Flash Bang (9 page)

Zach gave Graham the look his comment deserved. Fucking asshole.

If his plan had a chance in hell of working, he needed to understand what had set Rowan off. So he would take a risk and hope he didn’t freak her out again. He moved closer and sat on the end of the bed. When she looked at him and didn’t jerk away, a flare of hope warmed him.

“Why would we think that, sweetheart?”

“Because of what you said.” Her voice was strong and sure now.

“And you said
not again
.” Zach didn’t like the ideas that were swirling in his head. “Did someone ... hurt you? Or make you do something you didn’t want to do?”

Zach saw Graham move closer and was shocked when he sat down on the bed next to where Rowan was sitting against the headboard, arms wrapped around her knees. He was more shocked when Graham reached for her and pulled her close to him.

Oh yeah, G was already in deep with this one, whether he’d admit it or not.

“You give me a name, and I will make sure he dies slowly,” Graham said.

“That’s not necessary, really. I think karma will take care of Charles and Evelyn.”

“Wait. What?”

“Charles ... and Evelyn?” Zach asked.

“Look, it was a seriously fucked up situation. And before the shit hit the fan with the rest of the world, that situation was basically responsible for destroying my life. What you said just brought back something I’d rather forget.”

Ro couldn’t believe she was telling them this. Actually, she couldn’t believe Zach’s words had triggered that much of a reaction in her. They had just been so close to the same words that Evelyn, the Mistress of Evil—as Rowan had begun to refer to her—had uttered as she walked into the bedroom where Ro and Charles were about to make love. Except that wasn’t what it was for Charles Leonard Ashford III. Despite the old money name and pedigree, he’d only been a pawn. Evelyn had been the spider, and Rowan had been the fly. Charles had just been the bait in a fucked up trap.

It had all started one night at a closing dinner. Rowan had been leaving the restaurant, when a partner had asked if she wanted to share a cab. She’d thought it was odd he was even at the dinner, because she didn’t recall him working on the deal. But as a second year associate, Ro wasn’t about to say no. He’d been charming and flirtatious when he’d tossed the cabbie some bills and asked him to wait so he could walk Ro the thirty feet from the curb to her building. Rowan had thought the move strange, but didn’t dwell on it. A few days later, he’d dropped by her office and brought her a latte and stayed to chat. The next evening, while working even later than normal, he’d stopped and asked her out for a late dinner. Ro had been flattered. They didn’t work in the same practice area—with Rowan a corporate associate and Charles a litigation partner—so Ro didn’t think it would raise too many eyebrows. The firm didn’t forbid dating co-workers, just frowned on it when you reported directly to the person you were dating.

Charles was attractive, in a three-piece suit kind of way. He was tall, with a runner’s physique, expensively cut blond hair, and pale blue eyes. And she had thought, naively, that he was interested in her. Although, she supposed, he probably had been at least somewhat interested in her. She hadn’t imagined the bulge in his Brooks Brothers suit pants when he’d walked her to the door of her building after dinner and kissed her for the first time. She hadn’t imagined the desire in his eyes when, after several more late night dinners, he’d finally talked her into coming home with him. And he had definitely been interested when he’d thrust himself against her while they were tangled up in his bed, about to have sex. And that erection hadn’t deflated when Evelyn stood in the doorway, naked, but for the black strap-on harness and giant black cock jutting out from it. Ro shivered at the memory. As far as unpleasant surprises went, that was a doozy.

Graham squeezed her hand.

“Sorry, I just ... I had a rather unpleasant surprise once. The closest I’ve ever come to a three-way, and you could probably say that it scarred me for life.”

Graham’s grip tightened. Before he could speak or jump to anymore conclusions, Ro quickly said, “It’s okay; it wasn’t like I was raped or anything. I just got a little too up close and personal with the pointy end of a strap-on that was connected to a rather evil woman—Evelyn—who used a sorry excuse for a man—Charles—to get me into her bed so they could both fuck me. When I declined, rather vehemently, she didn’t take it well. She decided to destroy my career, which at that point, was pretty much my entire life and the culmination of everything I’d been working for since high school. To make matters worse, I wasn’t the first associate they’d run that game on. Like I said, unpleasant surprise, but I definitely won’t be making that mistake again.”

Ro was surprised at how easily that came out. Granted, it was the extra-abbreviated Cliffs Notes version, but it was more than she’d told anyone else. So much had happened in the last week that it made Evelyn and Charles’s little game seem so trivial.

What still bothered her, however, was how easily she had fallen for it and how, even though her life had been work, and her co-workers had been more acquaintances than friends, not a single one of them had stood by her when Evelyn destroyed her reputation at the firm. Evelyn had claimed that Ro had tried to steal her fiancé, even though Rowan had no idea if she and Charles had actually been engaged. And if that wasn’t a bad enough rumor to start, Evelyn followed it up by telling everyone that when Charles told Rowan he wasn’t interested, Rowan had planned to blackmail him to get ahead at work. Which made no fucking sense! The rumors spread fast and hot, like wildfire during a drought. Rowan couldn’t walk from the elevator to her office without looks of disgust. She had refused to cower, because she’d done nothing wrong … except be stupid enough to think that Charles’s interest was legit. Evelyn had demanded she be fired immediately, and the managing partner hadn’t yet announced her fate. Before the plane crashed, she’d been fairly certain that day was going to end with her carrying a file box of her things out of the building, escorted by security.

Ugh. Whatever. It was over and done with, and she was never going back. Not that there was anything to go back to anyway. Not a lot of legal work was getting done without any working electronics. People had way bigger problems to deal with right now. Like survival.

When she finally looked up, she realized she had somehow ended up in Graham’s lap, and Zach was standing right next to the bed, his mouth gaping open.

“You want to share a few more details?” Zach asked.

“Umm ... not really. I think I covered all of the high points,” Ro said.

“Sweetheart, you can’t just drop a bomb like that and expect us to nod like we understand. That’s a new one for both of us …”

Ro smiled. “You and me both. But it’s over and done with. I’m sorry for freaking out.”

“What if we swore there’d be no strap-ons in sight? Would the idea of a three-way really be that horrible?” Zach asked.

Ro’s gaze shot to Zach and then swung around to stare at Graham. “I thought you said he was joking? You two … wait … are you …? Good God, I really have no gaydar.”

“No. We’re not gay,” Graham replied. “We just have a kink. And, at that moment, Zach was joking. He knew you weren’t ready to climb in bed with us. Trust me, that’s not something we spring on women. We’re all about full disclosure up front.”

“So you’re saying ... I mean ... what?” Ro couldn’t form a coherent sentence. The idea of being between these two men—in the bed she was currently sitting on—had her heart thumping like a drunken tap-dancing leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day.

Zach squatted in front of her, the same way he had when she’d been plopped onto the bench of the picnic table a few hours ago. God, was that only a few hours ago? It seemed like it had been days ago, at least.

“Ro, baby, I didn’t mean to spring it on you like that. You don’t need to get all worked up about it, but it’s good that you know. Because I think I can safely say that we’re both attracted as all hell to you. And if you’d let us, we’d—” Ro reached out and put her hand over his mouth, cutting off his words.

“Please. Just ... not right now. I can’t even process … I just … I don’t know,” Ro stuttered, and then paused to take a deep breath and tried again, shaking her head. “I can’t deal with this right now. I’m not staying, and I’m not looking for a one-night stand, even if you throw out that old line about this being the last night on Earth. So just, I don’t know, let me go to bed, and we’ll forget we had this conversation. I mean, seriously, please forget everything I told you. It definitely wasn’t my finest moment.” Ro removed her hand from Zach’s mouth, and he didn’t speak. She looked to Graham, and he stayed silent as well. If he looked disappointed, that wasn’t Ro’s problem, or so she told herself. Both men studied her before they gave her a nod, standing and leaving the room without another word.

Graham strode out of the bedroom and straight out of the cabin into the night. Hell, at this rate, he’d be pulling an all-nighter instead of sleeping.

He dropped into one of the chairs on the covered porch that fronted the cabin, and rested his elbows on his knees. He rubbed his face roughly, trying to figure out what the fuck just happened.

Zach slumped into the chair next to his.

“Well, that was unexpected.”

“Understatement of the fucking century, man. What the fuck were you thinking, anyway? Springing that shit on her like that? You used to be smooth. Lost your magic touch.” Graham almost groaned when he thought about how fast that situation had deteriorated. Goat fuck two-point-oh.

“Yeah, not my best moment. But seriously, did you ever expect a reaction like that? Or a story like that? I mean, good God. What the fuck?”

“True, but still. Messed up beyond belief. And when I was just starting to get a taste of her.”

“Sweet?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“You want more?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“You want to keep her?”

Graham looked at him before admitting quietly, “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“How are we going to make it happen?”

“Fuck if I know. Before, I thought we just had to worry about her being dead set on lighting out of here as soon as humanly possible, but now we’ve got this other shit to deal with, too. And you wonder why I’ve never been keen to get involved with anyone.”

“But she’s sweet.”

“Hell yes. Not that you’d know.” Graham couldn’t help but rub it in.

“Oh, I’ll get mine. Don’t you worry, old man.”

“Fuck you.”

“Sorry, man, don’t swing that way.”

“Fuck off, jackass. I’m going to get a shower, and then I’m crashing. It’s been a long fucking day.”

“I’m gonna grab some rack time. I’ll keep an eye on our girl. Make sure she doesn’t go for another midnight rendezvous.” Zach was laughing at him now. But Graham didn’t punch him because he was too busy liking the way ‘our girl’ sounded.

“Heard about that already?”

“Everyone has. Not sure how many of them will still respect you in the morning when they know a little slip of a girl won’t even follow your orders.”

Graham didn’t bother telling him to fuck off again before he headed to the showers. He was pretty sure Zach knew he was thinking it.

Hell,
Graham thought to himself,
he probably knows I’m going to jack off in the shower
. At least that was Graham’s plan if the showers were empty. After getting a taste of Rowan and having her grinding her hot little pussy against his thigh, Graham’s dick was aching for relief, and after what she’d told them, there was no way he was satisfying himself with her curvy little body tonight. He stalked to the shower building and ducked inside.

Empty.

Thank God.

He sat to untie his boots before stripping out of his shirt, cargo pants, socks, and boxer briefs. He turned on the water, and when the initial frigid blast had passed, he stretched his arms out to press his hands against the tile wall on either side of the showerhead, and let his head drop forward, and his eyes closed. As the spray streamed down his body, the tension of the last few hours washed over him. First, Rowan, and then the mystery woman because of Rowan, and then Rowan again. God, she was already complicating his life. And now that he’d tasted her, he feared he was getting attached. Recipe for disaster. But it’d be perfect while it lasted.