Scorched (Sizzle #2) (10 page)

“And…” Nick
prompted, listening attentively to Devil’s words of wisdom.

“And he fuckin’
did,” Grant recalled.  “He took on those two angry women that are currently
flanking
your
man.  He braved Armando’s temper, his Nana’s remarkable
combative skills with a mixing spoon, our mom’s wrath, and my not
inconsiderable skill with my fists.  It was a bad day for the Devil,” he
continued to reminisce.  “But, at the end of it, he’d battled his way back to
my sister’s side and refused to leave her until she forgave him.”

Holding out
his arms, Devil grinned.  “And I’m still here.  Sexually frustrated, but
present and fucking accounted for, my man.  You’re gonna get through this, too.”

“I wish I
knew how,” Nick muttered, fiddling with his phone.  “Armando still won’t take
my calls or respond to a single text begging him to just talk to me.”

“Then maybe
it’s time to take the fight to him.  It’s not like we don’t know where he is,”
Grant offered conversationally.  “We could always lock ‘em in the pool house
together,” he suggested, looking toward Devil for approval.

“Not a good
idea without a referee.  I’ve seen Mannie nearly eviscerate both the FedEx
and
UPS guys when they’re late with a package.  I don’t wanna think about what he’d
do to Nick in a situation like this,” Devil returned.  “No, I’ve got a
different idea.  And I hope you aren’t pissed, but I’ve kinda taken a few
liberties on your behalf,” he informed Nick slowly.  “Don’t worry.  I’ve got a
plan.”

“What did you
do, Devil?” Nick asked nervously, his eyes anxious as they stared at his boss. 
“Please, please, please, tell me that this so-called plan you’ve concocted is
Molly approved.”

“I have every
faith that she’d have approved if I’d shared it with her,” Devil returned
easily.  Jeez, he’d managed to make Nick a fairly wealthy man in the past few
years by doling out his advice to the younger man.  You’d think the bastard
would be more trusting now.  Shrugging it off, Devil continued, “Sadly, I
didn’t have an opportunity to consult with her.  All her time was consumed by
your
fiancé last night.”

“Oh, crap,”
Nick whined, rubbing his temples.  “Does it look like I’m getting grey hair?”
he asked Grant worriedly.  “It feels like it’s greying as we speak,” he
confided, toying with the still dark hair at his temples.

“Now, don’t
panic just yet,” Grant soothed calmly.   “I’ve known Devil almost my whole life
and if I’m completely honest with you, his plans only go to shit about half the
time,” he consoled, patting Nick on the back.

Eyes wide
with alarm, Nick jerked in his seat.  “Tell me you’re joking,” he pleaded with
Grant only to be met with amused laughter.  “He
is
joking, right?” he
questioned Devil hastily.

“Nick, you’ve
worked with me for several years.  You know I take calculated risks, but how
many times have you seen one of those risks
not
pay off in the long
run?”

Nick stared
at the man responsible for bringing him into the business world and mentoring
him.  “Never,” he answered softly.  “I’ve never seen you take a risk that
didn’t ultimately reward the investor.”

“Well, I’m
sure as hell not gonna start taking asinine chances now when I’ve got two of my
friends’ happiness on the line.  Believe me, I know how high the stakes are. 
If I make an error, I may never get Armando out of my house, man.  That’s clearly
enough of a threat to make me assess the components of this deal very fuckin’
carefully.” Devil assured him.  Relieved when he noted Nick slowly relaxing,
Devil leaned forward and braced his elbows against the table.  “You ready to
hear the strategy I’ve developed for dealing with this clusterfuck?”

Taking a deep
breath, Nick nodded.  “Okay.  You’re right.  I know you’d never do anything to
make this worse.  I want Armando back and whatever it takes, I’m gonna make it
happen.   What’s your plan?  Where do we start?”

“Oh, this
plan is already in motion, my friend.  It’s been rolling since you stepped off
our company jet this morning,” Devil explained, rubbing his hands together
gleefully.  He was rather proud of himself.  He’d examined Nick’s plight from
every angle and decided that there was only one route to take. 

Startled and
beyond confused, Nick’s eyebrows furrowed as he leaned toward Devil.  “What do
you mean?  Are you planning on hijacking Mannie and myself to a desert island
until he listens to me?”

“You wish,”
Grant grunted, rolling his eyes.

“Better,”
Devil declared with a sly smirk.  “I’m flying your parents here so that Mannie
can see, firsthand, why you tried to shield him from your dumbass family.  Once
he sees what you were forced to live with, there’s no way in Hell that man
stays angry.  Hell, you’ll be getting a sympathy bang before the clock strikes
midnight!”

“Oh, my God,”
Nick gasped, clutching his chest as he began to hyperventilate.  “You didn’t!”
he wheezed as Grant shoved his head between his knees and demanded him to
breathe.

“I most
certainly did.  The plane from Boston will land at approximately seven this
evening and the limo will deliver them to a very nice hotel.  In the morning,
we’ll all meet and you can work this shit out.  That still gives us a firm six
days to fix this shit,” Devil declared, unfazed by the quasi coronary his
vice-president of mergers and acquisitions appeared to be having.  “By God,
Enough is enough.  Desperate times and desperate measures and all that other
poetic bullshit.  The end justifies the means, dammit.  C’mon, Nick.  Think of
this as a business maneuver.  What’s the first rule I taught you in a hostile takeover,
son?”

“A-always use
the home field advantage if you can get it,” Nick rasped as Grant fanned him
with a menu.

Snapping his
fingers, Devil grinned and nodded.  “That’s right.  You’re gonna take on those
two idiots that claim to be your parents with the family you’ve made
surrounding you, supporting you.  You’re gonna tell ‘em that you’re a young,
successful gay man in love with the man of your dreams and you’re gonna marry
him with or without their fuckin’ approval.  Stand up to them, Nick, and let
Armando watch you do it.  Believe me, he might not wanna listen to you now, but
he’ll for damn sure listen to
THAT
.”

“Besides, if
those assholes you’re unfortunately related to continue to make a fuss, we’re gonna
turn Samantha and my Nana loose on their sorry asses.  Those women have crapped
bigger nuisances than your parents,” Devil noted with a careless shrug.  “Face
it, Nick.  You’ve got people in your life now that love you.  Unconditionally. 
You just have to let us do it.”

Wiping his
sweating forehead with the back of his hand, Nick lifted his pale face to look
at Devil.  “I don’t want their poison infecting the people in my life that
matter.  You’ve met them, Dev.  They’re bullies.  They’ll bulldoze right over…”

Holding up a
hand, Nick shook his head.  “You know how you stop a bully, Nick?”  Seeing the
other man shake his head, Devil grinned.  “You find a bigger bully to take them
on.”  Crossing his arms over his chest, Dev leaned back in his chair.  “Lucky
for you, you’ve got one in your corner that happens to be severely pissed. 
Seriously, I will kill these people before I let them ruin this wedding.  Do
you know how much the flowers alone cost?” he asked with a shudder.  “It’s obscene. 
But, it’s what Molly wants to give you.  And I always try to give my Molly what
she wants when she wants it.  Happy wife, happy life and all that crap.  These
idiots are not gonna rob my wife – who has put her heart and soul into this
ceremony - of
your
perfect day.”

Grant
chuckled as Nick merely nodded solemnly.

Still
laughing Grant shook his head.  “Awww, Devil, if people only knew what a big
ole softie you were….”

“….I’d have
to hire a hit man to get rid of them,” Devil growled, glaring at the two men
sitting at the table. “Now,” he said, peeling his credit card from his wallet
and waving it in the air for the waitress to collect, “we’re gonna pay the tab
and take you back to my place to see your intended, Nick.  I’ve got six days to
restore peace, love and harmony to my universe and by all I hold holy, I’m
gonna do it if it’s the last thing I ever accomplish!”

Molly

“Oh, my sweet
Lord in Heaven!  WHAT have you done, Devil Delancy?”

Standing in
the open doorway to their en suite master bathroom, Molly gaped at her half
naked husband.  Swallowing hard as she watched round droplets of water slowly
slide down his chiseled chest, she tried her best to ignore the way her core
tightened every time he moved.  He’d said he was going to take a shower while
she put the baby down for the night, but it had been a long time since she’d
returned from the nursery quickly enough to see him all damp and
mouthwateringly fresh from the shower.  Thank God their little angel had given
up easily tonight and simply gone to sleep without complaint.  She supposed she
had Devil to thank for that, too.  He’d played their little girl out for her.

Watching him
slowly pad across the carpeted floor, the soft grey towel he wore slung low…so
very delectably low on his hips, she struggled to remember what she wanted to
yell at him about.  Oh yes, she recalled… his asinine
plan
.  She tried
not to get even angrier when he barely looked her way, instead grabbing another
towel and patting it against his damp dark hair as he stood in front of the
long his and hers vanity.  Meeting his eyes in the reflection of the mirror
when he finally looked up, she narrowed her gaze.

“Your hearing
is just fine, babe.  I know you heard me earlier.  You already
know
what
I’ve done,” Devil returned with a lazy grin.

You cannot
scratch your husband’s eyes out.  You cannot rip your husband’s dick off, she
kept reminding herself as she met his eyes when he turned to face her.  You
love his eyes.  You adore his dick, she reminded herself as her fingers curled
into fists at her side.

“Devil, I’m
tryin’ real hard not to lunge across this room and cause you irreparable harm,
honey, but it’s gettin’ harder and harder.”

“So’s my
dick, but you don’t seem to care about that at the moment,” he muttered aloud
as he hung the towel he’d been using on his hair around his neck and held on to
either end of it with a white knuckled grip.

“Darlin’, if
you ever care to have me on my knees again, you’ll tell me this is all one big
cosmic joke and you did NOT invite those horrid people here to see us.  Really,
Devil….what the
hell
were you thinking?” she asked, shaking her head. 
Honestly she wasn’t sure if her husband had lost his patience or his mind. 
Either way, his so-called plan had disaster written all over it. 

And when
Armando found out? 

Let’s just
say that the burning of Atlanta would look like a mere redecorating project
compared to how Mannie would tear up the town once he found out what Devil had
done.  Thank God he’d been out with Vivian and Sami when Devil and Grant had
brought Nick by earlier.  At least now she’d either have time to undo what
Devil had done or at the very least prepare her poor Mannie for what was
coming.

Today had
been horrible for him…hell, for all of them really.  Because watching their
normally happy, joy filled friend unravel had to be one of the hardest things
Molly had ever witnessed.  And she knew that Vivian and Sami felt the same
way.  Not even her mother, Anne, or Devil’s Nana had been able to comfort
Armando.  They’d tried, but the brokenhearted man had only brightened – albeit
briefly – when Nana had threatened to beat Nick to death with her trusty wooden
spoon for the misery he’d brought Mannie.  Molly hadn’t been surprised in the
least; her entire family saw Armando Savage as one of their own since
practically the day they’d met him.

When Mannie
had finally awakened this morning somewhere around eleven, he’d been
disoriented and hung over.  Overindulging in Devil’s bottle of Crown Royale the
previous night and a hard, deep sleep had combined to dull her friend’s senses
for a few moments just as he’d risen.  It had been heartbreaking to watch
Mannie remember all the events that had brought him to Molly and Devil’s home
in the middle of the night.  At first, there’d been tears and curses as
Mannie’s memory had sharpened, becoming clearer with the aid of a strong cup of
Nana Delancy’s coffee.  Then ice cold anger had set in, morphing Armando from a
sweet, heart sore gay man into a fire-breathing Groomzilla intent on
terrorizing the villagers of Atlanta, Georgia.

Yeah, he’d
been determined to cancel as many wedding arrangements as he could.  It had
taken the combined efforts of her, Sami, Viv, Grant’s wife, Karen, Molly’s mom,
AND Nana to stop Mannie from singlehandedly annihilating every painstaking
wedding plan Molly had made over the last few months.  Thank God Sami had been
carrying around that bottle of unused valium in her purse.  They’d crushed two
of those bad boys and mixed it with Mannie’s mimosa before he even realized what
was happening.  Thankfully, he’d spent the better part of the afternoon
napping.

When he woke
up, Vivian had insisted on treating him to dinner and a movie so that Molly
could spend some time with her daughter.  Luckily, she’d been able to eject
Nick from her house before Mannie had gotten home.  It had hurt her to throw
out the older man, but she’d known down to her soul that if Mannie had seen him
in the frame of mind he was in that there wouldn’t have been enough of Nick
left to fill a Ziploc bag.

And damn it,
she still had a small sliver of hope that there’d be a wedding in just under a
week and she didn’t want the photographs marred by bruises on one of the
grooms.  After all, that well-known photographer had demanded one hell of a
sizeable non-refundable deposit on his services (not that she’d be sharing that
information with her hubby). 

It was her
husband’s long-suffering sigh that brought her out of her worried thoughts, and
she narrowed her eyes as he stalked in her direction.  Even still half angry
with him, she couldn’t help but admire the fluid cat-like grace with which he
moved toward her.  Talk about poetry in motion…. Even after being married and
sharing a child together, she still believed her husband’s body was the stuff
poets wrote their sonnets about.

“To answer
the question you posed just a few moments ago, Molly,” Devil began as he
dropped the towel from his shoulders into the wicker laundry hamper by the
sink, “What I was thinking, babe, is that I’d like to see my amazing wife naked
again on a regular basis without the vocal accompaniment of a jilted he-devil,
thank you very much.  Call me crazy, but the moaning and caterwauling that
Armando does just really isn’t conducive to the mood I’m trying to create with
you.  And trust me, darlin’, the only way to make that fantasy into reality
without moving the entire country to DefCon 4 and launching the nukes toward
Nick’s head is by doing exactly what I’ve done.”

Molly rolled
her emerald eyes at her husband’s theatrics.  Honestly the man missed his
calling on Broadway, she thought wryly.  Smacking one hand against his bare
chest, she silently luxuriated in how his muscles leapt underneath her
fingertips even as she snorted at his previous statement.  “Trust you?  
Seriously?  You want me to
trust
you and your better judgment here? 
Devil, sweetie, have you taken leave of what little senses you had left?  Trust
you, my ass.”

“My somewhat
limited senses are about the only thing I’ve got going for me right now,
woman,” he grumbled, grabbing her by one shapely hip and yanking her body
against his, nearly groaning when her curves came to rest against his aroused
body.

Sliding her
hand over his naked chest, her nails scratching lightly at the hair on his
chest, Molly forced herself to remember that she was truly and honestly mad at
her gorgeous husband at the moment.  That wasn’t to say that she didn’t enjoy
the way his body felt against hers or the way he could make her forget her own
name with the way that body made her feel, but she was honor bound to hold onto
her ire right now.  It was part of the best friend code of conduct.  There was
even a chapter on sisterly solidarity.  She couldn’t allow her very handsome
husband to distract her now. 

Biting her
lip as his warm hand palmed her hip, massaging her skin in a way that invited
her to sink into him and never come up for air, she knew she was in big, big
trouble.  Dragging in a ragged breath as she felt his cock lengthening beneath
the towel and prodding her abdomen, she shook her head and tried desperately to
clear the sudden cobwebs that had overtaken her thoughts.  “Listen here, you
evil thing, you can’t distract me.  I want answers, Devil.  Real ones.”

Devil grinned
wickedly as he looped a hand around his wife’s waist, holding her closer as he
rocked his terrycloth covered hips against her.  Leaning down, he nipped her
ear lobe before whispering in her ear, “Damn, baby.  That sounded like a
challenge to me, and you
know
how much I love a good challenge.  How
much you wanna bet that I can’t distract you right now?”  Inching her short,
silky robe up her thigh with one hand as he murmured against her ear, she
shivered against him.  “I think I’ve got something a whole lot better to fill
your thoughts right now,” he promised, guiding one of her tiny palms between
the folds of his towel over his cock.  “I’m pretty sure you’ve got at least
nine inches worth of something better to think about right now, don’t you?”

“Devil,”
Molly whined, wondering how in the hell she could be this turned on while
simultaneously being this aggravated with the man she married.  “Seriously, you
owe me answers,” she insisted, the fingers of her hand tightening around his
manhood.

Devil moaned
low in his throat as Molly’s grip threatened to strangle his dick.  Biting the
inside of his cheek, he silently recited the names of several Catholic saints
until the urge to come against her hand began to pass.  Inhaling deeply, he
quickly tried to give her the explanation she wanted.  “Look baby,” he
murmured, rubbing his nose against her neck as he spoke against her warm,
fragrant flesh, “I saw a problem and took measures to find a solution.  As far
as I can tell, the problem here is that Mannie feels like Nick is ashamed of
him and that’s why he was not only hiding his sexuality from his parents, but
Armando’s existence, too.  I knew Mannie refused to talk to Nick right now so I
decided to attempt to bring in people he will at least hear out.  Nick’s
parents arrived tonight.  I’ve put ‘em up in a very nice hotel in downtown
Atlanta, and tomorrow, we’ll have them over for lunch.  Then, after the dust
settles and if God is smiling on me, Mannie will see that Nick wasn’t ashamed
of
him
at all….he was ashamed of his
parents
.  He was trying to
protect Mannie
from them
and their judgmental attitudes
.
  Now,
for tonight, you don’t have to believe Nick or even me.  Tomorrow, you’ll see
for yourself what Nick was dealing with at home and why he made the choices he
did, however unwise and misguided they were.  For tonight and just tonight, try
to shove all of the drama surrounding us out of your mind,” he continued,
dropping a long, lingering kiss against Molly’s throbbing pulse in her neck,
“Please, sweetheart, believe that I have everyone’s best interests at heart and
am doing everything I can to see our friends happily reunited
and
committed
to each other in less than a week.  Hell, even if I hated them both, I’d do whatever
I could for no other reason than I know it’s important to you.  And you, my
love, you make my world go round.  I begin and end with you, Molly.  There’s
nothing I wouldn’t do to see you smile.”

Releasing a
shaky breath, Molly leaned more heavily against her husband.  “When you say
things like that, you steal my breath.”

“I’m just
telling the truth,” Devil returned, his hand stroking her from hip to breast
and back again.  “You and our daughter are my driving force, darlin’.  My heart
beats because yours does, too.  And when something makes you hurt, it hurts me
as well.  We’re connected.  Always and forever.”

“I hope your
plan works,” Molly whispered, her fingers slowly sliding up and down his
length.  “But even if it doesn’t, I know beyond any shadow of doubt that you
tried your hardest to solve things for Armando.  And for me.”

“I love you,
Molly.  I’d do anything for you,” Devil replied quietly, rocking her in his
arms as her hand moved up and down over his length.

Exhaling a
long breath, Molly groaned.  Snuggling against him, Molly murmured, “Do you
ever wish that our family was more – I dunno -
normal
?

“Hell, babe,
there’s no such thing as normal.  What the hell is ‘normal’ anyway?  As far as
I know, it’s just a setting on our washing machine,” Devil chuckled.  “It’s one
of those meaningless words that people toss around to feel better about
themselves. It doesn’t mean a fuckin’ thing.  We are what we are, and anybody
that doesn’t like it can go to hell.”

Those
words…gruffly spoken, but deep and meaningful, reminded Molly just why she
loved this man so much.  He didn’t sugarcoat anything.  He didn’t say what was
guaranteed to make her melt.  He simply told the truth – however he saw it.  “I
love you, Devil,” Molly murmured, lifting on her toes to brush a kiss against
his lips.

“Do you?”
Devil asked lightly, thrusting against her hand.  “Exactly how much do you love
me?  If you had to put a value on it?”

Molly
giggled.  “Hmmmm, that’s a tough one,” she teased, slowly sliding to her knees
in front of him.  Releasing his cock long enough to tug the towel still around
his hips off, she slowly lifted her head and blinked up at him.  “I suppose I
could try to show you.  Would you be okay with that?’