“Jesus, woman, you’ll be the end of me,” he grunted as he felt her soft lips gently suck him dry before she zipped him back up. He took her hand and helped her to her feet. His gaze was brooding as he stared at her. “But this just saved you from the punishment you elicited with your actions upon our arrival.”
“Thank you, Sir.” Try as she might, she couldn’t curb the impish smile his compliment teased forth to beautify her face.
“My name is Master Dragon. If you find it difficult to remember, it’ll give me great pleasure to teach you.”
“That won’t be necessary, Master Dragon,” she said quickly at the expectant devilish glimmer in his eyes.
With a deep grunt, he took her hand again and stomped toward Stone’s office.
“About time,” Stone said as they walked inside. Zeke didn’t respond but sat down in one of the oversized wingback chairs and dragged a protesting Taylor onto his lap.
“No, Zeke! I’m too heavy and … ouch!” she cried as his huge paw cracked on her thigh.
“I thought we had this discussion last night, Taylor?”
“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean I suddenly lost thirty pounds,” she grumbled as she rubbed the stinging spot on her leg.
“One more word about your weight and I’ll strip you naked and tie you spread eagle to the rafters in the center of the dining room during every meal.”
Her eyes shot to his. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.”
She clamped her lips together, turned away from him, and did her best to keep her back straight and not connect with his warm chest. He, the demon Dom, wouldn’t have any of it and dragged her back against him until she leaned into his body. Relaxing was difficult, especially since Stone and Peyton were watching them with amusement.
“Don’t piss me off any further, my pet. You wouldn’t like the result.”
“Is this going to waste much more of our time or shall we continue later?” Stone’s dry voice was coated with amusement. It was enlightening as much as it was a relief to know that Zeke had finally opened his heart to the possibility of love. Zeke might not know Taylor yet but the emotions she’d awakened inside him were there in his eyes for all to see.
The way he was agonizing over Danton’s death, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Stone was just sorry Shane wasn’t here to bear witness to it.
“I’d like Shane to be present but I didn’t see him at lunch,” Zeke said in retrospect.
“He took Danton’s yacht out to sea. Said he needed time to reflect and will be back in ten days.” Stone’s eyes misted over. “He’s been struggling, Zeke. A hell of a lot more than any of us.”
“I know and I’ve been selfish in my own grief not to realize it.”
A short silence followed as the two men forced their emotions under control. It offered Taylor the opportunity to gather the frayed edges of her mind and prepare for the firing squad she had no doubt was about to explode. She cringed as Stone’s dark eyes moved to her.
“What are you running from, Taylor?”
“Look, Stone, I appreciate you bringing me to the island but I’d rather not …” She swallowed the rest of the sentence at the chill that suddenly filled the atmosphere … exuding from both the men. “Please understand, the less you know, the safer it will be for all of you.”
“Why do you think we retired from the movie industry, Taylor?”
She glanced over her shoulder at Zeke. It was the one question that had been itching to be asked since he’d told her about it the previous night.
“I assume it’s because you’re tired of the limelight.”
“We own a multi-layer security company and because of the importance of certain aspects of our client base, we chose to put all our energy and resources into it. Acting became cumbersome and paled in comparison to the satisfaction of offering protection to those who need it the most.” Stone smiled gently. “Believe me, little one, we don’t need you to be concerned about our safety.”
“Him almost dying not so long ago is proof of that, Taylor.” Peyton looked at her with an earnest expression on her face. “You can trust them and let me give you some advice; take the help I have no doubt they’ll be offering once you’ve told us what you’re scared of.”
Taylor wrung her hands as she looked between the three people watching her. She ran trembling fingers through her hair. Zeke must’ve noticed because he took her hand in his, gently rubbing his thumb over her palm. It was such a simple gesture but it packed a punch she’d never expected. One that offered her immediate support, strength, and most of all, understanding.
“It’s a legal case I’ve been involved with the past six months that ended in a three-month long marathon in court.” Her chest heaved as she exhaled slowly. “Which, once again, is dragging out for another couple of weeks since the judge is adamant to take his time ruling on it. The threats started midway through. I shrugged it off at first. Dealing with high power property developers over the years has taught me to grow balls, so to speak. I don’t scare easily. Quite the opposite. The moment I’m browbeaten to drop a case or follow a lead, I rebel and dig deeper, searching for what they’re trying to hide. My instincts have never failed me.”
“Taylor mainly takes on cases from smaller corporations or private clients being taken in by big companies,” Peyton explained with pride in her voice. “She’s known in Seattle as Robin Faerie.” She giggled. “Get it? The female version of Robin Hood.”
“We got it, love.” Stone kissed Peyton’s temple but didn’t move his gaze from Taylor.
“I did some digging yesterday afternoon. You mainly practice on the West Coast but you said the court case was in DC. Is your client from there?” Zeke squeezed her hand as he felt her stiffen. “Don’t get your panties in a knot, little one. It’s what I do. Parker and I are the resident IT gurus. Besides, I suspected something was chasing you, therefore I started the groundwork.”
“Meaning you already know who I’m up against.”
“Strangely, no. There hasn’t been time to unlock the encrypted files and that in itself is telling.”
“What?” Peyton asked as she glanced at Taylor who once again looked pale and drawn.
“For a public property court case records to be sealed and encrypted. Go on, Taylor, we’re listening.”
“My client is Sarah Caxton, who is also the Director of the Fairfax County Park Authority or in short, FCPA. The properties in question are the Lake Youngs Park in Seattle, which she inherited from her grandfather years ago and Burke Lake Park in Fairfax County, which belongs to FCPA. Sarah sold what she believed to be two acres of land on the banks of each Lake to a National property conglomerate, Kezzler Partners Property Developers.”
She frowned as she noticed Zeke and Stone glance at each other. Their expressions turned thunderous.
“Yes, and?” Zeke prompted when she didn’t continue.
“She was sold on their proposal to build restaurants at each site catering to families. It was something she’d been wanting to do for a long time but the FCPA board wasn’t prepared to spend so much money. They were shortsighted. The influx of visitors tripled once the restaurant opened.”