Yours Forever

by Joya Ryan

  “I went to bed,” I said honestly.

  “Not your own bed, obviously.”

  “No,” I said and glanced over my shoulder at Cal. “I was at Cal’s house.”

  “And you left on foot?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “We had an argument.”

  The detective glanced at Cal, his frantic pace of questioning slowed. He scooted a little closer and leaned toward me. “Perhaps we should talk alone?”

  Another dose of realization hit. The way he was glancing at Cal, then at me, made the detective’s thoughts play out clearly on his expression. He thought Cal was an issue.

  “I want Cal here,” I said confidently.

  The detective still wasn’t certain, and glanced at Jack, who was now walking our way.

  “You seem to have an entourage everywhere you go, Miss Case.”

  “That’s because no one around here is going to protect her,” Jack interrupted, coming to stand on the other side of me. Being flanked by both men, feeling their strength, was powerful. Made me feel powerful. And safe.

  “We are doing everything we can,” the detective assured us. Yet his assurance did little to comfort me.

  “Are you? Then why are you wasting our time questioning a victim of this situation instead of starting with people who clearly have motive and have taken action in hurting Lana? Like Brock VanBuren.”

  Jack’s tone was cut and dry, and made the detective do his own seat shifting now.

  “He was in jail the night of the fire.”

  “That doesn’t mean he’s alone in his actions. He was caught at her house. Lana is the target, yet she sits here, answering your questions while no progress is made.”

  The detective pinched the bridge of his nose and sat back in his seat. There was honest frustration in his movements. Like, he was actually trying and getting stonewalled himself.

  “We are looking into financials, the Case-VanBuren business, and the estate as whole. These things take time, but there are motives where there’s money, we just haven’t found anything yet that justifies why Carter Case was murdered.”

  There was a lot of money and a name like VanBuren at stake. Things couldn’t be going easy. “But Anita stood to gain everything, didn’t she?” I asked. I only knew the one detail Anita had said at my father’s funeral. That I wasn’t in the will. So, everything must have gone to her.

  “Yes, she gains to a point. But she didn’t need Carter dead to have access to the company or money. Everything appears to be jointly connected.”

  “Have you spoken with Anita? Does she know about my father not having committed suicide after all?”

  “Yes, we spoke with her attorney. We will question her again as well. We’re just following up with everyone, since the classification of his death changes things.”

  I glanced at my hands. So many questions swirled. Part of me was happy my father hadn’t committed suicide. Part of me was even angrier that someone took his life away. There was no upside in a situation like this, because the outcome remained: my father was gone.

  And I’d loved him. Despite everything, I loved him and my stomach dropped whenever I thought about the fact that I’d never see him again.

  “How did you figure out he was killed instead of…” I couldn’t finish the question. Jack’s hand was now on my other shoulder. Both of them behind me. Right there to fight with me.

  “There was no gun residue on your father’s hands,” the detective said with empathy. “Which means he wasn’t the one who held the gun to his head.”

  I flinched, thinking of that detail, and cold shivers broke over my skin.

  “That’s why we’re re-examining the case from start to finish.”

  “I appreciate that,” I said, and looked up to find the detective’s eyes had softened a little.

  “If you think of anything else, you can call me anytime,” he said and glanced at Cal, then Jack. Everything in that glance felt wrong. Like he was piecing together the fact that I was one woman, with two men behind me. It must look odd, but everything about Cal and Jack felt right.

  No matter how it seemed—bad or otherwise—being with both of them made me feel better and stronger than being without them. They felt right. The exact opposite of how I’d spent my life up until I’d met them.

  “Thank you, Detective.”

  I rose from the seat, encased on each side by a wall of muscles and yummy smelling man. Cal with his casual jeans and T-shirt and Jack in a suit, it was the dark and light I needed to get through this. And no matter how it looked, in that moment, I was grateful for both of them.

  Chapter 16

  It was dark when we got back to the cabin and every bone in my body felt frail and chilled.

  “You okay?” Jack asked, shutting the door behind us. I just hugged my arms close to my body.

  “Yeah. I just feel…” I closed my eyes for a moment. “Cold.”

  Jack’s gaze went dark. He didn’t like the word cold. He’d told me once that when it came to me, he couldn’t work with “cold.” Which was why he kept me hot.

  Right then, I wanted to lean in and steal some of the heat radiating off of him. But I couldn’t. I also couldn’t go to the warmth strewing off of Cal. I was stuck, feeling cold, in more ways than one.

  “Why don’t you go get into your pajamas?” Jack said.

  I nodded and did just that. Pulling on the soft material of my pink PJs was instantly comforting. When I walked back to the living room, Cal was kneeling over the fireplace, poking at the roaring flames, and Jack had just set three mugs of steamy cocoa down on the coffee table.

  A smile split my lips because it was clear that Jack took my internal and external heat very seriously.

  “Come here,” Cal said, and patted the plush area rug beside him, which was positioned right in front of the warm fire. I sat down and Jack handed me a mug, then one to Cal. He came to sit on the other side across from me.

  I took a sip of my cocoa and—

  “Whoa, this is good. What’s in it?”

  “Whipped cream vodka,” Jack said, and took a drink himself.

  “I make mine with love, but whatever,” Cal said in a teasing voice and took a sip himself.

  Smiling over the rim of my cup, I took another long swallow and glanced between Jack and Cal. I licked my lips, tasting the sweet chocolate, as I found myself staring down Jack’s perfect mouth. The day’s shadow was on his face and the way the fire lit up his dark eyes was so sexy and sinister, he could be the devil asking for my soul and I’d happily turn it over.

  Wait, I’d already done that.

  Trying to gain composure, I glanced the other direction to find Cal, his T-shirt clinging to his broad chest and those blue eyes wild with light. He was almost angelic-looking with the halo of orange glow behind him.

  “If you keep biting your lip like that, I’ll start to get the wrong idea,” Cal said.

  I blinked hard, looked at my cocoa, and took another swallow when I heard Jack’s smile. It was so silent and so engulfing that it could be heard.

  I hesitantly met his gaze.

  “She’s nervous,” Jack said with victory in his tone.

  “Why are you saying that like it’s a good thing?” Cal asked.

  Jack’s eyes just stayed on me. “Because it is.”

  I knew very well what being nervous around Jack meant. And he knew it too. The first night I’d met him we’d established quickly that when my nerves got the better of me, it was my body responding to Jack. Responding to his heat.

  “You still cold?” Jack asked, with a tilt of his head and challenging tone. “Or are you hot?”

  “I’m fine,” I whispered.

  Jack tsked. “You’re more than fine. I can see it on your face. Admit it.”

  “Why?” I snapped back.

  “Because I want to hear the truth from you.”

  Jack was the one who encouraged me to always say what I wanted—needed—to say. So
long as it was the truth, it was worth saying. But nothing felt that simple. Still, I couldn’t back down from his challenge.

  “I’ll give you the truth, but I can’t promise you’ll like it.”

  “I would expect nothing less,” Jack said. “Now say it. Hot or cold?”

  With a deep breath, I admitted, “Hot.”

  Cal realized that this went deeper than the fire and he caught on real quick. Because I saw the thing he made me believe in: hope.

  “So long as you’re answering questions and offering up the truth…” Cal scooted closer.

  “Wait,” I glanced between Jack and Cal. I had to get some kind of control of this moment, otherwise, I’d lose myself to it and them before I could pull back. And I promised all of us that I wouldn’t be an obstacle. “When did this turn into ganging up on Lana?” I asked.

  Cal smiled. “That’s been going on since day one, Kitten.”

  I huffed and worked another angle. “I think we need more rules.”

  “Like?” Jack asked, intrigued.

  “Like, no touching,” I said and his gaze went black with annoyance, and Cal just looked bummed out.

  “I can’t touch you, huh?” Cal asked.

  “Neither of you can.” I took another sip, hoping the vodka would bring a bit more liquid courage with it. Because when the two men exchanged a knowing glance, I knew that they were speaking in their silent way again.

  “Okay, back to the truth then,” Jack said. “Neither of us can touch you, but I want to hear about what you like touching.”

  I frowned. “What?”

  “You heard me,” he said.

  “Yeah, but I don’t know what the point is.”

  “The point is, you offered up terms of honesty in exchange for no touching. Those terms were accepted.”

  “Time to pay up,” Cal said, and took his own drink of cocoa.

  Great. Somehow they’d managed to sneakily turn this turn into truth or dare, minus the dare and upping the truth while I sat over the flames while two men closed in on me. Not physically, but in every other way possible. Painted into a corner wasn’t the half of it.

  “Do you miss being touched?” Jack repeated his question, only more direct this time. Damn him.

  “Yes.”

  “Care to elaborate?”

  “No.”

  There, he was getting his truth and I was trying to hold myself together. He obviously didn’t like my tactics, but he chose to start this little battle of wills. I was staying true to my terms.

  “Alright, then it’s up to me to interpret.” He scooted closer until his mouth hovered over my ear. “I also like pulling from memory to support such interpretations.” His closeness put the fire to shame and he whispered so only I could hear. “I recall that every time I touched your pussy, you were already wet and hot. Which means you obviously liked some kind of touching before that.”

  I kept still, because if I turned to look him in the eyes, my mouth would meet his. Jack was baiting me again. Whispering every naughty thing to make my blood pressure spike. Though Cal couldn’t hear, a tremor of wicked lust beat beneath my skin, knowing he was in the room while Jack continued his verbal seduction.

  “Would you like to know one of my favorite memories in particular?” Jack asked quietly.

  I nodded subtly.

  “It was when I sank my fingers inside your tight heat and you rode them just as hard as when I followed with my cock.”

  I didn’t gasp, I couldn’t, because air refused to come to me. My heart sped up, my mind pulling up every vivid moment of that night I was with Jack. How he felt. His touch.

  He sat back, clutching his mug in a single hand and resting his elbow on his bent knee. He was sinful when he was dominantly cocky.

  “Well, now that you’re done dishing secrets like a schoolgirl,” Cal said, “I need a warmer. Would you be so kind?” He held out his mug to Jack, who eyed it like a rodent. Clearly he didn’t want to go anywhere, but he grabbed Cal’s cup and headed into the kitchen.

  Cal’s blue eyes landed on me and there was something dangerous and consuming in them. I knew that look. I’d been on the receiving end of it several times before and it usually happened right before he made me come.

  “I’m not entirely deaf,” he said. He leaned in, face so close to mine I could lick my own lips and taste his in the process. “I heard your hips mentioned?”

  His tone was deadly, and I didn’t know if I should say anything or not. But, the truth was, yes, Jack had mentioned something along those lines.

  “If you’re taking a trip down memory lane, then I’d like to toss one out for your consideration.” He glanced at my mouth and grinned when he saw me bite my lip. “I think of your sexy little hips frequently. Especially the way you rock them while riding my tongue.”

  My entire chest filled with lust so thick it was like concrete had been poured in my lungs. It was easy to remember how Cal had made me crazed with passion, then pulled me up to straddle his face, and just thinking of that masterful tongue of his had me tucking my legs beneath me and trying not to squirm at the recollection.

  “Do you have any idea how sweet and ripe you taste?” Cal kept going. “Every part of you is delectable. Those pretty nipples of yours are particularly addicting.”

  Jack walked back into the room and I struggled to exhale.

  He handed Cal his cup, then took his seat again. I used the space to regain my composure.

  “I think you both have interpreted enough,” I said, then took a long swig of cocoa.

  “You sure?” Jack asked with mock concern. “Because I was just trying to be thorough, since you don’t want to answer the questions thoroughly yourself.”

  “For the sake of this thoroughness, I can keep going too,” Cal said, and tossed a casual wink at me.

  “Next question,” I said, as sternly as I could. The slight buzz of the vodka helping and also making my body pulse in a way that was difficult to manage. Or it was Cal and Jack’s wicked words and deep stares.

  “Sticking on this touching topic,” Cal started. “Do you miss touching me?”

  That, I wasn’t ready for. Part of me wanted to be honest. Wanted to think for a moment that somehow this would help me purge them from my system. Talking through everything would somehow make this idea of moving away from them easier.

  Or it could be a heavy dose of denial. Because I wasn’t moving. I was sitting. Stunned and wet and overheated. And, damn them both, I wanted to reach out. For them. For those memories they just threw between us. They were so vivid and heavy that I thought reaching out and grabbing them was actually possible. Holding on to those would be the only thing I could hold on to once this was all over…

  I hated the thought, but that was reality. It was best. And it would happen. So, for now, I was on the stand, answering their questions.

  “Yes,” I said and looked at Cal. “I miss touching you.” I glanced at my hands in my lap before meeting Jack’s face. “And I miss touching you.”

  “Explain,” Jack said quickly and firmly.

  I parted my lips to say no, but when he lifted his chin, like he was expecting—maybe even hoping—for just that, I thought twice. If I didn’t give some details, each of them would fill in the blanks for me. And only add to the growing need I had for both of them. It was time to take some power back. Find my strength and control in a way I’d learned from the two men before me.

  “There are lots of things I miss,” I said with the silkiest voice I could muster and crawled toward Cal. I felt Jack’s eyes on my every move, so I went slowly. “Like right here.” I reached out and trailed my fingertip along Cal’s tattooed bicep. His muscle strained and jumped against my touch. “You flexed whenever I ran my tongue along your ink,” I said, looking up into those endless pools of blue.

  I gently kissed his bulging muscle and his whole body shot hard with tension. He was trying not to touch me back. Serves him right for the crap he pulled, recounting intimate moments a
nd getting me hot and bothered. “But, my favorite thing…” I whispered, lips never leaving his arm, “was when I…” I bit the hard muscle, and he hissed.

  I backed away and smiled.

  Cal growled and looked ready to jump on me and rip the clothes from my body.

  “Sheathing the claws but bringing out the teeth,” he said with a hungry expression. He liked it when my rougher side came out, and yes, I missed it. Missed him. Missed the way his entire body reacted to me. Like it was doing now. And my whole being was begging to keep going. To reach out and taste—bite—some more.

  But when I saw Jack’s hot glare out of the corner of my eye, I turned to face him and scooted just an inch closer.

  “And you,” I said with a hint of reprimand. “You challenge me, yet forget what I hold over you.” I slowly reached beneath his button up, my fingers skimming along his hard torso and it took all my will to keep from pushing him down and tearing his shirt off.

  “You hold much over me,” he whispered, and I couldn’t let the raw softness of his voice melt me. Couldn’t give in.

  “I miss touching you like this.” Slowly my hand trailed from his chest, down his stomach. “The way your muscles tightened every time your hips moved was my undoing…” My mouth hovered close to his, just as my hand reached his side. “But, what I miss most…is this—”

  I pinched his side and Jack jolted, and a small, quick laugh broke the sound barrier.

  I backed away and he just growled at me, looking beyond pissed off. Cal, however, looked shocked and elated.

  “Holy shit, you’re fucking ticklish?” Cal said to Jack.

  “No,” Jack snapped.

  “Even I didn’t know that!” Cal chuckled and winked at me. “Nice work.”

  “I’m not fucking ticklish,” Jack said.

  My eyes shot wide and a huge smile couldn’t help but split my face, because he was hiding his own amusement.

  “Aw, don’t be sad,” Cal said. “The tickle monster isn’t real. You’ll be okay.”

  Jack muttered a curse and just shook his head. “He’ll never shut up about this now, you know that, right?” he said to me.

  I shrugged and laughed. “I was just being honest. Like you asked.”