by Scott, Talyn
He bent his golden head and tongued his mark, nipping and sniffing the brand she would never see, but all other immortals would find it from afar.
From this day forward, Azure Malloy belonged to Gage MacGelton.
And God help anyone who thought otherwise.
Chapter Eight
She knew she’d had that horrific nightmare again, felt it in her bones. Often its scenes varied, yet the ending result was always the same. Creatures hunted Azure down every single time. God I can’t keep going through this.
Since returning from Scotland, she was a physical mess. Her joints ached. Frequently, her skin started burning right before it suddenly chilled. Other times her body dipped into a dark eroticism she never knew she had. Often it was so severe she was ashamed of herself.
She pushed her quilt back and shivered when her toes hit the tiled floor, not because it was cold in Florida today, far from it. Her body was missing something. But she didn't know what that something was.
Noises echoed from the front stoop.
Whack. Whack. Whack. Ring. Ring. Ring. “What the?” Azure groaned wearily. “It’s my day off. That should mean something.” She managed to spill a glass of water that she’d left next to the bed. After nearly slipping in its contents, she threw her sheet on the floor to soak it up. “Gotta wash today anyway,” she said to no one. How much had she drunk? “Don’t remember getting this wasted,” she still spoke to no one. Whack. Whack. Whack. Ring. Riiiiing. “Mother fuck… Hello? Abby?” Her realtor slash friend was on the other end. “You’re at the front door. Okay, I’m opening it.” She stared down, making sure she had something on. She didn’t. She found a robe she’d hung over the back of a chair and cinched it.
With shaking hands, she unlatched the door and could’ve sworn she was hit by an overzealous dog, but it was just Abby. “How can you be so chipper this early?”
“This early? Sweetheart” – she pulled back, glancing at her watch – “it’s noon.” She held a cheap bottle of champagne up. “And past time to celebrate.” She shook the bottle like an idiot, riling the bubbles up, so Azure took a few steps back.
“Uh, I better lay off the booze,” she said with a dry throat, dehydrated from too many drinks. Which must have been way too many since she didn’t recall drinking that much. “What are you celebrating?”
A thumper drove by, drowning out what she was about to say, so she waited until the car passed down the street. “Someone bought this place!” She jumped up and down, clapping her hands loudly until Azure’s teeth snapped.
“You haven’t shown it in months,” she nearly choked, moving away from Abby to brew up some coffee. Click. Click. Click went her high heels on the floor, grating on Azure’s last nerves. It wasn’t Abby’s fault that her skin was burning again, and she shouldn’t be irritable with her because she had drunk too much. Azure was an adult, and she had to own up to her self-induced hangover. A Strange hangover. Very strange. So she tried her best to carry on a conversation. “How does someone just buy this…” – dump – “place sight unseen when there’s so much to choose from? So much better for someone to choose from, so pardon me for being skeptical,” she rambled on, staring over the coffee maker at some mile-high weeds growing around the neighbor’s chain-link fence. But Azure didn’t think they were weeds at all.
Abby pulled out the paperwork and a wobbly chair, settling herself at the breakfast table. Azure wasn’t too far gone to notice her fixed glare. “Nick said you didn’t actually drink much. I thought you would want to hear this marvellous news.” Her eyes widened. “I mean, Azure, you’re getting the full asking price.”
Azure felt her mouth gape, so Abby helped her in a chair. “Full asking price? As in the one we never changed from a year ago?”
“Yes!” She started clapping again, but Azure snatched her hands.
“Explain.”
“A mega rich mogul is turning it into some kind of halfway house for released prisoners or paroles or something to do with former druggies. Who cares? He’s paying top dollar. He could have offered half, and you still would’ve made out in this economy. Considering your banked savings and that this place doesn’t have a mortgage, we’ll be able to find you a charming little condo in a better neighborhood just as we planned more than a year ago. It’s incredible, right. Azure? Hey, are you alright?”
“I am stunned,” she whispered. Abby eyeballed the drizzling coffee maker, stood up and poured a cup.
“Maybe you should drink this.” She shoved half a cupful under her nose. “You look pale.”
“So,” Azure started when she sat back down, dimly recalling sitting at the table with her mother when they were discussing her funeral plans. One of the worst days Azure had ever had. She couldn’t even look in her mother’s old room. Couldn’t sleep in her old bedroom without remembering all the good times, when her mom was healthy and full of life, chatting away while sitting on the end of her bed when Azure was getting ready for a date with Will. “Yeah, I’m shocked, but ready to move on.” Now that she faced the actual moment. “Oh, and I’m grateful for your hard work, Abby,” she added as an afterthought.
Abby’s face softened. “Okay, here are the terms: He pays full price. No waiting for a mortgage to come through, he can wire it into your account the minute the ink dries.” She cocked an arched brow while tapping the paperwork with a blood red nail. “But you have to move out.”
“I get the jest of that, Abby. When you sell someone your home, you have to move out. Understood.” She took a scalding sip of coffee. It was the cheap stuff and the bitter aftertaste reminded her of varnish.
Her friend shuffled the papers, for the first time looking nervous. “There’s always give and take when someone doesn’t haggle on a price. They want something in return.”
“More than the house?”
“More than the house,” Abby answered with a wobbly smile. “Like, sometimes they ask the seller to pay their realtors fees. Or they may ask you to include the furnishings.” She looked around and shook her head.
“Out with it. What does the buyer want, Abby?”
“You to move out today.”
“What!” In her panic, she knocked over her coffee. Abby was quick to grab a dishcloth, blotting up the spill while she explained. “He said he needed an assistant for the week, just to help hire some people to run this place. I mean, it’s tiny, with only eight workable rooms. But a staff led by a psychiatrist, maybe Nick, is needed here. Just a week.”
“He’s really going to do this?”
“Some of the rich aren’t so bad, Azure,” she explained. “This guy is too busy to handle the fine points, and since he paid way more than top dollar, give him a bit of your time. Hell, it’s for the community.”
“Yeah, I’m just leery of those ‘too good to be true’ things.”
“I would be, too if I didn’t have it all in black and white.” She waved her paperwork. “For a couple of years now, he’s owned this penthouse that he’s finally moved into today.” She ignored an incoming text, keeping herself focused. “Very prestigious area, I might add. Anyway” – she thumbed through the contract, making sure nothing was soaked from the spill –“with his strained schedule, he’s asked that we come there to meet with him. I said that wouldn’t be a problem. You know these rich people.” She waved her hand around airily.
“No. I honestly don’t.” Will had become rich, right before he kicked her out. The only other rich people she encountered were those from the private detox facility she worked at, or their parents. “I would love to support a project like this, but I have a job I can’t lose.” And she’d grown to love it there.
“It’s a week tops.” She reached for the salt shaker, twirling it nervously. “He’ll work around your hours.”
Azure braced both palms on the table, smelling a rat. “You’ve already told him that I would do it.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” She said defensively. “We’ve had this house on the market for an eternity, and
if it weren’t for Mr. MacGelton, it would stay that way.”
“Okay, okay, Abby.” Azure snagged the salt shaker, stilling Abby’s jerky movements. “I’ll bet that he’s an eccentric weirdo.”
“A compassionate one,” she chastised. “Well, I’ve only talked to his secretary. She doesn’t sound weird at all. In fact, she handled all of this since he’s so busy.” Abby held up the papers for emphasis. “Oh, by the way, you’ll meet him in a few.” She tacked on in a rush, “when you move in.”
“When I move in,” Azure repeated in bewilderment.
“Yup, his penthouse has two floors. You’ll stay in one of the many bedrooms. In between your work schedule, you’ll direct internal traffic and staff this place. Well, at least, whatever you can accomplish within a week’s time. Maybe you can work here afterwards.” She scrunched her nose. “Sounds easy enough.”
“MacGelton?”
“Uh-huh.” She leaned back in her chair.
“He takes this place off my hands, and I assist him for a week?”
“That’s the sum of it.” She pushed the papers Azure’s way. “Easy Breezy, if you ask me.”
Abby needed more incentive than her pitiful commission, “Come on.” Azure picked up the pen, signing in all the right places, before pushing the contract back across the table. “What’s really in it for you?”
“Besides seeing you get out of this place? His secretary has some other properties she wants me to negotiate on Mr. MacGelton’s behalf. If I work just one of those deals” – She placed both hands on her heart - “the commission would amount to two years of income for me. Two years.” She held up two fingers in case Azure didn’t understand what she meant. “And I know you won’t bail on me. We get our backs scratched in this deal. I need this opportunity.”
“Yeah, you do.” She swallowed roughly, not wanting to douse Abby’s opportunities. “So he’s a high roller in real estate?” Her house was clearly a charitable write off.
“Not that I know of,” she replied, shoving everything in her satchel. “He’s low-key, for sure. He’s the lead attorney for Jordan Marketing, a member on their board.”
“Jordan Marketing?” Azure’s mouth opened and closed like a landed fish. “You don’t say.”
An hour passed, and suddenly Azure was somewhere she loathed, a place she never wanted to set foot in again. Intricately etched glass doors slid shut behind them. Familiar ones, since they were walking through the lobby at The Garden.
“Are you ever going to talk to me again?” Abby plastered on a smile, nodding here and there as people sauntered by. Important people. And if you didn’t know they were prominent socialites, you could tell by their manner of dress and by how they looked down their noses at everyone else, but mostly Azure and Abby.
“Only if I don’t run into Will or his better half,” Azure snapped, pressing her hands over her nervous stomach. She’d thrown on a cream jersey dress and whipped her dirty hair into a pony tail. It was getting too long, and Abby said she didn’t have the time to wait while she washed and dried it. On the spot, Azure learned all about dry shampooing. Of course, she didn’t have the necessary baby powder in the house, so Abby improvised, pulling an ancient box of corn starch from the pantry and going to it. She rubbed the cornstarch into her scalp until she soaked everything up. Azure sensed these little, gluey lumps across her scalp, and they were itching.
“Don’t worry, if we encounter the power couple,” she whispered through her teeth, referring to Will and the GM’s daughter, Elise. “I’ll run interference.”
“No running interference, just run,” Azure warned. “I think my period’s coming, and I’m feeling a touch bitchy.” More than a touch, but she was shooting for optimism. She glanced over at Abby as they reached the concierge. She was in her navy blue power suit and heels, her copper hair coiffed into some kind of French knot Azure could never manage however many times she tried. But that wasn’t her problem right now. Her shoes were. At her realtor’s insistence, she’d switched her comfortable wedges for champagne-colored platforms she normally wore while clubbing with Nick. Shoes he’d bought Azure two weeks ago, insisting that her legs looked fabulous while wearing them, and now they glittered in the lobby’s soft commercial lighting, creating attention she didn’t need. Just so that she could try to fit in somewhere that she never did in the first place.
“Okay, we’ll stop at Fudgie Wudgies on the way back,” Abby said dreamily, “they’ve come up with this new cookie dough -”
Azure cut her off, “Do you feel like we’re being watched.”
“Sure do,” she replied without hesitation. “You’ve lived in this building, the security’s tight.”
“Since we’ve left the house, Abby,” Azure lowered her voice as concierge waved them on and a large man who looked as if he could pose in an underwear ad ran a card key down a lock. Voila. Brushed stainless steel doors opened to a private elevator meant only for the penthouse. Abby clammed up, instead, nodding at the walking fantasy who stepped in with them.
“I am Jude Faden.”
Take me, Jude Faden, Azure chewed her lip, sensing that fire rolling across her skin again, making her breasts too heavy. He had silver eyes and hair the color of drizzling caramel. A walking dream. A fantasy body. A highlander from those dirty romance novels she shared with Nick, but pretended not to read. The kind of man you knew you should walk away from, but couldn’t even if he said he was the devil himself.
Abby was never at a loss for words, but she seemed to have swallowed her tongue. “I’m Azure Malloy,” Azure introduced herself, raising her sweaty palm. I want to fuck you six ways ‘till Sunday.
He bowed his head slightly, but didn’t take her offered hand, so she used it to gesture towards Abby. “This is Abby Pendleton.”
“It’s a pleasure.” The way he lingered over that last word kicked her dirty mind into overdrive. I seriously need to get laid. Azure was a horny woman, especially since her vacation, and the past few months of sleeping in a lonely bed had taken a serious toll on her. Dreamy Highlander inhaled sharply as if smelling her, and rolled the tension from his magnificent shoulders.
“Gage is waiting for you,” he said in that accent reminiscent of Sayer’s. One she couldn’t place.
“Gage is Mr. MacGelton,” Azure said, because Abby still hadn’t found her voice. Since her friend had turned comatose, she wondered if she could hit Jude up for a quickie before they reached the top floor. He could peel off that shirt, unzip those pants, and slam her against the wall. Any wall would do. She tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and swiped her nape with the back of her hand - major sweat action going on. Hell, she would go to it on a bed of nails if that unlocked Jude’s cock.
A flash of straight white teeth, followed by, “He’s anxious for you to start.”
He’d caught her being horny, but she didn’t care right now. In her mind, she was riding him hard. No doubt, a man like that had piercings, the kinds she read about in those books she really didn’t read. The naughty ones. She squeezed her knees, wishing her skirt was a little bit longer so the movement would go unnoticed. But he noticed, all right. After he had adjusted his fly oh so subtly, the elevator doors opened, and her dark, highland fantasy nodded goodbye. He should have moved faster if he didn’t want her to catch a peek at his hard-on. I did that to him!
She snatched Abby’s hand. “Don’t leave me hanging!”
Abby cleared her throat. “Did you see that?”
“Did I see that?” Azure whispered back, shaking her head as if she were a goner. “Jude Faden has serious bragging rights!”
“Want him.”
“Stand in line.” Azure grinned, before they both started giggling like teenagers. “We would have had to pull Nick off the ceiling if he were here.” They laughed harder. “Find Daddy Warbucks so we can get out of here. Chocolate is required. Plus the longest cigarette I can find. After that, I’ll call Nick and round up some professional candidates for the halfway house.”
<
br /> She zeroed on one thing. “Since when do you smoke?” Two doors slammed shut down a hallway centering an over-the-top double staircase. “Nick’s a bad influence on you.”
“No, I don’t smoke. It just looks sexy in all those old black and white movies he makes me watch. The couples light one up after they get it on, sharing a puff here and there. And they’re all worn looking as if they weren’t doing the romantic stuff, but dirty sex. The kind you remembered the next day when you were too sore to sit down.”
“Yum,” Abby said, looking left and then right, “Mom and I used to watch the Giant together. Know of it?”
“James Dean?”
“Yeah.” She glanced at her watch, biting her lip.
“That man was pure sex.” Azure scratched her head, and thanks to the cornstarch, she watched on in horror as white flakes settled on her shoulder. Abby quickly brushed them away. “We’ll have to rent it with Nick. He’ll make up his own dialogue, jabber through the entire movie with his sultry sounds, turning it into soft porn.” Azure snorted, and Abby nearly dropped her phone.
“Who should I be more jealous of?” A deep voice resonated overhead, danger lurking in each syllable, piercing every cell in Azure’s body with heightened awareness, “The ghost of James Dean or a sultry porn lover named Nick?”
Oh, shit. She sent a desperate look Abby’s way. An eavesdropper had been listening in on their inane banter.
Look at your male, a command demanding compliance, though not spoken aloud.
Azure glanced up, shaking away the sensation brushing her ears, invading her mind. On the landing joining the sophisticated, double staircase was a man. A beautiful blond man wearing a dark business suit, loosening his tie and opening his collar, his blue gaze was dead on, aimed solely at Azure. “Perhaps, Jude?”
“J-Jude?” She sucked in a breath, blinking a few times, though it didn’t help. He was incredibly chiseled, someone unreal, clearly not of this world. Nothing close to any man she’d ever seen, one who fell from above because he did something naughty.
