Van, Becca - Her Shadow Men [Slick Rock 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “I’ve got it, honey,” Daniel said, and she tried not to tense up when he placed a hand at her elbow to steady her. “It looks and smells delicious, Debbie.”

  “It’s nothing special,” Debbie said with a shrug and moved away, but he followed her.

  “You smell real nice, honey.”

  Debbie lowered her head when she felt heat in her cheeks. She didn’t know how to respond to compliments. Sure, men had flattered her before, but she still didn’t know how to handle them. She kept her eyes to the floor and prayed for someone to take the attention off of her.

  “Deb, can you give me a hand taking out the salads? We’re eating out on the deck,” Leah stated.

  “Sure,” Deb replied and hurried over to Leah’s side. Once the table was set and the men were in their element at the grill, Deb accepted the glass of wine Leah offered. Only after she took a sip did she remember her friend was pregnant.

  “I forgot you wouldn’t be drinking. Sorry, Leah, I should have thought.”

  “What do you have to be sorry for? You didn’t make me pregnant,” Leah stated then burst into laughter. Deb couldn’t help but laugh as well. “Just drink up and enjoy.”

  Debbie was more than happy to do so. As soon as she sat down she felt the day’s work lift from her.

  “I’m going to place an ad in the local paper tomorrow, to hire someone on,” Debbie told Leah.

  “Girl, you have the one and only lingerie store in town. Of course business is booming. Women love to know they can pick out pretty lingerie to wear. It’s about time you hired someone to help you out. You need to have some down time so you don’t burn out.”

  “Yeah, I guess. I just didn’t expect to do so well since I’m new in town. I thought it would take months before I started making any profit. I can’t believe how well the shop is doing.”

  “You set up a shop which was needed. I’m not surprised, Deb. Congratulations and may you keep reaping the rewards,” Leah said and toasted Debbie with her glass of orange juice.

  “Leah, I need a plate to put the steak and ribs on when they’re cooked. Can you get me one please?” Connell called.

  “I’ll get it, you sit and relax,” Debbie declared.

  “Thanks, it’s in the cupboard above the oven,” Leah said.

  Debbie pulled the large platter from the cupboard and turned her head when she felt large hands at her waist. She looked up into Britt’s blue eyes.

  “What do you want?” she asked as she turned to face him. Britt pulled the plate from her hands and set it on the counter behind him. He placed his hand back on her waist and stared down at her. Then he slowly lifted her off her feet until she was almost at eye level with him. She clutched at his shoulders, and instinctively her legs wrapped around his waist to hold her against his form.

  “This,” Britt replied, and then his mouth was on hers. His lips were so soft and warm. He didn’t come on too strong. He brushed his flesh across hers, and she felt his tongue lick over her lips.

  Debbie couldn’t prevent a moan from escaping as she opened to him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and the other beneath her ass as he supported her weight while he devoured her mouth. She clung to his shoulders and slid her tongue along his. Her breasts ached with need, and she rubbed her nipples on his chest through her clothes, trying to ease the tension. He kissed her again and again, tasting every inch of her mouth. She knew she should stop him and pull away, but she couldn’t seem to find the strength to do so.

  She gasped into his mouth when she felt another pair of hands slide around her from behind, and then her nipples were being pinched. She tightened her legs around Britt and began to rock her hips against his straining cock. She wasn’t even aware of her shirt and bra being undone until warm fingers touched her naked nipples. She mewed when Britt thrust against her, the head of his denim-covered cock rubbing on her cloth-covered clit. She sobbed into his mouth, her limbs shaking as she climaxed for the first time in over two years.

  The hands at her breasts eased away and slid around to her back. When her bra was done up, those hands soothed her back, belly, and waist with soft caresses.

  Britt had slowed the kiss, and he removed his lips from hers. She stared up into his blue eyes and felt her cheeks heat with shame. God, she had just come in her best friend’s kitchen. What the hell is wrong with me? She lowered her gaze, and removed her legs from around Britt’s waist. He eased her down to the floor and held her until she was steady. Debbie was so embarrassed that she couldn’t think of a single thing to say to him. She did the only thing she could think of, which was to pick up the platter and dart outside. She didn’t dare look back to see Britt’s reaction.

  She had just led two men on without meaning to. Now they were going to think she was an easy lay. That certainly wasn’t the case. She’d only ever had three men in her life. The first was her crazy ex, and then there had been Connell and Seamus, who had loved her together.

  She knew now she had been too young and immature to note the difference between infatuation and love. She wished she could turn back the clock and still be a virgin.

  She took the plate over to Connell and sat down beside Leah. There was no way she was giving Britt and Daniel room to put the moves on her again. Not if she could help it.

  “Are you all right, Debbie? You look a little flushed,” Leah observed.

  “I’m fine. This is really nice wine, Leah. What is it?” Debbie asked, trying to divert the conversation’s track.

  “Debbie, you’re going to have to face the fact you are attracted to those two men. You can lie to yourself as much as you want, but we both know you are going to end up in their arms and their bed,” Leah said quietly. “Besides, from all the moaning I heard you doing I’d say they’ve already half succeeded.”

  “Oh God. You heard that?” Debbie asked, looking up to see Leah smiling at her. She cringed when her friend nodded.

  “Did your men hear, too?”

  “No, honey, just me. So did they get you off, or did they just kiss you?”

  “Leah, you are incorrigible,” Debbie whispered.

  “Well, that answers that question. I don’t really need to ask the next one.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I was going to ask if it was any good, but I know from the sounds you were making it was. Oh, oh, here they come. Ooh, they look so determined and they’re staring right at you. Girl, you don’t stand a chance.”

  Debbie just shot Leah a glare and looked down at her hands, once again clenched in her lap. She sighed and let her tense muscles relax when Daniel and Britt walked over to the grill. She could hear the men laughing and joking as they stood around the grill. It wasn’t long before the four men walked back toward the table, the cooked meat on the platter.

  “I forgot the dinner rolls, I’ll be back in a moment,” Leah said and hurried into the house before Debbie could do it for her. She looked up at Connell and Seamus and smiled as they sat down across from her. She couldn’t help but tense up again when Britt and Daniel sat on either side of her, but she didn’t look at them. Debbie tried to ignore the two brothers, but it was impossible. As they all sat around eating and talking, Britt and Daniel plied her with questions. It would have been rude of her to ignore them totally. So she decided to keep her answers short and sweet without any emotion in her voice.

  When the meal was over, Debbie helped Leah clean up, load the dishwasher, and make the coffee. By the time they had finished she was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open. Britt, Daniel, and Debbie said their thank-yous and good-byes.

  In the car, Debbie leaned her head back against the seat headrest. She was glad tomorrow was Saturday and she only had a half day to work at the shop. Sunday, she planned to sleep until she woke naturally, without the piercing shriek of her alarm. She had always been an early riser, but felt like she could sleep for a week.

  She must have drifted off because the next thing she knew, Britt was leaning over her unbuckling her seat belt. S
he looked up at him through sleep-hazed eyes and couldn’t help but smile at him. He was so sexy, and even though she should work at keeping him and his brother at arm’s length, she was failing miserably.

  Britt helped her out of the truck and placed an arm around her waist. He guided her up the stairs to her apartment and waited while she rummaged in her purse for her key. She was about to place the key in her lock, but Britt took it from her hand and did it for her and opened her door.

  “Thank you. Good night,” Debbie said and took a step away from him. She didn’t get very far. He wrapped an arm around her waist, turned her to face him, bent down, and took her lips with a kiss so gentle and tender it brought tears to her eyes. She blinked and looked away, only to connect with Daniel’s green eyes. He took her by the shoulders and kissed her, too. By the time the kiss was over, her pussy clenched and her clit throbbed. She walked into her apartment and began to close the door.

  “Don’t think this is over, Debbie. We’ve only just started,” Britt stated, and she could see by the determination in his eyes that he wasn’t about to let her push him and his brother away. She closed the door, shot the bolt, and leaned against the timber. Without a physical barrier to keep them apart, she didn’t know if she had the will or the strength to push them away.

  Chapter Three

  As his brother pulled into the driveway, Britt realized he had spent the entire car ride home lost in his fantasies of Debbie and their encounter in the kitchen. Daniel put the car in park and looked across the cab of the truck. Britt met his brother’s gaze and saw his own desires reflected back at him.

  Britt confessed what he had been thinking for the entire ride home. “God, she’s such a sexy little thing. My dick is so hard and I swear my balls are turning blue already.” Wincing, he adjusted his cock.

  “Yes, she is.” Clearly lost in his own fantasy, Daniel stared out the windshield toward the darkened house. “I could just drown in those pretty eyes of hers. They go so dark and stormy when she’s turned on. I can’t believe you made her come and you didn’t even have her naked. I can’t wait to get my mouth on that sweet, creamy pussy of hers.”

  Recalling the way Debbie had fled the kitchen, Britt shook his head. “She’s going to fight us. She’s wary and nervous, but she wants us too. She was embarrassed after I made her come so easily. She could hardly look me in the eye,” Britt explained.

  “I think she’s commitment shy. You and I both know what her ex was like. After him, she went out with Leah’s husbands, but Seamus told me that was over two years ago. That didn’t work out either.”

  “Yeah, she has a commitment phobia all right. But, man, did she eat you up with her eyes when you weren’t looking at her,” Britt said. He smiled to himself. “At least she knows how a ménage works. We won’t have to be worried about her running scared on account of that.”

  Daniel continued to gaze out the windshield, and Britt wondered if his brother was even listening. “I love it when she leaves her hair down. God, that hair is so wild, with all those blonde waves and kinks. Those eyes of hers turn dark gray when she’s aroused. I’ll bet she wears the sexiest lingerie we can imagine. I wish we could have stripped her down in that kitchen and touched her sweet-smelling skin,” Daniel rasped. “Shit, we’ve got to change the subject. It’s getting downright painful sitting here with my cock so hard it’s aching.”

  “Yeah, I hear you, brother.” Britt opened the passenger door. They’d sat here long enough, and he wanted to clear his head. “I’m going to see what we have from the agency. There’s been a lot of criminal activity lately. I don’t like it. I feel like something big is going down, but until we have our next assignment we just have to sit pretty. I guess that’ll give us more time to work on our woman.”

  Daniel only nodded. It seemed as though his thoughts were still being pulled that direction. Britt decided to give him a minute alone.

  Britt was inside the house making a pot of coffee before he heard Daniel enter. He looked up to see his brother reaching for two coffee mugs. It was going to be a long night. Once he had a full mug in his hand, Britt went to the study while Daniel turned on the TV. He booted up his computer and listened to the messages on the answering machine. Most of them were just friends and family touching base, but the last message made him sit up straight in his chair. It was from the head of the agency, and he didn’t like what he heard one little bit.

  Fuck. He didn’t need to have to deal with this shit right now. He wanted to concentrate on getting Debbie into his bed. He sighed and rose to feet. He needed to talk to his brother.

  “What’s up?” Daniel asked as soon as he entered the room.

  Britt and Daniel were more in tune with each other than most brothers. They had gone through an elite training program with nearly all aspects of the military and were third dan black belts in karate. They could lose themselves amongst shadows and become nearly invisible to the human eye. They had learned their trade well and were that good at hiding.

  They could move with speed and stealth and were lightning fast when necessary. They had made up their own language using hand signals and facial expressions. Just the twitch of an eyebrow could mean the difference between life and death. They worked out regularly, pushing their bodies to the limit of their strength and endurance, but it was all necessary if they were to survive pitting themselves against the evil in the world.

  “We have a problem. That bomber we put away a few years back has managed to escape from prison. He’s as good as announced he’s headed for us,” Britt stated and took a seat on the sofa.

  “Do you mean Glen Parker?”

  “Yeah.” Britt rubbed his face. The news of the breakout was unwelcome, but now that Parker was out, it was no surprise that the man was heading for them. Britt still remembered Parker shouting “Like for like” across the courtroom at them. He blamed Britt and Daniel for the loss of his family, and he had promised he would get the Delaneys back.

  “Fuck. How the hell would he know where we are? We never use credit cards to travel, we always use cash,” Daniel said, his frustration apparent.

  “We just bought a house, Dan. How hard would it be to find our names in the town records?”

  “How long has he been on the run?”

  “A couple of days.”

  “Shit. Do you think he had inside help to find us? It would have taken a lot longer to find us without it,” Daniel said.

  “That’s what I was thinking, but I don’t think so. As far as anyone around here knows we are just deputy marshals. The other operatives wouldn’t sell anyone out. Parker must have had access to a computer while he was in prison. He probably did a search on our names and they came up because of our property purchase,” Britt speculated.

  “Wait a minute. Didn’t Debbie know we were some sort of some sort of government operatives? How the hell could she have known that?” Daniel asked.

  “No way, Dan. She had nothing to do with it. She probably got her information from Leah. Seamus and Connell knew who we worked for. We told them when Leah was in trouble.”

  “Shit, I know. I didn’t really think she had sold us out. I’m just grasping at straws.” Daniel paused as though realizing something. “God, we are going to have to keep an eye on Debbie. If this guy comes to town, she is going to be in danger because of us. Glen Parker is one mean son of a bitch.”

  “I know. I’ll call Sheriff Luke Sun-Walker and Damon Osborne. I’ll have them keep an eye out for anyone new to town, just in case he’s not working alone. I’ll also send him a photo of the bastard. There’s not much we can do but watch over her,” Britt stated.

  “Oh, I don’t know about that. I want her living here with us. The sooner she’s in our house and our bed I will feel so much better,” Daniel said.

  “I will, too, Dan. But you and I both know that’s not going to happen for a while. She’s going to baulk every time we get near her.”

  “But she will give in eventually. As much as I know she wants t
o resist us, I’m not sure she can,” Daniel replied with a smile.

  “From now on, I think one of us should take her lunch every day. She’ll get used to us being around faster,” Britt declared.

  “Good idea. I’ll go first,” Daniel pronounced. Despite the circumstances and the dangers that might lie ahead, he shot Britt a grin. “I missed out when you two were in the kitchen. It’s my turn.”

  Chapter Four

  “Thank you,” Debbie said to her customer. “I hope to see you again soon.” She glanced at her watch. It was only 11:30 a.m., but it felt like it should be four in the afternoon. She couldn’t believe how busy she had been this morning. Already her feet were sore and her lower back was aching.

  She’d had a constant stream of customers, and since she hadn’t slept well, she was having trouble coping with the workload. Since starting work at seven, she had written up an advertisement to hire on some help, updated her expenditures and sales, and placed another order for more lingerie. She had never been more relieved for it to be Saturday, and she couldn’t wait to be able to close her doors at two this afternoon. By the end of the week she was usually exhausted, and the reduced hours at the start of the weekend were her only way of coping. If she got someone to answer that ad, relief would be in sight. That way she could do the dreaded necessary paperwork during working hours instead of before or after.

  Taking advantage of the lull between customers, she went to the kitchen and poured herself a coffee. She took a sip then sighed when she heard the bell over the door calling her. She hesitated when she saw Daniel Delaney walking toward the counter, but tried to school her expression into a polite, cool mask.

  “Hi, honey, how are you?” Daniel asked.

  “I’m fine, thank you. What brings you here?”

  “You do, of course. I brought you some lunch,” Daniel replied.

  He lifted his hand to show her a bag from the diner, and her stomach growled at the thought of the good food inside. She hadn’t taken the time to eat breakfast that morning, and seeing that bag had her salivating.