by Shayla Black
assassins—”
“Covered,” Thorn cut in, pointing to the floor-to-ceiling windows to his right that overlooked the backyard. “Metal shutters cover the windows. No light in or out.”
Good. One less thing to worry about. Except now he had nothing to focus on except Brenna Sheridan, her naked body and how badly he wanted to be inside her.
“Detective,” she cried. “He broke in, tied me up in my sleep and fondled me without my permission.”
“Not exactly true. I used the key under the flower pot on the front porch to let myself in, and I touched you with your permission—more or less. I asked you if you’d tell me what I wanted to know if I made you come, and you said yes.”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“How was I supposed to know that? You were wet as hell when I touched you. As far as I’m concerned our bargain still stands.”
“Even if it did,” Brenna argued. “You didn’t make me come.”
Thorn flushed red. “I came damn close. Besides, you didn’t specify that I personally had to make you come, just that I had to make sure it happened. Cam will take care of the technicalities.”
Cam sighed and opened his mouth to refute Thorn.
Brenna shot back, “He can’t make me come, either.”
Normally, Cameron would let such a comment slide off his back. He didn’t have the chest-beating, macho caveman instincts Thorn possessed. But somehow, Brenna’s bald statement riled him a touch.
“Actually, I think, under normal circumstances, I could. I’m a patient man willing to take the time to discover what my partner needs during sex.” He cocked his head and stared at Brenna. An odd sort of longing crossed her face. He remembered the night by the pool, watching her frustrated attempt to orgasm. “But what you’re talking about is deeper, right?” He crossed the room to sit on the bed beside her. “Have you ever had an orgasm?”
Brenna flushed twenty shades of red then turned away.
He took that to mean no.
An orgasm deficit to most would not be a huge tragedy. Through most of high school and college, Cameron had gone without. Too many people underfoot for self-pleasure. In his mostly white school, too many folks had been unwilling to get naked with someone half Apache, half Hispanic. In Arizona, that century-and-a-half-year-old prejudice against Indians and Mexicans still quietly lived on in more than a handful of people.
But Brenna… Her deficit wasn’t a mere case of going without. It was an inability, her shamed expression told him. And Cameron ached for her. What would it be like to be an adult and not know the joy of sexual satisfaction?
Tragedy.
“See? She’s frigid,” Thorn mouthed off.
Cameron whirled on him. “Has anyone ever told you what an enormous prick you are?”
Thorn grinned. “No, but I hear frequently what an enormous prick I have.”
Cameron rolled his eyes then turned back to Brenna. “Ignore him. When the phrase son of a bitch was coined, they had Thorn in mind.”
“You’re not much better. Pinching me so hard it brought tears to my eyes.”
So he had. Totally unlike him. This stupid plot of Thorn’s wasn’t getting them anywhere, but he may be onto something.
“Key.” He held out his palm to Thorn.
“Ah, shit. Man, you’re going to uncuff her? She looks hot, bound and ready.”
She did. No refuting that. But Thorn couldn’t see the long-term benefit of uncuffing Brenna beyond the short-term benefit the view provided his dick.
“I’d hate to have to arrest you. You’d have to call your brother to bail you out.”
“Oh, hell no!” With another curse, Thorn slapped the key in Cam’s palm. “You ruin all the fun, you know that?”
“I’m the original party pooper.”
With a quick turn of his wrist and a few tugs, Brenna’s wrists were free. He untied her ankles. Just as she would have leapt from the bed and reached for the robe on the floor beside it, Cameron placed a palm between her bare collarbones.
“Not just yet.” Once he had her pinned to the bed, he said, “I am sincerely sorry that no man has taken the time or care with you to give you the pleasure you deserve. I’m sorry you have yet to figure out how to bring yourself to orgasm.” He brushed a stray curl from her cheek. “I know it must bother you. You must feel somewhat left out and…defective.”
Tears flooded Brenna’s eyes, and Cameron sucked in a shocked breath. He’d hoped that he was close to the truth, but hadn’t imagined that he was dead on. Her tears and pained expression said, however, that he was.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “You’re not. It’s wrong for you to go on suffering needlessly. We will help you discover what you need to find fulfillment, if that’s what you want. But…” Cameron sighed, hating what he had to say next. “Thorn is right. We need your help in return. Lawton worked with a man named Julio Marco and others to traffic humans across the border and sell them into slavery. I was Lawton’s arresting officer. Thorn is his bail bondsman. We need Lawton to live up to his word to turn evidence for the state so the victims can have justice. He must come in and provide the testimony he promised. You’re our only hope of finding him.”
Brenna blinked. Tears ran down the sides of her face. Cameron hurt for her. She was clearly confused, didn’t know who to trust or what to do. He understood.
Cameron thumbed her tears away. “I would never want to hurt you. I believe we can help you. In return, I hope you’re willing to help us.” He leaned down and placed a gossamer kiss across her trembling lips. “Will you?”
Sincerity. It poured from the detective’s soulful dark eyes. That, and compassion. He really understood on some level, especially the feeling defective part.
Under the guise of closing her eyes, she stole a quick glance. He was really perfect. How could he imagine for an instant that he was defective? Or was his flaw hidden on the inside, like hers?
What should she do? Logic shouted at her to tell them both to go to hell. Orgasms for information. Crazy! Cameron might look empathetic, but she didn’t know him well at all. And Thorn…he’d been treating her like a piece of ass all night.
On the other hand, why had she traveled from Texas to Tucson? It wasn’t to patch things up with Curtis precisely. Their relationship was likely beyond redemption, and she’d begun to realize that he was more than happy with the status quo. But she had come here to find some peace and closure about this part of her life, in the hopes that, when she met a great guy, she could be “normal” and have a decent sex life with him. Her inability to orgasm had already cost her one meaningful relationship. It was only a matter of time before it cost her more. Lord knew her self-confidence had already taken a beating.
In a way, it was a plus that Thorn and Cameron were relative strangers. If she tried three in a bed with any of the local yokels back in Muenster, her reputation would be ruined. Didn’t matter that it was the twenty-first century, small towns were timeless when it came to scandal.
Glancing up again, she caught Thorn’s expression—and frowned. He actually looked somewhere between curious and confused. That was a whole lot better than his confident jackass expression, the one that made her certain that Thorn thought all he had to do was show her his dick and her problems would be solved.
Now, he watched the way Cameron caressed her cheek. When his blue-blue gaze connected with hers, it was like a punch to the stomach, taking the breath right out of her.
“Brenna, I know you don’t have any reason to agree, other than the fact we could help each other. I’d help you, even if I didn’t need the information. That much confusion and pain just doesn’t belong on such a beautiful face.”
Unless the detective dabbled in acting, he meant those words. Wow… Why say no? They were both gorgeous, and having two men at once sounded like a most arousing fantasy. Maybe they could help her solve her problem. Yes, she knew she was probably grasping at straws, but she already had been when she traveled out here, hop
ing that something in her interaction with Curtis would help heal her. Maybe what she needed was hands-on therapy. She could do worse than two gorgeous hunks devoted to helping her achieve orgasm.
Why are you hesitating? a voice inside her asked.
Good question.
“A-All right. But there are a few rules.”
Cameron smiled softly. “Name them.”
Brenna shot a glare at Thorn. “No tying me down without my permission.”
Thorn growled but Cameron grabbed him by the shoulder and squeezed. Hard. The bounty hunter winced.
“Goddamn you, Cameron. You know I got shot there a few months ago,” he cursed, pulling away.
“Just so we understand each other. Brenna is laying out boundaries, and we’re agreeing.”
“She wants to take all the fucking fun out of everything…but whatever.”
Cam rolled his eyes as Thorn rolled his shoulder with a glare. Then he turned back to Brenna. “What else?”
“Condoms all around.”
“Of course,” Cameron soothed.
“No shit. Like I’d want to be bareback wherever Dudley Do-Right has been.”
With an inky brow raised, Cam turned to Thorn. “You’re the one with the drive-through sex life. I worry about where you’ve been.”
“This is such fucking—”
“Rule three—you two stop fighting. I’ll never relax enough to orgasm if I have to listen to you two quibble like old ladies.”
They turned to her, wearing almost identical puzzled expressions. Brenna barely held in a laugh.
“Old ladies?” they challenged in unison.
She merely nodded. “Last, it stops when I say so.”
Cameron nodded, and beside him, Thorn scoffed. “Look, I may be a prick but stop means stop. I’m not into rape.”
Handy information. Brenna had wondered if Thorn had any morals. “Good. We’re agreed then.”
“Absolutely.”
“Hell, yeah,” Thorn added.
“I’d like to make a request,” Cameron said. At Brenna’s nod, he continued on. “If either of us does anything you dislike, you tell us immediately. We don’t want you gritting your teeth through any of this.”
“I will,” Brenna vowed. “Thank you for being so sensitive.”
“That’s Saint Cam. While we’re being all honest with our feelings and shit,” Thorn began, “I have a request too. You’re naked,” he said to Brenna. “Whenever and wherever I want you, you’re naked and ready. Is that clear?”
Her heart jumped, and Brenna felt her breath tremble accordingly. Cameron didn’t miss a single thing, with his gaze wrapped all over her. Was he looking for her acceptance? Her weaknesses? He studied her so intently… Wondering how a grown woman could make it to twenty-six years old without so much as a single contraction of her womb, no doubt. God, what a wretchedly embarrassing feeling.
“I’m not a bimbo who will pretend to come to preserve your precious ego. Do not treat me like a piece of ass. I won’t be one for you or anyone.”
Thorn hesitated then looked her over thoroughly. The man had eyes. No doubt, he was seeing the tears on her face, the vulnerability in her expression she knew was there and couldn’t hide.
“Okay,” he said, his voice surprisingly gentle. “But I want you naked.”
“Fine,” she relented.
“It’s settled,” Cameron cut in. “Brenna, you’ll be naked or mostly so. Thorn will not behave like an asshole. At least beyond what’s natural and can’t be helped.”
“Funny.” Thorn rolled his eyes.
“Now what?” Brenna asked breathlessly.
Her heart was beating…beating. Was she really going to do this? In a word, yes. She had no reason not to, other than the fact they were relative strangers. But they were also attractive, knew about her problem and didn’t think she was a freak—a huge plus. She knew from their occupations and the instinct in her gut that they wouldn’t hurt her. And they had aroused her more than any other men in her life. Honestly, if she wanted to figure out the key to having a normal sex life, it just wasn’t going to get much better than this.
“I have an idea, if you’ll give it a chance,” Cam said.
She shrugged. “I don’t have any ideas of my own.”
“I have to be honest. Whatever happens, we need information about Curtis by sunrise. I can’t let all those victims and their families down. I just can’t.”
And she supposed Thorn had ponied up a pretty penny to get Curtis out of jail. No doubt, he wanted it back.
“Of course.” She took a deep breath and tried to shoot them a chipper smile.
Inside, she felt anything but. What if this, like everything else, failed? She’d tried every technique, sex toy, fantasy, erotic book. She’d even gone to Dallas and hired an “escort” once. Nothing. If all that stuff designed for good sex had failed, why would a detective and a bail bondsman succeed?
“Whatever is running through your head, stop now,” Cameron advised, his tone a gentle command. “You’re sabotaging yourself before we’ve even started.”
He was right. She had to put all the worries about being defective and the doubts about this plan out of her mind. She couldn’t dwell on tomorrow. Right now was much more crucial.
“What’s your idea?”
“Thorn will arouse you—at my direction. I’ll be watching to see what pleases you, what makes you tense. What makes you melt with pleasure and what makes you freeze. I’ll adjust him accordingly.”
“Dude,” Thorn directed at Cam, who looked braced for an argument. Instead, the bounty hunter clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s a sweet idea. I get all the fun, and you merely get to think about it.” He turned to her, and Brenna found herself falling into blue eyes that were suddenly, surprisingly alive. “All the women call him ‘patient’ and ‘perceptive”. If anyone will figure out how to make this work, it’s Cam.”
Thorn’s little speech, odd as it was, worked. It wasn’t a stretch to see Cam as patient and perceptive. Maybe with his thoughts on the task and Thorn’s fingers—or whatever else—doing the walking, that miraculous big ‘O’ would finally happen for her.
“O-Okay.”
“Good. Thorn, kiss her. Like you mean it. Like you never want to stop.”
“That’s not hard. I didn’t want to stop earlier.”
Brenna blushed as Thorn stalked toward the bed and lowered himself on the opposite side. He crawled across the mattress, then over her, forcing her back against the cool sheet. He hovered above her like a conquering predator, ruthless smile and all.
He both scared and excited her. She’d never known that feeling before Thorn, but she already knew the achy, panicky feeling wasn’t going to be conducive to relaxation and sexual satisfaction.
“Wait,” she breathed.
Above her, Thorn’s smile fell. How many times had she seen confusion or disappointment on a man’s face? Too many, and to know she might only be repeating the pattern… Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
“What is it?” Cameron asked.
She faced him with fresh tears in her eyes. “This isn’t going to work. Never mind. I’ll tell you what I know about Curtis. It’s very little and I doubt it will help but—”
“Why do you think this won’t work?”
Sighing, Brenna stared at Cameron, hyperaware of Thorn braced over her. “Did you hear me? I’ll tell you what I know.”
“I know you will. But I won’t just abandon you. You’re willing to give us something we need. We’re willing to give you the same.”
They wouldn’t abandon her. Or rather Cameron wouldn’t. But a glance at Thorn’s face said he was on Cam’s bandwagon. The smile was gone, replaced by…concern? Not exactly. Pity? Maybe, and that shamed her. But still, his face said something else she couldn’t pinpoint.
“Yeah,” he murmured. “I might bitch and moan about the fact we’re not fucking yet, but I’m not going to just leave you like