Tamed by Stacey Kennedy Page B

split second what he’d said. Kyler finally laughed. “Buddy, you sound like a man who’s falling hard.” At Porter’s silence, Kyler’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “That was a joke.”
    Porter knew an attachment was forming with Kenzie. But dammit all to hell, he didn’t want the Kenzie who didn’t come to him when she had a problem or if she was afraid to be in her house. He wanted her to trust him, to depend on him, and, more important, he wanted her to see how much she deserved that.
    This façade of hers was beginning to irritate him.
    The men around him continued to stare blankly at Porter, so he shrugged. “There’s something there, I won’t deny that. Whether it be just a closer friendship or something more, only time will tell.”
    Dmitri grinned from ear to ear, giving Porter a slap on the back. “Well, that was certainly unexpected, but I’m glad. Kenzie’s been alone for too long.”
    Good point,
Porter thought, and he wondered why that was. Kenzie was beautiful, smart, strong, vivacious, and practically perfect in his eyes when she let her walls down. He couldn’t figure out why no one else had seen all that in her. “I…” He hesitated, not wanting to share too much, but trusting these men also.
    Being with Kenzie started out as a way for him to get his Club Sin Master status; now it had become so much more. His Dom liked how she melted in his touch, how she reacted differently to him than she did anyone else. It made him curious about her, about what could develop between them if he broke down the barriers she kept up. “I like the woman that she shows only me, not the bratty one she shows everyone else.”
    Aidan smiled, shouldering Porter. “She’ll keep you on your toes, that’s for sure.”
    “Or just drive me to drink,” Porter mused.
    Laughter filled the air, and was soon replaced by silence. Only the wind brushing over Porter and stirring up the desert floor into mini-tornadoes held his focus. Porter wondered what all the men around him thought, as they regarded him, a little dumbfounded, as if they couldn’t understand what he, as a Dom, would enjoy about Kenzie. But he rather enjoyed that none of them saw Kenzie like he did.
    It made it all a little more special.
    Sawyer finally cut through the silence, and as he placed his mask on his head, he said, “Let us know if you need our help for anything that comes up.”
    “Of course,” Porter replied, grabbing his mask off the dirt by his feet and shaking it off.
    “Is she not talking to you about what’s going on?” Dmitri asked.
    “She seems incapable of sharing anything,” Porter said, now reaching for his gun resting on a sandbag. “Has she always been that way?”
    Dmitri nodded, finishing doing up his vest. “Ever since I’ve known her, which has been quite a few years now. I tried a long time ago to get a bit more insight into her, but you can’t look into a woman who doesn’t want you to. And she never did.”
    Kyler gave a firm nod, placing a mask on his head yet not pulling it down. “She’s closed up tight, that one.”
    Porter seriously didn’t get it. The woman he had begun seeing was special and sweet, behind the bratty behavior. Why wouldn’t she show others that side of herself? Everyone at Club Sin cared for her, he was sure she knew that. Then why would anyone stay so much inside herself surrounded by people who were only looking out for her?
    It didn’t add up.
    Just as Porter’s mind started running away from him with the concerns about what had her so frightened and also how to get her to trust him, Miles called, “Grab your guns, boys.”
    Porter glanced over his shoulder, seeing Miles approach in lengthy strides. It was good to see him there, and it was nice that the entire gang could get together for Kyler’s big weekend. Miles closed in on them, his stern eyes alight with excitement as his huge frame of six-foot-five reflected the tension ready for a fight. Miles, tonight,