Five months before the bank heist…

The world was crumbling down around us all again. A short time ago Simone had survived a tragedy that ended in the loss of my sister Tabby’s life and the torture of our sister Addison. Now it seemed as though it was all happening again, only Addison was the target. My family had been through hell and back and it didn’t look as though we’d find peace any time soon.

Addy was about to leave for work, and I needed to see her face, hold her close before she left. After finding out last night that someone had murdered a woman who looked just like my soul sister, I wasn’t taking any chances.

The news reported that the victim had not only been strangled, but she’d also been burned down her forearms the same way Addison had been tortured when she was kidnapped by a madman. We were barely healing from the tragedy Simone had gotten caught up in. She’d been a near—victim of a serial killer who crawled into the back seats of unsuspecting women’s cars and strangled them. That monster had taken Addy and Simone, and our dear sister Tabitha had ended up taking a bullet to the chest as she singlehandedly took out the predator. She lost her life saving theirs.

And with this newest threat barreling down on all of us,

I never took for granted when I’d see my sisters of the soul again.

“Wait, wait!” I called out as I dashed down the stairs of Kerrighan House where we were all huddled up, courtesy of the newest threat against Addison.

I crashed into her at the front door, and she wrapped her arms around me, her familiar scent filling my nose and helping to settle the uneasiness swarming my senses.

When I felt connected to my sister, I pulled back and frowned. “I didn’t want you to leave without saying goodbye.”

Addison cupped my cheek and smiled softly. Before she could say anything, a manly grunt interrupted our moment.

“Oh.” Addison lifted her chin to a hulking male who had been standing silent next to us. “This is Omar, your bodyguard. He’ll be taking you to and from work today along with

Charlie and Gen.”

I frowned. “Bodyguards… ¿Qué? ¿Por qué?” “Blessing’s doing.” She sighed.

“That girl.” I rolled my eyes. The protective side of our sister Blessing had been piqued and there was nothing any of us could say or do when she was in such a state. Blessing could be hard as nails. To an outsider, she was a sleek panther. Driven, focused, set on a path toward achieving nothing but success. When it came to her foster sisters, she was a kitten. Sweet, loving, playful, and devoted to our family. Our Blessing lost her family in such a violent way at the age of only ten, and then losing Tabby, it wasn’t surprising that she’d taken our protection to extremes. She protected what she considered hers and we were definitely her sisters by choice, love, and devotion.

The man next to us moved his massive arms behind his back and held them there. Which is when I truly noticed all that was Omar the bodyguard.

Heat infused my cheeks as I stared slack—jawed at the magnificent man in front of me. He was much larger than me, but most people were. My sisters called me “Sprite” for a reason. Standing at only five foot three, I was several inches shorter than all of them. Standing next to Addy I seemed miniscule in comparison.

Only this man was something else. Muscular biceps stretched the fabric of his black athletic T—shirt to the very limits. The hem dug into his warm brown skin as though trying desperately not to tear against such bulk. My gaze flowed down his wide chest that went into a V—shape at his waist. I could actually see the ridges and indents of what had to be a washboard stomach through the tight fabric. On his lower half he wore black cargo pants and matching boots, but it wasn’t the imposing nature of his size or clothing that unnerved me. It was his sleek, gorgeous face. Rigid jawline, slashes for cheekbones, and dark, arching eyebrows that haloed the prettiest deep brown eyes. My own were milk chocolate brown, but his, they were melted brown sugar, searing with intensity as we both stood silent and looked our fill of the other. His hair was cut short at the sides with long black layers slicked back and swept off his face on top. If he were wearing a suit, he’d have no trouble fitting in as a put—together businessman with that chosen hairstyle. His lips looked plush, with a plumper bottom one that would be fun to suck on and snap back playfully.

My blood warmed and seemed to pump faster as the images of touching all that muscle, trailing my fingertips along such golden skin, invaded my mind. The more I took in, the more I realized he was simply the most handsome man I’d ever laid eyes on.

Trying to hide my visceral response, I pushed a lock of unruly curls behind my ear, checked that my flirty sundress wasn’t out of place after my dash down the stairs, and slowly looked up into those brown sugar eyes. “Um, hola. I’m Liliana.”

He smiled, and I swallowed slowly while letting out a breath I’d been holding since this vision of male perfection entered my sphere of recognition.

Addison’s voice broke me out of my reverie. “Well, I’m going to leave you two to your introductions. See you later?”

My automatic response was to nod dumbly. “Sí. Um, te quiero. Be careful and check in. I’ll be worried if you don’t.”

Addison pulled me into her arms once more then kissed my cheek. “I love you too, Sprite. Have a good day with your hunk.”

The hammering in my heart slowed to a dull thud as I refocused on the matter at hand. Her words filtered through the fog, and I put my hand to my chest. “He’s not my hunk…” I lost my ability to speak further. How dare she put me on the spot! We’d be having a talk when she returned. I narrowed my gaze and was about to come back with a rebuttal when Omar waded in, shocking me to my core.

“I could be,” Omar murmured, a sinful grin plastered across his handsome face as he scanned my body from tip to toe.

“What?” My gaze slashed to him.

“Bye!” Addy called out, and then slipped outside where the paparazzi was waiting. The disgusting vultures had been hounding Kerrighan House since the press got wind of the connection the murdered woman had to Addison. That wasn’t much of a surprise. This latest horror came on the heels of Simone’s high—profile case. She’d been pursued by a serial killer and was rescued by the FBI.

To make matters worse, Simone’s biological sister was Sonia Wright—Kerrighan, United States Senator from Illinois. Both Simone and Sonia were our foster sisters, two of the eight girls Mama Kerri took in when circumstances in our childhoods left us in need of loving homes.

Addison was tortured for a short time by Simone’s serial killer, but when he was caught, we thought all of this was behind us. The murder of a woman who looked just like Addy, the most well—known plus—sized fashion model in the business, basically meant that we were all screwed, our lives once again turned upside down and inside out.

I gritted my teeth and held out my hand. “Liliana RamírezKerrighan.” All of us foster sisters had taken the Kerrighan name along with our given names. It was a sign of loyalty, love, and honor for the woman who raised us and helped shape the women we were today.

Omar took my hand with his beefy one. The instant our palms touched I felt an interlocking sensation that filtered from my hand up my arm to my chest. Rightness. It was an overwhelming feeling of rightness. Something my biological mother talked about when I was very small. A flash of memory washed over me at the touch.

“Mi hija, when you find your other half, a sense of rightness will flow through your veins and pierce your heart. Be aware, my

Liliana, the simplest touch can change your life.”

I pulled my hand back so fast it was as if I’d been burned.

“Omar Alvarado. I’ll be guarding your body for the foreseeable future.” His lips split into a sunny smile. “Definitely not a hardship,” he added, his gaze all over my form as though it were a caress.

My ire replaced all the sexy shimmers I’d been feeling at his presence and amazing good looks. I put my hands to my hips and glared. “Not exactly professional behavior for a hired bodyguard,” I fired back.

His lips twitched. “There is nothing professional about the way my body is responding to you, mi lirio.” He stated boldly and matter of fact. Calling me “his lily” as though he had the right.

I let my mouth drop open as shock invaded. “Wow, you are a total player, aren’t you?” I pressed my lips together and straightened my spine lifting me to my absolute tallest. Not that it would even scrape against his height. The man had to be close to six feet and I was barefoot.

Omar tilted his head, lifted his hand, and petted his bottom lip with his thumb. That move alone would normally have me fanning my face. Not this time. I was too annoyed by his blatant interest.

“I most definitely want to play with you, chica.”

A stiff wind could have plowed me over where I stood. The man was a menace. An infuriatingly sexy menace that I wanted to throttle as much as I wanted to kiss. Stupid hormones. Why did God have to send me the perfect man in looks and stature to watch over me, yet be impossible to handle without wanting to stick him with a knife!

I hissed under my breath, my fury about to hit epic proportions when my sisters Genesis and Charlie bounded down the stairs and stopped in the entryway.

Charlie’s red ponytail continued to bounce while Gen was digging through her briefcase looking for something. Her body was encased in a classy cream—colored business suit as she was a social worker in downtown Chicago and believed in dressing for success. Charlie wore jeans, a baby doll tee, black high—top Converse, and a smile to work. She operated a youth center for wayward kids and runaways who needed a safe place they could hang out, take some classes, and fill their bellies, among a wide variety of other activities.

“We’re here. We’re here,” Charlie gasped a bit out of breath. “Sorry, Lil, we didn’t know until twenty minutes ago that we needed to be ready earlier so you wouldn’t be late to school.”

I glanced down at my watch and noted the time as Omar was introducing himself to my sisters and asking whether or not he’d be escorting Aurora, Genesis’s daughter who we called Rory, to school too.

“Rory will be staying here with Mama Kerri,” Genesis explained.

“¡Mierda! I have to get to first period.” I rushed over to where I’d left my leather backpack and slipped into a pair of high—heeled cork wedges that had two gold leather bands across the top of my foot and one slim band around my ankle. I almost always wore heels to school because I hated the fact that most of the teenagers were taller than me. And I was hell on wheels in a pair of heels. I could run in the damn things if needed and would have to prove that fact today in order to be on time for work.

I snapped my fingers. “Come, ¡rápido, rápido!”

Omar shifted right into business, opening the door as the paparazzi went wild, screaming questions at us like maniacs. “What do you know about the backseat stranger!”

“What about the new murderer!”

“Is it a copycat killer!”

Omar led the three of us to a blacked—out SUV, shuffling me into the front seat and my sisters into the back.

Thankfully the school wasn’t too far from Kerrighan House. Omar barely pulled up to the school when I jumped out the door and ran full tilt into the building, escaping him, my sisters, and all of the unwanted feelings that annoying man brought to the surface.

S

I exited the building after a long day of teaching children a second language that in most cases, they didn’t exactly want to learn, but had to in order to receive the foreign language credits they needed for graduation.

Maybe I should switch to college—level? I pondered the option, my head filled with the day’s lessons and how some of the kids just couldn’t sit still in order to pay attention and learn the content I’d spent hours preparing for them.

Thankfully, all the teenagers had already left school for the day. The second the last bell rang, ending the school day, they were *poof* gone within a blink of an eye. I usually stayed until four—thirty most days because I didn’t want to bring my work home if I could avoid it. The two hours after class usually was enough for me to finish grading the previous day’s work and plan for the next day’s curriculum, but not always. It was true, what they said… A teacher’s work was never done. Not until summer break. And we needed that time desperately by May/ June. Two to three months to decompress from nine months of shaping children’s minds and behaviors over the course of a school year was no cakewalk. What I wouldn’t give for each child’s parent or parents to spend a single day teaching in my shoes. One day was all it would take for those people to run screaming. Maybe then we’d get more parents participating and better pay. I snort—laughed at myself while the visual of parents racing from the building with their hands waving in the air as they escaped their own kids spun through my mind.

“Yo!” I heard called out.

I finally looked up and assessed my surroundings, having been lost to my thoughts.

“Not smart, chica. You didn’t even look around when you exited. Anyone could have assaulted you. Plucked you right up and into a car without anyone being the wiser.”

I scowled and pointed up to the cameras on the front of the school, feeling rather triumphant.

“Did cameras stop the last guy from taking Addison or Simone?” He countered with no hint of malice, no I—told—youso’s in his tone. Just facts being stated so that I could come up with my own conclusion.

He had a point, the brute.

“I’ll be more careful in the future,” I stated feeling properly chastised as he opened the front passenger door of his SUV. Not wanting to sit next to him, I went to the back, jerked open the door, tossed my backpack inside, and climbed into the vehicle, slamming the door once I was in.

Omar chuckled, shut the front passenger door, and made his way around the car to the driver’s side. Once he was inside, I pulled out my phone so I didn’t have to talk to him or look at his handsome, smug face.

Before long he pulled up to the youth center to pick up Charlie.

He turned around in his seat. “Stay put. Unless you want to follow me in? The glass in the car is bulletproof and I’ll lock the doors behind me.”

I chanced a glance up. “I’m not a dog you can ask to sit and stay. But I’m good here, outside of your presence, thanks.”

“Winning you will be fun, mi lirio. I look forward to the chase.” He grinned and then exited the vehicle.

“Try not to let the door hit you in the culo on your way out! ¡Idiota!” I huffed, then read the text from Mama Kerri in our family group chat asking one of us to pick up Epsom salts. With all the stress she’d been under between Simone, losing Tabitha, and now Addison being unsafe once again, our Mama deserved a relaxing bath with some healing salts. I’d also scraped the dregs of my mascara this morning and threw the tube out. I needed another.

I spun around and smiled, seeing the Walgreens right across the street. I checked the building in front of me but saw no sign of Charlie and the brute. Charlie was known for dragging her feet. The woman would be late to her own wedding one day.

He told me to stay put. Like a dog, I reminded myself.

“Psshh. I’m not going to let un hombre importante tell me what to do. When to sit and stay. I’m my own woman.” I spoke under my breath and pushed open the car door, looking once more for Charlie and Omar. They were still inside. I could be in and out of Walgreens before they got back.

Feeling mighty proud of myself, I checked both ways for cars and ran across the busy street.

Quick as lightening, I got two tubes of my favorite mascara, a large bag of lavender—scented Epsom salts, a sucker for Rory, and a bag of Skittles for myself.

I couldn’t have been more than five minutes. But when I exited the Walgreens, I found Omar leaning against the back of the SUV facing the store with his monster—sized arms crossed over his chest, a big vein protruding down the front of his forehead, and his eyes hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses. His lips were pressed together so tight they were white in color against the brown of that scrumptious skin.

“¿Qué? What?” I asked, trying to sound nonchalant, even though I knew he was furious.

His nostrils flared as he moved around the car and opened the front passenger door when he knew I preferred the back so I could be away from him.

“I’ll sit in the back, thank you…”

“Get in the car before I put you in the car!” he said through his teeth, leaving the front passenger door wide open.

“How dare you speak to me like that! You’re not the boss of me!” I ranted, getting ready for our next verbal fight.

“So help me God, Liliana…Get. In. The. Car.” His tone was fire and ice and not meant to be thwarted.

A shiver raced up my spine at the severity of his request. Still feeling put out, I stomped my way to the car, tossed my purchase into the front seat, and hefted myself into the tall vehicle.

Omar watched my every move and shut the door once I was safely inside.

“Um, you’re in troubleeee!” Charlie cackled from the back.

“¡Cállate!” I spat back at my sister who was smiling so huge she looked like a ray of pure sunshine.

The second Omar got in the car and backed out of his parking spot, he went off.

“Do you have any idea what could have happened to you!” he roared. “A murderer is after your sister. A murderer who cares nothing for human life other than getting whatever sick and twisted fix he gets from killing innocent women.”

“I just went to the store across the street!” I tried, but he was having none of it.

“It took Wayne Gilbert Black less than three minutes to get Addison Michaels willingly into his car. Then he kidnapped your sister and tortured her! That is not happening on my watch, chica. Not now, not ever. No man will touch one curl on your infuriatingly pretty head!”

“Shoot, girl, he told you.” Charlie snickered from the back seat with a wiggle of her neck and shoulders for effect.

I jerked my head around and shot lasers from my eyes.

She put up her hands in a placating gesture. “Sorry, sorry. I’m minding my own business. Just looking out the window. Nothing to see here. Oooh look, pretty trees over there. And a guy with a giant belly washing his car with no shirt on. Nice.”

I groaned under my breath. My temperature started to rise as irritation filtered through my blood stream.

“Do you understand why you can’t just walk off? Do you? If I hadn’t seen you entering the store as we exited, I wouldn’t have known where you were.” His face was a mask of anger. “I would have alerted every member of my team to your absence. Called the police, your family…” He shook his head and flicked the blinker with more strength than was necessary.

“Okay, okay, I didn’t think it was a big deal.” I tried to soften my tone but apparently it was the wrong thing to say.

“Big deal? I could have lost my job!” he roared again.

My skin started to prickle and my own frustration rose like a boiling pot that was about to foam over.

“If you had made it clear to me the importance of staying in the car instead of treating me like a pet or small child, maybe I would have listened.” I used my best teacher voice possible. “I’m an adult and expect to be treated as such.” I positively seethed beneath my skin but did my darndest to keep my cool.

“I didn’t think I had to. The dead body with your sister’s picture clutched in her hand should have been enough. ¡Dios mío! ¡Mujer me vas a volver loco!” Omar switched fully into Spanish.

“I’m making you crazy? Maybe you should ask for a different security detail. It seems the feeling is absolutely mutual.”

He pulled near the front of the building where Genesis worked and stopped the car.

I watched fascinated as he closed his eyes, his fingers gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white before he released them and stretched them out as he took a calming breath.

“If you would be so kind to stay in the car, meaning, do not leave the vehicle, I would be grateful. I’d like to keep my job and your safety is my number one priority.” He plastered a fake smile to his expression and stared into my eyes. “How’s that?”

A jaunty snort filtered from the backseat but Charlie didn’t say a word.

I huffed and looked down at my nails as if checking my manicure. “Better. Needs work,” I said flippantly, not ready to give up the fight. My temper and stubbornness were legendary and had zero boundaries. I let it fly often. Which is why Mama Kerri always said I was the “Wild Spirit” out of her chicklets. My fire couldn’t be contained. She said the man for me wouldn’t combat my fire but let it fuel him, not snuff it out.

My comment had him shaking his head and laughing heartily, his body language relaxed once more, his anger gone as quickly as it came, like lighting a candle and blowing it out. The deep timber of his laughter wove through the surface of my skin and dug in, sending tendrils of pleasure through my system.

I clenched my thighs and firmed my jaw. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I blinked rapidly trying to stave off my body’s response.

He inched closer to my face so that his nose was only half a foot away.

“There is no place I’d rather be than sitting in a car sparring with you, mi lirio, but I have a job to do. We shall continue this later. Perhaps in a more private setting,” he added with a saucy wink.

“What? No! Are you kidding me?” I fired back as he left the car and beeped the locks leaving me dumfounded in my seat.

“Shit, Lil, the sexual tension between you two is straight fire! Are you gonna hit that or what?” Charlie leaned forward between the front seats.

“No!”

She frowned. “Why not? He’s hot. He’s your type. And he’s sooooo into you.” She grinned and waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“He makes me so angry I want to punch him in the face and stick a rolled up dirty sock into his stupid sexy mouth so he will shut up!” I spun in my seat to look her in the face.

She nodded. “I could totally see that, but you also want to bang him. That’s obvious to him, and to me.”

I gritted my teeth and growled. “The next time you ask

me to help one of your Spanish—speaking kids at the center the answer is no!” Which was a total lie. I’d help any kid in need just like I was helped by Mama Kerri and my sisters of the soul after I lost my parents.

She snort—laughed. “Whatever you say, Sprite.”

“Don’t call me, Sprite!” I snapped as the back passenger door opened and Genesis entered with a serene smile and tired eyes.

Neither Charlie or I spoke as Omar got settled into the car and I astutely ignored him and his delicious—smelling hint of an earthy cologne.

“What did I miss?” Genesis asked.

Charlie took her hand with hers and stared out the window. “Don’t ask, sister. Don’t ask.”