Critical Intelligence

by Mandy M. Roth

  Damn straight.

  “Wait, are you taking a potshot at me not committing to anyone?” For a moment Roi thought Missy might punch Blondie. He was disappointed when she didn’t. Instead, she glared at him. “Why do I do that, Eadan?”

  “You are not to go with him.”

  Roi made a move to go at Blondie. Melissa’s low, less-than-friendly laugh stopped him in his tracks.

  “Do you ever listen to yourself, Eadan? You are so used to barking orders at me that you can’t separate work from real life.”

  “We don’t have real lives, Melissa, and you damn well know it. We never have. Do you honestly think that dickhead is going to be fine with what you do or who you do it with?”

  “Why do you keep bringing this conversation back to Roi? I’m just addressing the fact you wigged out on me for no reason. I’m telling you that my gut says he’s safe, Eadan. And I’m just a systems analyst, how could anyone not be fine with that?” The tone in her voice said so much more than she was saying.

  Eadan let out a soft laugh. “You know protocol, Melissa. That’s all you’ll ever be to him. If you’re willing to live a lie, then by all means go for it.”

  “It’s a ride home, Eadan. Nothing more. Get a grip. I’ll see you later tonight. Try not to fall asleep in the back office again. It’ll make me worry that something happened. I’ll then have to call Peren and ask her to come down here to be sure you’re okay.”

  “You worry too much,” Blondie said, smiling slightly at Missy.

  “Oh, and you don’t worry about me?”

  “I’m worried about him, Missy. Everything in me is sure he’ll be nothing but trouble.”

  The fury that burned in Roi almost consumed him. His hands burned for the shift. He wanted to release his claws and let the pretty-boy head removing begin. Melissa picked that moment to turn and walk fast toward him. When she reached him, she took his hand and beamed. The feel of her skin touching his left a calming warmth running throughout Roi’s body, buying Blondie some time.

  “Missy?”

  She turned and regarded Eadan. “I’ll see you later. Check on your sister and Peren.”

  “Keep your phone on and be careful.”

  Missy cast him a wary look and Roi wondered what she was hiding. “I’ll be fine. I’ll call you. I promise.”

  “Be careful, Melissa. There’s something different about him.” Eadan walked slowly away, keeping his eye on Roi the entire time.

  Roi refrained from stating the obvious, which was that there was something very different about old Eadan boy too. “I knew we should have left the minute Lukian told me to get you back.”

  “What?”

  “Umm, nothing. Let’s go.” He reached for her elbow, and she jerked her arm away.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.” Her voice was cold, chipping at Roi’s heart.

  “But you just sent pretty…er, Eadan away. I thought you—”

  She poked him hard in the chest and his body reacted violently to the feel of her. He wanted to do more than just fuck her. He wanted to consume her. He jerked slightly, trying to maintain control. When she put the palm of her hand on his chest, he damn near lost it. Ejaculating while being scolded by a five-foot-three-inch female was not what he really wanted to do. Well, not unless it involved a flogger and some silk ties. Taking two steps back, he looked down at Missy with wide eyes.

  “You thought wrong, buddy. I asked Eadan to leave so I wouldn’t embarrass you in front of him. I fully plan on leaving here alone tonight.”

  “Embarrass me? How?” There was nothing this little thing could do that could possibly embarrass him.

  A slow smile moved over Missy’s rose-colored lips. The glint in her eye should have warned him. It didn’t. She covered the distance between them in one fluid motion.

  His breath caught in his throat as she grabbed hold of his cock. Her grip tightened on his clothed member, moving quickly from pleasure, straight to pain. “Ahh, Mis-sy.”

  Standing on her tiptoes, Missy used her other hand to pull on the back of his neck. For a little thing, she was strong. Since she held his life in her hands, he thought it best to follow her lead.

  He bent down slowly. “Missy, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but could you take your hand off my—” Her grip tightened and his eyes bulged. Quickly, he wrapped his hands around her tiny wrist.

  “Geoffroi Majors, you have a lot of nerve strutting over here and acting like a possessive jackass.”

  He balked. “I do not strut.” She twisted slightly. “Ahh, okay, maybe I strut a little.” She twisted more. “Okay, okay, I strut a lot! Big strutter, yeah, HUGE strutter. Can you let go of me now?”

  Her dark eyebrows rose. “You could have tried to remove my hand anytime you wanted and you know it.” She loosened her grip on him but didn’t pull her hand away. Instantly, his cock responded. Missy’s cheeks reddened, but still, she didn’t pull away. “My, my, my, is he thinking of his new friend?”

  “New friend?” He didn’t have a clue who or what she was talking about. If she wanted to know if his dick was thinking about her then the answer was “hell yeah!”

  Missy nodded her head toward the bar. He followed her gaze, finding the crazy redhead from the bar standing there. At first, he didn’t understand what she was talking about, then it hit him. Missy was jealous. The news of that made his dick even harder.

  I am going to die of erection overload while she holds it in a death grip.

  “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Missy. What new friend?” He grinned from ear to ear, knowing he was playing dangerously close to castration.

  Her gaze narrowed. She looked pissed, yet her fingers massaged his sac gently. It was an odd combination. One that he was sure she didn’t even realize was going on. It was also one he wasn’t about to point out. Doing so would end the pleasure and he wanted it to continue forever. It wouldn’t be hard to keep her ticked off.

  No.

  He seemed to have that down to a science.

  “Come on, Roi. I get that you’re into her. What guy wouldn’t be? She’s everything a man wants, plus some. I just think it’s a bit hypocritical of you to act that way about Eadan and me when you were getting felt up by someone else less than five minutes ago.”

  Roi’s smile couldn’t get any bigger if he tried. “Act what way around Eadan?” He had her and he knew it.

  The corner of Missy’s lip curled slightly. Suddenly, Roi wasn’t so sure he really had her at all. “I’m sorry. I guess I misjudged the situation. Tell you what, since you have no ‘issues’ with Eadan that I need to be concerned with, I’ll just wait here for him to finish up tonight. He’s headed my way so it’ll be not only more convenient, it’ll make him more comfortable. He was a bit iffy about me leaving with you tonight. I don’t really know you, so it’s silly to upset Eadan over something as small as a ride home. I mean, I not only have to work with the guy, I have to hear him yap all night long about whatever I did to piss him off. Have a nice night, Roi. It was, umm, interesting to see you here tonight.”

  She began to pull her hand off his groin. He held her to him, not wanting to lose the feel of her touch. “Roi?”

  He heard her say his name, but it was faint. The sound of his own heart beating filled his head. The wolf within wanted out. It wanted to take Missy and claim her, leaving no question that she belonged to him.

  “Mine,” he growled out.

  Roi knew that his arm muscles were straining, but he couldn’t remember why. Glancing down, he realized that he still had a hold of Missy’s wrist. Fearful that he’d hurt her, he dropped his hands away instantly, his jealous rage quickly dampened by his concern for her. “Oh gods, Missy, baby, are you okay?”

  She stepped closer to him. “I’m sorry, Roi. I didn’t quite hear you. Did you say that you’d rather I catch a ride on—oops, I mean home with Eadan?”

  The fact she’d managed to turn the tables on him so quickly was not lost on him. She was
a hellcat, that much was for sure, and he loved that about her.

  Love? I must be drunk. Shit, I’m drinking water tonight. It must be spiked. That’s it. They must spike their bottled water here to help patrons sit through the disco revival. There is no way I said the word love while talking about any woman besides my mother.

  Missy shrugged and turned to leave. He took hold of her forearm gently, keeping her hand pressed firmly against the bulge in his pants. Her delicate fingers caressed his member lightly. Pleasure shot through his loins. “Missy, pl-ea-se…let me take you home.”

  “Something caught in your throat, Roi?”

  Only my pride.

  “No, I’m good.” Never before could he remember kowtowing to a woman. This vixen before him had done something to him. She’d cast some sort of spell, leaving him acting out of character and tripping over his own words.

  “Then are you ready to go?”

  He exhaled. Why he gave in to this woman when he would have walked out on anyone else was beyond him. Yet, there he stood, apologizing even though he wasn’t sure what, exactly, he’d done wrong. “Yes, ma’am. I’m ready to go.”

  Chapter Ten

  Missy couldn’t believe that she’d let Peren and Melanie talk her into accepting a ride home from Roi. Peren was insistent that if Roi had wanted to harm her, he’d have done it the first time he’d abducted her. That there even was an abduction to speak of said it all.

  Now, as she sat in the passenger seat of Roi’s Land Rover, she wasn’t sure what to think about him. Somehow, she’d pictured Roi as the type who listened to classic rock, but as the rhythmic sounds of the ocean flooded out of the speakers, she wondered if she knew him at all. If he pulled a crystal out of his pocket and told her to channel all her energy, she was going to leap out of the vehicle—moving or not.

  Turning the volume down, Roi grinned wryly. “Sorry about that.”

  “It was, umm, nice, if you like that sort of thing.”

  He gripped the steering wheel hard. “Yeah, well, Green seems to think that it’ll help me to relax. He’s says I have too much pent-up rage. Whatever that means.”

  “Pfftt,” Missy snorted, thinking of how easygoing Roi seemed. “Who, you, pent-up rage? You seem to take almost everything in stride. I’m not sure how you can let everything roll off your back but I’m a bit envious.”

  “You don’t even know me.” Roi’s voice held a coldness she’d never heard him use before.

  “Sorry,” she whispered, glancing downward. It wasn’t like she’d set out to upset him. “I just wanted to say that I wish I was more like that.”

  “Missy, I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s fine. You’re right. I don’t really know you at all.” Rubbing her hands together, a nervous habit she had, she did her best to stay neutral. How Roi managed to have her emotions flip-flopping was a mystery to her.

  “Hey,” he said softly.

  Forcing a rather fake smile onto her face, Missy glanced over at him. “Yes?”

  He shifted a bit, easing his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. “Sorry about that. I tend to stick my foot in my mouth.”

  Missy let out a soft laugh. “Gee, I hadn’t noticed.”

  Roi chuckled and the sound warmed her. “Yeah, shock of all shocks. Here’s another one for you. I have issues managing my anger. Green’s been trying to enroll me in classes for it. I’d beat the shit out of the guy teaching it, so it’d be pointless.”

  “So, you like to beat the crap out of things?”

  “Yep.”

  “And what’s wrong with that?”

  He glanced at her and gave her a smile that warmed her heart. “That’s exactly what I said.” Pushing another button on his disc player, he turned the volume up a bit and the sound of Led Zeppelin ripped through the SUV.

  “I pictured you as the ‘Black Dog’ kind of guy,” Missy said, laughing slightly at the thought of anyone thinking the soothing sounds of the ocean would suit Roi.

  “Since you’re picturing me, more like a black wolf.”

  “Huh?”

  “You said you pictured me as the ‘Black Dog’ kind of guy, which means you’ve thought of me.”

  Rolling her eyes, she shrugged. Trust him to pick up on that. “Anyway, Zeppelin’s great.”

  “Melissa.” The use of her full name caught her attention. He kept his eyes on the road as he spoke. “Back in the bar, you went on and on about how men wanted women like the…”

  “Slut with big boobs and a dye job who wanted to tear your clothes off in the center of a crowded bar?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, that’d be the one.”

  “If you’re about to launch into some great big spiel about how all women should look like her then just let me out now.”

  “Missy, what’s wrong? I’m sensing you aren’t joking about wanting out of the car.”

  She wrung her hands more and snorted. “I’m not. I have spent a lifetime being stared at, being judged by people who have no reason to judge me. They see my parents and know instantly I’m not ‘really’ theirs. I mean, they’re both about as white as white can get. Mom has blonde hair and blue eyes. Dad has light brown hair,” she said with a smile, “and green eyes. I have none of the above. It’s pretty obvious I’m adopted.”

  “What do you know about your birth parents?”

  Missy sat there a second and debated on sharing anything further with him. Sighing, she shrugged. “Not enough but more than I want to. I know it doesn’t make sense but it’s the truth. Some new things came to light recently that I’d like to look into further. I’m a little far behind in the information category, which shocks me since I’m normally on top of things.”

  “Meaning?” Roi asked, touching her leg gently.

  Deciding against answering that specific of a question, Missy went on with what she did know about her biological parents. “I’ve been told my father was a white male who served in the armed forces and was taking some leave in Vietnam where he met my mother. People say that my birth parents moved here to the States to start a family. I’ve also been told my mother died during childbirth and my father died while on a reconnaissance mission overseas when I was a little over the age of one.”

  Roi cleared his throat. “Don’t take this wrong, but I get the sense you think what you’ve been told is bullshit.”

  “Yeah. I think it’s bullshit.”

  “Would you like to tell me why?” asked Roi.

  “I was adopted in the States but I know in my gut that I wasn’t born here. And the man who brought me here was not my father.”

  “What? Are you saying you remember when you were just a baby?”

  Missy clenched her hands together. “I’m saying I believe my mother died during or shortly after giving birth to me. I believe my father was in the service, but that’s where it stops, Roi. Things don’t add up.”

  Roi gave her a questioning look. “Meaning?”

  “Meaning I am positive I was taken from a situation not fit for a child and brought here by someone I’ve spent my life looking for.”

  “Are you happy with how you grew up?”

  Missy nodded. “More than happy. My adoptive mother and I don’t always see eye to eye. She’s a social butterfly who does the country club scene with ease, but I love her and she loves me. And I’m the son my father never had.”

  Roi snickered. “Honey, you are anything but a boy. Trust me. I could show you the difference if you want.”

  Looking straight ahead, Missy changed the subject. “So, are you going to take the approach that all women should look like the woman from the bar?”

  “Actually, I was thinking how every woman should look like you.”

  Her heart hammered in her chest. Was he for real? It took a moment for her to even get up the courage to glance back in his direction. Roi’s gaze locked onto her and blood rushed to her face. He was so sexy, too sexy. She needed air and fast. Pushing the window button, she relaxed when the cool wind washe
d over her.

  “Missy, you all right?”

  “What? Umm, yeah.” She rolled the window back up and glanced nervously over at him. “I’m good. And yourself?” She rolled her eyes, mortified at her own ridiculous response. He was right; she did ramble when she was nervous.

  Roi laughed slightly. “I’m good, but I’d be better if your hand was planted firmly between my legs—again.”

  Her eyes widened. Missy was still shocked by her own behavior in the bar. She’d intended to slap his face and have Eadan take her home. Never had grabbing hold of Roi’s cock been an option. When she’d found her hand cupping him, she left it there, unsure how to handle the situation. She’d been impressed with his size to start with. The second he went erect, she damn near fell over. For several minutes, she hadn’t thought she’d be able to tear her hand away from him. He felt so good, so right. It was insane. It was embarrassing. “I’m sorry about that. I’m not sure why I—”

  “No you don’t!” he shouted, scaring her a bit. “You are not going to try to weasel out of this one, baby. You grabbed me and you liked what you found.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “I most certainly did…” She was about to deny it, but knew that it would be a bold-faced lie. Growling, she shifted and looked out the window.

  Roi laughed. “It’s okay to admit you’re into me. It’s natural. All women are.”

  It hit her then why she wanted to keep her distance from him. He was an ass. “Yeah, you’re a god, whoohoo.” She spun her finger in the air.

  “Careful, Missy doll, I just might make you worship me before the night is out.”

  “You really are full of yourself.” She snuck a quick peek over at him, and almost sighed aloud as the moonlight caught his chiseled features just right.

  “Yes, but I’d much rather fill you with me.”

  Missy bit her lip to keep from moaning at the thought of Roi sliding in and out of her. She glanced out, realizing they were no longer headed toward her house. “Roi, I think we missed a turn. I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”