“Mm, Stone,” she murmured.
Satisfied that she dreamed of him and wanted what she drew back from earlier, he ran his palm down her side, caught the outside of one thigh and raised it. Her hips came up off the bed just enough to meet his seeking hand. He searched between her legs and found the heated wetness of her pussy. All of a sudden his clothes felt like leaded weights. He wanted to rip them off and take her hard and fast, but he drew back. Now was not the time.
Almost as shaken as he had been when he was drugged, he stood up and ran fingers through his hair. In her sleep, Tielle frowned and thrashed on the bed. Stone smiled. She missed his touch. Good, let her regret putting him off, and maybe when he returned, she’d be more willing to give him what he wanted without a fuss. He’d delayed long enough. Now it was time to go back to his homeland and see what the hell had been going on in his absence.
* * * *
Noah pressed a button on his cell phone while he watched the woman going down on him with slitted eyes. “What.”
“He just left, boss,” one of his incompetent men reported.
Shoving the woman off of him, Noah sat up. “Good, now why don’t you tell me where my cousin just left, you fool.” By the amusement on the woman’s face, he knew his Irish lilt had intensified with his anger. He’d traveled extensively all over the world. His natural ability to adapt to wherever he found himself had caused his accent to weaken over the years. However, he was not against using it to get a woman on her back. They were all malleable, empty-headed creatures good for nothing but a man’s pleasure. He didn’t need the dragon gift to charm them.
Lucy when he’d met her an hour ago had asked if he was from Canada of all places. Her big breasts and willingness to wrap those pink lips around his dick excused her lack of brains. Noah stood up and moved away from her so he could concentrate on the updates regarding Stone.
His man explained what had happened over the course of the night. “So I found him again at this woman’s house. Like I said, it took me awhile because my eyes were burning like hell. I knew you weren’t going to take that as an excuse, so I stayed at it.”
Noah didn’t feel a need to praise him since he’d neglected to get the blood. In fact, his rage boiled to the point of explosion. The single reason he maintained control was because he’d gone through more than one man who had failed him in recent months, and in real life one couldn’t call Bad Guys R Us for a replacement. “Go on,” he commanded.
“Well, he was there a couple hours, and he walked out like nothing happened. I’m sure the stuff I shot him with should have put him down most of the day. He looked refreshed when he walked out. I thought about following him, but I figured I better check in with you first.”
Noah checked his watch. Five a.m. where Stone was. So who was the woman? Someone he had met before, or did he force her to take him home so he could lie low in unfamiliar territory. Better for Noah not to assume she meant anything to Stone. It would be pointless to approach a woman who was just a quick fuck and nothing else, hoping to use her as bait for his cousin. Besides, he didn’t want his family knowing what he’d been up to all these years. He and Owen had come too far and were too close to let the cat out of the bag now.
Soon enough Einin would be thanking Noah for his research. The current head of the family was just as eager as Noah was to spread his wings. They deserved it. It was their birthright, and Stone took it for granted.
Just in case, he wanted all the facts. “Find out who the woman is. I want to know her name, where she works, and her daily schedule. I want to know if this is the first time she took him home and if they have plans to meet again. Got it?”
“Yeah, boss. Already halfway there.” Paper rustled in background. Noah imagined his man was flipping through his notebook for info he’d scribbled down. “Her name is Tielle Williams. She’s a nursing school student, final year. She was at the club with her friend Jamie Wells, also nursing.”
A slow grin spread over Noah’s face. All kinds of leverage should Ms. Williams turn out to be important. “Good. Find out the rest, and keep a tail on Stone. Don’t approach him again. I just want to know where he is at all times.”
“Gotcha, boss. I won’t let you down. I promise.”
“No, you won’t. Not ever again.”
Noah disconnected the call and tossed his phone on the chair where he’d discarded his pants earlier. He found Lucy sitting with her knees draw up to her chest and staring at nothing, her expression vacant. He sighed and glanced down at him flaccid shaft.
“I’ve gone soft. Come here and fix it,” he demanded.
Lucy scowled but obeyed. With his fingers knotted in her hair and yanking on her head to force her to take him deep, Noah put his head back and closed his eyes. Soon, he placated himself, soon I’ll have everything I want, and I’ll take away everything Stone had. And when it’s all over, I and not that weak Einin will head up the family. I’ll be the most powerful man on the planet.
Chapter Four
Tielle’s phone woke her after incessant ringing. She reached to grab it, but grasped air and fell over the side of the bed. Groaning, she tried to force her aching muscles to work, but they were not cooperating. The phone having stopped a few seconds, started up again.
“Shut the hell up, damn it,” she screamed.
It ignored her and kept it up.
Without energy to rise, she dragged her covers off the bed and folded her flat pillow beneath her head. Soon sleep reclaimed her only to be ripped away with pounding on the front door.
“Can’t a woman frickin’ sleep?” she grumbled and half crawled, half stumbled to the door. Only when she had her hand on the knob did she remember she was stark naked and that she hadn’t been alone in her place when she closed her eyes. With a yelp, she spun around to search the living room. Stone wasn’t there. Disappointment weighed heavy on her, and then worry. Was he okay? The pounding on the door started again, and Jamie shouted for her to open up.
Tielle laughed. She reached into the closet by the door and grabbed a raincoat to stuff her arms in. After she’d knotted it, she opened the door. “Morning, sunshine.”
Jamie smirked, shuffling past. “Woman, do you know what time it is? I was worried when I couldn’t reach you. I was all ready to tell you how good the sex was, but I let you sleep until one to be sure you were awake enough to listen.” She stopped and stared at Tielle. “What are you wearing?”
Tielle’s attention shifted to the clock in the kitchen which she’d placed so she could see it from the living room. “One? Oh my goodness, where did the time go?”
Neither one of them was paying much attention to the other. Tielle saw her friend’s eyes go wide and her hands land on her hips. “You’re naked under there!” she accused. “Just who did you bring home?” She scanned the area, and to Tielle’s annoyance, her gaze fell on the medical kit Tielle hadn’t put back in her closet. She swore under her breath.
Rushing to clean up the mess and curious about the fact that Stone had ripped the needle from his arm, she babbled to cover her guilt. “I feel like I haven’t eaten in weeks. You want some bacon and eggs or something? Oh yeah, you’re the health food nut between the two of us. How about cream of wheat? I usually smother it with butter and sugar.”
Jamie caught her hand as she dropped the empty IV bags inside her kit. “Who did you use those on, Tielle, at whatever time you got home? I know it was late.”
Tielle sucked her teeth. “Girl, please. You know I study at all times, and we have that test coming up next week. I wanted to be sure. And for your information, I did this early yesterday. I just didn’t clean it up.”
Jamie crossed her arms. She was like a damn dog with a bone. Tielle had an urge to tell her to mind her own business, but the way Tielle was always up in Jamie’s stuff, she had no room to cop an attitude now. Jamie was her girl, there for her through thick and thin for more years than she could remember. Tielle knew better than to brush Jamie off with half excuses. Thei
r studies came easily for Jamie, while Tielle had to study hard for every A she got. Jamie wasn’t buying some lame ass story.
“I was here helping you choose something to wear last night, and I didn’t see this.” She sat down, pulling Tielle down beside her. “Tell me the truth. You’re not up to something bad, are you, Tielle? Drugs?”
Tielle burst out laughing. “Stupid. Hell no. Girl, you know I’m not like that. And what exactly can I get up to with a glucose solution? Sell it on the black market?”
Jamie laughed. “Got that sugar, man. Premium stuff.” Jamie jumped up and pranced around like she wore a trench coat with hidden pockets for drugs. Tielle played along, hoping her friend would forget all the questions. After they had laughed through a few more jokes about selling sugar under the table, Jamie gave Tielle a pointed look, but she didn’t say another word. Tielle didn’t have to be told that Jamie hadn’t forgotten, nor was she fooled. She’d just let it drop.
Tielle had no idea what made her hide the truth from her friend. She’d always shared everything with Jamie, even details of her sex life, and vice versa. So what made her hide that she had saved Stone from an attack and brought him home? Maybe it was the fact that she’d brought a man she didn’t know to her place. Of course, it was extenuating circumstances, him being injured, but how could she explain that decision over taking him to the hospital. She couldn’t explain it. She couldn’t tell Jamie that for no reason at all she wasn’t able to resist Stone’s request.
In the light of day while she was much more alert, she went over what had happened in her mind, Stone’s words, her decisions, and none of it made sense. Maybe she wasn’t remembering it all the way it happened. That had to be the problem. After all it had been really late. She’d been drinking. Sure, one glass, but that was more than enough. She just prayed Stone was fine and that there would be no consequences to her actions that would come back and bite her in the ass. Either way, it was better to put it all behind her and pretend it never happened.
Now, forgetting Stone was a whole other ballgame because her dreams had been filled with images of him kissing her and his hand between her legs. Not a good sign!
Tielle lead Jamie into the kitchen, and she began to take out the food that they would prepare together for breakfast. This was another of their rituals for the weekend, party late into the night on Saturday and eat brunch together on Sunday. Sometimes they altered this routine by attending church, but that was when Jamie’s grandmother invited them to have Sunday dinner with her. The old woman would never hear of them not first attending First Baptist morning services before heading to her house.
Tielle sighed. She was not the best cook in the world. In fact, she hated it that she could never pull off a decent recipe, but Jamie’s grandmother put her foot in everything she prepared. Tielle always overate when she went to Nana Wells’ place.
For the next hour, Tielle sat in her tiny kitchen listening to Jamie recount every nasty detail of her sexual encounter with her lover. Tielle hooted over some of the crazy stuff they said to each other while in the throes of sex, and made mental notes of the more interesting moves. She’d thought she had done it all until Jamie came up with something new. The woman should write a book, Tielle kept telling her, but Jamie insisted her conquests were for her eyes and Tielle’s ears, if she behaved herself. Tielle always rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth over that statement.
When her phone rang, she put up a finger because she didn’t want to miss a second of what Jamie was saying, and she answered the call. “Hello?”
“Ms. Williams? Ms. Tielle Williams?” the person on the other end enquired.
Tielle paused for a second and then remembered she had paid off all outstanding bills. No creditors should be calling her. “Yeah, you got her. Who is this?”
“I’m—” The man stopped and coughed. That raised her suspicions—the hesitancy and the fact that the man spoke with the same lilt that Stone did—but she decided to hear him out. Maybe he had news of how Stone was doing. When his fake-sounding cough was done, the man continued. “I’m J-James Wallace, Stone Hughes’ secretary.”
Tielle’s eyes widened. “For real? He has a secretary? How is he? Is he okay?”
“Uh…uh…”
Again her suspicions rose, but she waited for him to finish.
“Uh, he’s all right. Had to take a rest after what he went through last night. Um, he thought maybe he told you the wrong date and time about when you two would meet again.” The sound of papers rustling reached her through the phone. “Now, when did he tell you he’d be by?”
Tielle knew when a person was lying to her. Hell, she’d done enough lying in her time when she went through a faze of seeing just how much she could get away with on her series of foster parents. She’d perfected the lies and knew even better how to detect them—even over the phone.
“Thursday,” she answered without hesitation. “Thursday night at nine. But we weren’t going to meet at my place. This time, we were going to meet at his.”
The man’s voice lightened, like he was thrilled she’d shared all that she did with him. If the person on the phone was really Stone’s secretary, he would know she’d never met him before last night, that is if he handled Stone’s personal life.
“Yes, yes,” the man chortled with glee that was a little on the sickening side. “The penthouse on Collins then. Okay, thank you. That confirms what I have. Good-bye.” He hung up without any more comment from Tielle, but right about then, she stood there in shock. Just how rich did Stone have to be to have a penthouse apartment? She knew Collins Street
, and the apartments that had penthouses over there were through the roof in pricing. Stone had been slumming big time at the club where she found him. But then again, when a place became popular, money didn’t matter if the owners stayed down to earth.
Tielle put her phone down and tapped her lip. Just what in the world was going on that first Stone was attacked, and now someone was pretending to be his secretary trying to find out when she’d meet him again. Was he in trouble? Was she, now that she’d gotten involved with him? Her stomach tightened at the thought. Her life was coming together great, and she’d set out some times of fun, balanced by getting serious about school. She had goals she needed to meet, and a man to bring in danger was not a part of the equation. Sure, in the movies, the bad boys were appealing, but Tielle was not one of those women who went after them. She knew better, and that’s why Jamie had checked her at the club. Stone was bad news. Even with her body still humming over those dreams, she wouldn’t give him the time of day. No way. Seeing him was too risky, and if she was going to get freaky calls like the one she just got, well, she’d keep it moving. There were plenty more scrumptious morsels of manhood out there.
“Back to school tomorrow, huh?” Jamie said through a huge yawn.
“Yeah, don’t remind me,” Tielle complained.
“I thought you loved school.” Her friend stood up and kissed her cheek. “I think I’m going back home and sleep some more. That man wore me out.”
Tielle shook her head. “From the sound of it, I don’t wonder. Damn, I’m jealous. I should have looked harder for somebody. I mean there were quality guys we’ve been cultivating for weeks, right? I felt comfortable with taking anyone of them home.”
“Yeah but you were ruined by that one.” Jamie’s look was significant. Tielle ignored it and let herself fall over the arm of her couch to land on one of the stuffed pillows she kept there. On impact Stone’s scent filled her nostrils. Her pussy moistened, and she groaned. Yeah, Stone had ruined it for all other men. She wanted his body bad. Men as hard and sexy as he was did not come along every day. Just once, she shouted in her mind and rolled over to her back. No, better to forget him. Okay, after a few more hot dreams.
Chapter Five
Stone strolled up to his apartment door and didn’t have to pause a millisecond before it opened. He knew he moved with easy stealth, part of his natural characteristics.
Yet, James hadn’t missed once being ready for him. If Stone didn’t know any better, he’d assume James waited at the door all day and night for Stone to come home. That would be impossible as James was human, with no added abilities that Stone knew of. For his peace of mind, he liked to put it down to James being good at his job.
“Any messages?” he asked as he passed his secretary.
“Aye, a few thousand from your father,” came the irreverent reply. “He raked me over the coals nonstop to locate you and drag you home to Dublin, whether you liked it or not.”
On a sigh, Stone rubbed his neck and headed toward his room. While the bed appealed just because he’d not slept more than a couple hours and his mind told him he needed eight, he had to get home. “What about Uncle Murray. Any new info on his condition.”
“Unchanged, sir.” James helped him out of his shirt, but then Stone waved him off. He’d never allowed James to treat him like royalty who couldn’t dress or undress without help. Einin of course demanded that and more. So did a few others in his family. Thinking of them, Stone blew out another huge breath. He was not looking forward to the drama that without question would be present from the moment his plane set down.
“Arrange for the jet, James. I have no intension of staying there longer than I have to.”
“Just you, sir?” James croaked. Stone almost laughed at the pitiful tone. James, though efficient as any person he’d ever worked with, lived in constant fear that Stone would fire him. Stone had given him no reason to feel that way, but bad experiences left scars in the psyche. James had worked for his cousin, Noah, and from what little James had shared about it, the experience was not pretty. Stone hadn’t pressed to know more details, and from the second James realized Stone was nothing like his cousin, the older man did all he could for Stone, to the point of being suffocating sometimes.
Dragon Song Page 3