Mine Until Morning (5 page)

“Call Isabel,” Mac urged, as if he could read the desire and indecision on her face.

Slowly, she reached out for Kern’s cell. Mac’s fingers brushed her skin as he laid it in her palm, and she shivered.

She could only hope Kern would understand. Hell, of course, he would. He’d engineered it. Opening the phone, she hit Isabel’s speed dial. Isabel answered with “Mr. Dawson, I’ve already told you to talk to Dani. I can’t give you any information.”

“This is Dani, Isabel.”

“And you’re using Kern’s phone because?” She couldn’t read the note in Isabel’s voice, not censure, but more than mere curiosity. Which made Dani wonder at the first phone call Isabel had received from Mr. Dawson. Mac stared at her, waiting, almost willing her with his gaze to do what he wanted.

Dani did it. Whether he’d seduced her or she’d seduced herself, she couldn’t say. “I’ve told Mac everything, and I’m giving you permission to talk to him.”

“What does that mean, Dani?” She could almost hear Isabel’s fingernails tapping on her desk.

She held Mac’s gaze. “It means that he’s going to take over Kern’s role.”

Isabel let out a sigh. “I’m glad. That’s what you need. You shouldn’t go it alone now.”

That was it. She wasn’t letting Mac take care of her. She was in control, but now she didn’t have to do it alone. More than just the titillation, it was having someone to share it with afterward. Well, not that she’d go home to Mac. He waggled his fingers for the cell.

The simple gesture made her feel better than she had in weeks. “He wants to talk to you.” Dani gave the phone away.

31

The Only Way Out

Mac slouched in his seat, propped his foot on his knee, and put the cell to his ear. “I understand we’re doing a ménage.” He laughed at whatever Isabel said.

“I prefer to have her do a couple rather than two men . . . I’m aware finances are the biggest concern, but I’d be willing to bet you’ll find a couple easily.” He snorted.

Dani imagined him in his office negotiating a business contract exactly the same way. Authoritative, knowing what he wanted and how far he was willing to go to get it. Her heart beat faster, her skin buzzed, and she was wet.

“When you find them, I want a meet first.” He paused, shook his head as if Isabel could see. “If they’re not willing, they’re not the right couple.” Then he smiled with a decidedly wicked cast to it. “I want someone who gets off on having to go through me to get to her.” Another pause. “Exactly. It ups the stakes.” Then he looked at Dani, held her with a mesmerizing gaze. “They need to understand, too, that I’ll be there to watch and protect. She does nothing without me.”

Goose bumps raced across her flesh. He was laying down the law with her as well as with Isabel. His voice did something to her. His attitude. His strength. Her breath felt shallow in her chest, and her fingertips tingled. How would she feel having him watch?

Terrified. Excited. Mac. Oh my God. She was completely enthralled.

“No, I’ll drive her,” he was saying; then he nodded. “What about remuneration?” He listened.

Isabel was obviously telling him a bit about how Courtesans worked. The agency got a finder’s fee. The courtesans didn’t charge; they received tips, which could be anything from cash to jewelry and other gifts. The price wasn’t set; it was alluded to. Isabel, however, didn’t suffer cheapskates for long.

“Fine,” he said. “You can call me when you have someone.” He rattled off his cell number. “Sure.” He held the phone out. “She wants to talk to you.”

Laying the cell on the table, he slid it across to her, as if he were afraid he might accidentally touch her again.

She retrieved it, not allowing her eyes to drop as she put it to her ear. “I’m here.”

“Honey,” Isabel murmured, “this is going to be good for you, I swear it. Just go with it. Don’t fight it.”

“I don’t have much choice,” she said, and Mac’s mouth curved in a slight 32

The Only Way Out

smile.

“You have more choice than you know.”

Right. Isabel hadn’t seen Mac’s anger and incredulity, but she wouldn’t argue the point in front of him. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

They ended with polite good-byes. Snapping the cell closed, Dani clasped her hands, holding it against her abdomen. A hiccup of emotion rose up. Kern’s phone. They’d done it all as if Mac had stepped right into Kern’s shoes, right down to using his cell phone.

“There, it’s arranged.” Mac tipped his head as if waiting for her reaction.

“Fine,” she said. It wouldn’t be good to let him think he had the upper hand in any way.

“You’ll meet them with me.”

She raised a brow.

“We’re partners now,” he explained.

Her heart tripped. With Kern, she’d led. He might have done the arranging and created the illusion of authority, but she’d made her own choices. Mac was a whole different story. But she was in control; she could call a halt to it at any time, and she’d play along only until she didn’t like it anymore. Right now, the priority was paying off the debt. Her emotions about how it was done were secondary. “All right, we’re partners. We’ll meet them together.”

“When the date comes off, I go with you. I drive you. I make sure you’re safe. I’m there.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “Or the deal’s off.”

Oh yeah. She’d bitten off more than she could chew. Yet her body thrummed to this new development. She felt compelled to see it through, that primeval part of her brain shouting at her, Yes, yes, yes, anything he wants. “Fine.” She wouldn’t, however, completely roll over for him. “But don’t push me too far.”

He rose, buttoned his suit jacket. “You need to remember one thing.”

“What?”

He leaned over her, grabbing the arms of her chair, caging her. God, he smelled good. Yeah, right, she was so in control.

“I’m not my brother,” he said softly, drawing one finger down her cheek.

“And I’m not going to just sit in the corner and watch.”

33

The Only Way Out

5

SATURDAY NIGHT, SAN FRANCISCO, THE RESTAURANT WAS PACKED and noisy, the menu, Greek food. Which was only natural when you considered the client’s name was Spryo Stamos. He’d secured them a secluded booth in the back corner, which, Mac was sure, was due to both his wealth and the fact that he reserved this same booth every time he and his much younger wife visited from New Jersey.

What happens in San Francisco stays in San Francisco, Mac thought. Like the good little madam Mac assumed she was, Isabel had called him Saturday morning, two days after that heart-to-heart with Dani. She had a suitable couple in mind. Since he was the pimp, he didn’t ask for Dani’s input, but instead made a date for dinner that evening. If he approved, he would allow her to go to their hotel room. He enjoyed the power of giving the thumbs-up or down. Of course, if he decided to say yes, he would accompany her at all times. The couple understood that dinner was the interview. His blood swooshed through his veins, his heart a steady throb, his senses attuned to Dani’s every move, every breath. Next to her, touching her, he felt fucking alive.

“We’ve never done this before,” Jessica Stamos was saying. The meal plates had been removed, the coffee and baklava ordered, the polite conversation at an end, and now they were down to the details. Mac seriously doubted it was Jessica’s first time for a little kink as she fluttered her heavily made-up eyes at him. Obviously she thought he was on the menu, too. He laid his arm along the back of the booth, twirling his fingers in Dani’s hair. She wore it down and curled. It was close to silk against his skin. “Everything is a first with Dani,” he said, his voice low enough that Spryo, seated across from him, had to lean in to hear.

The noise level, in effect, cocooned them. Mac had seated the women on the inside, the men on the outside. He didn’t want Spryo touching Dani until he, Mac, was ready. If. He’d been making up his mind during dinner, assessing, analyzing, and making sure Dani felt his presence every moment. Right now, her body was plastered against his. He could feel each twitch of her body. 34

The Only Way Out

“Tell me, Spryo, what do you and Jessica have in mind for the evening?” he asked.

Somewhere in his early fifties, with a large beak of a nose, steel gray hair, and eyes so dark they were almost black, Stamos was a barrel-chested man and no less powerful in spite of his diminutive height. It didn’t seem to bother him that his wife wore heels that put her at least five inches taller. The high heels spoke more to his self-confidence than to hers. Spryo Stamos would be hell in a boardroom, Mac was sure. He’d have enjoyed any ensuing battle. Yet here, Stamos was milquetoast for the little lady. Taking Jessica’s hand in his, he turned her wrist to his lips and laid a kiss on her skin. “My Jessica wishes to pleasure me with another woman’s help.” He spoke with a slight accent. Raising his brows and giving an eloquently European shrug of his shoulders, he added, “Who am I to deny her such a thing?”

Who indeed? Was he doing it for the wife, or she for him? Mac couldn’t tell. He trailed a hand down Dani’s bare arm. She wore a sexy, strapless evening dress that hugged every curve.

“How do you feel about that, sweetheart? Helping Jessica to pleasure Spryo?”

She was ten of Jessica Stamos. Mac had never been into the buxom redhead type. Dani shivered against him, whether from his caress or the mental image, he couldn’t tell. He knew only what it did to him. He couldn’t keep his hands off her now if he tried.

Dani batted her eyelashes at Stamos, then smiled sweetly at Jessica. “It would be one of the most exciting things I’ve done.” Her voice was low, husky, seductive, designed to make a man hard in an instant. Christ, she was good. Mac was totally into the game. It was no mystery now why this had been such a hot scenario for Kern and Dani. But tonight, she wasn’t his brother’s wife; she was just Dani, and she was his to give away as he wished. Or not. Mac was as hard as ever in his life.

He leaned in for the scent of her hair, laying his hand on her thigh a moment. A tremble only he could feel coursed through her body, and her breasts rose with a deep breath, giving him a magnificent view straight down her cleavage. Dani touched Jessica’s hand, and there wasn’t the slightest note of reaction in her voice as she said, “What else would you like to do for your husband?”

Jessica cast her green eyes from Stamos to Mac and finally back to Dani. “I think I’d like to watch him fuck you, help guide his cock inside you, kiss him 35

The Only Way Out

while he’s doing it.” She ended with a giggle, a hand over her mouth. “He’s very big, you know. I like big men.” She wasn’t talking about his height. Giving Mac a long, meaningful look, the woman’s scheme became clear. She’d give this to her husband, and it would be her turn next. If not tonight with Mac, then some other night with another man.

Dani made an appreciative sound, then tipped her head to look at him through her lashes. She’d figured out the score, too. Since Stamos was obviously no idiot, Mac decided he’d figured it out, too, and was fine with it. Stamos let his gaze trail Dani’s curves above the table, her mouth, her hair, then back to her breasts. The look was a visual licking of his lips. Something swirled inside Mac. Jealousy. Desire. An image of Stamos’s cock driving into Dani. Jessica’s greedy eyes. The combination of Dani’s body heat along his side, her scent in his head, and his raging emotions thrust him higher, made him harder. This was living on the edge. Where you couldn’t decide whether you wanted a thing, yet were almost sure it would be so fucking hot, you’d explode with the first touch.

He rose from the booth. “If you’ll excuse us, I believe it’s time for my lady and I to confer in private.” He held out his hand to Dani. As she laid her fingers across his, a core of heat burst inside him. His suit jacket still buttoned, his erection hidden beneath, he wanted to drill her here and now.

“Back in a moment,” she said lightly, fluttering her hand at the Stamoses. The couple bent their heads together the moment he and Dani were swallowed up by the restaurant’s cacophony.

“What say you, oh Master?” Dani quipped.

He squeezed her fingers. “Outside.” At the front, he pushed through the queue waiting for tables, and once on the sidewalk, he pulled her into the small alcove of a closed shop next door. The street teemed with people, cars, and noise, but here in the dim entry, they were all but invisible.

“So?” Dani’s gaze darted over his face.

He shoved her up against the wall, pressed his body into hers, bracketing her throat with his hand. She was close enough to eat. “I never thought I’d say it,”

he murmured, his mouth within striking distance, “but fuck, I want this.”

MAC’S BREATH PUFFED IN, OUT, CARESSED HER LIPS. AS BAD AS HE

wanted it, Dani wanted it more. She’d always thought him so staid and vanilla. 36

The Only Way Out

He was anything but. He’d teased her mercilessly during dinner, touching, caressing, drawing in the scent of her hair and her skin as if he were stating his ownership to the Stamoses. If he lifted her dress, she’d let him fuck her right up against the wall.

Her chest ached with need. It had to be the newness with Mac, the sense of the unknown. Yet even in the beginning, Kern had never vibrated with such intensity. Nor had she. Her heart ached with the knowledge.