Raines, Elizabeth - Captivated [Wicked Missions 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (4 page)

A flash of unbidden jealousy raced through Damian at the thought that she was there with a man—some man who’d earned the king’s admiration. Some man who could lay claim to her. “Why?” he had to ask.

“I received one of the king’s medals.”

“You?” Jayce asked, his eyes wide. “My father gave
you
a medal?”

Her green eyes narrowed. “Why’s that so hard to believe?”

“But…but you’re a woman,” Jayce protested.

“Ya think?” Her smoldering gaze could have set the gazebo afire. “Look, I’m also an agent for I.D.E.A., and thanks to my undercover work, we brought down Carlos Pontierri’s crime organization.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Jayce raised his glass to her. “I salute all you’ve done to help Bromond. What I meant was that I can’t believe my father would honor a woman with a king’s medal.”

Her smile was enigmatic. “Ah, well… Seems that I.D.E.A. refused to only allow the male agents to be honored, especially since the women had done most of the undercover work. They insisted my partner and I receive the medals as well, or none of the agents would accept.”

“Your partner is also a woman?” Damian wanted to know more about her—so much more. Hell, he wanted to know
everything
about Izzie. Where did she live? What had made her decide to become an agent for the infamous Interplanetary Drug Enforcement Agency? Was there a man—on Bromond or in some other world—who loved her?

Izzie nodded as she took another sip of her cactus wine. “Alayna and I have been partners since we graduated from the United Continents’ law enforcement academy back on Earth. We joined I.D.E.A. together when they recruited female agents. She’ll be mighty pissed that I’m missing. She’s probably harassing every guard in the palace to find out what happened to me. Knowing Alayna, she’ll be knocking at the door to this place soon.”

Jayce’s frown was as scorching as the Bromondi sun. “We had to bring you here. We had no choice.”

“No choice? But I promised I wouldn’t say anything. You could have trusted me to keep your secret.”

“
Trust
you?” Jayce replied. “We don’t even
know
you.”

With a shrug, she drained the rest of the glass in one long swallow before holding it out to Jayce. “More, please.”

Damian grinned, loving that Izzie treated a prince who would one day rule the entire planet as if he was nothing more than any other normal man. The crown prince clearly appreciated it too because he smiled, got to his feet, and carefully refilled her glass. He held up the jug. “More, Damian?”

He nodded, holding his glass out as Jayce refilled it.

From the moment Damian and Jayce had met, back when they’d been only ten years old, Jayce had treated Damian as an equal. Probably because Damian set the tone for their relationship when he’d given Jayce a black eye that day. When the prince had dared to cheat at
traisam
, thinking he could hold back cards to win the game, Damian let him know cheating wasn’t acceptable. He shouted his opinion at Jayce, who retaliated by trying to start a fight, a fight Damian finished with one punch. From that moment on, they’d been best friends and equals in all things.

Damian quickly became the yin to Jayce’s yang. The crown prince was able to keep his temper in most situations, choosing diplomacy over fighting. Damian tended to react before he thought, although when Jayce was finally pushed to the point of anger, that anger could burn as fierce as any inferno. Damian liked to take the lead, calling the shots in anything from what the couple would eat to initiating their sexual encounters, which were often fierce and passionate. Jayce was more of a tender lover, savoring each experience as if wanting it to last forever. Jayce appreciated the arts and nature while Damian preferred a hot, sweaty workout over a walk in the garden.

Perhaps opposites truly do attract
.

Regardless, they’d made their relationship work well, first becoming fast friends and only advancing into becoming lovers when a semi-intoxicated Damian had found the balls to confess his true feelings on Jayce’s twentieth birthday. Their passionate sex that night had been life-changing, the first time either had dared to touch another male, and the couple had been inseparable ever since, although they kept a discreet distance in public. Officially, Damian was Jayce’s personal bodyguard, so few questioned their constant contact.

“Damian?” Izzie’s voice intruded into his reverie.

“Hmm?”

“Are you trained in martial arts too?”

He tossed her a smug smile. “Who do you think taught Jayce?”

“That’s not true!” Jayce retorted. “We learned together.”

“But I always got it first. Then I kicked your ass ’til you got it right.”

Hopping to her feet, Izzie drained the rest of the wine and set her glass aside. “I need to be alone for a bit.”

“Why?” Damian asked, wondering at the abrupt change in her. Izzie’s bubbly and unpredictable personality made him feel like he was caught in the middle of a sand funnel, twisting and turning without being able to keep his feet on the ground. For some reason, he loved that volatility.

“I need to think.” She started strolling deeper into the lush gardens without a backward glance, dragging her fingertips over some of the blossoms as she passed them, making him envious of the flowers. He wanted those hands on his body, caressing his skin, wrapping around his cock and—

“She’s coming around,” Jayce said. “We can trust her now.”

“Ya think?” Damian drawled, trying to sound like Izzie with her typically sassy comeback.

Jayce grinned, but since he made no move to stop her, Damian merely arched an eyebrow at him. “Give her a little time,” Jayce said before tipping back his own glass and finishing off the wine.

“Time? To do what?”

“To come to terms with being here. It will make things…easier.”

“Things? What
things?
”

Jayce smiled one of those smiles that told Damian the crown prince had decided something very important. “It’ll make it easier for her accept my proposal of marriage. I intend to make Izzie my queen.”

* * * *

The gardens were beautiful—green leaves with splashes of colors. Such a contrast to the rest of Bromond. Izzie had grown used to the barrenness of the desert planet, seldom missing the dissimilarity of her more colorful home world. Not that she’d ever set down roots on Earth to begin with—she’d never been given the chance for any roots to grow.

Her parents had lived a nomadic life, probably due to their gypsy heritage. Her father’s near-genius abilities at mechanical engineering also made him in demand for new projects from mineral mines to building factories. She’d never lived in a home her family actually owned. They always rented or sublet because they never stayed long enough in any one place to even unpack the things they carted with them from planet to planet. Her three years living undercover on Bromond had been the longest she’d ever stayed in any one place, and her four years working with Alayna had been her longest “relationship.”

Twenty-six years old with nothing to show for her life except a king’s medal that the sexist king stubbornly refused to pin on her. Perhaps that’s why this situation bothered her so damned much.

Now, she was alone with two men—two very sexy men who were probably every bit as sexist as the king—and all she could think was how comfortable and natural the situation felt. If that wasn’t stupidity, she didn’t know what was.

She’d drunk a little too much of the potent wine, but with all the feelings coursing through her, she’d felt the need to drown those strong emotions as best she could. She was a hostage, not a guest, and certainly not a guest the men cared for or were trying to seduce. Yet all Izzie could do was imagine Jayce and Damian in situations that were not only far from appropriate, but probably downright lewd.

She wanted to stroke their hard cocks as she watched their bright eyes glaze with passion. She wanted to feel two pairs of soft lips on her skin. She wanted to push her body to its limits by having both men claim her at the same time—an erotic pleasure she’d heard of but never had the guts to try.

For fuck’s sake, Jayce was the crown prince of Bromond! He’d kidnapped her to keep her mouth shut about what she’d seen between him and Damian back at the palace. He didn’t want her. Hell, he probably didn’t even
like
her! He probably didn’t like women at all.

Damian had clearly been pissed at her from the first moment, his temper easily revealed in his amber eyes. But she still wanted them, desiring both of them with a fierceness that made her ache in a way no one ever had before.

Despite what other people gossiped about her and Alayna, both women were heterosexual. Agents joked about them being gay, especially when she and Alayna could so easily toss around some of the male agents. Just because they were tall and strong didn’t mean they weren’t feminine.

Did it?

None of the male agents acted even remotely interested in either Izzie or Alayna, not even back in their academy days. Instead, the men seemed to enjoy passing rumors that the women were involved with each other, as if those stories helped them feel more secure in their masculinity after they got their asses kicked or had a lower score on any written test. How could anyone believe a woman as beautiful as Alayna wasn’t feminine?

God only knew what men thought of Izzie’s red hair, especially since she had the hot temper to match. Lifting the end of one curl, she stared at the fiery strand. It was a pretty red…wasn’t it? She dropped the tress to press her palms against her breasts. They were nice breasts—full and shapely. One hand smoothed down her stomach to reach the juncture of her thighs, brushing over the mound concealed by the sturdy cloth of her shorts. Wouldn’t a man enjoy the fact that she was responsive and passionate? Shit, her panties were wet now simply because she remembered how sexy it was to see Damian fucking Jayce. The thought of the three of them sharing that kind of passion made more fluid rush to her pussy, and she squirmed in need.

Damn, she needed another glass of that marvelous wine.

Were they kissing now that she’d left them alone? From the moment Izzie had seen Damian and Jayce in the throes of passion, all she could think about was being a part of their lovemaking. Were they trying to snatch a few moments of closeness without her prying eyes? She’d never wanted two men before, but right now she knew Jayce or Damian alone wouldn’t fill the aching void inside her.

Would they welcome her if she let them know she would join them, or would they turn away in revulsion at a woman?

What was wrong with her? They’d kidnapped her, yet she’d already forgiven them, probably because she understood why they’d panicked. Jayce’s father would never understand how one man could love another. The sad fact was that the people of Bromond probably
would
understand—if not understand, at least forgive.

As an undercover agent, her life depended on knowing as much as she could about the people around her, so her eyes and ears were always open. Izzie had heard the discontented whispers of the Bromondi, that they were ready for the women to cast aside their veils and robes so they could be a true part of their society. She’d witnessed the men and women who chose to love one of their own gender gently assaulting tradition by holding hands in public, taking small chips from the heavy stone that held the people of Bromond in oppression. Enough chips, and the stone could be rolled away.

Perhaps she should talk to Jayce about what she’d learned. After all, he was the man who could someday shape the planet. Wouldn’t he want to know all she now knew about the Bromondi?

She should go to him now and explain it all. Yes, that was exactly what she’d do!

Just who do you think you’re fooling, Izabella?

Izzie wasn’t seeking the men to tell them they could change the politics on Bromond. She was going to them to try to seduce them. Her insides were a twisted knot that could only be relieved by loving Jayce and Damian, and if she had to be the one to cross that boundary first, then that was exactly what she would do. If they turned her away, she wasn’t sure what she would do, but she had to know if they held even the slightest desire for her. The uncertainty was killing her.

Striding back toward the shelter, she skidded to a stop when she saw the chaises were empty. A moment of panic made her heart begin to pound a rough beat. Had they abandoned her?

No.
They weren’t cruel men, and they wouldn’t leave her out in the desert all by herself. Izzie swallowed her fear and decided to find where Damian and Jayce had gone. Picking up her empty glass, she carried it to the table, grabbed the jug, and splashed more green wine into the glass. She drank down the alcohol in quick swallows, set the glass on the table, and headed into the house to find the men.