Damn it. He hated being a reasonable man. He slapped at Coop’s arm, a brotherly show of affection. “You probably didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have in your situation. If I had the chance to get my mouth on her, I would. It just makes me worry that she’s never going to be ready for what we want to give her. And if she can’t handle one man, what about three? If you holding her was too much, how the hell will she ever handle Dane?”
A part of the submission Dane needed fell squarely into the bondage category. Lan had watched Dane with more than one submissive. He took their needs very seriously, but those women had always needed what Dane had to offer. Alea would be terrified.
“I think the key is to experiment,” Coop went on. “We need to retrain her. Her captors did a number on her. But she can never have a normal life if she can’t accept love and affection, or enjoy sex. Are you willing to let her live that way just because you’re squeamish?”
Put like that, it seemed like a cowardly thing to do. “I get what you’re saying, man. I just don’t know that she wants me.”
Cooper groaned, his eyes rolling. “You have got to get over the insecurity thing. She wants all of us. She wants the whole ménage thing, or at least she did when she was a kid. I was doing a sweep of the palace the other day and I wound up in the library. Did you know Talib still keeps everything the way his fathers left it? Including the pictures taped to the wall. One of them is Alea’s. I would bet she was about eight or nine when she drew it. It’s of a woman with dark hair and three men. And the title of the picture is ‘my three husbands.’ I think we could be those men for her.”
“I’m in.” Lan didn’t hesitate.
Cooper was right. If they loved Alea, they had to be willing to risk everything to make sure she could enjoy life again, even whatever shot they had at a relationship with her. “So how do we get ourselves into…what did you call it? Intimate situations?”
It would be damn near impossible here. The palace was filled to the brim with people and would be for weeks to come because of the coronation. Between family, friends, and visiting dignitaries, Lan wasn’t sure when they would get more than two moments alone with her.
There was a short knock on the door, then it opened. Dane’s large frame filled the doorway. “Hey, I came to check on Lan.”
“Jeez, guys, my balls still work.” He hadn’t gotten hit that hard. Not that he’d admit, anyway.
The corners of Dane’s mouth curled up wryly. It was good to see him smile for once.
“I’m glad because, unfortunately, your balls are important to my plan. But once we put the plan in motion, we all need to watch our balls, guys.”
Thank god he was joking. After what happened earlier, Lan had been worried Dane would turn into a morose ass**le, and there was only room for one of those on the team. He’d taken that place a long time ago and he wasn’t giving it up. “Does this mean I’m not fired?”
Dane nodded. “You know I hate paperwork, man.”
“Excellent. Now, when can I use my still fully functional balls on our girl? Because the way I see it, it’s going to be a long while before we can get her alone.”
Dane held up the folder he’d been carrying. “That’s where you might be wrong. This is the flight list for tomorrow out of the palace’s private airstrip. I get a daily update and something odd happened.”
“Shit,” Coop said. “How many more people do we have to vet? Tell Tal to stop with all the coronation celebrations. Slap a tiara on Piper’s head and call her a queen, damn it.”
Lan didn’t understand the need for all the ceremony, either. Spending a ton of money didn’t make Piper any more official. It just created more work for them. He hated running background checks. He would rather just shoot people. “How many are there?”
“It isn’t the people coming in who caught my eye. It’s the people leaving, or rather the person leaving. Oliver and Yasmin Thurston-Hughes changed their plans. They’ve decided to stay in Bezakistan for the next few weeks. They were planning on heading for Sydney tomorrow, but now they’re only sending their personal assistant.”
And that affected them how? “So?”
“So? You guys need to pay more attention to palace gossip. Their assistant is that little brunette who’s been f**king the hell out of Tal’s valet, who told me tonight that he was very happy because she isn’t leaving tomorrow after all. This is a small craft. The weight on the plane is delicate and has to be fairly precise. So when they changed the flight plans, in addition to the flight crew, they listed a single female passenger, weighing approximately one hundred forty pounds.”
“But that chick might weigh ninety pounds when she’s soaking wet.” As far as Lan was concerned, that assistant needed to eat a cheeseburger.
“Yes. She would likely hyperventilate if her scale said that, yet she’s the one who filled out the change-of-flight form,” Dane finished.
“Son of a bitch, she’s running,” Cooper cursed.
“I don’t think she can run in those heels. Yas’s assistant seems really puny and unhealthy.” Lan was pretty sure she wasn’t a runner.
Dane laughed. “He’s talking about Alea, buddy. She’s the one who’s the right weight. They’re trying to pass it off as the other girl. They’re giving her the means to leave on her own and away from all these people, including us.”
Damn, he should have caught on. That sounded like the kind of play Alea would pull. “I saw that Thurston Hugs-a-Lot f**ker listening in on you and Tal. The slimy bastard told Alea that we’re taking over, and she’s running.”
“You have a way with words, Lan,” Coop said, then he turned to Dane. “So what are we going to do? Stop the plane?”
Lan didn’t think that was a good idea. Alea was going somewhere private. They wanted to be really damn private with her. “I think we should get on that plane.”
“I’m ahead of you,” Dane said. “I’ve already revised the flight plan to include the three of us. I met the woman who’s going to be serving on the plane and I talked to her. She’s willing to help us out. We’ll sneak on and be in the air before Alea can do a damn thing about it. Pack up, boys. We’re headed for Australia. We’re going to spend some time all alone with our girl.”