I grabbed for his collar and yanked, just needing it gone. I twisted my other hand free, dragging it from his hold, and went for his pants, but his hands were there, too.

  He tunneled into my pants, and I felt his finger at my clit.

  My eyes opened.

  He watched me, waiting, and as my gaze met his, his finger slid inside.

  The feeling almost too much. It’d been so long since I’d done this—and to do it with him…

  He thrust again and again. His thumb rubbed over my clit as he kept pumping into me. A second finger joined, and I felt so full.

  He kept going, grinding into me, pushing up and rotating around.

  His mouth found mine again, and after that, I couldn’t do anything. This feeling…

  Then just as I was about to explode, he pulled back.

  “No!” I gasped.

  I felt him grin against my lips, and he nipped at me. “Yes,” he breathed, his mouth fusing once more with mine.

  He adjusted his hold on my waist and moved a hand behind me. He rubbed there as two fingers slid back inside. His tongue moved in the same rhythm as his fingers, and I shuddered. I had no ability to move except to answer him back. Whatever he wanted.

  Round and round. In and out.

  The ache pulsated through me, mingling with pleasure and need.

  Then my entire body spasmed in his hold, and I cried out, my mouth ripping from his.

  He held me in place, moving to nuzzle my throat as he kept moving in me, caressing as I rode out the waves. As they started to ebb, as I started to think again, he released me enough to face him fully. He removed his hands, but he was still there, grinding against me.

  He still had his pants on.

  Not fucking fair.

  Growling, I reached for them.

  He caught my hands, holding them out to the side, and he evaded my mouth.

  “What?” I snapped.

  He grinned, lust swimming in his eyes. “I need to know you’re sure about this.”

  “Do you not know what you just did to me?”

  His grin widened, and he dropped one of my hands, pressing his hips back up into me.

  I groaned, my head resting against the tile, and a shiver wracked my body.

  His hand went to my hip, flexing there. “Are you sure?”

  I ground down on him and gave him my own grin. “That answer your question?”

  His eyes flashed full black, and I had a second to wonder if I’d just teased when I shouldn’t have before he plucked me from the wall. He carried me back to the bedroom and dumped me on the bed, soaked. He went to the nightstand for a condom and stood over me as he opened it.

  I sat up, a languid sensation filling my bones, but there was excitement, desperation, a spike of adrenaline and power all rolled up with it. I’d never experienced this before.

  I was almost drunk from it.

  I reached for his pants, and without giving him a second to question me, I pulled them down. His dick was right there, large, resting against his stomach. My mouth watered.

  I took the condom from him but bent forward before putting it on.

  I wanted to taste him.

  I eased down, sealing my mouth over him, and I felt his intake of breath. He stilled for me, but that’s exactly what I wanted.

  I worked him, opening my throat, taking more, sucking him in and in and in.

  He began moving with me, and after a few more times in and out, I relaxed more fully. He touched the sides of my head and began moving in me.

  He began fucking me again.

  I loved this.

  I’d never done this—let a guy ride my mouth—but I was elated, and I couldn’t explain why. That same almost-drunk feeling shuddered through me as he paused. He started to withdraw, but I held on, sucking him one last time, and he unloaded into my mouth.

  After, I pulled my mouth back.

  After, I swallowed.

  After, he watched me with heavy-lidded eyes.

  After, he pushed me down, took the condom, pulled it on, and slid inside of me.

  And then he made me scream all over again.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  JONAH

  “Why the shower?” Carson asked.

  I laughed, surprised at that question. We’d just paused to rest after our second round. I had no idea the time, nor did I want to know. We’d been in the room all day. It could’ve been nighttime again by now. And if it was, I really didn’t want to know.

  That meant I’d have to make some decisions, and I wasn’t ready.

  Carson turned my way in bed, pulling the sheet over her.

  I shrugged. “Better maneuverability for what I did in there.”

  “Are you serious?”

  I grinned. “Yeah.” I paused. “Wait, you enjoyed that, right?”

  A slow smile was her response. Her cheeks pinked. “Oh yeah. I liked that a lot.”

  “You’re shy.”

  She nodded, not looking at me, and those cheeks remained pink. “I’d never done a few of those things. I mean, the sex, yes. The other stuff, no.”

  I rolled closer. “You’ve never given a blow job?”

  “Not like that.” Her cheeks went from pink to red. “I’ve never enjoyed it either.”

  Warmth churned through me, and fuck, I liked hearing that—a whole ton. More than I thought possible.

  I rolled to my back, resting my hand behind my head.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  My throat got full, but I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”

  I heard her moving, and she settled over me, sliding her hips over mine.

  I was already hardening at the first movement, but as we came in contact, I was ready to go. My hands went to her hips and held her there, not pushing her away, but not letting her start to grind over me.

  I closed my eyes, pain slicing through me. “It was like this with Melissa.”

  She froze. A gargling sound ripped from her before she started to lift off of me.

  I stopped her, holding her in place and moving her to my lap. Right in front of me. Her face to mine. Her eyes to mine. Her lips to mine.

  She was trembling, and I didn’t think it was a good tremble this time.

  Something new and deep moved through me. Pain intermixed with it. I felt a sudden, new tenderness right along with whatever was going on inside of me. I tucked a strand of hair behind Carson’s ear.

  She jerked at the gentle touch, her eyes big and dark. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “That she was the last.”

  I shook my head. “She wasn’t the last.”

  She went rigid again.

  I smoothed my hand down her arm, going to her hip, and I urged her into a slow and sensual roll. She began moving with me.

  “With you, it’s you,” I assured her. “It’s not her.”

  She paused, her hands falling to my chest. “Oh.”

  I reached over to the nightstand and pulled another condom out.

  Her eyes held mine, not moving, and she took it from me. Opening it, she lifted herself up, and neither of us looked away as she rolled the condom over me and moved down on me.

  She started—moving, rolling, riding—and as she did, neither of us looked away.

  Not once.

  This time felt different.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  CARSON

  Holy moly Christmas. I couldn’t believe what had happened.

  Jonah kidnapped me, and then was like, “Oopsies, we shouldn’t have kidnapped you,” and my response was to fall on his dick. Multiple times.

  I was nuts! My sister would—my sister! I’d been gone for a full night. She might’ve believed the first lie, but not a full night and day. I’d never been gone that long on a one-night stand, and I assumed that’s what Jonah’s brother had texted to her.

  Jonah reappeared from the bathroom.

  We’d been in the room all day, literally, and my stomach was growling. His had growled earlier during I’d forgotten which round, but he hadn’t cared.

  Now he was dressed, and he took one look at my face and must’ve seen my alarm.

  “What?”

  “If you’re not going to kill me, I need my phone back. My sister will be raising holy hell looking for me in Kansas City.”

  He grimaced and looked toward the ceiling.

  “What?”

  He looked back at me, his jaw set. “Why don’t you dress, and I’ll see if my brother is back. He’ll have your phone.”

  “Will he have destroyed it?” I stood as he went to the door.

  He put in the unlock code, and yeah, you bet your ass I was watching.

  He turned back. “He waited to see what I wanted to do with you.”

  A huge knot formed in the bottom of my throat.

  He opened the door and started to go through it.

  I called his name. I had to know.

  He glanced back. “Yeah?”

  “What are you going to do with me?”

  A cloud came over his features, but he just shook his head. “Not what you’re worried about. Don’t worry.”

  Then he was gone. The door closed behind him.

  It locked again.

  Fuck’s sakes. That pissed me off, but I hurried toward the bathroom. Wait… I backtracked and went to the closet. I had no clothes, so I perused the shelves, surprised to find some women’s clothes in here. I grabbed leggings and a large shirt—black to match my mood—and headed for the bathroom.

  I wasn’t sure where to find shoes, hoping I wouldn’t need to make another run for it. Jonah seemed to have moved past that, so maybe we all had—his two brothers as well.

  I showered and dressed, then went to the code box and put in the code Jonah had used.

  The door flashed green. I opened it.

  I realized why he hadn’t seemed to care if I saw the code. I had no idea where to go. However, the room was in the back corner. I only had one direction to go, forward.

  I started exploring, remembering we’d gone down some stairs, so I went up some stairs. After that...I got lost. At one point, I was pretty sure I was near where I’d been found in the forest. Which, if you thought about it, that was ingenious on their part. At another point, I found myself in a hallway with a wall broken up by large rocks. It was camouflaged to blend in with that forest I’d been in yesterday.

  Whoa. If I kept going, would I make it to a road?

  Also, a follow-up thought: Do I want to go that route now? Escape?

  After Jonah and I did what we did, he seemed like he’d feel guilty if I were to die. He was a doctor... Those people took oaths of morality and saving lives, not killing people—and caring. That meant he had to care...right?

  Then again, maybe I’d enjoyed a whole day in bed with someone I’d given too much credit to? Who knew where Jonah was in the hierarchy of his family? It might not matter what he said, what he wanted. The blond brother seemed higher up, or at least more ruthless.

  I could possibly be screwed here. That seemed a high probability.

  At this point, I was giving it up to the universe where I should go. So I kept going.

  I went through another batch of hallways and turned left. After a bit, I came to a bedroom.

  Another bedroom.

  I got a glimpse of the middle atrium.

  I kept on going.

  I was going past rooms I didn’t remember seeing before, but I was on the other side of the middle green area, so that made sense.

  A gym.

  An indoor pool.

  Another courtyard, but this one was inside. It looked like it was outside, but it wasn’t.

  I kept on, coming to another set of doors.

  I opened them and heard voices, and I froze because one of them was female.

  “You never told me about Melissa!”

  I careened to a halt as the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Whoever she was, she was furious.

  “I learned this morning that she died nine months ago! My little brother’s fiancée was murdered in front of him,” she rasped out in a screech. “Kai and Tanner were there. They fucking swooped in to save you, and you asked them not to tell me! It’s me, Jonah! Me! What were you thin—”

  “I was thinking I didn’t want you to worry about me!”

  I nearly fell over, hearing that. My mind returned to that day. I’d seen the torment, but hearing it again, it tore through me, leaving scars in its path.

  “Jonah.” A deep sob sounded from her.

  I didn’t want to hear this, but I couldn’t make myself leave. I had to hear, but it was going to make me bleed on the inside.

  “Brooke,” he said quietly, and I recognized that voice. He’d used it with me just a few hours ago.

  Pain laced through me, spreading out, inching and weaving around all of my veins.

  “You’d just had Millie,” he continued. “I didn’t want you to deal with—”

  “Deal?” Another choke from her. “Do you not know how much I love you? How much I adore you? You’re my little brother. You’re mine to watch over. Mine. Kai takes care of all of us. Tanner, he does what he does, but you—I got you growing up. You and I were both shipped off. You and I are both different, but you and I—it was us. I never felt more part of the family than when I was with you. I’m the only girl. You’re nice. You should understand me.”

  I blinked away tears.

  “You’d just had Millie,” he said again. “I know what you would’ve done. You would’ve packed up your newborn and flown straight to me. You would’ve tried to take care of me, your husband, and your newborn. I didn’t want you to be at risk, or her to be at risk.”

  “Jonah.”

  “You had an at-risk pregnancy and birth. Yes, I wanted my sister with me, but I’m a doctor in my heart. You needed to be taken care of, and not knowing about me was what you needed. I’d do it again.”

  I could hear her sobbing.

  “Brooke.”

  A hand covered my mouth, and I felt myself yanked backwards—back through the door I’d just gone through, past the inside courtyard, past the pool, and into the gym.

  The door shut behind us, and we were encased in four walls of mirrors—or mirrored glass, at least. I was able to see through them to the outside. The blond brother shoved me farther into the room and released me, blocking my way out with a smirk on his face.

  “Aren’t you the sneaky little eavesdropper?” he said. “You’re supposed to be secured nice and tight in the lock room.”

  I opened my mouth, ready to deliver some explanation, when I comprehended his words.

  The lock room.

  That’s what we’d been in?

  Not all the bedrooms were the same?

  I felt hot all over, and I knew my face was red, because that’s how I rolled, being a redhead. “Lock room?” I asked.

  But of course. That made sense. The coded lock. I closed my eyes, bracing myself. “Is that where you put all your captives?”

  He snorted. “No. Most of us use trusty guards to keep ours in. Consider yourself insulted that Jonah didn’t want to use guards for you, but then again, maybe he’d been thinking it through. We have security footage for that room.”

  I rocked backward. My voice dropped to a whisper. “What?”

  Security footage?!

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  JONAH

  I hadn’t seen any guards in the house. That should’ve been my first clue, but I’d taken two steps into the kitchen when my sister pounced. She hadn’t explained anything, just started in. I’d been quiet for a while, letting her get this out of her system. I owed her this, at least, but after a few minutes, I’d started pushing back.

  We were now in our third round of Brooke being angry that I’d kept Melissa’s death from her, and I couldn’t handle hearing about it again. When she stepped forward, waving her glass of wine in the air, I caught her wrist before she flung it on the floor.

  “I got it,” I told her, trying to keep my voice level. “You’re hurt. I’m sorry. But can we not rehash how I lost the love of my life for a fourth fucking time?” My hand tightened around her wrist before she blanched, realizing what she’d been making me endure.

  “Oh, God. Jonah.” Her face crumpled.

  She was going to lose it. Again. In a different way.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s fine.” I let her go, taking her wine glass with me and setting it clear across the room. My head down, I braced myself against the counter. I needed a moment, just one moment. I took a breath, rolled my shoulders up and back, and I turned to face her.

  Right. Let’s keep moving forward. I cleared my throat. “Who’d you come with?”

  “Tanner.” She was eyeing me, worried and biting her lip. “Are you…” She started toward me, but I held a hand up. She paused, holding in place as she bunched the end of her sleeve. “I wanted to be there for you, and you took that away from me.”

  “I know.” I sighed. “But please be here for me now, and please stop talking about Melissa.”

  I didn’t want Brooke to talk about her—or Tanner or Kai. I didn’t want anyone to mention her name.

  Except Carson. She can.

  A little voice whispered that in my head. I didn’t mind when Carson talked about her.

  I didn’t know why that was.

  “Where is Tanner?” I asked. “I need to ask him something.”

  She glanced around and shrugged. “Who knows. I made him wait until my jet landed before we drove here. I’m sure he’s pissed, though who knows why. I think he was with someone before he had to pick me up. He seemed testier than normal.”

  I smiled and shook my head. No matter the crisis, Brooke was Brooke.

  She and Tanner were always either bickering with each other or he was making her laugh hysterically. With Brooke, you never knew the reception you’d get. Well, except for me. What Brooke had said was true. I was the one she loved the most, but I hadn’t known the reason until now.

  I eyed her. “You feel different because you’re the only girl?”

  Her face shuttered closed, and she shrugged. “It is whatever. I guess we all have our things.”