Chapter 9

Royce stood beside his bed, quietly watching Kenzie as she slipped into sleep. Her breathing slowed and became deeper, and her hands unclenched for the first time in hours. The worry lines that framed her eyes smoothed as she slipped into dreams.

Damn, he had to be careful. She was his, but she could never truly be his. And not just because protecting her meant not letting her ruin her career for him. No, it was because life was a cruel bitch.

Whenever he thought of loving someone, he was overwhelmed with thoughts of the loss of his parents. The night they died and what had happened to them became a recurring nightmare as his imagination played out what their final moments must have been like. He was watching the runway through a small plane window. The blinking lights of the plane flashing and fading in the thick fog. The white dashes of the runway vanishingthe sudden flash before everything went dark.

After the accident, waking up became a routine: His chest constricted until he could barely breathe, and his eyes stung with tears. Then he would slowly remember where he was and regain control of his body. He couldn't take another trauma like that. He couldn't lose a loved one if there was no one to love. This was why he only took home women who knew their time together was casual.

Yet Kenzie was still his. Could a man claim a woman without ever kissing her?

Sounds from below came to his attention. A door shutting. He pulled the covers tight up to Kenzie's chin and turned off the bedroom lights before he left to check who it was.

Hans shook off the rain and glanced up the stairs as Royce appeared. He wasn't alone.

"Cody still falls asleep listening to his police scanner." Hans chuckled, and the two men behind him came into the light?Emery and Fenn Lockwood. His childhood friends. Emery had lived the life of a recluse for twenty-five years, until Fenn had been found in Colorado and brought home. Before that, Emery only had his bodyguard Hans and his resident tech geek Cody to keep him company. Not that Royce would ever call Cody a geek to his face. The kid was built like a surfer who spent as much time on the weights as the waves.

"Emery. Fenn," Royce replied slowly, sending Hans an annoyed look. He loved his friends deeply, and they were brothers in all ways but blood. That was why he didn't want either of them here right now. Because of the danger he was in, he'd never forgive himself if they got hurt because of him.

"You didn't think you'd keep this a secret, did you, Royce?" Emery grinned as he slipped off his black peacoat and hung it on the coat rack.

"Hans says you're having a bit of trouble?" Fenn shrugged off a black duster, looking every inch the Colorado cowboy he'd been until he was reunited with his brother and parents.

"It's not trouble," Royce argued, shooting Hans another look. He did not want his friends getting caught up in all this. They'd only just survived some seriously fucked-up shit of their own. Their own cousin tried to have them killed so he could inherit the family fortune. After everything they had gone through, they deserved to be on a beach somewhere, drinking imported beer and sexing up their gorgeous wives.

"You know us better than that," Fenn said. "So what's this I hear about a grad student sleeping in your bedroom?"

Royce narrowed his eyes. "I never said she was sleeping in there."

The bodyguard shrugged. "If she isn't in your bed now, I bet she'll be there tonight. She won't sleep well alone after what happened."

Was Hans a psychic or something?

"I thought you didn't sleep with students?" Emery pointed out.

Royce came down the rest of the stairs to meet them. "I don't and I haven't. It's my TA, Kenzie Martin. And she's in shock. I'm just trying to keep her comfortable."

Fenn whistled, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "The Kenzie?"

Royce crossed his arms over his chest. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The Lockwood twins exchanged glances. Emery grinned. "Royce, you always talk about her. Kenzie this, Kenzie that. She's the only woman you ever talk about."

Royce huffed, ignoring whatever his friends were trying to imply. "She's my teaching assistant. I work with her. I don't spend enough time with other women to have a reason to talk about them."

"Uh-huh." Fenn was still smiling, but he quickly sobered. "So what happened? Cody woke us up shouting about shots fired at Devereaux House and a fatality."

"Hans here won't say a damn thing, despite the fact that I sign his paychecks," said Emery. "Said it's up to you to fill us in if you want to."

He had to give Hans credit for not letting anything slip, but he'd have felt better if he'd also told the brothers to go home. He sighed. It seemed the only way out was through. "It's a long story. Come into the billiard room. I'll pour us some drinks."

Hans and the Lockwood twins followed him into the billiard room, where brandy was poured and the balls were set for a game. As they played, Royce and Hans relayed the night's events, including all that had happened to Kenzie.

"Jesus," Fenn muttered. "That's fucked up."

"So you intend to leave for Russia tomorrow?" Emery asked as he bent over the billiard table and took a shot.

"Yes."

"And you want us to look after your TA while you're gone?"

Royce took a sip of the brandy. The liquor smoothed away some of his worries, but not all of them. "Could you? I need to know she's safe."

"Of course," Emery and Fenn replied in unison. He nearly laughed. They used to do that all the time as kids. God, he'd missed that.

"So we keep an eye on your student. Should be easy," Fenn said.

Easy? There was nothing easy about Kenzie. She was a temptation no man could resist. Lucky for him they were both married.

The door suddenly burst open. Kenzie stood there in his PJs. Who knew a woman in oversize PJs could look so damned cute. She had rolled up the legs and the sleeves. Fuck. How much trouble would he be in if he just ripped them down and?

"I'm going with you to Moscow," she said.

Royce held back the growl that started to rumble in his chest. "No, honey, you're staying right here where it's safe."

Fire lit Kenzie's dark-brown eyes. "I almost died tonight," she reminded him. Not that he needed that awful reminder of how close he'd come to losing her.

"Exactly. Which is why you're staying here where my friends can watch over you." He set his cue down on the billiard table and started toward her.

Kenzie stepped back but then seemed to reconsider and advanced again, her chin lifted.

"I'm involved in this now, and I'm not going to let you run off without me when I can help. I'm your TA. The A stands for assistant, so let me assist."

Emery and Fenn snickered behind him.

"You assist with grades and lectures, not fighting Russian fossil smugglers." Royce now stood directly in front of her, palms itching to smack her ass for disagreeing with him when it came to her safety. Was she completely ignoring him when he told her about the wolves and kittens?

"If you don't let me go, I'll just show up on my own. I have your phone LoJacked, and I can track you down in Moscow. Don't think I won't."

Royce's jaw dropped. Fenn started to chuckle. Behind him, Emery picked up his pool cue and poked Royce in the back with the tip.

"Didn't you say something about spanking the sass out of her the last time you mentioned her? Don't tell me you're getting soft now, Devereaux."

Kenzie glared at him, then she glanced toward his friends behind her, and she went very still, like a rabbit sensing wolves were sniffing her out. Smart little kitten.

"Maybe I should." He was definitely growling now. Kenzie moved away from him but didn't leave the room. Instead, she ran smack-dab into Emery, who caught her firmly by the arm.

"Easy, little one," Emery said with a chuckle. Royce glared at his friend. Earlier this year he and Emery would have laughed over the idea of catching a runaway sub. But Kenzie didn't know what she was doing to the men in the room. A sassy-mouthed woman with a natural submissive nature was every Dom's fantasy.

"Should you do the honors, or should I?" Emery asked.

Fenn and Hans were both hiding grins. Kenzie let out a strangled little sound of shock when Royce held out a hand and Emery nudged her toward him.

"Don't scare her, Emery. She's not used to our lifestyle."

"What?" Emery blinked. "But I thought Why else would she? Oh." He backed off a little, raising his hands.

Kenzie turned her focus on Royce, seemingly unafraid but definitely on edge.

"If you hit me" She growled like a puppy snapping her teeth. Fuck if that didn't make him hot.

He had here a chance to live out a fantasy with her, assuming she was willing. He wouldn't go too far and take her to bed, of course, but if it turned out she was into it Royce curled his fingers around her arm and turned her so she was pinned between the pool table and his body. He knew exactly how to deal with her now and keep her safe.

"So, you want to go to Moscow?" he asked, using his most seductive voice, the one he used right before he punished a submissive.

"Yes." He saw a hint of suspicion lurking in those brown eyes he adored. She was smart enough to know he was up to something but brave enough to stick to her guns and see what he would do next.

"If you want to go with me, you have to take a punishment for arguing with me just now. We aren't on campus. You're in my world. So I offer you a choice: If you don't take the punishment, there's no harm done. You can go back upstairs and sleep and let my friends protect you until I get back, but you won't go to Russia." He watched her face as comprehension dawned in her eyes. She took a long moment to think it over, just like he knew she would. What he did not expect was her response.

"And I get to go to Russia if I let you do whatever it is you want to do?"

He nodded slowly.

"Then do it."