Partners in Crime, page 16
“Nighty night,” Peter said, and squeezed as hard as he could. The Hulk fought against him, trying to punch backwards and get Peter to release him. Peter absorbed two or three punches but didn’t let go. It seemed to take forever. The crowd booed loudly, and Piper thought that if Peter survived The Hulk, he wouldn’t survive the spectators, who had probably lost a mint in bets.
Finally, The Hulk’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he stopped struggling. Then, he lost consciousness, and he fell back against Peter, pinning him to the ground.
Piper and Adesh erupted in cheers and hugged each other. “Help,” Piper heard. Peter was under The Hulk, barely making a sound. “Help. Air. Hulk. Big,” he croaked.
Piper and Adesh climbed into the ring and helped Peter get out from under The Hulk, who was still out cold. Adesh lifted Peter’s hand in triumph, but the princess wasn’t happy.
“Finish him!” she yelled at Peter. “You need to finish him.”
“I’ve killed enough people lately,” Peter gasped back to her. “He’s finished enough. I kicked his balls into his abdominal cavity. I think that’s enough.”
Piper held her breath, waiting for the princess to order them to be killed, but she surprised her when she smiled. “Fine. Do not kill my champion. I saw what I needed to see.”
“And you’ll tell us who the serial killer is?” Piper asked, hopefully.
“No. But I’ll tell you who ordered your deaths and who hired the paramilitary group,” she said.
CHAPTER 18
“Don’t make me move. I can never move again,” Peter moaned and didn’t move.
“Just your arm. Move your arm,” Piper urged. They were lying like spoons on a queen-sized hotel bed together, and Peter’s heavy arm was draped over her. Adesh was sprawled out on the other bed in the room and was snoring loudly, like he was trying to inhale his pillow.
With Adesh taking up one bed, Peter and Piper had collapsed onto the other bed the minute they entered the hotel room, and none of them had moved since.
That was fourteen hours ago.
Now, Piper was painfully dehydrated. Her foot was cramping from it. Her mouth was so dry that she could hardly swallow. She was also still filthy from the mud avalanche.
“I need water,” she croaked. “I need a shower. I need to know I’m alive.”
“You’re not alive because I’m not alive,” Peter moaned. “I’m dead, and I’m talking to you. That means you’re dead too. The Hulk killed me.”
“You survived The Hulk. You punched him in the balls and choked him out.”
“I didn’t survive The Hulk. Otherwise, I could move. And I wouldn’t be dead.”
Piper struggled to lift his arm off of her. She felt half-dead, too. It was twenty-four hours since she had been caught in the mud avalanche, and she could feel the full force of it on her body. She was covered in scrapes and bruises, and every muscle ached from her struggles against the mudflow.
They had flown out of Indonesia in the private plane last night and had flown here to Colombia. They slept through the flight, not bothering to take advantage of the gourmet meals or the steam shower. The physical trials they had gone through had worn them out, and all they could do was sleep.
Almost dying repeatedly had taken a toll.
Now, they were in Colombia, tracing down Princess Anna’s clue. Epsilon Five was the name of the organization who had hired the Indonesian paramilitary group, and Peter used to serve with two of its founding members.
“That’s not a good thing,” Peter had told her. “Those guys are talented. More talented than The Hulk, to say the least.”
They had gone to Colombia in hopes of following a trail to the serial killer and the secrets to Piper’s past, but something about Peter’s hesitancy in dealing with Epsilon Five made her hope they didn’t find the group and could find another path to solving this mystery.
Piper moved her legs off the bed and let them hang there for a moment before attempting to get up. She felt like she had been dragged behind a horse. She pushed against her pillow, in order to sit up.
“Ow,” she croaked. “Ow, ow, ow.”
“Be quiet,” Peter moaned. “It hurts to hear.”
“It hurts to hear?”
“It hurts to do anything. Blinking hurts.”
“You’re such a baby,” she said and then cried in pain as she tried to stand. Her knees buckled, and she held onto the nightstand for support. “I can only open one eye. I wonder what that means.”
“Again, it hurts to hear,” Peter moaned.
Adesh continued to snore. He hadn’t moved a muscle since Piper had woken.
She hobbled across the room and opened the mini-fridge. She took out two bottles of water and moaned in pain as she bent down. She carried the bottles into the bathroom and closed the door.
Putting one of the bottles on the bathroom counter, she opened the other bottle. As she took a swig of water, she noticed herself in the mirror and gasped, which made her choke on the water.
Piper was a mess. Worse than a mess. Her hair was caked to her head in uneven hills and valleys. Her face was filthy. She had a cut on her chin and a big black eye.
“That’s why I can’t open it,” she croaked and took another drink of the water, swishing it around her mouth to try and cut the dryness.
Her clothes were in tatters, and she was aghast that her right breast was showing where her shirt and bra had ripped. She put her hand in her pocket. Her magic debit card was still there in the safe plastic covering she had bought. They had used the card for the trip to Colombia and their hotel room.
The skeleton key was still hanging around her neck on the necklace that Peter had given her. That was a good thing, she thought, even though there was a good chance that wherever the key led would result in yet one more attempt on her life.
Piper drank the rest of the water bottle and gingerly removed her clothes, trying not to touch her scrapes and bruises. She turned the water on in the large, walk-in shower and said a prayer to the universe that the hot water and soap wouldn’t sting.
She stepped under the water and let it run over her. It did sting initially, but the stinging subsided, settling into the wonderful relaxation of the massage jets and the scalding hot water. She stood there for a long time before she mustered the energy to open the hotel soap and begin to clean herself.
Piper washed herself from head to toe and then back up again. It was a Herculean task to get clean, but finally, she had washed away the mud avalanche and the remnants of her captivity in Indonesia. She was about to get out of the shower, when she heard a clicking noise.
She stuck her head out to find Peter standing in the bathroom. He had closed the door behind him, and he was removing his clothes.
“I’m naked!” she cried.
“Obviously. You’re in the shower. Shower means naked.”
“But I’m naked!”
“I’ve seen you naked.”
Piper grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. “But that couldn’t be helped. This can be helped. Don’t come in here when I’m naked.”
Peter removed the last of his clothes. If Piper had been pulled by a horse, Peter looked every inch like The Hulk had beaten him up. He was bruised and battered on every square inch of his body.
Besides that, though, he was hotter than hell. A perfect specimen of a man. A poster for every diet and exercise plan on the planet.
“You’re naked!” she accused.
“That’s because I’m going to take a shower.”
He took a couple of steps toward her. “But I’m in the shower!” she yelled at him.
“I don’t mind. Look, I’m coming in. If you want to shower with me, that’s fine with me. You can get my back.” He paused a moment and smirked at her, arching an eyebrow. “Or whatever else you want to get of mine,” he added, and his eyes flashed subtly down and up her body.
She couldn’t think of anything better than taking a shower with Peter and taking care of his back and his other body parts. But her body hurt, Adesh was on the other side of the door, and she didn’t think she jumped into showers with men she barely knew without at least going on a date first.
A flash went through her mind. A red dress with crinolines. The Viennese Waltz. A strong hand reaching for her.
“What just happened?” Peter asked her, concerned.
“Nothing. I…”
“You froze for a moment and looked off in the distance. Did you remember something?”
“I don’t know. It was just a flash,” she said, stepping out of the shower. She walked around Peter, careful not to touch any part of him. That was hard to do because he was big and took up a good portion of the bathroom.
“Anything can help. Did you remember the serial killer?”
“No. I remembered a waltz and a red dress,” she said. “Nothing exciting.”
“Let me know if you remember something else, so we can wrap this up.”
Peter stepped into the shower, and he moaned loudly as the hot water touched his body. Piper wiped the foggy mirror with a towel. She looked better. Her hair was back to normal, and the hot water helped to open her eye.
She found a package with a toothbrush and toothpaste in it, and she brushed her teeth. Peter kept moaning in the shower, and she could hear Adesh snoring through the bathroom door. As she brushed her teeth, she thought about what Peter had said: Wrap this up.
If they wrapped this up, what would that mean for Piper? Since she didn’t know anything about her past, she had no idea what she would be going back to if she found out who she was. And what would happen with Peter? If they wrapped this up, would he disappear from her life just as suddenly as he appeared in her life?
Did Peter want that? Did he want to wrap things up and go on his merry way?
Did Piper want that? Since she stepped out of the tunnel in the Redwood Forest, she had spent nearly every moment with Peter, and she never had the desire to be without him.
She rinsed her mouth and found a hotel comb and began to comb her hair. As she did, she snuck a peek at Peter. He was washing his hair, and his eyes were closed to protect them from the shampoo that ran into his face.
Even with amnesia, she knew men weren’t supposed to look like him. He looked airbrushed. Photoshopped. Piper sighed and stepped out of the bathroom with the other bottle of water, closing the door. She walked back to the bed, still wrapped in a towel.
Peter and Piper had slept over the bedspread, and now it was filthy. Piper threw it off the bed and settled under the sheets on her side. Adesh sat up. “Where are we?” he asked her.
“Colombia.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Adesh said, rubbing his eyes. “I feel great.”
“You do? Peter and I feel like we’ve been at Altamont.”
“I feel great, but I’m hungry, and I need a computer.”
“Do you want to go shopping?” Piper asked. “You could buy your computer and get us clothes on your way back. My debit card is in my pants pocket on the floor of the bathroom.”
“Sounds good!” Adesh said and jumped up from the bed, as if he hadn’t almost died in a mud avalanche, wasn’t abducted, tied up, and threatened with his life. “May I buy whatever equipment I want?”
“Knock yourself out,” she said and turned over on her other side.
Adesh used the room’s phone to call down to the concierge in order to hire a guide and driver to help him with the shopping. Then, he fetched Piper’s card from the bathroom as Peter was leaving it, wrapped in a towel. Adesh said goodbye and left the room in search of technology. Peter got on the phone and called room service.
Then, he slipped under the sheets and laid down on his side, facing Piper.
“The other bed is empty. You can go to the other bed,” she told him.
They were inches apart, and they locked eyes. He had beautiful blue eyes. Round and large. Peter arched an eyebrow. “Do I make you nervous?”
“You take up a lot of space in the bed. What if I want to spread my legs?”
He arched his eyebrow again. “Oh now, Piper. That’s just too easy. Don’t throw me lines like that and expect me not to respond.
She felt herself blush. “Are you flirting with me?”
“Do you want me to flirt with you?” he asked, and his eyes grew dark as his pupils dilated.
“Oh,” she breathed and cleared her throat. “So, what’s the plan in Colombia?” she asked, changing the subject.
“We’re going to visit my old friend,” he said.
“Oh, no. Not another old friend. They always want to kill me.”
“There’s a good chance this one will want to kill you too, but we don’t have a choice. You know,” he said and traced the line of her cheek down to her chin with his finger, making her warm all over. “Adesh will be out for a long time. We could spend this time to get to know each other better.”
“We know each other well enough. You’ve seen me naked already. We’ve slept together and have almost died together a half-dozen times.”
Peter put his hand on her lower back and pulled her to him until the length of her body touched his. He nuzzled her ear, gently sucking on her good earlobe. Piper gasped and pushed closer to him. If he sucked on her earlobe again, she was sure she was going to jump his bones. There was no way she could stop herself.
“I think there’s more to learn about each other,” he said, practically purring in her ear. “For instance, I don’t know if you like this.”
Peter opened her towel and cupped her breast, letting his thumb glide over her nipple. She felt it harden, and she felt her core tighten in arousal.
“That’s not bad,” she allowed. “But you’re in pain. You shouldn’t be moving.”
“I have an incredible threshold for pain. How about you? Let’s check out your threshold. But not for pain.”
He lifted her leg over his hip, and his fingers found the slick space between her legs. “Why Piper, either you forgot to dry yourself after your shower, or you like me. You really, really like me,” Peter said.
His fingers caressed as his lips claimed hers. Their tongues met in an explosion of passion. The mutual attraction coupled with days of heightened adrenaline had left Piper wanting him with a force she didn’t know she had inside her.
She rocked against his hand as his clever fingers brought her closer and closer to climax. She snaked her hand under his arm and around to his back. It felt good to touch him. Aware of his aches and pains, she gently trailed her hand down his muscular back and cupped his ass, pulling even closer to him.
Peter groaned with pleasure. His erection grew, pressing against her.
Wow, this was going fast, Piper thought as her body crossed a bridge of pleasure into orgasm. One minute, he’s saving me in the middle of the night, and the next thing I know, I’m coming all over his hand in a hotel bed in Colombia.
While one of Peter’s fingers caressed her, another entered her slick heat. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known,” Peter whispered to her.
Piper’s body grew rigid as the orgasm overtook her. She cried out, and she dug her fingers into Peter’s flesh. His fingers never stopped pleasuring her, and she was surprised when her orgasm was followed by another even stronger one.
Her eyes rolled back in her head, and her mouth dropped open. She writhed against Peter’s hand, urging him on. After so much pain and fear during the past few days, it was overwhelming to feel so much pleasure.
After a long time, Piper’s body finally calmed, and her heart slowed. Peter lowered her leg off his hip and hugged her to him. “I’m sorry I was so…loud,” she said, embarrassed.
“Are you kidding? That was like shouting, ‘Peter is a he-man! Peter is a sexual dynamo!’ I loved every second of your reaction. In fact, let’s get to know each other even better.”
“Even better than that?”
“Much better than that,” Peter said, slipping her body underneath him.
CHAPTER 19
Piper was beautiful. Piper was amazing. Piper was naked underneath him, and Peter was about to spend the greatest eight seconds of his life.
Because he didn’t think he could last more than eight seconds.
Not the first time with Piper. He was crazy with desire for her. He didn’t even feel his broken nose, his broken ribs, or his two sprained toes anymore. Peter felt invincible, and his invincibility was centered smack dab in his dick.
He nestled himself between Piper’s legs and thanked fate for bringing them together.
Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door, interrupting the start of their joining. “Come back in eight seconds!” Peter yelled.
“Room service!”
“Come back in eight seconds!” Peter yelled again.
“I have three steaks, French fries, a banana split, and two boxes of Pop-Tarts!”
“Those are for me,” Peter heard. It was Adesh. He had returned.
Piper scurried out from under Peter, gathered her towel around her, and leaped from the bed. Peter flopped down on his stomach and punched the bed.
“All I asked for was eight seconds. Is that so much to ask for?” he whined.
“Eight seconds. Wow, sorry I missed that,” Piper muttered.
The door opened, and Adesh entered with another man. They were both carrying boxes and bags. Right behind them, room service entered with a large tray. After putting the purchases down on the bed, the man left, and so did room service.
“I already ate, but I’ll eat again. Oh, look! Pop-Tarts!” Adesh cried happily.
Piper took one of the lunch plates and sat cross-legged on Adesh’s bed, careful to keep herself covered with the towel. She cut into a steak. “Looks like you got a real haul,” she told Adesh.
He handed her back her card. “I could take over the whole country with what I got. I feel so much better now that I have stuff to plug in.”
He opened a few boxes and laid out his purchases on a small desk in the corner. He plugged a few things in to charge and returned to the bed. He dumped a satellite phone out of a bag, along with clothes for Peter and Piper.
