Gaming for Keeps (Entangled Ever After) (6 page)

The remnants of the body paint ran down his chest, slicking her thighs. When he lifted her again, she had to cling to him with her legs and arms, upsetting their balance until they fell into the corner. Pen buried her face in his neck, laughing even as her hips ground against the length pressed between them once more. “The books never make this sound so hard.”

“Really? This hard?” He thrust his hips once, rubbing against her clit with the motion.

She moaned, wanting him so badly she could taste it. She buried her face against his neck. “That hard, yes. The shower hard, no. I know we both had this fantasy, but right now I just want you.”

“Agreed. We’ll have to save the shower thing for some other time.”

Before his words had time to register, Cal twisted off the water, swept her into the cradle of his arms, and stepped out of the shower. Reality once again topped fantasy.

Chapter Six

S.E.X.

The walk from the bathroom seemed ridiculously long, and Pen secretly hoped he’d just take her on the floor. Then she groaned as the hand supporti
ng her back tangled in her hair and Cal pulled her in for a searing kiss. Suddenly the walk didn’t feel so long anymor
e. She needed this—to feel truly wanted—so badly it hurt.

In seconds, her ass hit the bed and he laid her down, breaking the kiss. As much as his erection screamed
now
, Cal blew out a shuddering breath, braced himself away from her, and said, “With all the literal and figurative ups and downs to get to this point, I just need to be sure…you still want this, right?”

This and more—especially after his comment about another time—but she’d settle for this. “Yes.”

As soon as he was within reach again, she pulled him closer, finding his mouth with hers. She gripped his ass, her nails digging in, and tried to urge him forward. Even as she lifted her hips, he held back. Her teeth scraped against his bottom lip as she dragged herself from the kiss to breathe into his ear. “Please, Cal.”

“Say it again.”

The command in his tone made her shiver. “Cal…”

“Say it again.”

She could feel herself getting wetter every time he said those words. It was like he could see inside her head and knew just what kind of effect he had on her. But if he didn’t dull the throbbing ache between her legs soon, she was going to scream. “Please, Cal.”

“I’d planned on taking my time, but as the lady wishes…” He poised himself over her, the head of his cock penetrating her, stretching her—slowly. Too damn slowly.

She whimpered beneath him, her nails scratching at the muscles of his ass. She wanted him
in
her, not this halfway teasing. At that point, she realized she was not, in fact, above begging. “Please, Cal. I need you.”

His lips twitched into an unabashed smirk and he thrust into her fully. The move came so quickly, the sensation so intense, that her back arched off the bed. For a moment, she couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. She felt like time had stopped and only the two of them existed. It was magical. Then Cal found one pert nipple and teased it with his tongue as his hips moved slowly, drawing his length out of her. Wherever he touched, she came alive. She managed to breathe again, but she wanted him to make her stop, wanted that magical feeling she’d had when he filled her.

Then he thrust again and it didn’t just steal her breath—the rest of the world ceased to matter. Here with Cal was all she wanted, all she needed. He moved in and out of her like they had all the time they could ever want. Whenever he sheathed to his hilt, he ground against her slightly, rubbing the aching bud of her clit and drowning her in desire. Every stroke brought her closer and closer to the edge but never quite pushed her over. A tease, a promise of something fabulous just out of reach.

But what she had now was already amazing. He felt so good inside her, filling her, but never to the point of pain. And his kisses. God, his kisses. She’d never been with a man who wanted as much contact as she did. His mouth was always on her. Her nipples, her neck, her lips—trailing heat wherever he went. His tongue twined with hers, stroking, caressing, even as his hips pistoned. Long, slow strokes that set her shivering soon gave way to faster, harder thrusts that urged her to the very brink of orgasm.

She cried out with need and desire. If she didn’t come soon, she would explode. Without warning, Cal pinned her hands against the bed and thrust into her harder and faster. She gasped against his mouth as the tide rose higher and higher.

When the head of his cock bumped her cervix, the wave broke, washing her in sensation as orgasm ripped through her. Her muscles clenched on his length, and his body hardened as he plunged into her one more time, his own orgasm making him shudder.

After one last, tender kiss, he collapsed, rolling to the side slightly. Not wanting to give up the contact, Pen rolled with him. She traced patterns on his chest, wishing she had some idea what to say. She’d never done this—a one-night stand. Did she tell him it was great and thanks and then just…leave? Dare she hope he might want to see her again?

Probably not. Nice as he was, he might not even be local. He could very well only be here for the con and then she’d never see him again.

He brushed a kiss against her hair. “Do me a favor?”

She nodded, not trusting herself to say anything.

He buried his face in her hair and whispered in her ear, “Stay here tonight.”

Pen bit her bottom lip and tried to hold back the grin that threatened to break free. She didn’t care that she’d have to do the walk of shame through the hotel in the morning. Or that she didn’t have a toothbrush with her. Or that she had no clue what any of this meant, if anything. All she cared about was having that wonderful, electric contact with Cal all night long. “Okay.”

…

Cal couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept so well. Pen’s hair tickled his nose, and he sucked in the fresh apple scent of her shampoo. Contentment like he hadn’t felt in years found in the arms of a woma
n he just met. It seemed impossible, but it was as if they’d known each other for a lot longer than a day. They just clicked so well, and he didn’t want to let it go. Hell, he didn’t want to move from this very spot with her in his arms.

Like he summoned a demon with his thoughts, his damn phone rang.

Shit.
He extricated himself as gently as he could from the bed. Penelope moaned in her sleep, and he had to resist the urge to go back to her. That’s what he wanted, but it was the ringtone reserved for people from TRAIT. Not answering wasn’t an option. Considering the way Marron had confidently given him the rest of the weekend off, they were probably just calling to let him know all was well and Takamaki and his weapon were under lock and key.

Trevor’s number. He thumbed on the phone. “Hey.”

“Took you long enough. We’ve got a problem.”

Cal scrubbed at his face.
No. There weren’t supposed to be any problems. And now, with Pen…
“What kind of problem? And why can’t you handle it?”

“No one can locate Takamaki. And the tickets are gone—passed out in pairs sometime yesterday. We missed it. They’re a hot commodity, and I may have played the brusque role too well. I already received a warning from some nerd wearing a shirt that said ‘security’ on it. Marissa was called in last night, but no dice.”

Damn it. They had to get someone into that screening to shut down the deal before people got hurt. He should have argued with Marron and stayed on the job. He should have…

A quiet rustling made Cal turn around. Pen was sitting up in the bed—still wearing the shirt he’d given her to sleep in the night before—the sheet wrapped tight to her body. If he’d been working, he wouldn’t have found her again.

She wasn’t looking at him, but by the stiffness of her posture, she was listening.
Crap.
He was going to have to be careful about what he said. Once again, he found himself in the position of having someone he’d like to talk to about his life and explain why he had to disappear suddenly. But he couldn’t tell her anything. And now, he was more worried about protecting her and keeping her with him and safe, than he was about anything else.

“Okay, but can’t someone else do it?”

“No, damn it. We need someone who has this place wired, and that’s your ass.”

“What happened with Marissa?”

“She managed to charm plenty of the geekboys into giving her their numbers and every social media link under the sun, but she couldn’t weasel her way into a ticket—not even for long enough to create a forgery.” Trevor’s voice was tight. He’d probably gotten his ass reamed by Josh for screwing things up. Of course, even the special agent in charge wouldn’t be able to tell him where he’d gone wrong.

Cal bet Trevor had tried to muscle tickets from someone and when that didn’t work, he sent in Marissa to try to con someone into giving his up. The plan was destined to fail. A lot of guys at these conventions would fall for a gorgeous girl, but only if they thought they stood a chance with her. Handing over their own tickets to a private screening of a highly anticipated film just because she was hot—and Marissa went above and beyond most expectations for that—would never happen. She would have to agree to go
with
the guy, and that wouldn’t have occurred to either Trevor or Marissa.

He groaned into the phone, wishing he could hide his frustration from Pen. There’d be questions—too many damn questions—and he’d have to lie to her or blow her off. But he had no choice.

“Great. And what do you expect me to do?”

His aggravated response must have been more than enough for Trevor. Hell, the guy had already said more than he normally did to Cal in a week. “We talked about lifting one, but Marissa isn’t sure her pickpocketing skills are up to snuff anymore. Marron wants you to crack into Takamaki’s servers, says that’s our best bet.”

And Marron was right. They needed a forgery and a damn good one. As much as Cal had hoped to spend the day getting to know Pen, dozens or even hundreds of lives hung in the balance. Even though he couldn’t explain why he had to work, he hoped she’d understand and they could figure out a way to get together later. As it was, he needed to get to work
now
if he had any hopes of creating tickets for them.

“Yeah. I’ll get right on that.” He thumbed off his phone and tossed it on the couch so he didn’t end up chucking it at the desk. Some vacation, and now he had to send the amazing woman in his bed back into the con none the wiser, because telling her would put the mission at risk.

Pen’s voice was quiet when she spoke—small. “Who was that?”

Judging by her tone, he’d obviously done a bang-up job of hiding his irritation. And how the hell was he supposed to answer her question? There would hardly be a “coding” emergency on a Saturday that no one else could handle. Plus, she might see him around the con while he tried to sort things out for the night. His mind ran through lies, hunting for one that would be the least destructive to whatever they’d started building yesterday.

He had nothing. Some spy he made; he couldn’t even come up with one simple excuse for a woman who wouldn’t be looking for deception. Maybe she’d let work pass after all. “That was the office. I have some stuff I need to take care of. I’d really hoped to spend the day with you…”

Her lips twitched into a halfhearted smile that faded even as he watched. “It’s okay. I understand. Sometimes life gets in the way of fun. There’s this thing later tonight. If you want to get together for that, I can leave my number and—”

The words registered in his brain, but Cal was already shifting into work mode. The sooner he figured this out, the sooner Takamaki was in custody and everyone would be safe. Pen would be safe. With his mind on that rather than the tiny lies he’d told so far, he blurted out, “I’ve got it.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, and he wondered which front company would allow him easiest access to Takamaki’s network. Then Pen stood, dragging the sheet with her. “Okay. Great. I’ll just…get out of the way, then.”

In the quiet of the room, he heard her shuffling around in the sheet, gathering her things. He managed to hit pause on his brain long enough to walk over, sweep her hair back from her face, and brush a kiss across her lips. “I’ll call you later, no matter what happens with work.”
Because if things go badly, I want to get you the hell out of here.
“Why don’t you keep the shirt? It looks better on you anyway.”

Though she didn’t say anything, her nod told him she’d gotten the message. He
would
find her again when this mess was over. And hopefully that would be sooner rather than later.

“I’ll call as soon as I can.” For the moment, though, he had a convention full of people to save, including the most amazing woman he’d ever met. One way or the other, he was going to keep her out of harm’s way.

Chapter Seven

You Give Love a Bad Name

In the harsh
and sober light of day, Pe
n felt stupid walking through the halls in her tiny leather skirt. Actually, she wasn’t even sure why she bothered with it. Cal’s shirt more or less covered the thing anyway. Weird how it seemed dirtier than if she’d just been in the skirt.

As good as he’d made her feel by asking her to stay…she felt just as dismissed now. Maybe Cal really did have some weird-ass work emergency to deal with, but he’d gone from snuggling to kicking her out in under two minutes. She’d given him the benefit of the doubt once—could she really do it again?

She punched the number for her floor in the elevator and sulked all the way back to her room. The place that had held such a promise of adventure only yesterday felt hollow and lonely now. So much for adventure. One guy had tried to buy her off with a drink and another had…

Had what? Made her tingle from her toes to the tips of her fingers and every place in between?

Her lips twitched and she raised a hand to cover her smile—not that anyone was looking. Maybe Cal had been her adventure after all. Her own gender-bending manic-pixie-dream-girl, there to reveal her own awesomeness and wake her the hell up sexually. And she did feel pretty awesome about herself if she stopped dwelling on the negative.

The door to her room shut behind her, and she collapsed against it, ridiculous laughter bubbling up her throat. Cal had been precisely what she needed last night. Sure, she would have liked more—after that, who wouldn’t?—but she’d known going in it probably wouldn’t last.

Giving a sigh, she tore off the clothes, taking a second to breathe in the scent of him lingering on the shirt she’d borrowed. She stepped into the bathroom, but the stupid shower only made her think about him and the way he’d hinted at a next time. No way. She was
not
dwelling on what might have been when last night had been so good.

Bath. She could take a bath.

Steam started filling the room, obscuring her reflection in the mirror. Good. She wanted to focus on happy thoughts, not see what she’d wandered the halls looking like. When the tub was filled, she sank into it, bending her knees so the water would wash over her head. She held her breath and blinked at the ceiling through the wavering surface.

The ripples and bubbles gave way to Cal’s mouth on hers. On her neck. On her nipples. His hands tangled in her hair and gripped her flesh like he never wanted to let go. The tender way he’d made love to her, touching her in all the right places.

As if with a mind of their own, her hands traveled from her breasts, over her stomach, to find the very place she had in mind. She eased her head out of the water, sucking in a breath as she circled her clit with her fingers. The one thing she wished Cal had done last night was to use his mouth on her, sucking on her clit, grazing it with his teeth, lapping at it with his tongue. She gasped as she imagined him there instead of her fingers. She plunged two inside herself as she kept on her clit with the other hand.
Just a little more. Cal. Yes. Please, yes.
An orgasm ripped through her, not as strong as the ones she’d had with him last night, but it left her spent nonetheless.

She was already putting Cal into fantasy-guy mode, which meant she was in trouble. At least she didn’t have the means to stalk him. Sure, she could Google and Facebook and Twitter and all that, but she wouldn’t even go that far. He either wanted her or he didn’t. A great memory was a much more enjoyable prospect than any sort of ugly reality.

Nope. She’d keep Cal Burrows right where she had him unless he decided to move for more.

Determined to get the most out of her day, Pen scrubbed herself clean. Once she was dry, she dug through her clothes, hunting for something to wear. Snorting, she pulled out the T-shirt with the binary code front and back. Cal would probably get a kick out of it if they met up, even if she had to tell him what it said.

For now, though, she was going to see if she could get a second chance at Stan Lee and hit some panels and the dealer room. Then tonight, she planned to immerse herself in cyberpunk killers and mayhem. And even if he didn’t call, it just meant she’d have a nice empty seat next to her to put her feet on if she wanted. It was the perfect plan. Nothing could go wrong.

…

“Well?” Trevor stalked over as Cal turned from the pickup window wit
h his lunch.

“Christ, Trev. I need to eat, okay?” He wound his way toward an uncomfortable-looking bench near the windows—and, more importantly, away from everyone else.

Trevor scowled as Marissa elbowed him. The big man stepped to the expanse of windows, crossed his arms, and pretended to look outside. Marissa eased her supermodel frame onto the bench with Cal and swept a long swath of golden blond hair off her tanned cheek. “What he’s
trying
to say is we’ve had no luck and Marron is looking for an update. Have you found some magical portal to grant us access to the screening?”

“You mean your grifter skills didn’t pull off the ultimate heist of a ticket to an exclusive movie screening at a sci-fi convention?” He just wanted to eat and get back to work, but he couldn’t help but poke at Marissa. Like most people at TRAIT, she had an incredible record for getting shit done. Criminal past or no, Marissa Joens was one of the best.

“We didn’t have time to prep a foolproof persona for me. Greta did her best, but I had to wing a lot of it and I don’t play vulnerable very well without some serious hypnotic encouragement. And the one time I slid my fingers in a pocket…let’s just say it’s a good thing I
can
play vixen.” Marissa shrugged, the compact muscles shifting as her skin caught the light. Shine and faux substance at their finest.

“I told you before, that shit was destined to fail.” He stuffed a bite of Pad Thai into his mouth. Twisted on the bench to face Marissa, he caught sight of Pen striding into the food court. He wanted to wave her over, spend at least these few minutes with her before he had to get back to work. Unfortunately, until the Takamaki mess was dealt with, he couldn’t do anything of the sort. Probably just as well. She looked pissed. If he talked to her, he’d want to calm her down, and that would lead to…not working. He let out a deep sigh. Soon. He’d see her soon enough and get her the hell out of here for the night.

“Have you heard a word I said?” Marissa snapped her fingers in his face. “Hello? Come back from Narnia or wherever you are.”

“Sorry.”

“I asked how your plan was working. If you can get at least one of us in, we’re golden. That person can disable the guards at a door and let the others inside. Two would be better, but one will do.” She reached out and plucked a shrimp from his plate, popping it into her mouth.

Cal tugged his food out of her reach. “I went the simple route and hacked straight into his film company. Details for the tickets were easy enough to find from there. Duplication is the bigger issue. The tickets have holograms as well as computer chips embedded in them. I managed to find the program that generates the code for the chips. As soon as it’s done compiling, I’m taking it back to the field office to make the actual tickets.”

For the first time since she sat down, Marissa looked something less than proud and beautiful. She squirmed in her seat, looking over to Trevor as if for backup. “You need the T-1000 for that, right?”

“No. I don’t need a Terminator. I do need the TCL-1000, though.”

She slouched and turned away from him. “It’s uh…offline.”

“What do you mean? It was fine yesterday when I was in the office. I saw one of the new guys using it.” That machine was his baby—the ultimate physical creation device. It could do card forgeries and props and even masks like they used in the movies. Though so far he’d only tested that on costume pieces…just to make sure it worked. He’d busted his ass to get the funds for it approved, and the TCL had saved their asses more than once.

Marissa threw her shoulders back, straightening with obvious effort, and cleared her throat. “There was a coffee incident.”

“A coffee…” Cal clutched his plate and mentally counted backward.

“The tech guys are on it. Seriously, it should be fixed this afternoon.”

He held his breath to prevent the words he wanted to yell from spewing out. Teeth clenched, he finally said, “And we need those tickets for
tonight
.”

“Uh-huh. And that’s why you’re the computer genius.”

Cal focused on keeping his breathing steady. This mission was sailing to Tartarus in Hades’s hand basket. He thought of Pen, and of Megara somewhere in this same damn con. If anything happened to either of them, he’d never forgive himself. Pieces started to clack together in his mind. It wouldn’t be perfect by any stretch, but as long as the ticket would pass detection, that was all that mattered. “Fine. I can do this, but I need you two out gathering supplies. I need the
best
printer you can find. Buy it, abscond it, I don’t care, but I need quality…” He rattled off the list of equipment he’d need to rig something worth trying. “And tell the damn tech guys to hurry. This may not work at all.”

“We’re on it. Delivery within thirty.” Marissa punched in a text rapid-fire.

“E-mailing Marron an update now,” Trevor said as he pulled out his phone.

“Good.”

Trevor turned from the window and said, as he stalked away, “And if we can manage without any more stupid costumes, it’d be a bonus.”

Marissa leaned in close to Cal, her voice lowered to the throaty growl he was sure had undone more than one mark. “We have to get into that screening—as quietly as possible. If Takamaki knows we’re coming, this whole thing is fucked. We’ll get your equipment, but make sure those forgeries are top-notch. I’ll scope out the screening room with Trevor and figure out which entrance to aim for.”

She snagged another bite of shrimp, then stood and sauntered off to the very appreciative stares of pretty much every guy in the place. Cal let out a sigh of relief. He still had some time before they were back with what he needed; maybe with them gone he could steal at least a couple minutes with Penelope. When he scanned the crowd, though, she was gone. Shoulders slumping, he turned back to his food. It was probably a bad idea anyway. Work first.
Then
he could find her again.

After rigging things as best he could, Cal had to get out of the room. He’d spent more than two hours prepping everything. Now all he could do was wait and pray. He found Pen’s room number and knocked on her door, but—no surprise—she wasn’t there. Only a few more hours until the screening, and the distraction he wanted most was hidden in the crowds of people.

He killed some time in the fitness center and showered there to keep from hovering over the machine in his room. Stepping through his doorway at last, Cal was greeted by a high-pitched whirring. He threw the door shut and raced to the desk. His workstation was just as he’d left it, but the printer he’d rigged to create the holographic film was jammed, the special ink gumming up the works. Before he’d even popped it open, the thing coughed, sputtered, and died.

The guts of it were fried and smoke filtered into his room. Melted plastic stuck to everything inside. The plastic wouldn’t budge, so Cal grabbed a screwdriver and fitted it beneath an edge, gently prying it from the drum. Maybe if he was really careful…

The plastic came free and flew out of the printer, but with the sudden pressure change, his screwdriver jerked, gouging into the drum.

“Shit!” It would take hours just to get it functional again—cleaned up completely and a new drum installed…if he could find one. Plus there was no guarantee he wouldn’t wind up with the same result. There wasn’t enough time. He yanked his phone out of his pocket and dialed the field office.

“Marron.”

“Josh, we have a problem.” Cal didn’t even bother with the machine. There had to be a better option than what he was facing at the moment.

“What now? I thought you had things under control.”

“I did, but my MacGyver skills aren’t up to snuff anymore.”

Marron sighed heavily and slammed something, probably paperwork, on his desk. The poor guy was always buried in paper these days. “In English, Cal.”

“Remember when I said I thought I could rig something to do the hologram on the tickets? I was wrong. I’ve got the rest of the pieces, but the holograms need to be done in-house on the machine that better be in working order again.”

Silence hung on the line, and Cal knew Josh was probably calculating the time between now and the screening. “There’s no way to do it there?”

“Not that I can think of off-hand.” There wasn’t even another agency’s office in the immediate vicinity Josh could weasel them into, not to mention one that would have the right equipment. TRAIT was thirty minutes away without traffic, and heading into a Saturday night downtown? He couldn’t even pretend things would move that fast. But the field office was his last hope.

“I think the TCL’s close to fixed. Send the specs of what you need right now and I’ll get…someone to work on it.”

Cal was already encrypting the files. “Greta. She’s not the best with computers, but she has an intuitive feel for the artistic stuff. Have Jodi…” What was the chick’s last name? “…Israel help her on the tech end. Between the two of them, it’ll turn out better than if I did it.” But not quicker. There were only a couple hours left until the screening started. Sure, TRAIT had people here, ready to move in, but everything hinged on putting a body inside the screening room.

“Okay. We’ll get it done and put together. Send everything else with Marissa.”

Cal startled, sitting up straighter. “You don’t want me to bring it?”

“No. Marissa and Trevor already tapped out their access to alternatives. You know people there. See what you can manage in the meantime.” Josh went quiet for a second, likely opening the e-mail. “Besides, Marissa drives faster than you do.”

He ignored the old-lady-driver comment, instead dwelling on ideas of how to dig up a spare ticket here. No matter what way he attacked the issue, the answer kept coming back to the same thing.