Monroe, Marla - The Edge of Night [The Protectors 3](Siren Publishing Classic) (11 page)

Tyler handed her a helmet and made sure she had it secure before he climbed onto the bike. He waited as she climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“You okay back there?”

“Yeah, just fine.”

“We’ll be there before you know it,” he told her as he started the bike.

“I’m not going to be shared, Tyler,” she told him as she leaned in.

“I know.”

He gunned the motor and pulled out of the parking lot. Amanda looked back over her shoulder and saw Morgan right behind them. She smiled and turned back around. It would be fine. He wasn’t going to leave her with Tyler.

Chapter Nine

Morgan had to fight to keep from jerking her back from Tyler when she wrapped her arms around his waist. She was only doing what he’d told her to do. Still, he didn’t like it. He didn’t know why he even had a right to care, but he didn’t want any other man’s hands on her. That included his best friend, Tyler. He hadn’t minded when Tyler danced with his wife before or hugged her. They’d never shared her, but it hadn’t bothered him for Tyler to touch her. Why did it bother him for Tyler to touch Amanda, who wasn’t his wife and was carrying some other man’s kid?

He climbed onto his bike and made sure he was ready when Tyler pulled out. He adjusted Amanda’s backpack on his back and wondered how she was managing to ride with it pulling on her like it did. He needed to see about transferring some of her stuff to his saddlebags. She didn’t need so much pressure on her back.

Tyler pulled into one of the better hotel chains and stopped outside one of the rooms. Morgan pulled up next to him and cut the engine before climbing off the bike. He immediately helped Amanda climb from behind Tyler. The other man got off the bike and pulled out a key card. He opened the door, and the three of them walked into the room with Tyler leading the way. The room had two queen-size beds, a couple of club chairs, a mini-fridge, microwave, and coffeemaker.

“It’s clean and quiet. I picked the back side for that reason. As far as I can tell, we don’t have anyone on either side of us for at least three units either side,” Tyler told them.

He pulled off his jacket and tossed it onto one of the chairs. He toed off his boots, then grabbed a beer out of the fridge.

“So what’s the story?” he asked no one in particular.

“Um, which bed is yours?” Amanda asked Tyler.

“The one by the outside door,” he told her.

“You need to rest?” Morgan asked, walking over to where she stood next to the other bed.

“Yeah. I have a little bit of a headache. I think a nap would do me good.”

“Come on, then. Let’s get you comfortable.” He sat her on the foot of the bed and pulled off her boots.

When he unbuttoned her jeans, she balked. “What are you doing?”

“You’ll rest better without all these clothes on,” Morgan insisted.

“But he’s here?” she whispered.

“He’s going to see you naked before it’s over with anyway, Amanda. We’re staying together.” He looked her in the eyes. “He isn’t going to touch you. I promise. Okay?”

Amanda swallowed around a lump in her throat, but nodded her head. She was obviously uncomfortable with the idea, but Morgan wouldn’t let another man touch her if he could help it. Somewhere along the way he’d pledged to keep her safe, and he would do just that.

She didn’t fight him when he removed all her clothes except her panties and pulled back the covers for her to climb into the bed. He covered her back up and kissed the top of her head.

“Get some rest, baby.”

She was asleep almost before he finished tucking the covers around her. The riding was wearing her out. Maybe they didn’t need to ride with Rock’s gang. Maybe they needed to ride just the three of them. He’d talk it over with Tyler and see what he thought.

* * * *

For the next hour, they tossed ideas back and forth trying to come up with the best plan to keep Amanda safe and get Guy, her ex, off her back.

“I still think we need to find out if he’s still after her or not. Let him know where she is. Then move and see if he shows up.”

“She saw his goons outside the truck stop where we split up.”

“You’re really stuck on her, aren’t you?” Tyler asked.

“She’s important to me, and I made a promise that I would keep her safe.”

“I think it’s more than that. I think you’ve fallen for her,” Tyler insisted.

“Bullshit,” Morgan growled and stood up to grab another beer from the fridge.

“Whatever.” Tyler stood up and walked over to where Amanda lay sleeping. He stretched out on the bed and laced his fingers behind his head.

Morgan saw red and was just about to grab the other man and tear him off the bed when it hit him. Tyler was playing him, showing him that he was interested in her in more than just a passing way. He growled and planted his hands on his hips, staring down at his best friend.

“Okay, you’ve made your point. Now get up.”

“You going to let me watch?” he asked.

“That depends on her. I’m not making her do anything she doesn’t want to do.”

“Fair enough.” Tyler rolled out of the bed and climbed onto the other one to stretch out. “Think I’ll take a quick nap myself.”

Morgan pulled off his boots, as well as the rest of his clothes except his boxers, and climbed under the covers to pull Amanda up against him. She hummed in appreciation and cuddled against him without waking up. Would she have done that if it had been Tyler? She hadn’t opened her eyes. She couldn’t possibly know who it was, could she? Morgan thrust it all to the back of his mind and concentrated on her smell and the touch of her skin against his body. It wasn’t long before he was snoring along with Tyler.

* * * *

Amanda woke up to the sounds of snoring around her. She froze. Then she remembered that she was with Morgan and they were in Tyler’s room at the motel. She relaxed and checked her body for any signs of nausea. So far, she didn’t feel sick. That was good. She carefully extracted her body from Morgan’s arms and legs and rolled over to the edge of the bed. She needed the bathroom.

She stood up and quietly picked her way across the room to the bathroom and closed and locked the door behind her. She trusted Morgan, but she didn’t know Tyler. A quick glance at her watch told her it was nearly eight at night. She’d slept a good two hours. She felt much better than she had before.

She washed and dried her hands before opening the door again. She hadn’t quite made it back to the bed when Tyler propped up on his elbow and stared at her. She quickly covered her breasts and froze standing in the middle of the room.

“I’m not going to bother you, Amanda,” he whispered. “I’d never hurt a woman, and I’d never cheat on a friend.”

“I’m not used to strange men seeing me naked.” She bit her lower lip and eased closer to the bed where Morgan lay sleeping, seemingly oblivious to what was going on.

“I can understand that. You’ve got a rocking body, though.” He smiled and lay back down, turning his back to her.

Amanda sighed and briefly closed her eyes before climbing back into bed with Morgan.

“You okay?”

She jumped. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I was until you got up.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and held it there.

“Then you heard?” she asked.

“Yeah. I would have stopped him if he had bothered you. But, Amanda, he won’t. He’s a good man. If anything happened to me, you could trust him to take care of you.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you, though, right?”

“Right.” He stretched and sat up. “Better get up and get something to eat. We did some talking after you fell asleep and need to make some decisions.”

“Okay. I could probably eat,” she said with a grin.

Morgan got up and dressed, then handed her clothes to her to put on. Tyler remained turned away as if sleeping, but she was sure he was aware of everything going on around him. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the man. He was an obvious flirt, but didn’t threaten her. She might actually like him despite his forwardness.

Once she was fully dressed, Tyler got up and pulled on his boots. How he knew she was through dressing, she didn’t have a clue, but he hadn’t wasted time once her shirt was on.

“There’s a steak house down the street that has good T-bones,” he suggested.

“Sounds good to me. Amanda?” Morgan asked.

“Do they have fish?” she asked.

“Yep, fish, too.” Tyler winked at her.

She blushed. She wasn’t used to men flirting with her. Guy had never let her around other men when they were dating. Of course now she knew why. She wasn’t who his parents had picked out for him to marry.

They locked up the room, and this time Amanda rode with Morgan. She was far more comfortable holding on to him than Tyler. Besides, they felt different. Tyler was harder around his middle than Morgan, but Morgan’s chest appeared broader. She caught herself then comparing the two men and felt sick inside. She wasn’t dating either of them. She really couldn’t say that about Morgan since they had had sex, twice now.

Guilt ate her up inside. She wasn’t a slut, yet she was comparing two different men, one she’d had sex with, all the time carrying another man’s baby. She leaned her face against Morgan’s back. He placed a hand on hers for a brief few seconds before returning it back to guiding the big bike.

The steak house proved to be a huge place where it looked as if everyone and their grandma ate on Friday nights. Surely they would have to wait an hour or so before they would be able to get a table. She was wrong, though. In less than ten minutes, they were seated at a table near the center of the room. Both men waited while she settled at the table, then sat on either side of her.

The waitress, though harried, seemed competent enough. She brought their drinks almost immediately and was back in seconds to take their orders. The men both ordered steak, and Amanda ordered fried catfish. She loved catfish, but also didn’t think she could handle a steak right now.

The food turned out to be delicious, and both men got desserts and insisted on sharing with her. She had a little of Morgan’s chocolate pie and a taste of Tyler’s lemon meringue. Both were wonderful, but she was stuffed and couldn’t possibly have eaten one on her own. The men talked about mutual friends. Someone by the name of Dodge who had lost part of his leg and lived in Oklahoma seemed to be of major concern to them.

“Were you headed there when you picked me up?” she asked Morgan.

“Yeah.”

“I feel badly that you put that off. Maybe you should just leave me here. I’ll be fine now that I’m nowhere near Memphis,” she began.

Morgan cut her off. “No. Dodge is fine. We’ll be seeing him soon anyway. I’m not leaving you alone to face Guy. We’re going to figure this out and put a stop to his harassment,” Morgan insisted.

“I agree with Morgan,” Tyler added. “You don’t need someone dogging your steps now, or after you have the baby.”

Tears came to her eyes. She hated the fact that the least little thing could make her cry. Morgan noticed and shook his head.

“Hormones,” he mouthed to Tyler as if she couldn’t see what he was doing.

“Let’s get back to the room and decide what we are going to do,” Tyler suggested.

They settled up the bill and left the tip on the table, then led her back outside, where she waited while they mounted the bikes before climbing on behind Morgan. The trip back to the motel took longer since they stopped off at a convenience store to load up on beer for them and milk and crackers for her. She was touched at Morgan’s thoughtfulness, but figured he really didn’t want to hear her throwing up again in the morning. God, she hoped she didn’t do that again.