by Various
“No,” she whispered. ”I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true. If we hadn’t arranged to meet, I might not be alive right now.”
“Hush.” She was getting upset about the fact he’d been so easily targeted. “There’s no need to thank me for anything, really.”
His eyes seemed to darken, and she felt the tension stirring in him—tension that was echoed inside her. The door creaked open. Lily had to drag her attention away. A moment longer and they would have been making love.
“Breakfast is served, such as it is.” Seth walked in carrying three steaming mugs in one hand, and a plate piled high with buttered toast in the other. He made the announcement apologetically, and put the breakfast things down on the bedside table nearest Lily. When he glanced at them, he ruffled his hair with one hand, awkwardly.
He knows he interrupted, bless him. She shuffled up in the bed, plumping her pillow behind her with one hand, the other concealing her breasts with the duvet. “Yum, much appreciated. I’m starving.”
That’s when she noticed that the only thing Seth wore was snug-fitting black jockey shorts. His chest and abs magnetized her attention. They were ripped, tight and firm. Something that felt almost desperate plumed inside her. Lust, she told herself, feeling confused. This threesome thing was good, but so damn weird. A moment before she’d been wrapped in Adrian. Now that Seth was here, she wanted him as well.
He hovered by, as if unsure. “I’ve ramped the heating up, it’s icy out there this morning.”
“Come back to bed then,” Lily suggested, resisting the urge to reach out for him, picking up a mug of tea instead.
Seth grinned and sat down on the bed, back in the spot he’d vacated earlier. “My God, the woman’s insatiable.”
“Hey, I meant for you to keep warm.” The fact he’d mentioned her sexual appetite seemed to stir it up even more. It also embarrassed her a tad, and she sipped her tea. It was good, and she filched the top piece of toast from the stack, purring audibly as she tucked into it. Adrian followed suit and for a little while they all ate and drank.
“This tea is good, you make a great cuppa.”
“I’m glad I meet your approval on something.”
“Judging from all that moaning last night,” Adrian interjected, “you meet her approval on a lot of things.”
Lily couldn’t help laughing.
“Glad to be of service, but what I actually meant was in the kitchen department,” Seth said, echoing her earlier clarification.
“Oh, right.”
He ate his toast silently for a moment, but she could tell he had something on his mind. His eyes grew shuttered and he had that deadly-serious policeman face on. “Tell me more about the bloke you saw outside Adrian’s office,” he said, eventually.
“More? There isn’t much more.” She shrugged one shoulder and pulled the duvet higher over her chest before wrapping both hands around the mug of tea. “He was in the elevator with me as I came up. He made me feel uneasy, something about him.” She glanced at Adrian. “I got a bit freaked; like, worried that he might be you.”
Seth stared at them both. “You really had no clue what each other looked like?”
“Nope,” Adrian replied, “That was Lily’s call.”
She nodded. “I’d rather have no clue than be sent a fake photo.”
Seth looked at them dubiously. “Makes sense, I suppose.”
“I liked Adrian from his words. It was what he said to me that made me want to meet him.” She stroked Adrian’s head playfully. “Not just the sexy stuff,” she added, when he winked. “You said normal stuff as well, and you made me feel comfortable. That’s important to a woman. ”
“I’m glad.” His voice was barely above a whisper.
“What happened in the elevator?” Seth quizzed, drawing her back to the topic he was focused on, and then drank his tea as he listened.
He really did want to know. Was it important? Had to be. His job was to protect the witness, but she guessed he was reporting back to his colleagues on the blond guy, the ’shooter’ as he had previously called him.
“He knew where he was going, or seemed to.”
“Probably checked the place out before hand,” Seth commented. “He knew the fire escape went around to Adrian’s office.”
“When he got out of the elevator, he pushed me out of the way. I followed behind, trying to locate the suite. He kept looking back at me, so I lingered outside a door about half way down the corridor. That’s when he shot out of the window.”
Seth’s expression grew overcast.
“I figured he was a maintenance man,” she added.
Seth rubbed a hand through his hair, putting his mug down. “You would, of course you would.” He gave her a brief smile, but he was deep in thought.
She felt Adrian growing tense again, and wished Seth hadn’t gone into it while he was there. “I’m guessing this is pretty heavy stuff, because of the evidence you’re giving?”
Adrian nodded.
“What happens next? I mean, how long is it until the trial?”
“Ten days and hopefully Carlisle will be locked up for good. It can’t be over soon enough.” Adrian looked across at Seth. “Oh, bloody hell…I shouldn’t have even said that, should I. Sorry.”
“I didn’t hear it,” she offered, sensing this was difficult for them all.
Seth squeezed her hand. “Good girl.”
Adrian had lost his relaxed demeanor, and he stared across at Seth. “Did any of your other witnesses ever regret giving evidence?”
“Just about every one, at one point or another.”
“Well, I guess that’s reassuring, kind of.” He had a faraway look in his eye and he turned away and drank his tea. Lily noticed how browbeaten he looked. No wonder he had overlooked their date. This was heavy stuff.
“It always seems like a long wait,” Seth said, “but it’ll be behind you soon and you will have no regrets then, believe me.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Trust me.”
The moment was heavy, but it obviously needed to be said. Lily considered that first meeting, how angry Seth had been when he’d almost lost his witness, how much care he’d taken about getting the pair of them out of the building and out of London. After a moment, she flipped open the duvet cover, and invited Seth back into the bed.
Putting his mug down on the floor, he climbed in and spooned her hips with his, his hand moving around her to cup her breast. He nuzzled at the back of her neck before he continued speaking. “The less you know the better. I know that’s hard, but it’s safest for everyone involved.”
“I understand.” Lily exhaled, her back tingling as he took up residence against it. He seemed to like planting kisses on the back of her neck, and he breathed against the skin in the most provocative way. That area had never had so much attention, but she wasn’t complaining. Apparently it was a sensitive place and it made her respond to him in the most delicious way, sending darts of stimulation all over her, from her nipples to her toes.
Adrian took the cup from her hand and she wriggled further down in the bed. Seth grazed her earlobe softly with his teeth, his breath warm on her skin. Her body simmered against his, her eyelids fluttering shut, the arousal simmering in the pit of her belly flaring demandingly.
“So…we just have to amuse ourselves for the foreseeable future?” she asked, with laughter in her voice when she felt his fingers moving over her nipples. “Is that what you are trying to tell us?”
Adrian’s concerned look had evaporated.
“You’re a cheeky sort,” Seth commented.
Lily rolled onto her back between them. She was turned on, but she also wanted to know what made him tick. “I’m also sharper than you give me credit for.” She gave him a knowing look. “You are using sex to distract us.”
“No.” He looked down at her with curiosity. “Well…maybe a bit, but the fact you are here made this pretty unavoidable.” He shot h
er an accusing look. “You are trouble, and I knew that the moment I saw you.”
“Oh that’s right, blame me.” Peering up at him, she took a moment to consider the implications of what he’d said, and they were varied. “You don’t seduce every couple you have in witness protection?”
His face was a picture. He stared across at Adrian dubiously. “I didn’t seduce Adrian.”
“Ah, so you admit you seduced me.”
He frowned at her, and then rubbed his hand around the back of his neck before answering. It was fascinating for Lily, because he was experiencing the same sort of dilemmas she was, the morning after the day before. Last night it had been so simple. Now she was confused. Seth, too, was clearly uneasy with the idea that she thought he’d seduced another man, not to mention the fact he’d moved in on Adrian’s date.
She tapped his chest with one finger. “Just trying to get a rise out of you.”
His mouth tightened in a wry smile, and then he nodded at Adrian. “You’re with Adrian. I don’t do relationships.”
They both stared at him. Lily hadn’t realized he was thinking along those lines as well.
“Seriously,” Adrian commented, with mock surprise. “You’ve never shagged a woman before?”
“Now you’re just pushing your luck that bit too far.” Seth shook his head. “I’m just an add-on feature here, is what I mean.”
“An add-on?” This was a bit of a dilemma for him, Lily realized, even as she teased him about it. He shouldn’t be in bed with either of them, she supposed. “Like a sex toy, huh? Comes with a screw-in attachment that will have you moaning with pleasure.”
Seth lifted one eyebrow at her, but the comment had diffused his tension. “So, have you ever done this kind of thing before?” he asked, his thigh resting heavily against hers again.
He was good at changing the subject, Lily noted. “What, get stranded in Wales in police custody?” She stuck her tongue out at him, but she loved how this felt, the simmering arousal, the playful banter. It echoed the hot, easy-going intimacy she had felt with Adrian online. Something tickled the back of her consciousness all the same. The joke she had made in passing about Seth doing this to distract them. Was he? All of it, even the easy going attitude? Had he picked that up from Adrian? Was he the sort of man you could ever get close to, really? She pushed the thought away, because she didn’t like the way it felt.
Seth nudged the duvet down, making it obvious he was taking a better look at her. “You know what I mean, taking on two men at the same time.”
“No. I’ve never done this before. In fact,” she said, thinking aloud, “I never even thought about anything like this, and I’ve had some pretty wild fantasies.” Her face heated, because the way they were both staring at her made her wish she hadn’t said that. “Shut up,” she declared.
Seth shrugged. “We didn’t say a word.”
He might not have said a word, but his cock was getting harder.
“You were thinking something though, weren’t you?”
“Nothing at all.” He nudged his erection against her hip. “Right now, my brain is completely empty. I have no clue why.”
Adrian laughed.
Moaning softly, she wriggled between them. Turning to face Adrian, she found his cock solid against her belly. Automatically, her hand closed around it.
Seth grumbled at her back, his cock upright and hard in the groove where her thighs met. Resting a kiss against her shoulder, he breathed her in then growled, before biting her playfully. There he was on that sensitive spot again. It was like he knew exactly what it did to her. “I do hope this isn’t a cold shoulder.”
“Luckily for you, it isn’t.” She opened her legs and trapped his rock-hard cock between her thighs, squeezing it hard. He groaned, and she purred, her hands closing over Adrian’s upright cock. Adrian kissed her, his hands cupping her face, his cock pushing gratefully into her hands. Seth kissed and bit into her shoulder from behind while his cock slid in and out between her thighs, the slick head moving against her sensitive inner thighs, making her clit throb.
Seth’s hand reached around to rest on her pussy. Against her back she felt how hard his muscles were, the wall of his chest and the tight ridges of his abdomen. Rolling her hips, she moaned into Adrian’s mouth as he kissed her. Seth’s fingers rubbed her clit in a self-assured, almost lazy rhythm. “So wet, you naughty lady.”
“I wonder why,” she responded, breathily, his touch making her clit thrum. Wrapped in them both, the double-dose of machismo that surrounded her made her feel lush, rich to overflowing with female power. She was so wet her thighs were slick, and his fingers slid readily between her folds, sending waves of pure ecstasy deep inside her. Bound up in the unfolding sexual rapport, her body undulated between them.
Glancing down, she marveled at Adrian’s upright cock in her hands, the way it bowed, the swollen crown, the slick opening. Running her thumb against its sensitive underside, she gasped as he tweaked her nipple in return. Her thighs tightened on Seth’s cock.
“Oh yes, like that, squeeze tight,” Seth encouraged, thrusting faster, his fingers homing in on her clit, rolling back and forth over it.
She was totally given over to the decadent experience of hands and cocks and fingers and sticky wet pleasure, her climax on the horizon. Adrian’s eyes closed, then opened, and his gaze seared her, so intense that she felt his need as though it were inside her.
I want him; I want to feel him inside me while he looks at me like that.
It was too late to change their position. The symbioses of their three bodies in motion was so intoxicating that she lost herself in the moment, her orgasm blossoming, the grind of hips and hands in mutual masturbation fated to fulfill.
Adrian arched his head back, the muscles in his neck cording, his face contorting as his cock jerked in her hands. She buckled when she felt his hot semen on her skin, her body tightening, her spine rigid, before she melted into relinquishment. As she did, Seth thrust hard and fast, and she heard his grunt of release close behind her, his mouth resting against her ear as he soaked her thighs and pulled free.
Panting, she moved her hands to her belly then up to her breasts, massaging them there, the slick essence of Adrian’s semen like a signature on her, a brand she wanted to wear, proudly. Her thighs were stained with Seth, her breasts and hands with Adrian.
“Bloody hell.” Adrian stared at her.
“I don’t want to forget,” she whispered, trying to explain her strange, instinctive ritual.
“I don’t think any of us will forget this.” Seth’s lips brushed over her neck and her skin was so sensitive she moaned aloud.
“No. Let’s just enjoy it, life’s short.” It was Adrian.
Looking into his eyes, she saw all the things that he had tried to hide from her. The deep concerns; the need to know that he was doing the right thing. She saw and felt it all, and she knew what else he was thinking—that she wouldn’t have slept with him if it hadn’t been for Seth. That was wrong, so wrong. Reaching out, she found his hand and meshed her fingers with his
Deep inside her she wanted to hold the moment forever, to hold both of them and chase away the world. Instead, a face flashed in her mind—the face of the man who had been in the elevator with her in London. Doubts crowded in, like unwelcome shadows, shadows that Lily resented. Mustering all her inner strength, she pushed them away. Pure pleasure was at their fingertips, and who knew what lay beyond—tomorrow, or the day after that. Her friend Andrea was always telling her to live for the moment. For the first time ever, Lily totally understood the sentiment. “We’re here together, let’s enjoy every minute. It would be wrong not to grab the chance for happiness when it happens like this.”
“You’re not wrong there,” Seth said, and Adrian nodded, gratefully, putting the seal on it for her.
Chapter Ten
Emery Lavonne stood in the entrance of the East End grill bar that Keane had designated as a meeting venue and grimaced. The
place was noisy and reeked of fast food and high cholesterol. A waitress was on her way over, but he spied Jason Keane sitting in a booth nearby and headed over. He recognized him from his photos on police records, always a sign of criminal pedigree. Keane was tucking into a burger, and he didn’t stop eating when Lavonne joined him.
Sliding into the seat opposite, Lavonne noticed a lone man sitting on the other side of the restaurant, watching. A bodyguard? Jason Keane would have at least two minders, much like Carlisle. Between them they were responsible for a large percentage of London’s drug trafficking, and they always traveled in packs.
“Coffee, black,” Lavonne said, when the waitress appeared. “That’s all.”
Keane wiped his mouth with his paper napkin and eyed Lavonne across the table, then he took an envelope out of his pocket and put it on the table between them. “How long will this take? Mr. Carlisle is understandably eager to have his errant accountant taken care of as quickly as possible.”
“There’s been a change of location.” He shrugged. “High profile witness, it happens.”
“And?” Keane narrowed his eyes.
“And the sooner I’m done here,” he said, pointedly, “the sooner I can find out where that is.”
Keane picked at his teeth for a moment, annoyance flickering in his eyes. “So why did you offer to do this, don’t the police pay you enough?”
“Think what you like.” He’d got a taste for the killing. That wasn’t something you admitted to, especially when you were a policeman. Eighteen months before he’d killed for the first time, whilst protecting a witness. The buzz was unlike anything else he’d ever experienced, and he’d craved more of it. He’d fought it, for a while. Then he didn’t fight anymore. Now he had to deal with Seth Jones and the job promised to be doubly rewarding. He’d never liked Jones. He’d have his man soon enough.
The waitress arrived with his coffee. He took a mouthful and then pushed the cup away. “Was there something else?”
Keane looked across the table with undisguised animosity. “I don’t have any faith in you. I want you to know that I’m only going along with this because Eric does, and I have to respect that. I have, however, told him I have my doubts. If you mess up, you’ll make my day.”
