Selena's Men (6 page)

Smokey gave a growl. He stood on his hind legs with his face only inches from Malcolm’s. Standing close to six feet tall, the large animal would intimidate most men, but Malcolm stood at six feet five inches himself.

Malcolm scratched Smokey’s head. “Down, boy,” Malcolm said, trying to step back. The intelligence shining in the animal’s eyes staring back at him still had the power to amaze Malcolm.

He made to lift the large paws off his chest when Smokey raised his right leg up and smacked Malcolm in the side of the head.

Stumbling back, Malcolm growled at the animal that seemed to be scolding him, reprimanding him like his twin Max would’ve done. With another rub behind Smokey’s ears, he grabbed both legs and pushed them off his chest.

He padded into his home, trailed by Smokey, who looked to have a grin on his face. He bared his teeth in a snarl that made the wolf’s tail wag back and forth.

Giving up, he headed for the master suite. The room was built large enough for three in mind.

Zeus had told them they’d know when they found their Fated. They all assumed that meant one for each of them somewhere. But Malcolm always felt like he was half of a whole and Max was the other half. The woman who would be his Fated would be his brother’s Fated too. It was a bone-deep feeling deep in his gut that was the way it would be for them. Maybe not for all the Ravens, but for him and Max he was sure that was how it was meant to be.

The bed he’d had custom made equaled the size of a double King. The closets were also large enough for three. Everything in the room was built with the thought of him and his brother sharing with their wife. All the things pointed at a triad in his mind and heart.

An image of a naked woman sandwiched between him and Max rolling around on the bed made his breath freeze in his throat.

He stripped his clothes and dropped them to the floor on the way to the bathroom, another room he had designed with the thought of three in mind. “Shit.”

His dick was so hard with thoughts of a faceless woman he began to worry for his own sanity.

With a thought, he had all the showerheads turned on and heated to his preferred temperature. He stepped under the spray, braced his feet apart, and placed both hands on the tile in front of him. The tension in his shoulders eased as the jets pounded him from all directions.

He imagined Selena kneeling in front of him. He tried to think of what she’d look like. With a name like Selena Ramos he pictured her as a petite Hispanic woman with brown eyes, but the image kept blurring to a tiny woman with long, curling, blonde hair.

Something niggled at his brain, but with his dick still hard as a pike, he couldn’t focus.

With a wave of his hand, he turned the water to cold. Mentally he started reviewing things he needed to do, but his mind kept hearing Selena’s voice and her husky laugh.

With a curse, he grabbed his cock and rubbed his thumb over the head, spreading the pre-cum around. He stroked up his shaft and back down slowly before he cupped his balls in his palm.

He conjured up an image of a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman with dark skin. The vision morphed into a tiny blonde woman on her knees instead. He focused on the new sight, and imagined her hand rubbing and stroking him.

Heat exploded from the base of his spine to the tip of his cock. Without any warning, his balls drew up, spurting cum all over the tiles. Malcolm watched in fascination as it swirled down the drain.

“Son of a bitch,” he panted. The image that made him come like an untried youth wasn’t the faceless Selena Ramos, but the angel from his dreams. He was ten kinds of fucked up.

He grabbed the soap from the ledge and washed in record time. Stepping out, he picked up a towel and rubbed himself dry. Padding naked into his bedroom, he threw open his closet door and chose a loose pair of white linen slacks, a short-sleeved, blue silk shirt, and a pair of sandals.

He looked in the mirror and grimaced at the flush on his face. His little one-man orgasm was better than anything he could remember.

* * * *

Selena hung up and breathed a sigh of relief. She fanned herself and peered at the screen to see a smirk on Tamara Mejia’s face through the computer. “What are you looking at?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you sitting there with a goofy look on your face.” Tamara giggled.

“That man’s voice.” She sighed. “I mean, dayam, I’m going to have to change my panties,” Selena joked.

“I’m not wearing any so I guess I’m okay. Hang on, hun. My mama’s calling.”

The thought of Tamara meeting Malcolm in one of her patent miniskirts sans underwear had Selena rethinking sending the other woman to meet Malcolm.

Tamara was everything Selena was not. At five feet nine with long, black hair and snapping brown eyes, Tamara was most men’s wet dream come to life. At five feet four Selena was average height, with blonde hair that had streaks of white, and gray eyes. She was just normal.

She couldn’t compete when it came to Tamara.

The hair on her arms stood on end, and tingles of electricity arched across her nerve endings. With supreme effort, she steered her angry thoughts away from things better left alone.

Laughing, Tamara cleared her throat. “So what’s the plan?”

* * * *

After they logged off, Selena pushed back from her desk with a sigh. She stared at the moon in all its glory and wondered if Malcolm preferred the view of the setting sun, or the moon like she did.

Her parents said they’d named her Selena because when they found her, it looked as if a moonbeam had shone down, highlighting her presence. She smiled at the memory.

“Mommy, how come I don’t look like you and papa?”

“Well sweetheart, that’s because we adopted you,” Selena’s mother, Theresa, whispered.

“What does that mean?” Selena asked. Her mother looked over at her father, and shrugged her shoulders. At three years old, Selena spoke fluently in Spanish and English, and talked more like an adult than a normal child.

Her father knelt in front of her and clasped her hands. His voice shook as he spoke. “One night, when your mother and I went on an evening stroll, we were so sad because we didn’t have any bambinas. Then we saw this beam of light leading us to this little bundle. And there we found you. Your mother and I were so surprised to see this baby with blonde, curly hair, and eyes like liquid silver. It was a miracle. We just picked you up and carried you home.” Jose wiped his eyes and motioned for his wife to continue.

“You’re a gift from God, and we thank him every day.”

Selena had known she wasn’t like normal children very early. Her first memory of being a baby was more like a fairy tale. When she’d told her parents, they hadn’t believed her and told her not to tell anyone else.

Giant men and beautiful women surrounded her. Everything seemed to shimmer in gold and silver hues, with lots of feelings of love and happiness. Her next memory encompassed an angry man, and the golden light was replaced by a cloying darkness.

* * * *

The air crackled as her body temperature rose. She inhaled in an attempt to control her breathing. Her eyes closed, while she focused inward on the here and now.

With an abrupt turn she walked out of her home office, stopping to turn on the sound system. Drowning Pool’s “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” pumped outside at ear-splitting decibels.

She rolled her shoulders, unsnapped her jeans, and lifted her top off before stepping onto the back deck in her sports bra and boy shorts.

Her pulse thundered. The chorus
was on the third repeat and she was more than ready.

She didn’t want to destroy any of her beautiful surroundings, and from past experiences, she knew if she didn’t wrest control of herself she’d do just that.

In the middle of her backyard she took a deep breath, lifted her arms up, and brought them back in front of her body. She bowed to an imaginary opponent and began the intricate steps to Tai Chi, which quickly flowed into the fluid steps of Krav Maga.

By the time her playlist flowed into Metallica, sweat covered her scantily clad body. Her steps slowed and her body felt more like her own.

No longer did the air crackle.

Her hybrid wolf-dog Katja barked, sounding more like a mournful howl.

Selena glanced at the sky, shocked to see the moon had shifted toward the horizon.

She dropped to her knees into the damp grass and bowed her head. A wet snout nudged her arm. “It’s okay, girl. I feel much better, but I stink.” Selena wrapped her arm around Katja’s head. They stayed that way a few minutes. Looking down at her sweat-covered body, Selena grimaced.

In unison they both stood. The large pool called to Selena. Not bothering to shower first, she dived into the cool water while Katja sat at the end.

Only able to swim one lap before her muscles began to protest, she turned to her back to float and wait for the moon to finish its set in the sky. Katja barked, alerting Selena to the time yet again.

An eternity could have passed, she was so relaxed.

Finally she pulled herself out and went to the rock wall attached to the deck with the custom outdoor shower. The water flowed over her head and cleaned the chlorine from her body.

She was too exhausted to do more than wrap a towel around herself, wring her hair out, and dry off before heading inside.

With a look toward the stairs leading to the master bedroom, which was too far in her opinion, she set the alarm. With another glance at the stairs and the inviting, overstuffed couches, Selena shrugged her shoulders.

With a weary sigh, she fell onto one of her couches and pulled a quilt over her legs. Sleep claimed her immediately.

* * * *

She groaned, and ignored the infernal ringing of her cellphone. “Thank the gods the damn thing stopped,” she mumbled, and turned over, pulling a pillow over her head.

And bam, just like that, the ringing started again. “Fuck me. What do you want?” she snarled into the phone.

“Well I would be happy to do just that, but I don’t think even my impressive manhood could reach you from here.”

Selena’s face heated at the sound of Malcolm King’s voice. She tried to scramble up from the pile of pillows that swallowed her up, making the task almost impossible. “Malcolm?”

“Fantastic, you already recognize my voice. Now, I just need to learn to leap tall buildings, and I could take care of you.”

Her pulse raced. “What are you talking about?”

After flinging several pillows off the couch and untangling her legs from the blanket and the still-damp towel, she managed to stand up.

“Did I wake you?” he asked instead of answering her question.

“Why are you calling me so early?” Two can do the “ask a question instead of answer” game, she thought.

“What do you mean, ‘so early’? It’s afternoon here on the West coast and you’re two hours ahead of me.”

She nearly tripped over Katja as she stumbled to the patio doors. The sun had clearly been up for hours. “Shit, shit, shit. I can’t believe I slept so late, damn it.”

“Were you up all night partying?”

Selena wondered at the anger that laced his words. They mimicked the anger she felt when she thought of Tamara meeting Malcolm.

From the lateness of the hour she knew he’d probably already met with her partner. Probably already fell head-over-ass in lust with the gorgeous half-Spanish, half-Cajun woman.

She snapped the curtain closed, shutting out the blinding sun and the green-eyed monster. “Did you need something, Malcolm?”

“Do you know you answer a question with a question?”

Selena’s heart skipped a beat at his deep, rumbled laugh. “Hello, Pot, said the Kettle. But to answer your question, no, I was up working and time got away from me. I think I crashed around five this morning.”

“I wanted to call and let you know I’ll be meeting with your partner in about an hour and just wanted to make sure you didn’t have anything you wanted to add before I give all the documents over. Since you are the majority shareholder I just wanted to double check.”

“Tam has every bit as much power as I do.” The relief washed over her like a tidal wave.

“
That’s fantastic. I hope we can get together and I can thank you personally for your business. Your partner was almost hesitant to meet with me. It could give a man a complex if he had self-esteem issues.”

“Ha. I’m sure it didn’t faze you one bit, Mr. King.” She laughed.

“You wound me.”

Again she heard laughter in his voice, and shivers raced down her spine. She trudged up the stairs and stripped out of her clothes. With the phone tucked between her ear and shoulder she turned on the faucet to her large tub, and added scented bubble bath before grabbing a large bath towel.

“I don’t think there is a woman alive who has the power to hurt you.”

Silence stretched so long and thick the tub had filled completely.

“That is where you would be wrong.”