Hank stroked the underside of her chin and said, “Do I have your attention?”
“Yes, Hank.”
A wide smile crossed his lips and his eyes went warm and misty. “Good, I wanted to make sure I had your undivided attention when I told you I love you, too.”
Another sob escaped her lips, which normally would have embarrassed her but she could see the truth in his unflinching gaze.
Travis’s eyes were centered completely on her as he stroked the back of her head and his beautiful lips, framed by that sexy red beard, turned up in a smile and he said, “I love you, too, Nika. I don’t know if that’s enough for you. Moving from Montana to be with us is asking a lot of you. We know your life is there but we want you here with us.”
She struggled, reaching for both of them, and they helped her turn, draping her over their laps. She hissed as she put weight on her tush but she ignored the pain and threw herself into their arms. “The election? The job offer?”
Hank said, “Secondary. This is what matters to me right now.”
Travis said, “California is nothing compared to you, beautiful Nika.”
She lifted her head. “You’d do that? You’d make those sacrifices?”
In one voice, they murmured, “Yes.”
“You would do that, knowing what a basket case I am?”
Hank squeezed her butt cheek and growled. “Careful, Nika.”
A giggle suddenly erupted from her, almost surprising her. Did she dare hope? The heat in their eyes told her she had to. She rested her head against Hank’s chest, taking his scent deep into her lungs. “I did not enjoy that spanking.”
Travis chuckled. “Then you’ll learn to stop thinking the worst and putting yourself down, because we’ll be happy to light your gorgeous ass up for you if you do. You’re a gift, Nika. That’s how I see you. You’ve lived among animals who have made you feel less than the beautiful woman you are and we aim to protect you from them in the future and help you learn to embrace what we already know to be true. Wake up, Veronica. We love you just the way you are.”
Hank cupped her face and leaned forward to kiss her. “Just the way you are.”
She reached up to stroke Travis’s jaw and Hank’s cheek and she murmured, “I love you, too. I love you so much my heart is practically beating out of my chest. I want to be with you, too. I’ll move to Divine. And I’ll trust you to make the decisions you need to make.”
Hank said, “And no more pulling back from us when we’re together. Regardless of where we are. You have no need to feel ashamed.”
They sat, holding her to them, stroking and petting her, speaking soft words, and Veronica giggled when Hank told Travis about how he’d startled her earlier when he’d come in. Travis eventually lifted her in his arms and they took her back to Hank’s master bathroom and put her in a tub of warm water to soothe her bottom. Hank smoothed a cooling cream on her red ass cheeks, and then they made sweet love to her until she cried with what felt like the first true joy she’d ever known.
She was awake now.
Chapter Sixteen
Veronica felt like she was encompassed with an army of men. Men willing to fight for her, to protect her, and to get to the bottom of the harassment she’d been experiencing online. It was a marvelous feeling as she sank into the desk chair at Hank’s dining room table and signed into the online chat room.
She’d put Duke in touch with the reader group’s admin and she’d set him up as a moderator in the chat room, so he could see the IP addresses of the readers as they entered. The only one they were interested in was the address for BookAddictedWhore. Duke had found a bulletin board post leading them to believe that this person planned to be in that chat room that evening. Veronica hoped so. Duke smiled at her over the monitors and nodded as she greeted the admin and readers started to enter the room.
Kemp sat at another computer setup next to Duke, a headset over his ears and his craggy face frowning between the two screens as he watched and waited. With his brows drawn down in a frown, he looked like a massive avenging angel waiting for the opportunity to enact retribution.
BookAddictedWhore entered the room, followed by the three minions who followed wherever that troll led. Duke’s face lit up and he bumped fists with Kemp who had a trace of a smile as he looked across the table at Veronica. He said, “Veronica, we’re going to nail this bastard to the wall.”
Duke said, “Do whatever it takes to keep him in the room.” He was one hundred percent certain that BookAddictedWhore was a man.
“He hates when I ignore him.”