Craving (Steel Brothers Saga Book 1) (18 page)

“
W
here the hell
did you find this?” Jonah held the birth certificate, his eyes blazing.

“Jade and I did some investigating.”

“What the fuck?”

I warmed all over. This was clearly a family moment. I felt totally out of place. If a hole had swallowed me up, I would have been glad.

“Yeah.”

“Damn it, Marj, this isn’t funny. Tell me where you found this.”

“In the crawl space in the basement. Those old boxes of Dad’s that you always told me were nothing of importance.”

“They’re not.”

“Apparently they are. I don’t even know what my legal name is.”

He handed the birth certificate back to her. “I don’t know anything about this.”

Jonah’s words hung in the air.

Marj whipped her hands to her hips. “I don’t buy it, Joe. You know something. Clearly, my real name is Angela Marjorie Steel. I want to know why no one told me.”

“I don’t know. Maybe Mom and Dad had your name changed.”

“Why would they do that?”

Jonah shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me.”

“You’re lying,” Marj said, her dark eyes laced with anger. “Why didn’t Dad tell me what my real name was? Why didn’t
you
tell me?”

“It’s a nonissue, Marjorie. Leave it.”

“What exactly is the big deal here? It’s my name. It’s not some criminal record or anything horrible. I just want to know why no one told me what my name is. Is that so wrong?”

“Marj…”

“And while you’re at it, you can tell me why you always told me that Mom’s maiden name was Warren, but her marriage certificate to Dad says it’s Wade.”

Jonah widened his eyes. Only slightly, but I noticed. Had Marj noticed as well?

“Leave these things be,” Jonah said, his tone serious. “And don’t go snooping around anymore in that stuff.”

“I will snoop around as much as I want. This property is one quarter mine, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“No one has forgotten that. But I’m warning you. Don’t go snooping. It’s none of your business anyway, and you might not like what you find.”

I
lay in bed
, unable to sleep. The clock ticked by. Midnight. One a.m. One thirty. I could get up, get a cup of tea from the kitchen, but Talon wasn’t home. He wouldn’t be sitting at the table with his glass of water.

Finally, as I was drifting off to sleep, my door creaked open. I sat up quickly.

“Don’t be afraid. It’s just me, blue eyes.”

My eyes adjusted to the dark, and I looked up. Talon stood a few feet away from my bed, looking mussed and fatigued.

“Where have you been?” I asked.

“Grand Junction.”

“Why did you come back? Marjorie said you usually spend the night when you go to the city.”

“I wanted to see you.”

My heart jumped. “It’s the middle of the night, Talon.”

He raked his fingers through his gorgeous head of hair. “I know. I just…couldn’t wait.”

“I have work in the morning.”

“I know. I just…”

He looked so sad and forlorn that my heart went out to him. I patted my bed. “All right. Come on and sit down.”

He sat down and took my hand. He had never done that before. He stayed silent for several moments.

“So what is it?” I nudged him.

Again, he stayed silent. I squeezed his hand.

“I can’t do this,” he said.

As much as I needed to know what was on his mind, I knew better than to push Talon. We hadn’t known each other that long, but he would not respond well to pushing.

“All right,” I said. “Why don’t you lie down? You can stay here with me or go to your own room. Either way, you look like you could use some sleep.”

I lay back down, scooting over to make room for him in case he wanted to stay. I hoped he would stay. I couldn’t think of anything sweeter than sleeping in his arms.

“Could we have dinner tomorrow night?” he asked.

“Sure. You want to meet me after work?”

He shook his head. “Marj told me this morning that she’d be gone tomorrow evening.”

I nodded. “Yeah, she signed up for some kind of cooking class in Grand Junction. I’m so glad she’s finally pursuing her passion.”

“I want to have dinner here. Will you have dinner here with me?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Are you cooking?”

He smiled. “I wouldn’t subject you to that. I’ll have Felicia make something nice.”

I smiled. “That sounds great. Now if you’re not going to lie here with me, go to bed. You need to rest.”

He got up and left without saying another word.

I
spent
the next day at work on the computer, investigating. It wasn’t practicing law, but I was beginning to like the investigation portion of this job. I was learning a lot, and with the Internet and social media, I could track down almost anything.

Larry left at five and told me to go ahead and take off as well, so I did. I wanted to go home and shower and change before my dinner with Talon.

An hour later, I was combing out my wet hair and putting on a slinky sundress when a knock sounded on my door.

Talon was the only one home. “Yeah?” I said.

He opened the door. “Dinner is ready.” Roger panted happily at his feet.

“Okay. Can you wait a few minutes? I just need to dry my hair.”

“Your hair looks great.”

I laughed. “It’s wet, Talon. I just got out of the shower.”

“Are you kidding? It’s sexy as hell.”

Men certainly had interesting taste sometimes. “Okay. If you say so.” I smiled. “Let’s go to the kitchen.”

“We’re not eating in the kitchen.”

“In the formal dining room? Just the two of us?”

He shook his head. “We’re dining in my bedroom.”

My skin pricked. Obviously, he had more than dinner on his mind, and that was fine with me. He didn’t take my hand as he had last night. I simply followed him across the house to his suite.

“Oh!” A small table had been set up, complete with fine china and candlelight. “This is lovely. Did Felicia set this up for you?”

He shook his head. “No. I did it myself.”

“Wow.” I was stunned. “It’s really beautiful, Talon.”

He pulled out a chair. “Have a seat.”

I sat, and he poured me a glass of red wine.

“This is Ryan’s top-of-the-line Cabernet Sauvignon. This particular bottle has been aged ten years. I hope you like it.”

“Are you having any?”

“I will with dinner. I prefer a good strong whiskey as an aperitif. This is Peach Street, made in a bourbon style right here on the western slope.” He lifted his old-fashioned glass.

I took a sip of the wine. “Delicious. Berries on the nose, with some subtle black pepper and cinnamon.”

“Ryan taught you well.”

“I enjoyed working with him a lot. In fact, I miss it. Though I’m enjoying my new job as an attorney.”

“I’m glad you’re happy there.”

Small talk. I was dying to know what he had wanted to tell me last night. “So what did you want to talk to me about?” I asked.

“Let’s have our dinner first.”

Fine. I could wait. “What’s on the menu?”

He lifted the silver dome from my plate. “Tenderloin with green peppercorn sauce, broccoli rabe, rosemary polenta, and a sunflower seed baguette.”

I inhaled. “It smells great.” I took another sip of wine. “Felicia must’ve really outdone herself.”

“I asked her to make something special, and this is what she came up with.”

“Special indeed. Although any of her delicious meals would have sufficed. She’s a wonderful cook.”

Now I was making small talk. But we had to talk about something while we ate.

Talon picked up a steak knife and cut a piece of meat. “How was your day?”

“Good. A lot of investigating on the computer. Next week I’ll probably have to do some footwork for a new case. I’m sure glad today is Friday. I can use a day off.”

More small talk. How could we have so little to say to each other? Was sex all there was between us?

No. There was more. So much more. Love.

For the first time, I admitted it to myself. I had fallen in love with Talon. It scared the hell out of me, but it was the truth. Sometimes we were so close I felt like we were one person. And other times, like now, he was miles away, across from me at the table. His walls were up, and the only time he let me through them was when we were intimate.

I looked down at my plate. My filet was cooked to perfection—rare, just how I liked it. The red juice meandered into my polenta. I mashed the polenta with my fork.

Marj’s birth certificate popped into my mind. Jonah had told us to leave it be, but maybe Talon knew something.

“Talon?”

“Yeah?” He took a bite of steak, chewed, and swallowed.

“Marj and I found her birth certificate the other day.”

“So?”

“Well, it’s kind of confusing. It says her name is Angela Marjorie Steel. But she says you guys always told her that her first name was Marjorie and she had no middle name.”

He was quiet a moment. Then, “Why do you care?”

“I would think that’s obvious. She cares because it’s her name. I care because I care about her. We asked Jonah about it, but he wouldn’t tell us anything. He told us not to go snooping or we’d find things we didn’t want to know.”

He looked down at his plate. “If I were you, I’d take Joe’s advice.”

“Do you know anything about it?”

“I’ll just echo Joe’s sentiments. Leave it alone.”

“That’s not fair. Marj only wants to know who she is.”

“She knows who she is. She’s Marjorie Steel. She’s my sister. She owns a quarter of the goddamned richest ranch in Colorado. What the hell more does she need to know?”

“Well, her name for one.”

He raised his gaze and glared at me. “Don’t push this, Jade.”

“So you’re going to clam up, just like your brother. Great. Something is going on around here, Talon, and if you don’t want me to know about it, that’s one thing. But Marj is your sister.”

“Marj is better off. She has a great life. She doesn’t want it screwed up.”

“But, Talon—”

His fist came down on the table, jarring my plate of food. He stood. “Damn it, Jade. Don’t push it,” he said through clenched teeth. He came toward me, grabbed my arm, and jerked me into a standing position.

“But—”

His mouth came down on mine violently.

I responded to him as I always did. Our bodies were drawn together, our lips perfect matches for each other’s. I opened to him, and his tongue dived into my mouth. We kissed with passion, with fervor, our mouths open and clamped together.

When he finally broke the kiss and we both gasped in much-needed breaths, he trailed his lips to my ear.

“You’re the only thing I’ve ever wanted in my life,” he whispered.

“What?” I gasped. My heart was beating a mile a minute, stampeding against my chest. My breath was coming in rapid puffs. I couldn’t breathe. What had he said?

“You, blue eyes. You are the only thing I’ve ever wanted.”

His lips came down on mine again. We kissed and we kissed, and he edged me toward his bed.

Within seconds, we were lying together, still fully clothed, making out on his bed like a couple of sex-starved teenagers. Our mouths were melded together. Boiling honey flowed through my veins.

He cupped one breast and found my nipples through my sundress as he continued to violently love my mouth.

My body quivered. I was ready for him. My pussy pulsed, and I knew I was wet.

“You,” he said, panting. “You. All the other women. Never one of them. Just took what they gave freely. But you…you…”

“Talon…”

“You, Jade. I want you.”

“Then take me. Take me tonight. Make me yours.”

He grimaced. “Can’t. Can’t. Can’t make you mine. You don’t want to be mine.”

“I want to be yours,” I said.

“You don’t. You can’t. I can’t have you.”

“Talon, I’m right here. You
have
me.”

He looked at me for a moment, his eyes on fire, but something clawed at him. He was scared.

“Whatever it is, Talon, we can face it together. Let me help you.”

“Need you. Need to be inside you. Need you to take the demons away.” His body trembled.

He needed me to take the lead this time. I sensed it, knew it in my very soul. I moved away from his body, sat up, pulled my sundress over my head, and tossed it on the floor. I hadn’t worn a bra, and my nipples were already stiff and hard. I flipped my sandals off and removed my thong. Then I slowly began to unbutton his burgundy cotton shirt. With each button, I exposed more of his beautiful bronze skin, and my pussy throbbed harder.

I eased the shirt over his shoulders, helped him pull his arms out, and discarded the garment. I unbuckled his belt, and though I wanted to strip him naked quickly, climb on top of him, and fuck his brains out, I went slowly. I needed to calm him down. Slowly, each tooth of the zipper released, and I moved down to the foot of his bed and pulled off his boots and socks. Then I pulled his jeans over his legs and finally removed his boxers. He was erect, as big and proud as I’d ever seen him, a pearl of pre-come beading on his slit. His black nest of pubic hair drew me, and I bent down and inhaled his musky maleness.

“You’re so beautiful, Talon. Every part of you. I’ve never seen a more beautiful man. Never.”

I kissed the tip of his dick, and then I kissed his abdomen, trailing my tongue up the hard muscled bronze to his copper nipples. I flicked my tongue over one of them, and he jerked.

I kissed up to his shoulders up his neck to his earlobe. I sucked it into my mouth and gave it a tug.

“Let me take care of you,” I whispered into his ear. “Please. I want this.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, and the beginning of a tear emerged in the corner of one.

“Don’t fight this, baby. I’ve got you. I’ll take care of you.” I kissed around the outer shell of his ear, pushed my tongue inside a few times.

He shivered and sighed. I moved away from his head for a moment and threaded my fingers into his gorgeous mop of hair. I combed my fingers through it, massaging his scalp, digging my fingernails in just a little.