“If I’d known you were planning to torture me, I would never have come back.”

“It’s a good kind of torture,” she said as she slid down between his legs. “The kind where you get to beg.”

She flicked her tongue over his crown and Zane growled. “You do that again, and I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

She licked.

He grabbed her shoulders, hauled her up, and settled her on top of his rock hard shaft. “You got two choices, sweetheart. We do this your way, with you on top, or my way, with you beneath me. But both of them involve me inside you by the time I finish talking.”

With a laugh, Evie lifted her hips and took him deep. His cock slid easily into her wet center, and she gasped with pleasure.

“My, what a big cock you have,” she teased.

“All the better to fuck you with.” He gripped her hips and filled her with slow, easy thrusts.

“Ah. Ah.” Evie gritted her teeth, trying to resist the urge to grind against him. “I’m doing the fucking. You’re doing the watching.” She cupped her breasts, rolled each nipple between her thumb and forefinger, the sensation all the more intense for Zane’s rapt attention, his taut muscles, and the jerk of his hips as he tried to entice her to give in to the passion burning between them.

She slid one hand down to her clit, and stroked gently around the sensitive bundle of nerves. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her heart pounded, as everything inside her clenched tight, making her tremble with pent-up desire.

“Evie.” Zane groaned. “Sweetheart. You’re too fucking sexy. Too hot. Too wet. I can’t take any more.”

“You want me to take care of you?”

“Fuck, yeah.” He shuddered as she rocked over his shaft.

“You want me to take care of you the way you take care of me?”

“Yes. God, Evie. Yes. Please.”

Falling forward, hands on his shoulders, she lifted her hips and took him inside as far as he could go. “Okay, baby.” She pulled up, slow and easy, then drove down hard and fast, grinding her clit against him in a steady rhythm until soft ragged whimpers escaped his lips, and her muscles ached. Zane cupped her ass and took over, driving her down as he thrust inside her, driving her to the edge, her muscles taut and trembling, her breaths coming in pants. She reached between them, brushed a finger over her clit. Her climax came without warning—a sharp burst of pleasure that ripped the breath from her lungs.

“Christ.” He came with a grunt and one last hard thrust, his arms tightening around her, his cock jerking with his release.

Evie collapsed over his chest, buried her face in his neck, felt the steady throb of his pulse against her cheek.

“Fuck, sweetheart,” he said. “It just gets better and better.”

Evie laughed. “I aim to please.”

“Actually, I think you aim to drive me crazy in all senses of the word.” He caressed her back, his hand gliding from her nape to her ass and back again. “If it goes wrong in Stanton, Jagger’s gonna bust me outta jail. I’ll have to go on the run…”

“We’ll deal with that problem if it comes up,” she murmured. “And whatever happens, we’ll find a way to be together. I don’t want to lose you again. All those years I woke up so lonely it hurt, so empty I didn’t think I could get out of bed … it was because I missed you. I’ve been looking for you ever since.”

“We’ll make it through this.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re all I ever thought about, Evie, from the moment I left until I saw you again. And now I have you and Ty…”

She Evie heard footsteps in the hall outside the door and threw herself to the side, yanking the covers over them.

The door creaked open and Evie pushed herself up on one elbow. She could feel Zane tense behind her.

“Fuck. The door. I forgot.”

“Mom? How come you’re…” Ty froze in the doorway, stared at Zane. Then his face tightened.

“How come he’s here?”

“Zane brought me home late from the party.” Evie pulled the sheet up over her shoulder. “So he decided to sleep over.”

“But he’s on my side of the bed.” Ty’s voice wavered. “And he’s sleeping on my pillow.”

Damn. She fished around on the floor for her nightdress and then remembered Zane had put her to bed. Naked. “It was just for tonight, darling.”

“No. That’s where I sleep when I’m scared. That’s where I cuddle with you in the morning.” Tears glistened in Ty’s eyes and his shoulders trembled visibly beneath his superhero pajamas.

Evie’s stomach tightened. She’d never brought a man home after Mark, keeping her liaisons as discreet as possible. And Ty was already off balance after Zane’s recent disappearance. He needed a hug but she had nothing on and her nightdress was in the dresser. “You can climb in with us. Just give me a second to get dressed and I’ll find another pillow.”

But Ty had never dealt well with change and she hadn’t even thought about discussing the possibility about Zane sleeping over.

“That’s my place,” he shouted, the tears spilling down his cheeks. “And it’s Saturday. We’re supposed to cuddle and tell stories and then you’re supposed to make pancakes. That’s what we do. I don’t want it to be like how it was when Mark was here. I want it to just be you and me in the house and Zane stays at the clubhouse and we can visit him.”

“Hey, bud.” Zane pushed himself up. “Nothing’s gonna change.”

“It’s all changed. You changed it. Mom didn’t used to go out all the time. She didn’t leave me alone. No one slept in my place. We were happy and you ruined it all. You came back and then you went away. I want you to go home.”

“Ty.” Evie raised her voice. “We don’t talk to guests like that.”

“I thought he was my dad, not a guest,” he said bitterly.

“You’re right. And dads sometimes stay over so we can try and be a family.”

He hugged his stuffie to his chest, a blue bear her mother had given him when he was born, the only gift she had given him before she died. “No.” His little body shook. “I want it to be how it was. I want Zane gone. I don’t want a family. You’re mine. I don’t want to share.” He turned and ran from the room, his gut-wrenching sobs tearing through Evie’s heart.

“I’ll go talk to him.” Zane pushed aside the sheet, but Evie stopped him.

“Let me. This is my fault. I didn’t prepare him. I’ve never brought anyone home before, and it was hard with Mark. That’s all he knows about my relationships.” She slid out of bed and grabbed her jeans and underwear from the dresser.

“You want me to leave till he’s feeling better?”

“No.” She pulled on her clothes. “If we want to try to be a family, then we need to deal with this as a family.”

The front door opened and slammed shut and her pulse kicked up a notch. “I’d better go before he gets out of sight.”

Zane’s face creased with consternation. “I’ll be right behind you. It’s still not safe.”

Evie finished dressing and raced out the door. Ty was nowhere in sight, and the street was empty save for a white panel van just turning the corner toward the main road. Evie raced in the direction of the van. Ty had a new friend at the end of the block. He must have gone that way.

She made it half a block, before she saw the bear.

*   *   *

Zane heard her scream as he reached for the front door. And then he ran like he’d never run before, flying down the steps and along the sidewalk, his feet barely hitting the pavement until she slammed into him, Ty’s toy bear clutched in her hand.

“They have him. I found his bear. I saw the van.” She gasped for breath. “I have to call the police.”

Zane’s blood chilled and he scanned the street. “Are you sure he didn’t go to a friend’s house? Maybe he dropped the bear because he was upset? Did you check with the neighbors? How about out back? Did you look for him there?”

“I know him.” Her voice rose as she struggled in his grasp. “He would NEVER leave the bear behind, no matter how angry or upset he was. NEVER.”