Five Brothers - Softcover

Douglas, Penelope

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593816579 ISBN 13: 9780593816578

Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2024

Inhaltsangabe

One woman learns the secrets of the five Jaeger brothers in the new romance from New York Times bestselling author Penelope Douglas.

On the other side of town, in the dark glades, under the rain…

Macon is the oldest. Thirty-one. Ex-Marine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile.

Army is twenty-eight. A single dad with the most beautiful green eyes. He has no idea who he is, if not a Jaeger brother.

Iron will be in prison soon. You’d never think it to meet him. He’s a nice guy, actually. But he can’t stop reacting to everything.

Dallas is the one I hate. Twenty-one, cruel, and selfish. He takes and then throws away whatever’s left.

And Trace is mine. Or he was for about two seconds. No one can tame him for long.   

Not that I ever wanted to. It was fun, but now I need to go home. Back to my side of the tracks. Away from the swamps and these men. To my parents’ big house. On my clean street. Where I’m never dirty or messy or hot. And I will. I’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. I just want to crash on the couch tonight.

Their house is dark and quiet, everyone else is asleep. Except for one. He sees me crying and comes at me from behind. I let him wrap his arms around my body and hold me tightly. His breath is on my neck, his fingers are in my hair, and he doesn’t stop there.  

I don’t think it was Trace.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Penelope Douglas is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Their books have been translated into twenty languages and include the Fall Away series, the Hellbent series, the Devil’s Night series, and the stand-alones, Misconduct, Punk 57, Birthday Girl, Credence, and Tryst Six Venom. They live in New England with their husband and daughter.

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1

Krisjen

Don't walk alone at night.

I grip the hem of my plaid skirt and glance behind me. The dark empty road disappears into the black void, like a tunnel under the canopy of trees. The midnight moon reflects only enough light to make the leaves look blue, while the mid-October breeze blows my hair across my cheek.

I face forward, continuing to walk. My heart pumps hard in my chest.

Don't walk alone at night.

I don't think my parents ever told me that, but I learned it well enough. The world is full of things that want to hurt us because they can. Because we make it easy.

Women shouldn't have too much muscle on our bodies. We shouldn't be too smart or learn how to manage money. We don't need to know how to navigate a crowd, lead the way through a city or an airport, or choose the car we want to buy. Let the man drive if there's one in the vehicle with you, and the dinner reservation should always be in his name.

Those are things my parents did tell me.

Everything in life is about power, and it wasn't that I was taught that I didn't have any. I learned that men would like me better if I didn't show it.

The forest closes in on both sides of the road, and I feel figures that aren't there. Hidden in the trees. Watching me. As if danger can tell when we're unprotected and show up at that exact time and place. Summer camp serial killers always know when a girl has traipsed off away from her group, don't they? No matter where the summer camp is. Even if he's in a different one.

But instead, I look up, the semi-clear night offering a spray of stars so bright that I'm glad I'm out alone, after all. Deep on this dark road, away from the lights of town.

I clench my school skirt in my fists as the soft fabric of my shirt sticks to my damp skin. My breasts chafe against the cloth.

Venus and Jupiter will be visible in a few months. I forget what's visible this time of year, but it's nice to see anything. Coastal Florida towns in hurricane season aren't a joke. The clouds always roll in.

I don't hear the engine behind me.

"Need a ride?" someone calls out.

I jerk my head, my heart skipping a beat. I look over, meeting green eyes that peer at me from the driver's side of his truck. I move off the road, to the gravel, as his vehicle crawls up next to me.

His arm drapes over the door, and he's not wearing a shirt, every inch of skin that's bared on his chest, neck, and muscles tan.

He works outside. And often shirtless from the looks of it, because there are no lines.

A boy from across the tracks.

His black hair is pushed back under a backward baseball cap, and his eyes gleam in that way that I know by now. Men have been looking at me like that since long before they should have.

I swallow. "No, thank you."

I continue walking, waiting for him to press the gas and keep going, but he doesn't. The muscles in my thighs tense, ready to run. I move farther and farther away, feeling his eyes on my back.

"You know what you need?" he says, and I see his truck come up again out of the corner of my eye. "A girl like you should have a boyfriend."

A lock of my chestnut hair floats on the wind and then falls back against my face. I squeeze my skirt again, the tails of my white shirt hanging almost as low as my hem.

"Someone to take care of you and drive you," he says. "Would you like a man?"

His words climb my skin. I look ahead of me, down the road. More dark. More empty. No one knows I'm out here.

"Come here," he says, almost a whisper.

My mouth goes dry.

He's not asking.

I hear his door creak open, and I stop, slowly turning and watching him jump out of the cab.

Run.

Leaving his door open, he drops his chin, slowly approaching me as if I were a dog he needs to leash before I get away.

Run, I tell myself.

I take a step back, but he reaches out and catches the lock of hair hanging down my cheek.

He doesn't look at it, though. He looks in my eyes.

He's young. Not much older than me, but definitely taller. Broader.

Too close.

I spin around, but before I can take the first step away, he's grabbing me and hauling me back against his chest. I gasp, feeling one of his hands cover my breast and the other one slide down between my legs.

He exhales in my ear, stroking the slit beneath my underwear. "Oh God, you got something good, don't you?"

He moans.

I squirm, whimpering, "No . . ."

He reaches inside my panties, stroking me as he sucks in air between his teeth. "Get in the truck." He spins me around and releases me, but he pushes me toward his car before I can run. "I'm your man now, honey," he growls.

I look side to side as he shoves me, his open door blocking my escape to my left and him blocking me on my right. I scramble into the truck, flipping over and crawling backward as far as possible to the other side until my back hits the door.

I grab the handle behind me, but the locks click just before I yank. I pull up and down, trying to get out, but his eyes are on me as he climbs in and slams the door. I can't move. I clench my thighs.

His gaze travels down my body to my legs and everything he can see with my skirt hiked up. I pull it down.

"Goddamn," he murmurs, his tongue moving inside his mouth.

He kicks the truck into Drive and hits the gas.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere I can pay my new girlfriend a little attention," he replies.

His eyes dance as he watches the road, a trickle of sweat streaming down his chest. I watch it glide over every ripple in his abs.

His dark hair is blacker near his ear where the sweat has matted it, and I watch him bite his bottom lip as he stares ahead. Smooth, young neck. Every muscle flexed as he holds his arm out straight and fists the steering wheel. No tattoos. Just a scar on his eyebrow-a small slit where the hair no longer grows.

I dig my nails into the seat behind me.

I should try harder to get away. Hit him. Kick him.

He pulls off the road, down a gravel path, and then takes a sharp left into a small lot surrounded by woods. It's where people come to play with their ATVs. The woods are filled with trails.

But the lot is abandoned at night.

It's just us.

He parks and shuts off the engine, the cab turning nearly pitch black.

I feel hands grip my ankles, and I'm yanked down the seat as he kneels between my legs and hovers over me.

"I want to go home," I say.

He doesn't reply.

Reaching under my skirt, he peels my panties down my legs and over my shoes, staring at my naked skin. "Oh God, you are a pretty little bitch."

Pushing up my shirt, he comes down, sucking one of my nipples into his mouth as he strokes me between the legs with one of his hands.

"Mmm," he groans.

I grip his wrist under my skirt with both hands, trying to take his hand out from between my legs, but his muscles flex underneath my fingers, holding tight. Flicking my nipple with his tongue, he moves to the other breast, and I shove at his chest, whimpering, but he pays me no mind as he takes his pleasure.

Like he doesn't see me.

Like I'm just here for fun.

He pinches my nipple between his teeth, and a shock shoots through my stomach to down between my thighs. I release him and drag my fingers up my stomach to the waist of my skirt.

"Yeah, your wet little cunt is ready for me, isn't it?" he coos.

Yeah, baby.

I clutch the hilt of the knife hidden in my skirt and raise my arm, pressing the blade to his neck.

He stops.

I feel my smile in my fucking throat.

His hot breath hits faster against my skin as he hovers over my breast, and I lift my head, feeling like I'm...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2024
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593816579
• ISBN 13: 9780593816578
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 560
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Penguin Random House Ireland; penguinrandomhouse@penguinrandomhouse.com; ; 1745 Broadway; New York; 10019; USA
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland