The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(67)

Chapter Fourteen


Serena came awake, but didn’t open her eyes, preferring to revel in her memories of the night before. Adam had been perfect. After he’d made love to her, he’d been so tender. He’d shampooed her hair and washed off her body. When the water had finally gone cold, he’d towled her off and then used a dryer on her hair. All she’d had to do was sip her wine and let Adam take care of her.

She’d been sleepy and ready for bed, and Adam had carried her to the bedroom after taking the plug out and promising a larger one next time. He wanted to f*ck her with Jake. He’d whispered how they would take her over and over again.

Serena shifted in bed, snuggling down into the mattress. This was right where she wanted to be.

Adam had cuddled her all night long.

Where was he now?

She gave up the game. She couldn’t stay in bed all day long waiting for one of them to come and make love to her, though she had to admit it sounded better than getting up and working. Really good sex could play hell on her career of writing really good sex. The problem was the real thing was way better than writing about it.

“Serena?”

She turned and felt a smile curl her lips up. Adam stood there, looking deliciously handsome. He was in his normal day wear. No sweats and T-shirts for her boy. He was in a fine-looking pair of slacks and a perfectly designed shirt. He’d left the tie off, but Serena was beginning to understand that meant they weren’t going anywhere. If they had been, he would have put on a tie. God, she loved him in a tie.

She let the top of the sheet slip down, exposing her breasts. Before yesterday, she would have been deeply embarrassed. Now, she felt sexy and beautiful. She’d made love with two men. Not sex. It had been far more than that. She’d made love with them. Hell, she was falling in love with them.

Adam kept his eyes on hers. “Serena, you need to get dressed and come out and meet us in the living room.”

She felt a little trepidation at his tone, but decided he was just being overly serious. Jake had chastised her the night before for being too cowardly. She was supposed to ask for what she wanted. This whole relationship thing was all about communication. “Why don’t you come back to bed? Come to think of it, why don’t you go and get Jake and we can start the morning right.”

She wanted them both. It was her fantasy and it was so much more because these weren’t some dream men. These weren’t some men she’d created in her head. Jake and Adam were real. They were perfectly imperfect and that made them amazing.

Adam’s eyes turned down, and Serena felt a real stir of trouble. “You need to get dressed and come out here. We’ve got something on the tape from the library you need to see.”

Jake had been going over the footage from the libraries with CCTV. Adam had started it, and Jake had been planning on running the software to see if they could get a match. They were looking for someone who had been in both libraries at roughly the same time the e-mails had been sent. It might not give them a name, but they would have a face and a place to start looking.

Had they found the guy? Was the case over? Despite the fact that she would be damn happy to not have some * shoving snakes into her car, she really wasn’t sure she was ready for them to leave. Would it even work?

Or was this just what they did?

“I’ll wait outside for you.” Adam turned and walked toward the door.

“Adam? Adam, what’s going on?”

He paused at the door, and his shoulders rose and fell with his deep intake of breath. “Just get dressed, Serena. We know everything now. Just hurry so we can get this over with.”

Well, that answered one of her questions. Apparently when the case was over, they weren’t going to have anything to do with her. Her gut felt like someone had punched a hole in it. How could he have made love to her the way he had the night before and then stared a hole through her this morning? They knew everything. The case was over—at least their part appeared to be, and now he wanted to get the lame-ass good-byes out of the way.

Serena forced herself to move. It would have been easier if they were at her place. She wouldn’t feel so out of her depths. She wouldn’t be staring a long, painful process in the face. They were done with her, but she didn’t have a car. Someone would have to drive her home. Should she call a cab? Or Bridget? She could call Bridget. She reached for her phone. She’d placed it in her purse before she’d gone to take a shower.

Her purse was gone.

Why had they taken her purse?

Calm down. Get through this. Maybe it’s just the way Adam is. Maybe he’s thinking that now that the case is over, you won’t want them anymore.

Positive thinking. She always went to the worst-case scenario, and it might get her in trouble here. If she walked out there looking mopey and down and just assumed that they were done, she might make it come true.

Serena got to her feet and found her clothes, then decided on a different tactic. She needed to take a cue from Bridget. Confidence. Sometimes she thought Bridget got things she shouldn’t just because she acted like it was due to her. And Adam and Jake hadn’t said a thing that would make her believe they wanted this little affair to end. To the contrary, they had practically told her they wanted to live with her.

Adam had hung his shirt from the night before over the dresser. Serena put it on, buttoning it, but leaving a good amount of cleavage exposed.