Beast Brothers 2 Read online

  Something has changed in the last twenty-four hours. The men I was furious at a day ago are just as bossy and controlling as ever. But their dominance has somehow gone from intolerable to sexy.

  It feels as though some sort of alchemy happened last night, while Alex and I slept, or didn’t sleep. Like our breath mingled in the air of the apartment, and then went back into us mixed together, so that he — and via him, his brother — are inside me. Part of me.

  I can’t resist them any more than I could rip myself in two.

  Lucas’s pronouncement is made with absolute conviction, as if it’s already happened. There are no alternate paths, no roads that do not lead to the destination he’s mapped out for us. He’s not angry. It almost feels like it, because the emotion coming from him is so unyielding, but no. He’s confident. He is pure alpha male at this moment, determined to master me.

  And some part of me I didn’t even know existed is not just willing, but eager to submit. Because if I do, I’ll find out just what he’s capable of — and after what he’s already shown me, curiosity and hunger are a potent mixture.

  I’m transfixed by the promise in his eyes. Part of me wants to goad him into action. Close the tiny gap between us, and brush my fingers against the sinews in his forearm. Or say something defiant. It wouldn’t be that difficult to push him over the edge into what we both want.

  But I have just enough sanity left to resist that impulse. Swallowing hard, I say, “I … uh … I should get ready for work.”

  My voice trembles. We’re so attuned at this moment that he doesn’t mistake it for fear. A muscle flexes in his jaw, and for one long, simmering moment I think he’s not going to let me go.

  Then he steps back, and I slide past him and hurry off to my bedroom and then the bathroom. As soon as I’m away from him, and the gravitational field of his presence, I can think. While I hurry through my preparations, I’m cursing myself.

  The Wolf brothers have turned my life upside down and they’re just getting started. Part of me still can’t be sorry for the amazing night I had with them, but another part wishes I’d never met them.

  One thing I’m sure of. If they think they can run roughshod over me, they’re going to learn that Zoe Kelleher is no pushover.

  19

  A Simple Matter

  Lucas

  Damn this assignment.

  If we’d gotten it before we met Zoe, this would all be manageable. She’d still be tempting and sexy as hell, and probably flirting with both of us. But we could handle it if we hadn’t already tasted her. If we didn’t know exactly what it’s like to have her.

  Knowing that — and knowing she’s determined to deny us more — makes this sheer hell. But I’m keeping my head in the game, because it’s the job and I’m damned good at what I do. And because letting anything happen to her is out of the question.

  While she gets ready, I block out the image of her in the shower and the games we could play if I joined her there, and I check in with our team on their assignments. Kelleher’s other kids all live at home with him and his second wife, so it’s a matter of securing their routes to and from school and extracurricular activities.

  Zoe’s the wild card — both the least logical target and the most vulnerable one. I’m glad her father included her in the job. He may be a bastard, but at least he cares enough for that. Of course, if he hadn’t included her we’d be protecting her anyway.

  Two of our guys are at the boutique now, and the manager is giving them trouble about putting in the security. I’m going to have to go in there and explain the situation. Alex is on his way back to handle the installation here.

  The sounds I hear from the bathroom tell me she’s nearly ready. I get a bowl from her cupboard, and some yogurt and fruit from her fridge, and fix her breakfast. When Zoe comes out from the bathroom, coffee mug still in hand, I’ve got it sitting on the counter that edges her kitchen island.

  Even though she’s put on makeup, I can still see the shadows under her eyes. I don’t like seeing what this is doing to her, and I like even less that I’m partly responsible for the stress she’s under. But she’s in my blood now, and I can’t just walk away.

  “We should get going.” Her voice is brittle and she doesn’t meet my eyes. She’s put her armor back on, but I know how easily it cracks.

  “Eat first,” I say, gesturing to the bowl.

  She looks at it and blinks. Goes up to the counter, looks at the contents, and blinks some more. Clears her throat. “Thanks. But … I’m just going to grab a pastry at the coffee shop later.”

  “You need real food, not crap.”

  Her eyes narrow. “Really, Dad?”

  I close the distance between us and she stiffens, her muscles locking with the effort not to back away from me, like she did earlier. Stopping when I’m well inside her personal space, I watch the change happen. When I’m this close, she can’t lie to herself anymore.

  Her skin flushes, her lips part, and her pupils dilate. Her chest heaves with her uneven breathing, her nipples poking against her dress. And just like it did the first time, it gets me hard as a rock.

  “Eat the food, Zoe,” I say softly. “You can always have a pastry later.” If you’re good, I want to add, just to push her buttons, but we’re not there yet.

  “I already brushed my teeth.”

  I lean in, until our lips are just a hair’s breadth apart. “Brush them again.” She actually closes her eyes, then, and it takes all my self-control to pull back instead of kissing the hell out of her.

  When she looks at me again it’s to say, “I’m going to be late.” She’s just making excuses now, any flimsy reason she can think of not to do what I’ve told her. If she really understood the games she’s playing, the way she’s baiting me, she’d pick her battles more carefully.

  “You can eat it in the car,” I say, because we do need to get there. “You’ve got a toothbrush at work, right?”

  Out of arguments, she starts to speak, then stops. “Okay, fine,” she says at last. “But for future reference, I’m perfectly capable of making my own food choices. I’m just eating this so it won’t go to waste.”

  I hold back a smile. “Whatever you say,” I agree, with impressive solemnity and not a single remark about pastries. She shoots me a suspicious glance before she grabs the bowl and we go out to my car.

  She eats on the way, and it pleases me on some primitive level that it’s food I provided, even in so basic a manner. Every time I see her throat moving as she swallows, I want to pull off the road, undo my seatbelt, slide over to her, and kiss that creamy skin. I’d nuzzle up her neck to her jawline, over to her ear, then take her earlobe in my teeth and tug. Seduce her until she begged me to do more, do everything.

  It’s a damn good thing she’s trying to ignore me, or she’d notice I’m sporting wood over here. The drive passes in silence, but it’s a heavy silence, weighted with both our thoughts. I force my mind into the most boring channels possible so by the time we park behind the boutique, I’ve got things under control again.

  If only dealing with Zoe were a simple matter of willpower.

  20

  Intense

  Zoe

  The days fall into a pattern. Every night, one of the Wolf brothers sleeps at my place, and the next morning takes me to work. At the end of the day, the other brother picks me up and takes me home for the night. They trade off religiously, so if Alex is there one night, it’s always Lucas the next night.

  Despite what Alex said before, they’re staying here even though I have a new security system. When I asked about it, he explained that their control room is too far away. If anything did happen, they couldn’t get to me in time, so they’re going to be sure.

  I’m secretly glad, but also on edge because they won’t tell me much about the situation, just that they’ve confirmed it as a credible threat. I have no idea what they’re doing to deal with it, or how long it’s going to take. All I know is that I’m constant
ly near them.

  Whoever’s on duty at the boutique doesn’t stay there all day; there’s a whole team of men who rotate through, but there’s always at least one man within eyesight of me. I have to give the twins my schedule in advance — no spontaneous window shopping or lunch meetups. Or anything else, for that matter.

  It’s driving me crazy.

  Even my days off aren’t my own. If I want to stay in my apartment, sure, I can do that, with the knowledge that someone is just outside. But visitors or excursions have to be cleared with my jailers — excuse me, bodyguards.

  I am a social person, but everybody needs some down time now and then. And being constantly under scrutiny is far more exhausting than I could have guessed. How do public figures deal with it?

  It’s not just the lack of privacy. It’s having Lucas and Alex in my space all the time, sleeping on my sofa bed every night. They get downtime from me, but I don’t get any from them.

  They’ve been utterly professional about it. They don’t leave their stuff lying around; they’ve restocked my coffee, my pantry, and my fridge; they help with dishes and cleaning and whatever needs to be done.

  And despite our constant awareness of each other, and the heat that flashes between us whenever my eyes meet theirs, neither twin has made the slightest move on me, or said anything with even the barest hint of innuendo.

  It doesn’t help. In fact, it makes things worse, because it leaves me free to appreciate just how tantalizing they are and how much I still want them. Every night, I go to bed horny.

  My vibrator is getting one hell of a workout.

  After a week of near-constant Wolf companionship, I’m a seething mass of sexual frustration, even with the help of my battery-operated boyfriend. Meanwhile, the twins seem largely unaffected by me. They’re not unfriendly, but they’re cool and collected and a little distant.

  It’s not fair. I need them to suffer like I’m suffering. Well, maybe not just as much, since I know they’re doing their jobs. But I want them to have a taste of what they’re putting me through.

  So in the evenings, I start coming out of my bedroom for a final sip of water, or some other minor errand that lets me walk around in a silky robe that barely covers my ass. They can wonder what, if anything, I’ve got on underneath it.

  Then inspiration strikes, and I buy some of the chocolate-hazelnut spread they used on me at Lucas’s apartment. That night it’s Alex’s turn, and after I’m changed I wander out in my mini-robe. Pulling out the jar and a spoon, I scoop some up.

  “Mmm,” I all but moan, closing my eyes and licking the spoon with exaggerated motions.

  When I look at Alex, with feigned innocence, he’s watching me, his eyes flashing with humor and something more. “Naughty girl,” he says with a crooked smile. “I’ll remember that.”

  Then he goes back to his cell phone, answering emails or whatever with utter concentration, like I’m not even there. Hmph. I wander over to the sofa bed, jar and spoon still in hand. “Want some?”

  The look he gives me scorches me from the inside out. “What I want, lovely Zoe, I can’t have. Yet.”

  I spin on my heel and go back to the kitchen. Behind me, I think I hear Alex give a muffled snort. Grr. I march past him toward my bedroom without meeting his eyes. “Good night,” I say in affronted tones.

  “Good night, princess.”

  That stops me. I’ve worked hard for everything I have. “I am not a princess,” I declare, sticking my head back around the open doorway.

  “Whatever you say, princess.”

  “Gah!” I hurry to my room and flop into bed, too worked up and irritated at first to seek my usual relief.

  The next night, I’m not certain whether I should try the same thing with Lucas. Actually, I’m sure I shouldn’t. But I just can’t help myself. He deserves equal treatment, and besides, I want to compare their responses.

  His silver-blue eyes track my every move. When I pull out the spread, they flash and his jaw tightens. Unlike Alex, he is not amused.

  I go through the same performance, my heart beating a little too fast. When I get to the part where I’m licking the spoon and moaning … nothing happens. Opening my eyes, I look at him, forgetting to pretend this is all a simple coincidence.

  Finally, he speaks. “I’m keeping track, you know.” He says it in the same ultra-soft voice he used that morning in the kitchen, and shivers go up my spine.

  When I start toward him with the spread, he points at me. “No. Stay there.”

  “You don’t want any?” I ask, in my innocent voice this time.

  “If you come over here I will not be responsible for my actions. Don’t push me, Zoe.”

  Well. That’s clear enough. But damn, now I’m more turned on than ever. With a sigh, I clean everything up and go back to bed. My “torment the twins” project has backfired big time. Maybe they’re worked up, but I’ve tortured myself just as much.

  The next morning, I tell Lucas I want to meet my friends for lunch, and we agree on a new sushi place downtown. I’m there first, and when Megan and Tara arrive, they can’t help but notice that the booths on either side of me are empty, and the ones flanking them contain men who are not even trying to blend in. They’re watching the entrance, the restaurant, the waitstaff … and my friends.

  The girls slide in on either side of me with wide eyes. “What the heck?” Megan whispers. “Is it always like this?”

  “If I want to actually go somewhere, yeah.” Honestly, I’m a bit freaked out by the show of strength. It brings home that Alex and Lucas think there really is someone out there who wants to hurt me. I remind myself for the millionth time that the Wolf brothers didn’t take over my life on a whim; I have my father to thank for this situation.

  “What exactly is going on?” Tara wants to know.

  “I don’t know. Just that there’s some kind of threat against my father, and he put me under protection.” I tell them what little I can, keeping my voice low — which is a challenge for me — because even with a buffer on either side, sound carries. When I’m done, they just stare at me for a few seconds.

  Megan’s the first to recover. She glances to either side at the men, one of whom is Lucas, though she doesn’t know that. Normally it would be Alex, since Lucas was with me last night, but he had something else to handle today.

  Leaning in, she says in a conspiratorial tone, “So how do these guys compare to your twins?”

  I almost smile at the bombshell I’m about to drop. They’re going to be so mad at me for not telling them sooner. “In a minute,” I tell her, “you’re going to glance casually around the restaurant. As you do that, you’re going to notice, without blatantly staring at him, the man farthest from you in the booth on our right. Okay, go.”

  The waitress arrives just then to take our orders, and while that’s going on, Megan does as instructed. Tara, who’s to my left, can just flick her eyes in that direction and away again. A few seconds later, Megan whispers, “Damn. Who’s that hottie?”

  “That,” I say, “is one of my twins.”

  Their eyes almost pop out of their heads. “The twins are in charge of your security?” Tara hisses.

  “Yes. Don’t kill me,” I say before they can do just that. “I wanted to tell you, but in person. I kept thinking this would be all over in a day or two.”

  “Wait,” Tara persists. “Didn’t you say you had bodyguards sleeping in your apartment?”

  “Yes.”

  Tara sends Megan a look. “Let me guess,” Megan says. “The twins are not keen on letting anyone but themselves get that close to you.”

  “Got it in one,” I confirm.

  “Oh my god,” Tara whispers. “Have you — I mean, I know you said no more, but are you —”

  “They are being completely courteous and professional,” I say. “And I do mean completely.”

  “Is that good?” Megan asks. “Since you didn’t want to see them again ...”

  I give her a “
what do you think?” look. “Oh god,” she says in turn. “You poor thing.”

  “Now you understand the hell I’m in.”

  Tara sends another lighting-quick glance Lucas’s way, then gasps. “We made eye contact,” she whispers. “Holy crap, he’s intense.”

  21

  Megan’s Men

  Zoe

  “You don’t know the half of it,” I tell her.

  Our food arrives quickly, and we spend the next few minutes enjoying it. Even in the midst of everything that’s going on, it’s never a bad day for sushi. Finally, Megan says, “At least tell me you’ve used this period of … extreme purgatory to learn more about them.”

  “Well,” I say. “We don’t exactly engage in friendly chitchat since they’re on the job. And talking to them just makes me want to jump them.”

  “Understandable,” Tara says, stealing another look at Lucas.

  I bump her knee with mine. “Hey. Get your own twins.” It’s said with a smile, but my friends both know I’m not really joking.

  “Changed your mind?” Tara says, an answering smile flitting around her mouth.

  “It’s gone too far,” I confess. “All this enforced proximity, all the tension that’s built up … we’re going to need at least one more time to let it all out.”

  “Mm-hmm.” Megan’s eyes are dancing with a mischievous light.

  “Your guys are your guys,” I remind her. “If I ran away to a mountain cabin, I can’t see mine coming after me. Once their assignment’s over, I mean.”

  “Try it and see.”

  “I don’t think the boutique would appreciate that. Speaking of which, I’ll have to get going soon.” I signal for the check, and from the corner of my eye glimpse a large form heading toward us. “Oh, hey, Cody’s here.”