His shoulders bulged with muscle as he chased that wave of pleasure. Surprised, she felt another wave rise up in her. She writhed under him, trying to get more of him inside of her with each thrust. She arched her legs, wrapping them around his back.
Aching when he pulled back, she felt a jolt of electrical pleasure when he plunged forward. He was thunderous, powerful, and driving into her with a need that made her lose control. He pumped again and again and again and she felt the wave rise up and fill her from head to toe and bring her to the edge, to the edge—
“Now,” she said. “Let go. Now, Heald.” She spoke the word in time to his thrusts, chasing the peak. “Now. Now. Now—”
She bucked under him.
He shuddered and pressed his hands on either side of her head and his mouth against the bare flesh of her breasts. He spasmed, release buckling his body.
Pleasure broke across her body in waves.
Chapter 9
For a long moment Heald stared at Laura, drinking her in like she was a cup of fresh water after a long drought.
She lay there against him, drowsy from pleasure.
He shouldn’t have had sex with her, not like this, but he would never want to take it back. He had felt her swollen wetness, her coiled softness, the way she had taken him out of his darkness and pushed him to new heights, like there really was something to be hopeful about.
It took his breath away.
He didn’t know what to do with those emotions. He couldn’t remember ever feeling like this before.
In this whole mess, she was doing her job, more than her job. Staying up late, volunteering her time at the museum after a long day of teaching, solving mysteries and uncovering poaching rings. He wondered what really made her tick.
He wished he could stay and figure her out. He suspected she would be worth it.
Her teacher clothes had hidden a luscious body, breasts big enough to cup in his hands, hips curvy enough to grab onto as he drove into—
His manhood twitched inside the condom, as if eager to try again. He forced himself to look away from her, to anywhere but her and how he had filled her up and she had taken him in.
The last bit of glow faded.
This was all ridiculous.
He was about to become a criminal. He was here to complete a job that would save his brother’s life.
He wanted to fuck her again.
He was about to fuck her over, instead.
Guilt drove him off the floor, even as the rest of him shouted at him to stay with her, hold her, protect her from the truth.
“Heald?” Laura said, her voice questioning.
“Shh, it’s okay. I’m going to take a look outside.” He stood up and collected his clothes. He threw the used condom in a nearby trash can and began taking inventory of his next steps.
Laura sat up, her long brown hair undone and tumbling around her shoulders. He stopped, caught by her beauty. She made his stomach ache looking so vulnerable like that. What had he done in his life to deserve a moment like this? Whatever it was, he thanked all the gods in all the religions for it.
“I should go with you,” Laura said, her brows drawing together as she frowned slightly. “Or you shouldn’t go at all. It’s not safe.”
Heald closed his eyes briefly, burning the image of her forever into his brain. Perky breasts, a waist that dipped into an hourglass shape even while she was sitting, wide brown eyes and luscious curves and long hair, framed by a desk and locked filing cabinets and a broken ham radio, inside a dark basement full of artifacts, bones, and 10 million dollars worth of rhino horn.
He opened his eyes. Yeah. Reality had finally crashed back into him.
“I’ll be quick,” Heald said, forcing a smile onto his face. This moment was over before it had even begun. It was over the minute his brother had gotten involved with Station. “Don’t move. I’ve gotta pee and then, well…and then how about round two?”
Laura’s smile returned and her breath quickened. He took that picture and added it to the collection in his brain. It was something he could think back on long into the future while he dreamed and ached and paid for the consequences of whatever happened next.
Laura relaxed backward, leaning on her elbows, her bare breasts perking up, taunting him to reach out and cup them—to stay. “All right. Be quick.”
Heald gathered up his clothes and left the office room quickly, without looking back again. The keypad unlocked the door with a series of clicks. He entered the cool, dark space of the basement and closed the door with another click. The keypad locked the gears into place. Now no one would be able to get in without the password, or without Laura letting them in.
Including him.
He knew his excuse to pee wouldn’t give him much time to do what needed to be done. But he didn’t need much time.
He quickly pulled on his clothes and headed for the light that shined like a beacon in that dark, cavernous basement.
The real light was locked behind an office door, waiting for him to return.
But he would never be able to return.
Chapter 10
The air in the office had turned cold, raising goosebumps all along Laura’s bare skin.
This time the goosebumps weren’t so delicious.
Heald should have been back.
She finished putting her clothes back together. Her body felt well-used and well-loved. Patting her skirt pocket, she felt the reassuring shapes of her cell phone and volunteer badge. Her other pocket held the glue-sticks she had mindlessly tucked there while Kaitlyn had chatted with her after school. That sad moment seemed like an eternity ago now. She had forgotten what it felt like to be touched and desired like Heald had done.
She relished those feelings even as they leaked away and were replaced with worry and suspicion.
She didn’t regret having sex with Heald. He was a volunteer at the museum like her. He had enjoyed this illicit encounter as much as she had. She had never acted so brazen before, so absolutely indulgent in wanting someone and reveling in that want. She hoped they had enough in common to make this more than just a fling. But, she told herself—beginning to rationalize and wheel and deal with possible realities—even if all it ended up being was a fling, that was okay too.
Not really, not at all, her emotions piped up. An image of him pumping himself into her, his body naked and muscular on top of her, made her flush and swell with desire again.
Heald should have been back by now.
She left her bag on the table, stepped out of the room, and locked the door behind her. The keypad whirled the metal bars into place. The air in the basement was even colder than the office. Without Heald’s warmth, she felt that cold sink into her bones, making her shiver. An ominous feeling took over. Thankfully a locked door separated the basement from the rest of the museum. For all she knew, the burglars were still inside the museum somewhere.
She stopped.
There was something very strange about that. More than enough time had passed for the security alarm to trip and the police to arrive.
But the museum was silent like a coffin.
Except that was a lie.
Holding still, she tuned her ears to the sounds of conversation. Deep voices, sometimes rising in volume, as if agitated.
Laura bit her lip.
What if Heald had gone out and somehow run into the burglars? What if what the burglars wanted was down here—
The rhino horns.
Heald had said they had been headed for the upper stories of the museum, but he’d also said it was his first time as a volunteer here. He didn’t know all the ways in and out and around the museum like she did—or like the burglars might know. What if this was all about the rhino horns and she had gotten Heald mixed up in it by not warning him about what she had found?
Laura stayed in the shadows, already missing the light and warmth of that silly office and its rough rug against her back. Shelves of boxes dampened her steps. Smells shifted a
s she passed by artifacts from different countries, boxes that had become damp, other boxes that contained something metal. She would never forgive herself if Heald got caught up in this mess because of those rhino horns.
As she approached the glow of the lamp she had left on, she made out five figures clustered around the horns. A sixth one leaned over the table.
Her breath caught in her throat as she recognized Heald. The men had come down here to steal the rhino horns.
He had been caught.
“I told you I would get it done.” Heald leaned over the rhino horns. His shirt stretched over his muscular back, making Laura want to run her hands across the tension there. “I’m within the agreed upon time—”
“Plans change,” another man said. His face was hidden from Laura at this angle. He looked older than Heald but still powerfully built. He held himself confidently and the others seemed to defer to him or even be guarding him.
The guilt Laura had felt began to slink away to be replaced by doubt. Heald wasn’t talking to these men like he was a museum volunteer.
“We came here to help.” The older man who spoke was short and stocky. He wore a dark suit with a blood red collared shirt underneath and a necktie that reminded Laura of something people liked to wear in Texas. He was so cliché at first she thought this was some sort of awful joke.
Husband bangs secretary. Cliché.
International poacher wears a cowboy hat and suit. Cliché.
Girl gets used for sex to help cover up an international poaching ring. Well, that was beyond cliché and just plain pathetic.
“We come and find the horns but we don’t find you. This makes me think you don’t care for your brother so much after all.”
Heald finished dumping the rhino horns into several sacks. He lifted up the sacks, handing them out to two of the men, before keeping several of the sacks to carry himself. “Station, you’re the one who told me you didn’t want witnesses. You wanted this to be as clean as possible, right? Well, you should have given me a badge that worked. It almost seemed like you wanted me to get caught—”
“The badge should have worked,” Station, said. “The person responsible will be punished for his faulty product.”
“Lucky enough there was a late night volunteer who let me in,” Heald said. “But then I had to wait for her to leave. So when she left, I came for the horns.”
A bitter taste filled Laura’s mouth.
His badge had been a fake. He was working for this poacher, this black market smuggler, this special kind of asshole. Humiliation crept up inside her. He had fucked her and left her behind in order to steal 10 million dollars worth of rhino horns.
Well, she wasn’t going to let herself stay fucked—that was for damn sure.
“She’s gone, then? No one saw you?” Station said.
Heald stood tall. He looked Station carefully in the eye and kept his expression neutral. “No one saw me. Now where’s my brother?”
Feeling for the cell phone and badge in her pocket, she mentally pictured the path between her and the basement door. A fury rose up in her and she used it to give her strength. While she told herself her fury was about all the rhinos who had died for those horns, this had become personal.
Heald had used her and it was far worse than a one night stand would have been.
Plotting her path, she knew she had to make it around these guys in the dark, get out of the basement, and then tuck herself into some hiding on an upper level that also had cell reception so she could make them pay for what they had done to her—to the museum—she corrected herself.
Make them pay for what they were doing to the museum, and to the rhinos.
Fuck it. She wasn’t going to let anyone screw over her work at the museum like this. And she most definitely was not going to let someone else screw her over like this.
She crept backwards, being careful of her step and any potential noise. Orienting herself to the basement door, she began to wind her way through the aisles of artifacts that towered overhead while keeping careful track of her position.
“Your brother is outside in the van for the family reunion,” Station said.
“Then let’s go,” Heald said. “No sense wasting time for the cops to bust us.”
Laura reached the edge of light that shined above the basement door. The security lights were on, which meant the alarm should have been tripped. She didn’t understand why the police hadn’t arrived yet, but however Station and his men had worked it out, all she needed was to get through that door and into some cell phone service. She pulled out her badge and kept to the edge of the darkness.
No one guarded the door, but as soon as she took that first step into the light it would be like someone had shined a spotlight on her.
She adjusted the fit of her flat shoes, making sure they wouldn’t fall off. She pictured running up the stairs, flying through the door, and into the hallway. She decided to try to lose herself in the dinosaur exhibit. It would have lots of places to hide.
She pulled out her phone and badge from her skirt pocket. Accessing the menu with a push of her thumbprint, the screen flared. Her breath caught in her throat as she worried her phone’s light would give her away.
She quickly dialed 9-1-1, noted she still had no reception bars, and then hovered her hand over the green button.
Now.
She sprinted for the door, up the metal stairs, sacrificing sound for speed. Her hand gripped the phone like she was holding onto a cliff edge for dear life. Her other hand reached out, badge in hand, ready to swipe the security card reader and slam herself through the door.
She felt their eyes on her. Conversation transformed into shouting but it didn’t matter. They were too far away to reach her in time.
There was a loud boom, like a shot. Something whizzed close by her ear, like the buzz of a bee, before slamming into the basement’s cement wall. Flecks of cement pelted her cheek.
They were shooting at her!
Panic made her weak, but she struggled forward. Diving for the badge reader, her hand was shaky as she pulled the card through and held her breath.
Nothing.
She tried again, frantic. The red lanyard dangled from the card, jerky from side to side with her panicked movements. She slid the badge through the reader more slowly this time even as everything in her screamed that she was running out of time. Trying again more forcefully, she made sure the card had full contact with the reader.
She waited for the telltale beep and green light, the hiss of the bars retracting. Read the goddamn strip. Come on, come on.
Nothing.
And then her fingers caught on something.
The lamination at the edge of the badge was peeling.
Shouts grew louder. Footsteps pounded up behind her.
She turned over the badge, her heart sinking as darkness overtook the last bit of bliss she had experienced only moments before. The badge showed Heald’s lethally handsome face staring up at her.
Chapter 11
Heald pounded down the aisles after Station and his men. Panic made his feet fly, but the others had gotten a head start, even as he’d tried to distract them from noticing Laura.
Laura.
The sight of her flying up those steps was like a punch in the gut. Station had taken the shot with barely a pause. Only the distance had saved Laura’s life.
Heald knew exactly what she was trying to do as soon as he had seen her. She was a smart woman. She was trying to get cell phone reception, but she hadn’t counted on Heald’s last betrayal—switching the badges.
It shouldn’t have been a betrayal at all. Heald had planned for enough time to get the horns and use her badge, give the horns to Station, and escape with his brother. He hadn’t counted on her leaving the room so soon. He definitely had not counted on running into Station and his men.
Heald skidded to a stop at the base of the stairs. Two men held Laura between them. She kicked at one, her skirt billowing to the
side. Her hair was loose and her brown eyes wild and accusing. The man dug his grip more deeply into her arm.
A fury rose inside Heald at the sight of them handling her. She was trapped between them with no way out. It was up to him to somehow fix this. But he didn’t see how, not with his brother’s life at stake.
“Who are you?” Station said, his cowboy hat askew.
Heald knew Station’s cowboy hat covered a head he liked to shave to a shine.
“I’m the museum volunteer who let him in,” Laura said, her eyes full of fury, flicking in Heald’s direction.
Heald flinched then masked any reaction. He couldn’t let Station know Laura meant anything to him otherwise Station would have even more power over Heald than he already did. Station baited bears for fun and ran a worldwide poaching ring for profit. He wasn’t anyone to mess around with.
“The one my associate claimed had left?” Station raised an eyebrow and looked at Heald.
Heald stepped forward into the light. He needed Laura to see his expression. He already knew she was a smart, courageous woman. He would have to count on those qualities to get her through this safely. “I thought she was gone.”
“Really?” Station motioned to Laura. “Clearly you thought wrong.”
“Clearly,” Heald said. “She doesn’t know anything. Just let her go.”
“I know more than you think,” Laura said, eyes flashing. “You all are a bunch of liars. Filthy, rotten smugglers. The police will be here any minute.”
Heald bit back a groan. Don’t get stupid on me now, woman.
“She’s seen your face,” one of Station’s men said. “Your bullet is in the wall. She’s gotta go.”
Heald’s stomach flipped. Laura paled. Heald sensed she had finally realized the full extent of the trouble she was in.
“Let me go and I won’t say a word.”
“No,” Station said slowly. “That’s not possible.”
“She’s a fucking bitch,” Heald said, stepping forward. He ignored how those crude words left a bitter taste on his tongue. He ignored the way it looked like someone had punched Laura in the gut and how he could sense a part of her turning to ice. “We’ve got what we came for. Tie her up and let’s get out of here. She’s not worth the trouble that would come after us.”
Smuggled Trust Page 5
