by Jayne Blue
The Mountain Suite was tucked away in the north wing of the resort. In a lot of ways, it was one of the most secluded areas of the entire place. If it hadn’t been, or if something hadn’t drawn me to Tora’s door, I don’t really know what might have happened instead of what did.
Seth’s voice carried all the way to the elevator as the doors slid open and I walked out.
“Would you do it?” he was saying. “Would you want to do it?”
“I can’t believe you’re even asking me this,” Tora was flippant.
There was a loud crash as though something had been thrown against the wall and shattered there.
“Stop it,” Tora said. I walked toward the door and waited. Something was off about her voice and I had conflicting emotions. The door wasn’t completely closed. I wondered if maybe Seth had slammed it so hard it hadn’t latched. But there was a crack about an inch wide that let a sliver of light into the hallway where I stood. I meant to knock. I meant to invite myself in under the pretext of talking to Seth more about how he thought everything went this week. Instead, I found myself pressed against the other side of their door, eavesdropping like one of R.J.’s private eyes.
“I think you would like it,” Seth’s voice dripped with contempt. “I think that’s why he even had the balls to suggest it.”
“You’re being stupid, Seth. I’m going to bed.”
Something else crashed against the wall, very near to the door. God, it was everything in me not to barge in right then and there. I’d never known Seth to be violent but he’d changed since he was a regular part of my daily life. He was drinking and taking things and I wasn’t the only one this week who had noticed. It made him erratic and my blood curdled thinking of what that might mean for Tora. I could not – would not – stand by and let him lay a finger on her that she didn’t want. No matter any consequences to her grand plan.
“Maybe I should let you, huh? It’s a pretty fair price to have him put his almighty blessing over my campaign. You know I can’t win without him. My mother always knew that. She was supposed to take care of this.”
“Great,” Tora said, her voice filled with the fire that I knew as more of the real woman than Seth had never seen. “Then why didn’t you send her to his bed, Seth. I can’t believe we’re actually talking about this.”
His bed. Pagano’s bed? Fingers of rage seeped through my veins like ice.
“I can’t believe you went to talk to him behind my back, Tora,” Seth said. “Did you think I wouldn’t have found out if he hadn’t told me himself? I already knew. Did you realize that? I’ve had eyes on you almost since the moment we got here.”
The air went out of my lungs. I wasn’t worried about any spies Seth had set on her. I had been smart enough to meet with her where no one would find us. But was he saying Tora had gone to George Pagano by herself?
“Good,” she said. “Then whoever you had following me or spying on me can tell you that I haven’t done anything wrong. Yes. I saw George Pagano this morning at the pool. I didn’t go meet him. He came in after me. And, yes, I’m sure he set the whole thing up. And I talked to him. We talked about you. Everything I’ve done this week I’ve done to try and help you. I don’t need to justify even a second of my time.”
“Every second of your time belongs to me,” Seth raged. I moved so I was standing square at the crack in the door. They stood in the center of the room; Tora’s back was to the window with Seth in front of her, his hands gripping her arms tight. She looked so small. Even from here, I could make out the furious twitch in Seth’s eye. There was something else too. He was wildly unsteady on his feet.
Tora shifted, tearing her arms out of his grip. She walked away from him, toward the bedroom. She whirled around on him when he followed her. A few more seconds. I’d let this go on a few more seconds. The fact was, she damn well might be right. The key to making Seth slip up might be to feed his anger. The last time he’d admitted anything to her about his relationship with Pagano, he’d been angry then too.
“So,” Tora said, her eyes flashing fire. “What you need to decide, dear husband, is just exactly how far you’re willing to push this. You can’t win without Pagano. You’ve been hinting at some secret the two of you share. Is it enough to get him to do what you want? Or are you actually suggesting I take him up on his offer to fuck him for you?”
Bile rose in my throat. I’d kill him. I’d kill Seth before I let her even so much as get in a room alone with Pagano again.
He moved quickly. Seth put his hands out and trapped Tora against the wall, between them. She didn’t flinch. I moved into the doorway. They were both so focused on each other neither of them knew I was there.
“If I tell you to,” Seth said, “then you’re going to do exactly that.”
“Are you telling me to?” she said, nostrils flaring. “Because I was under the impression you had something on him. Are you telling me it’s not as good a bargaining chip as whoring your wife out to the highest bidder?”
Seth shifted his weight and Tora dropped down, sliding out from underneath Seth’s arms. When she was clear of him, Seth drew his arm back and as he slammed it through the wall next to her. Tora flinched and turned on him.
I don’t remember making the decision to come into the room. But in a few short strides I was on him. I grabbed the arm he’d just used to punch a hole in the wall and turned him around. Seth’s eyes were wild, unfocused. I pushed him back against the wall, holding him there with my forearm across his chest.
“You need to calm down,” I said, clenching my teeth hard. Tora was there, I felt her hand on my shoulder.
“We’re fine, Jack,” she said. “Thank you, but we’re fine.”
Seth wasn’t fine. Not by a long shot. Jesus, I’d never seen him in this kind of state. For a few beats, I swear he didn’t realize who the hell I was. What had he been taking?
“Jack,” he said, smiling and putting his hands on my shoulders. I kept him pinned against the wall as I searched his face. Two red circles formed in the center of his cheeks and he tipped his head back, knocking it against the wall. “I’m just talking to my wife.”
“No,” I said, “you were just putting your fist through a wall next to her head, Seth.”
He narrowed his eyes like he had no idea what the hell I was talking about even though the hole in question was four inches to his left.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” I said, not releasing the tension in my arm as I held him there. “You’re going to sleep this one off. I’m going to make sure Tora’s got somewhere safe to be tonight on account of I don’t trust you.”
“Jack, Jack.” He patted my shoulders again. His posture was slack and I realized the minute I took pressure off his chest, he might actually fall to the ground. “S’all right. You’re a good guy. You’ve always been one of the good guys.”
“Jesus,” I said. He was so far gone he was hopeless. Whatever he’d taken, his high seemed to peaking right in front of me. I stepped back and hooked my arm underneath Seth’s. He fell against me and started laughing. I shot Tora a look and walked Seth into the bedroom. He took three stumbling steps and then I pretty much had to drag him the rest of the way. He fell face down on the bed in a heap, snoring by the time his head hit the pillow.
“Did you see what he took?” Tora had followed in behind me. She leaned against the door frame, her arms crossed in front of her.
“He’s had plenty to drink,” she said. “I honestly don’t know what else he takes. I think it started out as some kind of anti-depressant.” She came forward and sat on the bed next to him. She worked one of his shoes off, then the other, and let them fall to the ground.
“I wasn’t kidding,” I said. “I don’t want you here when he wakes up. I didn’t like what I just saw or heard.”
“It might be worse if he wakes up and doesn’t know where I am,” she sighed.
“Then we’ll leave a damn note,” I said. Her purse was laying on the nightstand. I rea
ched over and grabbed it. I tossed it to her and she caught it one-handed. “You’re staying with me tonight.”
“I don’t think he was bluffing about having me followed, Jack,” he said.
“Fine,” I said. “I’ve got more people here loyal to me than he does. You think this kind of thing is unprecedented? I’m not worried. And I’m not kidding. I don’t want you around him if he gets like this. You’re not staying in this room with him tonight.”
A sly smile lifted the corners of her full lips. “You’re cute when you go all alpha male.”
“This isn’t a joke, Tora,” I said; something else besides rage started stirring my blood.
“I’m not laughing,” she said.
“Let’s just get out of here,” I said, shaking my head. I gave her a playful swat on the ass and another part of my anatomy stirred when she squealed.
Chapter Thirteen
Tora
My mind whirled from the past twenty-four hours. I’d spent so much time plotting and keeping my face neutral with George Pagano and later with Seth. Now, about to be all alone with Jack, it felt like my heart would pound right past my rib cage. Somehow, we kept our hands to ourselves as we waited side by side in the elevator. We walked through the lobby together because Jack said it would look even more suspicious if we tried to pretend we weren’t together. He was right, no one even batted an eye. It took less than ten minutes, but the walk from the Mountain Suite to the Crystal Suite seemed like it would never end.
But then we were there. Jack waved his key card in front of the lock and stepped inside. As soon as the door closed, I couldn’t contain myself any longer. Neither could he. He turned and took two steps forward. He pressed my back against the door; his lips were hot and insistent as he devoured me with the long, slow kiss I’d waited for days to get.
He moved down the column of my throat, dragging the thin straps of my dress down with him, peeling the fabric away and exposing my breasts to the air. He went to his knees in front of me, and slid my dress the rest of the way down until it pooled at my feet and I stepped out of it. Jack knelt before me, feathering my stomach with kisses that ignited my skin and then his fingers found my thong and he dragged that down too.
“Jack,” I whispered, threading my fingers through his hair and pulling him closer to me. When he put a light kiss at the juncture of my thighs, I gasped. He had his hands on my hips, keeping me upright. He pressed his face between my legs, making me part them for him. I cried out when his tongue found my sweet spot and flicked me there. I trembled as he feathered the tip of his tongue along my folds. How did he do that to me? How had he learned my body so well in just the few weeks since we’d come together? He did though. All Jack had to do was touch me and my every nerve ending seemed to flare to life for him. He made me his with nothing more than a look or a whisper of breath against my neck.
He was merciless. Probing and invading my most delicate skin with skilled flicks and laps of his tongue. My knees shook and but for his steady hands on my hips, I would have sunk to the ground then and there. He wasted no time, circling around my sensitive little bud, drawing it into his lips until I pleaded his name. I dug my hands through his hair, driving him into me even deeper as he coaxed me toward my first climax. I threw my head back, banging it against the door once, twice. My ass trembled as he darted his tongue in and out of me, drawing me out. When he slid back out and suckled me, I was undone. I doubled over, raking my hands across his shoulders and down his back. But he wouldn’t let me go. He fastened his lips around my swollen sex, drawing my orgasm to the surface and I had no ability to control it. It’s what he wanted. He wanted to claim me, control me and all I wanted was to let him.
I was his. He had made me that way. When I came, it belonged to him and I screamed his name through it. I came so hard as he sucked, taking everything I had to give as the tight walls of my sex clenched and pulsed for him. He felt all of it. Tasted all of it. He had claimed me and I wanted it that way.
I shuddered through the last gasps of my release then crumpled before him. Jack caught me, folding me into his strong arms and pulling me against him. He lifted me as if I weighed nothing and carried me to his bed, setting me down gently. Jack stretched out beside me and I rested my head on his arm as he drew me against him. My hand went to his jaw and I cradled his face.
He touched me everywhere, trailing his fingers over my shoulders, between my breasts, circling one pink nipple then the other. Gently, he kneaded them until he got each one to pebble under his touch. Then he caressed my stomach, the curve of my hip, tickling me just under my rib cage where he knew it would make me squirm. He pulled me tight against him and held me there and I never wanted him to let go.
“Stay with me tonight,” Jack finally whispered. “All night. Don’t go back to him.”
“I won’t,” I said, my voice sounded distant, ragged with the dying embers of the powerful orgasm he’d drawn out of me. “I’m not going anywhere, Jack.”
He raised himself up on his elbow and looked at me, his eyes filled with both tenderness and bigger questions than I think either of us were ready to answer.
“I don’t want him to hurt you, Tora,” he said. “And I swear to God, I won’t let him.”
“He’s already hurt me, Jack,” I said. “And I’m going to make him pay for that.”
“You know what I mean,” he said. “I can’t stand the thought of him being able to touch you anymore.”
It had always been the elephant in the room between us. What happened between Seth and me when we were alone. For so long, I’d justified it as the means to a critical end. That, and Jack knew who and what I was from the very beginning. He was the one person I’d never truly lied to. But something very different was happening between us and I wouldn’t lie to him or myself about that now.
“I’m so close, Jack,” I said. “What you saw tonight was the tipping point, I think.”
Jack ran a hand over his face. “That’s what scares me. I’ve known Seth since he was sixteen. He’s blustery and obnoxious but he’s never been violent. I’ve never seen him have a temper like the one he showed tonight. How many times has he done that?”
“Passed out drunk? Lots,” I said.
“No.” Seth sat up. He unbuttoned the cuffs of his tuxedo shirt. I reached up and began to work on the buttons in the front. He peeled it off and I moved my hands across his perfect chest. I’d grown to love how I could make the tiny hairs around his nipples stand on end from just my touch. “I’m talking about the rage I saw. He put a hole through a wall about an inch from your face, Tora.”
“That was the first time for anything like that,” I said. “I swear.” It was and it wasn’t. I neglected to mention the night he almost forced himself on me in the foyer of Miranda’s house. But twice now when he’d come to that point, he quickly followed it with passing out.
“I want to protect you,” Jack said. “Someone has to.”
I smiled and sat up. I kissed his cheek but Jack stiffened, working the muscles of his jaw. Undaunted, I pulled his face toward me, making him look at me. “Would you believe me if I said I could take care of myself? There have been worse men in my life than Seth. I’m not weak, Jack.”
“I know that. God, I know that more than anyone.”
“Good,” I said, leaning up to kiss him again. Still, the tension stayed in his shoulders. “And you are protecting me. Jack, I couldn’t get through this without you. You’re the one who has kept me sane. You believed me. You haven’t quit on me. That means everything.”
“How much longer?” he said. “What’s your end game, Tora?”
I sighed. I drew my knees up and wrapped my arms around them.
“Tora?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Considering there’s nothing about this I do like.”
“It’s pretty simple,” I said. “I’m going to have to wear a wire or record Seth in an unguarded moment. It’s tricky though. He needs to be angry b
ut not too drunk or high. But after tonight, I think my window of opportunity just widened.”
Jack ran a hand over his face again. “Tell me about Pagano.”
I wanted to dodge the question. He’d hate it. He’d worry. But I didn’t want to start lying to him now. Jack was my lifeline. I meant every word I’d said about him keeping me sane.
“He’s bluffing, I think,” I said. “But he propositioned me this morning. He said he’ll throw his support behind Seth in exchange for ....”
“For you,” Jack finished my sentence. “Yeah, I kind of caught that part before Seth remodeled the Mountain Suite.”
“I don’t believe him,” I said. “Pagano I mean. He’s not going to make decisions like that for a quick fuck. I pretty much told him as much.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him I hoped he honored his long history with the Manning family and did the right thing. More than anything, I think he wanted to feel me out. He’s got Seth’s number. Most people do. He just wanted to see if I was as smart as Miranda was. He wants to make sure the right person is pulling his strings if he manages to get any sort of real power. I did my best to assure him that I am that right person.”
“But he made the same proposal to Seth anyway,” Jack said. “That’s what set him off tonight.”
“Yes.”
“This has to stop,” he said. “You can’t tangle with George Pagano. And I’m not as convinced as you are that he’s bluffing. I’ve been around him and know how he operates. Also, I’ve seen him look at you.”
“Relax,” I said. “I have no intention of taking him up on his offer. Getting Seth elected isn’t my objective, remember?”
“And what’s your backup plan if you can’t get Seth to admit to anything? Tora, he’s not entirely stupid.”
“I’m aware. Yes, cornering him into an admission isn’t a guarantee. I just have a gut feeling that he will though. I can’t entirely explain it . . . but Seth likes to impress me with war stories.”
