Tempting Calm Waters_A Blood Brothers Standalone_Book 2

by Samantha Wolfe

  "What the hell was that all about?" Lu asked quietly, her query instantly quelling my anger with a cold shock of reality.

  What the fuck was going on with me? I'd never been one of those crazy possessive Doms before. I'd been into the BDSM scene more for the kink than the power exchange aspect of it. This was a completely new and unexpected reaction on my part, and frankly, it scared the hell out of me. Lu didn't need to know that.

  "Just playing my part," I replied dismissively as I placed my hand at the small of her back, and felt her shiver at the contact.

  Goddamn, her skin felt like warm silk under my rough palm, and I ached to run my hands all over her body while I kissed the shit out of her again. Instead, I tamped down my desire as best as I could, and ushered Lu through the door into the club that one of the security guys opened for us.

  We walked into the lavishly decorated main room of the club and took in the large crowd of people amid the flashing and swirling club lights and throbbing erotic dance music. The men and women milling around us were dressed in expensive suits and provocative dresses and barely there lingerie respectively, thanks to the club's strictly enforced dress code. Compared to the quiet empty space I showed Lu last night, Désir Dangereux was a whole other animal when it was open. Right now, it was a lush hedonistic playground where sex ruled and almost nothing was off limits.

  I glanced at Lu to see her wide-eyed stunned expression with a definite edge of arousal heating her eyes and slightly parting her lips. She quickly schooled her expression into cool detachment when she noticed me looking at her. Too late, babe. I already saw it. If she was stunned and aroused now, then she was in for a total shock when I eventually took her into the public dungeon. I decided not to call her on it, and turned to lead her toward the bar for a couple of drinks, deciding that she needed to get more comfortable before I upped my game. Halfway there a voice calling out my name caught my attention.

  "Hey, Conrad!"

  Son of a bitch.

  Although I hadn't heard that voice in a blessed long time, I recognized it immediately and instantly cringed inside. I turned to see a familiar guy swaggering confidently toward me with a shit-eating grin on his face.

  Vinnie Wilkes was a little taller than me and more leanly built, wearing a black suit over a white shirt with a red tie. His thick black hair was slicked back on his head, and a shadow of stubble darkened his chiseled jawline. The guy's smoky-blue eyes danced with smug amusement and instantly irritated the shit out of me. As he came closer, I could see how glazed and almost manic they looked. The fucker was high, and hadn't changed at all. He looked like shit too, his face haggard and aged beyond his thirty-odd years by the hard life he'd been living for over a decade.

  It was like looking through a mirror into the past, and then seeing a glimpse of the future that could have been mine if I hadn't broken free from the drugs. Seeing Vinnie like this made me feel relieved that I'd purposefully given up our so-called friendship, along with everyone else associated with that time in my life. They were all threats to my sobriety. I decided that I needed to have a serious talk with Calder about how Vinnie had gotten in here. I couldn't imagine him getting past the exacting application process that becoming a member required, especially if he showed up for his club interview high.

  "Long time, no see, bro!" he said brightly as he stretched a hand out toward me.

  "Hey, Vinnie," I replied politely as I grudgingly shook his hand. "It's been awhile." Not long enough.

  "I see you're living the high life tonight," Vinnie said as his glassy eyes fell on Lu and practically undressed her with his eyes. Lu immediately narrowed her eyes at him in annoyed disapproval, and I had to fight the urge to shove her behind me, so he couldn't look at her like that anymore.

  Before I gave up the drugs and booze, it wasn't unheard of for Vinnie and me to pass the same women back and forth between us or even share them. Back then I wouldn't have cared how he looked at any woman I was with. Now though, his lecherous gaze, and his choice of words that hinted at drug use, had me instantly furious, my body tense and my hands clenching into fists. I didn't want him looking at Lu like that any more than I wanted him giving away my sordid past as an addict to her either.

  "Not hardly," I bit out in a tight voice as I possessively pulled Lu against my side. "We're just here to enjoy the club tonight."

  "Well, let me know if you want me to join you, so you can enjoy it even more," Vinnie said pointedly with a knowing smile as he ogled Lu with his leering gaze again. "If you know what I mean."

  What the fuck? Was this guy serious? He doesn't see me for years, then immediately propositions a three-way with my sub right out of the gate?

  "Excuse me, what?" Lu asked sharply, before I could respond, her eyes glittering with fierce anger as she stiffened indignantly against my side.

  I had no doubt that she wanted to kick his ass as much as I did right now. A harsh possessive rage flashed through me, and visions of my fist buried in Vinnie's face and Lu's knee blasting his balls up into his goddamn throat filled my head. I was seriously considering making my part of the fantasy a reality when a stern and reprimanding female voice saved me from doing something stupid.

  "Vincent." The sensuous alto voice belonged to a gorgeous statuesque brunette who was walking up behind Vinnie.

  The woman was dressed in a low-cut short-sleeved white shirt, a high-waisted black leather pencil skirt that hugged her curves, and black fuck-me stiletto pumps. She was probably in her mid to late forties, and her long almost black hair with thick bangs framed a pair of dark eyes that had a slight Asian cast to them and gave her an exotic appearance.

  "You've visited with your friend long enough now," she added rebukingly as she came up next to him and eyed him sharply.

  Her entire demeanor screamed unyielding control and absolute power, and her arrival had Vinnie's posture instantly turning subservient and apologetic as he looked at the floor. Well, that explained how he got in here. He was here with his Domme. I was stunned. Never in a million years, would I have expected Vinnie to be a submissive, but apparently it was true. Huh.

  "I've reserved our room for the night," she continued as she placed a firm hand on Vinnie's shoulder, ignoring Lu and me altogether. "You will go there now and prepare yourself, my boy."

  "Yes, Mistress," he said immediately. She handed him a key card, and he turned to hurry away without another word.

  The woman watched him walk away then turned to coolly regard Lu and me. Her gaze narrowed in on Lu for a brief moment, then swept away dismissively to settle on mine. She gave me a single acknowledging nod of respect from one Dom to another, then followed after her sub with regal unhurried steps. Okay then.

  "Who the fuck were they?" Lu asked in a quiet yet tense voice.

  "I've never met her before," I replied, then sighed. "And Vinnie is an old...acquaintance," I added slowly.

  I couldn't bring myself to call Vinnie an old friend because he never really had been. Hell, the first time I overdosed he'd been there, but didn't bother to call an ambulance for me. I found out later that it had been the girls we were partying with that realized I was in trouble and made the call that night. I'd be dead right now, if those girls hadn't been there. Friend indeed.

  "He seems like an asshole," Lu said fiercely as she glared in the direction Vinnie had disappeared into the crowd.

  "He is," I agreed laconically.

  Lu eyed me thoughtfully when I didn't elaborate, and I could practically see the gears turning in her head. Fuck. Why did this woman have to be so damn curious and observant? I feared she was going to question me further, and I had to nip this conversation in the bud before it could begin. I glanced toward the dance floor and saw the escape route I so desperately needed.

  "Come on, babe," I said, abruptly grabbing her hand as I ignored her perplexed expression. "Let's go dance."

  I was grateful when Lu didn't resist and let me lead her to the dance floor, because I had no intention of ever discuss
ing Vinnie or how I knew him with her. It cut entirely too close to having to admit my shameful past to her, and ruining what little of her respect that I'd managed to gain.

  CHAPTER

  FOURTEEN

  ____________________

  Lu

  I didn't fight Scott as he led me out onto the dance floor amid the mass of gyrating bodies. A dirty bassline thumped through the air all around us, and throbbed through my body. I couldn't help myself and started to move my hips to the beat. Big warm hands came up to rest on my waist, then slid around to the bare skin of my back as Scott pulled me close and began to dance with me. And hot damn, the man could move.

  He fell into the song's beat right along with me, his body moving instinctively with mine like we'd been dancing together for years. It was raw and sensual and sexy as hell, and any questions I still had about Scott's strange reaction to that douchebag Vinnie flew out of my head. I put my arms around his neck and closed my eyes as I lost myself to the music and the sexy man holding me. It felt so good in his arms that I forgot about everything else and pressed closer to him.

  When I finally opened my eyes again, it was to see his lust-heated eyes gleaming with triumph as his full lips quirked into an infuriating smirk. Bastard. I'd be damned if I let him get to me without giving back as good as I got.

  I abruptly turned around in his arms and began weaving my own spell with undulating movements of my hips. I heard him swear viciously behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see him staring at my ass with open and unabashed hunger. I pressed my advantage by grinding my ass up against his very obvious arousal, but my counterattack was a double-edged sword, and it had my own lust skyrocketed inside me to throb almost painfully between my thighs. Scott's hands gripped my hips tighter, and he pulled me back until his pelvis was firmly pushed up against my ass. Now I could feel exactly how long and thick his dick was for me, and I had to stifle a moan.

  "My God, that ass, babe," he growled out. His voice was deep and rough, and contrasted sharply with the way his mouth moved whisper soft against the shell of my right ear. "So fucking hot." He shuddered against me. "I wanna grip it tight and fuck you from behind." His hands grasped my hips over the red leather of my dress, and he began thrusting himself against me, his hard cock pulsing against my ass. "I wanna spank it red as you come with me buried balls deep inside your sweet little cunt."

  Holy fuck, I was turned on now. His crass words, that should have angered me, only served to feed the fire already burning inside me and fanned it into a raging inferno. The next thing I knew I was shamelessly grinding my ass back against him like a sex-starved animal seeking relief. I didn't even care that we were on a full dance floor.

  Scott let out a low dark chuckle in my ear that was laced with very obvious and very smug amusement. And just like that the raging inferno of lust inside me turned into explosive fury. I whirled in his arms to glare balefully up at him. His smirk widened into a grin as he shrugged unapologetically.

  "You smug bastard," I snarled up at him.

  "And you like it," he replied with a dark feral gleam in his eyes. "You know you want me." I realized his words cut too close to the truth, and they only pissed me off further.

  With an angry huff, I broke free from his arms and stalked off the dance floor. I didn't know where I was going, just away from him. What the hell was wrong with me? I'd been humping him like some sort of wanton nymphomaniac. That wasn't why I was here. This was a job, not a date or even a hook up. What the fuck was I doing?

  I felt a hand gently snag my upper arm and pull me to a stop. I turned to face Scott as I fought the urge to yank myself from his grip, mindful of where we were and how it could blow our cover. He was frowning deeply with a worried furrow between his brows. He glanced around briefly, then started leading me toward one of the seating areas that were spread around the perimeter of the dance floor. He took me to an empty couch in a little alcove that was away from the crowd, then pulled me down to sit next to him.

  "Lu," said as he leaned in so I could hear him, one of his strong arms wrapping around my waist in a comforting and reassuring way as he pulled me close. "What's wrong, babe?"

  "Why do you keep fucking with me?" I asked fiercely.

  "What?" His head jerked back, and he looked at me with a surprised and perplexed expression.

  "Is this all just a game to you?"

  "A game?" he asked incredulously. Could he really be that dense? "What game?"

  "That," I said as I pointed toward the dance floor. "What was all that about? You're just fucking with me, aren't you? You're just playing games with me to amuse yourself."

  His gaze sharpened on mine with a small frown. "This is most definitely not a game to me." His tone was grave, his expression serious. "It's as real as it gets."

  I couldn't help the scoffing laugh that burst out of me. "Real? We're undercover in a fake relationship. Nothing between us is real."

  "Luisa," he said softly, the sound of my full name being spoken in an almost reverent way that made my insides flutter happily. "I'll tell you what's real. This." -he motioned between us- "This heat between us. I've never felt anything like it, or been attracted to a woman like I am to you. I know you feel it too. You can't deny it. Why can't we explore this physical attraction we both feel? It doesn't have to interfere with our investigation. Why does one exclude the other? Hell, maybe it will end the distraction we are to each other. Why do we have to deny ourselves what we so very clearly want? I know I don't want to."

  He dropped his head and nuzzled his face into my neck, his warm breath skittering sweetly across my skin.

  "I want you, Lu," he breathed out almost pleadingly. "So fucking much that I can barely breathe when I'm close to you." He took a shuddering breath. "Tell me you want me too." His soft lips brushed the sensitive spot where my neck met my shoulder as he spoke, making me shiver. "Tell me, Luisa." His voice was a demand now, low and shiver inducing.

  His teeth sank into my flesh, and desire streaked through me, lighting up my entire body with white-hot lust. My God, I wanted him. He might infuriate me with that goddamn smirk of his and the way he constantly teased and taunted me, but to be honest I liked the intense and passionate push and pull between us. I could admit now that Scott wasn't the complete douchebag I'd originally thought. There was much more to this man than that. Besides, how could I deny my attraction to him anymore, when my body ached and yearned for him like this? And wasn't denying it the real distraction from our investigation, just like he suggested?

  "Just sex," I finally blurted out, trying to think past the sweet torture of his mouth on my neck. "Nothing more than that." I moaned when his teeth grazed my skin as he peppered soft kisses up the side of my neck.

  "Agreed," he growled out against my ear before nipping at it.

  I gasped and shuddered in his arms as I struggled to hold on to coherent thought. "And...and it doesn't interfere with our investigation."

  "It won't," he growled out huskily. "We won't let it." His lips skated down my jawline until they brushed ever so softly over mine. "Now say it," he demanded sharply.

  I breathed him in and relished his irresistible musky scent, so masculine and so very Scott. My body sang, trembling with want and need as his tantalizing lips hovered mere millimeters from mine until I couldn't deny it any longer.

  "I want you," I finally whimpered out, desperate for his lips to stop teasing me.

  Scott growled low and deep in his throat in approval, before thankfully and finally kissing me. This kiss was devastating and almost brutal, and imbued with a fierce need that was completely overwhelming. Scott owned me in this moment, taking and claiming me with his skilled lips and tongue. This time I welcomed it, all of it, and he completely dominated my senses until I knew nothing else but the electrifying fire that flared to life inside me at his body's wordless behest. All I could do was grip his biceps and hold on for the wild ride.

  His hard muscular body leaned into me, pushing me back onto the
low sofa we were on, continuing to kiss me as he followed me down to hover above me on one elbow. His mouth broke free from mine, so he could look at me. "Oh, Lu," he moaned in a hoarse voice, his vivid blue eyes smoldering with fierce desire. "You taste so fucking sweet."

  He kissed me again for a brief moment, before his lips blazed a trail down to my neck, his other hand gliding down to slip under my skirt and grab a handful of my ass. I wrapped my left leg around his hip, pulling him closer so I could feel the steely length of his erection pressing against my pelvis through our clothes. He worked his way down to my chest and laid a trail of hot open-mouth kisses down the bare skin between my lace-covered breasts. I latched onto his thick chestnut hair with both hands and clutched the silken strands between my fingers as I held him to me. It felt so good that I never wanted him to stop.

  Suddenly, a low moan that wasn't mine or Scott's caught my attention, and I abruptly stilled in his arms as I remembered where we were. I looked over to my left to find that the couch across from us, that had been empty when we first sat down, was now occupied.

  Another couple was sprawled across it now, grinding up against each other as they shared a deep and devouring kiss. One of the man's hands was out of sight up under the front of her dress, shamelessly groping her while she writhed and moaned underneath him. I stared in utter shock at the gorgeous dark-haired couple practically going at it right I front of me.

  "Dios mío," I blurted out aloud without realizing it.

  That was when they noticed me, and two sets of lust-darkened eyes landed on mine. They both smiled wickedly at me.

  "No, él es mi Rey," the woman said huskily in Spanish, her eyes heated as she told me that this man was her king, not the God I'd just mentioned. Then the couple turned their attention back to each other, and I stared in gape-jawed astonishment as they continued their groping and grinding while I looked on.