Siren Song (12 page)

If you refuse to take what is being offered then step aside and give me the girl.

No
. Duncan shook his head as he leaned against the sink and glared at the reflection staring back at him, the silver eyes glowing beneath the fluorescent lights.

Come on, Duncan
, the wolf cajoled, his voice wrapping around Duncan, tormenting him.
Let me out to play; I’ll be good – better than good. The best Lexi ever had.

His jaw tightened as the wolf continued to taunt him.
We’re leaving her alone.

You’re a wolf, Duncan; embrace me and Lexi can be ours.
The wolf let his words sink in, knowing they were having an effect on Duncan no matter how much he might try to deny it.
You know you want her and if you just give in, you can….”

“
No!” Duncan bellowed out loud, slamming his fist against the mirror and causing it to fracture. He stared at his broken image, ruthlessly ignoring the wolf.

Splashing cold water onto his face, he tried to drive both Lexi and the wolf out of his mind. She was driving him mad and his wolf wasn’t helping, urging him to take the girl, damn the rules, damn the consequences. He was fighting against something he desperately wanted and he was tired of denying the attraction. But if he gave in the fucking wolf would win.

“
There you are,” Ashley’s familiar voice called out. With the water dripping from his face, he looked up and in the broken mirror saw her standing in the door way to the bathroom, wearing a brilliant smile on her face and a black trench coat around her body.

“
Ashley,” he murmured, pushing his hands through his damp hair before straightening. Keeping his eyes on her in the reflection he didn’t turn around to face her as he asked, “What are you doing here?”

“
We had a lunch date planned, Duncan,” she laughed lightly, untying the belt and letting the coat fall open to reveal a shimmery green merry widow with matching crotch-less panties. She was a fellow wolf and she exuded sex but his own wolf barely sat up to take notice, damning him for a fool a thousand times over. Dropping the coat to the ground, she rested an arm against the door jamb spreading her legs in invitation. “Or did you forget?”

Obviously he forgot if he took care of himself when he could have waited a few more minutes and had a warm, willing woman to screw. Except he knew he wouldn’t have taken Ashley up on her offer – she wasn’t who he wanted. Smiling at her, he turned around and leaned against the sink, “Of course I didn’t forget. Unfortunately it has to be a quick lunch since there is so much more to do here than I originally thought.”

“
Oh,” she said, crest-fallen, lowering her lashes but not before he saw the hurt in her eyes. What the hell was he doing chasing after a sex bomb, like a snake in heat, when he had a perfectly acceptable she-wolf on hand? “But I thought we could fornicate; my wolf is desperate for primal sex with another wolf, chiefly with an Alpha wolf.”

His black heart actually went out to her as she looked up at him with her big, blue eyes, running her hands over her body hoping to entice him even as he remained unmoved. Of course, if Lexi was standing there wearing practically nothing, he doubted there would be a problem getting it back up. Just thinking about her was stirring things down below. “We will, Ash, just not today; I’m having difficulties with one of my writers.”

“
Ah,” she nodded her head in understanding, stepping into the smaller room and pressing her body against his, draping her arms over his shoulders. Her red hair framed her beautiful face and he knew that he had kissed her lips at some point but he couldn’t remember how they tasted; all he could taste was the honeyed warmth of Lexi’s mouth. “Then perhaps you need release to help you deal with him.”

“
Her,” he said, the image of Lexi looking at him with her gold and green eyes, her pulse racing in her throat as she tried to make him give in. One more word from her lips and he would have thrown all caution to the wind and taken her into his arms. In a last minute attempt to save himself, he begged her to release him from her spell and she froze. He still wasn’t sure what it was that he said that caused her shuttered expression but it had hit him in the gut.

Frustration flared in Ashley’s eyes before she simply smiled, “Then it’s doubly important for you to lose yourself in my body for a few moments.”

Even the promise of sex had been more with Lexi, a few hours compared to a few moments. An image of his body fused with Lexi’s filled his head and his body responded. If he wanted any control over the situation, he was going to have to stop thinking about her. Or he was going to have to give in and hope to whatever gods may be listening that the mad attraction would burn itself out.

A small hand pressed against his burgeoning erection and he realized that he had closed his eyes when he was fantasizing about Lexi. Opening them, he saw Ashley smiling up at him, rubbing him through his pants in the manner with which she knew he liked. “See? I knew you’d want to make love to me.”

“
Ashley,” he choked out, grabbing her wrists and trying to pry them from his body. Even knowing better, he wanted Lexi Darling. But Ashley was determined, straining against his hold to stroke him. “Ashley! As Alpha I demand you stop.”

“
You smell of sex, Duncan,” she purred, pressing her nose against his chest and breathing deeply. She was panting as she twined her body around his, “It’s driving me insane.”

A knock at his door interrupted them as she continued trying to touch him and he continued trying to evade her. Scowling down at Ashley, he called out, “One moment, please.”

Without giving them a moment, the door opened and Lexi stepped into his private offices looking like temptation incarnate and his body responded with an instant erection. He barely heard Ashley’s approving gasp as her limbs went boneless and she fell against him. Color infused Lexi’s cheeks as she saw Ashley pressed up against him, the scrap of material barely concealing her pale flesh. Lexi’s eyes widened as they met his, the hazel-green eyes shimmering with hurt and anger and betrayal. But he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Then why did it feel as if he were cheating on Lexi?

“
Miss Darling,” he said, his voice curt, professional as he gently but forcefully shoved Ashley away from him. Straightening his clothes, his hair, trying to act normal when he had a nearly naked wolf panting after him, a cock stand that was clearly visible, and the object of his lust staring at him with wounded pride, he asked, “What are you doing here?”

She cleared her throat, and she schooled her features to hide the emotions. Her eyes flitted away from his, taking in the discarded coat, Ashley’s state of undress and his erection and her cheeks reddened further. Turning around, she started heading back out the way she came. “I, um, I came to apologize but I see now that it’s not really necessary. Um, I’ll just be leaving now; don’t mind me.”

“
Lexi, wait,” Duncan said, not wanting her to go away thinking he was an immoral bastard, ready to sleep with someone else after trying to seduce her. He bent down and grabbed Ashley’s coat, draping it over her shoulders, keeping his eyes on Lexi. But then he glanced down and saw the intensity with which Ashley listened to the conversation, the way she looked between him and Lexi. That was a very unsettling feeling.

“
It’s all right,” Lexi said, her eyes darting back and forth between him and Ashley. “I really need to get back to work. You see, I have a new boss and my job is still in question and I’m afraid I haven’t made a very good first impression. But I intend to remedy that; after all, what is
lavish
without 'The Scene,' right?”

He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that Ashley was going to say something about him firing the writer of the fluff column and hating the hurt he knew he would see in Lexi’s eyes….

“
You write 'The Scene?'” Ashley asked, excitement in her voice. Still nearly naked, she crossed the room, holding out her hand as she approached Lexi. Uncertainty lined Lexi’s features as she accepted the offered hand, “When Duncan told me he was buying this magazine I could hardly believe it, I’m such a huge fan. By the way, I’m Ashley Brown.”

“
Lexi Darling,” Lexi replied, her features moving from confusion to something Duncan couldn’t identify. Her eyes darted to Duncan, and he swore he saw a flash of weariness, before she looked back at Ashley. “I’ll just let the two of you get back to… to whatever you were doing. Or about to do.”

“
We weren’t doing anything,” Ashley said, practically bouncing on her feet to be standing next to the writer of 'The Scene.' “Poor Duncan has a writer that he’s having difficulties with and wasn’t in to mood to mate with me.”

“
He wasn’t in the mood for sex?” Lexi asked, a mischievous twinkle lighting her eyes as she glanced at him. Even the word sex sounded so much more… erotic when coming from Lexi’s well-shaped mouth. The way her lips curved around the word, as if by saying sex she was having it. “How surprising, Mr. Tremain, all things considered.”

“
Yes, quite,” he muttered, pressing his hand against the erection that Lexi caused. And by the spark in her eyes, she knew what she did to him.

Ashley looked closer at Lexi and narrowed her perceptive blue eyes, “Weren’t you at the country club on Saturday? Only you had green hair at the time.”

“
It was mint,” Lexi corrected cheekily. “And I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

"It
was
you," Ashley laughed, a full and throaty sound that exuded sex but Duncan had no interest in the wolf. “You were having lunch with the Rudnar women.”

Lexi glanced at Duncan and he watched as she stiffened slightly at Ashley’s words. “I was, um, interviewing them for a story I’m working on. Uh, influential members of society, or something.”

“
How well do you know them?” Ashley persisted and Lexi’s eyes flew once more to Duncan, who was listening to the conversation with interest. The Rudnars could almost be considered American royalty; they were an influential family with their fingers in just about everything.

“
How well do
you
know them?” Lexi reflected the question back.

“
We’re acquainted socially,” Ashley said with an easy smile. “They’re a lovely family, by the way.”

“
Th….” Lexi coughed, her cheeks reddening as she mumbled, “That’s why I’m interviewing them.”

“
Oh, I look forward to reading that article,” Ashley gushed. Grinning broadly and completely comfortable in her near nudity, she looped her arm through Lexi’s as if they were now the best of friends, “Since Duncan is preoccupied, that leaves me free to spend my lunch hour with you.”

Lexi’s eyes widened in horror, “Um, I don’t…. I mean, I like boys.”

“
What?” Ashley asked, confused. She glanced at Duncan as if he had the answer.

Duncan’s lips curved upwards in a triumphant smile; he wasn’t the only one with sex on the brain. “Lexi, it’s just lunch. I’m sure Ashley just wants to pick your brain about your column.”

Lexi looked at Ashley again, a little less horrified and slightly more embarrassed as she realized she jumped to the completely wrong conclusion. “Um, sure. Do you, you know, maybe want to change or something?”

“
No problem; I have it covered.” Ashley grinned, picking up a bag and disappearing into the bathroom, flashing her lithe body before she closed the door.

Lexi looked at him, the weariness apparent in her eyes and he anticipated the words before she said them, “Not up for sex?”

“
I, uh, took care of the problem,” he muttered, shifting his gaze briefly. But then he saw her blush and realized that she must have done the same thing. Lust roared through his body and his will to resist her was crumbling into dust. Fuck good intentions, fuck pride; let the wolf win so he could fuck Lexi. Smiling, he stepped closer to her, loving how her eyes widened and her pulse trebled. “Tell me, Lexi, did you think of me when you were touching yourself?”

Her eyes slid closed and she moistened her lower lip with her tongue. Softly, so softly, she said, “Yes.”

“
Did you imagined me touching you, stroking you?” he asked, his voice growing huskier and huskier as he spoke, as he imagined her with her legs spread, her fingers moving over her sex, her eyes hooded as she watched him watching her. “Have you imagined it, Lexi?”

A whimper arose from the back of her throat as she simply nodded. Opening her lids, she looked up at him with glazed eyes, silently pleading with him. Her lips trembled as she swallowed thickly. “Duncan, please.”

“
Please stop,” he whispered, reaching out and running a finger over her lush lips. Her tongue darted out and touched the pad of his finger and his own eyes closed in ecstasy. “Or please continue.”

“
If you’re serious about keeping me at a distance you have to stop,” she pleaded. But then her mouth opened and he slid the tip of his finger into her hot mouth, making her eyes darken. Her lips wrapped around his finger and he nearly came when she sucked it into the heat of her mouth and let out a little moan of pleasure.

“
You drive me insane,” he murmured, feeling her tongue swirl around his finger, tasting him. Removing his hand, he bent his head until he could feel the heat of her mouth next to his. “I’m trying my damnedest to do the right thing but when I’m with you….”