Afterlife

Page 18

 

  “Sorry. ” Jon pushed it aside. “I think Nelson"s stats on the start-up—”

  “Cut the bull. What"s going on?”

  Jon gave him a tight smile. “I was going to ask you the same. You already know everything we"ve been discussing, backward and forward. You"re babysitting me.

  Why?”

  “I watch your back. Same as you watch mine. It"s what we do. ” Matt kept that gaze pinned on him. “Jon. ”

  He was the leader of their unique alpha pack for a reason. Jon lifted a shoulder.

  “She"s divorced. Has been for years. ”

  “I know. Dana filled us in last night when we all met for dinner. All of us but you.

  Peter said he figured you were going after her, from the look he saw in your eyes when Dana told you. ”

  “Has he spilled yet?”

  Jon glanced toward the new voice. Lucas had appeared in his doorway, one shoulder against the doorjamb. Matt"s right hand and CFO was also an amateur cyclist.

  It showed in the roped strength of his body. Because he was getting ready for another of his marathons, his sandy brown hair was cropped short. The discipline and focus in his silver-gray gaze said he was ready for the competition.

  Jon wasn"t surprised at his timing. He was just surprised that Ben and Peter weren"t here with him. The almost psychic bond the five of them shared was one he"d stopped questioning a long time ago. He turned back to the window. “Should have known you"d be in on this. I missed it. Missed that she was fooling me. ”

  “Doesn"t all that karma and spiritual bullshit you study say that things happen for a reason?” Lucas stepped farther into the room, slid a hip on the top edge of the sofa, close to where Matt"s palm rested on it. “Maybe you needed all these months to get to know her a little bit, to make the next step easier. From what Dana said, she"s a lady who"s been burned badly. A lot like Savannah. ” He looked at Matt as he referenced their boss"s wife, then added, “She wasn"t as easy to sweep off her feet as Cassie was. ”

  “I"m going to tell Cass you said that and watch her chew you into little pieces. ” Despite the weight of his thoughts, Jon"s lips curved in an ironic smile as Peter"s voice reached them, heralding his arrival a few steps behind Lucas. It was his first easy feeling of the morning. “You all have a bug in my office too?”

  “Nope. We just know when you have one up your ass. ” As Jon turned, he saw the former National Guard captain, an Afghanistan veteran, cross his massive arms and lean in the doorway Lucas had vacated.

  The Knights of the Boardroom. Jon wasn"t sure if their armor was as polished as the media"s mawkish name for them implied. They were more like a wolf pack, bound by primal instinct and animal intuition. All of them hardcore sexual Dominants, with varying styles. They were his friends, but far more than that. Not exactly brothers, because siblings didn"t usually share the types of things they did, but brethren, for certain.

  The surface history was that they had built K&A to success together. When they went into business deals together, they were unbeatable. However, what simmered beneath the surface was that their minds were remarkably synchronized. They didn"t share the same viewpoints, but their viewpoints often hooked like puzzle pieces.

  Though he was the youngest next to Ben, he"d identified the inexplicable draw between them first, helping forge that bond years ago. It was more than the sexual Dominance.

  That was merely the base catalyst that had opened their eyes to other remarkable common traits.

  None of them had siblings, and they"d all lost their parents too young. More than once, they"d pulled each other out of the fire of personal tragedies. Like the psychic connections of twins, they could anticipate one another"s needs over distances. Or across the space between their corner offices, like now. They knew when one of them might be in trouble, whether or not the stubborn bastard was willing to ask for help.

  They shared the same moral code in their professional and personal lives, toward women and each other. When one of them found the woman he wanted to make his permanently—which, no surprise, had happened to three of them within the past couple of years—they came together the same way they did in business. They used every resource they had to close the deal. From the moment the claim was made and accepted, that woman was part of all of them. Theirs to pleasure, when her Master offered the privilege. To protect, even when he didn"t. And to love, no matter what. So the pack had expanded. Where they"d each had no immediate family, they now had one that commanded unshakable loyalty from each of them.

  Though the other four badgered him mercilessly about what they called his New Age bullshit observations, Jon knew they didn"t necessarily disagree with them. They"d been born at different times, places and circumstances, but now it seemed inevitable that they"d found each other. The universe was like that.

  “So what"s the main problem?” Matt took the natural lead as Jon settled on the edge of his desk, trying to settle his mind in the same way.

  “My dick. ”

  It surprised them, he could tell. Of all of them, he was the one least likely to resort to crudity. “I went there worked up, because she"d kept me off her scent all that time.

  But once I was there…I wasn"t sure how far I"d get with her. I was trying to establish how deep her submission ran. ”

  He paused, met Peter"s gaze. “Unlike Savannah and Cass, who really didn"t recognize their submission for what it was, I think Rachel"s even more hardcore than Dana. She"s gone for years knowing it, playing it out in her head without doing anything about it. It"s pretty obvious her husband wasn"t a Dom, and all signs suggest he didn"t handle it well. Though that can happen, no fault to him, he abused her trust, left her damaged. Her confidence is for shit and she"s way too fragile. Whatever happened in her marriage, he did a real number on her. ” Matt and Ben already knew about the Club More incident, because he"d filled them in as he told Leland he would. But as he related the bare bones of it, and some of his other general impressions, he saw the same hardness enter Peter"s and Lucas"

  expressions that had entered theirs. No man in this room would tolerate a woman being mistreated, emotionally or physically. Dana had picked on them the most about it, called them a bunch of overprotective sexist Neanderthals. But there it was.

  “I know her, but I know nothing about her. She"s that closed off. I wasn"t a complete idiot this time. I cleared it with Matt to have Shelley keep an eye on her, and she"ll do a discreet tail if she leaves to make sure she"s okay until I can go see her today. ” He scowled, shook his head. “I told Rachel to come here, but I don"t know if she will. After I left, it probably took all of thirty minutes for her shields to go up again. ”

  “So burn them down next time. Ashes are a lot harder to reassemble. ” Jon flashed a grim smile at Matt"s flat comment. “That worked for Savannah because she"s as ruthless as you are. Plus, at a subconscious level, she already trusted you. Rachel"s got a lot going on in her head. She doesn"t trust anyone, even herself. I won"t completely kick the chair out from under her until I"m certain she knows that I"ll be there to catch her. I don"t want to make what"s already damaged worse. ” The men exchanged a significant look, then Lucas grinned. “The universe has aligned. Scorpio is in Pisces, or however the hell he"d say it. This is the one for him. ” Jon"s brow rose. “What are you talking about?”

  “You know exactly what he"s talking about. ” Peter shook his head. “You probably knew it the second you found out she wasn"t married. ” Matt nodded despite Jon"s bland expression. “I"ve seen that look twice before. The first time was the night Lucas threw down his poker chips and said Cass would agree to marry him in twenty-four hours. ”

  “Cocky bastard,” Peter snorted.

  Lucas shrugged but memory gleamed in his eye. “It worked. ”

  “With considerable help. Shock-and-awe tactics, bicycle boy. ” Lucas bared his teeth as Matt shifted his focus to Peter. “You were the second time.


  When you came back from Afghanistan and found out Dana was hurt and alone, you didn"t even put down your duffle bag before you were back out the door. ”

  “Three times,” Jon amended, conceding with a smile. “The night you told us you were tired of dicking around, that you were going after Savannah with the whole fucking arsenal, quote, unquote. ”

  Matt inclined his head again, mouth set in a determined line. “Each of us may not know her name, but the moment she sets foot on our stage, we recognize her right off.

  Your whole life—every skill you"ve learned, as a Dom and as a member of this company—has prepared you to go after her. And you know exactly what kind of assets you have at your disposal. ”

  “A whole fucking arsenal,” Jon muttered. “Speaking of which, we"re one short. ”

  “I"m here. ” Ben"s voice drifted around the corner. “Too much ball-and-chain testosterone in that room. I"m staying clear so I don"t get caught in the epidemic. But if you need the kind of help I"m better equipped to provide than any of the rest, you know where to find me. ”

  “He means his ego, which is the size of Texas,” Lucas put in.

  “Not only my ego,” Ben rebounded. Jon heard the snick of a laptop closing and then Ben appeared, flanking Peter. His emerald green eyes, impeccably tailored suit and sharply styled black hair made him every inch the legal pit bull Matt paid him to be.

  The surge of reassurance was something Jon could admit—at least to himself—he needed. He had the head of the pack, the calculations wizard, the operations genius and the cutthroat lawyer on his side. And, from a woman"s point of view, that was the least of their combined gifts. As Matt had pointed out, he had a unique set of backup resources, ones he had a feeling would mesh well with Rachel"s as-yet-untapped gifts.