adventures.
Lessons learned, and all that.
Inside, he was met by a pulsing heavy-metal riff and strobe lights breaking up the darkness. Bodies writhed to the beat, people smiling, laughing. Some hung at the bar, trying to shoot the shit above the noise, maybe find some willing company. Every one of them looked to be having a good time.
He headed to the bar first, waded in, and ordered a scotch on the rocks. Leaning against the bar, he sipped his drink and watched the crowd, trying not to appear too eager. Or desperate. Neither of which would get him laid. The trick was to appear coolly interested but approachable, and he was out of practice.
His first nibble came within minutes. A woman in her late twenties or thereabouts sidled up to the bar next to him, “accidentally” brushing his arm with an ample breast.
“Oh, excuse me!” she called over the music.
“No problem.”
“Damn, it’s crowded tonight, huh?”
“Sure is.”
Fanning herself, she gave him a conspiratorial smile. “Makes me claustrophobic. I’d like to find someplace to chill with less people around, you know?”
He did. The girl was ready, willing, and had her sights set on him. Unfortunately, she had a face like a horse and the teeth to match. He didn’t wish to be unkind, but he had to nip her advance in the bud. “Good luck with that.”
His tone was definite but polite, and, thankfully, she was intelligent. With a nod, she moved off to greener pastures. Any pasture but his was fine by him.
And so it went for the next forty minutes. Michael drinking scotch and making polite small talk, fending off three more advances. He wasn’t picky, but none of them were quite right.
Maybe the alcohol would make them more attractive as the night went on. And he was more tired than he’d ever admit if Bastian were here to hound him. Maybe he should go home. He was just finishing his second drink when his luck turned for the better. Two gorgeous twentysomething brunettes bounced to a stop in front of him, beaming.
“Hi!” one chirped. “Want to dance? We’ve sort of been—”
“—watching you and you looked lonely so—”
“—we thought we’d ask!”
Gazing from one striking face to the other, his jaw dropped in astonishment. The women were identical, except that the first one who’d spoken had salon-perfect red highlights in her long, chocolate brown mane. Blue eyes twinkled at him mischievously.
At long last, Michael must have been a really good boy to have earned an evening of being a really,
“I’m Jeri,” the first one said. “And this is my sister, Jackie.”
“Our dad was convinced we were going to be boys!”
Michael’s brows rose. “Missed that one by a continent.”
The girls giggled and pulled him toward the dance floor. “Come on!”
Amazing how his fatigue fled with one sister plastered to his front and one to his back. Dirty dancing to a fast, raunchy Nickelback song, the temperature in his body skyrocketing so high, he thought he’d burn from the inside out. Just vanish in a puff of smoke.
Jeri’s nipples rubbed his chest as they moved, the little points poking through her miniscule red tank top, making it clear she wore no bra underneath. Same with Jackie at his back, though her top was blue. Groaning, he held on to the belt loops of Jeri’s tight jeans, his erection digging into her flat tummy. What sweet torture: two beauties all for him. Jesus, he wanted to do delicious things to them both, then slide inside. He wanted them on top, underneath him, wherever, however he could have them.
After several dances, he’d had enough. His cock was hard as a diamond and he wasn’t going to be satisfied with his fist this time around. He needed hard, naughty sex, now. Pulling Jeri close, he brought his mouth down on hers, thrusting his tongue inside. Tasting her. She tasted faintly of some fruity cocktail; not unpleasant. He liked how she arched against him like a cat, communicating her willingness without words. Breaking the kiss, he spoke in her ear.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Jeri gave her sister a look and jerked her head toward the exit in an unspoken signal they’d no doubt used before. Jackie promptly stuck her tongue in his ear. He took that as a yes.
“Our place?” Jackie crooned, leading him off the dance floor.
“No. Mine.” No way would he make himself vulnerable in a strange place with two women he’d just met, considering Dietz’s contract on his head. No matter how badly his dick throbbed.
“I don’t know.” Jeri frowned.
Taking each girl by the hand, he led them outside. With the noise from the club muted to a dull thump, enough so that they could talk without shouting, he drew them both close. “I work for the government and I have to be careful,” he began. Shades of the truth, but that was a luxury he couldn’t afford. “I have a gorgeous estate not far from here. Follow me in your own car if you’d prefer. That way if you get a funny vibe, you can just drive away. No harm, no foul.”
The sisters exchanged a look, then Jeri spoke up and held out her hand, expression serious. “Driver’s license?”
“Excuse me?”
“We’ll need to see your license and call our brother. He’s a two-hundred-thirty-pound former Navy SEAL with a really bad attitude toward anyone who’d hurt his baby sisters. He doesn’t hear from us in the morning, and he won’t bother with the cops. You get me? We’ll give him your info, you know, just in case.”
Michael stared at them, stunned. Then he chuckled. “Smart ladies. All right, sure.” Digging in his wallet, he thought,
No, dammit. This wasn’t about his best friend. It was about being himself, cutting loose. Bemused, he waited while Jeri scanned his ID and placed a call to the person she claimed was her brother. From what he could hear, the girl giving his name and address to the guy she called Jake and coaxing him not to make a “huge deal” of her and Jackie going home with Michael, was on the level.
Hanging up, she handed him back his license and grinned. “Okay! Who’s ready to party?”
Just like that, the tempting twins were back in action. On the way to their cars, the girls stopped to ooh and aah over his completely rebuilt ’69 Camaro Super Sport. Another point in their favor. Women smart enough to hand him over to their big, kick-ass brother and who knew an awesome classic car when they saw one were pretty cool in his book.
Yes, this night was looking good.
They followed him all the way home, and he couldn’t help a surge of pride as he let them in the gate and started up the long, stately drive. As he called Simon ahead on his iPhone, he wondered what their reactions would be and wasn’t disappointed.
Parking in front, he got out and waited on the steps. The pair emerged from their little Hyundai and stood gaping at the mansion.
“Oh, my God!” Jackie exclaimed. “What the hell do you
He laughed, enjoying their wide-eyed amazement. “Hardly. I just do stuff a lot of people can’t, or won’t.”
Jeri gave him a slack-jawed look. “Off the record, I’ll bet.”
That was a bit too close to the truth, so he led them to the door and let them in. “Shall we?” Simon, impeccably dressed though it was nearly eleven, met them in the foyer.
