No Simple Sacrifice (Secrets of Stone Book 5) (4 page)

That made it all the harder to process the tense air between the woman and her mother. I hoped our presence hadn’t made things harder on Talia, but none of the other guests seemed fazed by the scowling and mumbling, so it would stand to reason that it was the nature of their relationship. This was definitely something we would chat about tonight—but not until after Drake and I made her scream our names a few times.

Maybe more than a few.

Once more with the telepathic line she seemingly had to my brain, Talia lifted her head. Circled until she found my gaze…and met it. God
damn
. Her sexy brown eyes sparkled with new desire; her lips parted on the tiniest, most perfect
O
.

Yeah. The woman could sure as fuck read me from across the room. The last time I’d beheld that look on her face, I’d just made her come hard. My face had been buried between her legs, my cock aching to replace it.

I pushed up from the wall, arching a brow at Drake. He nodded in support.

It was
so
time to collect our woman.

We waded into the thick of the party again, saying polite but hurried goodbyes. Already, my body sizzled from the electricity between us. Drake looked like he had a fever as well. No goddamn way was Tolly
not
coming home with us. The only struggle between Drake and me would be who drove, and who got to entertain her in the back seat.

I leaned toward Drake. “I’m so glad you drove, control freak.”

“Fuck off,” he gritted. “I’ve let you drive my Range Rover. Even while I was in it, which is basically taking your life into your own hands. And besides, you had her
last
time on the way home, dickhead.”

“RPS, then?”

He rolled his eyes at my suggestion. Just then, Talia joined us. “What’s RPS?”

I chuckled. “Rock, paper, scissors.”

“Oh, is
this
the way high-powered executives make decisions these days?”

“When the stakes are this high, it’s the only fair way.”

“I think I’m afraid to know what you’re trying to settle right now.”

In a coordinated response that only came from years of close friendship, Drake and I answered, “You should be.”

Talia

“Y
ou’re riding with
us.” With a powerful hand at the small of my back, Drake easily steered me out the “castle” doors and toward his rented SUV. That didn’t stop me from attempting to dig my heels in.

“Okay, come on, you guys. I really can’t just leave my car here. What if it gets stolen? I can’t afford to buy a new one at this point.” Sweeping up two fingers, I nodded at them both. “Scout’s honor; I’ll follow and meet you back at the condo.”

Fletcher swiped his phone off, stored it in his gloriously fitted jeans, then extended his hand, palm up. “Alfred’s on his way to get it. So just give me your keys.”

“Wha-? Alfred who?”
Why
did these two make me so jumbled? And why did I always kind of like it—especially when they moved just like they did now? Fletcher, stepping over with his impossibly long legs, blocked me from the front. Drake pressed in from behind. And just like that, I was trapped.

Fletcher lifted a big hand, stroking my cheek while explaining. “
Alfred.
Kil’s guy? You remember him?”

“Kil” referred to Killian Stone. Yes, the same Killian Stone Fletcher brought up during his little blast at Mama. The Killian Stone with whom they were both drinking buddies—at least at one point in time, if half their crazy stories were true. Not a lot of those antics happened anymore, now that Killian was about to be a new father. The woman making that dream come true, my friend Claire Montgomery-Stone, was apparently not keen on the drunken adventures—though evidently, butler sharing was still fine.

“Yes. Of course I remember him. But—”

“But nothing.” He dipped his head in, causing the sunlight to play along all the facets in his beautiful eyes, while tipping my chin up. “He’s on his way to get your car. He will drop it at our house and leave the keys in our mailbox in the lobby.”

I sighed, trying to force incredulousness into the sound, but failing. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

He pulled back and shrugged, toppling his sandy hair over his forehead.
Holy crap.
Was he the sexiest man on the planet? The question was entirely rhetorical. My belly swirled just thinking of the last time my fingers had been twined through that thick, soft hair. My pulse answered in kind, quickening in all the right places in my body. And all the
wrong
places too, considering we stood in a strip mall parking lot between the tackle shop and the princess palace.

Fletcher’s pupils enlarged, giving me a glimpse of the flared nostrils and aroused lips of my reflection. “I know, baby.” He leaned in once more to press a kiss to my mouth. It was slow and soft, just a tease of what I knew he was capable of…and it went on forever, but not nearly long enough.

When he pulled back, I stumbled forward. Literally. Anything,
anything
to keep the connection just a bit longer. There was something so unique between us, almost on a cellular level. His body was so dialed into mine; his mind just one thought outside my own.

At the same time, I was achingly aware of Drake’s energy, as well…every hot drop of it. He watched us, ever hawk-eyed, and caught me from behind as my balance wobbled. I sank into his embrace, letting him engulf me against him, sighing again as his lips nuzzled my ear.

“Let’s get out of here.” His voice was deep and husky, spreading goose bumps over my sparkle-sprinkled arms and denim-covered thighs.

I climbed into the back seat, figuring they would take the two seats in front. My heart skipped a beat—or five—when Fletcher got behind the wheel and Drake crawled in beside me.

“Okay, really? I can ride in a car all by myself. Next, you two will be strapping me into a damn car seat.”

His eyes grew impossibly dark.

“What?”

He slid closer on the bench seat.

“Mr. Newland.” I put out my hand. Ohhhh, wrong move. When my fingers met the brick wall of his chest, I instantly longed to explore more.

“Miss Perizkova.” He lifted my hand. Without shifting his inky gaze from my face, turned my palm so he could kiss it. His mouth was warm and tender but firm and demanding. His thick, dark spikes of hair tickled my wrist as he kissed up my palm, toward my forearm.

I gulped. Whimpered. Squirmed a little, as moisture thickened between my legs. Damn these two.

“
Drive
, Fletch.” He growled it, still not breaking our eye contact, but when I glanced up into the rearview, the glass was filled with Fletcher’s Caribbean blue stare. He let out a rough huff. The car shifted forward.

I swung my gaze back to Drake. He was still clutching my arm by the wrist, and used the hold to lift my hand back to his mouth, weaving a brand-new spell of erotic heat over me. That had to be the only explanation. He was a warlock, so dark and beautiful, and I was the enraptured subject of his enchanting arts.

He started with my index finger…a small kiss on the tip followed by a gentle nibble, growing firmer in pressure until I almost couldn’t take the pain. As my chest pumped, he lifted a wicked grin, just before replacing his teeth with the flat of his tongue. He swirled it around and around, bathing the very whorls of my fingerprint in his wet attention, eliciting my full gasp of desire. I wanted to rip off my pants and crawl into his lap for relief—and the gorgeous animal knew it, meaning he continued the process on the other four fingers. By the time he was done, we were both panting and glassy-eyed. Didn’t stop him from grunting at Fletch when the tires peeled a little on a corner.

“Dude. Slow the hell down.”

“Seriously? With what you’re making me watch from up here?” Fletch drummed his fingers on the wheel as we paused at a stoplight. “I just want to get home so we can all be together. We need to start using Alfred or Andre more. This is bullshit.”

“Do you want me to tell you how she tastes today?”

“No!” The drumming became thunder. “
Fuck.
Yes.”

I was speechless—partly from shock, mostly from lust. Their banter…it was heady; intoxicating. Through it all, Drake still held me prisoner with his stare, despite continuing to clutch my wrist like a life line.

“Her fingertips are sweet,” he declared in a voice like crushed velvet. “Frosting, maybe?” He nuzzled lips to my wrist again. “And she smells like she always does, like fresh wildflowers. And perfection.” With a quick tug, he pulled me closer to him. Our gazes almost drowned in each other’s. Our noses nearly met. When he spoke again, he growled the words from low in his throat. “I’m going to eat you up when we get home, little girl.”

“Oh—oh okay.”
God.
I was always so smooth. But my head spun with excitement. My blood pounded with lust.

Drake’s nostrils widened as he continued taking me in. He leaned closer, finally covering my mouth with his. Hot and demanding, tongue plunging forward, always in control…

Heaven.

He wrapped his fingers to my nape, twisting the hair there, and tugged. Jolts of heat met at my core, so familiar yet so new. Why was his demanding touch so alluring? I had never experienced anything like it, and only he could bring it on like this. Ever since our night of incredible passion during that business trip to Vegas, I’d recalled it so many times…and during each, had craved it like my next breath.

“Drake…” I whispered.

“Yeah, baby?”

“Don’t tell him to slow down again.”

A grin, starting at one corner of his mouth, spread across until a small chuckle erupted from his chest. “Agreed.”

We kissed and teased each other for the next five minutes, interrupted only by pained sounds from the front seat. “Fucking scissor,” Fletcher mumbled. “Really? Scissor never wins, shit-for-brains.”

Drake laughed as he held me close, finger-combing my hair. “It does if you’re stupid enough to be paper.”

“Paper beats rock! It’s not stupid to choose paper.”

I gave in to the urge to smack Drake’s chest. “My God, the two of you. Have you both had too much sugar, too?”

Fletcher reached up to a remote control on the visor. With a low hum, the condo complex’s gate rolled open.

Finally
.

As he pulled into the assigned spot, I did a quick check in the mirror to make sure I was decent. Okay,
there
was a relative term. My lips were already bruised, the color high in my cheeks. As for the needy sheen in my eyes…there was only one way to satisfy it, and getting inside was the first part of that solution.
Wow
. Who was that creature in the mirror? I didn’t recognize myself when I was between these two. Or was it all reversed? Was
this
the real me, unlocked at last?

Even considering that answer wasn’t a spot I dared to scrub.

Drake slid out then extended his hand to help me. I put my palm in his, unable to avoid the awareness of how right it felt. So much for dodging the whole “real me” thing. He smiled, surely feeling how my heartbeat sped again from the force of our touch. But this time, there was nothing roguish about the look. His fingers wrapped so perfectly around mine, always protecting, always caring.

I looked up into his eyes, returning his smile with a semi-shy one of my own. While I was giddy and excited, I was also unsteady and unsure. Was there a saint to beseech for that? If so, I couldn’t remember their name. I barely recalled my own. I was so out of my league, feelings swirling through my head and body, nearly overwhelming. I couldn’t tell if this was just lust, compounded by always being sandwiched between two gorgeous men who dripped with sexuality—or did my heart really know what it was talking about?

Another spot best not attended…but inevitable to examine, over and over again. Because if my heart was even a little correct, the tale here was so much different. Much deeper. Much more dangerous.

Inside the condo, Fletcher pulled me from Drake’s side and pinned me against the wall. I cried out, but the sound was pure passion. My cleft responded at once to his erection, an incessant press through our clothes. His eyes were dark,
dark
blue, stormy and heavy-lidded.

“Talia.” He whispered it before covering my mouth with his own. His lips crushed then his tongue dove in, coaxing mine to come play. I gave in, a full and willing participant, no longer needing convincing. Why had I even resisted to begin with?
This
was all I’d been able to think about since Vegas.
This
was what I wanted. There was nowhere—
nowhere
—I’d rather be than between these two men. Inside the safety of one of our homes, no one could judge us, misunderstand us. I just wished it would last longer. Like forever.

Ignore the spot.

I refocused on the man pressing me against the wall. My head needed to stay front and present. I would have plenty of time to overanalyze things when they’d left for Chicago again. As involved as they were with their many projects at SGC, the bulk of both their businesses—and their lives—was still in Chicago.

Drake had left the room but now was back, shirt thrown off somewhere, fabulously bare from the waist up.
Dear Lord. That man’s abs
…

“Bedroom.” He simply barked the word, and Fletcher and I complied. The stark honesty of it spoke to every cell of my blood, pumping my pulse with new awareness and arousal. We all knew what we were here for; no sense sugar-coating it—until Fletcher scooped my legs from under me, cradling me in his arms, sweeping his lips across my forehead. Okay…a little sugar-coating wouldn’t hurt, especially from him. Though not as bulky as Drake, he was long and strong, his lean muscles making his task effortless…and coaxing a small sigh from my lips.

As soon as the sound spilled out, he halted. I looked up at his face. His tawny brows were pulled in tightly. His voice was low but just as gruff. “Everything okay?”

“Of course, but…” I toyed with the hair on his chest through an open button on his shirt. “Why are you carrying me?”

“Because I can.”

“Hmmm.”