GirlMostLikelyTo (15 page)

“It was the size of a dinner plate,” Wren snapped. “And it’s
your fault I’m scared of them. I still have nightmares about the one you put in
my bed.”

“Anyone could see it was plastic,” Matt said.

“It didn’t look plastic. It didn’t feel plastic.”

They glared at each other.

“So who dropped you off just now and not that I’m
complaining about the hug, but why do I have the feeling it wasn’t for my
benefit?”

“I needed him to think you were my boyfriend.”

“Who? And why?”

“This…guy insisted on giving me a lift and I didn’t want to
lead him to my flat.”

Matt gaped. “You got in a car with a stranger?”

“Well—”

“How could you have been so stupid?”

“I—”

“You could have been dragged off to the Yorkshire moors,
tortured, murdered, buried in a shallow grave and never found. I’d have worried
for days.”

Wren rolled her eyes.

“Hey, it’s happened before,” her brother said.

“He isn’t a stranger.”

“How long have you known him?”

“Not long.”

“And he’s harassing you?”

“No, but—”

“What’s his name?”

“Matt!” Jennifer snapped. “Try pressing your receive button.
You sound like you’re interrogating a suspect.”

Wren bit back her smile. “Tomas hasn’t done anything.”

Just made my heart thump when he squeezed my leg, made my
toes curl when he nearly kissed me and broke my heart when he kissed Adam.
And
she didn’t want to think about what his job might be. “Call me a taxi and I’ll
go home. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

“Take your sister home,” Jennifer said. “I need to leave
anyway. I have to drive to Birmingham tomorrow.”

“Can I make myself a coffee?” Wren asked, thinking she’d
give Tomas a chance to get well away from here so he didn’t see her leaving,
but her brother was busy examining Jennifer’s tonsils.

Wren slunk off to the kitchen and switched on the kettle. By
the time Matt reappeared, she’d made a start on piecing together the bits of
paper from the cigarette packet.

“Smoking?” Matt yelled. “What the—”

He went to grab the packet and Wren knocked him away. “Sit
down, drink your coffee and listen.”

Matt dropped onto the chair opposite. “This had better be
good. Jennifer’s gone until Friday. I’m on nights until Tuesday. Tonight was
our last evening together for a week.”

Wren winced. “Sorry.”

“What are you piecing together?”

“I’ll get to that. At work—”

“Want me to help?”

Wren grabbed his wrist as he reached across the table.
“Please, Matt. Just listen.”

He exhaled. “Okay. Go on.”

“At Ezispeke we have registers for every class. We mark
whether the student attends or not, put in their test results and we’re
supposed to sign them at the end of each term—which usually lasts only a few
weeks, though it varies course to course. I forgot to sign last term’s, but
when I went to do it four names had been added. My boss Olive said it was a
mistake, but when she had the chance to correct it, she didn’t. She duplicated
it. Or Jolene, her secretary, did. The same four names were added to several of
my classes. I’ve never heard of the students. I asked other staff members and
no one recognized them.”

Matt frowned. “You asked all of them?”

“Not all, but most. Olive found out and got shirty with me,
told me to drop it.”

“Then drop it. It doesn’t seem a big deal.”

She frowned. “You’re a detective. Aren’t you the least bit
curious?”

Matt took a sip of his coffee. “Why would they make up names
to add to your class lists? Do you get paid more if you teach more?”

“No, and Olive definitely wouldn’t be trying to do me any
favors. I thought it might be a tax fraud thing or maybe the academy qualifies
for some grant if there are a certain number of students, but tonight I changed
my mind. I’ve just come from a house in Headingley. I was paid a lot of money
to teach English to five Albanian women. One of them was called Ardita Chani.
Her name’s in these scraps of paper and on my register. She’s never been to
Ezispeke.”

“Ardita Chani might be a name like Jane Brown.”

Wren glared. “Do you actually know anyone called Jane
Brown?”

Matt laughed. “No. Is this private work connected to
Ezispeke?”

She shook her head. “Olive doesn’t know anything about it.
She doesn’t need to if I’m not teaching Ezispeke pupils. I think.”

“I don’t see the issue here.”

“The women were supposed to be cleaners but they didn’t look
like cleaners. They were my age and all of them slim and attractive.”

Matt frowned. “You mean all cleaners are old and fat? I think
you’ll find they come in all shapes, sizes and ages.”

“That’s not what I mean. They just…weren’t right.”

“And?”

“I showed the women the extra names. They recognized a
couple and then one of them ripped the paper up and stuffed the bits in this
cigarette packet. They didn’t want the guys in the house to know I’d been
asking questions. I thought you could check for fingerprints.”

Matt stared at the shredded paper. “I don’t think so.”

Wren tsked. “I mean the cigarette packet.”

“I still don’t think so. What do you imagine’s going on?”

“I know how this is going to sound but I wonder if I’ve just
been teaching English to a group of illegal aliens. Maybe they were registered
with Ezispeke to give them a legitimate way to enter the country, but now
they’re here, they’re working on the streets.”

Matt chewed his nail.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“You could be on to something. A couple of weeks ago, there
was a report of bright lights seen over Otley. Spacecraft bringing illegal
aliens? It all fits.” He snorted with laughter.

She pressed her lips together.

“Leave it, Wren. There must be hundreds and hundreds of
students on Ezispeke’s books. Plus it’s a bit presumptuous to assume these
women are prostitutes.”

“She had a black eye and a cut lip,” Wren blurted.

“Who did?”

“Ardita Chani. She said she’d walked into a door.”

“Maybe she did. Bloody hell, Wren, you see a conspiracy in
everything. Remember when you spotted that hat in the pond and made Dad wade in
and check there wasn’t a body attached? And when you found a letter James wrote
for a homework assignment and you thought he really
was
planning to
graffiti the bridge over the motorway? You got him into so much trouble.” He
roared with laughter.

Wren deflated like an old balloon.

“Plus, if there’s some sort of fraud in this, why the hell
would your boss make you sign the registers?”

“Because that legitimizes it.” She hadn’t thought of that
before but it seemed right. Well, it might if others had names added to their
registers too. If no one else had any extra names then maybe Matt was right,
she was making this into something it wasn’t. She’d have to check it out.

“How did you get the private work?” Matt asked.

“The boss of one of my students asked me.”

“Is the guy who dropped you off the boss or the student?”

“Student.”

“Want me to do a background check?”

“No. He’s okay.” He likely wasn’t but Wren didn’t want to
get Tomas into trouble until she’d thought through the consequences. “You’re
probably right. I’m making this into something it isn’t.”

“If it makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t give any more
private lessons. Don’t anyway.”

Wren bristled. How come every guy thought he could tell her
what to do? “It’s really well paid.”

“You’re not that desperate for money, are you? I’ll lend you
a couple of hundred if you want.”

“No, it’s okay, thanks.”

“And no more getting into cars with guys you don’t know very
well. Dad would be furious. A house you’d never been to before? Letting a guy
who made you feel uncomfortable give you a lift? At least you had the sense not
to reveal where you actually live. Come on, I’ll drive you home.”

She let Matt think she’d let it drop, but she hadn’t. In the
car they talked about his plan to take Jennifer to Paris for the weekend for
her birthday and Wren kept him away from the subject of her love life, which
was spiraling down a black hole.

* * * * *

Adam sat in his car outside Wren’s flat for three hours.
He’d rung the bell several times wondering if she could see it was him and was
ignoring him, until a neighbor emerged and told him she wasn’t in.

Regardless of whether there was any future for him and Wren
or not, he shouldn’t have left last night without saying…something. It made
what they’d done seem cheap and it wasn’t. Sitting here with no distractions
had given him a chance to think about his future and what he wanted. He was
doing himself no favors by not facing up to the reality of his personal life.

He needed a man as much as he needed a woman. He wanted
Tomas, even with all his hang-ups, and he wanted Wren. Maybe it wouldn’t last
but he had to try. Why not just tell Wren and see what she said? At least he’d
know one way or the other. Maybe he ought to invite the pair for a meal at his
apartment and see where things went. Not that he could cook, but he could get
takeout.

A car pulled up outside the apartment entrance and Wren
emerged from the passenger side. As Adam was about to exit his vehicle, a tall,
dark-haired guy climbed out to stand next to her and Adam stayed where he was,
slumped down in his seat. For a moment, he thought it was Tomas, but he’d never
seen this guy before. The man put his arm around Wren’s shoulders and they
walked to the door of her apartment block. When Adam saw him land a kiss on her
head, he clenched the steering wheel. Wren wrapped her arms around the man’s
back and held tight.

That was enough for Adam. He started his engine and drove
away. He knew better than to jump to conclusions but that didn’t stop him. She
already had a boyfriend? Or was this a new guy?

By the time he’d parked under his building, his temper had
dissipated and his guesses had come down to a colleague, a friend, one of her
brothers. Adam had no rights on her. They’d had stupendous sex twice, five
years apart. He’d lost her once and because he’d walked out on her, he’d
probably lost her again.

As he passed Tomas’ door, it opened and Adam halted.

“Want a beer?” Tomas asked.

“I thought you were bad news and I was to forget about you.”

“I am and you should.”

“I’d love a drink.”

He smiled and moved aside so Adam could enter his apartment.
Tomas took two beers from the fridge, knocked off the caps and handed one over.
They chinked the bottles and Adam dropped onto the couch. “I’ve been thinking,”
he said.

Tomas leaned against the wall facing him. “What about?”

“You, Wren and me.”

Tomas gave a short laugh. “You might as well leave Wren off
the list. I dropped her off tonight at her house in Beeston and she fell
straight into the arms of a guy. They looked pretty snug.”

Adam sat up. “House?”

“Yeah. Door, windows, roof. You know the sort of thing.”

“Wren lives in an apartment. And it’s not in Beeston. I just
saw a guy drop her off at her home.”

Tomas took the bottle from his mouth and smiled. “Ah, so she
got me to drive her to someone else’s house and then he drove her back to her
place. She doesn’t trust me. Sensible girl.”

“Her boyfriend?”

“I wondered, but now I’m thinking not.”

“She has two older brothers.”

Tomas walked over to the couch and sat next to him. “How
about you?”

“What? Boyfriend or brothers?”

Tomas raised one eyebrow.

“Just me,” Adam said. “My parents only had sex that one
time.”

Tomas laughed. “Funny guy.”

“We need to talk.”

That wiped the smile from Tomas’ face.

“I’m only here for three weeks and if I don’t sort this out
soon, my chance will have gone.
Our
chance.”

“Our chance for what?”

Adam swallowed hard. “Happiness.”

Chapter Fifteen

“Our chance for happiness?” Tomas repeated.
Why is my
heart beating so fast?

“Are you happy?” Adam asked.

He took so long deciding what to say that the answer was
obvious to both of them.

“What would make you happy?” Adam pinned him with his gaze.

Finishing this job, putting Marco and Veton and the rest
of those scumbags in prison for a long time, having someone in my life to care
about, having someone who cares for me.

He remained silent.

Adam leaned back on the couch and stared at him. “Money? A
bigger car? A better apartment? 3-D TV?” He paused. “A wife? Kids?”

“Is that what you want?”

“I have enough money to live more than comfortably. My car’s
fine. I have a great place to live. More than one place. Actually, more than
one car. I remain to be convinced about 3-D television.” He raised his
eyebrows. “Except…” He swallowed hard, his hold tightening on the bottle. “I’m
not…living. I want…”

Something more.
Could Adam say what he couldn’t?

“What?” Tomas whispered.

Adam put his empty bottle on the coffee table and didn’t
shift his gaze from it. “I want someone in my life to care about. I want
someone who cares for me. I want them long-term.”

Oh fuck.
This was as deep a conversation as Tomas had
ever had with another guy. Not that he’d said much so far.

“And I was thinking that might be two someones.” Adam looked
straight at him. “Wren and you.”

Long-term? Oh God.
Tomas couldn’t even think past one
day let alone a lifetime. But that didn’t mean he didn’t want to.

“Sugar and spice.” Adam gave a tight smile. “Soft and hard.
Safe and dangerous. You think you could put me off telling me you were bad
news? Don’t you know that’s part of your attraction?”

The guy held himself taut as a bow string. Tomas could guess
what it had taken to say all that. For a brief moment, he let himself wonder if
it might be possible. When this job was over, he could ask for a transfer to
London, and they could be a three.

But the job wasn’t over and might not be for more than a
year. The type of work he did wasn’t conducive to having a long-term
relationship, plus he wasn’t a bad guy. He was only pretending.

The last thing he could tell Adam was that he was a cop. But
if Adam found out he worked for a guy who trafficked women and drugs, laundered
money and didn’t think twice about using violence to attain his goals, he’d
want to see him behind bars.

In any case, Tomas hadn’t managed the threesome before, so
why should it be any different this time? Aside from Wren having to agree to it
in the first place. And there was the little matter of not being able to get
his head around being fucked. How long before Adam tired of his excuses?

“Done thinking?” Adam stared steadily at him and Tomas
wanted him. Really
wanted
him.

But do I want to be fucked by him?
Maybe. He was
getting there. For the first time in as long as he could remember, the thought
of feeling a guy’s cock push into him didn’t make him think about running. Not
any guy’s cock. This guy’s.

“Does Wren know about this?” Tomas asked.

“Not exactly, but she’s interested.” Adam’s shoulders
dropped. “
Was
interested.”

“What does that mean?”

“Last night, after we fucked, I snuck out while she was
sleeping.”

Tomas raised his eyebrows. “Which might account for her
too-bright smile this morning. What have you said to her?”

Adam shifted uneasily. “Nothing. I haven’t seen her.”

Tomas sighed. “I think this threesome just shrank to two.”

“I know she’s interested. We talked about some books she’s
translated with two guys sharing a woman. Bisexual guys.”

“Interested doesn’t mean she wants to try it.” He tightened
his mouth.

“Have you?” Adam asked.

“Couple of times. First was an accident.”

“Really?”

Tomas shrugged. “It wasn’t planned. I didn’t know the other
two. We were drunk and sort of fell into it, almost surprised to find ourselves
naked in a hotel room, but we didn’t want to stop. We had fun for a few hours,
but when we woke, we split without exchanging numbers. Second time, I was
approached by a guy and a woman wanting a third and we lasted until Bella
decided I wasn’t good enough outside the bedroom.”

“That must have hurt.”

He wasn’t going there. “What about you?”

“Once. We lasted a few weeks until the other guy’s jealousy
started to poison everything. The woman wasn’t strong enough to help maintain
the balance. I only want a relationship where we’re all equal. Not easy.”

“But worth trying?”

“Yes. You agree?”

A voice in his heart screamed
yes
. Tomas put aside
issues of practicalities. If he thought too much about it, he’d come up with a
million reasons not to do it. Even if it ended up going wrong, he wanted to
try. “So we work on her?”

Adam raised his head. “You want to do this?”

“Don’t sound so surprised. It was your idea. Maybe you need
to work on me first.” Tomas slid his hand over Adam’s.

“How about we start with you telling me exactly who you
are?”

Tomas’ heartbeat doubled. He put a puzzled expression on his
face and kept his fingers immobile over Adam’s hand. “I told you. Tomas
Adzovic. Want to see my driver’s license?”

“A guy who has to pretend to be crappy at English in order
to keep his job?”

Tomas shrugged, his antennae twitching. “It’s a well-paid
job. You saw what I was prepared to wear to keep it.”

Adam smiled. “I’d like to see what the thing looked like
before you dismantled some of those straps.”

“Maybe I’d like to see you wearing it.”

“Okay.”

Oh fuck.
Tomas’ cock thought that was a great idea.
It hummed, delighted at the chance of seeing Adam wearing nothing but strips of
leather.

“If you don’t like your job, can’t you get another?” Adam
asked. “You have any qualifications?”

Oh Christ. How can this work? How can we trust each other
when I have to lie?
“No.”

There was a long pause before Adam spoke. Too long.
What
the hell?
Did Adam think he was stupid?

“Nothing?” Adam asked.

He wanted him off this topic—now. “Not to speak of. Nothing
that’s going to help me get a job.”

“What would you like to do?”

“I’d like to fuck you.” He launched himself at Adam.

But the guy anticipated the move, because all Tomas hit was
the couch as Adam scrambled away on his backside

“Missed,” Adam said from the floor.

He flung himself at Adam’s waist and brought him down fully
onto his back. “I never miss. I like to play with my food before I eat it.”

Adam laughed and tried to wriggle free. Tomas was having
none of that. They began to wrestle for control, kissing and sneaking quick
feels through their clothing, tweaking nipples, squeezing cocks, stroking
thighs. Adam’s dick was as hard as his, his breathing just as ragged. He
pressed Adam’s shoulders to the floor and pinned him down. Slowly lowering his
head, he ran his mouth along the line of Adam’s chin and then down the column
of his neck.

He was tempted to suck up a mark, something he hadn’t done
since he was a teenager, an act that had earned him a slap on the face because
he’d given the love bite to his girlfriend’s friend. Adam tasted good, a mix of
salt and musk. Tomas wanted him so much that nuzzling segued into sucking.

Then Tomas was the one on his back, Adam on top, glaring at
him until they started tussling again, hands all over each other as they kissed
and humped and groped. They shed their clothes, working at zippers and buttons,
their breaths coming in staccato bursts. Hunger raged inside Tomas to the point
of pain. He needed to come, he needed Adam.

They let go of each other to pull off boxers and pants but
kept their lips loosely connected, in some unspoken agreement to maintain the
link. Finally, they lay naked in each other’s arms on the floor, and Tomas
could feel Adam’s cock rubbing against his, his balls nudging his, his hot skin
sticking to his.

“Christ,” Adam gasped.

Tomas forced his hand between their bodies, wrapped his
fingers around Adam’s dick and pushed out one word, “Bed.”

Adam curled his hand around Tomas’ dick and the world
wavered.

“Fuck,” Tomas blurted.

If words of one syllable were all they could manage, Tomas
wasn’t sure they’d make it to the lamp-lit bedroom, but they somehow staggered
to their feet, still kissing, stumbled across the floor, still kissing, until
he maneuvered Adam so the back of knees hit the bed and he fell. Tomas looked
down at him and had to grab his balls and pull down before the synapses in his
brain made the final click and snapped out the order for his body to explode.

He stared at Adam and no longer wanted to fuck him, he
wanted to make love to him. The guy sprawled on his duvet, all long limbs and
curving muscle, like some classy model. He was the most beautiful man Tomas had
ever seen. Not just his face, his whole body. His angular hipbones framed a
long, thick cock, which rose straight up over a flat belly. The thick veins
tracing his shaft looked like dark-jeweled chains.

Adam spread his arms, beckoned and smiled. Tomas crawled on
top of him, planting his knees on either side of Adam’s.

“Lie still and let me touch you,” Tomas whispered.

He laid trembling hands on Adam’s hips, twirling his thumbs
along the bony ridges before fanning out his hands to cover his abs. Tomas
matched his breathing to the ebb and flow of Adam’s muscles as his chest rose
and fell. Tomas stared into Adam’s eyes as he trailed his fingers down the
creases of the guy’s groin until finally he stroked the delicate skin of his
swollen balls.

Adam groaned. “You’re killing me.”

He lowered his smiling mouth to Adam’s and then eased down
on top of him. Their cocks kissed like their lips, wet heads sliding together,
rubbing, brushing, teasing. He moaned into Adam’s mouth as he felt arms slip
down his back to clutch his butt, and then Adam was rocking their bodies,
pushing their shafts together in a rhythmic slide.

Heat coiled low in his belly, fiery licks fluttering along
his veins. He dropped his lips to land kisses around Adam’s neck and then laid
a path of hot, wet sucks down to his cock. One caress with the flat of his
tongue over the silky cock head and Adam squirmed.

“Not fair.” Adam squirmed harder. “You’ll have me off in a
second.”

Which was sort of the point. And judging from the way Adam
clung to Tomas’ shoulders to keep him right where he was over his groin, he
liked this just fine. If he could make Adam come first, he’d get to fuck him
rather than the other way round.

“Want to top and tail?” Adam whispered.

Tomas swiveled so they lay head to toe. He moaned around
Adam’s shaft as a hot mouth engulfed his dick. He squeezed Adam’s cock at the
same time as he sucked, and the beads of pre-cum bursting on his tongue made
his mouth water.

While Adam licked and laved Tomas’ shaft, Tomas ran his
tongue over Adam’s sac, smiling as the guy shuddered beneath him. He spread
Adam’s thighs wider with his forearms and worked his tongue between his balls,
sucking one and then the other into his mouth.

“Christ, slow down,” Adam gasped around his cock.

No way.
He sensed and felt Adam’s inability to
concentrate on two things at the same time. Tomas put pressure on the root of
Adam’s cock at the point it entered his body and Adam trembled beneath him. He
licked his way to the strip of skin between balls and anus and played there
with his mouth and stubbled chin. Adam’s lips quivered and he groaned around
Tomas’ dick, the sensation sending ripples of pleasure up and down his spine.
He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed.

They slurped and licked, sucked and probed, their hands
working as hard as their mouths. Adam began to copy Tomas and the room filled
with the sounds of pleasure given and received, wet flesh slipping and sliding
between moist lips, their gasps and cries growing louder.

Tomas had thought he couldn’t be much more excited but he
was wrong. Ultrasensitive to everything, the slightest touch, an exhalation, a
muttered word, all wound him tighter and tighter. His only defense was to
attack, to drive Adam even wilder than him. The guy had to come first.

Tomas flicked his tongue over Adam’s anus, circled the tight
pucker and then wrapped his hands around his butt cheeks and ate him.

“Jesus,” Adam gasped. “Can’t keep sucking you and take
that.”

Good.
Tomas pulled back but only to spit on his
fingers and rub them over the wrinkled pucker, pressing and circling until he
could slide a digit into the hole. Adam hissed as the finger slid in, and then
Tomas began to pump.

“That feels so damn good,” Adam whispered.

Tomas shifted so he could flutter his tongue over the silky
head of Adam’s cock at the same time as he finger-fucked his ass. Adam lay
helpless beneath him as Tomas did every pleasurable thing he could think of.
Almost. He pushed his tongue into the piss hole and scooped up more pre-cum,
sucked at the crest until Adam was moaning, then dropped his mouth to engulf as
much of the thick shaft as he could while he maintained the pressure on Adam’s
anus, curling his finger to find his prostate.

Every gurgled groan his actions elicited felt like a caress
of Tomas’ heart. Every drop of salty pre-cum made him long for what was to
come. He fucked Adam’s ass with two twisting fingers as he pushed his mouth
down hard onto his cock, letting it hit the back of his throat. He wanted Adam
to come, but still worried
he
would despite Adam being unable to do
little more than pet him, and then Adam stiffened. The cock in his mouth
swelled slightly, grew hotter and then cum jetted toward his throat, spurt
after thick spurt, and Tomas swallowed and swallowed.