Protector Unmatched, page 9
Fuck! He hadn’t thought of that. Well, he hadn’t thought that following her tonight would lead to them landing in bed.
Daphne seemed to read his facial expression. “You don’t have any?”
He sat back on his heels. “Sorry. I wasn’t planning this at all.”
She chuckled softly and shook her head. “Typical computer geek.”
He shrugged and sighed. “I suppose that’s the end of tonight, then.”
She tilted her head a little to the side. “You know, I’m on the pill. Always have been, because of my painful periods. So…” She cast a long look over his body. “If you’re healthy… I mean, if you don’t have…”
“Any sexually transmitted diseases? I don’t.” That was the truth. As an immortal, he didn’t carry any diseases. “But you have no reason to believe me. Anybody could say that.”
“I know. But the fact that you point that out…” She sat up and put her hand on his nape. “I don’t see you as the kind of guy who’d lie about something like that.”
“So you mean…” He hesitated. “Are you sure? You know I can wait.”
Again she chuckled and gave his cock a pointed look. “I don’t think you can.”
“Well, if you got dressed and didn’t look so darn seductive, I’m sure I could wait.”
“Mmm-hmm.” She wrapped her hand around his hard-on.
Pearce tilted his head back and took a deep breath, fighting the urge to press Daphne onto her back and bury himself in her. “You should stop that.”
“But I like touching you.” She moved her hand up and down his cock. “I’ve never been with anybody this big.”
“Now you’ve done it.” He grabbed her and pressed her onto her back, covering her with his body. “You little tease.” Before she could answer, he covered her mouth with his and silenced her the only way Daphne seemed to understand. Her tongue met his in a game as old as time.
“Pearce?”
A familiar voice suddenly interrupted his bliss. He ripped his mouth from Daphne’s and whipped his head in the direction the voice had come from.
Shit!
There, at the open door, stood Enya, his compound mate, her face a mask of disapproval.
14
“Enya, what are you doing here?” Pearce yelled at the blonde who was standing in the bedroom as if the place belonged to her.
Embarrassment swept through Daphne. And then a second feeling trumped it. What if this was Pearce’s girlfriend? A girlfriend who’d come home unexpectedly. One who didn’t look too pleased about seeing Pearce in bed with another woman.
Daphne wiggled to get free and tried to pull on the sheet to cover herself, but Pearce was still on top of her. “Who is she?”
Pearce suddenly stared at her. “She’s my…”
“Colleague,” the woman said.
“…roommate,” Pearce finished.
Neither answer rang true. Clearly, they were both hiding something. Ah, shit, what had she gotten herself into now?
“We work together,” Pearce added. “And we share this apartment.” Then he looked at the woman he’d called Enya. The woman who was way too pretty for a roommate or a colleague. “How about some privacy?”
“Fine.” Enya turned on her heel, left the bedroom, and shut the door behind her.
Immediately, Daphne pushed against Pearce, and to her surprise, he lifted himself off her without complaint.
Daphne quickly rose and snatched her panties from the floor. While she hastily put them on, she cast Pearce a look. He made no attempt at getting dressed. Instead, he stared at her, a guilty look on his face.
Daphne couldn’t help herself asking, “Are you sleeping with her too?”
His eyes widened. “With whom? Enya? No, of course not! Why would you think that?” He seemed truly outraged.
“Well, she seemed pissed off about finding us in bed together.” She reached for her pants, but Pearce snatched her arm and pulled her to him so she had to look at him. “What?”
“Enya and I work together, and we share this place, but there’s nothing else between us. She’s just pissed because I was supposed to help her on a project tonight, and I stood her up, because I followed you instead. She gets mad easily, but she calms down just as quickly. You’ll see. She’s not a bad person if you give her a chance.”
The words seemed sincere, but Daphne wasn’t sure what to think. “Why did she just barge in here without knocking?”
“I’m sure she knocked, and we didn’t hear her.”
Daphne sighed. It was possible—after all, they had been rather engaged in their lovemaking. She hadn’t heard the apartment door or the bedroom door open. So it was possible that she’d missed a knock as well. “Okay… But this is really embarrassing…”
“Trust me, I covered you with my body the entire time. Enya didn’t really see anything.”
Daphne rolled her eyes. “Still embarrassing. She basically watched us have sex.”
A mischievous smile played around Pearce’s lips. “Not quite. I wasn’t even inside you yet.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Unfortunately.” Then he gave her a playful slap on her ass. “Let’s get dressed. I’ll introduce you to her properly.”
He handed Daphne her pants then started getting dressed himself. Once she’d pulled up her pants, she looked around for her sweater, then remembered where she’d left it.
“My sweater is in the living room.”
“I’ll get it. Wait here.” His chest bare, he left the room.
She heard the murmur of low voices, but couldn’t understand what they were saying. While she waited, she glanced around. Just like in the living room and kitchen, there wasn’t a lot of decoration, leaving the place rather impersonal. Since Pearce had only just moved in, she could understand it.
Pearce came back, dressed in his long-sleeved T-shirt and with her turtleneck sweater in his hand. She pulled it over her head quickly, then they walked back into the living room together. Enya was leaning against the kitchen table.
“I knocked, just so you know,” Enya said.
“Daphne, this is Enya. Enya, this is Daphne. We met yesterday,” Pearce said.
Daphne stretched her hand out, and Enya shook it. “I’m sorry that Pearce didn’t keep his appointment with you because of me.”
Enya rolled her eyes. “Don’t make it your fault. It’s his. And he knows it.” She tossed him a chiding look. Then her anger seemed to disappear. “Anyway, when he didn’t show up to help me, I started looking for him. We look out for each other, you know.”
Daphne smiled. Enya seemed to be a good person. A friend who cared. “I’m glad. And just so you know, he didn’t stand you up for…” She motioned toward the bedroom. “He helped me out of a bad situation earlier. Without him, who knows what would have happened?”
Enya raised an eyebrow and glanced at Pearce. “Care to share?”
“That’s up to Daphne,” he replied.
Daphne looked at Pearce. She didn’t want to involve anybody else in this mess. It was enough that Pearce knew. “I don’t wanna burden anybody with this.”
Pearce squeezed her arm. “Enya is in the same business as I. If we combine forces, I think we can figure out how to help your brother.”
She held Pearce’s gaze. “Are you sure?”
“Enya can help,” Pearce insisted.
Slowly, Daphne nodded. “If you’re sure about it.”
“I am.” He turned to Enya. “Maybe we should all sit down.”
“That bad, huh?” Enya asked.
“Well, it’s not good,” Pearce said, then began to explain to his roommate what Daphne had gotten herself into.
He left out the fact that Daphne had a criminal record, and she was grateful for it. She didn’t want to be judged by the beautiful blonde who seemed perfect in every way. It was bad enough that it was evident that Daphne was sleeping with Pearce a mere day after first meeting him. Right now, she didn’t know what to think of it herself. She’d enjoyed Pearce’s touch, felt wonderful when he’d made her climax, and had wanted to go further with him. Hell, she’d been more than eager to feel him inside her, without protection, without a barrier, even though he was a stranger. But in his arms, she’d felt safe. Safer than she’d ever felt.
When Pearce finished recounting the events of the night, Enya leaned back into the sofa cushions and blew out a breath. “Well, fuck me! We’ve gotta get those motherfuckers.”
Daphne successfully suppressed a grin. Perhaps Enya wasn’t that perfect after all. She cursed like a sailor and made no attempt at apologizing for it. It actually made her a bit more approachable—and likeable.
“How?” Daphne asked. “I can’t trace my brother’s phone. He switched off the GPS tracking I installed on it.”
“You installed GPS tracking on your brother’s phone?” Enya asked. “Why?”
“He always gets into trouble. I wanted to keep tabs on him.”
“Smart,” Pearce said. “Then we have to try to trace the kidnapper’s phone instead. I suppose there was no caller ID?”
“It’s the same phone,” Daphne said.
“What do you mean?” Pearce asked.
“The kidnapper used Tim’s phone to communicate with me.”
Pearce and Enya exchanged a look. “Amateurs,” they said in unison.
“If you think of tracing it, I had the same idea,” Daphne said quickly, “but it’s switched off. He only seems to switch it on when he’s calling me. So, even if we manage to put a trace on it while he’s calling, what if he doesn’t stay on the phone long enough?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Pearce said. “We’ll hack into the carrier’s records, download the cell tower data, and figure out where the phone’s been since your brother was taken. Right, Enya?”
Enya nodded. “You’re the boss.”
Daphne looked from Pearce to Enya. “But I can’t let you do something illegal. If you get caught, it’s on me. And then you’re no better off than I.” She couldn’t live with the guilt of driving somebody to commit a crime to save her and her brother.
“Get caught?” Enya laughed.
Pearce joined in.
“She’s funny, you know,” Enya said. “I like her.”
Pearce patted Daphne’s hand. “We’re not gonna get caught. We’re good.”
She sidled closer to Pearce and dropped her voice. “That’s what I thought too. But you know what happened.”
“And that’s very unlucky, but Enya and I have systems in place that make it impossible for anybody to trace the breach back to us. Trust us. Trust me. Nobody’s gonna get hurt.”
Daphne looked at him, then at Enya, who nodded. “Okay, what do we do?”
“Give me your phone and your passcode. I’ll need to go through the calls and messages you received from your brother’s phone. And then we’ll start tracing it. But we can’t do it from here. I need my equipment in the… uh, office.”
Daphne rose to retrieve her phone. “Okay, then let’s go to your office.”
“You can’t come,” Pearce said.
“What? But this is—”
“I’m sorry, but my office is in a secure building. There’s no way I can get you through security. It’ll just slow us down.” Pearce gave her a sad look. “I’ll have to go on my own. Enya needs to stay here to set up the computer on this end so that I can get the system at the control center to feed the data directly back here.”
Daphne nodded, somewhat deflated.
“When will the kidnappers contact you again to hand over the stuff you were supposed to steal tonight?”
“They said they’ll call me tomorrow to arrange a place for the exchange.”
“Good,” Pearce said. “That gives us a little time. They won’t know yet that you didn’t open the safe. But there’s a chance that the police report from tonight is picked up by the news. Depends on how prominent the owners are. Let’s hope we can find the kidnappers before they get wind of the fact that you haven’t gotten the stuff they’re after.”
“Yeah,” Enya added. “Or we’ll have a whole lot of other problems.”
Daphne didn’t even want to think that far ahead. “I wish I could do something.”
“Just promise me you’ll stay here with Enya while I go to the office to set everything up. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” Then he looked at Enya. “You good with that?”
“Sure. Call me when you’re there, and we can set up the connection to the computer here,” Enya said.
Pearce grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. With a last look over his shoulder, he left.
Suddenly Daphne was alone with the beautiful blonde. For a few moments, there was silence. Daphne looked for something to say, but was at a loss. What was there to say? She was on edge because Pearce had left to do something illegal—for her. What if he got caught?
“You must be tired,” Enya said.
Daphne turned her head to Enya. “I’m all right.”
“It’s late. You can crash in Pearce’s room. He won’t mind. There isn’t much we can do right now anyway. Not until Pearce has accessed the system and can do a trace.”
“I understand.” She shifted from one foot to the other. “So where do you guys work that you have that kind of equipment at hand?”
“Defense contractor.” Enya shrugged. “Top secret. So, not a word, okay?”
“I promise.” Who was she to rat out the people who were helping her out of a terrible quagmire?
“Good. Now rest a little. I’ll wait for Pearce to call.”
15
With Enya’s help, Pearce had been successful in establishing a secure connection between the control center computer and the laptop in the safe house. He’d also placed a trace on Daphne’s line, so that when the kidnappers called her again, Pearce would be able to find out where the call was coming from. However, not everything had gone to plan. When he entered the safe house, Enya was waiting for him in the kitchen.
“Any alerts while I was on my way back?” he asked in a hushed voice.
She shook her head. “Nothing yet. Bad luck, huh?”
He grunted. “Why does that phone carrier have to have a server outage just when I’m trying to get in?”
“Happens,” Enya said. “There’s nothing you can do other than wait.”
She was right. “Is Daphne sleeping?”
“Yep. She finally agreed to rest.”
He glanced at the bedroom door. “Guess there’s nothing either of us can do now. Might as well catch some shuteye. Why don’t you go back to the compound? I can call you if I need backup.”
Enya hesitated. “I think I should stay here.”
“I can handle this alone.”
“Yeah, I saw that earlier. You’re playing with fire.”
Pearce ran a hand through his hair. “She’s attracted to me. I can use that.”
“Attracted? You think?” Enya shook her head. “So, you really believe that by fucking the living daylights out of her you can prevent her from killing you?”
“I wasn’t fucking the liv—”
Enya raised her hands. “Spare me. I’m not blind.” She sighed. “Listen, I’m not begrudging you the fun, okay? But I’m concerned. She’s clearly up to her eyeballs in trouble, and she’s already dragged you into it. It can only end badly. Winter is never wrong.”
“But she also admits that her visions can change as events change. And by helping Daphne free her brother from his kidnappers, I’m getting her out of trouble. That could be exactly what I need to do to change the outcome of Winter’s vision. By helping Daphne, I’ll be her friend. She’ll be grateful and won’t have a reason to kill me.”
Enya scoffed. “Yeah, and just to get a few more Brownie points, you’re fucking her. Make sure that doesn’t backfire.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? You think I’m not a good lover?” He hated that implication. Besides, Daphne seemed to have enjoyed herself in his arms.
“Eek! Can we please not talk about that? You’re like a brother to me. Trust me, I don’t want to know what you do to satisfy a woman. I leave that up to you. I’m just saying that the more emotionally involved you two get, the greater the chance that those emotions will turn. I’ve seen it happen: we don’t hate anybody more than the person we once loved and who disappointed us.”
“Then I won’t disappoint her.”
“Yeah, good luck.” Enya snatched her leather jacket and slipped it on. “Since I can’t talk you out of it, I’d better leave. I’m not into watching a train wreck in progress.”
“It won’t be a train wreck.”
“Whatever you say.” She marched to the door, then looked over her shoulder. “Call me if you need me. And please, be careful. You’re the only sane guy at the compound. I’d hate to lose you.”
Pearce smiled. It was rare that Enya gave out compliments. “Love you too.”
She left and pulled the door shut quietly behind her.
Pearce took off his jacket and hung it over the chair, then sat down at the computer and opened the window that provided him with a direct link to his computer in the command center. The server of the telephone carrier was still down. He quickly typed in a script that would notify him with a sound as soon as the server was up again.
Now all he could do was wait.
And get some sleep.
He eyed the couch. He knew it was comfortable. He’d slept here before, when protecting a charge. But tonight, the couch didn’t appeal to him. Not when he knew who was sleeping in the bedroom.
He walked to his jacket and reached into the pocket. The little packet he’d gotten on the way back was there. He pulled it out and looked at it. A three-pack of condoms. Not that he’d need them tonight, or rather this morning—it was close to five a.m.—because Daphne was asleep. Nevertheless, he took them with him when he silently entered the bedroom.
His eyes adjusted to the darkness in the room. Daphne lay underneath the covers, her clothes folded on a chair nearby. Surely, after what they’d done earlier, she wouldn’t mind if he slipped under the covers with her. Convinced of it, he placed the box of condoms on the bedside table and stripped down to his boxer briefs.
