“I’d rather have you kiss my ass, lover,” Dev announced, walking into the club. He was followed closely by himself. Declan was in full-on Dev mode, appearing to be wearing the same suit, with the same shortish hair. “I’ll just let Zack save it on occasion, but I assure you, your lips are the only ones allowed to touch me there.”
I walked across the room and faced him with my hands on my hips. God, my heart beat harder the minute he walked in the room, and something fell in place for me. I needed him the way I needed Daniel. But I wasn’t going to let him know that. There were things that had gotten lost in the craziness of the previous evening. “What about those six priestesses your brother kept going on about? Are they not allowed to kiss your assets?”
“I have been informed I was horribly mistaken about those priestesses,” Declan said smoothly. “Please forgive me for the mistake. Devinshea left them behind when he left his temple. He has only one goddess now and intends to keep it that way.”
So the boys had their stories straight now. I wouldn’t be able to break them up. “He better keep it that way because he doesn’t want to piss me off. I consider it cheating even if it’s part of a religious ceremony. Those priestesses are going to have to find another priest.”
“Of course, my mistress,” Dev said with a smile. “Consider thousands of years of Fae tradition tossed aside.”
“See that it is,” I replied before turning to the other one. “What did I tell you about the glamour, Declan? I can’t handle two of him.”
Declan smiled as he dropped the illusion. “I don’t believe it for a moment, Zoey. From what I’ve heard, you handle two men with great efficiency.”
“And flexibility,” Dev offered. He turned to the wolves and regarded Zack with a businesslike demeanor. “Zack, we’re having some meetings today. I’m lunching with my brother and then we have club business to attend to. At dusk, we need to head out to the farm.”
Zack pulled his professional persona around him the minute Dev stepped into the room. He held his phone in his hand, his fingers moving across the screen. “Yes, I downloaded the schedule, sir. I made arrangements with Albert to have lunch delivered from your favorite restaurant. It will be served in the private dining room in twenty minutes. I have a bottle of wine chilling.”
I looked back at Lee. His brother was the consummate professional in his expensive suit and silk tie. Zack’s haircut had cost at least two hundred dollars. Lee was in old jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt with some sort of beer ad on the front. His hair needed a trim and his boots were worn. I smiled back at my wolf and let the sarcasm flow. “What are our luncheon arrangements today, Lee? Have you called The Mansion to have it catered in?”
“I don’t know what that is, Zoey,” Lee admitted, his low voice a rumble. “If you want some lunch, I think I saw some peanut butter and bread in the kitchen. While you’re at it, make me a couple of sandwiches, too. I can always eat.” Lee punctuated his statement by reaching behind his ear and scratching quickly back and forth. He sighed when he was satisfied he’d taken care of the itch. Zack was right. He was more wolf than man.
“You see, this is why I fired him.” Dev shuddered a bit. “He’s insubordinate and won’t take care of you the way he should. He’s fine as straight-on muscle, but you need an assistant as well. Let me hire someone who knows how to dress, sweetheart.”
“I’m her bodyguard, Quinn, not her nanny.” Lee didn’t sound like he cared about the man who paid his salary. “How the hell am I supposed to make sure she doesn’t get killed if I’m always running her errands or making sure her hair appointments are scheduled? I’ll leave that to you. You’re the one who treats her like your damn Barbie doll.”
Dev looked the wolf over seriously and then regarded me. “Are you sure this is what you want, Zoey? I can have more reasonable guards here in an hour. They’ll take care of you the way you deserve.”
Lee frowned, an extremely taciturn expression. He wasn’t going to give Dev an inch, and he certainly wasn’t about to do anything so energetic as defend himself.
“Lee is fine, Dev.” I had to fight for my wolf because he definitely wouldn’t fight for his own ass. “I’m good with him. He promises not to let me get horribly murdered, and I promise not to shoot him.”
“I told you that won’t work a second time, Zoey,” Lee shot back. “I’ll take you out first.”
“If you lay one fucking hand on her I swear…” Dev started, and I pushed him back, getting between the two.
I rolled my eyes at Lee, who was not one bit impressed with my lover’s show of temper. “You could give me something to work with here.”
Lee shrugged. “Donovan already gave me the whole ‘death and dismemberment’ spiel. I get it.” He cast his brown eyes at Declan. “I’m actually surprised to see you in one piece. I figured after the way you pawed his wife that Donovan would kick your ass back to Faery. Guess he’s more patient than I thought.”
“Not at all.” Declan’s hair flowed down his chest in a midnight waterfall. “He did indeed kick my ass, as you say. He took out my entire retinue. It was quite impressive. He threatened to kill me if I ever so much as glance his lovely wife’s way again. I believe the vampire thinks I am no longer a threat. He should know that I am made of sterner stuff than that.”
“We Quinns never allow something like death to deter us when it comes to sex,” Dev admitted.
“Not at all,” his brother agreed. “There are some things worth dying over. I took everything the vampire king said to heart. I then sent for reinforcements and bought better weaponry. I shall be ready to meet the vampire at his earliest convenience, and this time I shall be victorious. I shall reap my reward.”
“He’s talking about you, lover,” Dev pointed out. I was staring at Declan. I really couldn’t help it because his hair was so beautiful. I was thinking about how lovely his hair was and how good it would look on Dev. Dev’s eyes suddenly went wide. “You’re staring at his hair.”
“It’s pretty,” I offered lamely.
“Oh, cara,” Marcus said from the doorway. He had a damn good sense of timing. “Now you’ve done it. Don’t you know how faeries prize their hair? It’s a man’s crowning glory and something a lover would appreciate about him. Your Lancelot must feel insecure with his short hair when in the presence of his brother’s beauty.”
I frowned at the vampire, who always knew how to make an entrance. “Dev’s hair is beautiful. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to admire Declan’s. It’s just really pretty and very soft.”
“You touched it?” Dev practically screamed the question.
Declan sighed with obvious satisfaction. “She stroked me with her little hands. It was pleasurable. Her hands are almost as soft as her lips.”
Dev bore down on me, every bit as enraged as Daniel could get. “You want to talk about cheating, lover? That was cheating. You do not touch his hair. You do not kiss him. Just because he looks like me doesn’t make him a freebie. You stay out of his bed.”
I looked up at him, my eyes wide because Dev never got jealous. “I didn’t know touching his hair was a big deal. And I didn’t kiss him. He kissed me. It was how I knew he wasn’t you.”
Dev stared down at me for a minute and then his lips quirked up. “Just how was my brother’s kiss different from mine?” He asked the question with the certainty of a man who knew he was going to like the answer.
I smiled up at him because I had him now. How could the man be insecure after what I’d done to him in the shower not an hour before? I wrapped my arms around his neck and pushed myself up on my toes to get as close as I could. “Well, Declan’s kiss was fine, but it didn’t make me melt and it didn’t make me want to lock myself around him and do anything he asked of me.”