Double Dose (Research & Desire) Read online

  With a grin, he nodded. “True. Go ahead, then.”

  Her hand was shaking a little as she pulled out her phone. She blew out a breath, annoyed with herself. It was only Brett. Why was she so anxious about calling him? She’d just told Banner how not-scared she was of the man. Whatever the reason for her nerves, it took a couple of tries to tap the right name on her screen.

  “Daphne,” he answered after half a ring. She jumped, not expecting him to pick up so quickly.

  “Uh, hey,” she said weakly, then winced.

  “How’ve you been?” The relief in his voice when he’d first answered changed to an oily smoothness. She restrained another wince at how gullible she’d been to not see through his obviously fake exterior.

  “Fine.” Irritation made her clip off the end of the word. “What did you want?”

  “I miss you,” he cooed, and she rolled her eyes.

  “Right. You want the bracelet back.”

  “Well...” He hesitated. Her short answers were obviously throwing him off his game. “It was my grandma’s—”

  “Bull,” Daphne interrupted, not sure where this take-no-prisoners personality was coming from, but liking it just the same. “You bought it at DIA on your way back from New York. It probably cost a whole six bucks.”

  There was another pause. She smiled a little, happy to be confusing him by not following the script. “No, it’s a family heirloom.”

  She sighed, suddenly tired of the whole mess. “Fine. Whatever. Do you want to meet somewhere tomorrow so I can give Granny’s bracelet back to you?”

  “But it really was... Um, okay. Sounds good.” He’d obviously decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth. Since he was getting it back, he wouldn’t care if she believed his “family heirloom” story or not.

  “Where?” She eyed Banner, who was pointing at the table. “How about Metler’s? I’ll meet you here...uh, there at one tomorrow.”

  “Actually, earlier would be better. How about I meet you now. I’ll be at your office in an hour.”

  “No. I won’t have the bracelet until tomorrow afternoon.”

  There was a short silence, and then Brett asked, “What do you mean? You never take it off.”

  “Things have changed, Brett.” It felt so good to say that. “It’s at my boyfriends’ house.” She thought about emphasizing the plural boyfriends, but she didn’t want it to sound as if she were making up the whole thing.

  “Boyfriend?”

  “Yes.”

  “Since when do you have a boyfriend?”

  She sighed. “That’s really none of your business. So tomorrow at one? Metler’s?”

  He paused again but must have accepted he wasn’t going to get his hands on the bracelet any sooner. “Fine.”

  “See you then.” Without waiting for his response, she ended the call.

  “Good job,” Banner said approvingly.

  “Thanks. I was nervous at first, but then he pissed me off, so it got easier.”

  He laughed. “Why don’t we meet in your office at noon to prep.”

  “Prep? You mean like attach a wire to my bra or something?” All the crime shows she’d ever watched ran through her brain. “Do I have to get him to admit something?”

  He laughed. “No. No wires, no encouraging self-incrimination. Our case is set. We just need to bring in the bad guy. We’ll go over some safety issues, let you know where we’ll be, that sort of thing.”

  Although she nodded, her brain drifted back to her mountain men and the bad guys who were after them.

  “Agent Banner,” she said slowly, the first inklings of an idea forming in her brain. “You—the FBI, I mean—investigate kidnappings, right?”

  He blinked and lowered his sandwich to his plate, his teasing expression smoothing into impassiveness. “When they cross state lines.”

  With a nod, she sat back, thinking.

  “Why?” Banner asked after she was silent for a while.

  “Hmm?” She refocused on him and gave a polite smile. “No reason.”

  “Uh-huh.” He sat back, mirroring her posture. “Tell me.”

  “Nothing to tell.” With another distracted smile, she stood. “Better get back to work. Thanks for lunch. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Wait,” he called after her, but her brain was working, and she barely heard him as she headed for the door.

  * * *

  For the rest of the afternoon, Daphne had to force herself to focus on taking care of what she needed to get done. Her brain skipped between worries about the guys in the mountains, Brett, the FBI, and the menacing lab agents. By the time four o’clock had arrived, however, she’d somehow managed to clear out her office, pick up her car—dusty but thankfully not towed—and deal with her mail and the odd chemistry experiments developing in her condo fridge. It was a relief to know she’d be able to head back to the lodge the following day, since she was missing Ari and B with a physical ache.

  When she finished with the fridge, she pulled out one of the emergency disposable cell phones Cal had given her before she’d left that morning and called the only number programmed into the phone.

  “Yeah.” The newly familiar sound of the gruff voice made her feel calmer, her heart rate slowing for the first time since Ari had dropped her off at home.

  “Hey, Cal. It’s Daphne.”

  “Daph? You ready to come back here already?”

  There was another male voice in the background and then grunts and scuffling noises. Daphne pulled the phone away from her face to glance at it curiously before returning it to her ear. “Cal? You there?”

  “Grace.” It was Ari’s voice now, sounding a little breathless. “What’s wrong?”

  She heard Cal yelling in the background. “Asshole! I’m head of communications, which means I take the fucking calls. Give me the cock-sucking phone!”

  Daphne snorted a laugh, relaxing even more. She’d felt off the entire day. Even though she’d only been with the guys a few weeks, they’d become her normal life during that short time.

  “Grace. Answer me.”

  “Settle,” she said, waving a calming hand even though he couldn’t see it. “Nothing’s wrong. Nothing new and life-threatening, that is. I just need to take care of one last thing before I can come back.”

  “What?”

  She tried to think of a way to explain the whole FBI and Brett situation without completely blowing A’s circuits, but nothing came to mind. “That bracelet I wore until you...um, removed it?”

  “Yeah?” He sounded annoyed.

  “I have to give it back to the ex. Would you mind overnighting it to me?”

  “You’re not meeting with that prick. I’ll ship it to him directly, with a little something extra.”

  In the background, she heard Cal shout, “Something explosive.”

  “No.” She rolled her eyes. “No mail bombs. Let’s stay on the good side of the law. Besides, I don’t have his address.”

  “What’s his number?” Ari asked, with put-on innocence that sounded strange in his voice. “I’ll get his address.”

  Daphne sighed. Her attempt at limiting the drama didn’t seem to be working. “I have to meet with him in person to return the bracelet so the FBI can arrest him.”

  “What?” This was yelled in stereo, by Ari, Cal and at least one other person.

  “Darwin? Is that you?”

  “Daphne.”

  She swallowed. Ari was calling her by her real name, so she didn’t need to hear the uber-stern tone to know that she was in trouble. “Yes?”

  “Why the fuck are you mixed up with the FBI?”

  The suspicion in his voice made her wince. “It’s Brett. He took off with all his clients’ money. The FBI talked to me after he di
sappeared to see if I had any idea where he’d gone, which I hadn’t. When I was with you these past couple of weeks, he called me a bazillion times about that stupid bracelet, so now the FBI wants me to arrange a meeting with him for a bracelet custody exchange. They want to look at the bracelet first, though, to try to figure out why Brett wants it so badly.”

  “The key.”

  “What?”

  “The key on the bracelet. It’s a safety deposit box key.”

  “Seriously?” Daphne felt like an idiot. She’d been wearing the bracelet for months and had never noticed it was anything other than an ugly charm. “He said it was the key to his heart.”

  Ari snorted. “Probably is, since it opens a box I’m guessing holds a fuckload of money.”

  “Yeah.” She felt that twinge in her stomach again.

  “You sound sad,” he positively growled. “Why is this making you sad? Do you still have feelings for that fuckwad?”

  “No.” She realized she’d sounded a little uncertain. Ari was silent, but she could feel his vibrating tension, even over the phone. “Of course not. It’s just hard to keep being reminded that the guy I was going to marry didn’t care for me at all.”

  “Forget that dickhead. You have us now. We’ll pick you up tonight. Did you get all your work shit figured out?”

  “Yes. Wait—no! I mean, yes on the work stuff, but no on the picking-up part. I have to do the bracelet-custody-and-arrest thing.”

  Ari made a grumbly, growly noise in his throat like an unhappy bear. “No, you’re not. There’s no fucking way you’re meeting with that asshole.”

  “I need to do this.” She realized she was pacing and forced herself to stand still. “I want to be helpful so the FBI agent owes me one.”

  “Owes you one what?”

  “A favor. Kidnapping falls under their jurisdiction, as long as state lines are crossed.”

  The earlier silence was nothing compared to this one.

  “What the hell?” Ari finally exploded, making Daphne jump.

  “Is she fucking turning you in to the F-cock-blowing-BI?” Calvin roared in the background.

  “No! What? Of course not! Why would you...oh!” Comprehension finally hit. “Not my kidnapping—your kidnapping!”

  There was a pause. When he spoke again, Ari still sounded hostile, but at least both men had stopped yelling. “What?”

  “The lab kidnapped you. Why not have the FBI investigate?”

  “We talked about this.” Ari’s voice was resigned. “One government agency is just as bad as the other, once they find out what we can do. Besides, we don’t know if they took us against our will. We might have signed up for this.”

  “Even if you went willingly at first, they still kept you against your will. As for your superpowers, why would the lab guys admit all the illegal things they did to you? Or make you sound more valuable so they have to fight with other agencies who decide they want to use your talents? If we can spin it right to the FBI, you’ll just be five normal, innocent guys who were tortured and detained without a trial.”

  “It’s a little rough around the edges right now,” Darwin piped up in the background, “but she might have the start of an idea.”

  Ari grunted. “We can talk about it more once you’re back here.”

  Her shoulders bracing for a renewed argument, Daphne said, “I have to meet with Brett first.”

  “That is not happening.”

  “But—”

  “No.”

  “You can’t really stop me.”

  “Want to bet? I’ll just kidnap you again.”

  She huffed. “You can’t. There’s a moratorium on kidnapping, remember? Everyone voted. There were Robert’s Rules and everything.”

  “Fuck that. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

  “Ari...” She winced at the whine in her voice.

  “Even if you hadn’t been engaged to the bastard, he’s a criminal. Meeting with him would be dangerous. Too dangerous. Pack your shit, and I’ll pick you up tonight.”

  “I’m doing this.” She was barely resisting the urge to stomp her foot. When silence answered her, she wondered if Ari’s head had imploded at not being obeyed. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Little D,” Darwin’s voice responded. “You’d better start packing. The big guy just threw me the phone and stomped out of here with an even more pissed-looking B right behind him. I’m going to take a wild guess and say they’re headed for a vehicle, and then they’ll be on their way to you.”

  With a groan, she tipped back her head in frustration. “Okay. New plan. Would you do me a favor?”

  “Anything for you, Baby D.”

  She rolled her eyes at his over-the-top flirting. “Would you be able to send my bracelet overnight to arrive at my place before noon tomorrow?”

  “Sure. There’s a FedEx office just over an hour away that’s open until seven. Where is this famous piece of jewelry?”

  “Uh...on the floor of the loft.” The memory of Ari ripping it from her wrist made her flush and stumble a little over her words. “In the corner across from the bed, right next to the railing.”

  “Hmmm...” Even in just that wordless sound, Darwin implied all sorts of naughty things. “Throwing distance from the bed, huh? Sounds like our boys were a little jealous of the felonious ex.”

  Clearing her throat, Daphne made a desperate effort to pretend like she hadn’t heard him. “Okay, so thanks for doing this. I’ll pay you back.”

  He laughed. “Don’t worry about it, precious. We’ve got ninety-nine problems here, but money ain’t one.”

  Chapter Ten

  Over the next two hours, Daphne was a wreck. She cleaned the condo first and then moved on to herself, showering and primping and dressing, then redressing and re-primping, until she was standing, flustered and near tears, in a sea of discarded clothing wearing her only decent panty and bra set.

  “What’s wrong?” Ari growled from her bedroom doorway, Benjy next to him.

  After gawking for a second in surprise, she hurled herself toward them, wrapping herself first around Ari. His grip closed on her, holding her hard enough that she could feel a catch in each breath. After a moment, she wiggled away and threw her arms around Benjy, feeling him hugging her back just as tightly.

  “I know it’s been only twelve hours, but I missed you guys!” She squeezed Benjy harder. Only when she felt his hands brush down her back and rest on the curve of her ass with only a thin layer of silky fabric separating their skin did she remember what she was wearing—or, actually, what she wasn’t wearing.

  A hiccup of a gasp escaped her lips, and she tried to disentangle herself from the smirking-as-always man holding her against him.

  “Benjy, put me down!” she ordered, trying to sound firm and not like the flustered mess she was. “I have to put on some clothes.”

  “Nah, you’re good,” Ari said, smirking. “I’m enjoying the view.” He strolled into her bedroom and shoved a few dresses aside so he could sit on the bed. When he leaned back on his hands, her breath caught. His eyes gleamed under half-lowered lids, and his pose made his biceps bulge under his shirt.

  Embarrassed, Daphne tried to hide her red face in Benjy’s neck, but she was much too aware that, except for the thin straps of her bra and semi-sheer panties, her entire back side was exposed to Ari’s gaze. A silent chuckle vibrated beneath B’s chest as he carried her toward the bed, where Ari was waiting like a hungry crocodile.

  Benjy tipped forward, and then they were both falling. When her back met the mattress, she braced for the entirety of his weight, but he supported himself on his hands. Although their bodies were pressed against each other, front to front, he held the majority of his bulk off her.

  “If you haven’t figured it out yet,”
Ari almost purred, one corner of his mouth twisting up, “we missed you too.”

  “How’d you get in here, anyway? I live in a secure building.”

  Ari snorted. “Secure. Right.”

  When she opened her mouth to respond, Benjy’s lips met hers, and any words she planned on saying were immediately forgotten. He was rougher than he’d been before in the underground room and the previous night, nipping on her lips and then kissing her with a bruising pressure. His hands immediately began to roam up and down her sides.

  Her body tensed and went limp with each stroke and kiss. She felt like a marionette, with no control of her muscles, no choice in her reactions. Moisture flooded her pussy, and she moaned, wrapping her legs around his hips and locking her ankles together.

  There were suddenly too many mouths and hands in play. A dim portion of her brain was freaking out a little at the thought of being in bed with two men, but the rest of her was compliant, horny mush under their touch. Benjy’s mouth moved to her throat as Ari leaned from the side to take over her lips.

  She groaned and arched into the scrape of teeth against her neck, but Ari’s kisses soon had her squirming. She’d thought B was forceful, but Ari was ten times worse—or better, depending on how she looked at it. He took over her mouth as Benjy made his leisurely way to her collarbone.

  A set of male hands that she was pretty sure were B’s snaked under her back. Her bra was suddenly loose enough for him to whisk the fabric away from her breasts. Air brushed over her skin, cool against her heated body, bringing her back to rationality for just a second before his mouth closed around her nipple.

  Everything else disappeared as she arched into his hold. Ari chuckled against her lips before he pulled back. Daphne made a disappointed sound and lifted her head, trying to follow his retreating mouth.

  “Much as I want to finish this, we need to get home,” he said, his voice raspy. He gave Benjy a shove. “Save it for later, B.”

  Releasing her breast reluctantly, he shot Ari a glower before dropping a kiss on Daphne’s mouth. The kiss deepened immediately and lasted until Ari pried them apart. With a heavy, soundless sigh, Benjy settled back to sit next to her hip. It took a few dazed seconds before she realized she was almost naked.