Constructing Love Read online

  “I don’t know about that. Seems like a general problem to me. If you’ll excuse me, I was having a drink with some new friends and—"

  Tatum pulled her back toward him and right by the bar where he and his brothers trapped her in.

  “So, this is your MO? Five men ganging up on one woman?” she asked.

  “One capable, sexy woman, and more like trying to get to know you better, not gang up,” Tatum said and winked.

  “Octo, a round please, and whatever the beautiful young woman is having,” Maximus said to the bartender and owner she met earlier.

  “Got it,” Octo said from behind her.

  She stared up at Tatum as he slid his palm along her lower back and to her ass as he pressed closer. He leaned down and whispered into her ear. “You got the full attention of all five Lantern brothers, darling, there is no escaping now.” He kissed a sensitive spot below her ear and against her neck.

  She didn’t even know how to react, but one thing was for sure, her body was enjoying this way too much. She needed her mind to start focusing here. She chuckled and licked her lips as he pulled back. She reached for the seat next to her and before she could move, Tatum gripped her hips and placed her on the seat. Maximus moved right in behind her to her left side, Tatum on the right side of her, and Hagan, Hunter, and Jedda right in front of her like a nice barrier of protection. She crossed her legs and Maximus handed her vodka on the rocks with a twist of lemon, and then tapped his bottle to her glass.

  “So, a few misunderstandings we should get out of the way before we move on to more interesting conversation,” Hunter said to her as he stepped closer, bottle in hand, and stroked her knee where she had a scratch from the incident the other day at the construction site.

  “What misunderstandings?” she asked, and her voice wavered slightly because Maximus had his hand on the back of the stool next to her shoulder and neck, and Tatum sat down on the stool right next to her and kept his hand on her thigh. Hagan and Jedda were just staring at her, like they were really checking her out and paying attention to her completely. She never felt this much attention all at once and it was quite overwhelming.

  “For one thing, Tatum is not a player. None of us are. You took a few encounters and saw what you thought was a man who gets action all the time and is a flirt. Truth of the matter is, Tatum hasn’t shown any interest in a woman in quite some time.”

  Tatum squeezed her thigh. She looked at him. “From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew I wanted to get to know you.”

  “Because I’m new to town?” she asked.

  “No, because of the way you look, how your eyes are so damn beautiful, and well to be completely fucking honest, because I can be in front of my brothers. I felt different, and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. That has never happened to me before. You can see just looking around here that there are a lot of good-looking women, but none made me react like you. Then to hear that you met my brothers, and it seemed like you may be attracted to them too, and holy shit. I went from cruising along thinking I could get to know you better to wondering if you were the one for all of us.”

  “Oh God, I, um.” She lowered her head and pushed her hair behind her ear on one side. They were so close to her. All of them touched her at the same time. Maximus gently stroked the back of her neck under her hair in a possessive manner. His hand so thick, warm and heavy against her feminine neck. Tatum squeezed her thigh and caressed it. Hagan took her hand into his and caressed her fingers and palm gently, while Jedda stroked her other thigh and Hunter reached out and gently held her chin between his fingers and stroked her jaw with his thumb, making her look at him.

  He took a few unsteady breaths. “Jesus,” Hunter whispered, obviously feeling what she was. Overwhelmed, completely turned on, some kind of powerful connection stirred within her body and straight to her cunt. Her lips parted.

  “Feel it?” Jedda asked.

  “Please, I’m not looking for any kind of relationship right now.” She pulled her hand away and tilted her chin to the right and they all released her, except for Maximus. He leaned down and kissed her shoulder.

  “You need some time. We all don’t really know you and you don’t really know us,” Maximus said.

  “Exactly,” she stated and took a sip of vodka. She really needed to down the drink, but that wouldn’t be smart. She needed to drive home. God, did they think she would bring them home with her? Or that she would go home with them? Oh God, why does that sound like fun and totally irresponsible? She cleared her head. “So, who is the oldest?” she asked, and everyone seemed to relax a little from that intense moment.

  “I am,” Tatum said.

  “Then me,” Maximus told her. She looked at him, the beard, the tattoos, that wild untamed look of his and she smiled.

  “Then me,” Hunter told her.

  Hagan pointed to himself. “Me, and the baby is Jedda.”

  Jedda shook his head a Hagan. “You’re such an idiot.”

  “It’s what Mom calls you all the time,” Hagan said.

  “She calls him idiot, too,” Hunter added and they laughed.

  “Nice,” Jedda said and he looked away.

  “I’m the youngest in my family, too,” she told him.

  “Oh yeah?” Jedda asked and took her hand and brought it to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Brothers and sisters or what, and how many?” he asked after kissing her knuckles.

  She nibbled her bottom lip.

  “Well?” Hunter pushed.

  “Five older brothers. Big guys, like all of you. Well maybe closer to Maximus’ size.”

  “Shit, five older brothers. How was the whole dating thing with them around?” Hagan asked.

  “I actually didn’t date really. I focused on school and studying, was involved with sports, martial arts and things.”

  “That explains this perfect body and those amazing abs we caught a glimpse of,” Jedda said to her.

  “I grew up in a pretty strict household. We moved several times, so making any long term friends or even long term relationships wasn’t too feasible.”

  “Why did you move around so much?” Maximus asked her.

  She glanced up at him and he brushed his thumb along her neck. “My father is a Marine.”

  He paused caressing her neck. “Seriously?” Maximus asked.

  “Colonel “Taze” Toro Lamort,” she added, then took a sip of her drink.

  “He’s a Colonel? Holy shit,” Tatum said to her. She could tell they suddenly got all uncomfortable and she chuckled. “My brothers are pretty high ranked. Gunnery sergeants and majors.”

  “Tatum and Maximus are gunnery sergeants. That’s what they retired at. I retired as a sergeant,” Hagan told her.

  “Jedda and Hunter retired as corporals,” Hagan informed her.

  “Very honorable positions and rankings. So how long have you been retired?” she asked, and they told her as she continued to drink. They then asked her about college, about where she lived and worked before.

  “And where do you live now that you moved to Warriorville?” Jedda asked her.

  “I am actually on the outskirts of Warriorville right in Casper, the little Hamlet. I’m renting a townhouse in Golden Gate,” she said to them.

  Hunter whistled.

  “That’s pretty upscale and pricy,” Hagan said to her.

  “My boss set it up. It’s very beautiful.”

  “Never been in one of them before. Maybe we’ll get a tour?” Tatum asked and kissed her neck.

  “That’s rather presumptuous of you, Sheriff, considering we aren’t dating.”

  “We’re working on that though,” Tatum added.

  “I’m not really interested in dating anyone. Now isn’t a good time, and considering that this is a business situation, plus the concerns over the fire and how things might go down in the next week or so, it isn’t smart.”

  “What do you mean the way things might go down?” Jedda asked her.

  �
�We need to find out who sabotaged that excavator and find them. Your fathers mentioned another incident prior to this with electrical but it was caught. If you can’t figure things out and something else goes down, I don’t know what Broaden will want to do.”

  “He won’t pull the plug on the construction,” Hunter said to her.

  “I don’t know what he’ll do. He’s aware of the situation. I believe he is in contact with Pentura.”

  “We’re doing our best to figure out who was responsible. Give us some time,” Tatum said to her.

  She glanced at him. “It isn’t up to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if Broaden sends someone to help,” she said, and then she felt her cell phone vibrating in her small purse she had on her lap. She reached for it and pulled out her cell phone. She was shocked and it showed as she slid from the stool. I need to take this. Excuse me.” She put the phone to her ear. “Hello,” she said as she waked toward the hallway and to the back outside area.

  “Who is she?” Jerry asked Bucky.

  “She’s the one who works for that big contracting company that hired Lantern Construction to do the job.”

  “Are you shitting me?” Jerry replied.

  “No. A lot of the men have been talking about how hot she is, and how she drives some fancy BMW. I guess the sheriff and his asshole brothers made the move quick on her,” Bucky replied.

  “I think Mo caught sight of her the other day at the site.”

  “Shh, what the fuck man?” Bucky reprimanded Jerry as he looked around them. Their friends were pretty drunk already, and they wouldn’t pick up on anything. Bucky and Jerry were hired out by Mo and his cousin to do side work besides working for the construction company as supervisors. Well…Bucky was a supervisor. Jerry was a bit too stupid.

  “You know I’m right, and if Mo gets a look at her, he’ll be interested,” Jerry said. “He finds out the Lantern men are hitting on her and trying to get her into bed, then he’ll really be interested.”

  Bucky chuckled. Mo was a crazy fucking guy. Mo had said to lay low, but his need for revenge against that family was making him screw with them big time. Someone almost got killed. That was serious shit Bucky wanted nothing to do with. Hopefully this new potential job would keep them all busy working and out of trouble.

  That woman sure was one sexy, hot number. Figures the sheriff would spot her and his brothers, too. Women always went crazy over military guys. Fuck them. Bucky took another slug of his beer. If Mo was here and not out of town still, he definitely would have made a move and snagged that woman first. Definitely.

  “She may have slipped out the back door. I think we intimidated her,” Jedda said to his brothers when Madeline didn’t return.

  “No, she isn’t intimidated. She’s a Marine’s daughter, and has five older brothers all Marines, we should be intimidated if this gets serious,” Hagan said and chuckled, then took another sip from his beer.

  “I’m going to go check on her. A lot of guys have been checking her out and showing interest,” Tatum said as he got up off the stool.

  “Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Jedda asked.

  “I got it, don’t worry,” Tatum said and headed toward the hallway and outdoor area. Sure enough, there she stood talking on the phone with Carl and Waverly waiting for her to finish. He was instantly jealous and annoyed.

  When they spotted him, they looked a bit worried, and they should be.

  “Waverly, Carl, how is it going?” he asked them.

  “Good, and you?” Waverly asked.

  “Great. Just checking in on Madeline. Her drink is getting warm,” he said and eyed them over. He heard Madeline.

  “It’s fine and I don’t need you calling and bothering me. Yes, I’m being that blunt because everything else I said to you apparently wasn’t absorbed. Bye, Cortland.” She put the phone in her bag and then took a few deep breaths before she turned around and her eyes widened.

  “Are you okay?” Tatum asked her. She looked at him and then at Waverly and Carl.

  “We came over to say hi, maybe buy you that drink, talk about going hiking,” Carl said to her.

  “She isn’t interested,” Tatum said and they looked at him.

  “Uhm excuse me, Sheriff, but I can answer myself,” she said.

  He wondered if she was going to pick these two dicks over him and his brothers. Was she out of her mind? What the fuck kind of game was she playing?

  “I appreciate the offer, but I’m not really interested. I’m getting ready to head out. Thank you though.”

  They nodded and walked away. He immediately stepped closer, and slid his hand along her wrist, up her arm then back down to her hip, pulling it behind her . “What’s going on? Why are you leaving?”

  She looked away and exhaled, then looked back up at him. She stared into his eyes. “Honestly?”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, and I’ll do the same, and so will my brothers.”

  She looked emotional. “I really don’t think this is a good time right now to start something I never even considered.”

  “A ménage you mean?” he asked and held her wrist, still with his fingers over her ass.

  She pressed her palm against his chest.

  “Things were going well and then you got the call. Who was it?” he pushed for answers. He didn’t want her leaving or minimizing what was happening here between all of them.

  “A friend.”

  “An old lover?”

  “Never a lover.”

  “He got to you though. Made you angry and made you want to pull away from us.”

  “No, it’s just a reminder about being careful and making the right decisions.”

  “That’s bullshit. You like us and we like you. Let’s see where this goes.”

  “Tatum, you’re so damn bossy.”

  He pulled her snugger against him, making her gasp. He moved her deeper into the darkness at the side of the porch area where there was more privacy. “You like that I’m bossy, commanding, a Marine, and how it feels to be held in my arms.”

  “There you go being all cocky again,” she countered, and he couldn’t resist. He had to know. Had to taste her.

  Tatum pressed his lips to hers. She tightened only a moment and then she was kissing him right back. He absorbed it all and knew this was special. All the different women he’d kissed over the years and none of them made him feel this instantly possessive and protective. He almost felt barbaric, the way his mind and his body silently claimed possession of her. He deepened the kiss, squeezed her ass, felt how toned and sexy it was, how his palm expanded and could practically encase her whole ass. It added to his excitement and arousal. She moaned into his mouth and he moaned into hers. He maneuvered his palm from her ass to her waist and then right to her breast. He was able to partially cup it, but only partially because she was so well endowed. She was so much smaller than him, didn’t have an ounce of fat on her, so easily he could wrap her up with one arm. That protective instinct intensified, but then he felt her putting on the brakes. He eased his hand from her full breast and trailed his mouth from her lips to her neck.