Masked Page 20

  Fuck.

  The crackers turned in his stomach. He locked his teeth in time to prevent the acid from brimming into a snarl at his friend, before coming up with a better reprisal. “I believe what the lady really wants is a glass of good Merlot.”

  “Ooooo.” Tess grabbed his forearm. “Yes, please.”

  Damn. Damn.

  One touch. A tiny one, at that. Like his bloodstream knew the difference. Now that every platelet felt like a rocket, it was agony to fight off the craving to kiss her senseless. He settled for lifting her hand and playfully bussing the back. “As they say where I come from, whatever the lady really wants.”

  Levi tossed a wry glance. “Well played, asshat.”

  “Thanks, cock waffle.”

  Bella giggled. “Touché once more…asshat.”

  He answered that with narrowed eyes. “You know, I was just going to ask what you’d like from the bar too.”

  “Handled,” Levi cut in. “I know what the lady likes in her deliveries.”

  “Oh, hell.” Bella rolled her eyes. “Down, boys. There are enough trees in the park for everyone to pee on, okay?”

  Dan cocked his head. “Your girl is begging for a very bright ass, Cowell.”

  “A matter upon which we finally agree,” Levi replied.

  Bella snorted at them both while linking arms with Tess. “Okay, honey. Your story has to be infinitely more interesting than this.”

  Dan could read a fireball set-up when he heard it but already forgave Bella, able to light up mirth in Tess that he’d sorely been missing. Still, she echoed, “Story? I don’t understand.”

  Bella jerked her head toward Dan. “We called yesterday to tell this bozo we’d decided to extend the holiday weekend into a Vegas vay-cay. Even if he dialed your digits next, and I assume he did, that only gave you twenty-four hours to pull all this together. Sooooo…” Her eyes glowed like dark honey. “I’m thinking magic elves, a few shirtless slave boys, or a fairy godmother.”

  “No shirtless slaves.” Levi’s gaze changed as well—to the shade of ink.

  “Magic elves might be just as dangerous,” Dan rejoined.

  “Fairy godmother it is,” Tess quipped. “No complaints here. I’ll sure as hell put her sparkly ass to work on a few miracles.”

  Levi and Bella burst with laughs. Dan didn’t join them. Couldn’t, not even in feigned form—not when Tess’s breezy tone was already the lie here. Didn’t his friends see it? The shadows of sadness in her eyes. The crimps at the corners of her smile. The yearning that gripped her whole posture with every stare she directed at the two of them…the girl who’d been taken to the party but abandoned by her date.

  Damn it.

  He’d been so thankful when Levi called about their impromptu visit, hoping that calling Tess for her help would keep her too busy for sub drop. It worked, at least for a little while. Tess had taken the afternoon off work, arriving just after lunch to take over the kitchen, chopping and boiling and cooking things she refused to let him see “until the perfect time.” Now, he wondered if she’d make it to that moment.

  Party. Girl in the corner. Still looking for her date.

  Searching for his damn alter ego.

  Dickwad. Dickwad. Dickwad.

  “Well, shit,” Bella muttered. She also wasn’t fooled by Tess’s façade. The woman pulled her into one of those “side hugs” only a girlfriend or a gay bestie could get away with. “Does that Merlot need a chaser of girl talk, sweetie?”

  Tess’s pause gave Dan ample opportunity to envy Bella for where she stood and he didn’t. He’d steered clear of anything remotely physical with Tess today, acknowledging the tightrope his own composure already treaded. Hands on Lesange? It’d be only the beginning of his ready and willing fall from that height. The woman’s fingertips on his forearm were the impulse for half a hard-on; God only knew what a whole hug would tempt him toward. And if his lips touched hers again, even as Dan, there’d be no holding back the words that would spill from him along with the passion. My sweet rose. My hot, sweet subbie. My dear one…

  Right. And that would go over so well right now.

  “Can I just trade the Merlot for the godmother and the miracle?” she finally mumbled to Bella. The wobble in her voice drove a fist to Dan’s middle. He cleared his throat to conceal the reaction.

  Bella wasn’t so subtle about hers.

  “Yikes on a stick, Li’l T. What happ—” She stopped short after brushing Tess’s hair off her face. Then gasped, pulling back the hair more—to expose the bite marks on Tess’s neck to them all.

  “Whoa,” Levi uttered.

  “Hell,” Tess rasped.

  Dan coughed again. No way to avoid the memories now—all the images that replayed exactly how she’d come by those bruises.

  Thank fuck for Levi, who cocked his head and stared at the bruises with something nearing admiration. “What an interesting icebreaker.”

  Bella rolled her eyes but quipped, “I hope to hell you got those the fun way, girlfriend.”

  To his relief, Tess smiled—sort of. Her lips tilted enough to be convincing now, as she offered, “If ‘fun’ is part of describing the best night of one’s life, then I guess it was fun.”

  Bella hauled her into another hug. “Ohhhh, sweetie, that’s awesome! Errr, that’s…awesome? Tess?”

  She asked it as Tess returned the embrace with fierce force, turning the air into a soup of I’m-about-to-bawl tension. Bella pushed her purse off onto Levi before yanking her friend in tighter.

  Shit. Hell. Fuck.

  With the words a cloud bank on his chest, Dan stared toward Levi, who was clearly thinking the same thing—with the I-have-no-idea-what’s-happening-but-now-I’m-holding-a-purse modification.

  “Sweetie,” Bella crooned. “Oh, sweetie, what is it? What’s wrong? If it was the best night of your life—” Tess’s first sob cut her short. “Ohhhh, dear. Well gosh, did he feel the same way? Surely he did, right?”

  “I…I don’t know.” Her face stole his heart—and then broke it. With lips twisted, nose pink, and gaze filled with agony, she was still every one of his dreams come to life, followed by every nightmare he dreaded inducing. His hand lifted toward her, drawn by a force beyond his control, needing to comfort her. At the last second, he ripped it back, fingers curling into a fist. Outstanding. The woman of his dreams was falling apart before his eyes, and he was brushing up for a melodrama audition. Trouble was, he had the wrong script. The unredeemable villain was the mustache twirler, not the fist-in-the-air Dudley Do-Right. He’d given up all privileges to Dudley the second he walked up to her in that mask last Friday.

  “You don’t know?” Bella echoed. “Why? Didn’t he tell you?”

  Tess blushed. Yeah, right there, staring at her friend with the collar around her neck and the Master at her back—and it was fucking adorable. Dan had to fist his other hand.

  “I guess he did,” she finally replied. “In his own way, I suppose.” She grabbed a strand of hair, which she was wearing straight and half up tonight, and nervously twirled it. “I met him…at a club.”

  “A club.” Bella crunched a frown, almost making it a question.

  “A club?”

  Somehow, Levi’s emphasis clarified it. “Oh!” Bella exclaimed. “A club. Holy shit, Tess. Really?”

  “Really.” She wobbled out a laugh. “I’ve been…curious…about something more intense for a while now. And Dan’s been awesome about answering my questions, helping me learn. I also read a lot of books.”

  Levi’s jaw tightened. “Which ones?”

  Dan snorted and filled in, “All of them.”

  “Damn it.”

  “No kidding.”

  Bella rolled her eyes again. “Can you two chill? She’s not taking the LSAT of BDSM. Be happy. Our Li’l T met a Dom—and likes him!”

  Tess shook her head, eyes pooling with heavier tears. “And doesn’t even know him, sweetie.”

  “Huh?”

  “Shit
,” she muttered, lips trembling. She looked over at Dan, face pleading with him for strength. Talk about a new definition of conflict. While his spirit was a skyscraper of joy at being her go-to for the fortitude, his soul was a tenement of shame.

  “I’m right here, Ruby. It’s okay.” His nod of encouragement was easy, but adding an assuring smile—well, attempting to—logged him back into stupidity mode. Not the biggest commercial for credibility, if he correctly read the quirks at the edges of Levi’s stare.

  Damn it. How much of this shit could he realistically keep holding back? It was torture not to touch her…not to rip her from Bella’s embrace, clutch her tight to his chest, and whisper his words of tenderness to her. To hear her sighs of surrender as she took them in, absorbing his comfort…

  Comfort she needs because of you, asswipe. Remember that part?

  Tess turned back to Bella. Closed her eyes through a deep breath. “It just happened, I guess,” she confessed. “Okay, maybe it didn’t just happen. I mean, I wanted it to but just never thought it would be so…” She sighed in a way Dan hadn’t seen in months, since the night she’d forced him to watch some animated “masterpiece” with a princess swooning over some Dudley on a horse as big as a house. “It was so perfect,” she finally whispered. “And intense. And magical. And wonderful.”

  “Ohhhh.” Bella sighed too. “Yes!”

  “And safe?” Levi made the demand work despite the bright-blue handbag dangling off his elbow. “Sane? Consensual?”

  Of course it was.

  Before Dan knew it, he was snarling, too. Fuck. He rushed to amend, “You think I’d advise her otherwise?”

  “He followed all the essentials,” Tess assured them—before a wistful smile sneaked across her lips. “Went by the books. All of them. As for everything beyond that…”

  Bella grabbed both her hands. “Yeah? Don’t leave a girlfriend hanging!”

  Tess cocked her head. “Maybe it was just the allure of the mask.”

  “The mask? You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  “Not even my imagination is that good.” She let her head fall fully back. “And ohhh God, Bel…it was good. No. Better than that. There were times…when I couldn’t see the color in his eyes at all, just these glittering lights from behind the mask…and then just knew exactly how wicked he was going to be with me…” She glanced at Dan and Levi like a teen busted for breaking curfew. “Errr…TMI?”

  “A little,” Levi growled.

  “Just,” Dan concurred—or at least appeared to. Truth? Her moments of “TMI” were the few respites of heaven in this hell of living with the greatest lie he’d ever told. It became bearable when he watched the memories take over her face, saw the bliss wind through her body, heard the joy of submissiveness in her voice. Another Dom would now be the one taking care of her—he had no doubt she’d be quickly collared as the treasure she was—but he’d find solace in knowing he’d set her off in the right direction. It was his only choice.

  “Sorry,” Tess offered to all of them. “But it was incredible.” She slipped her hands from Bella’s grip. “No matter what you must be thinking right now.”

  The little fireball shot a dark frown. “What I must be thinking? Hmmm. You know the score that well, do you?”

  “Come on,” Tess countered. “Bella, I didn’t even know his name. Granted, he came with high credentials, but I took to calling him Sir Sexy. And he wore a damn mask.”

  Her friend smirked. “All sounds pretty hot to me. ‘Sir Sexy,’ huh? Did he earn it?”

  “Are you listening to me?” Tess leaned over, furiously whispering, “I let him get kinky with me, Bel. I mean, really kinky. Twice.”

  “And were you safe about it? Condoms? Lube where necessary?”

  Tess’s new blush was her most gorgeous of all. “Of course.”

  “So what’s the issue?”

  “I…well…”

  Bella wiggled her shoulders and flashed an impish grin. “Just tell me when you’re scheduled for a three-peat so I can vid-call your ass afterward.”

  “We’re not.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Not meant to be, I guess.”

  Every syllable of it was soaked in how deeply she disbelieved it—and how it crushed her to say it. Dan braced himself for the impact to his own gut. Plummeting from heaven to hell in less than ten seconds; there was something he could cross off the bucket list. Now he just had to add the burning fires of his own stupid mistakes. The new weight in Tess’s eyes told him the ordeal wasn’t far off.

  “The mask,” she went on. “I think there was a distinct reason for it. He has secrets, and they aren’t easy ones. I saw that much. I mean, I guess I did.” She kicked at the floor and waved a dismissive hand. “Whatever, right? It was amazing, and I’m thankful my first experience was so awesome, but it’s time to move on.” Her lips flattened, betraying how she fought like hell against more tears. “Then again, maybe that’s easier said than done.”

  Bella twisted their fingers together again. “Oh, Li’l T. I’m sorry. This sucks.”

  Tess dipped her head, trying to snuffle discreetly. “Now you understand why I’m such a huge mess.”

  “Stop,” Bella ordered. “We’re all messes, girl. Now figuring out the best cleanser for your chaos…that’s the tricky part.” She pulled back far enough to throw a telling glance at Dan and Levi. “In this instance, maybe we’ll start with some good Merlot.”

  If the cue was any clearer, it’d be a pair of tattoos on their foreheads. Dan let his friend nod the confirmation first. “Lead the way, superspook.” Levi swept out an arm and bowed, full of Rhett Butler flash once more. As Dan led the way to the small den around the corner that held the bar, he debated between calling the guy a dandy douche or just a lame suck-up.

  His ringing doorbell took the place of making a final choice.

  Before he took two steps toward the front door, it rang again. Then again. A trio of thumps on the portal followed right after.

  “Christ, Colton,” Levi grumbled. “Have you been out making trouble for the world again? Or did you just invite a circus troupe to dinner as well?”

  “Why not?” he retorted. “You’d look good in some tights, Cowell. Balancing on an elephant, yeah?”

  “That leaves the high wire and tutu for you, pretty boy.”

  Once Dan opened the door, he really did wish it was the circus.

  “John?” He clasped hands with the half-Samoan giant who filled his portal, outfitted differently than the black-and-gray club gear in which Dan had seen him a few nights ago. Franzen actually looked more daunting in his camouflage uniform and heavy boots, the stripes on his shoulder denoting him as Captain, the beret on his head adorned with the yellow flash of the First Special Forces Group.

  “Dan,” he responded—another incentive for his neck hairs to jolt up. Dan. Not “shithead” or “spook man” or “buddy.” The last time Franz had gone with “Dan,” they’d been gripping hands in the back of an air transport, a journey Dan barely remembered because half his face had just been fried off. Even so, his scars flared with phantom pain.

  He clenched his jaw to battle the ghosts as Franz invited himself into the foyer, followed by an equally tall guy with a jaw that matched his boxy crew cut. A shorter figure was behind them, outfitted in the black suit and white shirt of the Secret Service. Though that “uniform” was meant to make its wearers as “invisible” as possible, there was no way Dan ever dismissed it—

  Just in case it was filled by the feisty female who grinned at him now.

  With a moan of joy, he rushed her like a linebacker and embraced her like a favorite pillow. His chest burst. His throat constricted. “Hey, you little shit.”

  She laughed against his shoulder. “Hey, you big shit.”

  A not-so-discreet cough brought the world rushing back. Reluctantly, he stepped back—colliding with Tess as he did. With his brain already spinning, it was too huge an effort to hold himself back from the mos
t natural action in the world: wrapping an arm around her waist to steady them both. Too bad the haters were right about best-laid plans. The moment his hand pressed to the curve of her body, he wanted her closer—in about a hundred other places.

  “Ruby.” He dipped his voice on the endearment, needing her to feel her preferred status. “I’m honored to introduce—”

  “Shut. Up.” Tess shoved away from him to rush forward as he had. “Like you don’t have a baby sister photo shrine in the den.” She went in for one of her signature Tess hugs, brief but brutal, before greeting, “Hi, Devyn. It’s awesome to meet you. I’m—”

  “Shut. Up.” Devyn’s eyes sparkled, bright blue and sassy, as she turned the tables on Tess. “I know exactly who you are too. It’s great to meet you, despite the shitty circumstances.”

  More neck hairs on high alert. “What’s going on?” he charged. “It’s not Dad, is it?” It was his best guess, though Franz’s camos and the presence of the cube-head didn’t bear it out.

  “Dad’s fine.” The only assuring thing about Devyn’s statement were the words themselves. Her fidgeting fingers told a different story. Franz’s jumpy gaze only deepened the impression.

  What the hell?

  Devyn tugged on his elbow. “We’re here about something else, Dan.”

  “You don’t say,” he drawled.

  “Can we come in?” she pressed. “And talk someplace…quiet?” The glance she tossed at Levi and Bella all but bullhorned her subtext. Quiet, as in private.

  “Maybe a rain check is in order.” Levi wound a hand into Bella’s and then scooted around everyone with surprising grace, given his size. From the open doorway, he called, “Yo, asshat? We’ll be in town until Wednesday, at the Wynn. Call if you can.”

  “Sure, man.”

  After waving goodbye to the couple, he shut the door and returned to the living room, where everyone was filling in the blanks on the missing introductions. Since he had the advantage of knowing everyone but the cube-head, he cut to the chase and riveted his attention on the guy. It didn’t take Cary Grant too long to approach, hand extended. “Hi there. Caspar Menken. FBI.”