They were throbbing now at the thought of it.

The shirt was tossed aside, but it wasn’t Rowdy’s hands that cupped the firm globes, it was Dawg’s. They slid around her side until both hands were filled with her flesh, the index finger and thumb of each hand gripping a hard point, playing with them, rolling them deliciously.

Her head fell back against his chest as the fingers moved aside. Rowdy shifted, making room for Natches as both men lowered their heads to the upthrust peaks.

Kelly went to her tiptoes as sensation exploded through her. A ragged cry slipped past her lips as a flood of weakening lust ripped through her.

Kelly lost the ability to speak, to see, to do anything but feel as two sets of hard male lips covered the sensitive peaks. Fire engulfed her as damp, lava-hot tongues begin to whip over the tight flesh, and hard male mouths began to suckle erotically.

“Easy, sweetheart,” Dawg whispered at her ear as she began to writhe within the hold the three men had created. The feel of their mouths sucking at her sent arrows of near painful pleasure ripping to her womb, her clit. The aching throb was destroying her. “It’s okay, Kelly.” His hands moved from her breasts, only to be replaced by Rowdy’s and Natches’s.

One arm clasped her to him as he slid his hand down her stomach, moving slowly for the tortured flesh of her pussy.

“Rowdy…” His name was a whimpering plea as she felt Dawg’s palm cup the sensitized folds of her cunt, one finger tucking subtly against the syrup-laden entrance to her vagina.

Rowdy groaned as he continued to suckle her, his teeth raking her nipple, his tongue flickering over it as Natches caught the tip he held captured between his teeth and pinched at it.

Her cry echoed around her as she twisted against Dawg, silently pleading to feel his finger slipping inside her.

The sensations tearing through her body were violent, destructive. Alternative caresses, suckling mouths, hands over her, hot male groans washing over her. And she was in the center of it, weak, helpless against the eroticism of each touch.

She pressed against Dawg’s palm, shattering cries passing her lips at the pressure against her clit. It would be so easy to climax, if she could just press against him a bit more, just the barest friction would allow her to ease the hunger beating at her.

“Not yet, baby,” he whispered at her ear, nipping her lobe. “Let your body burn for us, get so hungry that nothing matters except the touch, the need.”

She was already burning. Her fingers clenched in Rowdy’s and Natches’s hair as she felt Dawg’s fingers moving, felt him spreading her juices, allowing them to coat the tight entrance beyond as his finger massaged the closed portal.

She felt her anal entrance clench at the caresses, felt it open, milk at the tip of his finger as another hand, she didn’t know whose, began to play with the swollen bud of her clitoris.

She was trapped between them, in the middle of the kitchen area, suspended within a pleasure, a heat so intense she could barely make sense of it. Pleading, incoherent cries fell from her lips as she arched back, arched forward, so desperate that she no longer knew which touch would send her streaking toward orgasm; she just knew she needed it.

Yet, it was different than it had been with Rowdy alone. She struggled to push aside the vague unease she felt. The lack of emotional warmth, of sharing that had come from being in bed upstairs, just her and Rowdy.

“There you go, sweetheart,” Dawg whispered again as she felt the tip of his finger slide inside her anus. “Damn, you’re tight, and hot. Your ass is sucking at my finger like a little mouth, needing more. Do you need more, sweetheart?”

At the same time, hard fingers captured her clit and pumped it wickedly. Oh God, she could come so easy, if she could just get closer.

She relaxed her buttocks as flames licked at the little bud. Simultaneously, the little entrance sucked the hard finger deeper as the pressure eased at her clit, causing her to scream in pleasure and frustration.

Her ass felt filled, and yet she needed more. Her clit was pounding with need, her pussy clenching with it until suddenly, sirens began to rip through her head….

“Fuck…” Reality slammed through as she was jerked to the floor, three cursing, furious men covering her as blasts shattered the erotic frenzy with cold fury.

“Get her to the side.” She was being pulled, jerked to the side, between the heavy cabinets as the sound of pounding feet and raging curses were heralded by return fire.

Shadows flashed around her in the dark as she scrambled to the corner of the cabinets, her hands brushing over fabric as she felt the shirt she had worn earlier beneath her hands.

Pulling it from the floor, she crouched in the V made by the cabinets and pulled it over her head as Rowdy pressed her tight against his side.

She didn’t ask questions, she wasn’t hysterical. She followed his lead as he, Natches, and Dawg began to work her closer to the back of the houseboat.

“Bastard shot the hull, Rowdy,” Dawg hissed as the gunfire eased.

The computerized alarm was still going nuts, the siren shattering her nerves as the sound of the security personnel on the other end demanded an answer.

She noticed no one was answering. Within seconds they were informed that Lake Patrol had been alerted and was now moving for the area.

“The pumps are working.” Natches slid in place with them. “We’ll be okay until the patrol gets here.”

They were dressed. She felt the scratch of Rowdy’s jeans on her thigh, Natches at her rear. Dawg had dragged his shorts back on, but where Rowdy had come up with clothes she wasn’t certain.

“I think he’s on the cliff overlooking us,” Natches snapped. “The trajectory of the shots would be about right for that.”

“He’ll have to cross the point to get back to the road,” Dawg growled. “I’ll be back. I’m going after him.”

“No…” The word was a hollow, raspy sound, jerking from Kelly’s throat as she caught at his pants.

Dawg brushed her hand aside, moving through the darkness as the pulsing siren continued to echo through the boat.

“Stay here.” Rowdy pressed her against the counters before moving for the alarm box and quickly cutting the sound off.

Kelly listened silently as he spoke to the security personnel, his voice hard, dark, furious.

“Don’t move from here until Rowdy comes back,” Natches whispered in her ear. “I need to check upstairs.”

She nodded in reply, her throat tight, fear and fury clogging her voice until she wasn’t certain she could speak. This was because of her. Someone had shot into the boat, tried to sink it, to kill them, because of her. She had placed Rowdy and his cousins in danger, had caused a madman to focus on them.

She wrapped her arms around her waist, staying in place, huddled against the counter as Rowdy flipped on a light in the living area.

She looked up as he came around the counter, his expression hard, his eyes gleaming with rage.

“Come on, baby.” His voice was gentle as he reached down for her. “Lake Patrol will be here to escort us to the dock in a minute. We need to get you dressed.”

She pulled herself wearily to her feet, gazing around at the destruction. The windows were shattered, glass and debris littering the floor, the paneling splintered from the bullets.

“Come on.” He lifted her into his arms as she stared around numbly at the destruction.

Despair tightened in her chest as she buried her face against Rowdy’s neck. She could feel her stomach cramping with guilt, with fear. One of them could have died. She could have lost Rowdy, or Dawg or Natches could have been hurt, killed.

“Here.” He sat her in the middle of the bedroom floor before moving to the small closet and pulling free a pair of her jeans. “Put these on.”

She accepted them silently, bending to pull them over her feet and then to her hips before she took the sneakers from his hand. She sat on the bed, slipped them on, then struggled to tie the laces.

“Easy, baby.” As Rowdy knelt before her, she realized the small whimpers she could hear were her own.

He brushed her fingers out of the way before tying the laces quickly, then staring up at her. Something twisted inside Kelly at the gentle emotion she saw in his eyes. Beyond the anger, the determination to kill that she could see raging inside him, she saw his gentleness.

“This wasn’t your fault, Kelly.” He reached up, cupping her cheek in his hand.

Kelly fought the tears that clogged her throat. Rather than answering, she pulled from his touch slowly, shuddering at the thought that his need for her could end in his death.

“Don’t even try it.” The snarl that twisted his face had her staring back at him in shock. “Don’t think I’m going to let you run from me now, Kelly,” he snapped roughly. “The time for running was over the minute you let me fuck that hot little body of yours.”

She shook her head desperately, pushing against his chest as she fought to jerk to her feet. She couldn’t speak. If she dared to attempt to, she knew the screams of rage and fear wouldn’t be far behind.

“Stop it, Kelly…” He grabbed her wrists, forcing her in place as she heard the first hoarse cry leave her lips. “It’s okay to be scared, baby. I swear to you, we’re all okay, we anticipated this, we know how to fight him—”

“No,” she protested fiercely, feeling the tears seeping past her eyes despite her desperation to hold them in check. “He’s crazy. You can’t do this. You can’t…” She wasn’t going to let him do it.

She tried to tear herself away from him, to get away from his touch, his warmth. She couldn’t live like this. She couldn’t live if anything happened to him, or the others, because of her.

“I will do it.” He gripped her upper arms, giving her a brief, hard shake as she stared back at him miserably. “Hear me well, Kelly. I will stop him. And when I get my hands on him I’ll kill him. Do you understand me? He will never ever touch you or another woman again. Ever.”

Death shadowed his eyes as she stared back at him, incredulous. He would kill, and he would do so with no guilt, no second thoughts, she could see it in his eyes.

“He’s trying to kill you all. He won’t stop.” Her voice was shaky, her insides trembling with enough force to make her stomach pitch. “Because of me. What if you’re hurt? What if he manages to…” To kill one of you. She couldn’t say the words, was terrified to let the thought pass her lips, as though giving it voice would make it more real than it already was.

“I won’t stop either, Kelly,” he bit out. “Listen to me, dammit. I will not stop until he’s dead. I will not let that bastard terrorize you.”

She opened her lips to argue, to beg, only to be cut off as Dawg moved quickly into the room.

“He got away.” He was breathing rough, heavy. “Lake Patrol is moving in and Ray and Maria are right behind them. Natches is on the deck waiting for them.”

Rowdy turned back to her. “You aren’t leaving with them, Kelly. Don’t even consider it.”

Her breath caught, feeling the shudders in her belly beginning to work through her body. She had no other choice. She had to leave. And soon, she would have to leave Ray’s home as well. She couldn’t continue to endanger the people she loved.

“Don’t make me gag you.” She stared back at him in shock as his voice rumbled dangerously.

“What?”

“You’re going to try to run from this. I can see it in your eyes. Leaving town isn’t the answer Kelly. And if you try, I’ll throw you over my shoulder and cart you out of here like a sack of fucking potatoes. Don’t push me.”

His lips curled back from his teeth in a powerful snarl as his eyes blazed with green fire back at her. Shock whipped through her at the deadly warning she saw in his gaze, as well as the confidence that he would carry out his warning.