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“LEAVING SO SOON, SHAWN?” Sunny giggled. Actually giggled.
“Yes, he is,” Tempest snapped, grabbing her by the hand and yanking her into Trance’s apartment. She was able to be a bit rougher with Sunny because she was a Xeno Sapien and could take it. “He is a busy man.”
“How are you, Shawn?” Lily asked. For some reason, her eyes twinkled.
“Peachy-keen, Jelly Bean.” He tweaked Lily’s nose.
“She is an adult,” Tempest snarled, grabbing her arm also and leading her to the sofa. “Did you bring food? I wanted to impress Leah.”
“Uh, no, but I can whip something up. You do know that most of the things I make Leah has taught me, right?”
“Oh, right.” Damn, there went the idea to impress her new friend.
She watched Shawn greet Robyn and Amanda, waiting impatiently as he flirted with them. “Aren’t you gone yet?” She finally snapped at him. “My friends can see how attractive you are now that I am interested in you.”
“They only think so now?” One of his eyebrows rose. “Good thing they’re all mated.”
“Except for Leah,” she hissed, pushing him out the door as she looked over her shoulder. “Don’t tempt her.” She thought she heard some giggling behind her, but she was sure it was Lily being obnoxious.
“Kiss me,” he demanded in the doorway.
She kissed him hard, slipping him lots of tongue. She wanted to remind him of what he and she shared, but the plan backfired because her own lust grew out of control. When she pulled away, it was to whisper, “I can’t wait until we are alone tonight.”
“Maybe not tonight,” he reminded her, whispering softly. “But maybe it’s time to take us to the next level, my pretty. Combine apartments?”
“You wish to live with me?” Her heart about burst. This wasn’t just about balancing the orgasms they gave each other?
“I wish to spend all my time with you,” he said. “I already know I can’t get enough of you.”
“I will think about which apartment I prefer,” she said. Hers was larger, but his had a better view.
His smile was sexy as hell when he pressed one last kiss to her lips and whispered the naughty, sex-related words. “I love you.” He turned and walked away.
Huh. That wasn’t supposed to happen in the light of day. Those were sexual fantasies.
Damn him for making her horny.
She closed the door and turned to find five women staring at her.
“So you and Shawn seem comfy,” Sunny snickered.
“He confuses me,” Tempest admitted.
Everyone stayed quiet. Leah, she could understand. She didn’t quite fit in with her other girlfriends yet.
Robyn sighed. “I’ll bite. Why are you confused?”
“We have dirty talk in the bedroom,” Tempest blurted, glad that someone cared enough to ask. “We say I love you to each other right before we orgasm. Shawn insists. However, he just said it to me now. In the hallway.”
“Oh, honey,” Amanda said, shaking her head. “That’s not dirty talk. He’s telling you how he feels.”
“That can’t be right,” Tempest said, even though her heart soared. “He is my trainer. He teaches me control. He—”
“He loves you,” Lily said quietly. “Everyone knows it. We’ve all known it. I knew it back when I was snapping back and forth between my teenage personality and my adult one.”
Sunny was shaking her head in the affirmative also.
“How do you feel about him?” Robyn asked her.
“I love him. But I didn’t want him to know how much. In case he is injured.”
“But you know it’s pointless to avoid love your entire life because you’re afraid to be injured? Take Leah, for example. She may be wary to jump into a relationship with what she’s endured. But eventually? She’ll understand that another man is completely different from her ex-husband. We’re all here to help you understand that not loving us”—Robyn swept her arm around the room—“doesn’t mean we’ll stay uninjured. It just means you’re missing out on loving us.”
“And you sure as hell don’t want that,” Lily said, throwing her skinny arms around Tempest and squeezing her tight. “I’d love you from afar. I’d stalk you.” She looked over her shoulder at Leah. “Sorry, Leah. No offense.”
“That’s okay?” Leah said, phrasing it like a question. “I think.”
“You are a bunch of drama llamas,” Tempest announced, though she clasped Lily’s small hand and laced her fingers with hers. “Let’s get busy turning me into Leah. I suppose someone shall have to put my hair up the way she used to wear hers?”
Leah smiled. “Yeah, Brock wouldn’t know I cut it. At least, the woman he thought was me had my old hair style.”
“He wouldn’t have thought anything of it being down since it was night. But if it is him watching the camp, we’ll want him to see me arrive with the up-do hairstyle as I let myself into the cabin. Then he’ll probably wait until it’s dark and quiet before making a move,” Tempest said. “I just wish I was able to kick his ass and give him the surprise of his life.”
“Sorry you have to play a helpless woman,” Robyn said. “But we can’t protect a Xeno Sapien outside of our walls. Our patrol team, on the other hand, has authority. Let them do the work and you keep yourself safe.”
“But I am on the patrol team.”
“Not tonight, you aren’t. Tonight, you are Leah. Tonight, you are a human. Otherwise it’s called entrapment.”
Tempest noticed how Leah shrank into herself as they discussed the plan.
“I’m sure it is scary,” she said, leaving Lily’s side and sitting next to Leah. She wrapped an arm around her. “But you will stop being scared when we kill your husband horribly.”
Leah gasped.
“Temp!” Sunny snickered, chagrined and appalled at the same time.
Tempest grinned wickedly and to her amazement, Leah started laughing.
“Okay, there you are,” Amanda said. “See how Leah laughs softly? Her shoulders shake slightly? She covers her mouth with her hand? Mimic it, Tempest.”
Tempest studied Leah. Shoulders slightly turned inward as if she protected her chest area—her heart. Head down, eyes averted as if she didn’t want to call attention to herself. That...that was what her husband wanted to see. That was what Tempest would give him.
“Good,” Amanda said. “That’s really good.”
“Perfect,” Lily breathed.
“Let’s have Leah walk across the room and you follow. Leah, act as natural as you can. Close your eyes and pretend you’re walking through the camps. Do what you would normally do.”
“With your eyes open, of course,” Tempest said. Poor Leah would probably walk into a wall, dumb as she was. Her new friend was pretty, she’d give her that. But not the brightest sun in the sky. After all, she’d taken abuse for years.
The others stared pointedly at her.
“What?” Sheesh, what did they expect now?
But Leah stood and walked slowly across the room, warily looking around her as if she expected someone to jump from the corners.
She followed her, putting herself in Leah’s mind. Afraid of every noise, every shadow in the dark. Expecting a man to jump out and attack with his fists.
Tempest stopped abruptly, straightening her body into her own stance. That was it.
“Temp?” Lily asked. Even Leah turned to see what she was doing.
“I just figured it out,” Tempest said. “I didn’t understand the difference between strong and weak. I thought Shawn was weak for being a human. And then when I was ready to give him a chance, I thought he was weak for dying. And it occurred to me as I was trying to be in Leah’s head that I was afraid of a big, strong man beating me. But he isn’t strong, is he? A man who beats his wife is the one who is weak.”
“Yes,” Sunny said. “Beast isn’t strong for having physical strength. He’s strong because Robyn taught him how to hide how much strength he had. She taught him how to think instead of react. When you and he fought in captivity, he was strong for holding out until he could hold out no more.” She spoke quickly, as if aware that Tempest seemed to be shutting down with the mention of her lover Beastly’s name. “But you resented yourself, too, Temp. You resented yourself for what you thought was weakness—for not being able to save others for the horrors that we faced. You can’t keep punishing yourself for not keeping us safe. Becoming a living bomb to kill the attackers isn’t a gift. It was a horribly painful experience—and then you were forced to watch violations anyway. So forgive my friend Tempest. She isn’t weak. She’s wonderful.”
“Yes,” Lily whispered, and then repeated. “Forgive my friend Tempest. She’s the sweetest woman I know. She deserves the best. She deserves my friend Shawn.”
They were serious. Her friends did love her, just as she had kept arguing with everyone over. This proved it. A brief nod and Tempest said, “I shall try to remember to be kinder to myself.”
“Well, it’s about goddamn time,” Lily said. “Now, back to walking like Leah.”
Leah walked and Tempest walked alongside her. The other ladies offered suggestions here and there, but mostly compliments.
Huh. This was easier than learning to walk sexy on high heels, that was for sure.
THE OFFICE AT THE FRONT gate felt claustrophobic with all the huge men already inside. But this was necessary—Trance needed Leah safe. She had no idea yet, but he’d be gently courting her. And Shawn needed Tempest safe. There was no doubt she could take care of herself. He didn’t even lose faith that she’d lose control and snap her bones off in the man who was Leah’s ex. He just needed her in his apartment, in his life, in his arms.
And they were nearly there.
“Here’s Shawn,” Beast said, making room for him to enter.
The office was easily ten degrees hotter with all the men inside. The air conditioner couldn’t keep up and the bulletproof windows were impossible to open.
“Okay, here’s the game plan,” Renegade said. “Tempest will dress as Leah. She’ll walk through the camp, head straight to Leah’s cabin and prepare for bed. He’ll be watching because he’s out of time. The policy’s expiration date hits in ten days—along with the divorce date. A double whammy, even if he could get enough money together to string along the policy for another month, he’s still out because she filed for divorce. So he’s out there, watching and waiting for her. He knows he got the wrong woman last night. He’ll be more careful tonight.”
“Maybe we need to tell a couple of people at camp to keep an eye on each other at all times? And then casually mention that the woman who works as the Xenia cook will be getting off late so they don’t have to watch for her,” Jason said.
“Great idea,” Renegade said. He listened for a bit and then interpreted his telepathic conversation for the humans. “Sunny says Tempest is coming along great. She has Leah’s mannerisms down pat.”
Shawn felt so proud of her. He knew she could do it. Now he just had to get her ensconced in his apartment—in every aspect of his life—before she realized what hit her.
Because he intended for her to owe him orgasms for the rest of their lives.
