“Then you’re ours now.” He thrust up, joining them in a single, smooth move. Her recent orgasm had made her folds soft and swollen. Jessa cried out at the tearing pain as he broke through her barrier and kept sinking deeper. Then the pain faded, replaced by a foreign, delicious fullness that grew with each second.

“You feel so good.” Cole groaned and thrust into her with slow, short strokes. An inch in and then out. Another inch, burning, unstoppable. He fucked her carefully, moving in and out, giving her time to take him comfortably. She welcomed the burn. He was so big, stretching her relentlessly and making her writhe.

Burke’s hands cupped her breasts as he whispered, “Take all of him. Yes, that’s beautiful, sweetheart. So fucking beautiful. You’ll take me next, and I’ll sink so deep…”

Jessa let her hands find Cole’s back. His skin was hot, smooth, bunched with muscles as he invaded her, his strokes burning and filling her, becoming more and more urgent. Burke pressed kisses along her neck. She was surrounded by them, every inch of space taken up with their feel and scent.

She belonged to them.

Cole picked up the pace, his face contorting as he worked over her. “You feel so damn good, baby. So tight. So…ours.”

Burke’s hand slipped between them and pinched at her clit. Cole thrust faster, hitting some place deep inside. The kind of pleasure they’d given her with their mouths built all over again, but deeper, more demanding. Jessa whimpered and wrapped her legs around Cole, rushing up to meet his thrusts. She gave herself to him completely.

“That’s right,” Cole said on a groan. “Give it to us. Come, baby. Let us have it.”

“I can hear you panting,” Burke whispered. “Feel your rapid heartbeat. Your whole body is tensing. Come, sweetheart. Cole won’t resist joining you. You’re too sweet.”

Burke rubbed her clit with every low word he spoke, and she exploded, pleasure wracking her. Cole held her hips, driving in with hard thrusts, teeth bared, as he came. He called out her name and shoved in as deeply as he could, as though he wanted to fuse them together. His body shook then fell against hers.

She was pressed between them, Burke’s arms wrapped around her, Cole’s head buried in her neck. She moaned, feeling absolutely exhausted—and at utter peace.

“Don’t think we’re through yet,” Burke whispered. “It’s my turn, sweetheart.”

With his soft, subtle warning, her body went on alert.

“We’re not even close to through,” Cole added, his lips brushing the space between her breasts before taking a nipple in his mouth tenderly. Between them, she felt special, beloved.

No. They weren’t through. She would never be through with them.

Gingerly, Cole withdrew from her pussy. Almost immediately, Burke loomed over her, his sheathed cock in hand. Cole disposed of his own condom, then he eased into the spot Burke had occupied just moments ago, wrapping his arms around her. Her breath caught. Burke smiled seductively as he covered her, slid inside of her, then let out a long moan. “That’s it, sweetheart. This is fucking heaven.” Another deep stroke, another groan. “And I’m never going to want to leave.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Present Day – Dallas, Texas

The jerk of the plane hitting the runway brought Jessa out of her dream. She blinked, forcing her eyes to focus. Moments ago, she’d been back in a world where everything had seemed warm and perfect. She’d dreamed of the night she’d first made love with Cole and Burke. She’d been surrounded by them, feeling safe and cherished.

It had been a dream—all of it. Oh, she’d lived it, but it had been her fantasy. In reality, she had been nothing more to them than a way to kill time while they worked a job. She’d been fooling herself, and the proof of her gullible nature was currently sleeping in his new car seat. The bouncing of the plane hadn’t woken Caleb. Nor had it awakened Burke, who slept beside him, hand resting on the baby’s little belly.

“My brother can sleep through anything. I think that’s what happens when you spend too much of your life on cargo planes.” Cole rubbed his eyes and stretched.

“Burke could sleep through Armageddon,” Gavin James drawled, then eyed Angus in his new carrier. The feline gave a guttural meow of supreme displeasure. No surprise since he’d spent most of the flight throwing up.

With a grimace, Gavin unbuckled his belt, stood and buttoned his jacket, then picked up the cat carrier. “The car is waiting for us. Hannah has everything ready. You don’t need to worry about Caleb. Or this charming cat you’ve got.”

Not worry? The thought of leaving her child behind with strangers tore at Jessa’s gut, threatening to rip her open.

“I’m sorry,” Gavin James said, his eyes hooded. “That was a thoughtless thing to say. I can’t imagine what you’re going through. Of course you’re going to worry. I have two children of my own, a boy and a girl. I would die a little if I were in your shoes. But I want you to know that I will protect Caleb as though he were my own.”

Tears pricked at her eyes. She believed him. The man in the thousand dollar suit seemed genuine, despite the fact that everyone around him jumped to do his bidding. He’d been waiting at the private airport outside of D.C. with a Learjet cleared for takeoff. He’d huddled near the back of the plane while Cole filled him in on the situation. She’d heard Gavin try to talk Cole and Burke into staying at his home in Dallas, but she agreed with them. Staying far away from Caleb was safer. She couldn’t risk his little life.

Burke came awake as the airplane screeched to a halt. “Are we here?”

“Yes, princess,” Cole replied. “And you managed to get your beauty sleep in, as usual. Jessa rested a little, too. We’re going to say goodbye to Caleb and take off before Marco can catch up with us. Did Dex find a car for us?”

Gavin frowned. “Yes. He’s waiting outside with it. He also tried to get hold of Mick Landry. He’s the PI you had watching Jessa for the past year, right?”

Cole unhooked his seatbelt. “Yes. He’s the good-for-nothing son of a bitch who didn’t do his goddamn job. I have a few words to say to him.”

“That’s going to be difficult. He was murdered two days ago.” Gavin’s words fell like a ticking bomb waiting to go off.

“Fuck,” Burke said.

“Well, we knew Marco was serious,” Cole muttered.

“Why did you hire a PI?” Jessa asked.

She didn’t understand them. They had walked away without even giving her their real last name, making it impossible for her to find them. But they’d hired someone to keep tabs on her? It didn’t make any sense.

“When we realized how long we were going to be in South America, we hired a PI to make sure you were okay. We just wanted to keep tabs on you,” Cole explained. “He wasn’t supposed to do anything but check on you. Make sure you were safe and had everything you needed. He sent monthly reports to our office. Our secretary forwarded them to us.” He greeted his teeth and cursed. “The bastard was obviously working for Marco. He told us you married Angus in Scotland this past spring.”

“Married? Seriously?” Jessa shook her head. “No. I went to Scotland because I sold some work at the Soho gallery, and the owner liked me so much she let me spend some time in her house there in exchange for painting it. It’s an old monastery on a gorgeous piece of land. When I came home, I was still only a few months along, so I adopted Angus from the animal shelter.”

“We had no idea you were pregnant,” Burke said, bitterness dripping.

She shrugged. “Would it have mattered? You still had a job to do.”

It wasn’t fair, but she was jealous of their mission. They had spent a full year saving other people’s children while their own child had been born in a county hospital. She could still remember standing outside the hospital with Caleb in a car seat, waiting on a taxi to take her home. She’d been the only new mom with no one to take care of her.

She could feel Cole’s stare burning through her. “One of us would have come back while the other stayed and did the job. We wouldn’t have left you alone.”

The door to the Lear opened, and a big man wearing a cowboy hat charged in. He wore a long-sleeved western shirt, jeans, and boots. The casual outfit didn’t hide the man’s air of authority. A lovely blonde followed behind him, her pretty face grimacing with worry.

“Dex? Seriously?” Gavin James stared at the cowboy. “You brought Hannah?”

“She’s earned a couple hundred licks.” Dex scowled. “But she wouldn’t be left behind. Slade’s back at the house making some calls. He’s working his way up the FBI ranks, screaming all the way. Unfortunately, no one can prove that this Marco asshole has taken over his father’s business. He’s been perfectly clean for years. We’re in a bind.”

“It wouldn’t matter,” Cole said, standing to shake hands with Dex. “Marco has FBI contacts. We could go into protective custody, and it would be a crap shoot. In fact, I think that’s exactly what the fucker wants us to do.”

The men started talking strategy, moving to exit the plane. The pretty blonde stepped forward and sat down across from Jessa, looking both concerned and kind. She was dressed in white slacks and a colorful sweater that had come straight off a designer’s rack. She was soft and natural, and there was no doubt this woman was well loved.

“He’s beautiful. Caleb, right?”

“Yes.” This was the woman who would take care of her baby. The blonde reached over and gently touched Caleb’s cheek, a tender look on her face. Jessa liked her right away. She had “experienced mother” written all over her.

She turned back to Jessa, holding out a hand. “I’m Hannah James. I’m married to those two and one who’s still at home. We have two babies. I promise, I will take care of yours. I love your men.”

Jessa shook her head. “They aren’t mine.”

They had never been.

Hannah’s perfectly manicured eyebrow rose on her face. “Say that all you like, but I promise you, those men have barely taken their eyes off you. They’re not going to give you up. But that’s an Alpha male for you. They can be obnoxious, but I wouldn’t have mine any other way.”

Hannah was married to three men? Jessa leaned in, her curiosity getting the better of her. She stole a glance at the two men talking to Cole and Burke. They looked…difficult. “How do you handle them?”

Hannah’s smile was brighter than the lights on the plane, her laughter tinkling through the cabin. “Oh, they don’t make it easy. They gang up on me. I rarely win a fight… But making up is worth it.” She turned serious, tears pricking her eyes. “Trust me. As difficult as this kind of relationship can be, it’s worth every moment. I wouldn’t know a damn thing about love or happiness without them.”

Jessa turned away, the look of adoration on Hannah’s face too much for her to bear. “Well, you got lucky.”

Hannah touched her knee. “I’ve known Cole and Burke for a couple of years now. They would talk about you on their brief trips home. I have never seen them as crazy about a woman as they are about you. Of course, they also haven’t had a case as bad as the one they’ve been working for the last year. If they say they didn’t know about Caleb, then they didn’t.”

Did that really matter? They had left her, walked away, and not returned for a year. They had only come now because they thought she was in danger. Great. They didn’t want her to die. She bet she could find a whole bunch of people who didn’t particularly want her to die. That didn’t mean they cared. And now that they knew about Caleb, whatever they said or did would be colored by the fact that she’d given birth to their son. Jessa didn’t want to be tied to them simply because her reproductive organs worked.

She glanced at Cole. He stood, looking so masculine it hurt. And Burke’s eyes strayed to hers. She looked away, too confused and angry to meet his stare.

Burke walked over, his face a grim mask. “We have to go now.”

Jessa put a hand to her mouth, stifling her cry. She was leaving her baby, her very soul. A moment later, Cole stood beside his brother.

“I’m so fucking sorry, baby.” Cole started to reach a hand toward her. She flinched. Cole’s face went blank. “The faster we get out of here, the less chance Marco has of following us. We have cash. We have an untraceable vehicle. We have new IDs. I promise, I will keep you alive or I will die trying.”

With tears falling, she leaned over and kissed her sleeping child. All this time, Caleb had been her strength. How had she ever thought differently? Shame filled her as she thought of those first, dark days when he had seemed like a burden. Now, he was the light of her life. His sweet smile, his sunny disposition, had kept her going through some very lonely times. Would she ever seen him again?