Burn

by HELEN HARDT

  “Jonah… Oh, God.”

  “Mmm, your nipples taste good, baby, but I want to taste something else.” I smoothed the suit over her hips until it lay on the hard concrete beneath us. “Spread your legs.”

  She did, kicking the suit a few feet away. I knelt between her legs and slithered my tongue over her slick pussy. God, she tasted so sweet. And she was wet. So fucking wet.

  “Mmm,” I said against her vulva. “I could eat you forever.”

  She moaned above me. “Feels so good…”

  I swirled my tongue over her clit, and she jerked. I stood, moving us over to some soft grass. And then I knelt again as she stood above me, and I continued to suck her sweet cunt. I wanted to make her come. I wanted her to gush all over my face. If I could bottle her scent… Take it with me everywhere…

  I continued licking her, flicking her clit. She grabbed my head, threading her fingers through my hair, yanking me toward her. She began grinding on my face. My hard cock throbbed between my legs. I longed to thrust it into her, but I wanted her to come all over my face first.

  “Oh!” Her pussy throbbed against my mouth. “I’m coming, Jonah. Oh my God!”

  I lapped at her, sucking every last drop of cream from that pussy. I couldn’t wait any longer to have her. I pulled her down and laid her on the grass. I quickly pushed my trunks over my hips and plunged inside her.

  Sweet wet heat. She gripped me like a vise, so tight.

  As much as I wanted to bring her to another climax, that would have to wait. My balls tightened, and those tiny convulsions started at the base of my cock and radiated outward, through every cell in my body, until my skin tingled all over and I poured myself into her.

  “My God, I love you.” I plunged once more, emptying my essence into her body.

  I lay atop her for a moment and then turned on my side. I had a straight shot view of my sliding glass door in the distance. It was closing, and a tall figure who looked suspiciously like Talon was walking backward into the kitchen.

  I shook my head. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Chapter Twenty–Eight

  Melanie

  “What is it?” I asked.

  Jonah stood and pulled his trunks, which were still around his knees, over his hips. “It’s nothing, baby. But you may want to put your suit back on.”

  Warmth infused my already heat-laden body. “What?”

  “I think Talon is here.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake.” I stood, scanning the area for my suit. I spied it on the concrete by the pool and ran to it, pulling the wet fabric onto my slick body as quickly as I could. “This is the very last time we have sex near your pool. The very fucking last time.”

  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’ll see what he wants, and I’ll get rid of him.”

  “I may as well come with you,” I said. “I certainly don’t need to be modest around him now. Or your friend Bryce, for that matter.”

  Jonah’s dark eyes gleamed with amusement.

  I swatted him lightly. “You think this is funny?”

  “Baby, it is a bit amusing. It’s kind of like a bad cartoon.”

  “Then you may be surprised to know that I never really wanted your brother or your best friend to see me naked.”

  “Honey, never be ashamed of that beautiful body of yours. In fact, I’m thinking maybe we should plan a trip to a nude beach.”

  My mouth fell open. “Please be kidding.”

  “Oh, no, I’m not kidding. In fact, a nude beach should be nothing to you now.” He let out a peal of laughter.

  I swatted him again. “You’re a big pain in the ass.”

  “Yes, but I’m your pain in the ass.” He smiled, his gorgeous laugh lines crinkling, his beautiful dimples dimpling, his perfect teeth sparkling. The man was magnificent. And more than that, he was beautiful on the inside—darkly beautiful. And tortured. In a different way from his brother, but tortured nonetheless.

  “You know, I might just take you up on that nude beach.” Oddly, I wasn’t lying. The idea of a nude beach with Jonah was starting to appeal to me.

  “I won’t forget that, Melanie. Now, do you want to go inside and see what Talon wants, or do you want to hide out here?”

  I let out a sigh. “I think hiding is kind of moot now, isn’t it?”

  He smiled at me, and I melted into a big puddle of butter.

  “Come on,” he said. “Talon has no secrets from you.”

  I walked with Jonah back to the deck and then into the kitchen, Lucy following at our heels.

  Talon was sitting at the kitchen table. He cleared his throat. “I’m really…sorry…”

  “Ever think of calling first, bro?” Jonah asked.

  “I did. No answer.”

  “Did you ever think that maybe that means I’m busy and don’t want to be disturbed?”

  “You weren’t in your office, and Dolores didn’t know where you were. I figured you might be here, and maybe your phone died.”

  Jonah’s facial features softened. He was relenting. He would never ignore a call from Talon. If there was ever a man who was devoted to his brother, it was Jonah Steel.

  “Hey, Doc,” Talon said, not meeting my gaze.

  I chuckled, remembering how embarrassed I had been the first time Talon and Jade walked in on Jonah and me when we were naked in the pool. It didn’t bother me nearly as much now. Something in me had changed since my attack. I was still scared of things going bump in the night, but something burned inside me, a new confidence.

  “Hey to you too,” I said. “If the two of you will excuse me, I want to go dry off and put on something decent.”

  “That suit is decent, Melanie,” Jonah said. “You look amazing.”

  I smiled and turned and walked out of there.

  “Come back after you change,” Talon said. “I want you to hear this too.”

  “Okay,” I said over my shoulder.

  I took a quick shower to rinse the chlorine out of my hair and then put on a pair of sweats and a tank top. I gave my ankle a once-over. Still a lot of bruising, but the pain had subsided quite a bit, as long as I didn’t try to run any marathons. I walked back out to the kitchen, and Jonah had poured everybody a glass of iced tea. I sat down in front of the extra glass and took a sip, quickly followed by another. I was parched.

  “I was telling Joe,” Talon said, “that the only thing Felicia can tell us about the guy who threatened her is that he had blue eyes. Larry Wade has blue eyes.”

  “I see.” I took another drink of iced tea. “Larry Wade isn’t the only person around here with blue eyes, though.”

  “I know that, Doc, but he’s the most likely suspect. Who else would want to screw around with me and Jade?”

  “Are you ready to go talk to Larry, Talon?” Jonah asked.

  Talon threaded his fingers through his wavy dark hair. “I don’t know, man. Some days I think I’m ready, and other days the idea just freaks the hell out of me. Seeing him, being in the same room with him, talking to him… I don’t want to go back to that dark place.”

  “Talon, you’ve left that dark place behind,” I said. “But you’re right about one thing. Any kind of healing involves removing the negative influences from your life. Larry Wade is definitely a negative. You don’t have to see him.”

  “I’ll think about it,” he said.

  “What does Jade think?” Jonah asked.

  “She says it’s up to me, that she’ll support whatever decision I make. But she feels the same way as you do.” He glanced at me. “She doesn’t want me put in harm’s way.”

  “She’s a smart woman,” I said.

  “Here’s the problem though,” Talon said. “We’ve determined that the third set of prints on the business card doesn’t belong to Larry.”

  “What?” Jonah stood and started pacing around the kitchen. “How did you find out?”

  “It was pretty easy. Larry was fingerprinted when he was arrested. Mills and Johnson hacked into the
database and retrieved them and then checked them against the set Jade found in the attorney database.”

  “So how do we know which ones are Larry’s real fingerprints?”

  “We can assume the more recent set, from when he was arrested. His fingerprints in the attorney database were obviously tampered with, and probably recently, to make it look like he’d had his hands on that business card.”

  “This is fucking crazy.” Jonah continued pacing, his body tense.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  He shook his head, pursing his lips. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

  I didn’t believe him for a minute, but I wasn’t about to push it with Talon there. Talon was upset enough as it was.

  Talon stood. “Jade will be home from work soon. I should get back to the house. I like being home when she gets home.”

  I smiled. “That’s sweet. You and she are lucky to have each other.”

  He nodded. “That’s the truth, for sure.”

  “Sorry to interrupt your pool time again, Joe.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Jonah patted him on the back. “You know I’m always here for you.”

  Warmth coursed through me at the love and devotion Jonah had for his brother. He was a man of honor and integrity.

  After Talon left, Jonah began pacing around the kitchen again.

  I touched his arm. “What’s eating at you?”

  “I have to tell you something. I can’t keep it inside any longer, but I need you to keep it to yourself. I haven’t told Bryce yet, and I can’t tell Talon until I tell Bryce, but I think I know who one of the abductors is.”

  My heart nearly stopped. “Who?”

  “The mayor. Bryce’s father.”

  “The same mayor who— Oh my God!” I clamped my hand over my mouth. The same mayor who I had seen buying duct tape and rope the day I was attacked.

  And he had blue eyes.

  Chapter Twenty–Nine

  Jonah

  I could almost see the clockworks in Melanie’s mind. She was putting two and two together, and it didn’t take her long.

  I told her the whole story about Tom Simpson and his birthmark.

  “You have to tell Talon,” Melanie said. “You can’t keep this from him.”

  “I know it.” I grabbed a handful of my hair. “But I have to tell Bryce first. It’s his father, for God’s sake, and he’s my best friend. Bryce has to know who his father is.”

  “But Talon is your brother,” Melanie said. “That trumps best friend.”

  She had a point. “All right. I will. I’ve tried a couple times to tell Bryce, but we’ve always gotten interrupted. But you’re right. Talon is my brother, and he suffered at this man’s hand. But all I have as proof is the birthmark, which I haven’t even seen.”

  “Then how do you know it’s in the right place?”

  “Marjorie saw him at the gym. She said it was right there on his right upper arm, under his armpit.”

  Melanie’s peachy cheeks went pale. “Oh my God.”

  “I know. There are so many loose ends in this situation, and they just become more and more unraveled the deeper we dig.” I thought back to the words that Larry Wade had said to Bryce and me the last time we saw him.

  The truth is overrated. Once you open the door to that dark room, getting out is damn near impossible.

  The man was a lying psychopath, but maybe he had a point. We were all healing now. Was it really necessary to open all the doors? So far, every door we had opened had led to more doors. Answers had only posed more questions. We seemed further away from the truth now than we had been when we’d started this journey.

  “Jonah, the mayor bought duct tape and rope. The day I was taken.” Her lower lip trembled.

  “I know. You told me.”

  “I was bound with duct tape and rope later that evening. By a man with blue eyes.”

  I tensed, running my fingers through my hair. “You don’t think…”

  “I don’t know, honestly. But it’s possible. If the mayor is the psychopath you say he is, he would be capable of anything.”

  Could there be a connection between Melanie’s abduction and our situation? My God, if that crazed lunatic had not only molested my brother but had also abducted my woman…

  Couldn’t go there yet. Too farfetched.

  I needed a break from Tom Simpson and what he’d done to Talon. I stopped pacing and took Melanie in my arms. “Sweetheart, it’s possible. Anything is possible when dealing with a psychopathic criminal.”

  “It just seems a little too coincidental, don’t you think?”

  I nodded. “It does. But he could have been buying those things for any number of reasons.”

  “You’re right.” She sighed. “It is definitely a long shot. And lots of people have blue eyes. If I could have seen the mayor’s eyes that day, I could tell you better. The guy who attacked me had really cold blue eyes. Icy cold. Almost unreal looking.”

  Tom Simpson’s eyes were definitely cold. But had I noticed how cold they were before I knew what he was? I wasn’t sure.

  “I’ll tell you what. Let’s go see Dr. Cates tomorrow and get some information on Gina’s uncle. I need to focus on something other than Steel family drama for a little while.”

  She snuggled her head into my shoulder. “I do think it would be a good idea for you to take a step back for a day or two. But don’t feel like you have to dive headfirst into my ashes.”

  “Melanie, I want to help you. And I will not let you go see that man alone.”

  “Good,” she said, “because I don’t want to go alone.”

  She wouldn’t go alone. I would do all I could to help her, to protect her, while I had the chance. Because as soon as I told her the truth about the evening she was attacked, she would leave me.

  My brother had left me that day twenty-five years ago.

  Just like my mother had left me two years later.

  Just like every woman I had been involved with—and there weren’t many—had left me because they couldn’t deal with what I truly was…or was not.

  I buried my nose in her blond hair, still damp from her shower, and inhaled the coconut scent. “I love you so much, Melanie. So fucking much.”

  I felt her smile against my shoulder. “I love you too.”

  I only hoped her love for me was enough to survive what was coming.

  * * *

  I took Melanie to lunch at her favorite sushi place in Grand Junction. The raw fish was actually starting to grow on me. After that, we headed toward the office building that housed the law firm of Decker and Jolly. Melanie had thought we should call Frederick Jolly first and not just barge in, but I thought it might be better not to let him know we were coming. I had a strange feeling that he might disappear.

  We took the elevator up to the fifth floor of the building and entered the firm.

  “May I help you?” a gum-popping receptionist asked.

  “We’re here to see Frederick Jolly,” I said.

  “Do you have an appointment?”

  I shook my head. “Just tell him that Jonah Steel is here with Melanie Carmichael. We want to talk to him about the Fleming Corporation.”

  “Fred doesn’t usually see people without appointments,” she said, “but I’ll see if he’s in. Go ahead and take a seat.” She gestured to some chairs and couches. “Help yourself to a cup of coffee or a doughnut if you want one.”

  We sat down, ignoring the coffee and doughnuts after our huge sushi lunch.

  A few minutes later, the receptionist said, “I’m afraid Mr. Jolly can’t see you. Why don’t you call and make an appointment?”

  I walked up to the receptionist, leaving Melanie sitting in the waiting area. “Look, we’re seeing Mr. Jolly today,” I told her in a calm voice. “Tell him that I’m Jonah Steel, of Steel Acres Ranch, and I’m here with Dr. Melanie Carmichael, who was recently held captive on a property owned by the Fleming Corporation.”

  The receptionis
t widened her eyes and gulped as she got back on the phone.

  I sat back down next to Melanie. Within a few moments, a somber-looking man in a blue pinstripe suit with black hair slicked back from his face walked into the reception area.

  “Mr. Steel?”

  I stood.

  “I’m Fred Jolly.”

  I almost burst out laughing. He certainly didn’t look like a man named Jolly. I held out my hand, but he didn’t take it.

  “Thank you for seeing us without an appointment. This is Dr. Melanie Carmichael.”

  Melanie stood. “Nice to meet you,” she said.

  “If the two of you would come back to my office, please.”

  We followed him down the hallway, passing secretaries and assistants working in their cubicles, to a lush corner office. Nice digs. Well, his name was on the letterhead.

  He ushered us into his office, shutting the door behind him. “Have a seat, both of you.” He gestured to the leather chairs in front of his desk and then sat down behind his desk. “What can I do for you?”

  Chapter Thirty

  Melanie

  Jonah cleared his throat. “You can tell us the names of the individuals behind Fleming Corporation.”

  “I’m afraid I’m under no legal obligation to do so.”

  “We’ve checked with the Secretary of State, and no directors or officers are listed. The only name listed is yours, as the registered agent.”

  “And as the registered agent, I am not bound to disclose anything to you.”

  I spoke up then. “Look, Mr. Jolly, we understand your situation. Being a doctor, I understand the concept of client confidentiality.”

  “I never said Fleming Corporation was my client,” he said.

  “Well, then, that makes your job a little easier,” I said. “The privilege doesn’t apply.”

  “That’s neither here nor there.” Jolly cleared his throat. “I have no obligation to tell you anything.”