Primal Passion (2 page)

Deni glanced down at her wardrobe. She was
dressed in faded jeans and a plain black T-shirt, covered by her
lab coat. Her hair was haphazardly held in place on top of her head
with two pencils she’d relegated to Chinese-hair-stick duty. Even
so, she suspected more of it was out of the chignon than in. She
didn’t dare admit to the man that she’d slept in this outfit last
night, too tired to bother undressing before collapsing on the cot.
She couldn’t show up to meet her prospective partners like
this.

“Excuse me, but shouldn’t I have received
some sort of notice before this?”

The man shrugged. “Did you?”

She shook her head. Then she realized she
hadn’t been home in three days. “But I’ve been working around the
clock. I haven’t been home to get the mail.”

“Email?”

Deni crinkled her nose, realizing she’d dug
her own grave on this. “I’m not very good about checking that.” The
last time she had bothered to log in, she’d discovered 417 unread
messages. She had logged right off.

“Voice mail?”

She swallowed heavily. “I lost my phone
charger a couple of weeks ago. My cell’s been dead since then.”

“I see now.” The man nodded slowly. “You’re
still going to the ceremony.”

Deni wasn’t sure what he saw, but it became
apparent no force of nature was going to keep this man from
delivering her to the library.

She began shutting down the equipment, her
mind racing as she tried to think of some way to stall. At least
until she could take a shower and put on some clean underwear.

The door to her lab opened again.

“Hey, gorgeous.”

Deni smiled, her stress immediately
disappearing as Gunner Wells walked in. “Oh my God. Gunner. What
are you doing in town?”

Gunner glanced at Mr. Universe in the corner
and gave her a funny look. She had no idea how to explain the other
man’s presence so she decided to dodge the conversation
completely.

She stepped around the counter and threw
herself into her friend’s arms. She’d never needed to see his
smiling face more than right now.

Gunner picked her up and spun her around as
she laughed. “I’ve got a meeting and I’m running late. But there
was no way I could come to Boston and not see my best girl.”

He set her on her feet and gave her a quick
up-and-down glance. “You’re sleeping in your office again.”

She rolled her eyes. Next to her mother,
Gunner came a close second on the nagging routine, determined she
needed to leave the lab occasionally and get a life. “I’m
working.”

“Right. Working.” He took a deep breath and
Deni knew what was coming next. Gunner didn’t disappoint her. “When
are you going to get the hell out of here and start living a
little, Deni? When’s the last time you went on a date? Got
laid?”

She blushed, not because of Gunner’s
questions—they talked openly about everything—but because she was
far too aware of the stranger sitting in the corner, listening to
their every word. “I don’t know. It hasn’t been that long.”

“Liar.” Gunner reached up and ruffled her
already messy hair.

She’d met Gunner three years earlier. He was
an FBI agent in D.C. and he’d needed to consult a scientific expert
for help on a case involving possible biological weapons and
national security. A mutual friend had given him her name. After
several phone calls and two face-to-face meetings, his case was
solved, the country safe. Even so, he continued to call her, and
Deni had made her first real friend.

He typically traveled to Boston a few times a
year and he never failed to visit her, the two of them meeting for
dinner. Her mother had suggested several thousand times Deni should
try to change their status from friends to more, but Deni couldn’t
do that. She couldn’t lose the friendship over a more serious
relationship that would end the day the Grand Master looked her
way.

Her heart lurched at the thought. That day
was today.

“So you’re here for a meeting?”

Gunner nodded. “Yep. And I’m sorry to say I’m
not sure I’ll have time for our usual dinner date and catch up.
That’s why I stopped by now.”

There was a sadness in Gunner’s eyes Deni
wasn’t used to seeing. He was always so cheerful and happy. “Is
everything okay?”

“Oh, hell yeah. I’m just busy and bummed
we’re this close and I can’t spend time with you.”

She smiled. Gunner didn’t mind her workaholic
tendencies, her inability to focus on normal conversations for more
than five minutes or the fact she’d never seen a single episode of
Seinfeld or The Big Bang Theory. She loved the way he would listen
to her talk about fibroblasts, DNA, blastocysts and retroviruses
for hours on end, all while pretending to understand and be
interested.

He was the only person on the planet who’d
ever managed to get her to leave the lab at a decent hour and go
out to dinner in a restaurant like a normal person. He made her
feel pretty and feminine and…sort of warm and fuzzy inside.

She didn’t have a clue what it felt like to
fall in love. Hell, she’d never even been involved in a romantic
relationship. And given the fact she wasn’t choosing her future
mates, she was fairly certain she’d never know. But part of her
thought if she’d ever allowed herself to feel that emotion, Gunner
would have been the man to capture her heart.

She recalled the letter from the Grand Master
lying on the counter behind her. Her silly dreams about Gunner were
completely foolish. She was less than an hour away from meeting her
partners. From today forward, there would be two strangers in her
life.

The realization of what she’d signed on for
terrified her. What if they hated her? Given her present
appearance, she was destined to make a terrible first
impression.

“Earth to Deni.”

She focused on Gunner as he waved his hand in
front of her face.

“Sorry.”

He grinned and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
It was the first time he’d ever shown her that kind of affection.
Typically, they kept their physical touches to nothing more than
platonic hugs.

“I’m used to you drifting away from me. Maybe
one of these days you’ll find a way to let me know what’s going on
inside that busy brain of yours.”

She didn’t know how to explain that things
were going to be different from now on. But until she knew exactly
how, she decided to remain silent.

Gunner looked at his watch. “Shit. I have to
go, Deni. I wish I had more time this trip, but—”

The stranger by the door cleared his throat,
reminding her she was wasting precious time.

“Um, Deni?” Gunner gestured to the man at her
assistant’s desk with a quick jerk of his head.

“Long story. Tell you later.” With any luck,
Gunner would forget. Or she’d figure out some lie that would
explain the Incredible Hulk’s presence in her lab.

“You sure?”

She nodded, touched by his concern.
“Everything’s okay. I have a meeting in a little while too. Call me
when you get back to D.C.?”

“Will do.” He grasped her hand and pulled her
toward him for one of his big bear hugs. She had to admit, Gunner
gave the greatest hugs in the world.

Then, he left her alone with the menacing
giant.

“You’ve managed to waste ten minutes. We need
to leave in five.”

She turned away before she gave into the
juvenile impulse to stick her tongue out at the asshole.

Ten minutes later, she hung her lab coat on
the hook by the door and followed the man to the street. Deni
caught more than a few of the surprised looks from her colleagues
as she said goodbye. She wasn’t sure she’d ever left work in the
middle of the afternoon. She tried not to think about how today’s
untimely interruption was putting her behind schedule. She’d just
have to make up for it later. Maybe after the ceremony she could
come back and pull an all-nighter.

When they exited the building, Deni was
surprised to see the stranger walk to a limousine. He opened the
door and then gestured for her to enter the vehicle.

Once they were both inside, she looked
around, amazed by the elegant space. A long, leather couch spanned
one side while a mini-bar occupied the other. They both opted to
share the backseat. Deni was prone to carsickness and considering
her stomach was already queasy from nerves, she didn’t think she’d
better take a risk at not facing forward, even though she’d love to
lie down on that long couch just to see if it was as soft as it
looked. The limo was almost as big as her apartment.

“I’ve never been in a limo before. I drive a
Smart Car.” She looked at the huge man sitting next to her. “Of
course, it’s probably better we took your car. You wouldn’t fit in
mine.”

He didn’t reply. Instead, he stared out the
window.

Deni’s nervousness grew in the silence. It
was clear the man didn’t like her, but she could really use a
distraction right now. “You know, I just realized, I don’t know
your name.”

The man didn’t bother to look at her.
“Price.”

She considered his answer for a minute and
then asked the obvious question. “Is that your first or last
name?”

For the first time since he’d entered her
lab, the man gave her what she could only assume was his rendition
of a smile. Either that or he was fighting a bad case of
indigestion. “First.”

“Oh. I would have lost that bet. So…you work
for the Trinity Masters?”

His scowl returned. “No. I’m a member.”

For some odd reason, his answer sent a wave
of relief surging through her. “So you’ve been through this
ceremony? You know what’s going to happen? I’d feel so much better
if you could give me some hint about what my role is. What I’m
supposed to do.”

Price turned to look at her. “I don’t have a
clue.”

Her shoulders sagged. “You’ve never been
through the introduction ceremony?”

He shook his head. “I’m one of the single
members.”

His response annoyed her. Price had to be
pushing his late thirties. Why was he getting a pass while she was
being forced to put her career on hold so early? “How old are
you?”

He didn’t take offense at her question,
though she could tell she surprised him. “I’m thirty-eight. How old
are you?”

“Twenty-eight.” Great. Price had gotten ten
more unencumbered years than she would. How was that fair?

Price studied her face. “You’re still quite
young.”

She nodded. “I thought I had a few more years
before I’d be called to the altar.”

“You were told at your initiation this call
could come at any time.”

She shrugged. “I know. And I’m okay with it.
I just sort of meant to do a few things before this happened.”

Price’s face softened and she realized he
wasn’t quite as fearsome as he’d first appeared. “Like what?”

“Like lose my virginity.” She hadn’t meant to
blurt that out, but her heart was racing a mile a minute, and the
closer they got to the library the faster her nervous knee
bounced.

Price reached over and used his large hand to
still her shaking leg. “You’re still a virgin?”

She could feel her face flush, heat
permeating her skin. “I don’t date much.”

“According to your friend, it sounds like you
never go out. When was your last date?”

Deni wished she didn’t know the answer, but
she knew it all too well. “Never.”

Price frowned. She couldn’t tell if he
thought she was lying or pathetic. Both responses sucked.

“Never?”

“I graduated from high school when I was
fourteen. Earned my bachelor’s degree at seventeen, my masters at
nineteen and my doctorate at twenty-two. The majority of my college
career was spent in an apartment with my mom.”

“I assume you don’t still live with your
mother.”

His tone was the perfect blend of sardonic
and serious. She had no idea if he was making fun of her or not, so
she gave him the benefit of the doubt. “No. I don’t live with my
mother anymore.”

“Well, congratulations then. Tonight will be
a true honeymoon for you. In every sense of the word.”

She studied his face, searching for some clue
that said he was teasing her. There was nothing there. “Thanks. I
guess.”

Deni reached into her bag and pulled out her
Trinity Masters necklace. She rarely wore the thing as it always
seemed to be in her way whenever she worked on experiments in the
lab. The only time she ever put it on was for the Trinity Masters’
meetings. She slipped it over her head, the expensive gold chain
and ornate charm looking out of place against her tatty black
T-shirt.

Price nodded approvingly. She glanced at his
hand and recognized the Trinity Masters symbol emblazoned on a
large gold ring.

She glanced out the window. They were close
to the library. During college, that place had been a sanctuary to
her. Some people found inner peace in a church. Deni found it at
the Boston Public Library. She could walk along the aisles for
hours, perusing the shelves, never failing to discover something
different, to learn something new.

Now, as the limousine neared Boylston Street,
she felt the beginning of true panic. She wasn’t ready for
this.

“Denise.” Price’s deep voice captured her
attention. She was surprised when he grasped her hand.
“Breathe.”

She struggled to suck in air, her chest too
tight. Great. She was starting to hyperventilate. As if Price
didn’t have enough reasons to think she was a complete idiot.

“Not like that. Watch me. Match your
breathing to mine.”

He inhaled slowly, and Deni attempted to
follow suit. They exhaled together. Price released a long stream of
breath while hers sort of blew out fast and hard. He demonstrated
several more times until Deni felt the constriction in her chest
ease.

“Better?”

She nodded. “I wish I could’ve gone home to
get a shower.”