A Little Harmless Rumor Page 3

  She sighed. Truth was, her father had been scarce for months, although that was nothing new. From the moment she found out Royce was her father, they had both been avoiding each other. They worked together, but she had made it clear she wanted no one else to know about it. Sean finding out was something very odd. Her father wasn’t always the best man to do business with, but he was respectful of her wishes. Or she thought she he had been.

  “When were you going to tell me?”

  She turned around and found Randy standing in the doorway. Damn SEAL. He was always sneaking up on her that way, but she couldn’t be mad at him. She could hear the anger in his voice, but there was a thread of hurt. It was the last thing she wanted to do to him.

  “I don’t know if I would have ever. It’s not like he’s really a father to me.”

  “He’s your father.”

  She nodded. How did she explain something so buggered up?

  Randy crossed his arms and waited. Gone was the teasing lover she was so accustomed to. This was the man she usually spent time with in the field. This man made demands, and if you didn’t live up to them, he left you.

  “Yes.”

  “Are you really going to make me interrogate you?”

  He would do it too. Randy could be very gentle, but when he was hurt, he tended to lash out. Worse, he always regretted it. It was better to just give in and talk about it.

  She sighed and walked to the door. “I was raised an orphan, you know that.”

  “So, you were truthful about that.”

  She hated the tone of his voice. Randy didn’t trust easily, especially after Sean and everything they had been through. It had taken her months just to gain his trust so they could work together. Accomplishing the same in their personal relationship had been almost impossible.

  And now it could all be lost.

  “I didn’t know Royce was my father. He didn’t know. He had known my mother, or who he thought was my mother. It’s why he hired me, trained me.” And she still owed him for that. He had given her a way out of the poverty she had been so accustomed to. “He didn’t put the two things together because…well, he’s Royce. You know he doesn’t deal with consequences well.”

  He nodded. “How did you find out?”

  “He found out. There was a situation…you know, the shooting.”

  He nodded. “And you needed a blood transfusion. That was when Sean and I were on our first mission together.”

  When the two men had become lovers. Of course, that had to be brought up. Today just kept getting better and better. “Yes. I almost died.”

  There was a beat of silence. “You said it wasn’t that bad.”

  “That’s just…I told you before I knew you well enough. I didn’t want to remember anything about that job.” She could sometimes still hear the noise of the explosion, knowing she had lost her target…and the man she was supposed to protect. There were times she could feel the bullet ripping through her body, tearing through her flesh.

  “Even that you are Lassiter’s child?”

  “Especially that. I have B negative blood and I needed some. I was working that job with Royce. When he found out we had the same blood type, he started to investigate. Then, he had our DNA tested.”

  “He did this without telling you?”

  She glanced over her shoulder at him. It still angered her that Royce had done all of it without her approval. The men in her life always seemed to be doing that. “Yes. You know the man.”

  He sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She heard the pain, and she hated that the news had hurt him. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to. At first, I wasn’t ready to. You have this great family, and I have Royce and a mother who abandoned me. I felt…inferior.”

  Understanding filled his gaze. He knew just how hard it was for her to say that, and she rarely shared. It was her love for him that had made it easier for her.

  “I don’t know how Sean found out. Royce must have told him.”

  Randy sighed again, then walked over to her. He stood behind her and, without hesitation, pulled her back against him into his arms. His warmth surrounded her, as did his love. They stood that way for a very long time. She could hear the waves from the ocean and smell the salt air. It had always been easy to talk to Randy, even about things like this. He accepted her as if they were the same. Probably because Randy did see them as the same. Her background wasn’t important to him.

  “More than likely, Royce told him. The last year or so those two have been thick as thieves.”

  “Yes,” she said. She thought about how secretive Royce had been in the last few months. There was something going on, something that both of them were keeping from her.

  “What are you thinking?”

  She smiled and leaned her head back against his shoulder. “It’s nice that you know me so well. I am thinking that those two are hiding something. Royce is never off the grid for me. I haven’t been able to get hold of him for weeks. The office just keeps telling me that he’s on a job.”

  “When was the last time he was on the job?” Randy murmured.

  “Exactly. Something is up, and it all has to do with what happened in Thailand.”

  They stood there together, silent, and she knew his mind was turning over the problem.

  “We have only one option.“

  “And that would be?” she asked.

  “Our only way of finding out is making Sean tell one of us.”

  She snorted. “Good luck with that.”

  “He’s our only source. You know he hasn’t told anyone else if we hadn’t heard about the burning. He’s lain low—well, as low as you can in a multi-million dollar house. Since we know Lassiter won’t be truthful with us, we’ll have to get it out of Sean.”

  Which was going to be a bloody pain. The man held onto so many secrets, he didn’t know how to be truthful even if his life depended on it. But then again, it is one of the reasons he had survived as long as he did.

  “True, but it isn’t going to be easy.”

  Randy nodded. “Now, which one of us is going to deal with the dragon?”

  * * *

  Sean hung up and frowned again. Days now, and he could not get hold of her. Emma knew she should be answering, but getting her to do anything was like trying to get honesty from a politician. He had no real indication that they had been found out, but his gut was telling him something was about to happen. He didn’t know exactly what, but he did know that things had gone on for too long. Like with his first job with Randy, he knew something was off about the situation.

  He walked over to the balcony of his room. They had been home hours, and he had avoided dealing with both Randy and Jaime. It was easy enough. He’d pissed them both off in some way. After breakfast, he had stayed in his room, working on his laptop and avoiding both of his ex-lovers.

  “You were always good at brooding,” Randy said from behind him.

  Sean didn’t glance around at him. He had been dealing with the issue of Randy and Jaime for a couple of years now, but he didn’t want to deal with it in his own house. Of course, he rarely got what he wanted.

  He thought he had dealt with the sense of betrayal and jealousy, but at the moment, he couldn’t seem to shake it.

  “No comment?” Randy asked.

  He didn’t answer right away. Sean wanted to make sure he didn’t say something he would regret. He’d already done enough damage for the day.

  “I didn’t think you needed one.”

  “You were also good at being an asshole.”

  He turned to face his old lover. “I am. So why are you two here and worried about me?”

  Frustration marred his pretty face. The man really was gorgeous. Just like all those years ago, he reminded Sean of a California beach hunk. There were a few more laugh lines around his mouth and those sexy wrinkles around his eyes. It wasn’t fair that the man just kept getting better looking by the year.

  “Fuck
, I don’t know. Why do you think?”

  The irritation wasn’t new. Sean had caused enough in the last few years, but the pain he saw was different. He didn’t want to deal with it, but at the moment, Sean was at a loss on how to avoid it.

  “I really don’t know. It’s as if the two of you think I need to be taken care of.”

  “Fuck, I always forget how frustrating you are.”

  Sean found his first real smile in hours. “It’s amazing how many times you seem to forget that.”

  Unfortunately, Randy did not return the smile like he had in the past.

  “Are you really that stupid that you don’t know why we are here? Why we actually ask to work with you?”

  They asked to work with him? That information knocked him off center and, of course, Randy picked up on it.

  “Ah, so you didn’t know that.”

  Sean shook his head, not breaking eye contact.

  Randy’s features seemed to soften, and the hard gleam in his eyes faded. “Well we do.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  Randy shoved his hand through his hair. “You are such an asshole.”

  “You just said that.”

  Randy growled and Sean tried to ignore the arousal that spiked in his blood. “We do it because we care about you. The last few years, you’ve been taking too many chances. Like this job that got you burned.”

  “I didn’t get burned.” The moment he said that, he regretted it. He needed to keep up the façade, to continue on as he had the last few months. It was the only way to make sure he kept Emma safe.

  “You haven’t worked for months. That is getting burned.”

  Dammit, he was sick and tired of that lie. He’d built a reputation and he had thrown the match to it. His reasons were honorable, and he didn’t regret them. Still, after a decade of building a status in the security business, it was difficult to deal with.

  “Nothing to say? So, you are okay with letting your life go to shit?”

  Anger boiled in his gut. Sean opened his mouth to fire back at Randy, but he snapped it shut. Telling Randy would put him in danger. It would also put Jaime in peril, because Randy would open his big mouth.

  “What?” Randy asked.

  Sean shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. It was the only thing he could do.

  Randy stomped closer and took him by the arms to shake him. He did it with such force that Sean felt as if his teeth had been rattled. Suddenly, Randy stopped, pulled him close, and slammed his mouth down on Sean’s. The kiss wasn’t teasing or even sexy, but more of a statement. Randy thrust his tongue inside of Sean’s. He tasted of coffee and seduction. That was all it took. His mind whirled as his body responded. Randy cupped Sean’s face, deepening the kiss. He needed this. It had been months since he had even wanted another lover.

  As fast as it had started, Randy moved away. They were both gulping in deep breaths of air.

  “What the fuck was that about?”

  Randy took a moment or two before he answered. “You were always a smart man. Figure it out.”

  “How do you think Jaime would feel about all this?”

  Something moved over Randy’s expression that Sean could not seem to decipher. Then, Randy looked back to the door. Jaime stood there, leaning against the doorjamb. Randy turned back to Sean.

  “I have a feeling she’s okay with it.” Randy cocked his head and studied him. “No comment?”

  He said nothing, because he couldn’t form a syllable. His brain had shut down as hormones pumped through him. Randy trailed one finger down Sean’s cheek, then along his jaw. Without another word, he joined Jaime, and they walked out of the room together.

  Sean stood there, irritated, confused, and with a fucking hard-on the size of Texas. It definitely hadn’t been his year.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Sean decided he needed something to keep his mind occupied. But, what? He tried calling the Big Island, but, again, no answer. Dammit, the people he cared about in his life were all driving him insane. How was he supposed to get any kind of work done as he sat around waiting for this to end? Add in Randy and Jaime arriving after his drunken night, and he really thought he deserved a gold medal for not shooting someone.

  What the fuck was he going to do to get them the hell out of there? He couldn’t even pretend to be doing illegal jobs. The two of them would just work harder to find out what was going on so they could save him from himself. His whole adult life felt like that. People who loved him tried to tell him how to live his life. None of them knew just what went on in his head. Worse, some of his tendencies for secrecy and rudeness came about because of those relationships. His father abandoning him, his stepfather disowning him because of his bisexuality, Jaime…then Randy to an extent.

  Okay, Randy was partly his fault. After Jaime had walked away from him, Sean had gotten secretive—even for another person in the security business. He couldn’t allow himself to be hurt again, so he had done everything in his power to drive Randy away. Then, when Sean had asked for more, Randy hadn’t been able to give it to him.

  He shook his head and went into his bathroom. He needed something to cool himself off. A dip in the pool would normally do it, but Sean wanted to avoid both of them. It’s was cowardly, but it was all in the name of self-preservation. He needed to get his head screwed back on straight, and then he could face them again.

  * * *

  Randy led them to what he assumed was a guest room. It’s where he had dropped their bags earlier. He’d decided that asking would be a mistake. When Sean dug in his heels, he would disagree just to disagree. So, to save them all the trouble of another fight, he decided to just grab one of the rooms. He figured at some point, they would sort it out from there.

  “You want something to drink?” Jaime asked.

  He shook his head.

  “I’m going to grab some tea and be right back up. You stay away from him and we’ll sort it out.”

  “I’m wondering if we can actually do that.”

  He walked over to the balcony and looked out at the ocean. The scene below was a balm to his irritated senses. Randy hated that he’d lost his temper. It was one thing he had learned to control, but Sean always seemed to push his buttons—in more ways than one. As he studied the grounds surrounding the house, he started to wonder just how the hell Sean could afford the house, but he knew better than to ask. Part of him didn’t want to know. He didn’t even want to think of what his friend did for the money. Sean had always had standards, but when you are cut off from your only way of making money, sometimes a person did things they normally would not have.

  “You might need to tone it down, Randy,” Jaime said, breaking into his thoughts.

  He glanced over his shoulder at her. “That’s a turn of events.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “You telling me to tone it down. It’s usually the other way around.”

  She hesitated, then said, “I don’t always like when you two butt heads. I’m used to Sean being loud, but you’re usually so laid back.”

  Randy shrugged. “Being nice isn’t working with him.”

  It never did when he was like this. Although, Randy couldn’t remember when Sean had been quite this bad.

  “You shouldn’t have pushed him.”

  Randy knew she was right, and it just made him madder. Pushing Sean could always end badly for everyone involved. Granted, it didn’t help that he was horny as fucking hell. Teasing Sean had left him in the same state of arousal. That just added another edge to his temper. He hated that things were like this now, but he couldn’t fix what had gone wrong before. What he could do was fight for Sean.

  “He needed it.”

  She sighed. “One of the things I have loved the most about you was that you were always so calm. But every now and then, you get all hot under the collar and I have to tell you, it makes me hot.”

  He slanted her a look. “Why is everything sexual to you?”

  Sh
e shrugged and offered him that sexy little smile that always got to him. “Around you that is just the way it is.”

  He slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her closer. She pressed up tight against him, and sighed. Her breath feathered over his skin just beneath his earlobe. It was definitely a trigger point for him and she knew it. The breath was followed by her tongue.

  Her scent surrounded her. Jaime wasn’t a woman who wore a lot of perfume, but there was the scent of her rose soap, and then the woman beneath that. Sultry and sweet.

  He turned his head to capture her mouth. It was at that moment he realized he needed this…needed to be with her. Turning, he pulled her against him, and she responded immediately. It was always like this.

  He backed her off the lanai, into the room and then onto the bed. She fell back easily. Placing his hands on either side of her head, he lowered himself on top of her. He kissed her nose, then started working his way down her body. She was wearing a t-shirt, so it was easy to yank free. Of course, she wasn’t wearing a bra. She rarely did whenever they were in a tropical climate on vacation. He tossed the garment on the floor and she giggled. The sound captured him as it always did. She did not get the chance to be girly enough but when she was, it made his heart sing.

  He dipped his head and teased her breasts, first licking then grazing his teeth over the tips. He then kissed down her stomach, enjoying the way her muscles quivered beneath his mouth. He untied her lava wrap, and smiled when it revealed she wasn’t wearing any panties.

  He dropped down onto his knees on the floor and placed a hand on each of her inner thighs. Her sex was slick with her arousal. He leaned close and slipped his tongue into her pussy. He teased her, adding first one finger, then another.

  He left his fingers inside of her, but moved his mouth away. He looked up at her. “Do not come.”

  She moaned but didn’t say anything.

  “Jaime, do not come.”

  He watched as she struggled to open her eyes. When she finally did, she met his gaze. One little nod was all it took for him to know she was agreeing to the order.