Page 192 of Protective Heroes

The words sweetheart or darlin’ didn’t fit into their vocabulary as far as she knew, but it sounded lovely all the same.

“There’s no reason to be reading me like you do one of your clients. I’m fine. Promise.” But her voice failed her and the lie didn’t come off as smoothly as she’d hoped.

Reece narrowed his eyes and she could clearly see how displeased he was with her lack of answers at his command.

“Remember, we do this for a living. Reading people. So tell us, Abigail. You’re not leaving until you do.” Reece unfolded his arms and leaned forward, resting his hands on the back of the chair in front of him. He wasn’t going to take another dismissive answer.

After being walked all over by a cheating fiancé who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants and a shitty childhood that left her heart broken, hearing Reece’s ultimatum sent a shock of defiance through her blood and set her nerves on edge.

Abigail pulled her hand out of from under Caden’s and turned toward where Reece stood. She pinned him with a narrowed-eye glare.

Looks like tomorrow I’m hunting for a new job after all.

“Reece Sterling.” She whipped his name out with a roll of her tongue. Before she could dish out the rest of her sentence and tell him exactly what he could do with his high-handedness Caden stepped in, placing a gentle touch to her elbow.

“Don’t pay any attention to him, sweetheart. Reece can be a controlling ass sometimes. Especially if he’s worried about someone he cares about.”

Caden leveled his own narrowed-eyed glare over his shoulder at his partner—who only shrugged—before returning his attention to her. “You can talk to me while he pulls his foot out of his mouth and finds a more suave way of posing his concern for you and your safety.”

Cares about? Abigail stopped in her tracks. What was that supposed to mean? What was going on with these two? She couldn’t shake the feeling they were having a silent conversation.

Her frayed nerves zinged with raw energy and her fingers twitched against her sides. Folders and papers forgotten, she sidestepped Caden and that damn sexy half grin of his and took a detour straight for the coffee station on the opposite side of the conference room.

Caden stepped back a fraction to let her pass, his gaze locked on her every movement.

She grabbed the coffee and filled a mug before turning back around to face the Re-con inquisition. These two wanted answers and truth be told she didn’t have a clue where else to go for help. Now somewhat calmer, she swallowed her pride long enough to palm her phone from the top of stacked folders.

“I’m showing you both these because I’m no fool. But I need your promise this doesn’t leave this room. Please.” Abigail lifted her eyes to lock with theirs a beat before continuing.

“You have nothing to worry about,” Reece spoke first and then Caden.

“You have our word.”

She worried her lower lips a second longer and then nodded as she took in their no bullshit expressions.

She swiped her thumb across the screen and pulled up the violating images. “I was on my way here this morning when this arrived in my work email.” She bit her lip and took a deep breath to calm the quivers in every fiber of her body. She couldn’t believe she was going to show these pictures but what choice did she have?

Reece raised from where he rested his weight on the back of the office chair and stepped closer to her left. So close she could feel his heat radiate out and envelope her. And in some odd way it comforted her, as if she was doing the right thing. She passed over the phone and cringed at what the images detailed. This was definitely not how she pictured them seeing her naked ass for the first time.

Both men stood in silence for a long moment. Their eyes never leaving the screen.

“I see. I didn’t realize you were into exhibitionism, Miss Torres.” Reece’s biting tone grated on her nerves more than hurt her. But she couldn’t ignore the twinge of pain deep in her chest. The pictures he referred to were of her returning from a midnight dip in the lake behind her house. She lived several miles outside the city limits and miles from her closest neighbor. The thought of someone being so far out there watching her had never crossed her mind.

He flicked a couple more times, oblivious to the power of his words and then he stopped on the one. Whoever took pictures of her had caught her mid-fantasy splayed out on her bed, fully naked and dreaming of taking one of her bosses in her mouth while the other claimed her virginity. She’d cum hard that night, yet fell asleep feeling empty.

“Were you worried we’d find out about these through blackmail from some boyfriend or a one-night stand? That we would fire you? Is that what you’re so worked up about?”

Reece’s soft tone clashed with his hardened indecipherable expression and pulled her out of deep thoughts. Even his eyes looked frosty when he lifted his eyes to hers. Abigail took a half step back and her mouth fell open. Her breath came in tiny, shaky pants and heat flushed her body. She could do nothing more than gape back and forth between both men.

She moved her mouth a couple of times before the words started flowing. “So we’re back to Miss Torres now and are you serious?” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat before continuing. “I show you these and that is the first conclusion you come up with? I’ve spent days, and sometimes nights long after everyone else has gone home working by both your sides. You should know me better than that. Or at least I had hoped.” A furious wave of hurt and embarrassment washed over her.

Caden reached around her and plucked her phone out of Reece’s hand and started scrolling, his expression mirroring Reece’s now.

Abigail took a deep breath to recover from the double punch to the stomach. She was a fool to put so much trust in them. In anyone really. After her rotten childhood and an even worse ex-fiancé, she still hadn’t learned her lesson. And now that Reece and Caden knew her body in various sorts of disrobement, including full commando, she hoped like hell this was the final lesson she needed to drive the point home.

Trust was no more than a myth.

“No, gentlemen.” Abigail slashed her hand in the air between them. She cocked her head to the side, channeling all the hurt in her heart into her tone. She wanted to make damn sure they understood what she had to say next because afterward, she was walking out the door and never looking back. “Because you obviously think less of me than I thought, let me explain something to you. I’m not some vain exhibitionist who likes to slink around naked or a woman who sleeps around. In fact, I haven’t dated in over a year. According to my ex being a virgin, it seems, is a huge turn off for men., So, no, Mr. Sterling, these pictures are not me getting off by flaunting myself or from some random hook-up or fling. Someone invaded the privacy of my home. A place where I’m supposed to feel safe and secure. Not fearful and prayed upon.”

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