Missionary Position (Masters of the Prairie Winds Club Book 7) (8 page)

Watching her eyes clear, Kyle knew she’d come back to the moment and he couldn’t help but smile down at her. “Kitten, I do love the way your mind works. I swear it’s no wonder you and our mom are so close.”
Analytical brilliance wrapped in beautiful soft silk.
He and Kent thanked their lucky stars every day their mom had met Tobi and sent her their way. They’d been avoiding Tobi’s calls and emails for weeks because she’d been working for a local magazine and had wanted to do an article on The Prairie Winds Club, and they, on the other hand, hadn’t wanted the publicity. But when Mama West put her foot down and insisted Kent arrange a meeting with the reporter she’d met during a visit to the magazine’s office, they’d complied. From the first moment they’d met the pint-sized dynamo, they’d been grateful for their mother’s insistence. And the fact the two most important women in their lives loved one another as if they really were mother and daughter was a huge bonus.

She grinned as if he’d just handed her the deed to the universe, “Thanks. I always take that as a compliment even though I’m not convinced it always is.” Her grin was so infectious, Kyle couldn’t help but chuckle and, he could see Kent’s shoulders shaking with silent laughter as well. After a few seconds of silence, Tobi moved her thoughtful gaze between the two of them and said, “Okay, now I know there is more, so out with it.” Damn, maybe she was spending
too much
time with their mom.

“Careful, sweetness. You don’t want to let your mouth start writing checks your sweet little ass will have to cash later. I’d much rather fuck you than punish you.” It always amazed Kyle that everybody thought Kent was the more easy-going of the two of them, when in fact he was far stricter. Kyle might talk more, but his twin was all about action.

“Sorry, Master.” Kyle had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing because she was laying it on pretty thick, though he had to admit when she dipped her chin and looked up at him through her long lashes, it went straight to his cock. “I just want to know what it is the two of you aren’t saying, because I know you, and it’s there…I can feel it.”

There wasn’t going to be any arguing her point because she was dead on. But this time it was Kent who answered, “You’re right, sweetness. We do need your help. We’ve kept Lara’s phone because we’re hoping to be able to backtrace any calls she may get about her parents. There are several things that don’t add up, but no one wants to say anything to Lara just yet.”

Kent had barely finished speaking when Tobi squealed and was literally bouncing up and down in her chair. “Oh, tell me what you want me to do—I’m going to be the best operative you’ve ever had, you just wait and see. Want me to ferret out information? I’m really good at asking nosey questions. Or maybe you want me to find out who her parents really work for…they might work for the CIA or something. Heck, maybe they were spying for Uncle Sam and got busted trying to steal top secret missile locations or vials of germ warfare stuff.” Kyle looked at Kent to see the same horror reflected in his eyes that Kyle was feeling. How on earth had they lost any semblance of control over this conversation so quickly?

Obviously Tobi had noted their response, because without skipping so much as a beat, she added, “Maybe they know where Jimmy Hoffa is buried…yeah, that’s probably it. You want I should find out, Boss? Huh? That what you want?” She’d ended with the corniest mafia gangster accent he’d ever heard and before they could even respond, raucous laugh sounded behind them and they turned to see Jax and Micah leaned back howling with laughter. Gracie stood between them, and even though she looked pale, her grin said she’d heard Tobi’s outburst as well.

Kyle walked over to Gracie and wedged himself between Jax and his wife before grasping her elbow and leading her carefully over to the bar. Helping her up so she was seated beside Tobi, he slid the small plate of crackers and mild cheese he’d prepared for her over before moving to the refrigerator to get her a glass of milk. “Here you go, Gracie, hopefully this will help settle things down for you. I hated to see you stranded over there between those two laughing hyenas.” She smiled and thanked him, but he noticed she only nibbled at the snack and even though neither of her husbands mentioned it, he knew they’d also noted she wasn’t eating. They all settled into a relaxed conversation as they bantered back and forth about the best way to handle irreverent subs and he was grateful Gracie seemed to relax.

Jax took the lead explaining to Tobi what they had in mind when they’d asked her to answer Lara’s phone. She seemed disappointed that they wanted her to simply listen as much as possible, and to follow any instructions they gave her during the call. They were all wearing earbuds and would be able to hear everything the caller said so they’d be able to coach her during the conversation. “Tobi, it’s important you say as little as possible in case whoever is on the other end knows Lara well enough to realize you aren’t her. We’ll feed you questions so you won’t have to worry about that. The thing I want you to focus on is keeping yourself in character, it’s awfully easy to say ‘she thinks’ for example instead of ‘I think’. A small slip-up like that can blow an entire operation.”

Kyle was impressed with how attentively she’d listened to Jax’s instructions and he was glad they’d decided it would be better to let someone besides he or Kent coach her. Too much would be riding on the call, which the alphabet agencies expected, so they needed Tobi to listen and follow orders, and everyone agreed it would probably be easier for Jax to impart the information. Hell, everybody knew how much the little imp liked to challenge both he and Kent, so handing the job over to Jax had been an easy call.

Just as they finished cleaning up and prepared to move into the suite’s living room, Lara’s phone lit up the word “Dad” and began playing “Papa was a Rolling Stone” by The Temptations.
God save me from subs with quirky senses of humor.
Micah took off running to the small room where they’d set up their computer equipment and Kyle nodded to Tobi, “You’re up, kitten.”

Lara relaxed under the hot water as the shower rained down in muscle massaging pulses gently driving out the tension in her shoulders. Her ass was throbbing from the punishment Fischer had meted out earlier, damn he’d been tough on her and even though she wasn’t thrilled with him, she understood what he’d been trying to do. Lara knew she tended to bottle up her fear and she’d felt herself locking up her emotions as soon as she’d heard her parents were missing. Shuttering her feelings was a habit she’d learned as a child—her parents had been relentless in the admonishments to show no fear and to hold her temper in check.

Being the only kid in the village with looks that didn’t resemble anyone else’s hadn’t been easy. Her parents had drilled it into her from an early age the importance of not drawing attention to herself, so the ‘pale-skinned kid with the light hair’ wasn’t considered a threat or worse yet—possessed. Every time her family moved into a new area, Lara was forced to hide until her dad could convince the local religious leaders that she wasn’t some demon sent to destroy the integrity of the village and poison the minds of the other children.

As she’d matured, Lara had wondered more than once if her dad wasn’t paying off the tribal chiefs to keep her off their radar, because even as inexperienced as she’d been, their leering looks hadn’t been difficult to interpret. But it had been their sudden
in-the-middle-of-the-night
moves that had been the most suspicious. Her family had never kept many personal possessions—she hadn’t been allowed to keep any more than she could pack in an hour. Her parents had insisted it was to avoid the heat of the day, which in most of the countries they’d lived in was a reasonable excuse—but their explanation had started to seem less and less
reasonable
as time wore on.

Leaning forward to press her forehead against the cool tile, Lara’s mind drifted back to the night her one and only boyfriend had walked away from her. She’d dated Simon Ericson for several weeks before joining Dark Desires, and he’d seemed more interested in her background than her future. She’d met him late one afternoon after stopping at an outdoor café for a cup of coffee. While she’d been walking home from class, Lara had been almost overwhelmed with the strange feeling she was being watched as she’d made her way down the tree-lined street. She’d stepped into the small shop to place her order and then moved out to sit on the patio hoping she could figure out what was going on.

She’d almost finished her coffee when a young man sat down next to her and smiled as he pushed another cup of her favorite latte in front of her. At her questioning look he’d simply said, “I asked the barista” and shrugged as if that was all the answer needed. Lara looked at the barista who grinned and gave her a thumb’s up. They’d started talking and before long she realized time had gotten away from her and it was getting late. When he’d seen her nervously glancing at her watch, Simon offered to give her a ride home. She’d hesitated—all those safety seminars her freshman year in college had evidently made at least a small impression, and he’d praised her for being cautious. He’d shown her his college identification card and a driver’s license with an address not far from where she lived and for whatever reason that had seemed like enough reason to trust him. Later she’d wondered why it had made her feel safer—something she still didn’t understand.

Lara had been dating Simon for several weeks when he suddenly announced he was moving to Washington D.C. and essentially disappeared from her life. He hadn’t called or even emailed her after moving. It was if he’d simply ceased to exist, vanishing into thin air. The entire time they’d dated they had rarely gone out in public together, Simon always insisted he enjoyed her company and didn’t see any reason to share their time together with anyone else. He had never wanted his picture taken, but she had managed to snap one candid shot with her phone, which had mysteriously vanished from her phone not long after he’d moved. Their “dates” had almost always been walks along the beach or at small hole-in-the-wall places that rarely had more than a few other customers.

Since she’d never had a boyfriend, Lara hadn’t realized how strange the whole thing had been until after it had ended. When she’d mentioned it casually to a few of her friends one evening during a study session, they instantly expressed their concern. None of her friends had ever heard of him, and when she’d described him, they’d all sworn they’d never seen anyone matching his description on campus either.

One of her study partners worked in the Registrar’s Office and had offered to check on him, as it turned out Simon Ericson had never been a student at any of the University of Houston campuses. Lara hadn’t understood why he’d bothered with fake identification, but her friends hadn’t been shy about expressing their opinions—and none of them were particularly comforting.

Simon had never pressed her for sex and there had been times when she’d practically begged him for it. After several rejections she had finally quit asking, the humiliation still burned despite her friends’ assurance that there wasn’t anything wrong with her. Looking back, she had to admit he’d seemed more interested in hearing about her life before moving to the U.S. than he’d ever been with what she’d been doing recently. He’d told her small anecdotes about his family and friends, but never enough that she had felt as if she’d really gotten to know him.

Lara took a deep breath trying to bring her thoughts back to the present when she heard the shower door open. She shook off the melancholy thinking about Simon inevitably brought on and turned to see Fischer watching her as if he was seeing her for the first time. It really should be illegal for any man to be so gorgeous. He had the face of an angel and Lara had watched women at Dark Desires literally walk into walls because they’d been staring at him. “What were you thinking about, cupcake?” His voice was soft—pure seduction, but there was no question he was going to demand an answer.

Straightening, Lara turned to fully face him, but couldn’t seem to make herself meet his intensive gaze. “I was thinking about how strange my life is sometimes. How little I really know about dealing with people. I guess I started out thinking about my parents and just kept jumping from point to point until I was lost in the memory of how I was fooled by a man I met during college.”

Fischer stepped into the shower with her, and prompted her to continue while he washed and conditioned her hair. “Tell me about him. You’ve never mentioned this before.” He was right, she and Fischer had talked a lot during their frequent lunches together at the club’s deli where she worked, but she’d never mentioned Simon because, quite frankly, she’d been embarrassed to admit how naïve and easily taken in she’d been. Just as she started telling the story, Peter stepped into the shower. He didn’t say anything, just smiled and nodded for her to continue.

There were times when their ability to speak to one another telepathically was just plain creepy. It was obvious Peter hadn’t needed to ask what they were talking about because he already knew. But Fischer’s gentle touch kept her distracted enough that she divulged far more about her odd relationship with Simon than she had intended to. The tension in the small space was almost palatable by the time she’d finished telling them about her experience.