Harper
LEWIS

"This doesn't feel right."

I smiled at Jackson's statement. I was standing in front of the mirror at my dresser, putting on the necklace that he gave me and my eyes met his in the mirror. I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I decided to have a little fun with him. I turned slowly before I ran my hands up his chest.

"That's not what you said when we were in bed together an hour ago," I whispered huskily in his ear as I nipped at the sensitive lobe.

"I'm serious, Princess." His tone was strong and firm even though I continued to kiss his neck. "She should know what we're doing."

I let out a deep sigh as I pulled a back from him a little. By she, he meant Lanie. Not long after Danielle came to pick her up to take her to lunch, I received a text from Ryan. He asked if we could meet him somewhere to talk about the situation with Nate and Ayden. The invitation was as much of a surprise to me as it was to Jackson. 

"She will know," I said as I linked my fingers together around his neck. "We aren't going to keep it from her, Jackson." He eyed me doubtfully. "Look," I said reassuringly, "we don't know if it's good news or bad news. We don't even know if there's any news at all. She's been doing so much better and I don't want to scare her. Let's hear Ryan out and go from there."

When Jackson raised a brow at me, I smoothed it out with my finger. "Don't you trust me?" 

I felt his arms circle around my waist and he pulled my body flush against his. I also didn't miss the hard erection behind the zipper of his pants. "You know I do." 

I could see desire starting to override the worry in his eyes. I understood his concern, but he needed to loosen up. If he kept letting this stuff eat at him, he was going to have his own nervous breakdown. So, I was going to break him out of his funk the best way I knew how. 

My fingers played with the hair at the base of his neck. Knowing his eyes would follow, I licked my lips. "Good. Then trust me when I say that, no matter what we find out today, we will let Lanie know. We won't hide anything from her." 

His eyes remained on my lips for several moments before he glanced back at me. "Won't she be upset that we didn't tell her we were meeting beforehand? It might seem--" I slid my hands to the waistband of his jeans and the rest of his sentence came out strained -- "like Danielle coming here was a setup." 

I leaned forward and stopped before I kissed him. I let my lips hover over very closely over his. Just enough to tease him. "We didn't. We had no idea Ryan was going to request to meet up with us today." When I kissed him lightly, his hands fisted my dress at my waist. "If Ryan and Danielle had some kind of agenda, then that's on them. But I knew nothing about it. Besides, I don't think Danielle would keep that from me or Lanie." 

I meant what I said to Jackson. When I spoke to Danielle two days ago, I filled her in on everything that's been going on with Lanie. She was just as worried about her as I was. It was one reason she wanted to take her out for brunch today. It had been a long time since Danielle and Lanie got to hang out just the two of them. After Danielle married Ryan, they've been embellishing their new married life. I didn't blame them. Even though Jackson and I weren't legally married, we were in every other sense of the word. 

"But what if she--" the rest of his sentence came out as a groan as I placed my hand against his erection. I started to work my hand against him through his jeans and his squeezed his eyes closed.

"You were saying?" I asked breathlessly. I placed teasing kisses to his chin and neck. Less than one minute later, he fisted my hair and pulled my lips away from his skin. He held my head in place as he looked into my eyes. 

"What is it about you-- that makes me crazy with desire, Princess?" His voice was so low I was surprised I heard him. But I did; and very word sent an erotic chill down my spine. 

"I'd like to think it's my sparking personality," I teased with a half smile, "but we both know that's not the case." 

He chuckled darkly before he lifted me by my waist and sat me on the dresser. He placed his body between my open thighs and I wound my legs around his hips. One thing I've learned since meeting Jackson, was to wear a dress as much as possible. There has been a countless number of times where one of us got into the mood and got frustrated when I was wearing jeans or shorts. Not anymore. 

After he made quick work of unbuttoning his pants, he slide inside me with one hard thrust. I gasped at the sudden penetration. No matter how many times he took me, my body always needed a second to adjust to his. God, I loved the feeling of him being inside me. There was nothing like it. As always, my body was wet and aching for him and only him.

Once he started thrusting inside me, I heard that thick British accent at me ear. "I love you, Princess." 

One Hour Later 

"Thanks for meeting me," Ryan said as Jackson and I joined him at a local coffee shop. 

After Jackson and I had our little quickie, we hurried over to meet Ryan. Luckily, he wasn't too far from our apartment. It was weird to think that I was once engaged to Ryan Hale. Arranged or not, it was weird and we both knew it wasn't going to work out. If Ryan and I had gotten married, we would have ended up miserable and most likely hating each other. That was something we both didn't want. Even though we didn't have any romantic feelings for each other, we still cared. We were friends and that's how we needed to stay. 

 I did have to admit...meeting and falling in love with Ryan's estranged half-brother was also unexpected. But it all seemed to work out in the end. Danielle and Ryan ended up getting close, falling in love, and eloped to Bora Bora where they had a beautiful ceremony. As for me, I got to play house with the man I loved. A man who was extremely caring and sexy as hell. One who made me weak in the knees every time he looked at me. We argued ad bickered just like any other couple, but that's what made the makeup sex so good. 

 "Why all the secrecy, Ryan?" Jackson asked with a hint of accusation. Jackson has grown very overprotective of Lanie. Even though she had Nate, he told me repeatedly that she was a little sister to him. It warmed my heart that he felt that way. He really had come a long way from the Jackson Reese that I met in a bar. 

"There's no secrecy," Ryan said with a frown. "I just asked you guys to meet here so we could go over some stuff." 

I went to say something and Jackson cut me off. "So, Danielle didn't take Lanie to lunch as a way to keep her distracted?" 

Ryan raised his brows and looked to me. I shrugged innocently and he looked back to his younger brother. "Listen to me, Jackson, I didn't even know that Danielle was with Lanie right now. I thought she would be with you. What's your problem?" 

"Nothing," I answered before Jackson could say something that would start a fight between the two brothers. "Thank you for texting us. Have you found out anything new?" 

Ryan shot his brother a look before turning back to me. "Nothing substantial. But my father did say that he was able to get in contact with one of Nate and Ayden's superiors over there. He's trying to find out if they have any leads or if they even know where to look." 

"Is there..."

When I trailed off, Jackson took my hand in his and cleared his throat. "Is there a chance they could have survived that long? I'm sure they ran out of food and water. Not to mention it's bloody hot over there. And they said that Nate is injured." 

Ryan nodded solemnly before he leaned back in his chair. "I know, okay. I know this is bad and the chances are more than bleak. But we have to trust that they've been trained properly."

I frowned. "What do you mean?" I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that exactly. 

Ryan took a deep breath before he explained, "In the Army, they train their men every way imaginable. That includes on how not to die. They teach them how to survive in worst case scenarios. Adding the fact that Ayden went to med school, it might be enough to save their lives. But that also means..."

When he trailed off, Jackson got a little testy. "What? Means what?" 

Ryan's expression turned serious. So serious, there was an unsettling pit in my stomach. "It also means that, if they aren't found within the next few days, there's a chance they wont make it."