HIDDEN OBSESSION

POSSEESSIVE PORTERS

BOOK 3

MAYRA STATHAM

Copyright © 2026 by Mayra Statham

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Cover Design: Aila Glass Designs

Cover Image: Deposit Photos

Editing: Julia Goda of Diamond in the Rough Editing

BLURB

I’m a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The nice guy next door with a charming smile that makes you trust him all too easily. Only my foster brothers know what lies underneath—a man with a severe need for control and order. Control the sweet new dancer at my brother’s club snaps in half with nothing more than a shy smile.

Maryanne is kindness laced with an innocence I want to devour. She unearths a side of myself I didn’t know existed. Possessive and obsessed over a woman who is way too young and sweet for a man my age, I should keep my hands to myself.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t keep an eye on her in other ways. Sneaking in while she sleeps, surrounding myself with her things should have been enough. But it’s killing me slowly, making the thing inside of me she brought to life go feral.

My sweet girl doesn’t know the lengths daddy would go for her. I’m tired of watching from the shadows. It’s time to claim what’s mine, consequences be damned. She can hide, but ready or not, here I come.

Dear Reader,

Ready for the Porters? They might not be blood related, but these men became brothers through unlucky circumstances life threw their way, and they’ve done anything to not just survive but better their circumstances.

When they find the one, these brothers have more in common than they know—they’re obsessed. Stalking is just the tip of the iceberg.

This is Hollis Porter’s story.

PLAYLIST

“Wash you off” by Sonya

“If I Say Please” by Melania Maye

“Only Lovers Know” by elle.

“Made For Me” by Penn

“Take Your Time” by Synthia Syn

PROLOGUE

HOLLIS PORTER

This fucking tin can excuse of a house was scalding hot.

The trailers in the park were placed so fucking close together, down as many rows as could fit in the lot, I doubted a goddamn breeze could push between the old mobile metal homes.

Had I been anywhere else, in anyone else’s home, I would have left. I wouldn’t have wasted a second of my time that brought back old, buried memories. Hell, the place was worse than any I had experienced before I went into the system.

But had it been anywhere else, I wouldn’t enjoy every damn breath I took or the way the sweetened heated air filled more than my lungs. The soft vanilla notes in the warm air wormed their way deep under my skin, clawing into me in an immeasurable way I hadn’t known could exist.

As stifling hot as the damn place was and as damn old, almost falling apart, it was tidy. It was clean and smelled way too damn good. Books sat in the corner of the small kitchen table, not simply stacked but placed with girly decorative pillows on the bench that hinted someone enjoyed sitting there. But then again, there was also a stack of children’s books at the polar opposite end of the trailer past the front door. Those books were surrounded by two bean bags, plush animals, and baby dolls.

The space was… sweet.

Welcoming and comfortable.

Or it would be for people of regular proportions and not men my size. An adequate space for a small family. Not that I had a whole lot of experience with familial entanglements or emotional connections like normal people did. But then again, the way I was brought up was anything but normal.

Given up at three days old, surrendered at a fire station, I’d bounced around from foster home to foster home that looked much like the very place I sat in. Nothing terrible, just raised by a lot of people who had all the best intentions but were indifferent to me or who worked well at keeping me at an arm’s length not to get too emotionally involved, so when I was moved, they wouldn’t get hurt. Or maybe I was just a check for them. Either way, I’d never known little more than indifference.

As an adult, I could understand that train of thought, but as a child, it had been a bitter pill to swallow and caused the anger inside of me to fester, making me feel unlovable. Unworthy. Those feelings simply grew and ate away at me. Thankfully, by the time I turned thirteen, despite being an angry little shit, I’d found my way to the Porters’ home.

The Porters had been kind and patient. With time, not only had I trusted them, but the guys I now called brothers had, too. Five of us in total had somehow been adopted by them mere days of me turning eighteen.

The five of us.

The Porter boys my foster mom, Mom, used to call us happily.

But maybe because I hadn’t had anyone to care about me or for me in my formative early years, I’d always felt a bit aloof to everyone. Not completely connected. Pretty emotionally detached.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that I didn’t love my brothers. Blood or not, I’d take a bullet for each one them, do anything to protect them. But past them and my foster parents, who were now gone… no one had ever got to me.

Not a girlfriend in high school or girls I hooked up with in college. No one.

Except her.

Maryanne and those innocent, way-too-young-for-me blue eyes got through whatever protective shields I’d built as a kid who hadn’t been hurt or pushed around but had been raised with nothing but indifference. Who had once seriously believed I didn’t have the right equipment in me to know what romantic love was or could be. But when those walls had crumbled, the man I’d been disappeared, and left behind was something dark. Unhinged and fucking depraved.

My legs widened and my knees began to bounce. My sweaty palms rubbed against the smooth material of my dress slacks. My head dipped back, and I shut my eyes.

I hated it here.

Hated knowing Maryanne was living in this piece-of-shit place.

Slowly, I pushed myself up to my feet and wiped the sweat off my brow. Walk out of here, the shell of the simple, easy man I used to be whispered, straining for logic and reason. Walk out of here and forget her. Tell Jonas to cancel all the goddamn memberships you insisted on giving his dancers. Common sense was impossible, though.

Completely gone and way too late.

Instead of turning right, opening the old rickety front door, and walking out of there and never returning because breaking and entering wasn’t something I wanted to get arrested for, I stayed.

I wasn’t that simple, sane man anymore. That man who had once been patient and sensible, who strived to move up a small-town political ladder to make the Porter name mean something in the community his parents had given so much to, no longer existed. He was gone, and left behind was nothing but a fucking psycho.

I made a left.

The tips of my fingers traced the small, old but clean countertop of her small kitchenette. I stopped at the end of the trailer, facing the two doors that led to the two small bedrooms. I opened the door furthest into the trailer, and my heart stilled. Stepping inside, leaving the door open behind me, I took in the space.

A small day bed was pushed against the window. The bed was nice and neat. A soft-looking cotton patch-worked quilt with small floral prints of all different pastel shades covered the bed, and perfectly stacked right on top were two pillows with matching pillowcases.

A tiny, old-as-hell TV was propped up on a small beat-up wooden nightstand, the kind that had a VCR attached to it. The thing had to be at least thirty years old. There was no way it could still be working, could it? Another small pile of books sat on the small ledge of the windowsill, the spines worn, obviously well-loved, as if they were some of her favorites. A quick alarm chirped on my phone, and my teeth ground with annoyance.

I’d wasted too much time sitting like a fucking bump on a log in her living room. I swallowed and snoozed it to get five more minutes. Keeping my phone in my hand, I snapped a picture of the books to buy copies of my own to know what she liked to read. I moved to her dresser, and my eyes feverishly scanned the few things on top. A perfume. A bottle of lotion. Lipstick. I snapped a picture and slipped my cell into my back pocket.

I turned, and that’s when I saw it.

The old wicker hamper stood where I’d seen it the last time I’d slipped in here. I ran my fingers through my long wavy strands, tugging at the roots. Temptation simmered in my veins. My hands fisted into a white-knuckled grip at my sides.

Her laundry basket was just a step away. My chest rose and fell harshly. My heart rate ricocheted up a notch. I tried to keep cool. Calm. But I snapped. I’d been thinking about what was in there for the last week. After seeing her yesterday at my gym with my brothers’ girls through the security cameras, I’d known I’d be back right where I was now standing.

I took the couple of steps and lifted the lid of the hamper, and my tongue was too fucking big for my mouth. Right on top was the cute little bright pink workout outfit that had been painted on her body yesterday. I picked up the sports bra, brought it up to my nose, and inhaled deeply. The scent that clung to the air of the trailer was stronger on the fabric. Its sweet sugar and vanilla swirled with clean sweat and something I knew was uniquely Maryanne—innocent sweetness wrapped up in the most beautiful feminine package I wanted to nab for myself. Breathing in one more time, I went to set the sports bra back down when I saw it.

A tiny, cotton, virginal white thong with a fucking rosebud in the front.

My phone chirped again, and without thinking, I grabbed the panties and shoved them into my front pocket before quickly sneaking back out of her trailer, glad as hell she didn’t have a Ring camera but fucking furious there was nothing around to keep her safe from creeps like me.

ONE

MARYANNE ALDER

I got off the bus and paid attention to the still busy streets. It might be a little after seven, but the sun was still shining brightly thanks to the summertime. I wiped the sweat coating the nape of my neck.

It was hot. Stifling hot. The kind of heat that made you feel like all your clothes were suddenly a size too tight, compressing every inch of your skin, keeping you hostage in your own outfit. I couldn’t wait to get home and shower and change into an airy night shirt.

My eyes skidded to the corner liquor store, and I chewed on my bottom lip. I glanced at the old small watch my grandmother left me before she passed away to see just how much time I had left. I could spare an extra five, ten bucks to get a popsicle for the girls and me, a little cool treat to help take the edge off the high summer temps. If our neighbor Creepy Kyle was gone for the night, we could even eat them outside on the patio and stare at the stars. I knew they would love that.

Ten minutes. All I had was ten minutes to spare before my mom would start blowing up my phone to see where the hell I was. Without thinking, I crossed the street and hurried to the store. A bell chimed over my head as a muffled half-hearted ‘Hello, how are ya?’ sounded from the register coming from old Mr. Miller. I smiled and waved at his dark weathered face before I headed to the back where all the frozen goods were. I stood in front of the old freezer with the glass top and stared at what was available.

Just my luck, they had three of the mango-shaped ice creams Jen and Gem had told me about their friends having. Some kind of treat that had gone viral on social media. I grabbed the last three and headed straight to the cash register.

“Hey, sweetheart. How you been?” Mr. Miller’s voice sounded scratchier than usual.

“Good, and you?” He coughed and shrugged.

“You know. Same shit, different day.” He smiled kindly. “Heard you’re not at the gas station anymore.”

“No. I found, umm…” I swallowed. I hated lying. I was seriously terrible at it. “I found a waitressing gig in town,” I mumbled, not meeting his eyes, but I could feel him watching me.

“Girl, whatever makes you enough money to get out of here, you do it and get out. You deserve more. You and your sisters do,” he said, right before the bells over the door announced someone else coming in.

“Right. Well, I’m just… saving.”

“To get back to school?” he inquired. My eyes met his.

“One day.” I wasn’t not sure if I meant it. I’d love to go back even if it was just community college courses I’d do online. But some dreams felt more unreachable than others on certain days. Today was one of them. “But right now, it’s just to get us a better place. Maybe out of the park,” I shared in a whisper, because you never knew who was overhearing you.

“Good. That’s good. Goals are important.” I smiled tightly and blinked away the tears his short precise words brought to life.

I might not know much about Mr. Miller and his life, but he had always been in the background of mine. I still remembered how he put an extra tub of peanut butter into the bag of jelly and bread I’d come in to buy when I was fourteen. My mom was too busy drinking and partying with her new boyfriend of the month to worry about how empty the pantry had gotten.

I could still remember the way I’d gone around the neighborhood with a trash bag, picking up trash to find just enough cans and bottles to recycle for a whole six dollars. It had been enough for bread and jelly, but not enough to afford the peanut butter.

But he’d put it in my bag and hadn’t said a word.

“You know, nothing is impossible,” he quietly added. “Goals are just a destination. Doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as you keep fighting to make them a reality.” His words sparked the hope that had been dim for longer than I wanted to admit.

“Thanks, Mr. Miller.”

“Go before it gets dark out. Nice girl like you shouldn’t be out on the streets in the dark.” I smiled, left the change behind on the counter, and headed out.

He wasn’t wrong. The area wasn’t nice to just hang out in after sunset. I went to push the door open when I bumped into a wall of heat. I looked up, and the guy with a black hoodie looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him.

“Sorry,” I said, sidestepping him and walking out into the lingering summer sunshine.

I hurried to my mom’s place.

“You’re late,” she clipped the moment I reached her front door, the screen open.

“Sorry. Girls ready?”

“Yeah. Jen and Gem! Your sister’s here!” she shouted, not bothering to just walk to the small bedroom they shared. I waited outside hoping my mom’s bad mood wasn’t about to get worse.

“I have to work in the morning tomorrow.”

“What?” I blinked.

“So, that fancy job of yours is going to have to find someone to cover for you.”

“Mom––“

“The hospice is paying overtime with a hundred-dollar incentive. Two girls quit.”

“Right, well umm…” I took a breath and exhaled slowly. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Thought you would,” she sneered. I heard my sisters’ footsteps.

They both said their goodbyes to her and opened the door, carefully moving down the rickety stairs with their backpacks behind them. It wasn’t until then that I saw my mom standing behind them.

I always thought my mom was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. But time and addiction had done a number on her. Her dark hair was combed back in a tight bun, showing more and more gray at the roots of her hairline.

“Come on, butterflies.” I smiled at my sisters.

They were eight-year-old twins my mom had when I turned eighteen and had just been about to leave for college. My mom had been sober, and I thought staying back to help her with the girls would help keep her clean. It had, but I could tell she had slowly fallen off the wagon. Not that you could ask her about anything.

Ginger Alder was not a woman who liked to be questioned.

But I knew the signs. Little things. Like her attitude, the anger simmering just below the surface. For some reason, after the twins were born, the revolving door of men who came through had stopped. And I was glad. I loved my mom because she was my mom, but she had the worst taste in men. I’d worried after the girls’ dad had hit the road, some long-haul trucker who never came back, that she would return to her old habits, but something had definitely changed when it came to my mom and men. But my mom and alcohol? I wasn’t so sure anymore.

“I’ll take them to school in the morning,” I said. She nodded, staring at me. My mom’s face pinched like she wanted to say something to me but didn’t.

“Okay, babes, hold my hand and let’s get walking.”

“You know we’re, like, eight, right?” Gem asked like she did every day I picked them up since the school year had started last August, in a sassy tone that even if it was grating was kinda cute.

“I know, but it makes me feel safer.” I smiled with patience I didn’t know I had until they were born.

“Maryanne!” Mom called. I turned around.

“Yeah?” She swallowed and shook her head.

“Nothing. Just… thanks, honey.” I couldn’t hide the surprise I felt at the kind tone in her voice. It wasn’t that I didn’t think she didn’t love me, but Ginger wasn’t a soft woman in the least. I could count on one hand how many hugs I’d received from her that I remembered, and I wasn’t exaggerating.

“That’s what I’m here for,” I called and, with one last wave, we walked towards my trailer. The girls were chatty and the sun was starting to set as we reached my door.

“Okay, guys, you know the rules.”

“Reading time!” Jen clapped, and Gem made a face. She might argue here and there, but I knew she secretly enjoyed the new series she’d checked out from the library.

I put the ice cream into the freezer and started to cook dinner. Just as I was about to take out the ground turkey I had defrosted from the fridge, I stilled. My skin broke out into gooseflesh as the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It had happened a couple of times in the last week.

An eerie feeling that something was different.

I looked around the small kitchenette area, hoping to see something out of place or off, but there was nothing. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something felt different.

“Maryanne, you okay?” Gem asked, noticing how I’d just stopped moving out of nowhere.

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, just trying to figure out if I have everything for spaghetti night.” I smiled.

When I breathed in deeply, a note of something drifted into my nose. Something masculine, almost like cologne and something else. Something like the scent at the liquor store when the guy with hoodie had bumped into me. But as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared.

I was losing it.

I sniffed my shirt. Maybe someone’s cologne had stuck to my body from my shift at the club? I shook the thought away and pulled the meat out of the fridge. I got to work, getting dinner together while letting the girls know there was a special dessert after dinner waiting for them.

Everything went off without a hitch. We ate dinner, and they loved the mango ice cream treats. Watching them enjoy something so simple yet something I could have never imagined asking my mom healed something inside of me. I got them all tucked in and asked about the summer camp they had been going to during break and what they would be doing the next day.

Once they were all but almost asleep, I showered in the small bathroom, and when I slipped into bed, I smelled that familiar masculine note again—something woodsy, musky with a hint of mint.

And I fell asleep imagining the kind of man who would smell like that and the way his strong long arms would hold me tightly against him. I had never even spoken to the man who popped into my head, but he fit every fantasy I’d had the last month.

Hollis Porter.

I had only seen him at the club twice, my boss’ brother, and once at the gym when Jade and Kitty both talked me into going with them. He was ruggedly handsome with soft, dark curly hair and darker eyes that felt like they could see right through you. A man like Hollis would make you feel safe. Cherished and loved. Seen.

My eyes grew heavy, and before I knew it, I fell asleep with a smile on my face as I rested and dreamt about a different life. Because Mr. Miller was right. Goals were a destination and anything was possible if we worked at making dreams come true.

I rested easy, oblivious to the fact someone was watching me sleep.

TWO

HOLLIS

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jonas asked the moment I stepped into his office. “Again,” he added. Fair. I’d been doing a lot of drop-ins on my little brother. It was like no matter what I tried, I couldn’t resist stepping into the Velvet Leopard.

And not for the usual reasons men walked into a strip club.

“What? I can’t come see my brother?” I asked, avoiding answering his question. Something flashed in Jonas’ eyes, like he wanted to call me out, question and push until I broke and admitted to why I’d been coming in more frequently.

But for some reason, he didn’t.

Either way, I took the seat across from him and bent my leg over my knee, trying to act like it was just any other day. Like I hadn’t been sneaking around one of his dancer’s homes and even hid a camera in her room because it turned out, us Porter boys might not be blood, but we seemed to have a lot more in common that we could have ever imagined when we fell for a woman.

“How’s work today?” I straightened the pant leg of my slacks. My brother watched me for a long moment with speculation in his eyes.

“You checking in on your silent investment or something?” He leaned forward, the suspicion clear in his gaze, I wasn’t going to lie, I was a little insulted. Taken aback by his question.

“Jonas,” I sighed. My brother had the Midas touch when it came to money, even when he didn’t mean to, and had helped make the other four of us well off. “You know it isn’t like that.”

“Hmm, you sure?” His head tilted, gaze never leaving mine.

“Jonas.”

“Because if it’s not you coming to check in on your investment, I have a feeling I know what all these visits are about, and I’m not sure what the fuck your problem is.”

“Jo––“

“You don’t sit out on the floor like Lucas used to when Jade was on stage. You don’t come get private dances, either, from whatever dancer has caught your eye,” he observed, sitting back in his desk chair. “You come in here. Hide in my office.” He pointed behind him. “And watch those screens like your fucking life depends on it.” I grunted non-committedly because he wasn’t off the mark.

“Who is it?” Curiosity got the better of him, and I stared at him like I wasn’t amused.

“Who is what?” I asked, her name burning on my tongue. Maryanne. My Maryanne.

“The guys and I talked about this.”

“Jonas––“

“Victor thinks it’s one of the bouncers,” he teased. I rolled my eyes.

“Lucas and Trager think it has to be one of the crazy chicks here, like Gretchen. Because for what other reason would you be locked up tight like that.” I breathed in and shook my head. “Is it a crazy one?”

“Maybe I just want to visit you.” I shrugged, and he laughed.

“Maybe you’re full of shit. I work out at your gym twice a day. You hang out with me plenty.” He grinned and leaned forward on his desk, his small smile growing way too wide for his own good. “Do you want to know what I think?”

“I have a feeling I don’t have a choice,” I mumbled, trying to avoid the way my eyes kept moving to the screens behind him.

“I think a girl like Gretchen would annoy the living hell out of you. Sex might be wild, but you…” He shook his head, “You’ve done that, been there.”

“Fuck.” I chuckled because he wasn’t wrong. You didn’t get to my age without living some, and let’s say my choices in women in my early twenties weren’t very discerning.

“I think it’s someone sweeter. More… innocent, perhaps? Maybe the first dancer I had the privilege of hiring after I took over?” I broke eye contact, my attention moving to the wall of screens behind him.

Shit. Jonas knew me too well. I swallowed hard, searching the cameras knowing that I was either going to confess the truth or make up an excuse to get my ass out of his office and back to work.

“That’s what I thought,” my little pain-in-the-ass brother murmured under his breath. He chuckled and shook his head before tilting his head back towards the screens behind him. “You know,” he started, and my gaze drifted to him after scouring the feeds for a glimpse of my girl. She’s not yours! that sliver of sanity tried to shout inside my head. He cleared his throat, and when I looked at him, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. “You know you can talk to me, right?”

“About?” I didn’t blink as we held a staring contest before he rolled his eyes.

“Why you’ve been coming in regularly during the day from the back, like you’re trying to hide from anyone seeing you come here.”

“I’m just visiting my brother.” The lie weighed heavily in my gut.

“Who owns a strip club,” he pointed out.

It was something they thought bothered me. Didn’t they understand no matter what goals I might have, the relationship we had was more important? No matter what.

“I know how bad that looks for you, especially if you’re going to run for⁠—“

“What if I didn’t?” I blurted. He took a beat to look at me. I sighed and ran a hand through my disheveled hair. “What if…” I ran my tongue over my teeth. “What if I want something else?” Maryanne.

“Man, you can want whatever you want,” Jonas assured me.

“But what about the plans we made? Of giving back and making the Porter name⁠—“

“Dude, plans can change.” His brows narrowed. “Mom and Dad would only want you to be happy. Period.”

“I don’t know. I think about all the sacrifices and shit that everyone’s done and⁠—“

“Breathe, Hollis. Look, I get you’re the oldest and went through a lot of shit before life tossed us all together, but plans are allowed to change. You think Lucas and I planned on falling in love like we did?” My jaw clenched tightly. Was that what I’d done? Fallen in love with a woman I had only said hi to once?

“Look.” He took a deep, cleansing breath like he thought I was a moron. “I like your visits and everything, but before you strain your eyes or they pop out from how hard you’re looking at the feed,”—he pointed behind him—“you should know, she isn’t here yet. Switched to nights for the rest of the week.” My body reacted without me noticing just how much I was giving away. I sat up straighter. Something stirred deep in my gut as I frowned.

“Why?” I clipped in a harsher tone than I’d ever spoken in to my brother before. Nights were more dangerous for her. It also meant she wouldn’t have her sisters with her.

“How should I know?”

“I don’t know. Aren’t you the fucking boss here?” I exclaimed a little too loudly and forced myself to take a deep breath. “Sorry, I just…” I opened my phone and brought up the app of the little camera I’d left in her room. Relief washed over me as she appeared on my screen.

Sitting criss-cross on the middle of her bed, one pretty fingernail between her lips as she held a book in the other hand. Whatever she was reading was a nail biter, and fuck me, it softened something in my chest while it made another part of me hard.

“That’s what I thought.” Jonas chuckled. “You know we get you’re the oldest and shit, but that doesn’t mean you have to be locked up tighter than Fort Knox, right?”

“There isn’t anything to talk about,” I responded, my eyes still fixed on her sitting there.

“Really?” I tore my gaze from my screen to look at him. “Because from where I’m sitting, I have to say, my man, I think there might be,” he said with a shit-eating grin, pointing at my phone.

“Not really. At the end of the day, she’s too young for me. She’s too… sweet. Kind. Too innocent for the shit I’m into.”

“I don’t know. People have a way of surprising you.” He shrugged, but the tone in his voice made me look up at him.

“What do you think I should do? Offer her a job where I pay for her to do shit she likes, like you did?”

“Hey! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, man, but I got it going on. The business is making money hand over fist, and I have a great woman by my side I’m going to marry.”

“When? Because you keep saying that, but I haven’t heard you guys setting a date or anything.” I was being a defensive asshole and I knew it.

“Fuck you, you know what I mean. Anyhow, what if you did?”

“What?”

“What if you did offer her a job? A different one.”

“Me?”

“You have a business of your own, dumbass. From what I heard from Kitty and Jade the other day⁠—“

“Offer her a job? At the gym?”

“Why not? Kitty and Jade said she was great at teaching them some stuff. You could start her as a greeter or something. Doesn’t that girl you have right now gotta go back to school?”

“Cheryl. Yeah. She’s leaving at the end of next week.”

“See… opportunity.” He shrugged. “All I’m saying is, maybe having her around would give you a chance to see her a little more. Get to know her and find out if she’s someone you really think you could see yourself with.”

There was no doubt about that in my mind.

The problem was, I couldn’t see myself without her.

“But she’s working here. How the hell would that even come up or⁠—“

“Leave it to me.” Jonas winked like he was a goddamn matchmaker.

THREE

MARYANNE

“Hey, Maryanne?” Blu, one of the newer dancers, called as I finished putting on my lipstick in the dressing room. I turned around to see the beautiful tall blonde wearing a satin robe wrapped around her.

“Boss is looking for you,” she shared.

“He is?” Shit! Shit! Shit! He hadn’t sounded upset when I’d called to switch my shifts, but maybe he’d changed his mind?

“Said if you can go to his office,” Blu continued.

“Oh, okay.” I smiled tightly, trying not to show my panic at being called in. What could this mean? Am I being fired?

I stood, and since I hadn’t changed into the outfit I would wear on stage and was still in jeans and a shirt, I tried to calm my thundering heart down before I headed toward the offices. If this meeting went okay, I would need about fifteen minutes to get dressed and put on my shoes to hit the stage.

If I was getting fired, all I would need to do would be to grab my stuff and a makeup remover.

Shit! My hands shook at my sides at the thought of losing my job. It wasn’t like I loved getting on stage or this was what my dreams were made of, but it was the one job I’d found that gave me a little more than peace of mind. I had a little savings. I had just started to make plans. Stupid me. I knew better.

Focus, Maryanne! I reminded myself. If I got fired, I’d need a new job. I could check some of the different restaurants opening up around town for a waitress gig. Worst case would be going back to the gas station. For minimum wage. My heart faltered remembering just how tiny those checks were. How creative I had to be to get them to stretch when it came to food and rent.

And that was before my mom had me watching the twins.

Breathe, I reminded myself the moment I reached the door of his office. Worst case, I knew I could get the job at the gas station. Bill would hire me back on. I’d have to work nights to fully get back in his good graces, and the girls would have to stay with my Aunt Molly, but she was okay, better than them staying alone like I had when I was their age. It will all be okay.

I knocked and heard Jonas’ deep voice call me in. I opened the door, and there he sat at his desk. He was handsome and kind. I could see why tough girl Kitty had fallen so hard for him. Not only was he good looking, but he was patient with her and treated her like a princess. He wasn’t exactly my type, but then again, I wasn’t sure what my type was. Liar. My little heart tripped over itself thinking about the tall, dark-haired man who had been at the gym. Kitty and Jade introduced me to him, but I had been so flustered by how good looking he was and the way he looked at me, all I’d been able to do was smile and squeak out a hi before scurrying away like a scared mouse.

“Hey, Maryanne.” He stood and pointed at the chair in front of him. “Take a seat.”

“Thanks.” I sat down and kept my back ramrod straight.

“I don’t know if you remember my brother, Hollis,” he said, his gaze moving behind me. Shit! In my panic of why my boss wanted to see me, I’d totally missed the fact there was someone else in the office. I stood up in a flash.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry—“ I turned, and anything I had planned on saying slipped my mind. There he was, as if my thoughts had somehow conjured him to life—the guy who had been in my head since I went to the gym with Kitty and Jade the day Jonas asked Kitty to marry him.

And not only did I have his name now, he was also my boss’ brother.

“Hi.” His deep voice cut through the silence, or maybe it wasn’t that quiet; I just couldn’t make anything out over the roaring sound of blood rushing in my ears.

Hollis extended his hand, and when I leaned forward to take it, I almost slipped. He moved faster than a guy his size should be able to and held me up. “Are you okay?” The concern was genuine and clear in his voice.

“I fell for you.” I cracked the corny joke without thinking, and my face turned beet red. Shit! “I was just kidding, umm… Thank you for not letting me fall.” I shook my head.

“You can count on me.” He smiled, but there was something about his tone that made it feel like a promise.

Nope! Don’t go there, Maryanne! You are not some princess up in a tower about to be saved by a man who by all counts looks like he could definitely sweep you off your feet. My boss cleared his throat, and I jumped, pulling my hand and body away from Hollis.

“Blu said you wanted to see me?” I squeaked. Jonas nodded, glancing over at his brother before speaking again.

“I was wondering if you were interested in a second job.”

“A second…” I swallowed. I could. Especially if it was days I wasn’t at the club. Or even some evenings.

“I know the mornings don’t pay out that well, or at least not compared to nights here.”

“I don’t mind,” I quickly shared, hoping he didn’t get the wrong idea of why I’d had to switch over this week’s shifts.

“I know you don’t, kid.” Jonas’ eyes softened before he pointed at his brother. “But Hollis is looking for a girl.” I stiffened. Everything I knew about Jonas Porter was good. But was this the moment I saw a new side to him?

“A girl?” I asked slowly. My eyes skated back and forth between the brothers as if something would give away what that meant exactly.

“Yeah.” I blinked, and for a long moment, the three of us stood in silence.

“What kind of girl?” I asked quietly, hoping my boss wasn’t about to say what I thought he was.

I knew some dancers did other things to help supplement their income, especially before Jonas took over the Velvet Leopard. But maybe I was too naïve for my own good in really believing all that had changed?

“What kind of—“ Jonas turned pale then red. “No! Not like that.”

“Jesus, Jonas!” Hollis huffed under his breath before turning his full attention to me as he led me to the chair I’d first sat in and sat in the chair next to it. “I own a gym,” Hollis shared, and I swallowed. I knew that. I’d been there. It was a great new place in our small city.

“Right.”

“And one of my greeters is heading back to school for the fall semester. She goes to NYU so…” Just like that, a lightbulb turned on in my head and I understood.

“Oh! Okay.” I breathed out with relief washing through me. “You need someone at the front?” He nodded.

“Exactly,” he answered. His eyes were so different than any I had ever seen. They weren’t green or brown or even hazel but almost an amber color. Almost the exact shade of the orange blossom honey I’d splurged on at the farmer’s market.

“Oh, and, umm…” I looked over at Jonas because I was scared I’d start to do something embarrassing like drool if I kept staring at Hollis. “You think I would be a good fit?”

“I know it, kid.” He nodded before getting up and pointed at his brother. “Why don’t you talk with Hollis about what hours you are available and fill out the employee application.” He pushed a paper with a pen on top of it forward. “And exchange numbers. I think you would be great there.”

“Oh, wow, thank you.” My shoulders sagged with sweet relief and my eyes stung at the adrenaline rush of thinking I was about to get canned. My boss looked at me for a moment. “You look relieved,” he observed.

“I thought you were going to fire me,” I blurted and felt both men still. “I just—“ I shrugged. “I had to switch shifts last minute and thought you were upset.”

“Life happens, kid,” Jonas said exactly what Kitty had said when I’d called her to ask if she thought I would even be able to switch shifts.

“You guys talk and iron out the details. I gotta go check on something that needs my attention,” Jonas said before stepping out of the office and shutting the door behind him, leaving me all alone with the one man I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about. Not that it could go anywhere.

Especially now that it seemed he was about to be my boss, too.

FOUR

HOLLIS

My brother was a fucking genius.

A sadistic one, leaving me all alone with Maryanne in his office, but a genius, nonetheless. Not that I would ever tell him that. Hell no. It would go straight to his head, and I would never hear the end of it. Though thinking about it, would it really matter if he helped me out with this whole Maryanne situation?

Situation. Is that what she is? A moment in time that needed to be handled?

I swallowed hard, thinking about the way I had somehow managed to maintain my composure and hands to myself while I told her about the job while I tried and failed not to breathe in too deeply. Her soft vanilla scent was stronger than it had been in the trailer or the one time I had seen her at the gym. It close to killed me not to be able to press my lips to hers or hold her in my arms and promise she didn’t have a damn thing to worry about.

She isn’t a situation. I scrubbed my face with the palms of my hands before leaning back, my attention back on the screens behind my brother’s desk.

Maryanne wasn’t a situation. She was going to be my entire goddamn life. I knew it down to the marrow of my bones.

I might have fought it, tried to deny my feelings and who she was to me by finding excuse after excuse, but I was done trying to talk myself out of it. Sitting in Jonas’ damn office with her, talking to her for the last five minutes, had solidified it for me.

Maryanne was mine.

The only problem now was figuring out how the hell to make that happen.

I groaned and shut my eyes with my head tilted up at the ceiling. Maryanne. My sweet little flower was about to get plucked up, and she had no idea I was after her.

The blaring music died down slightly as the DJ’s muffled words thanked whomever was out there and introduced the next dancer onto the main stage. My eyes moved to the screens and I sat up straighter. Jonas wasn’t back from wherever the hell he had gone, probably the Kitty Room with his fiancée.

I watched as the stage slowly darkened and out came my girl wearing… was that a schoolgirl costume? No. I sat up straighter and popped the two top buttons of my dress shirt. Sweat started to form at the nape of my neck as I took in the sight of her walking out.

That wasn’t a schoolgirl costume. It was a naughty librarian.

Shit. My mouth salivated and my dick instantly went rock hard.

I felt like a fucking dirty old man watching her out on stage. Her piercing blue eyes looked out at the crowd beneath chunky black-framed glasses giving off that strict but almost innocent air that no matter what outfit she went on stage in, she could never shake off.

Maryanne’s long dark hair was pulled into a high ponytail. The dark strands shined beneath the lights of the stage as she rounded the pole. Tight white blouse almost coming undone at the seams paired with a dark pencil skirt and sky-high patent leather heels. She rounded the pole, leaning her sweet softly curved body against it. I watched like the men down on the floor did. Completely mesmerized. Fully captivated as she worked each and every button of that blouse off. Exposing inch after inch of creamy pale skin my hands ached to touch. I swallowed as I could imagine the men watching her did, too. She danced and let her hair loose, every movement more confident, surer of herself as she came to life.

Fuck me, it was why she was so fucking great out on stage.

It was like watching someone gain their confidence right in front of your eyes. It was why I called her my little flower. I still remembered the first time she came out that first day she hit the stage. Wobbly legged, looking like the world was about to eat her alive, terrified of what she had to do, and so damn innocent it dripped right off her pores. That air of innocence still clung to her, but as I watched her take that blouse off and was only left in an almost sheer red bra, apart the lace hearts that covered her areolas, she had blossomed.

Her hands glided up and down her chest, teasing everyone, bringing their eyes between her sternum and only highlighting the firm, round globes of her creamy breasts, tracing them down the waistline of the formfitting pencil skirt. She looked out, and it felt like she was staring right at me, right into the center of my soul as she started to tug down the skirt but then shook her head, a naughty little smile gracing her lips.

I sat up and licked my lips as she danced, moving her body around the pole, teasing the eyes on her before she took the glasses off, looking at the crowd over her shoulder before bringing the leg of the frames between her red painted lips. Lips I was dying to taste.

My hands gripped the armrest of the chair as I watched the show she put on. I was so fucking hard only a couple of tugs would get me there, but there was no way I was going to jerk off in my brother’s office.

Carefully pulling the stretchy, tight material of the skirt high up her thighs before dropping down to the ground, Maryanne rose, and this time when she started to dip down, with her back to the crowd, she pulled her skirt off.

Slowly.

There was no denying how very aware she was of the attention she was getting, showing off that plump, smackable ass and smooth thighs. I didn’t need sound in the security live stream when she stood and turned. The deep sound of applause as she stood in matching red high-cut panties that outlined her pussy and smooth-as-fuck skin was enough to get me to my feet.

I wanted to go out there, pull her off that fucking stage, and bring her back here, back anywhere I could hide her and protect her and keep her all to myself.

Just as I talked myself down from doing just that, I noticed it. Someone tossed something at her and then again. Some fucking guy was throwing something onto the stage, and I watched the moment it hit her.

Are those… coins?

She flinched, and white-hot heat rushed through my veins as I saw red. A ferocity of something fierce hit me like a goddamn tidal wave. Someone out there was throwing shit at her! She flinched again and again. Some dumbass thought that it was okay to not only do that shit but to do it to her. To my little flower. My chest rose and fell. I caught the way Maryanne looked out, probably searching for the bouncers, the men in charge of keeping her safe who were god only knew where.

Not that I stopped to think about where they could be.

Ruled by pure primal instinct, need to protect what was mine pounded in my veins and flowed through my blood. I opened my brother’s office door, my steps intentional as I headed straight to the main stage. Without looking anywhere, laser-focused on reaching her, I somehow managed to get there before the damn bouncers even noticed what was happening.

The drunk guy was still tossing quarters. Yelling stupid-ass shit as his friends smirked like assholes. They might have been shaking their heads, but they didn’t try to stop him. I headed directly to him, his eyes wide when reached him, and because I was too fucking focused on stopping whatever threat there could be out there that could hurt her, my fist swung back and punched him. Hard.

My knuckles burned, but I swung again and then again. I was like an animal unleashed. I heard something crack, and I wasn’t sure if it was me or him, but I didn’t care. I picked the stupid motherfucker up by the collar of his tacky golf shirt.

“What the fuck, man?!” The man had the nerve to look scared and shocked.

“You think throwing coins is fun? Huh?” I asked, shaking the asshole. Reaching behind me, I grabbed a handful of fucking… were those nickels? I growled. The cheap bastard! I shook my head, my nose flared.

“You like this? Huh?” I tossed them at his stupid, now very red face. I reached for another handful. “You like that? That feel good?” The coins bounced off his stupid face.

“Fuck you,” he grunted, kicking his legs. I felt two people come up behind me, but I knew it wasn’t his friends.

“We got him, Mr. Porter,” Domingo, one of the newer bouncers, said, gently putting a hand on my shoulder. For a beat, I ignored him and leaned forward.

“If I ever see you in here again, I won’t stop at tossing coins in your face. I’m gonna shove them up where the sun don’t shine like my very own goddamn vending machine, and I won’t stop until you start puking them up,” I threatened quietly enough for only his ears and no one else’s. “And then I’m going to skin you alive and let you fucking bleed out like the pig you are and let the fucking animals in the desert take care of you.”

It wasn’t a threat but a fucking promise.

I stepped back and nodded at Domingo, who by the look on his face might have overheard bits and pieces. I turned around and headed straight to the stage, where Maryanne stood shaking, looking at the money on the ground like she was torn between giving up her dignity to bend and pick up every fucking cent or running away.

I didn’t give her time to choose.

I jumped up on the stage, took off my suit jacket, covered her trembling body with it, and picked her up in my arms bridal style.

“Hollis.” Her pretty, red-stained lips wobbled, and I pressed my lips to her forehead.

“I got you, little flower,” I vowed and stomped my way off the stage without looking back.

FIVE

MARYANNE

I had just scolded myself that there wasn’t a man coming to sweep me off my feet to rescue me from the places life took me not an hour ago, and there I was! Swept off my feet, literally, by a man who looked like Prince Charming.

Well, at the very least a knight in shining armor.

Hollis, like he’d asked I call him instead of Mr. Porter, carried me straight to the dressing room and shouted at everyone to get out. No one even questioned him as they walked out wide-eyed.

“Hollis,” I whispered, trying to calm him down, but he shot me a look that made me rethink saying a single word.

Carefully, he set me down, treating me with care so tenderly, so gently, it took my breath away. No one, not ever in my life, had ever touched me so sweetly. My bare feet touched the plush carpet.

Bare feet. I glanced down at the sight of my neatly trimmed, painted pale pink toes. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. I had no shoes on. I must have lost them somewhere between the stage and the dressing room. Shit. My brain automatically went to dollar signs and how much it would cost me to replace said pair immediately since I had borrowed them from Jade. Knowing her, they were probably expensive. Something tightened in my gut, worried about spending money instead of saving churned, but a light graze on my calve snapped me back to where I was.

I blinked, trying to make sense of what I was looking at. Hollis was down on his knee in front of me, and my eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my skull.

“What are you—“ I breathily started to ask, but he looked up and our eyes locked. Goodness gracious, he was beautiful. Those amber eyes and dark curly hair.

“Let me look at you.” His deep voice cut through the weird silence that sat between us.

Hollis slowly moved the suit jacket he’d placed over my shoulders out of the way, leaving me in nothing but sheer panties and a bra in front of him. After everything that had just happened with the drunk guy, I should have been scared. Trembling.

But I wasn’t.

I felt steadier than I had in a long time. I’d done private dances before. Most men behaved themselves in there, but some had tried to push the boundaries of the club’s rules. Usually, being in front of a man, especially one so big and obviously strong, would have made me a little more than uncomfortable.

But I wasn’t with Hollis.

It had nothing to do with him being my boss’ brother or technically my new boss. I had a feeling it had everything to do with the man himself. After living the life I had, the revolving door of men my mom used to bring around, I’d quickly developed a sixth sense when it came to men.

I couldn’t help but stare, or more like gawk, at the handsome man before me, cataloging every micro expression and clench of his square jaw. The intensity of his gaze on my body made my heart rate pick up speed, but it was his touch, that barely-there graze of his rough, calloused fingertips as they glided up my legs, halting at my thighs, that made me feel like I was about to melt. I was still wearing sheer pantyhose, but I swear his touch seared through me, making it feel like he’d somehow marked me.

“He bruised you,” he growled, the look on his face menacing.

“I’m okay,” I whispered.

“I should have hit him harder,” he mumbled but didn’t stop whatever exploration he was doing.

My stomach muscles trembled under his light caress. My teeth bit down on the inside of my lip to stop myself from making a sound that would somehow scare him away. I’d never been touched like this by a man, and god help me, I didn’t want him to stop.

His big hands moved up, and I winced when he touched the spot just above my belly button. It was where the drunk guy had thrown the coin the hardest.

“I really didn’t hit him hard enough, little flower,” he growled.

“I’m okay. I promise,” I said, but when he looked up at me, something funny happened in my chest. A warm glow washed through me. There was something about the way he watched me, touched me. A familiarity I wasn’t sure was possible, yet I couldn’t deny it.

“This is not okay.”

“He’s right,” Jonas’ voice cut through the silent dressing room, and the two of us looked behind Hollis to see my boss standing there. “I’m sorry that happened, Maryanne. You okay? Want us to take you to get looked at?”

“Oh no!” I gasped. I needed a medical bill like I needed a hole in the head. “I’m good. Bruises heal.” I shook my head.

Whatever little daydream of a bubble I’d been swept up in with Hollis had officially popped.

If I wasn’t on the floor or on the stage, I wasn’t making money, and after that whole thing with the drunk guy, my boss was probably pissed.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted. “I can get dressed and head out to the floor or⁠—“

“Or,” Jonas cut me off, and that sick feeling of having done something wrong crept its way up my throat.

“But I’m on shift and⁠—“

“I think you should go home tonight, Maryanne,” Jonas laid out, not much room left to argue.

“Oh.” Blood drained from my face, and I felt Hollis move up next to me.

“That was a lot tonight. You shouldn’t have had to deal with crap like that,” Hollis said softly.

“The bouncers were busy, but that doesn’t excuse it. I’m very sorry, Maryanne.” Jonas’ apology sounded genuine. “After tonight, I promise I will be hiring two more to make sure that never happens again.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I said, trying to math in my head.

Logically, I knew missing today wouldn’t kill me financially. Missing a month wouldn’t hurt, either, with growing savings in my account, but I hated missing a day of work and falling behind on saving enough to not only get me out of that trailer park but my mom and sisters as well.

“It’s not yours, either,” Hollis reassured me.

“But I’m being punished for it,” I mumbled under my breath without thinking. Hollis’ hand pressed tighter against my lower back.

“You’re not being punished, baby girl.” I glanced up at him and blinked away tears.

“It feels like it. If I’m not on the floor, I’m not making money. And if I’m not making money—“ The panic was too much, and I had no idea how Hollis knew.

“I’m taking her home,” he announced.

“Hollis,” Jonas warned, but I could already tell the older Porter brother was as stubborn as they came. My boss sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Can you please text Kitty and let her know you got home safe?” Jonas asked gently. I nodded.

“Yeah, I can do that.” I smiled tightly. Jonas pulled his wallet out and took out a stack of bills.

“Here.” He extended his hand, offering the money.

“What?” I stared at the cash in his hands. Are those all hundreds?

“Might not cover everything you would have made tonight but⁠—“

“I got her,” Hollis said, and before I could ask what that meant, he slowly turned me to face him and slipped my arms through the sleeves of his suit jacket. His hand rose like he was about to touch me, but he changed his mind, and it dropped next to him. I’d never ached for a touch more.

“Grab your things, baby,” he ordered softly.

I didn’t know this man, not really, yet I listened. Doing like I was told, I went to the locker that held my things and walked right back to him.

“I asked Blu to get your shoes and clothes. You can get them from my office tomorrow,” Jonas shared, and I swallowed as relief washed through me.

“Thank you.” At least that was one less thing I had to worry about.

“Ready?” Hollis asked. I was about to take a step forward after I nodded, but one second, I was standing next to this handsome, almost intimidating man, and the next, I was back in his arms.

Exactly the way he’d rushed off the stage and carried me like the end of my mom’s all-time favorite movie An Officer and a Gentleman. I held on and stared at him as he walked through the darkened hall and right through the back exit of the Velvet Leopard. The dry summer heat hit like a force to be reckoned with, but I ignored it.

“I can walk.”

“You could,” he agreed but carried me straight to a new, shiny, black SUV. Its lights turned on, and without missing a beat, Hollis managed to open the passenger door and slowly, with the gentle way he’d set me down earlier, deposited me on the passenger’s side.

He pulled away and stared at me. For a moment, all I could make out was our breathing and the sound of the torrential rushing of blood and heat inside my veins. What is my problem? I saw good-looking guys all the time. Met nice guys. But none of them had this kind of effect on me and my senses. It felt like I was ready to throw every inhibition right out the window and lean right over and kiss him.

Almost like he could hear my thoughts, his amber gaze dropped to my lips. I wondered if his mouth tingled, too. If he felt this alarming increasing pull I felt towards him.

“Fuck,” he cursed the moment his eyes skated to my collarbone, and goose bumps flared to life. “Let me get something for you.” Get me something?

He reached over me, to the backseat, and I couldn’t help but shut my eyes to soak in the deep manly scent of him. He smelled like expensive cologne with hints of wood, mint, and citrus. And something else.

Something heady and dark. Full of promise.

Something Daddy would wear every day. Daddy? I shook the thought away. This was not the time to let my dirty, unhinged thoughts get the better of me! He was my boss now. He was my boss’ brother! I reminded myself just as he pulled back, his eyes locking with mine almost immediately. Maybe he feels this, too?

But that’s when I noticed it.

A gray shirt and what looked like track pants.

“Here.” He handed the clothes over, and I stared at them in my hands. “They’re clean, I promise.”

“Oh, umm—” My face felt hot at the realization that even though I was covered with his suit jacket, I was hardly wearing anything underneath, and the reality of my life felt like a bucket of ice water tossed right over my head.

Hollis Porter was a respectable man.

A good man.

Everything Jade and Kitty had said about the Porter boys, well, men, was great, but Hollis had political aspirations. He was going to run for mayor of our small town, determined to make changes happen in his small corner of the world. It was why he hardly ever went to the Velvet Leopard like the other Porter brothers did.

Hollis didn’t need or want to be seen with some stripper in his car. He was just being a nice guy. A good man. He’d come to my rescue and was taking me home. That was it, and any fantasies of a man coming to rescue me were fucking ridiculous.

“Right.” I half-chuckled, trying to bat away how horrified I felt.

There I was, lusting over the man, and he was getting me clothes so I wouldn’t embarrass him. Whatever I’d thought had been happening was totally and completely off. Get a flipping grip, Maryanne! You know guys like him don’t go for girls like us!

“Umm, you wouldn’t want to be seen with someone like me.” The words spilled out as I made quick work of pulling the shirt over my head, then shimmying the pants over my legs. They were too long and fit too big around the waist, but I was sitting down, so it wasn’t like they were going to fall off my body. I would just need to roll them at the waist.

“Here you go.” I handed him his jacket, hoping I hadn’t smudged makeup on it.

But he didn’t take it.

My gaze bounced from the jacket to him and back to the jacket.

“I wasn’t wearing glitter,” I blurted out. Two little lines formed between his amber eyes.

“What?”

“Your jacket.” I pointed. “I wasn’t wearing glitter, but if you’re worried about that or makeup, I can take it to get dry cleaned.” It would be the least I could do after he defended me.

“Hold up. What?” He asked.

“Your jacket. You didn’t want to take it, so I thought⁠—“

“I’m not worried about makeup or glitter, little flower.” His hand rose, and this time, there was no hesitation as he stroked the side of my face. My eyes fluttered shut, and I couldn’t help the way I leaned into his touch. “I have a feeling if it’s from you, I’d wear ever speck of glitter proudly,” he admitted. My heart fluttered, “I didn’t take it because I was thinking about what you said.” I opened my eyes and stared back into his. “You said I wouldn’t want to be seen with you.”

“Oh, I mean⁠—“

“I wouldn’t want to kill some fucker for seeing you like that. Even though“—he jerked his head forward, but I knew he didn’t mean wearing his clothes—“you’re fucking stunning wearing that set.”

“You think so?” I asked. Did he lean in closer? Is that mint and coffee on his breath?

“You always look fucking beautiful, Maryanne.” His words felt like a whispered confession, one that rocked my world on its axis.

“Always?” I asked before thinking better of it. “You’ve seen me on stage before?” He blinked once. Twice. His gaze was intense, so much working behind his beautiful eyes.

I thought back to being on stage.

There was a huge spotlight that made it difficult to see everyone in the crowd, but I knew deep down in the marrow of my being I would have remembered him. Hollis Porter was a memorable man. I remembered seeing him that first time like a milestone. He was at the gym in the background as Jade, Kitty, and I had worked out. When I’d headed to the bathroom, he’d looked at me from where he had been standing, and something had come over me and I’d been the one to say hi to him.

But never, not once, had he been at the Velvet Leopard.

Or at least, I hadn’t seen him there.

The girls would talk in hushed whispers about him; I’d overheard them. Especially Gretchen with her group of mean girls, but I had assumed he showed up when I was home since I usually worked earlier in the daytime anyhow.

“Ready to go home?” he asked, bypassing the question completely.

I blinked and swallowed slowly. Disappointment prickled at the back of my neck as I nodded. Home. The idea of this big beautiful man driving me to my trailer, seeing where I lived after that drunk customer had humiliated me, sat heavy in my gut. I shook the thoughts away. My gaze dropped to my lap just as he pulled away, taking the heat of his body with him.

It sucked to think about, but this was reality. My reality.

The passenger side door shut, and I didn’t have to look up to know he rounded the vehicle before he opened his door and got in. The deep sound of the engine roared to life before he put it in Drive. I watched out the window in silence, the soft hum of music playing through the speakers.

Deep in my thoughts, it wasn’t until we were pulling into a residential area, his SUV slowing down before it pulled into a long driveway, that I realized we weren’t anywhere close to my place.

“Umm, Hollis—“ He shut the engine off, both his hands still on the steering wheel as he looked straight towards the garage door in front of us.

An oddly comfortable silence fell between us.

I watched as his Adam’s apple rose and fell before he turned to look at me. I was positive he was about to tell me an Uber would pick me up or something. I had no idea why I’d assumed when he said let’s go home, he meant my place. My eyes drifted to the front of the house, and something inside my chest ached.

The house was beautiful.

It had a river rock façade and a wrap-around porch with two chairs and a small table between them sitting on the far end. A huge elm tree, beautiful and old with green leaves, sat at the front and probably provided great shade for the house during a hot summer day. Lush green grass surrounded it, and I could almost picture him mowing the lawn shirtless. I bet his neighbors love that, I thought to myself.

“I should have asked, but would you mind eating dinner with me?” Of all the possible things that had sprung to mind, those had not been it. He turned, our eyes connected, and just like that, the sensible, smart side of my brain went blank.

“If not, it’s okay. I can take you home. You don’t know me and you had a traumatic night.” He shook his head and winced. “I should have asked but—“ He took a deep breath, like he had a hard time gathering his thoughts. “I didn’t like the idea of you going back home to be all alone tonight. Not after… not after what happened.”

“Oh.” I sucked in my bottom lip and felt his eyes drop. His hand was suddenly not just up and between us but holding my chin and pulling my lip free with the rough pad of his thumb.

“That’s better,” he muttered to himself. “Let me make you dinner.” The request yet demand made my lips twitched.

“Do you know how to cook?” I asked in a half-suspicious, half-flirty tone. The man was handsome as sin, but by the muscles his outline hinted at under that dress shirt, he also looked like he thrived off protein shakes and green smoothies.

“I do. If you hate it, we can order in. Or we can put a movie on, and I can order in anyhow and just cook you dinner some other time.” His suggestion was so sweet. I wanted to agree so badly, but I knew better.

I should know better.

Just as I was about to turn him down, I noticed it. His cheeks turned slightly pink, and his shoulder did this soft shrug thing I oddly found completely adorable and endearing.

“Let me order us some pizza. We can sit, watch TV, eat, talk… whatever.”

“Talk?”

“About anything you want.”

“Anything?”

“Pinky promise.” His hand came between us with his pinky finger extended, and just like that, I melted.

“Okay,” I agreed too easily. “But I’ll pitch in for the pizza. I have some cash in my—“ I started to bend to grab my purse off the floor when he reached and took my hand in his.

I couldn’t help the way my eyes skated down to the way our hands tangled together. His skin was slightly tanner than my pale one with freckles smattered all over his palm and peppered under his sleeve. His hands were big and capable. The difference between them was staggering. Mine ere so much smaller and almost seemed fragile against his.

The sight of them, the clear size difference, should have a big red flag waving in my head.

But that wasn’t the only red flag.

Our size difference was nothing compared to our age difference, not to mention our experience. Looking at him, the way he handled me with care and moved with nothing but confidence, I knew he knew what to do behind closed doors, where I was still not sure if I knew how to kiss right.

“No.”

“No?” I repeated. My brain was fuzzy with all the thoughts about why I shouldn’t go inside his place even though I already agreed and knew I wasn’t going to change my mind.

“I got you,” he reminded me.

“Oh, right.” My lips wobbled at the small sting of rejection. I was being so stupid, making this into so much more than it was. Hollis had promised his brother, that was what this whole thing was about.

But why did it feel like a promise of something so much bigger than dinner?

SIX

HOLLIS

My fingertips curled around the granite countertop in the kitchen with a white-knuckled grip, my eyes shut just as tightly. What the fuck are you doing?! a small dwindling voice tried to shout over the panting of Mine! Mine! Mine! chanting in my head.

After getting my little flower all settled in the living room with a water and movie, I ordered food and a quick DoorDash order of various desserts I thought she might like, just in case I could talk her into staying a little longer.

Not that she’d had a bite of cookies or a lick of ice cream.

Nope, after enjoying two slices of pizza and watching two Adam Sandler movies, my sweet beauty knocked the hell out. I’d seen it happening, watching her out of my peripheral or catching her reflection on any possible surface rather than staring head on at her like some kind of creep. And I hadn’t done shit to stop it because I was fucking weak.

Now that I had her under my roof, I couldn’t imagine taking her back to that damn trailer.

The problem now was, what I was going to do with her?

I couldn’t in any good conscience let her sleep on the couch. I pushed off the counter, knowing exactly where she was going to sleep. I headed to the couch, my hands trembling with excitement and nerves. What would my little flower do if she woke up in my arms while I was heading towards the bedrooms?

Would she wiggle out of my arms and race screaming for help towards the door?

Would she stay and settle in as I tucked her into bed?

Would she slap me?

I shook my head. This wasn’t me. I was a take-charge kind of guy. That didn’t change with Maryanne. Not when every fucking instinct inside of me was yelling to protect and cherish and love her until my last damn breath.

With renewed energy, I bent and picked her up into my arms the same way a groom would with his bride. Her head settled on my shoulder, and she made a little happy sigh sound I felt right in my soul. Jesus, just the way she fit in my arms, her head where she rested, was a perfect fit. Made for each other. The thought solidified my choice. She was mine and I was hers.

I moved us out of the living room and through the hallway that led to four bedrooms. I had a home office and two guestrooms set up. I could have easily laid her down in one of those, but I didn’t. That went against the grain. If we were going to be sleeping under the same roof, there was only one place she would rest her head.

I quietly kicked the door to the master bedroom open and set her down on my bed. Our bed, I thought to myself. I was getting way ahead of myself, but when you were my age and you finally found your person, you didn’t fuck around. You didn’t waste time overthinking shit. Not when you felt it down to your bones.

I’d learned a long time ago to listen to my gut, and this time was no different.

Carefully, I settled her in bed, tucking her in, covering her body with my comforter before I headed to get some gym shorts and a tank from my dresser. I glanced at her before heading to change, and for the first time since I had laid eyes on my Maryanne in my bed, our bed, breathing became suddenly easier. I changed in the bathroom and hurried back out.

A knot of tension relaxed in the middle of my back just at the sight of her in my bed. Mine. That voice of ownership sprung to life, and I took a deep breath. All mine. Her scent was there in my room, mingling and mixing with my own, and I fucking loved it. A predatory almost wolf-like smile pulled at my lips.

Maryanne was in my bed.

Baser sheer instinct yelled at me to get in there with her. Sneak my way under the covers and hold her in my arms. I knew if I did, she would just curl up into me like a kitten. She’d fit so damn perfectly against me. Fuck, just the thought came to life in my head so damn clearly, I could picture it way too easily. So easily, my arms ached to keep her in their embrace. The way her silky smooth skin would feel beneath my touch. The way her big blue eyes would open slowly when she woke up and glanced at me. That pretty pink tinge of blush that appeared when I caught her looking at me.

I swallowed hard and reached for the reading chair I kept in the corner, pushing it to the side of the bed, and sat my ass down. All the while ignoring the hard pulsating length behind my shorts. I was a grown-ass man, not some fucking kid led around by his dick and hormones.

It would have been easy to get in bed with her.

To take that kind of familiarity without asking. The Neanderthal thing inside me wanted to do just that. Claim her. Mark her. My jaw clenched, and I spread my legs open, palming the thick ridge that strained to get closer to Maryanne.

Just because it was easy didn’t mean it was right.

When it came to doing this with Maryanne, I was going to do things the right way.

SEVEN

MARYANNE

Before I fully woke up, I knew I wasn’t home.

I racked my head in that hazy state of being half-awake and half-asleep. The night before came crashing back.

The drunk guy throwing coins, yelling nasty things at me. Hollis picking me up and carrying me out of there like the ending of a romcom. None of it explained why I felt so well rested. The bed was too soft yet firm and perfect compared to my decades-thin spring-ridden mattress I had at home.

Slowly, I opened my eyes only to see the tall, formidable shape of a man sitting in a chair right across from the bed. Hollis. Just a sliver of moonlight streamed in through the cracks between the panels of the windows, cloaking him in nothing but darkness and shadows, but I knew his form. There was no denying it was Hollis.

He had somehow brought me back to what I was guessing was his bed and watched over my sleep. I froze before peeking down at myself. I was still in the clothes he’d given me.

I frowned, trying to remember the night and how the hell I had ended up in the sexiest man I had ever seen’s bed.

He’d taken me to his place. Ordered pizza for us and made me feel safer than I ever had in my entire life. Hollis had insisted I pick what to watch, and I had turned on one of my favorite Adam Sandler movies after another. The desserts he’d ordered had arrived in the middle of the second one and… I’d fallen asleep.

Great! That was only one more thing I was obviously not good at: being a good date. Wait, no, you can’t think of it like that. This wasn’t a date! I scolded myself as I slowly sat up, but not before taking a good whiff of his blanket. It smelled like him. Masculine and clean. No wonder I had slept better than I could ever remember. Safe. Protected. Cared for. And maybe even a little familiar.

I slid to the edge of the bed. My legs dangled, too short to touch the ground. Now that I was a little more awake and closer to him, I could make out more of his features. Even resting, Hollis looked intense. Like a man you didn’t fuck with. None of the guys at the trailer park would dare catcall or try to get too close with a man like that on my arm. I shut my eyes. Don’t go there, I thought to myself. It’s not like a man like Hollis, one who could literally have anyone, would ever even think twice about looking at you.

Yet I was in his bed, the little virginal vixen in my head reminded me. In his bed while he slept on a chair, the realist in me chimed in.

While he watched me sleep! the vixen pointed out, needing to get the last word. He’d watched over me. Regardless of the why, he had done that. Slept on what didn’t look like the most comfortable chair to guard over me.

I licked my lower lip, hopped off the bed, and moved closer to him. The man was incredibly massive. Tall and lean with very clear muscles. His chocolate-brown curls disheveled. I reached to touch him, unable to keep my hands to myself, using the excuse he should sleep on his bed, and I could take the couch or even the chair in case he didn’t trust a stranger lurking around his house on her own.

But before I did, almost as if sensing me, his eyes opened.

“Little flower,” he rumbled, half asleep. “Are you okay?” Concern flashed through his features, and I shook my head because I couldn’t trust my voice. Little flower. It was a sweet term of endearment. A nickname. I’d never had one of those. No Annies or honey. Not from anyone, not even my mom.

“What’s the matter? Bad dream?” he guessed, and I wasn’t sure why I straightened. Our size difference was almost ridiculous even with him sitting and me standing. His legs spread and, carefully, I let the vixen inside of me take me closer to him. Moving between his thighs, I felt his hands reach for my hips then gently, so tenderly, stroke my back.

“You should sleep in your bed,” I found the courage to suggest. “Your back is going to hurt sleeping in that chair.”

“Maryanne.” My name. I liked it when he said it. All deep and growly with a hint of ownership, but I liked little flower more. “Go back to bed, baby.”

Baby was almost as sweet. Another one.

“I’m fine here,” he tried to reassure me.

“No.” I shook my head, reaching for his hand.

“Please sleep in bed. I can take the chair or the floor or—“ The hand on my hip tightened and his amber gaze narrowed.

“You think I’m the kind of man who would be okay taking the bed and letting you sleep on the floor, little flower?” I opened and shut my mouth before licking my lips and shaking my head.

I felt like I was a trembling live wire about to spark to life. He pulled me closer, and I fell on his lap.

“Fuck, you feel good on daddy’s lap.” My sex clenched at the word, but we both froze. He’d just said I felt good on Daddy’s lap. “Shit! I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have⁠—“

“Daddy,” I whispered into the darkness. I was new to sex, but it didn’t mean I didn’t read. I loved romance novels, and daddy play was nothing new to me. I didn’t think it made me have daddy issues for enjoying my fair share of smutty kinky reads or because I was on a much older man’s lap.

“Fuck,” he cursed, pressing his forehead against mine. “I didn’t get into in an attempt to be good, but you just fell into my lap, and I’m about to say fuck it to all my good intentions about doing this the right way, little girl.”

“Right way?”

“Date you. Court you. Woo you. Whatever you want to call it.”

“Woo?” I repeated. My lips twitched. “You mean, like a talking stage?”

“Shit,” he growled, his nose running up and down the line of mine like he needed to get as close to me as possible. “I am way too fucking old for you.” He sighed with anguish, and I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped. “Good god, even that sound makes me want to…”

“To what?” I asked, my voice raspier, huskier than I’d ever heard it. “What do you want to do to me, Daddy?” His nose flared and jaw clenched. The pupils of his eyes shot wide like an animal about to attack.

“Maryanne.” The warning in his tone was clear, but something came over me.

I was twenty-five.

I was a grown woman.

I might not have had lovers or gone off to college, but that didn’t mean I didn’t’ know who I was. I had gone through my fair share of shit, did things to survive. And if tonight was all I would ever get, if it meant I lost a job I hadn’t even started, so be it.

Do you think if you fuck your boss’ brother, you’ll lose that job, too?! the realist tried to chime in, but the virginal vixen just hip-checked her off my shoulder.

I’d never done one thing for myself. Not one selfish moment I had lived just for me. I had never had a wild, crazy night or went clubbing or partying. Not one trip or crazy impulse purchase. Nothing.

I’d lived my life to help my mom and then my sisters. I was everything for everyone else. I loved them and didn’t resent anything I’d done, but I knew I’d give myself this.

Tonight was for me, consequences be damned.

My virginity hadn’t been something I’d meant to keep in hopes for my wedding night or for religious ideology. It had just been something that happened. I’d never been interested in anyone like that. No one had ever felt like Hollis and the undeniable gravitational pull I felt when it came to him.

If I were a little braver, I’d let myself hope for more than a night.

“Please,” I whispered. My lips hovered just above his.

“Please, what?” His voice sounded scratchy and tortured. “What does my little flower want?”

“To play,” I answered quickly before I chickened out and ran out of his room, afraid of making a fool out of myself.

“You wanna play with daddy?” His Adam’s apple bobbed. I nodded, unable to hide my enthusiasm. I felt like I was dizzy with lust and was about to float away with happiness. He pulled me closer, and my mouth ran dry at what I felt pressed against me.

Hollis was hard.

Really hard.

And big.

“I asked you a question, little flower,” he growled, tipping my head up to look at him. “You wanna play with daddy, baby girl?”

“Yes.”

“You sure? Because you play with me, there is no going back.”

“No going back?”

“There isn’t playing when it comes to you and me.”

“There isn’t?” I blinked, pulling back just an inch to get a better look at him. I tried to get myself to focus on his words, but my breath hitched in the middle of my throat. The way Hollis was looking at me, the way he touched me, searing heat into my skin like he owned me, like I was his and he was mine, made it so hard to concentrate on anything more than his hands on my body.

Hollis’ hand came up between us and gently stroked the side of my face before his thumb settled on my bottom lip. His gaze dropped and his stare seared molten heat down to my core.

“Look at these perfect lips,” he huffed, his breathing almost shallow. “Do you have any idea of how many times I’ve dreamt of these pretty lips? The things I’d do to them? The way they’d kiss me?” Holy fuck. My knees wobbled, and I was glad I was already on his lap.

“But I kiss you, my little flower, and it’s game over.”

“Game over?” I asked just above a whisper.

“It would be a last first.”

“Last first?” I was too lazy in my lust-filled bubble to comprehend what he was trying to say.

“Your last first kiss,” he clarified.

“It would be my first-first kiss.” The words slipped past my lips before I could think twice, and time stopped.

Heat hit my face and my heart stopped at the change in his face. I watched surprise flash in his eyes before they darkened.

Shit. He was going to change his mind.

Hollis was a man who knew what to do with a woman. He didn’t need or want some girl who wasn’t sure of what she was doing. My eyes skated over his body, the broadness of his shoulders, the thickness of his neck, and the biceps that stood out under his sleeveless tank, some old shirt he’d cut the sleeves off he looked really good in. Oh yeah, Hollis would definitely know what to do with a woman.

“You’re twenty-five.” We’d talked over pizza, sharing things like our age and our likes and dislikes. “How the hell is that possible?” His eyes followed my tongue as they swiped over my lips. “You have to be kidding me.”

“I’m not. I just… it just never happened.” I shrugged. Both his hands cupped my face, and I was almost positive he was trembling.

“The men who have come into your life are fucking idiots. One look at you, and I knew.”

“Knew what?” I asked, swallowing hard.

“That you’d be mine,” he said like he was decreeing some kind of law.

“You can’t mean that. There’s no way…”

“I do, little flower.”

“But… I mean… we just met.”

“I mean it, Maryanne,” he rasped. “Fuck.” His eyes shut tightly as he rested his forehead against mine. “We do this, we need rules. You can’t be the sweetheart you are and just give me what you think I want.”

“Hollis,” I tried to argue, but I knew by the way he looked at me that he wasn’t going to let me.

“If at any point we do anything that you’re not comfortable with, if you want to stop or take a moment, all you have to do is tell me to stop, and I will.” His words felt like a balm on my skin.

“What if I don’t want you to stop?” I taunted.

“Maryanne.”

“I thought I was your little flower.” I licked my lower lip. Heat cursed all around my body and settled low in my belly.

“Oh, baby, you are. My perfect little flower. And I’m the one who’s going to pluck you right up.”

“Hollis.” He shifted us, and suddenly, I was straddling him, my thighs over his, the hard ridge of his cock pressed just right against my aching pussy, exactly where I needed him.

“Oh god.” A little moan escaped from me.

“Not god, little flower. Daddy. That’s what you call me when we play.”

“Hollis, is this…” I exhaled roughly, trying to get the words to slip past my lips. Not that I couldn’t because I was ashamed or embarrassed but because I was too worked up.

“Something I like?” He took the words from my mouth, and I nodded, holding on to his shoulders, unable to sit still. He gripped my thighs so I wouldn’t keep squirming, distracting him from whatever these rules were he needed to set up.

“Not really. I like having control, but with you… you bring this side out of me.”

“Oh…” My chest rose and fell as he stared at me. I could have easily let the shyness take over, hopped off his lap, and I knew Hollis would have let me. But I didn’t.

I stood up, and his amber eyes followed my every movement.

My hands moved beneath the soft cotton of the shirt he had let me borrow to the waistband of the track pants I was wearing and pushed them down. With how big they were, gravity did its job, and they pooled at my feet. I stepped out of them without breaking eye contact with Hollis.

“Maryanne.” He gripped the armrest with a white-knuckled grip. There was something almost addicting in the knowledge he was holding on by a thin thread and it was about to snap. I had that kind of power over him, and it made me feel… good.

Feminine.

Powerful.

Almost like a goddess instead of a shy, awkward twenty-five-year-old virgin stripper.

The tips of my fingers reached for the hem of the soft cotton shirt. I took a deep breath before I pulled it up and over my head. I had stood and danced in front of strange men and some women in less than I was wearing now. And never, not even close, had I felt as seen and beautiful and adored yet vulnerable all at once like I did under Hollis’ gaze.

“Fuck,” he cursed.

“I want you,” I said, proud of the steadiness in my voice. “I won’t tell you to stop because I want everything and anything you want to give me.”

“Baby.” He licked his lips as his eyes skimmed up and down my body like he couldn’t seem to help himself no matter how hard he tried. That alone was enough to make me even braver and bolder. I reached behind me and undid my bra, letting the material pool with his clothes.

“I promise.”

“Shit.” His hands balled into tight fists at his sides. “You haven’t even been kissed yet, little flower. How the hell am I supposed to keep from fucking you into next Tuesday?”

“Maybe you’re not supposed to.” I wasn’t sure how the hell I managed to push the words out, but the sexy little growl he made under his breath had me pressing my thighs together for relief. “I just…”

“What, baby girl? What do you want?” He stood to his feet with his hands still clenched, like he was trying to keep them to himself.

He was on edge, ready to snap and pounce on me.

I’d done this.

Just by standing topless in front of him.

“I want you, Daddy.”

“We don’t have to do the whole daddy⁠—“

“I want it. It fits. With you. With me.” I licked my lips. “I don’t have anything to base it off, but it feels right. Feels like us.” In the blink of an eye, Hollis closed the space between us and his hand tangled with the hair at the back of my head and pulled my head back, forcing me to arch my beck, but not in a way that hurt.

He was gentle in his dominance.

Gentle and tender for me.

“I kiss you, I taste any part of your body, Maryanne, that’s it. It’s over. You’re mine and I’m yours. No going back. There is no chance this can go any other way.”

A small part of me wanted to argue with him.

Tell him there was no possible way he could possibly know that the way he made it sound. Like a done deal. Yet the other part of me, the one in control and listening, soaking in every moment, knew what I was going to say.

I knew the truth.

“I’m already yours,” I answered. My eyes had just shut when his lips touched mine and my world shifted on its axis, and I knew life would never be the same again.

EIGHT

HOLLIS

Her lips were perfect.

My tongue swept over them, and she opened for me, letting me plunge my tongue into her mouth. She tasted like every fucking goddamn dream I’d never let myself have. I’d thought about where life was supposed to go, and Maryanne’s mere existence had changed it all.

The innocence in her kiss, the small hint of inexperience, made me want her more. I picked her up, loving the way her legs wrapped around my waist. My hands held on to her ass cheeks like my life depended on it.

I stood there unable to decide if I wanted to set her down on my bed, take her back to the chair, or say fuck it and press her body against the closest wall. Either way, I would be sinking balls deep inside of her body within the next thirty minutes, and I wouldn’t stop until the sun had long come back up in the morning.

I set her down and loved the way her little hands gripped the front of my shirt until I tugged it off. She immediately started to stroke the planes of my muscular chest. The heat of her touch left trails I knew I’d feel long after we finished. Her caress left an invisible mark on me.

Her mark.

And fuck me, I loved it.

I fell to my knees and stared at her. In this position, we were almost at eye level and, without looking away, I kissed her. Maryanne’s lips danced with mine. With each beat of our hearts, she became a little more confident, surer of herself. My lips drifted to the edge of hers and then down her neck to her collarbone. My hands moved from her hips to her breasts, cupping her tits, brushing the pads of my thumbs over her tightened nipples.

“Perfect. My little flower’s so fucking perfect,” I groaned against her skin.

My lips moved lower, taking one of her turgid peaks into my mouth and pulling with a deep guttural moan. She tasted so damn good. Her skin was sweet like vanilla. And soft. So fucking soft I couldn’t stop the way I mauled her, marking the delicate flesh with my teeth. An overwhelming need pounded through me to leave a mark.

I pulled away, letting her nipple go with a pop before turning to give the other side attention. Not that my sweet little flower let me give it too much. Maryanne squirmed and writhed, and when I let go of that nipple, my lips didn’t leave her body. I was aching to get my mouth on every square inch of her, but I was so fucking greedy and impatient.

I buried my face between her legs, pushing my nose to the apex of her thighs, and breathed in, exhaling with an animal-like sound. “Fuck! You smell incredible.”

“Daddy.”

“Such a good little girl for me. Keeping this cherry safe for me, didn’t you?”

“Yes!” she hissed. I smiled before tugging the sheer sexy red panties down her hips and thighs. I squeezed her ass cheek and looked up at her. My girl stared down at me through a hooded glassy gaze.

“Look at this pretty pussy. I’m going to eat you whole, baby girl.”

“Hollis.” Her legs trembled before she ran her delicate fingers through my hair, tugging at the ends gently. “Later.”

“Later?” I asked, a little confused what she meant.

“Later. Right now, I need you. Inside of me.”

“Baby girl, I haven’t even slipped a finger inside your tight little pussy. You think you would be able to take my cock?”

“Yes.”

“So fucking enthusiastic.” I grinned, kissing her thighs and then her pubis. “Look how fucking pretty.”

“Hollis. Please.” Her knees shook, and I dove in. Her fingers tightened in my hair as I licked her. Her taste bloomed on my tongue, slightly familiar from the stolen panties I’d sniffed and fucking sucked on like a goddamn creep. “Daddy’s never going to get enough of you, little flower.”

“Please.” Her legs spread some, and my hands moved up her thighs. My fingers slid up and down her pussy lips, coating them with her essence before dipping inside of her.

Slowly. Carefully. My eyes shut and my hands shook as I worked my finger into her tight heat.

“Never felt anything like this, baby. Never. Not even close. Jesus, look at you.” I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

Her pretty, little swollen clit was poking out between her puffy pussy lips stretching almost obscenely around my finger.

“Look at how well you’re stretching around my finger.”

“Oh god! Yes!” Her head fell back, exposing her neck. Something I took full advantage of.

“You think you can take another, Maryanne?”

“Yes. Please.” Her stance widened, and I smiled up at her.

“Good girl. Such a good girl for daddy, aren’t you?” I praised her while slipping another finger inside of her.

Slowly and with more patience I knew was possible.

I licked and sucked on her clit, fingering her, reaching for that spot that made her louder. Tighter. I didn’t stop until she was squeezing my fingers so damn tightly, so fucking beautifully my cock fucking throbbed.

“Hollis— Daddy, I’m going to… oh god, I’m— I’m going to come!” she squealed her warning, but I felt it. She cried out my name almost simultaneously as wetness gushed. Her walls fluttered and milked my fingers, pulling me deeper into her pussy.

“Look at you. Goddamn perfection.” I couldn’t tear my eyes from her beautiful face while she caught her breath. “Look at how beautifully you took my fingers, baby.” I kissed her thighs, pulling my fingers out of her and away from her sex. She gasped, obviously missing my touch.

I stood and picked her up like a groom would his bride. Carefully, I laid her down on my bed, our bed, if I had anything to say about it, covering her body with mine the moment her back hit the mattress. My face dipped down to touch my lips to hers with her girl cum on them. She didn’t pull away. She kissed me back with matched enthusiasm. Harder. Sweeter. Passionate.

Her tongue plunged into my mouth, and she sucked on mine for a moment before we had to pull away to take a breath.

“I need you,” she whined fucking adorably, making my balls draw up tight. “Please, Daddy. Hollis⁠—“

“We can stop,” I rasped. My cock was painfully hard, aching to get inside of her, but I didn’t want to rush her.

“Hollis—“

“I’m serious. We can slow down.” I swallowed hard, trying to keep my eyes on hers, but fuck, it was so hard when her tits jiggled so fucking beautifully with every breath she took. “We can stop and—“ Whatever fucking good intention I had disappeared the moment her hand rose and touched my face, her eyes locked with mine.

“I want you, Hollis Porter. I’m sure I want you to be my first… everything.” The steady confidence in her voice made my heart soar.

“Your only anything,” I growled, and her eyes, to my sheer pleasure and surprise, softened. She liked my possessiveness when it came to her. Thank fuck.

“My one and only. And your last.” My little virginal flower might be sweet, but she had a territorial side, and fuck me, I loved that, too. I wanted her claim, her mark on me, too. “Please make love to me.”

“Not being able to say no to you is going to be the fucking end of me, little flower,” I growled, pulling my shorts down along with my boxer briefs.

I felt her help push them down, and when I was free and as naked as she was, her gaze felt like a touch. My cock throbbed, fucking pulsated, straining to get inside of her.

“You’re big.”

“I’ll fit.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I was made for you. I’ll go slow. I’ll be gentle,” I promised. “But if you want me to stop, if you want to wait, that’s okay, too.”

“I don’t. I want you. Right now.” She swallowed, lifting her torso up by her elbows as her legs spread just a little wider. I watched as her dewy, puffy lips started to blossom, her pussy pink and shiny from my mouth and her orgasm.

“You sure, baby?” My fingers skimmed her little entrance. I kneeled in front of her, gripping the base of my dick roughly, something to take the edge off, but fuck, I was close.

Dangerously close.

I’d be lucky if I lasted a goddamn minute inside of her with how fucking on edge I was.

“I’m positive. Fuck me, Hollis. Please, Daddy? I need you. Inside. Now.” My nose flared, and breathed in her feminine essence, her juicy girl cum sweet in my lungs with every breath I took. I wanted to smell her scent every day for the rest of my days.

“I’m clean. I was tested six months ago and haven’t been with anyone since,” I shared, my tone hoarse.

A droplet of fluid beaded up at the tip of my dick, the need to get inside of her so fucking great, but above that, I needed to keep her safe, respect her and whatever her wishes would be after this little conversation we needed to have before I took things any further.

“Will you let me take you raw?” I asked. Her eyes flared.

“I shouldn’t.” She licked her lips. “I’m not on anything.” Her hips undulated beneath me, pressing her lips against the tip of my cock. Her eyes fluttered shut, and those perfect pouty lips of hers pouted as she shuddered a breath. Just the sight of her was almost too much for me.

“Will you pull out, Daddy?” Her eyes opened and connected with mine. I didn’t miss the flash of naughtiness in her gaze. “Will you put this”—she reached for me, and I felt like I was a goddamn statue, unable to move from her touch as her warm palm wrapped around the bottom half of my length—“this big cock inside of your little flower? Will you pop my cherry without a condom and then pull out and come all over me?”

“Is that what my sweetness wants?” I panted. Her hand shuttled up and down, and the wicked gleam in her smile should have warned me.

“No, Daddy.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “I want you to come inside of me first.”

“Fuck,” I cursed.

Her words, her dirty, filthy words, snapped that last hold of control I had. I gripped her hand off my dick by her wrist and pulled it up above her head.

“You’re going to be a good girl and take every drop daddy gives you, aren’t you, little flower?”

“Yes.”

“Good girl. Such a good girl for daddy,” I whispered.

I lost sight of her pretty blues when her eyes fluttered shut as the tip of my dick bumped her entrance. “Look at this pretty hole.” I glanced down to where we were about to be connected. “You saved that cherry-tight pussy for me, and daddy’s going to make sure to make it feel so fucking good,” I vowed.

“Promise?” She moaned and writhed under me.

“Fuck, yes. Daddy promises,” I vowed, pushing the tip just a little inside. Her back arched and hips moved, taking me in a little more. “Be a good girl for daddy and don’t move. Stay still.”

“Shit! That’s hot.”

“You like it, don’t you? You like when your man tells you what to do. You like when daddy tells you how you’re going to take me so damn good.”

“Fuck, Hollis! Just like that.” Her leg curled over my hip, and I dropped down, stretching her another inch and then another. Bumping the delicate barrier that she was gifting me. “I promise I don’t take this gift lightly, Maryanne baby.”

“Please, Hollis,” she whined beautifully. “It’s yours! Pop my cherry. Please, Daddy.”

I was a weak, weak man when it came to Maryanne Alder. There was nothing I could ever deny her. Never. Much less this.

I pulled out, and she whimpered her complaint. But before she could utter another word, I thrust back inside of her with one long powerful stroke, covering her lips with mine, swallowing her moan.

“Good girl. Such a good girl. Giving daddy that cherry.”

“Shit!” she hissed, and I smiled. Sweat formed at my temples, and my thighs and arms started to quake as I held myself above her body, impaled deep inside her raw wet heat.

“Does it hurt?” I asked through gritted teeth as I held my body still, waiting for her to accommodate to my size and the way I’d just fucking intruded her body.

“Move,” she cried, blue eyes glassy with unshed tears.

“Get off you?” I rasped.

“No.” Her legs wrapped around me tighter, pressing my balls closer to her, coating them with her honey. “I need you to move inside of me.”

“Anything for daddy’s girl,” I promised and gave her just that.

We started to move slowly at first, both a little out of sync until we found our rhythm. She was new to this, and even though I wasn’t, this felt like a first for me, too.

Our first time together.

The first time sex actually fucking meant something.

Like two pieces of a puzzle coming together, we found the right tempo to the dance our bodies were dancing. Slowly moving up in speed. The sound of the bed creaking beneath our weight, the breathy moans that echoed as the scent of sex permeated the air increased in speed.

“Daddy! Daddy!” Her cries became louder, stuttered, and almost incoherent as she started to tighten around me.

“Come for me,” I demanded, letting a hand slip between us. I was way too fucking close to think straight. The only thought in my head above finding my own pleasure was getting her off. I rubbed her clit as I rolled and ground my hips to find that spot inside of her that made her gush like a leaky faucet,

“Right there!” she moaned. “Oh god, Hollis! Please! I’m going to⁠—“

“Come for me, little flower,” I growled. “Come on daddy’s cock, coated with your cherry and girl cum.”

“Not without you,” she argued adorably. “Please, Daddy, I want to come with you.” Her words came out broken, but the request was clear.

I shook my head trying to swipe away the beads of sweat rolling down my face from hitting my already stinging eyes.

“Maryanne, be a good girl for me,” I panted, my load so fucking close, my eyes were about to cross.

“Not without you,” she whimpered. My adorable, stubborn girl. “Please, Daddy!” I wasn’t going to be able to hold back. She was close, but fuck me, I was closer.

“Daddy. Please. Come inside me.” Her dirty words broke me and threw me over the edge of euphoria.

My release hit me like a Mack truck. Ribbon after ribbon of white-hot heat flooded her unprotected pussy. Blood rushed in my ears, muffling any sound as I worked my hips. Harder. Erratic. Deeper. Emptying myself inside her body just as her slick velvety walls pulsed and milked me. Her own orgasm hit her like a riptide that pulled more and more of my seed straight from my balls and right into her pussy, creaming her to the hilt.

When I was done, I was too exhausted to keep my body weight off her. I slumped down, giving her way too much weight.

“Shit, sorry,” I apologized, my heart still beating erratically. I tried to roll off her so I wouldn’t squish her, but she wrapped her limbs around me to keep us locked together and connected even as I slowly became half hard.

“Stay. Don’t go,” she whispered so softly I wondered if I had imagined it. “Please.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” The words were a promise I would do anything to keep.

NINE

MARYANNE

“I have to go home.” I laughed, unable to comprehend the expression on Hollis’ face.

“Why? Why can’t you just stay here?”

“Because I don’t live here.”

“You could.”

“You’re crazy.” I laughed harder.

“About you,” I could have sworn he muttered under his breath, but I pretended I didn’t catch it.

“And I have responsibilities.” I sighed and shut my eyes.

Guilt ate at me.

If I was honest, I didn’t want to go back to the small, stuffy trailer. It wasn’t like my sisters were going to come over and spend the night. They were with my mom on the weekend, so I had given myself these last few days to spend with Hollis.

It had been a week since we had become whatever we were. Inseparable, the sex kitten he had awoken muttered in my head. You two are inseparable, she repeated and wasn’t wrong. The afternoon after we had hooked up, Hollis tried to talk me out of going back to the club, insisting he would pay me more than enough at the gym, but I couldn’t let him do that.

So, he insisted on being there every shift, regardless of it being an early one or evening one.

When I wasn’t at the club, I was at the gym with him, where the girl who was heading back to school trained me and taught me about the responsibilities I had as a greeter. Working at the gym and the club had been a little tricky, but Hollis hadn’t left my side, and I hadn’t minded.

He would even come back to the trailer with me, meeting my mom and sisters. Even more surprising was how well my mom took to him. And the girls, too.

But for some reason, as the new week was about to start, reality hit.

“I have to help my mom with my sisters.”

“That’s fine. We can pick them up in the morning, take them to school, and go to work. You don’t have to go home for that.”

“Hollis.” I shook my head, tempted to go along with what his plan My eyes roamed the living room, seeing things he probably took for granted.

Stupid, simple things I marveled at. The stable walls that made up the house and the high ceilings and open floorplan. The spaciousness of it only reminded me of just how different our backgrounds were.

“I have laundry.”

“You can do it here.” He had an answer for everything.

“Handsome, I need to go home.”

“Fine.” He sighed, and even though it was my choice, disappointment hit that he hadn’t pressed me a little more to stay. “Let me go pack.”

“Pack?” I repeated.

“You think you’re just going back home and what? I was just going to drop you off?”

“Yeah.” I stared at him, and he smirked.

“That’s exactly what isn’t going to happen.” I blinked. “I love you.” Three little words I’d never had directed at me by anyone I wasn’t related to.

“Hollis.”

“I love you, and you’re mine. I told you that first night.” A muscle in his cheek twitched.

“You’re a little possessive,” I whispered. His amber eyes brightened.

“There is nothing little about how possessive I am when it comes to you, little flower.” He pulled me closer, wrapping me up in his strong arms. “I told you the first time I saw you, I knew.” He had. The morning after, while we ate the brunch he’d whipped up for us, he’d told me everything.

His hidden obsession, he’d called it.

A madness that had driven him to do things he’d never thought he would do. From watching me from his brother’s office without me knowing to creeping into my trailer when I wasn’t home and even riding the bus sometimes a couple of rows behind me when I had used it to get home after a shift at the club to make sure I got back to my place safe and sound.

It had been a lot to take in.

At first, while he confessed what he’d done, I’d thought he was being funny. Pranking me. Making up outlandish shit for some kind of laugh. But when he didn’t smile, his eyes intense, I’d known.

Hell, I’d felt someone watching me but hadn’t been able to explain it.

What jarred me wasn’t what he’d shared but my reaction to it. I never felt everything I should have felt. I should have been weirded out, freaked out that he had broken into my place and even stolen my panties. I should have been terrified that he had looked into me and my life and knew all sorts of things about not just me but my mom and sisters.

But those were none of the things I felt.

He’d sat across from me and anxiously waited for my reaction, his shoulders set tensely. And when I’d stood up, I hadn’t missed the way his eyes had jumped to the front door. I’d known he thought I was going to make a run for it.

And having found out I not only had a bratty side, but that Daddy was a safe space for me to be one, I’d done just that.

I’d run. And he’d chased. Pinning me to the wall, apologizing with kisses on my neck, his hands on my body before he turned me around and froze when he saw the smile on my face.

It might have earned me my very first spanking.

One Daddy made sure I enjoyed.

But now? Looking at his place, comparing it to mine, I wasn’t sure how we would make this work. How we fit.

“You belong with me,” he said, almost like he knew exactly what I was thinking. “Right here, next to me,” he added, his tone the perfect mix of confident and stern. “It doesn’t matter where we came from.” He’d shared his own background of bouncing around in foster care until the Porters adopted him and his four brothers.

“Hollis.” I chewed on my bottom lip. “You have your life together,” I tried to explain.

“Bullshit,” he said, and I frowned.

“You do.”

“I didn’t have shit until you came into my life.” I blinked away tears. “Move in with me.”

“Hollis,” I sighed.

“I’m serious. I don’t want to live without you.”

“What about my sisters? My mom?”

“The house across the street is for sale.”

“And?” I chuckled.

“I’ll buy it. They can live there. The schools in this area are better anyhow.”

“Baby—“

“I didn’t have shit until you came into my life. You’ve given me everything, and I will do anything to convince you to move in.”

“But buying a house?”

“Okay, fine.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s already mine.” He shrugged, and my eyes widened.

“Hollis!”

“Real estate is a good investment.

“Okay, but what if you change your mind and⁠—“

“I won’t.” With anyone else, I would have called bullshit. But Hollis said what he meant and never did anything he didn’t want to do.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to move in just yet, but you will, little flower.” He frowned, and whatever walls I still had standing around my heart tumbled down. “Either way, the house is there, and they could move in tomorrow if they wanted to.”

“There is no way my mom would be able to afford the rent or⁠—“

“It would be the same she pays now,” he cut me off. My nose stung with unshed tears.

“Hollis.”

“And since I’m probably putting way too much out there and already freaking you the hell out, I should tell you, you’re going to marry me one day, too.”

“You want to marry a stripper?” I asked and shook my head, but his fingers held my chin, forcing me to keep my eyes on him.

“You’re more than a dancer,” he said. “Whatever you want to do, you can. I’ll help you. You want to go back to school, I’ll help by paying for everything.”

“I’m not a gold digger!” I exclaimed, feeling vulnerable.

“You’re not. Never said you were. What you are though is mine. And I take care of what’s mine. I’ll pay for it. I’ll be up when you do an all-nighter, brewing you coffee and bending you over your desk so you can study flashcards while I finger you slowly.” My breath hitched.

“You’re ridiculous.” I laughed softly, shaking my head.

And as crazy as it was, as wild and absurd as everything he said sounded, I could picture it.

Our life together.

And I wanted it.

One that would be a little easier not because of his money alone but because the two of us would work ourselves to the bone to help the other make their dreams come true.

“Okay,” I whispered and watched my beautifully unhinged man blink.

“Okay,” he repeated slowly.

“I love you, too.” I bit away a smile and winced. “I should have started there. I love you and… and I like everything you’ve said.”

“But?”

“No buts.” I shrugged. “I want to build a life with you, too, Hollis Porter. Through the good and the bad and everything in between.”

“You’re moving in.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” The smile he gifted me was blindingly beautiful. “Good.” He let go of my face and turned, about to walk down the hall to our room.

“Wait, where you going?” I asked, taking hold of his wrist.

“I’m calling Victor and Tray.” The expression on his face was confused, like I should have known that was the next step.

“For what?”

“So they can help me pack your stuff up and move you in tonight.” He looked at me like that should have been crystal clear. As time went by, down the road, I would learn that Hollis never put anything off when it came to me.

“Tonight?!” I laughed. He pulled me into his space, picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around his middle. With my forehead pressed against his, I compromised. “How about tomorrow morning?”

“Why tomorrow morning?” he rasped, his eyes down on my mouth before meeting my gaze.

“Because tonight, Daddy’s going to show me just how much he loves me.”

“Fucking done.”

“And,“ I cut in, “he’s going to let me show him just how much I love him, too.”

“You’re fucking perfection, Maryanne,” he rumbled before pressing his lips to mine, sealing the deal and our future with a passionate, hungry kiss.

TEN

HOLLIS

“You look happy, brother,” Victor said, tipping his beer bottle towards Jonas, and the rest of us nodded.

The five of us were standing off to the side of the dance floor, watching the crowd dance and laugh. Bright blue eyes caught mine, and I winked, loving the blush my little flower still got when she caught me staring at her.

My sweet innocent little flower had bloomed right in front of my eyes.

“You’re next.” Lucas patted Victor’s shoulder, who snorted.

“No thanks. I’m not the hearts and flowers type.”

“You think they were?” Trager asked. I coughed away a laugh.

“Maybe you’re next, Tray?” I asked. He rolled his eyes before he looked away. I tried to catch his line of sight, but he glanced down at the floor before taking a healthy pull of his beer. Huh, I wonder what that’s about?

“Anyhow, I agree on Victor being the next one to lose his goddamn mind like you three did.”

“Why?” Victor asked, running his fingers through his thick brown hair.

“It would be good for you.”

“Good for me?” He chuckled and shook his head. “In what way is turning into a fucking possessive stalker like these motherfuckers good for me?” Trager rolled his eyes.

“Because you live like a mole person.”

“A mole person.” Lines formed over my brother’s brow.

“That’s what you live like!” Jonas snapped his fingers.

“I mean, he’s not wrong,” Lucas agreed. I pressed my lips together because that’s what happened when the five of us got together. The youngest always got picked on.

“I don’t live like a mole person,” he argued.

“You don’t go out.” I winced, unable to stop myself from pointing out.

“I go to your gym.” His argument was flimsy. I shrugged.

“In the middle of the fucking night, man, when other mole people are there,” I responded.

“That isn’t true,” Lucas said. Vic shook his head.

“I go out.”

“No, you don’t,” the four of us said at the same time, and we all started to laugh.

“I just mean, maybe you falling for someone would be good for you. Make you more… human and less like the computers you hack.”

“I’m not like my computers.”

“No, he’s more like a robot,” Jonas mumbled. I snorted.

“Whatever… I just think—“ Victor kept talking, giving the reasons why Tray finding love would be better, but I couldn’t focus.

Not when my girl dressed in a pretty rust-orange dress started to walk towards me.

“Shit, he’s not even listening to me.”

“Maryanne, can you please ask my brother to pay more attention,” Vic whined.

“Shut the fuck up, Vic,” I muttered, taking her hand in mine and lifting it up to my lips. “You look beautiful today.” She blushed again and leaned in closer. My head dipped down to hear whatever she wanted to ask.

“Dance with me?” Her sweet request made my cock harden beneath the black slacks of the tux I’d been forced to wear as one of my brother’s groomsmen.

I walked my girl out to the middle of the dance floor just as a slow song started to play, something sultry I recognized from the last shift she’d worked at the Velvet Leopard. Her last official shift now that she was enrolled full time at the local college.

“Would you want this?” I asked, looking around at the formal ballroom filled to the brim with Kitty’s favorite flowers.

“What do you mean?”

“When we get married. You want it like this?” I asked.

“This formal? Would you want that?” she asked. I grinned at her, leaning close enough so my lips brushed the shell of her ear.

“You don’t answer daddy with another question, little flower. Unless you want a good spanking later,” I warned and felt her shudder and watched as the skin of her bare shoulder flared to life with gooseflesh.

“I don’t think so. It’s beautiful and it works for them, but I think I would want something a little more… intimate.”

“Intimate, huh? How intimate?” I felt her smile against my face.

“Elope?” She pulled away, and I masked any expression that might give me away. “I wouldn’t want my mom to feel guilty about not being able to help pay for things, and honestly? With you and me… I like keeping things about us just… between us. Is that selfish?”

“God, no, baby girl. We could do that.” Shit, she could have told me she wanted a five-hundred-guest wedding on the moon and I would have figured out a way to make it happen.

“Elopement,” I said out loud and smiled.

I could see that, too.

“A courthouse or… on a mountain. Maybe stay at a cabin for a honeymoon for a couple of days,” she suggested, her eyes dreamy.

“That’s doable,” I promised.

“But I would want a pretty dress.”

“That’s easy. You could make a paper bag look pretty.”

“I’m serious.” She patted my chest with a huge smile on her face, and I took her left hand that had been on my shoulder and slipped something on her ring finger.

“I am, too.”

“Hollis,” she whispered, her eyes on the rock on her finger before glancing back up at me.

“You didn’t ask.”

“I wasn’t going to give you a chance to say no.”

“I wouldn’t have.”

“I know.” I winked and blinked away the emotion that stung at my own eyes. “I love you, Maryanne. I promise I will make you happy. I will help you make any dreams come to life. Anything you want, it’s yours.”

“Hollis.” Her lips wobbled. “I can’t believe you did this at your brother’s wedding.” She laughed and rested her cheek against my chest, and I rested my chin atop her head.

“I wasn’t going to. I have this whole thing planned out tomorrow, but… holding you in my arms, watching you walk down the aisle today… I couldn’t wait. I got a little impatient.” This made her laugh, and when she pulled back to look up at me, I could see the tears as they rolled down her beautiful face.

“Daddy, impatient? Never,” she teased then sniffled. “Let’s not tell them yet, though. I don’t want to take any of the attention off Kitty and Jonas’ day.”

“This is just for us,” I promised, leaning in for a kiss.

Just like our wedding day would be.

READY FOR THE NEXT PORTER BROTHER TO FALL HARD?

Restless Obsession will be coming this fall!

I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I can’t do anything but think about her.

I came across her camgirl page by accident. One look, and I was a goner. The temptation to subscribe is too much to resist, and now my life revolves around every picture she posts and every video she uploads.

I don’t know what kind of spell she put on me, but I’m a man possessed. Clinging to every little crumb I can find about her online like my life depends on it as I become her number one fan.

My obsession goes too far, and I’m living in the apartment next to hers, meeting her as her nice guy neighbor. One that overhears every word that comes out of my dirty girl’s mouth through the thin wall our bedroom shares.

But what will she think when she finds out the truth? That I’m hers online and off? Will she push daddy away or give me a chance I won’t let slip between my fingers?

Dear Reader,

Ready for the Porters? They might not be blood related, but these men became brothers through unlucky circumstances life threw their way, and they’ve done anything to not just survive but better their circumstances.

When they find the one, these brothers have more in common than they know—they’re obsessed. Stalking is just the tip of the iceberg.

This is Victor Porter’s story.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mayra Statham resides in Southern California with her three kids and husband. When she isn’t writing or hanging with family, you can find her hidden behind a romance novel while enjoying a highly caffeinated drink.

She loves hearing from readers.

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Hot Pursuit

Hot Response

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Love at First Sight

Love at First Slice

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So Wrong, It’s Good

Wrong Number

Wrong Impression

Wrong Turn

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Stalked by the Wide Receiver

Stalked by the Coach

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Dirt Devils Series

Never Say Never

Perfect Little Doll

Serendipity Bluffs

Up to Snow Good

Time Waits for Snowman

It’s Snow Secret

The Martinez Women

Rowdy in California

Ruthlessly Yours

Tied and Tangled

Under Oath

More Than Expected

West Ranch

August Kind of Love

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Briggs Brothers

Love Anchored

Shiver His Timbers

Espinoza Sisters

State Of Faith

Broken Seal

Bred With His Heir

Under Oath

Fast & Flirty Motors

Secret Santa

Champagne Problems

Stupid Cupid

Lucky Charms

Friendsgiving Chronicles

Buttered Up

Drizzled Up

Stirred Up

Whipped Up

Friendsgiving Chronicles Boxset (With exclusive content!)

Martinez Brothers

Naughty Kisses

Risky Kisses

Sneaky Kisses

Martinez Brothers Box Set (Contains exclusive content)

Mountain Lakes Series

Booked & Hooked

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Minute by Minute

Last Minute

Right Men Series

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Beech Grove Series

Burning Bridges

Donut Tucker Out

Knoxed Up

More than a Knight

Quite Frankly

Kissing Gabe

Little Black Dress

Mamacita Needs a Margarita

Good Night, Ruby

Hat Trick Barbers

Hard Part

Clean Cut

High & Tight

Never Too Late Series

Longing For You

Wishing For You

Lucky For You

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Crown’s Chance at Love

Etched in Stone

Carried Away

Davenport Harbor

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Served Hot

Knocked Up by the Best Friend

Mr. Fix-It

Locked In

Curvy Fit

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Already Home

Advanced Spanish

Big Nick Energy

Hard to Love

Hot Stuff

Merry & Bright

Mistletoe Wishes

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Cookies & Kismet

Slippery When Wet

Slow Ride

Snowed In With My Ex

Stranded With the Biker

Something Worth Saving

Study Buddy

Swept Away

The Bad Boy’s Convenient Wife

The Do-Over

Warming Up Coco

Whatever it Takes

Zaiden- A Scrooged Christmas

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When a book is created, it’s not just an author in front of a computer. It’s a team of people that help make it come to life.

I love my people. I am forever grateful to each and every one of them.

My babies and Hubs: Thank you for your patience and support. I know it isn’t easy when I’m under a deadline. You are my life, and I’m thankful you four are my number-one cheerleaders.

Julia, Kelly, and DD: Thank you for everything you do. We are scattered around the globe, but I want you to know your friendship, support, and love mean the world to me. I honestly do not know what I would do without you guys. Love you!

You, the beautiful reader: Thank you for taking a chance on this story. You have no idea what it means to me. I know there are a bunch of books you could choose from, and I am humbled and honored you would take time to read my words.

Seriously, THANK YOU!

I appreciate you and hope you enjoyed Bullied by the Catcher!