LOVE SLAVE FOR TWO:.

RECKONING.

Tymber Dalton.

Love and passion...

Nevvie, Tom, and Tyler have made it through more than their fair share of ups and downs, including surviving a cross-country family vacation cooped up together in an RV. With their family growing by leaps and bounds, their future looks bright even as their love and passion for each other burns ever brighter.

A deadly storm...

Now Nevvie has to stay strong not just for her men and her sons, but for her brothers, parents, and her little sister as she helplessly watches a killer hurricane bear down on Tampa from the safety of Savannah.

An even deadlier foe...

When confronted by an evil man hell-bent not only on revenge, but on destroying all Nevvie loves, can Nevvie, Tom, and Tyler rely on each other and draw on inner strength they never knew they possessed to face the final reckoning?.

DEDICATION.

Thank you to all my readers who've patiently waited for this.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

If you want to know more about Nevvie's friends Sarah, Del, and John, you can read about them in my book Dead Moon Rising (available from Siren-BookStrand).

Chapter One.

Wednesday.

Nevvie Kinsey-Paulson lay on the exam table and stared at the ultrasound screen where her ob-gyn, Dr. Fagen, had just highlighted two blurry shapes.

I wish Tommy and Tyler were here. "Twins?" Nevvie asked again, for confirmation.

I can't have heard her right.

She nodded. "Twins."

Crap.

Tom's sister, Karen Kinsey, sitting on one side of Nevvie, giggled.

Dr. Fagen continued. "My guess is you'll be due around January 20, based on what I'm seeing here and their measurements and level of development. That's the best date I can give you since you don't remember the exact date of your last period. With twins, however, it's not uncommon for them to come early."

Karen continued to giggle. "Twins!"

"This isn't funny," Nevvie said as she tried to absorb the news. So much had happened in the past couple of months. During their recent cross-country RV trip, Nevvie had reconnected with her adopted mother, Mary, and her two half brothers, Jacob and Kyle. She used the information when they returned home to find her birth parents, John and Kelly.

Her family had grown. Unfortunately, she also found out upon their return that Alex LaRogue, the man who had almost killed her, had been released from prison on parole and was now at large.

Which was why she was now hiding out in Savannah at Peggy's, instead of at home with her men.

I don't know how much more I can take.

"No, you're right," Karen agreed with a snort. "It's not just funny. It's hysterical."

"Karen, don't pick on her," Peggy Kinsey gently chastised. Peggy was actually Tom's mom, but Nevvie and Tyler had long ago adopted her as their mom. "She's already stressed out enough as it is."

Nevvie looked at Peggy and didn't miss the pleased smile on her face.

"Et tu, Mom?"

"Well, it's not like you're giving birth to a litter of kittens or puppies, sugar. And twins do run in our family. Danny and Elle, for example. And two of my sisters had twins, as did a couple of my aunts. I'm surprised none of my brood were twins."

Still stunned by the news, Nevvie stared at the screen.

"Nev, listen," Peggy said. "You have Tommy and Tyler, and Andrew, and me, and your mom and dad and everyone else to help out. You don't just have a village to help you with these babies. You've got half the damn Eastern Seaboard between Florida and Savannah who will pitch in."

Nevvie couldn't take her eyes off the screen. Twins.

Not one, but two babies she now had to protect from Alex LaRogue, in addition to her young sons, Mikey and Adam.

"I need to go talk to Ben Jones," Nevvie said. She'd meant to do it a few days earlier, but finding out she was pregnant had shoved the errand out of her mind. Then, with a houseful of guests and the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and concern about what the ob-gyn would say about her baby... Babies, she corrected herself, she hadn't thought about it since.

Peggy burst out laughing. "Ben Jones? Well, that's sure one heck of a segue, hon."

She looked up at Peggy. "Can we go talk to him today? Do you think he's home?" He was Peggy's next-door neighbor. A widower, he wanted to move back up north to be near his family and had expressed interest in selling his house and property.

Peggy's brow furrowed. "Okay, I said this before and I'll say it again. Don't let your worry about Alex being out there somewhere on the loose drive you into making a rash decision. I'm happy to have you and the boys living with me. There's plenty of room. I'd be happy with you living next door, too. If you want to buy a house up here, that's fine. Just don't buy the first thing you see because you're afraid."

"Did I miss something?" Dr. Fagen asked.

Karen spoke up so Nevvie didn't have to. "Her ex was in jail for attacking her. They let him out on parole a couple of weeks ago, but he hasn't checked in yet. There's a new warrant out for his arrest because of it. Nevvie's been talking about them moving up here permanently from Tampa. He's not a nice guy."

"Ah."

Peggy chimed in. "We'll contact Nevvie's ob-gyn down in Tampa and have him send up her records. She'll need a planned C-section due to complications when she had Mikey."

Nevvie turned back to the ultrasound screen and stared at it, letting Mom and Karen take over. All she wanted to do was focus on her babies.

"Sounds like a plan," Dr. Fagen said. "With twins, it increases the risk a little, so I'll want to see you in here more frequently than you probably were used to with your first two pregnancies."

"Did I hurt them?" Nevvie asked. "I've had wine. And I took stuff for my headaches and upset stomach because I didn't know I was pregnant."

"If it'll put your mind at ease, we can run the full battery of tests," Dr. Fagen said. "I seriously doubt a few glasses of wine and some ibuprofen hurt them, considering all the women I've seen over the years who did a lot worse during their pregnancies. You don't smoke, you don't do drugs, you're in great health, and your vital signs are all normal. What might hurt your babies is you stressing yourself to death over them. I'd write you a prescription for relaxation if I could."

Nevvie spotted the doctor's kind smile. Her other doctor had accepted her relationship with Tom and Tyler without hesitation or question. She liked that this doctor had also seemed unfazed by her nontraditional poly triad relationship. "Okay. Let's do it. Everything."

"Let's get you cleaned up. I'll send my nurse in to get some blood work from you."

"What about an amnio?"

Dr. Fagen shook her head. "Not this early. Not unless the blood work shows something. I'd rather wait a few weeks. I know it's considered a routine procedure, but it's still invasive." She pushed a button and two snapshots of the screen slid out of the machine. She pulled them out and separated them before handing one to Nevvie. "One for your scrapbook, and one that I'll put in your file for my reference," she said.

"Thank you." Nevvie stared at the blurry picture while the doctor wiped the gel off Nevvie's belly.

"Go ahead and get dressed. And please don't worry, all right?"

"Okay."

The doctor left the room. Peggy and Karen looked over Nevvie's shoulders at the printout. "Well, sugar. Let's get you put back together. I can already see the wheels spinning in your head as you're writing your mental to-do list."

That got a laugh from Nevvie. "I thought Tyler was our family mind reader."

"Yeah," Karen said. "Ole Blue Eyes sure has a way about him."

"He gets it from his father," Peggy said. Her smile was contagious.

Nevvie threw her arms around Peggy and Karen. "I can't believe how our family's grown. Growing."

"Yeah," Karen said. "And you'll be growing right along with it. Good thing I'm not going formal for the bridesmaids' dresses. We'd have to put you in a muumuu."

Nevvie playfully shoved her as Karen laughed.

They had lunch out at their favorite cafe in downtown Savannah. Nevvie hadn't called her men yet. In fact, she'd set her phone to silent and dropped it into the deepest recesses of her purse. She'd deal with them later. Tyler would immediately shift into worry mode. Tom would be over-the-moon happy, but unable to keep Tyler from driving her crazy with his hovering.

All she wanted to do was eat lunch and go home. Well, home to Peggy's house, although it did already feel like home.

"Okay, Nevvie," Peggy said. "Back to our earlier discussion." She eyed Nevvie over the top of her glasses and pointed her salad fork at her as she talked. "We can go talk to Ben Jones today, sure. If he's available, that is. But I really don't want you committing to anything with him today, understand? Not only because I want you to make sure it's what you really want, but you owe Tommy and Tyler a say in it."

"They've already told me it's my decision, Mom. So that part's okay."

"That's fine, but we can go look around, too, you know."

"It doesn't matter. We'd still have to move from the Tampa house regardless of whether we stayed there or moved here. Especially now. Just adding one baby already makes it too small. With twins, we still need a new house. There's no room there to add on." She would miss their house, but with all the recent events, her mind was made up.

"That's fine, sugar. I'm only asking that you don't let your emotions get the better of you. There's no rush. No emergency."

"And, by the way," Nevvie said, directing her comments at Karen, "your wedding is in two months. I'm sooo not going to need a muumuu."

Karen giggled. "I wondered how long it'd take you to nail me on that one."

"All right, girls. Where are we on the wedding preparations, anyway?" The wedding would be held at Peggy's house. They were renting a tent so it could happen rain or shine. Karen and her fiance, Bill, were paying for everything despite Peggy offering to help out.

"Despite my maid of honor yakking everything up the other day," Karen teased, "we decided on a menu and a cake."

"Blame your nieces or nephews," Nevvie countered. "It wasn't the food, obviously."

"What's the guest list look like?" Peggy asked.

"Right around one hundred and fifty. And that's keeping it at relatives and close friends." Karen frowned. "Except Emily."

"Did you have to mention her today?" Peggy scolded. "There was no reason for that."

"Sorry, Momma. I'm still steamed at her. And then for her being a bitch to Nevvie in the grocery store like that..." She shook her head.

"Well, I did sort of start it," Nevvie said. "I could have turned my back on her and ignored her." She let out a sigh. "I have to admit, though, it felt damn good getting it out. I don't hate her anymore. I still don't like her, probably never will like her, but if I ever run into her again, I doubt I'll bitchslap her."

Peggy took a bite of her salad. "I'm just glad Andy was there to stop you."

The other two women looked at her, smiling.

"What is up with you two?" Peggy asked.

"Okay, Momma, spill it," Karen said. "What's going on with you two?"

Peggy blushed a little. "I think I'm old enough to ask a man to move into my house if I want to, young lady."

"We know," Nevvie said. "We just want a heads-up on planning your wedding."

Peggy's face turned even redder. "That's not the biggest concern on our plate right now."

"Momma's living in sin," Karen teased in a singsong voice. "Ooh, wouldn't that make Emily's head explode?"

Nevvie snorted.

"All right, you two," Peggy admonished. "That's about enough out of both of you." She refolded her napkin in her lap. "Yes, Andy and I are...close. If the two of you aren't old enough to figure out what adults who share a bedroom do behind closed doors, then you shouldn't be getting married," she said to Karen. "And you should have figured it out before you got pregnant with twins after having two other babies," she said to Nevvie.

Nevvie and Karen both laughed. "Sorry, Momma," Karen said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "We can't help it. We're just so happy for both of you."

Nevvie leaned in and kissed her other cheek. "You have no idea how happy we are. All of us."