“Shit, you really messed him up.” She glanced at Triaten, eyes wide. “He deserved it. But you pulverized him.”
Triaten didn’t look down at the man. “I probably went too far. It’s actually what I really wanted to be doing to DeLisio last night after we got back from the trail. These men have a very different way of treating women.”
Shiv stepped around the body and stood in front of Triaten, looking up at him. Her feet were planted. “Is it wrong for me to be turned on right now?”
A laugh shot out of Triaten, shaking the thick, misty air around them. “Probably. Though I’m not going to complain.” He grabbed her shoulders, stepping her away from body on the ground and turning her toward the car. “But let’s first get up to the ranch so I can take a look at your neck. Then you can tell me how turned on you are.”
At the ranch, Triaten had Shiv situated on a fat, tufted leather chair in the study. The door was closed and he had pulled a floor lamp over to check out her neck. Her head tilted back, she stared at the mahogany coffered ceiling. Triaten tilted the light. Brutal red marks lined the side of her throat, still showing outlines of the fat fingers that had been crushing her neck.
Kneeling on the floor between her legs, he ran his middle and forefinger softly across the marks, noting her twinge at the touch. But she worked hard not to pull away from his hand. She’d be bruised and sore, but it didn’t look like any permanent damage.
Triaten pulled his fingers away, his hands landing on her thighs. “It doesn’t look too bad. It’ll hurt for a while.”
Shiv brought her chin down to look at Triaten and smiled. “And I’m left with the sexy voice?”
“For a couple days, maybe.” He didn’t move his hands from her legs, instead, squeezing them. “Shiv, you’re not weak, you know.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “Triaten, I don’t think you saw me swing that bat. It wouldn’t have killed a fly on his sleeve.”
“That you even grabbed the bat proves you’re not weak.”
“All that proves is how stupid I can be. That doesn’t make me strong.”
“On the contrary, I have been between your thighs, love,” Triaten’s palms moved up and down the length of her lap, “and believe me, those things are not weak. Vise-like.”
With a smile, Shiv hands went to his shoulders, fingers tilting up to play with dark hair on the back of his head. “Vise-like, you say?”
Triaten nodded. “Vise-like. And those fingers of yours. I’ve never had such deep gouges in my back.”
Shiv scooted forward on the chair, her face inches from Triaten’s, her dark hair falling forward to dust his shoulders. “Those are your own fault. If you don’t like the cajoling, then you should just be giving me what I want, when I want it. Then no demands would have to be made.”
“You know the longer I make you wait, the better it is.”
“Debatable.”
The smile that he gave her was indecent. “I’m willing to debate it if you are.”
“You know that to properly research, you’re going to have to perform twice, maybe three times to scientifically gather the facts.”
“Won’t be a problem, love.”
His lips met hers, already on fire for his mouth. Triaten grabbed her backside and pulled her forward, spreading her thighs and clasping her tight onto his belly. He kept one hand on her back, crushing her to his stomach, as his other went up her spine, under her shirt.
He grabbed the top of the rip from earlier, and pulled it down, slowly tearing the shirt the full length off her body.
She pulled back from his mouth with a wicked smile. “Now that rip, I don’t mind. Before we do this. It doesn’t mean a thing?”
“For me, no. You?”
“No, not a thing.”
Triaten’s hands went to her breasts, diving under her bra, teasing the nipples first with his thumbs, and then moving his mouth across her flesh as he unhooked the band. She arched backward, hands griping the chair’s arms, as she reveled in the hard caress, the soft cut of his teeth.
Tearing her hands away from the chair, Shiv’s fingers made their way to the nape of Triaten’s neck. She pulled his head back from her chest, serious in her intent to invade his mouth. She worked his shirt upwards as their tongues warred.
She pulled it over his head, and Triaten took the opportunity stand up, lifting her with him. Her legs locked around his waist, as her hands ran down the taut muscles on his back. Triaten turned and walked to large desk in the middle of the room. He set Shiv on it and unbuttoned her jeans, while her hands loosened his, and slid the fabric down.
Groaning, Triaten savored Shiv’s wanton fingers flying, splaying to all corners of his thighs, backside, and crotch, all while her lips trailed fire across his chest.
Triaten slipped his hands up Shiv’s thighs, reaching the inferno in the crux of her. She was more than ready for him, but still, he plied her with his fingers, curling and jerking her body at his will.
It was a look of desperation that Shiv finally gave him, her lips red and pulsating, her eyes carnal, before he leaned her back onto the desk, while pulling her bottom to the edge.
He thrust into her, steady, watching her closely, her eyes closed and mouth open in gasp after gasp. He quickened the pace as her body started to tighten around him. Near breaking himself, he put his hand on her chest, holding her down to the desk. He pulled out of her, the tip of him resting at her entrance. Holding out.
Shiv’s eyes crept open in agonized un-fulfillment.
Triaten smiled wickedly. “Do you want it now?”
She pulled at him with her calves, muscles straining. He didn’t move. Her hands gripped at his arm holding her down, his muscles barely flexed at the effort it took to hold her in place. “Oh god yes, I want it.” She moaned, frustration pitching. “I want it now, Triaten.”
Not quite satisfied, Triaten lasciviously re-entered her slowly. Her body grasped, trying to pull him deeper, faster. He wasn’t done.
“Now?”
The guttural scream that escaped from Shiv tore through her bruised throat. Her fingernails dug into the flesh on his arm. “I swear, Triaten, if you don’t let me up.”
Triaten moved his hand off her chest. She pushed herself up off the desk and grabbed his neck, hoisting herself up onto him, and plunging him deep into her. She gyrated on his hips, shamelessly taking full control of the stroke, speeding the pace to her own satisfaction.
Face buried in her neck, Triaten held on, desperate for her to climax. When her head swung upwards, gasping, demanding he go deeper, Triaten obliged. He wasn’t going to stop her this time.
He lifted her body repeatedly and drove full-length into her. An excruciating shudder racked her body, her core wrenching in intensity, pulling Triaten into shared climax. Triaten collapsed the both of them onto the desk, his arm hitting the wood hard, but saving Shiv from the blow. He rolled on the desk, pulling her on top of him. The ebbing pulses still insisted his body stay in hers.
Moments passed, and breath still quaking, Shiv rolled off of Triaten, keeping his arm under her head as a pillow. Both of their legs dangled off the side of the desk.
Shiv smiled at the ceiling. “I’d still like to test the theories, but that was pretty convincing on the art of delayed gratification.”
A devil’s laugh floated from Triaten. “You really are an insatiable one, aren’t you, love?”
“And you’re not?”
An audible thump came from the back of the building, and both of them became blatantly aware of lying naked in a fairly public area. Door closed or not.
Shiv shot up, sudden concern filling her face. “Do I need to go? I didn’t even think of it, but will DeLisio’s men be coming back here?”
Triaten got off the desk, handed Shiv her jeans, and then pulled on his own. “No worries on that front. I have guys from town moving them to one of the hotels. They won’t be back here.” He walked over to her shirt, and after picking up both halves, realized the fu
tility of giving them back to her. Instead, he handed her his shirt.
She threw it over her head. It hung down to her mid-thighs. “Is that the call you made when we got back?”
Triaten nodded.
Shiv picked up her bra and shoes, biting her lip. “I’m sorry. I feel like I’m starting to mess up your life. Maybe I should go stay at one of the hotels if there are openings — but obviously not the one that DeLisio’s men are at.”
“On the contrary — the complication is minor compared to how you’ve helped. I don’t think it would have been nearly as easy getting Shafar and DeLisio talking, if not for you enticing them out on the trail.”
Shiv shrugged.
“And I’m interested to see how the mosaic turns out. The sketch is really shaping up nicely. If you’re still willing, of course.”
That brought a smile to her face. “I am. I think it’s going to be beautiful.”
They walked to the door of the study, and Triaten slid the heavy paneled door open.
Shiv paused. “Have you heard from Skye? Is she coming back soon?”
The mention of Skye’s name made Triaten inwardly groan. She was going to be pissed to know he entangled her sister in anything Panthenite-related. He wondered just how slippery the slope that he was on with Shiv, was. “As far as I know, Skye and Aiden should be coming back in about a week, and then you can figure out what you want to do.”
{ Chapter 8 }
Triaten walked out of the study, where he had been cloistered most of the day with Horace. He had known it was about to be a long day when Horace greeted him in the study at the first rays of sunlight, anger palpable.
“Really Triaten? A common bar fight? And here in our town, nonetheless? What the hell were you thinking?” Horace’s face inched near purple.
Triaten leaned back in the leather chair that he had, just hours ago, had Shiv in. His elbows resting wide on the chair’s arms, he entwined his fingers under his chin. He didn’t answer.
Horace paced in front of him. “You’ve put the negotiations in jeopardy again. Again. And for what. This common tramp? You are so much better than this, Triaten.” He stopped right in front of him, mustering an avalanche of disappointment. “Or so I thought.”
Triaten cocked an eye up at Horace. “It wasn’t about the girl. Anybody who has Joe swinging a bat and a female cornered is going to get his ass kicked. End of story.”
“Except that the story doesn’t end there, Triaten. DeLisio and Shafar were at a tentative agreement last night, and now that is hanging by a thread.” Horace turned away, walking across the room behind Triaten to stare at the bookcases lining the inside wall. “I’d like to believe you about the girl. She is Skye’s sister, correct?”
Triaten was mildly surprised it had taken Horace this long to mention that piece of information. He wondered how long Horace had known.
“There’s room at the hotel now,” Horace continued. “You should move her there until Aiden is back with Skye. The girl can do what she needs to do with her sister, and then be gone.”
“No. DeLisio’s idiot henchmen are in town now, and I’m not going to put her in that position after last night.”
Behind him, Triaten could hear Horace turn back toward him.
Horace spoke to the back of Triaten’s head, his voice losing harshness. “Son, I warn you now. Do not be stupid. Do not let this go too far. She is human. And you know the elders. Amongst our growth of power, strengthening the race is still their primary goal. If you let this go too far, you know it will only end poorly. Humans are fine for dalliances. Stop it there.”
Triaten shrugged, eyes trained on the half-bare aspens framed in the large window in front of him. “We have a mutually beneficial relationship. Nothing more.”
“Make sure it stays that way. As Skye’s sister...let’s just say we don’t want things any messier between Skye and Aiden and the elders.”
Triaten stood up and turned to his father. “You can stop. You do not need to threaten her. There is nothing between Shiv and myself that should cause any alarm. Now, why is the agreement between Shafar and DeLisio hanging by a thread?”
“DeLisio has announced he must take this latest proposal to a partner.”
That caught Triaten’s attention. “Partner? Who the hell would that be? The guy is a billionaire — he doesn’t need a partner. Where is this coming from?”
“We’re not sure. Clearly it’s not just about the money for him.”
Triaten nodded. “Any leads?”
“No. You need to get in a room with him and find out.”
The next few hours were spent going over DeLisio’s dossier, looking for a missed connection. A connection that, somehow, had power over the Frenchman. If Triaten had some specific clue to look for in DeLisio’s mind, he’d be much more effective in pinpointing who this partner was, and what DeLisio was really planning.
Horace left, and Triaten’s brain was still firing away as he stepped into the hallway. He spotted Shiv crouched over on the floor of the library, so he stepped across the hall and paused at the doorway, leaning against the dark wood frame.
Back to him, Shiv was engrossed in setting the initial slew of tiles down. She had started first on the face of the white-gowned goddess that gazed up at the dark cloud. Triaten watched her work, mind still running through all possibilities with DeLisio. What would sway a powerful billionaire from a course he had chosen? A man who was rarely — never — questioned on his choices. It wasn’t money. It wasn’t power.
On the floor, the chalk outline of the two goddesses reaching for each other caught Triaten’s eye. Family? Love? That probably summed up about all it could be.
Triaten walked into the library and sat down on the chair from the study that had never made it back across the hall. There was now a ladder propped against the wall, but Triaten doubted Shiv was using it.
“Hi.” She said, not looking up from the tiles in front of her.
“Hey.” Triaten replied, rubbing his eyes as he leaned back in the chair and tried to slow his mind down.
“Tough morning?” She bent over, face close to the floor, and with tweezers she carefully adjusted the red lips on the goddess’ face. Shiv was giving this one a Mona Lisa smile — could be sad, could be hiding a laugh, could be thoughtful — whatever the viewer wanted out of it, they got.
“Just something to work through.” Triaten sighed and scuffed the back of his head. He dug his thumbnail into the leather of the chair, working the scaring back and forth. “It just gets tiring.”
“Tiring? How so?” Shiv asked.
“I’ve always been expected to do something very specific. Whether or not it was my choice. Someone has always wanted me to be doing something.”
Mouth in place to Shiv’s satisfaction, she tilted her head to look at Triaten. She tapped the errant tile in her hand against the floor while contemplating him. “How interesting.”
His eyebrow cocked. “Interesting? How is that interesting?”
Shiv shrugged as she set the tile down and let her fingers dance along the piles of tile, searching for a specific color. “I’ve never had anyone want me to be anything. So I think that’s interesting. I was just trying to imagine what it would be like. I suppose it is automatic purpose in life. And is that so bad, as long you agreed with the purpose?”
Triaten leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, watching Shiv. “And if I can’t remember whether I agree with the purpose?”
Shiv found the right shade of flesh, and then looked up at Triaten. She gave him a pure “silly man” look. “Well, then I would say, figure it out. And then do or not do accordingly.”
“And it’s that easy?”
Shiv shrugged with a smile. “How should I know — I’m the one whose never had anyone handing me purpose, remember?” Her face turned serious. “Although, I would say from watching you, that you clearly care a lot about what you’re doing, who you’re helping. You even managed to convince me to take one for t
he team with DeLisio’s groping the other day. So I guess the question is, where do you draw the line between what you want, and what someone else wants? And then, does it matter?”
Shiv went back to digging though the tiles and Triaten leaned back in the chair. His thumb nail carved deeper into the leather.
Horace had always chided him for loving humans too much. And it was true. It was how the elders had always manipulated him. Do this for the good of humans. Think of how many innocent human lives you could save. It was an easy hot-button for him. And it was the reason he was so entangled in the DeLisio-Shafar affair. The lives he could help save were too precious.
He always was for the underdog.
~~~
Three days had passed, and Triaten had made little progress in DeLisio’s mind. DeLisio stalled with Shafar, even with Shafar pushing hard to come to an agreement. And in Triaten’s probing of DeLisio’s mind, there had only been one name floating around that Triaten had never noticed before, Genevieve.
In all of the filaments of thoughts in DeLisio’s mind, she floated as an enigma — no reference to who she was, why she manifested in DeLisio’s brain, or where she was. He hid her well.
Now that the satellite internet connection was finally installed and actually working, Triaten worked the Genevieve trail in the study. A knock on the front door broke his concentration. Annoyed, he went to the front door.
A man, a half head shorter than Triaten, looking forty-something with peppered hair, stood at the doorway. His hand twitched. Triaten had no idea who he was, and immediately zeroed in past the man’s grey eyes.
Where is the little bitch? That was the first thought Triaten read. And it was vicious. His eyes narrowed at the stranger.
The man smiled at Triaten. Affable. And if Triaten hadn’t just seen that thought in his mind, he would have classified the man as benign. Instead, Triaten widened himself in the doorway. There was only one woman here at the ranch.
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