Double Dose (Research & Desire) Page 12

  By the time Daphne realized what was happening, it was too late to snap her thighs together, and she really didn’t think she wanted to block Benjy from the wonderful things he was doing between her legs. He traced her naked pussy with his tongue as his fingers explored. She was suddenly glad she always got waxed there. Even though no one else had seen her bare pussy, she’d always liked how clean it made her feel. She never realized how wonderfully exposed it would make her pussy, how every touch of Benjy’s fingers or tongue would echo through her body like a strike to a tuning fork.

  Ari switched his mouth to her other breast, while plucking her wet, newly abandoned nipple with his fingers. Her hand went to the back of his head as if it had a life of its own, the movement making the charm bracelet on her wrist jangle faintly.

  With a growl, he raised his head. Before she realized what he was doing, Ari had tugged the bracelet hard enough to break the flimsy clasp and tossed it across the room. It landed with a quiet clatter, but Daphne didn’t even look in the direction where it had flown. All her focus was on returning his mouth to the aching tip of her breast.

  Instead of obeying the desperate tugs on his head, Ari gave her an open-mouthed kiss on the inside of her wrist, as if to erase the touch of Brett’s bracelet.

  “No more wearing that other guy’s shit,” he said, dragging his teeth across the soft skin where the offending bracelet had been. The pinch of his bite made her shiver and moan, and then all her attention shot to between her legs. Benjy was sucking on her clit, and she cried out, her body twisting as she came.

  She wasn’t expecting it to be so overwhelming. All of her self-induced orgasms had been quick and tight, small puddles of pleasure compared to the ocean that crashed over her now. Both men dragged it out, tugging at her nipples and licking her clit, until she had to push them away when her skin got too sensitive to handle their touch.

  For what felt like a long time, she lay on her back, panting and floating in relaxed bliss. When reality began to creep back, bringing stomach-burning threads of shyness and embarrassment and shame, she tugged the covers over her cooling body, once again focusing too hard on the quilt. She didn’t want to look at the two guys—two guys!—who’d just given her the best orgasm of her life. In just a couple of weeks, she’d gone from an innocent virgin to...well, a not-so-innocent virgin who’d just fooled around with two men.

  She couldn’t avoid looking at them for very long, since Benjy cupped her face in his hand and tilted her head until their eyes met. His expression was sweet and just barely amused, and he leaned in to kiss her as his thumb stroked her cheek.

  “Oh!” She pulled back just before their mouths met as something occurred to her. “You haven’t...” She gestured toward his crotch and then jerked her gaze back to his laughing eyes, flushing with heat.

  Ari’s chuckle rumbled in her ear as he plastered himself to her other side. “We’ll survive. Barely.”

  Benjy took his delayed kiss, which was soft and warm and tasted like her. It was short but hot enough to make her squirm.

  “Be still.” Ari sounded a little testy as he stopped her movement with a hard hand on her hip. When Daphne realized what she’d been doing, she froze. She didn’t think she could blush any hotter, but somehow she managed when his erection—feeling even harder and hotter than before—pressed into the side of her thigh.

  “Are you sure I can’t do...something?” she asked, feeling flustered and guilty. “It doesn’t seem fair I was the only one who had...um, a fun time.”

  Ari barked out a laugh, and Benjy grinned, but they relaxed next to her instead of taking her up on her offer. As Daphne turned onto her side, the men shifted closer, and she settled into her usual position of being the bologna in her hot-guy sandwich. Although it had just been a few weeks, it felt as if she’d been sleeping between them this way for much longer.

  Despite the inordinate amount of naked cuddling and hard penises in the bed, Daphne felt sleepy and oddly content. When thoughts of leaving tried to sneak into her brain, she firmly pushed them out, focusing on nothing but the cozy warmth radiating from her two slices of man-bread.

  Chapter Nine

  With each mile marker that ticked by, Daphne’s stomach sank even further. The farther they got from the mountain sanctuary, the more wrong it felt.

  Glancing at Ari, she was a little concerned at how hard he was clenching his jaw. It looked as though the tendon in his cheek was going to pop like an overtightened guitar string.

  “You okay?” she asked. He was obviously not okay, but she was hoping that talking might loosen up his face a little. Instead of saying anything, though, he just flicked a furious look in her direction before focusing on the highway in front of them.

  “I’ll come back,” she said, hating how tiny her voice sounded. “Once I get things settled at home and work and everything. Then I’ll do my best to work with Benjy, although I’m not sure how much progress we’ll make. I’m pretty sure his aphasia is more psychological than anything.”

  His silence became even more ferocious.

  She bit her lip as a wave of guilt swamped her. “I wish Benjy could’ve come too. I didn’t get to say goodbye. Well, except for yelling it after him as he stormed into the forest.”

  That produced a sound. It wasn’t a happy sound, but at least it was something.

  “I know it was better that he stayed,” she answered his unspoken protest. “You were right to not let him come. I feel bad enough that bringing me home might expose you. I’d hate to risk both of you being seen.”

  The silence on the other side of the car was making her babble.

  “I just need a couple of days at the most to check my mail, clean out my office, and take care of things at my condo, and then I’ll be back. I promise.” She looked at his rigid profile and bit the inside of her cheek. “If you want me to come back?”

  Ari jerked the wheel to the right and slammed on the brakes. The sudden sideways lurch of the car made her grab for the dashboard and suck in a breath so harsh her throat burned.

  “What?!” she nearly shrieked. Looking around wildly, expecting but not seeing lab guys bearing guns, she realized they’d stopped on a gravel pullout that overlooked a rocky, pine-strewn cliff.

  When she looked at Ari, ready to demand an explanation for why they’d stopped, he’d already unfastened his seat belt and was lunging toward her. His hands clasped the sides of her head and then his mouth was on hers. She was instantly dizzy, as if his hard, insistent kiss was dragging all the air out of her.

  He pulled back and gave her a tiny shake. “You’re ours.” His voice was gruff but his hands were gentle. “You are coming back because you’re ours.”

  Staring at him, mouth open and eyes wide, she finally managed to speak.

  “I know.”

  * * *

  Daphne turned a circle in her office, her stomach churning with unhappy butterflies. Before the kidnapping, she’d loved her job. She had always been the first one to arrive at the office and the last one to leave. Now, it seemed...empty.

  Rolling her eyes at her own mopey angst, she forced herself to turn on her phone. Ari had dropped her off at work, reluctantly letting her out of the car after giving her a hard kiss she could still feel. After greeting a surprised Jan, Daphne had escaped to her office, finding her purse still tucked in her bottom desk drawer where she’d put it the morning of her kidnapping. Pulling her cell phone from her purse, Daphne pushed the power button.

  She watched her cell phone as it woke, wondering if there would be any messages. Although it felt as if she’d been on the mountain forever, it had only been two and a half weeks—seventeen short days.

  To her surprise—particularly since her parents and everyone at work knew she hadn’t had her phone for the past two weeks—tons of text messages and voicemails began popping up on the sc
reen. Scrolling through them, she saw they were all from Brett, demanding she call him. As they’d progressed chronologically through the weeks, he had used more and more exclamation points.

  If he’d contacted her last month, she would’ve been torn and guilt-stricken. Now, she didn’t even hesitate as she scrolled through her contacts and tapped the one she wanted. It was early enough that she wasn’t sure if he’d answer, so she mentally rehearsed the voicemail she’d leave.

  “Special Agent Banner,” a brisk voice answered after a single ring.

  “Hi, it’s Daphne Dahl.”

  “Daphne.” Although his voice remained even, she could hear his interest perk up. “How can I help you?”

  “Brett’s been trying to reach me. Want me to forward his messages to you?”

  “Please.”

  * * *

  She’d only been at work for a half hour when her cell rang and Banner’s name flashed on the screen. His call caught her right before she was about to turn off her phone again, since Brett had continued his onslaught of calls and texts.

  “Agent Banner,” she greeted him.

  “Ms. Dahl.” Once again, she caught an undertone of excitement in his greeting, and she figured that the messages must have offered a lead in tracking Brett. “Would you be able to meet with me today?”

  She glanced at her watch. It was getting close to noon, and her stomach rumbled. “Okay. Does one sound good?”

  “Great. I’ll take you to lunch. Meet you at Metler’s?”

  “Sure,” she agreed, although a little uncertainly. She’d been happy to pass on Brett’s messages to the FBI agent, but she felt as if she was getting sucked into the whole mess again.

  “Great,” he said again, ignoring her hesitation. “See you at one.”

  Even after Banner disconnected the call, Daphne stared at her phone, thinking. A new text from Brett popped up on the screen, and she shook her head. Firmly pressing the power button, she turned off the phone and continued cleaning out her desk.

  * * *

  Metler’s was across the street from Daphne’s office, so she walked into the diner just a couple minutes after one. Banner was waiting for her in a corner booth, waving her over as soon as he caught her attention.

  As she crossed the diner, she examined the agent. The times she’d met him before, he’d made her nervous, mostly because he was a little too good-looking in a buttoned-up, Nordic-god kind of way. Spending a few weeks with the lab escapees must have increased her hot-guy tolerance, since she was able to sit down across the table from Banner without her stomach doing its usual nervous-twitching thing.

  “Hi,” she said, sliding to the middle of the vinyl bench. She shrugged out of her jacket and laid it on the seat next to her.

  “Thanks for meeting me.” He smiled, showing off a dimple, and she was grateful for her new beautiful-man immunity.

  “Sure.” She shrugged off his thanks while playing with a corner of a plastic-coated menu. “What does Brett want?”

  An eyebrow lifted in mild surprise. “You didn’t listen to his voicemails?”

  “Nope. I read a couple of texts, but they were all the same I-need-to-see-you garbage, so I just sent everything to you without checking them.”

  He nodded, watching her closely. When he didn’t say anything, she opened her mouth to ask another question but closed it when the waitress arrived with two glasses of ice water.

  “Thanks,” Daphne said, giving the server a smile. The girl looked as if she should be in junior high, not waiting tables on a weekday.

  “Do you want to order or do you need more time?”

  Daphne glanced at Banner, who nodded, so she turned back to the waitress. “I’ll have the chili.” She tried not to get nostalgic about eating chili that first day in the cabin, but a warm rush surged through her at the memory anyway.

  “Turkey club,” Banner said. When the server walked away, he continued their conversation as if there hadn’t been an order break in between. “He wants to get a bracelet back from you.”

  “A bracelet?” She blinked, absorbing this. The tiniest of tiny twinges pinged in her belly. It was silly, and she definitely didn’t want him back, but it had been a little prop to her pride to think Brett wanted her. Instead he just wanted the only piece of jewelry—cheap jewelry at that—he’d ever given her during their sham of an engagement. She shook her head, refocusing. “My charm bracelet? Why does he want that?”

  He shrugged. “I thought you might know. It must be valuable or important in some way for him to reappear and make contact with you when he knows we’re looking for him.”

  Lifting her arm, she stared at her bare wrist for a second before remembering why the jewelry no longer dangled there. She flushed. “It’s...um... The clasp broke, so I’ve stopped wearing it.”

  Banner cocked his head, and she realized she hadn’t answered his question.

  “I don’t know why he’d want it back,” she said. “Honestly, it’s a cheap piece of crap. It’s not a sentimental thing or anything—he bought it for me after a business trip to New York right after we were engaged. I’m guessing he forgot to buy me something and grabbed it at the Denver airport.”

  “A charm bracelet?” He looked past her for a few moments, his eyes unfocused as if he were thinking hard. “What are the charms on it?”

  She shrugged. “Pretty generic ones. A horseshoe, a heart, one of those half-happy, half-sad theater masks, a key—”

  “A key?” Banner interrupted.

  “Yes. An ugly one.”

  “Could I take a look at it? I could swing by your place tonight.”

  Her cheeks heated again. “It’s not there. I mean, it’s at a friend’s house.”

  He gave her a thoughtful look, and one corner of his mouth quirked. “Ah. Well, I could stop by your friend’s house tonight.”

  Daphne was shaking her head before he finished speaking. Biting the inside of her cheek, she battled not to act all weird. The guys did not need the FBI curious about them because of her.

  “I’ll get it back. Should I call him? Brett, I mean?”

  “Actually,” he said carefully, “I was hoping you’d consider arranging a meeting.”

  “With Brett?” she asked, immediately feeling dumb. Of course with Brett. What other fugitive from justice did she know? When Ari’s and Benjy’s faces popped into her head, she amended that—what other fugitives from justice did she know that the FBI knew she knew? Shaking her head to erase her self-induced confusion, she refocused on Banner, who was looking at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to respond to something he’d said.

  “Sorry,” she apologized. “I drifted there for a second. What?”

  “Yes, with Brett. The meet, I mean. Would you consider it?”

  “Sure.” At his surprised look, she shrugged. “I’m not scared of him. I’m angry and hurt and feel like an idiot for not seeing through him, but I’m not afraid to meet with him.”

  “A cornered man is going to act differently though. There’s nothing like the threat of losing his freedom to make someone dangerous.”

  She nibbled the inside of her lip, the spoon in her hand keeping her fingers from doing their normal flicks against her thumb. “You guys would be there, right?”

  “Definitely.”

  “It’ll be fine then. We’ll meet, I’ll give him the bracelet and then you’ll arrest him. Easy-peasy.”

  Banner smiled, making her stomach flutter, proving her hot-guy immersion therapy hadn’t made her completely immune to his charm.

  “Getting the bracelet back is going to take a day or so, though,” she warned. “My friend is out of town, so I’ll see if he’ll overnight ship it to me.”

  He took a bite of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully, watching her. Something about his gaz
e made her uncomfortable, and she drew patterns in the remains of her chili.

  “This the same ‘friend’ you were with these past couple of weeks?”

  Daphne looked up, startled. “How’d you know I was away?”

  “You didn’t get Brett’s messages until today.”

  “Oh.”

  “So, were you?”

  “Was I what?”

  The disarming grin was back. “At your friend’s?”

  Her face was bright red. She could feel the heat under her skin as she refocused on her chili. “Is it relevant to Brett’s case?”

  “Not really.” He lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. “Is it serious?”

  “Yes. Maybe. That’s really not relevant.”

  “Not to the case. But maybe for my after-case plans.”

  Her gaze shot up and met his. She’d never seen him look quite so...wicked. “Uh...what?” She wondered if it was possible for a person to actually catch fire from blushing. If so, she was close to the ignition point.

  He shrugged as he chewed, keeping her in suspense until he swallowed. “Figured that when this was all over, I’d ask you out.”

  “Oh. Huh.” Her temperature went up another few degrees, and she mentally cringed. Her genius was showing.

  “Let me know if it doesn’t work out with the friend,” he said, looking more amused than uncomfortable.

  She just grunted around a mouthful of chili, not even sure what to say to that. She had a feeling that “not working out” would entail more drastic things than what Banner was imagining—things like death or recapture. The idea made her frown, and she forced her thoughts back to the original topic of conversation.

  “So should I call Brett? Set up a time to meet tomorrow?”

  Despite her conversational dodge, Banner was still eyeing her with way too much curiosity. “What if you can’t get the bracelet by then?”

  She shrugged. There was no way she was staying in Denver away from her guys for longer than she had to, especially when the reason for delaying was her asshole ex. “Brett won’t need to know that.”