by Marie Wathen
“What’s wrong?” She barks. Her mood shifts instantly, signifying she does not want his patronizing. “Well unless I’m crazy there are two of you standing here and it is bullshit that no one could tell me, the date, how fond you two are of the old ‘Bait and Switch.’ Ha, ha, and little ole me is your latest target. You guys are a riot and I’m a fool. Well done boys,” she growls, glaring between us. “Tristan, take me home!” She spits out, moving to stand in front of him. Crossing her arms over her chest, she directs a plea at him.
“Breesan, it’s my fault,” Tristan admits, taking her hand.
Bewitched by the mention of her name, it is as original and exquisite as her. I look again, locking my gaze with hers, realizing that it is indeed Breesan. She looks more beautiful than ever; not that she wasn’t perfect before, but tonight she is indescribable.
“I should have told you that Morgan has a twin brother, but honestly I didn’t expect him to be here.” Turning toward me, Tristan continues, “Why didn’t you let one of us know you were back in town Marcus? All of this bullshit could’ve been avoided.”
He releases her and relief washes over me. Anna stands beside Breesan, placing an arm around her shoulder while whispering in her ear. Although I’m intrigued by their exchange, I remain trapped by hooded, gray eyes.
“I want to know what the fuck you are doing here in the first damn place. You always have to be the center of attention. Don’t you?” Morgan spits out with contemptuous ridicule. Unbelievable. He’s trying to embarrass me; I guess some things never change.
“And let’s get one thing straight right now,” he stalks up to me. Serious, and with his body drawn tight, he is ready to fight. “Breesan is MY date tonight, so don’t get any ideas.” He emphasizes the word ‘my’, calling forth a rumble deep in my chest and everything in me screams.
MINE!
My eyes have not left hers yet. She is the only person I want to give answers, but it won’t happen; she’s running from me. Our eyes remain locked as she retreats, but I can tell she’s still captivated.
Our friends become suspiciously quiet and I’m not sure if anyone has spoken to me, waiting on my response. She walks straight up to me with her demands.
“Do you know who I am and that I’m Morgan’s date tonight? Are you screwing with me or is this a simple misunderstanding?”
She relaxes as she moves closer to me, unless that’s just my imagination. Stretching her hand out, she keeps it low, as if she’s waiting for my acceptance before reaching further. Anxious but wanting to be honest with her, I inhale deeply, close my eyes, and rub the back of my neck.
Shit
“No, Baby I had no idea you were here with my brother. I’m sorry about the confusion, but I won’t apologize for the way we met.”
I smile seductively at her and she reacts as I expect by stepping closer to me. We are only separated by mere inches; I drop my hand to reach for hers when suddenly a panic flashes through her eyes and she is being pulled away from me. Morgan has his hand firmly tugging her by the shoulder and I instantly tense all over. I step forward, reacting to his hand on what my body now recognizes as mine.
“Get your fucking hand off her Morgan,” I growl, not understanding why I have become so possessive of her. Before I can reach him, she shrugs. Just as she moves, a smaller set of hands grab her, tugging her away.
“Really? All this macho crap is stupid. I’m over all this pissing on my territory business. So let’s either sit or go home, please,” Anna interrupts with a laugh. “Do you want to sit Breesan?” Breesan nods.
Anna takes her hand and leads her to their table. Breesan swings around and claims the first seat she reaches. Defiantly, she crosses her arms and legs. She’s defensive, and yet I can tell she’s hiding desire.
She is petite, but in that dress with those heels, her legs appear to go on forever. Finding myself getting hard at the length of the slit running up her thigh in the dress, I quickly move my gaze up the length of her legs, along her sumptuous curves, finally stopping on enthralled, smoldering eyes.
A crowd gathers upon witnessing our exchange. Drawing my attention, I glance around to the group and notice that the sexy blonde with Morgan is glaring at him, but his focus is on Breesan.
Strolling over and stopping mere inches from me, Morgan glares intently.
“I think you should go,” he demands.
Refusing to let him feel empowered, I nod sternly. Silently we exchange a familiar look, understanding that nothing else will be said. I grin with the knowledge that we will revisit this and we’ll deal with it our way.
Grinning, with what appears to be satisfaction, he strolls over to Breesan and takes the empty seat next to her. Deep in conversation with Anna, she pauses briefly, lifting her eyes to stare intently at me. As Morgan leans in to whisper something to Breesan, I hear the forgotten blonde huff and watch her storm away, her heels clacking out an angry sound. Apparently he had entertainment while Breesan was with me on the balcony.
This is interesting.
Looking at Tristan I growl, “I’m not dealing with his bullshit tonight. We’ll meet up tomorrow.”
He hugs me solid. “Sounds good, I’ll be at the police department before six a.m. Stop by when you get a chance. I’m taking the girls home since all the fun has been sucked right out of the night. Glad you’re back, Mac Daddy.”
Shaking my head at his playfulness, we fall into a comfortable routine that we enjoyed from childhood.
“Thanks Bubba, I’ll see you tomorrow, but right now I need to speak with Breesan,” I demand. He peers at me sideways and then nods.
“Is there something going on Mac?” he asks solemnly.
“I’m not available to be with her Trist so don’t worry, she’s not on my radar.” Shaking my hand, he accepts my promise.
Tristan politely interrupts the deep discussion between Breesan and Anna, asking her to grant my request for a private talk. Awaiting her decision, I notice Morgan is giving his undivided attention to the other side of the room. Allowing my eyes to follow his gaze, I spot a perturbed blonde shooting daggers at him before stomping away. Their focus broken, he turns then scowls at me, missing the concerned look Breesan flashes him. I wait for her to decide if she’s willing to give me a few minutes. She nods her head to Tristan then speaks softly to Anna. Standing, she makes her way to me. I offer her my elbow and return us to the balcony.
“Breesan, I want to apologize for confusing you tonight. I swear I had no idea you were my brother’s date, but like I said earlier, I don’t regret spending the evening with you.”
Reaching up out of instinct alone, I place my hand on her cheek. The warmth of her soft flesh undoes me. Resolutely, I draw in a breath, straighten my back, and look at her eyes, not allowing those pink full lips that beg to be sucked and licked distract me. Dropping my hand away from her lovely face, I take a small but significant step back. Noticing my intentional retreat, she shifts her demeanor accordingly.
The familiar guarded woman appears suddenly, and there is no mistaking her self-preserving stance. It’s good knowing she’s tough because what I have to do is painful. After all this time, it never occurred to me that there could possibly be anything between us. I would have done a better job avoiding her if I had known. And what if she is feeling something similar to what I am? God it sickens me to think I might crush her with lies, but it’s unavoidable. Jeopardizing her, the team, and other innocent people is not an option. Fuck. Whatever this is with Breesan was not in the fucking deal when I signed on for this job.
“Breesan, I’m not going to lead you on. I don’t do girlfriends. I don’t date, I don’t call, and I don’t meet parents. I have sex and I damn sure don’t cuddle afterward.” Her pout displays disgust. “It’s not illegal. Nobody gets hurt and it’s usually free, so why not? But that’s not you and it won’t be us. I can’t explain what we were feeling earlier but I don’t want – anything.” Finishing, I see the pain flash briefly deep within her darken gray
eyes – darkening with fury.
“You know what? That’s good – no it’s actually great. I was afraid you were going to say something else, but don’t worry Marcus, I don’t want you. You really don’t owe me an explanation. I actually don’t even care so if we’re done here I’m going back to my date.” Surrendering, she raises both hands, locks her jaw, and stares as if daring me to say a word.
“Fair enough,” I nod, appalled by my body’s betrayal of exactly how much she affects me. The hardness has my full attention now.
“Good night Marcus,” she whispers. Turning, she moves toward the doorway of the castle, back to Morgan.
“Good night,” I announce, regretfully acknowledging the end of us.
Turning on my heel, I refuse to look back. I know if I steal even one small look at her and see hurt, I won’t be able to keep from taking her in my arms for a kiss. Realizing I didn’t kiss her, I feel cheated knowing that I will never get to taste those sweet lips.
Ever
Regret
Locating Breesan at the party, I make my contact at the castle and call in the information to my commander. Satisfied that she is safe for the evening with Tristan, I relax. But these new feelings for this woman have me questioning my entire involvement in this whole damn thing. I wasn’t even supposed to meet her. I didn’t recognize her when she approached me dressed the way she is tonight. I have never been so turned on by a woman’s back than I was while touching hers tonight.
How the hell am I supposed to do my job and stay the fuck away from her? Anticipating a job free of distractions from this point on is fucking unrealistic. I just need to find a way to keep my distance. I’m sure Sam can help me out with that. I won’t risk blowing my cover.
I just can’t ever catch a damn break
Leaving the castle, I call my boss to advise her on the details of tonight’s party. If she discovers what transpired between her stepdaughter and me before I have a chance to come up with a cover, she will be unruly. Better to cut that head off before the snake strikes. I call The Witch.
“Hello Mrs. Maxwell.”
“Marcus. Do you have information for me?” she purrs, causing my body to shiver from repulsion.
“Breesan was at the party tonight.” Not positive about the specifics of my details for her tonight, I don’t offer any extra information. Considering the threat, I remember there was a man working the bar that seemed very engrossed in Morgan. Could it be that he was interested in Breesan – enough to want to kill her?
“Marcus! Did you hear what I said?” she snaps. Vaguely I heard her say that I need to pick her up in the morning but did not respond fast enough. She yelled at me again.
“Yes ma’am, I understand. I will see you in the morning.”
Breesan fucking Maxwell has wrecked my whole damn world. Everything in me is demanding that I stay as far away from her as I can get. Given my dual role with surveillance on her, for The Witch as well as the team, I pray our contact will remain at a distance.
Climbing into my Jeep, I lean my head back against the headrest. I scrub my hand roughly over my head and force it through my hair. Slowly dragging it back down my face, I inhale deeply and her sweet scent assaults me. I must have rubbed some of her perfume from her back onto the sleeve of my coat. I slide my nose along the length of the arm, remembering how I held her securely in it just an hour ago. Now I need a fucking cold shower.
I groan loudly, “I want her so fucking bad.”
Chapter 6
Breesan
I’m so relieved the night is ending and I can get the hell away from all of them. Irrational behavior scares the shit out of me, and right now I can’t be held responsible for what I might say or do next. Except for the bizarre revelation of my date being a twin and mistakenly dancing with his brother, a mistake of epic proportions, it was a tolerable evening. I really just need to get out of here and forget about that man.
But oh, he felt so incredible. Ugh!
Leaving the balcony discussion with Marcus behind me, I walk inside the less crowded ballroom. Before reaching the table, Morgan greets me with a hand extended out. He has a strange look of stress on his face. Absorbing the details of his face, I silently admit that he is a very good-looking man; sexy, just like Marcus.
Well duh, they’re twins
“Hi,” I say flatly. I can’t help feeling guilty for not recognizing it was his twin and not him that I danced with all night.
“Breesan I don’t know what he said to you, but I met you first so if you’re going to date one of us, out of fairness, it should be me that has first shot.” And there’s the man I had dinner with earlier. I shouldn’t be disappointed; the return of his self-righteous attitude was expected. I smirk now, wondering where he was hiding. I’m so glad he’s making this easy for me. I lift my chin, focus my eyes on him, and respond as calmly and sweetly as possible
“Morgan.” He smiles back, waiting for a sweet response. “You’re a dumb ass. I wouldn’t dare date you if you were the last man on earth. Since dinner I thought that maybe I was seeing a different man, one that didn’t seem like such a domineering ass. I was wrong. It turns out it wasn’t you. It was your twin. That’s why you were different. Looks like you’re back with that pompous attitude of yours, but now you’re adding a touch of jealousy to the mix and are glowing in an impressive shade of green. Good night, don’t follow me and do not fucking call me.” Turning on my heel, I casually walk to Tristan and Anna who are waiting for me at our table.
Tristan has a full smile and is obviously battling to contain it from turning into full out laughter. Anna grabs our purses up and begins following me out of the castle.
Frustration
Tristan snorts, “Bumble Bee, can I just say that was the funniest thing I have ever heard. The look on Morgan’s face was fucking priceless. He’s still standing there frozen with his mouth hanging open and it doesn’t look like he’s blinked once. Maybe he suffered a mini stroke. He’s never seen the likes of you. That is for damn sure.”
Tristan releases a deep hard laughter that causes both me and Anna laugh too. Our vehicle is out front with the valet holding the door open. Anna and I slip into the back while Tristan takes the front seat.
I sigh, “You know you have one messed up family, Tristan. I absolutely knew something stupid was going to happen tonight. I wasn’t kidding when I warned you earlier about this being our only date. It is.” I scoff, “He actually thinks after the way he behaved at dinner and then that comment about him deserving to date me first won him points or something. He really can’t be that dense.” I snort, suppressing my laughter. “And what is up with Marcus? Is he always so intense?” Shuddering, I think about an intense green gaze. Tristan stares at me then faces the front window again before speaking.
“According to his family, Marcus is the black sheep but I believe nothing could be further from the truth. He’s a good guy, so is Morgan. I was honest when I said they don’t date. That’s why I thought Morgan would be safe for you. I think if you spent more time with him, you could be friends. Who couldn’t use more friends?”
Friends
Could I possibly have a friendship with Marcus without desiring more? And what if I did desire more? I am a grown up. I should be able to have an adult relationship with men and not immediately jump into bed with them. No, this is Marcus Walker and my whole body wants him. A relationship with him would only be explosive in more ways than one, if I were to venture a guess.
Unbelievable! This night is so freaking bizarre. And that man Morgan Walker. What a pompous ass! Where does he get off having that bloated attitude of his believing he actually deserves first shot at dating me just because he met me first? Through my frustration, my teeth mash together and my fingernails dig deep into my palms.
Remembering the surprised look on Morgan’s face when I called him a dumb ass was priceless. A goofy, proud smile breaks across my face and my anger recedes. Maybe the direct approach with him is the best solution to
letting him believe he doesn’t have any possible chance with me. The only thing that drew me to him was how attractive he is, and it absolutely stops there.
However, I’m not sure what to make of the strange feelings zapping between Marcus and me. Unlike any feeling I’ve experienced, it is a heavenly sensation bordering happiness. I shudder at the thought of any man giving me those feelings. I’ll admit there is something different about Marcus. Besides being the sexiest man I’ve ever met, he commands my body with a new reaction that includes desire. I can’t put my finger on it and I don’t want to say it’s just lust, but he awakens something deep inside me that I’ve never experienced before tonight.
There’s no point in worrying about it. I sigh. He made it very clear that he doesn’t do relationships and I certainly don’t want one. Ending things before they could begin works out great for me. I’m actually quite happy with the decision Marcus and I reached together. Well not exactly together, but it benefits both of us.
“Tristan, do you know the guy that was at the bar tonight?” I ask, remembering the older guy with Morgan’s cute blonde.
“Not sure I know which guy you’re talking about BB. Can you be more specific? Would this guy be young, old, black, white, tall, short, or perhaps he was invisible? Ha that’s it isn’t it? Are you scared after seeing a ghost in the castle?” Smartass cop mode has me shutting down. Now I won’t answer his damn questions. I doubt I’ll ever see the guy again anyway.
The following morning, I drag myself from the comfort of my bed. My head is hammering and I feel like I have been hit by a Mack truck. I resist digging back under the comforter on my pillow top bed and begin to hastily dress for my daily run along the beach. As much as I would love to stay in bed, I just don’t think I can handle it for another minute. A restless night of dreaming is scaring the hell out of me. I’m not sure why this particular dream has me freaking out.
What is the correlation between a dream where I marry some boy named Bones McGee and the events of last night with Morgan and Marcus that is causing me to have nightmares? I know dreams are abstract memories combined with events that happen during a normal day. Some people believe they are used as signs for the future or to help you understand the past. Something strange is happening in my subconscious mind and I don’t have a clue what my dream means. Nothing that I can recall in the dream is true life, yet it seems so real.