“Just relax, babe. Let me do all the work.” The heat of his breath on her skin was the only warning she got before he sucked her nipple into his mouth. He spent a few minutes toying with her, his teeth rasping over her delicate flesh, occasionally tugging with a sharp nip, then his tongue would soothe the sting until she was panting.
She shifted, with every intention of touching him, but her hands wouldn’t move. Another tug confirmed it-he’d restrained her wrists above her head while she slept. Had he restrained her ankles too? She wiggled her feet. Nope. Well, this should be…interesting.
Squinting, she opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the bright sunlight slanting across the bed that painted his skin pure gold. “You mind telling me just how long you plan on keeping me here?”
Tell me “forever”.
He lifted his head and looked at her, a wolfish look in his eyes and a smile tugging at his lips. “I don’t plan on loosening those restraints until I’ve made you come at least three times.”
“You’ve always loved a challenge.”
He set to his task, using his mouth and his hands to rediscover all the places that drove her crazy-the spot on her neck directly beneath her ear, the soft skin inside her elbow, just above each hip. She closed her eyes and gave in to the erotic sensation of his breath and his mouth on her. He explored every inch of her body until she was panting, aching with need.
Finally he parted her folds with his thumbs. His tongue traced where his thumbs had been, flicking over her clit with a light touch.
“I’ve always loved how you taste, Lauren.” When they’d been married and he said that, there had been pride in his voice, but now…now there was need, heat, urgency. And something else. Not anger, but… determination? Whether to prove something to her or to him, she didn’t even try to guess. Before she could decide how she felt, he returned to his task. Her orgasm slammed into her like a tidal wave, lifting her hips from the mattress as her pussy sought to be filled.
He planted his hands on either side of her head and eased into her. She lost herself in the familiarity of the scene. Of his scent, his rhythm. Him surrounding her. Filling her. The sounds of flesh on flesh, their breathing as it quickened, became her whole world. This. This is what I’ve searched for. This is what I missed, what I’ve wanted.
He’d just collapsed on top of her, both having found their release, when someone knocked at Chad’s bedroom door.
“Do you think if we’re quiet they’ll go away?” she whispered. She felt Chad’s snort more than heard it.
The handle to Chad’s door rattled. On the far side there was a quiet curse, then whoever it was pounded on her door. “Get your butt out here, Miller.” Troy. Shit. “Sam’s on the phone.”
“All right, I’m coming,” Chad called in return.
“Not anymore,” Lauren said beneath her breath. Even exhausted from their lovemaking as she was, she couldn’t help but admire his butt when he rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
When he returned, he leaned against the doorframe. She tugged on the restraints still binding her to the headboard. “Do you mind letting me go? I could use a trip to the bathroom myself.”
Her chest hurt at the predatory satisfaction of the smile he gave her. “I’m not sure. I’m not done yet, am I?”
“What do you mean?”
“I told you I’d make you come three times and by my count you’ve only come twice.”
“You always were an overachiever.” Her breath caught when he leaned down to kiss her. Without breaking the kiss, he freed her, allowing her to wrap her arms around his neck. They were both breathing heavily before he broke away. “Promise me you’ll come back and give me a chance to even the score?”
“I won’t be long. And I will definitely be back. You can count on it.”
“Chad.” Troy pounded on the door again. “Get your ass out here before I break the effin’ door, damn it.”
He returned to his room and closed the adjoining door. Lauren swung from the bed and padded to the bathroom. When she returned, the connecting door was open once again. Instead of Chad, Troy stood in the middle of the room, his expression guarded as his gaze raked the length of her.
“Well, well, well. Looks like Father Christmas arrived early-or late-this year. You look good with your hair all messed up like that. The razor burn on your chest is a nice touch too.”
She headed to the closet to grab a robe, then stopped. Chad had said he would be right back and she was damned if she’d let Troy stop him from giving her that third orgasm. Instead she grabbed the top sheet off the bed and wrapped it around her toga style. “Where’s Chad?”
“Talking to Sam on the encrypted system downstairs. He’ll be back in a bit.” His gaze met hers finally, his expression hard. “The longer you play kissy-face while lying to him, the worse it’s going to hurt him when he finds out the truth. Just get it over with-tell him. Tell him everything.
“He knows about why I was at the spa.”
“Good.” He nodded in approval. “Then tell him the rest. About the Brigade, about Thalia’s part in committing you to that asylum
She stilled. “You know what she did?”
“I overheard that fight you had with her, remember? About how she’d told you Chad had remarried.” Troy had been the one who had told her Chad barely even dated. “I also told you, I got into your files, remember? After I read yours, I read hers.”
“Oh.”
“You need to tell him, Lauren. He needs to know.”
“What am I supposed to say? ‘By the way, Chad, your sister is a lying bitch who manipulated me and I was so stupid I let her’?”
“He deserves the truth, damn it. Not many men these days live with the type of code he holds himself and others to. If you want to keep him, you’ll effin' come clean to him. He deserves that much after what he’s given up for you both. He gave up his career to protect her.”
“Going against orders was his choice.” The hurt, the betrayal she’d felt when she’d learned what he’d done raked her again. Not that he’d gone against them, but that he hadn’t talked to her first. But even if she’d known, what would she have said or done? “He could have asked her to stop going to that damned place until Vandeburg was captured.”
“He had. She refused.”
Lauren stilled. “He never told me.”
Troy sighed. “All right, so save Thalia for later. For Christ’s sake, at least tell him who Cooper really is and have him banned from that damned club before he brings trouble to its doors. That’s the last thing either Sam or Chad need after sacrificing their careers for it.”
“Yes, Lauren. Tell me who Cooper really is. Tell me why he should be banned from his own club.”
Her own expression couldn’t have looked any less guilty than Troy’s when they both stared at Chad, who stood in the connecting doorway.
Tension radiated from him as he stalked into the room, his fingers flexing as if they wanted to go for his weapon. Or punch Troy in the jaw. When he looked at her, the warmth that had been in them just minutes before had been replaced with ice.
“Who the hell is Cooper, Lauren? What’s he doing that should get him banned from the club?” Chad repeated.
Troy’s shoulders slumped; he ran a hand through his thick mane of hair. “Cooper’s running-”
“Troy, stop,” Lauren interrupted, sensing he was quite willing to throw her to the wolves. “I’m sorry, Chad, but Troy can’t tell you anything about it. You need to forget what you just heard.”
The glare he turned on her could have withered a nun’s wimple. “Like hell I’m going to forget what I heard. Now, you tell me what Cooper’s up to.”
“We can’t.”
“You won’t,” Chad corrected.
“No, I mean we can’t. I signed a secrecy agreement.”
“What’ll happen if you break that agreement? You’ll be slapped on the wrist? Fired? You’ve told me you’ve already quit.” His voice could have frozen the Potomac in July. “What the hell is he doing? Is Cooper the man you
