Your To Take - Connaghers 03 (11 page)

Chapter Twelve

Vicki glanced uneasily between the men on either side of her
as they walked into the VCONN Tower. After the office chair incident, she
wasn’t sure what to expect when Elias had insisted on driving them today for
her commercial. So far, he’d been civil to Jesse, although not exactly warm and
friendly. If she hadn’t told him about what she’d done with Jesse, then she’d
be dealing with wretched guilt, but for a second, she wondered if that might be
better than this uneasy silent tension.

I’ve never lied to Elias. I’m certainly not going to
start now.

Butterflies flocked crazily in her stomach. Shiloh had
insisted that they should all personally be in the commercial. Especially
Vicki. However, she’d never done any acting. Compound the BDSM flirting they
were supposed to be doing with the possibility that Elias might be watching her
play with Jesse on camera, and she was an utter mess.

“What time is Colby going to pick you up?”

Elias gave her a sardonic wink and even managed a smug look
for Jesse over her shoulder. “About an hour, although he sounded like he was
running late.”

An hour. God. How much trouble could she get into in an
hour? Way too much with Jesse at her beck and call.

She forgot her nerves once she started helping everyone pick
out their clothes. Elias and Jesse went with Victor—she knew her brother was
more than up for the task of keeping the two men from killing each other—while
she took Shiloh and Mal into the ladies’ dressing room. Just hearing the women
squeal and ooh over their gowns made her glow with pride. However, she quickly
noticed that her brother’s fiancée wasn’t her usual perky self.

Shiloh tried to laugh off her concern. “Oh, I’m just worried
about meeting your Mama. We’re supposed to take her to dinner tonight.”

Vicki made a face like she’d just smelled something rotten.
Note
to self: don’t answer my phone or the door tonight. Vicki is looooong gone.
“Good luck with that.”

“Oh, now, don’t scare her to death,” Mal said. “Between V’s
horror stories and now your obvious lack of enthusiasm, she’s going to be
thrilled to meet her monster-in-law.”

“Sorry.” Vicki shrugged uncomfortably. “I rarely talk to
her.”

Looking sumptuous in her red-silk gown, Shiloh laid her hand
on Vicki’s arm. “I’m sorry, hon. Did you have a falling out?”

“Not exactly.” Vicki blew out a heavy sigh.
Only every
single time I try to talk to her.
“V says we’re too much alike. She has her
way, I have mine, and we can’t see eye to eye. I gave up discussing anything
with her years ago, and I’m certainly never going to please her. The more I try
to make her proud…” Throat tight, she shrugged and managed a lop-sided smile.
“You know how mothers and daughters can be.”

“I was close to my mom when I was younger—it’s only in my
adult years that I’ve drifted away.”

“We were very close when I was a kid,” Vicki replied. “She
was a terrific mother. In fact, I’d decided before I hit high school that I was
never going to have kids because there’s no way I could be as good a mother as
her when I grew up. Then…” She swallowed the flood of tears threatening to
embarrass her. She always cried when Mama was involved.

“Don’t feel bad, hon.” Mal smoothed the zebra-print dress
over her hips and gave a low whistle to her reflection in the mirror. “Most
teenagers are pretty hard to live with. My mama said I went from the sweetest
child to the most obstinate, independent, wrong-headed fool on the planet.”

Vicki nodded along with Shiloh, half listening to their
stories about the trials and tribulations of their teen years, but she didn’t
join in. The memory was too painful to share, too raw to drag out like dirty
laundry for her friends to cluck over.

The past is the past
, she tried to tell herself, but
she couldn’t get over it. In a heartbeat, Mama had gone from trusted confidante
and friend to betrayal, and she couldn’t forget it.

Maybe this wasn’t such a bright idea.

Elias watched Jesse slip into his fine duds Vicki had made
with such loving care. The poor kid kept peeking at Victor in the mirror and
each time, edged closer to Elias. As though he’d protect him.

There’d always been tension between him and her brother.
Part of it was the natural aggression between two very domineering sort of men.
It’d be easy to get into a pissing contest, even though they might be family
some day. Deep down, Elias had always suspected her brother really didn’t like
him much at all. Vicki’s older, protective brother surely hated the fact that
Elias was banging his sister without a ring on her hand. To compound his
crimes, they’d split up, and he’d abandoned her when she’d needed him the most.

Or maybe that’s my own guilt talking.

Between the junkyard Rottweiler and the sleek Doberman, the
cream-puff poodle didn’t have a chance. If Victor bared his teeth at the kid,
Jesse would be under the chair, shivering.

“I’m surprised you’re not going to be in the commercial with
us,” Victor said in a casual voice that didn’t fool Elias one bit. Her brother
might lord and master it over his employees but if he thought to bark orders at
Elias, he’d find out that his bite was just as mean. “Vicki sent several extra
shirts—hoping, I think, that I might convince you otherwise.”

Elias snorted. “She knows better than that. I’m only here
for moral support. Once she gets started, she’ll be fine.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about the commercial.” Victor tilted
his chin up and began winding the cloth about his neck that was supposed to be
the bondage element. “Mama’s going to stop by.”

“What?” Elias shot to his feet and began to pace. “Does
Vicki know?”

“Of course not,” Victor drawled, shooting a smug look at
Elias through the mirror. “Wild horses wouldn’t have dragged her here if she
knew Mama was coming too.”

Worried, Jesse looked between the two men. “What’s wrong?”

Elias rolled his eyes and blew out a disgusted breath.
“Vicki doesn’t exactly get along with her mother. It’s like tossing two
starving alley cats into a burlap sack when those two are in the room.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

Surprised at the low, intent tone of Jesse’s voice, Elias
studied him. For the first time today, he met Elias’s gaze steadily without
flushing, cringing or dropping his gaze to the ground. He even narrowed his
gaze and lifted his chin, his eyes challenging, as if to say,
Take care of
her. Or I’ll be more than happy to step into your place.

Interesting. If Vicki’s well-being was in question, Jesse
would apparently rise to the occasion.

It was like a cattle prod shoved directly up Elias’s ass.
He’d assumed the kid was a total pushover, a little lapdog who’d yip his head
off and then run the opposite direction when threatened, but he couldn’t have
been more wrong. He hated it when people made stupid assumptions and he’d just
made a colossal one.

Tipping his head back, he laughed but without rancor. Maybe
hell had frozen over, because damned if he wasn’t starting to like this kid,
even though every time he looked at Jesse he imagined that blond head between
Vicki’s thighs.

“What’s so funny?” Jesse took a step closer, his hands
clenched into fists. “I’ll tell Vicki that her mother’s on her way and we’ll be
gone in a heartbeat.”

Elias gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder. “Thanks for
reminding me that I can be an asshole.”

Doubtfully, Jesse watched him like that friendly pat was
going to turn into a right hook. “Doesn’t Vicki remind you of that often
enough?”

“Every chance she gets.”

“So, what are we going to do? She’s already so nervous about
the commercial and the gala just around the corner, not to mention…”

Me. You. Us.

She had to figure out what she was going to do about them.
Whether they could work out some sort of illicit arrangement without anyone
getting hurt, especially her.

“I’ll handle Mrs. Connagher if she arrives while you’re
filming the commercial.” Although he found himself wishing he’d grabbed his
bullet-proof vest out of the trunk of his car. “You help Vicki get this done as
quickly as possible and maybe we’ll be gone before Mrs. Connagher arrives.
Otherwise, be prepared. She’s never in a good mood after dealing with her Mama.
She’s likely going to rip our heads off if she even gets a hint that we knew
her mother was anywhere inside the city limits and we didn’t warn her.”

Jesse pulled his hair back into a rubber band. “I feel like
we’re betraying her if we don’t tell her now.”

“I’m the one who called Mama.” Until Victor spoke, Elias had
forgotten her brother was even in the room. “Vicki needs her whether she knows
it or not, and this stalemate of theirs has gone on way too long. They’re both
too proud to come together on their own.”

Staring into the other man’s dark eyes made even more
alarming by the mask he wore, Elias suddenly realized he’d been very coolly and
deliberately manipulated. Not only had Victor taken it upon himself to bring
their mother into the picture to hopefully mend whatever rift was between her
and Vicki, but he’d also managed to get Elias and Jesse working together like a
team.

Well done, V. But damned if I’ll ever tell him so.

Watching Victor and his girlfriend tape their brief
interlude for the commercial made Elias feel like a damned pervert. They
performed as though the cameras and people simply disappeared, and they were
alone in their bedroom. In a smooth, unscripted twenty seconds, Shiloh
deliberately antagonized her Master and let him tie her hands together with his
cravat. Then he bent her over a desk. The red dress displayed her bare back
perfectly.

The short vignette ended with a well-placed blow from his
crop. They both wore masks, but everyone in Dallas who’d watched VCONN’s hit
show,
America’s Next Top sub
, already knew that the CEO was a sadist.
The masks would make the audience remember that thrilling first season and all
the drama about Master V’s identity.

Elias had never been a voyeur nor into S&M, but with
Vicki standing beside him, he had to wonder. What was she going to do with
Jesse? What sort of inclinations did she possess that she’d never told him? Had
he been failing her in more ways than one this entire time?

Gripping her chin, he turned her head up to him. In typical
Vicki style, she growled beneath her breath and tried to jerk away, but he held
her hard enough his fingers dug into her skin. He searched her eyes, trying to
delve for secret needs and desires, but all he saw was anxiety. “Show me what
you want to do to him.”

She tried to look away but he held her firm, making her meet
his gaze. “I can’t…”

“You can do this, babe.” He planted a hard, quick kiss on
her mouth. “Do it for me.”

Jesse threaded his fingers through hers. Meeting his gaze,
Elias gave him a subtle nod and the other man led her off for her final
primping. Pale and halting, Vicki looked like they were taking her to the
guillotine.

“Whoa, what sort of place have you brought me to?”

Elias turned as his partner joined him. “Hey, you’re early.
I’m not ready yet.”

“That’s cool.” Younger and taller, Colby had the hard, mean
edge to him that a man only gained in active military duty for his country. Two
tours in Afghanistan made him tougher and leaner than most rookies. Just two
years older than Jesse, Colby had him beaten hands down in experience and
confidence. In a fight or shoot out, Elias would never doubt that his partner
had his back. “So, what’s going on?”

“Vicki’s working on a commercial for her new fashion line.
You might want to wait in the car—it’s going to get rather steamy in here.”

Colby’s eyes narrowed with speculation. “Vicki’s your girl
and she’s doing a steamy commercial with another guy. Why aren’t you out
there?”

Forcing a laugh, Elias shrugged. “She needs a pretty face
for this. Besides, Jesse…” What could he say that wouldn’t make him look
whipped for allowing another man to play with his woman? Eyes tight and hard,
Colby waited for his response, and he wasn’t going to lie to his partner.
“She’s mine, but Jesse’s hers.”

Colby shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat, man.”

Elias hadn’t been paired with his new partner long, but
after that comment, he wouldn’t have traded him in for anyone else. He owed
Colby big time. Which reminded him of one way he planned to pay his partner
back. “Are we still on for Friday night?”

“I don’t know.” Colby sighed. “Wilson backed out. He claims
his old lady won’t let him play poker anymore, but I think he’s just too afraid
of pissing Rodgers off even more.”

Rodgers had been a pain in Elias’s backside for months. As a
long-time veteran of the force, the man’s transfer to their department should
have helped with their backlog, not stirred up animosity and racial tensions.
The only reason the guy hadn’t been fired already was his seniority. In a few
more months, Rodgers would retire. Until then, he took special delight in
tormenting the youngest members of the force, which meant Colby had been on the
receiving end of Rodgers’s shit for months. Colby wasn’t a tattletale sort of
guy, so they’d decided to handle the man’s venom with a not-so-friendly game of
cards.

Rodgers had already been bragging how much he planned to
fleece the “snot-nosed kid”. But if they couldn’t get at least one more neutral
player, then even he might realize he’d been set up from the beginning.
Unless…
Surely Jesse has learned a few tricks or two on the streets.

“I think I’ve got our fourth player. I’ll call you if he
can’t make it, but assume we’re on.”

“I don’t think we’ve met,” Mal drawled out in a whiskey dark
voice that made Elias arch a brow in speculation. Damned if the cast-iron
Mistress didn’t sound like a purring kitty eyeing its favorite toy. “I’m
Malinda Kannes, Executive Producer here at VCONN.”