Bare It All

“I don’t know about that.” Reese didn’t like having Pepper at his back. In the time he’d known her, he’d found her to be very unpredictable—as just evidenced by the way she’d set Logan up like a pampered sheik, then punched him in the shoulder. Her life had been unconventional, and her reactions were often the same.

She rounded on Reese. “Alice isn’t his type.”

Using his uninjured arm, Logan caught her elbow and pulled her back around and down beside him.

Appreciating that, Reese relaxed again. “You’re that sure you know his type?”

“Bet on it.” She thought about it a second. “I’m guessing he’s worried about her and wants to protect her. Yesterday was...well, it wasn’t something most people would take in stride. But she did.”

“Yeah.” Reese watched for Alice’s return. “That’s what Rowdy said.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Then that’s what it is. My brother wouldn’t lie about it.”

Reese held up both hands. “Stand down, Pepper. I wasn’t maligning your brother.” Although in the recent past, he’d maligned both siblings more than enough to justify her current abrasive attitude.

“No, he was just exhibiting some possessiveness.” Logan grinned. “Isn’t that right, Reese?”

Reese shrugged, refusing to be baited into confessions, and instead concentrated on Pepper. “I thought you and I had come to a friendly cease-fire.”

“Poor Reese. Am I firing at you?”

“No, but you’re not currently armed either.” Thank God. “So what do you say?”

“You know you can blame all past transgressions on him being a cop.” Logan squeezed her shoulder. “A good cop is always suspicious of everyone.”

“Maybe,” Pepper conceded. Again leaving her seat, she approached Reese. “It’s mostly because you’re Logan’s friend that you can consider yourself on probationary forgiveness. But not if you start insulting my brother.”

“Glad to hear it—because I like you and Rowdy both.” He held up a hand to stall her from getting any closer. “It’s true. And I especially like that you make Logan happy.”

Logan, who looked anything but happy in that moment, again snagged Pepper to his side.

“But fondness aside, if Alice needs protection, I’ll protect her.”

“Who said anything about protection?” Logan shifted, struggled to hide a flinch from Pepper, and settled into his seat again. “Worrying about and protecting a woman are two different things.”

“But in Pepper’s case, it required both.”

After a long look, Pepper snorted. “Men are all the same.”

“Obviously not,” Reese denied, “but if you want to keep that narrow view, I won’t debate it with you.”

Logan groaned.

“So much for our truce.” Pepper pushed once more to her feet. “I think I’ll go check on Alice.”

Damn it. Why was it he couldn’t be around Pepper without sniping? Reese got to his feet, too. He even dared to catch Pepper’s arm. “I like matching wits with you, Pepper, I really do.”

“Is that what you were doing?”

“But if you’re going to get pissed every time, it takes the fun out of it.”

“Far as apologies go, that was totally lame.”

“Maybe because I wasn’t—”

She patted his face—a little more firmly than necessary. “Don’t sweat it. I’ll let you off the hook this time, but only because we’re all still out of sorts today.”

“I’m not out of sorts,” Logan denied.

“Me either,” Reese said.

Pepper rolled her eyes and said again, with more feeling, “Men!”

Reese waited until she’d left the room before he dropped into his seat tiredly. “Jesus, but she’s right, Logan.” He rubbed his face. “I’m on the ragged edge, here. Not enough sleep, a trashed apartment and...” He hesitated, but he trusted Logan enough that he had to bring him in. “Alice told me she was once kidnapped.”

Logan sat forward, his injury forgotten. “When? Who?”

He shook his head. “She doesn’t want to share the details, but she says she wasn’t raped.”

Silence filled the room for a moment until Logan asked quietly, “You believe her?”

“I don’t know. I hope that’s true. But whatever happened, it changed her life.” He met Logan’s concerned gaze. “One way or another, I need to find out everything.”

Logan agreed. “She’s still afraid.”

Reese knew Logan was harking back to the moment Alice had walked into his apartment with the gun in her hand. Sometimes it’s better when they’re dead. Never would he forget how she’d said that, the expression on her face at that moment. Reese closed his eyes, sick with some anomalous need. “I don’t have much to go on, but I think it’s possible the threat is still around.”

“That’s why Rowdy visited her?”

No astute man would miss the aura of fear surrounding Alice like a fragile veil. “He suspected things, same as I did.” Reese stared toward the hall. What was keeping Alice?

“She’s safe with Rowdy, you know that, right?” Logan fidgeted, trying to get comfortable. “He’s something of a lost soul, but he’s not abusive, especially not to women.”

“A lost soul?” What a lot of melodrama—but in Rowdy’s case, apt. “He’s been so used to looming over his sister, he probably needs a new target now just to keep himself occupied.” He glanced at Logan. “Since you’ve usurped his position and all.”

“He says he understands, and I know he’s happy for Pepper.” Logan eased back again with a sigh. “Once we’re married we can all get settled into being related.”

Reese moved away to look down the hall, but the bathroom door remained closed. Was Pepper in there with Alice now? What the hell were they talking about for so long? “At first I didn’t like Rowdy sniffing around, but as you said, that was based off jealousy.”

Logan stared at him in disbelief. “You admit it?”

“It is what it is.” And he felt very possessive where Alice was concerned. “And since I can’t always be there with her, it’s nice to know Rowdy can keep an eye out, too.” He’d spent the past few years doing just that for his sister. He and Pepper were as close as siblings could be.

They were steadfast people, unique but with a good moral compass. “She’s been getting by on her own just fine, but now she won’t have to.” Whether or not Alice would appreciate the intrusion, Reese didn’t know—and that was a good reason not to tell her just yet.

“God knows I’ll have plenty of downtime, so I’ll need a way to keep from going nuts.” Logan cautiously flexed his injured arm. “Tell me how I can help.”

* * *