“What are you implying?”
“You heard me. I bet you are used to being fawned over and flirted with everywhere you go.”
I couldn’t help it, I choked on a short burst of laughter. She wasn’t far off. Everywhere we went, females took one look at Mal, his piercing blue eyes, black hair and square jaw and somehow, they justknew.They watched him with hungry eyes; created excuses to speak to him. They cried in frustration when he did not return the attention.
He was oblivious to them all. He hadn’t always been, but he’d gone dark recently. Spent more and more time alone. He seemed to have no interest in females at all.
He was a Master Dominant at Club Trinity in Central City. It was one of the reasons—no, the only reason—the queen had chosen us for this mission. Sure, she said she didn’t trust others to handle the task, but I was not a young fool born yesterday. I knew flattery when I heard it. There were dozens of guards here who would die to protect the royal family without hesitation. But Mal’s status at the club where the suspected traitors operated would get us inside.
Would getherinside.
“And you are not fawned over and flirted with on Earth? Pursued?”
“No. Me? Are you kidding? I’m way past my college days, I eat too many sweets—and it shows on my hips—and as soon as a man finds out what I do for a living, he runs hard and fast in the opposite direction.” There was bitterness in her voice, and regret. She’d been hurt before over thisjobshe performed, by stupid males. Perhaps both.
“What do you do for a living?” Kayson was probably trying to break the tension between Mal and Smith, but it didn’t work. “Why would any male run away from you? You are very small, not a threat.”
She grinned, at least, and her tone softened a bit. “I disappear for months at a time. I go deep undercover. I don’t have a life. I have one plant that has managed to survive because it’s a cactus. I don’t even have a goldfish. I’m married to my work. That’s why.” She took a step away from Mal and tilted her head to the side. “Why are we doing this? We have to pretend to like each other, remember?”
“I remember,” Mal said. Oh fuck yes, all three of usrememberedjust fine.
“I’m sorry. This has been one hell of a week. I shouldn’t take it out on you guys. Not your fault.” The sass in her eyes faded to sadness and I wanted to shoot Mal with my ion blaster for the change. “I’m just tired. And naked. And that transport thing hurts like a son-of-a-bitch. Egara didn’t give me a heads up on that one. Would have been nice.”
I stared. She wasn’t making sense, but seeing this side of her—hurting and tired and speaking truth to us? I had to sit down next to Kayson to stop myself from touching her. Holding her.
She sighed. "Don't get me wrong, I haven’t changed my mind. And the promotion will be nice." She put an odd, geometric shape back on a ledge, the object meant to be soothing to the eye.
"But?" Kayson asked.
She broke eye contact with Mal to turn toward Kayson. "I don't like bad guys who hurt little kids. I’ve seen enough of that back home. If I could, I’d burn every one of those bastards alive."
The breath left my body as if I'd been kicked in the chest. By the gods, she would be a fierce and protective mother.
She tore her gaze from Kayson and looked at me. "So, tell me about this club we are going to. Tell me everything, so I know what I have to do.”
Mal moved slowly and tipped her chin up with a gentle touch. “Surrender. Trust me with your body. Tell me your secrets. Let me see inside your soul so I can give you what you need.”
“Oh, is that all?” Her whispered response held a hint of laughter.
My cock grew into a painful bulge in my pants as I imagined Mal pulling the blanket from her body. I would hold her in my arms and take her from behind.
Fuck her. Touch her. Kayson and Mal would do the same. Be one. Be together. Make us a real family.
But that wasn’t why she was here.
Mal did what only he could do. He asked her intimate questions about things she would not have shared under any other circumstances. I listened, trying and failing not to show too much interest.
Several times she paused and I saw the lie in her eyes. The hesitation. She was keeping secrets.
Much later I watched her disappear down the hallway. My cock throbbed painfully with need. The musk of her wet pussy filled my senses, pulling me to her. I'd smelled her heat. The conversation with Mal had not left her unaffected. Her pussy had been wet for the last hour. She’d stumbled over her words as the sweet scent taunted me. Called to all three of us.
I wouldn't sleep this night. I wouldn't even try. Not when she would be so close to us in our quarters. Not when I could catch a scent of her and want to kiss the skin at the curve of her neck. Her breasts. Taste her wet heat. Hear her cries of pleasure.
Not when she was so close, and yet so far away from all of us.
5
Geros, Central City, Club Trinity, Two Days Later
