Page 4

The person closest to me didnotdrop the gun, and it was just as well. Because something about my perilous predicament finally clicked in my head and allowed my body to function enough to exit its freeze state.

Finally…finally, my eyes popped open and I stared directly at the underside of the weapon and the hand gripping the butt of it.

“Shit, she’s awake!” one of the friendlier voices announced.

Squinting, I flexed my jaw and sat up slowly. My gaze darted to the person closest to me and I winced when we made eye contact.

The man holding the gun studied me with a tight expression, his eyes cold as I imagined, but at least he dropped the weapon to his side.

He didn’t speak, he just stared at me until I looked away. But my reflexes were still kinda shit, so I got a good eyeful of him. He was…mesmerizing. Tall and solid with skin dark as night.Undeniably beautiful, but he was the exact kind of man I never wanted to piss off.

Yet, here I was…

“I can explain,” I croaked in a voice that didn’t sound like my own. “I’m not a fugitive.”

Rubbing a hand over my neck, I cleared my throat and tried again.

“I’m sorr?—”

“Get her something to drink, Sin.”

It was then that I finally let my gaze travel to the other side of the living room and land on two men. I caught a blur of the one walking toward the kitchen. The other one was standing near the staircase, calm and collected with his arms crossed over his expansive chest.

He was just as tall as the man beside me, but his siena skin was covered in ink, inviting me to drag my eyes over the colorful tattoos. My eyes widened when he readjusted his arms and his biceps bulged.

Oh.

“Are you in danger, Goldyn?” He asked me, his voice calm to match his demeanor.

“H-how do you know my name?”

He reached in his pocket, his movements unhurried, and pulled out my sunflower card carrier.

“We found this in your bag while we were trying to wake you up.”

I looked down, mortified that my bag was no longer slung across my torso and that I hadn’t even noticed until now. “Oh.”

“We turned off your alarm too,” the third man announced, reappearing with a large mason jar full of water.

He handed it over to me and I took a grateful gulp. It felt as if someone had crawled inside my throat and rubbed sandpaper everywhere.

“You wereknocked out.Must have needed the rest.”

Why was he being so nice to me?

He dropped to his haunches in front of me and sent me a dimpled smile. “I’m Sincere.”

Sincere looked me up and down and heat flamed my skin under his scrutiny. I know he didn’t mean it to be unsettling, but his attention—hell, all of their attention—made me feel like a museum exhibit.

The man holding the gun—Rome, if I remembered correctly—finally tucked it in his waist and cocked his head to look at me with…curiosity?

I didn’t know if that was better than the iciness from earlier, so I took another gulp of water to help me process it.

Jutting a hand over his shoulder, Sincere said, “This is Rome. Sorry about the gun. He’s overprotective.” Then he turned and smiled at the man still hovering near the staircase, like he was afraid to overwhelm me by joining the other men huddled around me. But there was unmistakable gentleness in his gaze that instantly put me at ease. “And that’s my husband, Lorenzo.”

“Oh. Nice to meet you?” I posed it as a question, because while I was charmed by their hospitality, I couldn’t say I expected them to hold the same sentiment.

“Likewise,” Sincere smiled. “What are you doing in our house?”