"Tell me, is Anger Thornton a part of the club?"
Of all the questions he had expected her to ask, that wasn't the one he would have expected.
"You know I can't answer that one." He almost grinned at the narrow-eyed ire that filled her gaze.
"You know, the members of that damned club make it rather hard on their women" she muttered.
"I never promised it would be easy."
It wasn't easy. Few things in his life had ever been, though, he could assure her, any problems with the club would be minor in comparison to others.
She turned her gaze to Shayne. "You'll need to coordinate with my fathers. We'll need several teams conducting surveillance and watching the Saudi guests that attend to see if any of them meet with Ayid or appear to be acting for them."
"You think I want your fathers screaming at me over this?" Shayne lifted a brow mockingly. "Not hardly."
"Call him, Shayne," she ordered firmly. "Trust me, they'll scream at me louder, and then I'll just get mad, and then I'll be stressed out when we arrive at the party."
Shayne grinned as Khalid shot him a warning glance. Neither of them wanted her fathers screaming at her.
"I'll call." Shayne finally chuckled as they paused at the landing. "But I'm not promising they'll listen to me, any more than they would listen to you."
They would listen to Marty much quicker, Khalid knew, but she was still uncertain of her ground with her fathers at this point. The previous anger, and deceptions on their part, had left her wary where they were concerned for the moment.
As the heavy doors opened and the butler stepped aside, Khalid entered the house, his hand settling against Marty's lower back.
"Come to my suite," he told Shayne, as he turned up the stairs, urging Marty ahead of him. "I'd like to discuss the Thornton party."
He really had nothing to discuss where the party was concerned until later tomorrow. But sometimes a woman had more gentle sensibilities than they let on.
"I rather doubt you would get along well with AT." Marty sighed with amusement as she used Anger's nickname. "He doesn't normally like men as arrogant as he is."
"There's someone as arrogant as Anger?" Shayne snorted as they reach the landing. "Somehow, I rather doubt it."
There was an air of casual rivalry between them, but Khalid was aware they both had their hands close to their weapons as they moved to the suite.
Shayne opened the door and went in first. As Marty started to slide in behind him, Khalid pulled her to him, then very neatly slid her behind his broader form.
Those few seconds gave him an edge in case there was trouble inside the room.
Pushing past him, Marty shot him a hard glare before following Shayne and quickly checking the room. After locking the door, Khalid watched as the two secured the room, and then checked for any listening devices before Shayne turned on the stereo and allowed the sultry, sexually heavy strains of music to filter through.
This was his life, thought Khalid. It had been his life for far too many years, and he was growing tired of it. The secrecy, ensuring no one knew if he had his own lover, taking care to simply never care.
Turning to the bar, he poured drinks for them all before picking up his and Marty's and moving toward her.
"Let's sit." Indicating the seating arrangement in the center of the room, Khalid moved past her.
There was no doubt she would follow. She was much too curious for her own good sometimes.
As she took a seat in the chair facing him, rather than on the couch next to him, Khalid had to restrain a smile. There were times when her innocence reminded him a great deal of Lessa, in a faraway time, a faraway country, the young woman who had entranced him and Abram.
Lessa had had that same sense of excitement, bravery, and courage. Marty's was better honed, her sense of caution more developed, and her passion deeper, hotter. But that familiarity was still there.
She terrified him at times with the courage. She was a trained agent, he understood that, but she was also his woman, a woman he had to trust to know her own boundaries and her safety. And he had to ignore that little voice in his head that warned him that there were law enforcement officers with the same training and the same boundaries who died every day.
Sighing, he stared at her. "I'm sorry, little flower," he said, as Shayne took his seat on the matching sofa to the side of Khalid's.
"Why?" She was watching him with that caution now, as though deciding if she'd let him live another day.
"For the protective impulses that will always irritate you," he finally stated. "They are a part of my nature, though I do attempt to rein them in whenever possible."
Her gray eyes darkened before her lashes lowered for a second, as though to give herself a chance to hide her emotions.
"It would help if he hadn't been trying to find ways to protect you for the past eight years or so," Shayne drawled, drawing Marty's surprised glance. "Khalid doesn't trust fate overly much."
"I don't need his protection, or yours," she told them both flatly, as she stared back at them.
Frustration ate at her. Khalid could see it in her eyes. She needed to follow her dreams no matter the inherent danger she faced.
"This is insane." Rising to her feet, she paced several feet from them before turning and glaring at them. "You've been focused on me since I was eighteen years old, and yet you couldn't let me know. You had to wait until I was assigned to investigate you? For God's sake, this is like the night from hell. What other little secrets are you keeping from me?"
He could hear the hurt in her voice. The attraction had been there between them, even when she was younger, but not the maturity she needed to handle his desires.
"You needed to mature," he answered softly. "You were simply too young for what I needed from you, Marty. Too young and too innocent."
Instantly, as though his words struck fire to a fuse, sexuality flamed through the room. Lust began to beat in his veins as he watched her eyes darken, her face flush. She knew, and she wanted.
"You're dying to share me," she stated, her voice husky, sweetly aroused.
"I want it more than my next breath," he revealed, though a part of him regretted the pain that it might cause her.
"Have I been protesting?" she whispered, her voice filled with arousal now.
"There have been no protests," Khalid assured her then, his voice soft as she stared at him.
Khalid knew that Shayne was convinced that Marty was in love with him. He'd warned Khalid on many occasions of the hazards of breaking her heart.
"None whatsoever," she promised before moving slowly, easily, toward Shayne.
Khalid watched as she moved, the determination that flared in her eyes, the excitement and energy that seemed to flow from her body. She was going to test herself as well as the two of them, he could see it in her face.
"Beware, love," Khalid warned her, watching as Shayne rose from the sofa. "You could tease too far."
She moved against the other man anyway, brushing her sweet, lithe body against his side.
"Really?" The temptress began to emerge.
Khalid felt his dick harden painfully, his balls tightening in pure white-hot lust.
"Shall we see what your limit is, then?" she asked as she moved back from Shayne, watching them as they watched her, her body moving sinuously to the music echoing through the room.
As he watched, her hands lifted, her fingers moved to the buttons of her blouse, and his mouth went dry. Sweet God have mercy on him. The acceptance suddenly filling her face nearly had him coming in his slacks.
Rising to his feet, Khalid paused, waiting, as Shayne moved, striding to her, his fingers sliding into her soft hair as the blouse dropped from her shoulders. Fisting his hand in the silken strands he pulled her head back and lowered his own.
Khalid watched as Shayne's lips moved over Marty's. As though electricity connected them all, Khalid felt the tingle of pleasure, the tearing hunger, and the demand for more.
Moving to the couple, Khalid came behind Marty, his hands touching her shoulders as the muscles there tensed, seeming to tighten to near the breaking point.
Hearing the broken moan that escaped the demanding kiss Shayne held her with, Khalid unhooked the clasp of the lacy bra she wore before edging the straps over her shoulders.
Shayne's hands gripped her wrists, lowering her arms from his shoulders as Khalid stripped her of the fragile garment.
"Khalid." She jerked back from the kiss, panting as Shayne turned her to Khalid.
Shayne lowered his head to her neck, the curve of her shoulder. His hands slipped around her body to cup her breasts, his fingers toying with her tight nipples as Khalid sank slowly to his knees.
He held her gaze, watching her eyes darken, her breathing roughen, as he removed her sneakers and socks. His hands lifted to the clasp of her jeans, the zipper, and as a muted cry echoed around him, he drew the material slowly from her hips.
She was wet. He could see the sweet dew clinging to the soft curls shielding her pussy and had to force himself to hold back from her. No woman had ever made him so hot so fast. He was desperate for her. The hairs on his arms tingled with the pleasure rushing through him, the pleasure he could see on her face as his fingers caressed her inner thighs.
Forcing himself from the temptation of her heated juices, Khalid rose to his feet, cupped her neck, and held her still as his lips lowered to hers.
Kissing her burned through his senses. Her lips were like silk, her sweet tongue like satin touched with sugar. Small nails pierced his shoulders as she gripped them. His cock pressed against the soft heat of her belly, her flesh cushioning the steel-hard erection tormenting him.
Running his hands down her back, Khalid gloried in the hitch of her breath, the lick of her tongue against his as he cupped her rear and lifted her to him.
It was a short distance to the bed, but it seemed to take forever. He needed to lay her down, to see her pleasure, to see the wild excitement he could feel overtaking her.
Behind him he was distantly aware of Shayne undressing quickly. Khalid could feel his temperature rising as the air in the room became heated, sultry.
"Damn, she's pretty, Khalid." Shayne groaned behind Marty.
Lifting his head, Khalid glanced at where Shayne was kneeling in the bed, waiting, aroused.
Turning his gaze back to Marty he lifted his hand to touch her flushed cheek.
"She's beautiful," he whispered, as her tongue licked over her lips before she swallowed nervously. "No fear. There's no pain, no reason for apprehension, sweet."
"Of course there isn't." Her voice was breathless, filled with wariness and hunger as Khalid eased her to the bed and the man awaiting her.
It was incredibly sensual. There were things as erotic as standing back and watching as a woman begins drowning in her own sensuality. And Marty was drowning.
Her gaze locked with Khalid's as Shayne cupped her breasts, his head lowering to take a hardened tip into his mouth.
Khalid began undressing, desperate now to join them, to aid in stroking his lover into the pure white-hot flames of arousal. Shedding the clothing, he moved to where she lay against the pillows, kneeling beside her as he caught her wrists in his hand and pulled them above her head.
Her head thrashed against the pillow as Shayne's lips moved from her breasts, lower. He kissed, nipped, licked his way down her stomach as Khalid watched with a rising need.
Frissons of fiery sensation raced over his flesh as he felt Marty's fingers curl against his wrist. She arched in Shayne's caress, her eyes opened to mere slits as she stared up at Khalid.
He needed this. This pleasure, this incredible arousal flowing from his lover. Like a man with a sweet tooth and denied his sweets, he was starved for it.
His gaze moved from her delicate face, lower. Shayne moved between her thighs, his hands spreading them wide, his chin brushing against the wet curls between them.
