Battered Not Broken Read Online Free PDF Page B

lived through a tremendous pain which he still carried
with him every day.
    Their dinner continued, peppered with bursts
of laughter as the three men told stories of their childhood.
They’d told her all sorts of things about them under the guise of
storytelling and she’d realized they were good men. Now she felt
more comfortable around the three of them than she had when she’d
first awoken. After the brief conversation in the bathroom with
Max, no one brought up her bruises or why she wandered the miles
down their road. They treated her like an old friend stopping over
for dinner.
    When Conner scooped her into his arms and
carried her to the guest bedroom, Gillian didn’t protest. She was
starting to get used to being carried around by the brothers. Then
again, Ronan still hadn’t touched her and she wasn’t sure if she
wanted him to.
    The cold look in his eyes frightened yet
intrigued her. In one heartbeat she felt the need to comfort and
kiss the hurt away and in the next, she wanted to cower behind Max
and Conner. It was crazy. She shouldn’t want to do anything with
any of them. And yet she did.
    Closing her eyes against the soft lamplight
in the bedroom, she pictured the three of them in her mind. The
natural honey tone of their skin pronounced their Native American
heritage proudly. Their hair was cut short, but there was enough
for a woman to wrap her fingers around. Not that she wanted to,
or anything. And then there were their eyes. They were the
color of the deep blue sea and Gillian half expected to see
dolphins swimming in their depths.
    Once she’d finally calmed down, dinner had
been the perfect opportunity to stare at all three of them. True,
they were triplets, but there were subtle differences between them.
With the three of them surrounding her at the table, she could see
it now. Max was quick to smile and crack a joke, never seeming to
take anything seriously while they talked and threw insults at one
another. Ronan’s personality seemed to venture to the opposite side
of the spectrum. Smiles came, but seldom and never quite reached
his eyes. Conner appeared to be a balance between the two of them
with easy smiles with and a hint of vulnerability which lingered
beneath the surface. Their muscular bodies were the same, but
inside they were all different.
    Geez! Their bodies! Their muscles had
muscles. Every inch she could see seemed chiseled and cut from
stone. With broad shoulders tapering to trim waists, she wondered
if they each sported a set of washboard abs beneath their shirts.
Their thighs bulged and shifted with each step they took and she
snuck more than one look at their backsides as they moved around
the kitchen, preparing their meal. Heaven. Gillian was in
hot man heaven and she didn’t want to ever leave. Too bad she
would…soon. Kyle didn’t leave her any choice.
    Rolling over, she stared at the wall. Sleep
wasn’t coming and her bladder was making itself known. Throwing the
covers off, she hung her feet off the edge of the bed and stared at
the floor. Walking would have to happen to get to the bathroom down
the hall, but she wasn’t looking forward to it. Damn, it was going
to hurt, but what could she do about it—nothing. Easing off of the
bed, her breath came in great puffs as she bit her tongue to keep
from crying out. Fuck! It hurt!
    Padding across the room, one aching step at a
time, Gillian took a deep, calming breath when she reached the
doorway. Even with the salve and bandages, the pressure of walking
on her feet sent slices of pain up her legs. Fighting the urge to
moan and groan with each step, she leaned against the closed
bedroom door as she caught her breath. The seconds ticked by as she
waited for the majority of the pain to subside. Gathering her
resolve, she twisted the knob on the door and opened it to the
pitch-black hallway.
    The moment her foot stepped across the
threshold, the door opposite hers burst open and Ronan stood before
her. Gillian jumped in