Power Trip: Double Helix, Book 1 (14 page)

She reached for the shampoo and soaped her hair, then spent long minutes rinsing the suds from her body. Their experiments had left the sticky smell of smoke on her skin, so she stroked his strong soap over her body, shaking her head as her own slippery touch aroused her. She’d turned into a pervert in twenty-four hours, playing in a dungeon, climaxing during a spanking and masturbating in the shower. She rinsed the soap from her body and eyed the removable showerhead, tempted…but not as tempted as she was to go find Cal.

Just the thought of being near him increased her arousal tenfold. She turned off the water, reaching for the huge fluffy towel he had laid out for her. She dried her skin and squeezed the water from her hair, then put her clothes back on.

The hall was empty and the house was silent. She wandered back to the kitchen where it looked like Cal had begun making dinner, but he wasn’t in the room. The basement door was open.

“Cal?” she called down the stairs.

More silence.

She descended. The dungeon was deserted, so she tried the door of the lab. Unlocked. She opened the door and found Cal bent over a table, wielding a pair of wire clippers with singular concentration.

Snip, snip, snip.
The clippers flashed with blue light.

“Cal?” she said softly.

He didn’t seem to hear her. He dropped the clippers with a bang and grabbed a calculator, then dropped that and picked up the wire again, threading it through black leather. “Yes, that makes sense…” he muttered, intent on his project.

She couldn’t blame him for being obsessed with work when she was equally driven, but it stung that she’d been upstairs, getting hot for him again, while he had clearly switched into work mode. It was just her luck that the first man she found more interesting than her mice was even more Type-A than her.

Her soft huff made him turn around. “Hey, I only came down here for a second. I’ve got dinner started upstairs.” The guilty look on his face made her laugh. He moved toward her, but cast a glance back over his shoulder. “I don’t suppose…”

His pause asked the question for him.

“You don’t suppose I want to have a quickie before my brother arrives?” she joked.

He blinked at her. “Do you?” He truly looked torn and she grinned, flattered, before she let him off the hook. “I’ll cook dinner. You work.” It was better for both of them to stay focused on work. They were conducting experiments, not dating. He’d made it clear that their play existed within the confines of a scene, and she needed to keep that firmly in mind.
You’re a workaholic, not a deviant nympho, remember?

“Maybe I don’t want to work now,” Cal said.

She put a smile on her face. “Right. And I don’t want you to buy me a centrifuge and a microscope.”

“I’ll buy you whatever you want,” he said instantly. “Just make me a list.”

So he’d give her an unlimited budget for lab equipment but deny her a kiss. Nice. A relationship with Cal would certainly redefine her ideas of romance. Lust must be making her crazy if she was thinking of him as a potential boyfriend anyway. Clearly, he was looking for a lab partner with benefits. Temporary benefits, if he kept to his pattern of short-term subs. She hoped he would let her stay until they figured out who was after her—and why. “I’ll let you get back to work. Just remember when I get my mice—I don’t like to be interrupted, either.” Although with the slick ache she felt between her thighs right now, it was hard to imagine turning him down for rodents.

He gazed at her breasts, making her aware that her nipples were pushing against her bra. “I never said you couldn’t interrupt me. If you don’t want me to touch you, say red, but don’t put words in my mouth. I might forget to eat and sleep when I’m in the middle of a project, but sex is an entirely different matter. I’ll take a ten minute break for you.”

He could spare
ten minutes
for her? She recognized the flash of anger for what it was—a defense mechanism. For a guy who couldn’t touch her, he certainly knew how to push her buttons. He moved forward until he was standing directly in front of her. She felt energy build in the inches that separated them.

His eyes blazed. “Red or green?”

She swallowed, trying to quiet her shuddering breaths. She wanted to lie, to say red, but she refused to drive a wedge between them with her insecurity. She craved him. Her desperate need was embarrassing, but she wouldn’t deny it. Cal didn’t seem to want her quite as much as she wanted him, but that unfortunate fact didn’t make her want him any less. God, she hoped it didn’t make her want him more.

“Green,” she said. For now. Until she understood why she enjoyed playing these games with him.

His grin was fierce as he pulled on gloves. “Bare your breasts and push your pants down around your ankles.”

Calmness descended as she unhooked her bra and pulled her T-shirt above her breasts. Of course she was turned on. Her body remembered the phenomenal orgasms he’d given her and wanted more. Was how she got them really so important? She unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them to the floor. The air was cool in the lab, but exposing her body made her skin feel hot. The clear approval in his eyes warmed her too. She squeezed her hands into fists and waited.

“Beautiful,” he said as he touched her nipples.

The rubber of his gloves was smooth and cool. He pinched and a whimper broke from her throat—not because of the pain, but because her need was so sharp and sudden.

“Now you pinch your nipples, hard. Just like I did.”

She obeyed and whimpered again, feeling her pussy clench and grow wet. She shivered as he knelt between her thighs. He gazed between her legs, making a hot blush spread over her body.

He glanced up, watching her squeeze her nipples. “Keep pinching. Don’t take your fingers away from your breasts.”

With one hand, he held her open while the other explored her folds. His fingers slid through her wetness, pressed into her body. He leaned close, teasing her with his breath while he traced circles around her throbbing clit. The warm brush of air was almost enough to push her over the edge. She pressed forward.

“Not yet,” he said. “Wait.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. Wait? How in hell? She forced her mind away from what he was doing to her and thought about the first thing that came to mind—work. She tried to picture the anomalous sequence of base pairs she and Jake carried, but couldn’t concentrate, distracted by his relentless stroking.
Adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine,
she chanted in her head, but it was no use
.
She didn’t want to be thinking about DNA while his fingers spiraled through her center.

How dare he make her feel so out of control and then demand she control herself? Irritated, she opened her eyes, intending to push his hand away, maybe even storm out of the lab, but she hesitated, confused by the look on his face.

His gaze was heated and reverent. Tender. His lips curved in a slight smile as he kneeled in front of her. He looked peaceful and happy.
Of course he does—he’s in control.

Unless she said red.

The word hovered on her tongue.

But she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Watching him touch her, she didn’t feel angry anymore. She felt
powerful.

Her slight gasp made him look up at her. The blue of his eyes intensified. She stared, feeling connected to him by more than his hand on her body. His finger, still circling her clit, slowed, almost stopped, but her arousal grew. She felt like her body was melting around him while his caress focused her attention on the ecstasy coursing through her body.

“You may come now.” His fingers compressed her clit, once, a forceful squeeze that sent ecstasy rushing into every part of her body. Her head fell back and her fingers tightened painfully around her nipples. She felt her hips buck, seeking more touch to prolong the spasms that racked her body. He gave it to her with his knuckles, dragging them against her, drawing shudders from her body.

Aftershocks made her knees feel weak and she was glad to feel his hands on her hips, supporting her, turning her around. Her eyes drifted shut as he bent her over the lab table.

“Hands in front of you.
Do not move
.” The command in his voice sent tingles down her spine. The table was cold against her breasts and belly. Arousal, barely abated, raced through her again. She arched her back and spread her legs apart, so eager for his entry she was screaming.

Wait, she wasn’t screaming. The alarm was going off again.

Cal cursed. “We’ve got company.”

“Moving in?” Cal opened the front door, hoping Jake wouldn’t notice his hard-on.

Jake thrust a backpack into his hands. “I thought Audrey might want some clothes.”

“You went to her place? Did you get in and out okay?”

Jake’s expression was grim. “Does mind-fucking two guys who jumped me coming out of her apartment count as okay?”

“I’m gonna say no to that. You didn’t get followed, did you?”

Even with the shades, Cal could tell Jake was rolling his eyes. “Please.”

Cal left the backpack in the hall and led Jake into the kitchen, where he washed his hands, picked up the knife and began chopping vegetables again.

“Where’s Audrey?” Jake asked, dropping onto a stool.

“Right here.” She came up the last step and shut the basement door behind her.

Jake’s head swiveled from him to her and back to him again. An eyebrow rose above his shades. “You know how hard it is not to make jokes about keeping her in the dungeon, right? I want credit for my restraint.”

“Noted.” Cal grinned at him.

Audrey elbowed her brother as she passed. It gave Cal immense pleasure that she eschewed the seat next to Jake and came to stand beside him instead. “What’s for dinner?” she asked

“Pasta, salad and bread for you. All that plus a steak for us. Sound good?” He wanted to please her.

“All carbs are good. Can I help?”

“Sure. Lettuce is in the fridge. Make the salad?”

She nodded and moved toward the refrigerator. He watched her, liking the way she looked in his kitchen.

Jake cleared his throat.

Cal went back to chopping. If Audrey wasn’t in danger, he’d kick Jake out on his ass, electrify every doorknob and keep Audrey in the dungeon for a week. He would find a way to make her understand her response to him meant she was not vanilla. He would keep her flying until it felt like her natural state. He’d find a way to make himself feel as necessary to her as she felt to him.

He heard Audrey humming under her breath as she worked next to him and realized two things—his dick was harder than when he’d left her in the basement to answer the door and his electrons were seeking a path from him to her. He pulled his energy inward and focused on dinner.

When he had five neat piles of vegetables, he put water on to boil and laid a sauté pan on the stove. He looked at Audrey, who was now washing lettuce at the sink. “You want skinny or fat pasta? I can do it with stock or with cream.”

She sighed. “Skinny.”

Jake stood and walked across the kitchen to place his hand over his sister’s mouth. “She wants fat. Use the cream.” This time, Jake caught her elbow before it connected with his ribs.

Cal gave her a moment to protest, then laughed and grabbed the carton from the fridge, further amused when Audrey ordered her brother to set the table. When the salad was done, she sliced the bread while he put the finishing touches on the primavera and threw the steak on the grill.

Jake’s cell phone buzzed as they sat down to eat. He touched the screen. “Truman’s tied up closing a case. I don’t think we should wait for him. I told the thugs at Audrey’s apartment to check into a motel and watch porn all night. Before too long, their boss is going to figure out we’re messing with his men.”

“What guys?” Audrey asked, scowling at her brother. “You better not even think about keeping any more secrets from me.”

Jake held up a hand. “I got jumped at your apartment when I stopped to get you some clothes, which means I’ve got two more IDs and cell phones for Truman. You sure we need those mice? I’d rather wait and see what Tru comes up with before we do anything.”

“They’ll be incinerated tomorrow and it will take me six months to set up my experiments again. I want my mice, Jake.” Her voice was firm as she squared off against her brother. “There’s also a chance the Genecorp database has my files. If we get into the lab, I can copy them onto a flash drive.”

Jake frowned. “A chance? You don’t know for certain if the database has your files?”

“Do you read every privacy policy you sign?” she shot back. “Genecorp is the biggest and the best. I wanted to work for them. I didn’t give a shit about their Big Brother policies as long as they let me do what I wanted.”

Jake crossed his arms. “I bet you care now.”

“Yes. I do. I want my mice.” Her voice was heavy with reluctance. “But I don’t want to put you guys in danger because someone is threatening me. Maybe I should just go to the police. Alone. You and Cal can stay out of it.”

“Yeah, I’m sure the cops would be really sympathetic to your plight, especially since you didn’t report the attack last night.” Jake’s voice was mocking.