by HELEN HARDT
Chapter Fifteen
Jonah
Although I’d had two orgasms previously this day, this last one was unlike anything I’d ever known.
As I thrust into Melanie’s body, as she shivered and shuddered beneath me, crying out my name, I let go, and my whole body—not just my cock, not just my balls, but my whole fucking body—convulsed.
It was fucking amazing. I’d had no idea an orgasm could be so all-consuming.
Regular orgasm was a release.
This had been a deliverance.
From what, I wasn’t sure. But I felt renewed.
I collapsed on top of her for just a moment, our bodies melded together, but then I moved over to the side, not wanting to crush her.
She crawled upward into a pillow, curling up her body. She patted the other side. I moved there and watched her fall into slumber.
And then I left.
It was late when I got back to the ranch. The lights were on in the main house, so I figured I’d stop and see if Talon wanted to have a drink. I let myself in and gave his mutt, Roger, a pat on the head. No one was in the living area or the kitchen, but light was coming from under the door of Talon’s office. I walked toward the room and knocked.
“Yeah, come in.”
Talon sat at his desk, typing on the computer. He looked up. “Oh, hey, Joe. What are you doing over here at this hour?”
“I just got back from the city. I saw your light and thought I’d stop by and see if you want to have a drink or something.”
Talon raked his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, sure. I could use one.”
“What are you working on?”
“Well, I started going over some of the orchard accounts, but I ended up looking for information on Jade’s ex, Colin Morse.”
“Why are you looking for information on him? He’s dead.”
“I’m not so sure he is. He’s mixed up in all this somehow. I can feel it.” He stood and walked around his desk.
I followed him out into the family room. I sat down on a leather couch while Talon played bartender.
“I ran into a guy the other day,” I said. “Said he knew you.”
“Yeah?” Talon raised his eyebrows. “Who?”
“An old guy named Mike. Met him in an old dive bar around skid row in Grand Junction.”
“What the hell were you doing down there?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“I asked you first.”
“I’m the older brother. You need to answer me first.”
Talon shook his head. “Oh, hell, no. You’re not going to pull rank on me. Those days are long gone.”
True, they were. I had lost the right to pull rank on Talon one fateful day when I was nearly thirteen.
“What the hell does it matter why either of us was there?” I asked.
“Doesn’t matter a damn to me. You brought it up.” Talon took a sip of his whiskey and handed me a martini.
I accepted the drink gladly and took a long sip. Mother’s milk.
Definitely time to change the subject. “Why are you researching Colin?”
“Jade says Larry is claiming his innocence regarding Colin. Not that I take Larry’s word for anything but the shit it is, but remember a few weeks ago, when Jade got a call from Colin’s phone?”
“Yeah.”
“It just doesn’t sit right with me. Larry had disappeared. And if he had Colin’s phone, why the hell would he call Jade with it?”
“I don’t know. She was his assistant city attorney. Maybe he was calling to check up on things.”
“Then why didn’t he say something? And if he cared about how things were going at the city attorney’s office, why did he disappear in the first place?”
“I don’t know, Talon. None of this makes any sense at all. Why is Colin even an issue? He certainly wasn’t one of your abductors. He would have been about a year old, at most.”
Talon rubbed his jawline. “He hates me. One, for taking Jade from him, although he dumped her first, and two, for kicking the shit out of him. He is involved in this somehow. How else would his phone and wallet get into Larry’s possession?”
“Easy. Larry offs him, and he takes his phone and wallet. It makes perfect sense to me.”
“Come on, Joe, you’re smarter than that. Dig a little deeper.”
“Talon, did it ever occur to you that maybe you weren’t meant to figure this all out? Maybe you should just concentrate on healing.”
“God, you sound like Dr. Carmichael.”
I stiffened, hoping Talon didn’t notice. “What makes you say that?”
“She says I should concentrate on healing, because whether these guys are ever caught won’t help me either way.”
“She’s a smart lady. You should probably listen to her.”
“By the way, how’s it going with you and her?”
My cheeks warmed. “What do you mean?”
“I mean your therapy, dumbass. What did you think I meant?”
Of course he meant my therapy. He didn’t know about the other…stuff. I sure as hell couldn’t tell him about the sex. I also couldn’t tell him that I was no longer seeing her for therapy, because then he would ask why, and I would have to tell him something, anything, and I hadn’t a clue what that would be.
I had no idea what was going on with Melanie. It was the best sex I’d ever had, and I couldn’t deny the attraction between us. But we wanted different things. She’d freaked out when I slapped her. I would never hurt her, of course, but I liked to play rough during sex. I was a natural Dominant, and I’d never had anyone complain about it before. Then again, she’d given me the best blow job of my life, and she had the sweetest little pussy I’d ever tasted…
“Therapy is going fine.”
“She’s good, isn’t she?”
“Oh, yeah. She’s good.” Of course, I wasn’t talking about therapy.
“Are you figuring things out?”
“Sure.” I wasn’t convinced I was telling the truth to my brother. But the last time I’d skulked around in the alleyways, I stopped before finding someone to pummel me. That had to say something. I sure as hell wasn’t ready to tell Talon about my secret pastime.
Funny thing was, I hadn’t done it for several years—until Talon started healing through therapy. That had brought the whole thing back to the front of my mind, reviving the guilt. It clutched at me like sharp hooks, refusing to let me go.
I wasn’t going to do it again—no more trips to skid row for me. I was going to figure this out. I’d prefer to do it with Melanie, but if she couldn’t help me, I would do it alone.
Hell, I did everything else alone.
No, that wasn’t fair. I didn’t run this ranch alone. My brothers and all the other employees helped.
So why did I always feel responsible for everything? Logically, I knew I wasn’t.
I had to figure that out.
I took another sip of my martini. Good stuff. Then I turned the tables on my brother. “So how’s your therapy going?”
“It’s going well. Dr. Carmichael thinks I’m making great progress.”
I didn’t need my brother to tell me that. Just looking at him, I could see what a changed man he was. Was it from therapy? Jade? Himself? Probably a combination of all three, but Jade had no doubt been the catalyst.
I had never believed a woman could change anything. I still didn’t. But I couldn’t lessen what Talon and Jade shared. It was beautiful to watch them together.
“Anything new on the rose on the pillow?”
“I had Steve Dugan come over to dust for prints around Jade’s room, where the rose was left. He didn’t get anything, and we didn’t get anything off the rose itself.”
“Well, it was a while ago,” I said.
“I changed all the locks on the doors, of course, and changed the security system too. Who the hell could have gotten in here?”
I shook my head. “I sure don’t know. Makes me cr
inge, thinking about it.”
“You’re telling me. I was here. I was in the fucking house. Jade was in her shower, not fifteen feet away from the bed, when this happened.” He rubbed his eyes. “I can’t let myself think about it too much or I get crazy. Makes me want to pound somebody.”
“Keep your temper in check.”
“Oh, I’m fine. Who would I pound anyway? Larry Wade is in prison, and Colin is God knows where. That nutty boyfriend of Jade’s mother’s is God knows where. And I don’t even know who the third one is. Six months ago I would’ve found someone to pound, but not now.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t Dr. Carmichael tell you?”
“Dr. Carmichael and I don’t discuss you.”
“I gave her permission to.”
“I know that. She told me. But I’m not comfortable with that. So what the hell are you talking about, Talon?”
Talon cleared his throat. “I’m not exactly proud of this, but before I started therapy, there were times when I’d go to the city on the weekends.”
“Yes, I know that.”
“Sometimes I’d find a girl and have meaningless sex. Other times I…”
“Yeah?”
“Other times I’d walk down a dark alley on skid row, find someone to mug me so I could beat the crap out of him.”
I shot my eyes open.
“God, don’t look at me like that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I never beat someone up for the hell of it. I waited for him to try something on me.”
“Sounds like you put yourself in danger.” I was one to talk. To think, my brother hung around those sleazy alleyways for the exact opposite reason I did. Him to feel more in control, me to punish myself.
God…that was how we’d both ended up in that bar. What if we had run into each other?
“You don’t do that anymore, I hope.”
“Of course not. I don’t feel like I need to. I look back, and I wonder why I ever did it. It didn’t change anything. Kicking the shit out of Colin didn’t change anything either. I’m lucky I didn’t get locked up. And none of it mattered anyway. It didn’t change the fact that I was kidnapped and raped by three men.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, Christ. I didn’t tell you this for you to feel bad. None of this is your fault. You know that, and I know that.”
I gulped. I did know. I knew it as a sane, logical person. But it wasn’t my logical side that had the issue. Still, that last time I went to skid row myself, I hadn’t done anything. That had to be a good sign. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.
I wasn't ready to tell any of this to Talon. “I’m glad you don’t feel you have to do that anymore. You could’ve gotten yourself into big trouble.”
“I know. Believe me, I was careful. I never did any lasting damage, and I was long gone before a cop could have gotten there. But none of that makes it right. I was wrong to do those things. Like I said, it didn’t end up making me feel better anyway. The only way it would have made me feel better is if I’d met one of my abductors in a fucking alleyway. But I never found a guy with a missing toe, or a guy with a phoenix tattoo, or a guy with a birthmark the shape of Texas.”
My heart dropped to my stomach. “What are you talking about? A birthmark shaped like Texas?” Jesus, Bryce had said his father had a birthmark with that shape. Of course, he hadn’t said where the birthmark was. “I thought you only remembered something about two of the guys.”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve told you. My mind has been focused on that damned rose that was left on Jade’s pillow. I’ve spent the last several weeks trying to figure that out. But yeah, Dr. Carmichael did a guided hypnosis with me several weeks ago. She took me back to that time and that place.” He visibly shuddered.
“You don’t have to go on. I can tell this is bothering you.”
“I’m okay.” He twisted his lips, his features grim. “Anyway, she took me back…there. Back when they were…doing it to me. It was freaky, Joe. I was there. I really was there. Anyway, I was able to look around. The guys, sometimes they wore black wife-beaters. And I noticed, on the one I remember having a low voice, that he had a birthmark on his right arm. On the underside, right under his armpit hair. It was a weird shape, and I didn’t realize at the time what it was shaped like, only that I knew I’d seen the shape before. As an adult, I figured it out. It reminded me of the shape of the state of Texas.”
My blood ran cold.
It was after midnight, and instead of going home, I drove into town, to the mayor’s house, where Bryce was staying with his parents. I had tried calling his cell phone, but he didn’t answer. He was probably in bed, and most likely so were his parents. I didn’t righteously care. I had to know.
I drove up to the mayor’s house and skidded my car into park. I ran up to the door and rang the doorbell, my pulse racing. I waited. No response. I rang the doorbell again.
Again, no response. So I started pounding on the door, pounding as if my life depended on it. Damn it, Bryce. I have to talk to you.
No one answered. There were no lights on in the house, but the dog was barking behind the front door. Certainly they could hear me. I continued pounding on the door, until finally the elderly neighbor lady looked outside the front door.
“What’s going on over there?” she yelled.
“Nothing, Mrs. Norris,” I said. “It’s just me, Jonah Steel. I need to talk to Bryce.”
The woman walked forward in her bathrobe and slippers. “For goodness’ sake, Jonah, stop all that racket. The Simpsons aren’t home.”
“Where the hell are they?”
“They drove to Grand Junction to the hospital. Something was wrong with the baby.”
Bryce’s son? Shit. “Is he okay?”
Mrs. Norris shrugged. “I don’t know, but he was making a lot of noise. Sounded horrible. Bryce and his parents were frantic.”
“My God.” No wonder Bryce hadn’t answered my phone calls.
“I’m really sorry to disturb you,” I said.
I was tempted to drive to the hospital, but I didn’t know which hospital they’d gone to. And Bryce wasn’t answering his phone. I called him one more time and left a voice mail, asking him to call me when he had news about Henry. Then I drove home.
Damn.
Chapter Sixteen
Melanie
It had served me right. After all, I’d left him the first time we were together. Still, Jonah leaving me stuck in my craw. It hurt. And I wasn’t exactly sure why.
I also didn’t know why I went back to the lingerie shop the next morning before my first appointment. I was fingering the silken material of the Midnight Reverie collection when the same blond salesgirl came up to me.
“That would be a great color on you,” she said.
“I’ve heard that before.”
“I’m not surprised. With your opalescent skin tone, purple is a no-brainer.”
I chuckled. “No, I meant I’ve heard it from you before. I was in here a while back.”
She blushed a little but at least had the courtesy not to stammer. “Well, I was right then, and I’m right now.” She let out a nervous giggle.
“I don’t wear purple,” I said. “My eyes are green. It would clash.”
“Don’t be silly. You’d be great in purple. What’s your size? You can try one of the bras on.”
“No, thank you.”
“What colors do you like to wear? I’m sure we have something that would look lovely on you.”
“Green, beige, teal, blue,” I answered automatically. Oh crap, now she would want to sell me something.
“Oh, I must show you our Oceane collection. Colors of the ocean. Blue, teal, emerald. They’d be lovely on you. We just got in some beautiful satin nightgowns.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me. “I can’t wait for you to see them.”
I had no choice but to follow her until we came to
a display on the other side of the store. The collection was indeed lovely, and instead of skimpy bras and panties, these were long gowns, very pretty.
“Look,” she said, holding up a bright-green gown. “This nearly matches the color of your eyes. And with that beautiful blond hair of yours—goodness, you’ll be gorgeous.”
I sighed. The gown was stunning. It was simple, spaghetti straps and a sheath style, cinched in slightly at the waist and then fanning out over the butt and into a skirt that hit halfway down the calf.
“What’s your size, hon?” she asked.
Hon? She had to be half my age.
“Medium, usually. Sometimes a large.”
She looked me up and down. “Let’s try a medium. You’re not too busty.”
Sure, rub it in.
She grabbed the medium and handed it to me. “Dressing rooms are over there.” She pointed. “Please, try it on.”
What the heck? After all, I had come back to the shop. I ambled into the dressing room and shed all my clothing down to my panties. I put the beautiful gown over my head and let it fall onto my body.
I gasped when I looked in the mirror.
The gown was made for me. It accentuated every part of my body, gave me curves where I had none—a swell of my breasts, a tiny swell of my belly, swell of my hips. And then the silk fell around and softly over my knees.
Wow. I looked hot. I laughed out loud. When was the last time I’d thought I looked hot? Probably around the fifth of never. I knew I was pretty enough, and I had a decent enough body. There just wasn’t anything extraordinary about me whatsoever. Definitely not hot.
This gown made me hot.
I made a decision then. I would buy it. I might never wear it, but I hardly ever indulged in anything purely frivolous. Maybe Jonah would like it.
The thought made me turn red. I quickly looked away from the mirror and changed back into my clothes.
I hurried toward the register before I changed my mind. Then I saw the price tag poking out of the fabric. I hadn’t bothered to check the cost, so I pulled the tag toward me now.
Six hundred and seventy-five dollars?