Sexy Beast II

by Kate Douglas, Noelle Mack

  She felt her eyes tear up. No one did things like that for her. No one. At least they hadn’t until now. Tala glanced toward the door, knowing AJ and Mik were there, just on the other side. They didn’t seem the least bit impatient that she’d held them up by sleeping the day away.

  Damn but her skin itched. Tala rubbed at her forearms, then splashed cold water on her face. The water felt icy, as if her skin were ultra-sensitive.

  Must be this dry desert air. She dried her face and hands, took one last look in the mirror, and reached for the doorknob.

  A loud, angry knock on the front door rattled the entire room. Tala turned out the light and opened the bathroom door just a crack. There was only one person she could think of who might be looking for them.

  Jimmy Cole wasn’t a man who gave up easily.

  5

  “I told you, she’s not here.” Mik had one hand hooked over the top of the door and leaned insolently against the frame, essentially blocking the view of the interior of the room with his body. His bare back rippled with muscles. The long fall of black hair brushed his butt.

  He was absolutely beautiful. Powerful, a warrior standing at guard. Protecting Tala. Though his stance appeared totally relaxed and at ease, there was an intimidating sense of menace about him.

  Tala couldn’t see to whom Mik spoke, but whoever it was hadn’t come alone. She glanced around the edge of the door, realized she couldn’t see AJ, and wondered where the hell he was hiding.

  “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

  There was a definite edge of steel in Mik’s voice. Tala saw the muscles in his shoulders bunch, as if he was prepared to attack. There was an ominous sense of foreboding about the scene barely glimpsed through the crack in the partially open bathroom door.

  The hair along the nape of Tala’s neck felt as if it suddenly stood on end. She felt the sound before she heard it, a long, low growl. Menacing. Feral, coming from outside, beyond the door to the room.

  Voices clamoring in sudden panic, a loud snarling, the sound of many feet running. Mik leaned around as if he peered along the corridor in front of their room, then stepped back inside.

  He left the door unlocked. Moments after Tala slipped out of the bathroom, AJ sauntered into the room. He wore only jogging shorts and a big grin on his face.

  His feet were bare. Now why would he be outside in bare feet and running shorts?

  Mik glanced in Tala’s direction and tossed a can of cold beer to AJ. “They’re gone for now, but they’ll be back. I’d planned on another night here…”

  “Like last night?” AJ leaned close to Tala and kissed her. He smelled different, like the night wind. Like the scents in her dreams.

  “Only if Tala wanted it.” Mik smiled in her direction. “Anyway, before the jerks regroup, I think we need to hit the road. I hate like hell scattering dead bodies around. It gets messy. Leaving their territory is just easier. That okay with you?”

  He looked at Tala when he said it. She blinked, taken aback by his light comment about killing, even more so to think he would even consult her. “You’re still willing to take me along?”

  Mik shrugged. His chest rippled with the subtle movement and Tala realized she’d focused on his nipple, the left one, just near his heart. Focused on that flat, copper disk and wanted nothing more than to lean close and lick it.

  To taste him.

  She blinked, aware he hadn’t answered her question. Instead, Mik looked quizzically in her direction. “Why wouldn’t we want to take you?”

  “I could bring you lots of trouble. You don’t want that.”

  AJ grinned. “Says who?” He leaned over and gave her a noogie on the top of her head and Tala thought of her brother, how he used to…

  “I just remembered something!” She sat down on the edge of the bed and closed her eyes, but the brother in her memory didn’t miraculously spring forth into her thoughts. She shook her head. “Nothing. I thought I remembered something about my past.”

  “Relax. It’ll come.” AJ was still smiling at her, but Tala knew he wondered where her thoughts had gone. What had caused them. Why they’d disappeared in the first place.

  Tala had expected a quick getaway under cover of darkness, but Mik and AJ showered before dinner, waited patiently for Tala to clean up, and then took her back to the restaurant at the hotel, where they ordered dinner. She’d slept through lunch and didn’t hesitate when Mik ordered a rare steak, green salad, and baked potato for her.

  She was wearing another of the outfits AJ’d found for her at the gift shop. The bright yellow halter-top dress clung to her breasts and fanny and barely brushed her knees. The name of the hotel was discreetly stitched over her left breast, not so noticeable or gaudy as some of the things AJ had picked out.

  For some reason, Tala thought of the thong panties she wore. They were just like the blue ones, with PHOENIX, ARIZONA stitched across the crotch. AJ had bought her three pairs, all the same slinky satin, tasteless to the extreme.

  The ones she wore tonight were lemon yellow, the same bright shade as her dress. They even matched the yellow rubber flip-flop sandals she wore—but why did she have to think now of Mik sucking her clit through the satin? She knew the panties were already drenched, but once the thought of his talented tongue probing between her legs had taken root in her mind, Tala was unable to move past the image. She squirmed in her seat, much too aware of the insistent throbbing between her legs, the slick moisture soaking the thin satin.

  “You okay?”

  Tala blinked, bit back an audible gulp and smiled at Mik. “Yeah. Just daydreaming, I guess.” More like fantasizing. Imagining Mik’s mouth on her, his tongue working wonders on her needy flesh.

  She cut another bite of the succulent steak and forced her mind back to the dinner table and her delicious meal. Generally she preferred her meat cooked a little more, but for some reason the blood-rare filet mignon tasted like ambrosia. Tala popped the piece into her mouth and chewed, savoring every bit.

  Their waiter stopped at the table and refilled Tala’s wineglass. Mik took more as well, but AJ passed. “I’m driving,” he said, smiling at Tala. “You don’t want me falling asleep.”

  They laughed and teased Tala as if there weren’t three men following them. Three men with every intention of returning her to Jimmy Cole. They teased her as if they knew her, as if they’d been friends for years. Tala felt herself relaxing and found a sense of humor she’d forgotten existed.

  AJ finished his meal first and stood up. “I’m going back to the room. I’ll load the car. You two finish up and meet me.” He leaned over and kissed Tala on the lips before he left. Then he did the same to Mik, kissing him in full view of the other diners, definitely putting more of himself into the kiss with Mik than he had with Tala. When AJ stepped back, he brushed his palm lovingly over Mik’s hair and rested it on his shoulder with obvious affection. Then he turned away.

  Mik grinned at Tala as AJ sauntered out of the crowded restaurant. Every patron in the room watched AJ leave, though as handsome as he was, Tala figured the women, at least would have noticed him anyway.

  “They’ll remember the two gay guys but will totally forget you.”

  Tala’s mouth fell open in disbelief. “What? You mean that was planned?”

  Mik nodded as the waiter brought their check. “People like to think they’re open-minded, but they’re still a bit shocked when they see two masculine men kissing in public. That’s all they’ll remember. Not the fact we were with an absolute knockout of a woman. Merely that one man kissed another in a public place. Anyone asks where we went, who we were with, they’ll only remember AJ and me.”

  Knockout of a woman. Did he really think that? Tala couldn’t wipe the grin off her face as she followed Mik out of the restaurant, staying a few steps behind. He was right about one thing, though. People watched Mik. Tala might as well not have existed.

  It was dark when they left Phoenix. Tala sat between the two men in the
front seat for the first couple of hours as AJ followed a meandering route to Kingman. Then, yawning and unaccountably sleepy, she crawled into the back and made herself a bed on the mattress. She wrapped herself in warm blankets with a sleeping bag for a pillow and dozed to the hum of the tires and soft strains of country western music. When she woke up, Mik told her they’d crossed the state line into California and were stopped for gas.

  “I don’t know why I’m so tired.” Tala sat up and rubbed her eyes, then scratched at her arms. “I slept almost all day, too.”

  Mik just shook his head. “You’re fine. You’ve had a lot going on in your life. It’s your body’s way of telling you to take a break. If you need a pit stop, you might want to go now. We’re going to see how far north we can make it tonight.”

  Still groggy, Tala headed for the restroom. The bright lights practically blinded her. She squinted at herself in the cracked mirror. Her black eye had faded to green, but luckily her long hair hid most of the bruises. She splashed some water on her face, washed her hands and got back to the car just as AJ finished washing the windshield. Determined to stay awake, Tala climbed into the front seat. It was tight for the three of them, but neither AJ nor Mik seemed to mind a bit.

  Tala certainly didn’t. Being gently compressed between two absolutely gorgeous men wasn’t a bad way at all to travel. They talked a little, napped a bit. AJ finally turned the driving over to Mik at Bridgeport and slept beside Tala for a couple of hours. They followed 395 north through high desert washed in moonlight, saw the sun rising near the little town of Minden, and stopped there for breakfast.

  Tala hadn’t realized they’d crossed into Nevada until she saw slot machines in the women’s restroom. All she knew was that they’d continued heading north after eating a huge breakfast, following the highway back into California somewhere north of Lake Tahoe. She’d taken her second pill, swallowing the big capsule down with a glass of orange juice. AJ and Mik took theirs as well. Somehow, sharing a simple thing like a vitamin supplement made Tala feel even closer to both the men. She still found it hard to believe the capsules might help her communicate telepathically, even though she couldn’t deny the link she’d shared with both men.

  It really was too much to take in all at once.

  Once they were back in California, they stopped at a grocery store in the town of Susanville and loaded up on supplies, enough food and other products to keep an army fed for at least a month as far as Tala could tell. Of course, she was used to feeding one rather slight female body. Mik and AJ obviously needed a lot more to keep them going.

  She helped load the groceries into the back of the SUV, struggling with a thirty-pack of beer. Mik grabbed it out of Tala’s hands as if it weighed nothing at all and set it next to a sack of potatoes. He grinned at her, then tapped her on top of the head. “I bet this beer weighs almost as much as you do. What are you, about eighty pounds, dripping wet?”

  Tala stuck her tongue out at Mik and grabbed another sack off the bottom of the grocery cart.

  AJ socked Mik in the shoulder. “I give her ninety pounds and about five foot nuthin’.”

  Tala straightened up, shoved the sack into Mik’s hands and put her fists on her narrow hips. “I happen to be five feet, two inches tall and I weigh almost a hundred pounds.”

  Mik leaned over her head, put his mouth close to AJ’s ear and whispered, “She’s lying.”

  Tala leaned close to AJ on the opposite side, though as short as she was, she couldn’t get anywhere close to his ear. “Tell him to watch it or I’ll kick him in the ankle.”

  It got worse when AJ suggested they stop at a small clothing store and buy Tala some warm outfits before heading to the cabin. The guys insisted she pick out a couple of sweatsuits, warm socks, and a pair of shoes so she wouldn’t freeze. Nothing Tala looked at fit until Mik wandered into the children’s section and found things just her size.

  Acting indignant as possible, Tala stood to one side while Mik paid for the small pile of clothing. She bit her cheek to keep from laughing. Unfortunately, Mik and AJ thought it was absolutely hysterical, which got Tala started as well. She was still giggling when they finally climbed into the SUV and headed northwest this time, with Mount Lassen’s snow-capped peak rising off to their left.

  After the dry New Mexico desert, the rugged landscape of the eastern Sierra Nevadas seemed like a veritable Eden to Tala. She’d never seen such gorgeous mountains, never smelled air so fresh, seen trees so tall nor creeks running so high. Snow, even in April, still covered the high peaks and even some of the shadowed areas in the forest along the highway.

  She should have been tired of riding after so long a trip, but Tala wished she could stay like this forever. Mik to her left, driving casually with one arm out the window, the other looped over the steering wheel. AJ sound asleep beside her, his head resting on her shoulder, his lips mere inches from her right breast. She felt the heat of Mik’s thigh along her left side, AJ’s relaxed weight a comfortable pressure along her right.

  She couldn’t remember feeling so safe, so completely at peace.

  So unbelievably turned on. Tala tried to concentrate on the road but the subtle pressure of both men surrounding her, their heat and their clean male scent had her fighting the urge to squirm in her seat. She felt the muscles between her legs clenching and releasing in a rhythm over which she had no control. Her nipples puckered beneath her cotton top.

  The strange crawling sensation was back as well, the feeling that her bones were too big for her skin. It felt almost as if her flesh rippled along her arms and legs and she realized she was gritting her teeth in an effort not to scratch deep furrows into her skin.

  Concentrating so hard on not scratching, not squirming, not turning herself inside out, Tala missed the point where Mik turned off the main highway. Belatedly, she realized they were driving through thick forest, stands of cedar, fir, and pine, and other trees she didn’t recognize.

  Mik took another turn onto a narrower road, then turned again to one even less traveled. They appeared to be dropping elevation as well, and Tala noticed there was less snow and more green grass, more new growth on shrubs and bushes along the way. Eventually they followed nothing more than a muddy dirt road meandering through thick forest before popping out into a sun-drenched meadow surrounded by tall trees.

  A large cabin nestled in a thick stand of mixed fir and pine at the far edge of the meadow. Wildflowers of every hue and shade vied with the brilliant green grasses for attention, and a narrow creek meandered through the middle of it all. Huge, barren mountain peaks towered over the small clearing, their tops covered with snow.

  The cabin was made all of logs with a huge deck wrapped around the outside. Neatly stacked firewood framed the front door, but there was no sign anyone had been near the place in ages. Mik slowly drove across the meadow. The long dirt driveway was barely visible beneath the spring growth, but the deep tracks left by the SUV looked as if they’d been etched with silver.

  “This is absolutely gorgeous!” Tala got out and stretched, then shivered in the cool air. “Good thing you guys thought to get me some warm clothes! It’s colder than it looks.”

  “It’s the elevation. We’re still around three thousand feet here.” Mik tossed the bag of clothes to Tala, then grabbed up half a dozen plastic bags of groceries. AJ opened the front door and came back for more of their stuff.

  By the time Tala changed into a warm set of bright pink sweats, Mik had a fire going and AJ was carrying the last of the bags inside. Working together, the men quickly had the propane fired up for hot water and the gas range, and recharged the solar system for backup power. They ate lunch on the deck, thick deli sandwiches from their last stop in Susanville. Tala wiped her mouth with a paper napkin and yawned. “I can’t believe I need a nap already.”

  AJ stood up and grabbed her hand. “C’mon. I’ll show you where you can sleep.”

  He led Tala up the flight of stairs leading out of the great room to a larg
e open loft. She stopped on the top step and slapped her hand over her mouth, but it wasn’t fast enough to stop the snort of laughter.

  Instead of the expected beds, there were four huge mattresses shoved close together, covering a large portion of the loft. The blankets were scattered and rumpled, pillows piled here and there as if an orgy had recently occurred.

  AJ raised one dark eyebrow. “You had something you wanted to say?”

  Tala shook her head, still giggling behind her hand. “No. Nothing. Nothing at all…”

  “Actually, if you don’t mind helping me, we can get some clean sheets on a couple of these mattresses. Looks like no one has been back here since we all came up last fall.” AJ leaned over and began pulling sheets and blankets off the mattresses. “Usually we don’t leave things in quite such a mess, but we had to take off in a hurry.”

  Tala grabbed clean sheets out of the closet AJ directed her to and helped AJ remake all four of the mattresses. “What happened?”

  “Business emergency. Some work for Pack Dynamics, the agency Mik and I work for.”

  Tala nodded. “Ah, the telepaths.”

  AJ’s head jerked around in surprise, then he smiled. “Yeah. That’s us. Telepaths.”

  Later, Tala awoke to absolute quiet. AJ had said something about going out for a run, but dark shadows filled the loft and Tala knew she must have slept for hours. Could they still be gone? The cabin certainly felt empty.

  She lay there, warm and comfortable, unwilling to get out of the soft bed and thinking of the odd conversation with AJ. When she’d called them telepaths, he’d acted surprised, though he’d quickly covered his expression and looked away.

  Something obviously was not as it seemed. She wondered about Pack Dynamics and the way AJ and Mik talked about their coworkers as if they were lovers.