The Promise of Love

by Billi Jean

  The thought had him staring at her, trying to figure out what it was about Paris that made his head spin faster than any jump from a plane into enemy territory he’d ever made.

  Chapter Two

  “There are ten things in this world I can’t live without,” Savage said and tapped his cigar on the crystal ashtray. “Duke is messing with the top two. Money and Sex. Tell me you have some answers for me, Martinez.”

  Juan Martinez blew smoke out on a big exhale and shifted the bleach-blonde with jugs the size of cantaloupes he had on his lap to reach his drink. His enormous belly interfered with the move, but he managed to keep the woman in place while he sipped his vodka. No one would have guessed Martinez had once gone through the toughest Special Forces training on the planet—the Russian Spetsnaz. They’d been hand-picked then given training that wouldn’t be allowed in the U.S. where everything was ruled by law and order. Human rights and blah, blah, blah.

  They’d both survived and look at them now. Living the American dream.

  “I have more than that. I’ve set up a team outside of Duke’s location. He shuts us out of his deal, and we simply take what we want.”

  Savage narrowed his eyes to see Martinez through the dim interior of their private club. The strobe lights out on the dance floor lent a soothing background for him, but made it difficult to gage his long-time partner’s expression.

  “You’ve set up camp in Wyoming?”

  Martinez grimaced. “I didn’t set it up. My men are camping out with a group of gun crazy lunatics, but”—he laughed—“they are a perfect cover. If anyone finds our location, we simply blend in with them.”

  “America. Only here can such men exist,” Savage muttered in Russian.

  “True. They have a few AK-74M rifles.”

  “Really?” Savage murmured, impressed. Weapons like that were highly sought after and highly illegal. He stroked the back of his own woman at the memory of the power in such a weapon.

  “When do you meet with Duke?”

  “A few days,” Savage replied, not happy with the time it was taking to get a meeting with the elusive billionaire. “He will send someone to DC in a few days. Then he will meet with me personally.”

  “If Duke pulls out, then we simply take it.” Martinez lifted his glass and Savage joined him. “Then we even a few scores, brother. I have word from sources that the men we want are in the area. They’re undercover, hovering over Duke, ready to take him out.”

  Savage clenched his fists. “We can’t let that happen before my scientist gets his hands on the formula.”

  “Oh, we won’t. Your scientist is also there, waiting for his chance to get a sample.” Martinez made a face and tapped his cigar on the floor. “He is an odd one, no?”

  Savage agreed. The young MIT graduate wasn’t normally the kind of man he would ever associate with. But money talked and oddities could be forgiven—to a point.

  “He can make us richer than our wildest dreams, brother. Remember, money first, then we settle some scores,” Savage cautioned. “Duke will come here. He’s too greedy and too much of a show man not to parade his genius for us to see. If he does not”—Savage shrugged—“then we will still gain what we want with your men. But first we wait. Remember, always the money first, then the scores.”

  * * * *

  Paris laughed and shook her head at David’s joke. He was a surprisingly fun guy, and way more honest than anyone she’d ever met. His friend, William—Will—was nice too, but David had a way of saying things most people just didn’t. She liked that about him. And, she just liked him.

  They surprised her. Not half a day ago she’d been lecturing her friend and telling her she never wanted to be near men again, and now she was in a restaurant downstairs from her hotel room with two of them and didn’t want dinner to be over.

  Or the night. Specifically the night.

  It was as if all the time she’d been alone had suddenly become unbearable, and she wanted to make up for it now—immediately with them or, if she were honest, with David Jansen and his quiet sarcasm and rugged smile.

  But, worse, every time she nervously sipped her drink, she’d recall what Sara had said about two men. ‘Does that really, truly happen in real life?’ For the first time ever, she regretted not owning a cell phone. Sara had one. She could have called her and asked what it meant when two men sat over dinner with her, and seemed to want the night to go on and on…

  “Yeah, well, that didn’t go over so well in the long run,” Will commented after taking a drink of beer. He reminded her of the actor who played Hawkeye in The Avengers, but much, much bigger and way tougher, simply because he was sitting inches across from her. Will was a warrior, through and through. They both were, but she’d never met a man as intense as Will.

  Except for maybe David.

  With his sleepy blue eyes and narrow face, he reminded her of Ryan Gosling. He had more of a warrior build instead of a bodybuilder thing like Gosling, but he had the eyes and the smirk hidden just below the surface. Maybe it was the rough shadow of darker blond hair on his jaw—it made it seem like he hadn’t shaved for a few days, which added to the Gosling image.

  Or maybe I watch too many movies.

  He also watched her—all the time, it felt like. She’d almost dropped her drink twice just because he made her so nervous she couldn’t think straight. Worse, she seemed unable to take her eyes off him either. She’d never been so attracted to a person so quickly. Why now? Why two of them? Will was…interesting, but David…

  Does he even live here?

  “If I remember right, we were stuck wading through swamp because of that dumb move, and I still have snakebites that bother me,” David said, his voice going higher in indignation.

  It was obvious they were good friends. She found herself becoming relaxed around them, enough to stop stuttering over what to say. But both were men—real men in ways that made Greg and every other guy she knew seem sheltered and well, kind of pale in comparison.

  She knew she was small, but next to David, she felt delicate and fragile. She really wasn’t. Not after years of figure skating. She liked that next to him she felt that way though.

  “There were only a few snakes, and if they bit you, you probably antagonized them.” Will’s quietly spoken comment drew her out of her mooning over his friend.

  “Did they really bite you?” she asked, then gasped when David nodded over his beer. “Oh, that’s horrible,” she managed. “I wouldn’t be able to go near water where I knew there were snakes. I don’t even like the garden ones.”

  They didn’t laugh at her. They listened and nodded, seeming as if what she said really interested them. David’s grin grew around the toothpick he was playing with, but they didn’t act as though what she said was silly.

  “Will’s got a thing for snakes, so they like him,” David muttered, bumping his shoulder against hers, which nearly toppled her, since she hadn’t been anticipating he’d do any such thing. “Careful, pay attention.”

  She smothered a laugh behind her hand then bumped him right back. “Wait, what do you mean, a thing?” she asked, not sure what that meant. “You have a thing for snakes?” she asked his friend.

  Will shrugged. “They don’t bother me. Most are just trying to survive. Only a few want you dead, and those warn you.” He sounded as if he was serious—like a professor or something. “What? You don’t believe me?” he asked around a mouthful of burger.

  She reached across the table and, without thinking, brushed away some of the hamburger bun that had stuck to the whiskers on his chin. Immediately it dawned on her what she was doing, and she dropped her hand hastily. “Sorry, I’m sorry, you just have—”

  He reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. “No problem, I don’t bite.”

  “Only if you ask.” David bumped her shoulder again. “And then it won’t hurt.”

  With that surprising comment he gave her a crooked smile that sent all kinds of shivers down her spine.
And to some inappropriate places. What am I thinking? These are men, not young guys who think they can get something from me if they lay it on real thick. These are men who not only know they can, but probably do it so well I’ll wake the neighbors!

  “What? That sounds good, or is that a look of complete horror?” David asked in that teasing but straightforward way she liked, but hadn’t gotten used to. He tugged her hair, reminding her of Sara, and winked at her. He was so close she could feel the heat of his body all along her side.

  “Oh, I don’t know, I mean…” She pushed her hair back behind her ear to break eye contact and tried to calm the flutters in her stomach.

  “Jansen,” Will muttered.

  “What? She is sweet. I bet she’s never let anyone find out how sweet.”

  That sexy comment had her breath stalling in her throat, especially when David leaned over, slowly watching her face until he was close enough to kiss her, then rubbed his warm, bristly jaw against her cheek and whispered, “I’d like to find out, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  With that shocking statement he gave her a cocky grin and got up to head to the back of the restaurant where the bathrooms must be. Oh my God….

  “He’s a smartass,” Will said.

  Find out. Find out how sweet she was—he meant oral sex. Oh my God.

  By the heat of a blush on her cheeks, she knew she had to be pink all over. Of the two men, David made her much, much more nervous. He made her feel as if she’d sipped her way through seven cups of high-octane coffee from the local diner. In all her life, she’d never met someone she’d been so attracted to. Not even Jimmy Logan in middle school, and he’d been her crush for years and years.

  “He’s funny,” she said when she realized Will was watching her.

  Will had a way of being silent that made her worry he could blend into a space and she’d lose sight of him. David made her think the same thing, with the way he casually sat, not moving for so long. She fidgeted. She always had. It was apparent right away neither of these men did. She’d bet they never even bit their nails. “I don’t mind,” she added.

  “That’s good.” Will eased back from his plate and sighed. “Wyoming might have the best burgers on the planet.”

  Both men had devoured their food like they hadn’t eaten in weeks. On the way over, she’d thought Will might be the strong, silent type, but he’d eased her with interesting conversation all through the drive, then the meal while David had added silliness and his own two cents here and there. Not sarcastically, like her ex, but usually with a hit aimed at himself.

  “How many places have you been? You know, in the military?” she asked, playing with her straw to avoid looking at Will fully. They were both handsome men—either of them would make any girl nervous, let alone both.

  ‘I don’t bite. Only if you ask. And then it won’t hurt.’

  Does that mean they are both interested in me? A shiver of excitement ventured down very inappropriate places at the thought of both of them being interested in her—together.

  Sara’s words were still fresh enough for them to come back startlingly clear.

  ‘Maybe what you need is a ménage à trois.’

  But that was Sara, and those things didn’t really happen. Did they? She had to wonder because more and more it felt as if they were both coming on to her. Both. At one time. The thought should have freaked her out. She should have made up some excuse and run from the room. Her butt stayed glued to the booth. If I want to break this cycle, I have to listen to my instincts. My instincts say it’s okay. David’s okay. Will…is a good guy as well. But David and Will?

  Is David into such wild things? What does it say about me if I am?

  “Oh, we’ve been to some very far places, some of them not worth mentioning, but others, like Paris,” Will said with a soft smile, “were incredible. How did you get that name?”

  Paris smiled shyly and swallowed her mouthful of rum and Coke. “My mom. She always wanted to go there. She thought if she said it all the time, eventually she’d have to go.”

  Will tilted his head at that and she laughed, agreeing with his doubtful expression.

  “Yeah, never made sense to me either.”

  “Did she?” he asked. “Go, I mean?”

  “Yeah,” Paris said, feeling the old pain surface at his question. “She did. Did you go to the Eiffel Tower?” she asked quickly to stop any more questions. Taking a sip, she watched him slowly grin.

  “Yep, all the way to the top.”

  “Oh, I bet that was romantic,” she murmured, jealous of whoever the lucky girl had been. She wanted to ask if David had gone, too, with some beautiful French girl, but held off by taking another sip.

  Will laughed a low, rough sounding laugh and sat back more in the booth.

  “Hardly. It was with Jansen, and he complained the entire time about the stairs until we crammed in the elevator with all the other tourists.”

  Her heart did a funny little backflip. So, David hadn’t been with some glamorous European she couldn’t compare to.

  David. He’s the one that makes me feel like those butterflies were set loose in my stomach. I like him. She scanned the restaurant for him, realizing when she did that she’d already done the same at least ten other times.

  “Seriously, the smell in there was pretty bad,” Will added, getting her attention back on him.

  “Ew… That doesn’t sound so fun.”

  “No, some of those foreigners don’t believe in regular bathing or deodorant.”

  Shocked, she laughed, not believing a word until he nodded and said, “Absolute truth.”

  “Oh wow, that just blew my dream of a romantic kiss at the top, thanks!”

  “Romantic kiss, huh?” David sat down next to her and handed her another drink, then passed one to Will. The butterflies returned and moved on to whirl around her stomach as David’s warm body settled next to her. He slung an arm up on the booth behind her and leaned closer. He smelled good. Like pine and clean soap, but something else, something she assumed was David-smell, which she liked more than she should.

  “That sounds like fun, is that on the menu?” he murmured.

  She blushed harder at the clearly interested tone.

  “Yeah, and it wasn’t with me,” Will supplied, adding another layer of sexual tension to the table. “Although a man can dream.”

  She’d had just enough to drink to give her that bold feeling only alcohol could provide. “You two are teasing me.”

  “Not for a minute,” David said, suddenly serious. His eyes had turned a clear, intense blue and were pinned right on her.

  “We’re here, and believe me, we’re not teasing,” Will added.

  “Any teasing we do, I promise, you won’t complain about,” David whispered.

  She was in the process of swallowing another boost of courage and ended up choking. David tried to pat her back and force water on her at the same time. Breathless, she wiped her eyes.

  “I can’t believe you said that,” she wheezed.

  “I hope that means you finally realize I was hoping for a bit more than dinner, princess.”

  “Only if you want,” Will added.

  “Absolutely only if you want.” If she had to guess by David’s expression, he didn’t think she was brave enough to take them up on that offer.

  Both of them. At one time. Maybe he’s right.

  Just the thought of David kissing her made her feel lightheaded. Her mind stalled over imagining more from him, let alone both of them.

  “Oh,” she managed, staring at one serious, handsome face then the other. “I don’t know, I mean, who, I mean, how, I…” She stopped embarrassing herself and covered her face with her hands, knowing she was blushing to her roots, but still interested, more than interested, she admitted. She was so turned on she knew with complete clarity that Greg had never been the man for her. He’d never turned her on. Not once—not like this. Just imagining David’s naked body against hers made h
er feel high on more than the alcohol.

  “Breathe, princess, it’s going to be okay. We’re not going anywhere and really, we aren’t in a rush here,” David coaxed. “Well, honestly, I am a bit, but I can hold off.” He tugged at her hand until she let him pull it up to his lips. He kissed her fingers, but his expression was both concerned and amused. “You’re okay, we promised, remember? Believe me,” he added, breathing against her fingers as he spoke. “You’ll love every second.”

  She swallowed. The sexy quality of David’s voice, let alone the hot feel of his breath on her fingers, made her shiver all over. Can I do this? Insane. It would be insane.

  David massaged her fingers and winked. “You’re thinking too hard on this.”

  She glanced at Will, suddenly remembering there was more to this than David Jansen. Will’s color was high and his hazel eyes were much darker than earlier.

  “It’s hot,” Will said in his low voice. “Very hot, Paris. Once you say yes, Jansen’s right. You’re gonna love every second or we aren’t doing something right.”

  Their sexy confidence made a shiver tingle in circles over her nipples all the way down a teasing pathway to her toes. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe properly. At the same time, she was more alive, more aware of what she was doing than she ever had been in her life. It wasn’t from fear—it was from excitement.

  “You’ve—” She swallowed again, not sure she wanted to ask, but wanting to know all the same. “You’ve done—”

  “Yep, we’ve done this before, but not often,” David said. “And we’ve never met a woman like you, and believe me, I know that sounds like a line, but I can swear, it’s not.”

  Will shrugged a big shoulder and licked his lips, making her squeeze her thighs together just thinking of him doing that to her. Anywhere.

  “It has happened before, but not often. And, yeah, you—” He sighed heavily and arched a dark eyebrow at her. He was so sexy she couldn’t believe they’d gone from talking about aimless things, to this. “You’re not someone we want to hurt, Paris.”