Silently, she made her way along the rock walkway that led deeper into the shadowed expanse of flowering bushes and trees. Terrie’s idea, she knew. Her friend had a green thumb that often went out of control, but the garden was a masterpiece of serenity. Nearly a square acre of lush vegetation and miniature trees.
Finally, Tally made her way to a secluded waterfall on the western edge of the gardens and the hidden padded bench beneath the shelter of a small, vine-covered iron gazebo.
The bench was wide, softly cushioned and, most importantly, private. Tally needed time to come to grips with herself before facing Lucian or his twin. It wasn’t that the thought of a ménage with the two men bothered her. Tally was extremely liberal in her opinions of sexuality and completely honest with the darker side of her own sexual desires.
The fact was, there would be problems attached to any affair she entered into with Lucian, or Lucian and his brother. Her emotions were involved. How it happened, when it had happened, she wasn’t entirely certain. But she knew when she stepped into that office and saw Lucian fucking Terrie she had been furious.
She had known it would happen eventually. Hell, she could have stopped it. When Jesse asked her if there was anyone who shouldn’t be involved in such a situation with him and Terrie, she could have said something then. Her pride had demanded her silence, though.
It wasn’t so much that Lucian had been fucking the other woman, contradictory as it sounded; it was that he wasn’t fucking Tally.
“This is so stupid.” She rolled her eyes at her own thoughts.
She wasn’t jealous of Terrie — not really. She was just so damned consumed with the thought of Lucian, and now Dev, that she couldn’t make sense of anything else. She had been ever since their first meeting at Delacourte Electronics and their mocking appraisal of her as she led them into Jesse’s office.
She finished her champagne before leaning her head back against the bench and drawing in the warm night air. The steady sound of falling water, the heady scents of the night and her own weariness were about to get the best of her.
“Hiding, Tally?” Lucian’s smooth, dark voice had her eyes opening in resignation.
Had she known he would follow her?
She stared up at him, seeing the halo of light around the white-blond of his hair and silhouetting the wide breadth of his shoulders.
“Well, it should be pretty evident I wasn’t looking for company.” She injected what she hoped was just the right amount of cool mockery into her voice. It was hard to do after their last confrontation.
He chuckled. The sound was low and wickedly amused as she rose to her feet, intent on returning to the house. He had been furious when he left the week before, he and Dev both were literally fuming over what she had done. She expected a return of that anger now.
“Tally.” His hand on her arm as she moved to pass him stopped her. More from surprise, perhaps, than from anything else.
She stared up at him in the dim light, wondering at the serious cast of his expression. She had seen him mocking, sarcastic and downright furious. But she had never seen this expression on his face. Intent, his gaze shadowed with a bit of regret.
“I missed you,” he whispered, his hand smoothing down her arm until he gripped her hand lightly, lifting it to his face.
Tally fought the tremor of response that started low in her belly and began to work its way through her body. His touch was gentle as he pressed her hand against his cheek. She could fight their dominance, enjoyed doing so actually. But this gentleness was destructive, weakening.
“Lucian.” She stopped, attempting to clear the huskiness from her throat. She hadn’t expected this. Didn’t expect this tenderness, this need that stirred a part of her soul she didn’t know could still respond.
“I thought of you while I was gone.” He turned his head, his lips pressing against her palm. “I dreamed of you. Often.”
Her hand trembled. His voice was dark and deep, stroking along her senses as the night breeze wafted over her skin. It was incredibly sensual, weakening.
“Everything ran really well at the office,” she reported desperately, uncertain how to respond, how to react. “Sax had a few problems with one of the contracts…”
“Tally, I don’t care about the damned office.” He moved closer, his free hand cupping her hip as he pulled her closer to him. “You run that place like a drill sergeant.
I have no doubt everything went just as planned.” If he had been irritated or if his voice had been snide she could have fought him, could have fought the hunger that curled through every cell of her body. Instead, a tender vein of amusement slid through his desire-rich tone and caused her chest to swell with pride. She was a damned good assistant and she knew it.
The next second, the office was forgotten completely as he laid her hand against his chest. He gripped her hips and before she could protest he lifted her to him, his lips settling at the corner of hers with heated need.
“I love how you taste, Tally,” he whispered as her fingers curled against his shoulders. “So sweet and hot. I dreamed of that taste. I woke aching for it. Dev and I barely managed to get through the week without you, we ached so desperately for you.”
“We?” She could barely still her groan as she felt the heat and hardness of his cock against her stomach, felt the air of tension that surrounded both of them now.
“Tell me you don’t want it, Tally,” he told her gently, his hand raising once again to push her hair back from her face as he stared down at her somberly. “Tell me you don’t want us both touching you, holding you into the night. That you don’t ache to know that either or both of us are there for you at any time you wish, willing to give you whatever you need.”
“Really Lucian, you should bottle the charm. You could make millions.” She swallowed tightly; the image of it had taunted her more than she wanted to admit to herself.
“Do you understand what we’re offering, Tally? Do you think you can play us against each other until you choose which of us you want?” he asked gently. “It wouldn’t matter, if you just had me. Or just had him. It wouldn’t matter where I was on this planet; I would feel him inside you. I would feel the tight clasp of your pussy on his cock, feel the heat of your body beneath his.” Her eyes widened as he continued.
“That’s the bond we share, baby. What I love, he will always love. What I need, he hungers for as well. And vice versa. You belong to both of us, Tally. Forever. Imagine that, baby. Two of us to torture and drive insane. Think of the possibilities.” Oh, the temptation of it. The utterly delicious carnality of the thought. All her fantasies, her desires, her dreams, rolled into two men at her beck and call. The thought was so tempting, so erotic, she wanted nothing more than to give into it.
Lucian’s hand cupped the back of her head, holding her steady as his lips smoothed over hers.
“Feel that?” he whispered. “Your lips beneath mine, the heat growing between us?
Dev knows that now. He can feel your lips as well as I do, feel the fullness of them, taste the sweetness of them. Just as I tasted you last week. Just as he knew your touch, you knew I would feel it as well. Open your mouth, Tally, let me truly taste paradise now.” She stared into his eyes, helpless now, trapped by the hunger and heat of his gaze.
“This is a mistake.” Tally fought to keep her voice strong, to remember how fragile emotion could be and how often absent it was in the cold light of day.