The Mating Game (5 page)

Women left and right were throwing themselves at him, as more than a dozen scantily clad, clinging women converged on Samuel and Lee. None of the three men would have even the faintest problem of acquiring a bed partner—or three—tonight.

Mary dug in her purse for a tip. She couldn’t put her finger on any one thing that had given the two brothers away—but she was now
convinced
they really were werewolves, stupid as it sounded.

Something, maybe her intuition, readily accepted these men turned into huge beasts during the full moon. While she didn’t believe they became mindless, ravaging beasts, something inside her clicked when she looked deep into Dominic’s eyes. She wanted to think this through more thoroughly.

“Can I buy you a drink? My name is Dominic.”

The simple, husky words effectively froze her and muddled her thoughts. She didn’t need to turn around to work out who was standing half-behind her. She could feel the heat of his body, even without the contact.

Taking a deep breath—this is, after all, what she had come for—she looked up into Dominic’s face. His hair was all shaggy from running his hands through it over and over during his breaks on the saxophone. He looked rumpled and sexy, as if he had just stepped out of bed.

Mary smiled. Now that the moment had arrived, all her nerves fled.
Go with the flow
, Chloe had insisted. Well, here she was, going with the flow.

“Sure, thanks. I’m Mary.”

Placing the strap of her bag back over her shoulder, she waved to the seat on the other side of her table. Dominic ordered a Scotch for himself, and a refill of her light beer. As he sat down, his legs brushed hers. A thrill of electric current passed between them. Mary had never reacted so strongly physically to a man before.

For just a moment, she worried about the wisdom of a one-night stand. Barely had the thought crossed her mind than her confidence returned. Dominic seemed like a nice enough guy. He certainly wasn’t interested in anything permanent. Why not have one night of ecstatic sex while she was here? One night would surely be enough after it was over.

Mary smiled as she raised her glass in a silent toast to Dominic. He smiled and returned the toast with one of his huge, charming grins. Mary felt her heart accelerate and a warm flush spread over her body.

The night had just begun.

Chapter Four

Dominic did his best not to stare at the woman seated across from him. He had to remind himself constantly that she might be an enemy. Her musky, womanly scent teased and tormented him—hinting at how she would smell when creaming and open fully to him.

As this woman had such a naturally musky scent, the thought of the tang her desire could add to that musk had him nearly rabid with the need to open her to him, to have her taste on his lips and tongue. The question of whether she would indeed merely smell and taste better when aroused had left him with a permanent boner during all the sets.

He desperately tried to remind himself this woman might be conspiring against him and his brothers—to ignore the immense heat and sexual chemistry she brought to life in his body with a mere glance.

When he first entered the bar to take the stage, he had smelled her. From clear across the room the musky, taunting scent of her body reached him and grabbed his libido and guts in a fierce clench. When he finally got a clear view of her, his knees had threatened to buckle underneath him.

A pint-sized package of sex and temptation, that’s exactly what Ms. Mary Dennison was. It was hard to tell exactly what height she was, sitting down at the table, but Dominic guessed she reached around five-foot-two or three.

Just like the animated woman he still dreamed about, she had long red hair that caught the lights and glinted with temptation. Even across the bar he could see her wicked green eyes that changed colors, from blue-green to the deepest of emerald greens, like the sea.

For possibly the first time ever, Dominic was trying desperately hard to control his sexual urgings. The mating game, as he liked to call the complex sexual rituals a man and woman danced through, had never seemed so challenging and interesting.

He kept reminding himself he needed to pump her for information, but his rampant cock kept insisting on another form of pumping altogether. Through all of this, the back of his brain insisted this woman had no criminal motives. Yet Dominic refused to be ruled by his cock, however lovely the outcome of following his desires might be.

The tiny part of his brain still working, the intellectual side of him insisted there must be a reason this woman sought him out here. The fact she had found him in such a short period of time proved to him she was indeed clever, and thus he needed to be wary.

Pity the thinking part of him was so small. The rest of him, hormones, cock and body were all interested in a completely different agenda. One that included getting naked and very frisky in the quickest time possible.

His lust-crazed hormones desperately wanted to pick her up, carry her out of the bar and back to his apartment. He craved to slowly show her each and every fantasy he had ever written about, ever dreamed in the heat of the night.

The longer he looked at her, sought out teasing glimpses of her, he found her even more beautiful than the animated cartoon she had used to tease him. Her breasts were a decent handful, her hair looked as soft as silk, her skin was the pale, creamy shade of a true redhead.

But her eyes…her eyes were pure temptation. They held laughter and secrets; carnal urgings and a womanly confidence in her own sexual skills were all hidden within those emerald green eyes.

Dominic smiled. Here, finally, was a woman who would challenge him. He merely hoped he could hold his lust in check long enough to find out what she really wanted from him. There had to be a reason for her visit, and he needed to know before he seduced her silly and thrust himself deeply inside her.

Everything tonight was a new spin on a previously well-worn concept of the mating rituals he underwent most nights of the week. Mary, though she obviously didn’t realize it, was adding spice into his life. He merely had to remind himself she might be an enemy and to keep on his toes and his thoughts out of the gutter.

Never had the thought of questioning a woman sounded so sweet. Never had the complexities of life he adored seemed quite so enticing and arousing.

Taking a sip of his Scotch, he felt the warm amber liquid burn down his throat. With luck, he could question her in his favorite manner. He had often fantasized about teasing a helpless captive. Driving a sexy woman mad with desire and tease her to her breaking point. Never being given the opportunity, Dominic had played out other fantasies instead, following the more normal strictures of the mating game.

Yet here was his perfect opportunity.

Wondering how quickly he could lead her back to his apartment, she surprised him with her candor and boldness.

“Much as I’d love to sit here with you and have a few more drinks—what say we head back to your place?”

Usually, Dominic loved having women take control at this stage. It showed that not only were they mature enough to know what they wanted and go for it, but it also showed a confidence in themselves that was an instant turn-on for him. Amazingly, his cock hardened even more and he smiled.

“One question first, Mary; are you a criminal?”

Surprise flared in her eyes.
Fantastic
, he had caught her off-guard.

“No, I’m not. Is that a common question you ask potential bedmates?”

Dominic carefully and slowly took another sip of his Scotch. “Not usually, no. Yet it’s not usual that someone who had been inside my brothers’ security files tracks me down looking like sin and temptation incarnate, either.”

Dominic carefully studied his quarry. She seemed reluctant, surprised.

“A very dear friend of mine—a young acquaintance—took a stupid dare. He got stuck. I got him out. It won’t happen again. End of story.”

Dominic really looked at Mary. His intuition told him she was speaking the truth—just as he had hoped. Deeper questioning could come later in the evening, when his cock was sated and when he had the time and privacy to indulge in some of his harder fantasies—Mary seemed confidant enough and bold enough to be willing to follow along.

Even if she weren’t willing, she didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would go along with something she wasn’t comfortable with. She would tell him if he pushed her too far.

He nodded, his mind made up and his cock bursting from his pants. “Fine.
Sha
ll we leave?”

He stopped when Mary put a hand on his arm.

“If you can be blunt, may I?”

Dominic paused, curious. “Of course, my dear, ask away.”

When Mary leaned forward, bent her head for more privacy, looking around to make sure no one could listen in, his curiosity piqued. What on earth was she going to say?

“Are you and your brothers really werewolves?”

She asked with such caution, such sincerity he felt a smile broaden his face. He raised an eyebrow. His macho, male show of arrogance obviously unsettled her. She rushed on, “I found an old email, quite by accident. I came here because I simply had to know, would go insane if I didn’t find out for sure.”

“And so you came here dressed as tempting as sin to seduce the information out of me?”

Dominic could barely believe the very faint flush that rose to her cheeks. Mary certainly wasn’t some virginal miss, yet he had flustered her. He idly wondered if that flush went all the way down her neck to her delectable breasts. He resolved to find out later tonight.

Taking pity on her and her strange show of bravado and awkwardness, he bent toward her and brushed a kiss along her cheek.

“Yes, love. We are werewolves. Do you still want to come back to my place?”

Dominic held still, patiently, as Mary looked carefully over him. He tried to rein in his impatience. He felt a thrill go through him as she placed her hand in his.

The electric connection between them had merely grown with their urgent questions answered. He knew Mary would want a deeper explanation and he would be happy to give her one later. Just as he wanted a deeper explanation of this very dear friend who had hacked into Art’s security files.

Time enough for all those deeper explanations later. His hard-on was making him dizzy. All the blood had rushed south a number of hours ago when he first smelled Mary. He had been hard so long, he could barely walk straight.

“Let me just say goodnight to my brother, then we can be on our way.”

As she nodded, Dominic stood up, still clutching her hand. He indulged himself, bent over and kissed her soft lips. The heady, musky scent nearly brought him to his knees, begging for more right there in the bar.

Taking a firm grip on himself, he made do with the simple, far too chaste kiss, and headed over to the huge crowd surrounding his brother and good friend.

Samuel and Lee were holding court among fully half the women in the crowded bar. As Samuel saw him approach, he disentangled himself from a particularly busty, clinging blonde, and started to meet him halfway.

Lee, however, with an arm around a busty redhead clinging to his neck stringing kisses along his half-bared chest, and another arm around a willowy blonde, seemed to be enjoying himself too much to do more than nod and wink.

Pulling Samuel aside, he explained he was taking Mary home with him to question her. Samuel laughed.

“Need some help, Dom? I would love to assist you. It’s been a while since we…double-teamed.”

Once in a while, Dominic and Samuel would both desire the same girl. If she was experienced enough, and they were in the mood, the thought of taking both brothers appealed to the girl. As a casual thing, the brothers enjoyed sharing in a threesome.

While Dominic had never minded sharing his women with Samuel, something about Mary cautioned him that he wouldn’t feel so casual about sharing her. He felt a sardonic smile cross his face. Samuel seemed perplexed and Dom couldn’t find the words to explain how he felt without having his brother howl with laughter and keep him hanging around even longer.

Dominic was amused to find he seemed to have a streak of possessiveness and jealousy he had never before possessed when it came to this particular woman. Explaining this to Samuel, however, would bring brotherly jeers and waste more time than he felt prepared to give.

He quickly pushed down and ignored the flare of masculine possessiveness. He was merely curious about her. She was gorgeous and he had been entertaining fantasies about her since he saw that damn animated picture of her.

He was interested in satisfying his curiosity, and having some brilliant sex with a hot woman. After he had slaked his desire somewhat, he could then ask the rest of his questions, and find out what she wanted with the records. This he could all achieve by himself—Samuel wouldn’t be needed.

Sure, buddy. This has nothing to do with the fact she’s hot and you’re horny for her and don’t wanna share.

He ignored the mocking laughter that reverberated inside his head.

“No thanks, Sam. I think I can handle her myself.”

When Samuel raised an eyebrow, he felt himself flush.