His hand resting on the gun on his hip as if it were as casual as breathing, André strode in followed by Ronan and three more huge men all wearing the same black polo shirts and cargo pants.
My heart stopped.
Feeding his belt through the loops, Vance put on a big, fake smile. “Gentlemen, thank you for coming.”
Six dominating, overmuscled, armed men looked from me to Vance, and all at once, the air left the suite and thick tension rushed in.
Green and amber eyes, darkened to the fury of a perfect storm, met mine, and icy-cold fear whipped across my skin. Like the receding tide before a tsunami, the love of my life inhaled.
“Madre de Dios,” André muttered a split second before Ronan moved.
Except Ronan didn’t just move.
He exploded.
One second he was in front of me, the next his fist was slamming into his brother’s face with the sickening crunch of breaking cartilage.
I screamed, and two of the newcomers grabbed Ronan while Adam and André simply watched.
Ronan, seething mad but not fighting the two men holding him, glared at his brother.
Vance swiped the back of his hand across his bloodied face and smiled. “You get it all out? You good now?”
Nostrils flaring, Ronan said nothing.
One of the men holding Ronan’s arm glanced at me and smiled a smile that was worthy of a magazine cover. Holding out his free hand as if introductions under the circumstances were completely normal, he didn’t let go of Ronan with his other. “I’m Tyler, Miss Narine. Nice to meet you.”
A bearded man holding Ronan’s other arm scowled at Tyler.
As if sensing the other man’s eyes on him, Tyler nodded at the bearded man. “That’s Harm.” He tipped his chin at the dark-haired man standing behind them with his fingers tapping out a pattern on his leg. “And that’s Ty. We’ll be helping out with security this week while you’re here.”
André glanced at Adam. “Trefor, brief my men.” Then he looked from Ronan to me. “Conlon, Miss Narine, hallway.” He walked out the door.
Still glaring at his brother, Ronan shook off Tyler and Harm and followed André without looking at me.
I glanced at Vance.
He smiled reassuringly, even though his eye was already blackening and his nose, dripping blood, looked crooked. “It’s all right, love. I’m fine.” He nodded after André and Ronan. “Go.”
Not bothering to put on my shoes, I walked to the door where Ronan was standing, holding it open. Looking past me, he threw his brother a lethal glare.
Mentally steeling myself to come closer to him than I had in ten years, I held my breath and slipped past him. But once I was in the hall and inhaled, it was as if life decided to punish me.
Dry cedar and ocean breezes mixed with the heat of his fury as he stepped out of the suite and stood by my side.
The door clicked shut, and André said something to Ronan in Spanish.
“No,” he clipped in response, radiating tension but remaining perfectly still.
André looked at me. “Do you need medical care?”
I couldn’t help it, my eyes widened. “I’m fine.”
It was as if my two words broke the invisible hold Ronan had keeping him together, and he snapped. Turning on me, he met my eyes and practically levitated with anger. “You’re bruised everywhere.”
“It’s not what you think,” I foolishly blurted.
Inhaling sharply, Ronan clenched his jaw and fisted his hands.
André put a hand on Ronan’s shoulder but kept his gaze on me. “Miss Narine, do not mistake my calm demeanor right now for condonation. You don’t know me, but I can assure you that there are things I will not tolerate. Before I allow Ronan to go back and finish what he started, I am asking you, point-blank, if you need to be removed from a domestic situation.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but André held up his hand.
“Before you answer that, know that whatever services Adam Trefor and AES were providing you, I can accommodate and will provide while you are stateside. I will also personally guarantee your safety and make arrangements for you once you’re back in London if needed.” He paused, and the look in his eyes turned lethal. “But I will not stand by while a man puts his hands on you in anger. Understood?”
Three months ago, I would have withered under André Luna’s dominating presence.
Three months ago, I was a different person.
But Vance had changed me. He’d given me something I’d desperately needed. And the new me wasn’t withering.