“Who is Isabel?” she asked in a small voice, bringing his thoughts to a screeching halt.
Isabel. He mentally winced, cursing Dillon all over again for bringing up the past that was long gone. He forced a smile. “Someone from the past. Definitely not a part of the future. That’s all that matters.”
Penny nodded and settled again against his chest but he could feel her questions, her banked curiosity as if it were a physical thing sitting beside them. Beautiful Isabel. Vince closed his eyes and pushed away the mental image of Isabel, the blood seeping from her cracked skull, staining her white-blonde hair with red.
#
The brisk breeze lifted the tendrils that’d escaped from her ponytail as Penny dug her toes into the cold sand beneath her feet. Gray clouds scuttled across the horizon, threatening rain but Penny wasn’t ready to go inside just yet. Vince and Nolan had brought her to their Hamptons estate to get away from all the stress of the city — but urgent business had taken them both back on the red-eye after one day spent at their getaway. Of course, she’d offered to return with them, but they’d both insisted that she stay and enjoy the view from their multi-million dollar vacation home while they took care of business.
“Besides, we should have everything taken care of within a few days and we’ll expect you to be fully rested when we return,” Nolan had said with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Penny had warmed, knowing full well what Nolan was implying, and it alternately made her squirm at the naughtiness and wet for the anticipation.
So, she’d spent the night sleeping in luxuriant down bedding in an exclusive location — completely alone.
“Well, there are worse places to be lonely, I suppose,” she murmured to herself with a sigh, gazing out at the beautiful, yet moody landscape.
“It’s not really the appropriate season for a stay in the Hamptons,” an amused voice said at her back. Dillon. She turned slowly and met his gaze squarely. His white linen pants rippled with the breeze and he wore a sweater that would’ve looked geeky on anyone else but on him looked positively GQ. “They really don’t have a flair for the romantic, do they? If I were going to whisk a woman away, I certainly wouldn’t take her someplace cold and wet. I’d opt for some place tropical to create the opportunity to wear as little clothing as possible.”
She fought the inappropriate smile that threatened as a sense of recklessness followed. He oozed sex and charm, masculine grace and powerful strength — a heady combination that was definitely hard to resist. And at the moment, she couldn’t quite remember why she was supposed to be resisting at all. This was bad. She ought to tell him to leave. She ought to do or say something that would give him the message she wasn’t interested. But all she could do was watch him advance, her heart rate increasing with every step as he drew nearer. She wet her lips with a subtle dart of her tongue, feeling as if she were standing on the precipice of something monumentally dangerous…or exhilarating.
“How did you know I’d be here and Vince and Nolan would not?”
“Easy. I manufactured the sudden emergency, which sent them running back to home base. I figure we have a few days to ourselves before they come huffing and puffing back to get you. But by that time…it’ll be too late.”
“Too late for what?” she asked.
“I want you, Penny,” he said simply, leaving no room for misinterpretation. “And I think you want me, too.”
“You think very highly of yourself,” she said, allowing a tiny twist of her lips. “What makes you think I want to be with you? I have Vince and Nolan. I’m not sure I could fit another Buchanan into my schedule.”
He chuckled. “What you have right now are the cheap imitations of a Buchanan. Once you taste the real thing, you won’t have any desire for the generic brand.”
It was her turn to laugh. “If this is your ‘A’ game, I’d hate to see your ‘B’ game. Does that line actually work on anyone?”
“I’ll let you know over breakfast.”
“Over breakfast? That’s presumptuous of you.”
He disagreed. “Just confident. I know what I want and I see no point in beating around the bush. I think you and I could be great together. Aren’t you the least bit curious to see if I’m right?”
“No. I don’t sleep with people simply to satisfy a whim or curiosity.”
“So why do you sleep with my brothers? What compelled you to sign away your life for a year?”
She stilled. How did Dillon know the terms of her contract? She regarded him coolly. “I wasn’t aware my business was common knowledge.”
“It’s not. Don’t worry your sordid little secret is safe with me.”
“Really? Because when I’m around you I don’t feel particularly safe,” she replied with complete honesty. Dillon was dangerous to her peace of mind, her sanity, but most importantly, her loyalty. When she was around him…her mind went to places best left untraveled.
“I would never hurt you,” Dillon said. “I cannot say the same for my brothers.”
“That’s what they say about you.” She looked to him, wondering if Dillon would answer her questions truthfully or if he would be evasive like the twins. “Why is there such bad blood between you and your brothers?”=
“Do you really want to know?”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I felt otherwise.”
“Some truths are hard to accept; they screw with your perception of a person’s character.”
“I’d prefer honesty to lies.”
He chuckled as if he didn’t believe her, which only served to irritate her. She turned on her heel to trudge back to the house when he stopped her with a firm hand on her arm. “Wait.” She stopped and stared, waiting. His smile faded and he rubbed the pad of his thumb against the fabric of her blouse. Although the cloth buffered his touch, it was as if they were, in fact, skin-to-skin. She hitched a sharp breath but left her arm in his grasp. “I propose a deal,” he said, his voice sliding along her nerve endings like a caress. “For every honest answer I give you, I get a kiss.”
“I can’t agree to that deal,” she said. “My loyalty is not for sale.”
“Everything is for sale at the right price.”
Hadn’t Vince and Nolan expressed the very same sentiment when they’d proposed purchasing her for their pleasure? Her cheeks pinked just slightly as she raised her chin a notch. She would not be a hypocrite. “One kiss,” she countered.
His mouth twisted in a sardonic smile. “One kiss?”
“One,” she affirmed firmly. “And no tongue.”
“No tongue? That’s not a kiss,” he scoffed. “No. If I’m going to share dirty family secrets, my compensation should be equal to the value of the information.”
She considered his statement. She supposed one kiss — even one with tongue — wasn’t too much to ask. “All right,” she agreed warily. “But the information better be solid. I’m risking a lot.”
“Ah yes, the morality clause. Ironic, don’t you think, given the nature of the agreement?”
“Not at all,” she disagreed, trying not to focus on his touch. “I found it a reasonable request.”
“They’ve asked you to be faithful during the term of the agreement and yet…did you wrangle the same agreement from either of them?”
“Of course.”
“Did you get it in writing?”
She faltered. “Well, no. Are you saying that your brothers aren’t good to their word?”
His gaze narrowed and he released her arm. “I am not the right person to ask that question. My opinion might be somewhat biased.”
“Fair enough,” she said.
“Back to the question at hand.”
“Which question was that?” She feigned confusion when she knew exactly where their conversation had left off.
“The kiss.”
“I thought we’d agreed: one real kiss in exchange for answers.”
“Oh little dove,” he said, chuckling. “The negotiations have only just begun. For
example, we didn’t specify what kind of kiss and where.”
Her mouth dropped open and her cheeks flushed as that damnably sexy mouth of his turned up in a carnal grin. She swallowed and said in a voice she hoped was strong and not the least bit wobbly, “You’re impossible. One kiss — on the lips of my mouth. Got it? Negotiations closed. Take it or leave it.”
To that he simply laughed, the sound rich and deep and delightful to her senses. Why was he so handsome? Damn him. “We’ll see,” he quipped as he walked past her with a confident grin. “You might find the information I have to share worth the risk.”
Of that she had no doubt but she wasn’t about to start adding the entire Buchanan family tree to her list of conquests any time soon. One kiss, she told herself sternly. Besides, Vince and Nolan were more than everything she needed. They satisfied her sexually and financially, even if emotionally they were a little distant. It was Dillon’s fault things had changed between them. She just had to keep sight of that fact.
She followed Dillon into the house and closed the French doors, instantly dulling the roar of the ocean and squawk of seabirds. The house was decorated in a seaside motif with white furniture and blue accents that she adored. In fact, the moment she saw the house, she’d fallen in love. Dillon moved around as if he were quite familiar with the layout, which told her the house had probably been in his family for years.
“Why are you and your brothers at odds with one another?” she asked, sinking into the soft over-stuffed sofa while Dillon rummaged in the kitchen. He paused and graced her with a look that said, “hold your horses,” and she rested her chin on her hand while her elbow propped up her head from the pillow cushion while he finished what he was doing and joined her with two glasses of dark, red wine. She accepted the glass and took a sip, although her better judgment was warning her to steer clear of anything that might lower her inhibitions. “Where are you staying tonight, by the way?” she asked after savoring the flavor of the wine.
“Should we start with silly questions to which you already know the answers?”
Penny smiled. Such a smart ass. “You can’t stay here,” she warned.
“Why not?”
“Now who’s asking silly questions?” she mocked.
Dillon laughed and sipped his wine. “What if I promised to be a perfect gentleman?”
“I’d say you wouldn’t know how to be a gentleman even if you were raised by nuns.”
“Ouch. Such a tarnished opinion of me,” he tsked. “There are three bedrooms in this house. I will take whichever one you’re not occupying. Sound chivalrous enough?”
“Only if you promise to stay in your bed and out of mine.”
He lifted his wine glass to his full, sensual lips as he toyed with a knowing grin. “Of course. But I should add that I wouldn’t mind a bit if you were to come to your senses and climb into my bed tonight.”
“Not going to happen,” she retorted. “Now…are you ready to start answering my questions?”
“That depends. Are you ready for the answers — and the price?”
Penny steeled herself. No matter what Dillon told her it wouldn’t change how she felt about Vince and Nolan. She cared deeply for the twins. They’d opened her eyes to a new world and she didn’t regret a second. But a small voice of doubt worried the back of her brain. There was certainly something the twins were keeping from her. And she had a feeling it had something to do with the woman named Isabel. She looked to Dillon who was watching and waiting her response. He looked the part of a lothario, a playboy of the worst kind, except she sensed there was infinitely more to Dillon Buchanan than met the eye. She wanted to know his secrets almost as much as she needed to know Vince and Nolan’s. “Why are there so many secrets?” she murmured, mostly to herself but Dillon answered in a grim tone.
“Because money is the root of all evil.”
“Do you truly believe that?”
He shrugged. “The Buchanans can certainly make a good argument for that belief.”
Penny digested Dillon’s statement and knew she was preparing to wade into deep waters that were possibly more treacherous than she realized but there was no turning back now. Her Papa had always warned her she had the curiosity of a cat with only one life left to lose. But she couldn’t stop even if she wanted to. The questions would hound her until she lost her mind. It was either go forward or quit. And she couldn’t quit. “Who is Isabel?”
Dillon’s expression darkened and a heavy silence settled between them. Penny wondered if Dillon would renege on their deal but something told her he wouldn’t. Dillon swirled the remainder of his wine before downing it in a swallow. “The appropriate question is, who was Isabel. And to answer that: Isabel was the woman before you.”
Penny drew back, inordinately stung by the answer. “Vince and Nolan…they’ve made this arrangement with someone else?”
“Yes.”=
“Oh,” she said, crushed. “I didn’t know that.”
“Did they say you were their first?”
“No,” she admitted, feeling stupid. “I just assumed.”
“Dangerous to assume anything in this life,” he advised, topping off her glass and pouring himself another. “But that’s part of your charm: how willing to trust you are.”
“So where is Isabel now? Do they still see her?”
Dillon laughed but the sound had nothing in common with happiness. “My little dove…Isabel is dead.”
Dead? She drew a shocked breath. She hadn’t seen that one coming. Suddenly, she felt ashamed for the flare of jealousy that had arisen at the mention of the woman before her. “What happened?”
Instead of answering, he countered, his eyes glittering. “I think it’s time for that kiss.”
“How did she die?” Penny said, stubbornly refusing to be distracted by the prospect of feeling Dillon Buchanan’s lips on hers. He placed his glass on the coffee table and moved toward her like a cat stalking its prey. Penny wet her lips, her heart hammering hard enough to leave a bruise, but she even as she was pressed against the cushions with Dillon inches away from her face she tried to stay the course. “Tell me, Dillon. I need to know.”
He shocked her by softly nuzzling the sensitive skin at her neck, murmuring, “Again with the wrong questions, sweet girl,” he said. “The question you should be asking is…what did Nolan and Vince have to do with her death?”
Penny gasped. “What do you mean?”
Dillon pulled away, his eyes hot with sensuality and things best left unsaid. Penny felt as if she were sinking in that gaze, drowning in a dizzying whirlpool of need and want. She swallowed, barely able to breathe. “Time to pay up,” he said softly and descended upon her mouth. His lips moved over hers, teasing, taking, and demanding; his tongue tangled with hers and his hand snaked behind her head to hold her tightly. The feel of his grip at the back of her skull, cradling and yet possessive, thrilled her silly. Wild, heady desire whipped through her, chasing away good judgment like a woman with a broom shooing away a feral cat. The minute his lips touched hers, her soul sang in brilliant tones with wild abandon. She clutched at his back, cleaving to him, pressing her breasts against the granite of his chest, desperate to feel more than his tongue sliding against hers. The banked embers of her inappropriate attraction sparked to life, raging with the force of creation until all sense of reason and propriety were burnt to cinders.
His hand left her head and traveled to her breast, cupping and squeezing, causing her to moan against his lips. She wanted to feel him moving inside her, thrusting so deep until she lost all sense of where he began and she ended. This was the sweetest insanity she’d ever experienced and it was ludicrous and all kinds of wrong but even so, she couldn’t make herself push him away. Good God, no. Being out of his arms would’ve been the cruelest torture at that moment. Her fingers itched to feel his skin, her mouth yearned for the feel of his cock, she wanted to bury her nose against the skin of his thigh and groin, inhaling the masculine scent that was un
ique to him and him alone.
“Dillon,” she groaned, lost to all sense of right or wrong. His hands, strong and sure, were creating wellsprings of lust and desire everywhere they wandered. Her liquid core was hot, sweat beaded her brow as she twisted beneath Dillon, impatient for more. She made a small sound of dismay when Dillon broke the kiss, his eyes heavy-lidded with need, and somewhat bewildered by what they’d shared. His breathing was as labored as hers and there was a fever to his cheeks that made his eyes burn like twin coals. “What are we doing?” she whispered. “I can’t do this.”
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, staring into her eyes, searching. “Say the word and I’ll stop. But if you don’t, I’m going to take you into the bedroom and fuck you within an inch of your life. Do you understand? This is your chance to push me away and I’ll go. If not…you’re mine.”
Say no. Say the words. Do the right thing. Do not go into that bedroom with him. But Penny did no such thing. And in fact her silence was as much an answer than as if she’d shouted the words. Dillon climbed to his feet and held out his hand. “Come.”
Penny closed her eyes and slipped her hand into his, knowing she was about to step from a steep ledge without checking if she were going to land safely or flat on her face. But one thing she knew for sure…
Nothing was going to keep her from that bedroom. Not Vince. Not Nolan. Hell, not even the faint whisper of her conscience reminding her of her promise.
Tonight…she would belong to the bad boy Buchanan.
Heaven help her — she couldn’t wait.
#
In the Buchanan family, is as it seems. Does Penny really want to know the truth behind the secrets and lies? Can she handle the skeletons hiding in the Buchanan closet or is ignorance better? Torn between three men, Penny must decide who is right for her — no matter the cost.
***
Here’s an excerpt from Alexx Andria’s hot, emotionally erotic story, ONE NIGHT TO SAY GOODBYE: http://amzn.to/SXdGc3
Bought By The Billionaire Brothers 3: (BBW Billionaire Erotica) (Secrets and Lies) Page 3