The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(86)

“And they say you’re just a pretty face,” Liam snarked. “I’m running some stuff on the cops. And I think we should take another look at the ex. Why don’t you do that hacking thing you do? Get me everything. E-mails, those books he’s written, hell, I’ll look at his lesson plans.”

It was a good plan and Adam wanted to take it further. “And Lara. I don’t care what Ian thinks. She’s suspicious. I’ll get everything I can off the agency’s computers, too.”

Liam nodded. “Whoever this is, it’s personal. He torched her house. The arsonist did a damn fine job, by the way. He was practically professional.”

“Or he was actually professional and he was paid for his services.”

Liam shrugged. “Could be. Chitwood and Hernandez interest me. You say they don’t seem to like Serena?”

“They don’t trust her. Hernandez seems to actively dislike her, and I have no idea why. She’s as sweet as can be.”

“She’s a little doll.” Liam smiled. “I actually like her quite a bit. You know how I feel about curious little subs.”

“Hands off,” Adam shot back. Liam was known for enjoying a lot of non-committed play.

“Sorry. She’s a sweet thing. I think you both chose really well. I mean it. She’ll be good for you.”

Adam pulled Serena’s favorite tea out of the bag. “I don’t know about that. We’re crazy about her, but she seems to be done with us.”

Jake walked in, a towel around his neck. He was dressed for a workout. “I thought we’d agreed to try optimism. Hey, Li. How’s it going?”

Liam grimaced. “I’m spending too much f*cking time up Ian’s ass. I’m telling you, if I get even a whiff of that f*cker, Black, I’ll kill him on principle alone. But we were talking about your girl. Adam seems to think you two are in serious trouble.”

Jake leaned against the wall, his weariness evident. “She’s a stubborn one. She hasn’t really talked to us in days. We’re trying to give her some space.”

Liam laughed. “Well, there’s your first mistake. Dumbasses. Don’t ever give a woman a minute to think or she’ll realize just how much better than you she deserves. Come on. You two are playing this like amateurs. She’s been through hell. She needs a damn Dom, not some * boys who give her a bunch of choices she’s not ready to make.”

Adam looked to Jake. Maybe they were playing it all wrong. “She hasn’t broken under our tender care.”

Liam snorted. “You’re letting her control this? She lost her house. She lost everything, and you’re letting her be alone? Can’t you see she’s pushing some serious boundaries?”

Jake grabbed a water bottle, turning around and leaning against the counter. “We might have been a little rough on her when we found out about the whole Lara thing.”

“Yeah, well, I would have had the same concerns,” Liam replied. “And I probably would have made a complete ass of myself, too. But what you’re doing now is worse. You’re letting her flounder. Look, I don’t think you two should have f*cked the client, but you’re obviously in love with her, so you’re responsible for her. You should be in bed with her. You should be cuddling with her. I can’t believe I just said that. Cuddling makes me want to vomit a little, but apparently women like it.”

“She’s not in a cuddling mood.” Adam would love nothing more than to hold her, but each night she’d gotten into bed and turned away. Adam or Jake had stayed in the room with her, but neither had gotten into bed. Maybe that had been a mistake. Giving her space wasn’t working. It was only making her worse.

“So get her in one.” Liam hopped off his barstool. “She’s curious. See if her curiosity is still in full force. You two have dumped every bit of training you have between you. She’s an op. Where do you start?”

Adam knew exactly where he was going. “We assess our advantages and disadvantages.”

Jake smiled, his eyebrows rising. “Her curiosity about BDSM is a definite advantage.”

“And her absolute hatred of us is a definite disadvantage.” He sighed. He was doing it again. He wasn’t going to win Serena back by moping. “She doesn’t really hate us. She’s mad, and she doesn’t know how to come out of it.”

“So we show her.”

Adam went through his mental checklist of everything he had to do for the day. He had case work to do. He had some organizational work to do. He needed to call the caterers and the owner of the adult toy store where the signing was on Saturday. He needed to run background checks on everyone who was attending the event. And now he needed to set up a scene at the club.

Yeah, that would be the best part of his day. His dick twitched at the thought of getting inside Serena again. He’d only had one night, and it hadn’t been close to enough.

“I’ll take the hit,” Adam said. “I’ll call Ian and see what we can do.”

“You’re a brave man.” Jake slapped him on the back in a brotherly gesture. “I’m going to run out to the store where the signing is and see about the security. If I don’t like it, she’s not going.”

Adam groaned. “Don’t tell her that, man. We need her in a decent mood.”