But he found only the cool sheet and empty pillow on the other half of the bed. He opened his eyes and lifted his head. Light filtered through the curtains, and once again Miss Priss was curled at his feet. His detective mind noted a lack of blinds meant she didn't often sleep late. Damn. He'd have to change that habit.
Sitting up, he rubbed sleep from his eyes. A craving for caffeine had him throwing back the covers he'd pulled over them after Darcy had passed out from climaxing. A sharp sense of pride puffed his chest at that accomplishment. Many people went to sleep after sex. Few actually lost consciousness from the force of a large orgasm. He rummaged in his bag for clean shorts, threw his pants from the night before over those, and shoved a couple of condoms in his pocket.
The low murmur of conversation and the scent of freshly brewed coffee drew him to the kitchen. Two female voices had him frowning. Company meant his morning wood wasn't going to see any action.
THE DISTINCT CREAK of her sixth step alerted Darcy that Theo had awoken. Given how hard he'd worked the night before, she wasn't going to begrudge him the opportunity to sleep in until nearly noon. She'd already gone for a short run and cleared the rest of the leaves left by the melted snow from her two beds of lava rocks.
Her sister, Amy, glanced up from her mug, though she didn't falter in the stirring of sugar into her coffee. Her brow arched with a silent question, and her eyes darted to the opening leading to the hall for the answer.
Darcy dreaded this moment. Amy had shown up an hour earlier, wanting to go shopping. Normally Darcy would go with her sister because it was easier to give in than to try to explain again why not having the urge to shop didn't equal depression. Even though she hadn't liked Scott, Amy hadn't abandoned her when she cried for hours over losing him. Amy had been there during those dark times when Darcy hadn't wanted to leave the house for any reason.
Theo trudged into the room. His sinfully dark hair swirled around his head, a messy testament to the wildness of their night. He gave her sister a cursory glance on his way to where Darcy stood in front of the sink. His arms closed around her waist, and he rested his head on her shoulder. She returned his embrace, and he settled in a little more.
He seemed so comfortable that she wondered if he'd fallen back to sleep. Instead he pressed a kiss to her neck. “Coffee?”
She laughed at his desperate request. “I'll get it for you. Why don't you go sit down at the table?”
“'K.” He plopped down in the nearest chair, which also happened to be next to Amy. Holding out a hand, he smiled a greeting. “I'm Theo. You must be Darcy's sister.”
Amy blinked. “She told you about me?”
“A little. Mostly I figured you were closely related because you look like sisters.”
Darcy set a steaming mug on the table in front of Theo. “Are you hungry?”
He lifted his gaze, and the look he gave her betrayed a hunger for things other than food. Her breasts tingled with remembered heat. “Just coffee for now. Let me wake up a little more, and then I'll have breakfast.”
The sugar bowl still sat on the table from when Amy had brought it over. He reached for it, and Darcy handed him a spoon.
Amy ran her fingertip over the rim of her mug. Darcy didn't think they looked that much alike. They shared the same blue eyes, but Amy's lighter hair and oval face definitely set them apart. She had yet to smile at Theo. “So, Theo, Darcy tells me you two met at a convention.”
He sipped the coffee. “Yep.”
“What kind of business are you in?”
The question was logical. The convention had been aimed at small businesses looking to grow and diversify. Applying for grants and offering money or services to charity were two ways to expand a business.
“Information technology, computers, programming. Things like that.” He rubbed at the corner of his eye. Darcy recognized that Amy's interrogation had begun. Her big sister had taken it upon herself to look after Darcy. It was nice to know someone was in her corner no matter what.
However she didn't want Amy to ask questions. Her sister hadn't understood Darcy's relationship with Scott. After they'd discovered BDSM and begun practicing, it had only taken a month for Amy to shift from liking Scott to hating him. She had used any opportunity to urge Darcy to leave him.
Given that her relationship with Theo was founded on the same concepts, Amy was sure to hate him too. “Amy.”
Amy waved Darcy's warning away. “Computer geek. I'm starting to see what you like about this guy.”
Darcy drew in a sharp breath as Amy drew the inevitable comparisons between Theo and Scott. She really didn't need for Amy to delve deeper. If she didn't distract her sister, things were likely to get ugly. “Amy, how about some lunch? I have leftover pizza. It's homemade.”
Theo's arm came around her hips, and he snuggled a hug into her waist. “That sounds great, sweetheart. I'll have some.”
Her stress level evened out, but that didn't mean she wanted to hear Amy's take on the situation. Reluctantly she eased out of Theo's hug and pulled the leftover pizza from the refrigerator. She set the oven to preheat as Amy warmed to the topic.
“Has Darcy told you about Scott, her fiance?”
“Amy!”
Theo's glance both reassured her and let her know he understood the situation. It looked like the caffeine had kicked in. “She has told me a few things about Scott. It's a tragic situation.”
“You remind me of him a little,” she said.
Darcy wished Amy wouldn't look out for her quite so vigorously. She swallowed a groan at the same time Theo laughed.
He took the spoon for another whirl around his mug. “How so?”
“You're about the same height, you both like one teaspoon of sugar in your coffee, and you both don't seem to mind walking around half-naked.”
Theo sipped his coffee. “Lots of men are around six feet tall. Lots of people like a little sugar in their coffee. And if it's not cold, lots of men don't think twice about whether or not they're wearing a shirt, especially if they think it's just them and their girlfriend in the house.”
His apparent nonplussed attitude amazed Darcy. She hadn't seen him lose control of his temper before, but Scott would have told Amy to fuck off by now.
Amy rested her chin on her palm and delivered her coup de grace in a near whisper. “She's still in love with him, you know.”
The oven timer chimed, and Darcy's temper simmered. A red haze clouded her vision. She still loved Scott. So what? That didn't mean she couldn't fall in love with Theo too. Before she could throw Amy out of the house, Theo responded in an even tone.
“I expect she'll always love him. It's not like they broke up, Amy. She planned to marry him. When you lose someone you love, you never get over them. You just learn to live with the fact that they're gone. It takes courage to move on with your life. I'd think you would be happy for Darcy, not sitting here, doing your best to chase away a man she's obviously spent the night with. She's not exactly the kind of person who leaps into bed with anyone. Did you stop to think she might care about me and I might care about her?”
He sipped from his mug as if he'd just reiterated the weather forecast for the week. His commanding presence and the sweet understanding of his words combined to make Darcy's knees weak. She put the pizza on a sheet pan and slid it into the oven.
Amy narrowed her eyes at Theo. “He beat her, you know. Are you like that too?”
“Out.” Darcy made shooing motions in Amy's direction. Perhaps Theo had patience with Amy, but a lifetime of being managed by her sister didn't leave Darcy with a whole lot of residual patience where she was concerned. “I've told you over and over that Scott wasn't abusive. I'm tired of explaining our relationship to you. Just go. If you're going to be a jerk, just get out of here.”
Standing, Amy shrugged her shoulders, but she didn't manage to hide the hurt from her eyes. “I care about you, Darcy. You've always been the smart one, but you've always lacked common sense. I just don't
want to see you hurting like that again.” While guilt pinged through Darcy, Amy lowered her gaze to Theo. “You have the same confidence Scott had, that whole air about you that screams authority and nobody's allowed to argue with you. Can you look me in the eyes and tell me you don't beat women?”
Theo stared at her for the longest time. Darcy wanted him to repeat her order for Amy to leave, but he didn't. She realized he wasn't Scott, and they didn't share this house. Theo had no right to order anyone out of her house, and he wasn't going to pretend like he did. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest.
Finally Theo shook his head. “No man who beats women is going to sit here and admit it to your face. Mostly they don't even admit it when there are witnesses and video proof. I will tell you that I care about Darcy. I'm glad to see you care about her too. She needs that, but she also needs people in her life who are going to be supportive of what she wants and what she needs. I'm a Dom, which is what I think you're getting at.”
Amy's fist pounded the table as she interrupted Theo. “That's just an excuse to beat up women!”
“The distinction you're looking for, Amy, is that I would never ‘beat up’ Darcy. My personal preference is to tie her up and make her have quite a few orgasms, but she's a little more into the masochistic aspects of it all. If she's a very good girl and if she asks nicely, I'll spank or flog her. Nothing happens without her consent, and she has the power to stop anything at any time.”
This argument was old, and Darcy wanted it to stop. She wished a safe word worked on her sister. In the months since Scott's disappearance, she and Amy had slowly forged a friendship that had been absent when Scott had been around. Amy singularly objected to the entire concept. Because the topic of BDSM had disappeared with Scott, the intervening months had seen nothing but peace between them.
Amy's fire had been lit, and it wasn't going to go away quietly. “But you determine when it happens!”
“Well, I'm the one who has to do the work. Be logical, Amy. When you ask someone to do you a favor, isn't it just good manners to let them figure out when it fits best into their schedule? If she wanted me to debug her computer, she'd have to wait until I had the free time. This really isn't any different.” He leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee. If Darcy wasn't mistaken, amusement made his eyes gleam. He actually liked the debate.
That threw Amy for a loop. For the first time ever, she faltered. It took her a minute to recover. When she did, she pinned Darcy with a heated glare. “This is so misogynistic. You're actually waiting on him. You got him coffee, and now you're making lunch for him.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. “I got you coffee, and I'm heating lunch for you too. You're both my guests, Amy. I'd like it if you remembered the manners Mom and Dad taught us. Please apologize to Theo. He didn't do anything wrong. As a matter of fact, I think he's been pretty tolerant of your rudeness.”
The timer on the oven chimed again. She slammed the oven door open, but when she reached to get the sheet pan, Theo snatched her up and lifted her away.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
He kissed her temple and set her down near the sink. “Preventing second-degree burns, sweetheart.” With that, he grabbed the oven mitt she had neglected to use and withdrew the pan from the oven. He closed the door, set the sheet on the stovetop, and pushed the button to turn the oven off. “Why don't you grab some plates?”
As she turned toward the cupboard where she kept the plates, she caught Amy's startled expression. She handed Theo three plates. He used the circular cutter to divide the pie and loaded slices onto each plate.
“I'm sorry.” Amy's apology barely made it across the kitchen, but Theo heard it anyway.
“Don't be.” He grinned over his shoulder. “If you didn't care about Darcy, you wouldn't try so hard to figure out something you don't understand. I can't hold that against you.”
Tension eased from Darcy's shoulders. Amy might not understand, but it appeared she was willing to give Theo a chance. And he was willing to give her a chance too.
Conversation turned to less contentious topics until Amy left. Darcy saw her sister to the door. When she returned to the kitchen, Theo was loading dishes into the dishwasher.
“Oh, don't put them in there. It's broken. I'll wash them by hand.”
Theo looked from the stove to the dishwasher. Both were recent models. “Have you called the place where you bought it? I bet it's under warranty.”
Darcy shook her head. “It probably was under warranty at some point, but Scott tinkered with it so much that I'm sure it's void. I'm pretty sure it's made up of three different machines by now. He felt fixing it was a personal challenge. I know I should get a new one and get rid of it, but I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it.”
He nodded and didn't pursue the matter. He unloaded the dishes and stacked them next to the sink. “I'd stay and do them, but I have to head back to my place and get my stuff so I can move it into my buddy's place. I start at Snyder's tomorrow.”
Disappointment circled her gut, but it didn't take hold. While she didn't want him to leave, she would welcome some time to process the scene they'd shared the night before. She turned on the faucet to warm the flow and reached under the sink for the dish soap. “Okay. Well, if you're living closer, does this mean I'll get to see you before next weekend?”
His arms came around her waist, his chest pressed to her back, and he kissed her shoulder. “I'll see you tomorrow at work, won't I?”
Darcy shook her head. “You likely won't see me at Victor's office until later this week. I have a meeting with him on Thursday to discuss exactly what he wants for this Web site. I expect you'll be at it too. Though it would be like Victor to not tell you until the last minute. He thinks it keeps his employees on their toes.”
“Then how about you come to my place for dinner? I can cook for you.”
That sounded nice. She reached up and traced the shell of his ear with her fingertip. He shuddered, and his cock twitched against her lower back. “What are you going to make? I'm a picky eater.”
He growled and scraped his teeth across the skin of her throat. “Keep that up and I'm going to tie you to my table and eat you, sweetheart.”
That idea sounded appealing. “Maybe for dessert.”
The week flew. Malcolm worked with his handler to write the programming that would eventually embed their unique software into Snyder's system. It would leave behind a telltale signature so they could trace the source of a post no matter how many times it was pinged through different systems. So far they hadn't caught anything illegal, but they had noticed inconsistencies with no apparent explanation.
Malcolm suspected he and a few CEOs from friendly corporations were working together to inflate certain stock prices. He needed to find out exactly which stocks and when they planned to dump them. The value of those stocks would tank within days afterward, and the ripple effects would be felt throughout the economy.
His relationship with Darcy had exploded. Never in his life had he fallen so fast and hard for anyone. Being with her, even in his undercover persona, was effortless. He had bound her twice more, though he was careful to only restrain part of her body at a time. She tended to fall into blind panic when he attempted to bind both of her wrists in ways that prohibited movement. This last time, he'd wrapped the nylon cording from her wrists to her elbows just to get her used to the sensation.
Training had progressed to the point where just the sight of the rope made her wet. Malcolm loved her responsiveness in and out of the bedroom. Some nights, they didn't have sex. He found conversation with her stimulating. She had an offbeat sense of humor that either complemented his or missed it completely, and her unique viewpoints led her to make some interesting statements.
And he found her honesty refreshing. After her sister had left last weekend, she had apologized for Amy's rudeness. Malcolm had been rude to the love interests of both his sister and his brother before. Each time his goal had been to
protect his sibling. He understood the instinct and sisterly love that drove Amy to say the things she had.
The better he came to know Darcy, the more he realized everyone underestimated her. She had a rare strength and resilience that made him want to lay down his life to protect her. It only made him wonder what really happened with Yataines. He couldn't imagine any scenario where she would harm him, but if he and Scott were as alike as Amy seemed to think, it wasn't a stretch to imagine that Yataines had died to protect her from something or someone.
Saturday morning meant a meeting with Keith to debrief on his week. Malcolm wasn't looking forward to disclosing anything about Darcy. In the agency's eyes, she was still a suspect.
So he had framed his excuse for not seeing her today in the form of family obligations, and he'd hightailed his ass to the designated meeting area near the Detroit office in the McNamara Building on Michigan Avenue. They met at a little plaza nearby that had a fountain and benches.
Malcolm spotted Keith at the edge of the fountain, throwing pieces of something to the seagulls. His gray suit made him stand out around this Saturday leisure crowd, and his dark sunglasses and military bearing didn't help. Keith sipped a coffee from a nearby store. Malcolm sat down next to him.
“It's been over a week.”
In that week, Malcolm had set up a good portion of Snyder's Web site. By all outward appearances, it looked like the Snyder Corp had one hell of a philanthropy division. Of course, Malcolm had figured out it was meant to be a front for money laundering.
“What's Markovich's part in all this?”
Malcolm snagged Keith's coffee and sniffed it for something to do. Cinnamon and vanilla pummeled his olfactory senses. “So far she's just providing the formatting for the charity stuff. I have to digitize all her forms so they process automatically through the Web site. Not a big deal. Snyder has asked her to hire and train a pair of people to run it, but my understanding is that she's already done that.”
Re/Bound Page 16
