Surrender

by HELEN HARDT

  It was ice.

  The chill hardened my nipples even further, the heat of my body melted the ice, and tiny rivers of water meandered over my body.

  “Spread your legs, baby,” Jonah said.

  It never occurred to me not to obey. In a flash, the cold ice touched my clit, and then his warm mouth glided over the hard nub and erased the coolness.

  I was so sensitive from my orgasm, but oh my God, I wanted to come again. I spread my legs farther, threatening to disjoint my hips, wanting so much for my hands to be free so I could push his tongue deeper into me.

  But they were not free. I could not touch him, and I longed to.

  And that was very erotic.

  As he continued to lick me, the combination of coldness from the ice and warmth from his mouth titillated me. I was near the urge again when he forced two fingers into me and commanded, “Come.”

  I hadn’t thought I was close to another orgasm, but at the commanding tone of his voice, I unraveled again.

  Shivers raced through me, morphing into heat, morphing into fire, and the flames burst through my veins.

  When I finally came down, he withdrew his fingers slowly. And then, before I knew it—

  Slap!

  Something came down over my breasts, over my still very hard nipples.

  Was it one of the riding crops?

  I felt the blood rushing to my breasts, and the soft whoosh of the riding crop met my ears with a loving hiss. The pain turned quickly to pleasure, culminating in my pussy once more.

  Slap!

  The crop came down on my breasts again.

  Slap! Slap!

  This time on my thighs.

  The heat barreled through me like something I’d never imagined. So this was what he was trying to give me. This was why he had a dungeon in the basement. For these kinds of hot, kinky pleasures.

  My nipples were straining, wanting to be sucked.

  As much as I’d always thought I didn’t want any of this pleasure-pain, I had always liked my nipples sucked hard.

  Slap! The cropping came down on my breasts once more. Slap! Slap!

  The tingling flew through my body again, landing in my pussy, and then moved again, all the way down to my toes and back up to my core.

  “How does that feel, sweetheart?”

  I bit my lip. How did it feel? I wasn’t sure how to answer, because these were feelings I’d never felt before. My orgasm was magnified, and the heat in my body was electrifying.

  “Wonderful.” Yet that word wasn’t enough to describe anything like what I was feeling. Yes, it was wonderful, but it was so much more than that.

  He pushed my thighs forward and stroked my folds with his tongue.

  “I have a surprise for you, sweetheart.”

  He began licking my puckered asshole, and then something cold dribbled over me.

  “Just a little bit of lube, baby.”

  And then, the stretching. The slight pain until the rim of muscle relaxed.

  “Easy,” he said softly. “It’s just an anal plug.”

  Something bulbous forced its way into my anus, but then the pain subsided as the muscles wrapped around it.

  “You keep this in for a little while, okay?”

  Not that I had a choice, my hands being bound.

  The feeling was different from when he breached it with his finger. That feeling had been wonderful, but I had been ready for it. This was…different. I had just come down from an orgasm, and he hadn’t gotten my ass ready.

  But the feeling was, oddly, not bad. Only unusual. I was being stretched for a reason I didn’t know.

  Would it be okay to ask? “Jonah?” I said tentatively.

  “Yes?”

  “What is that thing for?”

  He chuckled softly. “We’re going to do a little bit of training.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m going to train your ass, baby. Train it to take my cock.”

  The thought both terrified me and turned me on. Jonah had a large cock. Larger than any man I’d ever been with, larger than anything I’d ever imagined. Would I ever accommodate it…there?

  Warmth enveloped me. The thought was…arousing.

  “You keep this in for a little while. I’m going to give you another orgasm while it’s in your ass. And I want you to tell me what it feels like.”

  I shuddered. Already I was ripe for a new orgasm. This entire scene had taken me by surprise. I should’ve known there was more to this than met the eye. There was a reason Jonah enjoyed this. I was seeing those reasons now.

  “All right, Jonah.”

  “How do you want your orgasm, baby?”

  “My nipples. I need you to suck them.”

  “You got it.” His soft lips clamped around one, and he squeezed the other between his thumb and forefinger.

  I nearly spiraled out of control right there. My nipples had been neglected during this bout of play, and they were ready for some attention.

  He sucked them hard, twisted them, and they grew harder. My pussy grew wet. I inhaled the musk in the air. It hung around us like an early morning fog.

  As he continued to suck and play with my nipples, he trailed his fingers over my abdomen, threading them through my blond curls and finding my clit. He inserted two fingers into my wet heat, moistening them, and then he began rubbing my clit.

  God, so good.

  This wouldn’t take long.

  “Yes, Jonah. Please suck my nipples. Feels so good.”

  And as he was pleasuring me, his fingers hit just the right spot, and I soared once more.

  “Yes, yes, yes! Oh, Jonah, I’m coming for you.”

  “That’s right, baby,” he said against the soft flesh of my breasts. “You come for me. No one but me.”

  And as I spiraled outward, to the sun, moon, and stars, I knew, without a doubt, that my surrender had begun.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jonah

  Melanie and I sat on the deck that evening, the fire pit burning, sipping martinis.

  We didn’t talk about what had happened in my dungeon, other than my asking her afterward how the plug had felt. She had bitten her lip and smiled shyly, saying only “good.” I had only begun to show her the pleasures I could give her down there. We’d be revisiting that room soon. But now, I had to tell her what happened today, that Colin Morse’s father had tried to frame me for his kidnapping and rape.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said after I’d spilled the story. “Talon and I were wondering why you took off so quickly.”

  “I’m the one who’s sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have left you that way. But when the officer said I had to take a blood test, I didn’t know what to do.”

  “Unreal that Ted Morse would try to frame you like that, and after what you did for his son.”

  “He doesn’t really see it that way. He blames all of this on our family. After all, Colin wouldn’t have been in that situation if Talon hadn’t punched his daylights out in the first place.”

  “I’m not condoning what Talon did, but you and your brothers are not responsible for these sick men.”

  “If only I had gone with Talon that day…”

  “We’ve had this discussion.” Melanie touched my hand. “Stop playing the ‘what if’ game. We don’t know, and we never will know, what might have happened if you’d gone with him. You might’ve both been taken. Perhaps neither of you would’ve been taken. Perhaps you would’ve gone a different way. We just don’t know.”

  My head told me that she was right. My heart still wasn’t sure. At any rate, I had to let it go.

  “So has Colin dropped his accusations against you?” she asked.

  “Like I said, I don’t think the accusation even came from Colin. He was in no condition to form a story like that. I think his father made the whole thing up. Since I haven’t heard from him again, I assume the case is closed.”

  “That’s good. I suppose at some point I need to contact my malprac
tice insurance company and deal with the lawsuit the Cateses filed against me. The answer is due in a few weeks, and I certainly don’t want to default.”

  “Baby, I will get you the best lawyer out there.”

  “You don’t have to. I have insurance. They will pay.”

  “I can find you a better lawyer.”

  “It probably won’t come to that. I doubt the case will go far. But let me use the insurance I’ve been paying for the past fifteen years. I might as well get something for my money.”

  I couldn’t help a smile. She had been through so much, but she was moving forward. The least I could do was move forward as well.

  Time to really let go of the guilt now. To stop saying it and really do it.

  I hoped I could.

  “Another thing happened. I got another text from my stalker.”

  She dropped her mouth open. “We’ve got to find out who’s doing this. If it’s not Brooke, someone is after you, and I don’t like it.”

  “I think it’s probably harmless,” I said, and I truly believed that. But it was still starting to creep me out.

  “I think you should have Mills and Johnson look into it.” Melanie sighed. “I know you don’t want to take the time away from Talon’s and my cases, but look how much we’ve found out already. We know who the other two abductors are.”

  “But we don’t know where they are.”

  “Honestly, how much time is looking into a phone number going to take away from finding Tom Simpson and Theodore Mathias?”

  She had a point, and I was sick and tired of the stupid texts.

  “All right. I’ll call them and have them look into it.”

  “Good.”

  “As long as you promise to call your insurance company and get this lawsuit taken care of.”

  She let out a breath. “All right.”

  “Have you heard anything from the medical board?”

  She shook her head. “Not yet. I’ll have to talk to Miles Bennett at the hospital, see what they’ve found out. I’m hoping my leave of absence will end soon. I need to get back to work. I need to focus on something other than all this stuff.”

  “I hear that one.” I took a sip of my martini. “It has pretty much taken over our lives.”

  “So what’s the next step?” she asked.

  “For me? I’m going to go to the city again and see Larry Wade.”

  “I figured as much. Do you think Talon will go with you this time?”

  “I don’t know. That’s a lot to ask of him, Melanie.”

  “I agree. Although it may benefit him to look Larry in the eye at some point.”

  “I’m not sure it will tomorrow.”

  She nodded. “It’s still too soon. Do you want me to go with you?”

  Now that was an idea. “I honestly hadn’t given that a thought, Melanie, but it makes perfect sense. If there are two of us, we’ll have to use the visitation room, and there will be no barrier between us. Plus, your input as a psychotherapist will be invaluable. I never would’ve asked you to do this, but would you like to go?”

  “I will go. Do I want to go? Not really. I mean, to come face-to-face with him isn’t high on my list. But I’ve been thinking for a while now that maybe I should go. Not just to support you, but to try to help Talon in any way I can. I still consider myself his therapist.”

  “We all do.” I took her hand and rubbed my thumb into her palm.

  She sipped her martini with her other hand. “When do you want to go tomorrow? I’m sure you have things to do around the ranch.”

  I nodded. “I do. Let’s say we leave here around two in the afternoon. That will get us to the city by three. We can visit with Larry and then maybe catch dinner before we drive home.”

  She smiled. “That sounds good to me.”

  * * *

  Melanie was visibly tense as we sat at the table in the visitor’s room at the prison, waiting for the guard to escort Larry to us.

  “I don’t mean to be so jittery,” she said.

  “I understand completely. I was jittery the first time I met him as well. I’m still jittery to a certain extent. This man—my uncle, for God’s sake—did terrible things to my brother. That thought never leaves me as I talk to him. Yet I have to keep my cool, keep my head, because I’m trying to trip him up. I’m trying to get him to give me information.”

  “Do you think he’ll be a little more forthcoming today?”

  “I’m banking on it. I don’t know for sure, but now that we know who the two other culprits are, there’s no reason for him to keep anything from me. They already know that we know.”

  “True,” she said. “But don’t underestimate him. He may have his own reasons for keeping silent that have nothing to do with his fear of Simpson and Mathias.”

  I widened my eyes. That thought hadn’t occurred to me. “What other reason could he have?”

  “We may never know. The man is a psychopath. He doesn’t understand empathy or remorse. What is inherently wrong to a sane individual doesn’t seem wrong to a psychopath, and even though he knows he’s hurting someone, he feels no remorse or sorrow for his offenses.”

  “So are you saying you think he might’ve been pulling my chain all along?”

  “I’m saying it’s a possibility.”

  I looked up. A guard was escorting Larry to our table.

  “Steel,” Larry said, plunking into a chair. He had two black eyes that were sunken, and lacerations and bruising covered his arms. “What the hell do you want now?” He looked to Melanie. “And who the hell is this?”

  “This is Dr. Melanie Carmichael. She’s a psychotherapist.”

  “Oh, you want her to shrink my head? Believe me, I’ve been through more psych evaluations since I’ve been in here than I know what to do with.”

  “She’s not here for that. She’s here because she’s my friend. She’s here to support me.”

  “Hello, Mr. Wade,” she said.

  “Aren’t you courteous? Please call me Larry.”

  She didn’t bat an eye. “All right, if you prefer, Larry. You may call me Dr. Carmichael.”

  I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling. Melanie never ceased to amaze me. Professional even in the most dire circumstances.

  “You’re probably wondering why we’re here, Uncle,” I said.

  “Nah. I know why you’re here. You want information. Information I’ve already told you I can’t give you.”

  Melanie’s gaze was focused on Larry. She was reading him, or trying to. I couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say when we were done with this visit.

  “I’m definitely here for information. I’ve identified Talon’s other two abductors.”

  Larry narrowed his eyes, but his expression was not one of surprise. “You have?”

  “You already knew I was on the right track. You already knew whom I suspected. And you all but told me I was right the last time I was here.”

  Larry shook his head. “I did no such thing.”

  “Tell me, Uncle. How was your night that night? The night after I last visited?”

  Larry looked down into his lap, presumably staring at his handcuffed hands. His neck and cheeks turned ruddy. Apparently, my generous tip to the guards last time had paid off.

  “Don’t think things can’t get worse. We still have a lot to go over, as you already know.”

  He looked up at me, his eyes gray and sunken. “What the hell is it that you want?”

  “I need to find Simpson and Theodore Mathias.”

  Chapter Twenty–One

  Melanie

  Jonah’s voice never cracked, his intonation never wavered. But the muscles in his forearms were tense as he looked his uncle straight in the eye.

  “I don’t know anything about those two,” Larry said.

  “Stop the innocent act,” Jonah said. “We’ve already identified them as the other two abductors. Right now, they’re on the run. I need your help to locate them.”

 
Larry shook his head. “They never shared a lot of their information with me.”

  I regarded Larry’s countenance. He was looking Jonah straight in the eye. He wasn’t fidgeting. His body language indicated he was telling the truth, but there was no way for me to let Jonah know that.

  “Sure, Uncle Larry. And I have a couple acres of swampland in Florida I’d like to sell you.”

  “Think what you want. I don’t know where they are. I’ve never known where they hid. They weren’t there for me when I needed them, and the cops found me in New Mexico about ready to cross the border. You think I would’ve been caught if I’d had their help? The two of them are pros. They never get caught.”

  “They’re going to get caught this time. We’re going to see justice for Talon and Luke Walker, and for Gina Cates.”

  “You know about that?”

  “Yes, thanks to a source I’m not going to reveal to you.”

  Jonah was clearly talking about Detective Ruby Lee. I was glad he didn’t say her name. I didn’t want her in any more danger. She was at risk already, being the daughter of one of them.

  Jonah’s friend Bryce and his baby son, Henry, crossed my mind. They were the son and grandson, respectively, of the other. Were they in danger too? Had that occurred to Jonah? I trembled, clenching my fists together to cover it up.

  Larry looked at me, scrutinizing. “Shit. You’re her therapist, aren’t you?”

  “You only talk to her if I tell you to.” Jonah cleared his throat. “So you see, Uncle, we found out without your help. Finding them and bringing them to justice would be a lot easier if you cooperated.” Jonah eyed the guard standing about five feet away from Larry. “And I think you know what I can make happen if you don’t cooperate.”

  This side of Jonah didn’t surprise me. Inside, I knew he was wound tight as a drum, but he didn’t let anything faze him. I had seen him take on Gina’s father, threatening him without batting an eye. Jonah believed in what was right, and he would do anything to protect and avenge those he loved, even break the law himself.

  It was a side of him I hadn’t come fully to grips with yet.