Free FireStarter by Khloe Wren

seat all the way back. I carefully handed Penny over, and my heart
swelled as she reached for him.
    “ You saved me, Clay. Your
knife. Without it, I wouldn’t have had a chance.”
    My brother pushed her hair
behind her ear. “I’m sure you would have still thought of something, beautiful.
And we were one step behind you. He had to stop eventually and we would have
jumped him the second he did.”
    Tears welled in her eyes.
“You need to accept a compliment, Clay. I’m trying to thank you for making sure
I was equipped to deal with this on my own. It proves you really do want me to
work with you, that you see me as an equal partner.”
    Clay squeezed his eyes shut
and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Marshall? Let’s get moving. The sooner we
get her checked out, the sooner we can take her home.”
    Taking their girl home
sounded like a great idea … but which house was going to be their home?
    “ Ahh , Clay?”
    My brother chuckled as I
slid into the driver’s seat and buckled up.
    “ Yeah, we need to choose
whose house is going to be our home.”
    “ My house is down in Ceduna near where I work, so that’s not an option. That
leaves you two. And no offence, Clay, but your place isn’t big enough for the
three of us all and all our stuff. So, I guess we’ll be heading back to your
place , baby. How big is it? Will we all fit?”
    “ It’s a big farmhouse on the
outskirts of town. We’ll all fit with plenty of space. Gah ,
I’m so tired. Can’t you let me sleep already?”
    She adorably nuzzled
against Clayton’s chest, and my brother wrapped his arms around her instantly. I
stayed silent as I started the car. I couldn’t believe she’d accepted the idea
of us all living together so easily. Although, she may well change her mind
when she wasn’t potentially suffering a concussion, I didn’t think she would.
    “ Not till we get you checked
out at the hospital, beautiful. I don’t want you to slip into a coma on us.”
    Clayton’s reminder, along
with my earlier thoughts had me kicking it up a gear to get our woman to the
hospital as fast as I could. It felt so right to have the three us of together,
it had to work out. Even if she tried to take back that she’d agreed to us
staying at her place, we’d win her over. This was the rest of our lives, and I
was certain that like me, Clayton would do whatever necessary to make sure
Penny stayed with us from now on.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    Penny
    I woke with a start but
relaxed back against the mattress once I realized I was safe at home in my own
bed. With a moan I rolled over and landed up against a warm hard body. Arousal
shot through me even as I gasped in shock. With a low grumble, Clayton wrapped
an arm around my waist and pulled me in tight against him before he snuggled into me and I heard his breathing even out.
    What the hell?
    A low creak at me looking
over at the door to my en-suite bathroom just in time to see a very sexy
looking sleep rumpled Marshall wearing nothing but boxers. I ran my tongue over
my lower lip to make sure I wasn’t drooling as he prowled toward me. A sly grin
pulled at his lips as he got closer. Heat flared in my cheeks. He knew I was
staring at him.
    “ Like what you see?”
    I swallowed but couldn’t
find my voice.
    “ You noisy oaf, you woke her
when you got up.”
    I jerked a little at
Clayton’s gravelly voice. I thought he was still asleep!
    “ Sorry, baby, I didn’t mean
to wake you.” Marshall slipped back under the covers and moved to lie on his
side in front of me, so close I could feel his body heat.
    “ Um, what are you both doing
in my bed?”
    Marshall leaned in and
kissed the tip of my nose while Clayton trailed his hand up until he could rub
his thumb over the underside of my breast. Through the cotton of my shirt it
was muted, but I still felt it all the way to my core.
    “ You scared the hell out of
us yesterday, baby. So when we brought you home and you went straight to bed.
We both