Dagger of Lust

by Alexandra Maxwell

  “Thank you, Tara, but I’ve slept in worse places than this chair. Go ahead and stretch out. Besides, you’re a bit of an active sleeper.”

  Tara knew that. Danielle told her on numerous occasions that she’d been kicked out of the bed during their sleepovers. It only got worse when she drank. She was thankful Ben didn’t have to see that.

  “How active?” she started to laugh but was interrupted by a yawn.

  “I’d be more comfortable on the floor since I’d probably end up there anyhow,” he chuckled, “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want to disturb those vivid dreams of yours. Go on back to sleep. Maybe you can pick up where we finished.”

  Tara’s eyes went wide as she watched Ben get up from his chair and disappear into the bathroom with the same devilish grin on his face as the one he wore in her dream. She wanted to press him more. How much did he hear? Or better yet, how much did she say?

  Embarrassment draped itself over Tara as she slammed the pillow over her head. It didn’t last for long because sleep found her soon enough. Unfortunately, the dreams didn’t pick up from where they left off, much to her disappointment.

  8

  While Ben loved hearing the murmurs and coos of Tara’s restless sleep, he knew he wouldn’t get any rest with her whispering his name in her sleep. It made him smile. It made him want to hear it from her lips while she was wide awake to take every ounce of pleasure from it and to dote on her. When he came out of the bathroom, her head was buried under the pillow with her body language clearly telling him she was asleep.

  He thought about heading downstairs to sleep in the car, but this wasn’t a road trip with a friend. He was hired to protect the case. He wanted to protect her. The silhouette of her body under the blanket tempted him to want to touch her. He wanted to wake her up and bring her to ecstasy. He watched her fingers and wanted to taste them, wrap his tongue around them. He wanted to suck her juices.

  Ben purposely turned away from Tara to eye the case in the dark room. He needed to remind himself why he was there. The moment he shifted his train of thought, sleep found him in his chair, facing the balcony that overlooked the parking lot.

  In the morning, Ben and Tara gathered their belongings to pack into the car. They had a long day of driving ahead of them and wanted to hit the road as soon as possible. Ben loaded the case onto a luggage rack he retrieved from the lobby. As soon as he wheeled their bags to the lobby, Tara went to check them out while he brought their stuff out to the car.

  The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as that tingling sensation in his gut returned. Ben placed the bags and case into the back of the car with his eyes trying to identify every possible point of attack. He made up his mind that once they reached their next overnight stop, he was going to call Rork to do some additional investigation of these artifacts.

  Ben couldn’t stop scanning the parking lot for threats. While he’d taken some time off his training, once he came back to work, he was on point. He knew he had to stop second-guessing himself. The only problem with gut feelings is they're almost all reactive. You get them right before the shit hits the fan, and there's little time to prepare. He didn't want to be unprepared. He should have done his own research.

  The adjustment period between passing standard training and feeling healthy in the field was a gap he needed to bridge sooner rather than later. Ben decided to throw himself into the job. As soon as he loaded the bags, he dropped to his hands and knees to roll onto his back. He went around the car’s undercarriage with a mini flashlight he kept on his keys, but there wasn’t anything there. No tracking devices. Nothing looked out of place.

  When he finally crawled from underneath the car, he caught the look of bewilderment crawling across Tara’s face.

  “Are you okay, Ben? What are you doing?” she asked, maintaining her spot a few yards away from him.

  “I needed to check to be sure there weren’t any tracking devices on the car.”

  She furrowed her eyebrows together, “Of course, there are tracking devices in the car, it’s a rental! A rental that I’m driving across the country. I’m sure they want to know where their car is. Can we go, or is there something else you want to check the car for? Any bombs attached to the ignition or under the front seats?”

  "I hope not," he sighed. Ben opened the door for her to get inside, wondering how her attitude shifted so drastically from the night before, where she was saying his name in her sleep.

  “I need coffee,” Tara grumbled.

  “I think there’s some in the hotel, or we can hit one of those fast food joints I saw off the highway.” He understood the need for caffeine, but it shocked him a bit to watch Tara wake up in the morning and not enjoy it.

  “That’s fine,” her voice hurried out, “Let’s just get out of here.”

  The drive was silent until they got breakfast and coffee. Once they did, the tension in Tara’s shoulders slacked as she settled into the passenger seat for the next leg of their trip.

  “Is everything okay?” Ben finally asked her.

  “Yeah,” she with her voice distant, “No? I don’t know.”

  “Well, why don’t you tell me about your dream last night, or why you looked at me like I was crazy back there in the parking lot?”

  “I don’t know.” She fidgeted in her seat with her right hand, pulling and rubbing the fingers on her left hand nervously.

  Ben took his hand off the steering wheel to rest them on her nervous tick. “You do know. Take a deep breath. Try counting backward from ten.”

  He gave her a moment to compose herself.

  “I don’t think you need to do that,” she finally said after a few minutes.

  “Do what? My job?” he asked with concern.

  She swallowed a hint of her worries, "Yes, I mean, no! I mean, I'm not important enough, and neither are these artifacts for someone to want to blow them up, or us for that matter."

  “I don't want you to worry about the precautions I'm taking, okay? Just because I'm looking for it, doesn't mean that I'm expecting it. It's a part of the protocol for me, my personal checklist. I also need you to remember that these pieces we are transporting are worth over a hundred thousand dollars. Carrying anything worth that much usually means someone else wants it. The kind of people who would want something like this aren't going to ask for it politely. I just like to be overly prepared for whatever can happen. I didn’t mean to scare you. Seeing as I did, I want you to know that I carry a gun too. It’s in that small box in my duffle bag. I’m supposed to be carrying it on me now,” he thumbed the edge of his shoulder holster, “Doesn’t do me any good there, but I do want you to know that I will carry it if necessary.”

  Before Tara had the chance to respond, Ben ripped his hand away from hers to grip the steering wheel. He’d caught a glimpse of the pickup truck gaining speed on them from at least five or six cars back. While he wasn’t in the mood for any kind of chase, he was happy to know his gut wasn’t wrong. Someone was following them. Ben was sure they were about to be run off the road.

  9

  “Oh, my goodness!" Tara screamed as Ben pushed the small SUV into increasingly higher speeds. Fear raced through her as she gripped the seat belt across her torso, turning her head to see out of every window as if she’d be able to identify the car or the person chasing them. She was thankful they were on a stretch of highway with little traffic, but she began hoping a cop car or trooper would intervene in the madness.

  The pickup truck behind them sped up and tapped the rear bumper. It jerked Tara forward, but the seat belt snapped her back into her seat forcefully. The rapid thump of her heart against her chest drowned out everything around her. Tara's pulse and the sounds of her own frantic breathing filled her ears like she was buried inside of a box. She kept looking around, trying to figure out what was going on when she finally locked eyes with Ben.

  Tara watched his lips move, but when she tried to listen, fear blocked the sound. Ben’s voice came through like a lou
dspeaker once she snapped out of it, “GET DOWN!”

  Tara buried her head into her lap with her arms shaking over her head as the car swerved and sped away from whoever was in pursuit. Through it all, Ben kept reaching out to her, rubbing his thumb across the back of her neck. She leaned to the left, and then they made a hard turn. She couldn’t tell where they were going and didn’t have any idea of how long she had her head in her lap.

  When all of the noise stopped, and the car came to a halt, Tara refused to pick her face up from between her legs. It wasn’t until she had Ben opening her door and yanking the seatbelt from around her. He slid his arm under her thighs and around her back, lifting her effortlessly out of the car. She found her arms draped around his neck as he sat her down on the ground.

  “Tara,” he called to her for what could have been the hundredth time, “Tara, it’s Benjamin, Benjamin Reynolds. Tara Samuels, Miss Tara Samuels, I need you to look at me.”

  He hooked his finger under her chin, lifting her gaze to meet his own. She wasn’t present, still in shock. Ben never left her side as he pulled out his phone, “Yeah, Rork, we need to talk. I gotta take care of Miss Samuels, but I’m going to need a video conference. We’re in the middle of something heavier than a simple parcel transport.”

  Tara wanted to hear the rest of his conversation, but all she could think about was if they had crashed. She’d never see her parents again, her brother, or Danielle ever again. The people she loved and cared about didn't have any idea she was nearly run off the road. The worst part was she didn't know why.

  When she let reality set in, Ben held a bottle of water up to her lips. There was so much worry in his eyes, interestingly she actually found it sweet to see how much he cared.

  "Can you hear me?" he asked with his voice coming in much more clearly than she remembered.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Where are we?” she finally managed to squeak a few words out, “What was that all about? Why? Why? Wh-”

  Just when Tara thought she had herself together, she began to shake uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her cheeks as feelings of helplessness took over.

  “Come here,” Ben pulled her into his arms, scooping her off the ground and into his chest. She hadn’t any idea where they were, but she felt the softness of a bed underneath her.

  She curled into a ball without drawing the covers over her, but still managed to feel the blanket of warmth on her. Her eyes closed, and her panicked mind put her to sleep before her fears let her do anything else.

  When Tara woke up, she sat straight up, looking at a face on the large TV screen that seemed to be talking about her. The handsome face on the screen motioned to her, forcing Ben to swivel around in his chair. He pushed a button on a remote that let the man on the screen broadcast his voice around the room.

  A hotel room, different from the khaki calamity, but another hotel room all the same. Ben sat down next to her, taking her small delicate hands into his own. “How are you feeling?”

  "Exhausted," she told him while running her tongue across the roof of her parched mouth, "What the hell happened, Benjamin?"

  “Ben, I don’t like this. I want to put you two on the jet to fly you in.”

  “Tara Samuels, meet Rork Calhoon,” Ben nodded toward the screen, “My boss and owner of Whitestone Security.”

  “You know we can’t do that. MoVA isn’t paying for a jet,” Ben reminded his boss.

  Tara scoffed, “I’m lucky I’m being paid for this excursion. What’s happening?”

  Ben gave her half a smile, “It seems we’re being followed. I lost the guy when I hopped off the highway to come into this town. I don’t have any clue if we’re still in California, or if we’ve made it into Nevada or Utah.”

  “Why would Dr. Barrett send me to get something that other people are after? I’ve transported exhibit items before without any security at all-”

  Ben shot her a surprised look, “I don’t like that. Don’t do that anymore.”

  She rubbed the top of his hand, “MoVA doesn’t pay for private security escorts. Nine times out of ten, no one knows when priceless artifacts are moving from one location to another. Why is this one getting us rammed off the road? Oh no! The rental! Is it okay? Is the car, okay? Were we shot at?"

  “No,” Ben shook his head, “They were just trying to get us to pull over. Once we got into the heavier population of this town, they broke away.”

  "You keep saying they," Tara sighed, rubbing her forehead, "There was more than one person in that car?”

  “Not that I could see,” Ben patted the top of her hand.

  “Alright, Reynolds,” Rork interjected. Ben and Tara nearly forgot he was there. “I ran those partial plates you gave me and pulled some snapshots off the traffic cams. The truck was rented from the same spot as your rental from LAX. Did you see anybody following you at the airport?”

  “No, Rork!” Ben told him with frustration. “I didn’t see anyone. I felt like we were being watched last night, but when I checked it out, there wasn’t anything or anyone out of the ordinary. Something’s going on here, Rork.”

  “I know. I’m going to reach out to Dr. Barrett to see what I can find out about these artifacts. Local PD is on the way to take your statement. We’re going to charge MoVA for any incidents not given to us in the preliminary dossiers that force us beyond the scope of our duties,” Rork paused, shifting his attention to Tara. "I understand that you took some samples of the pieces when you picked them up, Miss Samuels?"

  “Yes. I had planned on sending them ahead as soon as we passed a parcel carrier."

  “Ben, I’m going to need you to find that for her and have those samples sent out. Give me a day or two to get a hold of Dr. Barrett to find out if there are any murmurings about this particular exhibit. I’m going to press some of my contacts to see what I can recover on my end. Stay safe, Reynolds.”

  “Yes, Sir.” Ben closed out the call and returned to Tara, “Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”

  “No. How long was I out?”

  “Maybe an hour or two. You want to call anyone? I left everything in the car except for the case. I can run out and grab it for you.”

  Tara wagged her head side to side, “No. Just sit with me. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. I’ve never been chased. I’ve never been bullied. I’ve never even gotten into a physical fight.I’m just a little shaken up that someone is willing to put our lives on the line for a simple dagger and scabbard.”

  Ben held back a laugh, "So you wanted them to steal it politely from us? You know that's not how criminals work, right?"

  "Shut up," she laughed, pushing him away, "Just for that, you're on rub duty."

  “What is that?” he asked.

  Tara stretched out onto the bed to lay on her stomach. “Whenever I had nightmares as a kid, my family took turns rubbing my head and back until I fell back to sleep. So you’re on it, Benjamin Reynolds. Start rubbing.”

  10

  Tara woke up from a restful sleep to find the room dark. Ben wasn't there, and she didn't have her phone. There was a bottle of water and aspirin sitting on the nightstand for her along with a plate of food. She got up to eat and stretch to wonder where Ben disappeared. She didn't like it, not one bit.

  When Tara stepped outside of the motel room, she left the door cracked to stop herself from being locked out. The area around her looked familiar, and then it didn't. It looked like every other highway town with fast food spots and gas stations lighting up the main street. There was a sign of what could have been a supermarket or a bowling alley. She sighed while tearing her gaze up and down the surrounding area with nothing coming to her. She didn’t even know what she was looking for.

  "BEN!" she called out, wondering if he simply went to the vending machine or to grab some ice.

  Nothing.

  “BEN!” she called out again. This time, her arms wrapped themselves around her, stroking up and down as a cool breeze tickled her skin.
<
br />   Gravel kicked up from somewhere around her. Footsteps followed, and Tara began to panic. She should have stayed in the room.

  A man stood in her way now. Tall, dark, brooding, and nowhere nearly as attractive as Benjamin. He ran his tongue over his teeth as he leaned against the post to her motel room. Wagging his curved finger toward her, he growled, "Come here, and get inside."

  “No!”

  He had an Eastern European accent that she couldn’t distinguish. He warned her, “Uh! Please do not make me chase you. I’d like to have this done as soon as possible. Hand over the case.”

  "NO!" Tara's defiance surged through her. A shot of adrenaline pushed her to sprint. She hadn't any idea of where she was going or if more than one person was chasing her. All Tara needed to know was to run, and to run like her life depended on it. The beating of her heart synced with the thrumming of her feet against the pavement. Sweat beaded down her temple. She rounded another corner, hoping to run into Ben at some point, but it didn't happen.

  Tara felt like she was lapping the motel’s horseshoe shape when she hit a dead end. She didn’t hear the pounding and cursing of the man chasing her anymore. She tiptoed back the way she came, peeking her head around the corner. There wasn’t anyone to the left, but when she turned to the right, all she saw was black.

  Pain blinded Tara as something knocked against the side of her face. The world around her spun. Dizziness brought her to her knees. She closed her eyes and let the world slip away.

  About the Author

  Alexandra Maxwell is an author of sexy, smart romance books. She tells greats stories that SIZZLE and things get HOT.

  Alexandra Maxwell and Kara Maxwell are the Romance Sisters. Alexandra is the naughty older sister and things get steamy in her books. Kara is the nice baby sister, with some spice of course. They are both hopeless romantics. Both love to write with electric chemistry between the characters, great settings and twist and turns of the plot and between the sheets. Fall in love with Alexandra and Kara and stay in touch with them to hear about free gifts, updates on new books and special offers. www.romancesisters.com