Page 54 of Tempt Her

I gave him a chance. I gave him his pride back when no one else would.

But Luke and I? It’s simple. We’re complicated as fuck.

“So now what?” I challenge Luke like I always do. “You’re both gonna fuck her until you get caught? Until her husband figures it out? Until Mateo can’t get another job, and you can forget about being a Ranger?”

My blood pressure soars. I’ve honed every muscle on my trained body to maximum fitness, but the one that keeps me alive is thinning and growing larger. I’m living on borrowed time.

“We can handle it,” Luke assures me, stepping my way and reaching for my shoulder, but I jerk away.

“So, she’s worth it?” It’s my greatest fear; failing someone I love. Again. I need to protect them. I need to get this right, at least. “She’s worth losing everything for?”

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Mateo tries to calm me. “Yes, we three fucked. Yes, it was incredible and—”

He sees me jolt as that image flashes across my mind—Stacey Evans fucking the men I love.

My men.

“I swear, we got this, man.” Mateo keeps soothing. It doesn’t work.

“No,” I growl, “you got your rocks off fucking another man’s wife.”

“I’m more than someone’swife.”

A silky voice snaps over my shoulder.

We turn, and she’s standing there, fists on her waist and a look on her face I haven’t seen yet. Strong. Angry. Not afraid.

“I care for Luke,” she says. “I care for Mateo too. And yes, they just fucked me so good I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.” Her chin lifts. “And yes, I’m married to a powerful, controlling asshole, and I’ll get out of my marriage onmyterms, and you don’t have a goddamn thing to say about it, Ford Alexander.”

“They’remy men,” I seethe.

Her lip curls. “You sound as controlling ashim.”

“Don’t you dare fucking compare me to that evil piece of shit.”

“Then stop acting like him.”

I prowl her way. “I’m not acting like a khaki pants-wearing, golf-playing little dick of a momma’s boy who had a goddamn island handed to him on a silver platter.”

Her nostrils twitch. “Sure does smell like his shit in here.”

I’m almost impressed.

I’m almost won over by her sudden strength. But I know too well.

“No,Mrs. Evans.Your husband and I are very different. He got millions he didn’t earn, and I got a coffin. My mother’s coffin in the ground, killed by a jealous boyfriend, and I couldn’t save her, but I can savemy menbecause that’s what’s gonna happen here—coffins in the ground.”

It drops her face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know about your mother.”

“Well, I fucking do. I know exactly what happens next. I told you—your husband is dangerous. DoNOTunderestimate him. I’ve dealt with men like him. He’s too weak and scared to fight a man for real, so he’ll do it with bullets. And I’ve seen what they do to bodies; bullets always win.”

I leave her silenced while I turn to Luke and Mateo. “Is this what you choose? To risk it all for her?”

Luke won’t waver. “We gotta try.”

Mateo looks me in the eye. “You gotta trust us.”

“All I trust is what I’ve lost.”

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