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And darn it, she’d liked being seduced.
“Study these. You have tonight. In the morning, we’ll talk again. I hope you understand that what just happened here was consensual. ” Dominic thrust the papers at her, his voice so matter of fact. She missed the way he’d whispered passionately to her.
Everything had been consensual. He’d even begged her to stop it, and she hadn’t. She’d wanted what they could give her and hadn’t stopped to think about how she would feel afterward until it was too late. She couldn’t be the woman who completed them. Fate had merely placed her in their way. They wanted someone, and she happened to be in their path. End of story.
She held the files to her chest. She really did need to review them, figure out if Greg was using her charity for criminal purposes. She needed to piece together the evidence and decide if her sister and her father were truly plotting to kill her. But mostly, she needed distance to figure out what had just happened to her body. Her will. Her heart. She’d nearly given everything to a couple of men she barely knew. She wasn’t ever rash or irresponsible. Why them? Why now? And why did she want to put her arms around Law? Why did she want to brush against Dominic and see if she could arouse him again?
Why did she feel as if Riley was missing and ache to invite him in?
The conflicting thoughts and wants in her head were making her crazy, dizzy. She was exhausted.
“Gigi, come on. ” She turned to look for her dog, but her little Yorkie was gone.
“She took off with Butch. Sorry, but he’s been nosing around her all day,” Dominic supplied. “Is she in heat?”
Oh, god. Probably. She’d been intending to breed Gigi once before getting her fixed. After all, her puppy was a pure bred, and Kinley knew plenty of other AKC Yorkie owners whose pets could sire. But Gigi and Butch were totally off plan…just like her ill-fated tryst with Law and Dominic had been.
Damn it, her dog was likely in heat, and so was Kinley. She’d gone so long without sex that she’d been desperate to do it with anyone. Except that she’d never really wanted to before. And she definitely hadn’t wanted Greg. In fact, she’d kind of decided she was asexual—until a few minutes ago. Now she couldn’t get her mind off sex.
“If your dog forces himself on mine, I will hold you responsible for doggy rape. ” Even as she said the words, she realized just how silly and righteous they sounded. No court would uphold human laws for nonconsensual canine violation. It was irrational, but Kinley was irritated and hurt that her only comfort in life now was apparently off somewhere trying to become pregnant by some overgrown hound.
Just the way she’d narrowly missed the chance to be knocked up by a pair of Special Forces soldiers.
The thought was mortifying. She stomped toward the kitchen door. Riley stood in the hallway, a stark look on his angled face. He’d been leaning against the wall, his head down. He masked the expression quickly, his eyes narrowing on her. How much had he heard?
“You want to try me, cupcake? Now that you’ve had some of the big brothers, do you need more? Or is this your way of trying to gain the upper hand, disarm us all with pussy? If so, you played the virginal card with just the right amount of innocence. Bravo. ”
So he’d heard everything. Shame filled her. “I want to go to my room. ”
Riley stood in her way. “Are you planning to cry rape now?”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t raped. Not in any way. ”
“We both know that, but you seem like the kind of woman who’ll use every tool in her arsenal to get her way. ”
“You don’t know me! And you’re a jerk. Your brother is wrong about you. He told me how kind and funny and smart you are, but you’re just a big bully. I’m away from home, I’m scared, and I’m totally out of my element. Yet you enjoy kicking me when I’m down. Get out of my way so I can go back to my cell. Then you can go to hell for all I care. ”
Law approached her from behind. “I’ll take you to your room. ”
“I can find my way there. ”
“But I doubt you’ll lock yourself in. ”
The quip made her fume, but she still marched off without another word, down the hall, ignoring the men behind her. She zipped into her room and slammed her door. Immediately, she heard them lock her in.
She was alone again. Alone with the evidence against her family. Alone with a million questions. The fears and doubts started to sink in once again.
A moment later, Law opened the door, and Gigi padded in, her pink bow askew. He slammed it once more, locking her in with her furry little harlot.
Gigi stood at the door, whining a little, probably crying for her lover.
“Yeah, I kind of want to do that, too. ” But for now she would settle for taking a shower. Maybe when she was clean she wouldn’t feel their hands on her, stroking her, making her want more of what she couldn’t have.
She walked into the en suite bathroom and turned the shower to hot. All her favorite products had been placed there, from her razor to the shampoo she used every day. Greg probably didn’t even know what color her eyes were, but one of these men knew that she preferred lavender soap.
What was her next move here? What should she do? What did she believe?
She looked up at the window beside the shower enclosure. It was high on the wall, but she could see that the glass in the bathroom wasn’t nearly as thick as the panes in the bedroom.
Kinley climbed on the toilet and was able to just grasp the handle. Holding her breath, she inspected the window. It wasn’t sealed shut and didn’t have a lock. It should actually swing open and let her free.
She had to swallow her shout of surprise. She’d found a way out! In a few hours, she could have her bags repacked and a plan in motion. The sun would be coming up, and they’d probably still be sleeping. She could be long gone before they even knew she was missing.
All good news. But Kinley couldn’t help but wonder if, now that she’d found a way to escape, should she take it?
Chapter Eight
Riley stretched and looked out over the vast expanse of green. From the wide front porch, he got an eyeful of mountains rising up like the sun.
Dawn had come, though it didn’t really mean much this time of the year. Summer days in Alaska were seemingly endless. His system hadn’t quite adjusted from East Coast time.
The smell of coffee filled his nostrils. He hadn’t slept much. Whether that was because the sun barely dipped below the horizon or the fact that he couldn’t shut his brain off didn’t matter. It was all Kinley’s fault in the end. He’d thought about her all damn night. Over and over during the long hours, his mind had played out the memories of Kinley as he’d stood outside the kitchen door and listened to her shudder and gasp and scream as she came. Under his brother’s hand. And apparently for the first time.
How the hell had a woman who looked like that managed to stay a damn virgin? He hated Greg Jansen for various reasons, but he’d never thought the man was an idiot. Any straight male who could be engaged to Kinley Kohl and not keep her in bed for days and days was obviously a complete moron.
But then Riley knew he wasn’t exactly smart either. None of them were if they believed she could really want them.
“So she turned away from you?” Riley asked, looking at his brother who sat in a rocking chair not five feet away.
“She got scared. ” Law sipped his coffee, not looking at him. “It’s not so surprising. She has very little experience. We have to be careful with her, but she’s coming along. ”
Had his brother lost his ever-loving mind? “She ran from you. She couldn’t get out of the kitchen fast enough. ”
Law’s face bunched up in consternation. “No, Kinley was afraid, not of me or Dominic. She enjoyed the way we touched her. A lot, in fact. What she felt scared her. Put yourself in her shoes. If her own family is willing to betray her, she’s going to find trusting anyone, especially the guys who kidnapped her
, really hard. But she wants what we’re dying to give her. She won’t be able to hold out for long. ”
Law sounded more confident than Riley had ever heard, assassinations excepting. His brother never worried that he wouldn’t be able to take out a target, but when it came to women, he often seemed dead inside. Or maybe Law’s attitude had stemmed from the fact that he hadn’t cared about the females they’d shared in the past. Maybe he’d always just gone along with what Riley and Dominic wanted. After all, Law had never brought a potential female to them. Sure, he’d enjoyed the sex, but he’d never fought for a girl the way he was fighting for Kinley now.
“Did you ever care for Simone?” He’d never asked Law before. Now Riley realized that once he’d fallen for Simone, he’d assumed his brother would too…eventually.
Law shook his head. “I find it hard to really care about a woman who’s completely cold. Now, as a beer cooler, she worked perfectly. I could set a brew down next to that woman and it was chilled in three point five seconds. ”
Where had the sense of humor come from? “Could you be serious?”
“All right. Here’s the truth: Simone was interested in you because she liked having a Harvard-educated man on her arm. She wanted Dominic for his social connections and his millions. She put up with me because fucking me was the price of admission if she wanted to keep you two. And she never let me forget it. ”
Simone had said that to his brother? Why had Law never told him? “When shit got serious, she didn’t want me either. ”
Law sighed. “When she turned your proposal down, she claimed it was because she couldn’t live an openly perverted lifestyle because everyone would call her a whore. I call bullshit. Everybody already knew she was a whore. I firmly believe she would have been more than happy to spend the rest of her life in bed with both you and Dominic. And she would have put up with me. Your trouble was the marriage proposal didn’t come from the right person. ”
As soon as Law had spoken, Riley realized there was a lot of truth to his brother’s words. God, he’d been so fucking dumb. “She wanted to be legally married to Dominic. ”
“Money wins over brains,” Law said, sympathy in his voice.
“Fuck me. ” He felt like he’d been kicked in the gut all over again.
His brother shrugged. “Look on the bright side. Your brain still won out over my brawn. ”
Despite that, if Simone had said yes, Law would have sacrificed his heart to make him and Dominic happy. “Why did you let me propose to her, knowing what she was? Why would you have stayed in a relationship with a woman you didn’t even like?”
“Beyond the extra freezer space?” Law took a sip of his coffee and sat back. “You were in love with her. Or you thought you were. I’ve never felt that way before and I thought at the time that I was incapable of it. So I played along. And, to be honest, I didn’t think it would work in the long run anyway because I knew Dominic wasn’t going to marry her. ”
“Finding and sharing one woman is never going to work, is it?” The family they had talked about didn’t make sense in the real world. Legalities aside, no woman wanted to deal with three men. Not even if she realized it meant she’d never be alone, that she would always have someone to care for her. That she would never end up like his mother.
“I think it can, if we handle her in just the right way. Our strategy has to be stealth. We have to point out all the great things about having three guys around, reel her in with the sex, downplay the cooking and laundry, then maybe. . . ”
“I’m serious, Law. ”
“So am I. ”
“You’ve got to stop imagining that Kinley is our dream girl. ”
“You weren’t in there,” Law argued. “You were outside listening. You didn’t see how Kinley reached for Dominic. No hesitation. She saw him and she grabbed on. If you had walked in, she would have grabbed you, too. ”
The door opened, and Dominic joined them on the porch for the chilly morning, steaming mug in hand. “It was a mistake. ”
Law’s eyes rolled. “God, when did you two turn so whiny? It wasn’t a mistake. It was the first thing we’ve done right with her. ”
“Are you serious, Law? She was horrified. She pushed us away. ” Dominic looked fresh from a shower. He’d changed into sweatpants and an Army T-shirt. It was odd to see Dominic out of his usual suit, and made Riley realize that the last few years had been a never-ending series of jobs. None of them had actually relaxed in forever.
“Yeah, after she had her orgasm. ” Law’s lips curled up again. “It was a perfectly natural time for her to run. She’s a virgin, and I think she feared what came next. We have to put her at ease. And I think we can all agree she’s a greedy girl who needs to learn her place. ”
“Her place? Law, we kidnapped her. We can’t just tie her up and spank her ass. In a way, she holds our fate in her hands. If she tells the feds we raped her, we’re going down even harder. ”