-Author's Note: Sorry about the short chapter, but here it is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did—even though there's like nothing in it. You know when the next chapter will be up—after two days, on Monday. Please, don't forget to review! And thank you so much to people who have been reviewing already. You guys are awesome, and also thanks to those people who are being very patient with my other stories. They will take a while.

This chapter isn't very erotic and blood boiling, but the next one is, and so is the new chapter of my other story called Seduction. It's an erotic romance—I've decided to continue it, so please do check it out. It's hot!

-Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of anything. I wish. I want Jacob so bad! I'm going to shout. I'm going crazy here.


Chapter: Caught Up In Between


It's like I've been awakened
Every rule I had you breakin'
It's the risk that I'm taking
I ain't never gonna shut you out

- Beyoncé, Halo


Nessie sighed as Paul laid her gently in the bed and covered her quivering body with a thick blanket. His jet amber eyes held just a hint of sadness and uncertainty as he brushed a gilded strand hair from her eyes with a gentle touch. It hurt her to see him like that, his normal confidence diminished.

"Paul," she whispered, her voice almost breaking on a quiet sob. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

He placed a single finger across her lips to cut her off and smiled. "I'll take you anyway I can get you – even if I have to share you with Jacob."

"But what if I . . ." She swallowed, unable to even form the question for terror of hurting him.

"What if you choose Jacob?" He breathed, his lips twitching slightly.

She nodded slowly and licked her dry lips as his thumb brushed away a single crystal-like teardrop from her flushed cheek. "Yes."

"Don't cry, Nessie. Whoever you choose, it'll be okay."

"But I can't be what comes between you and Jacob. You've been best friends for too long."

"And that's why we'll still be friends, no matter what the outcome. We're half of the same whole. Have been our entire lives," Paul articulated. "I guess it's only natural we both love you. And we'll both probably always love you. So don't let this upset you, Nessie. Just let things happen as they may."

She nodded and closed her eyes, letting Paul's fingers comb a soothing path through her hair.

Once she was asleep, Paul silently erected off the side of the bed and headed downstairs to help Jacob finish securing the house. He was surprised to see his friend sitting on the sofa, his attention glued to the news.

"Finished securing the perimeter?" Paul asked as he headed to the small kitchen to grab a soda.

"Yeah," Jacob satisfied, but kept his gaze on the screen.

"That was fast."

"Ex-SEAL," Jacob answered, as if that was all the answer he needed.

Paul snickered, then took a close look at the pinched and tense expression on his friend's face. Maybe this thing with Nessie was affecting them more than they wanted to admit to one another.

"Ness' asleep?" Jacob asked, then raised his hand to take a sip of his soda.

"Yeah, although I'm sure it won't be a peaceful sleep. She's too uptight," Paul paused, trying to decide how to broach the subject of Nessie. "Jacob." Paul started with a sigh.

Jacob held up his hand, stopping Paul from saying anything more. "Don't."

Taking a seat in the small chair opposite the couch, Paul leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, the bulges that rose up the surface of his copper arms too prominent to drive any woman crazy. "We've shared women all our lives – why is this so hard?"

"Because we both love her." Jacob answered.

"Then maybe we should do this together as opposed to separately. If we're both there . . . like we normally are . . . then maybe it'll be different."

"And maybe it will be harder."

"Damn it," Paul snapped and stood. "It's got to be better than one of us sitting down here while the other fucks her upstairs."

Running a hand through his hair, he paced the small room before glancing down at Jacob. His friend watched him with a mixture of amusement and apprehension.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about Nessie?" Jacob asked, throwing him off guard.

"I don't know," Paul said with a sigh. "I guess . . . she was the first thing that had truly been mine. The first woman I had feelings for who I didn't share with you," Paul's lips spread into a wry smile. "Or at least, so I thought."

"You met her about two years after me. At the time, I was six months into physical rehab and trying to find her."

"You never told me her name." Paul said.

"Yeah, I know. And my guess is for the same reasons you had. Small world, huh? That we would both end up falling for the same woman, but at different times."

"Yeah," Paul dropped back down into the chair and let out a huff of air. "What if she picks me?"

Jacob shrugged, indicating indifference, then glanced back at the television. "I'll still be your friend, just don't expect me over for Christmas for a while. At least you'll know if anything happens to you, she'll be taken care of." Physically, emotionally and sexually.

Paul pursed his lips with a frown. An idea began to form in his mind, but it was so eccentric, he refused to think it through. For now. They would be locked away, for what Paul had been thinking was illegal.

IllI

Admiral Cullen continued to go over his notes. He was missing something, he cognized. He had a bad feeling about all this and was somewhat relieved Director Marcus had gotten his daughter to safety. He really didn't think they would go after her, but he certainly wanted to be on the safe side anyway.

Something about Marcus made him nervous, though, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what. There were too many numbers that didn't add up, too many questions without answers.

A knock sounded at his door, breaking his thoughts. "Enter." He replied, and set his notes aside.

His assistant stepped into the room and softly shut the door behind him. Admiral Cullen waited patiently as his assistant came forward. He stopped just in front of his desk, his hands clasped in front of him.

"Captain Jasper called. They found Admiral Doyle's body just a few miles outside D.C."

"Murder?" Cullen asked steadily.

"That's not been determined yet, but I got the impression they're leaning in that direction."

Cullen sighed and leaned back in his chair, his gaze focused on a spot over his assistant's right shoulder.

"You don't seem surprised."

"I'm not," Cullen admitted. "Even if he'd talked, they couldn't let him live. He would have been able to identify them."

"Do you still think there's someone on the inside?"

He nodded his head, and exhaled—not quite a sigh. "Yes. Now I just need to figure out who it is."

IllI

Nessie strolled down the stairs, a light blue sundress over a matching swimsuit was her chosen attire for the day. She hadn't been to the beach since she and Paul had dated. She was overly anxious to spend the day sunbathing and swimming in the lukewarm, aquamarine water of the Keys.

Paul and Jacob were already downstairs. She'd smelled the coffee and bacon all the way in her room, and had quickly piled her auburn hair on her head in a soft bun and dabbed on a little makeup—mascara and peachy lip-gloss—so she could join them. Nessie stood at the bottom of the stairs, her hand resting on the column, and watched the two of them.

Paul stood at the stove cooking. His beige Dockers hugged his hips and accentuated his slim waist, making her mouth water. The light blue polo shirt made his tan and dark hair stand out, and for a second she remembered how those thick locks had felt between her fingers.

Her gaze moved to Jacob, who sat at the breakfast bar glancing through the paper and sipping coffee. His short, cropped black hair looked just like it always did, perfect. His black lashes lay against his chiseled cheeks as he continued to study the paper. Glancing down, she noticed his bare feet and smiled. Jeans, T-shirts, and bare feet—that was Jacob, whereas Paul was more the preppy type. Always clean-cut and immaculately dressed.

With a grin, she inhaled the scent of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. That was Paul's coffee of choice and, even though it was expensive, it's what he always drank. With a frown, she wondered where he'd found it or if he had brought it with him from home? Neither seemed to notice she was there yet as they talked quietly about what was in the paper.

Clearing her throat, she caught their attention.

"Morning, beautiful," Jacob said with a wink over his paper.

"Morning, Nessie," Paul said with a smile and she grinned her set of pearly-whites back, thoroughly enjoying waking up and finding both of them in her kitchen.

"Morning. What's for breakfast?" She walked over and sniffed at the bacon frying in the skillet. Next to it was a skillet of potatoes with a hint of garlic.

"The works," Paul said and placed a light kiss on her cheek. "Sleep okay?"

"I suppose. I always have a hard time sleeping in a strange bed."

"I remember," Jacob said with amusement as he slid a cup of coffee across the counter for her.

Paul gave him a strange look over his shoulder before turning back to the food. It wasn't like Paul to be jealous and covetous, and it bothered her to think she might be hurting him. He was confident she would rather be without them than to hurt either of them.

"I hope you're hungry. I made a lot." Paul said and set the skillet full of bacon aside.

"I'm starving."

Strolling over to the breakfast bar, she took the stool next to Jacob and began to read his discarded sections of the paper. Her cell phone beeped, making her jump, and she quickly ran across the room to grab it.

"What the hell was that?" Jacob asked, laughing at the unusual, high-pitched sound.

"My cell. I just got a text message." She flipped her phone open, depressing the buttons with her slender thumb to open the message.

-Doyle's dead. Inside man. Watch your back, Vanessa-

"Oh, my God. It's from Dad. He says Doyle's dead." She stared at the phone in shock, her hand shaking slightly. She didn't know Doyle all that well, had only been working with him for a year or so, but the idea he was dead still made her sorrowful. Goose bumps emerged to the surface of her porcelain skin.

Nessie sniffed and wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. "What does he mean by inside man?" And what did he mean by 'watch your back?' Did he suspect Jacob and Paul? No. Not possible. That was crazy. They would never do anything like that. They would never work for criminals.

"Director Marcus mentioned the same thing. His schedule and whereabouts were top secret, so there has to be someone on the inside who got the kidnappers that information. You okay?" Jacob asked, and he raised a hand, reaching to rub her back soothingly.

She nodded, again sniffing back tears. "Yeah. I'm fine." Without another word, she closed her phone.

IllI

"Have you gotten her whereabouts yet?"

Scott looked up from the GPS tracker and nodded towards the young Korean, Jin. "She's in the Keys."

"What about the admiral?"

"Her father?" Scott asked, his brow raised. "He's snooping around, but he won't find anything, so don't worry about him."

"What if he does? Find something, I mean."

Scott glanced down at the GPS signal on his laptop. "Then we use his daughter to keep him quiet."


Sneak preview of the following chapter:


"Come here, Jake," Paul dictated, and Jacob moved forward to kneel in front of Nessie, barricading her exposed breasts from the other people on the beach. "Kiss him, Nessie."

His order startled her, and for what seemed like interminable seconds, she and Jacob stared at one another. Both seemed to be just as hesitant and uncertain as the other.

"Our neighbors will think we're crazy," Nessie whispered as Jacob brushed a windblown aureate-brown whorl from her cheek and behind her ear, his tender caress motivating a frisson from within. Her breathing hastened.

"Don't worry about what they think, Nessie. Kiss him."

Jacob noiselessly awaited for her to make the first move, to initiate the kiss. Gazing in Jacob's ravenous gaze, Nessie desperately wanted to, but it felt so strange doing it here in front of Paul. They both loved her and wanted her, she knew—the situation had to arise an issue of jealousy, though she wasn't certain. Jacob and Paul had known each other for too long. Would it be awkward or natural?

"I want you to do it, Nessie," Paul's fingertips skimmed the very exposed, very smooth small of her back. She shivered, and as if he read her mind, he clarified, "I want you to kiss him – in front of me. In front of everyone. Do it." He ordered.


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