"Come here," Ian orders, but it seems like he’s struggling to sound calm.
I should stay where I am. I know I should, but my feet move before my brain can catch up. They carry me across the polished wood deck until I'm standing between them. The heat in my stomach spreads lower, pooling deep inside of me. I don't know if it's the champagne or the way they're looking at me, like I'm the only thing in the world worth seeing. They look like they want to devour and possess every inch of me. It’s crazy because I'm here for a job. If things go horribly wrong, I'll end up being fired. It's best to keep it professional.
Besides, I'm a virgin. I'm sure men as successful and handsome as them would want a woman with real experience. Most days I feel like a young girl.
"You like this, don't you?" Jace asks.
He reaches out and traces the edge of the tiny swimsuit I’m spilling out of. His knuckles brush my hip, and I nod at his question. The honesty of it makes me flush even deeper. I have never had this kind of attention before.
"Good girl," Ian murmurs, and something in my chest tightens at the praise. It lights up everything inside of me.
He reaches for the other side of my waist, and I lean into his touch. Each one has a hold on me, and suddenly I fall forward. I’m not sure if it’s the champagne or the boat, but it doesn’t matter. They catch me, pulling me onto the sofa with them.
“Sorry,” I say, trying to wiggle off of them so I can stand back up. Their grip tightens like they can’t lift me, and it’s embarrassing. “I know I’m heavy.”
"You're perfection," Jace murmurs, and I realize he’s pulling me closer.
His hand goes to my shoulder and up the nape of my neck. With how large they both are, I should be afraid, but instead, all I feel is small and precious. Like I’m something delicate to be handled carefully. All my fear has been replaced with something warmer, something that makes my knees feel boneless and my thoughts fuzzy at the edges. It’s like I can't form a full thought.
The sun shifts in my vision, but it's not my fuzzy mind this time. The yacht is out in the open water, and it dawns on me that I'm utterly alone with them. In the middle of the ocean. There’s no escape unless they allow it. I'm sure with how wealthy they clearly are, the staff will turn a blind eye.
"Oh," I whisper, "this is wrong. I don't think we should be doing things."
"Is it?" Jace's hand, still resting at the nape of my neck, tightens. It doesn't hurt; he’s just holding me in place.
"You don't know who we are, do you?" Ian asks.
An uneasy feeling prickles across my skin. Why would he ask me that? Of course I know who they are. They're the men that hired me to model for their bikini company. Still, something about them nags at the edges of my brain, but I can't quite grasp it.
"You're, um…" I trail off, unsure how to answer them.
"You haven't pieced it together yet," Ian says. He brings his hand up, his thumb tracing my jawline. Out of the two of them, he's the one that appears to lead. "Let me make it simple for you. We're your brothers. The ones you’ve been ignoring."
My foggy brain takes a moment for his words to make sense. Brothers? My mother—no, not her, my father? My stomach drops as the truth hits me. They aren't strangers or random men. It's them.
"No," I say, but it sounds weak even to my own ears.
"Yes," Ian says, and his smile cuts right through me. "Surprise, baby sister."
I shake my head, trying to deny it and to make the world stop spinning. Ian catches my chin, holding me still so I stare into his dark eyes.
"Don't bother pretending you don't know what this is," he says. "We've been waiting averylong time for you."
"Did you even read the emails?” Jace asks, and there's disappointment in his voice. "We reached out so many times."
He sounds like I let him down, and for some reason, I want to make it right. Ian's grip tightens, not enough to hurt but enough to make sure I’m paying attention. His hold cuts through the fog.
"We tried to be nice," he says almost sadly. "We thought maybe you'd come around on your own.” He makes a tsking sound. “But you had to make it difficult. You had to make us wait."
You ignored us for months,” Jace says, picking up where Ian left off. “You left us hanging. Made us wonder if you were ever going to respond. And then you show up here, dressed like that, drinking our champagne, letting us touch you.” He shakes his head. “You want the attention. You just don't want to admit you've been teasing us the whole time."
"I wasn't—" I try to pull away, but my body is sluggish, and my thoughts are moving slower. Now I know for certain they drugged me.
I'm helpless to do anything as Jace lowers me to the floor of the sun deck. They come closer, and I swallow hard, watching them loom over me.
"You're going to try and blame us,” Ian says. “You’re going to say that we took what we shouldn't.” His voice is almost gentle now. "But you need to remember that we're just giving you what you want. What you were made for."
“And we can’t steal what already belongs to us,” Jace says, and his easy smile slips away.
