Royally Claimed (The Triple Crown Club #2)

“We’re just here for work. Boss is paying for the place on his dime.”

Foster grinned at me, across the low, round table we’d found off on the outskirts of the party under some palm trees. Down the beach in front of us, the party still raged on, with the lights and the music and the dancers. But where we’d clustered around our little beach table with some glasses, a lime, and a bottle of tequila Zane bought with cash at the bar, it was quieter.

Darker.

Out of sight.

The thought that I was now not in a public place with two big, somewhat dangerous looking strangers crossed my mind. But then, I’d always been good at reading people and situations, and nothing about this said danger.

“Not a bad job.” I picked up my glass and sipped at the tequila. “What do you guys do?”

“We’re in logistics,” Zane said quickly, shrugging. “Getting things from point a to point b, fixing problems, that kind of stuff.”

“How about you?” Foster’s eyes flashed at me as he leaned onto his elbows on the table.

“Non-profit. We organize food aid relief for disaster areas.”

Both men’s brows shot up and Zane chuckled as he pushed his hand through his thick hair. “Looks like we’re not the only ones out of place here.”

I rolled my eyes. “My parents — my mom and her husband I mean. They wanted me to come along.”

“Oh so you’re a daddy’s girl.”

“Step-dad, and God no.”

They grinned.

“Well what kind of girl are you, Cassandra?” Zane’s plastic beach chair was close to my left, and he leaned in close, his arm draping across the back of mine.

I bit my lip, holding his eyes. “Right now? The kind that likes tequila on the beach, I guess.”

Zane grinned, knocking back the rest of his drink and reaching for the bottle. “I’ll drink to that.” He splashed some into his glass, and then Foster’s, before tilting it my way.

Bad idea. Go home. Stop flirting with the idea of actually—

“Sure,” I nodded.

He grinned.

Foster suddenly reached for the lime we’d picked up at the bar, and my eyes went wide as he suddenly pulled a sharp looking blade out from somewhere and started to slice it up on the table.

“Okay, where exactly were you hiding that?” I said with a laugh.

“You’d be pleasantly surprised by what I’m hiding in my shorts, darlin.” Foster grinned wickedly at me as he deftly cut the lime into slices. I blushed as he slid me one and raised his glass.

“To meeting new people.”

The tequila burned and the lime was sweet, and I breathed out as I looked up at the starlit night sky, feeling the drink and the excitement of it all coursing through me.

Zane’s arm moved back to the back of my chair, his bare arm brushing my shoulders and sending a shiver through me. Foster poured us another drink, and I noticed his chair had moved closer as well.

I wasn’t entirely upset with that situation.

Zane groaned as his friend slid the newly-full glasses our way. “Fuck, dude, slow it. You trying to get me drunk or something?”

I laughed as he grinned at me, shaking his head.

“Aww, what’s the matter? Can’t keep up?” I grinned wickedly, arching my brows at him as I grabbed my shot and downed it right in front of him.

Foster whistled as Zane shook his head.

“Hey.” I shrugged. “I went to college.”

He chuckled. “All body shots and beer-bongs huh?”

I rolled my eyes. “You know what’s hilarious? I actually somehow got through college without ever doing a body shot.”

Zane’s grin suddenly widened, his eyes flashing at me.

“You don’t say,” Foster’s voice growled in my ear from behind.

I swallowed the sudden heat in my throat. “Nope,” I said, shaking my head as I slowly turned to him.

“I think we should fix that.” Zane’s arm tightened across my shoulders, and I felt the excitement pulse through me.

“Get on the table.”

The sharpness, and the roughness of his voice sent a shock through me as I turned to him.

“What?”

“Get,” he said evenly, his dark eyes holding mine. “That sweet ass on the table.”

I bit my lip, feeling my heart thumping in my chest. “For?”

He grinned and lifted the bottle. “For a body shot, of course. I’m telling you, you’re missing out.”

I held that look of his for a second or two, weighing what I was actually considering doing here. But again, that voice took over. This was a vacation, and I needed to stop hanging on so tight. I needed to let go.

“Sure,” I shrugged casually, like this was nothing to me. Both men grinned. I stood, and slowly pulled myself onto the round, wooden beach table in front of us. For a moment, I was on my knees, facing away from the men, and I swear I heard a growl behind me before I turned onto my back.

“Like this?”

“Almost,” Zane said softly, leaning over me. “Open up, gorgeous,” he murmured. His hand moved out and slowly slid a lime wedge between my parted lips. I shivered as I felt another pair of hands peel my shirt up a little higher, higher until it was right beneath my breasts, my skin tingling with something wild.

“I’ll go first,” Zane husked, his eyes burning into mine. He leaned over me, and I giggled as I felt the cool liquid pour over my belly, trickling and teasing down over my belly button towards the waist of my wrap-around skirt.

Suddenly, hot breath and warm lips pressed into my skin, sucking the tequila from it. His tongue rasped against my belly, making my whole body tingle as he licked down, down to my hip to lick the last drops of tequila from my skin. He pulled back, and before I could process it, the inked, muscled man leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.

It was quick, a brush of his on mine, and then he pulled back with the lime in his teeth and a dark grin on his face.

My heart pounded.

“My turn,” Foster murmured. Another lime was pressed between my lips, my chest still heaving as another shot was poured over my skin.

I whimpered this time, Foster’s tongue doing much more than lap at tequila as he moved his mouth lower. His lips fastened around that sensitive little inch by my hipbone, where my tummy started to slope down into the waist of my panties. My hips actually raised a half inch as his wicked tongue lapped at my skin, a moan catching in my throat before he pulled away.

My body tingled as he leaned in, his lips brushing me like Zane’s just had, and coming back with the lime.

The table was silent then, the three of us all looking at each other.

“I think,” Zane murmured, leaning into me as he pulled me into a sitting position on the edge of the table. “I think you should show us where you’re staying.”

Heat pulsed through my body as my eyes went wide. I glanced at the two of them — two gorgeous, hot, strangers who very clearly wanted to move this past drinks on the beach.

And God if I wasn’t thinking it too.

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