Operation: Endeavor (When The Mission Ends) (5 page)

It started as something seemingly innocent, but her writing started taking a darker turn when she started writing BDSM erotica. It had actually been Alix who led her to finding that avenue. A late night filled with girl talk, way too much wine, and more than a bit of curiosity led them to a website filled with artful erotic images that Penelope couldn’t let go of mentally. The stories followed shortly thereafter. Unbeknownst to Penelope, Alix submitted them for publication and they were bought.

Her alter ego, Celeste DeMarco, was born. Penelope wrote the stories. Aunt Alix acted as the author to protect Penelope’s identity. Her parents had no idea that Penelope was actually Celeste DeMarco.

Being older southern conservatives, her parents never would have understood or forgiven her for doing “that kind” of writing. Celeste DeMarco was a huge secret. They’d gone on that way for three years before it all came crashing down and Penelope’s parents found out about Celeste DeMarco. Alix never told Penelope’s secret, that she was actually the author of the books. Instead, she covered for Penelope. Alix claimed Celeste DeMarco as her alter-ego and it cost Alix her relationship with her sister, Penelope’s mother. Alix insisted it was no big loss because they’d never gotten along, but that didn’t keep Penelope from feeling horrible about the entire situation.

Over the years, Penelope wanted to confess all to her mother, but Alix wouldn’t allow it. She swore she’d never speak to Penelope again if she did that. It was a risk Penelope couldn’t take. She needed her aunt in her life.

The situation wasn’t all bad though. As she looked around Raider Readers, pride filled her. Her royalty checks from the novels paid the start-up costs of the bookstore. Another secret. As far as her parents knew, that was also Alix’s doing. In reality, instead of being her partner and backer for the store, Alix was simply an employee. The store was adjacent to the campus in a historical colonial-style house, which was rezoned as commercial property. She’d left the original, gorgeous bones of the house intact…the wood paneling, the different rooms, the decorative woodwork and moldings, the many fireplaces, and the sweeping staircase. A gorgeous old mahogany bar was converted to act as their front desk and check-out counter. The front counter was nestled into the curve of the staircase so it was the first thing you saw when you came into the store.

It was here that Alix sat now, waiting for an answer.

“Breakfast was fine. Strange, but fine.” She gave her Aunt a mischievous look. “She needed me to do a favor for her, so now I think I’m going to have my mom in my debt. That could be useful.”

Alix smiled in agreement. “Without a doubt, but what in the world did she need you to do?”

“The University has some bigwig coming in that they want to impress, but it sounds like he’s younger and hipper than your typical Anthropology dweeb.”

Alix muttered, “Isn’t everyone?”

Penelope giggled. “She wants me to serve as his escort to a party Saturday night.” Penelope eyed her aunt, waiting for her reaction.

“Escort?” Alix’s eyes widened in shock. “I know I haven’t seen my sister in a few years, but I find it hard to believe that she’s changed that much.”

“I know, right? That was exactly my reaction. But she swears she doesn’t want me for
that
.” Penelope rolled her eyes. “Honestly, after all these years of disapproving of my ‘wild ways,’ now my mom wants to use them to impress this guy. It sounds like he’s pretty unorthodox. If nothing else, it should be fun to see how my mom relates to a colleague who has more in common with me than her.”

Penelope looked around the quiet store. “Thanks for covering for me this morning. Is there anything happening around here that I need to know about?”

“We got a box of ARC’s and promotional swag in. I put it on your desk.”

“Okay, good. When does Hannah come in next? She’ll want those ARC’s so she can start reading them.” Hannah was another employee at Raider Readers and she worked as their blog mistress. She read the Advanced Reader Copies of books that were coming out and posted reviews as well as giveaways, release dates, and other pertinent information on the blog for the bookstore.

“She’s supposed to be in tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good. She can go through them then.” There was a customer in the New Fiction section and the monitors showed someone else upstairs in the Science Fiction section. “It looks like you have everything under control here.” At Alix’s nod, she said, “I’m going to go catch up on some paperwork in my office. Holler if you need me.”

“Colton! I come bearing food. Can I interest you in some pizza?” Penelope yelled down the hall as she set the pizzas on the table. She didn’t hear a response so she walked down the hall to Colton’s room, to see how the unpacking was going.

She found him sitting on the floor, surrounded by a meager pile of boxes, looking at a photo album. His face wasn’t visible, but his posture seemed sad. Slumped over the photo album, his fingers lingered lightly over a photo of a couple. That had to be a picture of his parents.

His bare feet toes were peeking out from under his folded legs. Tilting her head, she looked again at those bare toes. Why was that so attractive to her? Especially in light of the sadness that permeated the room as he looked at his parents. She knew they’d died in a plane crash through her friendship with Cassie. How hard would that have been for him to lose both parents so young?

As she leaned against the doorframe, observing him, Colton suddenly jumped up and began searching through the few boxes in the room.

“Son of a bitch!” The muscles in his back became tighter and tighter as he dug more frantically. Whatever he’d just discovered was missing, he wasn’t happy about it.

She needed to give him his privacy.

As she started to slip away, he suddenly looked up at her. She was struck by the stark anger and pain shining from his eyes at that first glance, but he quickly covered it up when he realized she was standing there.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” he said quietly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I brought pizza. I knew you’d be busy unpacking today and thought you could use some sustenance.” She decided not to mention whatever he was looking for. It wasn’t any of her business, but she couldn’t ignore the lack of stuff. She looked quizzically around the room and the obvious lack of boxes and furniture. “Um, Colton, where’s all your stuff?”

He gave a self-deprecating chuckle as his eyes hardened. “Obviously, you should never trust a soon-to-be ex-wife to pack up your house and put it into storage for you. This is all there is.” He looked around the bare room. “I need to go shopping.” He scowled at the thought.

She smiled. “I can tell you’re thrilled about the idea. First, pizza. We can figure out what you need over lunch.”

They headed into the kitchen  and settled into chairs at the breakfast bar. Penelope gestured toward his plate. “I hope you don’t mind veggie pizza. I’m a vegetarian.”

“Naw, this is great. I love any pizza from One Guy. Thanks for picking it up, but I thought you were going to be working all day.”

“Ah, no, that’s the beauty of being the boss. I can leave when things get slow. They can call me back in if they need me, but I think you’re going to need me more today.” She leaned over the counter and grabbed a pad and pencil. “We have some power shopping to get done. Let’s make a list.”

“Thanks, but you don’t –”

“Nope, no arguments. I’m going. I’m a fabulous shopper with incredible taste. You won’t regret it. Besides I have the Bus. This way you won’t have to borrow Chris’s truck again.”

Colton hesitated as he glanced around the apartment. “Thanks, I hate shopping, so I’d appreciate the help.”

“No problem. We just have to be back here by 5:00 so I have time to get ready for my date.” She looked at the clock on the microwave. “We’d better hurry. We have a lot of ground to cover and not very much time to do it in. I hope you have high limits on your credit cards.”

Colton shut his eyes and groaned. “It’s going to be a long afternoon.”

* * *

As Penelope flung her body onto the huge bed, she looked over at him entreatingly. “Come on. You need to lay on the bed to get a feel if it’s the one for you.”

The cascade of her honey-colored hair flung across the pillow sent his pulse pounding and his fingers itched to run through the soft locks. Honestly, if she’d lie in his bed all the time, it wouldn’t matter what it felt like. Regardless, he wasn’t sure that he could trust himself enough to join her on a bed in a public place without developing an embarrassing erection.

He scowled down at her. She had a date tonight. Maybe he should go out and find himself a distraction. Obviously his lack of a sex life was starting to affect him.

She rolled over and sat up on her hands and knees. Obviously, she had no issues making herself right at home on the furniture displays. “Look, Colt,” she grabbed hold of the slats of the headboard and the thick bedpost beside it, “this would work really well for those Dom/sub games you’re into. Just imagine tying someone up to the corners of this baby.” She smirked up at him and he decided a good spanking might do her some good.

A wave of lust flowed through his entire body at the idea of her tied to those four bedposts, but was distracted by the sound the salesman made, which sounded way too much like a groan. From the look on his face, he was thinking the same licentious thoughts about Penelope that Colton was having. Colton reached over and plucked her off the bed as he turned to the salesman and scowled. “I’ll take it and will pay whatever you need so that it’s delivered today.”

“No problem, sir. Let me get the paperwork started.”

* * *

Three hours later, they were back at the loft. Colton was kicked-back in the living room sucking down a well-earned beer while Penelope got ready for her date. Thanks to her, they’d actually gotten a lot bought and he was well on his way to having a furnished room again.

“Hey, Colton, can you come help me?” Penelope was leaning out the door of her bedroom.

“Sure.” He walked into her room and was greeted with the glorious expanse of her back. He sucked in a breath at the view. God, she was beautiful.

She looked at him over her shoulder. “Can you zip me up? I can’t reach it to do it myself. This is a new dress and I never realized how hard it was to get into.”

“No problem,” he said. Even to him, his voice sounded several octaves deeper than normal. He reached to grab the zipper tab and as he started to pull it up, he caught the glimpse of something which surprised him on her right side. She had birds tattooed up her back. He could just see the full body of one and the wings of two others. He gently rubbed his fingertips over them, feeling the silky warmth of her skin. Penelope shivered at his touch.

“These are amazing.”

“Thanks.”

He continued to pull the zipper up her back, but was now intrigued about exactly how far those birds traversed the side of her body. As the zipper closed at the top, he could see the edge of another bird up high on her right shoulder and the word ‘free’ tattooed into its trail.

He traced that final bird as he said, “I have a feeling there’s a story here.”

She turned to him and his breath caught in his throat. She was stunning. The plum-colored dress fit her like a glove. While it completely covered her, it clung to her curves and enhanced every single one of them. Colton’s mouth went dry.

“There is.”

“What?” He’d lost track of what they were talking about.

“The tattoo. There’s a story. I’ll share it with you one night, but now I have to finish getting ready.” There was a knock on the front door. “Do you mind getting that? I just have to load up my purse and grab my sweater and then I’ll be out.”

At his silent nod, she murmured, “Thanks, Colton.”

He gave her one last lingering look before leaving to answer the door. Damn, she looked incredible.

Colton opened the door with his thoughts still lingering back in the bedroom with Penelope and the currents zinging through his system. The man standing before him was tall, although not quite as tall a Colton. His hair was dark and styled in one of those pretty-boy casual styles, meant to look easy, but took as many products to achieve as any girl’s hairstyle. His warm brown eyes crinkled at the corners like he smiled a lot or spent a lot of time outdoors. Looking at the guy, it was probably a combination of the two. He was fit, but not muscular.

The guy offered an easy, but confused smile. He looked up and down the hall, then back at the door.

“I’m sorry. I’m looking for Penelope Pruitt. This is the apartment number I have for her.”

“Yeah,” Colton offered out his hand, “Penelope’s here. She’s still getting ready. I’m her roommate, Colton. Come on in. Dr. Lopez, right?”

The man took his hand and nodded. “Yup, that’s m
e, but please call me Damon. Doctor makes me sound older than shit.” He offered a friendly smile as he entered the loft. He gave a low whistle as he looked around. “Whoa, this is nice.”

“Thanks.” Colton nodded. “Can I offer you something to drink? I just moved in today, so I’m not sure what we have, but I’m sure we have something.”