Lucien (26 page)
No. Hell no.
He couldn’t do it.
Luc chuckled and Ben belatedly realized he must have spoken aloud.
“Then I guess you’ll just have to let it go,” Luc said.
Let it go? Ha, yeah right, like that was gonna happen.
Ben ran a hand through his hair and ordered himself to suck it up and take one for the team. “Nice try, but I’m not giving up my bro-code pin that easily. But, damn Luc, twelve months? Your twin could drive a saint to a padded cell strapped in an I-Love-Me jacket within a day. And I’m not a saint. Not even close. Hell, you’d be talking me back from the ledge daily—if not
hourly
. Make it three months.”
Luc smirked. “Six months. Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it, but you’re gonna lose.”
So help me, God, Luc better lose.
Ben heaved a sigh of resignation. “When do we do this?”
“No time like the present.” Luc stood up and went to the door. He opened it and called for Elise.
“Yes, Lucien, what is it?”
“Come on in, darlin’. Ben has something he wants to tell you.”
Elise sat down and Ben moved from his chair to perch on the edge of the table next to her. He started to speak then stopped. How should he play this? He wracked his brain for clues from the chick flick manual and decided to just wing it.
“You’re looking lovely today, Elise.”
“Why thank, you Ben. You’re looking quite the handsome thing yourself today. I do like a man who isn’t afraid to wear purple.”
Score one for the home team
, Ben thought to himself as he murmured his thanks and smoothed a hand down the front of his lavender dress shirt. No wonder he was such a sucker for the fairy tale princesses. They knew how to take a compliment and showed true appreciation for the fine art of being a man in today’s crazy mixed up chick flick world. It was enough to make him feel protective and all alpha-like.
Ben started to continue with the schmoozing campaign to get Elise on his side, when two brain cells fired in his demented mind and he had a thought.
Luc was protective and alpha-like with Elise. Just as protective and alpha-like as he was with his sisters. Never in all the years that they’d known each other had Luc
ever
wagered anything that had to do with his sisters or their welfare. And he sure as hell had
never
put any of his sisters in a potential situation where there was the
remote
possibility that they may be defiled. Repeatedly. And with much vigor.
Oh God
, Ben groaned to himself.
He played me and I walked right into it
.
On the heels of that slap to the forehead, came another one. There was only one thing that always got the saps in the chick flicks out of the dog house and back into the fairy tale princess’s bed. And there wasn’t a single doubt in his mind that Luc—manipulative genius of a bastard that he was—had been holding back the three little words that guaranteed the next six months of Ben’s life would be chocked full of pain, suffering, and more wood than he could shake a fist at.
Luc leaned against the wall in the conference room and watched a variety of emotions flicker across Ben’s face.
Come on, Benny, you can do it
. He swore he could feel a shift in the air the moment Ben realized the error of his ways.
About time.
Ben sent him a hunted look that left him feeling oddly proud of his best friend. Before he could comment on Ben’s new found wisdom and clear the air, Ben muttered a curse and got to his feet. “I can’t do it. I’m sorry, Elise. I thought I had something important to tell you, but I don’t. And because I’m such a standup guy and all, I’ll even go so far as to admit I lost the bet and… your husband was right and I was wrong.” Ben paused, his expression bewildered. “Huh, well what do you know? That wasn’t nearly as emasculating as I thought it would be.”
Luc laughed. “That’s because it was me and
not
my twin.”
To which Ben responded with a heartfelt, “True that.”
Elise looked between Luc and Ben, her expression a mixture of confusion and amusement. “Could someone please explain to me what we’re talking about?”
Ben flicked a thumb in Luc’s direction. “Ask him. While I may not have something important to tell you, he does.”
“Oka
aaaay
,” Elise replied in a daze.
“And while you’re at it,” Ben added as he started gathering papers from the desk and stuffing them into his briefcase. “I’d consider it a personal favor if you’d keep him on the spot for as long as you can. You know, really turn the thumb screws on. He’s been a bad, bad boy today and could do with a little emotional harassment.”
“He has?”
“Oh yeah, he sure has.” Ben stowed the last of his belongings, then straightened and addressed Elise. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off for the day to draft up a suitably villainous contract offer that will support your husband’s wholly evil recommendation for buying what I want from this cursed, backasswards company. After that I have a phone call to make and a bottle of bourbon to court as my new best friend.” A brief nod then Ben headed for the door.
“Give Eleanor my best,” Luc told him as Ben passed by him.
Ben grunted and sent him a one finger salute, then disappeared down the hall.
“What was
that
all about?”
Luc went to Elise and taking her by the hand pulled her into his arms. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“But—”
He silenced her with a kiss that left her breathless and him hard and aching. “I love you.”
“I— What did you say?”
Another kiss that tested the restraints of his control. “I love you.”
Her smile was beautiful and radiated more warmth and sunshine than he imagined possible. “I love you, too.”
“Good, glad that’s settled. Now unless you want to spend the rest of the afternoon holed up in this office while I go to great lengths to show you just how much I love and adore you, then you’d best grab your gear and make a bee line for the parking lot.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the house to pack.”
“We’re going home? To our house?” He nodded and she squealed with delight, throwing herself back into his arms and raining kisses all over his face. “I love you.” Kiss. “I love you.” Kiss. “I love you.”
Luc chuckled and gently eased himself out of her embrace. “I love you, too, darlin’, but if you keep that up I’ll forget all about the story I have to tell you.”
“Is this the story where I find out how much of a bad, bad boy you’ve been?”
“Most definitely.” Luc turned her and, tucking her under his arm right where she belonged, guided them towards to the door. “Now about that story. It all started six years ago with my sister Lucy…”
Elijana (
pronounced El-E-Ah-Na
) Kindel is a single mother, writer, muse, and random thought generator. An unassuming OCF (
occasional control freak
), she woke up one day and decided she'd spent (
in her opinion
) entirely too much time playing victim to the Hand of Fate. Shortly after her epiphany, Elijana embraced her nature (
as an Aries, left brain thinker, and being the reason the word
anal
is in
anal
ytical thinking
) and began pursuing her own version of world domination (
that's my world, not yours
).
She holds degrees in Biology and Chemistry from North Carolina State University--something she achieved while juggling single motherhood, a full course load, and a toddler. After graduation, she moved on to a career as a research scientist in the biopharmaceutical industry--where she rediscovered her passion for writing fiction when she inadvertently (
yet repeatedly
) misspelled the word
organism
in a technical report. After enjoying a good laugh over the report littered with multiple orgasms, Elijana decided it was time to revisit the manuscripts on her hard drive. She rejoined the Romance Writers of America and began earnestly studying the craft of writing (
through workshops, books, and presentations at her local RWA chapter
).
With the changes in the publishing industry and the rise of self-publishing, Elijana recognized an opportunity to realize another dream:
publication of her books
. Her first book,
Emily's Affair
, went live on Amazon in July 2011 and she hasn't looked back.
Today, Elijana lives in North Carolina with her family and continues her quest for world domination (
and her self-publishing adventure
) by writing books, studying the business of publishing, and sharing her knowledge with other writers in hopes that it will inspire and empower them on their own journey to world domination (
that's their world, not mine
).
She is an infrequent blogger (
although that is on the agenda to change—one day
) and is convinced that Facebook is evil, while Twitter is insidious. She loves to hear from readers on her website at
www.elijanakindel.com
.
Lee Stafford was in heat and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.
By herself, that was. Lord knew she'd tried enough times that she was in imminent danger of never being able to walk right again. Let alone enter a church with her dignity intact.
Hell, as it was, Lee was exerting every ounce of willpower she possessed to put one 3-inch heel in front of the other and sashay her ass across the room to reach her mailbox. It wouldn't have been so bad if every step hadn't caused her thighs to slide together in that special way that jumpstarted the sexual revolution that'd begun the day she set eyes on the tall, lean Adonis inhabiting the condo across from hers.
The man was lethal.
And he knew it.
He didn't need to flaunt it. It was written in every move he made. It was both awe inspiring and frustrating as hell to know that, in all of her twenty-eight years, Lee had never come across a man who made faded jeans and a body hugging black t-shirt look sexier than homemade sin.
It had to be a crime to look that good in casual wear and ooze complete and total alpha-male-ness the way this man did.
He was definitely an alpha. A natural one at that.
Which, Lee groaned to herself, explained all too well why she was feeling the call of the wild.
As she continued across the polished mailroom floor to her box, Lee let loose her sexually repressed libido and let her imagination replay the fantasies that had her contemplating more than a hint of exhibitionism. She glided past the marble table situated between two overstuffed chairs in the middle of the room. Oh, the things she'd thought long and hard about doing to and with him on that table. On the floor. Against the wall of mailboxes.
Lee drew in a deep breath and relished the slide of fabric against her breasts. The things she needed and wanted to do with that man against the wall of mailboxes… like being pinned against the rows of mailboxes with him right behind her. Oh, God. She loved that fantasy. She'd imagined it enough times this month alone that she could see, hear, feel, and taste every toe curling second in excruciating detail.