by J. S. Scott
“What happened? Is it Dani?”
“Are you fully awake?” he asked.
“Yes,” I shot back immediately. “Tell me.”
My stomach was tied up in knots, and I moved closer and put a hand on his bare shoulder to assure him I was listening.
“Marcus found her. She’s back across the Turkish border in a hospital being treated for dehydration and malnourishment. But she’s okay. A few infected wounds, but she’s healing.”
Relief flooded through my body, and my hand dropped from Blake’s arm. “Thank God. Can I see her?” I questioned tearfully.
He shook his head. “By the time you get a visa and make the trip there, Dani should be headed home. Tate and Marcus are staying with her to make sure she doesn’t try to escape the hospital, then they’re bringing her to Washington so she can undergo some debriefing if she’s able. If she needs more medical care, she can get it in Washington. She’ll fly in comfort in Marcus’s jet.”
A startled laugh escaped my mouth, but I knew that given the chance, Dani probably would try to get the hell out of the hospital on her own. She’d always hated being fussed over, and she definitely didn’t deal very well with being under the weather. When we were kids, just getting her tonsils out had become a major ordeal for my parents.
“Then I can meet her in DC,” I decided. “How long will it take for her to get there?”
Blake shrugged. “Probably close to a week, if Marcus can keep her in the hospital for treatment. She was really dehydrated, and Marcus said she’s really thin.”
“Is she…okay emotionally?” The question came out of my mouth without really knowing what I was asking. All I wanted to know was if she was still the same Dani.
“You want to know if they raped her?”
I slowly nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m not sure,” Blake admitted. “She was beaten up pretty badly, but if Marcus didn’t mention sexual assault, I doubt it. He seemed pretty pissed off about everything they’d done to her, but he didn’t mention any kind of sexual offenses.”
“She’ll recover. She’s one of the strongest people I know,” I said firmly, refusing to believe that my sister would be anything other than herself again. “She doesn’t know about you two—”
“Marcus will tell her when she’s strong enough to understand,” Blake interrupted. “I doubt he’ll continue to let her believe that he’s that big of an asshole.” He paused before adding, “On second thought, he’s not exactly warm and fuzzy, but he isn’t the type to deliberately hurt somebody either.”
Tears of gratitude began to cascade down my cheeks. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay all of you for what you’ve done. I was so afraid they’d kill her.”
“Maybe you can sleep without nightmares, now,” he answered hoarsely as he put his hand gently on my face and swiped away my tears with his thumb.
Without another thought, I threw myself in his arms, and he caught my naked body, holding me tightly as I cried.
“Thank you,” I whispered into his ear.
I knew that Blake had not only covered for Marcus, but he’d called in as many favors as he possibly could in Washington. No doubt he’d keep doing it because his brothers might find themselves knee-deep in government bullshit since they’d done something completely out of line in another country.
I had no doubt he’d also help my sister smooth out her own situation there, too.
I cried tears of joy that my sister was safe, while I clung to Blake and let myself sink into his warmth.
His arms came more tightly around me, stroking my back while I let out every bit of anxiety and tension I’d had as a constant companion since I’d realized Dani was being held in captivity by a group of rebels who would likely kill her.
“Crying this hard can’t be good for you,” Blake grumbled as I felt him rest his chin on the top of my head.
I sniffled as my sobs came to a halt. “I don’t know, it feels pretty damn good to me,” I answered with a watery smile. “I think it’s therapeutic.”
“Then you can keep on doing it if you want,” he relented.
I pulled back and shot him an enormous grin. “Thanks. But I’ve cried more during the last few weeks than I have in a very long time. I think it’s time to be happy that my sister is okay. I just wish I could see her.”
Although I believed Blake, I just wanted to see Dani’s face.
He nodded sharply. “I know. I wish she had been well enough to fly back immediately. But it’s safer this way.”
“If she needed medical treatment, my selfish need to hug her can wait,” I told him.
“I asked Marcus to have her call you as soon as she was awake and alert enough to have a conversation. She’s weak right now.”
“I’m sure she needs sleep.” I know I sure as hell hadn’t slept good since Dani had disappeared. I could only imagine how seldom she actually slept, knowing that she might die at any moment.
He surveyed me carefully before he asked, “You want to do something for me?”
I nodded slowly. Right now I think I’d do anything for the Colters, just to let them know how much I appreciated what they’d done to rescue my sister.
“Spend some time with me,” he requested in a husky voice. “Be with me this week, then fly back to DC with me. Dani will just be arriving or nearly ending her journey to get there.”
I looked at him in confusion. “Why? That wouldn’t be any kind of favor. I’ve pushed off my Boston job until next week. I have nothing else to do. It’s not exactly a sacrifice.” I hesitated a moment before asking, “Or are we talking about sex?”
He shook his head. “Sex or no sex. It only happens if you want it to. I just want you to be with me.”
I wasn’t sure how to handle his request. I didn’t understand it. Maybe if he was requesting that I repay him with sex, it might make sense. But that wasn’t what he was asking.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Treat me like I’m Blake and not Marcus.”
“I already do.”
He shook his head. “You’ve spent years hating Marcus, or a man you thought was him. Get to know me, the man you really gave your virginity to. Maybe if you get to know me, you won’t be so pissed off at me anymore.”
I gaped at him, examining the sincerity of his gaze. “I’m not angry anymore, Blake. I’m really not. I don’t regret what happened all those years ago now. Neither one of us was really at fault for the misunderstanding.”
He grasped my upper arms lightly. “Then show me. Let this whole thing end with us feeling the way we did twelve years ago.”
My tongue darted out to lick my dry lips as I wondered if Blake and I could ever just be friends. The thought of never seeing him again after I left Washington was so painful that my heart already ached. On my side, staying friends would be difficult because I’d always want more, things I couldn’t have. “I’ll never stop seeing you as the only man who can make me come like I never imagined I could,” I told him bluntly.
A slow grin formed on his face. “I’d be glad to oblige you again anytime you want.”
My heart flip-flopped as I saw the invitation in his eyes, and it made me want to straddle him and ride him until my aching heart was satisfied. But that would only be a temporary solution.
As though he could hear my thoughts, Blake ordered, “Don’t think, Harper. Just feel and enjoy yourself. Be exactly who you are.”
“If I’m going to act on my natural instincts, I’d need you naked,” I said honestly. “Then I’d need you to let me ride you until I couldn’t do anything but scream your name. And you’d have to let me have my way with you first. That’s exactly what I’m thinking right now.”
His eyes flared with molten heat, and he stared at me with an intensity I couldn’t name as he stood up and slipped off his pajama bottoms, liberating
a cock that was hard and swollen.
Blake didn’t seem to have any inhibitions about being naked. Of course, with a body like his, I don’t think anybody as built as Blake would really care.
“I thought you’d never ask,” he said gutturally as he laid down on the top of the covers. “I’m all yours.”
My core clenched, and my heart swelled as I looked at Blake making himself vulnerable and naked—quite literally—to me.
“I need to touch you,” I told him nervously.
“Then, for God’s sake, do it. If you don’t put your hands and those beautiful lips on my body now, I’ll have you under me in five seconds. I won’t be able to hold myself back,” he growled.
I smiled and moved in closer, my hands trembling as I finally got to touch him exactly the way I’d wanted to for so many years that every need I’d bottled up inside me exploded once my palms landed on his chest, and the cork to the bottle holding my emotions back finally popped.
Harper
I was a worrier by nature, a perfectionist who punished herself if everything wasn’t just right. But the moment my hands landed on Blake’s ripped, perfect body, every thought that I had, anything that I fretted about, flew from my mind.
My only thought was about the pleasure of touching his hot, hard body until I was satisfied. Until he was the one calling out my name, begging for mercy.
Granted, I didn’t have much experience with that kind of thing. But with Blake, I was pretty sure all I had to do was please myself to please him.
I moved my hands down his chest, tracing every well delineated muscle in his abdomen, and then bending to run my tongue over the same lines, savoring the salty taste of his skin.
“Harper,” he said in a tone that sounded very much like an agonized warning.
I knew where he wanted my touch, and I finally gave it to him as my mouth moved lower, the masculine scent of him nearly making me crazy as I gently wrapped my hand around his engorged cock.
“Do you remember when I told you that your dick was too big?” I asked in an awed voice.
“Yeah.” There was a trace of humor in his husky tone.
“I take it back. You’re perfect, Blake.”
And he was absolutely splendid, the velvety shaft so hard it was almost pulsating in my grip.
His body visibly tensed as I toyed with him, fascinated by some of the little things about his manhood that I should have experienced way before the age of thirty.
As I stroked a finger over his balls, he finally reached down and grasped my wrist. “Don’t. I’m not sure how much more I can take.”
“I thought you said you were all mine,” I said with mock innocence. There was nothing that turned me on more than knowing Blake was close to losing it.
“I am,” he answered gruffly. “But I’m no use to you if I come and my dick goes limp.”
He was wrong. So very wrong. Blake was worth everything to me, whether he could get it up or not. Pleasing him was my secret desire, whether he was inside me or not.
Ignoring his protest, I broke away from his hold, and then bent my head down to taste him, going with my instincts now. He was going to belong to me right now, and I was going to grasp the opportunity to savor him, just like he’d done to me.
His big body shuddered as my tongue circled the soft head, licking off the drop of moisture beaded at the very tip. He tasted masculine and strong, tangy and addictive. “Mmm,” I hummed and then opened my mouth to suck in as much of his cock as I possibly could.
“Christ, Harper. This is better than my goddamn fantasies,” he groaned, then threaded his hands through my hair. “Baby, you don’t have to do this.”
I sucked on him like he was my own personal lollipop, letting him slide out of my mouth for a moment as I answered, “Yes. I do. I want it.”
“Fuck! Then by all means continue,” he rasped greedily.
I took my time, savoring every groan that left Blake’s lips, every buck of his hips, and his hands fisting in my hair to guide me up and down his cock. When I finally caught his rhythm, I let my slick fingers follow my mouth so I could enfold his entire length with my fist and my mouth.
I felt totally immersed in him. We started moving in sync, and the feral sounds leaving his mouth mesmerized me.
I didn’t care if I was doing things right.
All I wanted was to pleasure him.
“Harper! Not like this. Not this time,” he barked as he sat straight up. I would have reared back if he hadn’t grabbed me and pulled me on top of his body to straddle him.
“Blake, I wanted—”
“I wanted it, too. But I want to be inside you more,” he said in a graveled voice as he eased back down and grabbed my ass, pulling me on top of his erection.
My sheath clenched from his words, the channel suddenly feeling empty. I needed him so desperately that I knew I either had to have him or die of a longing I couldn’t remember experiencing before.
Not even the first time, when he’d initiated me to sex.
“Condom in the pocket of my pajama pants,” he said in a raspy tone.
I bent as far over on the bed as possible, slipping halfway off his body as I fumbled with his flannel pants until I pulled out the condom.
I was back on him in moments, ripping open the package and slowly slipping it on with a little guidance from him.
I fisted him and then slid on top of his cock, coating the tip with my own juices. Then, I moved down slowly, not quite sure what I was doing, but following my instincts again.
My body was begging me to let him fill me.
And I listened.
“Yesssss,” I hissed in pleasure as I sunk down on his shaft, feeling Blake’s cock stretching me to capacity.
“Harper. Holy hell. You’re fucking destroying me,” Blake mumbled as he gripped my hips.
“Is that good?” I asked hesitantly.
“Good and bad. But right now I don’t give a fuck. Just ride me,” he demanded.
I fell forward and braced my hands beside his head, needing to kiss him, meet our lips like we’d just joined our bodies.
I wanted to drown in him, to be so connected that we’d never be separated again.
I lowered my head, and Blake grasped my hair and jerked me down, his desperation almost palpable as he held my head in place, devouring my mouth boldly, almost violently as he thrust his tongue into my mouth like he wanted to claim me. It was exactly what I longed to have. I wanted him just as needy as I was—out of control and reckless.
I was breathless when he finally released my hair and allowed me to breathe again. I began to sit up, but Blake put a hand to my back. “Stay. I want to feel all of you right now, Harper.”
His tone was so sincere, so sexy and aroused that I relaxed on top of him, burying my face in his neck.
Blake guided my hips slowly at first, thrusting up into me harder and harder as his pace quickened. I picked up the motions, and I lowered myself down as he lunged up, our bodies meeting with a slap of skin on every stroke.
I whimpered into his neck, my body igniting as he started to grind against my clit with every hard plunge.
“Jesus, Harper. I feel like I’ve waited forever for this, for you,” Blake said, his voice harsh.
I knew exactly what he meant. I think so much of me had been waiting for him, too. I know my body had yearned for him, and it had been anticipating his return for twelve long years.
Even if there was no chance for us, it didn’t keep me from craving him.
“Blake!” I cried out as I felt my climax building, coming close to release.
“Come for me, sweet Harper,” he commanded. “Let go.”
He started pounding into me hard and deep, seeming to relish and savor every thrust.
I bit his neck lightly as my orgasm consumed me, needing to keep co
nnecting us somehow. Then I traced my tongue along the pulse in his neck as my body began to shudder in release.
Holding my ass exactly where he wanted it, Blake pushed upward a few more times, burying himself hot and hard inside me to the root.
His back arched and his head fell back onto the pillow as he found his own heated release.
And as long as I lived, I knew I’d never forget how erotically beautiful he looked right at that moment.
We laid there together, both of us unable to speak as we panted for breath.
I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from telling him exactly how I felt while he held me on top of his body, unwilling to let me go while our heartbeats slowed back to a normal cadence.
I wanted to tell him that I felt wonderful.
I wanted to tell him that what had just happened was magic.
But mostly, I wanted to tell him I felt…loved.
In the end, I didn’t say anything because I knew this was just stolen time. I hugged him to me and left the words unspoken.
Harper
I heard from Dani the next day. She called while I was fixing breakfast and Blake was upstairs getting into the shower.
I quickly turned down the food on the stove and dove for my cell phone on the counter, hoping it was my sister, and I’d finally be able to hear her voice.
I fumbled to answer the call, nearly breathless as I answered, “Hello.”
“Hey big sister,” Dani said in a casual voice. “You sound like you just went out for a run.”
“Oh, my God. Dani? Please tell me you’re okay,” I begged.
“I’m okay, Harper. Stop worrying.”
“Stop worrying?” I squeaked. “You were kidnapped by a bunch of terrorists, and you want me to stop worrying? Even Mason, Jett, and Carter have been worried sick.”
My three brothers seldom lost their cool about anything, so the outright fear they’d been showing since Dani’s kidnapping was highly unusual.
“I’m doing good. I just want to get the hell out of here,” she complained.
“When are you getting out of the hospital?” I asked anxiously.
