Twist My Heart by Brooke Taylor (ebook audio reader .txt) 📕

to mean, Any friend of Nik’s is a friend of mine, but if you do wrong by him, we’ll have problems.

Nik eyed me with curiosity. I wasn’t sure if he understood German or not, but I’d sensed he wasn’t thrilled Coop and I had gotten off on the wrong foot. I decided to take the high road. “No problems here. I’m sorry about earlier. I thought you were attacking Nik. I was only trying to help him.”

“It’s good you’ve got his back.” With a sharpened glare at Leo, he added in a low voice, “Too bad my own brother didn’t have my six.”

Leo returned the glower, adding a slight eye-roll. “I was busy climbing a tree.”

“Fucking off as usual,” Coop muttered before turning back to me. “Nik and I have been friends for a long time and we can get rather rough with each other.”

Coop made growling noises as he reached out, gripping Titan in an aggressive hold. Titan snarled back through fierce rumbles.

I lunged to stop Titan from ripping this idiot to shreds, but Nik’s hand closed around my elbow, stopping me. “They’re just playing.”

My heartbeat quickened. Both man and beast collided hard—feral and ferocious. Did Nik seriously think this was just playing? Bulging my eyes at him, Nik gave a small shake of his head and mouthed he’s okay.

Violent sounds sliced the air as they grappled with each other. When Titan clamped his mouth around Coop’s forearm, I almost ripped out of Nik’s hold. But at Coop’s sharp command of, “Aus!” Titan released him. It was over. My heart pounded out as I wildly scanned both Coop and Titan. Not a drop of blood had been shed. How was that possible?

Titan’s tongue flapped as he panted happily, mouth splayed open in wide satisfaction. As Coop’s wide hand came around his heavily furred scruff in a hug, Titan leaned into it.

Coop’s amused gaze lifted, connecting with my confused one. “See, Nik and I are a couple of old war dogs who love to tussle with each other. We meant no harm fighting with each other, except to the other’s pride. I apologize for frightening you, Thea.”

Leo’s brows made a surprised hop at the word apologize. Apparently, he hadn’t heard his brother say it very often, which didn’t shock me.

“In addition to being one of the best damn snipers in the world, Coop was the dog handler on our team,” Nik explained with a smile, no doubt hoping some of the tension between his friend and I had been cut. “He’s part wolf and has never been properly housebroken.”

Coop rose up and let out a couple of long howls as he went to get another round of shots. Titan barked a reply, eagerly following his new buddy.

After watching Coop attack both Nik and my dog, I wasn’t about to let my guard down around him, but I smiled and said, “Sorry again about hitting you with the Squatch Knocker.”

Leo perked up. “You hit him with a what?”

It was Nik’s turn to crack up in a hearty laugh. His explanation came complete with an overly dramatic reenactment including the knocker, much to Leo’s delight. Coop, unamused, threatened to command Titan to tree both their sorry asses.

Nik led us all outside to a circular rock pit with several low-slung, bright red wooden chairs surrounding it. He tossed a few logs in before stoking a fire. Sparks spit out as the flames rose high, licking heat into the cold, crisp night air. The smell of it filled my lungs as I took it all in.

The guys continued to pour liquor down their throats and swap stories of Will until the bottle was empty and it was time to switch to beer. Through it all, Coop tossed sticks deep into the woods for Titan to eagerly fetch.

Nik had wanted testosterone and it’d been delivered in spades. Our tranquil, perfect world now seemed a cacophony of noise and motion. It overwhelmed me to try and keep up with the hunky men’s club that had descended upon the previously quiet cabin. I wasn’t sure what to make of the brothers, especially Coop. But I loved how happy Nik was to be with his guy friends. Seeing their camaraderie made me think about the fun I had with Aimee, and how much I wanted that kind of friendship, too. Nik didn’t think I could trust her, but my gut told me differently.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Nik connected his phone to the outdoor speakers and turned up Hank Williams Jr.’s twangy voice. Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound aptly kicked off Mr. Foxtrot’s custom playlist extoling the virtues of his spirit of choice. The only thing missing was Will’s pitchy backup vocals and a lazily bobbing cigarette threatening to drop from his lips with each belted-out chorus.

And Thea. Nik was missing her too. He’d felt her absence since she’d headed into the house to play with some of her new girlie products about a half-hour or so before. He settled into an Adirondack chair and tapped out a text to check in on her.

Thea: painting my toe nails

Nik: I need a pic

The photo came back of her sitting on the master bathroom vanity. Sparkly red dotted her toes as they curled around the edge of his rectangular white sink. Her perfect, pink ass was reflected in the mirror beside her. Hell yeah. Nik’s nostrils flared as he drew in a slow, calming breath. Below the sensuous slope of her arched back and atop a beautifully rounded upside-down flesh heart, the lacey red triangle of her thong teased him. He pushed his tongue along the roof of his watering mouth, then torqued his neck to either side. Oh, she’d been warned.

Coop leveled a stare at Nik as he rose to excuse himself. “Where do you think you’re going? This evening is about Will and we still haven’t talked about what happened.”

Nik lifted his brows and pretended he’d gotten up to stoke the fire again. A few harsh jabs sent an