by Unknown
Gary showed up not much later, holding two plastic cups and handed her one. “Coke for you.” He handed a cup to her. “And vodka and Coke for me.”
She sipped from the cup. It had a different flavor. She hadn’t felt any kind of alcohol warming her throat and belly as it went down, so she doubted it was his. “This tastes like vanilla Coke.”
He shook his head and reached for the cup. “The bartender must have poured the wrong drink. I’ll get you another.”
“This is fine.” She smiled. “It’s not a problem.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m positive.” She nodded. “It’s cold outside, but is there someplace we can get some fresh air?”
“I know someplace pretty amazing.” Gary looked thoughtful as he considered her question. “There’s an awesome solarium off of Mark’s suite. He’ll probably let us use that.”
“If it’s no trouble.” She smiled. “It sounds cool.”
“I’ll introduce you to Mitch and we can ask him.” Gary took her hand and led her to the man he’d pointed out earlier. “Hey, buddy,” he said when they reached Mitch and the blonde and brunette pressed up against him. He had an arm around each woman now.
“That’s one hot babe, Gary.” From Mitch’s eyes, it was easy to see he was stoned. “I saw her when you walked in. I’ll make sure you have a real good time.” He moved his arm from around the brunette’s shoulders, raised his bong, and offered it to Natasha. “Take a hit.”
She held up one hand. “Thanks, but no.”
“This is Natasha.” Gary put his arm around her shoulders. “She’d like some fresh air. Mind if I show her the solarium?”
“Knock yourself out.” Mitch released his bong and set it between his thighs again. “I have a feeling you’re going to have a fun night, babe,” he added to Natasha with a wink.
The guy gave her the creeps. But she gave a polite little wave to Mitch as Gary turned her away. He released her as soon as they were on the other side of the crowd.
He rolled his eyes. “If Mitch knew you’re not tied to anyone, he’d be all over you. It’s better he thinks we’re together.”
“Mitch seemed to have his hands plenty full.”
“You don’t know Mitch.” Gary grinned. “The solarium is much quieter and no damned smoke.” He gestured to the doors they’d come through. “He has three different enclosed patios, but hardly anyone knows about the one we’re going to. Like I said, it won’t be filled with smoke. That shit clings to everything.”
She walked with Gary to the doors, taking another sip of the vanilla Coke. She was glad to get out of the marijuana smoke-filled room. Her clothes and hair likely reeked already, and she hoped Brooks wouldn’t mind, then wondered why she cared if he did. But she’d definitely have to shower when she got back to the hotel.
In moments she and Gary were out in the foyer with its soaring vaulted ceilings, and what appeared to be expensive Italian tile. He gestured to an arch to their left that opened into a wide hallway lit by a dim sconce at the entrance.
She took a bigger drink and wished she had finished her appetizer when she was with Brooks earlier. She was starting to feel lightheaded from not eating enough.
Gary talked about Mitch as they walked side-by-side to the hallway. “He acts like a stoner, but he’s sharp as hell. Made a shitload of cash before the big market crash.”
When they reached the end of the hallway, he steered her to their right, into a huge room. “This is the master suite. We’re going to Mitch’s private patio.” He pointed to a pair of closed French doors on the other side of the room.
As they walked, she felt even more lightheaded. She had the urge to stop walking but couldn’t seem to come to a halt.
“This is about the freshest air you’ll find in this place in the winter.” Gary led the way to the doors and she followed a step behind. He opened the doors and warmth rushed in. “He keeps the solarium warm during winter parties.”
She walked out through the open doorway. The solarium had three glowing heaters, as well as three tables with chairs. Snowflakes drifted down on the other side of the glass, and she felt like she was in a snow globe.
A door was directly in front, and through the glass she could see a lighted swimming pool glowing in the night. She wondered if pools could ice over in this part of the country but guessed this one was heated.
She walked up to the glass dome and placed her palms against the cool glass. “It’s beautiful.”
Gary came up beside her as she saw steam rising from the pool.
Her head felt like she was swimming in that pool now. She looked at Gary. “I don’t feel so good.”
He frowned as he set his cup on a nearby table. “You’d better have a seat, Nat.”
Without warning, her knees went weak and she nearly dropped her cup.
He caught her by the shoulders and took the drink from her and placed it on the small table where he’d set down his own drink. His brows were kitted with concern. “Are you okay?”
Out of nowhere a giggle rose in her, and she put one hand on his chest. “I think I need a chair before I end up on the floor.”
Frowning, Gary studied her. “Something’s wrong. You’re acting strange, Nat, unless you’re really susceptible to alcohol.”
“I do feel odd. I need to sit for a minute and I’ll be fine.” Natasha laughed like a young girl again before clenching his shirt in both hands as he helped her from falling.
“The lady wants to sit.” A hard male voice cut in.
Both Gary and Natasha turned to face the man who’d spoken. Natasha smiled and giggled when she saw who it was.
“It’s the cowboy gentleman.” She tried to step away from Gary but her legs felt like gelatin and he caught her again. “Hi, Brooksie.”
A rush of desire flooded through her at the sight of him and her nipples grew hard. She was suddenly so incredibly horny that she’d give anything to be alone with the man. It didn’t matter that she had barely spent any time with him. She didn’t sleep around, but for him she’d make an exception.
She laughed and tried to step away from Gary.
Gary’s hold tightened, mistrust on his features. He seemed to be gauging this stranger who had come out of nowhere. “Who are you?”
Brooks stepped close and towered over Gary. Brooks was a good six inches taller. “I said, let her sit.”
Why is he making such a fuss? Natasha wondered but didn’t question aloud. She liked the thought of him fussing over her.
Brooks took hold of Natasha from her opposite side, and for a moment she thought they were going to start playing tug-of-war with her, pulling her back and forth between them.
She giggled again, the thought incredibly funny as she pictured them doing just that, shaking her like a rag doll.
Gary narrowed his gaze at Brooks. “Something is wrong with her.”
“I’ll bet there is.” Brooks pulled her to him. She stumbled and he caught her. He kept an eye on Gary as he moved her closer to a table and eased her onto a chair.
“Brooks, meet Gary Grapefruit.” She laughed as she held onto the arms of her chair. “Gary, meet Brooks.” She clapped her hand over her mouth as she realized she’d slipped and called Gary by her pet name for him. She lowered her hand as she laughed.
“Who the hell is this?” Gary narrowed his gaze at Brooks.
“Brooks is a good family friend.” She swayed in her seat. “A really hot friend.”
Both Brooks and Gary looked at her and she shrugged and smiled. “Well, he is.”
“I’ll handle his,” Brooks said, but Gary didn’t look convinced that it was a good idea.
“Really, Gary. You can leave me with Brooksie.” She grinned. “I think that’s the best idea I’ve had all night.”
“Are you sure?” Gary looked from her to Brooks and back. “I don’t think your judgment is very good right now.”
“I don’t mind at all if you leave me with stud-muffin.” Natasha wave
d him off. “He’s totally safe.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow, Nat.” Gary studied Brooks. “You’d better take damned good care of her.” He turned and left the solarium.
It took Brooks all he had not to kick the guy’s ass for putting his hands on Natasha. Brooks ground his teeth as he watched Gary leave. Thank God he’d walked into the house in time to see Gary leading Natasha down the hallway. Brooks had followed them, something telling him he should.
He turned his attention back to Natasha who appeared to be a little too happy as she sat in her chair with a wide smile. Considering she seemed to be an extraordinarily upbeat person, that was saying a lot.
She tipped her head to the side. “Why did you make such a big fuss?”
Brooks relaxed his jaw. “You’re important to people I care about.”
“Gary’s one of my closest friends.” Natasha reached out and grabbed Brooks’s hand. Her fingers were cool despite the warmth in the solarium. “But I don’t mind being alone with you. Help me up.”
He shook his head. “You should stay right where you are a while longer.”
She pulled her hand from his and slid her palms down his abs to his belt buckle, nearing his cock.
He caught her hands in his, then crouched and studied her. He narrowed his eyes. In the glow given off by one of the heaters, he could see her pupils were dilated. That, combined with the way she was acting had the signs that she was on some kind of drug. “What did you take?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” She tried pulling her hands from his but he gripped her fingers tighter. “I want you.”
“You’re on something.” He could hear the hardness in his voice. “What drug did you take?”
“I don’t take drugs, silly.” She giggled and almost twisted her fingers out of his grip. “I don’t even like aspirin.”
He narrowed his gaze and caught her by her wrists with one of his hands. He glanced at the table and saw two plastic cups. He pointed to them. “Which is yours?”
She wriggled on the chair. “I dunno.”
Still crouched, he picked up the cup closest to him—it was about a third full, and brought it to his nose. He caught the hint of anise seed, the smell of some forms of the drug Ecstasy. Heat rose in him as he dipped his finger in the drink and tasted it. He caught a faint almost bitter taste mostly covered by the stronger flavor of vanilla syrup.
The rage burning through him came hot and fast. No doubt it was the bastard who’d just left the room who had slipped the drug into Natasha’s drink. Brooks was so pissed that he didn’t realize he was squeezing his hands tight around her wrists until she said, “That hurts, Brooks.”
He released her wrists and immediately she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pressed her mouth against his so fast he didn’t have even a moment to react.
Her lips were so damned soft and she smelled so good that he almost gave in and kissed her back.
He stood, extricating himself from her hold while grabbing her wrists again. “Listen to me, Natasha. I think you’ve been given a drug called Ecstasy, also known as Molly. You aren’t yourself right now.”
“I’m not Molly.” She laughed. “I’m Natasha. Or did you forget?” She tried to get to her feet.
He had to get some help in case she’d been given a dangerously high dose. “Honey, just sit still.”
“Nope.” She giggled. “I. Want. You.”
What he wouldn’t give to have this woman say that when she wasn’t drugged.
He mentally shook his head. What the hell was he thinking? She was a suspect.
A low growl rose up in his throat. He wanted nothing more than to kick that sonofabitch’s ass. It had to have been the man she’d called Gary.
The fact that Brooks was a Federal agent kept him in check. The last thing he needed was to have charges pressed against him. Law enforcement officers got a bad enough rap as it was.
Most of all, Brooks couldn’t and wouldn’t leave Natasha alone for one moment.
He held her wrists with one hand while pulling his cell phone out of its holster with his other. He’d call the local PD and have them handle the situation, and get the paramedics here for Natasha.
A few hours and a houseful of arrests later, Brooks managed to find Natasha’s keycard in her purse and used it to open her hotel room. It was close to midnight. She was still giggly and clinging to him, not yet coming down from the drug since it had only been maybe three and a half hours, maybe four, since she’d ingested it.
She might be calming some, but she was still coming on to him in ways that were about to drive him out of his mind.
He kept his arm around her waist as he guided her inside. “That a girl.”
She giggled and leaned against him as he flipped a light switch that flooded the room with a soft yellow glow. He helped her out of her coat and tossed it aside before he steered her to the bed. The whole time she was stumbling, laughing, and walking off balance.
He set her purse on the foot of the bed. Natasha bounced onto the mattress. Her purse tumbled off and crashed to the floor, scattering the contents all over the carpet.
Ignoring the purse and everything that had formerly been inside, he knelt to take off her boots. At the same time, she grasped the hem of her blouse and started to pull it over her head.
“No.” Brooks pulled her top down so it covered her flat belly again, and put his hand over hers on her thigh. “Let me finish taking off your boots and then you can lie down for a moment.”
She gave him a naughty grin. “It’s about time.” She flopped back on the bed, her head on the pillow and her arms above her head, her legs still hanging over the side. “I’m ready for you, Brooksie.”
He nearly groaned. Back at the extravagant house, he’d had her checked out by paramedics. She wasn’t suffering any adverse effects, other than the euphoria and arousal she was experiencing. There was a good chance she’d crash hard and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
She wriggled on the bed. “Stop making me wait.”
Brooks sighed. It was going to be a long hour or two before she would come down, and hopefully she wouldn’t suffer adverse effects and he’d get her to sleep.
He eased her feet onto the bed and then finished sliding off her boots. She wriggled and said, “Hurry up.”
As he tugged off her socks, he thought about digging through the drawers and finding her pajamas or at least a T-shirt. No, not going there. It wasn’t a good idea to take her clothes off to change into something else. Once he’d removed them, who knew what she would do? She would just have to sleep in her skirt and blouse.
Back at the party house, he’d contacted Jase, who had come straight to the scene to assist.
When it was time to leave the scene, Jase followed with Natasha’s car, while Brooks drove her to the hotel in his truck. A local DHS agent took Jase back to pick up his own vehicle. The entire time Jase had avoided Natasha to make sure she didn’t see him. She might not remember him being there, but they didn’t want to take any chances.
To keep Natasha busy thinking of something other than getting naked with him, Brooks figured he’d ask her questions to take her mind off of sex. With him.
“Where’s your family?” He sat in the padded chair he’d pulled up to the bed. “In Indiana?”
“Grandpa and Grandma retired in Florida.” Natasha turned on her side and braced herself on her elbow, some of the arousal dimming in her eyes. “They raised me. So did my Uncle Dexter, who lived with us. I told you about my uncle being killed in the line of duty.”
Brooks leaned forward in the chair, his forearms resting on his thighs. “What happened to your parents?”
“My grandparent’s daughter, my birthmother, was too young to raise a child.” Natasha quieted some. “She and my birthfather were both only fifteen, so my grandparents adopted me when I was born.”
The topic had definitely subdued Natasha. Brooks hadn’t wanted to bring up something painful, but she k
ept talking.
“Both my parents, Margo and Tom, were in juvenile hall when they were teenagers, then prison once they were over eighteen. They were in and out for things like drug possession, theft, and forgery. Margo and Tom are both serving time now for armed robbery of a convenience store.” Natasha pushed thick locks of hair from her face. “My grandparents never allowed them to see me until I was eighteen, because they didn’t want that kind of influence around me.”
Brooks thought about his own close-knit family upbringing. “That must have been rough.” Once the words were out of his mouth, he realized how lame that sounded after the trauma she’d been through.
“I’m glad they weren’t around when I was young.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I saw them a couple of times when I was older, but they were strangers and I didn’t have the desire to get to know them. Just because they’re related to me, doesn’t mean I have to have anything to do with them. They had choices and they made the wrong ones. They could have cleaned up and been at least a small part of my life.” She shook her head. “But they didn’t.”
“Their loss,” Brooks said quietly. “You’re a special woman, and they missed out.”
He frowned to himself after his statement. But his gut was telling him she was innocent. Hell, after having parents into drugs, and with what Christie went through, that was enough to make Natasha want to stay at arm’s length.
But then again, having parents into drugs could have made her into a master manipulator and liar, and could even have introduced her to that world.
He dragged his hand down his face. This entire mess was going to drive him insane.
Natasha’s expression shifted back to arousal. “Come on, Brooks. Enough talking. I want some action.”
Damn, she was going to make him crazy.
He tried to pull her focus back to talking about herself. “I take it you grew up with Christie?”
“I wish.” Natasha gave a little smile. “She was raised in Bisbee. She and her parents traveled to Indiana to visit us fairly often, and Christie and I always stayed in touch.”
“That’s right.” He nodded. “She was a part of the Circle of Seven with Belle and Dylan Curtis until the middle of their high school years.” Dylan was also a Federal agent and worked with Brooks in DHS’s ICE division.
