Wicked Lovers 07 Ours to Love (27 page)

“If she doesn’t want it and she hasn’t earned it . . .” He shrugged. “I think I’ll
just keep playing.”

She released a shuddering breath. “But I ache.”

“I’m sure you do,” Javier said. “When you’re ready to let go for me anytime and anywhere,
I’ll make it worth your while. Until then . . .”

The waitress arrived with their food, looking reluctant to approach the table, as
if she realized that she was interrupting. Xander smiled benignly at her, and she
set the steaming plates of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of them. She fetched Tabasco
for him and Javier, then left them in blessed peace.

Except that Javier lifted his hand from London’s pussy and licked his fingers. Xander
could smell her soft, musky need, and his cock jerked. He gripped his plate. It was
either that, or rip her clothes off and fuck her on the table for everyone to see.
The second they hit that office— Xander cut off the thought. What if his brother showed
him the exit again? If he allowed London to go alone with Javier, there was no way
his brother wouldn’t spend most of the afternoon with his cock in her sweet, tight
cunt. And London had no reason to say no.

Xander wondered if that would leave him apart from the two people he cared about most.

Javier dug into his food, but it didn’t take him long to wrap one hand around his
fork and the other back up her skirt. London halfheartedly picked at her food, instead
squirming in her seat, obviously biting her lip to hold in moans and fighting the
urge to beg. Xander doused his eggs with Tabasco. Even so, they were tasteless to
him.

He watched London and his brother with his cock hard and his anxiety high until she
flushed a deep rosy shade. Perspiration dotted her upper lip. He’d given up trying
to eat and merely watched, wondering if his brother would make her come in public.

London’s breathing turned choppier. She gripped the table, eyes closed. A sensual
expression of concentration passed over her face, brow furrowed, lips pursed. No doubt,
she was seconds away from coming.

Suddenly, Javier withdrew his fingers and licked them again. “Those panties are in
my way too much to continue, little one. Next time you’ll follow directions, yes?”

Her eyes fluttered open, and London looked ready to protest. Xander took her hand
in his, tracing circles over the back of her palm lightly. “Don’t argue. Just say
yes and lose the panties once we get in the car. Then he’ll be far more pleasant.”

She snapped her gaze around to him, still looking as if she wanted to argue. “You’re
both pushy.”

“That’s not likely to change. Out of bed, we’ll treat you like a princess,” Javier
promised. “We will spoil you, but we’re going to get at your pussy without obstruction,
without argument, and without waiting.”

We.
So . . . he and Javier were both in this odd relationship with London. He had no
idea where it was going or how long it would last, but he couldn’t deny that he was
damn sure happier than he’d been in a long while.

Xander nodded. “Well said, brother.”

He and his brother finished their breakfast. When he looked over, London had eaten
half her food. Since she was still squirming in her seat, he figured she was preoccupied
and let her lack of eating slide.

They paid the bill and left the restaurant. Javier climbed in the backseat of the
car with London. Xander and his brother both turned to look at her expectantly, and
his brother held out his hand, fingers gesturing with impatience.

She sighed. “You’re serious?”

Javier merely raised a brow. He had the displeased Dom face down. Xander was almost
proud.

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s about trust,” Xander said. “Will we hurt you? No. Will we touch you? Absolutely.
Do you trust us to touch you?”

“Yes. But this seems so . . . unusual.”

London had been so sheltered, and Xander knew they were asking for a lot very quickly.
But having her here between him and his brother seemed to be working some magic on
their rapport. Not to mention the fact that Xander was getting damn desperate to get
inside her again.

With a huff, London rolled her eyes and tried to reach under her skirt as discreetly
as possible. With a lot of grunting, wriggling, and tugging, she managed to lift her
skirt enough and lower her panties. Pink silk trimmed in delicate white lace. In the
rearview mirror, he watched as, with trembling fingers, she placed them in Javier’s
palm. His brother smiled wolfishly, brought her underwear to his nose, and sniffed
deeply.

London gasped, looking somewhere between shocked and aroused.

The rest of the drive to the office was almost too short. Not only was he dying to
know what Javier would have done with London in the backseat given more time, but
dread had taken up residence in his gut again. Now that they’d arrived, would Javier
lock him out?

As Xander parked, he shut the car off. In the sweltering Louisiana summer, he knew
his brother wouldn’t linger long in his black car without air-conditioning. Javier
dove out, then held out his hand to London. Xander followed them out of the car, drawing
in a bracing breath.

Before anyone could say a word, Javier’s phone rang. He cursed and looked at the display.
“Hi, Doug.”

Maynard
. Xander winced. He hadn’t had a chance to tell Javier about all the decisions he
and London had made last night. He presumed London hadn’t either.

The other man kept talking in Javier’s ear while they entered the office building.
London dug out her keys, and they rode the elevator in silence.

Not surprisingly, the call dropped inside the little car.

Javier turned to Xander. “What the hell is Maynard talking about? What did you two
decide about the log-ins?”

“The three of us,” London volunteered. “I helped Xander and Doug, too.”

His brother’s expression didn’t change. “Explain.”

London opened the door as Javier’s phone rang again.

“I’ll call you back.” Then Javier gestured them both into the office.

Xander swallowed and entered. This shouldn’t mean so much. Even a week ago, he’d had
no secret yen to get ass deep in S.I. Industries—or at least not one he was willing
to admit aloud. But somehow, after spending more time with his brother, everything
had changed. Now he knew just how deep Javier had fallen into guilt and booze. He
realized the jeopardy their business was in. And for once, Xander felt how badly being
without purpose chafed. London seemed to be the balm soothing all that.

They flipped on lights, and London went immediately to her workstation, turning on
her computer. Javier opened his interior office door and stalked through, then turned
back with an impatient glare. “Both of you, in here. Now.”

Xander didn’t love his older brother barking orders at him, but Javier could just
as easily have thrown him out, so he shrugged and followed. It helped his mood to
know that London wasn’t wearing a damn thing under her skirt.

They sat at the little round conference table inside Javier’s office. Xander figured
at this point that the best defense was a good offense.

“I helped London with some of her work last night. I agreed with Maynard’s assessment
that it’s likely someone outside the company has been accessing our most proprietary
information regarding Project Recovery with these log-ins.”

“So you kept them active?” Javier’s tone suggested he was one hundred percent idiot.

Xander clenched his jaw. “If we take them down, we’ll never know who’s behind the
spying. If we keep the log-ins up and provide the spy access to false information,
then we might be able to track the culprit. I told Maynard to work with someone trusted
in R & D to swap out the current project information visible to those IDs with something
bogus and to call it the newest, most exciting shit ever.” He shrugged. “See who bites.”

Javier paused, considering. “I don’t hate that idea.”

From his brother, that was almost glowing praise.

“Maynard picked his son-in-law to doctor the data. We elected not to get Sheppard
involved.” He referenced the head of R & D. “If he was so gung ho to keep those log-ins
up, I’m a little suspicious.”

“That he’s helping someone on the outside obtain our proprietary information?” When
Xander nodded, Javier turned pensive. “It’s possible. We should keep him in the dark
for a bit. He’s worked for me for the last eight years, and he’s a smart bastard,
but a mercenary one. It’s possible he’s selling the company out.”

“The only thing that keeps bugging me is . . . Sheppard has had opportunities before,
right? So why now?” Xander asked.

Javier cocked his head, silently agreeing. “Well, he got remarried. I’m told that
wife number three has expensive taste.”

“They’re leaving for Fiji next week,” London told Javier. “His assistant told me that
when she sent me an e-mail asking to get on your calendar for a meeting.”

“He’s got to keep the new wife happy somehow,” Xander pointed out.

Javier seemed to ponder their next move, then he turned to London. “I’m going to call
Maynard back and get a quick status update. While I’m doing that, track down Sheppard
and tell him I want to talk to him.”

“Yes, sir.” London excused herself and left the room.

Xander watched them both reach for phones, torn between keeping up with his brother
and finding out exactly how wet London was without her panties. He didn’t even have
time to decide before she dashed back to Javier’s office and tapped his brother’s
shoulder.

“Sir, Sheppard is on hold for you. He’s very upset.”

“Great,” Javier rolled his eyes and muted the call, clutching the phone. “Maynard
wants to discuss some suspicious activity that’s occurred with those log-ins in the
last few hours.” His brother looked at London’s expectant face, then the phone in
his own hand. He sighed and shoved the phone into Xander’s hand. “Talk to him. Listen
to whatever the hell it is he’s trying to say. I need to calm Sheppard before he goes
ape shit and makes problems.”

Xander grabbed the phone and watched with an odd sense of triumph as his brother stormed
over to London’s desk. He was in. Finally, he had some purpose—no matter how small—at
S.I. Industries. By God, he would make the most of it and prove himself indispensable
to Javier.

With a deep breath, he unmuted the call and greeted Maynard.

“Your brother is distracted. I tried to call him all fucking morning. I hope to hell
you’re prepared to listen,” the head of security barked. “One of the log-ins has been
accessed in the middle of the night from an Internet café in Cancun, Mexico. They
downloaded all the new materials.”

Someone from a vacation mecca working? “Do any of the contract employees or researchers
live there?”

“No.”

“Any of them on vacation?”

“No. I did some discreet probing before I called. No one.”

As much as Xander hated to think of some ass-wipe stealing from them, if they were
logging in and falling for the phony information they’d planted, so much the better.
They would prosecute the thieves and roll out Project Recovery as scheduled.

“I’ve heard Sheppard shitting a brick from the third floor because, out of the blue,
United Velocity is supposedly making a major announcement soon.”

The company’s biggest competitor for U.S. military dollars having something press-worthy
all of a sudden wasn’t good . . . but it also wasn’t proof positive that United Velocity
had anything to do with the theft of S.I.’s research, even though they had scooped
S.I. on its last few projects.

“Keep your ears to the ground and check in with me tomorrow so we can stay on top
of this. And get your son-in-law working on more phony information, just in case.”
Xander had a plan. “We might need it later.”

Maynard agreed, and they ended the call. A quick glance through the little vertical
windows between this office and the outer reception revealed that Javier was still
on the phone. In fact, he looked tense and red, like his blood pressure had just shot
up a hundred points. London stood beside him with a supportive hand on his shoulder.
The Javier he knew would have pushed her away. Xander was stunned when his brother
paced the floor a few times, then grabbed London close and, with the phone pressed
to his ear, buried his face in her neck.

Javier didn’t need more stress; he needed results. And they all needed to figure out
where this impromptu trio of theirs was headed.

Xander flipped through his list of contacts and found the one person he knew would
get results in the most efficient, quiet way possible—an ex-military friend who happened
to be his former bodyguard. Over the years, Decker McConnell had proven remarkably
agile in digging through the refuse and rubble of humanity to uncover others’ dirty
little secrets. Now, he could do the digging that employees of S.I. Industries couldn’t
without raising brows. And if Decker managed a heaping plateful of catching the culprits
and he wanted a side helping of blood . . . well, Xander wouldn’t mind in the least.

Decker answered on the first ring. “What did you do to get in trouble now?”

With a smile, Xander sat in Javier’s chair. “What makes you think I’m in trouble?”

The other man snorted. “Just every one of your phone calls for the last half-dozen
years.”

Yeah, Decker could extricate him from all kinds of trouble, which had come in handy
more than occasionally.

“Besides that,” Xander joked. “I have an issue, and I need your help.”

“Please tell me this isn’t another jealous husband threatening to kill you.”

“Nope.” Xander winced. Had his whole life been a fucking caricature? It seemed like
everyone viewed his existence as the punch line to a dirty joke. On the other hand,
what had he done except a whole lot of women?

He looked at London and wondered what it would be like if he could say he’d done the
last woman he ever intended to do again. Surprisingly, the thought didn’t give him
hives. If he had to settle on one, he’d want one sweet, with a hint of spine and sass,
who would try to understand him. He’d want one he could spoil and be himself with,
who wasn’t jaded. One who would always put their bond first. Funny, he’d never boiled
down what he wanted in a woman to a simple checklist, but now that he had . . . was
there any way that London didn’t fit the bill?