by Nana Malone
Before the words were even out of his mouth, he knew what he'd say. “Yeah, Sam. I'm behind you.”
The relief in Sam’s eyes was the final nail. Sam was so used to not being able to believe in anything or anyone that he really thought Eli would abandon him. No matter how much Jessica was under Eli’s skin, Sam was his priority. Even if he was lying to him.
Eli had to figure out what his next move would be on the signatures. Now that Vince had somewhere to look, he wouldn’t let it go. He had to address their Vince issue, but there was no need to alarm Sam yet. There was still a chance they wouldn’t need to open that can of worms.
Back at his place, Eli palmed his phone and stared at it for what seemed like hours before calling Jessica. He had to think about Samson. You have to think about yourself. That one text had him spinning out. It was easily explained, but he still didn’t want to have to go through with the lie.
Chapter 15
Jessica’s phone rang four times before she answered with a brusque, “What do you want, Eli? I don't really have time for this right now.”
“Okay, you’re pissed. I get it. But I swear to you, I was just cheering up a friend. I wish you'd called me then; we could have all had lunch together.”
She snorted. “Yeah right. How awkward was that going to be? Look, Eli, I don’t need this. We, this thing, it's getting way more complicated than I bargained for. I’ve got my hands full. I just lost another fucking client to Destiny, and my mounter has upped his prices. The last thing I need is to deal with you. You’re pretty much dangerous to my equilibrium. I'm not the jealous crazy chick. Current behavior notwithstanding.”
Eli's heart thudded in his chest. He might have chosen to protect Samson, but like hell he'd give Jessica up so easily. “You don't have to believe me. But for the record, that was a friend. Her boyfriend broke up with her, and I was literally cheering her up.” He sighed. “Now do you want to tell me about your day?”
She didn’t seem to want to hear it. “Bullshit, Eli, I saw you two together. It was all so fucking intimate.”
Fuck Samson. If Eli couldn't fix things tonight, he'd have to tell Jessica the truth. “Did you see me kiss her? Was I holding her in a lover's embrace? Whispering sweet nothings in her ear? Did you see any of that?”
She was silent for a beat. He could almost see the doubt worming its way through her psyche. “Eli, you were draped all over her.”
“She'd lost her boyfriend, Jessica. I think you've been there before. I was trying to cheer her up. But the only woman I’m currently having any sort of intimate relationship with is you. I swear it.” He swallowed around the lump in his throat. She was more than merely under his skin, she was working her way to his heart, and he wasn’t particularly fond of that idea, so he veered the conversation toward the one area he could actually deal with when it came to Jessica—sex. “Do you really think, we could have done what we did last night, and then the next day I’d be hooking up with some other woman? You were there.”
He heard her ragged breaths. “That was sex, Eli. Chemistry doesn’t seem to be our problem.”
“You're lying to yourself if you think that was just sex. Let me be clear with you. I've never had 'just sex' like that at any point in my life.” He shifted in his comfortable leather chair, trying to make room for his thickening erection. Merely thinking about her set his blood on boil. He would do almost anything to feel this way with her again. Anything except give up Samson.
“I keep thinking about how you looked in that dress, the way the fabric hugged your skin. You’re lucky I didn't rip the thing to shreds.”
“Knowing you, you would have described it as art.”
Eli chuckled. She had a point there. That's something he and his brother had in common. “Yeah, maybe.” He cleared his throat. “Are you going to start talking to me now, or do I need to grovel more? I have to tell you, having my manager not speak to me is going to make things a little difficult, especially when I get you naked again.”
“Not going to happen, lover boy. I can only take so much punishment.”
“Oh really?”
***
Jessica couldn't help herself when Eli’s voice dropped to a velvet smooth texture. Talking to him on the phone was a whole new kind of sexual experience. She honestly hadn’t expected him to call. She'd acted like a brat. Izzy was right—if she didn’t want him, then why had she been so upset seeing him with another woman? Because you want to be intimate with him. Strolling around doing normal people stuff. When have you ever wanted to be normal?
“You're awfully quiet over there, Jessica. Are you thinking about punishing me now? Because if you are, then you’re reading my mind.”
A hot sizzle danced up her spine. God, the man didn't usually say much when they were in person. Granted they were too busy ripping each other’s clothes off. But get him on the phone, and he was pure seduction. “Eli, I’m at work. I can’t talk about this right now.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“Okay then. Last I checked you worked for yourself. Close the door.”
“Eli.” Shocked, she whispered his name as an admonishment.
“There's something about the way you say my name.”
She was not going to have phone sex with this man—though she strode over to close her door just in case. She also glanced surreptitiously around to make sure no one could walk by and could accidentally overhear anything.
“You’re incorrigible, Eli.”
“You know, it's funny, I’ve heard that before. Did you close your door?”
“Yes, but—”
“Good girl. Now, not to be cliché, but can you tell me what you're wearing, love? I want to be able to give you the right kind of instruction.”
Shit. What was it about her and a trouble maker? “Eli.”
His voice went deeper, gravelly. “I'm waiting.”
She rolled her eyes as she planted herself in her Barcelona chair. “Fine. But only so you can get the picture of how fabulous I look. I'm wearing a vintage Chanel wrap jumpsuit.”
“Hair up or down?”
“Up.”
“Let it out.”
She complied and removed the bobby pins holding up the thick tresses. “It's down.”
“Should I guess what color feather you have in your hair today?”
“I'm not wearing any actually. I had a meeting with an investor for the gallery, so out came the piercings, feathers, and colored hair. I look pretty ordinary now.”
“Somehow, I doubt that. What are you doing in the office? Shouldn’t you be out scouting new talent?”
“Sometimes I do take meetings in my office.”
Eli's low chuckle had her eyes fluttering shut. “Instead of meeting your clients in a dark club for instance.”
Heat prickled over her skin. “Sphinx is a perfectly fine place to meet an artist. I need money people, and they have a thing against clubs unless it's for celebrating.” At least, that’s what she thought.
“Jess?”
“Mm.”
“You remember that night in the club? When I set you on the table and stepped between your thighs?”
Jessica's tongue stopped working. As if all of a sudden it had been glued to the roof of her mouth with a paste of sandpaper and glue. All she could manage was a weak, “Mm-hm.”
“I want you to sit like that right now. Like I'm there standing between your thighs.”
She knew she shouldn't, but the part of her that had always been drawn to the dark and dangerous felt compelled to follow through. To listen to his instructions. To follow the adventure wherever it might lead. She finally found her voice as she positioned herself at the end of her desk. “Okay, I'm here.”
“Okay, beautiful, I have one rule, you're not allowed to touch yourself.”
“Newsflash, handsome, that's going to defeat the purpose of phone sex.”
There was that chuckle again. Deep an
d rich. “Who says? Besides, I think it'll be hotter if I can bring you off from the memory alone. You want to see if your memory rivals mine? Once I sat you down, what did I do next?”
Heat flamed up her face as her mind spun the photograph in her memory. Eli between her legs, lips hovering above hers as he bent to kiss her. And then the shocking rasps of his knuckles against her smooth thighs as they stoked up her legs. “Y-your fingers, right at my G-string.”
His voice pitched even lower. “Then what?”
She remembered the frustration as he'd refused to kiss her and only brushed feather light kisses against her lips. His fingers had stolen under her G-string and stroked her. Her center immediately softened in anticipation. “You were stroking me. So gently. Y—you, wouldn't touch my clit. Just kept…” Her voice hitched as she felt the blood rushing to her most sensitive skin.
“Just kept what, Jess?”
“Stroking and teasing me. You wouldn’t let me come. Didn’t give me what I needed.”
“And how did you feel then?”
“Frustrated. And annoyed.”
“And how do you feel now?”
“Oh, about the same.”
“You were so soft when I touched you. So fucking tight when I slipped a finger inside you. The way you slid your legs up and down the backs of my thighs—I thought you'd squeeze the life right out of me.”
She squirmed uncomfortably on the desk. She needed him. And worse yet, he knew it. “I still didn't get you to make love to me right there. I don’t know why you made me wait.”
“You think if I’d made love to you there, you would be talking to me now?”
Point taken. “So you deliberately picked me up.”
“I made sure you wanted me bad enough to actually talk to me later. Everything about you said man eater, and I wanted to protect my delicate heart.”
“I'm no man eater.”
“Not exactly, but you do have a way of getting under a guy's skin.” He moaned low and tight. “Jessica?”
“Yeah, Eli?”
“Am I forgiven?”
“I-I’m still thinking about it.”
“Fair enough. Destiny’s benefit is tomorrow night.”
Jessica’s heart seized. Destiny had called and offered an invite for Eli and begrudgingly invited her as well. Then why did it still hurt that he was going? “Yeah. I hear it’ll be a fun party.”
“You still want to go with me?”
She stalled for time. “Oh, Eli, did you hear back from your friend looking into Michael?” Since her PI hadn’t come back with anything, she’d been hoping for a miracle from Eli.
“No, but he’ll be there tomorrow.” He hesitated then added, “I was thinking if you could bring your mother’s bracelet to me, I could have my friend look into it.”
Jessica shook her head. “I feel like I’m on a wild goose chase. But if you think it’ll help.”
“It might.”
“Then I’ll get it. Tell her I’m wearing it to the benefit or something.”
“Does that mean you’re coming?”
“Looks that way.”
What was the worst that could happen?
Chapter 16
Bad news didn’t sit well with Eli. Vince had called on his way home from the office. They’d found a sympathetic judge. I’m working to have those records unsealed. Vince's words formed a constant running loop in his head over and over and over again.
He tossed his keys on to his kitchen counter. How the hell had shit gotten so out of control? That stupid signature. And now Samson’s life was gone just like that. And there wasn’t anything Eli could do about it. Except wait to see if the precautions he'd put in place would hold.
He eyed the closed door of his sculpting room. Damn. He kept picturing Jessica in there, touching his pieces, fingering them in a sexual way. Hand tentative, he turned the knob and switched on the light. Working always helped clear his head. Or it had.
Sitting at his table, he picked up his chisel and started to work it over the soapstone with his hammer. For what seemed like hours, he worked to form the exact curve he was looking for, but nothing worked, every angle was too sharp. Every cut too deep.
“Fuck.” What the hell had he been thinking? This is what happens when sexy artist managers get under your skin. You start thinking you can do anything. Even when you can’t.
Leaving his tools and the soapstone where they were, he let himself out of the room. He wasn’t an artist. He'd leave that mantle to his brother. He closed the door softly behind him, but firmly. He’d given up the artist in himself years ago. He wasn’t ready to open his chest and start bleeding. If visiting his former self couldn’t soothe him, then maybe it was time to face his present.
He grabbed a beer from the six pack he’d bought on his way home. Flopping onto his sectional, he pulled up the reports he’d brought from work. The thing about bad news is that it never waited for a more convenient time. Eli squared his shoulders as he read the lab report on the last five paintings. All of the paintings contained the same signature. Shit, shit, shit. Eli felt like a steam engine roared through his head. Was this Samson? Nausea seized his gut. It didn’t matter what Eli did. He was destined to fail his brother.
Eli had to be sure. After everything. He had to know. He'd been practically bleeding to make sure Sam got a legitimate fair shake on his second chance at redemption. Shit, he'd even tied himself up lying to a woman he could actually care about to make his brother happy. No point overreacting until he talked to Sam. Just relax.
This all could be a misunderstanding. Just like Jessica and those flowers. A misunderstanding. Just like when she finally found out who he was and what he did. A misunderstanding, by way of one party deliberately lying to manipulate and destroy the other. Yeah, some misunderstanding.
Then he found what he was looking for. To convince himself to believe what he was reading, he read it out loud. “On both specimens, the paint chemical makeup, the strokes patterns, and time period is similar enough to indicate that the same source painted both specimens.”
The questions that plagued Eli rang louder and louder in his skull. What if he couldn’t save his brother? It wouldn’t take long for Vince to come calling about how the signature mirrored this old sealed case from thirteen years ago. One Samson Reynolds would morph into Samson Marks. Shit, Eli had thrown enough money at the system and paid off as many people as he could afford so none of it would blow back on his brother.
Once Samson cleaned up, Eli had made him a promise to protect him the way he couldn’t when they were younger. The only thing he asked for in return was for Sam to tell him the truth always. No matter what it was and no matter how terrible.
But something wasn’t right. Had Eli risked everything for nothing?
Chapter 17
Eli's phone buzzed in his pocket as he endured Vince’s task force meeting. Surreptitiously, he pulled it out of his pocket to see who it was. Jessica.
I can still taste you.
His knees almost buckled. He texted back. Tease.
Not a tease when I actually make you come.
Eli rolled his lips in to stop himself from moaning. He did a quick scan of the room to see if anyone was watching, but no one paid him any mind, not even Vince.
His phone buzzed again, this time it warned him there was an image attached. He opened it and had to support himself with his arm against the shelves in the back. This time everyone turned to look at him. Vince raised an eyebrow, and Eli muttered a brief apology. She would kill him.
He sent a brief text back. Jessica, you keep teasing me like this, and I swear, I’ll spank you.
Remember, I kind of like the freaky shit.
Plain and simple, she was literally going to kill him. Slowly. And he'd sure as shit die with a grin on his face. But he’d be dead none the less.
Vince’s booming voice echoed in the room. “On to the next matter. Millionaire doubles. We’ve run into several road blocks with getting access to t
hose sealed files. They involved several minors. The first judge turned us down. Said the crimes aren’t violent, if we go to him with names, and they match then we can have the files. If not, no dice. We're trying another judge.”
Eli asked, “Any hits back on that bracelet?” His stomach rolled when he thought of how he'd manipulated Jessica into bringing it to him. There was a special place in hell reserved just for him.
“The bracelet is also a forgery. It’s not the real one.”
The breath whooshed out of Eli’s lungs. Damn it, he'd been so sure. So had Jessica. Now he'd have to tell her it was fake. Fantastic.
As soon as the meeting concluded, Vince came over. “You seemed distracted during the meeting. Everything okay?”
Eli nodded. “Yeah, I'm good.” What he really wanted to say was, stop looking into my brother.
“Something wrong with your phone, man?”
“Uh, no why?”
“You’re clutching it like you’re afraid you’re going to lose it.”
Eli forced his fingers to relax. “I don’t like lying to Jessica.”
“The less she knows, the better off she’ll be. It’s only for a little while longer. I think we'll get lucky with those files.”
Dread gripped Eli’s gut in an icy claw. And if they got lucky, there went Samson’s chance at a normal life. He had to tell Vince. If he found out some other way, that would be bad for Eli. It would look like Eli deliberately torpedoed Sam. But Sam was Sam, and Eli loved his brother. Sam didn't do this. Then Eli wondered if his brother’s innocence was a reality as opposed to what he wanted to see.
***
“You know, I can feel it when you're here.”
Eli leaned forward from the darkened stairs, and the light hit his face. “How long have you known I was here?”
Sam shrugged as he made a bold stroke on his canvas. “Since you got here, I guess. I figured you'd say something when you felt like it.”
Sometimes it was a pain in the ass having a twin. “We need to talk, Sam.”
