Below the Surface

Chapter Eleven

Tessa slammed the main door to the house shut and followed Marcus’ stiff back through the foyer to the kitchen—the source of the wonderful, if distracting smells that made her stomach growl. “Marcus, if you don’t tell me what I want to know in the next five seconds, you can forget about ever sitting comfortably again, because my foot will be so far up your ass—”

“Tessa, Marcus, glad you finally pried yourselves away from the office,” Cadmus interrupted with a large, toothy grin.

“Just in time for machia.” Aerolus watched them from the stove, his grey eyes unblinking.

Distracted by food and irritated because she knew Aerolus intended the diversion, she muttered, “What the hell’s machia?”

“A traditional dish in Tanselm. It’s perfect on a day like today.” Cadmus fetched them plates of the thick, aromatic stew.

Shelving a glare for Marcus, she took a reluctant bite, then another. “Wow, Aerolus, I can’t believe you made this. Did you, you know?” She wiggled her fingers.

“No magic, Tessa. I made it from scratch, allowing for the difference in vegetation between my world and this one.” He nodded to her. “You like it?”

“It’s about the only thing saving me from choking the life out of your brother.” She continued to eat, amazed at her hunger. And the more she ate, the better she felt.

She glanced up to see the others eating as ravenously as she was. “Hey, Cadmus.” She stared at him in confusion. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”

He shrugged. “I’m taking a sick day.”

Marcus stopped eating and stared at his brother. “Darius never took a sick day. And you’re not sick, at least not physically.”

“No, I’m a regular nutcase.”

Tessa stared in concern. For once the jovial Cadmus sounded strained and not at all easygoing.

“Cadmus.” Aerolus stared at his brother and shook his head. “I can’t help if you won’t let me.”

“Hey, this isn’t about me. It’s about Marcus.” Cadmus pointed a finger. “He knows exactly who set Tessa up and why, but he’s too afraid to tell her.”

Tessa blinked in amazement, riveted to Cadmus who resumed eating as if nothing had been said. “Say that again.”

“He’s too afraid—”

“No, you idiot.” Marcus’ gaze narrowed, his next words like ice. “She wants to know what Sheila Covington did. And if you already knew that, why didn’t you mention it before now?”

Aerolus appeared to track the conversation, but Cadmus and Marcus were giving Tessa a headache. “Would someone please explain this to me?” Her voice rose and a flash of energy flooded the room.

She flushed at losing control, aware she’d siphoned energy not just from Marcus, but from his brothers as well. Instead of the usual accompaniment of psychic skills, however, she absorbed only pure energy, releasing the backwash she couldn’t contain into the room.

“Nice,” Aerolus said as he stared around them at something only he could see. “You’ve adapted to our elemental natures remarkably fast.”

“That’s elemental power?” she asked, somewhat dazed. But the discussion between Marcus and Cadmus reminded her to stay focused. “No, no, don’t answer that. No more questions. Marcus, I want answers. Now.”

He shrugged and his face took on an imperious cast, making her grit her teeth. Whenever he grew overly arrogant, it was a sign of his unease. And his tension set her on edge.

“Sheila requested a meeting with me late yesterday, and I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want to worry you.”

“He didn’t want to make you more jealous than you are now,” Cadmus corrected.

She fumed but didn’t correct him. Why bother hiding from the truth at this point?

Marcus shot him an irritated scowl and returned his attention to Tessa. “That’s not exactly true.” He looked uncomfortable and glared at his brothers several times. When they showed no signs of leaving, he cursed, making Tessa want to grin despite her upset with his hesitation.

“Sheila Covington is unbalanced. The woman lied about sleeping with me to everyone at the office. She fixated on me, for some reason.”

Tessa stared in amazement. “For some reason?” She eyed him up and down, giving no question as to what the woman found alluring.

His eyes glinted and he gave her a heated glance. “Obviously she’s enthralled by my good looks and killer body.” He pulled off the conceit naturally, and for some odd reason his snottiness only added to his allure. “And I am known for certain other…talents. In one particular area I’ve never had any complaints.” His eyes laughed at her knowingly. “But marriage?”

His arrogance faded when he realised how he must sound to Tessa, like the commitment-phobic playboy she’d once thought him to be. Instead of being bothered by his objection, however, she was amused. She understood his point. Hell, she wouldn’t want to be married to Sheila Covington either. The woman had looks but was a complete shrew.

Tessa wanted to laugh at Marcus’ discomfort as he eyed her warily. Was she now supposed to jump on the bandwagon and demand he marry her? Ha. Tessa Sheridan didn’t grovel. Period. When she was through with Marcus, he’d be begging to propose.

“As I said, the woman is unbalanced,” he grumbled and dug into his food.

“Crazier than a shiiman eating worms.” Cadmus nodded, scooping another bowl of machia.

“Not that I know what you’re talking about, but I get the gist.” She turned to Marcus. “So she’s into you. Why come after me?”

“Apparently rumours have been flying that you and Marcus have been engaged in a secret affair for weeks,” Cadmus explained with relish, his previous bad mood gone. “Nice work, bro.”

Marcus ignored his brother’s thumbs up, and Tessa barely managed to avoid giving Cadmus her own hand gesture. “It’s not funny,” she snapped at him, incensed when his grin only widened. “This is my reputation we’re talking about. I don’t suppose you know who started the rumour?”

Cadmus shrugged and Marcus shook his head. “Tessa, before Chase put you to work with me I only knew you as the leggy redhead all the men fantasised about.”

All the men…fantasised? She blushed. He had to be kidding.

Marcus frowned. “Just yesterday I put my fist in Davis’ face for—”

“You did what?” She stared in amazement. “What happened?”

“Let him finish about the crazy woman,” Aerolus interrupted. “I want to know what else she said.”

“She broke down when I refused to marry her,” Marcus said with disgust.

“Marry her,” Tessa repeated, having never heard anything so ridiculous, or annoying.

“She grew irrational when I said no, and bits and pieces of her part in discrediting you leaked through. I admit I pushed her into a full confession—for which she was immediately fired from Craiger-Mim. She saw you as competition and thought by taking you out of the picture, she and I would become one.” He grimaced. “At least we now know she, not the Djinn or ‘Sin Garu, concocted the idea to have you arrested.”

“That’s nuts.” Tessa stared in disbelief.

“She was insane with lust, you might say,” Cadmus threw in with a chuckle. “Now don’t blame me for pointing out the truth,” he said quickly when Tessa beaned him with a dinner roll. “Look at the package she’s in lust with.” He pointed to himself and his brothers. “How could she help herself?” He motioned to himself as if showcasing a prize.

“For God’s sake, Cadmus,” Tessa huffed but couldn’t help a chuckle. “This isn’t The Price is Right.”

At his confusion she shook her head. “Never mind. I want to know how she planned to get rid of me.”

“She gave Leanne Sumpter a packet of files to put in your office,” Marcus explained. “Files that would show you had embezzled money into a personal account.”

“Leanne works in pay services,” Tessa murmured, suddenly aware of just how close she’d been to prosecution. “She has full access to my pay records. She knows my bank account number, my social, my birthday.” A nightmare of knowledge.

“And she’d already made the changes in the computer. Leanne didn’t like you either.” Marcus scowled. “If Sheila hadn’t confessed, you might now be sitting in a jail cell.”

“What did I do to Leanne? Don’t tell me she fell for you too?” Women were dropping like flies around Marcus, and she didn’t like it one bit. Not when she’d finally come to the conclusion she was keeping him.

“No. Apparently she’s under the impression Jonas Chase has the ‘hots’ for you. And she’s in love with him.”

His sharp tone reminded her he still thought Jonas was a Djinn.

“Good lord, this all sounds like something that should be on a daytime soap.” She shook her head, dismissing his charge about Jonas. “Assuming anything is never smart, Marcus. Don’t pin your suspicions on Jonas, a man who’s supported me from day one.” As she scraped the last bit of machia from her bowl, she realised she felt lighter, as if freed from a tremendous weight she carried. The question of who wanted her gone from Tomanna had at last been answered. “Sheila Covington. Hmm. I never would have believed you’d be involved in trying to get me fired.”

“I wasn’t,” Marcus said, his tone cold.

The man felt guilty about it. Good. “Maybe if you didn’t play so fast and loose with women’s emotions, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Cadmus guffawed and Aerolus quirked his lip in what looked like the hint of a smile. Marcus, however, tensed and his eyes blazed. Not so cool and collected now, are we? she thought with satisfaction.

“For your information, I have never in my life treated a woman with anything less than respect.” He coloured, and she knew he was remembering the first time they’d kissed in his office. “Almost never,” he muttered and pushed his bowl away, apparently having lost his appetite. “The point is, Sheila imagined something between us that wasn’t there.”

“Okay,” Tessa said slowly, enjoying needling Marcus, especially in front of his captivated brothers. Marcus hot and bothered made her heart race. “So tell me why I saw you breaking off with a woman in public a month ago.”

“Yes, do explain,” Cadmus prodded.

“I remember Darius being awfully angry about it,” Aerolus said, looking down into his bowl. “Something about dumping your women in public landing him in trouble with his affai.” He turned to Tessa. “Samantha had thought Darius was the one being so callous.”

Marcus’ eyes blazed, and Tessa couldn’t have been more pleased. This was the real Marcus, the man she wanted with her last breath, the man who intrigued her on every level.

Strong yet tender, icy cool and in command, yet perilously out of control when it came to dealing with her. That had to be a good sign.

“That was unavoidable, and an instance I deeply regretted.” He spoke stiffly and mentally shoved Cadmus when his brother smirked. “As it happened, Sophia Mitchell brought it all on herself.”

Tessa was fascinated and wanted to know more, but a comment he’d made earlier bugged her. “Yeah, yeah, you’re a heart breaker, and we women are fragile flowers you try so hard not to crush.”

“You’re no flower, trust me,” Marcus growled.

“Tell me about Davis.”

Marcus looked uncomfortable and she had to know more.

“Tell me.”

“Marcus punched him in the face for some rude comments he made about you,” Cadmus answered her, while licking his spoon completely clean.

“Really?”

“How the hell do you know all this?” Marcus frowned and stood, conveniently taking his bowl to the sink in an attempt to escape interrogation.

Cadmus shrugged. “A vision, what else?”

“I suppose I should thank you.” Tessa watched Marcus, not quite sure what to make of his encounter with Davis.

“Don’t thank me for that. I should have pounded him the first time he implied less than the truth about you.”

“No really, thank you,” she said, genuinely pleased at his sincerity. “I wish I could’ve slugged him back into the Stone Age where he belongs.”

“That I’d like to see.” Marcus relaxed enough to share a small grin with her and a warmth unfurled in her belly.

“Right. Well,” Cadmus drawled as they stared at one another. “So where do you two go from here? You know who wanted you fired, but that still doesn’t explain why ‘Sin Garu was so interested, or even who the Djinn is that’s been feeding him information.”

“True,” Aerolus said slowly. “The Covington woman and the worker from payroll knew of Covington’s deceit. The Djinn might have overheard the two talking.”

“Or had access to the company’s personnel accounts,” Cadmus added.

“Like Jonas Chase.” Marcus said his name like a curse.

Marcus stared at the ceiling in his bedroom, wishing he could ignore the fact Tessa slept so soundly just two inches away. But just the scent of her drove him crazy, and knowing she lay nearly naked next to him, clad in one of his thin white Tshirts, was more than any man, or prince, could stand.

No matter that Tessa was not of Tanselm. No matter that she came from another plane entirely. Everything within him cried out for her, and he had already decided to accept her as his, as if that were a major hardship. He’d tried to avoid the truth, but for all his faults, he’d never lacked integrity. And the truth stared him in the face with bright blue eyes.

Tessa Sheridan was his affai. He knew it, and she knew it. He’d murmured the word in the aftermath of ‘Sin Garu’s impromptu visit, and he’d known he couldn’t delay the admission forever.

Hell, in the six months he’d worked at Tomanna, he’d been constantly aware of her, if only to keep her potential distraction as far away as possible.

She slid one thigh over his and murmured in her sleep, causing his temperature to rise a few hundred degrees.

Closing his eyes, he tried counting aloud the reasons he shouldn’t make love to her again, as if by uttering them in the dimness of reality he could make them convincing.

“One, the more I’m with her, the more I want to be with her, i.e., bending her over her desk and soundly claiming her has only whetted my appetite for more.” He stopped to note his present erection and shook his head. “Two, making love with her cinched our bond even tighter, confusing my focus and making her more vulnerable to Djinn attack.”

She shifted, and he sucked in a breath. One of her hands drifted over his midsection, her fingers resting all too close to his twitching cock.

“Three,” he whispered harshly through gritted teeth. “She makes me forget finesse, makes me lose control.” And a loss of control hit Marcus where it really hurt.

“Four,” Tessa rasped in a sexy voice, “she’s too aggressive.” Her hand wrapped around his pulsing girth and began priming him. “She makes me come even when I don’t want to.”

Marcus groaned as her long fingers stroked the underside of his shaft. She tightened her grip around him and began pumping, playing on the sensitivity of his cock like an expert. Harder and faster she jerked, watching him with intense blue eyes, taking him that much closer to climax.

“Tessa,” he gasped, almost leaping off the bed when she bit lightly at one of his nipples. “Sertia, please.”

He didn’t know what he wanted more, to come into her hand or lose himself in the addicting taste of her sex, to bury his head between her thighs and make her scream with desire.

But his decision was taken out of his hands when she let go of him and slithered down his body, taking him in her mouth.

Lights flashed behind his lids and a wave of heat swam over him. Sweat broke out over his brow as she sucked hard, swallowing the milky beginnings of his orgasm. Her tongue swept up and down his shaft, settling over the underside of his crown as she stroked him into ecstasy.

“Fuck, Tessa,” he groaned as the wave crashed, sweeping him into oblivion. He pulsed and shuddered into her mouth, aware of her groans as she swallowed him.

The act was so intimate, so overwhelmingly giving that he finally gave up and surrendered.

“I love you, you know that?” He sighed, wishing he could recall his legendary romantic reputation around Tessa. So much for poetry and flowers. Even in Tanselm the women wanted loving words and a romantic setting.

“I know,” she whispered back, kissing her way up his body. “It took you long enough to admit it.”

He frowned, too tired to see her face but irritated all the same. She should have returned the sentiment, not berated him for saying it.

“But I forgive you.” She sounded amused.

“You forgive me?” he repeated, his displeasure growing. For some odd reason she always seemed to spark his temper, and this after a mind-blowing orgasm.

“I do,” she whispered against his lips. He stiffened and groaned when she thrust her tongue inside his mouth, awash in his taste mingled with her scent. “And I’d be pleased to be your affai and marry you.”

“Pleased—” He was too stunned to respond for a moment. Had the woman just accepted a proposal he hadn’t yet made?

“Of course, I’m not sure you mean it. Maybe you should convince me I should say yes?” she suggested playfully, reaching for his hand and placing it between her slick thighs. “Hmm, yes. Show me what I’ll be missing if I say no.”

Caught in her sensual web, he was helpless to deny her. He sucked and licked, nipped and tasted all of her from her forehead to her toes. And then he settled at the apex of her thighs for a long, leisurely feast.

Soon she was caught in his spell, completely at his mercy as he made her beg for pleasure. Shortly after, as they rested together, Marcus groaned sleepily, knowing he’d never live it down if his brothers discovered his affai had proposed to him, and that he’d been seduced into accepting.