Holiday in Danger (15 page)

“…sure you can handle it?”

It came from the hallway. Holly tensed and Trent gripped her tighter, his black tux fanning out and covering her naked backside. His cock, still thick inside her, twitched and she bit back a moan.

A man’s voice answered. “Of course I’m sure. By the time we’re through tonight, he’s going to wish he never messed with you.”

Holly stiffened. It couldn’t be.

“Good. Because if you fuck this up, I’ll…” The voices faded as the couple walked past the room and Trent backed away.

The sudden loss of him and the voices had Holly reeling. She wobbled and gripped the desk as her dress fell back down into place. Now wasn’t the time to be needy.

She turned to Trent. “You don’t think—”

His look confirmed her fears. “I don’t know. But I’ve got to check it out.” Trent put himself back together and planted a quick kiss on Holly’s lips. “You stay here where you’re safe. I’ll tell Ian you’re here and be back for you both.”

Holly nodded. She hoped what they heard was just coincidence—a conversation out of context they weren’t meant to hear. But she couldn’t shake the dread that crept down her spine. Something was going down at the party that night and it wasn’t good.

HOLLY

T
WENTY
MINUTES
LATER
and Holly had had enough.
Stay here and do what, exactly?
Her heels wore a pattern into the carpet as she paced back and forth. She knew Trent meant well by asking her to stay put. He thought she’d be safe.

But she needed to be out there, helping him and Ian. Not sitting on the bench twiddling her thumbs. She crept over to the door and opened it enough to stick her head out. No sign of Ian, Trent, or the would-be criminals.
Damn it.
She shut the door and bit her lip.

Holly had been in a daze when Trent had rushed out the door, still high from the way he’d taken charge and taken her right over the edge. She glanced at the desk and couldn’t help but laugh. She’d never look at burled walnut the same way again.

“Something funny?”

The voice caught her off guard and Holly spun around. “Ian! Did Trent find you?”

He nodded and stepped forward. “He did, but he rushed off before I could ask him anything. What’s going on?”

“We were in here and we heard voices in the hall, a man and a woman. It could be the people harassing you.”

Ian tilted his head. “Why were you in here?”

Holly blushed, thankful Ian hadn’t turned on the light. “Just getting away from the party.”

“Is that all?” He stepped closer and reached for her. His hand slipped around her back and Holly closed her eyes. But instead of kissing her, Ian nuzzled her neck and breathed deep.

Her body molded against his and Holly held her breath.

“You smell like Trent. Don’t tell me you were only talking.”

“I didn’t say anything about talking.”

His lips brushed against her earlobe. “Is a night out with me that terrible?”

“No. You know I don’t like parties in the Cove.” His lips traced over her neck and she held her breath.

“Mmm. I thought you’d make an exception tonight.” He traced the outline of the necklace with his thumb. “Do you like it?”

“I don’t need fancy presents.”

“I don’t need fancy parties.”

“You don’t?” Holly pulled back and found Ian’s stare in the dim light. “But—”

“But what? I only go to these things because I don’t have anything else to do. If you don’t like them, I’ll stop.”

“It’s expected of you.”

His lips twitched. “I can change expectations.”

Holly didn’t know what to say. First Trent opened up about how he wanted her to stay in Midnight Cove and see where this whole thing went. Now Ian had his arms wrapped around her and he was claiming not to care about the things she hated.

She wanted to ask him more and figure out where he stood, but now wasn’t the time. “You should find Trent. If the people responsible are here—”

“He’s on it.” Ian’s arm cinched tighter around her waist. “I’m on you.”

Holly frowned. “Aren’t you listening?”

“To every word.” Ian kissed her earlobe and nibbled the bare skin beneath the earring. “No one will find us in here. We’re safe.”

She pushed against his chest. “This can wait.”

“No, it can’t.” He pulled back and waited until she looked him in the eye. “All week I’ve been denying it to myself…what this three-way relationship means. I can’t do it anymore. I walked around that party tonight and you know what? I felt empty. Alone. A crowded room full of people I’ve spent countless hours with and all I could do was scan every cluster of bodies for you and Trent.”

“Ian—”

“No. Let me finish. I want you—us—the three of us together. I can’t bear the thought of you walking out of Midnight Cove and out of my life.”

“You can’t mean that.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m…you’re…”
Damn it.
Holly knew Ian wasn’t thinking straight. He couldn’t possibly want an ordinary woman from LA when he had his choice of the rich and famous right there in the Cove. Hell, she couldn’t even stand by his side for an hour at a charity party. How could he think they’d make it together?

“Tell me what you’re thinking, Holiday.”

“I’m not made for this life.” She palmed his chest. “Your life.”

She pushed him away and focused on the carpet. “I hate these parties. I can’t stand the people. I’d be a fun killer if I stayed. You can’t want that.”

Ian grabbed her by the chin and pulled her face back up to his. “Stop it. You think I do all this because I like it? I do it because I’m lonely, Holly. What else is there to do? I’ve thrown myself into the shipping business, I travel all over the place for months at a time, and when I come back home, I’ve got nothing. No one. Of course I go to parties. At least there I can pretend.”

He let her go and stalked to the other side of the room. With one hand raking through his hair and one stuffed in his pocket, he looked every bit the brooding billionaire. But his words said the opposite.

She stepped forward. “What are you saying?”

Ian spun on his heel. “I’m finally alive, don’t you see? You’ve brought me back, reminded me what it’s like to have more than work and money and an empty house. I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want to lose that.”

“What about Trent?”

He paused before answering. “I won’t get in the way. You two have something. I can see that. And when we’re all together—”

She almost smiled. “It’s good.”

“It’s electric.” He stepped up to her and took her by the arms. “Don’t you see? I want you so much, I’m willing to share.”

A million thoughts and emotions flooded Holly’s brain and she didn’t know what to say or where to look. Ian had basically come out and said he loved her—not in so many words, but Holly understood all the same.

Trent had too, in his own way.

But was this what she wanted? It’d been a wild week tangled up in Ian’s sheets with both men in the dark. The whole time she’d told herself it was temporary. A vacation from her real life. A bout of momentary insanity.

Not forever.

She bit her lip. “I don’t know, Ian.”

He gripped her tighter. “Yes, you do.”

* * *

IAN

Running his hands over her skin was like stroking silk. Ian would never get enough. He knew way back when she was in high school and he was a college kid that they had something. A spark. A connection.

Now that he’d had a taste, no way was he going back. So he’d poured his heart out and practically begged a grown woman not to leave him. Not the manliest of moments. But he could handle it.

He could handle anything if Holiday stayed wrapped up in his arms. Her eyes fluttered shut and he took advantage, kissing away her hesitation. She already knew what they had was different. She just needed to admit it was worth the risk.

Maybe it was the stalker they’d been hunting since Trent came to town. The added pressure of someone out to hurt his business, his house. Even Holiday.

Something about the whole past week had Ian on edge. He needed her to admit it, to give in to the rush that hit deep and hard when they fucked. To the way all three of them connected in the moment. It wasn’t just the sex or the endorphins or the kinky excitement. It was more.

Ian pressed his body against Holly’s soft shape as he kissed her deeper. His tongue swiped across her full lips and she opened for him.
Yes
. He flicked his tongue against hers and she moaned.
That’s it, baby. Remember.

Loosening his grip, he trailed his hands up and down her backside, sliding over the black velvet as Holly slipped her hands beneath his jacket. He broke their kiss and reached for her zipper.

“Do you know why I wanted you out there in the crowd next to me tonight?”

“So you wouldn’t be bored?”

“No. So I could make everyone in that room jealous.” He found the zipper at last and tugged it down her back. The velvet gaped open and Holly’s breasts came into view, stuffed inside a backless bra. Huge and full and so damn suckable.

He reached up and stroked her nipples through the lace. “I wanted every man in that room to see what they couldn’t have. See that you were mine.”

Her bra popped loose with a twist of his fingers and Ian inhaled. Her stubby nipples stood at attention, their dusky rose color begging for his lips. He leaned close and pulled one into his mouth, sucking the tender bud before swirling it around and around his tongue.

“Instead of getting what I wanted, you were in here with Trent. He got to put his hands all over you. He got to fuck you in this very room while I was standing around the tables making small talk. Didn’t he?”

Ian moved to her other breast and Holly moaned. “I’m sorry, Ian.”

He almost growled. “Don’t be sorry. I’m not.” He shoved her dress and bra to the floor and grabbed her thong with both hands. “I’m just horny.”

With one swift yank, the scrap of lace fell to the floor and Holly was naked except for a diamond necklace and a pair of heels. “You’re sexy as hell and right now you’re all mine.”

Before she could say a word, Ian took her by the waist and picked her up. Her ass hit the desktop and he spread her thighs. “Tell me, did Trent get to taste this?”

She shook her head. “But you don’t…we didn’t—”

Ian grinned and leaned over, running his tongue up her slit before thrusting it inside her empty hole. He lapped at her cream, tasting the mix of her desire and Trent’s release. The proof that Trent had taken her only minutes before made him wild. Bold.

He pushed her onto the desk and feasted. Tongue flicking, fingers probing. He coated his hand in her lubrication, and while his tongue worked her clit, he slid one finger back to the tight ring of her ass.

Holly tensed, but Ian persevered, circling the puckered hole again and again, toying with her while he brought her closer and closer to orgasm with his tongue.

She whimpered above him and he grinned against her flesh. So eager. Needy. With another lap of his tongue, he pushed, breaching her forbidden entrance for the first time. Holly moaned above him and he eased deeper. Back and forth, in and out, he pumped until she shook and shuddered.

The force of her orgasm caught him off guard and her muscles clamped around him. Her whole body convulsed and he pulled his finger out her ass. As the last of the pleasure coursed through her, Ian undid his pants.

She wasn’t getting off that easy. He wanted her coming again around his cock. As Holly blinked her eyes open, Ian grabbed her by the hips. “Next time, it won’t just be my finger, Holly. But right now? I need you.”

* * *

HOLLY

His cock sank deep into her depths in one thrust. Holly arched off the desk, scrabbling for anything to hold onto. Trent had been in control and command. But Ian? He was rabid. Feral.

She’d never seen him like this. Felt him like this. He gripped her hips tighter and thrust again and her back skidded up the desktop.

Holly didn’t even know whose house they were in, but there she was, diamond necklace bouncing on her exposed chest as Ian thrust inside her. Was it the competition? The rush of testosterone each man felt when they caught whiff of the other on her skin? Holly had no idea.

Whatever it was, she loved it. The way Trent and Ian took control of her body—they opened her up and laid her bare and gave her a piece of themselves with every pump of their hips.

Sex had never been the way it was with the pair of them. Ian was right. It wasn’t just their bodies coming together. It was more.

He groaned above her and she hooked her legs behind his back, urging him deeper. Harder. He fell forward, bracing himself with one hand on the desk as he reached between their bodies.

As his thumb stroked her clit, he smiled. “Come for me Holly. Come around my cock.”

She cried out as he pinched her swollen little nub and a spasm rocked her.

“That’s it. Let go. Come right now.”

He pinched again and she obeyed. Waves of euphoria exploded in her mind like heat lightning across the sky. Her muscles clamped around Ian’s shaft and he came with her, emptying himself inside her just as Trent had done not an hour before.