Freaky by Nature (14 page)

gy m ?”

“Ov er and ov er. Problem is, just like I told Holly , the picture’s

the sam e.”

“All the way through?”

Brett nodded. “The tape shows the front lobby the whole tim e.”

“A com m on v andal wouldn’t go to that extent.”

Brett shook his head. “A com m on v andal didn’t trash her

house either.”

“Any ideas?”

“Do we hav e any thing on Ev an Bannister?”

“Just a prelim inary background. Licensed attorney . Clean as a

whistle. Why ?”

“Holly got an interesting phone call this m orning.”

Sterling nodded for him to continue.

“Bannister called to conv ince her to turn the Perm aSlim

form ula ov er to him .”

“Why ?”

“He contends Albert’s son and daughter suggested they accept

it in lieu of contesting Albert’s will.”

“If our inform ation is correct, and I’m 99.9% sure it is, that

doesn’t m ake a whole helluv a lot of sense.”

“Affirm ativ e.”

“Holly ’s not considering, is she?”

“No. She say s the will is iron-clad and the form ula is where it

should be.”

“Pull any thing possible on London’s kids. Dig further on

Bannister.”

“Already on it. He’s a m em ber of Holly ’s gy m . Holly also

m entioned London was hav ing an affair.”

“Nam e?”

“Marla Adam son, London’s intern.”

“Sonuv abitch. That explains the supplem ent.”

Brett dism issed any further thought on that subject. “I’ll check

her out too.”

“Where the hell is Shadow?”

Sterling’s thoughts echoed his own. Shadow couldn’t get here

soon enough. “I’ll call him again.”

“Tell him I expected him y esterday .”

Brett swallowed hard. Shadow had better be close or the

reunion with Sterling wouldn’t be a happy one.

“On another note, Hawke’s concert will attract all kinds of

people. Whoev er this is m ay m ake a m ov e then.”

“Would Holly consider a safehouse?”

Brett ran a hand across the top of his head. “I don’t know, Cpt.,

she’s determ ined to show him who’s boss. Besides, where she goes, I

go and y ou need m e at the concert.”

Sterling leaned back in his chair and folded his arm s behind

his head. “Do y ou still expect Claire?”

“Som etim e. I’m not sure when.”

“Might giv e us som e insight.”

“You know how I feel about that, Sterling.”

“Look, I’m not try ing to tell y ou how to juggle y our wom en,

Steele, but we need Claire.”

Deep down, Brett knew Sterling was right on target. If they

had any hope of catching this perp, Claire was the key . Then

again, Claire’s presence m ight m ake things ev en worse. “May be.”

Sterling gav e him a hard stare that told him to forget about

maybe
. Still, he owed it to Claire to m aintain his position.

Sterling glanced at his watch. “You m issed y our class.”

“Teacher kicked m e out.” Brett stood and walked toward the

door. “I’ll get back to y ou with the Intel.”

Sterling nodded and followed him out of the office. “Just be

patient, Steele, she’ll com e around.”

***

Brett’s m ind spun ninety to nothing as he entered Holly ’s

security code into the key pad and closed the front door, his m ind

focused on what he was about to do. No second guessing, no

procrastination, no bullshit. Just following his heart to take the

biggest risk of his life. He took a deep breath and headed toward the

kitchen to find Holly .

He paused in m id-step as he passed the sliding glass door to the

backy ard, the sunlight nearly blinding him as it bounced off

Holly ’s sm ooth, shiny skin. He hardened as he anticipated his next

m ov e. He wanted to respect her priv acy , but the desire to break

her restraint was m ore powerful. He’d giv en her space for day s

now, taking care to av oid a chance m eeting in the kitchen. Or in

the liv ing room . Or ev en in the bedroom . His body could v ouch for

his good intentions; the 2 x 4 between his legs was becom ing

second nature. He exhaled in frustration.

Enough is enough.

Quietly sliding the door open, he eased through the opening

and strode toward her. He took a deep breath through his nose.

Coconut. Stopping beside her lounge chair, he sm iled as he

watched her sleep, the ev en tem po of her breathing offering her

breasts to him with ev ery other beat.

Brett squatted beside the chair and strangled the urge to chase

the droplets of m oisture across the surface of her body . Lightly , he

fingered a loose tendril of her hair.

“Holly ?”

Holly jerked awake at the sound of his v oice and grabbed for a

towel. He watched, am used, as she awoke enough to realize her

body was cov ered by her bathing suit and then she relaxed back

against the chair.

He chuckled. “I thought y ou should probably turn ov er.”

She pursed her pink, pouty lips. “You cam e out here to tell m e

to turn ov er?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank y ou.”

Brett reached for a bottle of coconut oil. “So, turn ov er.”

Against Holly ’s better judgm ent, she flipped to her stom ach

and braced herself for the touch of Brett’s strong, warm hands

kneading the oil into her skin. Her nipples tightened when she

heard him pop the top on the bottle.

Her skin tingled as the slippery substance coated the surface of

her shoulder m uscles, slid down the slope of her back, and pooled in

the sm all of her back. Holly bit her lip to suppress an alm ost

orgasm ic m oan when Brett sm eared the oily riv er across her skin

with his palm s. Down, down, down until he v entured under the

elastic of her bikini bottom s.

His touch was so stim ulating it was alm ost painful. Her body

tem perature rose a few degrees ov er boiling.
Just breathe, Holly
.

The gentle m assage of his fingertips along the edges of her spine

tantalized her nerv e endings and m ade her achy and edgy .

“Brett.” Holly squeezed her ey es closed and tried to disguise the

intense desperation in her v oice. No need to let him know she

easily considered asking him to take her right then and there.

“What?”

“I think y ou’v e done this before.”

She waited for his confession, secretly hoping she were wrong.

“No,” he denied. “This is a first for m e.”

Holly opened her ey es and expelled a quiet breath of relief. “I

probably hav e enough oil for now.”

Brett responded by sliding his hands down her back like a

squeegee. “I got a little carried away . Turn back ov er.”

Butterflies fluttered in her stom ach. “I’v e already sunned m y

front.”

His light chuckle floated across the still sum m er afternoon.

“This oil has to go som ewhere.”

She lay still for a m om ent to debate her next m ov e. Her brain

scream ed to resist but the quiet thum ping of her heart urged her

forward. Rolling to her back, she squinted in the afternoon sun at

the shiny oil droplets that escaped from the cup of his hands.

She couldn’t stop the giggle that slipped from her lips. “I don’t

think I need that m uch.”

Brett grinned and sm eared the oil across her shoulders and

down her arm s. Beads of oil bubbled on her skin. She m oaned when

he placed his palm s against her chest, rubbed the area in lazy

circles, and caressed the v alley of her cleav age. When he m ov ed to

her breasts, her nipples pebbled and peaked from his touch,

begging for m ore. He left the flesh, m ov ing lower to the hollow of

her stom ach and kneaded the oil into her belly button while

coating the jewel nestled there. As his warm hands trav eled lower

to the fabric of her bikini bottom s, his fingertips dipped under the

edge, tracing the path between her legs.

“Brett,” she gasped, “I’m pretty sure I won’t burn there.”

But, by all means, smear it there anyway
.

It wasn’t until her hips gav e an inv oluntary jerk that she

knew things were dangerously close to spiraling out of control.

“I’m oily enough for now, for both of us. Thank y ou.”

Undeterred, Brett snapped the top of the bottle closed and

tossed it to the patio. “You didn’t enjoy that?”

She swallowed hard. “Too m uch.”

He cocked an ey ebrow. “Is that possible?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think so.” He inched closer to her and tugged his shirt

ov er his head. “Did y ou know there are ov er one hundred pleasure

points in the hum an body ?”

Sev eral curls brushed the sides of her face as she shook her

head, m esm erized by his m uscled chest and husky tone.

“I think I found a few of y ours,” he whispered as he wrapped

his arm s around her and crushed her to him .

Holly gasped again, consum ed by an ov erwhelm ing urgency

to plaster herself against him , to grind against the chiseled

m uscles of his body until com pletely and utterly satisfied.

He lowered his head and took her lips, caressing her m outh

m ore than kissing it, coaxing her desire from its hiding place.

Holly blocked ev ery second thought from her m ind, parted her

lips, and raised herself to m eet his kiss. And when warning bells

clanged in her head so hard her ears rang, she scoffed and

returned his kiss with reckless abandon.

Brett’s gentle m assage sent shiv ers of delight through her,

shattering her resolv e to rem ain detached. As his tongue explored

the recesses of her m outh, she gav e herself freely to the unbridled

passion, if only for the m om ent.

***

Cam eron giggled to herself as she walked past the upstairs

picture window. The infam ous picture window where Max first

discov ered Holly , naked and baking herself in the sun. Reaching to

pull the squeaky shade, she caught sight of m ov em ent below.

There in the blazing Arizona sun, lay Holly in a barely -there

string bikini … with Brett Steele’s arm s wrapped around her shiny

m idsection and his tongue cram m ed down her throat.

“Max!” she y elled, her ey es glued to the window pane.

The window pane rattled as Max stom ped down the hallway .

Sliding to a stop, he folded his arm s across his bulky chest while

she stood at the window, her ey es wide in am azem ent.

“I thought y ou were hurt,” he drawled.

Nev er m ov ing her gaze from the window, she reached behind

her and wrapped her fingers around his m uscled biceps to urge

him forward. “Look!”

He didn’t budge. “Nuh-uh. I’m not supposed to.”

“Max!” she hissed. “Look!”

He stepped next to her and peered out the pane. “Dam n.” The

next thing she knew, Max fum bled for the window locks.

“What are y ou doing?”

“Putting a stop to that.”

Cam eron batted away his hands. “Stop! We can’t let them

know we’re up here.”

“Why ? You want to watch?”

“No!” she shrieked, pulling the shade. “It would em barrass

them to know we witnessed their priv ate, intim ate m om ent.”

“Not exactly priv ate,” he pointed out.

She took a deep breath. “No one can see them .”

“We can.”

“Only because we’re up here. I swear, this window has caused

m ore trouble.”

Max pulled her close and placed one hand against her

protruding m idsection. “How do y ou feel?”

“Fine,” she answered against his neck.

“Do y ou still hav e that bottle of coconut oil?”

“Yes.” She raised her head to look at him . “Why ?”

He laced his fingers through hers and led her down the

hallway . “Brett and Holly m ay be onto som ething.”

***

A slight m oan escaped Holly ’s m outh when reality finally

tapped her on the shoulder and her em otions whirled and skidded

to a stop. Reluctantly separating her lips from Brett’s, she sighed in

defeat.

“This can’t happen.”

Without argum ent, Brett raised his m outh from hers, gazed

into her ey es, and sm oothed the hair from her forehead.

“Whatev er y ou’re fighting in there is m ajorly annoy ing.”

Holly squeezed her ey es closed. If he only knew. “I’m sorry .”

He brushed a gentle kiss across her forehead as he stood. “I’m

not.”

“Brett—”

“No explanation necessary . I’m going to shower.”

As Brett walked away , the strong, toned m uscles of his back

and shoulders rippled in the afternoon sun. Holly slum ped back

against the lounge as she watched him slide open the patio door

and disappear into the house. He was so rugged, y et perfect. So…

m ale. And the serpent that wound itself around his shoulder and

biceps only added to his perfection. Holly rubbed her tem ples and

squinted, willing herself to respond with a logical explanation. No

color. No thoughts. Just Brett, pure and tem pting. She ran a hand

across her forehead that now ached from wrinkles of annoy ance.

There was no logical explanation in sight.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

From the doorway of the weight room at the gy m , Holly

watched Brett lift a barbell sev eral tim es, alm ost jealous when the

m etal kissed the glistening skin of his bare chest. Reclined on his

back on a leather bench, Brett flexed his bronzed m uscles as he

lifted with precision. Holly glanced at the weight loaded on each

end. She could alm ost feel the burn from where she stood.