Dominic ran his hand up my back and then wrapped it around my neck, warmth seeping into my frame as he gently squeezed me. Nick, Ben and Adam all flashed me broad smiles. Katie acted the lady and walked toward my brother with outstretched hand. He took it, eyes glaring at me though, not even bothering to look at the movie glamorous woman before him. Dismissing her in that one simple act.
I love my brother, I really do. He's been my protector for so long. Someone I respect above all else. He has good morals, he fights for what's right. He puts his life on the line repeatedly for our nation's safety. But in that instant, I was so incredibly disappointed in him, I could hardly breathe. I stood up off Dominic's lap - he let me, which I hadn't even registered - and fisted my hands and stared back.
"Come on, Katie," I said with false cheer. "Lets leave the menfolk to deal with the crisis and do what all good defenceless womenfolk should do and rustle up some food to feed the masses."
"What a splendid idea," she quipped, but not in her usual style.
Jason had landed a direct blow and I could have slapped him across the face for that. Katie did not deserve his disdain, nor did she warrant it. I'd always thought he was such a good judge of character, I guess I had been wrong.
Chapter 16
It's Almost As Good As A Soap Opera
I like to cook when I'm stressed, it relaxes me, or at the very least, lets my mind focus on something other than the problem at hand. I sifted through the contents of Dominic's fridge, then perused the shelves in his pantry. For a single guy it wasn't half bad. There were eggs, cheese, bacon, milk, even some fresh herbs on the bench. Salad ingredients, both green and pasta styles, even baking essentials. So, once I'd catalogued the goods I set to work. First an over-sized Quiche Lorraine, then cheese and bacon savoury muffins, followed by a loose leaf green salad and a chilled pasta one as well. Then to ensure there was enough for all the menfolk, I sent a text message to Kelly asking her to bring fresh loaves of bread.
Besides, we needed all the girl power we could muster with the over testosteroned men in the next room.
"We need more girl power," I announced when I got off the phone.
"Absolutely," Katie agreed. She'd been quiet and contemplative the entire time she followed instructions: grating cheese, chopping parsley, slicing salad.
"He doesn't know you," I said from out of nowhere. Katie smiled indulgently back at me, completely keeping up with my train of thought.
"Neither do you really, but you saw through the ruse."
"He will too," I promised. "Really, he's one of the good guys."
"That he is," she announced, with Katie flair.
I bit my bottom lip and returned my attention to the pasta.
"Dominic is a good guy too," Katie said softly behind me.
"Tit for tat, Katie?" I asked with a smile thrown over my shoulder. "The little sisters speaking up for the big bad brother-men?"
"Absolutely, darling. If we don't do it, who will?" Ah, there's the Katie I was beginning to fall for.
"So, who do we speak up to about Nick?" I asked.
"Does Kelly have a boyfriend?"
"About three, maybe four. It's hard to keep tabs sometimes."
"Oh, how bohemian," she said wistfully. "A free spirit."
I beamed back at her. Most people would think the worst of Kelly, but Katie was right. She was simply too much for one man to hold down, a free spirit in every sense of the word.
"She's been my friend since I could walk," I said, whilst chopping onion into teeny tiny little diced pieces for the pasta salad.
"Then she shall be mine also," Katie replied and I just knew she meant it. It wasn't a flippant statement, it was all Katie Anscombe. She meant every word. My brother really was a jerk sometimes.
Forty minutes later we had a feast prepared and set out on the dining room table, which ran off the kitchen itself. All that was missing was the bread. And as per Kelly Quayle timing, the doorbell rang just as we were about to announce to the guys that dinner was served. They hadn't come into the kitchen the entire time we had been there, nor had we disturbed them. The epitome of menfolk versus womenfolk, if ever there was one.
Katie and I walked into the lounge to see the guns all out on display again.
"It'll be Kelly," I said into the tense silence. Five pairs of eyes swung to look at me.
"Kelly who?" Nick asked.
"Her best friend," Dominic replied heading towards the door, but Nick slipped into the hall before him, gun still held unholstered at his side
"Holy testosterone, Batman!" Kelly's voice wafted in from the hall. "Where do you boys hide? Are there more of you?"
She rounded the doorway, an amused Nick and eye-rolling Dominic right behind.
"Good Lord," she declared. "I've died and gone to heaven." She swept her gaze over the ASI boys and offered a wink to Jason. "Jase."
"Kels," came his familiar response.
"Killed any terrorists lately?"
"Not today."
"There's still time."
"That there is."
I thought it might be best to intervene. "Everyone, this is Kelly Quayle, Kelly you know Jase and Dominic, and I think you saw Nick at the store." She nodded, eyeing each man up as though they were dinner. Sometimes being friends with Kelly was amusing, sometimes you took a knock to your self-confidence at every turn. "This is Adam and Ben," I said, indicating each one. "Both ASI." Kelly put the Kelly Smile to full force, both men let out a soft laugh. "And this is Katie Anscombe, Dominic and Nick's sister."
I wasn't sure how Kelly would take to Katie. Kelly's a call-it-how-you-see-it kind of girl. Katie's a little more complex and maybe not quite to Kelly's style, I'm not entirely sure. I made myself not hold my breath, but for some reason I really wanted my best friend to like my new friend, because I had decided no matter what, I wanted Katie to remain in my life.
"Well, thank God for small mercies," Kelly declared, sashaying over to us at the kitchen door, the smell of fresh bread wafting up from the bags she held. "It would be criminally insane if those good looks were wasted on only boys in the family," she added, then wrapped an arm around one of Katie's and herded her towards the kitchen. "While we get the bread ready, you can tell me all their secrets. And I mean all of them, sister. Don't hold anything back."
Katie laughed delicately as she was commandeered for Kelly's fact finding cause. I was left standing looking at a mixed bag of bemused and incredulous looks.
"Um..." I said, biting my bottom lip. "Dinner in five minutes, OK?"
All the men nodded, smiles spreading across their faces. I spun on my heel to go help Katie fend off the best interrogator outside of the armed forces, when Dominic snatched up my hand in his and pulled me down a side hall. He took three long strides, which I had to match with half a dozen of mine, and then turned me to face him. Following that up with a step to bring his body flush against mine and then all of a sudden I had a hard wall to my back and his lips to my lips. His hands twisted in my hair, his face tilted to get better access and with one sweep of his tongue along the bottom edge of my mouth I let him in.
It felt so natural, so normal. I couldn't even contemplate denying his tongue access between my lips. I groaned as he deepened the kiss further, one hand leaving the tangle of my hair to slip under my T-shirt, stretching it to gain access, but even that failed to get my attention. But when his finger and thumb found their mark through the lace of my bra and a gasp was pulled from my lips, my knees almost buckled. But his body pressed firmer into mine, making it impossible to tell if I could stand on my own, the hardness of his frame providing all the support I could possibly need.
I felt his erection growing against my stomach, I could hear his breathing begin to become uneven. If I could have felt or heard his heart, I was sure it would have matched the erratic beat of mine. We did this to each other, quite clearly it was not one sided. I barely knew the man and he barely knew me, but we seemed more connected than I had ever experienced in
my life before. More in tune with each other than I had ever thought possible.
Even now with his brother and his men in the other room, with my brother there and my best friend in the kitchen just off this hall with his sister, even with the prospect of any one of them about to walk in on us, I wanted more. I wanted him. My hands slid down his back, over taut muscles, and pulled his shirt out of his jeans. He was wearing another faded T-shirt, different from yesterday, but just as worn. But the same soft, blue denim jeans.
His lips trailed down my neck and my hands found skin and hungrily searched for more.
"I like your jeans," I whispered, because it was on my mind and my mouth didn't have anything occupying it right then, so of course, found something to do.
"Is that all?" he asked, hot breath behind my ear. He had already learnt what that did to me, he knew the moment he'd nestled his lips there that first day we met, that it was an invitation to more. I groaned softly against him, my body arching, my spine becoming more pliable. His arm, the one not attached to the hand playing with my breast, wound round my back to offer support. "Christ," he muttered. "I just wanted to tell you how grateful I was and now all I can think about is fucking you against this wall."
I might have whimpered, I'm not sure, but visions of me with my legs wrapped around his naked hips while he impaled me right here in the hall, sent uncontrolled shivers through my body and a wetness straight to my core.
"Dominic," I whispered, it sounded way too turned on.
"Christ," he said again and reluctantly, it would seem, pulled back. "Hold that thought, beautiful. Tonight you're all mine. Once we get rid of this household of idiots, I'm going to make you scream my name instead."
I nodded, fully on-board with that plan and to hell with any plans I'd had before. He smiled down at me, his eyes glistening with arousal.
"Thank you," he said softly, breaking the moment.
"You're thanking me?" I asked, a little bewildered.
"For looking out for Katie." Ah. "She's takes things too much to heart, she needs a caring hand. Your brother's..." he paused, clearly not wanting to completely spoil the moment.
"I know," I said quickly. "He can be a jerk, but like I said to Katie, he is one of the good guys. He's always watched out for me."
"And for that I am grateful," Dominic announced. "Perhaps we'll just keep them apart, then no one gets hurt."
"Sounds good to me," I agreed.
"I like it when you're this compliant," he whispered, leaning forward and lightly touching his lips to my temple. Despite his fighting words - well at least I'd be fighting them ordinarily - I sighed at his touch. I'd wanted that touch since the moment I returned here, tears streaming down my face.
I did manage a, "Don't get too used to it though. I've had a rough day."
He did that cough-which-could-have-been-a-laugh sound and kissed my temple again, then moved round and kissed my lips. Then because I couldn't help it, I kissed him back. And that's how the ASI team found us when they came looking for their dinner. His hand up my top and the other tangled in my hair, my hands under the back of his shirt, one down in his jeans cupping that oh-so-fine rear and the other smoothing over delicious muscles, and our tongues practically down each other's throats. It was bliss, until Nick talked and announced our audience.
"Well, this ruins my appetite."
"Aw, I don't know," Ben added. "Kinda fuels mine. Where's that little blonde with the bread?"
"You're no good with blondes, dude," Adam added. "Remember the last time you dated one, it was not the café au lait experience you'd hope for."
"I admit," Ben said as they pushed past us, Dominic shielding my body with his, but not moving an inch away to face the ASI attackers, "she lacked a certain sweetness, but I've not been put off the whole experience entirely. I could mix it up a bit and go strawberry blonde instead."
"I bet you could," Nick shot over his shoulder as he led them into the kitchen and he disappeared out of sight.
"Never stopped him before," Adam added and received a whack over the back of the head from Ben as they too disappeared from sight.
Dominic and I stood silently for a few seconds, both our hands stilled, but in contact with skin and not letting go.
"As soon as they leave," Dominic finally promised, looking down at me, a muscle in his jaw flickering slightly. "Maybe not right here, but I've got plenty of walls, we'll manage." And with that he disentangled us, slipped his hand in mine, fingers entwined, and followed the ASI men in for dinner.
He didn't let go of my hand the entire time Katie served up, but he did position us between Jason and Katie, as a buffer of sorts. That made me realise how good this man actually was. Holding my hand, thoughts of what we had promised we were going to do to each other later on both of our minds, yet his sister's welfare was not forgotten. It gave me a warm feeling inside, that he could have that big a heart, to ensure I was content, wrapped up in a touch from his fingers in mine, and that his sister was too. All the while carrying on a conversation with the ASI men, his brother and to my astonishment, Jason as well. He talked to him as an equal, no hint of anger or derision obvious in his voice. If Jason had annoyed him in the way he treated Katie, Dominic didn't show it. I was in awe and in so much trouble. My heart was slipping from my grasp and falling straight into his.
Jason for his part kept throwing hard looks in my direction. They could have been aimed at Katie, she was to my side and Dominic separated me from Jason, but it was difficult to tell. If he was looking at Katie and not me that way, I was dumbfounded. What was his problem? Even if he did think Katie was a frivolous, shallow, shop-a-holic, she still did not deserve the Jason Cain stare down. I'd had twenty-eight years to come to grips with it, Katie had only had just over an hour.
Conversation was light while everyone ate, lots of smiles of appreciation for the food, comments about Katie and my cooking skills. Dominic either squeezing my hand each time someone complimented me or in one instance actually leaned over and kissed the top of my head affectionately. It dazzled me. It blew me away. Two and half days we'd known each other and it was as if I'd known him all my life. And he'd known me that long as well.
None of the ASI guys seemed surprised at his familiarity with me, the fact he was so intimate, so publicly, so soon after meeting me for the first time. I wasn't sure what Jason thought, he was well into Jason glaring territory, but that had everything to do with Katie and nothing to do me, I was sure. And Kelly was just Kelly. In her mind this was normal, appropriate, par for the course. As much as I was falling for him, as much as my body betrayed all logical thought, I still had a niggling worry this was happening too fast. And to top it off, my life was hardly normal right now, was it?
Which was why I brought up Sweet Seduction when everyone else was trying their best to have a casual, cool, happy dinner.
"What's happening with my shop?" I asked the table at large. The atmosphere changed instantly. The ASI men all on high alert and Dominic going still beside me. I let a breath of air out and placed my knife and fork carefully down on the side of my plate. "Come on, guys. It's my shop. They shot at me and Sweet Seduction. I have a right to know."
It was Nick who spoke. This had happened before, as though they all deferred to him, Dominic too - or maybe Dominic just wanted everyone to remain quiet and ignore my question and was leading by example.
"It was a message. If King wanted you dead, you'd be dead. Elliott must owe large for King to show his hand so publicly."
"A message?" I asked, stunned. It didn't feel like a message, it felt like near-death. If that was a message, what the hell did these people do when they wanted to leave a gift?
"Elliott has gone to ground again, Eric can't find a trace of him on the streets," Nick added.
"Who's Eric?" Kelly asked what I was thinking.
"Our IT guru and control room man. He's shut away at our base and listening in to chatter. After visiting your store this morning, there's been absolutely no mention
of Elliott being seen on the streets since. We've lost him," Nick admitted through a clenched jaw.
"And how the hell did that happen when you had a man on Sweet Seduction?" Jason demanded, but all I could think was they had a man on Sweet Seduction? They'd been expecting Brett to turn up there. My life was a movie playing out in real time.
Nick shrugged a shoulder, not a good move. It was like a red flag to a bull for Jason.
"If you guys can't get a handle on this situation, I'll pull in some of mine," Jason announced and if the air in the room could have got any heavier, we'd have been flat on the floor.
"Your men don't know this city," Nick answered slowly, as though he was trying to get his point across to a child. Oh hell no, not a good move. And what's with Jason having men?
"My men don't need to, they blend in anywhere in the world, they can blend in here. And they're a hell of a lot more qualified than yours."
"That's debatable. They didn't do so well in Bamian." Nick lifted his glass of beer up to his lips and took a sip, completely at ease, despite the stillness surrounding him.
"How the hell did you know about that?" Jason spoke so slowly, each word so drawn out, it was painful to watch. I had no idea where Bamian was, but I was guessing it was a deployment Jason's unit had been on and perhaps a secret one from the mix of shock and anger on his face.
"We're more qualified than you seem to be aware, Cain. Perhaps even good enough for a man like you to consider changing employers."
Jason frowned at him and crossed his arms over his chest. Nobody said anything for a moment, my eyes darting between Jason's angry, but now contemplative stance, and the uncomfortable and I was thinking, annoyed, looks from Nick's ASI men. Dominic looked impassive, Katie looked intrigued and Kelly just had eyes the size of saucers.
Nick turned to face me, as though nothing important had just been discussed at all.
"Gen, your shop will have to be closed tomorrow while they organise replacement glass and fix up the mess." Oh hell, it would take weeks to get that glass made, it was special order - just my luck I choose a cool façade and have it all shot to hell in one twenty second gunfight. Plus, I'd forgotten that I'd have to get things sorted, contact the glazier, organise coverings to keep the shop enclosed and safe in the meantime and clean up the mess. I'd been slacking, I owned a business, and my business needed me.
Sweet Seduction Sacrifice Page 17
