by Tia Fanning
“Well, what did you do to fix it,” Jordan asked.
“Nothing,” his brother replied, shrugging. “It wasn’t broken.”
“We need to get back to the bunker.”
“Why? The sun is already setting. We won’t make it back before dark.”
“Because Oriana Ricci, if that’s her real name, is a very good liar and Jack’s in danger.”
Jon shook his head. “I don’t think she’s lying. You saw her. She looked like she’d been stranded out in the wilderness for days.”
“Could be a part of her ruse to gain our trust, thus gather information on our operation.”
“Okay, Jack Junior,” Jon chuckled, retrieving his clothes. “Don’t you think you’re being a tad paranoid?”
“I wasn’t until now.” Jordan flung his hand out toward the aircraft. “How do you explain the plane?”
“Perhaps she just doesn’t know how to work it properly,” his brother offered as he dressed.
He raised a skeptical brow. “She’s a pilot.”
“Yes, I know. But this could be a new plane.”
“You know as well as I do that it’s not new.”
“I meant new to her.” Jon rolled his eyes. “Or it could be just one of those weird things. She just said her plane broke. She never told us what was wrong with it. You’ve worked with electronics long enough. You’ve seen equipment can go quirky for no reason one minute, then be fine the next.”
“So we’re just going to camp out here for the night and leave Jack alone with her? You’re that sure she’s innocent?”
“For one, ruse or not, Oriana is too weak to do much harm at the moment. Two, even if she was dangerous, Jack can take care of himself. Three, if Oriana is lying about who she is, Jack probably already knows. He was checking up on her when we left the bunker. Four, she’s not lying. I just know she’s not. Call it gut instinct.”
“That last reason defies reason,” Jordan remarked dryly.
“I know. But if you stopped being so damn reasonable, you’ll feel it too. Have a little faith.”
Jordan didn’t want to admit it, but somehow, he knew Jon was right. “Fine,” he grumbled, moving to collect a pile of wood. “Let’s set up camp.”
“Gladly.”
They fell into companionable silence as they set everything up, Jordan mulling over his youngest brother’s words. It was dark by the time they completed the rest of their tasks and settled down before the fire.
“What do you think?” Jon asked, reinitiating conversation.
“About what?”
“Oriana.”
“What about her?”
Jon sighed. “I think she might be the one. The one we’d always hoped to find, the perfect woman we described that night right after my breakup, the one that wouldn’t mind—”
“You’re kidding, right?” Jordan tossed another log into the fire. “We just met the girl. We have no idea what she would mind.”
“I’ve been thinking. Perhaps fate has intervened so that we could meet, and that’s why her plane came down here even though there’s nothing wrong with it. And that whole weird Goldilocks and the Three Bears recreation, that’s the universe holding up a sign saying, ‘she’s the one, so make sure you don’t let her go.’ God is hooking us up, so maybe we should be grateful for the gift and not throw it away.”
“It’s like Jack said, just a coincidence. Fate, destiny, God… There is no scientific evidence to back up these concepts—”
“Says the man who can shift into a Kodiak bear at will.” Jon ran his fingers through his hair. “Not everything can be explained with formulas and charts. I know you can’t help being a science geek, but try to have some faith. Some things in this world defy explanation. You, me, Jack—we’re living proof that magic exists, that extraordinary things can happen, that some things can’t be explained. Is it so hard to believe that Oriana is here because she’s meant to be here, for us, to stay with us?”
Jordan chuckled. “You’re such a hopeless romantic. It’s sad, really.”
“Fuck you.”
“Let’s be realistic. Tomorrow morning, we’ll go back to the bunker, tell Oriana her plane is fine, and that’s that. She’ll be gone by the afternoon, back to her life. We’ll continue on with ours as usual.”
His younger brother shot to his feet and began pacing. “You have to help me keep her here.”
Jordan couldn’t believe his ears. “I’m sorry, what? You can’t be serious.”
“I am. I think… I think I might be in love with her. We can’t let her leave.”
Stunned, Jordan sat there for a moment, his mind absorbing his brother’s declaration. He pressed his lips together, but it did nothing to stop his laughter from spilling out.
“What’s so funny?” Jon asked, obviously offended.
“Do you hear yourself, man? I... I...” Jordan gasped for air, but laughter continued to steal his breath. “Damn. I shouldn’t be surprised at the family sap falling for some woman he’s barely met. So predictable.”
Huffing, Jon unrolled his sleeping bag with his foot. “Whatever.”
“This is exactly why you have psycho ex-girlfriends. You just give your heart away to whomever without knowing what kind of person they are. And once the lust wears off, you want out of the relationship and they want to kill you.”
Jon slipped into his makeshift bed. “This one’s different. I feel it. And if you got your head out of your ass, you would feel it too. Ever heard of love at first sight?” He rolled over, turning his back to the fire. “As for giving my heart away, I haven’t been allowed to do that since the night we made that pact not to pursue separate relationships with women.”
“And why did we make that pact?” Jordan asked. “Perhaps it had something to do with your misplaced trust and your college ‘sweetheart’ trying to expose our little secret because of your bad break up?”
“It’s not like anyone believed that crazy bitch.”
“You let her take photos of you shifting!”
“I didn’t let her. How was I supposed to know she’d followed me? I didn’t! Not until it was too late. Anyway, everyone thinks she doctored those pictures.”
“She sold them. You became an instant tabloid super model. For months, Jack and I—and the rest of the family—had to field calls from reporters, conspiracy theorists, and mad scientists. Jon, you garnered a cult of followers who wanted to worship you like a god.”
“So what?” He shrugged. “We said it was a hoax and everyone believed us over her, and she stopped spreading the story once we threatened to sue.”
“The point is we don’t need that kind of attention ever again. It would be much harder to sell the hoax story a second time. That is why we made the pact, a safeguard that would ensure—”
“Look, the past is in the past. I made a mistake. I admit it. But Oriana is different. And if you were any kind of a brother to me, you’d help me convince her to stay.”
“What about Jack? He’d never go for it. He’s the den leader and has the final decision in all matters concerning us as a group. He already mandated that she was to leave immediately. Matter of fact, when we tell him that there’s nothing wrong with her aircraft, it will just reinforce his belief that she’s some spy, and her claim of a malfunctioning plane was just her way of infiltrating us.”
“Then let’s not tell him,” Jon grumbled.
“All he will do is order us drop her off back home, and have us bring her the plane when we finally ‘fix’ it.”
Jon turned over, his smile flashing in the firelight. “Not without the helicopter keys he won’t.”
Jordan groaned. “No. I will not go along with this. I’m going to tell him the truth. We all agreed not to hide things from each other, to always be honest. You know the penalty for lying.”
“Fuck it. Let him dock my pay.”
“If it was only about money, I wouldn’t be so nervous. Do you really feel like scrubbing every inch of the bunker’s e
ntrance tunnel with a toothbrush?”
“We’ll only have to do that if he finds out—and he won’t find out. We’ll just tell him that we’re working on the plane and it will take some time to fix. We’ll use that time to get to know Oriana. If we like her and she likes us, perhaps we can convince her to stay for a while. Maybe we can convince Jack to let her.”
Jordan began making his bed. Though his mind protested, something deep within made him want to actually consider Jon’s crazy idea.
Thankfully, logic and common sense prevailed—as always. “Sorry. I won’t be a party to this ridiculous infatuation of yours, or participate in your absurd plan. In fact, I’m going to save you from yourself. So here is your warning. If you try to lie, I will call you out, and you will end up poor and spending all your free time scrubbing the entrance passageway for nothing.”
“What I feel for Oriana is not nothing.”
Shaking his head at his brother’s stubbornness, Jordan crawled into his sleeping bag. “You’ll thank me in about six weeks when your testosterone levels lower and you realize that you really weren’t in love at all, but simply lusting after a beautiful woman.”
Chapter Four
It was well after midnight, but Jack couldn’t seem to pull himself away from the computer, or more accurately, the image currently displayed on the screen.
He had spent the last three hours learning everything he could about the woman sleeping in his brother’s bed.
Oriana had checked out. She wasn’t a spy.
Strangely enough, she was a veterinarian, or at least had been before she became a full-time pilot.
Smart and gorgeous.
Sadly, Oriana was truly alone in the world. Other than some distant relatives she didn’t keep in touch with, she was without any blood family. Her mother had died in childbirth, leaving Oriana to be raised by her father, who never remarried or had any other children.
When Oriana turned eighteen, she had moved to San Diego to attend college, and continued to live in California until about two years ago when she returned to her hometown of Kodiak to care for her ailing father. Six months later, he died of cancer.
Oriana then inherited her father’s small plane and transport business, and for the last year and half, had been shuttling tourists and cargo around the Kodiak Archipelago. She worked out of her father’s home, taking reservations and shipping requests via phone or internet.
Other than that, it seemed that since her return, she had busied herself with work and kept to herself. Nothing extraordinary.
It was a stark contrast to her life in California, where she had been a social butterfly. She had many friends, was engaged to a renowned animal surgeon, and had a great paying job working at her fiancé’s clinic, catering to the pets of the rich and famous. Then one day, about two months before she learned of her father’s illness, Oriana’s perfect life came to an abrupt end.
Thanks to Jack’s ability to hack into her ex-fiancé’s computer and e-mail accounts, he was currently staring at the reason why her engagement and her position at the clinic were terminated.
Jack studied the picture on his computer screen with a mixture of disbelief and desire. It seemed that while Oriana was in college, she also worked as a part-time model. This was not really a surprise, as she did have the body of a goddess. It was what she modeled that had Jack’s mouth watering and his cock erect to the point of pain.
She modeled fetish wear.
The photo in front of Jack, the one that was shown to the fiancé by his very well-off and politically connected parents, was of Oriana posing in a scene reminisce of a visit to the principle’s office back when schools still dished out corporal punishment.
Oriana sported pigtails and a little school girl outfit complete with thigh-high stockings and fuck-me heels. Bent over a desk with her little plaid skirt flipped up and her little white ruffle panties pulled down to her knees, a strapping male, dressed as a headmaster, was bringing a paddle down on her bare ass, which was already exhibiting a red blush from the supposed previous strikes.
While the scene itself was meant to arouse, capturing every man’s fantasy of the innocent girl who is secretly naughty, it was the expression on Oriana’s face that aroused him most—she looked as if she genuinely enjoyed the spankings.
“That one’s my favorite.”
Jack held himself in check, catching his body before it jerked around in surprise. He also resisted the urge to close the screen’s window like some basement-dwelling virgin whose mom just caught him whacking off to internet porn.
He heard Oriana’s soft footsteps approach.
She leaned over his shoulder and gazed at the monitor. “It was one of five photos used in a spread for a popular fetish magazine.”
“Why is this one your favorite?” he found himself asking, though he didn’t know why.
“For one, it’s the photo that prompted more modeling offers, thus I found enough work to pay for my own college tuition. I didn’t have to be a financial burden to my father any longer. Two, it was the most exciting, realistic photo session I’d ever done, and this photo captured the moment better than the others, in my opinion. The photographer was adamant that the scene look authentic. Instead of a male model, the photographer hired a real Dom, and that man...” She laughed lightly. “That man literally paddled the shit out of me. However, it allowed me to discover a side of myself I never knew existed. By the time the shoot was over, I was so hor— um, happy.”
She grew quiet and moved back.
Jack slowly turned his chair around to find Oriana had retreated to the doorway. Jon’s comforter was draped over her shoulders and she clutched it tightly, crossing it over so it cocooned her body.
“Third,” she continued, “that photo exposed the true character of a person I thought I knew and loved, and saved me from making the biggest mistake of my life.”
Looking past her beauty, and past the pieces of leaves and twigs still tangled in her hair, and the dirt smudges on face, Jack could see her feelings were hurt. She tried to hide it, but her eyes were glossy with the weight of the painful memories. She seemed so vulnerable at the moment, and his protective instincts kicked in. His heart thumped hard in his chest, both with the overwhelming need to gather her in his arms comfort her, and with the overpowering urge to smash his fist into the face of the man who had broken her heart.
“I think it’s a beautiful picture of you,” he murmured.
She offered him a small smile and a blush tinged her cheeks. “Thanks.”
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
“Oh, no, you didn’t—I’m not. I’m actually flattered.” She took a deep breath. “The last person who talked to me about that photo didn’t have such nice things to say about it.”
Jack could imagine. He had read one e-mail the ex-fiancé sent to a friend calling Oriana everything from a deceitful bitch to a cheap whore. “That person doesn’t know his head from his ass. And he didn’t deserve you.”
“It was my fault. I should have told him about the photos before we started dating.”
“If he really loved you, it wouldn’t have mattered.”
She met his gaze. “You seem to know a lot about the situation.”
“I do,” he replied.
She didn’t seem angry or upset, just curious. Her gaze darted to Jon’s desk, then back to him. “Computer hackers?”
“You can say that.”
A mischievous gleam twinkled in her eyes. “So there’s no information that’s safe from you?”
“No.”
“That’s actually kind of cool.”
He smiled. “My name is Jack.”
“I know. I’m Oriana.”
“I know.”
“I’m sure you’re wondering what brought me here, and why I’m in your house.”
“You already told me.”
Her brow wrinkled in confusion. “Really? When?”
“Earlier today. You were groggy with sleep. You s
aid your plane broke. My brothers, Jon and Jordan, will see if they can fix it. They’ll be back sometime tomorrow, hopefully with news that they were able to correct the problem.”
“Oh,” she breathed. “Thank you. That’s really nice of you all, considering I broke into your, um... bomb shelter.”
“Bunker.”
“Bunker,” she repeated slowly.
“Where you able to call out for help?”
“No, my radio’s broken and I couldn’t get your phones to work. Can I ask you a question?”
He nodded and waited for her to ask him why they lived in an underground bunker on federally protected land. He had already revealed too much of himself to her when he agreed to the hacker comment, and then affirmed her statement that no information was safe from him.
“Um, I don’t mean to be forward, but would you mind overly if I took a shower?”
Surprised by the simplicity of the request, he chuckled. “That’s it?”
She paused, humor crossing her features. “What did you think I was going to ask?”
“I thought you’d ask about why we live here in an old government bunker on a wildlife refuge, or something along those lines.”
Her eyebrows lifted and she looked around, as if taking in her surroundings. She then shook her head. “That’s not my business.”
The answer was as unexpected as it was pleasing.
“Do you need me to show you to the bathroom?” he asked.
“No, I found it when I got up. Fourth door down the hall.”
“Yeah, that’s it.” Jack turned back to his computer and began closing out the windows.
“Um, can I ask you another forward question?”
“Proceed.”
“May I borrow a shirt or something? I can’t seem to find my clothes.”
Locking his station, he rose from the chair. “Yeah, that’s my fault. I put them in the laundry. Let me get you something.”
She stood aside and let him pass.
After making a quick visit to his room, he returned moments later with an extra-large T-shirt and sweat pants. “There’s a closet in the bathroom where we keep the towels. You’ll find extra toiletry items, toothbrushes, deodorants, and so forth in the drawers. Take whatever you need.”
