Diane (The Town of Pearl 6)

She moaned and thrust downward.

He pressed his mouth against her tender neck. He nipped her skin and suckled against it as he began to undo the buttons to her blouse.

She grabbed his wrist and held his gaze. Lips swollen, eyes wide and wild, she looked incredible.

“You’re so fucking beautiful.” He went to kiss her again and she turned to look at Drake.

Mark glanced his way just as Drake reached for Diane, cupped her cheeks between his hands and kissed her deeply. She released Mark’s wrists and reached for Drake. Mark ran his palms up her camisole and straight to her breasts. He tweaked a nipple and she moaned and then pulled her mouth from Drake’s.

“God, I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long,” Drake admitted.

“This is crazy,” she replied and Mark gripped her hips and gave her a firm shake so she would look at

him.

“We’ve been fighting this for far too long. This is why we wanted you to call us. Why we asked to meet and get together before you left for Dallas.”

Something changed in her eyes. A realization of some sort, and his gut went on alert instantly.

She pulled back and looked around the room until she locked gazes with Lucas. He looked downright wild.

Slowly she pressed her hands against Mark’s chest to push him away.

Mark scrunched his eyebrows together, instantly feeling insulted.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered.

“This isn’t right. You just want me now because of the lingerie and the show. You think I’ll sleep with you. I told you everything that happened and why. That wasn’t me. It was a stupid thing that happened.”

She pushed up and off of him and tried fixing her bra. He and his brothers watched her maneuver her camisole back into place while her blouse, buttons torn, fell to her elbows revealing her gorgeous skin and shoulders. He did that to her. Like some wild beast, he tore at her purple blouse.

“It’s not true. We wanted to talk to you since lunch that day. This has nothing to do with the lingerie show,” Drake stated, and thank goodness he did because Mark lost all ability to talk.

“Get out. I don’t want to talk to you. Please leave!” she exclaimed and then walked out of the room to the kitchen.

“Shit. What the hell just happened?” Mark asked.

“Your damn power trip and need for constant control. We should have told her the other day at lunch how we really felt. We should have just spoken to her about it now instead of attacking her,” Drake added.

“I couldn’t help it. She sounded so innocent and sweet, plus she’s gorgeous and I couldn’t get the images out of my head of her in the lingerie, men asking her out, people wanting her now. She’s ours.”

“Mark, she’s not like other women. She’s not as experienced and it sounded like she really did have a hard time with everything that happened,” Lucas said, and then headed toward the kitchen where Diane went. Mark looked at Drake.

“She is our woman. I didn’t like the idea of her being out of my sight. Not with everything else that has been going on.”

“Mark, she’s not Brenda. She’s not a missing agent. I know you feel like there is more you can do in regards to Brenda’s disappearance. You’re going to help find her by helping in the investigation. Diane is safe here in Pearl surrounded by all of us. These are our personal lives we’re talking about here. This is why we moved here. The change of pace, the desire to settle down, and when we met Diane we all knew that she was the one. It will work out, but we need to be patient. She’s scared, and she’s tired from everything that happened to her this weekend. The least we can do is be considerate and take our time. After all, living here in Pearl, retired from the military, we have all the time in the world. That was the whole point of moving here. Let’s go talk to her and ease things over.” Drake placed his hand on Mark’s shoulder. Mark ran his fingers through his hair.

“I’m not going to promise not to kiss her. Her kisses are fucking sweet.”

Drake smiled. “Tell me about it.”

* * * *

Diane felt confused and tired and so high-strung right now. She would have let them do anything to her. She had just wanted to come home, take a shower, and go to sleep. Maybe they would listen to her request and leave? Just as she thought that, she heard Drake talking to Mark and then the footsteps across the hardwood floors. It had to be Lucas. He was coming in to talk to her or maybe get his kiss next.

The thought excited her and frightened her. Hadn’t she just asked them all to leave? Lucas was the mean, quiet, silent-but-deadly type. He hardly spoke to anyone and when he did, his expressions were so cold and unemotional.

She gripped the counter behind her and stared at him.