Their Virgin Captive (7 page)

Slade could tell that Hannah in rapture was a beautiful sight.

He glanced at Gavin. Every muscle in his oldest brother’s body was tense. Hunger darkened his eyes as he watched the explosive orgasm wrack Hannah’s body until her mewls became whimpers, and she turned limp in his arms.

Still, Slade wasn’t quite ready to let her go. He continued to brush her clit gently. Each time he did, her body spasmed with little aftershocks.

Dex withdrew his fingers and sucked them, closing his eyes with a moan. “That was gorgeous, darlin’. I can’t wait to see it again.”

“Oh my goodness. What was that?” Hannah asked in a desperate, breathy voice.

Slade turned his face in to breathe her scent, his lips scraping across her cheek and chuckled.

She could be so adorable.

“That was a killer orgasm,” Dex said with a grin as he stood, his hand on the button of his pants. “It’s going to be even better when it’s my cock inside you. Come on, baby. I want you to ride me.”

Abruptly, Hannah sat up, pulled her skirt down, then glanced at him. Brows knit, green eyes uncertain, she looked away. Slade reeled back at the confusion on her sweet face and forced himself to sit up.

He turned her in his arms. “You’ve never had an orgasm before, baby?” Hannah stared, blinked at him. “No.”

The entire room froze.

“Darlin’, what were those men thinking?” Dex scowled.

“What men?” Hannah asked, her eyes innocent.

The clues slid into place for Slade. “You’re a virgin?”

With a pretty flush, Hannah scrambled off his lap, smoothing her skirt. “Yes.” He and Dex exchanged a quick glance. This changed everything. They’d been ready to introduce her to the pleasures of ménage at thirty-thousand feet, but if this was her first time, she deserved a real bed and an enormous amount of patience from them.

“Oh, I get it,” she murmured. “You don’t like virgins. Because I don’t know what I’m doing, right?” Hannah backed away. “I don’t know what came over me earlier. Let’s just forget it happened.”

Slade got to his feet. His cock was a hammer in his slacks, but it would wait for Hannah.

He took her hand and drew her closer. “Look at me, love.”

She hesitated, then finally met his gaze. He could see the courage it cost her.

“No, we won’t forget that it happened. And it’s going to happen again. We are so honored that you trusted us with the truth. We hope you’ll do the same with your body.” Slade raised her hand to his mouth, palm up, and kissed her. “We’ll take such good care of you.” Dex was right there, taking her other hand. “I promise. We’re going to cherish you.” Tears filled her eyes, along with a spark of what Slade could only describe as hope. “You’re not disappointed?”

“We’re thrilled,” Slade said. “Now, sit down, and I’ll fix you a drink. You should rest.” He poured her a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. When he turned, she was sitting in her chair next to Dex. They had left a seat open beside her. That was his place, beside her. He passed her the glass and sat. Dex began to talk about her cat and how he’d rescued the fur ball. By the time he was finished with the story, Hannah was smiling into Dex’s face. When Slade found her hand with his, she squeezed back.

Slade couldn’t help the smile creasing his face. The moment was perfect with the singular exception of Gavin on the other side of the aisle. Alone. His gray eyes were stark, miserable.

Slade didn’t know what to say, but he figured he’d better come up with something fast.

Before he opened his mouth, Gavin shook his head and stared out the window.

For the first time it really sank in that Slade could gain a wife and lose his brother.

Chapter Five

The limo slid away from the tiny airstrip, its engine purring almost silently.

Gavin was well aware that it was utterly incongruous to have a limo in a backwoods town like River Run, Alaska, but his father had kept one for his infrequent trips, and it had seemed cruel to Gavin to fire the driver. The man had been with his family for almost fifty years, so when Gavin or any of the executives came to River Run, they were greeted by the elderly driver and late-model limo.

The vehicle seated six, not that they needed that much space. His brothers had practically sprawled Hannah across their laps. She didn’t take up much room anyway. Nor, apparently could she walk. When the plane had touched down, she’d tried to stand, but Dex had been there, sweeping her into his arms. He’d passed her off to Slade when they reached the limo. Now she sat curled up like a sweetly rumpled, sexy kitten between them. The minute Dex had curled his arm around her she’d let her head find his chest and fallen asleep. Dex had closed his eyes, too.

Lucky bastard
. Gavin doubted he would be able to sleep even in his comfortable bed. His cock was still hard hours after watching Hannah spread her legs and come for the first time.

Gavin knew he’d never touch her…but in that moment, he’d felt so involved, sharing that brand new experience with her and his brothers. Fuck if he didn’t want more.

He’d never given much thought to the whole Dominance and submission thing Dex and Slade were into, but watching Hannah’s pretty backside turn bright pink under Slade’s hand had flat out done something for him. He’d imagined it was his own hands holding her down, administering discipline. He would have turned her over and forced her to ride him.

But she was a virgin. God, he didn’t want to think about that, about the fact that before too long, she wouldn’t have her virginity anymore—and one of his brothers would be the privileged man taking it.

“Have you heard from the Lenox brothers, yet?” Slade kept his voice low, in deference to the sleeping pair.

Gavin was grateful for the reprieve from his dark thoughts. When he found Hannah’s stalker, he would think of an excellent way to take more of his frustration out on the asshole. “They sent a text saying they have all the data. It will take them a few days to go through everything.”

“We can always hope this sick fuck walked past a couple of security cameras with the package.”

“Yes, we can hope.”

Gavin watched the terrain slide by. It was high summer in Alaska, and the ground was covered in colors he never saw in Texas. Rich, vibrant flowers formed a carpet that led from the road to the flat, plain that seemed to go on for days. Even the grass was a lush Technicolor green.

“I always loved it here,” Slade said, his gaze trailing to the mountains in the distance. “I felt free.”

“We were certainly much freer than we were at home.” Gavin knew his strict father thought that sending Slade and him up here every summer was some form of punishment. Stuart James had told his nine- and five-year-old boys that they needed to toughen up, and that Alaska would make them men.

His father really had been blind. What he and Slade had discovered in River Run was real kindness and affection for the first time in their lives.

“Marnie says her cabbage won first place at the fair this year.” Slade smiled as he spoke of the woman who had met them at the airstrip that first day. Marnie ran the local tavern and knew how to handle roughnecks with ease. She’d also known how to deal with two scared boys.

He wondered if she would have any advice for one conflicted man.

Gavin turned away, staring out at the landscape. Honestly, he had no reason to be conflicted.

He was realistic. The past had proven to him, in the ugliest way possible, that he couldn’t put anyone fragile in his hands. He was too broken to care for Hannah like she deserved. Getting aroused by watching his brothers touch her pussy and bring her to orgasm didn’t mean anything except he was male and healthy.

“You and Dex have barely said two words to each other.”

Gavin realized that, but at least Dex had gotten on the plane with him. “Dex was far too busy with Hannah to speak to me. And we shouldn’t pretend like he isn’t here listening to every word we say.”

Slade waved off that thought. “He’s the soundest sleeper I know. A nuclear bomb could go off, and Dex would sleep through it. He told me that he grew up in some of the loudest homes imaginable, and he had to train himself to sleep through anything.” Gavin hadn’t heard the stories, but he’d read the files the private investigator had compiled.

Dex had grown up rough. His mother had been one of Stuart James’s many girlfriends. She’d been a stripper. When she’d turned up pregnant, he’d given Roxanne Townsend a check for ten thousand dollars and told her to get an abortion. Roxanne had ignored the orders, but she’d died in a car accident when Dex was seven. He’d spent the next ten years in and out of foster homes until the day Gavin and Slade had found him.

“He looks up to you,” Slade said.

Gavin doubted that. “He sees me as his boss.”

Slade’s head shook. “That’s not true. He’s only closer to me because we went to college together. Dad had just died. You were twenty-two, and you had to take the reins of a multi-billion-dollar company.”

“And deal with a hostile takeover.” A group of board members had tried to wrest control, thinking that Gavin was just a kid. He’d proven then that he could swim with the sharks.

Now he made sure they damn well knew he could lead them, as well.

“And Nikki died just a few months after that.” The soft words landed with a thud Slade couldn’t possibly have intended.

Gavin felt his whole body go cold. “We’re not talking about that.”

“Maybe we should. She’s been a ghost in your life all this time, holding you back. You have to move on. You loved her, and she died. You can’t blame yourself. Gavin, wouldn’t she have wanted you to be happy? What happened was tragic, but not your fault.” Except it had been his fault, and it had cost far more of his soul than Slade could possibly know to keep that fact from everyone.
But you also kept all the nasty stuff out of the papers. You
protected the family’s good name. Too bad that was all you protected.

He could still feel the cold air of the coroner’s office as he received the news. Sometimes he had nightmares about that cramped, foul-smelling room. If he’d never gone, if he’d never known, would he have been able to move on? Could he have forgiven himself if it had only been Nikki he’d killed with his neglect?

“Clearly, you’re under some misconception that I’m hung up on a sad event that happened a decade ago.” Now wasn’t the time to trot out the truth.

Slade sat back, obviously disappointed. “I hate it when you lie to me. But I appreciate your help convincing Hannah of our sincerity earlier. She needed to hear that Dex and I are serious about her.”

He’d ached to include himself in that statement he’d made to Hannah about his brothers’

intentions. That had scared him more than anything. “I know you care about her.”

“I love her.”

Gavin envied the unrelenting sureness of Slade’s statement, but he knew he’d never be able to give his whole heart to another person now. “She seems to feel the same way about you two.

Be gentle with her.”

Slade’s lips slid into a grin. “You think the spanking was a little rough?” He’d thought the spanking was absolute perfection. “It seemed to please her.” One eyebrow crept up on Slade’s face as he stared at Gavin. “But it did nothing for you?”

“It relieved me to see that she handled it well.” She’d been sweet and submissive and graceful. So unlike his typical women these days.

Sex had become an exchange for Gavin. He kept a companion, paid for her condo, and gave her an allowance. In exchange, she was his partner in social occasions and sex until he deemed otherwise.

The arrangement was good enough. It was all he deserved.

Slade’s eyes narrowed, and Gavin was deathly afraid that Slade meant to continue this little interrogation. “How is Kristin doing?”

Kristin? He hadn’t talked to her in over a year. “I think she got married, actually.” Slade’s fingers drummed along the arm rest. “That’s right. You’ve moved on to Tiffany.

She’s your latest…girlfriend?”

He said girlfriend in a halting way, as though he knew the words didn’t fit, but couldn’t come up with anything better. Gavin could. “She was my mistress, Slade. And she’s no longer with me, either.”

His current mistress, Brooke, was exactly like Tiffany, and the sort of woman he needed—

cold, skilled, and efficient.

Slade rolled his blue eyes. “Mistress. That makes you sound like some freaking nineteenth-century lord. No one has mistresses these days.”

“It’s the perfect accessory for the modern-day CEO.”

“You’re more than a CEO, Gavin. I wish you would understand that there’s more to life than work.” Slade’s eyes drifted to the woman at his side. She twisted in her sleep, and her head rolled from Dex’s shoulder to Slade’s. His brother cupped her cheek and kissed the top of her head, practically sighing at the contact. “There’s a lot more.” Resentment bubbled up in Gavin. Of course Slade thought there was more to life than work.

He’d been in college when their world had nearly been ripped out from under them. Gavin was the one who had to deal with the fallout of their father’s untimely demise. Slade had been in college, and Dex had followed him there for fraternity fun and games. Given the fact that Slade and Dex were only a few months apart in age, it was no surprise they had fallen in together. By the time Gavin had been able to come up for air, Slade and Dex had bonded, and Gavin was on the outside.

In the years that had passed, nothing had changed

“How about you work on your little engineering projects, and I’ll run the company.” Slade frowned. “My ‘little engineering projects?’ You mean like the project that found a huge reserve in the middle of the Gulf? That billion-dollar project?” Gavin was saved by the trill of his cell phone. He looked down at the caller ID. Burke Lenox.

The man worked fast. He stared for a moment wondering what he wanted from this call. If the Lenox brothers had solved the crime already, then he and his brothers could turn right around and take Hannah home. Or he could leave and let her, Dex, and Slade have a romantic getaway.

He didn’t want to leave. He wanted more. Damn it, he was tired of being on the outside.