by Dee, Bonnie
“I’m okay. Are you?”
A lump swelled in his throat. It was so typical of her to express concern for him. From the day he’d brought her home, he’d wondered if it wasn’t she who had saved him. Her sweet, caring nature had broken down the wall he’d built around himself, making him truly experience life for the first time in years.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “Look, I’m sorry it’s taking me so long to … get you back.” He glanced at Brody. If he was going to convince the guy he’d been won over, he must watch how he worded things. “I hope you can come home soon.”
“That would be good.” There was a brief pause. “Mr. Brody, are you there?”
Brody smiled. “Yes, Ms. Foster.”
“I wondered if your ulcer had responded to the new drug.”
“Why, yes. Thank you. My stomach’s been much better recently. Is there anything I can do for you, Trina?”
Justin was dumbfounded at the polite exchange.
“I could do with some new books. Do you have any recommendations?”
His smile widened. “Yes. I’ll send some books with Murav that I think you’ll enjoy.”
“Great. Thanks. It gets a little boring here, you know. If I could walk outdoors it would be nice.” Trina’s voice was as soothing and gentle as running water.
“I’m sorry. I hope to rectify the situation soon.”
“Justin,” she said, “did you call the university and tell them I’d have to take an incomplete on my classes this semester? I don’t want my GPA to slip.”
He actually laughed, the conversation was so bizarre. “No. I forgot, but I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks. I love you and hope to see you very soon.” Her voice cut off, leaving the office in silence.
“That’s one self-possessed girl,” Elyse said.
“Always has been.” A ghost of a smile remained on Justin’s lips. Clever girl, too. She’d given him information, letting him know Brody had health issues and she wasn’t here in Reno if Brody was sending her books. Brody’s guard, Murav, worked mainly at the Indiana retreat center. Justin felt certain that’s where she was. Now it was just a matter of getting her out.
“Do you feel better, Mr. Foster? Are you satisfied Trina is being looked after?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“A remarkable child … for a human.”
Their meeting appeared to be concluded, and Ray Brody bid them goodnight.
As Justin followed Elyse to her car, she dropped a bomb on him. “I didn’t get you a hotel room. It seemed silly when I have an extra bedroom in my apartment. You can stay with me.”
Justin bit back the acid comment that rose to his lips, remembering he was supposed to be getting close to Elyse, not insulting her or fighting with her every chance he got. “Thanks.”
The drive to her apartment was silent and loaded with tension that small talk wouldn’t have dispelled. There was only one thing that would alleviate the charge crackling in the air between them—raw, down and dirty sex. Here and now, fast and hard in the front seat of the car. Damn, why’d he have to think that? Justin’s cock surged erect and he shifted his body away from Elyse’s view. Glaring out the window at the city lights, he struggled to understand the conflicting hate/desire he felt for the woman and to quell his erection.
Her apartment wasn’t anything like he’d expected. The Elyse he’d met in L.A. lived surrounded by a stylish, white, minimalist décor with occasional dramatic splashes of scarlet. And she’d had all the accoutrements of a dungeon in her bedroom.
The real Elyse was much more homey and colorful. A hand-woven rug in shades of sienna, cocoa brown and dull red carpeted the hardwood floor. The living room furniture was mismatched and built for comfort rather than style. Plush pillows and vibrant crotchet afghans were tumbled on the couch and oversized armchairs. Primitive clay pottery, thick pillar candles and a profusion of plants covered most flat surfaces. The artwork on the walls was an eclectic mix of country primitives and Impressionist prints that somehow worked. Warm, rich, earth tones seemed to be the main thread to magically knit the whole room together. Elyse’s Earth Keeper roots were on display here.
“I know. It doesn’t look like me, does it?” Elyse caught his assessing look.
“Or, maybe the apartment in L.A. didn’t look like you.”
“Maybe they’re both me.” She shrugged. “Can I get you a drink?”
Justin was exhausted, practically staggering on his feet. He’d been tired ever since dinner. Lack of sleep the previous night, air travel, the workout with Elyse, and nervous tension had wiped him out. “I’d rather just go to bed.” There was a pregnant pause then he amended, “To sleep.”
“Sure. The guestroom’s in here.”
* * * *
Later, when he tried to recall what happened that evening, Justin barely remembered washing up in the bathroom and stripping off his clothes before toppling onto the soft bed and falling sound asleep.
He surfaced from a deep, dark pool of oblivion to swim up toward a bright light, squinting and shielding his eyes against it.
Trina was in the center of the light, telling him something. On a beach. They were on a white sand beach with gentle waves rhythmically breaking against the shore. “You know that don’t you?”
“What?” he asked.
“She isn’t as bad as she seems. She’s very confused.” Trina’s long brown hair and filmy white dress fluttered in the breeze. The sunlight shone around her like a halo.
“Who?” Justin caught a movement from the corner of his eye, but when he looked away from Trina’s bright face, it was dark and he couldn’t see anything on the beach. “Besides, you’re just a kid. What would you know about it?”
“I’m much more than what you think. But you always knew that.”
Justin heard Trina’s voice, but could no longer see her face.
“I’ll be fine. You can stop worrying about me,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to dig deeper and see what you uncover.”
The sea and sky were now a stormy navy blue, purple and black, rolling and tumbling overhead and around his legs. The white sand was gone. Justin struggled to stay upright as the waves buffeted his legs. Something was touching him underneath the water, coiling around his ankle and sliding up his leg. He kicked out, but it wouldn’t release him from its grip.
“Lie back and rest,” a voice ordered. “Relax.”
He floated in the waves as warm as bath water. He knew he wouldn’t sink or drown even if he went under, so Justin closed his eyes and gave in to the insistent pressure on the insides of his thighs. Smooth and firm, the touch rubbed up and down his legs, getting closer to his groin each time. It was no sea monster tentacle from the ocean, but a woman’s hands caressing him. Maybe a mermaid, Justin thought. His cock stiffened in response. It’d been so long since it had been touched and held.
“Yes, like that. Just lie still.” The hands encircled his shaft and gripped it tight, stroking up and down.
Justin groaned and pressed back into the soft sand that was suddenly there to support him. His breath caught as a hot, wet mouth surrounded the head of his cock, drawing him deeply inside. He groaned louder and lifted his hips.
The woman murmured something and her voice vibrated his cock head. Her tongue lapped the length of his shaft, teased into the slit on the head, then dipped lower and washed over his balls. Her hand continued to move inexorably up and down his shaft.
Then her mouth engulfed his cock again, and he plunged into her warmth. There seemed no end to how deeply she could swallow him, which made perfect sense, because mermaids didn’t need to breathe. Justin’s hips rose and fell as he fucked her mouth.
She made little erotic moans that let him know she liked it too.
The noise of the incoming waves grew louder in his ears. In fact it filled his head and his whole body. The waves were inside him, filling him, coiling and rolling larger and larger. He liked sex on the beach. This was good.
> Justin thrust faster and faster. He needed to get ever deeper into the woman’s mouth. His whole attention focused on that one simple thing. He gripped her hair. It was long and silky and coiled around his hands like seaweed.
The waves roiling around inside him crashed against the shore of his consciousness. As he came, Justin cried out in a prolonged wail. “Aaaghh!”
His eyelids fluttered open and he realized he wasn’t on a beach, but in bed with Elyse Greenwood lying between his legs. He was buried balls-deep in her throat and his hands clutched her hair as if it were a life preserver keeping him afloat. His hips continued to jerk up and down as she milked his cock of every last bit of cum.
Fully conscious now, Justin considered tearing back the covers and casting Elyse from the bed, but he did neither of those things. Instead he pretended to be asleep as his body slowly subsided and his cock grew soft again. He breathed deeply and steadily so she would believe his pretense of sleep. Releasing her hair, he let one hand fall to the side and flopped the other arm over his eyes.
Elyse let his dick slip from her mouth. She kissed the sharp bone of his hip, then crawled from between his legs and out from under the covers, letting cold air in. She stood for a moment beside the bed, staring down at him. He could feel it.
He moaned and rolled to his side, away from her. The thought flashed through his mind that his wine at dinner had been drugged. It explained his ability to doze through most of a blowjob. Usually his senses were alert, whether he was awake or asleep, conditioned from years of undercover work. He really needed to quit trusting the bitch.
Then pretense became real and he drifted back into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter Five
Elyse sat on the plane, gazing out at white mist that blocked her view of the ground below. She glanced at Justin reading a magazine and thought about how hot the previous night had been. The feel of his warm, hairy legs cradling her body and the solid, length of his cock in her palm once more was like coming home. She’d relished every moment of the blowjob, especially the knowledge that Justin was vulnerable and under her control. Elyse always liked him at a disadvantage.
She hadn’t been sure if Justin would drink enough wine at dinner to accomplish her goal or how much of the drug it would take to keep him sedated while she had her way with him. He was a big man, so she erred on the side of a helluva lot. It had worked perfectly. Justin had been wakeful enough to respond to her ministrations, but his memory would be of a very vivid erotic dream.
Her plan was to wear down Justin’s resistance and force his libido to overcome his hatred of her. It certainly had been a lot easier to seduce him the first time around when, as far as he knew, she was just a hot chick he’d met at an L.A. club rather than a despised enemy. But Elyse rose to challenges, she thrived on them. She’d make Justin so hungry for her, he wouldn’t even care she’d betrayed him.
Betrayed. It was such a harsh word. Was what she’d done really all that bad? So Justin had to do a few favors for Brody, eventually Trina would be returned to him safe and sound. Like her daddy always said, “Pragmatism makes the world go round.”
Justin flipped the page of his magazine and she watched him unobserved, wondering about last night. He hadn’t mentioned the dream at her apartment earlier that morning. Not that she’d expected him to. In fact he’d barely talked at all.
At breakfast Elyse had filled the silence by explaining their assignment. “We’re going to southern Indiana near the Wabash fault line. We’ll be setting up instruments and taking readings on the seismic activity in the area as well as measuring magnetic currents.”
Justin had gazed at her over his cereal bowl as if she were nuts. “What’s the purpose? And what’s my function in all of this? I’m no seismologist.”
She’d merely shrugged and smiled. “Need to know basis, remember? I’ll let you know as soon as I know.”
Brody’s plan for throwing them together and testing Justin’s loyalty with this make-believe project was beyond stupid. It didn’t make any sense at all, but then his directives often didn’t. It was amazing such an impulsive, illogical man was so successful. But when Brody spoke in his melting chocolate voice, it was clear exactly how he was able to mesmerize and control so many followers both human and Terran.
Once more Elyse gazed at Justin’s profile and thought about the previous night. It had felt so good to touch his silky skin over steel muscles and to taste him again. It would have been better if he’d been conscious and participating, but that would come.
Suddenly he turned and caught her staring at him.
She quickly looked away.
“So, is there a bonus or promotion for you at the end of this assignment? And what did you get for securing me as Brody’s lapdog?”
“I know you hate me for that, but I hope we can work together without you bringing it up every two minutes.” Elyse leaned back in her seat and half closed her eyes as if he bored her.
When he leaned toward her, she caught a whiff of the warm, manly smell that made her insides go weak. “No, tell me. I really want to know what motivates you, what makes you think you can use people to get what you want.”
“Please! Like you don’t manipulate people too? Everyone does.”
“You told me before your mother raised you as an Earth Keeper. I have friends who are Earth Keepers. I know how they think. They’re all about nurturing, growing things and protecting the environment. I don’t understand how you could come from that background and end up as destructive as you are. What the hell did your father teach you?”
At his words, Elyse’s mind flashed back to her mother squatting beside her in a sun-drenched herb garden explaining the healing qualities of different plants. It was followed by a memory of her father teaching her how to shill the stupid humans who visited his whorehouse.
“My father taught me how the world really works,” she said flatly, then closed her eyes to stop Justin’s intrusive questions.
He fell silent and Elyse pretended to sleep so she didn’t have to talk for the rest of the flight.
The plane landed at the Terre Haute International airport. They rented a car and drove to a nearby motel. It would be their operational headquarters while she led Justin in a merry game of “Let's pretend we’re busy when we’re actually accomplishing nothing.” It was still early in the day so Elyse suggested driving out to the area they were to survey and stopping for lunch on the way.
As they drove, she outlined what she knew about the area. “The Wabash Valley fault system has lain dormant for a long time. The last large earthquake in this area occurred when the North American tectonic plate separated from the Euro-Asian plate, creating the continents we’re familiar with. You never hear about temblors in southern Indiana, but it doesn’t mean the area couldn’t become active.”
“Especially if Ray Brody lends a helping hand,” Justin guessed.
She shrugged. “Need to know basis. It’s his business. I don’t need to know.”
They headed south toward Knox County. There weren’t a lot of restaurant choices along the way and Elyse finally pulled up in front of a rundown diner. The place smelled of grill grease from fifty years of frying breakfasts, lunches and dinners. She critically inspected her fork, then ordered something that wouldn’t require utensils.
Justin plowed through a burger and fries while Elyse picked sad-looking tomato slices from her club sandwich.
“Doesn’t it bother you?” He suddenly regarded her with his piercing gaze.
“What?”
“You were raised to love the land, yet you’re working for a man who doesn’t have the least regard for it, a whack-job who talks about detonating earthquakes. Doesn’t that set alarm bells ringing in your Earth Keeper security system?”
“I’m not a Keeper just because my mom taught me some stuff. In case you haven’t noticed, I have Protector strength—like my father. That’s where my talent lies.” Elyse returned the top slice of bread to her sandwich and b
it in.
“But you aren’t protecting anything. If being a Protector were truly your nature, you’d find it inconceivable to allow Keepers or the environment to be damaged. That’s what we’re born to do—protect.”
She swallowed her bite of cheap white bread, fake cheese and processed meat, then quickly washed it down with a sip of too-sweet iced tea. “You’ve been indoctrinated to think that’s your only function in life. I have a broader world view.”
He tossed the rest of his burger onto his plate and sat back from the table. “What? To take everything you can get and never worry about who you hurt along the way? Who taught you that? Your Destroyer father?”
A flash of anger shot through Elyse like a lightning bolt. She prided herself on keeping her cool under every circumstance and didn’t like the sudden, powerful emotion possessing her. “Look, you don’t know anything about me or my life so why don’t you shut the hell up and quit judging.”
“Tell me about it then. What happened to your mother? What was it like living with your dad?”
She glared at him across the table, furious as memories of her past churned inside her. She’d put those recollections to rest a long time ago. “None of your business.”
“Come on, Elyse. I really want to understand you.”
Justin’s gaze was sharp and cool, but concerned too. She sensed he was honestly interested in what made her tick.
“You’d never understand me even if I told you my whole life story. You’re too damn narrow-minded.”
“Try me.”
“Fine!” she exploded, loudly enough to draw the attention of the few other diners in the restaurant. She dropped her voice before she spoke again. “My mom didn’t just die, she killed herself and not in a pleasant, pill-induced sleep. She cut her wrists and bled out. I came home from school and found her. I was eleven.”
A flicker of shock shimmered across Justin’s expressive eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“But my relatives might as well have been holding the blade.” Elyse heard her voice, rough and dry as sandpaper. “They cut her off when she got involved with my father. We were ostracized from the rest of the family, and it tore my mother up. Explain to me how ‘kind-hearted, earth-loving nurturers’ could do that to one of their own.”