by Becca Van
But the niggling suspicion in the back of her mind about the stranger saying her name wouldn’t let go.
Chapter Eight
Duncan was at the police station talking with Tom, Zachery, and Noah Beech. They were the three policemen of Passion who were in a polyandrous relationship with Elizabeth Lamb, but most people called her Beth. He had Noah run a police check on Crystal’s father. What Noah found out was enough to turn his hair gray. It seemed her dad had gotten in with a bad crowd. The police in Melbourne had picked him up for attempted burglary. Crystal’s father had spilled his guts.
It seemed he owed a large sum of money to the underground mobster who ran black markets. They were into importing drugs and weapons and also prostitution. It seemed this mob was also suspected of selling arms to pay off debts to overseas connections.
Duncan immediately picked up his mobile and tried to call Alec again so he wouldn’t come to the station, but his brother’s phone went straight to voice mail. He was listening to Noah as he sent a text instead and he hoped that Alec got the message before he left the shop.
“You’re going to have to keep a close eye on your woman, Duncan.” Noah sighed. “These bastards are vicious mongrels. They won’t hesitate to kill.”
Duncan couldn’t believe what Noah had just told him. “Fuck.”
Duncan jerked his head toward the door when he heard his brother’s voice and then he rose to his feet when Alec’s phone beeped, no doubt with the text he had just sent him.
“Fuck! Our little woman has been through enough. We’ll just make sure she stays with at least one of us twenty-four hours a day. I’m not letting her out of our sight,” Alec snapped, punctuating his frustration by slamming his fist against the door frame.
“I’ll send out a warning to everyone to be on the lookout for any strangers hanging around. I’m afraid there’s not much more we can do unless we see them do something. Did the police find any prints in Crystal’s apartment?” Noah asked.
“No, nothing they could go on anyway,” Duncan answered.
“You know all the men of this town will keep an eye out. You call the Ramsay brothers on the Triple R farm and let them know to keep their eyes peeled, Duncan. Alec, since you deal with Ben and Jack Landon, you can call them. I’ll call Tony, Colt, and Bear Spencer, and Tom can call the newest Special Forces retirees to settle in Passion, Dillon, Chance, and Roman Bartram. With everyone aware of what could go down and having us all alert to strangers, I don’t think or want these mobsters getting within a cooee of Crystal. Now then, now that the business side of things is over, when are you going to bring your woman to the Four Passion Club to meet our women?”
“How about tomorrow night?” Duncan asked. He was all for Crystal meeting the other women in Passion in ménage relationships. The more comfortable their woman felt, the better and happier he and Alec would be.
“How about seven tomorrow night? That way everyone should have time to finish up work and we can meet at the club for dinner,” Duncan suggested.
“Sounds good. Make the arrangements with the others when you all call with this stranger alert. That way everyone gets a bit of notice,” Tom suggested from the sidelines. “Although, knowing most of the women in this town, they will no doubt jump at the chance at not having to cook. You know as well as I do, Noah, Beth will never refuse a night off from cooking.”
The men finished up their meeting. Noah, Tom, and Zach, of course, got back to work. Duncan and Alec headed back to the shop. They had a fair bit of work to catch up on. Most of it was paperwork, and even though Duncan hated doing it, he was the one who always ended up taking control. Alec always seemed to be on the phone to suppliers and customers. They needed to figure out a better system and knew Crystal had more efficient ways to run their office. She’d already suggested adding a lot of products to the website she was going to set up. She had so many great ideas and had been really enthusiastic as she’d explained them to him and Alec. Duncan smiled with happiness and contentment.
Their woman was smart and sassy and the love of their lives. He’d never thought that he and Alec would find Crystal, had in fact just about given up hope. He felt more settled than he ever had before, and he even felt closer to Alec. Crystal was the light of his life, a true godsend, and he would do everything within his power to protect her. He just hoped that he wouldn’t screw this up.
Deep down there was a niggling sensation of dread, and no matter how hard he tried to push it away, it wouldn’t let go. Taking a deep breath, he headed out of the police station.
* * * *
Crystal was hard at work and only vaguely noticed when they came back. Alec and Duncan had stopped in the cafe section and found out their woman had many talents and had won their staff over by lending a hand when things had been hectic.
Alec decided Crystal had worked enough for the day, but he planned to pick her brain tomorrow over their computing and ordering systems. Plus, he wanted to take her home and make love to her well into the night.
Alec made some coffee for Crystal and carried it into the office, and Duncan was right behind him with his own drink. She must have smelt it because she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before opening them again and zeroing in on the mugs in his hand. The look in her eyes made Alec’s cock twitch behind his zipper and her gaze turned hazy with desire. She looked him and Duncan over, and her breathing escalated.
Alec placed the mug of coffee on her desk and then moved until he could see both Duncan’s and Crystal’s faces. His brother was looking at Crystal with such love and hunger in his eyes it choked him up with emotion. He was just as hungry as Duncan and was barely restraining himself from stripping her naked and fucking her brains out right here, right now. She glanced over to him, and when he saw her need he couldn’t prevent a groan from escaping his mouth. From the way Crystal was squirming in her seat, she was just as needy.
He wondered if her pussy was wet and aching, just like his cock and balls. He drew in a ragged breath and tried to get his raging libido under control, but it was impossible. Crystal dragged her eyes from his and looked back down at her computer screen, but her chest was rising and falling rapidly and she crossed her legs and squeezed her thighs together.
That action was enough to break his control. Alec couldn’t take any more. He needed her now. He walked over to the door and closed it. The lock engaging was loud in the quiet room. Crystal was just about to take a sip from her coffee, but her arm froze in the air and she looked back up to him and then Duncan. Duncan took her cup from her hand and placed it on one of the other desks.
“What are…” was all Crystal got out before he and Duncan pounced.
Alec pulled Crystal up from her chair, covered her mouth with his own, and drank her in. He couldn’t get enough of her. One look, one word from their woman, had his cock filling, stretching, and engorging as blood drained from his brain down to his rod. He needed her now.
Alec thrust his tongue into the depths of her sweet mouth, over and over again, his lips slanting this way and that, devouring her. Duncan moved in close to Crystal’s back, cupped her breasts, and then began to knead the fleshy globes. She moaned into his mouth, making Alec’s flames burn higher and hotter than they ever had before. His fingers grappled with the buttons on her shirt while Duncan’s moved down to flick her pants open. Between the two of them, they had her naked in moments. Alec picked her up, carried her to the other desk, and set her arse down on the edge.
Duncan moved to the desk and removed the papers behind her, and Alec laid her back on the smooth wood surface. He went down on his knees, lifted and spread her thighs wide, and then covered her pussy with his mouth. He sucked on her dripping cunt, drinking in her delicious cream, while Duncan covered her mouth with his, muffling the whimpering sounds she made in the back of her throat.
Alec groaned as he slid his tongue up between her wet folds and twirled it around her engorged clit. He thrust two fingers into her tight, wet hole and began pumping them
in and out with a fast, furious pace. Alec growled with approval as Crystal’s muscles rippled then clamped down on his fingers hard. Crystal screamed into Duncan’s mouth as his brother pinched her nipples between his thumbs and index fingers.
Alec didn’t let up. He kept right on going. He sucked, twirled, and laved his tongue over Crystal’s sensitive bundle of nerves, until he had her right back on the edge once again. He sent her over the edge into rapture with the flick of his tongue and a pump of his fingers, and moaned as her cunt gushed her climax into his mouth and onto his hand.
Alec and Duncan soothed Crystal’s shaking, spasming body back down from her climactic high. He rubbed the palm of his free hand over her lower abdomen and slowly withdrew his fingers from her dripping cunt. Not wanting to waste a drop of her essence, he gently licked and sucked, savoring the taste of her sweet juices as he cleaned her up with his mouth and tongue.
“Oh. What did you do to me?” Crystal panted when Duncan finally released her mouth.
“I made you come, darlin’. Did you like it?” Alec asked and smiled.
“Fuck yes.”
“Watch that mouth, sweetheart. If you cuss one more time, I will put you over my knee and spank that sweet, sexy bum,” Duncan rasped.
Crystal flopped back on the desk, her eyes closed, her thighs spread, and she looked totally boneless. She opened her eyes once more, watching his brother as Duncan moved around the desk until he was standing between her thighs. He went down on one knee, about to take his turn giving their woman pleasure, but froze when a knock sounded on the door. Duncan stood up and gave Crystal a regretful look, and Alec sighed with frustration at the disturbance. Alec knew he shouldn’t have started anything, especially at work, but one look from Crystal was all it took to make him lose control. Playtime was over, at least for now. The next round of lovemaking would be at home where there would be no one to interrupt.
Duncan grabbed some tissues from the box on his desk, wiped Crystal clean, and helped her to redress. Crystal rummaged around in her purse and sprayed a little perfume at her throat, smoothed her hair down with a shaky hand, and then sat down at her desk once more. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Alec knew what had just taken place, no one would be the wiser, unless they looked real close.
Crystal’s lips were puffy from their kisses and her face was still a little flushed, but other than that she looked her usual calm self. He was glad she’d sprayed the perfume because if whoever was at the door wanted to come in, they wouldn’t be able to smell the musky scent of sex in the air anymore. At least he hoped not.
Alec opened the door to Jason and Sean Gallagher. The two brothers ran a catering supply warehouse, with the help of their artist wife, Natasha.
“Crystal, I’d like you to meet Jason and Sean Gallagher, they run the catering supply warehouse in town. Jason, Sean, this is Crystal Parrish,” Alec introduced.
“Pleased to meet you,” Crystal replied, and Alec had to bite his tongue when Crystal’s cheeks got redder. She glanced to him and Duncan then looked away. He guessed she was hoping the two men wouldn’t realize what they had just interrupted.
“You, too, Crystal,” Sean replied, a twinkle in his eye as he looked from Alec to Duncan and back to Crystal. It looked like Sean knew exactly what he and his brother had interrupted but was polite enough not to let on to Crystal and make her feel uncomfortable.
“We’ve heard so much about you.” Sean looked at Jason and saw his brother’s smirk. Alec could see both men were struggling not to burst out laughing. Jason gave him a wink, and then surreptitiously wiped a hand over his lips, trying to hide his smile. Alec couldn’t contain the chuckle rising in his chest from erupting anymore, and the other men joined in when he swiped his fingers over his lips, put them into his mouth, and sucked them clean.
Jason had no qualms whatsoever in hiding his mirth. He burst out laughing as he bent over holding his stomach. All four of them burst out with uncontrollable laughter.
“Oh. My. God,” Crystal gasped then buried her face in her arms she placed on the desk, which sent them all off into more peals of mirth.
Jason got himself under control and was the first to speak. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ve been caught fucking our wife a time or two as well. Tasha’s reaction was pretty much the same as yours.”
“Oh, for goodness sake. I’ll leave you gentlemen to talk. I’m going to get more coffee, since I didn’t get to drink the last one.” Crystal’s cheeks were red enough to resemble sunburn. She rose from her chair, picked up the mug of cold coffee from her desk, and left the room. Alec burst out laughing again, his brother and friends joining in once more.
Alec just hoped that Crystal wasn’t too embarrassed that Sean and Jason knew what they had been doing.
At least they hadn’t been caught with their pants down.
Chapter Nine
Crystal made herself another mug of coffee since the two young women behind the counter were busy filling customer’s orders. She took her mug to a table near the window and watched the people of Passion pass by. She thought about what her father may have done and wondered if Duncan had found out anything from the police. She hadn’t had a chance to ask him, since Alec and he had pounced on her when they had virtually walked into the office.
Crystal finished her coffee, and since her men were still in the back, she decided to do some window-shopping. It had been quite a while since she had allowed herself the extravagance of looking into shop windows, dreaming of buying whatever she wanted when she wanted to. Window-shopping had been one of Crystal’s favorite pastimes, when she wasn’t working, which had been a rarity. She hadn’t taken time out of her busy lifestyle to stop and smell the roses, since she had first moved out of home. She didn’t wander far, but she did lose herself in contemplation as she perused the goods displayed in the shop windows.
She was sighing over a pair of boots she knew would look great with jeans, but knew she would never own them. They were priced way over anything she could ever afford. Crystal turned at the squeal of rubber sliding on bitumen. She looked up to see a dark sedan coming to a stop nearby. The car drew level with her, the back door opening to reveal the man who had called out to her in the cafe earlier in the day. She watched as he got out and moved toward her with determination. The hair on her nape rose up, warning her of impending danger, but the warning came too late. The tall, bald, muscle-bound stranger grabbed her around the waist and placed a hand over her mouth to stifle any screams with his large hand. She glanced toward the coffee shop, but her men were not around. In fact, the whole street was empty. The door to the coffee shop opened, and Crystal saw Amy emerge onto the walkway. Crystal’s eyes widened, beseeching Amy to do something, knowing there was nothing the young woman could do except alert her men. She knew she had to fight.
She stomped her sneakered foot down onto the man’s foot. Even though he cursed, she knew she hadn’t done anything to slow him down. He dragged her over to the car as she flailed her arms and legs, trying to hinder the stranger from getting her into the vehicle. The last thing she saw of the streets of Passion was Amy running back into the shop. The car tires squealed as the driver planted his foot on the accelerator.
Crystal fought like a wild cat. She knew she had to get out of the car if she could. She was afraid she would never see the two men whom she loved with her whole heart again. She kicked, punched, and scratched until her head exploded with pain as the stranger clipped her beneath the jaw, knocking her into unconsciousness.
* * * *
Amy burst through the office door, tears streaking down her face as she yelled incoherently to Duncan and Alec. It took precious minutes for Duncan to calm their distraught employee down, so they could figure out what had upset her so greatly.
“He took her,” Amy sobbed.
Duncan felt terror sinking into his gut, making him feel as if he had just swallowed lead. He looked over to Alec and watched as all the blood drained from his brother’s face.
“Who took her, darlin’?” Alec asked in a shaky yet quiet voice, as if by speaking softly he wouldn’t lose control.
“There was a man in here earlier today. He’s big and bald with huge muscles. He called out to Crystal using her full name, asking if they had gone to school together, which I thought was strange at the time, because he was quite a few years older than Crystal. When Crystal turned toward him, he said he had made a mistake and she wasn’t the Crystal Parrish he knew. I thought nothing of it.” Amy sobbed. “But I just saw that same man kidnap Crystal off the street, drag her into his car, and speed away.”
Duncan dialed the police and his good friends, Noah, Tom, and Zach Beech. He told them what Amy had seen and knew his friends would be onto the situation in seconds, alerting all the men of Passion. Noah said he would send Zach down to the shop to talk to Amy, and he was going to see if he could find the dark sedan.
“Amy, thank you, sweetheart. You did real good.” Duncan drew the distressed woman into his arms, trying to calm her down. He led her to a chair and gave her a few tissues, trying to remain patient as she got herself back under control.
Zach arrived just as her tears stopped.
“Amy, do you know Zachery Beech?” Duncan asked.
“Yes. Hi, Zach.”
“Hi, Amy. How are you doin’?”
“I’m good, but we have to find Crystal. He took her.” Amy sobbed again.
“Do you know who it was? Had you seen him before?”
Amy once again explained what had happened earlier that day.
“You’re doing great, Amy. Can you describe him to me?” Zach sat on his haunches in front of the young woman.
“He was Caucasian, around six foot three, I guess. He was built, though, Zach. He looked like a bodybuilder. Oh, and he’s bald.”