Freaky by Nature (10 page)

question.

“The Perm aSlim contains an additiv e no one expects to find in

a diet pill.”

Of course, Brett was the first to press the issue. “What’s in it?”

“A sexual stim ulant.” She shrugged in an attem pt to m ake

him think it was unim portant. “Apparently , it enhances libido

and stam ina.”

“What m ade him decide to add a stim ulant?”

Although she fully expected his interrogation, Holly released a

short huff, irritated he wouldn’t just stop at her explanation.

“Albert was a regular lab rat. He ate the wrong things at odd

hours and nev er exercised. Needless to say , he ended up

ov erweight. Which put a dam per on his ability to … perform .”

She squeezed her fingers into her fists and waited for Brett’s

snappy retort. Instead, the corners of his m outh lifted only slightly

before he spoke. “Why didn’t he use that inform ation to m arket the

pill?”

“Because it would be illegal.”

Max frowned, clearly unconv inced. “What?”

“Really .” Holly bobbed her head for em phasis. “Albert failed to

publish studies to prov e or disprov e the effectiv eness.”

Brett lifted his chin. “Did it work?”

She raised an ey ebrow. There was the question she waited for.

Besides, the orange-tinted ring of arousal he sported gav e him

away . “I don’t know firsthand, but m y guess is that it does the

trick or sales wouldn’t hav e sky rocketed.”

“Who tracks the sales records?”

“Ev an takes care of that for m e.”

Holly watched a sm udge of green nudge the orange to the side

before he frowned. “Ev an?”

She nodded, som ewhat com forted by his jealousy . “Ev an

Bannister, Albert’s attorney . Since Albert’s death, he’s helped m e

with m y business contracts.”

“Is he a m em ber of y our gy m ?”

“Yes, why ?”

Brett glanced at Max, who gav e a slight nod. “When is the last

tim e y our cam eras at the gy m were inspected?”

Holly tilted her head to one side, subconsciously try ing to

av oid being swallowed by the swirl of bold color around the two

m en. “I hav e no idea. Brett, why are y ou hounding m e about all

this?”

“Your cam eras hav en’t recorded any thing in three m onths,

Holly .”

“Yes, they hav e. I gav e y ou the tapes.”

“No, they hav en’t. Ev ery single tape shows exactly the sam e

thing. The front desk. Ov er and ov er.”

Holly forced her ey es from his, determ ined not to let him see

her fear. A detectiv e signaled from across the room and Max

slipped away from the conv ersation.

Holly sway ed and squeezed Brett’s hand to steady herself. He

guided her into the nearest chair, squatted, and pushed her head

between her legs.

“Deep breaths.”

Needles of pleasure tickled her nerv e endings as he stroked the

back of her neck with his fingertips and calm ed her panic with his

touch.

“This is getting scary ,” she m um bled.

“Sterling is going to install a new sy stem here today .”

She nodded between her legs.

Brett cupped her chin and raised her head. “Look, Holly , it’s

tim e to take this seriously . Som eone wants y our attention and

they ’re willing to do any thing to get it.”

“Who?” she asked m eekly .

He rubbed the pad of his thum b across the top of her cheek.

“I don’t know, but I prom ise, I’ll find out.”

She placed her palm against his hand to absorb his strength.

Flowing ribbons of blue and silv er left his aura and inv aded hers.

“I know y ou will.”

“In the m eantim e, I should m ov e in.”

A sudden flicker of panic crossed her spine as she regarded him

silently and tried to ignore the taunting in her head.

You know you can’t keep your hands off him
.

As m uch as she tried to deny it, the m agnetic pull between

them prov ed too powerful. No m atter how hard she tried to

distance herself from him , the whole univ erse worked against her

and her traitor of a conscious picked this exact m om ent to be the

v oice of reason. With Brett close, she would be safe from whoev er

was determ ined to destroy her. Hiring a body guard of his caliber

was a sm art m ov e. Not only was he a trained m ilitary m achine,

som ething in his m anner soothed her.

Finally , she swallowed hard and nodded her consent.

CHAPTER NINE

Holly gav e a m ental sigh of relief when a m ultitude of colors

rocketed from Brett’s body . Streaks of orange, red, gray , blue, and

green swirled and blended until ev ery one of his em otions was

present and accounted for. As the colors seeped from his aura and

blended with hers, realization blinded her. After her struggle to

av oid him , Brett possessed the courage she needed to confront her

gut-wrenching fear. She had no choice but to trust him .

Calm , collected v ibes oozed from him and wrapped her like a

warm blanket. Holly couldn’t rem em ber the last tim e she felt so …

lov ed.
Oh, God
.

As a blood-red ring circled him and warm th pulsed from his

hand into hers, Holly gav e up her fight and m ade a decision. One

kiss. Lightly , just ov er his upper lip, only to chase away her fear.

Alm ost as if he felt her surrender, Brett slid his hands around her

waist and lowered his head.

“Brett,” she m urm ured as he m ov ed closer.

“Tell m e
no
, Holly ,” he whispered against her m outh.

“I don’t want to.” She pressed her lips against his and m ade

her intent perfectly clear.

Holly rested both palm s against the corded m uscles of his chest

and relaxed into his kiss as he wrapped his bulky arm s around her

and m olded her curv es to the hard contours of his body . His m outh

m ov ed ov er hers in a gentle assault, opening to allow his tongue to

trace her lips before slipping it inside her m outh to caress her

tongue in a heated m assage. A contented sigh penetrated her lips

as all good sense escaped her and her heart swelled with a feeling

she had thought long since dead. Suddenly , his kiss was not

enough; her body ached for his touch.

Tim idly , she attem pted to enter his m ind, seeking

reassurance. Yet, the solid barriers of his brain m ocked her,

laughed hy sterically at her gall, and caused her to hurtle back to

reality .
This feels too right
. She eased away from his warm th with

her heart ham m ering in her ears.

“This is not a good idea.” She took sev eral deep breaths to slow

her frantic heartbeat.

“Probably not.” An easy sm ile play ed at the corners of his

m outh as he stood. “Besides, I can’t protect y ou if y ou alway s

distract m e.”

She found it im possible not to return his disarm ing sm ile,

reliev ed to see the ruby ring that accented his features fade to

dusky salm on. Aroused, but not dangerously so.

Ov erwhelm ed by the punch of Brett’s em otion, Holly didn’t

ev en notice Max return until Brett kissed the top of her head and

stood.

Like a chaperone at a teenage dance, Max attem pted to plant

him self between the two of them . “Obv iously , ev ery thing’s okay

ov er here.”

Brett ignored Max’s attem pt at interv ention and leaned one

hip against her chair. Heat continued to radiate from his body and

she fought the urge to plaster herself to him .

Holly ’s cheeks heated and she nodded.

Brett gestured at the detectiv es with a jerk of his head. “They

find any thing?”

Max folded his arm s across his chest. “No. Any body else we

should talk to?”

Brett turned his gaze back to Holly . “What about Albert’s

kids?”

She shrugged. “I hav en’t spoken to either of them since his

death. I told y ou, they weren’t happy with the term s of the will.”

“Which would giv e either one of them a reason for rev enge.”

“May be.”

Brett raised one ey ebrow. “Dav id was with Albert when the

boat exploded.”

She shook her head, not surprised by his knowledge. “He was

on shore, at the m arina store. The clerk prov ided his alibi.”

Brett pushed him self off the chair. “Where is the form ula,

Holly ?”

She stood, walked into the kitchen, and threw open the freezer

door. After she dug for sev eral seconds, she handed him a sm all,

white bag.

His forehead wrinkled. “Peas?”

She sm iled. “The form ula is sealed inside the bag.”

Brett handed the bag to Max. “I think it needs to be relocated.”

Max sm irked. “I’ll take care of it. I’ll send Cam eron to help with

the m ess.”

“Don’t bother, Max,” Holly said. “It won’t take long and she

needs to rest.”

Max gav e a lazy grin. “You want to tell her that?”

Holly bit back a sm ile. “No. On second thought, send her

ov er.”

***

Max turned on one heel and headed out the door and across the

y ard to his and Cam eron’s neighboring house.
Hell
. Once he told

his v ery dram atic, v ery pregnant wife about this, she’d plow him

ov er getting to Holly . May be he could distract her with a nap.

Cam eron threw open the front door as soon as he stepped onto

the porch and reached for the doorknob. “Well? What happened?”

He snickered and tossed the bag of peas at her. So m uch for

that nap. “Put these in the freezer.”

Cam eron’s ey ebrows m et in the m iddle of her forehead as she

caught the frozen package. “You hate peas.”

He gav e her a m ischiev ous grin. “Those are special peas.”

She responded with a tradem ark ey e roll. “Okay , Agent X, tell

m e about the peas or I’ll cook them and m ake y ou eat them .”

Max took the bag from her, walked to the kitchen, and buried

it in the freezer under the ice cubes. Walking back into the liv ing

room , he lifted her into his arm s and then placed her gently onto

the sofa beside him . She sm iled when he reached to rub her

stom ach.

“Did y ou know Holly was m arried at one tim e?”

She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “What

does that hav e to do with the peas?”

“Did y ou know?”

Cam eron’s blonde curls tickled the bottom of his chin as she

shook her head. “No, she nev er m entioned it to m e.”

“Her husband was som e sort of genius. He dev eloped a diet

supplem ent.”

“Which one?”

“Perm aSlim . Apparently , it’s in high dem and.”

“Why ?”

“It’s laced with a sexual stim ulant.”

Cam eron wav ed one finger in the air, an act he knew from

experience m eant she was losing patience with him . “Peas, Max.”

“He was killed in a boating accident. The death was later ruled

a hom icide but no one was ev er charged. He left the form ula for

the Perm aSlim to Holly . It’s inside that bag of peas.”

Cam eron’s baby blue ey es sparkled when she lifted her head.

“You really are Jam es Bond.”

“Wanna be a Bond girl?”

“Sounds like fun. What do I hav e to do?”

“Keep quiet about the peas.”

She tilted her head to one side and squinted. “That’s all?”

“Oh, and keep Jam es happy .” He kissed her to stifle a sm art ass

response. He paused a full second when he lifted his lips from hers,

alm ost tem pted not to tell her the rest of the story . Except, the

second he gazed back into her ey es, he knew better. She’d blast him

from here to Kingdom Com e. He reached to tuck a way ward curl

behind her ear. “Holly ’s house is trashed.”

Cam eron didn’t so m uch as blink. “How badly ?”

“Looks like a tornado blew through there. Ev en the cushions

are shredded.”

He watched silently as she spun into recon, unwrapped herself

from his hold, and pushed off the couch, belly first. “Disaster

control is m y specialty .” She pointed to the bookshelf ov er the

fireplace. “Can y ou hand m e those sam ple books?”

Max stood and reached for the books, dangling them just out of

her reach. Although he couldn’t prev ent her from going, he could

place stipulations. “Don’t ov erdo.”

Another ey e roll answered him .

He placed the books in her arm s and planted another kiss on

her forehead. “Prom ise, and without rolling y our ey es.”

She gav e a sm all m oan in surrender. “Yes, Cpt. Sterling.”

Cam eron stepped to the front door then looked back ov er her

shoulder. “Are y ou com ing?”

“I’v e got to get a team ov er there to wire her house. Steele is in

charge.” Max pulled off his boots, stretched out on the sofa, and

dialed his cell phone. “Besides, he’s better at decorating.”

***

Brett breathed a sigh of relief when Hurricane Cam eron blew

in the front door and took control of the m ess. At least she could

take Holly ’s m ind off her fear for a little while.

“Hey Cam eron.”

“Hey Brett.”

Papers skittered across the floor as she rushed toward Holly

and squeezed her in a chokehold. Brett bit his lip. Wonder if

Sterling taught her that m ov e.

“Oh, Holly ,” she said as she looked around the room , “I’m so

sorry .”

Holly escaped Cam eron’s grip, took the books, and nudged her

to a bar stool. “Thanks, Cam eron, but at least now I can re-

decorate. Tell m e where to start.”