Authors: R. G. Alexander
Dirty Delilah.
Asa’s voice was so clear in her head she panicked, struggling in Sebastian’s embrace until he let her go. She splashed through the water and out of the pool, grabbing the towel and burying her face inside the comforting terry cloth. Crying again. “Damn it.”
“Not to make light, but that isn’t the usual reaction my seduction attempts engender.”
She shook her head, still covered by the towel. “I’m sorry, Sebastian. I shouldn’t have…that shouldn’t have happened.”
“There is no ‘shouldn’t’ here,” he corrected. “It isn’t happening at the moment. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Or it
shouldn’t
happen.”
She sniffed. “Usually a woman has to wait at least forty-eight hours between sexual partners. I think it’s called the Slut Rule.”
Sebastian chuckled, but she wasn’t laughing.
Had she lied to Asa without knowing it last night? Was she like her mother, so quickly on to some new shiny toy? So easily seduced? “I should go.”
“
Should
again,” Sebastian sighed. “Delilah look at me.” He waited until she lowered the towel. “I want you. There’s no use hiding it. I have from the moment I saw you yesterday, and perhaps this is my ego talking, but I usually get what I want.”
She snorted at that. “I believe you.”
He nodded. “I want you, but I won’t pursue that today. I’ll give you what I promised–relaxation and avoidance, good food, good conversation—and in a day or two, as per your rule, I will try again.”
“Even though you know I was with Asa? Or
because
I was with him? You two seem to be competing in more than just the purchase of my father’s garage. Am I another trophy, Sebastian?”
He lifted his eyebrow, his lips thinning. “That question is beneath us both, but I’ll answer it anyway. Asa and I are…battling wills, yes. But I do not believe either of us would use you in such a way. And I believe you know that. It’s clear we both want you. You’ll have to decide which one of us can give you what
you
want.”
She couldn’t doubt the sincerity in his voice. Or the indignation. “I’m sorry about the trophy thing.”
He crossed his arms. “Yes, you should be. Let me show you the sauna. Maybe the steam will clear your head.”
“You have a
sauna
?”
His lips twitched. “Of course I do. I think there might be a bowling alley somewhere inside the house as well, but I haven’t found it yet. Maybe we’ll hunt for it later.”
Sebastian Kosta was a charmer.
Decide which one of us can give you what you want.
Was that all? What she wanted couldn’t currently be trusted, because she was with Sebastian…and wishing Asa were here too.
She
was
dirty. And she was definitely in trouble.
Chapter Six
It had been three days since she’d seen Asa. The first day she’d spent at Sebastian’s house and he’d honored his word—no more flirting. She’d laughed more than she had in a long time, and discovered that, despite Asa’s help on the KII, Sebastian was a genius in his own right.
His projects were visionary. Crazy Batman-Tesla hybrid machines that were the perfect combination of flash and speed. That was his true obsession, he admitted. More than engineering or design…the man just loved going fast. He’d paid to be flown in the fastest jets, he owned his own racecar, and he had a drool-worthy collection of motorcycles in his garage.
They’d talked for hours. He ordered food from her favorite Italian bistro and they’d shared an indulgent amount of tiramisu while watching a reality show about choppers on his theater screen of a television.
At some point in the afternoon she’d fallen asleep. When she woke she was covered in a blanket, and Sebastian had her feet on his lap, rubbing them absently as he stared at the screen.
It was more than nice. It was tempting.
When she’d gone into the repair shop the next day, her loins girded, the Major and Angel had told her that Asa had decided to personally deliver a motorcycle to a customer in Santa Cruz.
She was grateful for the reprieve, she’d told herself more than once. Grateful to spend time with the old men—and with the eighteen-year-old boy who was learning all about motorcycles from the masters. He’d only stopped looking at her breasts when she fixed Angel’s engine issues with a drilled-out pair of pliers to tweak the timing.
Sebastian had taken her out to dinner to celebrate.
Today Asa would be here. And, after hearing the concern in her father’s voice last night, she knew she would have to get down to business. To make her decision.
About the garage? Or the men?
Either way, it was a shitty job.
Sebastian met her in the parking lot and pulled her affectionately into his arms. “Good morning, Delilah. Did you sleep well in that lumpy hotel bed? Less turning?”
She smiled. “Less tossing.”
He laughed, his dark eyes shining through his glasses. “It has now been well over forty-eight hours.”
Delilah shook her head. “Like a dog with a bone, aren’t you?”
“I will try to take that as a compliment.”
“You should.”
His voice lowered. “Yes?”
She stepped back. “No. I mean, I’m not implying anything other than admiration for your determination.”
“Yet.”
Delilah reached up, still having to stand on tiptoe in her heels, to kiss his cheek. “I do like your style.”
“Del?”
Asa’s voice had their smiles disappearing. Sebastian turned to face him, an expression of grim anticipation on his handsome face. “Good morning, Wilder.”
Asa didn’t look at him, but he acknowledged his presence. “And to you, Zorba. Hey, I was wondering, would you like to know why your engine still sounds like a cat in heat?”
Delilah opened her mouth to stop Asa from embarrassing him, but Sebastian’s words silenced her. “You know I would. Isn’t that why I offered to buy the garage in the first place?”
Asa nodded. “Then I suggest you hop in your expensive foreign car and head back to your house. Delilah and I will be right behind you.”
Sebastian hesitated, studying both of them for long, tense moments before he nodded. “I’ll be waiting.”
She watched Sebastian disappear, her eyebrows lowered so far down it was making her head hurt. “What just happened? What did he mean?”
“Give me your keys, Del.”
No
. “I need them.”
“Now, Delilah.”
“Really?
Now
? What am I two-years-old? I can—”
“The boys are watching.”
Delilah looked over his shoulder to see the Major and Angel wearing matching expressions of interest and groaned.
She handed Asa her keys. “What now?”
He was already striding toward the driver’s side of her Mustang. “Get in the car, close the door, and buckle up.”
She was grumbling under her breath as she did what he asked, aware of their audience. “Buckle up. Haven’t seen him for three days and he tells me to—”
“What?” Asa slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“What, exactly, is going on here, Asa? Why did Kosta Ironworks make an offer on Dean’s Garage?”
“Because I asked him to.”
“Just like that?”
He nodded, turning onto the freeway. “He’s an interesting man. Does whatever he needs to do to get what he wants—something I have a feeling you’ve figured out.” Asa shrugged. “He’s wanted me to help him build the KII since he started the project. It’s why he bought the property in the first place. He was riding through town and stopped in to talk bikes with the boys. We started talking engines and the next day he made me an offer.”
It was starting to make sense in her mind. Sebastian recognized Asa’s talent. “You turned him down?”
“At first, yeah, I was busy. I didn’t know who he was. Who his family was. And then…well, then like I told you…it was just fun.”
“
You like him
.”
Asa’s laugh was tense. “What’s not to like? He’s a good guy, clever as hell and…” He glanced over at her just for a moment, long enough for her to see the storm of emotion roiling in his blue eyes. “He has good taste. You like him too. More than I do, I think. But he’s still in chase mode, so I’m assuming you haven’t spent the last few days together.”
“Chase mode.” She crossed her arms, her mind racing. “No wonder you like each other. You’re more alike than you know. Though I didn’t see any slashes or arrow tattoos, so he might be more of a gentleman when it comes to bragging rights.”
The Mustang sped up. “My tattoos? You’re talking about my tattoos right now? I was
eighteen
, Del. Guys get stupid tattoos when they’re eighteen. Bad tattoos, black-out drinking and excessive porn collecting. It’s a right of fucking passage. And that isn’t what I wanted to spend the drive talking about.”
“What in the hell
did
you want to talk about?”
“Ask me why.”
She turned in her seat. “Why what?”
“Why I asked him to try and buy the shop.”
She wanted to, but she was afraid of what the answer might be. “Why?”
His hands tightened on the wheel until his knuckles went white. “So I could make an offer at the same time. I knew Dallas would be torn. Knew he would want me to have the place, even though Sebastian was offering more money.”
“You did it to mess with my father?” That didn’t sound right.
Asa sighed. “I did it to get you here, Delilah. To bring you home. Back to my world, because I’m an ass and I didn’t have the guts to walk into yours…because I couldn’t go another year without telling you how I feel.”
“You could have called.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I couldn’t. I wanted to see you, face to face. To see if it was still there. If you still felt something for me.”
“So you set this Rube Goldberg plan in motion, bringing in Sebastian, all so you could say hello?”
“So I could tell you I love you. I’ve always loved you. At least, I thought I had until you got here and you were in my arms. Then I knew what I felt was nothing compared to what’s inside me now.”
She covered her mouth with her hand to hold in her sob. He loved her. “Damn it, Asa.”
He pulled over on the side of Sebastian’s road, blocks from his house, and studied her. “Does ‘damn it’ mean what I think it does?”
She nodded, and then they were reaching for each other, kissing with all the wild passion and love inside them as they struggled with her seatbelt.
Always. She’d always loved him. Her heart had been his since she knew it could be given away. She’d just never known he felt the same.
Delilah pulled back, struggling for breath as he pushed down her black tank top, to reveal the red lace bra beneath. “Asa, we can’t.”
“Like hell,” he muttered, tugging down the cups and lowering his head. “I have to…”
“Oh God,” she moaned, her hands on his head, fingers knotting in his hair as he sucked her breast hard against the roof of his mouth. Her jeans were rubbing against her sensitive sex as she squirmed in the seat, his mouth driving her crazy.
She wanted him. Now. Here.
“
Yes
.”
He groaned and tongued her nipple. “I love it when you say that, baby. Love you. Need you.”
“I love you, Asa.”
Long, frustrating moments of groping later, Asa pressed his forehead against her neck and swore. “This isn’t going to work, Del.”
“Already?” she joked breathlessly. “Five minutes does not a relationship make, buddy.”
He looked into her eyes and smiled. Damn, he was sexy. “Fifty years won’t be enough with you. But I was talking about sex in the Mustang.”
“Oh. Well, I haven’t seen your place yet. Or I have a hotel…”
He shook his head, spending more time smoothing her bra over her breasts than he needed to. “I told Sebastian to expect us.”
“Why?” She didn’t want to sound whiny, but declarations of love didn’t happen very often. “Can’t you tell him the secrets of his engine tomorrow?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “But I had something else in mind for tonight. Remember that fantasy?”
She leaned back, feeling her heart race in disbelief. “Did you or did you not just say you love me?”
“I did.”
“And you aren’t testing me to make sure I’m not like my mother?”
He flinched. “No, Delilah. Though the way that keeps coming up, you might be testing yourself.”
He had a point. Hadn’t she thought that after she reacted to Sebastian’s touch? “Are we going to be swingers? Because I have to tell you right now I
am
the jealous type, and if we’re going to be together, I’m not willing to share you.”
“I’m looking at the only one I want, Delilah Dean. I love you. I want you in any way and every way I can have you. Being away from you these last few days… I never want to go through that again. What I do want is to be the one to give you more pleasure than you’ve ever known. Just answer me one question, knowing that I expect absolute honesty—in your mind, who was the stranger in our fantasy?”
She took a shaky breath. “Sebastian.”
Asa’s grin was wicked. “I was hoping you weren’t going to name a movie star. He would have been harder to round up.”
“Are we sure about this?”
She
wasn’t. She wasn’t even sure Sebastian would say yes. “What if he was just flirting with me to bug you?”
Asa chuckled. “You are not that naïve anymore, Del. I think you know when a man wants you.”
When she bit her lip, he hesitated. “What is it, Delilah?”
“I’m in love with you, and I’m terrified of screwing it up.”
“As long as you never stop loving me, there’s no way you can, Del. You’re stuck with me. Now let’s go torment the Greek.”
She snorted. “You are a bad man.”
He sent her a smile as he started the car again. “I’m a Wild Man, baby. And you’re my dirty girl. We were made for each other.”
“He might not say yes, you know.”
“Delilah, he’s a man and you’re
you
. Try getting him to say no.”
She had to admit, the idea sent her adrenaline through the roof. She couldn’t stop shaking. Or smiling. Asa loved her…Asa wanted to make her threesome fantasy come true.