Hidden Heat (12 page)

Grant pulled me down for a kiss, his breath shaky against my lips. “You’re fucking fantastic, you know that?”

“Can’t argue with that.” Scott lifted me off Grant’s lap and cradled me in his arms, stroking my hair as I recovered from the intense climax. “God, Holly, I wanted to push in there next to Grant.”

I’d never tried taking two guys at the same time, and lust flared through me anew. “You should have.”

He shook his head. “Not today. Maybe next time, when you’re more used to being with us both.”

I glanced over at Grant, who was half dazed, his eyes closed. “Deal. But now let me get you off.”

As soon as my palm grazed his stiff cock, Scott thrust into my touch, swallowing hard. I watched his face, affection overcoming me as I teased the man I was increasingly sure I was falling in love with.

“What do you want?” I asked him softly, and he shook his head.

“Your call, beautiful.”

Grant sat up slowly and shifted to one side, and I pushed Scott down into the space he’d created. I kissed a slow trail down his body, and Scott groaned. “Don’t tease, Holl, not now…”

Relenting, I slid farther down and took his cock into my mouth. He thrust up, trying to force himself deeper, and I closed a restraining hand around the base of his dick, limiting him to what I could take. While I licked and sucked my way down Scott’s shaft, Grant moved behind me and slid his fingers between my thighs.

My cry of surprised pleasure was muffled against Scott’s erection, but he felt it, all right, and twisted his fingers into my hair, coaxing me to take him deeper. I could feel him trembling, and knowing just how turned on he was made me even more desperate. I pushed back against Grant’s hand and then forward down Scott’s cock, over and over again, and as Grant went from teasing my clit to working three fingers inside my drenched cunt, I gasped and sighed and sucked until Scott moaned my name.

“Just a little more, sweet thing. Don’t stop…”

Grant continued to fuck me with confident fingers, pressing his lips against my lower back and murmuring things I couldn’t quite make out. I shoved back against him harder, faster, the smooth glide of his fingers in and out of my pussy almost enough, but not quite. He took the hint, curling his fingers further inside me, hitting my sweet spot with every thrust until I was almost sobbing for relief.

Scott fisted his fingers into my hair as I flicked my tongue over the sensitive spot on the underside of his cock. “Oh, God, Holly—I’m…”

He couldn’t finish the sentence, but I already knew he was past holding back. As he took his long-postponed release I drank the fluid down, relishing his groan of satisfaction. I continued to suck and lick until the tension had completely ebbed from his body, and then drew away to smile down at him.

Grant had slowed his caresses while Scott came, presumably watching him over my shoulder, but now he thrust his fingers deeper inside me, reminding me of my own heady lust. I moaned and pushed back against him again, my thighs shaking as the pleasure began to build higher than high.

As Scott recovered from his orgasm, he encouraged me to move up his body to meet his kiss, pinching and rubbing my nipples as Grant finger-fucked me from behind. It was almost too much, and I almost screamed with arousal and frustration, hot and shaking and halfway to insanity.

A couple more frantic thrusts sent me over the edge, and I collapsed onto Scott’s chest as intense pleasure surged through my cunt, the heat pulsing and receding gradually into a slow smoulder of satisfaction. Scott wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly, and Grant slid his fingers from my pussy to lie beside us, laughing breathlessly into my ear.

“Holy fuck, Holly, you nearly broke my fingers.”

I turned my head to give him a brief, grateful kiss, then grinned at him. “Hope not. I might need them later.”

“Nuh-uh.” Scott turned my attention firmly back to him. “His fingers can get in line behind my cock.”

While I laughed and kissed him, Grant snorted. “What, up your ass? Been there, done that.”

“Yeah, but not while I’ve been watching,” I pointed out, and both guys went quiet for a moment, pondering that.

“Good point,” Scott conceded, but none of us moved to do anything about it. We were all too exhausted, too blissed out.

I fully intended to remind them of the conversation once we’d rested for a while, though.

Epilogue

Later that night, wrapped in blankets with a deliciously used pussy and with a gorgeous man on either side of me, I watched the netcast with a dreamy eye. When the news ended, the time seemed to strike all three of us at once. It was almost nine and there’d been no communication from Beth.

“Is this normal?” I asked softly, trying not to get unduly worried, but it was hard to keep calm when both guys had tensed up.

“For Beth? No. She does everything to a schedule. Even when she has to incorporate a change of plan, she comes up with a way to reschedule everything.” Grant stared down at his watch, unease radiating from him. “I hope she’s okay.”

When I looked at Scott, my stomach turned over. His blue eyes were stormy, his brow creased in a frown. “I’m gonna call her.”

He kissed the side of my head, then slid out from under the pile of blankets and reached for a pair of sweatpants by the side of the bed. Despite the atmosphere in the room, I couldn’t stop myself from ogling his tight ass and firm thighs.

“Maybe she got held up? I know she said she was gonna talk to a specialist friend of hers about my operation.”

“I hope it’s nothing…but Beth’s always on time. She’s drummed it into us to be suspicious if she doesn’t check in when she says she will.” Shucking on a T-shirt, Scott headed for the bedroom door.

The soundproofing hissed shut behind him and Grant and I exchanged concerned looks. After a beat of silence we moved as one, grabbing our clothing and pulling it on as fast as we could. I hadn’t known Beth for long, but I knew one thing—she was good at what she did, and she was the pillar holding Scott and Grant up. I had no doubt there were many other fake Focused relying on her, too. If something had happened to her…

As I reached the foot of the stairs, Grant on my heels, Scott lowered himself onto the couch, his eyes staring at nothing, his lips in a tight, fearful line. I knew something was horribly, dreadfully wrong.

“What’s going on?” Grant passed me, put a hand on Scott’s shoulder as I hovered in the doorway, unsure what to do or say.

“I got Beth’s voicemail.”

“And…?” Grant prodded.

As if unable to make himself say the words, Scott called Beth again, then put the phone on speaker. The phone rang for interminable seconds, then the voicemail kicked in. Beth’s voice, low and urgent. “We’ve been compromised. Get to the safe houses. They’re coming for me. I’ll contact you when I can.”

Also available from Total-E-Bound Publishing:

Dominance and Deception

Amy Valenti

Excerpt

Chapter One

Pierce

“What do we have, Layton?” Draining my coffee cup and throwing it into the trash, I looked over at the rookie cop, who was frowning at something on his computer screen.

“Surveillance camera footage from outside the club—the smoking area.” Layton beckoned us over to his desk, and Beaumont and Santoro rose from their chairs to join us in front of the screen.

“There’s our victim, Samuel Leigh,” Beaumont pointed out, gesturing to a figure leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette.

“There’s a seriously hot chick,” Santoro added, tilting his head to the side as if that would enable him to get a three hundred and sixty degree view.

Wait. I know that face…
I scowled at the screen, recognition clicking into place in my mind.

“And there’s Santoro’s hot chick picking Sam Leigh’s pocket.” Layton glanced over at me. “We can get Faye to clean up the image, get a possible ID?”

“I already know her ID.” That got the team’s attention, and they remained silent, waiting for more. I gave them the bare minimum. “Laura Morgan.”

In my peripheral vision, I was dimly aware of someone stopping dead in their tracks, then changing course to approach. Glancing over, I recognised Faye Tate, one of our forensic specialists. She was the most efficient and the most beautiful, though I’d never breached the precinct’s protocol in order to ask her out.

I was gonna have my hands full enough with the woman who’d shown up in my case’s security footage.

“You know her, boss?” Layton asked.

“Uh-huh…” I stared at the image of the tall brunette, remembering times past and wondering exactly what else she’d been hiding from me back then.

“Let me guess,” Santoro said. “Gotta be an ex-girlfriend.”

“Yup.” They were gonna find out anyway.

Might as well get the revelation over with so they can focus on the case, rather than my romantic connection to Laura.

“Layton, pull me up her phone number—I don’t have it on me.”

As Layton obediently began to tap information into his computer, an interruption came from an unexpected quarter. “Cancel that order, Layton. I have her on speed-dial.”

Now
Faye had my attention. She leaned against Santoro’s desk, toying with her cell phone and avoiding my gaze, and my mind came up with an idea I hoped like hell wasn’t true.

Santoro beat me to the question. “How do you have Pierce’s ex’s number, Faye?”

She shrugged. “If you have the security tape of the dance floor, you’ll see.”

Layton switched to another tape, which showed the bar area and part of the dance floor. I transferred my suspicious glare from Faye to the screen and, in silence, we all watched Laura enter the picture, tucking something into her purse before grabbing the arm of a familiar, red-headed figure.

Faye.

While her image on-screen turned with a smile and hugged Laura, Faye stepped away from the team, hitting speed-dial and raising the phone to her ear. Quietly, she spoke to Laura, her voice a murmur I couldn’t quite make out.

“Ahh.” Empathetic as always, Erica Beaumont was the first to catch on, and she shot a sidelong glance at me, which I chose to ignore. Before my eyes, Laura and Faye headed onto the dance floor, beginning to move together in a dance that began as flirtatious, then became teasing, then overtly sensual.

I hardly needed to look over at Santoro and Layton to know they were both acting as though Christmas had come early. If it wasn’t for the fact I knew both of the women involved, I’d probably have found the wonderstruck expressions on my male cops’ faces amusing.

The whole team knew Faye was bisexual—when we’d all gone for drinks on Santoro’s birthday last year, she’d brought a female date. I didn’t get how Santoro and Layton could react exactly the same way today as they had then, but I had bigger things to worry about.

Faye ended the call just as the tape showed her pulling Laura into an almost possessive kiss. With an impatient growl, I rounded on her. “Stairwell, Faye. Now.”

She hesitated, then nodded. Without waiting for her to move, I took off at a stride, trying to quell the conflicting emotions demanding my attention without identifying any of them.

Behind me, Faye plucked the remote from Santoro’s hand and gave it to Beaumont with a pleading smile. “Do me a favour? Analyse the footage, but don’t let them—”

“
Over
analyse? Don’t worry, Faye.” I glanced back to watch Beaumont give her a knowing nod. Before anyone could begin to bombard her with questions, Faye took a deep breath and walked towards me.

We waited in silence for the stairwell door to close behind us, then I stepped forward, invading her personal space to scowl down at her. “You know she was my ex when you started dating?”

“We met the night you two split up,” Faye said, scuffing one boot against the concrete floor. “Laura was crying into her drink, and I asked her what was wrong. She told me she’d split up with someone, and I offered her a sympathetic ear, but it was nearly an hour before I figured out it was you, Zach, I swear.”

Exasperated, I verbally pushed her. “But you started a relationship with her anyway.”

“Why not?” Her voice was slightly rebellious. “You didn’t want her anymore. And don’t tell me you’ve never hit on a girl who’s on the rebound, just because she’s too pretty to be hurting alone?”

I had, and she probably knew it, but it wasn’t what I wanted to talk about—there were way more pressing issues at hand. “What did she tell you, Faye?”

She couldn’t stop herself smiling through her irritation. “Nothing bad that I hadn’t already figured out about you. I learned some interesting new things, though…”

My gut twisted, and I prayed I was wrong
.

If she knows…

I had no idea what I’d do then. “And you didn’t think to stop her out of courtesy to me?”

My confrontational tone just pissed her off. “Zach! She didn’t use your name until she’d started to repeat herself—how was I supposed to know she meant you?”

She had a good point, which irritated me even more. Forcing myself to calm down, I waited a few seconds before asking the vital question. “She tell you where we met?”

The air seemed to thicken with tension, and Faye’s eyes widened with sudden understanding. Even before she gave a brief nod, I saw it coming, and I cursed under my breath, backing off to give us both space while I processed the situation.

“So you know.” This was the one thing I’d planned never to reveal to her. My feelings for Faye were so complex that most days I couldn’t make sense of them, but I’d always known I wanted her. I’d kept it hidden for a long time, partly because she was a close friend and co-worker, but mostly because of the
way
I wanted her. Countless times I’d imagined her kneeling at my feet, waiting for me to subvert her to my will.