by V. A. Dold
Thomas looked from Jack to Michael and laughed. “A putting green?”
Michael shook his head. “You’d never guess it, but Etienne is addicted to golf.”
Once the laughter and jokes quieted down, Jack continued. “You’ll see the practice rooms and gyms when we head down for our first workout. In the meantime, would you like to see the different styles of condos or how about we kick back with a cocktail in the lounge on the seventh floor?”
“Cocktail,” both John and Thomas said at the same time.
After a relaxing beer, the sun was still too high in the sky, and the young vampires were forced to remain indoors. Thomas decided they should have a short training meeting. A plan of action and schedule would go a long way in getting the men back to Louisiana as soon as possible.
Armed with a list of Jack’s and Michael’s abilities and weaknesses, Thomas returned to his suite to formulate teams and strategies so he could plan maneuvers he wanted them to practice.
An hour later, John found him deep in paperwork and hand-drawn diagrams that look more like football plays than security procedures.
“You ready to take a break and check out the strip?”
“Give me a minute. I’m almost done.”
Give Thomas an inch, and he’ll take a mile when it came to planning and security measures. Five minutes later, John snatched the pen from a very disgruntled Thomas and demanded he take a break.
He was finally able to convince John to return to the compound when the sunset colored the sky.
“All right, bro. I’ve had enough sightseeing of barely clad women. You may still be single, but I’m a taken man. We need to head back.”
“You’re serious about Julia? Stefan said she was your mate, but I never can tell if he’s pulling my leg or not.”
“Yep. She is, but so far we’re taking it slow. I never planned to have a girlfriend much less a wife or mate. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not having second thoughts, just taking my time and getting to know her. Fourteen hundred years is a long time with a woman. And if you met her mother, you’d take your time, too.”
“That bad?”
“Worse.”
Back in his suite, after a shower and change into clean boxers, Thomas tried calling Julia. She must still be at The Backwater. He really hated voicemail and left a quick message before ending the call.
A few minutes later, his phone rang. “Hello?”
“Hello, cher. I’m sorry I missed your call. How was the flight to Las Vegas?”
Her drowsy voice sounded like heaven to his ears. Or, at least he imagined that must be what heaven would sound like. Visions of his woman stretched before him, wearing nothing but satin sheets materialized in his mind. He’d never touched satin sheets, but he had seen them in movies often enough to have a pretty good idea how much he’d like to get her naked in them with nothing between him and all her delectable skin. Her hair fanned out over the pillow and lips swollen with his kisses. Candlelight playing lovingly over her curves and lighting the love that burned in her eyes.
“God, I miss you already,” he breathed, his voice gravelly with need. He was going to have a long sleepless night if he didn’t take care of the raging hard-on he was sporting just hearing her voice.
“I miss you, too.”
He heard what sounded like a small gasp and a hint of pain in her voice.
“You okay? Are you hurt?”
“No,” she answered a little too quickly. “I’m just tired.” She tried to cover up her pain from the separation of her mate and her stupid panicked response. She didn’t want him returning early because of her. This trip was too important to him and the security of her uncle.
“Maybe you need to hire another bartender and work fewer hours?”
“I’ve been considering it. I was going to talk to Logan about it tomorrow.”
“Good, I don’t want you overworking yourself. Besides, when I get back, I plan to take you out on plenty of dates, so you’re gonna need a lot of nights off.”
“Is that, right?” she teased.
“Damn straight. Now get some sleep and dream of me. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“You get some sleep too, and stay away from the women in that town.”
“No worries there, babe. You’re the only one for me.”
“I appreciate you saying that. Believe it or not, I don’t have the highest self-esteem.”
“Sweetheart, there is no one in this world more beautiful than you. Believe me, when I say, I don’t even see those women out there showing off their bodies like they’re selling themselves. Even John was sick of it by the time I told him I wanted to go back to our rooms.”
“You think I’m pretty?”
“No.”
There was a long pause. “No?” she asked quietly.
“No. I think you’re beautiful. Lots of girls are pretty, but few are truly beautiful.”
He heard Julia sniffle. “Are you crying? I’m sorry, babe. Did I say something wrong?”
“You said everything right.”
“And that made you cry?”
“These are happy tears. Why don’t men get that?”
“You’re going to have to clue me in on all this girl stuff.”
“You got it, cher. As soon as you get home, we can start your lessons.”
“Aw, now that just ain’t right, talking dirty to me over the phone when I can’t do anything about it,” he teased.
“Maybe tomorrow instead of phone sex we could have Skype sex?”
Thomas about swallowed his tongue.
“Tommy? You still there?”
All he could do was grunt in response.
Julia laughed at his antics. “How about I call you tomorrow after work, maybe you will be able to speak by then.”
He cleared his sex-fogged brain. “Yeah, okay, that sounds great.”
“Good night, cher.”
“Good night, babe.”
He hung up the phone grinning like a fool, good luck sleeping tonight with that visual of Skype sex still floating around in his head.
Two hours of tossing and turning and still images of Julia danced like sugar plums in his head. Suddenly he stilled and listened hard. Was that John? He thought John had gotten past the nightmares.
Throwing back the covers, he paced to their shared wall and leaned closer. Something that felt like a knife twisted hard and painfully in Thomas’s chest as he heard John’s anguish again.
John had given him a key to his room earlier so Thomas could let himself in. It was easier than getting up to answer the door twelve times a day as Thomas came and went.
As Thomas quietly came through the door, John raised his head from his knees. He had them pulled tightly to his chest as he sat up against the headboard of his bed and rocked himself. The relived horror in his dream, still too raw, was stark in his eyes.
Thomas knew what it was like to huddle in his room. His parents’ voices raised in anger. He vividly recalled watching his father systematically break his mother’s heart and tear down her self-esteem. Not only his mother, his entire family, broken by his abusive father.
As a child, he hid the shame of his father’s behavior from classmates and friends. Eventually, as the abuse escalated from mental abuse to physical, he isolated both himself and John from his father by building a secret hideout in the hills behind their home. The moment his father showed up, which wasn’t often the last few years, he hustled John out the backdoor, and they didn’t return until the bastard left.
Running and hiding made him feel like a coward. It really grated on his conscience that his mother was left alone to take his father’s abuse. It wasn’t until years later that his mother eased his guilt when she told them their absence had allowed her to fight back against his father. Apparently, he was such a coward he could only beat on children. Adults were off the menu, so thankfully he never hit his mother. He hadn’t known it at the time, b
ut she held back while her sons were present, sparing them the memory of their mother ripping into their father and shredding him to bits. Anna was a force to be reckoned with when cornered.
“The bastard can’t hurt you anymore.”
“I know. Maybe you could tell that to the nightmares.”
Thomas nodded his head. “It’s because we’re in Vegas and he’s here somewhere, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so.”
Chapter Ten
Last night had been a rough one, neither he nor John had gotten much sleep, staying up and talking through their issues with their father the entire night. He hoped John would sleep better tonight. It was only eight a.m. and already lights out couldn’t come soon enough.
The team had breakfast at nine and then training until noon with a two-hour break before another round of training into the evening. That was the schedule they would live by for the duration. Thomas made an executive decision during the night, as soon as training was done, regardless of how many days it took, they were going home. As much as he appreciated Etienne and his crew, Las Vegas didn’t agree with him or John.
Julia knew she was in trouble, Tommy had only been gone for twenty-four hours, and already she was daydreaming about him constantly. There was no getting him out of her head. He hovered there, like a moth to a flame, a living, breathing, wet dream, in her thoughts.
Every fiber of her being wanted to jump on a plane and hunt him down. The constant pain from the distance between her and her mate wasn’t helping either and blocking that from Thomas was exhausting.
“What the heck is wrong with you today?” Logan huffed from behind the bar.
“What?” Julia asked as she shook off the fog named Tommy.
“You’re washing that same table for the third time. What gives?”
“Can’t concentrate I guess.”
In one smooth leap, Logan cleared the bar with ease. Lifting her chin, he searched her eyes. “How bad is it?”
“I’ll survive.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I can manage the pain. It’s missing him that I’m struggling with.”
Logan gave her one last hard look, released her chin, and walked back to the bar. “If you don’t snap out of it, I’m going to call him.”
Julia whirled around, “Don’t. You. Dare.”
“You may be hell on wheels, and a pain in my ass, little sister, but I won’t have you suffering.”
He held her gaze until she looked away. She was going to have to suck it up, or Logan would do just what he threatened. Taking a deep breath, she cleared the cobwebs from her brain and made sure she didn’t do anything stupid the rest of her shift.
In a few hours, she would see Tommy by Skype. She prayed that interacting, even if only electronically, would ease the pain and help her concentrate.
Seven fifty-five p.m., five more minutes, and she would be talking to Tommy! Time slowed to a crawl until Julia was ready to scream. Every tick from her clock boomed like thunder in her ears as the longest five minutes of her life dragged on.
Just when she thought she would go insane, her laptop dinged, announcing a Skype call.
“Tommy?” Julia called out, as she clicked the answer button.
“Oh, baby. You are a sight for sore eyes.” Thomas sighed, then he frowned. “Are you feeling okay? You look a little pale and tired.”
“I miss you like crazy. I am a little tired, but that’s all. I’m okay, really.” Julia was quick to assure him. She didn’t want him to cut his trip short because she was a little uncomfortable. Okay, a lot uncomfortable, but she wasn’t going to admit that to anyone.
The way he searched her face, she was afraid he would see through her fib. Finally, his sexy lips stretched into a smile.
Whew, she exhaled the breath she had been holding.
“You’re all I think about. Being away from you, it hurts in a way I wouldn’t have imagined. Hans almost impaled me in practice today because I was fantasizing about you instead of paying attention. I need to hold you in my arms,” he admitted quietly.
“I need you too, but it’s only for a couple weeks. And you really need to pay attention in class. I don’t want you full of holes when you get back.”
Seconds later, a wicked thought flitted in the back of her mind. “Take off your shirt.”
Thomas’s eyes shot to hers. “What?”
“Take it off, big boy.”
A steamy gleam heated his eyes as he leisurely unbuttoned his shirt. His breathing increased, watching her lick her lips with her eyes fastened on the ever-increasing gap he was creating.
He could see her skin beginning to flush. When the buttons were all undone, he looked her in the eye and quietly said, “Tell me what you want.”
“Take it all the way off,” she breathed.
Thomas let the shirt slide off his arms and back, to find its way to the floor. He watched her gaze devour him. Damn, he was never going to live through this. He waited for her to look at him again.
After what felt like forever, her eyes returned to his. “What do you have on under that pretty blouse, babe?”
Julia chewed her lower lip blushing for so many long seconds he thought she was going to chicken out. Just when he thought he was going to go to bed hard as a rock and horny as hell, she started unbuttoning.
His breath hitched when the edges gaped enough to show a lacy pink bra. Her nipples strained against the material, two dark, tempting buds waiting for his attention.
Her eyes returned to his as she boldly let the blouse float to the floor. Running her fingers along the upper edge of the left cup, she held his gaze and slowly reached behind with her right hand to pop the clasp.
Lord have mercy. The bra burst loose, the release causing her breasts to bob enticingly, and she let the scrap fall.
He licked his lips. “You’re incredible, Julia. Damn woman, you’re killing me, I want to taste you so badly.” Thomas adjusted his position in his chair to alleviate the pressure building behind his zipper.
Julia quirked a wicked little smile as she rolled her nipples and caressed the round, plump globes he wanted to touch in person.
His breathing increased with each touch.
“Take your jeans off, cher. Let me see you.”
Thomas rose from the desk chair, the bulge behind his zipper blatantly evident. All Julia could see was from his waistband to mid-thigh. His hands entered the viewing area, and she watched his fingers work the button and lower the zipper. At the rate her breathing was accelerating, she just might hyperventilate.
She ached to see his face, but at the same time, her gaze was locked on his lower region. She almost stopped breathing altogether when his thumbs hooked the waistband, and he slid the blue jeans out of view.
A distant, detached voice growled, “Tell me what you want, Julia.”
How could her mouth be watering and dry as the desert at the same time?
“Remove your boxers. I want to see all of you,” she managed to croak.
Those thumbs appeared on screen again, hitching into the waistband and lowering the offending boxers a fraction of an inch at a time.
When Julia growled her impatience, Thomas laughed a low sexy chuckle and finished stripping the boxers away. As the elastic cleared his engorged erection, it snagged on the head, when it popped loose the action caused his cock to bounce.
Julia actually whimpered in frustration.
Thomas leaned down to look into the camera. “I’m going to get a washcloth. This could get messy. I’ll be right back.”
Moments later, he returned and took his seat before the monitor. Holding her gaze, he quietly demanded, “Now it’s your turn. I want to see all of you.”
Julia searched his eyes for a minute chewing on her fingernail. All the while he slowly stroked his erection.
Can I do this? She wasn’t a wilting flower. She was Lady Julia Le Beau. Of course, she could do t
his.
Following Tommy’s lead, she stripped off her jeans and panties. For added measure, she tossed her matching pink lacy thong at the webcam.
Tommy’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his face they were so large. And his mouth hung open as he stared at her now naked body. She wanted to cover up so badly, but she held her head high and let him look his fill.
“My God! I am one lucky bastard. You are exquisite.”
She laughed when he wiped the edges of his mouth to make sure he wasn’t drooling.
“Touch yourself, babe. I want to watch you pleasure yourself.”
Thomas couldn’t take his eyes off her as she rolled and tweaked her nipples before sliding one hand between her legs. He watched her face intently as she slid her fingers into her channel and stroked out again to rub her swollen clit. Over and over, the tension and pleasure built. Their eyes glazed over, and heads fell back as each of their climaxes began to roar through their bodies. Thomas held the washcloth over his cock to catch his release. It wouldn’t do to leave such a personal mess in one of Etienne’s condos.
Julia cried out his name as she came. Her shout and shuddering body took him over the edge with her.
“Julia!”
Thomas’s release exploded into the waiting cloth, capturing the evidence of their very naughty Skype encounter.
Neither could breathe for a minute, both panting, eyes closed, with satisfied smiles on their faces.
“I can’t wait to be the one making you scream like that,” Thomas panted.
“I can’t wait to touch you and make love to you, either,” Julia agreed.
Thomas ran his fingers through his hair, grinning as he sipped his first cup of coffee. Morning fifteen brought a new level of excitement. He was running timed maneuvers today, and if the team did well enough, they would be headed home tomorrow. The next twenty-four hours couldn’t pass fast enough.
His pulse raced, and jeans tightened, imagining Julia’s welcome home kiss. He couldn’t wait to surprise her. Their first real date was long overdue, and he had a night to remember in the French Quarter planned for them.
