Their Virgin Hostage, Masters of Ménage, Book 5 (3 page)

“There. I think I fixed the audio. Is the sound in the suite
back on?” Riley asked, looking up from his computer, already dressed in the
black and white uniform of room service staff.

“I think so.” Dom nodded.

“Good. Shitty that it crapped out through that whole
conversation with her sister,” Riley groused.

Dominic didn’t care. He’d doubted they’d missed much.
Everything was in place now. Years of planning was finally coming together. So
why did he have a deep pit in his stomach, a feeling of gnawing anxiety as he
listened.

“Oh, the audio is definitely working again. She’s talking
about how much she loves the creep.” And Dominic couldn’t stand it. Somehow hearing
her say she loved a hardened criminal made his skin crawl.

He almost wished Riley wasn’t so good at his job. To be
honest, he’d enjoyed just watching the blonde. She was so freaking beautiful.
Her seeming innocence made her look like a girl who would appreciate a man’s—or
men’s—comfort and protection. But the second Riley had restored the sound, the
words that had come out of the bride’s mouth proved the image was all false.

I don’t care about how
good he is. He’s going to be my husband. Have you seen all the gifts he’s
already given me?

And to think he’d mooned over her for even a second. He was
a stupid ass. He’d seen
Kinley
Kohl’s picture and
half fallen in love with her sweet face and banging body on the spot. Blonde
curls and caramel brown eyes, and that husky voice that went straight to his
cock.

But she couldn’t wait to jump into bed with Satan, so she
was pretty much on the “no touch” list.

Still, he was going to do what he must in order to save her
life. She wasn’t going to die like his baby sister had. Greg Jansen was going
to pay for his crimes—and
Kinley
Kohl was the key.

Law Anders stepped up and looked at the screen. He was
wearing the same starched uniform as his brother. It was almost go time. “Does
that mean she’s stopped talking about how fat she is?”

“What?” Dominic scowled.

“Yeah, just before all that crap about loving Jansen.” Law
made gagging sounds. “I heard everything she said to both her sister and
Annabelle. I don’t get it. She’s gorgeous. How can anyone think she’s fat? I
swear, my hand is itching.”

Law liked to spank women, especially pretty women who
mouthed off about how unattractive they were.
Kinley
Kohl was practically his perfect woman. Fuck, she was practically all of their
perfect woman, if only her heart was half as sweet as her looks. But no. She
was willing to marry a violent killer because he bought her some luggage.

“Focus, man,” Dominic barked. “She’s talked a lot about how
much shit Jansen’s bought her.”

Law frowned, his eyes never leaving the screen. “I’m telling
you, it’s an act. She’s scared. She needs us.”

“You’re insane, Law. Delusional.”

He stared at his friend. Law Anders was supposed to be the
surly one. He mostly communicated in growls and snarls, but ever since Dominic
had put him on the surveillance of
Kinley
Kohl, he’d
been all complete sentences and smiles. Oh, his lips didn’t curl up much, and
he looked a little like he was in pain, but for Law, that was a brilliant grin.

Riley stared at his older brother. “This isn’t like you,
Law. You know who she is.”

So they’d had conversations. Dominic had wondered about
that. Riley and Law Anders were the closest thing he had to a family because
he’d more or less grown up with the brothers.

He’d helped Riley get into Harvard and they’d attended the
Ivy League institution together for a time. When patriotic duty had called,
Dominic had gone off to the military. Law had joined up, too. Before it was all
over, Law had taken an
IED
and lost function of his
legs, so Dominic had left the service to come home and help the men he
considered his brothers. Law was a tough son of a bitch. Even after the doctors
had told him he would never walk again, he was up and running eighteen months
later. Now Anthony Anders was one of the premier investigative firms in the
country. They worked for law firms and police departments.

But this case was personal.

“She’s the target,” Dominic said in no uncertain terms.
“She’s the woman who’s going to give us all the ammunition we need to finally
prove what kind of a man Greg Jansen is.”

The kind willing to kill a woman for money, Dominic thought
in a rage. Even a woman as sweet as his sister.

The time had come to avenge Carrie by beating Jansen at his
own game. And
Kinley
Kohl was his sledgehammer. He
had everything he needed with the singular exception of a witness. After today,
problem solved. He’d do whatever it took to make
Kinley
spill everything she knew until she practically sang. What he didn’t need was
Law falling in lust with her.

Even though it would be a really easy thing to do.

“You guys haven’t been watching and talking to her the way I
have.” Law’s eyes never left the screen. “She has little tells. She smiles a
little too brightly when she’s lying.”

“She has different smiles?” Riley asked with a frown.

“Yep,” Law replied. “And she’s using her fake smile now.
Watch the difference between the one she uses on our little Benedict Arnold and
her sister.”

“Hey, she’s trying to help
Kinley
.”
Dominic wasn’t going to let Law throw Annabelle Wright under the bus. She was a
hell of a woman, choosing to do something brave and save her friend’s life. “If
Annabelle hadn’t agreed to intervene, do you really think
Kinley
would have come back from her honeymoon alive?”

“I’m not saying we should let her marry the fucker,” Law
replied. “I just wish you would let me talk to her instead of carrying through
with this crazy plan. She’s a smart woman. She’ll listen.”

Dominic seriously doubted that. “Like she’s been listening
to Annabelle all this time? She’s a socialite who takes lunches and goes to
charity balls. How fucking intellectual can she be?”

“She’s raised millions of dollars for the homeless. And
those lunches she takes are usually about her charity.”

He hated to burst Law’s bubble because the guy so rarely had
a positive outlook on anything, but he had to do it. “Her charity is on the
brink of ruin.”

“Because of her father.” Law could also be a little like a
pit bull with a nice hunk of meat when he decided something. He never fucking
let go.

But Dominic needed Law on his side. “Her gambling father who’s
run the whole family into the ground. Yeah, and she just keeps feeding him
money. She’s giving him funds earmarked for warm coats and shoes for poor
children. She’s probably hoarding some herself for shopping sprees.”

“You’ve got her all wrong.” Law’s jaw squared, and Dominic
just knew he wasn’t going to like what his best friend was about to say. “I
think she’s the one for us.”

“Fuck.” Riley put a hand to his head, shaking it as though
he couldn’t believe what his brother had just said.

Dominic felt his blood pressure tick up. “Are you fucking
crazy?”

Law held out his hands in defense. “Just listen to me. She’s
not what you think she is. I don’t know why she’s marrying him.”

“For his money,” Dominic shot back.

Law ran a frustrated hand on top of the dark stubble of his
buzz cut. “Yeah, but the money isn’t for her. I think she’s trying to save her
family. You should know something about that.”

“I never spread my legs to save my sister.” What he didn’t
say was that he would have. He would have done anything to save Carrie. “This
isn’t the same thing at all. She’s marrying for money because her father
gambled everything away. You are willfully misjudging her because you want to
fuck her. Do I need to take you off this case? You’re either with me or against
me, brother.”

He wasn’t sure what he would do without Law. Riley was the
computer genius, but Law was really smart muscle. He’d come to rely on the
man’s instincts, his training, his sheer tenacity. His friendship.

But he owed it to Carrie to succeed. He couldn’t allow Law’s
obvious attraction to
Kinley
Kohl to stand in the way
of justice.

He could still hear his sister’s whispers on his voice mail.

Dom, I need to talk to
you as soon as possible. Please call me back. It’s all going wrong. I’m leaving
Greg. I think he’s…I have to go. He’s here. Call me.

He’d been off with Riley and Law, screwing some brunette
he’d met at a bar while his sister was being murdered.

Law’s face cleared, becoming a polite blank. “Of course not.
I know how much this means to you. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

He turned away from the monitors, all excitement gone. Law
was a predator again, cold and unfeeling. Exactly what Dominic needed. So why
did he feel like he’d just taken something precious from his friend?

Riley leaned in. “He’s fine, man. We’re both here for you.
She’s just his type, that’s all.”

Pretty, blonde, and stacked was just about every man’s type,
but he’d never seen Law react so fiercely to a woman. What had he learned about
her that Dominic hadn’t?

It didn’t matter. Getting her isolated and making her talk
did.

“We’ve got movement. Annabelle just rang for room service.
That’s our cue. She’ll make sure
Kinley
is alone in
that suite for the next fifteen minutes.” Riley turned back to him. “Who’s
ready to
roofie
a blonde? This guy. Come on, Law, you
can stare at her boobs up close.”

Law sent his brother his happy middle finger. “Let’s get
this done.”

Dominic put a hand on Law’s shoulder. “We’re not going to
hurt her. We’re saving her.” She might not thank him for it, but… “You know
that.”

Law nodded, but Dominic wasn’t convinced. “Sure. We need to
go. See you at the extraction point.”

Sometimes Law sounded like he was still in the military. He
and Riley walked out.

Dominic turned back to the screen.
Kinley
was a gorgeous woman, and he had a wistful, fleeting thought that it would have
been nice if she had been the one woman who could love all three of them. The
woman who could become the center of their world.

She turned, her face so sad, so beautiful that he nearly
reached out and touched the screen.

He growled a little as he turned away and started wiping the
room clean. He didn’t have time for bullshit. He had a killer to catch.

And a hostage to nab.

“I deserve to find happiness.”
Kinley
forced herself to take a deep breath as she paced the floor in her white,
four-inch
Manolo
Blahniks
.
“Greg will be my happiness and my joy.”

The room responded with an echo of utter silence. Yeah, no
one believed that, not even the walls.

Was this how she would spend the rest of her life? Would she
wake every morning and try to convince herself that she was happy and
fulfilled? Since she was a kid, she and Annabelle had a ritual before big
events like Christmas, birthdays, and big dates. They would get together and
hold hands and wish out loud for their dreams to come true.

Tears threatened as she remembered the last time they had
done it. It had been at her mother’s bedside. Annabelle had flown home from
Chicago. She’d beaten Becks to the hospital, despite the fact that her sister
lived only a few miles away at the time. It was a silly ritual, a daydream
between young girls. It hadn’t saved her mother’s life, and it wasn’t going to
work today. But when Annabelle had taken her hand, she’d wanted so desperately
to believe that magic could work.

Kinley
sighed at herself. Wishing
for happiness and joy and love was futile now. It was time to grow up.

A brisk knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts.
“Room service.”

That was quick. Still, how could she possibly eat now? She
could barely move in this dress. All these sad thoughts were killing her
appetite… But it would be rude to send the food away when Annabelle had gone to
the trouble of ordering it.

She made her way across the suite. It was very likely a long
way here from the kitchens.

Tip. He would want a tip. Oh, she hoped she had some cash.

Why hadn’t Annabelle come back? Must be a long phone call
with
Kellan
.

Kinley
opened the door, ready to
graciously thank the worker, accept the food, and send him away. But the sight
that greeted her stunned her mute.

The two most gorgeous men she’d ever laid eyes on stood in
the hallway, a large cart between them. Something was off about that cart, but
she couldn’t stop staring at the men long enough to figure it out.

Tall, with broad shoulders ready to burst out of their white
jackets. The one closest to her had to be six and a half feet tall. He had a
military cut of pitch-black hair and the most arresting blue eyes she’d ever
seen. She wouldn’t really describe his face as beautiful. He was far too
masculine for that. There was something savage about him that belied his formal
tuxedo-like uniform.

“Miss Kohl? May we come in?” Though the words were spoken
more like a growl and a rumble, they were so very polite.

And for some insane reason, that voice felt like a caress to
her skin. He could make love to a woman with that voice—and if she wasn’t about
to walk down the aisle to meet Greg, she’d probably let him.

“Yeah.” Her own words came out in a breathy little puff. She
forced herself to look at
Hottie
Number Two.

He was an inch shorter than big brother—and there was no
question they were brothers. It was in the set of their eyes and the identical
coloring, but after that, they differed. The shorter one looked slightly
younger, as though the world hadn’t weighed him down as heavily as his brother.
There was the beginning of a truly gorgeous smile on his face.

“Miss? It’s hard for us to move into your room when you’re
standing in the doorway.”
Hottie
Number Two couldn’t
help but laugh a little. “You don’t want your food to get cold, do you?”

How could anything possibly get cold when they were around?
She actually felt a stifling heat. Except for her feet. Her feet were ice
cold—at least metaphorically. Not only did she not want to meet Greg at the end
of the aisle, but she’d rather find herself in between these two men in a
totally inappropriate position.

She flushed and stepped back, allowing them into the room.
Her runaway thoughts were all Annabelle’s fault. She joked about being in love
with three guys and refusing to choose. She’d told
Kinley
that she would have them all or they simply wouldn’t have her.

She’d been joking, surely. But Belle had planted an interesting
notion in
Kinley’s
head…

“Where do you want it, sweetheart?”
Hottie
Two asked.

She could think of several places that she wanted it, each
more inappropriate than the last. But that probably wasn’t what they meant.
Even so,
Kinley
got totally flustered because all she
could think about was the man’s lips. They were full and sensual, and she
couldn’t help but wonder how he would kiss.

“The tray. I meant the tray.” Those lips were curved up in a
knowing smile.

Embarrassment flooded her. If they could read her thoughts,
she’d die. “By the window, please.”

She needed to pull her damn self together and stop being an
idiot. And her heels were already killing her. She stepped gingerly around the
couch and reached for her purse. She pulled out a ten.

“This light must be bothering you.”
Hottie
One was standing at the windows. The view was spectacular, but he made quick
work of the first set of blinds, closing them and blocking out the afternoon
light.

“Not at all.” She liked the view.

The man slid the second set of drapes closed. “I think
you’ll like it better if you know prying eyes can’t see in.”

“Prying eyes?”
Kinley
asked. “Why
would anyone want to look at me?”

Hottie
One turned and pinned her
with his stare. He was so much more serious than his brother. She could tell it
by the set of his mouth. This was a man who almost never found anything to
smile about. “Because you’re lovely.”

Tears threatened. They perched right there, making the world
watery. She wasn’t lovely. She was too fat and her eyes were a muddy brown
instead of
Becks’s
spectacular green. Even though she
was only twenty-five, her breasts probably sagged a little. Nothing about her
face was remarkable.

But when the man told her she was lovely in that low rumble,
she almost believed him.

Greg never said a thing about her beyond the fact that she
would be a good business asset to him. He would never find her lovely.

“Are you all right, Miss Kohl?”
Hottie
Two asked, his expression graver than before.

Yes, she was rapidly making a complete fool of herself. She
gave them her brightest smile, the one she used on the snootiest society ladies
and men who thought she didn’t have a brain in her head. “Of course.
Here.
Thank you so much.”

She held out the ten-dollar bill. As she did, her stare
fixed on the cart they’d pushed in. It was far larger than normal. At least
twice as large and three times as tall. There were two silver trays on top, but
no glasses and no silverware.

“Miss Kohl,” the one with the unsmiling eyes began.

A little thrill of fear spiked up her spine. Something was
wrong. “That’s not a delivery tray.”

What they had rolled in was made of canvas. She could see it
plainly now.

“No. It’s not,” the second man agreed. He took a step toward
her.

Kinley
backed up. “That’s a
laundry hamper.”

It was the industrial kind used in hotels. Why had they
brought her food on a laundry hamper? Except there wasn’t actually any food
because that would have come with silverware and glassware, not two silver
covers that she could now see weren’t actually covering anything at all.

“Don’t scream, sweetheart. We’re not here to hurt you.” The
second man was inching his way toward her.

Holy crap! Then what
were they going to do?

Kinley
wasn’t about to obey them.
She opened her mouth and let out a long shout as she turned on her heels and
sprinted for the door.

At least she meant to sprint for the door. Unfortunately,
she tripped on the stupidly long train of her dress and fell to her knees. She
scrambled, her heart pounding.
Get up!
She had to.
Kinley
had no idea what these men wanted,
but she wasn’t about to give it to them.

An arm wound around her waist, and she was pulled back
against a hard body. She screamed again, but this time a hand clapped over her
mouth.

Did they mean to rob
her? Rape her? Kill her? God, was this really happening?
Tears overflowed.

The first man, the really big one, stepped in front of her.
“It’s all right,
Kinley
. We’re going to take care of
you.”

Yes. It looked like they were going to take care of her—by
burying her somewhere or tying her feet to cinder blocks and dropping her in
the ocean. She’d watched enough ID TV to know what came next.

She tried to sink her teeth into the hand that covered her
mouth. He cursed, and she managed to gain a tiny bit of purchase, but
otherwise, he held tight.

“She’s fucking biting me, Law,” he hissed.

A smile crept across the face of the one called Law. It
looked rusty from disuse, but when he smiled, his eyes lit up. “Good for her,
Ry. I told you she was stronger than you thought. Baby, you have to stop
fighting us or I’ll have to do something I’d rather not. I want to talk to you.
I want to explain everything.”

He wanted to explain how he was going to rape and murder
her? She bit down harder. The arm around her waist tightened, but the hand
never moved.

“Goddamn it, Law. She’s about to take a fucking piece out of
my hand. She’s got two of the fingers I type with,” he snarled. “Take her out
or I will.”

Law stepped up, and she noticed the needle he was carrying.
Nothing scared her more than that. She stopped biting the hand over her mouth
and tried to scramble away. She couldn’t be unconscious. She couldn’t be at
their mercy.

Kinley
kicked back, desperate to
escape their hold.

The mass of muscle behind her didn’t move an inch.

Law looked down at her, those blue eyes of his filled with
some unnamed emotion. He reached out for her with an odd tenderness as he
smoothed back her hair. “I will take care of you, baby.”

She shook her head frantically, but that needle hit her arm
anyway. It went right through her silk gown and sank into her flesh.

“Go to sleep now,” he whispered.

Almost immediately, the world began to turn hazy, her vision
fading from the periphery in. Her muscles went soft, her knees weakening. But
she didn’t hit the floor.
Ry
picked her up, lifting
her into his arms as he started across the room.

“Gently,” Law said as he pulled the top off the laundry cart
and shoved it to the side. “I don’t want to hurt her.”

No matter how hard
Kinley
tried to
stay alert, she couldn’t fight the drug anymore. Her whole body went limp, held
up only by
Ry’s
strong arms. As her mind floated, she
had the vague thought that it was nice. She’d never been held like this before.
She was too big. She would probably kill his back. She opened her mouth to
protest, but nothing would come out. Her eyes slid shut.

“I’ll take care of her,”
Ry
promised, holding her close.

He lowered her down as the world went dark.

* * * *

Law looked down at the woman in the cart and felt a blazing
sense of satisfaction.
Kinley
Kohl was safe, and he
intended to make sure she stayed that way. Two months of surveillance, then
adopting a cover to watch her a bit closer for the past week had convinced him
that Dominic was completely wrong about her.

And, if his instincts were right, she was also a virgin—and
a submissive one at that.

Yeah, that got his cock hard. He’d always been a raging
pervert, but
Kinley
Kohl had turned him into an
obsessed freak. The moment he’d seen her, he’d known he wanted her. She was
gorgeous and had the kind of soft body that made him hard all over. If he’d
just wanted to bang the fuck out of her, he would have been all right.
Then…he’d seen her with a bunch of homeless kids at a charity event, and his
damn stupid heart had engaged for the first time.

He had to protect her. Yeah, from Dominic, but mostly from
her
dickwad
fiancé.

Riley walked out of the bathroom, shaking his right hand.
“Well, we know she has all her teeth. Fuck that hurt.”

“Don’t be a pussy,” Law barked, still staring at her.

He was proud that she’d fought back, especially since she
tended to be submissive to the stronger personalities around her, like Greg and
her bitch of a sister. More than once, he’d seen them take advantage of her
sweet nature. Law had been a little worried that when he and
Ry
abducted her, she would just cry and beg. He wouldn’t
have been able to handle that. Instead, she’d bitten the shit out of his
brother.

“I’m serious,” Riley screeched.

“You’re lucky she had her back turned to you or she would
have kneed the holy fuck out of your cock.”

“Do you know how crazy you look right now?”
Ry’s
question dripped sarcasm. “You are the very picture of
a psycho stalker. Do I need to grab a camera for you so you can capture the
moment?”

Law needed to be honest with his brother. “I care about
her.”

A long sigh filled the room. “It’s a mistake, man.”

“She isn’t who you think she is.” Riley and Dominic hadn’t
watched her for months. They weren’t looking past the façade.

Riley slapped a hand on his back. “Even if she’s the
sweetest thing in the world, I would tell you this a mistake. She won’t be able
to handle the lifestyle you want. How the hell would all her society ladies
react if she showed up at the charity gala with her three husbands, two of whom
came from the wrong side of the tracks?”