Three to Tango (29 page)

Six

T
ony opened the sliding glass doors that led to the helm and joined Madeline on the bridge seating area at the front of the yacht.

“The anchor’s down. Didn’t I pick an ideal spot?” Tony asked, sprawling on the white-cushioned circular couch. He looked like a bronzed Greek god wearing nothing but a pair of ivory trunks. He held a glass half filled with cranberry, vodka and ice. Madeline had noticed he’d been drinking ever since the brunch Alessandro served them at nine thirty this morning. Her desire to confront him about his upsurge in drinking had been quieted by Walker’s alarming news.

Tony should do whatever pleased him this afternoon. It would likely be his last day of freedom for a while.

Her throat tightened with anguish. Why had Tony done it, the idiot?
Why?

And damn Walker. Damn him for putting her through this agony of bewilderment and loss. She may not want to marry Tony, but he was her friend.

She forced herself to look away from Tony and squinted at the sunlit view.

“It’s perfect,” she murmured as she inspected the secluded inlet where he’d moored the yacht. Her entire vision was filled with towering pines and sparkling blue-green water.

“I thought you’d like it for a swim. That sun is intense today,” Tony said with a smile before he took a strong pull on his drink.

“Where’s Walker?” Madeline asked throatily. She’d been hyperaware of his presence all morning, although she’d hardly muttered more than a half dozen words to him. She’d just become used to seeing him as her lover again and now she was back to regarding him as an enemy.

“He’s checking out the equipment on the helm,” Tony said, nodding toward the sliding glass doors. “He’s like a kid in a candy store.”

Madeline narrowed her eyes behind her glasses and peered toward the windows. The glare on the glass prevented her from seeing Walker, but she knew he could see her as he looked out onto the bridge seating.

She felt confused. On edge. Anguished over what Tony was about to endure for his foolishness. His impulsivity. Over and over, she’d considered what she might do to somehow save Tony. But as Walker had said, the evidence had been sent. It was just a matter of time before he was arrested.

She stood abruptly from the deck chair where she’d been reclining. Tony did a double take when she casually whipped off her bikini top and tossed it on the white cushions. His smile widened.

“To what do I owe this lovely gift?” he asked.

Madeline ignored his query. “I’m going swimming.”

She stepped toward the ladder that led to the upper deck and the diving board. Tony surprised her by sitting up and placing a hand on her oil-covered hip. He rubbed at her skin sensually while he spoke.

“Take off the panties, too,” he suggested in a low, rough voice. “A body as beautiful as yours should never be hidden.”

Madeline glanced at the glass doors leading to the helm, sensing Walker’s attention on her. On them. She drew her bikini panties down to her ankles and stepped out of them. She paused long enough to allow Tony to rub the oil from her back down onto her buttocks before she headed toward the diving board.

The alpine water cut like ice through her volatile mood.

Walker considered going after her when he heard the splash from her dive, but he couldn’t abandon the boat and Tony. He watched from a window on the helm as she swam in the cove, the clear, luminescent waters revealing every detail of her naked body. Fury at her stubbornness mixed with a potent arousal. He couldn’t decide what he wanted to do most, spank her bottom pink for letting Tony touch her like that in front of him or fuck her until she begged.

Both options felt equally desirable at the moment.

She swam a considerable distance. Walker was considering going out onto the bridge in order to break the news to Tony since they were alone when Tony opened the sliding glass doors.

“I’m off to the galley. How about a drink, Walk?”

“What are you having?”

“Vodka and cranberry.”

“I’ll have the same, minus the vodka.”

Tony laughed and disappeared down the corridor. When he returned carrying two glasses, he nodded toward the sunlit bridge. “Come out here. I want to talk to you about something.”

“I was going to mention the same to you,” Walker said, dread settling in his chest.

The brilliant sun immediately chased away the chill on his skin from the air-conditioning. He whipped off his shirt and took a seat at the far right of the surround couch. Tony stood portside, his back to the rail.

“It’s about the work you and your team have been doing at the lodge. I know what you’ve been up to, Walker,” Tony began. Walker paused in the action of lifting his drink to his lips. He studied Tony’s expression. His dark eyes looked glassy from moderate intoxication, but otherwise he looked sober as a judge.

He opened his mouth to make a cautious statement when Madeline walked onto the bridge, dripping wet, naked and jawdroppingly beautiful. She paused when she saw both men stare at her. Walker took an uneasy inhale when she looked straight at him and her chin went up in defiance.

“Here’s Venus now,” Tony murmured appreciatively as his dark eyes roamed over Madeline’s body. He put out his arm and she walked toward him, her gaze still on Walker. Despite his rising anger at her, he also experienced a rush of compassion for the hurt and bewilderment he saw in her large eyes. “I was just about to talk to Walker about you, darling, but here you are, beauty incarnate.”

Walker watched, his body coiled like a spring, as Tony’s hand opened on Madeline’s waist and stroked downward, toward her naked hip, smoothing the water droplets that beaded on her taut curves. Despite his fury at seeing another man touch Madeline, his cock thickened in his swim trunks.

For a few seconds, Madeline looked uncomfortable at Tony’s caress. But then something seemed to occur to her and her disdainful look returned. Damn her.

He was going to have to punish her again for punishing him.

“What were you saying about me?” she asked Tony, her tone gentle but her expression haughty as she stared at Walker.

Tony smiled as he began to rub her ass. He took a step toward her. His hips thrust forward slightly when he paused, as though he were putting the bulge growing behind his trunks on display.

“I was just about to tell Walker that I want him to assure me you will always be taken care of,” Tony said gruffly. “I trust him to do it.”

Madeline’s eyes flashed over to Walker. He could tell by her distressed expression that she wondered if Walker had already told Tony that he was soon to be arrested. He hadn’t, but Tony knew. Somehow.

He watched, a strange brew of emotions building in his gut, as Tony pulled Madeline’s naked body against him. He buried his face in the juncture of her neck and shoulder as he kneaded both of her buttocks in his hands. Madeline still stared directly at Walker, but her expression had shifted. He still saw defiance in her beautiful eyes, but he saw tears of compassion, as well, for her old friend.

For their old friend.

When Tony’s body shuddered with emotion, Walker stood. Madeline gave him a fiery glance as he approached before she stepped back and reached for the waistband on Tony’s trunks.

“Madeline,” he said warningly.

“Just one last time,” Tony said brokenly. Walker met his gaze and knew for a fact Tony had somehow gleaned what he and his team had done. He might have suspected last night, but this morning, he’d somehow traced their actions. He knew for certain he’d been caught at his foolish game.

Madeline stared at Walker, frozen in the action of pulling down Tony’s trunks. “The
only
time,” Walker said softly.

Nobody disagreed.

Walker stepped forward. He hooked his fingers in the back of Tony’s trunks, and both he and Madeline lowered them. Tony’s erection sprung out of the mesh lining.

With a mixture of regret and intense arousal, Walker walked behind Madeline and placed his hands on her shoulders. He pushed down and she went to her knees before Tony. Walker gently gathered the long tendrils of her damp hair and held the thick strands at her nape.

“Only use your mouth,” he ordered tensely as Tony grasped his cock and brought it toward Madeline’s parted lips. “I don’t want to see you two touching each other.”

“I know she’s yours, Walker. I think I’ve always known it. This is just good-bye,” Tony murmured. For a moment, the two men locked gazes as Madeline knelt between them. Walker gave a small nod.

He watched as Tony arrowed his cock between Madeline’s lips.

It was torture. It was delicious. Walker couldn’t decide what it was, precisely, as he watched from above while Madeline wetted Tony with her tongue and then slowly began to work him into her mouth. Since Walker held her head captive with his hand, Tony had to thrust to get friction. He seemed to have taken what Walker said about not wanting to see them touch to heart, because he stood with his legs slightly spread, his knees bent to accommodate Madeline’s position and his hands on his tensed thighs. Walker’s own cock grew achy and ponderous as he watched Tony begin to facefuck Madeline with the first five or so inches of his penis.

Tony grunted in pleasure. Walker could see Madeline’s hollowedout cheeks and could just imagine her supreme suck, how good it felt thrusting into that wet, tight vacuum. Tony wasn’t as long or thick as Walker was. It angered him to realize Tony could probably achieve full oral penetration with her.

But for some reason, he hungered to see it, as well.

“I want to see you suck all of him, Madeline,” he commanded harshly. He blinked a drop of sweat out of his eye, a little shocked at hearing himself speak.

He felt Madeline struggle in the hold he kept on her hair and allowed her to tilt her head in order to accommodate Tony in her throat. Madeline jerked when he breached her and Tony groaned gutturally. Walker pulled back on her head and Tony’s tumescent penis slid out of her mouth, the bright sunlight making it glisten. After two more passes like this, with Walker guiding the movements of her head, her lips kissed Tony’s balls.

Tony moaned roughly as she kept him completely submerged for several electric seconds. He saw her nostrils flare and knew she was getting air.

Walker didn’t know if she’d had enough, but he was on the edge of stopping this. He pulled back on her head and watched Tony’s cock slide out of her until she just held the head in the tight clamp of her lips. Tony was so swollen with blood, Walker had no doubt he’d come soon.

Conflict warred inside of him. He wanted to give Tony this gift before he was arrested, but it was torture as well. He was angry at Madeline for purposefully instigating this whole thing with her nude swimming and allowing Tony to touch her in front of him.

He loved her like crazy, but he wanted to punish her for her stubbornness … her infernal haughtiness.

He damn well wanted her to suck his cock just as skillfully as she was doing to Tony’s right now.

His emotions frothed and bubbled at the surface of his consciousness as he pushed her head back and forth on Tony’s cock in rapid, swift strokes. Tony’s eyes were closed, his hands on his thighs, moaning in a state of total rapture at being pleasured by Madeline.

Walker’s woman.

Whether Madeline wanted to admit it at the moment or not.

Both of them blinked open their eyes when Walker pulled back on Madeline’s head and Tony’s erection popped out of the tight seal of her clamped lips.

“What’s going on?” Madeline asked. Walker grimaced at the sexy sound of her cock-massaged throat. He put his hands under her arms and lifted her to a standing position. Tony didn’t look pleased, and Walker couldn’t say he blamed him. Madeline had been treating him to a hell of a ride in her mouth.

“She’ll finish,” Walker said stiffly. He released Madeline’s hair, and she twisted her chin to look at him. He met her defiant glance with a hard stare. “First I’m going to punish her for being so goddamned good at it, though. She’s going to get a pink ass for being so stubborn.”

Tony’s eyebrows went up in an expression of surprise and interest. Madeline’s already pink cheeks flushed crimson. Fury flared in her dark eyes.

“I have a paddle, if you’re interested. It’s in the bedside table of the master suite,” Tony said. He gave a devilish grin when Madeline’s head whipped around. She made a disgusted sound at what she must have considered to be a betrayal on Tony’s part. “Don’t be mad, darling. I never used it on you when we used to sleep together, did I? You’d never let me.”

“Only one man will ever punish her,” Walker said. “Go and get the paddle, Madeline.”

Her mouth opened to protest, but then she met his stare. She edged toward the glass doors indecisively, a sullen expression on her beautiful face.

“I’ll give you ten seconds. Every second you’re not here after that, I’ll give you an extra pop,” Walker murmured.

Her dark eyes widened. She suddenly spun and raced toward the glass doors.

“I’ll be right back,” Walker said woodenly to Tony. He went inside to retrieve something from the pile of clothing he’d left in the upper living area. Madeline returned to the bridge seating area just a moment after Walker returned himself.

She looked beautiful as she stepped onto the deck, naked and mutinous, a polished wood paddle in her hand.

“Bring it to me,” Walker said quietly.

He honestly couldn’t tell for sure what she’d do in that moment, comply or spit in his face. She found a compromise by stalking over to him, handing him the paddle and starting to walk away. Walker slipped his hand through the loop at the end of the paddle and let it hang. He caught Madeline’s wrist from behind, halting her departure. She glanced around in shock when he slid a metal cuff around her wrist.

“I don’t know why you’re so angry with me,” she told him in a fury-choked voice as he grabbed her other hand and bound her wrists behind her. “I’m not the one who betrayed a friend.”

“Walker didn’t betray me, Madeline,” Tony said, sounding a little sad. He’d taken a seat on the surround couch. His cock was still hard and moist, resting at an angle on his belly. “He was just doing his job.”