Taken (Thornton Brothers Book 3)

by Sabre Rose

  “What did he do? I mean, what was his position?” I didn’t know much about the army, but I knew there were differences in the roles and positions.

  “Something confidential. All I know is that at one stage he was in the Special Forces.”

  “He’s told you nothing else?”

  “Nothing.” Tyler reached forward, grabbed his laptop off the coffee table and pulled it onto his lap. “I’ve just got to do a couple of things before work tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow? I thought you said you took the day off.”

  “I did.” He glanced up from the screen. “But that was before Dad changed my plans. I’m sorry. I know you’ve come all this way to spend time with me and I’m running off to work, but I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

  “Why don’t I come with you?”

  “To the office?”

  I nodded, stifling yet another yawn.

  He laughed. “I don’t think it’s bring your girlfriend to work day until next month.”

  “But can’t you do whatever you want? Aren’t you the boss?”

  Tyler tapped the keys of his laptop. “Far from it.”

  I pouted. “I really don’t want to be left alone all day. I didn’t even bring a good book.”

  “I could call Sadie to keep you company.” Tyler smirked.

  Grabbing the cushion, I threw it at him. “Why don’t I pretend I’m a reporter from a magazine or something? We could say I’m shadowing you for a day for some exposé on the dashing younger generation of the Thornton Empire.”

  “Hamish would love to hear you call it an empire.”

  The words he had uttered before rolled through my mind. “Did you just call me your girlfriend?”

  “Well, you are, aren’t you?” Lines of confusion creased between his brows. “We’re together, aren’t we?” He placed the laptop beside him and leaned forward. “I just assumed you felt the same as I did. I never thought to ask.” He inched forward on the seat. “I need to know if you feel the same. I’m not here for some casual fling. I’m here for you, Lauren.”

  Unfurling from my huddled position, I padded across the floor to take his face between my hands, squishing his lips together in a pucker before kissing them loudly. “That depends.”

  “On what?”

  “On whether I get to come to the office with you tomorrow.” I ran my hands through his hair as he rested his head against my stomach. Bending over him, I whispered into his ear, “Think of the fun we could have when no one is looking.”

  Tyler’s hands snaked around my waist before cupping the cheeks of my backside, his fingers digging into the flesh, his mouth moving its way up the fabric of my t-shirt, searching for my breast.

  “Hey, hey, hey,” I said, stepping away from him. “I’m much too tired for you to start anything.”

  Tyler sat back. “Are you sure?”

  As if to emphasise my words, I was overtaken with a yawn. “Yes,” I said. “Very sure. Goodnight,” I called over my shoulder as I walked to the bedroom.

  “Are you sure, you’re sure?” he called out again.

  I shut the door, chuckling to myself and climbed into the large bed, turning onto my side and pulling the sheet tight to my chin.

  * * *

  “Morning.”

  The word was too loud. It was too early. I jostled in the bed, trying to ignore the gentle shaking of my shoulder.

  “What time is it?” I half mumbled, half moaned.

  “I’ve got to be at work in an hour. I didn’t know how long you’d take to get ready.”

  I opened my eyes, peering over the edge of the sheet. Tyler was dressed and ready. The scent of soap clung to his body. “How long does it take to drive there?”

  “Twenty minutes.”

  I groaned and tossed the sheet away, flopping onto my back. Tyler pressed his head between my breasts, his lips nipping at the soft flesh. “Believe me, I would be staying right here in bed with you if I could.” He took hold of my hands and dragged me upwards.

  I reluctantly got out of bed, bending down to pull some clothes from my bag. When I turned, Tyler’s head was tilted to the side, his eyes plastered on my backside.

  “Do you need some help in the shower?” he asked.

  “I thought you said you had to be there soon.”

  Tyler walked behind me, his hands reaching around to cup my breasts, his mouth falling to the curve of my neck. Immediately my nipples hardened, and they drew his attention. Turning me around, he bent his head to kiss the hardened nubs. I drew in a breath, my back arching as the roughness of the fabric conflicted with the softness of his mouth. But before I melted completely, I pulled away and Tyler whimpered, his eyes stuck on the wet stain left on my t-shirt.

  “Behave,” I said, smirking as I walked towards the bathroom.

  “Can I at least watch?” he called out.

  I shut the door.

  Twenty minutes later I was dressed and ready. I had opted for something a little more business-like than I usually chose to wear. It was an office, not a construction site, after all. I dressed simply in a pale blue shirt and paired it with a black pencil skirt. Slipping on heels completed the outfit.

  Tyler was on his phone when I emerged. His eyes lighted on me and he dismissed the caller telling him he would call him back once he was at the office. “Fuck me,” he said with a low whistle.

  “I believe I already have,” I replied.

  “Fuck me again?” he offered.

  * * *

  Watching Tyler through the lens of the camera only made me fall for him more. I wondered what the photos would turn out like, and was worried that they would somehow end up with an overly sensual tone. Not that it mattered. They were for my eyes only.

  When he spoke to one of his co-workers, discussing the problems he had with the roofing contractors, I found myself focussing on his mouth and the way it moved. I took photos purely of his lips, once catching an image when his bottom lip was caught between his teeth. When he spoke on the phone, I took images of his hands resting on the desk or running through his hair when he got frustrated. From behind, I captured the brace of his shoulders, the flex of his muscles beneath the dark fabric, and the freckle that sat just below his hairline.

  He hardly spoke business to any of the people on the phone. He consulted his computer then asked about the health of their children, their current golf handicap, how their holiday went. It wasn’t until the end of the conversation that he would bring up some sort of paperwork, some sort of deal they were working through.

  People came and went in his office, asking questions or providing reports he needed before his next phone call.

  “I’m afraid my job is rather boring,” Tyler said after hanging up from yet another phone conversation. “It would be far more interesting if we visited some sites, maybe a few of the hotels, but I don’t actually leave the office all that often. Well, not unless there’s an attractive photographer on the scene.” He pushed his chair back from the desk. “You can leave if you want.”

  I shook my head, closing the gap between us and hoisting my skirt up my thighs so I could climb onto his lap, my legs wrapping around his hips.

  “Or you can stay,” he said.

  I lowered my mouth to his and kissed him deeply, like I’d been dying to for what seemed like an eternity. The chair tilted back, causing me to fall into him heavier. His hands feathered up and down the exposed skin of my thighs.

  “Do you want to have a quickie?” I asked, finding myself incredibly turned on, making out in his office, knowing people were walking past the frosted glass walls behind us.

  “A quickie?” Tyler shook his head. “I don’t do quickies.”

  I lifted one eyebrow, smiling seductively. “The thought kind of arouses me.”

  Tyler matched my expression, one brow lifting into the air as though pondering my suggestion. He tilted the chair forward again and reached for a button on the phone. “What time is my next call?” he asked the black box.
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  A voice came back over the line. Not Sadie’s, she didn’t work weekends. “Ten minutes, Mr Thornton.”

  Tyler pushed me from his lap, walking over to twist the lock. Grabbing my hand, he pushed me against the door, his hands against the wood, trapping me. He moved in slowly, teasing my mouth with his own, nipping the sag of my bottom lip. His hands moved to my breast and he crushed it under his fingers, plucking the buttons of my shirt apart until he found skin against skin. Then his hand slid down to the waistband of my skirt, slipping beneath, and moving the material of my underwear aside until his fingers brushed against my sex.

  “You’re wet.” His fingers moved in a slow circular motion.

  “Ah, huh,” I moaned.

  “Shhh,” he hushed, and slipped a finger inside me, his eyes following the shadow of someone walking past the frosted window. He spoke quietly into my ear, his voice deep with desire. “I can’t tell you how much it turns me on to have my fingers inside you while people are walking around on the other side of this door. They have no idea what I’m doing to you.” His mouth brushed over my jawline. “No idea that my fingers are inside you.” He pushed deeper and I rose up the door, my breath caught in my throat, my heart pounding erratically.

  The desire to come welled inside me and I reached forward, toying with his belt, eager to feel him between my hands. But Tyler pulled back, shaking his head. When he was assured I wasn’t going to touch him, he leaned back into me, pushing his fingers in and out until I panted with expectation. Then, he removed them and sucked the stickiness off before tucking my shirt back into my waistband. Cloud fogged my brain. I wanted to come. I needed to come. I wanted to get to my knees and suck until he came, but he walked away from me, returning to sit at his desk, hiding his erection under the mahogany top. Still leaning against the door, breath and breasts heaving, I looked at him questioningly.

  “I told you I don’t do quickies,” he said. “But believe me, I’m not done with you yet.” And then he picked up the phone and told the person on the other end to dial the number, leaving me breathless and wanting and burning. Tyler appeared to be able to switch it on and off, leaving me wet and weak as he spoke on the phone, no hint that he had just had me pressed against the door, fingers inside me. Only his eyes gave his desire away. They watched me hungrily as words, straight and plain, slipped from his mouth. I remained pressed against the door, slowly doing up the buttons of my shirt, making sure he was watching and waiting for each glimpse of flesh that peeked through the material. I left upper buttons undone, allowing the crease of my cleavage to show between the strips of blue and then sat opposite him, sliding my skirt higher up my thighs and crossing my legs.

  The inflection in Tyler’s tone did not waver, but his eyes roamed over me with such intensity it was as though I could feel them. He was so controlled. And all I wanted was to see him undone. I wanted to see him trembling with lust and desire.

  I shimmied the edge of my skirt higher up my thighs until a flash of red lace could be seen. Tyler sat up, phone still pressed to his ear, all the right words still coming from his mouth, but eyes firmly fixed at where I slowly slid my underwear down my legs. He stood when they fell to the floor, taking a deep breath, his chest rising and falling heavily. I slouched a little on the chair, opening my legs and moving a hand closer to myself, arching my back and biting my bottom lip. Excitement trilled deliciously as Tyler’s erection strained against its material cage. He cleared his throat, steel-coloured eyes glued to where I was pleasuring myself, and ended the call abruptly, telling the other person, “Something has come up.”

  The phone was slammed into the receiver and Tyler stalked around the desk, hands fumbling with the buckle of his belt until his hardness unfurled and he began to stroke himself roughly as he leaned against the edge of the desk, watching. I let a small moan escape my lips and groaned as an echo.

  “I need to be inside you,” he said hoarsely.

  I rolled my head back seductively. “But,” I panted. “But you don’t do quickies and your next appointment could walk in here at any moment.” Biting my bottom lip, I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. “We haven’t got enough time.”

  Tyler released himself and stalked over to me, pulling my fingers away and wrapping his lips around them. Then he roughly pulled me to my feet, jerking me over to the desk and bending me at the waist. His hands pushed the material of my skirt higher up my thighs until my backside was displayed, bent over the edge of his desk, ready and exposed for him.

  While one hand braced my back heavily against the desk, the other played with the cheeks of my backside, massaging, his fingers digging into the flesh, pulling them apart. He groaned when he slipped his finger into my wet folds.

  “My god, you’re wet,” he said for the second time that day. The hand pressed to my back was removed and he parted the cheeks of my backside further, allowing the hardness of his cock to press against my opening.

  The door handle twisted and someone pounded against the door.

  “Tyler?” Hamish’s voice was cold.

  “Fuck,” Tyler cursed, the tip of him disappearing from my entrance. “One minute,” he called out, pulling his pants up. Lifting me from the desk, he slid my skirt back down my thighs and helped me to hurriedly do up the buttons of my shirt. I took a seat as he opened the door to his father then hurried to sit behind his desk.

  11

  LAUREN

  Hamish stormed in just as I noticed the splash of red lace lying on the carpeted floor. I shoved it under the desk with the toe of my shoe, hoping Hamish didn’t notice.

  “Why was the door locked?” Hamish said gruffly.

  “Good afternoon to you too,” Tyler said, his eyes lazy, his tone impatient. He sat back in his chair, cupping his hands behind his head. “What can I do for you? I thought the whole reason I had to come in today was because you couldn’t. And now you’re here.”

  Hamish noticed me for the first time and his eyes narrowed. “Lauren.” He nodded in greeting, but there was no warmth to it. His eyes drifted over me and I desperately wanted to shrivel into the chair and disappear. I felt like he noticed every wayward ruffle of my clothing, every flush to my cheeks, and every strand of disarrayed hair.

  “Mr Thornton.” I nodded in return and hoped more colour didn’t flame my cheeks.

  Tyler, having recovered enough, got up from his chair and walked between his father and me, blocking the line of vision. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need you in a meeting with me this afternoon.”

  “I was planning on leaving shortly. Lauren and I have plans.”

  “You will need to cancel them. Something has come up and I require your presence. It’s non-negotiable. Lauren will just have to wait.”

  The set of Tyler’s shoulders twitched imperceptibly and he took a protective step towards me. “Can’t it wait?” he asked Hamish, his voice tight.

  “If it could wait, do you think I’d be in your office right now, demanding that you attend the meeting?”

  Tyler’s shoulders slumped. “What time?”

  “The meeting starts in half an hour.”

  With a firm nod, Tyler moved back behind his desk. “I will be there.”

  “Good. Now, do you mind stepping out for a moment? There is something I wish to discuss with Lauren.”

  “Do I mind stepping out of my own office so you can speak to Lauren? Yes, I do mind. There is nothing you need to say to her that you cannot say in front of me.”

  “It’s not something that concerns you, and you don’t mind, do you, Lauren?”

  There was little more I could do other than shrug and agree. Tyler ran his hands through his hair, giving me an apologetic smile, and then walked out the door, closing it loudly behind him.

  Hamish walked around the office, staring out the window in painful silence before taking a seat at Tyler’s desk and swivelling the chair around to face me.

  “Lauren,” he said.

  “Mr Thornton,” I re
plied, matching his tone.

  “It would serve you well not to mess with my family.”

  A cough of surprise caught in my throat but Hamish continued, barely looking at me, choosing instead to focus on the pen hovering between his fingers.

  “There is nothing to be done about Gabe now. I have lost him once again, thanks to you. But I will not have you ruining Tyler. That boy has a future as the head of this company and I do not see it happening with his younger brother’s ex-lover at his side. But there has been enough turmoil for now. Just keep Tyler happy and stay away from Jake.”

  “From Jake?” I repeated. Somehow, it was funny when Billie said it but infuriating when Hamish did.

  “Who’s to say you won’t go after him next? For all I know, you might be trying to bed all the Thornton men. Soon, I could be the only one left who you haven’t fucked, literally and figuratively.”

  Anger lifted me to my feet. “Excuse me?” I said, levelling my gaze.

  “You heard me.” Hamish tossed the pen onto the desk before getting to his feet. “Keep Tyler happy until he tires of you. You know he will tire of you, don’t you?”

  Tyler chose that moment to stride back through the door, holding two coffees in his hands. He held one out to me, a question hovering in his eyes.

  “Everything okay in here?” He pushed past his father to sit at the desk.

  Hamish waved aside his question, a smile appearing on his face. “Everything is fine and dandy. I just had some business to discuss with Lauren and her role during the casino build.” He kept his voice steady and even, without a hint of the lie that was hidden in it. “I think we understand where things stand, don’t we, Lauren?”

  I managed a smile. “I think we do.” I lowered myself back to the seat and begged the seething anger to subside.

  Hamish walked out the door. “Fifteen minutes,” he called out to Tyler.