I shook my head. "He was merely concerned after the anthrax scare."
Aldon laughed. "Then why didn't he pet me in the limo, too, love?"
Glaring at Aldon, I gave another hard shake. "Hunter doesn't pl…" A blush heated my cheeks, prickling the skin until I had to rub at it to make the sensation go away. "He doesn't play with you."
"Not anymore. He's been a monk since week six of your arrival, except maybe his hand." Drawing my long black hair into a thick tail, Daniel looped it around his hand until he was gripping at the base of my skull, my neck arched from the tension. His other hand closed around my wrist, leaving me helpless to avoid the brush of his lips against my jaw and down my throat. "But he always played with us before that."
"Then why isn't he here?" My question slid into a moan as Aldon started to tease my breasts once more. There was no way I could fight them when they were both touching me like this. I wanted it too much.
"Why?" I insisted. Why me? Why wasn't Hunter in the room trying every bit as hard to convince me if they knew what the hell they were talking about?
Why, why, why…
"He's resistant for reasons we can't go into. You have to make the first move." Aldon's hand dipped into the front of my bodice. His fingers found the front clasp of the bra and flicked it open. "You need to seduce him--"
"Way to lose an argument!" I snorted, my body going numb. "He's played with you in the past, he supposedly loves me, yet I have to seduce him first? Yeah, that sounds right -- not!"
I pressed my palms against the bottom cushion and pushed up. Daniel dragged me down and tossed one muscular leg over mine.
Aldon pushed the leg away. "Give her time to see what we see when Hunter looks at her."
I started to object but Daniel beat me to it. "You mean like she noticed our interest? Or that weasel Todd in legal--"
Todd Theodore Applegate, Jr., had left four months ago for a law firm at twice his Whitsun salary, profusely thanking Aldon for the glowing recommendations and initial hook-up with the hiring committee. I twisted until I could see Daniel straight on. "What does Todd have to do with any of this?"
Daniel's lips peeled back. "Nothing beyond your stubborn refusal to recognize when a man is hot for you, baby girl."
He wrapped both arms around my waist and hauled me across his lap, my body positioned stomach down and ass up. He lifted the lower half of my dress, cold air licking the back of my thighs. I glared at Daniel, too shocked to ask his intent.
Calmly, he placed his hand against my bottom and closed his eyes. His mouth moved like he was arguing with himself. Next to us, Aldon chuckled.
"What is so gosh darn funny?" I shouted, turning my hard stare in Aldon's direction.
Daniel's fingers twitched along my bottom before he sighed deeply.
"He wants badly to spank that sweet ass, and I don't blame him." Aldon laughed again. "But he knows you're not ours to discipline -- not yet."
"Just five swats…" Daniel caressed my bottom before his hand slid down to rub at the gusset of my panties. "Five and a little teasing of this sweet pussy before we lock baby girl in a room with Hunter and they both come to their senses."
"It's increasingly clear I'm the only sensible one here!" I snapped the accusation out, my pulse accelerating at Daniel's small warning tap to my bottom.
His gaze darkening, his mouth curved in a sensual, almost cruel, smile. "I have better uses for that pretty little mouth than you being bratty with it, love. Don't tempt me again."
His fingers slid under the bottom panel of my underwear to stroke against my wet and achy clit. My eyes drifted shut. I couldn't look at them when my body's reaction was so evident. Even with all my protesting and evading, it took the barest touch from one of them for my arousal to spring forward and a fountain of need flowed between my legs.
Aldon saved me. He captured Daniel's hand, gently rebuking him. "Hunter's, remember?"
"Fine," Daniel growled. He snapped the band of my panties. "But I want these off. I want her to remember with every step she takes this weekend how wet and ready she was. She can try lying to us, but she'll at least feel the truth for herself."
***
Less than sixty seconds later, I was without panties and locked outside the library to navigate my way to my new bedroom. Before shutting the door in my face, they'd each given me a lingering kiss on the cheek and a warning that there were cameras all over the house to stop any attempt to leave.
Leave, hell! I couldn't find my way through the maze they called a house. Bad enough the doors and hallways all looked the same, but my decidedly pre-occupied brain traveled its own twisting paths.
Three paths, to be exact -- one for each man I loved. Ironically, since he clearly had no such affection for me, I had fallen in love with Hunter first. Yet he had entered my fantasies last. Neither fact surprised me. Hunter had a way of looking at people that goes bone deep, like he knew every secret kept inside a person. He had me hooked the first time he looked at me like that and offered a soft, accepting smile. Lusting after him, however, felt too dirty -- at first.
Still wandering lost through the house, I turned the handle on a door I was half certain led to my bedroom. Instead, I found Hunter sitting on an exercise bench, his hands curled around bars attached by long lines to weights held in some sort of cage. It's obvious to anyone who throws half a glance in my direction that a gym is completely alien territory to me. So I had no name for the contraption.
No eyes for it, either -- I was too busy looking at Hunter.
My gaze focused first on his serene face. His eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted as he puffed rhythmically, inhaling when he pulled on the weights, exhaling when he returned them to their starting position, each movement evenly timed and graceful. My eyes dropped next to his broad shoulders and thick arms. Veins stood out along his biceps, a light sheen of sweat covering the skin and making it shine.
My attention traveled from his forearms with their faint covering of silky black strands to his legs. He wore loose black shorts that fell a few inches down the length of each powerful thigh. Like his forearms, his lower limbs were dusted with black hair. A summer tan gave everything a perfect contrast. My gaze crawled up the shorts, hooking for an instant at the ladder of dark black hair that crept from below the belt line up to his navel.
Too sexy for words. I had a hazy awareness of sucking my bottom lip into my mouth and holding it there, intent on not making a sound as my eyes drifted up his chest and froze.
He'd stopped moving, stopped breathing as far as I could tell, but his realization that I watched him wasn't what held me still. White marks checkered the right side of his chest, the skin too damaged in places to tan and whiter than natural. I noticed white divots where the shrapnel from the grenade must have dug deep. Finer lines traveled a crazy zigzag and one deep trench looked like someone had taken a carving knife to him.
Hunter jerked, his body contorting to turn his back to me. Like the front of his torso, the back was scarred, but less so. Reaching down, he scooped up a gray t-shirt from the floor.
"I'm sorry…" I fumbled for something to say. A bunch of stupid things came to mind. Does it still hurt? Is there something I can do? Yeah, like some silly little executive assistant who hasn't even scraped through two years of college could help a man with Hunter's intellect and resources.
He didn't respond so I kept running on at the mouth to fill the silence. "I was looking for my room. I didn't mean to interrupt."
Or gawk, at least at the parts he might not want me gawking at.
Not that Hunter Dey wanted me gawking at any part of him. Whatever Daniel and Aldon might have thought, Hunter saw me in a totally different way -- perhaps a worse way now that I had intruded on him while his scars were exposed.
He walked toward me, making an odd little motion with his head that suggested my blunder was forgiven, or that I could at least shut up and stop fumbling for an excuse.
"I'll escort you." His fingers curle
d around my elbow, but he didn't immediately lead me to my room. Instead, he examined my clothes.
A frown tugged at the corners of his mouth. I started to squirm beneath his attention. The shawl hadn't made it out of the library. With no sleeves and the too short hemline, my limbs were almost entirely exposed, their plump contours on display.
"This is what Daniel had delivered for you?"
I nodded and his frown deepened.
"He should have picked clothes you would feel comfortable in."
"Oh." I didn't know what else to say. He probably thought I wanted to hide my fat -- and he was right. Although, all credit to Gina and Daniel, they knew how to dress a girl with too generous curves. Even I had been a little pleased with what the mirror reflected back at me.
Until that moment standing in front of Hunter because he clearly wasn’t impressed.
Realizing how stupid I had been to hope that Aldon and Daniel were right, tears began to well at the corner of my eyes. I dropped the forced smile and tried to extract my elbow from his grip. He pulled me a little closer, his feet moving at last to lead me from the room. One hall and five doors down, we stopped at the end of the passage.
I thought Hunter would deposit me in front of the door and leave, but apparently he thought I was too stupid to manage even the last few steps on my own. He opened the door for me. Catching sight of all the outfits out on the bed, his posture stiffened.
He walked over and examined each one, his touch slow and intent. Reaching the boned corset, he scowled. "I'll talk to Daniel, get you something different."
"You don't like them?" I hoped my voice didn't sound half as crushed as I felt.
"It's not about what I like, Casey." His eyes drifted shut and I knew he was intentionally blocking me out. "It's about making you feel comfortable. You're not only our guest, you're under our protection. Daniel can't dress you how--"
He cut his sentence short, spun on his heels and took his first step toward the hall. His hand swiped at his jaw. He looked back, his gaze lingering on the corset before he reached for the door handle. "I'll speak to Daniel and make sure you get what you want."
He shut the door, leaving me alone.
I closed my eyes and let the tears I'd been holding back finally stream down my cheeks.
Stupid me -- I wanted him.
Them.
All three.
***
Sleep wasn't possible. Not a lot of it, at least. It came in fits, interrupted by nightmares and surreal visions, most of them filled with Hunter. I dreamed I walked in on him in the gym again. I wanted to tell him there wasn't a damn thing about him that wasn't beautiful, that I ached every time I saw him. Only my bumbling explanation seemed to dig and cut at him, fresh blood seeping from old wounds as he ignored me and continued exercising.
Another dream had me in his lab as he patiently explained his project to me. Accounting and legal called it GreenStar, but that was never the name Hunter used. He called it Godstar, an energy source so clean and cheap it would change the world. When I still couldn't wrap my head around the lesson, he held his palm out. Air rotated visibly in his hand, spinning faster and faster until a white ball formed. As fast as the ball spun, an outer shell of dark blue rotated four times as fast, the friction between the two layers sending spikes of blue lightning into the white pupil.
It was sublimely beautiful but the light got so bright I had to close my eyes. When I opened them again, I was alone and covered in a thick, white ash. More ash drifted down on me. I turned my head left, then right, finding only a surrounding landscape of nothing but white-on-white forever. Bleached bones of a mass extinction poked through the powder.
Anthrax.
A knock at the door had me bolting up in bed. I carefully scanned the room for any hint that I might be dreaming. Relieved the anthrax dream had ended, I didn't want another bad one to begin. I especially didn't want to see Hunter hurt, bleeding, and refusing my assistance.
The knock came again. I called out, my voice shaky and hoarse as I looked for the robe that matched my barely there nightgown. "Who is it?"
My visitors didn't answer, they just walked in. Carrying a breakfast tray, Daniel brought it to the bed while Aldon crossed the room and opened the heavy drapes. Judging by the color of the horizon, I estimated it was around seven in the morning.
In no mood for their shenanigans, I pulled the blanket up to my chin.
"Don't worry, love." Balancing the tray across my lap, Daniel released it then kissed the crown of my head. "We're strictly hands off for the next two hours."
"Two hours?" I quirked a distrusting brow in Daniel's direction as I warily watched Aldon approaching.
Ignoring Daniel's glare, he crawled onto the bed and chinned the blanket down until my bare shoulder peeked out. He kissed its curve then rested his cheek against me for a few seconds as he explained.
"You have two hours before you must meet us in the library for further discussion." He reached into his pants pocket and withdrew a folded sheet of paper. "Since Hunter was very cross with us for allowing you to get lost last night, I drew a map."
"Is that all he was cross about?" Taking the paper from him, I gave a little huff. I would be in the library in two hours, no doubt, but the conversation wasn't going to proceed as they expected. Actual words would be spoken, and the topic would be how I didn't need any guards or security and was going home.
Looking at the map, I gave another little huff. He had labeled my room with "pet" and drawn a heart in the bed's center. Another trail of hearts led to the library, ending at the couch with a little clock above it, the hour hand pointing to nine and the minute hand to six. Only one other item in the library was labeled.
Spanking bench, so don't be late!
He wasn't joking. At least the bench was real. Other than Daniel, Aldon, the couch and table, the bench was the only item in the library I had taken distinct note of. With its immense size and cushioned top covered in bright red leather, it had looked out of place.
I took a nervous swallow, my eyes darting toward Aldon in time to watch him plant a parting kiss on my bare shoulder. Not to be outdone, Daniel dipped down, his lips landing on my throat, just slightly below and forward of my ear. He gave the spot a slow, sensuous kiss and then they left.
Irritated, I growled my way through the next hour and fifty minutes as I had breakfast, showered, arranged my long black hair in a tight and very unbecoming bun at the back of my neck, searched for the most modest piece of clothing and plotted, unsuccessfully, to fashion a pair of underwear.
Deciding I would rather be bare down there and keep my legs crossed the whole of the conversation than look like a Sumo wrestler wearing a very expensive diaper, I gave up and threw a shawl around my shoulders. The shawl, like the bra and dress, was a dark cerise in silk, the color bringing out the warmer tones in my complexion.
Catching my reflection right before I left the room, I frowned. The color enhanced my skin a little too well. I had intentionally foregone the cosmetics left in the bathroom. I wanted to walk into that library their boring little mouse, the one they'd ignored until yesterday. But my cheeks had a rosy glow, my lips were still swollen from yesterday's attention and the dark outline of my brow and thick lashes made me look as if I'd spent the entire time primping for them.
Scowling, I let the bedroom door slam behind me and marched down the hall, map in hand. With half the distance to the library covered, I ran into Hunter. Literally -- I ran into him, my gaze intent on the paper with the ridiculous hearts that some foolish, girlish, part of me wanted to squee over. The next thing I knew, I was pressed flat against Hunter's hard, broad chest. I pulled back sharply, teetering on the high heels that matched the dress.
Holding me at arm's length, Hunter gripped my shoulders to steady me. His gaze swept down my body, the perusal too swift to demonstrate any interest. Releasing me, he resumed walking. His long legs carried him at a pace I couldn't match in the heels.
I fell behind.
He came to an abrupt stop, perhaps realizing he had pulled a rude distance ahead of me. He eyed me again then dropped his gaze to the floor, his hand dancing in agitation against his thigh.
Clearly, he didn't want to be around me right then.
He shoved his hand into his pocket. "Are you heading to the library, too?"
"Yes." Not wanting him to see Aldon's heart-filled map, I tucked the paper into the dress's hip pocket. When I was two feet from him, he started walking again, the same long strides threatening to leave me behind once more.
"Daniel must have good news to have summoned both of us." He called over his shoulder. "Perhaps you can even go home today. Get things back to normal."
Watching him jerk to a stop and wait again, I had the creeping suspicion both of us would be disappointed by what Daniel had to say. Hunter clearly wanted to run away from me but was too much the gentleman to do so. For some reason, that made his rejection hurt even worse. I felt like some pitiful fat girl his kind-hearted mother demanded he take to the high school dance.
Been there, done that, didn't keep the corsage.
He reached the library first, his fingertips resting on the handle as he waited to open the door I stopped short and shook my head. Hunter reached out, his hand coming to rest against the side of my neck.
"Don't worry, Casey, it can't be bad news." His thumb caressed the front line of my throat and he cracked a soft smile. "Daniel would have commandoes rappelling in with their big guns drawn if there was a problem."
I retreated a step. I didn't want to feel his hand on me when I knew it was nothing more than a polite gesture to ease my worry. I took another step back, ready to flee to my room and rethink my battle plan.
"A minute early, pet." Opening the library door from the other side, Aldon wrapped an arm around my shoulder and started to draw me into the room.
Hunter stopped him. A curt nod of his head motioned me forward. Making it halfway across the room, I heard Hunter's soft whisper.
The Alpha's Touch Boxed Set (14 Book Bundle) Page 44
