Siren Unleashed

Chapter Six

Nat had to catch her breath as Ben’s cock sprang up out of his leathers. Wow. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen man parts before. She’d been going to clubs since she turned twenty and decided to try the lifestyle. Man parts were often on display. They just, oh holy hell, didn’t look like this. If cocks were cars, she’d seen Hondas and Toyotas and the occasional hot sports car, but this was like a freaking Maserati.

“Touch it, sweetheart.” Ben’s voice sounded a little drugged. He was looking up at her with lazy, sexy eyes and he didn’t seem to mind that she was in control. She’d been so worried that he would be offended by the unnatural position. Most Doms wouldn’t give up control, but Ben was perfect. He’d been hard when she needed him to be and now he was offering himself up to her on a platter. She relaxed. She wanted this, and it felt so good to want something.

She let her fingers barely skim his cock, taking in every glorious inch of him. Ben’s cock was long and thick, straining up toward her. His balls were tight against his body, round and heavy. He obviously believed in careful grooming.

Power. She’d forgotten just how much power there could be in sex. Just a little touch of her hand had this big, strong man tensing, his rock-hard abs tightening even further.

“Hey, sweetheart.” He brought his hand up, cupping her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

He brushed away a tear. God, she hadn’t realized she was crying.

“I just forgot how nice this can be. I forgot that I can have some control.”

A brilliant smile broke across his face. He had so many facets she found fascinating. “You have all the control. You can say yes or no. This is all about you. Well, I hope I get something out of it, but you’re in control.”

“I haven’t always been.” But here with him, the images that always seemed to find their way into her brain seemed hazy, more like a memory than a vivid marauder threatening to take over. That time was still there, but she’d rather concentrate on Ben.

His hands teased up her thighs, skimming over the scars there. She tensed, praying he didn’t notice them. He went right past them, pushing the skirt up and exposing her pussy. How sad was it that she was more comfortable showing him her pussy than having him ask about her scars?

“You’re safe with me.” His eyes widened slightly as he took her in. There was no way he could miss the piercing that sat against her clit. His finger came out to touch it. “I love this. This is amazingly hot.”

“I’m glad you like it, Sir.” Her whole body threatened to shake as he explored the hood piercing.

“Baby, I’m going to take such good care of you,” he said, almost reverently.

She wasn’t sure why she believed him, but she did. “I need this.”

“Then take it.” His fingers played with her labial lips, parting them and sliding inside.

She shivered, feeling her whole pussy soften for him. She wasn’t thinking about anything except the orgasm he could give her. The cares of the day floated away. This had been the absolute right move. She could play with Sir Dawson while he was here. She could try to reclaim this huge piece of herself.

Starting now. She didn’t need a ton of foreplay. The spanking he’d given her was still a sweet ache in her skin. The cuddling they’d done hadn’t lessened the need he’d sparked in her. It had just enhanced it. She wanted him. She fucking needed him.

She grabbed the condom and ripped it open. Ben didn’t let up on the slow circles his thumb made around her clit. He knew just the right amount of pressure to have her nearly quaking. Yet he now avoided the piercing there as though he knew she would go off like a rocket. She wanted so badly to feel his mouth there, tugging at the little nub, but she wanted him inside her even more.

She gripped his cock, gently but with firm intent. That gorgeous monster was all hers for the night.

Ben growled a little, a sexy sound that rumbled out of his throat. “You’re killing me. You know I’m not going to be satisfied with just one go. The second time is going to be for me. I’ll want you naked. You can still be on top, but you’re going to sit on my face first because I bet that pussy tastes as sweet as you look.”

Yep, dirty talk still worked when there was affection behind it. He didn’t tell her she was nasty. He didn’t call her a whore or a slut. He went right for the sweet stuff, and it got her hot in a way she’d never been before. He wanted her to ride his tongue. She could do that.

But not until she’d had his cock. She let her hand run up and down the length. So much strength wrapped in silky, hot flesh. She swiped at the little drop of pearly fluid that beaded on the bulbous head. Just running on instinct, she brought her thumb to her lips and tasted him.

Ben groaned, his head falling back. “Please, sweetheart. Have mercy on a man.”

Yes, she loved this power. She carefully rolled the condom over his cock. She was so wet she didn’t want to wait. She rose up, pushing her skirt around her waist. She settled over his sheathed cock and started to work her way down.

He was so big, and it had been so long. Even as wet as she was, she had to go slow, but Ben just gritted his teeth and let her have her way. His breath sawed in and out of his chest. She felt like a freaking virgin again.

“Take it slow, sweetheart. Take as long as you need. I can handle it.” His fingers went right back to playing with her piercing. Every long swipe of his thumb against her clit softened her further, allowing her to take more and more of him until she was finally seated to the root, his cock filling her. “You feel so fucking good. Do you have any idea how much I needed this? You’re an angel, honey. I might have known you for all of five minutes, but I can promise I won’t ever forget this.”

She snorted a little, dragging her hips back up. “It’s been a little longer than five minutes. More like a couple of hours.” She couldn’t believe how close she was. His thumb pressed the piercing against her clit and the orgasm raced across her. She fucked against that finger, working the cock inside her, desperate to keep the pleasure flowing.

Ben’s hips bucked up and his handsome face flushed as he gritted his teeth and came. The low groan that came out of his mouth hit her squarely in the chest.

Blood pounded through her system, a long-forgotten dance. Peace. She was peaceful for once in a very long time.

Maybe, just maybe, she could sleep with him.

He grinned, but there was a quizzical expression on his face. “Honey, that was spectacular, and now we need to get you out of your clothes. But you have an odd sense of time. I hope it doesn’t really feel like you’ve known me for a few hours. I hope I’m not that boring.”

She shook her head. He was still inside her. She loved that intimacy. The impulse was there to sink down on him and rest on his chest, but she needed to thank him first. “You are the least boring man I’ve ever met. I have to thank you. The spanking, it really helped. And the way you held me afterward. No one’s held me like that since I was a kid. I know it sounds stupid, but it meant a lot to me.”

“Spanking? What are you talking about?” His face tightened. “Sweetheart, I’ve only been in the hotel for an hour. I certainly didn’t…oh, fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

“Fuck is right, Benjamin.” A dark voice came from the doorway, and Nat nearly screamed. She rolled off Ben, her body almost hitting the floor, but Ben was fast. He was up and had her in his arms before she could fall.

Still, she pushed away from him because something was so fucking wrong. “There are two of you.”

The other Ben frowned as he stalked toward her. “Yeah, I did mention I had a brother. He didn’t mention me though, did he?”

Ben put his hands up as though he was dealing with a dangerous lion. “Now, Chase, I did not do this on purpose.”

Chase? His name was Chase? She really looked between the twins. They were perfectly alike, from their golden-brown hair to their square jaws to the way their abs rippled. But suddenly she could tell the difference. Ben was open, his emotions playing over his gorgeous face. Chase was a wolf stalking its prey. That was the man she’d first seen across the dungeon. This man had the same darkness about him. “Sir Dawson?”

His ruthlessly hard face softened marginally. “Sweetness, I am not mad at you. My brother, on the other hand, is a complete asswipe sugar thief.” His hand came down, gripping hers and hauling her up before she could protest. He just lifted her up like she didn’t weigh a thing, shoving a big arm under her knees and cradling her against his chest. He growled his brother’s way. “My sugar.”

Ben had flushed a nice shade of red. His hands worked the ties of his leathers after shoving his cock back in. “Back the fuck off, Chase. I didn’t steal a goddamn thing. She came on to me.”

“She thought you were me. You’re so fucking arrogant. You really thought that a strange woman saw you across the room and wanted you so badly she took you straight to your room and fucked you?”

What the hell had she gotten into? She squirmed in Chase’s arms. “You need to put me down.”

They weren’t paying a bit of attention to her. Ben got up, rolling gracefully off the bed where she’d just fucked a stranger. “It wouldn’t be the first time, brother, and you know it.”

She’d made some sort of horrible mistake. Oh, god. She’d slept with the wrong brother.

Chase snarled in his brother’s direction. “She’s not like that. She made a connection with me.”

She still didn’t know either one of these men. What the hell had she been doing? “Hey, you need to put me down. I need to go.”

She needed to get the hell out of here. Her tiny apartment was across the resort in the employees’ lodging. She could hole up and wait them out. She never had to see them again.

Ben frowned. “A connection? You made a connection with her? You don’t make connections, Chase. You fuck and then you leave them to me to take care of. I just skipped a step. Now she doesn’t have to feel like you used her.”

“I feel like everyone’s used me. Put me down.” She was starting to get pissed.

Chase’s arms actually tightened around her body. “I wasn’t using her, asshole. I was helping her. And if you’d taken two minutes to figure out who she was, you would never have touched her.”

Ben stopped. “Who is she?”

Now she started to fight. The last thing she needed was a recitation of all the reasons she wouldn’t be good for Ben. “Put me the fuck down, Dawson.”

“Why are you mad at me?” Chase stared down at her, looking genuinely confused. And a little hurt. Like a little boy whose favorite toy had turned on him.

“Put me down. I don’t like to be manhandled. And I don’t like to be tricked.” She pushed at him, her heart thudding in her chest but for a completely different reason than five minutes ago. Five minutes ago she’d been in charge and happy and…she’d thought she was sleeping with Chase. But she’d slept with Ben and now Chase was acting like a possessive caveman asshole.

“I didn’t trick you,” Chase said. “Nat, calm down. I’m not putting you down until you’re calm.”

She couldn’t breathe. He was holding her so tight. Like a cage.

“Put her down, Chase.” Ben crossed the space between them. “You’re scaring her.”

Chase went back to glowering at his brother. “Yeah, well, what did you do to her then? Do you know how long it’s been for her? Do you know what she went through? And now she’s blown that first time with a guy she just met. Except she didn’t meet him because she doesn’t even know your name.”

“She knows my name, asswipe.” Ben eyed his twin with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Which just proves you can’t know her too well since she didn’t know my name wasn’t yours.”

Chase looked down at her, his eyes accusing. “You said you didn’t want to know my name.”

She finally knew what it felt like to be that bone two dogs were fighting over. “I know your name now, Chase, and I am going to rip your balls off if you don’t put me down.”

Those lips she loved grew faintly cruel. “I would love to see you try.”

“Nice, Chase. Threaten the girl,” Ben said.

Chase stopped and set her on her feet. “I wasn’t going to hurt her. I just can’t let her go.”

What the hell did she do now? She straightened her way-too-short skirt and saw something peeking out of Chase’s pocket. “You kept my underwear?”

He shoved them down further as though trying to hide them. “They’re a memento.”

“He has a collection, sweetheart,” Ben added.

“I just bet he does.” She clenched her fists. She couldn’t really get mad at them. Well, she could, but mostly because they were gorgeous and she felt like such a mess. And speaking of messes, she needed a shower. It had seemed all hot and sexy before the Dawson brothers turned out to be doppelgangers, and pissy ones at that. Now the sweaty state of her body just seemed like one more shitty thing in a never-ending, shitty day. “I’m leaving.”

“Sit down, Natalie. We have things to talk about after I rearrange my brother’s face.” Chase took a step toward Ben.

Ben didn’t back down, but he did seem calmer than Chase. “What the fuck is up with you? It was a mistake. No. I take that back. It wasn’t a mistake. Not for me. She’s beautiful and I wanted her, and I sure as hell didn’t know you’d like hiked your leg up, peed on her, and marked her as your own. You don’t do that. And since when do you have sex when I’m not around? I don’t get this at all. I like her. Let’s share.”

Share? Chase didn’t have sex without his brother around? God, she was a freak magnet. There was no other way to explain it. Somehow she found the weirdos of the world. She tried to walk out because it didn’t seem like they really needed her at all, but she was met with a solid wall of Dawson flesh.

“Sit down, Natalie.” Chase pointed to the chair in the corner of the room.

“I want to leave now.” She carefully pronounced each and every word because he seemed slow to understand them.

Ben stopped, his face falling. “Natalie? As in Natalie Buchanan?” He turned to her, taking her in as though seeing her for the first time.

Her hackles rose, that core of pride rushing in to protect her because he’d said her name like it was a curse. Obviously, he knew who she was. “That’s me, buddy. Bet you didn’t know you were fucking a certified killer.”

He shook his head. “I never sleep with clients.”

She turned to Chase, who had damn straight always known exactly who she was.

He just gave her that nonchalant, “the world bores me” shrug of his. “I have no problem sleeping with a client.”

She closed her eyes. “This is stupid. I knew it when I started it. I knew you were the private detective who’s supposed to get me off and I still pursued you.”

“Ben was the only one who had a chance to get you off. I can get you off, too,” Chase added helpfully.

Why had she thought his awkwardness was charming? “Shut up, Dawson.” She turned to Ben. “So I understand that Julian sent you.”

Ben nodded. “Yes. We’re licensed and everything. We investigate incidents for Mr. Lodge.”

Incidents. A nice way of saying corpses and potential employees who might or might not be homicidal maniacs. They were Julian’s security team, and she’d just screwed one of them and let the other spank her ass until she couldn’t see straight. Yep. She made smart choices.

And she’d let him hold her while she cried. She’d taken comfort from both in their different ways. It was their job to discern her guilt or innocence and work with the police to mete justice or mercy accordingly.

The very man she’d taken comfort from might be the one who handed her over to the police if he wasn’t very good at his job. She really should have thought this through. She’d known all the information, yet she hadn’t laid it all out to see what a horrible mess she would make. “I need to leave.”

Ben took a long breath and nodded. “All right. I’ll walk you to your room.”

Yeah, she wanted that escort. “I know my way.”

“Come on, Nat. Please. I know this was a mistake, but you can’t be mad at me. I didn’t know. I just knew you were gorgeous, and you seemed to want me.”

“Me. She wanted me.” Chase kept singing that tune like a stubborn parrot.

Ben gave his brother the finger. “Just let me walk you back. I know this wasn’t much of a date, but I can’t just shove you out and let you walk back by yourself. My mother would turn over in her grave.”

Chase made a gagging sound. “Our mother would never roll over in that Prada-lined coffin she forced us to buy.” Chase turned slightly. “And don’t call me insensitive. She’s not dead. Ben just likes to pretend she’s dead because she’s shacked up in Monaco with some guy named Frederici. She did pick out her coffin, though. She had a mole. She wanted to be prepared.”

“Frederici is barely nineteen. I refuse to call him Dad. Why do I even try with you?” Ben took a long breath. “Nat, I am so sorry about how this whole thing went down, but I meant what I said before. I like you. I want to see you again. You know, after.”

“He means after he figures out if he’s going to send you to prison,” Chase pointed out.

“Don’t you mean both of you? Aren’t you both working the case?” She’d have to deal with them both for weeks, months maybe. Every time she saw them, she would be reminded of just how much she’d fucked up. And they really needed to freaking let her go. She was rapidly becoming a well of emotion, and she didn’t want to blow up in front of them.

Chase’s face was that careful blank that had almost caused her to reject him. “We’re both working the case, but I assure you, you’re going to be fine. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll take care of you, Nat.”

“Damn it, Chase.” Ben frowned Chase’s direction.

Chase ignored his brother. “Now, why don’t you go take a shower, Natalie? It’s late. We should go to bed. We have a lot to do in the morning.”

Finally. She nearly sobbed at the idea of getting away from them. She started to walk past Chase, but he put a hand out. “What?”

He pointed behind her. “The shower is that way.” His face finally cracked, a sad little look coming over it. “I can’t let you go, sweetness. And you know why.”

He held her eyes, the sympathy there nearly bringing Nat to her knees from the humiliation. He briefly looked down at her thighs now covered with her skirt. He knew. “Gaby told you?”

His voice was a mere whisper. “I’m very observant. I noticed it when I spanked you. Just a couple of little lines and that one deep scar. You’re lucky to be alive. I want that story, sweetness.”

She shook her head. “I need to leave.”

“Then call your boss. I’m not leaving you alone tonight. You sought me out the first time for a reason. You needed something to get your mind off what you want to do. You’re an addict who was about to fall off the wagon and you were so, so smart to find a way to stay on it. You came looking for me again for the same reason. You would have stayed here with me. You would have clung to me and let me get you through this. Little brother over there fucked that very fine plan up. Let me help you. I know where you are, Nat. I’ve sat in your place and prayed to any fucking deity who would listen to just get me through the night. I won’t touch you. And I won’t let you hurt yourself. Consider me a really grumpy guardian angel.”

“I’ll be fine.” He was getting to her again. So was Ben with his kind eyes. Two men, mirror images. Angels. Ben was from heaven and Chase had fallen long before. She had to get out of here. She was getting horrifyingly maudlin. But he was right because she was on the edge again. And the last thing she wanted to do was to call Gaby and Cal. Chris would be with Mike and their baby by now. Everyone had a family. They didn’t need to babysit a fucked-up adult who should know better.

Chase shook his head. “No, sweetness. I don’t want to cage you, but it’s very apparent to me that you’ve been coddled enough. Go take your shower. We’ll be waiting for you when you get out.”

She opened her mouth to protest.

“Or I’ll call her now and Cal can watch over you. Those are your only options.”

Asshole. She turned and walked into the shower, her hands shaking as she locked the door.

“You have fifteen minutes.” Chase’s voice was as loud as if there was no door between them. “If you aren’t out by then, I’ll break in.”

She walked to the shower, turning it to the hottest setting she possibly could. She turned and looked at herself in the mirror and decided to be honest. She’d decided long ago that she would always try to be honest with herself. It was the only way to stay sane. She might lie to everyone else, but when she was alone and everything was quiet, she could acknowledge truths better left unspoken.

She was grateful to him for not allowing her to leave because if she’d fallen off the wagon tonight, she was really sure the wagon would have stopped, put itself in reverse, and rolled right back over her again and again until she didn’t get up. She could spew bile at him until Tuesday, but here in her alone space, she could say what she wanted to say.

“Thank you.”

She would get through tonight. Tomorrow was another hell altogether.

Ben watched Nat close the door and wondered if he shouldn’t be kicking it in already. He didn’t like that closed door between them, and he sure as fuck didn’t like the fact that he had no idea what Chase and Nat’s little conversation had meant. He was on the outside, and it made him edgy. “What were you talking about?”

Chase stared at the door, his face in that stubborn frown that let Ben know he was going to be difficult. He had that frown a lot. It was practically his fucking default expression. “Don’t worry about it.”

Ben was the reasonable half. He actually reminded himself of that quite a bit. It was like a mantra that ran through his head. It had since Ben had been old enough to realize that he couldn’t go wild because one of them had to be sensible, and it wasn’t going to be Chase. “I didn’t sleep with her to hurt you.”

But he kind of wanted to hurt him now. He kind of wanted to plow his fist through his brother’s face, but sometimes that went wrong. He’d punched Chase once because he was being a dickwad douchebag, and Ben had ended up with a migraine for two days.

He was cursed.

Chase just watched the door.

Ben decided to chance the freaking headache. He slapped at Chase’s arm. “Start talking or we’re going to throw down.”

Chase’s chest moved up and down in a long sigh. “I don’t think that will help her.”

“As far as I can tell, you’re not interested in helping her. You just want to fucking keep her away from me.” And that burned. “Do you even listen to yourself?”

“Don’t have to. You’ll always tell me when I say something stupid.”

“What is happening with Natalie? What did you mean about her not being alone tonight? I have every right to know.”

Chase turned, his features going mulish. “Because you fucked her when she thought you were me?”

“Again, didn’t know. And I’m really offended that you would get pissed off about this. It makes me think you had zero intention of sharing her when I always share with you. There have been years when you wouldn’t have gotten laid without me. You find someone as amazing as that woman and you decide to be a possessive asshole? Fine. You want to toss out thirty-five years of brotherhood, fine. But I’m still a part of this business, and you need to tell me what you know about the client.”

Chase strode to the bed and sat down as the shower came on.

Ben put a hand on the door to the bathroom where Natalie was. Fuck. The first woman he’d ever really felt a crackling connection to and she was not only an off-limits clients, but his brother was crazy about her and wanted her to himself. Hadn’t he given up enough for Chase? Why did he have to sacrifice this, too?

“If she has you, why would she need me?” Chase asked quietly.

Ben turned back. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Chase shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Did you not notice the scars on her thighs?”

He’d felt them, raised lines on her legs, but at the time he’d been more interested in getting his fingers inside her pussy than anything else. “So she was in an accident? I know a little about her history. Is it something that happened to her when she was held captive?”

Natalie, along with Kitten and the other woman, Gretchen, had been kidnapped by a man who used BDSM as assault and battery and rape. Kitten had been held for months, Gretchen for over a year. Natalie had only been with the man for a matter of a few months before she’d managed to maneuver him into a place where she’d used a knife and killed him. And good for Natalie. He’d read that file and even before he’d met her, he’d known she was a survivor. She’d been caught, held, tortured, and she hadn’t broken. She’d fought. She’d done what she had to.

Damn it. Knowing who she was didn’t make him like her less. It made him want her more, and he’d kind of craved her before. Two seconds after he’d come, he’d been getting hard again just thinking about her riding his face, his tongue deep inside that sugar of hers.

Sugar. He hadn’t missed what Chase had called her. Sweetness. The word had played through his brain the whole time he’d been with Nat. Even before she’d walked his way, he’d looked at her and thought about how sweet she would be. Now he had to wonder how much of that had been his reaction and how much had been remnants of Chase.

And he had to wonder if it even fucking mattered since she’d made him feel so damn much.

“I don’t think she got those scars from him,” Chase explained. “She did that to herself.”

Ben stopped, the knowledge hitting him hard. He couldn’t imagine her sitting there hurting herself. “She’s a cutter?”

Chase’s eyes came up, flaring briefly. “She thinks she can get rid of the emotional pain by taking a little physical pain. Know anyone like that? Because I walk through a dungeon full of them every fucking night. We’re all fucked up, Ben. Well, most of us are.”

Yeah, he just might punch his brother. “Screw you, Chase. You think sharing an emotional state with you is easy? I assure you I’m totally fucked up. Constantly feeling what you feel is a goddamn curse. The best thing that’s happened to me lately is hooking up with that pink-haired slice of heaven, and now I get to spend the night wondering what was real and what was you, and I already decided that I don’t give a shit. I just want her.”

And if she was totally fucked up, then maybe he was the one who could help her. Chase was right about that. Ben had started his BDSM training long before Chase had gotten into the lifestyle.

He’d started on Ada.

Chase softened, his shoulders slumping. “God, don’t go there. Please.”

“It’s hard not to.”

“You didn’t really love her,” Chase said, leaning forward. “I think you fooled yourself into thinking you did. It was the first time we’d really been separated, and I think you kind of fell in love with that, too.”

The shower was going, steam seeping from under the door. Natalie liked it hot, it would appear. Ben leaned against the wall, the whole crapalicious day weighing him down. Chase was right. The Navy was the first time they’d been forced apart for more than a few hours. After BUD/S training, they were placed on two separate SEAL teams, and Chase had gone to Iraq and Ben to the ass end of Asia where he’d met his fellow team member, Leo Meyer. Leo had been the team’s sniper. Hanging out with Leo, learning from him, had been a huge turning point in Ben’s life.

“You can’t know that.” The last thing Ben wanted to do was think about Ada because thinking about the gorgeous translator always led to him thinking about her death. And the fact that he’d been in love with her and she’d been in love with Leo.

“I can. Look, I know you hate this whole freaky link thing between us, but it comes in handy from time to time. I know you didn’t love Ada because I never loved her.”

“You never freaking met her.” Ben felt an odd need to defend her.

Chase shrugged. “I didn’t have to. I felt that fucking bullet hit your shoulder during that raid in Kabul. I nearly passed out when you took that knife to your back. I would be asleep in Baghdad and wake up because I could feel how happy you were sitting around a campfire with your buddies, and I knew damn well one of the reasons you were so fucking happy was that you didn’t have to share them with me. I wasn’t around to screw everything up. Tell me I’m wrong.”

He wanted to tell his brother he was full of shit, but he wasn’t. There had been a deep freedom to those years with the SEALs that he hadn’t felt before or since. Just for a little while, he’d felt almost whole, like he didn’t need Chase to complete him. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

But he had. Even while Chase had felt his joy, Ben had caught the edges of Chase’s misery. Chase had hated everything about Iraq. He’d hated the death and the poverty he saw. He’d shrunk back into himself until his whole squad had given him the nickname “Wraith” because he almost never talked. Silent death. The Grim Reaper. Yeah, he knew how much Chase hated that shit.

“Doesn’t matter,” Chase said, blowing it all off. “But, Ben, in all that emotion, I never once heard her name whispering across my brain. Not once. You didn’t love her. You were in love with the idea of not having to share her with me.”

“That’s not true.” It couldn’t be because he’d wasted long passages of his life if it was.

“You can lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to me. Ashley Donaldson. Eleventh grade. You met her in math class. By the time I walked out of chemistry, I was crazy about her and I hadn’t met her.”

Ashley. Pretty. Tall. Blonde. And very flexible. Yeah, they’d done her in the back of an SUV. Thank god for high school gymnastics. She’d been their girlfriend for two years before she’d left for college.

“Laura Evans from college. I felt that shit from three miles away. Damn, that was a kinky girl. She didn’t even ask who I was when I showed up. She just looked me over, said, ‘Yes, twins,’ and pulled me inside. I think about her a lot, actually.” Chase got a little smile on his face.

Ben got caught up. “Hey, I wasn’t the only one who could find a hot perv. Do I need to mention Sheri?”

Chase’s eyes rolled back. “That was an open-minded girl. And the things she could do with whipped cream.” He looked back at his brother. “I never even knew when you were having sex with Ada. But you knew that I called that little piece of heaven in there sweetness.”

The shower shut off. Her fifteen minutes were almost up, and it sounded like she was taking Chase’s threat seriously.

“She’s the client.” He wished he’d known that before he’d gotten inside her. Would it really make a difference? He was careful. He believed in separating business from pleasure. But he wasn’t sure he wanted to in this case.

“No.” Chase’s words were very precise. “Julian is the client. I’m not fucking Julian so everything is okay.”

His brother was maddening at times. Most of the time. “We’re investigating her.”

“Yes. So it’s up to us to keep track of her. I think the best way to do that is to be on top of her most of the time.”

“She likes to be on top. She needs it.” And he was talking about this why?

Chase growled a little. “Yeah, you would know.”

“I like her.” He wasn’t just going to step out of the way because his brother had decided to be a possessive, idiot asshole. And he wasn’t going to step out of the way because of his moral code. If Chase didn’t see a problem with it, then Ben could handle it, too.

The door opened, and Natalie stood there looking younger than she had before, her pink hair slicked back. She was slender but with nice curves. She needed someone who would make sure she ate three meals a day and indulged in dessert. Natalie looked like a woman who rarely indulged in anything.

He could take care of her in ways Chase wouldn’t even think of.

“I don’t have anything to wear. I should go back to my place.”

Ben quickly crossed and picked up a T-shirt out of Chase’s open bag. “You can wear this. Don’t argue, sweetheart. Just dry your hair and come to bed.”

Her eyes widened. “I can’t sleep with you.”

Chase snorted. “Natalie, you’ve done more than sleep with him.”

She shook her head. “I’m not sleeping with him.”

“Well you wouldn’t be alone. I would be there, too. I’ll make damn sure he doesn’t lay another hand on you.” Chase sent him his patented evil eye.

Ben flipped him off. “Fuck you. Come on, Natalie. You can have the bed. Chase and I will find couches or something.”

Chase frowned. “Nice. First you bring Georgia home and now I get to sleep on a couch. I fucking hate couches.”

Turnabout was fair play. “Well, you were the one who set Georgie on me in the first place. And she’s got it in her head that she’s going to get a job or something. And I’m taking the big couch.”

“No, you fucking aren’t. Damn it. I’m one quarter of an inch taller than you.”

“You might be when you don’t slouch, asshole.”

Natalie’s lips turned up for the first time in an hour. “You’re both seriously deranged, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Chase said with pride.

“No,” Ben countered. “I’m just like this because of him.”

“What he means is he’s interesting because of me,” Chase explained. “Otherwise he’d be just another bland himbo with an eight-pack and very little going on between his ears.”

Yep. He was risking it. He hauled back and punched his brother firmly in his eight-pack. And then groaned because fuck, that hurt.

Natalie simply watched, obviously completely unfazed by their idiocy. “I’m feeling better about myself every minute I watch you two. I’ll sleep here tonight, but don’t think that means anything.”

The door closed.

“Look what you did.” Chase’s voice went low, the same way it had when they were kids and they were trying to keep something from their nanny. “Now she thinks we’re freaks. And that fucking hurt.”

Ben held his gut, because it still hurt. But he watched the door.

Natalie looked like a girl who just might be able to handle a couple of freaks.