eserve a Bronze Star or Purple Heart for our fucking sacrifice,” Brody grumbled, finding it difficult to navigate the stairs with his cock so hard he ached. It was late afternoon and Piper had finally become sated enough to fall into a deep sleep, allowing them to head back downstairs.
“Yeah, but we both know our blue balls are the only colorful recognition we’re going to get.” Ian was having just as much trouble moving comfortably and now that Piper was calmed, relieving his own frustrated lust was next on his agenda. “Where’re you going?” he asked when Brody marched to the front door.
“To find the lake,” Brody snapped, his cock so fucking hard he was worried he was going to have to cut his jeans off to free himself.
“I’ll be in the shower then.”
Thirty minutes later Brody pulled his jeans back on over his wet body, his cock now happy enough to allow him to zip up easily. June in Missouri made skinny dipping in the lake pleasant and an easy way to jack off his frustration. Slipping his shirt on, he left it open as he picked up his shoes and started back towards Piper’s cabin which he had discovered was less than a block from the lake. He wondered if the dock and small row boat belonged to her, but picturing the girl he had last seen five years ago maneuvering that craft out on the water was as difficult as trying to figure out what was going on with her now. Gary Norton wouldn’t have called him, worried about her and her absence, if he hadn’t suspected something was wrong. According to the sheriff they had trusted to keep an eye on Piper all this time in the slim chance Charles would contact her, she never went more than a day or two without coming to town and always contacted her friend, Haley, if she was going to be late or not make it.
Brody and Ian had driven straight through to Missouri from Virginia where they both kept apartments, and hadn’t bothered to drive into Hope and check in with Gary before coming here. Brody shocked himself by how worried and obsessed he had been after getting Gary’s call. The level of his concern seemed out of proportion considering his limited involvement with her so many years ago, but it is what it is, he told himself. Right now, the important thing was to find out if Piper’s absence had been willing or not, and if not, what was the purpose? These were questions, he knew, were going to have to wait until she awoke, which, given the state of her exhaustion, probably wouldn’t be until tomorrow morning.
He heard Ian cursing from the kitchen as soon as he stepped through the door. Tossing his shoes down, Brody padded barefoot in his direction to see what had him riled up. “Didn’t you take care of that frustration in the shower?” he asked his friend and partner when another curse was followed by the slamming of the refrigerator door.
“Yes, which just made me even hungrier. Look at this.” Turning, he reopened the fridge door and pointed, his face a picture of bafflement and disgust. “What kind of person has nothing but health food crap and beer?”
Peering inside, Brody saw fresh vegetables, organic juice and milk, yogurt, as well as a few items he had never seen or heard of and had no interest in. Below these, on the bottom shelf, sat three six packs. “Maybe the beer’s for a boyfriend.” Brody recalled the way a few glasses of wine had made her tipsy, so he doubted the brews were for her. “Anything in the freezer?” He sure as hell hoped so, because he was with Ian on needing something substantial to eat, especially since they missed lunch.
“Fish,” Ian sneered. “Damn it, I need meat, red meat cooked rare. We passed a greasy burger joint about a mile up the road. I’ll drive over and pick up some burgers.”
“Get me two, and fries. Meanwhile, I’ll let the sheriff’s office know Piper’s back.”
“Is that all you’re telling them?”
“Yeah, for now. Until we talk to Piper, we won’t know what’s going on.”
“Have you considered she was taken to lure Charles out, that Pasquino doesn’t believe he’s dead any more than we do?” Ian asked, knowing they had to consider all angles.
“And they returned her when whoever’s here watching for Charles to show up either saw or heard we were coming instead? Yeah, I’ve thought of that, but I think they would’ve stuck around longer, or kept her longer, just in case. Either way, I’m sticking for a while. You in?”
“Rescuing a damsel in trouble is my favorite thing to do when not catching bad guys. Besides, I’m just as curious about what’s going on as you. But if we’re hanging, we’re shopping for real food, including meat.”
At the thought of nothing but vegetables, yogurt and fish, Brody said, “Make that three burgers.”
Catalina Island, Caribbean
“She’s safe, at least for now. Both agents Pearce and MacGregor arrived today.”
Charles Sandoval closed his eyes in relief as Doc gave him the news he had been hoping for, the guilt and worry plaguing him this past week easing somewhat. “They’re with her, at her cabin?”
“Yes. They arrived yesterday and seem determined to help her, thank God.”
These past few days had been the longest in his life and at finally hearing Piper was safe, he now knew there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to keep her that way. “You know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done.” Doc and Charles have been friends since they met when they were twelve years old. Neither had ever married, both of them too intensely driven with their careers to take the time or the interest. If Christine hadn’t died so unexpectedly, he knew he would still be with her, whether they eventually made it legal or not, but he had never even come close to feeling for another woman what he had felt for her, and he still mourned her loss. And thanks to Doc’s quick thinking when he got shot, he was able to get away from the casino before the feds or Pasquino could stop him. Piper’s startled cry had given him the split second warning he needed to throw himself sideways, allowing both bullets to cut cleanly through his left shoulder. Immediately seeing he was in no danger of dying, Doc managed to smear his blood, making it look like he had been hit in the chest and worse than it was.
“Let’s just hope this all works out, Charles. I’ll bet Pasquino’s planning on buying the Empire if you’re declared dead in two years. He really has it in for you and this latest threat just proves he’s not giving up.”
“He won’t get the Empire, and he won’t get to Piper now. Thanks again, Doc. Keep me informed, okay?” Charles hung up and leaned back in his chair, his gaze moving to the stunning azure view of the Caribbean Sea that he had from his veranda. Fleeing Pasquino five years ago, he had opted to lay low on Catalina, an island in the Caribbean that he had brought Christina to and fell in love with and one that wasn’t owned by the United States.
He had been pissed when he discovered that two of his employees were undercover feds, but he hadn’t been surprised. He’d been questioned more than once about his limited association with the man the feds had been after for years and had been very careful about keeping all records of their business hidden. Now his life was a mess and he had no one to blame but himself. He knew all about Antony Pasquino’s drug dealings before Antony had approached him with his lucrative offer, but Charles had been so desperate for cash to keep the Empire afloat during the recession he had jumped at the chance to save it. The casino had always meant everything to him, until Christina nothing was as important as his business. After her death, once again nothing was more important than that building, not until he saw Piper’s face when she witnessed the attempt on his life. He had loved Piper since she was a toddler, but it took that life altering moment to realize how much Christina’s daughter had come to mean to him, that his love for her was as strong as that of any parent for a child despite the fact she wasn’t biologically his and he would use whatever means necessary, even morally questionable ones, to see that she was kept safe from his mistakes. He had spent the first fourteen years after her mother’s death seeing that she got an excellent education and made sure she didn’t feel abandoned by diligently visiting her every month and he had naively thought that was enough for a young girl. He could only hope now that he wasn’t too late to make it up to her.
Chapter Five
Warmth from the early morning sun shining on her face woke Piper. Rolling over with a groan, she struggled to untangle herself from the twisted sheet while keeping her eyes shut against the glare. “Why the hell didn’t I close the blinds?” she grumbled as she finally managed to free herself and slid out of bed. Since her bedroom window faced east, she always made sure to close the blinds, especially if she had been up late the night before and would want to sleep in. The first step towards her bathroom elicited another groan as her entire body zinged with soreness, a full body encompassing ache the likes of which she hadn’t felt since those first weeks of making her daily two mile trek into Hope. Shuffling into the small bathroom, she struggled to remember what she had done differently yesterday to have caused such a reaction, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember anything. She had met Haley for dinner at the diner, talked about some of her new designs she was anxious to show her then promised to get some of them finished and to her today. Then they had walked down to have a beer at Rowdy’s, Hope’s only bar. The last thing she remembered was Crack, the gruff, tattooed, grey-haired ponytailed owner of the bar, insisting on driving her home because it had gotten dark.
Stepping under the shower, she tried to remember how much sewing she had gotten done last night, which items she had completed and were ready to display in Haley’s shop, but couldn’t seem to recall anything past leaving the bar. That totally blank slate had her worried as did the aches and pains making themselves known. Running soapy hands down her neck and over her breasts, she winced as that light touch proved her soreness wasn’t limited to her muscles. With a vaguene
ss that seem surreal, she recalled her dream, the hazy image of Brody Pearce’s face hovering above her, the even hazier recollection of his hands and mouth feasting on her flesh, of endless orgasms, another hard, male body, more hands, another mouth bringing her to climax after climax.
“Hell of a dream,” she muttered, wishing she could remember more and that the images and sensations weren’t so vague. But when she cupped her palm between her legs, the soreness in her pussy, and, God help her, the ache in her rectum couldn’t be denied. She had masturbated more times than she could count to the fantasy of having Brody back in her bed, but neither her fingers nor her vibrator had ever made her sore and she had never even thought about breaching her anus, had never even imagined pleasure could come from that orifice.