Was it crazy for a single man to be researching such things? I just … I really wanted a child of my own. The longer I watched my younger brother raise my child, the more desperate I was to fill the hole PJ’s absence left. When the thought first crossed my mind, to have another child, I’d been set on the whole marriage and commitment thing. But the more I dated, the less I felt confident that I’d ever find the kind of woman I wanted. Surrogacy seemed like a reasonable alternative, but sliding it past my family was going to prove difficult. So … a one-night stand … a little accident … it seemed almost ideal.
Too bad she was on the pill.
I turned on the water in the shower and climbed in, closing my eyes as the hot water flowed over my head. I felt like a ship broken loose from the anchor. Drifting. I once had a plan. I once knew what my life would be. But now? Everything had changed, and I didn’t know how to get back on course. I wanted to. Five years and I was still lost. But I wanted to.
“Hey,” a sleepy voice said behind me. “Why didn’t you wake me?”
I turned just in time to watch Heather slide through the partially opened shower curtain. There was still sleep in her eyes; her body was still warm from the bedclothes. She moved up in front of me and sighed as the water washed down over her.
I slid one hand around her waist, pulling her back against my chest, grabbing the soap with the other. I got it wet and lathered her up, sliding my hands over her belly, her breasts, her thighs, loving the feel of her skin under my hands. She leaned into me, her eyes closed, her hand sliding over the back of mine.
“Do you think I could convince you to do this every morning? Makes bath time a little less tedious.”
“I’d be more than happy to.”
“I could pay you. Ten dollars an hour.”
“Oh, well, then you really have a deal.”
She giggled, turning in my arms as my soapy hands moved over the small of her back. I caressed her ass as she peppered my chest with kisses, her small, perfect teeth nibbling at the tender skin of my throat. I pushed her back, pressed her against the cold wall of the shower. We kissed, morning breath and all, our tongues dancing as they had done last night.
She moaned against my mouth as she wrapped her arms around my neck, her hands sliding through my wet hair. Her wet, slippery body felt like heaven to my overwhelmed senses. The need that had existed last night was back, not even slightly tempered by the experiences we’d already shared. It was as if last night was the first bite of a heavenly meal and this was the second and third … with so much more to come.
I lifted her up and her legs came freely around my waist. My fingers played with the folds of her cunt, sliding around her thighs from her hips. Then I pulled back and reached between us—
“No,” she moaned against my mouth, suddenly pushing me away. She regained her feet and moved to the back of the tub, a blush burning from the tops of her breasts to her scalp. “I’m sorry,” she muttered.
“What’s the matter?”
She shook her head, refusing to look at me as she turned sideways, her hands moving over her face.
“I’m so sorry,” she said again. “I never should have come in here.”
“I’m glad you did.” I went to her, tugging at her wrists to make her look at me. “You are so beautiful …”
Her blush darkened, her eyes still refusing to meet mine.
“Did I do something?”
She shook her head. “It’s just … I’m really bad at remembering to take my pill and condoms aren’t really compatible with the shower …”
I groaned as I pushed her back against the wall again. I forced her to look up at me, my hand on her chin.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
She bit her lips. “That’s the thing, though. I really …”
I wanted to laugh and gather up in my arms all at the same time. The innocence mixed with the overwhelming desire that seemed to drip from her words was such an erotic combination that it made me absolutely ache all over. It took all I had not to push her up against the wall and take her right there and then. Instead, I pulled her around to the front of the tub, carefully washing every inch of her, torturing myself as I did.
There was something to be said for anticipation.
Unfortunately, she glanced at the clock as we finished bathing and panic overtook her.
“I’m going to be late. I’m never late.”
The fun was over.
I made a call as I drove away. I wanted to know all there was to know about Heather Bryant.
Chapter 5
Hayden
“You look tired, old man,” Luke said as he came into my office.
I watched him, still a little blown away by my friend’s voice coming out of Dante Saladin’s face. It’d been five years since I learned the truth, but it was still hard to wrap my head around it. I mean, I got it, logically. Yet, there was this part of me who couldn’t consolidate my friend with the things Dante had said and done before we knew the truth. Even now.
“How’re the kids?”
Luke smiled, his eyes glowing at the mention of the two kids he and Megan had. Their boy, Mike, was three. And their daughter, Samantha Hayden, was going to be five in a few months. She was the closest thing I figured I’d ever have to a daughter. Blonde and blue eyed like her mother, she was an endless source of joy. I only wished Sam had lived to see her come into this world.
“Megan was up half the night with Mikey because he has this flu that’s been going around. But it looks like he’s going to recover.”
“That’s good.”
“And Sammy … she’s loving preschool, but she hates having to go to bed at a decent hour every night.”
“That’s our Sammy.”
I dug through the files on my desk, looking for something … nothing, really. There was just this part of me that needed to look busy whenever Luke was around in order to avoid the conversation I was always afraid was just a word or two from happening. But it never did.
“Megan’s planning a party for Peter’s birthday at the first of the month.”
I nodded. “She mentioned it.”
“She and her mother have been working on it for weeks. I think they’re worried about him, as usual.”
“Peter’s fine. He just needs to keep busy.”
“Yeah, well, with everything that happened … I keep telling her he just needs to find his path again. But she’s afraid he’s never going to get past what happened to him.”
I sat back and studied Luke in a way I hadn’t done in a long time. It had all come out when we learned that Peter was still alive. Luke had helped him disappear because he was afraid his life was in danger from a rogue group of CIA agents that Luke was a part of at one time. Luke faked his death with the help of Edgar Olsen, another CIA agent Luke thought, at the time, he could trust. It turned out that Olsen was behind the whole scheme to run a fake tourist cell in France in order to make money off of businesses affected by certain terrorist activity. Olsen held Peter captive for two years, forcing him to use his own software to create ways to communicate with the terrorists without the possibility of the calls being traced—among other things. How Luke didn’t realize who and what Olsen was all that time was still a little murky, in my mind at least.
“Megan loves her brother. She was devastated when he disappeared, and she’s devastated by the fact that he turned his back on the family business and seems to be determined to place himself in harm’s way every time she turns around.”
Luke inclined his head slightly. “Peter does seem to be on a self-destructive path.”
I shook my head. “No. He’s just feeling the need to prove he’s not broken.”
Luke crossed his arms over his chest. At that moment, he looked a lot like the man I had taken out on Megan’s front porch and beaten senseless in the aftermath of Sam’s death. A man I hated and wanted nothing more than to erase from my sister’s life. That
was before I knew who Luke really was, but the truth didn’t really have the impact on my opinion of him that it should have.
All I saw when I looked at Luke was a man who took advantage of my boss, my friend, my woman’s best friend. The one woman in my life I felt a drive to protect, that I felt I could protect. He wasn’t my friend that day, and he wasn’t now. All of that changed when he left Megan at the altar and disappeared. No amount of forgiveness on Megan’s part could change that for me.
Luke studied me just as hard as I studied him.
“Do you remember when we first met?”
“Yeah,” I said somewhat reluctantly. “Hell Week.”
Luke smiled that charming smile I remembered from that first meeting. He thought he was all that, even then. But he wasn’t. He never was.
“The name is sure accurate. I never thought I’d make it through.”
“If we hadn’t had each other …”
Luke nodded. “I had your back then, brother. I still do.”
He got up, as if he’d said all he needed to say. I didn’t understand what he’d been trying to say. I wasn’t sure I wanted to understand.
Waverly peeked around the doorjamb as Luke left.
“Have a sec?”
I bit back a groan. The last thing I wanted right now was a conversation with Waverly, but I waved her in. She crossed to the chair Luke had just abandoned, sitting on the front edge of it as though she felt as though she needed to be ready to escape at a moment’s notice.
She was wearing a long skirt that had a small slit that exposed her elegant ankle boot and part of her calf. She was wearing a simple white blouse with the dark skirt, unbuttoned a few too many in the front, exposing the top swell of one small breast. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a simple ponytail, her eyes expertly drawn with a dark eyeliner pencil.
Sam was very conservative in her dress. Waverly liked to tease with her choice of clothing, with the way she wore her hair, and the heavy hand she used with her makeup. Almost every time I looked at her, I found myself imagining what Sam would have had to say about Waverly. And the thing was, I knew Sam would have loved her. She was everything Sam wanted to be: confident, beautiful, kind. Everything that Sam was and couldn’t quite believe about herself.
“What’s up?” I asked, once again searching my desk for something I didn’t need and didn’t want, simply to look busy.
“I just thought you should know that Peter Bradford called in a request for background information.”
“On who?”
“Heather Bryant.”
I looked up, caught a little by surprise. “That isn’t one of his targets.”
“That’s why I thought I’d let you know.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
She inclined her head slightly, her eyes moving over me as she did. She slowly stood, then paused at the door.
“Should I forward the information to him?”
I thought about it for a sec. “Why don’t you send it to me and I’ll forward it?”
“Yes, boss.”
She smiled, her lips sticky with gloss. I watched her turn to go, my male brain going places it shouldn’t have. But how could I ignore the way that skirt hugged her hips, the way that blouse fit so tight that there was no question as to what it hid underneath? It was pretty obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra. Could I help it that that knowledge made my palms itch, even as guilt set in? I couldn’t help lusting after Waverly anymore than I could help feeling like I was betraying Sam each and every time my thoughts wandered that way.
Chapter 6
Peter
I now knew that John Ng was cheating on his wife with Ellie from accounting. Kitty Summers had filed for divorce yesterday after work. And Emmanuel Waters was one of those guys who made time for church three days a week despite his trips to the neighborhood bar after work twice a week.
None of the three candidates for the sales job were perfect, but none of them were so bad that I wouldn’t recommend them for the job. But I’d made my choice. Three days was all it took to realize that one stood out in front of the others.
I could go home now, write my report, and end the case. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Heather; I couldn’t stop watching her walk past my desk over and again, but ignore me like we’d never talked at all. It was driving me crazy.
Two days she’d ignored me. Not anymore.
I slipped inside the storeroom, twisting the lock on the cheap knob as I watched her search through inconsequential items on a low shelf at the back of the room. She was wearing a cute black and white dress with the occasional splashes of color on it, a little green here, some orange there. It hugged her hips nicely, turning them into beautiful handles my hands itched to hold.
I moved up behind her and brushed the hair from the back of her neck, running my lips over the smooth skin covering the teeny bumps of her spine. She leaned back into me for a second, but then pulled away, twisting not to face me, but to put space between us.
“Not here.”
“You’ve been ignoring me.”
“I haven’t.”
“I went to the bar last night, and the night before, hoping to see you, but you never showed.”
“I had a thing …”
“And you walk by my desk, but you won’t even meet my eye.”
“I work here. You’ll be gone in a few weeks, but I have to stay.”
I took a step toward her, and she moved back, pressing her back into the shelf she’d been studying so closely. I waited until she was trapped in the corner, then moved close to her, my mouth so close that my breath moved the wavy wisps of hair that had escaped the heavy braid that fell perfectly down the center of her back.
“I can’t stop thinking about you,” I whispered near her ear, my hand less than a hair from the side of her face. “It’s killing me, watching you move around this place without so much as acknowledging me.”
“Peter …”
“I’d call you a tease, but I’m not sure you even realize what it is you’re doing.”
She pressed her hand to my chest, her eyes finally moving up to mine. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t be sorry.”
I touched her hip and drew her closer to me, my hand sliding over her upper thigh. The material of her dress was silky. Everything about her was silky. I tugged the skirt up, watching as her thigh slowly exposed itself, the pale skin one of the most exciting things I think I’d ever seen. I watched as a peek of dark lace appeared just below the skirt. She brushed at my hands, trying to make me stop, but the effort was half-hearted.
“You left me aching for more,” I told her. “All I can think about is the way you felt in my arms, the sounds of pleasure slipping from your lips.”
“We can’t do this here.”
“Then where?”
She shook her head, her lips brushing against my throat. “Not here.”
I slid my hand up between her thighs, felt her close them around me, pressing her muscles tight until I was trapped there. I took a deep breath, smelled her hair, wanted to taste her lips. I was insanely aroused, and I knew she was, too. She moved her hips, a soft mewing sound slipping from her lips.
I brushed my mouth against her jaw, nibbling at her earlobe as I took another deep breath of her. My head was spinning, I was in need of not just physical release, but of being close to another human being. How long had it been since I’d felt this way, since I’d sought out another person like this?
She released my hand, and I moved it up over her lace-covered cunt, pressing the edge of my hand hard against her opening before slipping my fingers up to the top, seeking a way inside. She let her head fall back, as my finger brushed against her swollen clit, as I found the split between her lips and the warmth of her wet, satin honeypot. She moved her hips again and … oh, hell, I couldn’t pretend I didn’t want this, that I hadn’t come in here for this very moment.
I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her around the shelv
es, pushing her up against the bare concrete wall. She moaned as I stole her lips, kissing her with all the abandon I hadn’t known in years. I worked at my pants, working them apart, needing to be inside of her before my head exploded and I went insane. When I was finally free, I pressed myself against her, and she moaned, breaking our kiss.
“No, Peter,” she whispered. “I can’t.”
“You can. I can’t walk away again.”
There was desperation in her eyes when she looked up at me. “Please …”
I groaned, torn between understanding that she wanted this as much as me and if I just pushed a little … and knowing that I would regret forcing this on her later, when my head was clear and I was thinking a little straighter.
But … God, I wanted this so desperately!
“You’re killing me,” I moaned against her mouth. But then I stepped back and watched with regret as her skirt fell back into place.
She stared at the ground, her shoulders slumped as she continued to lean against the wall.
“Go to dinner with me.”
She looked up, surprise clearly written in her eyes. “What?”
“Go to dinner with me.”
She shook her head, her lips swollen from my kiss. “After this, you want to go out with me?”
“I want everything you’re willing to give me.”
She moved into me, pressed her face against my chest, her hands tangled in my shirt. “I don’t understand you. You’re temporary. You’ll be gone, but … why do you want me?”
I wrapped my arms around her, needing to get away from her if I wasn’t allowed to touch her the way I so wanted to. But I held her anyway, inadvertently pressing my erection against her. She reached between us and touched me, sliding her hand along the length of my shaft.
“Oh, don’t do that,” I groaned.
DRAGON SECURITY: Volume 2: The Complete 6 Books Series Page 4
