Jonah Bennett (Bennett Mafia)

I closed my eyes, pain slicing through me. “It was like this with Melissa.”

She froze. A gargling sound ripped from her before she started to lift off of me.

I stopped her, holding her in place and moving her to my lap. Right in front of me. Her face to mine. Her eyes to mine. Her lips to mine.

She was trembling, and I didn’t think it was a good tremble this time.

Something new and deep moved through me. Pain intermixed with it. I felt a sudden, new tenderness right along with whatever was going on inside of me. I tucked a strand of hair behind Carson’s ear.

She jerked at the gentle touch, her eyes big and dark. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“That she was the last.”

I shook my head. “She wasn’t the last.”

She went rigid again.

I smoothed my hand down her arm, going to her hip, and I urged her into a slow and sensual roll. She began moving with me.

“With you, it’s you,” I assured her. “It’s not her.”

She paused, her hands falling to my chest. “Oh.”

I reached over to the nightstand and pulled another condom out.

Her eyes held mine, not moving, and she took it from me. Opening it, she lifted herself up, and neither of us looked away as she rolled the condom over me and moved down on me.

She started—moving, rolling, riding—and as she did, neither of us looked away.

Not once.

This time felt different.

Chapter Twenty-Two

CARSON

Holy moly Christmas. I couldn’t believe what had happened.

Jonah kidnapped me, and then was like, “Oopsies, we shouldn’t have kidnapped you,” and my response was to fall on his dick. Multiple times.

I was nuts! My sister would—my sister! I’d been gone for a full night. She might’ve believed the first lie, but not a full night and day. I’d never been gone that long on a one-night stand, and I assumed that’s what Jonah’s brother had texted to her.

Jonah reappeared from the bathroom.

We’d been in the room all day, literally, and my stomach was growling. His had growled earlier during I’d forgotten which round, but he hadn’t cared.

Now he was dressed, and he took one look at my face and must’ve seen my alarm.

“What?”

“If you’re not going to kill me, I need my phone back. My sister will be raising holy hell looking for me in Kansas City.”

He grimaced and looked toward the ceiling.

“What?”

He looked back at me, his jaw set. “Why don’t you dress, and I’ll see if my brother is back. He’ll have your phone.”

“Will he have destroyed it?” I stood as he went to the door.

He put in the unlock code, and yeah, you bet your ass I was watching.

He turned back. “He waited to see what I wanted to do with you.”

A huge knot formed in the bottom of my throat.

He opened the door and started to go through it.

I called his name. I had to know.

He glanced back. “Yeah?”

“What are you going to do with me?”

A cloud came over his features, but he just shook his head. “Not what you’re worried about. Don’t worry.”

Then he was gone. The door closed behind him.

It locked again.

Fuck’s sakes. That pissed me off, but I hurried toward the bathroom. Wait… I backtracked and went to the closet. I had no clothes, so I perused the shelves, surprised to find some women’s clothes in here. I grabbed leggings and a large shirt—black to match my mood—and headed for the bathroom.

I wasn’t sure where to find shoes, hoping I wouldn’t need to make another run for it. Jonah seemed to have moved past that, so maybe we all had—his two brothers as well.

I showered and dressed, then went to the code box and put in the code Jonah had used.

The door flashed green. I opened it.

I realized why he hadn’t seemed to care if I saw the code. I had no idea where to go. However, the room was in the back corner. I only had one direction to go, forward.

I started exploring, remembering we’d gone down some stairs, so I went up some stairs. After that...I got lost. At one point, I was pretty sure I was near where I’d been found in the forest. Which, if you thought about it, that was ingenious on their part. At another point, I found myself in a hallway with a wall broken up by large rocks. It was camouflaged to blend in with that forest I’d been in yesterday.

Whoa. If I kept going, would I make it to a road?

Also, a follow-up thought: Do I want to go that route now? Escape?

After Jonah and I did what we did, he seemed like he’d feel guilty if I were to die. He was a doctor... Those people took oaths of morality and saving lives, not killing people—and caring. That meant he had to care...right?

Then again, maybe I’d enjoyed a whole day in bed with someone I’d given too much credit to? Who knew where Jonah was in the hierarchy of his family? It might not matter what he said, what he wanted. The blond brother seemed higher up, or at least more ruthless.