I’m in the middle of round three with Claudia when the doorbell begins to ring incessantly. Common sense tells me this can’t be good. No one shows up at your door in the middle of the night unless something bad is going on.

I stop thrusting despite being so close to getting off. “Dammit.”

“Who do you think that is?”

I live in an apartment complex. Lots of crazy shit goes on with neighbors. Hence, one of the reasons I want to get a house as soon as possible. Especially now that I’m going to have a wife.

“Could be a drunk neighbor. Or maybe someone is at the wrong door.”

Claudia slips her hand around the back of my neck. “I don’t want you to answer it.”

“Well, I at least need to look out the window and make sure no one’s dying on my doorstep.”

“Don’t open the door if it’s someone you don’t know. Nothing good can be going on if a stranger is at your door this late.”

“Not arguing with you there, babe.” People do crazy shit.

I pull out of her and curse a blue streak as I get out of bed; the fucker at the door just won’t stop ringing the damn doorbell.

I yank on my jeans. No shirt. No underwear. No reason for it. I plan on coming right back to bed and finishing off my girl’s pound cake with a nice drizzle.

“Oh my God. Do they have to ring the bell fifteen thousand times?”

Claudia sits up and reaches for her sexy-ass little gown on the floor. “No fucking way. I want you naked when I come back to bed. I’m not even close to being done with you.”

“Mercy, Duke. We’ve done it three times. I thought guys needed time to recoup.”

“Technically, it was two and a half, which really only counts as two since I didn’t finish.” I was gentle—gentler than I wanted to be. And I made certain she was plenty slick every time. “Are you sore? Do you need a break?”

“Oh no. I’m fine. More than fine. Just surprised you were able to do it again so soon.”

“Good. Because I have something different in mind when I come back.”

“Different?”

“Don’t worry. You’ll like it. I promise.”

“I’ll be right here naked and waiting.”

I swear a motherfucker better be bleeding. That’s the only reason I’ll forgive whoever this is for interrupting us.

I peek out the blinds before opening the door with every intention of getting my pistol if I don’t recognize the person on the other side of it. But I do recognize his face.

Owen pushes his way past me when I open the door. “What the fuck are you doing ringing my doorbell like a maniac in the middle of the night?”

“What the fuck am I doing? I think it’s more like what the fuck are you doing?”

Shit. That’s not good. Does he know? Has he figured out that Claudia and I are together? “What are you talking about?”

“It’s Saturday night. My sister is supposed to be at her friend’s house, but her car is here and all of your lights are off.”

I just look at him, saying nothing. I’m neither prepared to lie nor tell him the truth.

“Is Claudia here? Are you covering for her so she can sneak around with some guy?”

Nothing can be gained by lying at this point. We’re planning to tell everyone tomorrow anyway. “This isn’t the way we wanted you to find out.”

“Find out what?”

I’ve had this conversation with Owen over and over in my head, but I swear I can’t remember any of the words I’ve rehearsed. I’m blank. “Claudia and I are together.”

“You mean you’re together because she’s here right now?”

“No. We’re in a relationship together.”

“The hell you are.” His face contorts. “The. Hell. You. Are. Motherfucker.”

I’ve been best friends with Owen our entire lives, and he’s never once looked at me like this, like he wanted to kill me. “Calm down, Owen.”

“I will not calm the fuck down.” He scans my living room. “Where is she?”

I can’t do it. I can’t tell him she’s in my bed.

His eyes grow large. “Fuck. That. I’m getting my sister out of here.”

He turns and stalks toward my bedroom with me close on his heels. I clutch the back of his shirt and it sounds like dozens of stitches pop when I yank him backward. “Don’t open that door, Owen.”

He turns on me and shoves my chest. The power behind his push is unexpected. It causes me to stumble backward, losing my balance as well as the grip I have on him.

He flings the door open and stills when he sees Claudia in my bed with the sheet pulled up to her chin. “Owen…”

“You son of a bitch.” Owen turns and charges me in the hallway, both of us going down to the floor. One punch and then a second and third and fourth. “She’s my baby sister. I trusted you with her.”

I have zero desire to defend myself against Owen’s attack. He adores Claudia and feels the need to protect her. Kicking my ass is the only outlet he has for the fury he feels toward me right now. I get it. And he has every right to hand me my ass.

“Stop, Owen. Now.” Claudia rushes out of the bedroom and tries to pull Owen off me. “Bram didn’t do anything wrong.”

“The hell he didn’t.” Owen turns and pushes Claudia, causing her to lose her balance and collide with the wall before falling to the floor.

And all I see is red.

I wrap my hand around his throat and overpower him. I flip our bodies and his back hits the floor with a thunk. “You can hit me all you like, but you never get to lay a finger on her. I will kill you.”

“Please just stop. Both of you,” she shouts.

I release Owen, rush to Claudia and gather her in my arms. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

I sigh with relief and lean against the wall, holding her in my arms. At some point, she put on my T-shirt and now she stretches it over her knees to cover her legs. She burrows into my embrace with the side of her face pressed against my chest. I kiss the top of her head and stroke her hair just the way I used to anytime Owen and River did something to upset her.

“Claud. Look at me.” She’s completely still for a moment before looking over at Owen. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I would never intentionally hurt you.”

“Same with me, Owen. I’d never hurt her either.”

He sits up and leans against the wall across from us, his hand fisting the top of his hair. “You think you can use her up and then walk away, and that won’t hurt her?”

I tighten my hold around Claud. “I’m not using her—not even a little bit—and I’m definitely not walking away. Ever. I love her.”

He looks at me as though he’s disgusted. “She’s my baby sister. Seventeen years old. You can’t love her.”

“She’s eighteen. I can and I do love her.” Has he never seen what’s between us? “Don’t you see, Owen? It’s never mattered how old she was. I’ve always loved her.”

“You’ve always loved her. What does that even mean?”

“We have a special bond. Always have.”

I see realization developing on his face. “How long have you been messing around with her?”

“There’s always been something there, but we never acted on it. Not until two months ago. Not until I started tutoring her. But even then, I didn’t touch her. Tonight was… the first time.” Well, all of that isn’t exactly the whole truth, but he’s her brother. He doesn’t need to hear the specifics of what we have and haven’t done as long as he understands that I didn’t fuck her one minute before she turned eighteen.

Owen shakes his head. “Do you forget that we’ve been best friends our entire lives? I know you inside and out. And there’s no way I would trust you with her. You’ll break her heart.”

“She trusts me. She believes me when I tell her I’ll never betray her.” He might as well know the rest of the story. “And that’s why she said yes when I asked her to marry me.”

“I love him and he loves me.” Claudia holds up her hand. “See? It’s official. I’m going to marry him.”

Owen shakes his head. “Do Mom and Dad know about this shit?”

“Mom knows we’re in a relationship, but no one knows about our engagement, apart from you. It’s only been a few hours since he proposed.”

Owen closes his eyes and presses the back of his head against the wall. Saying nothing.

“O, can you please be happy for us?” Claudia’s voice is pleading.

“Can you please understand that I’m in fucking shock here?” He looks at me and narrows his eyes. “You always spoiled her and gave her most of your attention.”

“Because even then, I loved her. Not the way I do today, but it was still love.”

“You’re right. I knew something was there, but I never imagined it was anything like this. You were right to never tell me how you felt about her. I would have beaten your ass into the ground if I’d known you had anything like this going on in your mind.”

“Don’t turn this into something ugly,” Claudia says.

He gets up and stands over us. “I’m gonna need time to think about this.”

I kiss the side of her face and whisper, “I should talk to him alone.”

I get up and walk Owen to the door so that I can have a private word with him. I should make another attempt at helping him understand. “Try not to let the way you found out about us ruin the way you see our relationship.”

“You’re twenty-three and I found my sev… eighteen-year-old sister naked in your bed. It’s going to be hard not to let that sway my opinion of your relationship right now.”

Owen hasn’t reached that point in his life where he’s ready for love. He has no desire to settle down with one person. He still wants to fuck and forget. “You don’t understand what we have because you’ve not experienced it yet.”

“I’m not okay with this right now. Maybe I will be one day, but it ain’t gonna be today.”

“I don’t need you to be okay with this today. I just need you to be open-minded and hear what I’m saying to you: Claudia is my heart. My everything. I will never do anything to hurt her.”

“You better be fucking sure of that before you marry her.”

“I already am. There’s not a bit of doubt in my mind. We belong together.”

His brow wrinkles and the corner of his mouth pulls downward. “Sorry I beat your ass.”

Is he joking? “You didn’t beat my ass.”

“Go look at your face if you think I didn’t, motherfucker.” Owen chuckles and I see a glimpse of my best friend—my best friend who is eventually going to be okay with Claudia and me being together.

I need to let him have this small victory. “Okay, you did. You beat my ass.”

Owen lightly fists me in the shoulder. “Damn right, I did. And I’ll do it again if the need arises. So be good to her.”

A little bit more light is revealed at the end of the tunnel, and I’m certain this is eventually going to be okay. “No worries.”

Claudia is sitting on the end of the bed chewing her thumbnail when I come into the bedroom. “That was horrible, Duke.”

“That’s not the first time Owen and I have ever duked it out. That’s how I earned my nickname from you, remember?”

I chuckle when I recall a six-year-old Claudia standing in a chair on the patio watching Owen and I go at it on the ground over something mean he and River had done to her. Duke him, Bram. Duke him good. And that’s how I became Duke.

That’s the same day she earned her nickname from me. Little dove: peacekeeper extraordinaire—which she obviously was not since she was rooting me on to beat up her brother.

She grasps my chin and turns my face to the side so she can inspect me. “Baby, you’re bleeding. Come with me so we can clean you up.”

I follow her into the bathroom and sit on the lowered toilet seat so she can easily reach my face. I wince when she dabs a wet washcloth to my split lip. “I can’t believe Owen did this to you. And you just let him.”

“He needed to vent his anger. I was giving him that.”

“Well, he could have accomplished that in a different manner without busting your handsome face.”

She doesn’t get it, and I don’t expect her to. “Girls get mad and hold grudges. Say catty things to one another. That’s how your gender argues. Not us. A fist to the face lets someone know you feel like you’ve been wronged and you’re pissed off about it.”

“I don’t like seeing two men I love go at each other with fists.”

“You used to like it.”

“That was before either of you could do any real damage.”

It’s a bloody split lip. No real damage. “Owen vented. It’s over now.”

“It better be over because I’m not watching anything like that again.”

“Owen is going to be okay with this. I could see it beginning to sink in before he left. But I could have another punch or two coming from River.”

“You most certainly do not.”

Try telling him that. “I don’t know. He was pretty pissed off that night in my dining room when he saw us holding hands and professing our love.”

“He has no say.” She forms a circle with her hand. “Zero.”

She finishes washing and inspecting my face. “The bleeding has stopped, but you’re going to be bruised and swollen tomorrow. That’s just freaking great since we’re going to see my parents. Makes me want to put my foot up Owen’s ass for doing this.”

I look at her standing over me in my white undershirt. Nipples poking through the thin cotton fabric. Hem barely covering her ass. And I can’t resist wrapping my hands around her cheeks. “You look good in my shirt.”

“Do I look better in it or out of it?”

“Out.” No question about it.

She clutches the hem and pulls it up and over her head before tossing it to the floor. “And the panties?”

“Off. Now.” My fingers are already dragging them down her legs before the second word is out of my mouth.

I was thinking I’d have her get on top and ride me but the shitter is not the sexiest place for fucking. I think we can do much better. “Hmm… what should I do with you this time, little dove?”

“Anything you want.”

“Mmm… love that attitude.”

I get up and use my hands to turn Claudia around. “You walk, I steer.” I place my palms on her hips and navigate her into the living room toward the sofa. I place my hand between her shoulder blades and push her face down toward the cushions over the arm of the sofa. “I want you just like this, bent over.”

She hesitates and I imagine what must be going through her mind. “Don’t be afraid. We aren’t doing that tonight.”

“I want to do that at some point… maybe after I’ve had time to get used to the regular way. I want to make you happy.”

I glide my hand up her spine to her shoulders and she lowers her head so she’s perfectly positioned for the taking. “You make me very happy. Never think you don’t.”

She’s still slick from our earlier romp so my fingers glide into her easily. She moans and rocks back against my hand, forcing my fingers to go deeper. “I think my little dove likes this.”

“It feels good.” She arches her back and tilts her ass upward.

Mmm… what a view. Let’s see if her mouth matches her actions. “Tell me what you want.”

“You, Duke. I want you.” Her voice is breathy. Desperate.

I take my fingers out of her, yank open the button of my jeans, and lower the zipper. “Where do you want my cock?”

“Inside me.”

“So I can do what?”

“Fuck me.”

I rub the tip of my dick up and down her wet slit. “I’m sorry. I can’t hear you, Claud. Your voice was too low. What did you say you want me to do?”

“Fuck me,” she shouts and pushes backward, forcing my cock deep inside her. “Fuck me now.”

I’m balls deep. My girl earns a groan from me for that. “Demanding little virgin, you are.”

“Not a virgin anymore. You took care of that earlier tonight.”

“That’s right. I own your virginity. I own all your orgasms. I own your pussy. You’re mine. I was the first to have you, and you’ll never belong to anyone else.”

“I like it when you say those kinds of things.”

I seem to recall something about hair pulling. I fist the back of her locks and lightly tug as I thrust harder. “You like that, you little dirty girl?”

“Ohhh, Duke… fuck… yes… don’t stop.”

I slow my pace and reach around with my free hand to rub her clit. Every caress. Every stroke. Every thrust. It all brings us one step closer to the joint euphoria we’re chasing.

My girl doesn’t have to say the words. The moaning. The trembling. The clenched fists. They tell me everything I need to know. “That’s it, baby. I’m right there with you. Let’s ride it out together.”

We spiral together to that place, the one where I explode inside her, filling her with a part of myself until we’re both breathless and trembling.

I’m still inside her when I lean forward, far enough for my sweaty chest to touch her back. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to get enough of fucking you.”

“We have the rest of our lives to find out.”

I kiss the space between her shoulder blades. “It’s late, love. Let’s go to bed so we can get some sleep; we have a big day tomorrow.”

The biggest day of our lives so far. Because it’s the first day of the rest of our lives.