No Simple Sacrifice (Secrets of Stone Book 5) (12 page)

Killian’s news shot down my hope of being back in bed with Talia by a decent time tonight. “Fuck.”

Fletcher growled too. “Why? There weren’t any action items assigned to his committee this quarter.”

“And that’s stopped him before?” I retorted.

“Should be interesting,” Kil added.

Not half as interesting as things would be for a certain stubborn little Russian, the moment we set foot in San Diego again.

I’d be counting the goddamn minutes. One glance at Fletcher said he would, as well.

Fletcher

B
oom boom boom.

Drake pounded on Talia’s door before I could remind him of the time. The benefit of traveling west across time zones put us on her condo’s doorstep, set off a sleepy little street in University Town Center, at precisely 10:30 p.m. It wasn’t late, but it wasn’t happy hour, either.

The whole flight, we’d joined Kil in restraining ourselves from marching into the cockpit and ordering Vaughn to mush the plane faster, like a team of damn Iditarod dogs. Like that would give us back the two hours Old Man McGraw had sucked from our lives with the PowerPoint about new diversification opportunities for SGC. Like Drake and I hadn’t researched half the shit in that presentation already.

Boom boom boom.

“Dude.” I clamped a hand over his shoulder, urging him back. “Neighbors.”

“Fuck them.”

He’d downed four cups of coffee on the plane and was wired for sound. But his agitation wasn’t solely from the caffeine—a truth with which I sympathized completely. Despite that, someone had to rein the bastard back.

“Okay, so you’re going to scare
her.
Bring it down a notch, D.”

He glared at me, the scant color in his eyes disappearing in the light of the stars. Somehow, though, I’d gotten through. He heaved a deep breath. Relaxed his shoulders from where he’d been wearing them as earrings for the past few hours.

“Okay, now breathe,” I muttered.

“I
am
breathing.”

“
That’s
not breathing.”

An agonized sound crawled up his throat. “I feel like I’m drowning.” He clawed at it next, raking down until grabbing at his wrinkled shirt. “I don’t like it.”

Pound pound pound.

“Drake—”

Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong.

“For fuck sake.” Intervention time. I stepped between him and the door, risking bodily injury by doing so. “Enough. She’s clearly not home—”

“With her car in the car port?”

Admittedly, it stopped me. Drake had made his living by being a details guy. If he’d noticed her car, he’d noticed it. But explanations—at least logical ones—weren’t coming to me. It was the middle of the week. And late, at least for her.

“Wait.” A sound, soft but discernible, drew my ear against the door. “I think I can hear her coming.”

As I finished, the porch light came on. The peep hole darkened then lit up again. She definitely knew we were here.

Ten long seconds.

Ten more.

If ten more went by,
I’d
gladly help D with the pounding duties. Right after I gave her a nice, diplomatic warning. Something like
open the damn door or we’re coming in, sugar.

Five seconds.

Four, three, two…

The deadbolt slid over. The click of the lock broke the silence of the night—

Just before she sucked the breath from our chests.

A sight to behold
. Yeah, it was archaic—but so absolutely right. I fought the urge to pull out my phone, yearning to capture this exact vision of her for all time: our stunning, tan, sex goddess of a woman, dripping wet, wrapped in an oversized white towel—and nothing else. Her hair was slicked back from the shower we’d clearly interrupted, her flawless face free of makeup…more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen.

“Jesus Christ.” It was the most coherent thing I could muster.

“Uhhhh…he’s not here right now?” She gave a sheepish smile, lancing my heart with its open sweetness, and in one second, erasing every speck of my days-old tension. Hell, I barely remembered my own name—and didn’t care. Suddenly, the world was right again. Okay, not completely right—but we were infinitely closer now.

I worked my jaw up and down, trying to summon more words. Drake didn’t waste that kind of time. He stormed forward, scooped Talia around the waist, and walked her backward—right into the wall of her terracotta entryway. His head swept down, his mouth covering hers in a desperate greeting. I stepped inside behind him, quickly closing then locking the door. If we had our way, no one would be leaving tonight.

And we fully intended on having our way.

Drake didn’t relent for the better part of a minute. When he finally released Talia, letting her breathe again, she stared at him with flushed cheeks and passion-plumped lips. When she turned the same look on me, my dick promptly became steel. Not like it wasn’t halfway there already, thanks to voyeuring their hungry kiss.

“Wh-what are you guys doing here?”

Drake looked at her for a long moment, as if not hearing or believing what she’d just blurted—perhaps both. His eyes were wide and glazed and he was still breathing hard, like an addict high on a fresh hit of his favorite drug.

“We came to see
you
.” He choked it out. Okay, make that snarled.

“We needed to be with you.” I balanced him out by trying to add some romance to the approach.

She ran a hand down her wet hair. Quickly licked her lips. Both moves were prompted by confusion, but my cock wasn’t getting the memo.

“I—I thought you were at the SGC board meeting. In
Chicago
.”

“We…were.” Apparently, conversation was proving a challenge for Mr. Marine. I’d have leapt at the chance to ride him about it too, except for the whole dick-versus-pants thing. Adjusting my stance made it worse. To the tenth power.

“We just got in. We flew back with Killian as soon as the meeting adjourned.” Somehow, I managed to maintain the patience-with-a-purpose angle. That alone was worth a bid for sainthood.

Talia’s eyes, even more huge and gorgeous without makeup, darted back and forth between us. “Well, you shouldn’t have.”

Drake’s brows took off for his hairline. He didn’t bother with words this time.

“Why the hell would you say that?” I demanded.

“I mean—well you didn’t
need
to—”

“And why the hell would you say
that
?” D found the vocal cords for that one, all right.

She licked her lips again.
Fuck.
So much for fighting back the vision of those sleek surfaces wrapped around my swollen dick. “Don’t you both have businesses to run? Companies that
aren’t
here?”

“They can wait.” Drake, on the other hand, was bordering on
becoming
a dick. I pulled him back, firing a warning glare, before circling back to her.

“We have people who work for us, baby. Our companies are in good hands. We wanted—needed—to be here with you.”

She took a step my direction, but Drake shifted back in, stopping her progress. “Apparently, we have some things to straighten out with you. And some things are best dealt with in person.”

As he issued the last of it, his tone abruptly changed. He ditched the angry dickhead but kept the lusty lover, moving back in on her like a lion stalking its prey. Her wide chocolate eyes, shallow breaths, and sweet, parted lips only intensified the effect. I was just as paralyzed, blood tumbling down my body, jetting between my thighs, raging up my cock. D’s bossy shit had never been a huge turn-on for me, but when he pulled it on Talia, it sang to every cell in my body, riffing through my blood like a screaming rock ‘n’ roll god. Not really because of him. It was
her
reaction to him, wide eyes betraying her conflict of anxiety and arousal…her utter awareness of him, her complete craving for him.

I moved, rushing around so she was trapped between us. From that first night in Vegas, we’d figured out she couldn’t think straight when we pinned her like this, so we did it as often as possible. It was becoming second nature for me to shadow Drake when he advanced on her with
that
intent.

“What do you mean?” she rasped, pushing at Drake’s chest. “What…what things?” But when D let her loose to turn from him, she spun right into me. I wrapped both arms around her shoulders and pulled her close, leaning over to fill my nostrils with her fresh, alluring scent. Lavender soap. Jasmine shampoo. Clean skin, like crushed rose petals beneath my fingers. She was a garden in my arms, and I couldn’t wait to pluck all the flowers.

But first…I had to have a little taste. Just one.

I dipped over, suckling water droplets off her shoulder. She trembled a little, loosening more drops off her hair. Those I licked off, before lifting my lips to her ear. “Dammit, I’ve missed you.” Our heads turned in unison, so our gazes met and held. Her eyes were hooded, glassy…perfect. “You are so beautiful, little Tolly.”

“Thank you.” It was almost a question, enchanting me more deeply. Her tiny smile ignited my arousal more—right before she broke the connection, stepping away as she sucked in a hard breath. “But…seriously, you guys, what’s going on? Why are you really here? I thought we wouldn’t see each other for at least a few weeks.”

“Are you disappointed we came?” I was shocked at how much it hurt just to say it—quelled somewhat by the urgency of her comeback.

“No!” More drops sprayed as she shook her head. “No; not at all. Seriously. I’m—I’m just surprised. And still puzzled.”

The last of it was a question as much as a statement. She straightened a little, lobbing her expectant gaze between us both.
Called on the carpet.
Our Tolly wasn’t stupid. Quite the opposite. Another reason why she was worth the crazy travel schedule—and worthy of a full explanation right now, no matter how harsh the itch in my fingers to rip that towel away, exposing every curve of her perfect nudity…and all the things I longed to do with it…

“Well?” Her insistence sliced into our silence. I glanced at Drake, if only to mutually agree he’d pick up the charge on this one.

“We had an interesting start at SGC this morning,” he finally told her.
This morning
. Had it been only fifteen hours ago, and not days? Time stretched like ultra-strength rubber when we were across the country from her. Correction: when we were across the country and she chose to go black hole silent on us.

“Interesting…how?” Her stare narrowed, broadcasting her apprehension. At least it was no longer silence. And though I felt like crap for causing it, maybe a little worry on her side was a good thing, too. At least our largest fear could be ruled out. She still cared.

“Maybe interesting isn’t right.” Drake rubbed his stubbled chin. “What would you call it, Fletch? Enlightening, maybe?”

I nodded. “That works.”

“Okay. Enlightening, then. We had a very
enlightening
conversation with one of the girls who works at corporate.”

“
That’s
why you’ve come here?” she charged. “To deliver this shit in person?”

Before I could hold him back, Drake cashed in his ticket on the puzzlement express. “Wait…huh?” he stammered. “
What
shit?”

Luckily—or maybe not—her rage was on a roll. “You flew thousands of miles just to do this? To tell me about
another
bimbo throwing herself at you?” She parked her hands against the centers of our chests and shoved—on her way back to the front door. I joined D in stumbling back and staying there for a long few seconds. She picked her moments for hitting full throttle on the temper—but when she did, it was blessing and disaster in one. Few things made both our cocks hotter. “News flash, gentlemen,” she charged. “You both could’ve saved yourselves
a lot
of time and money, because you can take the
rest
of your ‘enlightening’ story, and—”

“Stop.” The dark growl in his voice, froze her in place…then sent a visible shudder down her tiny body.

I pressed close to them again. “Hear us out, baby.” Once more, being the negotiator to Drake’s enforcer. “That wasn’t the point of the story. Not even close.”

“No?” she retorted. “Well, isn’t that
enlightening.
”

“
Tolly
.”

“Save. It. I don’t need to hear about all the women you two fight off. It doesn’t involve or interest me.”

“Oh, this involves you, love.” Drake loomed over her, forcing her to step back once more, confining her between the closed door and his body. “You know a woman named Melissa? Apparently she works in HR at SGC Chicago?” When she finally, though skeptically, nodded, he continued, “Well, apparently, she was chatting with Taylor Mathews recently.”

Her gaze flared but only for a second.

“You and Taylor are friends, right?”

Her lips pursed peevishly. “You both already know that.”

When Drake spoke again, his voice was a lethal, low whisper. “Can you imagine what Taylor and Melissa might have been talking about?”

Talia gulped. Squirmed a little, making her towel ride a little lower. Drake’s breath hitched at the same second as mine. Neither of us were immune when even a peek of those burnished breasts was involved.

“I—I have no idea. Melissa is the biggest gossip in all of SGC, and everyone knows it.”

I had to get involved before he scared the rest of her composure away. She was on the verge of hyperventilating, her chest heaving in and out. Gently, I said, “Melissa told us about a recent conversation between you and Taylor.”

“An
alleged
conversation.” She blurted it without looking at either of us.
There
was an instant tell.

“All right. An alleged conversation.”

“In which I supposedly said…what?”

“That there’s nothing going on with the three of us.”

Now
she looked.

Stared up, eyes wide and bright and blinking—very quickly. “I never s—”

Drake busted her fume with the new crush of his mouth. Followed by her protesting whimper…and her sharp, tight moan. Still, he kept invading her, deep and hard, while I enjoyed the sight with thorough pleasure. Well, not totally thorough. I battled against pulling out my cock and stroking myself, while watching him dominate her as only he could. The mash of their lips and the press of their bodies was more perfect than any finely-executed ballet. My groan meshed with hers when Drake finally set her free for air.