Bound By Temptation by Trish McCallan

room. Every shimmy sent pain cascading down her arms and legs. Even her back ached. Ice? God no. But a hot bath sounded like pure heaven.
    “Nice dog,” that familiar voice said again. “How long have you had her?”
    Instinctively bristling and preparing to go all mama bear, Emma turned her head. She placed the voice before her gaze landed on Brett Taggart’s square, sincere face. Unlike his roommate, or Officer Asshole, he wasn’t being facetious.
    Relaxing, she smiled at him. “I picked her up today. But we’ve already bonded.”
    His gaze dropped to the dog trying to burrow into her waist, and he offered them both a small, lopsided smile. “I can see that. Looks like you chose well.”
    Her smile widened. Why oh why couldn’t she have fallen for this man instead of the one banging things about in the kitchen? Brett liked her dog. And he wouldn’t have dumped her and disappeared.
    If only her hormones had settled on Brett. He and Lucas looked enough alike to be brothers. Same height and build. Same brown hair, although Lucas’s was a shade or two darker. Only their eyes were different. Although the difference there lay in the color, not the expression. They both scanned their surroundings constantly with the same sharp, watchful expression.
    She frowned. Come to think of it, all the men who wandered in and out of Lucas’s condo shared the same cool, intense gaze. As though they were continually on alert, scanning the environment for hidden dangers.
    Rather like Officer Addario—which made sense when it came to his profession. As a cop he’d need that kind of attentiveness to his surroundings. But why would the rest of them need such hyper vigilance?
    “Earth to Emma,” Brett said softly.
    Working up a smile, she offered a sheepish shrug. “Sorry, I guess I’m preoccupied. How have you been?”
    His eyebrows raised. “Better than you.” He scanned her bandaged hands and the thick padding beneath the split fabric of her jeans. A nasty chill frosted his blue eyes. “Too bad Luc didn’t take all those bastards out, instead of just the one.”
    She started to laugh, but faltered at the cold look on his face. He had to be teasing. A multiple homicide because of her skinned hands and knees? But the icy, furious expression that seethed in Brett’s eyes indicated he was serious.
    Her mind flashed back to Lucas’s instant and deadly reaction to the men in the van. He hadn’t hesitated to unleash a boatload of bullets into the vehicle. Nor had he balked at killing the man who’d grabbed her.
    Just what kind of training did Naval Intelligence officers undergo? Lucas had said his job was mostly clerical, auditing and such.
    “You don’t need to worry, Emma,” Brett said, gingerly settling on the edge of the wood coffee table in front of the couch. He leaned forward to take her hands, but backed off at the low, rumbling growl that erupted from Cuddles’s throat. “We won’t let those bastards near you. You’ll be safe here. You have my word on that.”
    With two frozen bags of vegetables in hand, Lucas bulldozed his way between Emma and his roommate, forcing Brett to stand and back up. Emma frowned at the flat, cold warning Lucas shot his friend.
    What in the dickens had that been about? Possessiveness? But that would imply interest, which his three months of avoidance completely negated.
    “Make yourself useful,” Lucas snapped, “and grab her suitcase. It’s on the front steps.”
    Brett cocked his head, eying him shrewdly. “Where do you want it?”
    “My bedroom.” Lucas glanced at Emma. “I’ll take the couch.”
    She really needed to nix that idea, but she lacked the energy to argue her case. Best to save her strength and tackle that chore later.
    He waited for Brett to leave before taking a seat on the couch next to her calf and gently settling a bag of frozen vegetables on each knee. Cuddles watched him suspiciously but kept the warning limited to her eyes.
    “I called Rio, he’s