Page 38 of Agency

No, not want. Need. The same ravenous need as before, but now burning brighter and oh so more intensely as my boss continued to caress and explore her neck with his mouth. Running the tip of her tongue over her lips, she wet them briefly before smiling, then closing her eyes with a shudder.

“Fuck,” I breathed, my eyes going back to the table. Sooner I finished this game, I reasoned, the sooner we could get to whatever the next part of the night might shape up to being.

I took my shot.

“Corner pocket,” I said, loud enough that they’d be able to hear me, despite whatever other activities they might be engaged in.

Because, holy shit. If Jericho was down, I was too. Hell, he always had been in the past, hadn’t he?

And, damn, that was a sweet shot, too. Cue hit the eight perfectly, sent the black ball sailing right for the corner pocket. Perfect strike. No veering. Not one bit of change in trajectory.

Eight ball. Right for the corner…

My eyes flickered to the three. To the ball I should have struck. The ball I’d needed to strike.

To the way the perfect sphere of red sat there on the green felt, like a mark of accusation.

“Fuck,” I breathed as the eight ball sank with that normally gratifying sound of resin sliding home into the leather pocket. Closing my eyes, I winced as I tossed my cue on the table. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Another bark of laughter came from Jericho.

Grimacing, I shook my head as I muttered to myself. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“Lose your focus there, champ?” Candice asked, a wickedly sexy smile playing across her lips. Still holding her cue, she lowered her hand from Jericho’s cheek. He let go of her, and she came around the table to me, continuing: “Looks like that’s a big loss.”

“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head as I let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, it’s a big loss. Especially since that means I need to play you two again.”

As she came to a stop in front of me, her hand went to my chest and her gaze found mine. “Well, it doesn’t have to be a total loss…” Trailing off, she took another step closer, a move that I matched with my own. We didn’t speak as our bodies pressed closer and closer, as our eyes fell into one another’s, then traveled up and down each other’s faces in one last final check to make sure the other party was okay with this. With… with all this.

We didn’t speak as, moving on the same exact wavelength, Candice turned her mouth up to meet mine.

My God, her lips were even softer than I’d imagined, and her body more lithe and toned than her clothes had ever betrayed as I slid an arm around her waist and pulled her tightly to me. She opened her mouth to me, and our tongues danced and swirled and teased at one another, and somehow knowing that Jericho’s approving gaze was on both of us just made this all the hotter.

Candice and I stayed like that for a week, a year, a decade, exploring and enjoying ourselves, until we finally parted with panting breath. Eyes locking, we both swallowed hard again, went back to breathing heavily.

After a moment, she glanced back to Jericho, saying, “Don’t suppose you guys could help a girl out and give me a ride back to my hotel room?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” my boss replied, already going to close out our tab.

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “We’d love to.”

“Good,” she said, patting my chest and smiling. “Now, just try not to be premature about anything else?”

Chapter Eleven

Ambyr

Heart hammering so hard my ribs might dislocate from the force, I felt the eyes of both men on me as I led them from the Bothersome Beaver.

Not by the hand, and not with a belt binding wrists together. But they followed me all the same. Because, this time, the lead was the sway of my hips and the occasional smiling glance back over my shoulder.

Because, right then? Right then, our purposes were aligned.

Every step I took towards their darkly tinted SUV, I could feel the memories leaving me, too. Fading, fading, fading, until they were less tangible than river fog wafting up from the Mississippi. Thoughts of Grigori, of his glazed death-gaze. Of how lost I’d felt while standing in that abandoned lot, wondering where I’d made the wrong turn along my path of life. Of how much I regretted not taking Morgan up on his offer for drinks tonight, or at least breakfast earlier this morning.

Jericho joined me at the rear passenger’s side door, his body pinning me back to the SUV as his lips descended to mine. God, he tasted amazing as my mouth opened to his, and his tongue began to circle mine. Hops, malt, sexiness flooded over the tip of my tongue as he flicked and teased, and his hands returned to my hair. And his body? I could feel his definition, his strength, his fitness pressing through the thick cloth of my hoodie as his weight pressed me to the door, hard enough and strong enough to almost make me forget Morgan for the night.

Almost…