“You know what would happen if you announced to anyone that we exist?” Braden spoke softly. Chelsea stilled. Jamie’s response was vital.
“I have no intention of being the reason you end up under the microscope. I can know a secret without having to share it. For example, have you heard of the Manteca statue? Missing since before the First World War?”
Chelsea answered. “I read about it when I was prepping for college.”
Jamie nodded. “I know where it is.”
“No way. Where? They’ve had a reward posted for that for years.”
Jamie smiled. “It’s in a private collection. I saw it by chance when I did some work for the current owner. He showed me sufficient proof it had been gifted to his family years ago. Only, the legal uproar and media attention involved in revealing its location would be devastating to his health. It will end up in the public galleries soon enough, but it’s not hurting anyone to stay where it is for a few more years.”
“You’re not tempted by the reward?” Braden asked.
Chelsea fought back a laugh. “Umm, Braden, Jamie is a Powell. They are one of the richest families in New York. Old money.”
Jamie hung his head and groaned. “Damn, I didn’t think you knew that. Now I’ll never know if you seduced me for my pocketbook.”
He winked at her and she laughed. This was the man she enjoyed working with. The one she’d grown to care deeply about.
Braden was still frowning but his anxious tension slowly eased. “Why do you seem to be taking this in stride?”
Jamie paused for a moment before speaking. “Archaeologists live in the past, present and future. So many things have slipped from the record books, and suddenly a dig or excavation reveals the truth. We see the impossible as memories that were forgotten and are waiting to be rediscovered.”
Jamie met Braden in the middle of the room. “I swear I will never do anything to harm Chelsea or you, or any of your people. If a promise isn’t enough, then I guess we have a problem, because I can’t forget what I’ve discovered. Still, I give my word I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
Chelsea held her breath. His sincerity rang loud and clear. Was it enough to satisfy Braden’s mandate to the pod?
Chapter Twelve
Jamie held out his hand and waited, staring confidently at the taller man.
Braden hesitated briefly before accepting Jamie’s hand and giving it a firm shake. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
“I think I can handle it.”
Chelsea gasped as Braden yanked Jamie against him, spinning him around and locking him in place with his arms trapped by his sides.
“You see her?” Braden’s husky voice tickled in her ears, and a wonderful anticipation raced through her veins.
“Chelsea? Of course.”
Braden watch her carefully, his unspoken question clear, and she nodded slowly. She wanted to jump for joy. He understood what she needed even better than she knew herself.
“She’s part of your responsibility now as a part of the pod. Thank God, because I don’t think I could handle her by myself.”
He released Jamie, draping his arms more gently around his torso. Jamie didn’t try to escape. In fact, he leaned back into Braden and Chelsea’s mouth watered at the sight of the two of them. Long and lean, muscular and handsome. An enticing combination for any woman.
Her men.
“I have a lot of questions you’ll have to answer in the next few days. Just start with this—matriarchal society?” Jamie opened his arms and she went into them willingly.
“We share a lot of similarities with the dolphins we can shift into,” Braden answered.
Jamie squeezed her tight and whooped as he spun her in a circle. “Hot damn, shifting? You’re serious? I so need to see that.”
Chelsea giggled. “Is there anything we can say that can shock you?”
He wrinkled his nose and considered. “I’m not sure. I look forward to finding out.”
Then he kissed her, and all the worry and fear haunting her since she thought they’d erased his memory eased away. Instead, as he stroked his tongue into her mouth, the seed of despair in her belly bloomed into desire, and she pressed closer, loving the way his body responded to hers. Her excitement rose, the blue of St Elmo’s fire lifting from her skin to fill the air around them. When they broke apart he looked up, his smile delighted as a child’s.
“The fire. How can you control it? Is it something that—?”
She covered his mouth with her hand. “Later. Right now I want to kiss you, not lecture you.”
Jamie glanced over his shoulder at Braden who stood at his back. “I still don’t understand why you’re okay with this, but if you are—”
Braden silenced him again, this time with a kiss. With Jamie trapped between them, Chelsea rubbed as close as she could. This was what she needed to make sure the whole morning wasn’t some dream. That she really would be able to have them both with her.
She tugged them apart, reluctant to interrupt, yet needing too badly to let them continue. “Bedroom. Now.”
They were halfway down the hall, kissing and pulling at each other’s clothing, when Braden’s work phone went off.
“Fuck it.”
He untangled himself from them as Chelsea bit back her whimper of disappointment. Jamie pressed her against the wall and distracted her as Braden answered his call. The things this man did to her, every touch so careful and tender, and yet demanding her full attention. The way he stroked her torso while he kissed a line under her ear, sucking her earlobe into his mouth briefly before tracing the tender entrance. She squirmed. She’d never had a lover play with her ears before. Discovering they were erogenous zones gave her a thrill. She didn’t even try to hold back her cries of delight.
A touch on her arm dragged her away from the pleasure rising in her limbs. Jamie tucked her against his side and together they turned to face Braden.
“Do you need to go to the station?” Chelsea asked. The heat in the hallway continued to rise as Jamie’s fingers tickled her waist and Braden looked down at her with those dark eyes. A faint swirl of fireflies hung in the air.
“Nothing major they can’t handle without me. I’m not on duty until noon.”
Chelsea purred as he trapped her between them, their warm bodies lighting a fuse that wasn’t about to fizzle out quickly. “Then I have an idea.”
“I like it already,” Braden said.
She laughed and tugged them both toward the bedroom. “Come on, I think we should show Jamie a thing or two about merfolk before we all have to get to work.”
Braden slowed his step, letting her drag Jamie into the bedroom first. Jamie’s fingers clutched her hand tightly, some of the bravado he’d shown earlier slipping away.
“Don’t worry, it’s just that you’re right, there is a lot to tell you. I thought I could show you one of the forms we can change into, and Braden can explain a little bit.”
“We could have stayed in the living room if that’s all we’re going to do,” Jamie pointed out.
She raised her brows. “How does demonstration as foreplay sound?”
Jamie sucked in a rapid breath and Braden choked back a laugh. “Chelsea, you’re being a tease. Stop it.”
Something warm and happy welled up inside, and she shivered involuntarily. Just being with the two of them made her feel far more complete than she’d ever expected. She pushed Jamie toward the bed, then knelt between his thighs to finish unbuttoning his shirt. She batted away his hands when he tried to help her.
“We have more than one form. We can change into dolphins, but we don’t have to. The merfolk form—what you saw Braden use when he rescued you—is just as easy to maneuver through the water. Some of us can also change into a third form, and that’s the fire you’ve been seeing. When you see it and we’re not changing, it’s a result of strong emotions.”