Undercover Obsession (18 page)

That split second of fearful rejection pissed
Ian off, more because of what she had gone through than what his
nearness was making her remember. Between his sexual frustration
and the desire that shone through the wariness in her blue eyes, he
found his patience waning. Backing her against the wall, he braced
his hands behind her, caging her in but not touching her. “The only
way to conquer your fear is to face it head on.”

“I don’t fear you,” Haley retorted, which was
true despite her reactions to the contrary.

Chuckling, Ian leaned down and said right
above her mouth, “You fear your reaction to me, don’t you Haley?”
Not waiting for her to answer, he closed his mouth over hers and
kissed her the way she needed to be kissed.

Haley couldn’t help it. She felt herself
drifting, falling against him, her hands grasping his waist as her
breasts came into contact with his much harder chest. His lips took
hers with ruthless aggression, molding to her lips with a demand
that she return the favor. When she was too slow to comply, he bit
her lower lip, making her open her mouth on a gasp, the slight
sting sending shards of pleasure to her nipples and down to her
pussy. She hadn’t missed this, hadn’t craved this intimacy with
another man until Ian walked into her shop and demanded she buckle
up and face him. When his large hands slid down her back and cupped
her buttocks, his mouth never letting up from its slow exploration
of hers, she moaned deep in her throat at the pleasure building
inside her.

He must be fucking insane, Ian thought as he
reluctantly released those soft lips and trailed his mouth down her
arched neck. He didn’t need this added frustration, didn’t need to
get another woman off just to walk away with his cock pounding for
release. Her ass felt soft, her small cheeks round and pliable and
he’d give his right nut to fuck her against this wall right
now.

“Are you imagining what it’d feel like Haley?
Imagining what my hand smacking these cheeks would feel like, the
sting, the heat, the pleasure?”

She was, God help her. Haley suppressed a
moan as the feel of his hands kneading her ass, even over her
clothes, felt so good, so erotic, she didn’t want him to stop. But
the sound of the bell over the front door ringing as someone came
in was as effective as a bucket of ice water thrown in her face.
Shaken by her uncharacteristic response after such a long spell of
feeling nothing, she shoved him back, surprised and grateful that
he released her quickly and moved away from her.

“I have a customer. I have to go. I…”

“Go to work, Haley,” Ian said with no
inflection. “I’ll get this done for you.”

Chapter Nine

Piper was coming down from her loft fifteen
minutes after she had turned her back on Brody and his erection to
see him coming down the hall completely dressed and tossing his
keys in the air with an easy smile on his face. “I’m ready for that
prime rib. I’ve texted Ian and we’ll be lucky if he hasn’t already
devoured his by the time we get there.” Taking her hand, he pulled
her outside to his car fighting the urge to laugh outright at the
surprised and wary look on her face. Obviously she had expected him
to be angry over teasing him so mercilessly only to leave him
hanging, but on the contrary, he found himself amused and energized
by her continued taunting. As much as he had liked and had been
drawn to her when she was much younger and meeker, he found himself
completely enamored with the mature, feisty woman she had become.
So taken with her, he knew he was going to have a hard time walking
away when this case was finally settled. Of course, if his case
ended with finding Charles alive and him being responsible for
getting the information they needed to put him in jail, he was sure
Piper would leave him no choice but to walk away.

Piper settled into the black leather
passenger seat of Brody’s refurbished 1970 bright red Chevelle,
Brody’s easy smile and nonchalant attitude taking her by surprise.
She had expected him to be angry with her, or at least a tad put
out, but instead he acted like nothing had happened, like she
hadn’t had his cock in her mouth thirty minutes ago and her pussy
soaked fingers in his mouth. She was beginning to think her little
plot of revenge had backfired on her, leaving her more frustrated
than him.

“Worked up an appetite, did you?” she asked
sarcastically.

“Thanks to your help, yes. Aren’t you
hungry?” Her piqued mood amused him, especially since he suspected
she hadn’t gotten off like he had this afternoon. Not that his hand
job had done much to lessen his desire to fuck her again, but it
did take the edge off enough to help him keep to his resolve not to
take her again until he was no longer involved with bringing
Charles in.

Starving, Piper thought, but not for food.
Refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much she still
wanted him again, she simply replied, “Yes, and to answer your
unspoken question, I always get their prime rib when it’s on
special.” When he simply raised an inquiring brow as he pulled out
onto the highway, she smiled widely. “Contrary to Ian’s belief, I
do occasionally indulge, just not often.”

Chuckling, Brody answered, “We’ll keep that
our little secret. It’s fun to watch him stew over what you’re
going to put in front of him.”

“He gripes, but he eats every bite.”

The feel of the powerful engine purring under
her, relaxed Piper despite the unfulfilled arousal still plaguing
her. If she didn’t get herself under control, the guys were going
to have to listen to the purr of her vibrator tonight, but that
would be their problem and one that didn’t concern her. On the
contrary, she found herself turned on even more imagining them
sitting downstairs listening and suffering as she got herself off
with her favorite toy.

“What’s that little grin for?” Brody asked
suspiciously as he parked in front of the Main Street Diner and cut
the engine. He’s learned not to trust that look.

“Oh good, Haley’s going to join us.” Ignoring
his question, Piper’s attention focused on the bemused look on her
friend’s face as she looked at Ian. While she would be the first to
applaud and encourage her best friend’s interest in a man, she knew
the trauma of Haley’s past, which made her protective of her and
Ian was definitely not the man for Haley to end her six year
celibacy with.

“Piper! Thank God you’re all right.” A woman
in her mid-forties hugged Piper before leading them to a table for
four. “You had us scared to death. What happened?” Handing them
each a menu, she set her arms akimbo on her hips and glared down at
Piper out of concerned brown eyes, yet her look was that of a
worried parent.

“I don’t know yet, Mary, but that’s why
agents Pearce and MacGregor are here, to help me find out.”

Mary was joined at their table by a man a few
years older than her, a stained white apron wrapped around his
small paunch, his eyes just as worried and filled with caring as
Mary’s. “Are you taking care of our girl?” he asked both Ian and
Brody point blank as he rested a large hand on Piper’s shoulder and
squeezed.

“Ian, Brody, this is Clem and Mary Donaldson.
They own the diner.” Piper introduced the couple who had suffered
every parent’s worst nightmare when their only child had been
killed in Iraq ten years ago.

Brody exchanged a look with Ian that conveyed
both annoyance and amused tolerance as yet another towns person was
hell bent on making sure they were looking out for Piper’s
well-being. “It’s nice to meet you and yes, we’re looking out for
Piper, trying to discover what happened the two days she went
missing. Now that she’s being a good girl, it’s much easier keeping
an eye on her.” When Piper glared at his smug look, he simply
squeezed her thigh under the table, keeping his easy smile in
place.

“I don’t know about them,” Ian put in as he
set his menu aside, “but I want the largest cut of prime rib you’ve
got, with the works.”

“On the house for all of you,” Clem
generously offered then turned and headed back to the kitchen
before they could argue.

“You two know it does no good to argue with
him,” Mary said to Haley and Piper. “Eat your dinner all gone and I
have lemon pie.”

“I think they’ve adopted you,” Ian commented,
his look going from Haley to Piper.

“They lost their son in Iraq and tend to
mother anyone younger than them,” Haley said as she tried to ignore
the way Ian’s hard thigh was pressing against hers, that simple
contact sending shards of pleasure through her.

Ian wanted to grin at her flustered look and
the way she was fiddling with her silverware and avoiding looking
at him. Damn he mused, if a simple kiss could do that to her, he
wondered what her reaction would be if he spent a few hours fucking
her. Quelling that thought before it could develop into a
full-fledged fantasy, he turned his attention to the large basket
of hot rolls and a salad that looked like a meal in itself being
set in front of him, sternly reminding himself that she was not for
dallying with.

“That’s about as rough as it gets,” Ian said,
his eyes filled with sympathy as he looked over at Mary bustling
around their small restaurant. The tables were decked out with red
and white checked table cloths, framed black and white pictures of
Hope from the forties and fifties adorned the walls, a jukebox was
playing an old Elvis Presley tune popular from the late fifties and
homemade pies were temptingly displayed in the glass case at the
checkout counter. Every time an order was up, Clem rang a bell from
the open window separating the counter from the kitchen. The
wholesome look and atmosphere of the place had Ian itching to stomp
down the street to Rowdy’s, and if it wasn’t for the plate size cut
of medium rare prime rib being set in front of him, he would.
“Fucking A that looks good.” Ignoring the grins of the others, he
dove in and didn’t plan to come up for air until he had taken his
last bite.

Piper grinned at Haley across the table. “I
guess it’s true that the way to a man’s heart is through his
stomach. I haven’t seen him that happy since he got here.”

“You can get there through sex too,” Ian said
around a mouthful of food, “but since Brody’s taken that off the
table, food it is, at least for now.”

“We’re on the job,” Brody bit out, reminding
his partner of why they were here. “This is great, Mary,” he told
the owner, quickly changing the subject when she returned at that
moment to see to refilling their iced tea herself.

Piper tried not to let Brody’s reiteration of
his no sex rule get to her, but she couldn’t help but be
disappointed. By the time they finished pie and were ready to head
back to her cabin, she was more than ready to torment them with the
sound of her vibrator, not that she thought it would do any good to
get Brody to change his mind about fucking her again. She had a
feeling it would just give her even more erotic dreams to wake
to.

“She’s doing it again,” Ian groaned two hours
later when the soft but distinct buzzing of a vibrator echoed
downstairs from the open loft. “I’d recognize that sound
anywhere.”

So would he, Brody groaned as his dick
thickened from nothing but that sound stimulating it. “Ian,” he
warned, his voice as frustrated as Ian’s but his will stronger due
to his growing emotional attachment to Piper. “It wouldn’t be…”

“I swear to God, if you say it wouldn’t be
right one more time, I’m punching you,” Ian threatened with a dark,
frustrated look over at him. Seated on the couch, both of them had
just gotten engrossed in an action movie that was completely
unrealistic but great kick ass entertainment when that cock
hardening sound coming from upstairs caught both their
attention.

Brody sighed, knowing Ian had a point. Piper
was more than willing, then again, she had been more than willing
five years ago and he had been haunted by the lost look on her face
when he left her back then as well as the look of betrayal followed
swiftly by resignation she couldn’t hide in those expressive green
eyes a week later when reality had so rudely smacked her in the
face. Brody was actually hoping Charles had indeed died from his
injuries, leaving the path clear for him to pursue his growing
desire for Piper as soon as Pasquino was brought in. Even if the
little evidence they had against Charles wasn’t enough to convict
him, it could be enough to persuade him to testify against
Pasquino, in which case he’d have no choice but to go into witness
protection if he wanted to live. Either way, Brody would be
responsible.

“Fine, fuck her if you both want, just do it
when I’m not around,” Brody snapped out even though his gut
clenched a he pictured the two of them doing just that. A soft cry
wafted down to them and the image of Piper’s face when she climaxed
filled his vision as he rose and went outside to take another
cooling dip in the lake, a habit he was getting damn tired of even
if it was his own conscience leading him there.

“Take all the fun out of it, why don’t you?”
Ian muttered as he watched his friend’s stiff back as he slammed
out of the cabin before turning off the television and heading into
the shower to relieve his own tension, another cry, this one louder
and longer, following him until he shut the door.

Piper woke at five a.m. from erotic dreams
filled with two men touching her everywhere followed by Brody
following through with his threat to use his belt on her next time
she didn’t abide by their rules. As she didn’t have any personal
experience with how that would feel, her imagination filled in for
her and wouldn’t leave her alone as she fixed coffee, ate a bagel
and then shut herself in her workroom. The door to the spare
bedroom was closed, much to her relief. She barely heard the
slamming of the front door last night as she was writhing on her
bed in the throes of climax, but it was enough to let her know she
had gotten to them again. Her satisfaction with that success had
been short lived, however, since she had spent the remainder of the
night in sleepless agitation over her dreams.