Linked

by Barbara Huffert

  “Yes. Oh God, yes! Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.”

  “No way. I’m going to fuck you so good. I’m going to ride you so long and hard that you won’t remember how your body feels without my cock ramming it.” He stopped talking to watch his shaft take her. “Christ, I wish you could see this. We’ll do it again in front of a mirror so you can watch too.”

  “Guuuy!” she screamed as she flew apart at the feel of him.

  Guy chuckled wickedly but didn’t even slow down. “That’s it. Scream my name so I’m sure you know who’s fucking you.” He added a little twist to his withdrawal.

  “Guy! Oh, oh, oh, Guy!” Tori convulsed again.

  “Right again.” He swatted her cheek, guiding her with one hand. “Tell me, Tori. Tell me who’s making you come,” he demanded with another swat.

  “You are,” she gasped, on the verge again.

  “Who am I?” Two rapid swats. “What’s my name?” More swats.

  “Guy! You are, Guy.”

  “Guy,” he agreed, probing her anus. As soon as his fingertip penetrated her tight bud, Tori screamed his name and shook uncontrollably, peaking yet again.

  “Put your head down.” Guy pressed against her back. “Stick that tight ass up higher. It’ll make it better.”

  “Oh, oh, oh, Guuuy,” Tori panted beneath him, climaxing almost continually now.

  With a feral growl and a punishing thrust, Guy jammed his rigid pole into Tori as if he wanted to go even deeper. All the semen he’d hoarded shot almost violently from him and the feel of it pushed Tori over the crest one final time. He was still pulsing when he wrapped an arm around her waist and collapsed onto her back. When Guy finally realized he was crushing her, he maneuvered them to their sides and held her tightly with his shaft still inside.

  “Holy Christ.” Guy tightened his hold. “You okay?”

  “Don’t know. Can’t tell. Can’t think.”

  “Yeah,” he sighed against her neck. Soon his tongue was licking it. When it found her ear, his lips latched on to the lobe.

  “Oh God, no. No more,” Tori gasped but didn’t try to move.

  “Sweet. Salty and sweet.” He continued to taste her skin.

  “Please,” Tori protested weakly.

  “Sh,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m just cuddling. I need to bring myself down like this or I won’t be able to let go.”

  “Don’t.”

  “Sorry but I have to. Don’t fight me now. Don’t push me or I’ll have to take you again and I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “No! Don’t let go.” She wrapped an arm over his as best she could. “That was… I never… You were… What I mean… Oh my God, Guy.”

  “Sh, tiger. I get it. Me too.” He bit her neck where it met her shoulder and soothed it with a kiss. “Sleep with me.”

  “Okay.”

  “Like this. Let me hold you exactly as I am and sleep with me.”

  “Okay,” she repeated, tilting her head to kiss his arm. “Guy,” she sighed.

  “Sh.” He briefly remembered the light was still on but decided it didn’t matter. “Sleep now. Everything else can wait until morning.”

  “Mm,” Tori agreed.

  Within minutes, Guy felt Tori’s body relax and knew she was out for the night, or what little was left of it. “I love you, Tori tiger,” he whispered, needing to say the words out loud before he gave in and slept with her.

  Chapter Ten

  “Oh shit!” Tori exclaimed as struggled to free herself from Guy’s possessive embrace. When he grunted and gave the breast he had been holding a lazy caress, she elbowed his ribs. “God damn, son of a bitch! Stop that and get the hell off me! Damn it, Guy! Let go!”

  “Whoa,” Guy nuzzled her neck. “Slow down, tiger. What’s the rush?”

  “It’s eight thirty-five, you big French control freak! Get up already!”

  Guy bolted upright. “Christ! We overslept.”

  “No duh. Ya think?” She swatted at the arm still holding her in place.

  Tori rolled her eyes and he scowled. “Valley girl bimbette doesn’t suit you.”

  “We don’t have time for this. Todd’s going to be here in less than half an hour and you’re being a jerk. Let go and get dressed.”

  He tightened his arm and tipped her chin so she had to look at him. “Tori, stop. We have plenty of time so take a deep breath and hold still for just one minute.”

  “Guy,” her voice filled with frustration but she stopped squirming and looked at him. “What?”

  “That’s better.” Guy grinned and kissed her gently until she was breathless. “I just wanted to say good morning. Tonight we’ll set an alarm so we have time to make love tomorrow before we get out of bed like I wanted to today.”

  Tori sputtered. “I don’t believe you. Is sex all you can think about? Jeez, you’re too arrogant for words. Assuming we’d be sleeping together again. Who the hell do you think you are?”

  “I’m the man you promised to give a chance last night when you were begging for my cock. The same man you made the deal with. The one where I fuck you the way you wanted me to and you don’t shy away from my touch whether it’s a simple embrace or a night of sweet loving.” He sounded furious as he ran a hand over his face. “You made the choice and I’m holding you to it.” He released her and got out of bed. “Give me two minutes to shower and I’ll go make breakfast. Take your time. I’ll tell him you had a bad night and I didn’t want to wake you.” With that he stalked from the room and slammed the bathroom door behind him.

  Tori was still scolding herself for her behavior when she walked into the kitchen after her shower. The apology she owed Guy would have to wait because Todd and Ned were already there. They had been talking but all three stopped as soon as she stepped into the room.

  “Sit down, Tori,” Guy urged, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “I made you some cocoa.”

  Todd waited until Guy placed her mug on the table before he snarled, “Outside, Guy. Now.”

  Guy knew what was coming and couldn’t decide how much to tell him by way of explanation. He concluded that it would be best to answer Todd’s questions honestly. He trusted him enough to know that his brother-in-law would never use what he said to hurt Tori even if he was angry with what he was about to hear.

  Todd stormed off the porch, across the yard and didn’t face Guy until they were almost at the end of the driveway. For a moment, he just glared. “Well?”

  “I know.”

  “Do you? Do you really? I don’t think so! She’s a witness, Guy. A witness who you’re supposed to be protecting, not screwing! That’s the whole point of you being here. Do you have any idea what this means? You can’t possibly believe that I wouldn’t notice the difference and figure out what changed things. You’re not that stupid. What the hell were you thinking? You weren’t thinking! Not with your brain anyway. All you had to do was keep your pants zipped until this was over but no, you had to go and let your dick think for you. God damn it, Guy!”

  Guy let Todd vent until he ran out of steam and then told him the main reason behind their new intimacy. “She was determined to find a man, Todd. What other choice did I have? If it had been Terese what would you have done?”

  Todd swore for another minute before calming down. “All right, you made your point. Just keep it private, okay? I understand how you feel but you can’t flaunt this. When you’re with us, you have to let the rest of us do our jobs. We will do our jobs. We’re as concerned for Tori’s safety as you are so if something happens don’t think you’re the only one who can protect her. Don’t fuck up and put us all in jeopardy by doing something stupid.”

  Guy nodded. “If Tori leaves that out of her dream…”

  “Give me some credit here, Guy. This is me. You know me better than that. I won’t push her if she skips it and I won’t ask her to elaborate if she gives the bare minimum. You know, I always thought you were the calm one but you’re even worse than your sisters.”

&
nbsp; “Hey. I still am the calm one.”

  “Yeah.” Todd chuckled and headed for the door. “As long as it’s not about Tori, you’re fine. They’re going to have a field day when they figure this out.”

  “I know,” Guy sighed. “Guess I should have kept my mouth shut when they were falling in love.”

  “Paybacks are a bitch but you have to admit you deserve whatever you get.”

  “Yeah, yeah, don’t you start. I’m still the one who introduced you.”

  They were both grinning like fools when they returned to the kitchen. “Everything okay?” Tori asked.

  “It’s fine,” Guy assured her as he retrieved the plate she had set aside for him in the microwave.

  “Sorry if I worried you, Tori,” Todd apologized. “I needed to go over some family business with Guy and didn’t want to bother you and Ned with it.”

  “Oh. Okay.” She knew there was more to it but didn’t press the issue.

  “Tori was telling me how she had a rough night,” Ned filled in quickly. “I thought it best to wait for you before she explained.”

  “Why don’t you eat your breakfast first?” Todd suggested.

  “I’d rather talk. I don’t think I can eat anyway.” Tori had obviously been pushing her food around on her plate without touching it.

  “Well, nibble on your toast at least,” Todd urged. “Not eating and making yourself sick won’t help anything.” He waited for her to take it off her plate before he took it away and began to clean up the dishes.

  “You don’t have to do that.” Tori tried to take over.

  “No, but I am anyway. Sit down and let me. We invaded your house so it’s the least I can do. Besides, Terese would skin me alive if she found out I sat by and let you wait on me.”

  “But you didn’t eat.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I will later.”

  Reluctantly, Tori returned to the table. Soon she began to tell them of her latest nightmare and information that the men had added at the end. When she reached the part that centered on what they intended to do when they found her, she blushed until her cheeks flamed but forced herself to relate a brief description. She glossed over many of the specifics but said enough for them to get the gist of what she implied.

  Todd remained passive, watching both Tori and Guy. When she concluded, he couldn’t help but be proud of both of them. Tori for the way she handled the awkwardness of the situation and Guy for having the restraint to let her speak without interruption. He was even more pleased when Guy refrained from reaching for her. Instead of pulling her close, as Todd knew without a doubt was what every fiber of Guy’s being was screaming for him to do, he merely put his hand on the table so it was available if she needed it. When Tori did exactly that, he met Guy’s eyes and acknowledged the significance of her unconscious gesture.

  After Tori finished, Todd called back to his office and updated the staff assisting them with her new information.

  “Do you really think you can find them in time?” Tori asked.

  “Honestly, we have about the same chance of locating the proverbial needle in the haystack. Which is slightly better than we had yesterday. Knowing about the early dismissal narrows the search somewhat even though many schools are having parent-teacher conferences now. Kimmie is a surprisingly popular name for the age bracket we’re looking at.”

  “So are Kim and Kimberly,” Ned added. “Too bad Sam hasn’t called the mom by her first name. That would be a big help.”

  Guy had been watching Todd closely and knew there was something he wasn’t saying. “You going to tell us what’s rolling around in your head, Todd?”

  Todd hesitated. “I was just thinking. It’s probably nothing but they’re not following the established pattern this time.”

  “What? Sure they are,” Ned disagreed.

  “No, not entirely. From what we know, they always choose victims who won’t be found until the next morning. Granted, the early dismissal gives them a window of a few hours but it’s still not as much time as the usually have. Maybe they’re distracted by the thought of their next destination, maybe they’re overconfident, maybe they’re getting sloppy but I can’t help wondering why they’re taking the chance of the mom showing up early. Tori, has she said anything about what time her appointment is?”

  “I don’t think so.” Tori frowned in concentration. “No, I’m sure she hasn’t.”

  “That means they’re assuming she’s going to the school after she leaves work at her regular time. What if she arranged to leave early? What if she gets there while they’re still there? What if she realizes what’s going on before she walks in and calls for help without them knowing she’s there?”

  “What if she walks in and they kill her too?” Guy interrupted.

  “That’s a possibility too but it doesn’t seem like they even considered this.” Todd shook his head. “Don’t mind me. I’m just grasping at straws. It irks me that we’re running out of time and the odds are against us on finding them before it’s too late.”

  Todd’s thoughts brought on a heavy silence as they all pondered his conclusion. It lasted until Ned began to drum his fingers on the table.

  “I need you to let me do something, Tori,” he stated uncertainly.

  “W-what?” She clamped down on Guy’s hand again.

  “Let us put in an alarm system. I know Guy’s staying here and he’d die before he let them get to you. I couldn’t stop thinking about what you said about them coming to find you or their Miss Vicky. With what you added this morning I can’t help it. I realize that the chances of an alarm making any difference are ninety-nine point nine percent against but I would feel better if you had one at least temporarily until they’re caught.”

  “I agree, Ned,” Todd spoke up. “In fact, I insist.” Not letting her respond, he quickly called and arranged for a system to be installed within the hour.

  The agents stayed until the alarm was in place and functioning properly. There was no other reason for them to linger so they returned to their office, leaving Guy and Tori alone.

  “Is there any way I could go to the library this afternoon?” Tori asked the instant the door closed behind the men. “Even if it’s just for half an hour, I’d really appreciate it if I could. I miss talking to Diana. I feel like I’m shutting her out and I don’t want her to think that, too. I know I could always call her or ask her to stop by here but it would mean more to her if I came to her. I won’t even ask you to leave us alone. It’s just that…oh, I don’t know.”

  “It’s okay, Tori. I understand. And I admit that I’m going overboard with the paranoia and protectiveness. I can’t help it and I’m not going to stop. I’m sure it’s starting to seem like it but I’m not trying to make you a prisoner in your own home. Tell you what. You let me call Barry and ask him to check out the library first and I’ll drop you off for a few hours.”

  “Drop me off as in leave me there while you go somewhere else?”

  “Yes. As you pointed out before, they’re not coming here today. If this were Thursday, I’d agree only if you promised to stay within arm’s length of me. Barry and I need to go over a few things on other cases anyway. We can do that while you’re with Diana. Afterward, if you’re ready to eat something, we could go out for an early dinner. Maybe catch a movie too if there’s one you want to see.”

  Tori stared in amazement. “Jeez, that almost sounds like you’re asking me for a date.”

  “What if I am?”

  Her jaw dropped. “Are you?”

  “Actually, yes. Interested?”

  “Um, well, okay, sure. I don’t really get it but why not?”

  “What’s not to get? Granted, you’re stuck with me for now and we’re doing this backward but so what? I’m attracted to you and want to spend time with you, so what’s wrong with a little socializing?”

  “Nothing, I guess. It seems a little weird.”

  “If it makes you uncomfortable we can come straight home.”

>   “No. I’d like to go out.”

  “Great. Let me call Barry and we’ll get going.”

  “Then I better go change my clothes.”

  Guy laughed. “Yeah, I guess I should too. Even if you decide you don’t feel like going out later, these jeans have seen better days.” He looked down at faded pair he’d grabbed in his hurry to be dressed before Todd arrived.

  “Hmm.” Tori tilted her head. “You’re probably right but it’s too bad. I kind of like the way they’re worn in all the right places.” Her face turned bright red at his grin. “I don’t believe I just said that.” When he couldn’t hold in a chuckle, she fled from the room.

  Chapter Eleven

  “How are you and Guy getting along?” Diana asked when the conversation lagged.

  Tori shrugged. “Okay, I guess.” Diana’s expression told her she wanted more of an answer. “We’re sort of going on a date tonight.”

  “Oh?” Diana waited.

  “Yeah. He thinks he’s attracted to me or something so he asked me to dinner and a movie.”

  “And you accepted. Does that mean you’re attracted to him too?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. He’s not really the jerk I thought he was at first and he’s not hard to look at or anything. I could be interested but I wonder if it’s not really a case of hero worship. He dropped everything to come to my rescue so I could just be reacting to that and not really to Guy as a man. He’s a little overwhelming with the protector bit so it could be the same thing in reverse for him.”

  “Hmm, I suppose that could be the case. Or you could both be honestly attracted to each other. Don’t be so quick to rule that out.”

  “I won’t. We talked about it and decided to give the idea a chance.”

  “But?”

  “But it doesn’t seem really likely. I saw the woman he was with at the bar that night, Diana. She was supermodel material. I can’t imagine why he’d go for someone like me when he’s used to that. You must have heard some of the things Barry’s said. I get the impression that he dates a lot and they’re all similar to her.”