Power Trip: Double Helix, Book 1

by Miranda Baker

  A muscle jumped in his jaw. “Since you saw me and Abby Jones making out in my room. I tried to hypnotize you, but you told Charlotte anyway.”

  His betrayal knocked the breath out of her again. Almost twenty years? “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I love you, and I wanted to keep you safe. I know things, Aud, things that would make you sick, things that could get you killed. You have to trust me. Neutral is a tricky kind of power. The less you know, the better it works. Isn’t it enough to know you’re talented?”

  “No,” she retorted. “It’s not enough.” Not enough to make up for Jake lying to her for all these years. Not enough to erase the sense of inadequacy she had suffered since she was old enough to realize that he was special and she was not. Not even close.

  “I’m sorry, Audrey.” Even though she knew him better than anyone, she couldn’t interpret the emotion on his face. It couldn’t be fear. Her badass brother didn’t have the sense to be afraid of anything, especially things he should be afraid of.

  Jake crossed his arms. “Anything else strange happen lately?”

  Other than incandescent electric-blue sex? “I lost my lab ID and my laptop is missing,” she said slowly, filtering her thoughts. Even if it wasn’t any of his damn business, her logical mind wouldn’t allow her to ignore his question when the last twenty-four hours had been so bizarre. “My research animals croaked, the security guard wanted a blood sample, and I think my boss was hitting on me. All in all, it was a weird fucking day.” After a weird fucking night.

  “It’s about to get weirder if our father actually does walk in the door.” He glanced at his cell phone, so she looked at hers. It was almost one. “Look, we don’t have much time. I really am sorry, Audrey. I just want to keep you safe. You’re all I’ve got.” He removed his glasses, showing dark eyes full of guilt.

  She stared at him, reluctantly moved. It had always been them against the world, and it hurt to feel so alone. “No more secrets, Jake.”

  “I promise I’ll tell you everything I know.”

  She could tell he meant it, which begged the question. “Why tell me now? Why not before?”

  The door to the restaurant opened, and they both looked up. “After lunch,” he said, eyes trained on the blond man who was scanning the dining room.

  Curiosity was eating a hole in her brain, but Audrey didn’t speak because the man’s eyes settled on her, flicked over to Jake, then back to her. He waved the hostess away and began to walk toward their table.

  Jake stood, but Audrey felt rooted to her seat. Disappointment made her feel dizzy and sick. She didn’t know she had memories of her father, but somehow this man didn’t match what was in her head, especially his pale blue eyes. Eye color was controlled by more than one gene, but given their mother’s blue eyes, the odds of this man having fathered two brown-eyed children was slim. Abruptly, she knew her father wasn’t tall, either, and the man standing at their table topped six feet, dwarfing Jake as he held out his hand.

  Her brother’s smile was wide and welcoming as they shook hands, proving her hunch that something was wrong. He met Jake’s eyes.

  “Who are you?” Jake asked.

  “Michael Fallon.”

  Audrey watched lights gleam in her brother’s eyes. She was completely unaffected, but mesmerized nonetheless as Jake put his talent to work. “Who are you?” he repeated.

  “Joseph Geraci.”

  “Who sent you?”

  “My employer.” The man smiled dreamily, staring, leaning closer to Jake.

  “Who is your employer?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What are you supposed to do today?”

  “Take Audrey Fallon.”

  “Take her where?”

  Geraci shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I’m supposed to call when I have her.”

  “Sit down.” Geraci sat. “Give me your cell phone and wallet.” He handed them over.

  “Do you know why you are supposed to take Audrey Fallon?” Jake’s eyes were bright now, the dark irises nearly obscured by the gleaming pattern of lights. A shudder shook Geraci’s frame but he didn’t blink. “No,” he whispered, shaking his head, jaw slack, eyes beginning to glaze.

  Jake touched his arm and he straightened in his chair. “Do you know who I am?” he asked.

  The man blinked several times. “No.”

  Jake nodded. “That’s good. You won’t remember me, either. You did everything you were supposed to do today. It went well.” Jake took money out of Geraci’s wallet and put it on the table. “Order lunch. Go to a movie. Don’t go home tonight.” The man nodded and picked up one of the menus on the table.

  Jake put his arm around her waist and guided her out the door.

  She didn’t speak until they reached her car. “Did you drive?” It was easier to think about whether they needed to take two cars than the fact that she might have been kidnapped today. He shook his head and got into her car. “I got a ride.”

  When her seatbelt was fastened, she looked over at him and felt a sad smile curve her lips. “You have beautiful eyes, Jake. They’re our father’s eyes, aren’t they?”

  “Shit.” He fumbled to put his glasses back on as she started the car and pulled out into the street, turning away from Bonfire. Automatically, she got on the highway, heading toward her house.

  He glanced up at the highway signs. “You can’t go home, Aud.”

  It was too late to turn around, so she accelerated to merge with traffic. “Where do you think we should go?”

  “Head for Cal’s. I’ll text him.”

  The thought of seeing Cal again sent a burst of pleasure through her. She didn’t know him well enough to run to him when she felt threatened, but it felt like the right thing to do. Jake sent and received several texts while she changed lanes and took deep breaths to cool the heat in her cheeks.

  Beside her, Jake chuckled softly. “If you weren’t my sister, I’d have loved to be a fly on the wall of Master Calvin’s dungeon last night. Such a good girl for so long. Little miss perfect Audrey, who has never worn anything made out of leather except her sensible shoes. It would have been fun to see all your disdain for the Lifestyle turn into something else.”

  “Shut up, Jake. Since you’re so curious, I didn’t wear any leather last night. In fact, I didn’t wear anything at all.” He’d never stop teasing her if she showed her embarrassment. “After I got past my initial freak-out over the hood—”

  Jake cursed. “He put you in a hood?”

  She glanced over at him. He looked almost as horrified as she had felt. “Not for long. Something else you need to tell me?”

  “There’re a lot of things I need to tell you, but we don’t have time.”

  “You promised,” she reminded him, taking the exit that would lead them to Cal’s house.

  His chuckle was grim. “I promised to tell you after lunch. We didn’t have lunch.”

  She stopped the car at the bottom of Cal’s driveway, opened the glove compartment and thrust her emergency box of granola bars into his lap. “Fuck your loopholes, Jake. There’s lunch. Start talking.”

  He laughed, shrugged, took a bar out of the box and put it in his pocket. “I’ll be back after I take Geraci’s cell phone and wallet to Truman.”

  “Truman the lie detector?” The one Cal had mentioned last night?

  “And a cop. He should be able to trace any incoming calls. I’ll meet you back here.”

  “No way—I’m coming with you.”

  Jake shook his head. “I want you somewhere safe.”

  “I’m not safe with a cop?” That thought was so frightening, she put the car in gear and drove up the driveway. When she pulled to a stop in front of Cal’s garage, she turned to Jake. “If you don’t tell me every single thing you know about everything pertaining to my talent and our family the very second you get back, I am going to beat you senseless.” He was the one who had forced her through nine black belts of Tae Kwon Do and insi
sted on being her sparring partner. She could beat him. He’d made sure of it. Now, she was beginning to understand why.

  Jake held out his hand. “Agreed. Mind if I take your car?”

  “And leave me stranded?”

  “I’m sure you and Cal can keep yourselves occupied.” Jake’s laugh was wicked and full of mischief as he got out of the car and walked around to her side. “I’ll be back soon. The station isn’t far.”

  He opened her door. “Are you scared?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Cal will keep you safe.”

  She didn’t want Cal to keep her safe. She wanted to be safe. And she didn’t like the way her brain slipped out of gear whenever she thought about him. “This is the last place I should be if I want to think clearly.”

  “Oh, how the high and mighty have fallen,” he teased, pulling her out of the car. His grin faded when he looked at her. “Be honest with him. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do. But don’t miss out on something good because it makes you uncomfortable.”

  She hated that her uncertainty was so apparent. “I don’t understand why you are encouraging me, Jake. You always made it clear you didn’t want me at the Lair. You’ve never introduced me to any of your friends. Every time the subject came up, you called me vanilla and made fun of me until—” The guilty expression on his face stopped her. “Wait, did you make me feel awkward on purpose?” Had she never explored kink because Jake had made her defend her conventional sexuality so many times? Was he manipulating her now too?

  Gently, he moved her away from the car. “I need to get going, Aud.” He got into the driver’s seat. “I’ll explain everything later—I promise.”

  Audrey watched him reverse out of the gates. “You’d better,” she whispered.

  Chapter Eight

  Cal watched Audrey approach his front door. His reaction to the sight of her was immediate and profound. His heart began to race. His body prickled with sweat and sparks. He wanted to play it cool, so he wouldn’t scare her off, but it was impossible.

  Fuck being cool. “I’ve been thinking about you all day,” he said, as he opened the door.

  Her face lost the tense expression he had noticed on her way up the walk. “Oh, yeah? Well, I almost got kidnapped today, and all I could think about as I drove over here was getting naked with you.”

  “Glad we’re both crazy.” Emboldened by her admission, he reached out and carefully wrapped his hand around her ponytail, drawing her forward and pulling her head back at the same time. “Have you eaten lunch?”

  “Is that another one of your kinks? Feeding women?” Her voice was breathy, strained by the angle at which he held her head. He watched a fast pulse beat in the hollow of her throat, felt his electrons match its pace.

  “No, but I’m hungry.” He controlled his energy and bent to taste her neck, drawing the tip of his tongue up the long column of her throat. Current connected them immediately and he fought the urge to take her down to the floor.

  She grasped his arms and he groaned. Her fingers were soft, slightly cool, and the most erotic thing he had ever felt. He shouldn’t let her touch him. It wasn’t safe without the monitors.

  A long shudder shook his body. “Stop,” he begged in a whisper, barely recognizing his own voice, so choked with need. “Please don’t touch me.” It took enormous effort to release her hair and step away.

  He leaned his head against the wall and peered at her through heavy lids. “I have no restraint around you.”

  She looked up at him. “Do you need restraint?”

  “Your brother says neutral talent is impossible to measure. Do you really want to risk it?” The reckless black heat in her eyes told him she did. Any woman willing to jump off a building, albeit a small one, in search of latent talent probably wouldn’t hesitate to grab a live wire like him, especially now that she believed she had some measure of immunity. He would have to have enough control for both of them. “You didn’t answer my question,” he said. “Are you hungry?”

  “Starving.”

  “Come on.” He gestured for her to precede him down the hall to the kitchen. “Tell me more about this kidnapping thing.”

  She sat at the island. “I can’t tell you any more because I don’t know anything. Jake took off to give the guy’s cell and wallet to Truman and promised he’d tell me everything when he got back. He said you were right about me being a neutral talent, Cal, but that’s all I know. Well, that and the fact Jake’s been keeping secrets from me for our entire lives.”

  She sounded frustrated and he wanted to comfort her. Comfort her? Whoa.

  One night of experimentation with no dangerous reaction on the heart monitor and EEG didn’t mean he could afford to get attached to her, especially when there was no guarantee her talent would prevent her from getting hurt the next time he touched her. He needed to stay focused on the developing situation, not his unexpected feelings for Audrey. Even as he had the thought, he recognized the futility of remaining detached. Now that he’d met her, he couldn’t imagine putting his energy into pleasuring a hooded sub ever again. And that was the most dangerous reaction of all.

  He set a glass of water in front of her, then turned to dip two bowls of potato soup from the pot on the stove. She gazed at him through narrowed eyes as he cut thick slices of bread and put butter on the table. “What?” he asked, when her intent regard became too much.

  “Is there bacon in this soup?”

  He handed her a spoon and sat down beside her. “No, I made it this morning with your boundaries in mind.”

  “Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

  “I prefer optimistic. So…your life was threatened today?”

  “I think so.” She looked down at her bowl.

  “You’re taking it awfully well.”

  “It doesn’t seem real.”

  “You’re safe here,” he assured her. “The perimeter is fenced and I know the minute anything heavier than five pounds touches the driveway.”

  “So you’re optimistic, but paranoid?”

  He buttered a piece of bread and handed it to her. “I don’t like surprises. Plus, I’m a techno-geek. I like to invent things.”

  They ate in silence for a few minutes. He wanted to text Jake, but he sensed Audrey had reached her limit for being left out of the loop. “Did your brother say when he would be back?”

  “No.” Her tone suggested Jake was going to be in trouble when he arrived.

  His soup was gone, so he got himself another bowl. He ate it more slowly, needing something to do other than stare at her and try to keep his hands to himself. When he was finished, he stood and put his bowl in the sink. “Would you like more soup?” he asked.

  “No, thank you.” The odd note in her voice made him glance over at her. She was staring at him hungrily, the way he wanted to look at her. Her jeans and zippered fleece made her curves look soft and inviting. He remembered how she had looked naked, prowling over his leather table, and his mouth watered.

  “Cal?” Her voice trembled. “I’m out of my depth with you.”

  That was exactly how he felt too.

  She cleared her throat. “I’ve never considered a kinky relationship. Is relationship even the right word? I’ve always taken pride in being…well, normal doesn’t seem appropriate…mainstream, conventional, conservative…” She broke off, looking frustrated again.

  “Vanilla?” he suggested, sitting down next to her again.

  She sighed and nodded. “Not the first time I’ve heard that word.”

  “Nothing wrong with vanilla, but it’s just one flavor. Think of all the others.” There was a husky plea in his voice. “Do you have to hang a label on us?”

  “It’s not a label. It’s a…realistic analysis of what we have in common. You claim to be a geek, but come on. Empirical evidence proves that false. You wear black leather and drive a motorcycle—”

  “Give me five minutes to grab a lab coat and the keys to my sedate Honda.�
� He fumbled in a drawer for the thick glasses he wore at work to disguise the blue of his eyes and put them on. “Does that help?”

  She snorted. “Turning into Clark Kent doesn’t change anything. I still see Superman. No intelligent woman would turn you down.” She crossed her arms and frowned. “And I’m a smart woman, Cal. When I don’t understand something, I learn about it. If I can’t figure it out, I find someone who can and I learn from them. I want to know why my brain turns off when you’re in the room. I don’t understand why kink gives me the creeps but I’m attracted to you. It scares me that I let you restrain me last night after knowing you for an hour. I’m not like that. Can you explain any of this to me?”

  “No, I can’t.” He could barely resist the pull of her, drawing him closer in some invisible, indefinable way, even as he felt her slipping away from him. “But I can teach you anything you want to know about kink.”

  She shook her head. “And if I don’t want to learn? What then? What if I really am vanilla? What if that is my flavor?”

  Panic stopped the breath in his throat. The inches separating them felt like miles. The thought of losing her sent a surge of energy through his body and his vision went blue around the edges.

  He fought for control. This might be the biggest negotiation of his life, but it was still a negotiation. The most important thing was to stay calm, to keep them both safe, physically and mentally. He wanted to push her limits, but she was right. She didn’t even know what that meant.

  “Take a deep breath, Audrey.” He took one too. “We’ll figure it out.”

  “How are we going to figure it out, Cal? You get off by immobilizing women, whipping them but never touching them. That doesn’t do it for me.” She lifted her chin. He saw a bluff in her eyes, but he didn’t call it.

  Too far, too fast, and now they would have to start from the beginning. Slowly, methodically, he would break down her barriers again. He stroked a finger through her glossy ponytail. “And I bet you get off in the missionary position, with every inch of skin exposed. The thought of that terrifies me…and arouses me beyond belief. I turned to BDSM because how else was I going to get laid? Kink camouflages reality for my partners and relieves me of the necessity of explaining my talent. But now it’s a part of me. I love it. I’ve never had sex any other way. I don’t even know if I can do it. Bare is frightening, dangerous, but I’m willing to experiment with you. Safely. Carefully. Consensually. You may be vanilla and I may be kinky, but I am incredibly attracted to you and we’re both scientists. I have an open mind. How about you? Are you willing to try again? Another experiment?”