by Lucy Monroe
“I will call with instructions on Friday evening. Have the plans in your possession then.” Dead air told Chantal the connection had been cut.
Elle said something low into her own phone and then disconnected her call before looking around the lab. “Meet me in my office in ten.”
Chantal nodded, her throat too tight to speak.
Elle waited in her temporary office for the others to arrive. She’d been assigned the space on Friday for the duration of her consult, though she’d spent very little time in it so far. She’d made sure it was secure, however, and had rechecked just now for good measure.
Beau arrived first. He leaned against her desk. “Now this could work for a nooner, but from the expression on your beautiful face, I’d say that’s not why you asked me to meet you here.”
“You’d be right. Chantal was contacted by the perps.”
Beau tensed. “I thought they didn’t call her at work.”
“They hadn’t to this point, but they’re stepping up the psychological warfare.”
Mat and Chantal arrived just then, and Elle checked the hall with the mini spy cam she’d installed outside her door. A couple of people were walking down the corridor, but neither seemed interested in Elle’s office.
“Shut the door,” Elle said.
Mat did as she said.
She hit the button on her Bluetooth and gave a voice command to dial Josie’s phone.
“Josie here.”
“It’s clear.”
“Got it.”
A few seconds later, Josie joined them, locking the door behind her. “Daniel is still installing surveillance equipment in Chantal’s apartment. I’ll update him after the meeting.”
Elle kept the video cam up as a small window on her computer screen, so she could watch for anyone trying the old-fashioned type of spying: listening at doors. It was an activity she wouldn’t put past Archer Sandstone, though she had yet to decide if the man was a security risk or merely a nuisance.
Elle smiled reassuringly at the woman she was convinced would become her sister-in-law. “Chantal, can you try to repeat the conversation you had with the perp as close to verbatim as possible?”
Elle was impressed with Chantal’s memory. If her recollection of the portion of the call Elle had not overheard was as accurate as the short bit she had, Chantal had indeed repeated both sides of the phone call verbatim.
“What do you think?” Chantal asked when she was done.
“I think his mention of Eddie Danza cinches the fact that this attempt to get the plans for the antigravity experiment is connected to the first one. That’s not bad news for us either. My associate discovered two buyers on the initial list with links to South Africa. One of them was representing a group of known smugglers with their base of operations two hours outside of Cape Town.”
“Smugglers are looking for the antigravity technology?” Beau asked in obvious shock.
“It looks that way.”
“But…” He shook his head as if trying to clear it. “The hell.”
“You’ve got to admit, having the technology would give them an edge over the competition.”
“They are not using my project to transport illicit goods.”
“No, they aren’t. They’d probably kill themselves just trying to get liftoff for the first trip.”
“And how many innocents?”
“Exactly.”
“You run into this kind of shit often in your job, princess?”
“More often than any regular citizen would be comfortable knowing about.”
“I hear that,” Josie said in a flat tone.
That woman had seen more than her share of the underbelly of humanity, and Elle had nothing but admiration for her upbeat attitude and ready smile in spite of it all.
“So, we think it’s the smugglers?” Mat asked.
“Chances are, but we aren’t ignoring other possibilities. I’m not leaving any long shots out there to turn around and bite me in the ass,” Elle replied.
“Nah, that’s my job, sugar,” Beau said.
Laughter erupted and Elle thought she should have been irritated by Beau’s blatancy, but she must be getting used to it. Because she found herself laughing right along with everyone else.
“But what about the Friday deadline?” Chantal asked. “What are we going to do?”
“Give him what he wants,” Elle replied.
Beau’s body jerked, his hands fisting at his sides, but he said nothing.
“Not the actual plans. I trust you can come up with something that looks good, but wouldn’t put people or the project at risk,” Elle said to him.
He nodded.
“And I’ll make delivery,” Josie said. “I need to go wig shopping. I wouldn’t mind finding an Ulta store around here too. You got one of those around here?”
“What’s that?” Chantal asked.
“One of my favorite stores,” Elle admitted. “They carry every brand of cosmetics from the cheap to the trendy and ultraexpensive.”
“They’ve got more than makeup, though,” Josie said with the enthusiasm of a woman who had discovered her feminine side as an adult. “They’ve got nail polish, hair stuff, everything.”
“Uh…smugglers trying to steal my top project’s plans?” Beau said. “Anybody remember that?”
Elle ignored him, checking the website’s store locater for an Ulta. “There’s one in Cerritos. Is that far from here?”
“About twenty-five minutes,” Chantal offered timidly while Mat and Beau scowled.
Elle gave them both the “get-over-it” glare. “Lighten up. I’m not going to ignore my case, but Chantal could use a chance to relax. Besides, I’m sure she’s going to love Ulta.”
“Because she’s so into makeup and all that frippery crap,” Mat said dismissively.
“Are you saying I’m not feminine?” Chantal asked, incensed. “I’ll have you know, I’m French. That sort of thing is in my basic genetic makeup.”
“Great, we’ll go tomorrow while Beau is working on replicating the plans with a couple of significant changes,” Elle said.
“What about your job here, assessing the security?” Beau demanded.
“Just because I won’t be here doesn’t mean I won’t be working. I do most of my preliminary work in my head.”
“And your head is going to be focused on ETRD while Chantal and Josie are exploring the delights of this beauty mecca. Right.”
“You’re just cranky because I won’t be around tomorrow for a nooner.”
Mat sputtered, trying to say something, but not quite getting it out. He had no problem skewering both her and Beau with his scowl, though.
She just rolled her eyes and gave Beau a significant look. “Big brothers—they are definitely harder to deal with.”
“Are you seriously going shopping?” Beau asked.
“I can’t live and breathe my case. I give my job my all, but I need balance. If I don’t take breaks, I miss things because I’m too close.”
Beau nodded like he understood.
Elle fixed her attention on Chantal. “I’m hoping you can supply me with some names, anyone who Eddie was friends with or associated with. Frank drew a complete blank when I asked him.”
“I’m not sure. I thought he was like me. Alone. Maybe shy sometimes. But now I think he never cared about anyone enough to want to be a friend,” Chantal said.
“So, you can’t think of anyone he might have spent time with?” Elle asked.
“Well, he and Archer Sandstone talked sometimes, which was odd, considering the fact that Archer likes to dress like a nonconformist, but he’s more aware of role distinctions than anyone else I know. They’d have lunch together off-site sometimes, but you know, I always got the impression Archer was pumping Eddie for information. He’s really jealous of your role as Frank’s confidant, Beau.”
Beau frowned. “I know.”
“No one else?” Elle asked, mentally noting the need to invest
igate the relationship between Sandstone and Eddie further.
“Eddie and the other guards would get together for a drink after work sometimes, but nothing personal that I noticed. His boss gave him a ride home a couple of times when Eddie was too drunk to drive on his own.”
“He was living with you?” Mat asked, trying to sound nonchalant about it and failing miserably.
Chantal nodded. “Or I was living with him. Anyway, I moved out right after I found out he’d stolen information from ETRD.”
“Did he tell you?” Elle asked, surprised that the guard might have done so.
“No. He was walked off the job. I went to Frank to ask him what was going on and he told me what Eddie had done. I didn’t understand why ETRD didn’t press charges, but I was just glad they weren’t tarring me with the same brush. It hurt enough that I’d been dumb enough to believe he cared about me, but his activities could have ruined my whole life too. Mr. Smith was the one who told me I wasn’t being blamed. I didn’t even know anyone knew Eddie and I were a couple.”
“Mr. Smith is like your mother—he knows everything you’ve been up to,” Beau said with a kind of angry amusement.
“I guess. I only know I’m grateful neither he nor Frank thought I was part of Eddie’s scheme.”
“If you had been, you would have told him the plans weren’t viable yet,” Beau said.
“Oh.”
“I think your innate goodness shined through too, sweetheart,” Mat said.
Elle had to bite back a smile. Her brother sappy—it was cute. In a nauseating way.
Beau waited until everyone else had gone, then smiled at his sugar. “It close enough to noon yet, you think?”
“You have a one-track mind.”
“I’ve been accused. Though usually by people frustrated because I’m concentrating on my latest experiment and not on them.”
“People or women?”
“Women mostly, but even Frank’s been known to grumble about it a time or two.”
“It takes dedication to get where you are in the field. And I don’t mean your position as Frank’s right hand. I’m talking about how far you’ve taken your projects, the breakthroughs you’ve made. Those kinds of results don’t come from a mind that easily multitasks.”
“You saying we all have our strengths and that’s a good thing, princess?”
She looked a little embarrassed. “I guess that’s what I’m saying.”
“Is that why you didn’t pursue your talent for science, because you’re a damn fine multitasker?”
“Yes. I’m a firm believer in living up to your strengths, not your weaknesses.”
“That’s not a bad motto to adopt.”
“Thanks.” She gave him a commiserating smile. “It’s hard when you have divergent talents and you have to make a choice between them.”
“You can only go with where your passion lies at that point.”
“If you’re you or me, yeah. Others have a different standard for making the choice, and it can wreak havoc in relationships when that happens.”
“You’re talking about my parents again.”
“You said your father is a banker, didn’t you?”
“Yes. He manages the bank where my mother is a loan officer.”
“It’s not really so surprising that their first consideration is fiscal security, is it?”
“My chosen profession isn’t exactly one that leaves me living out of cardboard boxes.” But the truth was, Elle made sense. He’d always assumed his parents were upset because he’d given up his chance at fame and fortune. But maybe it had more to do with them thinking he didn’t give enough credence to the money angle. To being financially solvent on a bigger scale—their definition of fiscal responsibility.
Weird, but definitely possible.
“No, but maybe they needed time to see that.”
“And my sister?”
“She’s not exactly amassing a healthy IRA in the Peace Corps.”
“But she’s investing in the future of the world, not just herself.”
“Absolutely. That counts for something to both you and I, but maybe it’s lower on the priority scale for your parents. That doesn’t mean it’s not on their list at all. I find it hard to believe that both of their children grew up with such strong social consciousness without any positive input in that direction from them.”
“They said I took the recycling thing too far, but they always did the basics. They also both do pro bono financial advising for the minority workers in the area where I grew up.”
“So, they put being financially stable first and donated time and resources that were left over to making the world a better place. You and your sister flipped that set of priorities and I bet that scared your parents.”
“I’m not going to get my nooner, am I?”
Elle laughed and stood. “Is that your charming way of changing the subject?”
“Could be.” Beau had a lot to think about. Maybe some stuff he needed to talk over with his sister.
Chapter 17
Elle came around her desk, moving with the grace that had caught Beau by the balls from the minute he’d watched her climb out of her Lamborghini Spider for the first time. “Lucky for you, I’m caught up on my e-mail and don’t have anything pressing right this second. I talked to both The Old Man and Frank this morning already, and I’ve got things in place to let me know if status changes on anything of importance.”
“Cool.”
Elle rubbed up against Beau. “No, I’d say hot. Maybe even molten.”
“Damn, princess, you take me zero to sixty in a heartbeat.”
She gripped his hard cock through his slacks. “Oh, yeah…though I’d say you’re going better than sixty here, sexy.”
He pushed into her hand. “You keep doing that and I’m going to spring a leak.”
A soft laugh accompanied her moving away. “Keep that thought.” Then she locked the door.
When she turned back to face him, her eyes were silver with passion.
He leaned back against her desk and put his hands out. “Come here, sugar.”
She obeyed him with an added layer of sensuousness over her usual graceful movements that had him moaning.
“You are the sexiest woman I have ever had the pleasure of sharing my body with, princess.”
She laid her hands in his and let him reel her in the rest of the way. “The feeling is mutual.”
“I’m all that to you, huh?” he asked as her body came into contact with his.
“Do you honestly think I would be doing this with you—against my better judgment, I might add—if you weren’t?” Oh, her voice was husky with desire and not a little exasperation.
“No man has ever turned you on as much as me, huh?” he asked while inhaling the scent of her hair. There was a trace of coconut and something more exotic.
Everything about this woman appealed to his senses.
She didn’t answer, but the way she melted into him said it all.
“Not even Kyle?” Oh, shit. Where had that come from?
He expected her to go all stiff and find an excuse to put him off, but she didn’t.
Her whole body shuddered against his and she said, “Not even Kyle,” in a lost voice that he was damn sure she wished she could have held back as much as he did the initial question.
He cupped her face and tilted it so her lips were right where he needed them to be. Then he kissed her—gently, reverently, letting her know how much the admission meant to him. What followed were long minutes of the most intensely pleasurable and tender kissing he’d ever experienced.
They undressed each other with more care and time consumption than any nooner should allow for. He tasted her skin as he uncovered it, reveling in the satin-smooth beauty. She returned the favor, making soft little noises of need unlike any he had heard from her yet.
When they were finally in position to come together, her lying on the top of the desk, her legs draped over
his arms, him standing between her thighs, his gaze fixed like super-epoxy on her nude form, it was nowhere near an office quickie.
He rubbed his naked dick against the silky wet flesh between her legs. “Are you on b.c.?”
“Birth control?”
“Yes.”
“I am.”
“I’m clean.”
She stared at him and he waited. She knew the unspoken question between them.
Her hands moved from their grip on the edge of the desk to his forearms and she curled her fingers around them, connecting them that tiny bit more. “I’m clean too.”
“I don’t want to use a glove.” Would she trust him enough? He trusted her—even though she’d come into his life under false pretenses, he knew she would never lie about this kind of thing.
“No.”
Disappointment crashed through him, but he understood. They hadn’t known each other long enough for this level of trust. His was pure instinct and illogical to boot.
“I don’t want to either,” she clarified.
Oh, oh…yes. Thank you and hallelujah. “I want to feel your flesh around me.”
“Need it,” she said simply.
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Beau pushed into her, going slow so that he could experience every centimeter of new sensation.
Elle reveled in it just as much, her eyes going unfocused in her passion, her breath quickening. “Feels so good.”
“Better than good.”
“Yes.”
Once he was completely inside her, he stopped to take in every nuance of the feeling. Her inner muscles massaged him and he was so hard he could feel his own heartbeat in his cock.
“We fit,” she said.
“Perfectly.”
She nodded. “Need you to move.”
“I will. Don’t want it to end too soon.”
“Please…”
He leaned forward so that his pelvis would rub against her clit when he moved just right. Then he set about finding out exactly what that would take. It was slow; it was deep; it was intense.
He hadn’t gone bare inside a woman since college and he’d regretted doing so with his fiancée when he found out she’d been cheating. He knew he would never regret this.