Tristan's Temptation (8 page)

The revelation made her come again. Or perhaps it was his mouth, which had traveled down her body and was now worshipping the bundle of screaming nerves between her legs. He sucked at her clit, nibbling and licking, laving and flicking with his tongue until she was a panting, clutching, snarling creature, lost to sanity, lost to reason.

With that overwhelming orgasm, she slumped to the ground, gaping at him in speechless awe. His gaze, avid and hungry, skated over her. With a resounding groan, he lifted her in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. He tossed her onto the bed and stripped her of her useless robe and flung it to the floor. Impatiently, he yanked at his belt.

Shannon’s body still thrummed with arousal despite her recent bliss. Her body remembered his, recalled how it felt as he slipped in and in, deeper and deeper until his thick length was seated fully within her canal. Her body remembered and lusted for his return.

Enjoying the sight of Tristan Trillo stripping in her bedroom, she trailed her palm over her belly and into her pubic hair, arching as she touched, ever so gently, her throbbing clit.

“Umm.” She licked her lips as Tristan kicked off his pants and briefs and his cock popped free. “In me!” she urged.

He did not tarry. He set one knee on the bed and angled her legs apart, levered over her and slipped in. And…

God, he felt so good.

Shannon arched into him with an irrepressible moan. He was so big, so hard, so filling. She tried to clench her muscles around him but couldn’t. He was far too large. But he appreciated the effort. She could tell by the way he grunted, the way the light in his eye caught fire. The way he thrust harder and harder still.

“You feel so good.”

“So do you,” he gasped. “God. I’ve wanted this all day.”

“Me too.” She dug into his flesh with her fingernails and angled her pelvis toward him. Ever accommodating, he slipped deeper. “Yeah. Like that.”

He grunted as an uncontrollable shiver shot through her, resounding through her pussy, through him. “You’re so tight.”

“Harder. Please.”

He complied, shifting his position and beginning a relentless series of thrusts, each harder, deeper and more delicious than the last. Each nudged her closer to the edge of her sanity. He bent his head and licked her nipple and she groaned. It felt so good, sent shock waves straight to her clit. He did it again and then he took the throbbing crest into his mouth and sucked.

“Do you like that?” he asked between nibbles and nips, though he should know the answer. She whimpered and twitched with delight around him, clutching him, working him. “Do you?” He sucked harder.

“Yes, Tristan. Ah!” Without warning, her orgasm came to her, whisking her away to a world of sensation. Her entire body spasmed and her mind went blank. She was aware of nothing but the cloud of pleasure transporting her, aware of nothing but the hard, pistoning cock driving her further and further from herself. And then the wave broke. Pleasure, like nothing she’d ever known, crashed down upon her, leaving her shuddering and weeping and utterly serene.

He had come too, during that last clenching surge. He lay beside her panting and replete. While he’d slipped out of her and over to the side, his arms enfolded her, his fingers clung, desperately, tellingly, to the side of her breast. As though he didn’t want to let her go. He didn’t want to sever this connection. He didn’t want this to end.

She turned her head. His handsome features were slack with contentment. She caressed his cheek. “That was wonderful.”

He leaned over to kiss her lips. With his thumbs, he brushed the tears from her cheeks. “Why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying.”

“Then what’s this?” He held up a finger, a glistening drop clinging to the tip.

She smiled and took his fingertip into her mouth, sucking ever so gently. “That, my good man,” she said, “is bliss.”

“Stop it. You’re making me hard again.”

Her lips twitched. “Would that be so horrible?”

“No. But Shannon…” His chuckle was slightly exasperated. “You know we have to stop doing this.”

“I know.” She nuzzled her nose against the taut skin of his chest. Her breath skated across a nipple and he grunted.

“If anyone at work found out about us, especially Adam, there would be hell to pay.”

“I know.” Her tongue snaked out to nudge an enticing copper disk.

“Stop it,” he whispered through a grin, slapping a hand over his nipple. “Go to sleep.”

“Will you stay?” she asked. She had to.

In response, his caress drifted across the small of her back. Over the dimples on her butt. Down to the sensitive backs of her knees. Then up. Up and up, until he stroked, stoked the heart of her. Made her gasp and cry out and beg for more.

And she didn’t get much sleep at all.

It wasn’t until the next morning—as the sun dawned bright and warm and she awoke wrapped in his arms, held tightly, close to his heart—that she realized the box of condoms she’d purchased remained unopened in her dresser drawer.

Chapter Six

“I love that color,” Shannon said, sighing at the flowers on Kat’s desk.

“Which one?” Kat grinned. Her desk was awash in blooms, roses in a panoply of colors.

“The cream.” Shannon gently stroked one exquisite bud with a tentative fingertip.

“I love cream.” Jenny took a bite from her peach as she flipped through a thick, glossy tome. “Oh,” she cooed. “Look at this dress.” She wedged her peach between her teeth and flipped the heavy book around so the others could see.

Sara glanced up from the magazine she was perusing. “Lordy. That is divine.”

Kat shook her head. “I’d get lost in the ruffles.” She waved the magazine away with an insistent hand. “Look for something simpler.”

“It’s your wedding day, for heaven’s sake. You should be a princess.”

“She already is a princess,” a deep, seductive voice purred. Every female gaze turned to Adam Trillo with deep appreciation. He was yummy. He prowled into Kat’s office, an undeniably male counterpoint to the veritable florist shop filling the room.

“Aw.” Jenny batted her be-glittered eyelashes. “Isn’t that sweet?”

“Darling.” Adam took Kat in his arms for a long, probing kiss.

A very long, probing kiss.

Shannon, Jenny and Sara watched for a minute but looked away when the kiss continued.

And continued.

Sara tipped back her head and studied the ceiling, pursing her lips to whistle a tuneless refrain.

Still the kiss continued.

When Adam finally surfaced, Kat was flushed and breathless. Beautiful. Happy.

Shannon tried not to let her jealousy rise. Kat and Adam were getting married, after all. And they deserved their happiness. It wasn’t their fault Shannon’s love life was somewhat less than perfect.

Oh, no doubt, her interludes with Tristan were perfect, or as close as a human being could come without expiring on the spot. But great sex did not a perfect love life make. His insistence—after each encounter—that it couldn’t happen again was starting to wear on her patience.

Sure, she’d been able to lure him back, using one seductive tactic or another. But a woman got tired of being the aggressor every time. A woman got tired of launching the chase. A woman wanted a man to pursue her. Once in a while.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

Tristan wasn’t going to bend on his rule—at least, he wouldn’t bend it any more than he already had. He certainly wasn’t about to slip into a permanent relationship with her. He wasn’t even willing to make their relationship public.

He wasn’t even willing to tell his own
brother
about their affair. That in itself was tremendously significant because Tristan told Adam everything.

Shannon fondled the lovely cream rose, absorbed with its velvety texture and sweet smell. She tried to ignore Adam and Kat’s byplay and tried not to envy her friend the love she’d found. But most of all, she tried not to cry.

Crying was foolish. She knew what she was getting into when she seduced Tristan in the first place. Just because she’d decided she wanted more than mind-boggling sex didn’t mean he was obliged to comply. She was being decidedly foolish to even expect him to want the same.

But she did.

“Did you get your dress for tonight?” Adam asked Kat, drawing Shannon’s attention from her morose reverie. Kat had regaled them all on their plans for tonight. They were going to a party at a beachside restaurant in Malibu.

“Yes.” Kat leaned into Adam and wrapped her arms around his neck. They were so in love. It was too much to bear. Shannon desperately wanted to leave but didn’t want to be rude. “It’s skimpy and it’s black.”

“Mmm.” Adam nibbled Kat’s neck. “I love it!”

Kat laughed. “I knew you would.” She adjusted Adam’s collar, though it was perfect. “Who’s Tristan’s date again?”

Shannon’s attention sharpened, as did the dagger through her heart.

“Tristan has a date?” Sara gaped. “Who?”

Adam had discovered Kat’s earlobe. “What? Oh. Tandy Larsen.”

Tandy Larsen.
Shannon’s stomach plummeted. She’d thought for certain Tristan had ended it with Tandy. Months ago.

Yes. She was definitely going to cry.

“Dear me,” she said, pretending to glance at her watch and hoping to heaven no one noticed she wasn’t actually wearing one. “Is that the time? I’ve got to get back to work. You two have fun tonight.” This, she threw over her shoulder. She had already left the room.

Adam stepped out of the way to let Shannon depart in an all-fired rush to get back to work—how like her. He turned back to Sara and said with an evil smile, “Tristan’s going with Tandy. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

“He doesn’t know who his date is?” Jenny’s face scrunched up in a bemused moue.

Kat grinned. “He thinks he’s just going to a friend’s birthday party.”

“But Kat and I figured he needed something a little more stimulating.”

“So we set him up on a date.”

Adam leaned forward and whispered, “With a woman.”

“So…you set up a date with his ex?” Sara lifted a dubious brow.

“One of his exes.”

“His favorite.”

Sara snorted. “There’s a reason exes are exes.”

“Dang.” Jenny put out a lip. “I wish you’d picked me. I’d love to go on a date with Tristan. Even with you two along.”

“Jenny,” Adam chortled, “even I wouldn’t do that to my brother.”

A date.

Tristan had a date.

Shannon sat at her desk and determinedly fixed her attention on her computer, though she saw nothing through the blur of her tears.

She should have known. She should have suspected. She should have…

What?

She’d wanted him and she’d taken him. He’d told her all along their relationship was little more than a one-fuck stand. It was not something he was interested in pursuing.

She should have listened.

With a heavy sigh, Shannon closed her laptop and gathered her things. It wasn’t time to go home but it was Friday and she was tired and she really didn’t care much if anyone needed her for anything.

Besides, she desperately needed to be alone to think this through. She had to get to a place where she could survive this thing with Tristan, where she was comfortable mentally, physically and, most importantly, emotionally. That she’d been devastated to learn he had a date tonight should be a huge red flag.

The robot would be flailing its arms and bellowing, “Danger, Will Robinson. Danger. Danger.”

They’d never made any promises to each other—he certainly never had. There was no agreement or understanding, certainly no talk of monogamy. She had no right to be jealous. She had no call to be hurt.

They had screwed.

Several times.

That was it.

And it wasn’t much.

But it felt like so much more—to her, at least.

She just needed to remember that most of what had happened with Tristan had happened in the privacy of her own mind. He certainly didn’t share her fascination. She was nothing more to him than a fuck buddy—a fuck buddy who happened to work for him. He had no claim on her and she had no claim on him.

If only she could remember that.

“Have you seen Shannon?” Tristan asked, poking his head into Adam’s office later that afternoon.

“Nope.” Adam turned the page on the document he was studying, a clear and unsuccessful attempt to dismiss this interruption. “Not for a while.”

“Her desk is cleared off and her laptop is gone. It looks like she left for the day.”

Adam shrugged but Tristan could tell it was a halfhearted effort. “No clue. If you need her,” he suggested, “why don’t you call her?”

Tristan shifted from one foot to the other. “She’s not answering her cell.”

Adam grunted and returned his attention to his work. As though he didn’t care. Or something.

Kat entered the room, carrying two garment bags over her shoulder.
That
caught Adam’s attention.

Before they could get all gooey—and Tristan could tell they were about to start kissing again—he threw out his burning question. “Hey, Kat, have you seen Shannon?”

“No.” She handed one of the bags to each of the brothers.

Tristan took the bag with a frown. “What’s this?”

Adam grinned. “I told you he’d forget.”

“Technically, I didn’t argue the point. This party has nothing to do with work, after all.” Kat playfully patted Tristan’s cheek.

“What party?” Tristan unzipped the garment bag. “Hell. It’s formal?”

“Levin’s birthday?”

“Shit.” He’d forgotten. Completely.

“Don’t worry,” Kat said. “I picked up a gift from you.”

“You did? What’d I get him?”

“A GPS device-thingy from that fancy-schmancy device-thingy store.”

“Wow. That was nice of me. She’s a keeper,” he whispered to Adam in an aside.

“No kidding.” Adam draped his garment bag over the chair and pulled Kat into his arms. “It’s nice having someone around to do things for you. And to do things
to
you!”

Kat cuddled closer with an impish, knowing grin. “It’s nice to have someone to warm your feet at night.”

Adam shuddered. “You need to quit doing that. You almost gave me a heart attack last night.”

“My feet are not that cold.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Adam Alan Trillo…”

Tristan sighed. Clearly they could be having this conversation for a while and he really wasn’t in the mood to listen, so he interrupted. “So have either of you seen Shannon?”

Adam and Kat turned and stared at him.

“Well, have you?”

“You already asked us.”

“Did I?”

“Yes,” Adam said. “And if her desk is cleared off and her computer is gone…call me crazy but I’m thinking she went home early.”

“Shannon doesn’t go home early.” Dear God, was his voice really that petulant? Hell. He
felt
petulant.

“Maybe something came up.” Kat pulled out her cell phone. “Let me call.”

Before Tristan could murmur plaintively, “She’s not answering her cell,” she was answering her cell. For Kat.

“Hey, Shannon. Kat Hart.” Kat flashed a thumbs-up at Tristan. “I’ve got her,” she said. “Yeah. Shan, Tristan was wondering where you are. Oh. Uh huh. I see. Okay. Have a good weekend. Sure. Okay.”

Tristan started to fidget, impatient for the conversation to end. How could women talk so much and fail to get to the point already?

“I know. Totally. Huh? What? Yeah. We will. Okay. Bye.”

As Kat flipped her cell phone shut, Tristan realized he’d been holding his breath. He let it gust out in a heavy rush.

“Well?” he snapped, even before the phone was completely closed. “Where is she?”

“She had to leave early.” Kat flashed a smile at Adam. “She told us to have fun at the party.”

“Is she okay? Is she sick or is something wrong with Bosco?”

Kat tipped her head to the side and studied him, then shook her head. “No. She just had to go.”

“But she didn’t say anything…” Muttering to himself, Tristan shuffled out of Adam’s office.

“Hey,” Adam called after him. “Be ready to go at five. We have to drive to Malibu and there’ll be traffic.”

Tristan frowned. “I don’t want to go to the party.” He wanted to go to Shannon. He should probably talk to her about last night. And tonight, maybe.

“You have to go to the party!” Kat, for some reason, looked horrified.

“Why?”

Adam shrugged. “It’s Levin’s party.”

“You met him first.
You
go.”

“You have to go,” Adam insisted.

“Why?”

They exchanged a glance then, his brother and his best-analyst-turned-fiancée. It was one of those lover-ly looks that meant they were communicating without words.

And they were probably talking about him.

Tristan was learning to hate those looks.

Kat twined her fingers together and shot him an innocent smile. She even batted her eyelashes, the witch. “Because you have a date.”

Aw shit.
“I have a what?”

“A date.” Adam stepped between Tristan and Kat. Really? His tone hadn’t been that sharp. “We decided it would do you good to go out with an actual woman.”

A woman? One woman popped into his mind. Only one. His heart lifted and his lips curled. Had Shannon gone home early because she had to prepare for a date with him? Now there was an interesting prospect.

Suddenly an evening at the beach dressed up in a monkey suit didn’t sound so annoying. It sounded intriguing. “What woman?”

His brother’s mischievous grin boded well for his hopes but then Adam opened his mouth and said the most hideous thing Tristan could ever have imagined. “Tandy Larsen.”