“Yes.” She reached up and removed the listening device and handed it to him. “Did you get what you needed?”
“Tommy Cruz admitted to assaulting you and named Acosta, so yes.” The ADA nodded. “We have enough for a warrant for Leonardo Acosta and will be picking him up later today. ICE wants a piece of the action since we believe Acosta entered the country illegally.”
“Good.” Kat sighed, nodded to Travis, and walked over to where her men waited for her. The three of them opened their arms to her. She nestled into them, not caring for one moment what anyone thought. She sighed, needing this connection, this security. These men were her heart and her anchor. She didn’t know how she’d managed without them before she met them. And she was grateful, damned grateful, that she would never have to do without them again.
“You done good, sis.”
Kat lifted her head and turned toward her brother. Lucas and Wesley stepped back, just a little. Paul kept his arms around her as she faced the brother she hadn’t gotten along with very well for the last few years.
“Thanks.”
“I, um, went over your record of recoveries. It’s pretty impressive.”
Kat’s eyes widened. “Uh...thanks.”
Eric shrugged. He looked at the men who’d made a cadre around her. “Mom likes you guys, and she’s proud of Katrina. I guess I need to get with the program.”
“It’s not your fault, you know.” Kat was referring to the fact that he and Travis had been followed that first night, leading a sniper right to the Jessop’s home.
Eric frowned. “Of course it is. I’m a cop, for crying out loud. I should have realized we were being tailed.”
“And we should have realized your sister didn’t tell us everything she knew about Tommy and his friends.” Wes’s voice sounded okay. Except she could hear the steel beneath his words.
“Oh?” Eric raised his left eyebrow.
“Mmm.” Lucas nodded. “She wasn’t the tiniest bit surprised when Tommy pulled that switchblade out.” Then he looked at Kat. “You forgot to mention the knife, babe.”
“No, I didn’t ‘forget’ to mention it. I decided not to.”
“We’ll discuss numbers tonight,” Paul said.
Kat knew he meant the number of times one of them, or maybe even all of them, would lay the flat of their hands—or a paddle—on her ass. They thought that was punishment? Not in her book.
“Good.” She gave them each a cheeky grin. “I can hardly wait.”
* * * *
Hiram Mooney made himself comfortable as he waited. The small roadside picnic area was deserted this time of night. No moon shone, and that was fine. He wasn’t that far away, really, and he didn’t need a lot of light.
Since Garwood liked to smoke, Mooney had foregone the night vision goggles. There was enough light provided by the state, courtesy of a conveniently placed street lamp, for him to see.
Right on schedule, Toller Garwood drove up, parked his Mercedes, and exited the car. He followed his instructions, walking toward the table. Then he turned, leaned against it, and lit a cigarette.
Two minutes later a second car appeared. This one, a late model Ford, also carried one man. He turned off his engine and got out of the car. He looked around—at what, Mooney didn’t have a clue—and approached Garwood.
Mooney continued to wait and listen, thanks to a device planted under the picnic table.
“James, I’m disappointed in you. The Lawson woman isn’t dead. My entire operation is at risk because of her.”
“Garwood, the only thing your organization is at risk from is your own extreme paranoia. Katrina Lawson doesn’t know anything about Larry Borden’s association with you. I know I agreed in the beginning that killing her would be a sure way to stop the unraveling Borden began. But that was before I realized how connected the woman was. She’s set to marry into one of the wealthiest families in all of Texas. They have much more money and a lot more strings they can pull than you do.”
“I don’t pay you to second-guess me. I pay you to carry out my orders. I think it’s time we severed our relationship. Permanently.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Through his scope, Mooney could see the expectant looks on each of the men’s faces. He knew that each one was waiting for him to kill the other. That is, after all, what he’d agreed to do.
He was nothing if not a man of his word. His aim was perfect, and his shots, barely three seconds apart, right on the money.
Looking through his scope once more, he cast his gaze over the bodies of the two men, now both dead.
He broke down his weapon, put it away, and was back in his vehicle within two minutes of firing.
This late at night, in an area not frequented by a lot of traffic, Mooney knew he had time to meander away. No sirens would split the night. No cops would be swarming the area. At least, not until he made a phone call.
He sighed in relief as he headed south. Even though it was going to be summer before long, he had an urge to go to the Florida Keys. A man with enough money could get himself a little place, accessible only by boat. He could fish by day and read by night. Maybe he’d even write a book.
He thought, one final time, about Toller Garwood and his paranoia, as James had called it. The man had used an account, not apparently connected to him, in order to pay for the hits, first on Kat Lawson and then on Booker James. Mooney had to wonder how many other dirty deeds Garwood planned to use that numbered account to finance since, when he’d emptied it an hour before, there’d been just shy of four million dollars in it.
“Ah well. I guess some questions are best left unanswered.” He grinned and thought about the gifts he’d left under that picnic table, not just the listening device but a handy little recorder that had captured every word those two unfortunate men had spoken.
He’d left a little something else, as well, for someone who needed to know there was no longer any danger of being shot.
At least, not by him.
Hiram Mooney waited until he was a hundred miles down the road before he picked up a never-before used burner phone from the seat beside him.
And then he called in an anonymous tip to the Colorado State Patrol about a double homicide.
Chapter 22
“Now, Kitty-Kat, about that knife.”
The men had excused themselves the instant they’d stepped inside their Malibu Canyon home so they could lock their guns away. That apparently hadn’t taken long at all.
Kat turned around at the sound of Paul’s voice. The brothers stood, in birth order, each with his arms folded in front of his chest and a stern look on his face.
It would seem they were serious about that spanking. Kat was honest enough to admit to herself just thinking about it got her wet. Of course, she knew better than to let that show. “Yes?”
When Paul just raised his one eyebrow, Kat’s brat came out to play. “Right. About that knife. It was an Italian stiletto-style switchblade, with a stainless steel, four-inch blade. The handle was plastic, so I’m thinking Tommy didn’t pay much more than thirty dollars for it. It’s actually one of the most common stickers in use today by even the most discriminating gangbanger.”
The men didn’t appear to be impressed with her knowledge.
“I think our woman really wants a very thorough spanking.” Wes said that as if he was commenting about the weather.
Her temper flared. “Oh, come on. You saw how that punk was waving that knife around. I’ll bet you a hundred dollars that’s all he’s ever used it for is as a phallic symbol, wielded to make himself feel like a real man.”
“You knew he had it,” Paul said quietly. “And you did everything in your power to goad him into using it on you.”
Kat set her temper aside. She’d told them she loved them and accepted their proposals of marriage. That gave them the right to question her. “It was either that or wait quietly for them, all three of them, to come at me at once. Now, I have to tell you I
did not know that the other two carried guns. I didn’t see any sign of guns last time. But I guess I should have figured they’d have them.”
Her men had expected the guns. That was why they’d all been armed.
Lucas shuddered. “You have a fast response time. Before I even realized that sleazeball was raising his gun, you’d already impaled his arm with the knife.”
Of course Kat understood that these good men—her men—had been very worried about this confrontation going into it. The fact that they’d let go as well as they had in order to allow her to do what she needed to do was really quite remarkable.
So don’t be so damn stingy!
She met Paul’s gaze. “I’m glad you did what you did—set yourself down in plain sight like that. Who knows what that third little bastard might have done if you hadn’t?”
“What about you, Kitty-Kat? How do you feel, now that you’ve faced your demons?”
As ticked as she knew he was, he set that aside to ask about her. That’s what love is all about, taking your eyes off yourself and putting them on your loved one.
The way her mother had always put her eyes on her husband and children first, and on herself last.
I finally get it.
“I feel...good. I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to do what needed to be done. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do my job. But now I know I can.” And because she did get it, she let them know the rest of the truth. “I don’t know if I want to do that job anymore. But I do know that I can.”
“Good. We wanted you to jump that hurdle, babe.” Lucas gave her a sweet smile.
“The future is yours, angel,” Wesley said. “And you can do anything you want, anything at all.”
“Right after we give you that spanking we talked about.” Paul met her gaze. He let her see his vulnerability, one she knew his brothers shared. “You can and will do what you have to, and we’ll always support you. But we need you to be honest with us, love. No more surprises like the one we got today.”
“Yes, all right.” Kat swallowed hard and licked her lips. It occurred to her, in that moment, they planned to give her a real spanking, not just some sexy little smacks on her ass.
It did surprise her some that, on the heels of that epiphany, she didn’t feel angry or insulted or even afraid.
Relief flooded her, heart and mind, body and soul. In this marriage they were going to build together, there would be parameters and limits, and she actually wanted it that way.
She wanted her men to call her on her bullshit, to love her so deeply that they’d feel moved to spank her if—as she had done today—she knowingly put herself in danger.
Paul lifted his arm toward the master bedroom, indicating that she could precede them. Once inside that large, airy room, she turned to face them. Light glistened through the new window, and outside a beautiful spring day beckoned. She didn’t worry because Paul had assured her no one could see her from out there. They’d installed a special kind of glass that really worked only one way. Looking out at the scene, she imagined she could hear birdsong and the sounds of insects as they did what nature intended.
She turned to face them and waited.
“Undress, please. Then stand over there, with your back to the bathroom. I want your legs shoulder-width apart and your hands behind your neck, fingers laced.”
Paul’s tone of voice skittered down her spine, making her want to rush to obey him. Instead, she slowed her movements, not to a teasing pace but, rather, to a deliberate pace.
With her actions, she hoped they understood she chose to obey. They weren’t taking control of her. She was giving them power over her.
When she was in position, she lowered her gaze and waited.
“You can look at us, Katrina.”
Good, he gets it. She flicked a glance at Lucas and Wes, too, and understood they all three got her message.
“I don’t know how much actual research you did, but if we lived the lifestyle twenty-four-seven, then you would be naked most of the time when we’re home. You’d also wear a collar.”
“Like Jillian Jessop? When I met her, that was the first thing my eyes were drawn to—her collar.”
“Yes, like Jillian. Our cousins go to a club in Houston—the Lyon’s Den. If that interests you, we might check it out at some point in the future.”
“I’m not opposed to the idea.”
Paul gave her a soft smile. “Good.” He nodded and sat at the end of the bed. He kept his back straight and his feet flat on the floor so that he made a nice little lap for her.
“Come here, Katrina.”
She went to him then stretched out over his lap. Lucas stepped forward and helped her get into position. With her hands flat on the floor, her ass was definitely in the right place. Paul laid his left arm across the top of her legs.
“You belong to us. It’s our honor to take care of you. We cannot allow you to be reckless with your safety. You mean everything to us, love. Everything.”
Paul’s voice broke on that last word, and she knew, then, the depth of their fear and their determination to, as he’d just said, take care of her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
“But now you do?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He didn’t tell her how many, nor did he ask her to count. Instead, she felt his movement and cried out when his right hand landed hard on her bare ass. Then he did it again, and again, and again.
By the fourth spank, she was crying. It stung like hell, but more, she was crying because she’d done something that had hurt her men. Kat was a woman used to doing what she wanted when she wanted, a woman who made decisions based on the moment and to hell with anyone else.
And that was not the woman she needed, or wanted, to be any longer.
“It’s done, Kitty-Kat. I have you.”
She hadn’t realized Paul had stopped or that he’d eased her up and into his arms. She snuggled into him as he cradled her. On either side, Wes and Lucas sat close, their hands on her, their touch gentle and soothing.
“Here.” Lucas handed her a tissue. She took it and tilted her head at him. He grinned. “My linen ones are all back in Lusty.”
Kat couldn’t hold back her chuckle. She wiped her tears and then laid her head on Paul’s shoulder.
“You said I could do anything at all that I wanted to do.”
“Of course.” Paul kissed the top of her head. “You’re the heart of us. Our center and our focus. What do you want to do?”
“I want to make love with you. All of you. At the same time.” The idea of having them inside her, all at the same time again, had been on her mind since not long after the first time. But right this minute, loving them all at once was more than something she wanted. “I can’t explain it, but it’s like a deep, aching need inside me. I need to be connected to all three of you again.”
“We need that, too,” Wes said. “To literally make you our center.”
Lucas reached over and lifted her chin with his hand. He used his thumb to caress just under her bottom lip. “I really want your ass, babe. I think you’re ready for that.”
Lucas’s cock was thicker than his brothers’. He’d shied away from taking her so far, but she knew the moment was right.
They could have her, each of them and all of them together, any way they wanted her. She was their woman.
“Yes.”
Lucas lifted her off Paul’s lap and set her feet on the floor. Then he kissed her, his lips gentle, almost questing. He used his tongue to taste every part of her mouth. Drawn into him, needing more, she tasted him right back, loving the way he suckled her lips, sealing them tight together.
He lifted his head and met her gaze. Desire burned hot in his eyes, and his smile warmed her heart.
“I like that look on you, babe. I like knowing you melt for me—for all of us.”
Other hands cupped her shoulders, turned her. Wesley, naked and needy, drew he
r close. “Give me some of that sugar.”
“Yes, Wesley.” The flare of pleasure in his eyes made her feel good. Oh, Paul was the oldest, and because she knew the traditions of Lusty, she understood he would be the head of their family.
But she knew which of the brothers was the most natural dominant, and it sure wasn’t the eldest.
Kat opened her mouth and her arms, enveloped and enveloping, and kissed Wesley Jessop. His flavor filled her, and his passion ignited her own. Their tongues met and danced, and Kat knew she could lose herself in this, in this pleasure and this heat.
Wes pulled her closer, and the heat of his cock against her belly made her mouth water. She loved the flavor of him and the sensation of his cock between her lips.
When he broke their kiss, he turned her toward the bed.
Paul lay on his back in the middle of it. His cock was hard with the tip already glistening with a drop of pre-cum. Standing tall and proud, that beautiful flesh called to her.
Kat’s pussy dampened.
Wes nudged her toward him, and she didn’t need to be asked twice. She crawled onto the bed and felt like a tiger on the prowl.
“I love that look on you, too,” Paul said. “The one that says you know exactly what you want and you’re going after it.”
“You’re going to see that look a lot. You all are.”
“You won’t hear us complain.” Lucas went over to the bedside table. From the drawer he took out a condom and some lube.
Kat straddled Paul. The scent of his skin, so clean and manly, stirred her arousal. She loved these men so very much.
“Come here, woman.” Paul reached up and used his thumb to catch a single tear that she hadn’t even known was there. “I love you, Kat. Take my cock inside your body. Ride me.”
He banded her waist with his hands and lifted. She wrapped her hand around his cock and placed it at the opening of her body. She was so wet that, when he eased her down, her pussy accepted him in one, smooth thrust. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feeling. Without conscious thought, she flexed her pelvic floor muscles, giving Paul’s cock a long, pulsing squeeze.
Love Under Three Valentinos [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 21