A Spy For a Spy

by Diane Henders

  His hands slid up to gently roll my nipples between his fingertips. Still tingling from his mouth, the intensity of the sensation made me cry out, clenching around him.

  He gasped, his hips driving up.

  “Oh God Arnie…”

  The hunger seized me and I rode him hard, his hands clutching my breasts, the friction of his palms driving me higher. My orgasm struck like a hurricane, arching me backward in gusts of pleasure that redoubled when he gripped my hips and thrust up into me again and again until a groan wrenched out of him, his body spasming under me.

  I collapsed forward to sprawl atop him, savouring the luscious aftershocks while our panting gradually slowed.

  “Ah, darlin’, I missed havin’ ya in my bed,” he growled at last, his hands stroking lightly down my back. “If I ever try that noble-sacrifice bullshit again, tell me what a dumbfuck I am.”

  I propped myself above him on my elbows, my hair falling around us like a private tent. “You aren’t dumb.” I brushed a kiss across his lips. “It was a sweet gesture, and you were trying to be a good friend to both Kane and me, and if you ever try it again I’ll beat you severely.”

  He chuckled. “Mmmm. Kinky.”

  I toppled off to stretch out beside him and he cuddled me close, caressing my hair away from my face and planting a gentle whiskery kiss on my forehead.

  “Now, darlin’, tell me about these bad dreams.”

  I wrapped an arm around him and snuggled against his chest. “I didn’t have any. Thanks to you.”

  “Yeah, ya did.” He stroked a hand over my hair. “About every half hour for the first little while, an’ then they started to taper off. I just kept wakin’ ya up as soon as ya started to cry an’ struggle.”

  “Oh.” I concentrated on tracing the lines of his tattoos with my fingertip. “Thanks. I don’t even remember. I must not have woken up all the way. I’m sorry I kept you awake.”

  “It’s okay, darlin’.” I could hear the grin in his voice. “Ya paid your debts this mornin’.”

  I laid a trail of kisses down his solid belly. “You’re too easy to please. You should hold out for better payment.”

  “Hmmm.” His voice dropped to a rumble. “Didn’t say I wouldn’t take payment in advance. But seriously, darlin’…” His hand found my chin and tilted it up so he could study my face. “It ain’t like ya to have a meltdown like last night. If you’re havin’ problems, ya need to get some help.”

  I sighed and burrowed closer, avoiding his gaze. “I know. I think it was just because I had too much shit happening in the last few days and I hadn’t had enough sleep. I always have to go through some bad dreams, it’s just part of the process. You said yourself they were starting to taper off by morning.”

  “Yeah…” He didn’t sound convinced, but he let it drop. “So your two pallets a’ C4 wouldn’ta had anythin’ to do with that massive barn explosion east a’ Silverside a few days ago, would they? Gas leak, my ass.”

  I giggled. “Your ass couldn’t manage a gas leak that big.”

  “Ya ain’t been around when I been drinkin’ beer an’ eatin’ bean burritos.”

  “That wasn’t intended as a challenge!”

  We both snickered for a few moments before he sobered. “Three dead, three injured, they said on the news. Ya said ya blew up a dog. Ya didn’t say anythin’ about people.”

  My heart twisted again at the thought of the dog. “Yeah. The people were trying to blow up Sirius Dynamics and my farm and Kane and Spider and half of Silverside. They deserved it. The poor damn dog didn’t.”

  Arnie’s hand drifted lightly down my side, barely touching the blackened skin. “An’ ya were so close ya got blown off your bike? That’s too damn close, Aydan.”

  “I don’t know if it actually blew me off the bike. I might have just hit a big lump of dirt at the same time it went off. I was going pretty fast, and it was dark.” I traced a few more tattoos.

  He sighed. “I’d give ya shit, but I know it wouldn’t help. Think we should phone Nichele? It’s nearly nine. I figured she’d be callin’ by now.”

  “No, let’s wait. Maybe she finally fell asleep, and if she did, I don’t want to wake her. If I don’t hear from her by ten, I’ll call.”

  “Mmm.” He shifted onto his side. “A whole hour to kill.” His lips drifted down my neck in tiny whisker-kisses that made me shiver. “Wonder what we should do.”

  “Mmmm. I don’t know…” I drifted a hand down his chest. “Any ideas?” I slid my hand a little lower.

  “Oh, yeah. I always got ideas when you’re around.” He rumbled a raspy purr, moving to the rhythm of my stroking. “Gonna be a minute for that, though, darlin’. Seems to me ya only had two crummy little orgasms so far…”

  “Two amazing, gigantic, mind-bending orgasms,” I corrected, letting him ease me onto my back.

  “Yeah, so you’re still down about five.”

  I surrendered to the slow delight of his kiss. Long moments later, he pulled away a fraction. “…An’ then there’s all the orgasms I missed givin’ ya the last coupla weeks,” he mumbled against my chin, kissing his way down my throat to find the sensitive hollow of my collarbone.

  A flick of his tongue made me gasp and clutch at him, and he chuckled, tracing kisses across my breasts before sliding lower in the bed. “Ya like my tongue this mornin’, do ya?”

  More kisses, sprinkled lower.

  My breath caught. “I love your tongue. I would marry your tongue.”

  He chuckled. “Well, I ain’t quite done with it yet.”

  He moved down again and the kisses marched lower, blazing a line of heat directly to…

  His lips diverted to my hip, making me whimper protest.

  “What’s the matter, darlin’?” He lifted my leg over his shoulder, running a strong hand down the outside of my thigh and trailing a line of slow whiskery nibbles and kisses up the inside.

  My eyes drifted closed, my breath coming faster while the scorching kisses crept higher.

  Higher…

  A small moan escaped me, my body begging for the first touch of his tongue. His hot breath laved me from close range, torturing me with glorious anticipation…

  My phone vibrated.

  My eyes popped open. “Seriously, Nichele? Now?”

  Hellhound chuckled. “Let it go. She’ll understand.”

  “I shouldn’t… oh!” My body spasmed with bliss when his fabulous tongue went into action. “No, wait, Arnie, I… ahhh… I should… ahhh!”

  I abandoned Nichele to her fate.

  Chapter 21

  I dragged my eyes open, my body still thrumming with satisfaction. “I’d better call Nichele. She’s going to kill me.”

  Hellhound chuckled and pulled me closer. “Nah, but she’d prob’ly have killed ya if ya picked up the phone instead a’ comin’ your brains out. Smart woman.”

  “Who, her or me?

  “Both a’ ya. I like ‘em smart.” He nibbled my neck. “An’ sexy.”

  “Don’t start again. You know I can’t resist you.”

  I squirmed reluctantly out of his arms and stumbled over to snatch up my phone before diving back into bed. “Jeez, why do you keep it so cold in here?” I punched the voicemail button.

  “’Cause it makes the chicks cuddle up closer,” Hellhound teased as I burrowed back into the warm blankets.

  The voice message made my jaw drop. “Shit, it’s Dave!” I punched the speaker button so we could both listen.

  “…so call me as soon as you get this, ‘kay?”

  Hellhound shot me a puzzled frown, but I was already dialling Dave’s number.

  His voice crackled out of my speaker on the first ring. “Is Nichele with you?”

  Arnie and I exchanged a worried glance. “No, haven’t you talked to her? Thank God you’re all right! Where are you? What happened?”

  “Inbound west of Golden now. Nothing happened. Had lunch in Revelstoke a couple of days ago and put my phone down when I pai
d the bill. Didn’t miss it ‘til Kamloops. I had a short turnaround planned in Vancouver, so I figured I’d just pick it up on my way back through. Didn’t know the cops were looking for me ‘til I heard some guys talking about it on the CB last night. Aydan, where is she?”

  “I don’t know.” Cold fear sank into the pit of my stomach. “She was supposed to call me this morning so we could start looking for you. I haven’t talked to her since last night about eight-thirty.”

  Oh, God. Leverage. What if Doytchevsky had her…

  “She was on the road by then.”

  “What? Shit! Goddammit, that’s how she knew the roads were bad…” I cut myself off. “Tell me everything you know.”

  “Don’t know much. Called the cops soon as I heard they were looking for me, must’ve been around nine-thirty last night. They said they’d let her know I was okay. The Coquihalla was a bitch… sorry, was bad last night, but I pulled off as soon as I could and called Nichele. Didn’t get an answer, so I left her a message, said I was fine but I didn’t have my phone yet and I’d call her in the morning. Just picked up my phone about an hour ago and I’ve been trying ever since.”

  I sprang up to pace. “Did she leave you any messages?”

  “Yeah, a bunch. Her first couple of messages just said ‘call me’, and then her next one said it was an emergency. What was the emergency?”

  “Nothing, she was just worried about you and wanted to make sure you’d call as soon as you could.”

  “Shi… Crap! So then there were some more messages, and the last one was last night around nine. She said she’d made it to Lake Louise and to hang on, she was gonna find me. And now she’s not answering her cell.”

  “Dammit, she always answers her cell!” I hugged myself, shivering, and Arnie got out of bed to press against my back, wrapping a blanket around both of us. “We’ll start looking from this end,” I began, but Dave interrupted.

  “No. Don’t need any more amateur drivers on the road. It ain’t the worst I’ve ever driven, but it ain’t good. Got a heavy load on so I can get through just about anything. I’ll watch for that piece of sh… little Miata. I kept telling her to get a real car…” His voice choked off.

  He cleared his throat. “Just call the cops, ‘kay?” he said gruffly. “Cell phone’s patchy out here. Better if you talk to them. Call me as soon as you hear anything.”

  “Okay, Dave. Drive carefully. Stay safe.”

  “’Kay.”

  I hung up and backed closer to Hellhound’s warm bulk, shivering more from nerves than cold while I poised my finger over the keys. “What’s the police non-emergency number?”

  His arms tightened around me. “Hang on, darlin’, why don’t ya at least get dressed? You’re shakin’ like a leaf again.”

  “I need to get my suitcase from the truck.”

  “Gimme your keys an’ I’ll go get it for ya.” He stepped away, draping the blanket over my shoulders and reaching for his jeans. He straightened, frowning, and despite my worry I took a moment to appreciate his muscular nakedness.

  “Hang on,” he said. “Why’re ya drivin’ that piece a’ shit truck when ya got a brand new all-wheel-drive car?”

  “It’s not a piece of shit. And the car blew up,” I said absently, heading for the living room to search out his phone book.

  “What?” Still clutching his pants in one hand, he strode around to confront me, obviously unconcerned by the wide-open blinds in the living room. “What the fuck, Aydan, ya said ya were ridin’ your dirt bike.”

  “I was. The car blew up earlier. Somebody rigged a bomb to my ignition so it exploded as soon as the car started.” I peered around the living room. “Where the hell is your phone book?”

  Hellhound gripped my arms, frowning down into my face. “Aydan, for fucksakes…” He took a deep breath. “Okay, an’ ya didn’t go up with the car because…?”

  “I got lucky. It was cold that day, so I used the remote starter.”

  “Jesus.” He folded me into his arms and held me close for a moment. “Remind me next time, if I don’t really wanna know, don’t ask. Phone book’s under the couch. Back in a few minutes.” He pulled on his jeans. “Don’t blow anythin’ up.”

  By the time he returned, I was nervously pacing the living room while Hooker uttered hoarse meows of complaint from beside his empty food dish.

  “Did ya talk to the cops?” Hellhound asked.

  “Yes. The police said Nichele’s car was in a non-injury accident west of Lake Louise last night around ten. As far as they know, she was fine and the car got towed, probably to Lake Louise. So where the hell is she, Arnie? Why isn’t she answering her cell?”

  “I dunno,” he began, but I interrupted.

  “What if D… the guy I was talking about last night was following her?” I yanked my fingers through the tangles in my hair. “What if he ran her off the road and then kidnapped her?”

  “That doesn’t make sense, darlin’, the police woulda told ya if she wasn’t there. If they said it was a non-injury accident, they musta talked to her.”

  “But…”

  My phone vibrated, and I jerked it up to squint at the display.

  “Oh, for shit’s sake!” I stomped over to my suitcase.

  “What now, darlin’?”

  “I have to call Stemp.” I rummaged in the suitcase, shivering while I pawed through its icy contents. I extracted one of Stemp’s secured phones and hesitated.

  “I’ll wait outside,” Hellhound said, and stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

  I sent brief but profound thanks for him winging skyward, and punched the Talk button.

  “It’s Arlene,” I replied to Stemp’s usual brisk ‘yes’.

  “We need you back at Sirius Dynamics.”

  The phone creaked under the clenching of my hand. Christ, could anything go right this morning?

  “I can’t.”

  A brief pause hummed on the line before he spoke again. “Unacceptable.”

  “Tough,” I snapped. My phone vibrated again, and I squinted at the display. Chateau Lake Louise. “I have to go,” I said, and hung up on Stemp.

  Heart pounding, I pressed the Talk button on my phone.

  “He’s safe!” Nichele’s jubilant voice made my knees give way.

  I collapsed onto the sofa. “Nichele, where the hell are you? You scared the shit out of me!”

  “I’m at the Chateau Lake Louise! It’s soooo beautiful here…”

  “What the hell, Nichele! Why didn’t you answer your cell?”

  “It broke when I hit the ditch. I had it on the seat beside me and it smashed into the dashboard. But he’s safe, Aydan! Dave’s safe!”

  I slumped on the couch, trying to decide whether to yell at her or dance a jig. “Don’t ever do that again, Nichele! Don’t ever run off without telling me what you’re doing. What happened? What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I’m sorry, Aydan, I just couldn’t wait for you to get back from Silverside. I just kept thinking what if Dave was hurt somewhere, trapped in his truck, and I just started driving. It was really icy and I went off the road, but a nice man stopped and called the police and tow truck for me. By the time I got back here it was after midnight and I thought you’d be with Hellhound, so I just went to bed. I was so wiped, I just woke up a few minutes ago.”

  I shuddered at the thought of who the ‘nice man’ could have been. “Listen, Nichele, I’m really glad you’re all right, but I need you to just stay there, okay? Just wait until I call you. Promise?”

  “I promise. I’m really sorry you were worried.”

  “It’s okay. Bye.”

  I went over to stick my head out into the hallway. Hellhound levered himself away from the wall, eyeing me questioningly.

  “Nichele’s fine,” I told him, stepping back to let him in the apartment.

  He frowned. “An’ ya know that from callin’ Stemp?”

  “No. Just hang on a second, I have to call Dave
.” I dialled again.

  When he answered, I said, “Nichele’s fine. She’s at the Chateau Lake Louise.”

  I could hear the smile in his voice. “Yeah, I know. She called me a few minutes ago. Tried to call you, but it went to voicemail and I didn’t want to leave a message.”

  “Okay.” I drew a deep breath. “Dave, can I ask you something personal?”

  “’Kay…” he said cautiously.

  “Sorry, this isn’t really my business, but it’s important. Do you… um… like Nichele?”

  He laughed. “Yeah. We back in third grade now?”

  “Do you like her well enough to put up with her for a few days?”

  When he spoke again, the laughter was gone from his voice. “I’d put up with her for the rest of my life if she’d have me.”

  My heart squeezed. “Oh, Dave. I’m sorry. I mean… Not that I’m sorry you like her, just…”

  “What’s this about, Aydan?”

  “Could you please do me a big favour? Could you stop on your way through Lake Louise and pick Nichele up…”

  “Well, sure,” he interrupted.

  “No, it’s more than that. Keep her with you. Don’t let her go home. Don’t let her go to work. Don’t let her drive her car, if it’s still driveable. Don’t let her use her credit cards anywhere. Just keep her with you, go on your regular runs, and don’t let her out of your sight.”

  “Shi… crap, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Just… she’ll be safe if she’s on the road with you. Can you do that?”

  “Sure thing, Aydan. Are you on a mission?” His voice tightened. “You need help? I’ll be in Calgary in about three and a half hours…”

  “No, I’m fine. Thanks, Dave, but what I really need is for you to protect Nichele.”

  “I will,” he said firmly. “What should I tell her?”

  “Tell her… um… tell her James Helmand escaped from prison.”

  Tension knifed into his voice. “Shi… crap, did he?”

  “No. It’s just a cover story.”

  I heard the whoosh of released breath. “Good. I’ll do it. Be careful, ‘kay?”