Leyton slammed into her several more times, his eyes still locked with hers. His teeth slammed together, his forehead drawing taut as his body stilled. And then he was pulsing inside of her, filling her, sending her over the edge once again as another orgasm shook her.

Time seemed to stand still as they stared at one another. Ashlynn wasn’t sure what to say or what to do. Didn’t know if she’d ever be the same again, but she knew she needed to get it together. Although he’d somehow changed her, Ashlynn knew she couldn’t let him know that.

The power he wielded over her wasn’t something she could admit to, even if that was his intention. He’d told her that she wouldn’t be in control.

And though she’d heard the words, never in her wildest dreams had she imagined it would be like that.

Never.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Point of no return.

After having a brief conversation with Teddy and Leo regarding how he wanted things to be handled for the next few days, Jase had gone up to Ashlynn’s room and waited for her to join him. When she hadn’t, he hadn’t been able to sleep, but he had attempted to give her a little space.

It wasn’t until he’d heard a noise downstairs that he’d emerged from her bedroom, slipping down the stairs. He’d come to an abrupt stop in the doorway to the kitchen when he saw Ashlynn and Leyton…

Leyton had had Ashlynn pinned to the counter, fucking her like a crazed man. It’d taken every ounce of his self-control to walk away, not to join them when he wanted nothing more than to simply watch. They were beautiful together, highlighted by that single light above them. Ashlynn’s robe had hung open while Leyton had been fully dressed, his cock buried between her legs. So fucking hot.

Somehow, Jase had managed to force himself to turn around. Rather than go back upstairs, though, he’d decided to go out front to talk to Derrick, who was manning things from the porch.

“You doin’ good?” he asked his brother when he stepped outside, pulling the front door shut quietly behind him.

Derrick smiled over at him, puffing on the cigarette dangling from his mouth. “Not bad. You?”

“Same shit, different day. Have one of those to spare?”

Derrick retrieved the pack from his pocket and shook one out. Jase took it, then borrowed his brother’s lighter.

“I hear ya.” Derrick peered out at the yard, blowing out a stream of smoke. “Heard from Mom today.”

Jase inhaled deeply, enjoying the slight rush he got from the nicotine. “Yeah? What’d she want?”

It had been months since Jase had heard from their mother. Their relationship couldn’t be considered close by any stretch of the imagination. From the day Jase had moved out of the house, his mother hadn’t had much to do with him or Derrick. She was on boyfriend number … hell, Jase wasn’t even sure which number it was. After their father left, when Jase was only six months old, it seemed that Amy Malone had been sowing some wild oats. Only now, at—what was she now? Fifty-four? Fifty-five?—hell, Jase wasn’t sure, but he knew she hadn’t slowed down.

She still worked as a cashier at the local Walmart close to the house he’d grown up in, something she’d been doing for nearly three decades and loved her job, or so she said. Her lovers were the only thing she could keep up with these days, which wasn’t much different than when he’d been growing up. It seemed that her kids had always been an afterthought. Jase had long ago stopped trying to keep in touch, because most of the time their conversations went down in a blaze, and he had more important things to deal with than her apparent disappointment in them.

“She’s met someone else. Said he could be the one,” Derrick told him.

“Yeah? More accurately, number forty-one,” he muttered. “Hasn’t she said that about them all?”

“Probably.” Derrick flicked the cherry off the end of his cigarette, stomping it out on the concrete before pocketing the butt.

“You need anything?” Jase asked when it was clear they had nothing else to talk about. Though he loved his brother, Jase and Derrick had never been all that close. Derrick had gone down a different path, having taken up a life full of drugs and booze while Jase had steered clear of all that shit, choosing to fight as a way to work off his excess aggression.

Since Derrick had reappeared in his life, it seemed he was trying to make amends. Not that Jase felt his brother owed him anything. Derrick hadn’t always made the best decisions, but neither had Jase.

As far as he was concerned, though, he’d taken the better path.

Working for the mob required him to keep a level head or he would’ve probably succumbed to his own addictive personality on more than one occasion. As it was, he already had one addiction.

Make that two.

After last night with Leyton … Jase hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. More than once, his thoughts had drifted to Ashlynn and Leyton. Particularly, he’d wanted to join them in her office earlier when it had been clear they’d been getting cozy. He’d seen it with his own two eyes on the security monitors and hadn’t been able to look away. Much to his disappointment, Leyton had left before anything good had started.

And now…

He knew they were probably still in the kitchen, still going at each other. It wasn’t that he was jealous; he simply had waited so long for the three of them to be together … he was tired of waiting.

“I’m gonna go check on Ashlynn,” Jase told his brother after putting out the cigarette. “If you need anything, let Leo or Teddy know.”

Derrick nodded, then pulled another cigarette out of his pack and lit it.

Jase left his brother on the porch and went in search of Ashlynn and Leyton. He was headed for the kitchen when a noise on the stairs stopped him.

“Last I saw her, she went upstairs,” Cowboy mumbled as he hobbled down the stairs.

“And Leyton?”

“Haven’t seen him,” Cowboy said.

“Thanks.” Jase slipped past Cowboy, then headed upstairs.

Ashlynn’s bedroom door was closed, but he stopped to knock on it, anyway.

“Come in,” she called out.

Jase opened the door and found her standing at the window, her wet hair hanging down her back as she peered out into the night. Apparently she’d taken a quick shower and gotten dressed for bed.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

The lamps in her bedroom were off, the only light coming from the bathroom, highlighting her glorious curves covered only by a white silk camisole and a pair of tiny matching shorts. He glanced into the bathroom, but he didn’t see Leyton anywhere.

“Where’s Leyton?”

She met his gaze, her face somber. “Did you see us?”

“Yeah,” he admitted.

“I’m sorry,” she began, but he quickly cut her off.

“Don’t be sorry. There’s nothing to apologize for.”

“It just happened.”

Jase smiled down at her. “Did he leave?”

“Don’t know,” she said, turning to face him, leaning against the window. “I thought you’d have the answer to that question.”

Making his way over to her, Jase put his hands on her hips. He tried to read her expression, but Ashlynn was keeping whatever she was feeling under wraps. Not that it surprised him.

Neither of them said anything for a minute. Moving closer, Jase cupped her shoulders. “You saw us last night, didn’t you?”

She nodded. “It was … incredible,” she whispered. “So fucking beautiful to watch.”

“Never figured you for a voyeur,” he teased.

“I want to watch the two of you again.”

“I want you to join us,” he said. Jase nuzzled her neck. “You should’ve joined us last night.”

“I know how much you needed that,” she told him, tilting her head to give him better access to her neck.

“The same way you needed Leyton,” he said. That was the very reason he hadn’t interrupted them. Leyton had told him that he’d have to work things out with Ashlynn on his own. Apparently they’d gotten that out of their system.