by Becky McGraw
“So what do you think is going on with that GenMax project?” Dave asked, as he moved the truck to the left to avoid a deep rut near the shoulder of the road. Susan imagined the shoulder of this road got very spongy when it rained, and someone must’ve gotten stuck there.
“That’s what I was trying to find out when I broke into the admin building. I was desperate, because I’m worried sick about my sister, and nobody would talk about it. That makes me more than a little suspicious. Her roommate Callie mentioned a drug, but caught herself. That leads me to believe it may involve an experimental drug or something. They could be killing Jenna and there isn’t a damned thing I can do about it.”
Logan glanced at her, and from his frown and pinched brows, it was obvious he was concerned too. “So you think they’re using those girls as guinea pigs? That sounds a little farfetched.”
“That’s exactly what I think. At least the ones who are having a hard time paying their tuition. I saw a few of Jenna’s less affluent friends in that stack of invoices. All of them had substantial balances, which were suddenly forgiven or paid. Both Callie and Jenna were sick when I was there. They said it was the flu, but I don’t think so. They were bloated like toads, and that isn’t a flu symptom.”
Dave remained silent until he stopped the Hummer at the eight-foot chain link gate she knew led into his compound. He pushed a five-digit code into the security box, and the gate slid open, before he looked at her again. “Tell Dex and Gray what you suspect, and tell them I said to help you. Dex can tap into the computer records, and Gray can tell us exactly what’s going on,” he said, as he pulled through the gate and it closed behind them.
Logan was going to help her? “Really? I can’t pay you to help me.”
“You’ll pay me,” he said with a laugh, pulling the truck to a stop beneath a tree by the office building. “You’re going to help to help me pick out a suit this afternoon. Ask my mother, that isn’t an easy job.”
Susan was so tired, beyond exhausted, but she couldn’t be any more tired than Logan was. It was right there in his smoky blue eyes, and the wrinkles at the corners. He had worked all day out at his father’s ranch yesterday, then spent the night driving to come and get her out of jail. She owed it to him to do what he asked without arguing. Even if that meant a dreaded trip to the mall today. But she needed him to do something first. There was no way she’d be able to focus on anything if she was worried about her sister. “I’ll do that if you agree to call Dex and Gray to get them working on Jenna’s situation today.”
Logan put his hands at his hips, huffed a breath and dropped his chin to his chest, and his face was occluded by the brim of his hat. “You are a pain in my ass,” he grumbled, as he stuffed his hand into his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed, then lifted his eyes to hers as he waited for an answer.
“Dex, I need you to check something for me. A project called GenMax at Wellington College. I have no idea what it’s about,” he said with a harsh laugh. “That’s what I want you to tell me.” Dave listened for a second, then finished, “Yeah, anything you can find…and make it a priority. It involves Susan’s sister, Jenna Whitmore.”
He hung up the phone and relief flowed through her. Logan was making her sister’s situation a team priority even though the case of the missing baby was a paying job. Susan’s knees went weak at the same time her heart did a funny little flip in her chest. Not a very business-minded decision at all, but so damned sweet.
Dave looked down to put his phone away, and Susan’s feet took her a step closer, then another. She leaned in to kiss his cheek at the same time he turned his face her way. Susan’s lips brushed across his, and Logan’s body went stiff. A spark sizzled straight through her to curl her toes. Logan’s beard-roughened chin scraped hers sending a delicious thrill through her, as he nipped her lower lip. Their lips hovered only millimeters apart, electricity buzzing between them like a live wire. Kiss me, her body and mind pleaded, as waves of need washed over her.
With a growl, Logan’s hands closed on her upper arms. His lips dropped onto hers, intentionally this time, hard and seeking. Susan slid her hands up to his shoulders, and wilted into him, needing to feel his chest against her aching breasts. Dave walked her backwards until her rear was pressed against the grill of the Hummer, her body held there by his hardness, as he deepened the kiss, and shoved his tongue inside her mouth to taste her.
He moaned into her mouth, but instead of holding her closer, he pushed away and wiped his forearm over his mouth. “You’ve been smoking again,” he accused angrily.
Heat rushed up to scald her face. “I was nervous before I broke into the admin building,” she admitted, knowing full well there was no use in denying it. Logan already knew, and lying would only make him madder. “I’m sorry, Logan. I won’t do it again.”
“You better not, or whether I need you for this mission or not, I will fire you.”
“Why are you so anti-smoking?” Susan asked, curiosity getting the better of her. Logan wouldn’t fire her for being arrested, but he’d fire her for smoking? Very odd, and there had to be a reason.
“My daddy had lung cancer from smoking. He survived it, has been over it for seven years, and I will not tolerate tobacco users on my team.”
Shock hit her in the stomach like a sledgehammer. “Oh, Lord. I’m sorry, Logan…”
“Don’t be sorry, just don’t smoke.” His hard tone and eyes told her he meant business.
Susan could understand his position better now, and sympathize with it even. “I’m done. No more excuses, I promise,” she said swiping an X between her breasts. But she definitely needed some kind of substitution, because right now? She either needed a cigarette or to finish what she’d started with Dave Logan with her accidental kiss. Her body was humming for her to do that. She knew this man didn’t have a stockpile of blow pops here like she had at home, and the odds were he didn’t have popsicles either. “You have any bananas?” she asked.
“You hungry?” he asked, sounding surprised. “I didn’t even think to ask.”
Oh yeah, she was hungry. Starving for something she couldn’t have. “Yeah, aren’t you?”
“Let’s get cleaned up, and I’ll cook some breakfast,” Dave said gruffly, turning to walk ahead of her up the steps. He opened the door and Susan followed him inside.
The last time she was here she hadn’t been inside, so she took a moment to orient herself. The kitchen was surrounded by a marble-topped breakfast bar, and her eyes skidded to a stop at the bowl of fruit on the end. As they passed by, Susan grabbed a banana, and peeled it as they walked. To the right of the well-equipped kitchen was a large gathering room with a couple of comfy looking chairs, a massive sectional that looked equally comfortable, and a huge flat-screen television mounted on the wall.
“There’s a two-bedroom suite at the back of the office that I use as my quarters. The guys will be staying in the barracks, so you need to stay in here,” Logan said as he led her to a long hallway that went all the way to the back of the building.
They passed a conference room, a few offices and he stopped at the last door at the end of the hallway to push a code into the security keypad on the wall. The thick metal door buzzed open, and Susan followed Logan through the doorway, letting the door close behind her.
Suite hell, this place was like an apartment, she thought, as he flicked on the lights over the wetbar in his living room. Everything about the place screamed masculine from the heavy furniture to the buckskin colored walls. “Nice place, Logan,” she said.
“It’s home,” he grumbled walking to the refrigerator by the bar to get a bottle of water. He glanced back at her. “Want something?”
Susan shoved half of the banana into her mouth and chomped down. Boy did she, and bad, she thought, looking at his fine ass in those cowboy jeans. She shook her head as she chewed up the monster bite. “Shower,” she finally managed after she swallowed.
Logan shut the refrigerator door and unca
pped his water. The corner of his mouth kicked up, and his heated eyes held a challenge. “Well, there’s only one shower, so unless you want to take one with me, you’ll have to wait. I’m in there first.” He tilted the bottle to his lips and his throat worked as he drank it down.
It was more than obvious that Dave Logan was doing to her exactly what she had done to him with the popsicles. Giving as good as she’d dished out. Susan’s body throbbed, and her insides went liquid. She pinched her knees together, and shoved the other piece of the banana into her mouth. What the hell would this man say if she took him up on his joking offer?
Susan was about to find out, because she was done with this cat and mouse game with him. “Lead the way, Logan,” she said, with a lifted brow.
CHAPTER TEN
Logan gasped, sputtered, spewed then coughed as the last of the water in the bottle choked him. He coughed again, wiped his forearm over his mouth. His eyes met Susan’s determined blue gaze as she stalked toward him like a sleek jungle cat on the prowl. He stepped back and held up his hand. “We can’t go there, Susan. I don’t want to go there.” Even to his own ears, the words sounded hollow, lacked the conviction he wanted behind them.
Susan smiled a smile he imagined that jungle cat would wear when she had her prey cornered. The hot imprint of her hand on his fly burned through the material, and he bit back a pained groan. She stroked upward with firm pressure, then gripped him, and his balls tightened.
“Sure feels like you want to go there,” she purred, gripping him a little tighter.
Dave tried to step back, but his butt hit the minibar causing the bottles there to rattle. She moved in closer for the kill and Dave’s heart shot up to his throat, before bouncing back into his chest. It pounded there, as he fought to control his breathing.
“Susan, I—” His words were cut off by a moan when the pressure on his cock eased as she slid his zipper to the bottom of the track. He reached back to set down the water bottle then grabbed her shoulders. “We can’t, Susan,” he tried once more, even though…God, he wanted to so fucking bad.
“The dance is over, Logan, we’re going there. We both need it, and we need a shower.” Susan grinned, and something inside of him shifted. “Besides we haven’t had much rain lately. Conserving water just makes good sense.”
Good sense. Dave felt like he had none right at that moment. His brain was into neutral and there was no kicking it back into gear. Susan Whitmore had him by the balls, and she wasn’t letting go, or letting him tell her no. Dave didn’t want to tell her no. She was right, he did need this. The opportunity to find some relief was standing right here offering herself up on a silver platter, and he wasn’t stupid enough to turn her down.
But he wanted her to understand something. “It doesn’t mean anything,” he said grabbing her wrist to move her hand from his crotch. “Not a damned thing.”
“Of course not,” she scoffed, as he dragged her toward the bathroom. “I promise I won’t ask you to marry me, Logan. Till death would be about a week in our case, because we’d kill each other,” Susan said with a laugh.
Dave stopped at the bathroom door, and grabbed the knob. “Remember that later then,” he said twisting the knob. “And remember you wanted this.”
“Oh, I won’t forget,” she said, as he left her standing at the vanity to turn on the shower.
He shoved his jeans down his legs, ripped his shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor, before turning back to find Susan standing at the vanity with her thumbs hooked in the waistband of her yoga pants. She was gnawing her lower lip, and looked a little afraid now. She should be, because Dave wasn’t in the mood to be gentle with her.
“What?” he grated, then narrowed his eyes. “No changing your mind now.”
Her cheeks practically glowed red. “Um, I’m not changing my mind, but you need to know something. I, ah, have a little, ah…secret.”
“Holy shit, you’re not a man are you?” Dave asked, laughter warring with more than a little fear inside of him. “That would definitely explain a lot.”
Susan’s face got redder if that was possible, and gauging from her pinched lips, the added color was probably from anger. “No, I’m not a man. You’ll know that without a doubt shortly,” she replied indignantly. “But I will kick your ass like one if you come out with a comment like that again.” Roughly, Susan shoved her pants down to her knees, then took one leg out. She removed her other leg and dropped the pants on top of his shirt. Pinning him with her angry blue gaze, she grated, “I have a piercing, asshole.”
Her words zipped down his spine and shot straight to the end of his dick. “You what?” he asked, his temperature rising at least twenty degrees.
Susan stood there for a second, then pulled her tank over her head. In only her bra with her amazing breasts showing over the tops of the cups, Susan Whitmore had to be the sexiest woman he’d ever seen in his life. But she also looked very uncomfortable as she waited for his response to her announcement.
Dave was a little too stunned to speak at the moment, but knew he had to say something. He stepped forward to run his finger along the top of her cup, her nipples hardened and she shivered. Stroking a finger up the valley between her breasts, Dave tipped her chin up. “I think it’s sexy that you’re pierced there.” She was the first woman he’d ever known who was, and cringed to think of how painful it must’ve been to have that done. “I’m curious though, why?”
“I couldn’t get there with Carlos, and he suggested it,” she said with a shrug, her expression nowhere near as nonchalant as her tone. “He thought it would help.”
Although hearing about her sex life with another man was the last thing he wanted right at the moment, Dave couldn’t help but ask, “Did it help?”
It might be arrogant, but he had no doubt he could get her there. Some women just took a little more time and patience. Dave had plenty of patience, and enjoyed the getting her there part as much as getting off himself.
“I don’t know,” she replied with a nervous laugh. “I just got it done a couple of months ago, and couldn’t have sex while it healed. Carlos and I broke up.” She shrugged, then smiled widely. “I do know one thing, it definitely makes me want to have it.”
Dave turned and reached into the shower to test the water. He slid his underwear down to his ankles and turned back to find Susan’s mesmerized gaze glued to his ass. He turned to face her and her eyes widened, before she dragged them slowly up to his. After blinking twice, she blew out a breath. “Damn, boy.”
“Boy?” Dave repeated with a laugh. “Get your pretty ass in this shower and I’ll show you boy,” he said holding his hand out to her.
She shivered, as she put her hand in his, and he pulled her to him. Her softness melded with his body, her hardened nipples scraped his chest and Dave moaned. Walking backward, he dragged her into the shower with him, as he devoured her mouth. He slid the shower door closed, steam surrounded them, and water came from every direction as he turned to pin her body to the shower wall with his. Shoving his hand into her hair, Dave fisted it to pull her head back and taste her neck. Soft and sweet, he licked one spot, then another, before sucking hard on the pulse pounding there, dragging a throaty moan from her. Several tiny nips down to her shoulder and Susan whimpered as she squirmed against him. Hard to get there? Dave found that hard to believe considering her intense reactions. Carlos was an idiot.
“Please, Logan,” she begged breathlessly, rubbing her calf along his. Shifting her hips, Susan pressed up on her toes and his cock slipped between her thighs. Dave moaned as her slick heat glided over him, and he fought off an orgasm.
His fingers dug deeper into her ass to stop her. The incredible feel of her flesh sliding over him, also reminded him of something else. “I need to get a condom.”
“I’m on the pill,” Susan replied with a groan, dropping her forehead to his shoulder.
“Doesn’t matter,” Dave said stepping back. “This is temporary, Susan, and I don�
��t want to complicate things. I need to protect both of us, but I should’ve thought about it before we got in here. I’m sorry.”
Susan sighed heavily. “Totally not sexy, Logan,” she said taking a step to sit on the bench seat at the back of the shower. She folded her arms over her breasts, and he’d swear her bottom lip was poking out. “I was really close.”
“A baby or something worse is less sexy. And you’ll be really close again very quickly, just trust me,” he said with a laugh as he opened the door.
The apprehension and frustration, desperation almost, in her voice tugged at something inside of him. Susan really thought she had a problem. Dave was going to show her she didn’t. As soon as he got suited up. He was so damned rusty, he’d forgotten, which shocked the shit out of him. Jerking a towel off of the rack, he prayed that box was still in his bedroom.
It took five minutes, but Dave finally found them in his go bag at the bottom of his closet. He’d picked them up on his way home the night Sarah walked out on him. Thinking of that night was like a cold blast of water to his libido, as he walked back to the bathroom. What finished the job was finding Susan asleep on the bench seat in the shower.
Tossing the box onto the vanity with a heavy sigh, Dave got into the shower and washed quickly, then cleaned her up as best he could. Susan stirred, but didn’t wake up by the time he shut off the shower. Grabbing a towel from the linen closet, he went back into the shower and wrapped it around her.
“Wake up, Sue,” he said, gently shaking her shoulder. Dave stared at her a moment, wondering how a woman who was so conflicted in her waking hours could look so peaceful while she slept. He shook her once more, and it became apparent she wasn’t going to wake up. Sliding his arm under her legs, Dave lifted her to carry her out of the bathroom.
Almost to his bedroom door, Dave stopped as tiredness washed over him. His legs felt like noodles, and one more step might make them collapse. Instead of carrying her to the spare bedroom as planned, he reversed direction and brought her to his bed where he gently laid her down. Working the covers from under her body, he covered her up before crawling in beside her. His last waking thought was damn, I’m getting old.