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I mmy took a bite of Twizzler as she answered the knock on the door.

She didn’t know where everyone else was. It was odd for her to be the one to answer the door.

Opening it, she gaped up at the three men standing there.

Wowsers.

They were scary looking. Covered in tattoos. Wild. Savage. Tough. Mean.

Yeah, she was running out of adjectives to describe them and she suddenly became aware that she was just standing there, gaping at them.

She hastily swallowed her mouthful. “I . . . I . . . who’re you?”

The biggest one of the three, who actually seemed to have the least amount of tattoos, stepped forward.

“Last time you do that.”

Um. Huh?

“Last time I do what?” she asked in a high-pitched voice.

The other two stepped in and he nodded his head. They started moving through the house.

What were they doing? Where were they going?

“Open the door without knowing who is on the other side.” He shut the door behind him, then leaned against it, studying her.

Yeah.

She figured that probably would be the last time she did that.

“Wow, you’re a big guy, huh?” she said.

God, Immy! I can’t believe you just said that.

“You remember that your friend has a stalker?” he demanded.

“Are you her stalker? There’re three of you!”

“I look like a stalker?”

Immy raised her hands in the air, starting to get irritated. “I don’t know! How am I supposed to know what a stalker looks like? I’ve never met one.”

“Well, most don’t knock on the front door.”

Good point.

“A sneaky one might,” she grumbled.

His lips actually twitched. “So I look like a sneaky stalker?”

“Well, kind of. Now that you mention it.”

“I never mentioned it, Red. You did.”

She gasped. “Red? That is such an unoriginal nickname. Do better.”

“All right, Freckles.”

“Freckles!” she cried.

“Pippi?”

She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot. “Pippi? Really?”

His lips twitched again. “Hmm, how about Cherry? I like Cherry.”

Darn it.

She couldn’t think of a reason to complain about Cherry. Because it was kind of cute.

Urgh.

But he was still annoying. And who was he?

“Who are you? What’s going on here?”

She jumped and turned to see Sampson walking toward them. “Immy, come here.”

The guy leaning against the door didn’t look concerned at all as Sampson scowled at him.

Sampson was a huge guy. Built and tall. But this guy could give him a run for his money. He was maybe an inch shorter, however he looked wider.

Yep. She did not want to see the two of them fighting.

Immy took several steps back, then turned and rushed over to Sampson. She knew the rules. If there was any perceived danger, she was supposed to do exactly as they said.

Sampson swept her behind his back and stepped toward the other man.

“Who are you? What do you want? And how the fuck did you get in here?” Sampson demanded.

She winced and decided not to point out that he owed the swear jar a dollar.

“Uh, Sampson?” she said, twisting her hand in the back of his T-shirt for reassurance.

“Yeah?”

“There’s two more of them somewhere.”

“What the hell?” He turned to look at her, then around as though he suddenly expected the other two men to appear.

Shoot. Why had she opened the door? She was such an idiot sometimes.

“Tobias. Here as protection. And she let us in.”

Tobias? Protection?

What protection? Had Jenner hired someone?

No. Wait.

Shit.

These guys were part of Alejandro’s crew. She didn’t know if he called them his crew, but in Immy’s mind a crew sounded cool.

She wouldn’t mind a crew. They’d walk behind her and break out in song and dance when she needed them to create a distraction. Or cheer her on. Yeah, a group of cheerleaders would be cool.

“Immy?” Sampson said, sounding exasperated.

“Yeah? What?” She blinked, surprised to see that Sampson was now facing her, his hands on his hips as he glared down at her. “What did I do?”

She peered around him to see that the other guy was staring at her, amusement in his face.

Huh.

That was weird.

“What did you do? You let these guys in without checking who was knocking on the door.”

“Um. Yeah. Oops?” she said.

Sampson’s frown deepened.

Uh-oh.

Looked like she could be in real trouble here.

“I’m so sorry, Sampson. I won’t do it again. Did I really mess up?” she asked, nearly in tears.

Sampson sighed and shook his head before drawing her against him. “Luckily, no.”

She sighed in relief, leaning into him. She hated the idea of messing up. Sampson’s bark was worse than his bite, but Immy didn’t do well when she thought she had made a mistake or that someone was upset with her.

“You didn’t mess up. This time. But next time there’s someone at the door, call out for one of us, okay?”

She nodded. “I will. I’ve got it. So, these are the guys Alejandro sent?”

“Yep.” Sampson took a step back and shook his head at her. “Immy, did you not hear any of our conversation?”

“I want to say that I did, but I would be lying.” She sent Sampson a hopeful smile.

He sighed.

“Honesty is good,” Tobias said, stepping forward to stand next to Sampson.

As she’d thought, he was a tiny bit shorter and slightly wider. But they would be a near match for each other.

“This is Tobias,” Sampson told her. “He . . . works for Alejandro.”

Immy’s eyes widened as Sampson hesitated over the word ‘works.’ Did he want to insult the other man?

“Hi, I’m Immy.” She held out her hand.

“I guessed.” He took her hand in his, but instead of shaking it, he just held on. Wow. His hand was warm and slightly rough. She bet his girlfriend really liked holding his hand. She’d feel so . . . safe.

“Sampson! Immy!” Jenner yelled out from upstairs before rushing down them. Immy turned, her hand sliding free of Tobias’s.

Cupcakes.

Why did she like his touch so much?

“What is it?” Sampson barked, grabbing hold of her and pushing her behind him.

“There’re strange men in the yard. Call the cops. Where the fuck is Immy? Wait . . . who’re you?”

Immy peeked around Sampson’s arm to see Jenner gaping at Tobias.

“Tobias. Protection. Those are my men. Don’t call the cops.”

She was beginning to see that Tobias was a man of few words.

That was sexy.

Urgh, Immy. What’s wrong with you?

“Protection? Your men?” Jenner repeated.

“Alejandro sent them,” Sampson explained.

“Uh, right. You know, I’m happy to hire security,” Jenner told Tobias.

Tobias just raised an eyebrow. “Alejandro sent us.”

That was all he said. But she understood. Generally, what Alejandro wanted, he got.

“Okay. Right,” Jenner said.

Poor Jenner. Those guys with Tobias had looked rather scary and out-of-place for the neighborhood. Jenner’s neighbors were kind of snobs. And a bit mean.

“Immy, what are you doing?” Jenner asked her.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing. Sampson keeps shoving me behind him.”

She slid out from behind him to smile at Tobias. “So, welcome to our house. Our place is your place. Only, you guys are staying in the guest house. So our guest house is your house.”

“Thanks.” Tobias smiled at her as though she’d done something cute.

“You smile a lot more than I thought a gangster would,” she told him.

Immediately, Jenner grabbed her and pulled her against him. He placed one hand over her mouth and his arm went around her waist.

“Immy didn’t mean any harm,” Jenner said quickly.

Oh no.

Had she said the wrong thing? Her family was used to her mouth, but her father had constantly berated her for speaking out of turn.

Should have just shut up, Immy.

“Don’t understand why you’re apologizing for her,” Tobias said with a strange look at them both.

Jenner dropped his hand from her mouth as she tugged at it. “I’m sorry! Should I not have said that you smile a lot?” She didn’t get why that was so bad.

“It was more about the gangster part, Immy,” Jenner told her quietly.

“Ohh. Is that the wrong word? Would you prefer that I call you part of Alejandro’s crew?” she asked.

There. His lips twitched again. She had a feeling she was going to like this guy.

“How about Tobias?” he suggested.

“All right. Tobias is a nice name.”

He gave her a nod.

Wow. He was such a hot, alpha guy.

Stop it, Immy .

She shouldn’t find Tobias attractive when she was in love with Jenner. Generally, Jenner outshone everyone around him. She could never see anyone else when he was around.

Tobias didn’t have Jenner’s masculine beauty. He was far rougher. He would turn heads for different reasons. Possibly a little bit of fear since he was intimidating.

She leaned back into Jenner.

“Maeve will be home soon,” Sampson said. “There are a few things we need to discuss, if you want to come with me.”

Tobias just nodded and followed after him. Jenner turned her around to face him after they’d left.

“Immy, are you all right?” He ran his hands over her. As though searching for an injury. Which she didn’t understand.

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“That guy didn’t look safe.”

“You can’t judge him by the way he looks, Jenner,” she scolded. “I thought he seemed nice.”

“Nice? Baby, he’s dangerous. He works for Alejandro.”

“So that makes him safe to be around, right?”

“I don’t know. Just be careful around these guys. We don’t know them. All we know is that they work for a criminal. All right?”

“Yeah. All right.”

“I just don’t want anything to happen to my girl.” He drew her close and she sunk into him.

God, she wished she was his girl.