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Rowdy chuckled as Kelly glanced back at Dawg archly. He winked with a slow, sensual lowering of one thickly lashed eyelid. And she knew that move shouldn’t have affected her, unfortunately, it always did. Dawg was a natural-born flirt.

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“You make it sound like I was hard to watch.” The pretend pout was aimed at Rowdy. “And here I thought I was being a…” The words trailed off as she caught what she was about to say.

She thought she had been a good girl.

She jerked from the couch, ignoring Rowdy’s soft protest as she stalked through the cabin of the houseboat to the back deck.

For a moment, she wasn’t certain she could keep her dinner in her stomach as fear lurched through her. A cold sweat covered her skin and she felt naked, exposed in the brief bathing suit she had managed to let Rowdy convince her to wear.

Ignoring Natches, she moved to the rail, staring down at the water churning at the hull, and swallowed tightly. She had been a good girl.

She had waited for Rowdy, instinctively knowing she belonged to him.

She may have moments of insecurity in holding his heart, but she had always known she loved him. Always known that he would be her first.

And she had waited on that. Not because she was a good girl, but because she knew no other man could ever still the wildness that had been rising inside her during her late teens.

She gripped the rail, forcing back her fears as the remembered sound of her own screams echoed through her head.

“He’s won.”

The sound of Natches’ voice had her breathing in roughly as she shook her head.

“I bet you feel like you should have worn clothes. That you’re naked, on display,” he continued.

“Don’t, Natches.” She fought back the fears rolling through her.

“Please.”

“Is your skin crawling, Kelly?”

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It was. The feel of him behind her, knowing he could see her bare skin, that he wanted to touch her, was suddenly terrifying.

This was Natches. He was almost an extension of Rowdy, a protector, a friend.

“I don’t want this,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be scared because I’m about to say the wrong thing. I don’t want to forget every dream I ever had, or lose the man I’ve loved forever because I can’t control the nightmares.”

She was only barely aware of her tears.

“You’ll never lose Rowdy, Kelly,” he spoke behind her, far enough way that she wasn’t jumping out of her own skin, but close enough that she could clearly hear him. “He’s waited on you for eight years now. You’re not going to get rid of him easily.”

Her breathing hitched.

“If it doesn’t happen tonight, Kelly, then he’ll wait until you’re ready.”

His voice was soothing, gentle.

Kelly turned to him, staring into his compassionate expression, ignoring the flame of fury that burned behind the sympathy in his eyes.

“And you and Dawg?”

His lips tugged into a crooked smile as his pale green eyes seemed to darken with a hungry cast.

“You belong to Rowdy, Kelly, and vice versa. If that’s what you want, then Rowdy will let us know. Until then, nothing has changed with us.

We’re no different than we’ve always been to you, and our feelings for you haven’t changed.”

His gaze flickered over her quickly, and Kelly remembered that he had looked at her the same way for years. With a tinge of teasing lust that he never allowed free. Dawg had always done the same thing,

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knowing the day would come that Rowdy would claim her, and possibly they would as well.

She glanced at the doorway as Rowdy suddenly filled it, his green eyes bright as they went over her body. He paused at her thighs, centering his gaze on the black material of the bikini bottoms she wore before lifting to the fabric that stretched over her breasts.

“I never mistook you for a good girl,” he murmured, his voice deep, rough. “You were my girl, Kelly. Always.”

His girl. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared back at him.

Not his good girl, his bad girl or his naughty girl. Just his.

“I bet you fantasized about it.” Rowdy’s voice sent curls of heat whipping through her womb before they struck at her clit, her nipples.

She had fantasized of it. Of Rowdy holding her, whispering in her ear, watching… She bit back her moan at the thought of those fantasies.

“Come back in, Kelly.” His voice was a rough growl now, his expression heavy with lust as his eyes darkened to an emerald depth.

She stared at the hand he extended to her before her gaze flickered to Natches. He was watchful, tense, but rather than driving hunger, his eyes held warmth and desire.

“I’m scared, Rowdy,” she whispered.

“We’re just going to go in and pilot the boat to the cove, babe. We’re going to relax, nothing heavy, no decisions to be made, I promise.”

He kept his hand held out to her, broad, strong. Kelly reached out, placing her fingers against his palm, feeling the heat and strength there as his covered them. Then he was pulling her to him, flush against his body, his hand carrying hers until her arm curved behind her back and she was arched into him. The length of his cock pressed into her belly, a thick wedge of heat and hardness that left her knees trembling.

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“Just let me touch you, Kelly. Just me. That’s all.” His head lowered until his lips caressed the shell of her ear, sending shivers racing down her spine.

He was seducing her. She lifted her free hand to his biceps, holding on tight as his lips traveled to her neck, smoothing over her sensitive flesh, sending sparks of intent need slicing through every nerve ending.

He lifted his head, a sensual smile curving his lips as he drew her back into the cabin, retaining his hold on her hand as he returned to the wheel.

Dawg aside, returning to his post at the balcony doors as Kelly glimpsed the narrow opening into the sheltered cove ahead.

They were staying the night, she knew that. The first step in drawing out a madman. Kelly allowed Rowdy to pull her in front of him, between him and the wheel. Her breath caught as his hand settled on her bare stomach, just over the butterflies beating violently within.

He stood behind her, flush against her, his erection resting in the small of her back, covered only by the thin material of his cutoffs.

“Do you think he knows where we’re going?” She could barely force the words from her lips.

“He studies his victims,” Rowdy sighed. “He’ll know about me, about Dawg and Natches. If he doesn’t follow, he’ll at least be aware of where you are.”

“How close has he been watching me?” She knew Ray and her mother had been protecting her, giving her time to heal, to refocus her life. Now she was beginning to suspect she had made a mistake in allowing it.

Rowdy’s plans were targeted at someone who would be watching, waiting. Which meant her rapist had been watching her more closely than she had ever imagined.

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“We’ll take care of it, Kelly.” She felt his chin rest lightly on her head as he held her close.

“How close,” she repeated.

He sighed behind her. “We suspect he’s been hiding on the knob across from your room. He was definitely there last night.”

“Oh God!” The horrified whisper was dragged from her chest as she felt the strength momentarily leave her legs.

“Kelly, we’ll catch him.” His hold tightened on her. “I promise you, baby, we’ll take care of this. We’ll take care of you. I swear it.”

“I should have listened,” she whispered. “Everyone warned me about the window. I should have listened.”

“It wouldn’t have stopped him, Kelly. It didn’t help the other women he raped. Women alone, who did everything right. He still got to them.

This isn’t your fault.”

She knew that, in her head. Her fears and her shame told her otherwise.

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No. No. No. He crouched on the cliff overlooking the cove, sheltered by
the pines and brush that surrounded him, rocking back and forth on his
heels as he fought the pain inside his chest.

They were all there. All three of them were there with her. Tears
coursed down his face as he watched Dawg and Natches Mackay lower
the anchor weights on each side of the boat before returning to the cabin.

The curtains were pulled. Thick, heavy curtains that wouldn’t show so
much as a shadow once night fell. There would be no way of knowing how
far Kelly was allowing those bastards to debase her.

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He sniffed, holding back his sobs, and let the rage building inside him
burn. He had thought she was such a good girl. A sweet, pure angel who
deserved his gentleness and his love.

She was a whore. Just like the other whores who had allowed the
Mackay cousins to touch them in the past. There was nothing innocent
about her. Nothing good. Nothing pure.

But she was his one true love.

And she was breaking his heart. He had refused to dirty her, had
given her his heart, and this was his repayment.

He had treasured her. Had shown her his caring, his respect and
consideration.

No more.

A small sob escaped him as he realized what had to be done. She had
stolen his heart. The only way to rid himself of the torment, was to rid
himself of Kelly. She would have to die, but first… First he would show her
how bad girls were really treated.

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She was nervous, frightened. Rowdy wasn’t unaware of how warily Kelly watched Dawg and Natches. Equal parts curiosity and fear raged in her eyes, assuring him that his need to take her alone this first time wasn’t misplaced. It was perplexing to him that the need should rage inside him. For as long as he could remember he had never had a problem sharing a woman with Dawg and Natches.

But the more he thought of Kelly’s innocence, and the fact that she had saved not just her body, but her heart for him as well, caused something to clench in his chest. An emotion he couldn’t name, a hunger, a desire he couldn’t define.

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But Kelly had always endeared such emotions inside him. She could turn his heart when no one else could, and bring out protective instincts he didn’t think he possessed.

As they sat watching one of the latest action-adventure DVDs, he felt her move against his side, drawing closer to him, her mostly bare body tucking closer to his.

Neither Natches nor Dawg were watching her. They had joked through the evening, drank a few beers and seemed as enthralled with the movie as any man should be. But the tension was rising. Kelly’s tension, not theirs.

He tightened his arm around her, drawing her closer to his chest and feeling the heat rising from her. Her hand flattened on his muscular abdomen, her fingers curling into the flesh as he stared down at her bent head.

He was hard, hurting, his cock throbbing beneath his cutoffs with raging demand.

Eight years he had waited on her. He had stifled the need to touch her, to taste her, until four years before and then he had restrained himself to no more than the slightest caress. He had tried to run from his hunger for her, had tried to forget it. And he had threatened Dawg and Natches with death if they allowed another man to touch her.

But another man had touched her. He had taken a part of her, filled her with fear, with insecurity.

His breath caught with a shocked hiss as he felt her hand caress the tight muscles of his abdomen. Inquisitive fingers ran along the band of his shorts, sending imperative signals to his overly tight cock.

“You’re going to get in trouble,” he whispered against her hair as the head of his dick began to throb in demand. If he didn’t ease the

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constriction against his cock, then permanent zipper tracks were a definite threat.

“I’m naughty, remember?” She turned her head, her lips pressing against his breastbone as his hand lifted, his fingers tangling in her hair.

“Don’t tease, Kelly,” he growled. “I’m riding a very fine edge right now.”

She licked him. Son of a bitch, he nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt the slow, savoring lick of her hot little tongue.

“Really? Strange, I could say the same thing about myself. I’ve waited a long time on you, Rowdy.”

He wasn’t unaware of Dawg and Natches listening closely, or the careful readiness of their bodies. They were as aroused as he was, as hungry.

She lifted her head, her slender, lithe body moving, rising as he watched, entranced. She stood in front of him before gracefully straddling his thighs and lowering herself into his lap.

“Son of a bitch!” His head fell back on the couch, his hands catching her hips as he jerked her flush with the tortured length of his cock.

Her pussy was hot, the heat of it burning through her scanty bathing suit bottom as well as the threadbare material of his denim cutoffs.

“We’re not alone, baby.” He tilted his head as her lips moved to his neck. Each touch reminded him of her inexperience, of her daring.

She knew Dawg and Natches could hear every move, every passionate sigh.

“I dreamed of you,” she whispered at his ear a second later, her soft breath sending pleasure racing over his flesh. “While you were gone, I dreamed of touching you, kissing you, of all the things I knew you enjoyed. That I knew I would enjoy.” The hesitant admission had his body tightening further.

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He felt the tremor that quivered through her, the hint of fear and of arousal. The soft weight of her body against his was driving him crazy.

The need to throw her to her back on the couch and devour her was making him sweat. The feel of her straddling his lap, her hands moving over his chest, her lips at his neck was too much.

She had initiated the contact, had known that Dawg and Natches were in the room. He should leave it at that, he thought. He should seduce her, as he knew she wanted to be seduced. But seduction and the acts he wanted to see her involved in did not go hand in hand. Rowdy knew Kelly’s innocence, knew the demons that rode her, and he swore to himself he wouldn’t add to them.