Infatuation - A Club Destiny Novel (6 page)

As it turned out, walking
away from him was the hardest thing she’d done all day.

*** ~~ *** ~~ *** ~~ ***

“
I’m not saying it’s a bad
idea, but you know I’m going to have to talk to Luke,” Logan told
Tag after he’d spent the last half hour explaining McKenna’s
request.

“
That’s where I’m headed
next,” Tag replied coolly, leaning back in his chair.

After leaving McKenna a short while ago at
her office, Tag called Logan asking if he could stop by to talk.
Because he knew what Logan was likely expecting, he was sure to be
very detailed in his reason for needing to come by. Despite Logan’s
disappointed tone, he had agreed.

Ever since his arrival he
and Logan had been sitting on the back porch hashing out McKenna’s
request. As always, Logan was playing the devil’s advocate, but he
did seem sincerely interested in the idea. In Tag’s opinion,
McKenna’s suggestion was actually a win-win for them, but no matter
what he said, it would never be up to him. And yes, Tag fully
intended to talk to Luke himself, but he wanted to run it by Logan
first. Just to get a feel for what he thought.

“
It’s a good plan,” Tag
restated, taking a long pull on his beer and admiring the view of
the pool from where they sat.

The view brought back pleasant memories of
times he’d spent at their house in previous months; specifically
images of Samantha.

Tag was grateful that Sam had been engrossed
in work ever since he arrived, which meant she was paying him
absolutely no mind. Considering he wasn’t interested in answering
the questions he knew were plaguing both Logan and Sam, it couldn’t
have worked out better. From where he sat, he could see Sam just
inside the house, feverishly typing on her laptop, never once
looking up.

He felt a little awkward not explaining
himself, but since neither of them had asked, he hadn’t offered.
Tag could sense the question lingering between him and Logan, but
it was never mentioned and since they hadn’t gotten together in the
last month for any of their late night trysts, he figured it was
clear that it likely wouldn’t be happening anymore.

When he thought back to
his dinner with McKenna and the interest he found himself having in
her, Tag didn’t doubt that his relationship with Logan and Samantha
had come to an abrupt end. Since all three of them had insisted
they maintain exclusivity for the duration of their time together,
Tag knew he couldn’t promise that any longer. He didn’t quite know
what the hell he was doing with McKenna, but he felt it was best to
avoid any lascivious activities with the two of them for the
foreseeable future.

“
I don’t disagree with you
there,” Logan said after a moment of silence. “I’m not sure how
Luke will feel about it though.”

Tag wasn’t too worried
about Luke. The man was having a hard time enough dealing with the
overbearing members who were suddenly worried their identities
would be leaked. That’s all they seemed to be worried about. As far
as Tag was concerned, they were a bunch of self-righteous assholes
that didn’t care about anything other than themselves, especially
not what might potentially happen to Luke and Logan should Susan
Toulmin continue on her tirade. Even with his sudden distaste for
their reactions, in a way, he did understand their concern, which
was partly why he liked McKenna’s idea.

He figured some insight
into the club would likely deflect some of the interest. With so
many people wanting to know more, it was only a matter of time
before information got out that they didn’t want to. As far as the
member list, Luke wasn’t worried, and neither was Tag. That list
was highly confidential, and there were only three people who even
knew the contents of the entire list - Luke, Logan and
Tag.

Had Tag not insisted, in
order to represent them successfully, he’d likely be in the dark,
as well. Not that he cared who was on the list, but at least he had
some idea of what the impact would be should Susan actually find
someone to listen to her. And that was only a matter of time, Tag
knew.

“
Are you interested in
her?” Logan’s abrupt, serious tone had Tag turning back to face his
friend.

He didn’t quite know how
to answer the question, or possibly, he just didn’t know how to
explain what it was he felt for McKenna at this point. He was
interested in her, yes. That was undeniable. But how far that
interest would take him was yet to be seen. “There’s something
there,” he admitted calmly, leaning forward in his chair and
resting his forearms on the table.

So much for getting out of there without an
inquisition.

When Tag thought Logan would ask another
question, he surprised him by pausing to stare out at the pool. The
door behind them clicked as it opened and Tag knew that Sam was
coming to join them.

“
Is something wrong?” she
asked sweetly, walking over to Logan as he leaned back in his
chair, allowing her to sit on his lap.

“
Nothing’s wrong, baby,”
Logan smiled, and Tag saw the same mix of admiration and longing on
Logan’s face that was always there when he looked at his
wife.

“
Are you sure?” she asked
again, her eyes darting back and forth between the two of them.
There was a few seconds of silence as Sam got
comfortable.

“
I don’t know her,” Sam
began when it was clear no one else was going to speak, turning her
attention to Tag, “but I think she’s exactly what you
need.”

The statement was so far out of left field,
Tag felt blindsided by it. He didn’t know what to say, or whether
he was supposed to say anything at all. “Look, Sam, I’m sorry.”

“
Sorry?” To his surprise,
Sam smiled knowingly. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about,
Tag.”

“
I know you two are
looking for someone...” He wasn’t sure what he was trying to say at
this point, so he stared down at his beer bottle, tearing at the
label.

“
Tag.” Sam’s stern tone
forced him to meet her gaze. “Please don’t ever worry about me and
Logan. We have each other, and that’s honestly all we will ever
need.”

Tag watched as Logan
wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tight and resting
his forehead against her arm. It was a sweet gesture, and it
effectively made Tag feel like the outsider he had been all
along.

“
I care about you,” Sam
clarified. “How can I not? What we’ve had these last few months has
been amazing. I’ll always care about you, which is why I understand
that this isn’t permanent. We would never expect that from you just
as you didn’t expect it from us.”

No, Tag hadn’t expected a
permanent relationship with Logan and Sam, which was why he had
opted to be with them in the first place. His relationships were
always temporary, and he enjoyed them that way. He wasn’t sure what
he wanted from McKenna, but for some reason, maybe he was just
plain crazy, he felt there was something else between them.
Whatever it was, he knew he had to at least pursue it to find
out.

“
Trust me, Tag,” Sam said
as she wrapped her arm loosely around Logan’s head, holding him
closer to her. “Logan has taught me so many things about myself, I
still feel like I’m evolving. You never have to worry about me or
him, for that matter. When it comes down to it, we know what the
other one needs and I can assure you, we’ll figure out how to
satisfy all of the cravings one day.” Her smile was sweet and
gentle, so much like the woman herself.

Tag would never forget the
time they had together, but he also knew that as far as long term,
it wouldn’t have worked for much longer anyway. The sex was
phenomenal, and there wasn’t a single time that he hadn’t found
exactly what he was looking for from the two of them, but he knew
something was missing.

Truthfully, he didn’t want
to feel as though anything was missing, but he felt it nonetheless.
When he looked at McKenna, he felt something more than the intense
physical attraction, and it may just be a figment of his
imagination or some misplaced desire to have what the others around
him had obviously found. No matter what it was or what it wasn’t,
Tag had to take this chance. For his own sanity, if nothing
else.

“
She’s a lucky woman,” Sam
grinned. “And I think she might just be what you need.”

Tag wasn’t sure about all that, but he
smiled anyway.

“
Thanks, Sam. Well, I need
to get going.” Tag had to get over to the club and talk to Luke as
soon as possible. He needed to have an answer for McKenna by
morning, or risk some more shit being broadcast
worldwide.

“
I’ll call Luke and let
him know what I think that way when you talk to him, it won’t be a
surprise.” Logan said, looking up from where he sat still holding
Sam.

With a nod and a smile, Tag walked away.

~*~*~

McKenna had only been home
for a few minutes before she found herself pacing the floor. After
checking her emails, hoping mostly for her editors to return both
of her potential articles for tomorrow, she’d been disappointed not
to find anything from either of them in her inbox.

This left her with
precisely nothing to do except get on her own nerves.

In order to avoid that,
she found herself back in her car, heading downtown. Figuring that
the lesser of two evils would be to get out of the house, it had
been an easy decision to head over to Club Destiny for a drink.
Except now, as she drove through the darkened streets, McKenna was
beginning to wonder whether her masochistic side was making another
appearance.

Ever since she exited Tag’s car back at her
office, she couldn’t help but think about that mind blowing kiss.
It wasn’t anything more than a meeting of lips, but it was somehow
more explosive than some of the down and dirty, tongue action
kisses from her past.

Most of them actually.

The only thing about it
that bothered her was the easy way Tag seemed to drive away
afterward. How could he not have been affected by that? She had
been nearly knocked right out of her gorgeous designer
shoes.

So, in order to avoid
pacing back and forth, or worse... cleaning her entire house from
top to bottom, McKenna was pulling into the parking garage of one
place she was pretty much guaranteed to run into Tag.

Hell, she was a lost cause
– there was no denying it.

After pulling into one of
the few spaces left in a garage that was already full on a Thursday
night, McKenna shut off the engine and gripped the steering
wheel.

She got the strange
feeling that all of the times she had encountered Tag in the past
were only leading up to something more. After each meeting, she
found herself more and more affected by him, but she couldn’t
exactly pinpoint what that meant. The only thing she knew for sure,
their relationship was slowly morphing into something entirely
unexpected. Whatever it was that they continued to dance around
couldn’t be ignored forever.

Nor did she want it to.

No matter how much she
tried to convince her overactive imagination that this was strictly
business and nothing more, she knew that wasn’t the case. Yes, she
wanted a tour of the club, and she wasn’t about to pretend
otherwise. She wanted to walk the halls, talk to the owners, and
get a good understanding of what went on there. Her readers
expected her to have the lowdown on anything and everything erotic.
Club Destiny fit that description.

Except she found herself
thinking more about Tag than she did about anything else. She still
wanted to do all of those things, but it would seem she had a more
selfish motive now. One that involved bringing her closer to a man
who exuded so much... masculinity. He was distinguished and
reserved, yet approachable and so intensely male; and above all
else, he pulled it all together and still exuded that laidback
southern charm that she found so damn hot.

There was also something
else she managed to pick up from her conversations with him. He
wasn’t interested in relationships. He hadn’t admitted as much, but
she could sense how much of himself that he kept in reserve,
reluctant to share with others. And maybe it was just because she
was a journalist that he wasn’t interested in talking about
himself, but she didn’t think so.

McKenna would never downplay her abilities,
and one of them included pretending with the best of them. Since
she knew whatever was happening between her and Tag would be
temporary at best, she would just have to convince him that she
wasn’t interested in anything other than an exclusive on the club.
While she was at it, she was going to try to convince herself of
the same thing. Any interaction with Tag Murphy was safer that
way.

She didn’t figure their
dinner date would lead to anything more because McKenna was still
convinced she was way too outspoken and forward for a man like him.
But stranger things had happened, and she knew never to expect
anything less than the unexpected.

Slowly exiting her car,
she tried to force the thoughts away because no matter what little
hope she had left, she knew Tag was clearly out of her reach in any
way that might matter outside of their business
relationship.

“
Damn it,” McKenna
muttered as her heels echoed on the concrete floor as she made her
way to the back entrance to the club.