Page 55 of Rescuing Ally: Part 1

“Easy, luv,” Hank murmurs against my breast, his voice a low growl. “We’ve got all morning.”

“We’ve got less than an hour,” I breathe out, desperate. I don’t want easy. I want frantic, urgent, and consuming. I want to be lost in the sensation, lost in them.

I reach for Gabe, pulling him closer, deepening our kiss, my fingers tangling in his hair. I press myself against Hank, seeking more of his heat, his hardness.

The kitchen fades away, the world narrowing to the feel of their skin against mine, the taste of their mouths, the intoxicating scent of them filling my senses. Hunger is all I know, the need to be consumed by them, to lose myself in their embrace.

Chapter 18

Harrison arrives an hour later,precisely on schedule, after Hank and Gabe have thoroughly debauched me.

A mountain of a man with eyes that miss nothing, he takes in Hank and Gabe flanking me at the door. His expression doesn’t change, but something shifts in his posture.

Recognition. Respect.

These men speak the same language.

“Miss Collins.” He inclines his head slightly. “Your father is expecting you.”

I turn to Hank and Gabe, reluctant to leave. It feels absurd—I’ve known them less than a week, yet the thought of even a few hours’ separation coils a knot of anxiety in my chest.

Hank steps forward first, cupping my face in his hands. “A few hours,” he reminds me, kissing my forehead. “We’ll be here.”

Gabe moves in behind him, his touch gentle but possessive. “Don’t keep us waiting too long, sweetheart.”

I nod, my throat tight. “I won’t.”

Harrison maintains a carefully neutral expression as he holds the car door open for me. Only when we’re pulling away from the curb does he speak.

“They seem … protective.”

I catch a hint of approval in his tone. “They are.”

“Good.” He meets my eyes briefly in the rearview mirror. “You could use that.”

We drive in companionable silence after that. Harrison has never been one for unnecessary conversation, which I now appreciate. It gives me space to think—to prepare for what’s coming.

My father won’t approve of my relationship with Hank and Gabe. Not because of who they are but because of what they represent—risk, uncertainty, the potential for more heartbreak. After losing my mother, after nearly losing me twice, he’s desperate to keep me safe, even if it means keeping me confined.

But I can’t live that way. Not anymore. Not after everything.

The mansion looms ahead, sprawling and imposing against the clear sky. It’s never felt like home, not really. Just a beautiful, expensive cage.

Harrison opens my door, his expression softening slightly. “He’s in his study.”

Of course, he is. Where else would Robert Collins be but surrounded by the emblems of his power and success?

I make my way through the echoing halls, past priceless art and antiques that hold no meaning. My father’s study door is ajar, a strip of warm light spilling into the corridor.

I knock lightly before pushing it open. “Dad?”

He’s standing at the window, backlit by the afternoon sun, his silhouette as familiar to me as my own reflection. When he turns, the relief on his face is naked and unguarded.

“Allycat.” He crosses the room in three strides, pulling me into a hug that smells of expensive cologne and the faint trace of bourbon. “You’re here.”

For a moment, I’m his daughter again, not the woman who’s spent the last day being thoroughly claimed by two men. I let myself sink into the embrace, into the simplicity of being someone’s child.

“Just for a little while,” I remind him gently, pulling back.

---