Boston Avant-Garde 6: Chiaroscuro (18 page)

“How can you be so calm about this?” She made an emphatic gesture in the direction Isabel had fled. “That woman dumped Lars at the worst possible moment, and now she thinks she’s going to get him
back?
Worse, they’re going out this Friday night? Why wouldn’t he say anything? Or did you know already?”

Owen shrugged off her interrogation. He was standing close enough that his scent managed to momentarily distract her from her righteous anger. Evergreen, fresh air, and something else that was so masculine it made her tingle all over. She experienced a sensation of familiarity that left her feeling more in tune with Owen than she ever should have felt with a man she’d met only a scant few days ago.

He folded her against his body. “We can talk about all that later. I think I’d rather focus on the fact that you just called me yours. Why?”

It seemed silly to say she’d only done it because she couldn’t stand the thought of him belonging to anyone else. She pressed her nose against the warm skin above the collar of his T-shirt. He stroked her hair, letting his fingers trail down her back before settling on the curve of her ass. The desire that always hummed away in the background roared to the front of her mind. Her core grew damp with arousal, and she wanted to beg Owen to take her right there in the stall.

His eyes gleamed with barely leashed passion. “I can smell your need, baby.”

“That’s what makes you mine.” She whispered the words before stretching up on tiptoe to kiss him.

It was like igniting an inferno. He let her be the aggressive one, staying passive as she molded her mouth to his while twisting her fingers into his shirt. He growled, and her pussy clenched. Her crotch was damp already, and he hadn’t even touched her.

She broke away, panting. “Owen, we have to stop.”

His chuckle gave her chills. He pushed her into the back corner until a display of seascapes hid them from the sidewalk outside. Turning her until her back was flush with his front, he anchored her against his body with one steely arm.

“I’m going to make you come, baby,” he murmured.

Sensual excitement mingled with panic. “Here?”

“You and I both know you want it.”

Without any further explanation, he slid his hand beneath her waistband. She choked on a moan as he delved between her swollen pussy lips. It felt so good. She wriggled her hips because she couldn’t stop them. Her body knew what it wanted whether or not the venue was appropriate.

“Baby, you’re so hot and wet my cock is about to strangle to death wanting to be inside you.” He pushed one finger through her slick folds and buried it in her pussy. “Squeeze me tight. Show me it feels good.”

She clenched her inner muscles on his finger, bearing down until she was trembling on the brink of orgasm. When she would’ve begged him to go fast, he gave her long, slow strokes. In and out with one finger and then two, and then a third clever digit circling her clitoris until she was gasping with desire.

Keeping silent became imperative. She gripped the arm he’d wrapped around her until her nails dug into his skin. He didn’t flinch, continuing his maddeningly steady penetration and retreat. She was so aware of the possibility of being discovered, and yet she was unbothered. If someone wanted to watch Owen bring her to climax, so what? She needed it, would die without it.

If only Lars could see us.

Excitement flared as she imagined what their other lover would do if he were there. Would he cup her breasts and twist her nipples until she cried out with the intense pleasure? Or would he fondle her breasts while he and Owen tangled their tongues together in a toe-curling kiss?

The image sent her spiraling into instant bliss. She free fell into orgasm, her pussy clenching around Owen’s fingers as her body drenched his hand in her fluids. Surprise made her weak in the knees.

Did I just ejaculate?

Owen’s body grew still as he withdrew his hand from her baggy jeans. “Fuck, Mattie, fuck me. That is so hot.”

She craned her neck to try to gauge his expression. Before she could ask him to clarify, he lifted his hand to his mouth and licked it clean. The sight did unbelievable things to her. She was achy with sensual desire but filled with warmth that had nothing to do with sexuality and everything to do with emotions she couldn’t believe she was allowing herself to experience.

“I’m scared, Owen,” she whispered.

She could see him mentally changing gears, going from sex god to protector in the span of three seconds. “Of what, baby?”

“Of you and Lars, and what you make me feel for you both.” She squirmed in his arms until she could lay her cheek against his chest. “I never expected to be attached to two men at once. It’s not how I planned things.”

OWEN REALIZED THAT Mattie was voicing the feelings that had caused her to reject Lars’s offer that morning. How had he managed to become the calm, rational one arguing in favor of this insane relationship? He’d never felt so inept in his life, but this wasn’t the time to let her know that.

He struggled to find the words to say what she needed to hear. “Sometimes life has other plans than the ones we make.”

“People won’t accept us.”

“They’ve never accepted me, so I can’t comment on that.” He loved her innocence, wanted to protect it as long as he could, but knew life would never let her live on like that forever. “You can’t live your life for other people. You have to do what makes you happy, and let them worry about themselves.”

There was something else. He could feel it bubbling beneath her words. It didn’t take a mind reader to know what she was truly afraid of. It had been her go-to excuse from the very beginning.

Owen tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and put his thumb beneath her chin to force her to look up at him. “Lars never mentioned anything to me about going out with Isabel, but I know him well enough to believe he’s not intentionally lying about it.”

“How can you be sure?” She nervously worried her lower lip between her teeth.

“Because that’s not like him. Think about it. Would he really have another relationship going on with this bullshit cycle of love and self-hatred he has going on? Especially when this Isabel person is the one who screwed him over in the beginning? He’s not an idiot.”

He could see her mind working. Her eyes grew hopeful. “And Isabel said it was more their mothers than them. So you think his mother is pushing him at her?”

“According to Selena, his mother is twice as domineering as hers, so yeah. I think it’s highly possible.” Owen didn’t bother going into the litany of complaints he’d heard Selena make about her aunt over the last few months. The only thing that had kept Malachi from stepping in was Demon’s firm decision they wouldn’t interfere until Selena asked them to.

Mattie nuzzled his chest. “So, you think if we ask him not to go, he’ll ditch her?”

“Why do I get the feeling it would give you great pleasure to see Isabel get dumped?”

“Because she deserves it?” The impish gleam in her eyes was irresistible.

Owen leaned down and gave her a lingering kiss. She reached up and tangled her hands in his hair, tugging until he deepened the kiss. He had the odd thought that this woman had been meant for two men. There was no world in which Mattie would have ever been satisfied with the pleasure only one man could provide.

Chapter Fifteen

Lars’s desktop was cluttered with details from the case Interpol had kicked his way. So far it wasn’t engrossing him the way a new puzzle usually would have. It wasn’t that his job no longer held his interest. It was more that his interests were shifting focus. Or specifically, he was 100 percent mentally invested in Mattie’s issues with Meecham and Hyde. This left him with very few brain waves left to care about car thefts on three continents.

At the unexpected knock on the office door, Lars looked up.

“Mr. Aasen?” Erik’s secretary poked her head into his office. Lars knew Anita had been with his cousin for years here in Boston. Long before Erik had even met Talia. Generally speaking, Anita didn’t interrupt unless there was an ironclad reason.

Lars pasted a pleasant expression on his face. “Did you need something?”

She stepped into the office and closed the door behind her. “I would have sent you a message via your laptop, but there’s a gentleman here to see you, and he doesn’t have an appointment.” Anita handed him a business card. “I do recognize him, though, if you’re interested in knowing the nature of his past associations with the Aasen family.”

Lars was beginning to get the feeling he wasn’t going to like what he was about to discover. “Please feel free to be candid.”

“Mr. Sorenson is the private investigator Ms. Annaline Aasen hires. Generally he is asked to discover something she wishes to know about one of her children. We hire another firm to pursue business interests.”

“Is that right?” Lars quelled the urge to groan out loud. “Go ahead and send him in, Anita. Consider me appropriately warned.”

“As you wish, sir.” Anita offered a sympathetic smile and stepped back out.

Moments later a man sauntered through the door. His card read Cade Sorenson, private investigations and security consultant. His demeanor suggested he was a lot more than that. He moved in a deliberately casual way designed to give a false impression of the lethal abilities that lay beneath his exterior. Lars was well acquainted with the tactic since he employed it himself.

Sorenson extended his hand. “I don’t believe we’ve ever had the pleasure, Mr. Aasen. Please call me Cade.”

“No, we have not.” Lars intentionally withheld permission for the man to use his first name, wanting to see what if anything he’d do. “Can I help you with something?”

Cade Sorenson had body language down to an art. He exuded nonchalance while managing to hide what was most likely spec ops training beneath it. Lars had known many men like Cade. They were twice as dangerous because they worked hard to make you think they were anything but. The investigator’s hair was so blond it was almost white. It was short, although a loose hank continually fell in his eyes. The look made him seem almost boyish, a direct contrast to the tightly coiled lean muscle packed into his slender frame.

Cade took the seat across the desk from Lars without being invited and lounged insolently in the chair for several seconds before speaking. “I generally don’t inform my targets that I’ve been hired to dig around in their lives.”

All things aside, Lars had to admit he liked this man. It was refreshing for someone to cut straight to the point and avoid the inevitable hedging. “I’m going to hazard a guess that my mother has hired you to follow me?”

“You would be right.” Cade seemed to come to a decision in his mind. “Of course, being hired to tail an Interpol agent isn’t the most ironic bit of this particular case.”

Lars was willing to play along. “Okay, I’ll bite. What is?”

“A good portion of my income is from scoping out one or the other party in prospective alliances between prominent families.” Cade almost seemed to enjoy the telling, so Lars let him have it. “This is the first time I’ve ever been hired by both of the mothers involved to”—he seemed to be searching for the exact wording—“discover what’s keeping their children from committing already.”

Had Lars been alone in the office, he would have cursed out loud. “Am I to understand Mrs. Adams-Channing is part of this investigation?”

“That’s right.”

“Have you informed Isabel that her mother hired you for this purpose?” Lars wondered if his former fiancée was in on this as well.

“No, I have not.” For the first time in their conversation, Cade seemed troubled.

Lars wondered if his status as Interpol legally prevented Cade from investigating him. “So am I going to be seeing you loitering about when I look over my shoulder?”

Cade shook his head and pushed his hair out of his eyes. “No. I’ll be contacting your mother this evening to explain it isn’t in your best interest or mine for me to be trailing around after an Interpol agent. It would have been most helpful had she divulged that information straightaway.”

Lars offered Cade a wry smile. “Yet it would’ve been completely unlike my mother. She tends not to think things all the way through.”

“Are you and Isabel involved?” Cade asked suddenly.

Lars wondered at the direct nature of the question. It seemed out of character for a man used to employing finesse to get information. “We were engaged at one time, as I imagine you were told. We’ve not been involved since the dissolution of that agreement many years ago. Why?”

“No reason.” Cade stood up as if to underscore the end of their conversation. “I’ll leave you to your work. And I apologize for any inconvenience.”

The door shut with a
click
, and Lars was left alone with his racing thoughts. He wondered if it would be worthwhile to confront his mother. She wasn’t the type to deny her intentional interference. In fact Lars was a little surprised she hadn’t announced herself to begin with.

I could end this whole issue if I’d just come clean with her.

The idea held no appeal. Lars knew there would come a time when he couldn’t put it off any longer, but he wasn’t there yet. He kept imagining the look on her face when he told her he would
never
be able to provide the precious grandchildren she wanted so badly. Had there ever been a time he’d failed her like he would at that moment?

An IM box from Anita popped up on the screen. He’d barely managed to register the message before the office door swung open, and Mattie walked in with Owen on her heels.

“Surprise!” Mattie was bubbling over with mischief as if she had a wonderful secret and was bursting to tell it. “Bet you didn’t expect to see us.”

Considering she’d told him that morning she couldn’t be the “girl with the two husbands,” he was more than surprised. Mattie flung herself at Lars, and he held her close. Gazing over the top of her head at Owen, he silently asked his other lover for an explanation.

Owen didn’t answer. He clicked the lock on the door instead. Lars raised his brows, trying to find his equilibrium. After the emotional roller coaster of the last twenty-four hours, he was almost afraid to hope.