Seduced by Two (10 page)

Sal must’ve caught Jensen’s undertone because he smiled. And his image went blurry.

Tanner blinked, thinking he must have gotten something in his eyes. They didn’t hurt or burn or feel gritty. The kid’s whole body just blurred.

And then his vision cleared.

And instead of a child, something else stood there.

Something with the upper body of a man and the lower body of…

Tanner blinked and sucked in a deep breath, feeling like he’d been gut-punched.

“Holy fuck.” Jensen’s muttered curse left him no doubt that his brother felt the same.

The…whatever he was smiled, a hint of pity in it. “When they catch their breath, bring them back to the kitchen, hon.” Sal clomped down the stairs, his hooves—Jesus Christ, he had hooves. “I’ll get some coffee on.”

Tanner tracked the thing as it walked down the hall and through the room beyond before disappearing through a doorway.

His mouth opened then closed. He didn’t have a clue what to say.

Luckily Jensen recovered faster. He turned to stare at her, his eyes wide but not afraid. “Jesus Christ, Nica, is that a fucking satyr?”

Satyr. Yeah, that was the word Tanner had been trying to dig out of his non-functioning brain.

“In English, yes. In Italian, his proper designation is
salbinelli
.” Nica caught her bottom lip between her teeth again before she continued. “He’s one of the most brilliant men I’ve ever known. He’s also one of the kindest.”

Jensen started to shake his head and couldn’t seem to stop. “Nica, that…that guy looks like he jumped off an ancient Roman tomb painting.”

Nica nodded. “Yes, he does.”

“How long has he lived in Reading?” Tanner asked. It was the only question that came to mind. It didn’t matter one good goddamn in the whole scheme of things but… Holy shit.

“A couple of centuries at least. No one knows for sure. He’s always been here.”

Tanner’s mouth dropped open as did Jensen’s. But neither of them could come up with anything.

Then Jensen’s head started to shake again but the look on his face… Jensen’s gaze slid past Nica toward the back of the house. He wanted to go talk to the goat man.

Tanner had a brief flash of the bookcases in Jensen’s room, filled with fantasy and sci-fi books. Jensen had always loved those genres. Meeting a creature—no, Nica had been very specific when she’d called him a man. Meeting a man who seemed to have stepped off the pages of one of his books must seem like a dream come true for Jensen.

Tanner wanted to doubt his eyes but he couldn’t. Not with Jensen nearly salivating to go talk to the thing. No, to the guy. A guy with goat legs.

Ooh-kay.

“Tanner.”

Nica’s soft voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked into her dark eyes. Worry made little lines around her eyes and he lifted his hand to rub his thumb over them, trying to wipe them away.

He didn’t want her to worry about him. She had enough to deal with right now. But holy shit—

No. Suck it up.

“I’m fine, Nica, but I could use the caffeine. And Jensen is dying to talk to your…friend.”

“I’m sorry I got you both wrapped up in this.” She shook her head. “I never wanted either of you to get hurt.”

“We’re fine. Really. Yeah, it’s…kind of a shock to realize—” He stopped, not knowing where to go with that. Not knowing what he could say that wouldn’t make her feel worse. He saw remorse in her expression and he hated it.

Christ, Jensen was chomping at the bit to go interrogate the satyr and he wanted to run the other way.

Which he wasn’t about to do. If he walked out, Nica would follow him. And there was no way he wanted her to leave, if this place really was as safe as she said it was. She was in danger so she had to stay here.

And since Sal apparently knew everything, Tanner needed to talk to the guy with the hooves.

* * * * *

Jensen knew Tanner was having problems coping.

Hell, it wasn’t every day you met a creature out of mythology.

But from the moment Nica had revealed her powers, Jensen felt like he’d been invited into the best secret in the world.

The fact that Nica felt safe enough with them to share it made him want to pump his fists in the air like Rocky.

So when Tanner finally took a breath and nodded, Jensen felt like a weight lifted off his shoulders. Nica sighed, as if she felt the same.

Tanner leaned in and laid his mouth over hers, kissing her until she swayed into him. And when Tanner pulled back, Jensen grabbed her shoulders, turned her and kissed her too.

Her lips softened under his, one hand reaching to thread into his hair as if to hold him to her.

When he pulled back, she looked up at him with wide eyes but a smile flirted at the corners of her mouth.

“Come on, Nica.” He nudged her in the direction Sal had taken. “Let’s go talk to your friend about getting your roommate back.”

They walked back the hallway, Jensen noting the eighties décor. It was comforting, in some weird way. Like he was in someone’s grandmother’s house. Not that he’d known either of his grandmothers, thanks to his bastard father.

The hallway led to a TV room where the only furniture was a flat screen on the wall, a couch, a side table and a chair—all it would hold comfortably. A dining room followed, a dark table with six chairs and a buffet table along the wall.

Tanner faltered for a brief second before he stepped up into the kitchen. Then he walked to the table and held out his hand to Sal the satyr. Jensen smiled just to think the word.

“Tanner Miller. Our mother raised us to have better manners but it’s been kind of an off-kilter day.”

Sal smiled, his now-adult face scruffy with dark whiskers. He’d pulled off the knit cap and Jensen saw small horns peeking out from his dark curls. His smile widened.

“No problem, son. Help yourself to some coffee.”

Jensen stepped up, unable to hide his smile, which Sal returned. “Jensen Miller. Nice to meet you.”

Sal stuck out his hand, his shake firm and strong. “You’re the mythology buff, aren’t you? Can always see it in an
etera
’s
eyes. Just don’t ask to pet me, kid.”

Jensen laughed because it’d never occurred to him. “You’d probably land that hoof somewhere I wouldn’t want it.”

“Bet on it. Now…” Sal tapped a finger on the table as if calling a meeting to order. “Tell me about this phone call, babe.”

Nica repeated the call word for word. Obviously she’d already told Sal about Friday night and the spell the guy had hit him with—which Jensen still didn’t remember—because Sal mentioned it in his follow-up questions.

“Since we didn’t find the guy in the database, I’m gonna call Cam, see if he can stop by. Maybe he can get you to remember something about the guy that’ll help identify him. And we’re going to have to tell Tira’s mom and yours what’s going on.”

Nica grimaced. “Can we hold off on that? Just until Monday? The
boschetta
doesn’t have any better resources for finding Tira than we do and it will just…set them off.”

Sal shook his head. “No can do, babe. I have to tell Daniela. She deserves to know what’s going on. Your mother…well, that’s up to you. I’ll see if I can head off Daniela, tell her we’ve already got the de Feos working on it and to sit tight. We’ll let her know what’s going on when we have news. Honey, if we don’t tell your mom, she’s gonna find out from Tira’s mom and you don’t want that kind of trouble.”

Nica sighed then nodded though she wasn’t happy. “I know. It’s just…”

“Just what?” Tanner asked.

She turned to him with a frown. “My mom is a bit of a… Well, hard ass is probably the best word to describe her. And she’s not big on men. Any men. She’ll want me to come home. She’ll think I can be better protected there.”

Jensen laid his hand over hers. “Will you be?”

“No,” Sal cut in. “She won’t. She’s safest here. Let me call her, Nica. You call Cam and update him. Then take a break, lie down a little. You don’t look too good, sweetheart.”

* * * * *

Nica’s temples throbbed and her stomach ached as she set the phone back in the cradle.

Fear for Tira and worry about Jensen and Tanner sat in her gut like a brick as she rose from a chair in Sal’s front parlor.

Cam had had nothing new to tell her. He was working with his brother Rio to track down the guy she’d seen the other night but so far, nothing.

All she wanted to do was crawl into a bed and let Jensen and Tanner make her forget everything. Just for a little while. Just until she felt like the ground wasn’t wobbling under her feet.

“Nica.” Warm and firm, Tanner’s hands settled on her shoulders, drawing her back against his chest. “You need a break. Why don’t you go lie down for a while?”

Leaning down, he nipped her earlobe, sending shivers through her body and reawakening her libido. How she could even think about sex at a time like this?

“I know for a fact you didn’t get much sleep last night.”

No, she hadn’t. And thinking about why she hadn’t gotten much sleep made her body that much hotter.

She turned in his arms, closing her eyes as she wrapped her own arms around his waist and settled her cheek against his chest. “I don’t think I’ll be able to rest.”

“You don’t have to sleep. Just close your eyes.”

“Will you come with me?”

If they wanted her to rest, the least they could do was help her relax. She wanted them, both of them, to make her forget just for a little while what a mess she’d made of her life at the moment. Every time she thought of how scared Tira must be, her temples throbbed even harder.

If Cam didn’t find Tira by Monday, she was going to hand herself over. It wasn’t fair for Tira to pay for something Nica must have done, for the mistake Nica must have made to reveal herself—

“Hey.” Tanner tugged on her hair, forcing her to look up into his steady blue eyes. “Come on. Bedrooms are upstairs, right? Let’s go find one.”

Yes, she wanted that. Even if it was only for an hour. “Okay.” She turned to look over her shoulder. “Jensen?”

Jensen sat on the couch in front of the window, looking out onto the street. He looked lost in thought but he glanced up at her when she said his name a second time.

“Will you come up too?”

She wanted—no, she needed both of them. She didn’t understand why or how that had happened so fast. Probably a combination of fear and anger.

Then again, maybe it was just because of who they were. And how much she’d come to care for them in the past few days. How she loved Tanner’s easy smile and Jensen’s hard-won grin, Tanner’s laid-back intelligence and Jensen’s sharp-eyed intuition.

Her breath caught when Jensen shook his head. “I’ll be up a little later. I’d like to talk to Sal first.”

She bit her lip to stop herself from begging or demanding him to come with them. The man wasn’t her play toy, he wasn’t her servant.

But he must have seen something in her eyes because he stood and walked over to her. Eyes open, he kissed her, his hands smoothing over her ass in a caress.

“I won’t be long, honey. I’ve just got a few questions.” Then he leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “Tanner will keep you busy ’til I get there. But you better save some for me.”

Before he could move away, she laced one hand through his hair and tugged, just once. “Don’t be long.”

His smile was slow but heated up fast. “You won’t even miss me.”

He held her gaze for another few seconds until he flashed his brother a look. She barely caught Tanner’s brief nod out of the corner of her eye. But even if she hadn’t, she’d have known what that look meant.

Keep her safe. Keep her out of harm’s way. Tie her in knots sexually and make her forget.

Jensen wanted to talk to Sal. Alone. Probably about her. And he wanted her out of the way.

At any other time, that attitude would have pissed her off. Right now, she just wanted to forget.

She took Tanner’s hand and led him up the stairs.

* * * * *

Jensen walked back to the kitchen, trying to formulate questions while half his brain wanted to be upstairs making love to Nica.

She’d wanted that too. And the sooner he took care of this, the sooner he could get back to her.

Her friend’s kidnapping weighed on her mind. She thought this was her fault. He knew better.

As children, he and Tanner had lived through hell with their father. The sick bastard had beaten them for anything from not making their beds to crying out in the middle of the night from a nightmare. He’d used their mother as a punching bag, didn’t matter if he was drunk or not.

To the outside world, he’d seemed normal, maybe a little uptight. But not the monster he and Tanner knew him to be.

Until their mother had had enough and shot the bastard dead when they were twelve.

By that time, they’d figured out they weren’t the ones at fault. No matter what they did, their dad was going to beat them.

Nica thought this situation was her fault. Jensen knew better.

But that didn’t mean her friend wasn’t in real danger.

And Jensen needed to do something about that.

He walked through the house back to the kitchen, where he heard Sal’s hooves clicking against the linoleum floor.

A satyr. He was going to talk to a fucking satyr.

How whacked was that? How completely fan-fucking-tastic. Sal had been right. Jensen had been into mythology and sci-fi and fantasy books and movies as a kid. They’d provided an escape for him, the way music did for Tanner.

But now, knowing there were creatures—no, not creatures,
beings
—in the world straight out of fairy tales, it made him realize the world wasn’t as god-awful as he’d thought.

There was still magic.

He reached the kitchen and stopped in the doorway, catching Sal in the act of bending down to get something out of a lower cupboard. The guy’s stubby little tail twitched.

“What’s up, kid?” Sal asked without turning away from his search of the cabinet. “You got something on your mind. Spit it out.”

“How much danger do you think Tira’s in?”

Sal sighed, reached into the cabinet and pulled out a can before straightening. “I think if whoever’s holding her realizes she has power, they won’t be giving her up. And given that they already know about Nica, they’ll attempt to get more information out of Tira.”