Their Virgin Captive(27)

Dex turned back to her, his face so polite it tore at her heart. “Hannah, I swear we’ll catch this bastard. We won’t let him hurt you.”

Slade’s stare burned into her. “That’s a promise. In the meantime, if you need anything, we’re just down the hall. And here’s your phone. Please, I’m begging you, don’t call anyone.” He slipped the phone into her hand. She clutched it, her stomach in turmoil. They were leaving. That was what she wanted, demanded even. But she couldn’t stand the defeat on their faces. Or the way Dex almost looked through her.

“You’re not a fuck-up,” she said gently.

Dex shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “I am, darlin’. Your rejection isn’t a big surprise. I guess, deep down, I knew you could never really want me.”

Her heart hurt for him. She knew his background. Not a lot had worked out for Dex Townsend. “If you had talked to me, maybe we could have worked it out.”

“I’d only make the same choices again. I’m like a dumb old dog. I’m never going to learn a new trick. I see you in danger, and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect and shelter you.”

“Hannah,” Slade jumped in. “We really were trying to protect you, not take away your independence. I can see why you’d be upset, but this wasn’t some ploy to trick or deceive or use you. We were trying to wrap you up so tight that nothing and no one could ever hurt you. We only wanted a chance to keep you, make you happy.”

“I don’t understand this. One day we’re friends, and the next you’re all over me?”

“We overwhelmed you, I see that now,” Slade said. “The idea of a relationship with two dominant men would be daunting for most women.”

“Relationship? You didn’t even ask me on a date. You just went straight for the panties. No preliminaries.”

The righteous scowl on Dex’s face made her take a step back. “No dates? No preliminaries?

You think that I just woke up this morning and decided I wanted you and took you?” It had sure seemed that way, but his tone suggested something much different. “Didn’t you?”

“So all the lunches and dinners don’t count?”

He and Slade had taken her out at least once a week for almost six months. “Those were about business.”



“They were excuses, Hannah,” Slade said with a sigh. “You’re not our admin. You’re Gavin’s. When we decided we wanted you, Dex and I decided to go slow, ease you into this. It’s not exactly a traditional relationship.”

It wasn’t, but she’d been crazy about the entire James Gang from the moment she’d met them. Something had fallen into place the first time she’d been in a room with all three.

“Aren’t we fucking smooth?” Dex said, bitterness dripping. “She didn’t even realize we were interested.”

Only because she was brutally inexperienced. Hannah hadn’t dated much in high school.

She’d gone to the local college, but by then her grandmother was ill. She’d never had much time to herself, even since coming to Dallas. She was usually busy with work. Now she thought back over the last year and could see some signs she shouldn’t have missed.

“You remembered my birthday.”

“Of course we did,” Slade replied. “We planned it for weeks. We’ve already started planning next year’s, though I will admit it was going to be better than a little cake and a couple of presents.”

They’d given her the eBook reader she’d been coveting, and she loved it. Maybe they’d paid more attention to her as a person than she’d thought. “I liked my party.” They had thrown it for her at one of Hannah’s favorite diners. It wasn’t really their speed.

When she’d gone after work for a down south, home-cooked meal, they’d been waiting for her.

If they’d had nothing but seduction on their minds, it would have been more advantageous for Slade and Dex to take her some place quiet and upscale, get her alone and tipsy, then whisk her back to their lair. Instead, they had invited her friends, sipped iced tea with her, and smiled all evening. When they’d walked her to her door, neither had asked for a “nightcap.” Instead, they’d hugged her, kissed her forehead, watched her walk into her apartment, and left.

“I’m glad you liked it, Hannah.” Slade sent her a sad smile.

She bit her lip. “I don’t understand what you see in me. Or maybe I’m afraid I do, and I don’t like it.”

“What do you think we see in you?” Dex asked.