Fixing Justice

by Halliday, Suzanne

  Touching swollen lips with fingers that still trembled; she tried to calm her careening emotions. No big deal indeed. Of course it was nothing to someone like him. There was enough proof to be found on the Internet of his sexual dalliances to make that statement hit home with cruelty. For a man like him, there was nothing special where her kisses were concerned. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for her. That was the very first time she’d experienced the mind-numbing desire she read about in books. Nothing she’d experienced in her pitiful, lackluster sexual history had even come close to what Draegyn St. John made her feel. She. Was. An Idiot. A desperate idiot if her response was any indication. He was probably laughing at her right this very minute.

  Tori shuddered with embarrassment as vivid, colorful images of her climbing all over him dressed in a sleep outfit with tiny undershorts that barely covered her ass danced in her mind. Oh yeah, that and her snot and tear stained face greedily sucking on his mouth. What a splendid picture it all made. Groaning aloud, she knew the images would probably haunt her forever.

  Peeking cautiously from behind the door she’d slammed in his face, Tori made sure he was gone before leaving the bedroom. The minute she stepped into the living room, her senses erupted with memories of what had taken place. He may have said it was no big deal, but even she knew a hard-on when she felt one. Especially when it had been grinding against her core while her thighs were open wide and gripping his waist. Remembering the way his warm hand had sought out her breasts and teased an aching nipple into taut attention made warmth flood between her legs. As if she weren’t wet enough. He might have said it was nothing, but his body told a different story. Maybe if she had been more aggressive and taken what she’d been dreaming about they’d be in her bed right now doing a hell of a lot more than just making out.

  Realizing that Draegyn must have come looking for her when she hadn’t attended the movie night get-together, she wondered why he bothered. It wasn’t like they’d been forming a friendship. On the contrary, she’d been avoiding him like the plague. It didn’t make sense that he would even have noticed her absence. God. She really wished she had more confidence where men were concerned. Maybe she wouldn’t be suffering from such a lack of experience if she’d ever managed to come out of her nerd-shell and find some hunka hunka burning love to do more than turn out the lights and see to his own gratification. She just wanted somebody to see her. She wondered if that sounded weird.

  That was what all the boohooing had been about earlier. When feelings of being trapped by the past shook her, she wondered if she really was the scheming nobody the papers portrayed. Had she insinuated herself in the trappings of Wallace’s lifestyle, only to turn on him when his flaws became apparent? It certainly didn’t feel like the truth, but she knew that was what people thought. Hauling ass away from that life might have looked like she was running but fading into the background seemed somehow safer and easier. At least until a certain seriously hot secret agent appeared in her life.

  Well, there was nothing she could do about it now. Making a total fool of herself in his arms certainly wasn’t fading into the background behavior. Knowing she had to see him at work every day only made things worse. If she caught him laughing at her, why, she’d what? Smack him? Fall at his feet? Grovel for his attention? None of those scenarios held much appeal.

  A symphony of sighs split the air as she climbed into her fluffy bed and flicked off the light as she tried to get comfortable. Unfortunately, her body wasn’t ready to simmer down. Still keyed up, she shifted around under the sheets trying to find a cozy spot. When her mind clogged with thoughts about what it would be like to share a bed with Draegyn, she squeezed her eyes shut as lusty fantasies taunted her.

  Shit and fuck. Twisting and turning she tried to settle down but all she could think about was the way her nipples still ached and stung as they rubbed against her nightclothes. What would it have been like if he’d taken one of the tender nubs into his mouth and sucked? Hard. Would he groan with delight? Would she cry out and beg for more?

  “Aaargh,” she moaned, lifting the sheet, exposing her body to the cool night air. Pounding her hands on the mattress in frustration she squinched her eyes shut even harder in a desperate attempt to banish the pulsing desire heating her body. Please let me get some sleep.

  In the silence, Tori made out the faint snick of an old, wind-up travel clock on the bedside stand. Each tick seemed to match a rhythm in her body that was making it impossible to fall asleep. Tick. Pulse. Tick. Throb. Tick. Surge. Every time she shifted position, the fabric abrading her nipples was a torment. Recalling how perfectly her breast felt in Draegyn’s warm hand drew an agonized croak of desire rumbling up from her melting core. The dampness between her legs was only making matters worse.

  Snaking a hand across her stomach, she reached into her pajama briefs, aware all the while of the heat radiating in waves from her sex. She’d touched herself before. What woman hadn’t? The thought of stopping to locate her trusty vibrator was quickly squashed. The mechanical device certainly did the job but she sometimes felt afterward as if she’d been hanging on to a belt sander. There really was such a thing as too much when it came to those battery-operated toys.

  Would Draegyn be gentle or would he demand more from her than anything she’d experienced before? She shuddered at the thought. Biting her lip while exquisite tension raced through her body, she found the pulsing bundle of nerves and circled the swollen nub until her hips began moving against her fingers. Tori was crazy wet and practically at the brink. There was something decidedly wicked about how she must look. Sprawled on the bed, hand inside her pants. Oooh, how she wished Draegyn would reappear at this very moment and replace her trembling fingers with his. The visual of them, naked and sweaty on the bed, exploded in her brain. It wasn’t more than a few seconds later when her insides tightened and clutched.

  Digging her heels into the mattress, she felt the storm building. When she started to spasm, and an orgasm detonated in her body, Tori lost control, grinding her palm against her throbbing clit. She’d gone ballistic thinking about Draegyn but in the aftermath of her climax, she was left with a deep ache that a quick, self-induced orgasm wasn’t going to fix. The man was like flypaper for her fantasies. Shit.

  Drae didn’t know what Victoria was up to in her small room across the compound. All he did know was that he wanted more than anything to go back and re-write the entire last scene of their kiss. Only this time he wouldn’t be left standing alone while she slammed a door in his face. No, if Drae had his way, instead of once again finding himself in a hot shower with a raging hard-on, he’d be fucking the petite woman senseless. The desire to empty his balls inside her was working overtime on his composure.

  He couldn’t believe the way she responded. How quick she’d gone from crybaby to wanton seductress in his arms. Grinding against her open thighs had been torture and the sweetest form of arousal he could imagine. When she went wild in his embrace, he responded in likewise fashion. What was it about the woman that got him so worked up? Well, now that he’d seen her glorious body with those flawless tits and pebbled nipples, he at least had a partial answer. They fit together perfectly. She was utterly irresistible in ways he was only starting to recognize. Victoria Bennett was also big trouble.

  He shouldn’t have gone after her. It wasn’t like him at all. Used to beautiful, savvy women who kept their emotional baggage to themselves, the deliberate emotional distance he kept meant that sex was all he had to offer. At no time could he ever recall getting involved in or giving half a shit about anyone else’s personal issues. What the hell was happening to his ability to stay detached and indifferent?

  His hard sex bouncing under the pounding stream of water bewildered him. How many more times could he insist it wasn’t like him at all with any kind of believability? Sighing, he realized all he had to do was conjure up the moment when he’d easily lifted her in his arms and felt those toned and fabulous legs of hers wrap tightly a
round his waist and he had his answer. None.

  Turning under the steamy shower, he let the water cascade in endless streams while he tried to get his damn shit together. When he’d picked her up, a primitive satisfaction he’d never felt before ripped through him. Add another notation to the not like him at all column. Drae enjoyed all women whether one hundred and twenty pounds or two hundred and twenty. A sexy, confident woman was just that, no matter the size, but there was something about Victoria’s waif-like body that turned up the heat in a big way. It hadn’t been a stretch to imagine going from lifting her against his rock hard body and slamming her against a wall to having her writhing on top of him while he moved her around on his cock with his hands gripping her shaking hips. Fuck, fuck, fuck. These thoughts were not helping at all.

  The water pouring from the showerhead turned icy when his hand shot out and turned the temperature to frigid. He’d be damned before he sank to jerking off in the fucking shower again. Goddammit! Enough was enough.

  Things hadn’t actually improved much by the next morning. How could they after the night he’d just had? When he awoke, his bed had been a mess after hours of tossing and turning due to the nocturnal images of wild sex scenes, all starring the delectable Victoria, which had haunted his dreams.

  “Just fucking great,” he grumbled out loud, tossing the bedclothes aside while struggling to sit up, which wouldn’t have been so difficult if his dick hadn’t been particularly hard, and not in that morning wood kind of way. This was getting ridiculous. Really ridiculous. When his brain tried to slot not like me at all into his thoughts, he stood up bellowing at the frustration that had him in its grips, “Enough!”

  He wasn’t some pathetic, randy teenager who couldn’t control his libido. Stomping naked from the bedroom in search of caffeine to take the edge off his pissy morning ‘tude, he cataloged a dozen reasons why he shouldn’t be so ruined by a spunky female who really wasn’t his type. Slamming a mug onto the marble countertop a bit more forcefully than necessary, he reminded himself that not only had he been a hard-assed Special Forces operative with a slew of medals and commendations, but in the years since, he’d earned a solid reputation as a highly successful security professional with mad hand-to-hand skills who made the MMA dudes working the pro-circuit look like a bunch of amateurs. Truth be told, he could pretty much kick anyone’s ass with one hand tied behind his back. The fucking secret service even sent recruits his way for personal, one-on-one training. Oh, that and the fact that he could shoot like nobody’s business.

  Doubling up on the coffee grounds he’d shoveled into the brewer, Drae kept up the personal inventory that should have made him immune to the greedy desire ripping him apart. After all, being a St. John also meant that he certainly never lacked or wanted for anything his entire life and that included eager bedmates. Money and power were powerful aphrodisiacs. Why then were his thoughts and dreams being overtaken by someone who had, until she’d lost all control in his arms, given off the distinct impression that he was about as interesting to her as the crap on the bottom of her shoes? He let his irritability have full reign as he sucked down the hot, black caffeine jolt. His thoughts turned sharply dismissive. Fuck Victoria Bennett, he thought. She might be hot as hell in his dreams, but she was also someone who had probably been shopping for an aristocratic lifestyle.

  He was being a dick, he knew that, but if that was the shit he had to place on his emotions to keep whatever this was from continuing to chip away at his sense of control, so be it. Dumping the rest of his coffee down the sink, Drae made his way back to the bedroom so he could drag on sweats and running shoes. Time to remember who the hell he was.

  Fifteen minutes later he stood at his back door, setting the timer on his watch before heading out for an uphill run that he hoped would wipe away the remnants of the previous night. Shutting the door after him with a forceful slam seemed apropos since that was exactly what he was trying to do with his wayward thoughts; slam a door on them for once and for all.

  Hunched over a stack of reports that Alex needed organized, Tori was already two hours into her workday before the boss man appeared at his regular time. He’d clearly been surprised when he found her hard at work. “Early start today, Tori?”

  Shrugging, she answered with, “Yeah,” sounding as tired as she felt. “These files weren’t going to take care of themselves. Now seemed as good a time as any to clear some of this paperwork.” Turning back to the task at hand, she ignored the quizzical look on Alex’s face, and thought, whatever. Let him think what he wants. She had been hired to work, not to moon around, seething with desperation for an arrogant man who didn’t have any emotions. Draegyn’s off-handed, no big deal, continued to echo uncomfortably in her mind.

  She’d kept her head down and nose to the proverbial grindstone all morning, an act of defiant denial that was apparent to no one but her. Alex had been off and on the phone troubleshooting some crisis while she shuffled through the endless mounds of paperwork. In this instance, she was glad her boss was a disorganized mess. Gave her something to do without having to interact with anyone. In her present frame of mind she would have struggled to be civil.

  Sounds of his rising annoyance drifted in the background from time to time as the day sped by, but Tori stayed out of whatever was going on. Judging by Alex’s flaring temper, something, somewhere, had gone terribly wrong. When he flung his cell away, it slid across the floor into her workspace and hit the leg of her desk with an ominous thud. Oh shit, she thought. Looks like I’ll have to turn around and see what was going on.

  Annoyed, she bent and picked up the abused phone, turning it over in her hand to see if it was broken or cracked. Only Alex would treat a piece of equipment like it was disposable. Of course, the several brand new phones she knew were in a cabinet in the office meant that this was his usual behavior. Spares were readily available for quick activation in case he snapped one in half or tossed it in the pool, as he’d done in the past. At least, that was the story Carmen told. Apparently, mild-mannered Alex could find his inner testiness fairly easy.

  Warily approaching him like a caged beast, she eyed his body language for clues to what she was getting herself into. “Uh, I think you dropped something,” she muttered in a barely audible voice. “Best be careful with that,” she added, nodding at the phone as she dropped it onto his workbench.

  When he didn’t move a muscle or make a sound, retreat seemed like her best option. Before she could back away, the phone rang again. “Answer that!” he growled, shocking her into stillness. For a brief second she didn’t know what to do until she saw him grip his thigh and rub. Looked like he also wasn’t having the best day of his life.

  Quickly pushing the call button, she answered with her very best, ‘I’m the assistant, and you’re not getting past me’ tone. When the call ended, she had a pretty good idea of what had caused his bad temper. A security system the agency installed in a luxe Vegas hotel casino had taken a shit overnight causing all sorts of mayhem. The hotel was gearing up for a high profile event. Having a misbehaving security set-up was creating chaos.

  Quickly and efficiently sharing the details of the call with her boss, she had to choke back a hiccup of distress when he fixed her with a menacing look and barked, “Find Drae. Now!”

  Oh shit. Whatever this was, it wasn’t good. Realizing she didn’t have the vaguest clue how to find Drae as he put it, she simply nodded at the order and hurried from the tech cave before he ate her for lunch.

  Carmen or Ria would know how to locate him, she was sure of that. With the housekeeper being more of a major domo and the cook something of a gossip, both women had a finger on the pulse of everything that went on at the Villa. Finding them on the patio outside the kitchen had been the easy part. Must have been break time because they were sitting under the pergola talking quietly but stopped and looked her way as she quickly approached.

  “Hi ladies,” she said with a half-smile on her face that felt forced and artificial.
“Alex sent me to find Draegyn. How would I go about doing that?” They must have noticed the anxiety she hoped to conceal, giving each other a meaningful look before answering.

  “Poor dear,” Ria offered. “Is he being impossible today? Don’t let it bother you. His bark is far worse than his bite.” They chuckled with clear affection for their boss.

  “I think demanding is a better way of putting it, but in this case, with good reason. I really must find Draegyn. Um, Alex was most specific about locating him with emphasis on the now.” If the anxiety made her twist her hands together any more she was going to rub off the top layer of skin.

  This time it was Carmen who answered in near-perfect English. “He’s at the newlywed’s cabin, checking on the addition. He was here less than half an hour ago. We gave him a basket of snacks for the workers.”

  The cabin? Where the hell was that? She knew there were homes further along the main drive where Draegyn and Cameron lived, but she’d never ventured that way on any of her walks. “Can you point me in the right direction?” She was starting to get frantic.

  The two women both stood at the same time, waving her into the kitchen with them. “We can do better than that, honey,” Ria said. Picking up a cordless phone she punched in a series of digits and handed it to Tori saying, “I dialed his cell phone. He never goes anywhere without it. If it rings through, leave a message because when he’s working, his hands might not be free to answer. He’ll call you right back.” Reaching out, she squeezed Tori’s arm and smiled, “Don’t fret so! Alex can be a boob at times with that attitude of his!”

  Tori nodded at the description with a weary smile as she lofted the phone next to her ear. “Thanks Ria. Carmen. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”

  “What?” came a thundering bellow through the phone, shocking Tori back to the task at hand. Oh great, she thought. Two irritated men at the same time. Why the hell not?