by Scott, Talyn
Evan swiped another trickle of blood from his mouth. “No matter what this jackass says” — he inclined his head at Dylan – “you’re always welcome here.”
She winced, backing away. “So you won’t hold any of this against Noah, right?”
“Not at all, Noah will never know unless you tell him.” He nodded his goodbye, disappearing behind closing doors.
A member of Dylan’s security gathered her phone as Dylan closed the distance between them. “Let’s dance, sweetheart.” Gently but firmly, he clasped her elbow and led her just inside the main dance floor, which was the last thing she needed.
“I can’t believe you acted that way.”
“Believe it.”
Payton grumbled low, “I don’t want to dance with you.”
“Smile for the crowd,” he demanded through his mega watt media-smile, flashing straight white teeth while giggling women snapped shots with their cellphones. “No one saw what happened back there, so pretend you’re happy to see me. After all, we’re engaged.” He brushed his lips against her cheek, not exactly a kiss. “Unless you want twice the scavengers at your front door tomorrow, figuring our relationship has gone south and digging for the story.”
“When you put it that way.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingertips sinking into his calf leather Ligio jacket as they swayed to the sultry beat. To her dismay, he felt too comfortable, too familiar. When he lit those aquamarines on her, she shied away from the fierceness of his stare. Instead, her eyes dropped to his open-necked Scrisa henley. His tan skin, the corded strength in his big body coupled by his scent of clean, sexy man dried her mouth and dampened her panties. But didn’t he always have this affect on her? She remembered licking his sweat-slicked chest while they made love. The way he moved inside her with his long erection transformed with a Jacob’s ladder, bringing her to come almost violently and repeatedly throughout the single night they’d spent together.
She sensed the heat of someone’s stare, so she flicked her eyes to the side, ignoring the heated possessiveness rolling off Dylan, and met Noah’s eyes. He paused singing for his guitar solo, but he mouthed, ‘you okay’. She nodded discretely, sending him a reassuring smile.
Dylan followed their little exchange. He sighed, when his thickly muscled thighs covered in black denim Reboots pressed against her bare legs. “It figures that I’ve been chased by women since the day I shot out of puberty, and the one woman I want to spend the rest of my life with has a case of the brush-offs.”
“I’m not -”
“I’ve got lover boy over there,” he interrupted, “crooning to you from his stage perch.”
“Noah is one of my best friends.” Why was she explaining herself to him? She owed Dylan Easton nothing.
“Then there’s Evan salivating for what’s mine.”
She groaned. “Oh, please, he’s not salivating.”
“Evan never takes a woman to his personal bed, yet he decided suddenly to change his ways by whisking you up to his private residence.” Dylan’s grip on her tightened, but he wasn’t hurting her. He just seemed as lost and lonely as she was. “For what, Payton? What was going to happen after you went upstairs with him?”
Nothing would have happened. She knew Evan wouldn’t have laid a hand on her, and she would never have reciprocated if he had. “That’s none of your business,” she replied firmly, keeping her matching media-smile in place, though finding the task difficult with the heat of his erection pressing into her stomach. No matter what, she’d missed him terribly these past few days.
“Don’t ever doubt you are my business, sweetheart.” They moved to the music and, without missing a beat, Dylan wrapped one arm beneath her butt and lifted the toes of her stilettos upon the toes of his suede ankle boots. Placing them impossibly close as he took over the dance, nearly took over her body as Payton liquefied from the sheer intimacy of the dance. Trying to get her head together, she watched Libby and Stephen move by them. Libby gave Payton a sympathetic look, before mouthing hello to Dylan.
He nodded a return greeting but turned a quizzical gaze on Payton. “So answer the question.”
She looked at him pointedly. “I’ve had sex with only two men in my entire life. Technically, one,” she amended, since Avery only penetrated her with tongue and fingers. “Are you, of all people, questioning my morals?”
Leaning, his lips found the sensitive area beneath her ear, nuzzling, but he didn’t kiss her. “Morals aside, I refuse to believe you would have gone through with it, not after what you shared with Avery and me.” He latched onto her earlobe, catching the flesh between his teeth.
Days ago, Payton had decided not to address Dylan and Avery’s horrid past, the sole reason behind her ending their newfound relationship, and had sworn Noah to keep his findings from Libby until matters settled down at the firehouse. “I would never have sex with Evan, Dylan,” she finally admitted as gently as possible. “However, as far as you and Avery are concerned, I want to be friends, only friends.” His body stiffened against hers, his pulse visibly hammering in his throat.
Staring down at her with his smile in place and his eyes sadly haunted, he whispered, “Nothing can top what we three have together, Payton, nothing.” When Noah’s next song moved to a pounding beat, Dylan led her from the dance floor.
No matter how much she wanted to leave with him and enjoy a repeat of what they’d shared, she would never be a stand-in for Helen Savon. Payton wriggled out of his hand, so he wrapped his arms around her. “I came here to listen to Noah and his band,” she nearly yelled in his ear. The music had turned into a blistering pitch, and she could hardly hear her voice over Noah’s screaming groupies. “I’m not bailing on him.”
“Believe me, you’re doing him a favor.” Dylan’s media smile was in place more than ever, and his hold unrelenting, when he urged her forward.
Payton had no idea what he meant, but a burst of white strobes broke her concentration as well as her ability to see.
“Shit!” she cried out, grasping her forehead with her free hand. He virtually lifted her off her feet, hustling her through Club Saturday’s three-story vestibule, moving her past the winding line of club goers waiting for entrance. She knew they were moving quickly, though time rolled sluggishly before a familiar waft of fresh, salty air spoke of the outdoors. However, Payton had learned from recent experience not to open her eyes right away, that when they moved outside, the vultures had free range with cameras and questions at the ready.
“Mr. Easton, over here!”
“When’s the wedding?”
When Dylan stayed quiet, another pressed, “Still haven’t set the date?”
From the right, “This way, Miss Calloway!”
Payton kept her head down.
From the left, “How about another kiss!”
Dylan laughed tightly, his body growing tenser by the second. “We have to save something for the honeymoon.” The hum of a powerful engine instantly drowned out the vultures. “Open your eyes,” Dylan whispered against her ear. “Watch your head.”
Payton blinked a few times. Oh, this car she knew! She'd seen it the other night when watching an action movie with Noah. Payton took in the two-toned Bugatti in all its aqua and black glory. With the same moves he’d pulled at Hytel Plume, Dylan positioned her in the passenger’s seat before she could take another breath, securing the door and then making his way around the front of his car.
Dylan fed the vultures a few answers while security cleared his path. His big body so graceful and sexy, Payton stopped gawking at the Bugatti long enough to enjoy the unparalleled view of Dylan Easton. After saying a few more words to the crowd, he waved them off with a friendly salute and slid behind the wheel of a sports car made for the über rich, made precisely for him.
“No flashy Unconditional Surrender kiss for the cameras, this time?” she mocked, after he shut his door.
“Let me know when you are ready to relinquish that Unconditional Surrender, an
d I’ll pose for any damned picture you want.” His brows pinched in the middle. “Right now, I think turning you over my knee in the privacy of my home would be more suitable for an ornery woman who temporarily duped her security team.”
Hating the fact she nearly swallowed her tongue over the spanking comment, she went back to what he’d said earlier. “Why would I be doing Noah a favor by leaving? He’s going to be offended.” She slid her purse from around her shoulder, searching for her cell phone before realizing it was ruined and in the hands of one of his security personnel. “I need to call Libby.”
Dylan gripped the leather-covered gearshift in his big palm and pulled out smoothly, following not the usual singular black SUV but two. Payton looked back and noticed two more SUVs tailing them. He’d doubled security, she realized.
When they smoothed out on a long stretch of road, he blew out a breath, uncoiling the tension in his neck. “Answering your first question, you’d be doing Noah a favor by leaving since I don’t want to hear him sing one more note to you, while eyeing you as if you’re his.” He changed lanes. “I’m sure you want to keep your friend in one piece, so I fought my inner caveman to oblige you, though I can’t say how long I would have held out if we’d stayed. Noah Wyatt has such a fucking hard-on for you, but you realize that. Don’t you?”
“If you ever lay a hand on Noah like you did Evan, I’ll -”
“Precisely my point, sweetheart, which is why we left. Also, Libby knows you’re in my care.” He glanced at her, the light flickering over his blonde hair, turning it nearly white. “I’ll take care of your friends, Payton. I left her with extra security, and they informed her that if you even returned to the firehouse tonight, it’ll be late.”
“I will be going home tonight.”
“To wait for Noah?”
“Why do you continue to -”
“I watched you and Evan for a while before I interrupted. And I quote, ‘This song is for the only woman I’ve ever loved’. Really, I can’t stand the thought of you working with Noah Wyatt, much less sharing the same apartment.”
“I can’t help -”
“Have you forgotten how Avery and I asked you to move in with us?”
This time, Payton waited a beat before she answered, “I said I only wanted to be friends, and you’ve tossed me in your car.”
Conveniently ignoring the first part, he dove into the latter, “You created a media circus just by going to that club,” he said evenly. “Discretion seems to be a hard concept for you to master.”
“Giving someone space seems to be a hard concept for you to master!”
Stopping at the next light, he looked at her. “I gave you space for days, but what did you expect me to do when Michael, my head of security, called me and told me what you’d pulled tonight with your bait and switch?”
“What do I expect you to do?” Payton echoed, waving her hands, as anger rushed through her. “I guess I should have expected this complete takeover from you. Only narcissistic people with delusions of greatness buy cars the color of their eyes.”
Dylan raked his aqua eyes over Payton, leaving ocular skid marks on his favorite parts. “You could always say I’m overcompensating for a small dick, but we both know that’s a lie.”
Relief swept over her, when he turned down the familiar road leading to the firehouse. “The last thing I want to do is fight with you.” A true fight between them would finish off her heart.
“Then let’s clear the air, starting with Noah.”
“Really, Dylan,” her voice cracked. “Noah is absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of our problems.” A teardrop fell and she swiped at it.
Dylan flinched. “How did we develop problems this soon?”
More tears fell, and she couldn’t speak past the tightness in her throat. All she wanted to do was hold him, take him in her body to forget what she knew, but that was impossible.
“Payton, Avery and I have stayed away because we didn’t want to pressure you unduly. We understood you needed to get your head wrapped around sharing your life and body with two men instead of one, particularly after we’d just taken your innocence. Hell, you are young and we are worldly; everything is new and unconventional to you. We get it.” Fist slamming the top of his steering wheel, he seethed, “But I can’t continue to keep away. I’m burning for you during the day and then waking up with cold sweats at night, wondering why you’re not next to me.” He pulled into the firehouse, parking near the steps to her loft.
She wiped her face with the back of her hand. “You’ll get over it.”
“I can’t figure out what’s going on inside your head, but you are what I want, so there’s no getting over you.” He held her face in his hands, his thumbs brushing away her tears. “Since you refuse to come home with me, then ask me to stay.”
“Dylan, I can’t.” She’d tossed and turned for nights, worrying and grieving what she never truly had with Dylan and Avery. “I just can’t do this.”
“How about you do what your heart is telling you to do,” he pleaded roughly.
“My heart is listening to my brain this time, Dylan. Apart from friendship, we’re completely over.”
“We’re completely over?”
She couldn’t breathe. “It’s for the best.”
“So you’re breaking up with us for the hell of it, or do you have a specific reason?” When she stayed quiet Dylan admitted, “Don’t act as though we had a fleeting attraction and then claim we’re over, Payton.”
She ran her hands through her hair, snagging the braids Libby had fixed above her ear. “What else can I say to convince you? No, the attraction isn’t fleeting, not anytime soon.” Tears soaked her face. “Even so, we have no relationship.”
“Have you asked yourself why you’re crying?”
“Why, when I wouldn’t like the answer?”
Clasping her hand, he kissed her palm before placing it against his whisker-rough cheek. His eyes were hard, but his voice shook. “Tell me this has nothing to do with your firehouse and my family deigning to take it from you.”
She gasped in outrage, pulling her hand from his face and grabbing her purse. In a crying blur, she was out of his car before he could get her door. “Don’t walk me up,” she said, when he tore out of the driver’s side and met her in front of his car.
He followed her up the sidewalk. “It was a legitimate question, Payton.”
“If you weren’t the high and mighty Dylan Easton, hadn’t a dime to your name, I would still -”
His aqua eyes rounded. “You would still what?”
She would still love him. “Goodnight, Dylan.” When she recalled her broken cellphone, Payton detoured to the downstairs office, so she could use the desk phone to check in with Libby.
He matched her pace, tugging her arm right before she reached the door. “Finish that thought, sweetheart. You would still what, love me or love Avery?”
Unable to take the searing brand of his touch any longer, she pushed at his chest and cried, “I would still refuse to replace Helen Savon!”
All the air seemed to leave his body, the light in his eyes fading. “Y-you think I consider you as her replacement?”
“Why couldn’t you have dropped it before it came to this?” She pulled her key ring from her purse. “A subject I never, ever want to discuss again!”
He caught his breath, turned on his heels, and yelled over his shoulder, “Well, that makes three of us!”
With trembling hands, Payton opened the door behind the main gallery. She flipped the light switches and yelled into the still darkened gallery. “Damn, talk about your faulty wiring!” How many times would they have to rewire this place?
She slowed down, walking carefully, needing a second to breathe while maneuvering in the dark. Payton would never forget the crumpled look on Dylan’s face, including the anger that followed. If only she’d kept her mouth shut, but he simply wouldn’t stop until she admitted the truth, and she could feel his agony by pro
xy. The heat built in her heart until surely it would explode soon. She clutched her chest as she walked past the threshold of Libby’s office, thinking she’d never felt such pain, and it was tearing her in half.
A man spun on her.
She cried out, keeping her hand against her heart, her back hitting the wall. Catching him by surprise, he fumbled slightly at Libby’s desk. Her computer crashed to the floor, then her phone and printer, the cords whipping from the wall with a definitive snap.
Payton turned and bolted for the corridor, but he jumped in front of her. Dressed completely in black, his head covered in a sleek ski mask, his aura beyond menacing. Instead of eyes, silver lenses stared back at her.
