I could have killed her ten times by now.” Jake didn’t even try to keep his voice down. It was obvious that the music was far too loud for Serena to overhear their conversation.

“You need to get your head on straight and forget the violence,” Adam tossed back, never taking his eyes off Serena. The big mutt had sat down in the middle of the floor between Adam and Jake, as though he belonged there. “Think about the other things we could have done to her by now. We could have her stripped, tied up, and part way to some sweet double penetration.”

“Not a good idea, Adam.” But his voice was tight, as though he was a bit uncomfortable.

It seemed like a perfect idea to Adam. She was unattached, obviously submissive, and in definite need of male attention and protection. They could handle all of her needs. They were a one-stop boyfriend shop. “I don’t see why not.”

Jake turned and shook his head. “Let me show you why not. In three point two seconds, she’s going to be the one thinking about violence.”

Jake strode down the hall just as she turned and finally opened her eyes at the precise right time.

Serena’s pretty green eyes widened to the point of looking slightly painful and she screamed. It wasn’t a girly scream. It was a full-on death scream that must have hit the Richter scale somewhere. The dog whined and ran to his mistress, his tail down but thumping. She pulled the ear buds out, grabbed her dog’s collar, and started to run for the front door.

Jake was on her in an instant, moving almost faster that Adam could see. There was a reason his call sign had been Ghost. He moved like one. Jake wrapped an arm around Serena’s waist and pulled her backwards, lifting her feet off the floor. She dropped the dog’s collar, and the poor boy just whined and turned in circles as though trying to figure out what to do. Serena kept screaming, her legs kicking out, her fists trying to find purchase.

Adam sighed. They were both drama queens. The whole scene could have been avoided if she’d simply answered either her phone or her door. Or Jake could have been a bit softer. Attacking her after breaking in was sure to make her angry. It might have been a better idea to simply break into her kitchen and cook her a nice meal. Then the whole breaking-and-entering blow could have been softened with a little pasta. He’d been taking some lessons from Sean. Cooking seemed like a good way to get a woman into bed. But no, the caveman had to attack in an attempt to prove he could.

He spied her half full glass of wine. The yelling was reaching a level that threatened to shake the walls. Yeah, he was going to need that. He picked it up and, without a single regret, took a long sip.