“Funny,” he said with apparent gentleness. She wasn’t fooled in the least. “This suddenly antagonistic attitude didn’t show up until you walked into that office while I was f**king Terrie. Jealous, Tally?”
Her breath caught in her throat and she knew he caught the tightening of her eyes at his shocking question.
“Oh yeah, I saw you come in.” He dropped the file on a nearby shelf as she backed away from him.
He was too close; she felt too overwhelmed, too weak when he towered over her like that. Unfortunately, there was no place to retreat. Her back came against the door as his arms bracketed her, holding her firmly in place.
“Your ni**les are hard, Tally,” he growled. “And that cold little expression can’t hide the fact that you’re f**king hot as hell right now. You want me, and you’re damned scared to take it.”
“Scared? Of you?” She only barely managed the disdain she was trying for. “Not hardly, Lucian. You’re letting your imagination run away with you. You’re not the first man to make me respond sexually and you won’t be the last. Never doubt that. But I decide who I f**k and who I don’t. And I won’t f**k you.”
“Because you’re scared.” She watched as his gaze softened, the brilliant green color warming drastically. “You’re small, baby, but you can take me.”
His outrageous words had flames of anger—or was that violent lust—shooting through her.
“Oh, get away.” Sarcastic amusement filled her voice; her hands flattened on his chest as she pushed him back forcefully. “You think your dick’s so big I’m afraid of it?” She straightened the shoulders of her silk shirt, smoothed the crease at the top of her skirt before staring back up at him, allowing her lips to curve with seductive knowledge.
“Dream on, Conover. It’s not your c**k I reject, or even your hedonistic lifestyle, such as it is. Quite frankly, you couldn’t handle me, and I’ll be damned if I’ll deal with the complications of your bruised pride when you realize that. It’s not fear; it’s fact. Now touch me again and I’ll resign. I don’t have to deal with your advances as well as your snappish attitude. I’ll quit first.”
She gripped the doorknob and jerked the door open as she rushed to leave, only to be stopped abruptly as she ran into the dark, devil’s version of the wicked apparition behind her.
“Easy, sweetheart.” Devril Conover’s voice was rough sex, whisky at midnight and depraved desires all rolled into one. The same as Lucian’s. She was trapped between the two men now as Devril gripped her hips and eased her backward as he came fully into the room, pushing her flush against Lucian.
“Everything okay?” Dev asked her when she didn’t speak. She couldn’t speak. Lucian enclosed her from behind as Devril pressed against her br**sts. Heat enveloped her. Like bands of invisible steel it held her motionless, curiously shocked by the sudden impression of protectiveness and strength that emanated from the two men. She was surrounded by their warmth. Wrapped in it.
She stared up at him in surprise. He was the devil’s image of the man behind her, watching her heatedly, reminding her of exactly what she was passing up by walking out that door. It was bad enough to have Lucian tempting her, but to have Dev, the dark-haired vision of the sin twin helping him? That was completely unfair as far as she was concerned. Fate had it in for her, that’s all she could say.
“Just what I need.” She sighed with mockingly false patience as she stared up at Devril and batted her eyes seductively. “Tweedle Dee to join Tweedle Dum. Do you boys ever do anything solo?”
“Where would the fun be in that?” Lucian asked her as his lips settled against her ear, his hands on her shoulders as she felt the hard length of his c**k against the small of her back, Devril’s against her lower stomach. “Or the challenge? I’ll make you beg me to touch you again, Tally.”
The sexual tension thickened as she realized the implication behind his words. The breath locked in her chest and lust sizzled through her veins. Both of them? Brothers? The temptation was damned near impossible to deny. She couldn’t have thought of any sexual experience that would have possibly been better. Or one that came closer to her fantasies.
Except.
Lucian was her boss. Her position as assistant to the vice president of Delacourte-Conover could become extremely precarious and even if she did quit, resign or walk out, the gossip that would abound could destroy her career. They could destroy her heart.
“Ohhh, so confident,” she mocked him waspishly, well aware that she had lost her appearance of calm disinterest as she pushed her way past Devril and made it to the door again. “I could make you beg.” She rolled her eyes with forced patience. “Not hardly.”
She turned back to them. They were like night and day. Devril watched her with blatant lust while Lucian watched her with a mix of predatory interest and a flare of anger.
“We’ll forget this episode ever happened,” she drawled coolly as they watched her with their ever-present amusement. Fighting back the knowledge that she was walking away from the ultimate sexual fantasy, she bit back her sigh of regret and informed them instead, “I’m going shopping. I’ll be back when I get back.” Her gaze hardened on Lucian. “And if you dock my pay then you better make certain you bring your own coffee to work. Because anything you get here won’t be safe to drink.”
She turned and walked sedately from the room, though she closed the door a bit harder than she intended. The blood was rushing through her body, heat and lust curling through her womb as her cunt trickled with her juices. Had anything ever been so intensely carnal? Not that she knew of. Which was terrifying. They were a weakness she could ill afford.
She had turned them down. She drew in a hard breath and gave herself a mental pat on the back even as the darker part of her desires mentally kicked her. Could there be anything more seductive than the thought of being mastered by the two fallen angels of Delacourte-Conover? Not to her mind there wasn’t. But, she reminded herself, was there anything more dangerous?
Chapter Three
Okay, so she had choices to make. Tally sat alone in the small gazebo in the center of the park, staring out at the placid blue of the pond, on whose banks it had been built. The wooden bench was hard but not uncomfortable. The slight breeze that flowed through the branches of the trees above her was soothing, even if it did little to cool the fires raging in her body.