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He sat up, his whole body going rigid. “You fucking better not, Caleb.”

  No one could know. He would go to his grave with that secret.

  Caleb held up his hands, conceding. “I legally can’t tell anyone, but Logan, there’s nothing to be ashamed about. Nothing at all. You were attacked. That’s the hardest thing about any of this. You want to blame someone and you end up blaming yourself. I know I do.”

  “I blame those fucking Russians.” He was not doing this. “Where are my meds? The nurse is ten minutes late. How much pain am I supposed to deal with?”

  Caleb sighed. “I’ll call her in, but you should be starting to heal. Don’t get hooked, Logan. It’s the last thing you need.”

  It was the only thing he needed. “Don’t become an addict. Got it.”

  Caleb picked up the clipboard. “Think about talking to someone. If I know anything about your moms, I think they’ll try to pretend like everything will be fine the minute your skin heals. They’ll try to make things normal for you, but nothing is normal. They’ll tiptoe around you when they should poke and prod.”

  “I think I’ve been poked enough.” He couldn’t look the man in the face. “I’ll be fine once I’m up and on my feet.”

  Caleb started for the door. “You won’t and no one will know. All they’ll see is that the scars on the outside will begin to fade. They don’t understand how bad the ones on the inside are. Call a friend. Don’t end up like me. I still…well, I can’t have the things I want because I never figured out how to get out of that cage.”

  He slipped outside the door and it closed with a whoosh.

  And he was alone again.

  A vibrating sound caught his attention. His phone. His mother had made sure it was kept charged and by his bed in case he needed anything from her. Not that he would have to call her since she refused to go home.

  God, he should be grateful but all he wanted was to wake up and realize this was a terrible dream.

  He glanced down and Seth’s name filled the screen.

  He put the phone back on the table as he realized he hadn’t told Seth. His best friend in the world was likely calling because he wanted to talk movies or he’d read a cool new book. He had no idea that Logan’s whole world had changed, that Logan wasn’t Logan anymore.

  How the fuck did he ever face Seth again?

  Or he could call him and they could figure out what to do. That’s what they used to do. Things would go wrong and they would call each other and help find a way through the problem.

  But this wasn’t him dropping his ma’s cell phone in the pond behind the Harper’s place because he was skinny dipping with Callie’s cousin from LA. He didn’t need Seth to tell him how to sneak into the cabin because his moms thought he was in bed when he’d really gone out drinking with Jamie and Noah.

  How could Seth help him through this? Hell, he hadn’t even seen Seth in person for years. Seth was a part of his childhood and it was past time to be a man.

  He sat there as the phone vibrated and breathed a sigh of relief when it stopped.

  * * * *

  Willow Fork, TX

  Eight months before

  Georgia

  Georgia took the mirror Kitten had brought her and looked at herself. Whoa. She totally looked like a chick who’d been kidnapped and shot and barely escaped.

  “It’s all right, Georgia.” Kitten had shown up at her bedside this morning. “I brought your makeup kit. Well, part of it, but I’m sure I got the part that has your concealer. It’s nothing more than a couple of bruises. You can swipe your magic wand and no one will see them.”

  “Or she can wear them like a badge of honor because she was a badass out there.” Nat had come, too. “You should have seen her, Kitten. She mouthed off and Gretchen shot her and Georgia barely made a sound except to mouth off some more.”

  Mostly she’d been trying to breathe. She didn’t like to think about how much it had hurt when the bullet had gone through her upper arm. She was lucky it had been the fleshy part and she’d barely required surgery.

  Logan had acted like she was dying. He’d held her so tight and gotten her away. He’d ignored everything and everyone but her. He hadn’t let her go until he’d put her on the gurney at the ambulance. Even then he’d insisted on riding with her. He’d held her hand and been irritable anytime one of the EMTs tried to get him to let go.

  She hadn’t ever wanted him to let go.

  God, she was in love with Logan Green. He wasn’t her type, but that might be a good thing since her type seemed to be asshole bad boys who didn’t care enough about her to call. Logan was different.

  She wasn’t sure she’d actually known what she needed in a man until the day she’d met Logan Green. She wished she’d acted like an adult and not a ridiculous child.

  “Are you really okay?” Kitten asked, setting the case on her bedside tray. “You haven’t cried.”

  She didn’t cry often, but this time she hadn’t been holding it all in. She hadn’t cried for a reason. “Deep down I knew my brothers would show up. I knew they wouldn’t stop until they found us.” She needed to be braver than this. “And I kind of thought Logan would be with them.”

  A brilliant smile lit up Nat’s face. “I knew they would come for us, too. Logan came for you.”

  Kitten was grinning. “I realized Master Logan had a thing for Georgia very early on. She would annoy him but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.”

  She hoped so. She could feel herself blush. “I don’t know about that, but he was nice to me today. It felt like there was something between us.”

  She never talked like this. She never allowed herself to be vulnerable. Mean girls abounded in her world and she’d had to protect herself.

  Nat and Kitten seemed different. They seemed like they actually cared about her. Nat was going to be her sister-in-law. She didn’t want to have a cold relationship with her sister.

  Nat’s eyes were soft as she reached out and smoothed back Georgia’s hair. “There is absolutely something between the two of you. Everyone can feel it. The chemistry between you is off the charts. But you have to move that chemistry to something more and that means no more tricks on the poor man.”

  She hadn’t been exactly kind to the man when she’d met him. She’d taken one look at his gorgeous face and gone straight into her diva brat persona. It had been to protect herself from him because she’d known the minute she’d seen him that he could break her heart.

  She would never know if she never tried. Wouldn’t it be worth it if maybe, just maybe, Logan was the one man who could protect her heart, who could make her heart strong because of the love between them.

  “No more tricks,” she promised. “I’m going to try with him. I’m ready.”

  Somehow she’d found her calm when she’d gotten kidnapped. She and Nat had been taken by Nat’s creepy stalker who’d threatened to sell off Georgia to the highest bidder. Held in a cage and then shot, she’d still managed to not break down.

  She’d thought of Logan the whole time. He’d been her touchstone. When the panic would threaten, she would close her eyes and he would be there. In her mind, he would tell her to be brave, to survive, to wait for him.

  He’d come for her.

  She couldn’t stop the smile on her face.

  “I’m so happy for you.” Kitten clapped her hands. “Master Logan needs some joy in his life.”

  Nat winked her way. “So does Georgia.”

  There was a knock on the door and then she wished she’d used the concealer because Logan walked in. He looked utterly delicious in jeans and a T-shirt that showed off his sculpted chest. The boy worked out. A lot. He was masculine and gorgeous, and she was super glad they’d disconnected her from the thing that beeped a lot because her heart rate had definitely gone up.

  “Hi,” she said and barely managed to not wince at the breathy sound of her voice.

  Logan nodded her way, a grim expression on his face, but then he had that a lot. He
didn’t smile often. There was a darkness to him that she’d never understood. She knew something bad had happened to him on the job, but she wasn’t sure of the details. He was a deputy so it could have been very bad. “Hi. Uhm, Nat, Kitten, can we get a moment alone? I need to talk to Georgia.”

  “Of course.” Nat looked to Kitten. “How about we go see if there’s anything decent to eat in this place.”

  “There is not,” Kitten replied with her trademark grin. “But the coffee’s all right. We’ll be back in an hour or so, Georgia.”

  Logan watched as they walked out and the door closed quietly behind her friends. “You seem to be getting along with them.”

  They were part of his world. She was glad she could be friends with such wonderful women. “They’re great. Obviously I’m thrilled Nat’s going to be my sister-in-law and Kitten’s wonderful.”

  “She’s cool. Weird at first, but hey, we’re all fucked up, right?”

  She didn’t like the way he wouldn’t look her in the eyes. He paced at the end of her bed like he couldn’t quite make himself stand still.

  He’d kissed her. When they’d made it to safety, he’d knelt down and kissed her. She’d never been kissed like that before.

  His mouth had dominated hers and she hadn’t needed air to breathe. She’d only needed him.

  “Did I say thank you for saving me?” And for holding her and kissing her and making her understand what she needed in a man.

  He stopped and turned to face her. “It won’t work, Georgia.”

  Her stomach twisted because she knew what that meant. Still, she couldn’t come out and say it. Playing dumb worked sometimes. “It worked well. I’m not dead.”

  “You know I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the two of us.”

  She was the one who couldn’t look at him now. She stared at the chair beside her bed. Since she’d been brought to the hospital someone had always been in that chair, whether it was one of her brothers or Nat or Kitten. Someone had been there for her.

  But it hadn’t once been Logan. He’d stayed until her surgery was over and then he’d left. This was the first time he’d come back. It should have told her something, but she’d made up a million excuses for why he hadn’t come to see her. It had only been a day and a half and he’d had a lot of things to do, including talking to the police. And he needed some sleep. And he was probably thinking about what to say after that incendiary kiss.

  It had been the last one, but not in the way she’d hoped. He hadn’t been trying to figure out how to ask her out. He’d been trying to find a way to tell her he’d made a mistake.

  Now was when she would shrug and tell him to fuck off.

  “Why?” The question came out before she could hold it back and the world suddenly seemed watery. “You kissed me.”

  His jaw firmed. “I shouldn’t have. That was my fault. Georgia, it won’t work. We’re too different. We could fuck for a while, but I’m not ready for anything else and I don’t want to hurt you. I’m not good for you.”

  But he was. He’d saved her and he’d made her want to be better. Of course that wasn’t what he really meant. He really meant she wasn’t good enough for him. She’d heard it a million times before.

  She sniffled and turned away. “Like I would stay in this town long enough to fuck you.” There was her brat-girl persona. She pulled it around her like it was a bulletproof vest. “You should go, Logan. Again, thanks for the save. You’re right. It wouldn’t work.”

  “I…well, take care of yourself.”

  She heard the door close again and knew he wouldn’t be back.

  What the man who’d kidnapped her hadn’t been able to do with threats and bullets and fear, Logan had managed with a few words.

  Georgia put her head in her hands and she cried.

  Chapter One

  Georgia Ophelia Dawson looked at her boss and gave him what she hoped was a brilliant smile. He was the best man she’d ever met, and he deserved this huge crowd that obviously idolized him. They admired him for his brilliant mind, but she was falling for the softer side of the man. “You know Seth Stark is a big deal.”

  Seth turned to her, the lights of the stage shadowing his face. He was so sweet, and she couldn’t imagine how he was going to walk in there and talk to five thousand stockholders, but she’d made sure he looked damn good. His Armani suit fit him perfectly, and he’d been shined to a brilliant jewel. He was quite hot once she’d forced him to trade his glasses in for contacts and gotten him into the right clothes. And the man liked the gym. She hadn’t had to fix his lean, six-foot-two-inch muscular body.

  Seth’s lips quirked up. “You make me feel that way.”

  She kind of sort of loved him. But she still couldn’t get freaking Logan Green out of her head. Why was she stuck on a small-town deputy when she had a sweet-as-pie, brilliant billionaire in front of her?

  Not that Seth was interested.

  It was her damn brothers’ fault. They’d recently gotten married. To the same woman. Natalie Buchanan-Dawson hadn’t had to choose between super-brilliant Chase and sweet, stable Ben. She had the best of both worlds. Georgia was starting to think she wanted the same.

  She winked at Seth as his name was announced on stage. The crowd went crazy, applauding and shouting. Seth had made everyone there a ton of money. He was smart and had a business head that blew her away, but still he needed her.

  Yet even as he walked away, she remembered another type of power. It was the image she saw every night right before she went to sleep.

  Logan Green looking down at her, his eyes smoldering with will.

  You will never pull that shit again, Georgia. I’ll put you over my knee. Do you have any idea what I’ll do to your ass?

  God, she could still hear his voice, see that handsome face staring down at her. She’d been working for Seth for eight months, living in absolutely no sin with him for seven, and she wondered if she could make it happen between the two of them.

  She watched him as he started to talk about the new products they would be launching soon. He was confident and strong, like Logan. He’d built a whole company, a ridiculously successful business. Seth Stark was brilliant. He didn’t truly need her. If she walked away, he could find another admin.

  Had Logan found another sub?

  “Hey, baby sister,” a deep voice said.

  Georgia gasped and turned, her whole heart coming to life. “Win!”

  Winter Dawson stood in front of her, looking perfect in his ridiculously expensive suit. He was like all of her brothers—handsome and confident, completely alpha in every way. Win Dawson had never sat up at night wondering if there was a place for him in the world. He went out there and made one. “Hello, sweetheart. How are you doing?”

  She winced inwardly. He was asking that because he knew she’d lost pretty much everything. Their distant and unloving father had finally decided to cut her off financially, and she’d been left with nothing. Her other siblings had trust funds from their mothers, but her mom had been a stripper the elder Dawson had hastily married and divorced, so there were no funds waiting for her.

  She gave her oldest brother what she hoped was a winning smile. “I’m great. I love New York.”

  She loved parts of it. She loved the city and the rhythm she felt when she walked the streets of Manhattan. There was a pulse to the city that invigorated her. It started in her toes, and after a while, she was filled with an energy she’d never known in LA.

  So why did she miss small-town Willow Fork? It was the ass end of the world, but while she’d been there she’d been necessary for more than filing paperwork and keeping an appointment book. She’d helped her brothers Ben and Chase track down a crazy, psychotic asshole who liked to sell women into slavery. Oh, sure it had been a terrifying experience, but she’d felt necessary for about two minutes.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” Win said, holding his arms open. She didn’t hesitate. She walked into her oldest brother’s a
rms and gave him a bear hug. “I missed you, brat.”

  She squeezed him tight. “You know, I know what you mean by that.”

  Her brother was a Dom. He was into all things BDSM, and he meant something different by the word “brat.”

  I will slap that ass silly, brat. Do you know what I want to do to you?

  Logan Green had been a Dom, too. There was no way to mistake his domineering nature, the way he oozed authority. He’d been the one to pull her out of the fire, to hold her close when the going had gotten tough.

  And he’d been the one to walk away.

  “I assure you I didn’t mean it in anything but a sibling way.” Win frowned down at her. “Look, you need to tell me what Ben and Chase let you do because I didn’t beat the shit out of either one of them in deference to the whole ‘finding someone crazy enough to marry them both’ thing. Don’t get me wrong. I like Natalie a lot. She’s a great girl, but I question the sanity of anyone who willingly marries Chase. Seriously, I sent in a shrink.”

  “Nat is perfectly sane.” Nat was so awesome it hurt.

  “That’s what the shrink said, but I think Ben and Chase paid her.” Win was six foot forever and towered over her. His normally hard expression softened as he stared down at her. “I’m worried about you, baby sister. Why don’t you come back to LA with me? You can be my assistant.”

  And not be with Seth? The idea made her stomach turn. God, eventually Seth was going to get his head out of business and he would find a girlfriend, and Georgia would have to watch them. The girlfriend would almost certainly make her move out, and then she wouldn’t be able to sit on the terrace with Seth and have her coffee in the mornings, and they wouldn’t sit together at night and have a cocktail.

  “Georgia? Are you all right?” Win stared down at her. “You went pale. Have you been eating properly? We can leave right now if you like. I can have you at my place in Malibu in a couple of hours. You don’t have to work at all. You can go back to your acting classes. I’ll take care of everything.”

  That was Win. He strode into any situation and took care of things. And the problem with Georgia Ophelia Dawson was that she’d been allowing it to happen all of her life. She’d always had someone to take care of her. It was nice to take care of someone else for a change. Yes, she lived in Seth’s house and cashed his checks, but she had a job and responsibilities. It was a lovely thing. “I like it here.”