Talson's Net

by Marie Harte

  “Not sure, but I’m not questioning a good thing.” He smiled, and his joy seemed to light him from the inside out. “While I have you down, let’s talk about your cousin again.”

  She groaned. Val pestered her for information about Keilor too often for her peace of mind. “I told you everything.”

  “Not everything.” He stripped down to nothing, and she had a hard time looking away from his body. So beautiful. And all mine, the selfish part of herself stated in no uncertain terms.

  The satisfaction on his face unnerved her. “Yes, sweetheart. I’m all yours.” His annoyance faded, though his tenacity remained. “Now about Keilor. Did he ever hurt you? I need to know.”

  She squirmed, wishing she could have this conversation on equal footing. Bad enough the man towered over her when they both were standing. But lying under him made her feel…well, submissive.

  His eyes darkened. “Rowe?”

  “No. Not the way I think you mean. He always watched me. Growing up, we spent time together. Our fathers were brothers in the same business. Until the day my parents died, I’d spend Saturday dinners with Uncle Fulton, Keilor, and Aunt Twaye. I hated it. My mother did too, and we’d play silly little games to amuse ourselves while Dad and Uncle Fulton talked business. I don’t really think Dad liked him much either, come to think of it. But he had a duty to the ‘Or Ryi, so he liked to say.”

  Thinking about her parents made her heart ache. Then Val was there, kissing her, taking away the pain until only a lingering nostalgia remained.

  “I’m sorry. I can feel how much they meant to you. I wish I could have known them.”

  She blinked up at him, nonplussed at his sincerity. “Um, yeah. It’s funny, but I think they would have liked you a lot.” Her father certainly would have. Arman ‘Or Ryi prized intelligence and fortitude, both of which Val had. But her mother would have liked the way he looked at Rowe. As much as she hadn’t asked for a mate, she couldn’t have hoped for someone better than Val Talson—at least, the Val he’d shown her so far. On the surface, he was full of charm. But she wondered about the real him.

  He shook his head. “So many trust issues.” The naughty grin on his face worried her.

  “Val?”

  “We need to work on that, veyu.”

  “Why do you call me that?”

  “Beloved?” He kissed her, his lips lingering long enough to stir her into a new, burning desire. As if made just for him, her body softened anytime he drew too close. Arousal, need, and affection embraced her in an all-out flame. She would have dragged him down to her if she’d had control of her body. But thanks to his telekinesis, she could barely move.

  “Yeah, beloved,” she growled. “Why that?”

  “Because that’s what you are to me.”

  9

  Val’s eyes narrowed. “You’re wearing too many clothes.” After he had her naked, he returned to their previous conversation. “So what are your plans to take down your cousin?”

  How could the man think when Rowe wanted nothing more than him inside her? She cleared her throat and tried to focus on something other than sex. “My cousin, right. For some reason, he thinks he wants me, so I’m going to use that to trap him. He’s not stupid. He routinely checks for listening devices, and he has an associate who shields for him.” Telepathically.

  As strong as Otra were with telepathy, Keilor used a shielder to keep him out of jail. She had a feeling he was guilty of more than the crimes she suspected. “I’ll meet Keilor in his office while wearing a recorder,” she continued. “But I’ll convince him I’m not wearing a listening device and get the information we need. If I meet him at work, it won’t look as suspicious. Besides, there, if something happens to me, others will know.”

  It sounded like a good plan to her.

  “Will your gift work on him? How reliable is it?”

  Trust Val to come to the crux of her problem. The one tiny detail that might make her plan fall apart. “My gift is reliable.” Under his rapt gaze, she found it hard to lie. “Mostly.”

  He shook his head. “You should never lie to your iriu.”

  “Now hold on, Val. I told the truth.” She could feel her body readying for him, needing him inside her. Just a few days of mind-numbing sex and the man had addicted her.

  But it was the mean look in his eyes that melted her. That harsh stare promised punishment, and to her shock, the thought of Val disciplining her aroused her to no end. Though they’d made love the last few days, he’d been demanding, but in a gentle way. Nothing rough. She liked his intensity, but it had felt as if something were missing.

  “I need something from you.” His husky voice drew her attention. But to her frustration, she couldn’t read him.

  “What?” She blinked up at him, surprised when he straddled her face.

  “You know what I need, veyu.” His sly grin told her he more than enjoyed her helplessness. “I need your submission.”

  The word grated. “No.” Yet he had her, and he knew it. Hell, they both did.

  “No?” Val pinched her nipple. The bite stung. She opened her mouth to protest, and he inserted himself between her lips. “That’s it. Suck on me. Careful you don’t gag, sweetheart. Because I’m going to fuck your mouth until I’m ready to pull out. Because I’m in charge.” His thick voice turned her on more than anything, and she sucked and licked, rough against his cock.

  “That’s good. Real good. Fuck, yes.” He took her mouth, thrusting in and out with short strokes. This wasn’t making love, this was a possession.

  And she reveled in it. Val couldn’t feign this type of need. To know she’d made him this way pleased her beyond words.

  He pulled out before she could make him come, and she moaned, lonely without him.

  “You little witch. Trying to take back control, hmm?” His breathing was fast, his eyes so bright they hurt to look at. And he’d never looked more appealing.

  Without giving her a chance to answer, he moved between her legs and nipped her clit. Then he sucked and startled a climax out of her.

  “Greedy,” he murmured between sucks. His tongue stroked in and out of her, and she quivered, over sensitized and empty. She needed to come with him inside her. “But that’s okay. You’ll just have to come again. I need to be nice and slick. So when I split that ass, it’s an easy ride.” He looked up at her and winked, able to feel her nervousness.

  He didn’t speak again. Fingering her, he spread her cream over her folds and back, toward her hole. He played with her, licking and stroking his way past her inhibitions.

  Until she moaned and pleaded as he sank more of his little finger into her ass. The stretching felt good, the small start of pain an added pleasure that called for more.

  “I need you in me,” she admitted.

  “And you’re going to get me, sweetheart. But not until we come to some sort of agreement.” Val pulled his finger out and mounted her. Then he angled his cock at her pussy and thrust.

  “Stars, yes.” She swore as he stuffed her full, his body so big and hard.

  Sweat beaded his brow, and the gleam of lust and affection in his eyes enhanced the energy between them. He was so hot, so sexy. And all hers.

  “I could come so easily in you. That tight pussy is mine, isn’t it?” The crudity wasn’t lost on her, nor was the resulting arousal it created.

  “Yes,” she moaned as he fucked her harder.

  “And that ass, you’re going to give it to me, aren’t you? I’m not going to take what’s mine. You’re going to offer it to me, because I have control here and now, don’t I?”

  She didn’t answer right away, and Val used his psychei to tilt her head back so that he could look into her eyes.

  An instinctive need to obey hit her hard. The acceptance she both craved and feared—because it could be too easily taken away from her—danced close. “Val.”

  “Say it, damn it. Tell me who’s in control right now.”

  She wanted to deny him, but she couldn
’t. Everything inside her called out for him. Val completed her. His energy comforted, shielded, controlled. With him, she could surrender and revel in the fact he wouldn’t let her fall. Just once, she wanted to know she didn’t have to be strong to be safe.

  “Give it to me, veyu. It’s what we both need,” he said in a guttural voice.

  “You’re in charge. I yield,” she whispered, taken with the desperate hunger she could feel in his psychei. His utter need for her.

  He pulled out and inched lower, putting the tip of his cock at her ass. “That’s it. Good girl. Now open to me. All of you.” He entered her mind first, pushing more of himself in her than he had before. Though they coexisted on the psychic plane, his physical intrusion added a new dimension to their bonding. And before she realized it, he’d shoved half his cock up her ass.

  “Of fuck. You’re so good, iriu. So tight.” He clenched his jaw as he pushed the rest of himself inside her.

  A fullness competed with the emptiness in her pussy. The strange sense of being a part of him yet not grabbed on and wouldn’t let go. He used his mind to pressure her clit, and she bucked under the sensation.

  He slid out and pushed back in again, the burn enhancing her desire, until she couldn’t tell the difference between pain and pleasure. She only knew her togetherness with Val was a feeling of belonging.

  Tears filled her eyes.

  “Yes, Rowe. That’s it. Let it out. Give it to me—everything that you’re still holding on to. I’m here, veyu. Always here for you,” he rasped as he fucked her.

  The orgasm crashed over her before she was ready, and the catharsis of so much pleasure in her abandon was overwhelming. She felt herself falter, devoured by Val’s pleasure as he came inside her, his cock pulsing within the tight confines of her ass.

  He arched his head back as he pumped a few more times, then stilled. When he looked down at her again, those special eyes saw more than she wanted him to see.

  “Stars, but I love everything about you. Especially how much you love me.” He grinned, that cocky arrogance such a part of him. “I don’t deserve it, but I’m going to take it. You’ll see, my iriu. I won’t let you down. Feel me.” He sent another rush of energy into her mind to wake her from her orgasmic daze. “I’m yours. I’ll never let you go.”

  She gave herself up to him, content that at least for now, he’d keep her and guard her. Submitting to Val fit, and she let him tend to her, as was his right.

  Three days later, Val swore at the stubborn woman clinging to an outdated sense of authority. “Hell. No.”

  Quinn had finally rejoined them and watched them argue with a huge-ass grin on his face.

  “It’s not fucking funny,” he seethed at the Otra.

  “Oh, it is.” Quinn accepted the food Rowe passed him with a nod and thanks. “She bosses me around constantly. I just didn’t think you’d let her get away with it.”

  “I’m not,” Val snapped. But as he watched his mate scurry around her apartment, he didn’t know what to think. He’d let his business fall to the side while he figured out how to deal with Rowe. Meanwhile, she’d been secretly commanding her office while he’d been trying to get her to relax with him all week. He’d thought his daily naps were due to the extreme energy he’d utilized during their new bonding. Apparently, his mate still had the ability to control him with her mind.

  The little liar had been hiding it from him. “I’m sorry, Val. But when you refused the calls from my office, I thought it was time to show you I can handle myself.”

  That she could didn’t bother him. Proud to have a strong mate, he liked her power. But having it directed against him peeved him. “Fine. Yet you’ll notice how I’ve been ignoring my responsibilities in the face of our joining.” He paced, annoyed all over again when Quinn didn’t even bother to hide his amusement. “I’ve ignored my work while seeing to you. But feel free to treat me as nothing more than an inconvenience in your life.”

  She blinked at him and stopped moving. “Is that what you think? That I don’t value you?”

  “Well, why should you? Chartrell Shipping is powerful. As soon as you deal with Keilor, you’ll be back to making a lot of currency with nothing standing in your way. I’m a great lay, I’ll admit.” He ignored Quinn’s interest. “But that’s apparently all I am to you.” Why the hell did this woman turn him inside out? Instead of loving the fact she responded to him sexually and gave him whatever he wanted, he needed more.

  “Oh, Val.” Rowe’s endearing smile warmed his heart. “You’re feeling unloved, aren’t you?”

  He hated having this discussion in front of Quinn, but the aggravating male refused to leave until he and Rowe came to a decision about Keilor. Her cousin had apparently made a few threats they could no longer afford to ignore.

  “I’m not feeling unloved.” His face felt hot.

  “Good. Because you’re not.” Now he watched as she blushed.

  What she said astounded him. For the past few days, she’d been sexually close but mentally distant. Knowing this bond would take time, he’d let her have her space. Truth be told, having someone aware of his thoughts 24/7 didn’t sit easily with him either. But Rowe mattered. He didn’t want her to think, for any reason, that he didn’t want her.

  “It’s about time you admitted it.” Quinn polished off the last of his steak and sat back with a groan. “Now if you two lovebirds are done, we have to figure out how to deal with Keilor. He’s flat out accused you of treason against the company, Rowe. You have to deal with him before it gets any more serious.”

  “No shit, Quinn.” She turned her displeasure on her guard, finally leaving Val alone. “Why do you think I’ve been keeping tabs on work? I need to know who I can trust and who I can’t. I don’t think Fulton’s on the up and up either. Though he didn’t plan on dying, he had a hand in Keilor’s bomb attempt. From what I’ve gathered, the two of them planned to steal the artifacts and sell them to collectors world-wide. They were supposed to make it look like the ship blew up with the cargo, but the cargo would have been offloaded, and Fulton off the ship, before the ship exploded.”

  “Hold on.” Val’s heart raced. Love? She’d finally admitted she loved him…like that? “You drop a bomb on me and go right back to discussing work?” He didn’t know what to think. The woman was steadily driving him insane. But if she could handle their relationship with calm, so could he. “Fine. Let’s fix your problems at work once and for all. Then you can explain just where the hell you think we—you and I—fit in your life.”

  He couldn’t wait to take out his frustrations on her ass again. A good reaming would do Rowe a world of good. He couldn’t believe what a difference disciplining his little dictator made.

  She needed to know he cared, and by punishing her, he showed he loved her. It didn’t make much sense to him, but he’d sensed the truth in her, much as she tried to hide it from him. If he needed to be a little rougher with her to show her how much he cared, he’d do it. But this nonsense about her cousin needed to come to an end. And not by putting her in front of the asshole.

  “This idea about confronting him face-to-face? It’s not gonna happen.” No way in hell.

  Rowe had other ideas. When she realized he wouldn’t budge, she tried another tactic. “What if I promise not to go in alone?” We can go together, iriu.

  Quinn watched the two of them. “Explain that one.”

  She fidgeted.

  Val sighed. “What she means is she’s bargaining with her mind. She’s closed herself off to me the last few days.” He admired her savvy, but no. “Veyu, in case it’s escaped your notice, I could have pried into that chaotic ball you call a brain at any time.” She glared, and he grinned. In this one instance, her humanity made it harder for her to see into his thoughts, though he kept himself open to her. Her, he could read like an open book. But he didn’t want to annoy her by prying unless invited. “I respect your need for privacy. But I won’t let you jeopardize yourself, not for anything.”
>
  “What if I’m not asking, Valis?”

  That nasty tone only served to get him harder than he was. And of course, Quinn noticed.

  “Hmm. Rowe? A word?” Quinn beckoned her closer, then whispered something that had her smiling wide.

  “Oh hell. What ideas are you giving her now?”

  “I just said I fully supported her. And with you and me both in her mind while she confronts Keilor, he won’t know what’s coming.”

  Val frowned, startled to feel a hint of jealousy. The pair stood too close to each other, and he didn’t like it. “You’re still connected that deep that you can stay in her mind?” Though he had helped his brother bond to his female, he no longer had access to their joined minds. Not that he’d tried to connect.

  “I’ve always been connected to Rowe,” Quinn explained. “I told you; we’re like family. Not brother and sister,” he amended and stared at her breasts. “But close. And I’m still open to you if you bother to look.”

  Val opened his psychei and saw Quinn, clear as day. “Hell.”

  10

  Quinn smirked. “No getting rid of me that easily. But what you don’t know is I’m not just good looking, strong, and smart, I have another ability that’s even better.”

  Val let out a breath and muttered to Rowe, “And you call me arrogant.”

  Rowe snickered. “Listen to him. My plan will work.”

  The thought of his precious mate in danger didn’t sit well. “Rowe…” Then Quinn was there, in his face, his hands on either side of Val’s head.

  “Remember what I did before, Val?”

  “Wh-what?”

  Quinn kissed him. A harsh embrace that burned through him in seconds. To Val’s shock, Quinn thrust his tongue inside and stroked with his psychei as well. Val grew hard and came immediately in a brutal, draining orgasm.

  “That is so sexy.” Rowe’s voice sounded from a distance. “You have to do it again, without all the clothes.”