Infatuation - A Club Destiny Novel (23 page)

As he turned to enter
McKenna’s office again, he passed Whisper who smiled up at him. Tag
smiled back although he got the feeling she was up to
something.

“
I need to head over to
XTX. Logan’s ass is on fire, and he wants me to come
by.”

McKenna laughed, and the
pleasant, sultry sound made Tag wish he could lock the door and
strip her naked. It was like his dick had radar set to acknowledge
her every sound.

“
I can have Whisper take
me to the club when I’m finished here,” she said, barely sparing
him a glance.

“
No. I’ll come back by. It
shouldn’t take too long.” Tag had no idea how long it would
actually take, but he couldn’t imagine Logan McCoy going off on a
tangent for too long.

But shit, what did he know.

Half an hour later, Tag
was walking into the luxurious front entrance of XTX, a place he
frequented at least once a day. Being that he was now their lead
attorney, thanks to some apparently stellar references, he found
that he thoroughly enjoyed representing the company.

Maybe that was because
there weren’t too many issues at the moment. Not to mention, he had
a team of four additional lawyers who managed everything from
trademarks to the infrequent lawsuit against the company for
whatever reason. Most of his time was spent ensuring the cases were
being handled appropriately, and they were pushing back when
necessary.

And then there were days like today when he
felt as though everything was mission critical for one person or
another and today was obviously Logan’s day.

Taking the stairs, Tag
kept his pace casual. He wasn’t in a rush because from the sound of
Logan on the phone, the man wasn’t in any mood to just shoot the
shit. He was in rare form today, and likely Tag was going to get
the brunt of it.

He was beginning to wonder
if he truly was that disconnected to what was going on. He couldn’t
imagine that he was, because seriously, even though he and McKenna
were spending twenty four hours a day together, they were still
living life as normal as they could. Which was funny because to
Tag, it felt a little too normal. Something he definitely wasn’t
familiar with and found himself starting to question
repeatedly.

Granted, they weren’t at
his house, they were at the club, but still... waking up to McKenna
each morning was strangely nice. Especially considering he wasn’t
usually the type to spend the night with a woman, and he definitely
wasn’t the type to play house with one. Even to this
degree.

When he approached Logan’s door, he greeted
Deanna, Logan’s assistant and the woman responsible for keeping the
man on track. At least at work. Sam was ultimately responsible for
keeping him on his toes though.

“
Afternoon,” Tag greeted
as he glanced down at his watch realizing it was already after
twelve.

“
Sit,” Logan barked and
Tag couldn’t help but to cock his eyebrow. He was all for dropping
everything he had going on to take the time to meet with Logan, but
he damn sure wasn’t up to being commanded.

“
Shit. Sorry,” Logan said,
actually appearing somewhat apologetic.

Tag closed the door behind him and then took
the chair opposite Logan’s huge desk.

“
What’s up?”

“
This is what’s up.” Logan
thrust a newspaper at him from across the desk and Tag reached
forward, retrieving it and skimming the headline.

Shit.

“
Why the fuck did you let
that little bastard into the club?” Tag asked directly.

Staring back at him in black and white was
the image of Stephen Crawford and Susan Toulmin. Apparently –
according to the first paragraph in the news article – Stephen and
Susan were teaming up to share some very intimate details of what
they knew about the club.

“
We
didn’t
let
him
in,” Logan sighed. “He’s blackmailing Luke.”

What the fuck?

“
What the hell does he
have on Luke?” And why the fuck didn’t he already know about this?
Tag might not be a joint owner in the club, but he was expected to
represent them and to ensure that the club and its members were
legally safeguarded from shit like this.

“
It’s
complicated.”

Tag peered back at Logan waiting to hear the
complicated version. Shit, he didn’t care which version he
received, but damnit, he deserved one of them. And fast.

“
What do you mean ‘it’s
complicated’? How fucking complicated could it be?”

“
It’s about
Sam.”

What the hell? Tag was thoroughly confused
at this point, but he waited as patiently as he could for the
rest.

“
Luke is taking the brunt
of it all, but actually, this bastard has pictures of Sam.” Logan
sighed in defeat. “From one of our visits to the playroom at the
club.”

“
How the hell did that
happen?” Was he in the fucking Twilight Zone? Tag was so damned
confused that his head was beginning to hurt. “I thought the club
was secure. How the hell did someone get a camera in
there?”

Logan leaned back in his
chair as he ran his hand through his thick, dark hair. The man
definitely didn’t look like he had been sleeping lately. Tag could
imagine why. If pictures of Sam were to get out, that could be a
huge hit to a lot of people. Including XTX where Sam currently
contracted, as well as CISS and definitely Club Destiny.

“
We don’t know who is
responsible, but we do know that Stephen Crawford paid the person
off. Apparently money goes a long way these days.”

“
And he’s not blackmailing
Luke for money?”

“
No. The little fucker is
insisting that he be allowed to join the club. After several repeat
denials of his application, apparently Crawford wasn’t willing to
give up.”

Tag wasn’t happy about the
situation in general, but at least there was a method to the
McCoy’s madness. For the life of him, he never could understand how
Crawford was allowed in.

“
Does he know about...?”
Tag didn’t finish his statement, but he knew he didn’t need
to.

“
No. And
thankfully neither does Susan Toulmin. Neither of them were ever
trusted enough to be invited to
The
Club
.”

Well, at least they had
that going for them.

“
According to that
article, they’re going to start sharing names. The good thing – not
that any of this is good – is they only have the names of the few
people they might’ve met along the way. Unfortunately, some of
those are very influential.”

Which meant Club Destiny
was in a world of hurt at the moment.

Neither man spoke for several long minutes
as Tag scanned the article in front of him. The only thing he knew
for a fact was that Susan and Stephen together was a recipe for
disaster.

“
Does Travis know about
this?” Tag had no idea why he would, but with their newest venture
also on the line, he wondered whether they had shared it with
him.

Logan nodded but didn’t say a word.

“
And why the fuck did I
not know about this before now?” Tag was furious, and he was more
than a little offended that the brothers’ wouldn’t have sought his
help in the matter.

“
Shit. I don’t know,”
Logan exhaled. “This is Sam’s reputation we’re talking about. And
you know I’ll go to any lengths to protect her.”

Tag understood the message. Logan meant that
he would go to lengths outside of the law in order to protect the
woman he loved.

He didn’t like it, but
somehow, Tag understood.

~*~*~

By the time Tag returned
to the office, McKenna was just finishing up. He’d been gone longer
than she thought he would, but he had been thoughtful enough to
send a text message telling her that he would be
delayed.

Five hours were one hell
of a delay.

Since she hadn’t talked to him, she didn’t
know what had called him away for so long, nor was she sure she
wanted to ask. Not after the way he was looking at her now.

Her day had been a long,
very stressful one, and at the moment, she wanted nothing more than
to sit in a dark room and sip a glass of wine. It was that bad of a
day. It hadn’t started out that way, but ever since she received
that nasty email from Stephen Crawford, things had gone downhill
rapidly.

To pass the last few
minutes, McKenna had been glancing at today’s newspaper articles
online and ran across one in the Dallas Morning News that caught
her attention and was probably the reason Tag ran out on her
earlier in the day.

“
You ready?” he grumbled
as he stood in the doorway.

McKenna contemplated his
mood for a moment, trying to determine whether he was mellow or
angry. Those seemed to be the only two settings he had these days,
and quite frankly, she didn’t know which to expect most of the
time.

Either way, as she looked
him over, taking in his overall appearance, she couldn’t help but
find him sexy, regardless of how he was acting. He was impeccably
dressed, and even at the end of the day, his brilliant white button
down shirt was wrinkle free, and the shiny forest green tie he had
selected that morning still hung perfectly straight, accentuating
his beautiful, dark eyes. His suit jacket was open, his hands
thrust into his pockets, and he looked like a damn model posing for
a camera.

She felt his dark,
brooding eyes on her now as he seemed to wait for her answer.
“Ready,” she replied, undocking her laptop and sliding it into her
bag.

When they reached the car,
Tag opened the passenger door for her and waited patiently while
she got situated before shutting it. McKenna could feel the tension
in his rigid body, see the strain on his normally relaxed
face.

Questioning him to share
would have been her usual way of handling a situation like this,
but McKenna managed to choke down the litany of questions that hung
on the tip of her tongue. If Tag wanted to share, she figured he
would. And if he didn’t, well, that would sting just a little, but
what could she do?

They were halfway to the club when Tag
suddenly veered off the highway onto the feeder road. McKenna
didn’t ask him where he was going, and holding back damn near
killed her. She was inquisitive by nature, but she was also smart.
Tag didn’t want to talk, that was abundantly clear.

When they pulled into a
small clearing, one that looked out over the beautiful display of
downtown Dallas’ finest, all lit up against the inky backdrop of
night, McKenna suddenly didn’t feel like talking either. As she
took in the white lights flashing on the Reunion Tower sphere that
sat high above the other buildings and the clean green lines
outlining the Bank of America Plaza building, she managed to relax,
letting all of the other stresses from the day go.

The gentle hum of the seat
motor in Tag’s seat as he moved the chair backward broke the
tranquil silence and McKenna glanced over to see him looking at
her.

“
Come here.”

The thick, southern drawl
and the dark rich tenor of his voice sent a chill racing down her
spine. McKenna didn’t delay before releasing the seat belt buckle
and maneuvering over the center console until she was straddling
Tag’s thighs. He eased the steering wheel up, putting more space
between him and it, allowing McKenna to ease down onto him more
comfortably.

When he cupped her face,
the gentle way he touched her wasn’t lost on her. His dark
eyelashes framed his all-seeing, all knowing eyes and McKenna
nearly drown in the passion that took up residence there. When they
traced her face, landing on her mouth, she had the urge to kiss
him, to lock their mouths together and feed off of his hunger. Only
she wasn’t sure she needed more because she was consumed by it
already.

McKenna could still sense
the tension, but it was changing, melding into something much more
discernible. She knew it hadn’t been a particularly easy day for
either one of them, but then again, she wondered whether many of
them were. It wasn’t like they had jobs free of stress, but she
didn’t know if those even existed in the first place. Whatever was
on Tag’s mind, McKenna knew that for just a little while, when they
came together, he’d be able to forget.

“
I need you,” he whispered
in the dark.

“
I need you too.” She
wasn’t sure why she said the words, but she felt as though he
needed to hear them. This need she had acquired for him still
shocked her because for all intents and purposes, there was so much
about Tag that she felt she didn’t know.

Right now, it didn’t
matter because as far as what she felt for him, McKenna knew
everything that was important. After the day she had, nothing
sounded better than getting lost in this man, his touch, his kiss.
He was the equivalent to a bottle of wine; able to soothe her
frazzled nerves with just a taste.

“
Kiss me,
McKenna.”

She let her gaze roam his
face, stopping on his mouth, then back to his eyes before she
leaned in and gently swiped her tongue over his bottom lip. He
didn’t rush her, but his hands left her face, easing down between
their bodies. By the way he moved, she knew he was releasing the
thick, firm erection she felt pressing between her
thighs.